“In the moments after lawmakers and visitors cleared a committee room Feb. 6 following a debate on concealed handgun permits, Rep. Jonathan Singer found a black canvas bag under the table where lawmakers sit,” denverpost.com reports. “Inside, Singer discovered a loaded handgun that belonged to Rep. Jared Wright, R-Fruita, who sits next to him on the House Local Government committee. ‘I just immediately notified the Sergeant at Arms and soon we realized it was Jared’s bag,’ Singer, a Democrat from Longmont, said Wednesday.” Wait a moment. Isn’t the state capitol a gun-free zone? As any politician caught with his proverbial (or literal) pants down would say, I’m glad you asked me that question . . .
Wright, who is in his first term, told The Denver Post he often carries a concealed handgun inside the Capitol and under state statute has the right to do so as a peace officer. State law prohibits carrying a gun in the Capitol “without legal authority.” . . .
“I feel it’s my duty to be a first responder wherever I am at,” said Wright. “That’s why I carry it.”
Really? A retired police officer can carry in the State House? Show me the statute! Meanwhile, I’m not entirely comfortable with Wright’s suggesiton that he’s more of a “first responder” than any other legally armed civilian. Assuming he’s right about being able to carry in the legislative chamber. Worse, it looks like he kissed the ass of Colorado’s gun-grabber-in-chief to “put things right.”
Wright said he was contacted by Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office about the incident and after speaking with Colorado State Patrol and Roxane White, Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, he agreed to no longer carry it inside the building. A report was not filed.
I’m sorry. If he has the right to carry a gun in the State House then Fruita’s finest should have told Hickenlooper to kiss his ass. If not, Wright should be charged and prosecuted like any other civilian who breaks the rules about carrying a firearm into the legislative lion’s den.
All that said, on-body carry, people. Off-body carry is inherently irresponsible because of the inherent chance that the owner will lose control of his firearm. Hey, isn’t that a crime in Colorado?
I live a stones throw from the battleground in Oakland and rarely does a night pass without the local news posting another shooting, stabbing or killing. Now that the 11 District Court of Appeals has voted to revised the carry laws in CA, hopefully the “common citizen” can better protect themselves and give the gangbangers pause. It will definitely be interesting to see if the crime rate is affected…
There’s that word again…reasonable. I don’t think it means what they think it means.
I’ve carried a pistol in the Texas State Capitol. It’s legal here with a CHL.
Oh that’s too great! Hahaha
We need an article that honestly illuminates the limitations and shortcomings — both functional and ballistic — of modern AR platforms. I say honest discussion as opposed to bashing. Every firearm has limitations and shortcomings. For example break action single-shot shotguns are perhaps the most reliable and least expensive firearm in the world. And you give up rate of fire, long range, and minimal recoil in exchange for that reliability and low price tag. In other words there is no single firearm that is perfect for everything, inexpensive, and uses readily available ammunition. So what are the shortcomings of modern AR platform rifles?
I will kick things off and list the major advantages of modern AR platforms:
(1) Chamberings in 5.56 mm Nato produce minimal recoil compared to larger calibers.
(2) Chamberings in 5.56 mm Nato allow the bearer to carry a relatively large amount of ammunition compared to larger calibers.
(3) The modern AR platform is light and compact.
(4) The modern AR platform is highly standardized/modularized … enabling users to fix and customize their rifle to their heart’s content.
(5) Modern AR platform rifles have adequate combat accuracy out to a few hundred yards.
So what are the shortcomings? How reliable are typical modern AR platform rifles compared to alternatives? How much more maintenance, if any, do typical modern AR platform rifles need compared to alternatives … and what is the nature of that maintenance? Are there fairly simple and economical modifications that we can implement on modern AR platform rifles to seriously improve their reliability? What else?
At what point do consistent and growing delays from ATF for processing NFA forms become an active form of “infringement” subject to a law suit? This law has been on the books since 1934. There is no earthly reason that paper forms should take 12-15 months or that an electronic system should take 3-5 months. I’d love to see lawyers cuing up if a woman had to wait 12 months for government permission for an abortion…
Someone who works for a company that sell replacement rifles, claims that their competitor’s rifle is crap.
You didn’t see that coming did ya?
Remember when newspapers actually looked into a person’s bias before they ran a story?
Hornady Critical Deffence was diffinitley not in Shooting the Bulls top five. It seriously under penetrated in bare gel and did so so in the denim test. You may have it confused with Hornady Custom. I would really recommend not carry critical defense in 380 from the tests I’ve seen.
“You go to war with the army you have, not the one that you want.”
Rummy
Thugs = MAIG and MDA
Clearly these guys popped some tags and only had $20 in their pocket.
I don’t usually waste my time commenting on articles I read, but I tried to do so at Politico the other day when I read this piece. What I was going to say, if I hadn’t encountered so much trouble trying to sign on to their site, was that I expected much better from Politico. This article was more like a tantrum – absolute gibberish.
“attempting to hold on to them for safety”? Wow this is exactly what is wrong with the sheep.
This is nothing new. Remember the bigot republican governor from CA in the 1960’s who gladly signed the bill to ban statewide open carry and require “may-issue” permits for “loaded and exposed” carry for incorporated areas of the state?
This governor was uneasy that a bunch of black people open carried at the Sacramento palace where this bigot once ruled.
I don’t have anything against the .40 S&W and I find the “short & weak” moniker laughable as it is obviously a very capable and lethal round.
But it’s also one of the only mainstream pistol cartridges I do not shoot. I’ve shot thousands of rounds of .40 S&W in other guns and while it’s ballistically superior to the 9mm, in my estimation the snappy nature of the cartridge in most guns negates the aforementioned advantage.
While I have never been in a firefight, my brother has. His experience led him to state that the impulse for rapid fire is almost impossible to avoid. Consequently, he was very happy that he had a pistol (Glock 17) in a caliber that allowed for extremely accurate follow up shots.
“Clean up in aisle 6.”
Upon hearing their local store got a stock of .22lr in, Lt Dangle and Deputy Fife storms the aisles.
I have some personal insight into this. I fired a blast through the upper floor of a decrepit building, #4 buck, once. It made a small hole of entrance in the floor, and a rough hole in the ceiling below, in an irregular shape, about 10″ by 6″.
The buckshot did not have much energy after it emerged, and I found almost all the pellets with a 5-foot radius. Even a small wooden table that took the brunt did not suffer any damage.
There is a lot of damage within a few feet, but a floor and a ceiling absorb at least 90% of the energy. I have never used used 00 buck at all, ever. I have shot a good amount of %4, though. I have only hunted very small game, rabbits and squirrels. No prairie dogs.
I think they’re confusing the term extreme with sensible.
Georgia gun law– sensible.
California gun laws- extreme.
If people are going to be helpless, we should all be “equally ” helpless. Not.