The gun and owner were reunited after a history buff in Medford, who bought the old handgun in an online auction last month, tracked [...]]]> A historic Colt .45-caliber, semi-automatic pistol stolen more than 30 years ago from a Medal of Honor winner in South Carolina has been returned to its rightful owner.

The gun and owner were reunited after a history buff in Medford, who bought the old handgun in an online auction last month, tracked down the retired Marine whose name is engraved on it.

“I knew if I found him and it was his gun, I couldn’t keep it,” said George Berry, 71, who knew little about the history of the gun when he purchased it from an auction house in Pennsylvania.

The story begins when Berry, a retired Navy warrant officer who also served in the Marine Corps, decided this summer to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning one of the historic handguns.

“I’ve always wanted to own a Colt Model 1911 .45 automatic — always wanted one,” he says. “John Wayne had one in every World War II movie I’ve ever seen him in.”

Early in July, he began searching the Internet and discovered that Alderfer Auction, a well-known auction firm in Hatfield, Pa., would be offering three of the Colt .45s in a July 12 auction.

In particular, lot No. 78 caught his eye: “Colt 1911 A1 semi-automatic pistol. Cal. 45. 5″ bbl. SN 0103889. Reblued finish on all metal, plain walnut Colt grips, after-market rear sight, no magazine,” the description read.

“Faint ‘USMC’ stamped on right side of slide, partial ‘United States Property’ wording is visible,” it continued. “The name ‘John J. McGinty USMC’ stamped on left side of slide. Very good.”-[source]

Anders Behring Breivik, the alleged lone-wolf terrorist accused of shooting and killing 68 people at [...]]]> Anti-gun violence activists in the U.S. are renewing their push for new gun laws in the wake of the revelation that the alleged Norway shooter claims to have purchased high-capacity ammunition magazines from a United States retailer.

Anders Behring Breivik, the alleged lone-wolf terrorist accused of shooting and killing 68 people at a youth camp in Norway and killing eight in an Oslo bombing last week, details purchasing the ammunition in his 1,500-page manifesto.

Under the section titled, “December and January – Rifle/gun accessories purchased,” Breivik wrote that he purchased 10 30-round ammunition magazines from a U.S. supplier who mailed the devices to him.-[source]

Instead, Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has turned whistle-blower and all hell is about to [...]]]> Kenneth Melson was supposed to be the fall guy, the sacrificial lamb, the guy thrown under the bus to protect President Obama.  Melson was “expected” to resign.  He refused.

Instead, Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has turned whistle-blower and all hell is about to explode over the operation dubbed by Obama’s Justice Department “Fast and Furious” but now known as the Gunwalker scandal.

It looks like the Obama regime financed (partly with “stimulus” funds) an $80 million program to allow straw buyers to purchase hundreds of weapons from federally licensed gun shops in Southwest states, over the objection of the shop owners, and then allowed these weapons to “walk” across the Mexican border into the waiting arms of the murderous Mexican drug cartels.

At first, Justice Department spokesmen said it was a “sting gone wrong.”  Then, when many pointed out that the ATF had no jurisdiction to follow the guns across the border to make arrests, the cover story fell apart.

Melson has told congressional investigators that there is a “smoking gun” internal memo withheld from Congress indicating that “political appointees” (Obama’s) in the Justice Department were involved.  This memo and other documents are being withheld from Congress as part of a cover-up.-[source]

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) plans to offer an amendment this week protecting gun rights on land controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Currently, guns are prohibited on Corps land, even when gun possession is otherwise allowed by state law. Rep. [...]]]> Vote on Pro-gun Amendment Could Come in the House This Week

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) plans to offer an amendment this week protecting gun rights on land controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Currently, guns are prohibited on Corps land, even when gun possession is otherwise allowed by state law. Rep. Gosar’s legislation would simply remove federal restrictions and allow for the law of the states (in which such land is located) to govern firearms possession.

The Gosar amendment, modeled after the Recreational Lands Self-Defense Act (H.R. 1865) introduced by pro-gun Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), is similar to a 2009 law repealing the gun ban on National Park Service land. Army Corps of Engineers land was not part of that bill, something the Corps was quick to point out after that law took affect.

The Corps said, in a statement: “Public Law 111-024 does not apply to Corps projects or facilities . . . [and the Army Corps] will continue to prohibit loaded concealed weapons on Corps properties regardless of the new law and notwithstanding any contrary provisions of state law.”

The amendment will reverse the Corps’ decision and remedy the “oversight” of the lands bill.-[source]

- A M26A2 fragmentation grenade used against a [...]]]> If you ever watch video or look at pictures of the drug war in Mexico, you’ll notice some pretty heavy weapons. This is a war being waged with rockets and plastic explosives, not pea shooters and Saturday Night Specials. Consider these incidents:

- A M26A2 fragmentation grenade used against a U.S. Consulate in Mexico in 2008

- Explosive projectiles and 21 grenades found during a raid in Guadalupe

- An unexploded grenade and pull ring used to attack a TV station in Monterrey 

- Automatic weapons, including U.S.-made M16s, found at a cartel crime scene in May 2009

You can’t buy this stuff at a U.S. gun store. So where do the cartels get it?-[source]



The Army has released a pre-solicitation contract request, a Pentagon procedure to determine if anyone is interested in bidding for work on a replacement for the [...]]]>

The M-16 and its variants have been a soldier’s companion and lifesaver for almost 50 years. Now the Pentagon is looking to replace the venerable rifle.

The Army has released a pre-solicitation contract request, a Pentagon procedure to determine if anyone is interested in bidding for work on a replacement for the M-4 carbine.

His methods, described in new detail to The Associated Press by a counterterrorism official and a second person briefed [...]]]> Despite having no Internet access in his hideout, Osama bin Laden was a prolific email writer who built a painstaking system that kept him one step ahead of the U.S. government’s best eavesdroppers.

His methods, described in new detail to The Associated Press by a counterterrorism official and a second person briefed on the U.S. investigation, served him well for years and frustrated Western efforts to trace him through cyberspace. The arrangement allowed bin Laden to stay in touch worldwide without leaving any digital fingerprints behind.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence analysis.

Bin Laden’s system was built on discipline and trust. But it also left behind an extensive archive of email exchanges for the U.S. to scour. The trove of electronic records pulled out of his compound after he was killed last week is revealing thousands of messages and potentially hundreds of email addresses, the AP has learned.

Holed up in his walled compound in northeast Pakistan with no phone or Internet capabilities, bin Laden would type a message on his computer without an Internet connection, then save it using a thumb-sized flash drive. He then passed the flash drive to a trusted courier, who would head for a distant Internet café.

At that location, the courier would plug the memory drive into a computer, copy bin Laden’s message into an email and send it. Reversing the process, the courier would copy any incoming email to the flash drive and return to the compound, where bin Laden would read his messages offline.-[source]

Brewer believed it was prudent to sign the bill giving her additional authority but has no immediate plans [...]]]> Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday signed a bill authorizing the creation of a state guard — a militia force that could be mobilized if the National Guard is unavailable or “for any reason” considered necessary by the governor.

Brewer believed it was prudent to sign the bill giving her additional authority but has no immediate plans to actually create the force, spokesman Matt Benson said. “It doesn’t force the governor to do anything.”

The bill signed Thursday would authorize an Arizona governor to establish the state guard to protect lives and property. Under the bill, the governor could do that if the National Guard or a bit part of it is mobilized for federal duty or “for any reason the governor considers to be necessary.”

The Arizona Constitution authorizes a militia, and current state law specifies that the militia consists of the National Guard, the Arizona state guard “when organized” and the “unorganized militia.”-[source]

‏And the horrific shooting in Tucson earlier this year is just another example, as a string of anti-gun bills have been introduced recently. You may have seen a television ad about one of them: H.R. 308, [...]]]> Like vultures, anti-gun congressmen are always picking the bones of some national tragedy looking for political advantage.

‏And the horrific shooting in Tucson earlier this year is just another example, as a string of anti-gun bills have been introduced recently. You may have seen a television ad about one of them: H.R. 308, introduced by gun-hating Carolyn McCarthy less than two weeks after the shooting, would ban so-called “high-capacity” magazines.‏

“I think when you think about just common sense here, large capacity clips [sic] that can basically, in my opinion, be weapons of mass destruction, should not be available to the average citizen,” McCarthy said in an NPR interview.

‏But in virtually every way possible, Arizona shooter Jared Loughner is testimony to a generation of failed gun control.‏

Remember when, in 1968, we were told that if felons and other undesirables were prohibited from having guns, gun crime would stop? Well, Loughner was not a felon. Likewise, he was not an illegal, military deserter, or a fugitive from justice.

‏Remember when, in 1993, we were assured that if gun purchasers were “checked out” against an FBI database, gun crime would stop? Loughner was checked out by the FBI; he passed.‏

Remember when, in 1999 after Columbine, we were told that if we cracked down on gun shows, gun crime would stop? That crackdown didn’t pass, but Loughner didn’t buy his gun at a gun show.

‏Remember when, after Virginia Tech, we were told that if we sent more of Americans’ mental health records to the FBI’s secret list, gun crime would stop? Loughner’s name wasn’t on the FBI expanded list because he hadn’t been “adjudicated as a mental defective” or “committed to a mental institution.”‏

Now we are told by McCarthy and her ilk that the solution to tragedies like the one in Tucson consists of banning what are, in her opinion, “high-capacity” magazines.-[source]