Reader Comments of the Week — December 3, 2016

Even regular readers of The Shooter’s Log can’t read or respond to all of the comments, so we have started a new weekly feature that will recap a sampling of the most active, interesting, or on occasion, randomly selected comments from the previous weeks. Feel free to respond with your two cents at the bottom of this article or by clicking the story link and adding it directly to the discussion.

Reader Comments From Previous Weeks

What’s In Your “Crash Box”?

The house has an alarm system, on every door and window, a glass break alarm by the kitchen sliding door, and night lock door stops to prevent entry through the front doors. All door hinges have 3 in screws. And there is a dog who barks well and loud. The bedroom door has a door bar and is locked from the inside. There are no children in the house. I carry a loaded 9mm compact on my hip in and out of the house. When I sleep, there are three loaded .45 acp caliber guns within reach, along with flashlights.
I rely on my dog and the technology alarm system to give me warning of an intrusion. The alarm system has a blaring device inside and outside the house. My wife has her own carry pistol, and we practice periodically to maintain proficiency. Our mindset is such that an intruder is there to do us harm, and we will defend ourselves with lethal force.
It is not paranoia or fear. We prefer to say it is preparation for an eventuality we wish would never happen. We sleep well.

~Norm

The Rock Island 1911 and a History of the .38 Super Cartridge

I am running this exact set up. What makes this such a great choice is you can hit hard like a 45 by running HP,S or have penatrating power by running FMJ,S and this is my go to over my 357 any day.

~FB3

Review: Savage Arms .308 Model 11 Scout Rifle

Thanks Edward, but my AR is already registered, and I just can’t get behind the muzzle brake fad. They’re loud, increase the muzzle flash to insane levels, mean that you can’t rest the muzzle on a range bag or barricade, disturb shooters on either side of you, and decrease muzzle velocity.

I can see one if you’re shooting a .308 like this a couple hundred rounds per day, after a while you’d want a break from the recoil, but on an AR they’re totally unneccessary. You see the same fad now with everyone buying “cans” now for their threaded barrelled pistols and rifles, with no concept of how the silencers will affect ballistics or operation of the firearms, or understanding of the maintenance involved, and only a Hollywood concept of how they sound. One guy I know who bought one wanted his money back because he could still hear a “bang” when the pistol fired. Camo Commandos!

I can see adding the brake if you have to for CA law, but in that case I’d rather just screw on a threaded tube like the Tavor has rather than a Rooney “brake” for a round that doesn’t need it.

Half the criticisms of firearms these days comes because they don’t match the Hollywood-inspired expectations by wannabe “operators,” who think they need one because that’s what they saw on TV. Trigger, accuracy, chamber, sight options, stock adjustability, reliability; that’s about it for me, and as for “pumped out fodder to get in on the market,” junky poor quality Savage has been making quality firearms for many decades longer than the top of the line best in the world can’t be improved Ruger. ;-). Bottom line, both lines are great, it just gets down to which features you want.

~Norm

NRA: Flawed Study Takes Aim at “Stand Your Ground”

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I have to respectfully disagree with you. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. When I was in public grade school, we could bring guns to school, and were taught hunter’s safety there. Amazingly, in the many years I lived in that town in Oregon, I never heard of anyone getting shot, accidentally or otherwise. Now you can be arrested for accidentally driving through a school zone with your legally owned and carried gun. In addition, when I drive from Idaho to visit my family in Western Washington, I can not have my concealed weapon on me or even loaded while traveling through Oregon to get to Washington. In fact it has to be in the trunk or out of reach and can’t be stored with the ammo near it. If I want to drive to California or New Jersey, or New York, or a lot of other states, I can’t even bring my CCW. This is a clear violation of our 2nd Amendment, which is part of the “Supreme Law of the Land”, yet individual states, counties, and cities are allowed to violate our rights. It has gotten worse over the years, and will continue to get worse if we don’t constantly fight the anti-gun, anti-constitutional, anti- American gun grabbers.

~Aardvark

ATF: Marijuana and Firearms Don’t Mix

So the tools necessary to defend oneself are being denied because why? Because if one has a legitimate use for it they no longer have that natural inalienable right of self defense?
So they no longer have an inalienable (can’t be taken away or denied) right to the tools necessary to defend themselves? My oath is to the Constitution irrespective of my opinion or my politics, yes freedom can be a risk to others.

~Michael Spivey

ATF: Marijuana and Firearms Don’t Mix

Well I have read the comments so far and I must say I am disappointed, even those who do use and even those who have in the past all should know that using a firearm while under the influence of pot is no different from using a firearm while drunk and is dangerous to all in the vicinity and even the handler.
I agree with Sean in that the federal government should be the ones in charge of the regulation of firearms and they should be more open to public input.
Speaking from past experience smoking tends to become a constant habit that is easily abused just like tobacco and easy to stay stoned most of the waking time which creates just another opportunity for disaster. I grew out of my bad habits and it took me some time to see just how far I had ventured into the badlands.
If you want the responsibility of owning and carrying a weapon then you need to be responsible for all your actions all the time.
Even if pot is legalized at the federal level because of the addictive nature of it I do not think gun owners should participate.

~Wally

ATF: Marijuana and Firearms Don’t Mix

One’s personal views on marijuana are inconsequential in determining this matter; chiefly because there is no matter to be determined. Simply put, the federal government has usurped an authority that it was never constitutionally authorized to have.

The Constitutional authority for each and every enumerated power the federal government was ever allowed to exercise has always and only ever flowed directly from the individual people through each of the States.

However, in our never-ending quest to set a shining example unto the rest of the world in order to show that our Country is the most civilized constitutional nation of laws, we lost ourselves to increasingly complex and intentionally convoluted legalese which now has created a stranglehold on the enumerated authority which allowed the federal government to even exist in the first place.

How else does one explain what has happened to the simplicity of the Second Amendment which has somehow been trumped by an ever expansive judicial re-interpretation of the “Commerce Clause”?

The Second Amendment is clearly speaking directly to the federal government, with a very specific warning that – in no way, shape, or form do they have the authority to take any action that would infringe on the Right to bear arms. Yet each and every day, through our own inaction, we somehow increasingly empower the federal government to tell us otherwise.

So NO, one’s personal use of marijuana has no more legal bearing than alcohol use when determining a fundamental God-given Right to defend oneself. How on earth did we ever allow the federal government to get to this point?

~G-Man

Review: Lightfield Slugs

I have used Lighfield slugs for years taking many deer including bucks over 250 lbs. One well placed shot and they drop! In my opinion, there are no better slugs on the market. My longest kill was 187 yards with a 3.5 IDS. Yes the cost more but giving the fact you only need on shot a box of 5 lasts me 5 years. I have tried them all and Lightfied is simply the best. Ithica model 37 DeerSlayer w/ Ultradot Red Dot sight.

~Rod

Review: Smith and Wesson M&P Bodyguard Crimson Trace .38 Spl Revolver

The S&W Bodyguard revolver with high mount laser is a very nicely done piece, although the laser activation button can be somewhat troublesome due to it’s small size. I purchased two of these…..one for my wife and one for me. Typically the grip of the most common models of J-frame revolvers are rather small. For my wife that’s fine, but for my own use, I installed a Hogue Monogrip made especially for this model revolver. The Hogue grip is still small enough to afford good concealment, but it is of sufficient size to fill my hand for comfortable gripping and shooting.

~Dragon

NSSF: Obama Administration’s Smart Gun Saga to Go out With a Pop Not Bang!

When a neighbor asked me why gun rights groups oppose “smart guns,” all I had to do was ask him “how many times has your home computer misbehaved or blue screened on you?…and your life and loved one’s lives don’t even depend on it!” His reply was simply “okay, I get your point.”

End of argument!

~Calin Brabandt

Previous Reader Comments of the Week Editions

• Reader Comments of the Week 11/19/16
• Reader Comments of the Week 11/12/16
• Reader Comments of the Week 11/5/16