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An article in the Daily Toreador had the headline “Cardone: Gun ownership good, guns on campus bad” and its actually one of the better articles written since the UT campus suicide.  However there are some issues I have with this article.  The premise of this article is that concealed carry on campus is a bad thing, and should continue to be prohibited.  I have to disagree, and to argue against the article I must address facts and not the emotional conclusions made by the author.

First off the article says the suspect used an assault rifle.  The weapon that was used in this case was reported to be an AK-47, there are conflicting reports of it being full auto or semi-auto.  To be completely honest a full auto rifle is difficult and expensive to purchase legally, so we can pretty much assume the rifle was a semi-auto or illegal.  The difference between a semi-auto rifle and a so called “assault weapon” from the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban is features like a pistol grip, detachable magazine, bayonet lug, ect.  These features do nothing to make the weapon more dangerous, they just make it look different, and in some cases they make the firearm more ergonomic.

The next issue we must address is the contention that the suspect would have fought back if confronted by an armed student.  I’ll take the author’s word for this as I lost my crystal ball that lets me see into alternate universes.  So why is it ok for police to confront the shooter and possibly start a gun fight, but require students to become victims should the shooter decide to kill them?

The author next points out that almost every college has it’s own police department.  He then states that these officers are better able to decide on and execute a plan without the loss of innocent life than any gun owner.  Really?  So an armed former soldier who is attending school on the GI Bill after doing urban combat overseas is not as capable of defending his life in the next 10 seconds as an officer who is only minutes away?  And the victims who are killed by the gunman waiting for the police to come save them, are they not innocent lives?

After talking about the professionals who are better equipped to save innocent lives than the victims themselves he then claims that the DPS is incompetent.  For the record the DPS is the state police force.

After that the author says that after completely the CHL course that a licensee might be competent to defend themselves and their family in their home, but its a different matter when it comes to a school campus.  One doesn’t need a CHL to have a gun in their home, one needs a CHL to carry on their person away from their home and their vehicle.

Finally the author asks is it reasonable to expect a student to make life and death decisions about shooting people when all they have shot is a paper target and maybe a running deer.  Last I checked those highly trained professional police officers shoot paper targets, because I doubt someone is using the public or prisoners as targets for police qualifications.

So while this may be the best article I have seen on this subject since the UT Campus suicide by AK-47, it still has too many holes in the logic and too many contradictions.

My top two favorite firearms are not in this image, but these are the next six on my list of favorite firearms.

Six of my favorite firearms

The topmost firearm is a FNAR .  Below that we have from left to right a Kimber Custom TLE II, a Ruger Super Blackhawk, and an XDm-45.  Below them we have a Howa Axiom 1500 and on the bottom is my custom built 6.8 SPC.

The FNAR features a Heavy Barrel, a Nikon Scope, and and has two twenty round magazines.  I still have all the factory accessories and really enjoy shooting this rifle as it is so accurate.

The TLE II might be the most accurate non-custom factory handgun I have ever shot.  This thing is actually more accurate than many custom handguns I have shot.  I do not know if this one is just an exceptional piece, or if it is typical of the line.  I will say it is impossible to tell a difference between its accuracy and that of my Kimber Custom Shop Pro Covert II.

Chambered in .44 magnum the Ruger Super Blackhawk is possibly in this group due to my love of single action wheel guns.  However it maybe in this group because it is just too much fun to shoot, what ever the reason it is accurate, powerful, and effective.

The XDm-45 was purchased because I already owned one of the first 5000 XDm-40 pistols made and it is an amazing firearm.  The XDm-45 had a terrible trigger out of the box, in fact it was the worst example I have felt from any Springfield Armory product.  A visit to Powder River Precision’s website, my Credit Card number, and a little time resolved that issue and the gun can now take its place as one of my favorites.

The Howa 1500 came from the factory with an Axiom stock and is chambered in .270 Winchester.  It came from the factory with the scope, rings, and bases in the picture which will remain on the gun until they give me a reason to change them.  I originally wanted this gun simply because it looked like something that would drive the gun banners nuts, that and the fact it was a .270.  The first time I took it to the range I got asked questions along the lines of “What is that?” and “Where can I get one?”  I also got comments like “That is the coolest gun I have ever seen.” and “It looks like a combination of an assault weapon and a sniper rifle, the Brady’s will really want this one banned.”  It took nearly 15 minutes to explain that there really is no such thing as an assault weapon.

Finally we come to my optic-less 6.8.  This rifle was a custom build by myself and features a custom ordered barrel.  Chambered in 6.8SPC and built for hog hunting this rifle is nothing but fun.  I have mounted a number of different optics and sighting solutions on it but I can’t find a solution that does the thing justice.  I’ve tried iron sights, day scopes, night vision scopes, and haven’t been able to make a decision yet.  Maybe I will get an EOTech and magnifier combo, or maybe something from Trijicon.  Who knows it could even end up with something even more expensive than itself.  Regardless of its current configuration, this rifle has been amazingly accurate with every optic mounted on it, and to be honest I think it maybe the most accurate firearm I own (maybe).

Now with all that said the common theme among all of these firearms isn’t the pistol grip, its the accuracy and effectiveness of them.

I’ve got everything moved, I still need to tweak the gallery some but everything works as much as I need it to right now.

I have recently started having issues with people hot linking my images and as a result I have started taking steps against it.  if you see the image found at the bottom of this post somewhere and you think I posted the image then please send me an email to admin@gaheath.com and I will look into it.  You should know that the color scheme was picked because I felt it would best catch peoples attention and make hot linkers look like idiots.  thanks for your time and consideration.

The Taurus Judge is the five shot revolver that shoots both .45 Long Colt and .410 Shot shells, and there is a new smaller version called the Public Defender. The new Public Defender model appears to be aimed at the concealed carry market where the previous model seems to target vehicle carry and snake killing.  Being smaller and lighter I expect the new Public Defender to behave differently when fired. Overall I expect my new Judge to be a completely different experience than my full sized model.

Taurus Judge Public Defender

Continue reading ‘A Meeting with the Public Defender.’ »

I tend to buy guns that I have an interest in.  For some it may be a rotating barrel, others it may be history, and others it may be function or form.  But for one reason or another I am interested in each and every gun I get.  The Taurus PT 24/7 OSS interested me for a number of reasons including the Double Action and Single Action functions, decocker, and feel.  Overall I expect good things from this pistol.

Continue reading ‘Taurus PT 24/7 OSS in .45 ACP’ »

I am still in the process of upgrading my online presence to something a bit more modern, wait you haven’t heard about that?  I must have forgotten to tell anyone.  Anyway I have setup a FaceBook account that can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/GAHeath.texas.  I have also setup a MySpace page that can be seen at http://www.myspace.com/ga_heath.  Finally I have also setup a Twitter Account that can be seen at http://twitter.com/GAHeath.  Normally I don’t like making a post with a ton of links because it looks a lot like spam but in this case I decided go against the norm and do so.

Now that I own a Beretta PX4 Model C and a Springfield Armory XDm I feel I should compare them. Both guns are designed with ergonomics in mind. Both guns are comparable in price range with the XDm costing a little more, but it comes with a few more accessories and a nicer case. Both have similar features and similar capacity. In the end I expect these firearms to have similar capabilities and performance.

Continue reading ‘Beretta PX4 Storm vs Springfield Armory XDm’ »

The Taurus Judge is the five shot revolver that shoots both .45 Long Colt and .410 Shot shells. There are two chamber options for the Judge: one with the original two and a half inch chamber, and another with the three inch magnum chamber. On The Taurus website they claim the Judge gets its name from the number of Judges carrying them. If thats true or just a marketing gimmick I don’t know, and to be honest I could care less. With an advertised empty weight of 29 ounces, a three inch barrel (there is a six inch barrel version) and a chamber capable of chambering .410 shot shells this handgun is being pushed as a self defense gun. Some have suggested that the judge is suitable as a snake gun, general outdoor gun, Car gun, Carry Gun, and so forth. Personally I bought the Judge because I think it will make an excellent gun to shoot for recreation.

The Judge and ammo.

Continue reading ‘Judgement day for “The Judge”’ »

One of our greatest leaders in this country once gave a great speech in which the introduction from that speech applies to gun owners today.  Today as gun owners we are divided, and as Abraham Lincoln “A house divided against itself cannot stand.“  It is important to note that we gun owners are currently divided against each other and we must unite or we will loose.  Perhaps it is time for each of the different camps to spend a little time in each others shoes,  I like to think of myself as a Balanced gun owner and I hope that you also, or at the very least are willing to become one.

There are currently 5 camps in the gun owners world, members of which are dead set on “These other gun owners want to toss me under the bus” mentality.  The first camp is called the “Fudds” by the others.  They are hunters and outdoorsmen who who’s firearms are threatened every time there stories and potential legisilation about “sniper rifles”.  The second camp is called the “Rambo’s wannabe’s” by their peers.  They own and shoot “Evil Black Rifles” that were banned under the Clinton so-called “Assault Weapons Ban.”  The third camp that is responsible for the in fighting are called the “Wyatt Earps” or “Doc Holidays” by their peers.  They carry guns on their person and have a more defensive nature for their firearms.  The next camp we come to is the “Professionals” whose lives may depend on their firearms.  The Professionals carry and use firearms as part of their job which could be Law Enforcement, Security, or Military.  Finally we have the “Competitors” camp who use firearms to compete in sanctioned competitions.

The Clinton so called “Assault Weapons Ban” affected Some of the “Fudds”, had a serious impact on the “Rambo Wannabes”, affected the “Wyatt Earps”/”Doc Holidays”, Affected the non-government portion of the “Professionals”, and impacted the “Competitors” showing that we all can be hurt by bad legislation.  The current political climate is ripe for an effort to repeat a greatly expanded and much more permanent so called “Assult Weapons Ban” that will affect firearms that were not included in the original.  If this happens we may never again see the level of freedom we enjoy today.

Once more we come back to the quote “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  Our opponents are united against us and yet we have all been calling each other names and fighting over minor things, this must change or we will loose our rights.  First off lets refer to each other as gun owners, Second lets get membership up in groups that defend our rights, Third lets go and join at least one of the other camps.  Finally lets contact the politicians and let them know that if they attempt to take away our rights then they will loose their jobs.  Should we do this as a united mass of gun owners they will have to listen.  If we try it as five different camps then they will say “We have to ban the very dangerous assault weapons, but it will only be those.”  Next it maybe “We have to stop people from carrying a gun anywhere they feel like so we are banning carrying of arms in public, but thats all we intend to do.”  Then it maybe “We have to ban those extremely dangerous sniper rifles that ignore bullet proof vests, but those are all we will ban.”  Finally they will come to the competitors who will have to have their firearms stored in a government approved facility and can only use them when when allowed for practice and competition.  Eventually they will even turn on the professionals who will not be able to carry unless they are working and have a so called “legitimate” need for them.

I hunt with an AR15 while my daily carry stays concealed on me, so I like to think of myself as a balanced gun owner.  I try not to see “Fudds”, “Rambo wannabes”, “Wyatt Earps”/”Doc Holidays”, Professionals, or competitors as I prefer to see “gun owners”.  I try to introduce new people to the shooting sports, I have signed up people for the NRA and I have encouraged people to join the other gun owners groups.  I strongly believe that we must unite our divided house before it falls in on our heads.  Will you join with me and unite with other gun owners before its too late?