The Real Gun Guys

"Here Lie Disarmed Victimes!"

“Lie-in” Protest
January 21, 2008
Richmond, VA

(Heavy emphasis on LIE!)

Thanks to Days of our Trailers.

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Here We Go Again

Lautenberg off his meds again introduces gun show bill

WASHINGTON - People wouldn’t be able to buy firearms at gun shows unless they first undergo background checks under legislation Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduced today.

The New Jersey Democrat introduced a similar bill in 1999. The Senate approved it by one vote. But the measure subsequently died.

The current bill to close the “gun show loophole” is co-sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and eight other Democratic senators, including former presidential candidate John Kerry of Massachusetts, have also signed on.

The bill was discussed at a Capitol Hill news conference attended by law enforcement officials, survivors of Virginia Tech shooting victims, and advocates such as Paul Helmke of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“It defies common sense that a loophole in federal law lets unlicensed dealers sell firearms at gun shows without running a background check on the buyer. Our legislation would require background checks for every gun purchased at every gun show across America,” Lautenberg said in a statement.

A 1993 federal law requires people seeking to buy firearms at gun shops and other licensed businesses such as pawnshops to undergo background checks. But a loophole allows them to buy guns from unlicensed dealers at gun shows, Lautenberg’s office said.

Supporters say that loophole allows convicted felons, fugitives, domestic abusers, and others who would fail the background checks to still purchase firearms.

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Another Good Reason To Carry a Gun

Harps’ death called “random predatory violent killing”

By Natalie Singer
Seattle Times staff reporter

The motive behind the slaying of Shannon Harps wasn’t rape, or robbery, or revenge for some perceived slight, King County prosecutors say.

There apparently was nothing particular about the 31-year-old Sierra Club employee that made her a killer’s target as she walked to her Capitol Hill apartment on New Year’s Eve.

James Anthony Williams, the man accused of Harps’ slaying, would later tell detectives she was merely “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” according to court documents charging Williams with first-degree murder.

“It is our worst fear — a random predatory violent killing,” King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said during a news conference Tuesday announcing the charges.

Williams, 48, an ex-convict with a long history of mental illness, could face 25 to 33 years in prison if convicted. He’s being held in King County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned next Tuesday.

Satterberg and court documents supporting the charge provided new details in Harps’ slaying and how she was targeted by a man she apparently had never met. Satterberg also announced Tuesday the creation of a panel to investigate why Williams, whose long history of mental illness and criminal activity — including 248 infractions committed in prison while serving an 11-year sentence for randomly shooting a man in 1995 and a host of violations he committed after his 2006 release — was a free man when the slaying occurred.

The group, made up of prosecutors, officials with the state Department of Corrections (DOC), mental-health workers and law-enforcement officers, will produce a report detailing the efforts to supervise Williams in the 20 months between his release from prison and the slaying, Satterberg said.

“This is not an exercise in blaming anyone other than James Williams for this murder,” he said. “It is simply the responsible thing to do — to examine our system when the most intensive supervision scheme we have developed could not prevent this terrible crime.”

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Williams saw Harps walking alone on a Capitol Hill street around 7 p.m. on Dec. 31 and began following her.

He was armed with a butcher knife, the same type of knife he had previously told police and social workers he liked to keep with him, according to court documents detailing Williams’ criminal and mental-health history.

As Harps reached the stairwell outside her condominium building, Williams began stabbing her repeatedly, commanding her to die, Satterberg said.

A witness heard Harps call for help and saw her stagger out of the stairwell, according to the charging documents.

He dialed 911 and then saw a man emerge from the stairwell, look briefly at him and casually walk away, according to the papers.

Police questioned Williams about an hour after the stabbing after finding him at a nearby bus shelter drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, the same beer found near the scene of the slaying. But they let him go after he said he didn’t know anything and witnesses said he was not the man they had seen near the scene of the stabbing.

Williams agreed to give police a voluntary cheek swab while they interviewed him after the slaying. This proved to be the break in the case.

On Friday, police announced that Williams’ DNA matched that found on the knife recovered near the crime scene. After questioning him a second time, he confessed, they said, telling detectives he had no particular reason to pick Harps.

At that point, Williams had already been in jail for 10 days after he was arrested for missing a required appointment with a mental-health provider, one of many violations of his probation.

While in prison for shooting a man at a bus stop in 1995, Williams constantly exhibited threatening behavior toward corrections officers and racked up 248 serious infractions, according to court documents.

And after getting out, he spent a total of about 9-½ months of 2007 in jail because of various violations of his community-supervision conditions — requirements he had to meet as part of his release from prison in 2006.

Classified as a Dangerous Mentally Ill Offender, he did receive enhanced supervision in the community, according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office and DOC officials.

He was brought before the court several times when he violated his conditions, was once sent to Western State Hospital for involuntary commitment, was sanctioned to various jail terms and was ordered to continue outpatient mental-health treatment, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

In March, he told a police officer that he planned to “shoot all his caseworkers” at Sound Mental Health.

In September, police found an 8-inch butcher knife in his sweat-shirt pocket after the landlord of his Capitol Hill apartment told police he had threatened her. He stayed in jail on that charge until just 10 days before Harps was slain.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nataliesinger@seattletimes.com

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An abuse victim takes the cops to court

This is just incredible. This woman is lucky to be alive after all she’s been through. This woman did everything by the book, but restraining orders are only any good if they’re out of Kevlar. Armed self defense is the best option for coming out of a situation alive. The cops have no duty to protect you either.

I wish her luck in her suit, but I don’t think she will prevail.

“JONESVILLE - Vernetta Cockerham-Ellerbee peeled back the curtain of her bedroom window and saw the man she once loved enough to marry.

Hunched over in a field across the street, Richard Ellerbee toiled, shoveling clumps of dirt over his shoulder. She glanced past him to the nearby police station in this rural Piedmont town of 2,000. She spotted one of the department’s nine officers just beyond the station’s front door.

Cockerham-Ellerbee rang the station: He’s back, she whispered. He was once again violating the judge’s order to stay away. Police didn’t catch Ellerbee that day. Cockerham-Ellerbee repeatedly reported her husband’s threats during the summer and fall of 2002. He never spent a night in jail.

She didn’t know what he was up to with the shovel until he called days later to explain: He was digging graves to bury her and the children.

Ellerbee delivered on his threat in November 2002. He broke into their home and fatally stabbed his teenage stepdaughter, Candice Cockerham. He left Cockerham-Ellerbee for dead, too, slicing open her neck with a shard of glass.”

Read the whole thing here.

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Ruger Mark II 22/45 magazines

I have a Ruger Mark II 22/45 and a while back I lost the two magazines that came with it, plus a new one I got late last year. The reliability was pretty good with only the occasional jam. Earlier this month, I got two brand new 22/45 magazines ($20/per) from SW and at the match today I was jamming regularly, and in fact it cost me the match.

The jam seems to occur with one fired case getting stuck behind the new cartridge on it’s way into the chamber and the bolt & breech face. Jeffersonian has suggested a new extractor, which may well be it. The thing that bothers me is that with the old magazines, jamming was rare. Plus, at the range earlier this month, I borrowed a friends magazine and had jamming problems until I gave that one back to him and he lent me another one. This time it shot like a dream and I had no more malfunctions.

Is there a difference between the Mark II 22/45 magazines & Mark III 22/45 magazines? If so, what is it?

Any other ideas what is going on?

UPDATE: I should have said this earlier, but the replacement magazines I got are from Ruger.

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This should put my friends at ease!

Of course the questionnaire didn’t say anything about my enemies…

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I got the stuck case out!

Here’s what finally ended up working.

First of all I unscrewed the center rod with the decapping pin and expander on it and pulled it out as far as I could. I then drilled out the primer hole and with the aid of some oil and a power screwdriver I drilled a hard, self tapping screw into the primer hole until I couldn’t get it in any longer. I placed the die bottom up into the vice with some scrap wood between the jaws and the threads and tightened it down. The next step was to take my pry bar and inserted the head end of the screw into the tear drop shaped nail hole near the straight end. A small piece of wood under the bar gave me the leverage I needed and with a small sledge I tapped the end of the pry bar three or four times and suddenly the case flew out of the die.

I tried a few other methods including channel locks (never could find my pair of lock jaws) and using my reloading press with a shell holder. All this did is chew up the end of the shell and almost pull the bolts on the press through the plywood. That reminds me, I’m going to have to fix that now…

I am so relieved! These dies aren’t cheap! I can see now the need for a stuck shell remover kit. It’s been added to my “to buy” list come payday.

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Just a quick note

Nothing really important…

Readers of this blog are able to reach it by typing in www.therealgunguys.com as well as the familiar therealgunguys.blogspot.com. I’ve actually had the domain for a while now but I’ve never pushed it either way.

Like I said, nothing important. I use the blogspot address most of the time myself, but I just wanted to let everyone know that the other is available.

Carry on…

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Just something I thought was funny

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He was a quiet man…

I’ve just recently become aware of this movie. From the trailer, it appears to tell the story of a man on the verge of exploding and killing everyone in his office one day soon. Being well armed seems to have worked out well for him though for when one day another co-worker goes “postal” and begins shooting up the office, he pulls out his own gun and kills the “maniac with a loaded gun.”

I might rent this just to see what kind of slant they put on things, although from the trailer it seems to be more about a romance with a paralyzed co-worker than anything else. We’ll see…

However, I did find something interesting from the movie’s website. This is their advice on how to deal with a “maniac with a loaded gun” at your own place of employment:

Workplace Violence

Unfortunately, regardless of how diligent we may be in our awareness, some of us may someday find ourselves in a crisis situation. So how can you protect yourself and your coworkers when faced with a hostile, potentially violent person?

1. Understand the mindset of the hostile or potentially violent person. The person has a compelling need to communicate his grievance to someone now! Give him a verbal outlet. Even if he is wrong, the individual is acting on perceptions that are real to him. In the overwhelming number of cases, the person just wants fairness.
2. Practice “Active Listening.” Stop what you are doing and give the person your full attention. Listen to what is really being said. Use silence and paraphrasing. Ask clarifying, open-ended questions.
3. Avoid confrontation. Instead, build trust and provide help. Be calm, courteous, respectful, patient, open and honest. Never belittle, embarrass or verbally attack a hostile person.
4. Allow a total airing of the grievance without comment or judgment. Make eye contact (but don’t stare). Allow verbal venting of emotion. Let the person have his say (not necessarily his way). Ignore challenges and insults and don’t take it personally; redirect attention to the real issue.
5. Allow the aggrieved party to suggest a solution. A person will more readily agree to a resolution that he helped formulate. And it might surprise you that the person’s suggestion may be very reasonable.
6. Move toward a win-win resolution. Preserve the individual’s dignity. Switch the focus from what you can’t do toward what you can. With the person’s permission, call in additional resources, i.e., supervisor, Human Resources, Employee Assistance Program, Security, or Police.

Well now, I’ll just get right on that. Notice there is no mention of armed resistance, inarguably the most effective way of stopping the bloodshed and coming out of the situation alive.

On second thought, I don’t think I’ll be renting this movie after all.

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