Blog Archives

State of the Jay

7/27/2014

So, 2 big things happened recently.
One, I've just become an instructor for the SAFD's Theatrical Firearm Safety Program.
Big deal in my case 1) because it's a program I wholeheartedly support and needs more instructors, and 2) I was in the 2nd or 3rd class to take it as a student when it was first fully developed about 5 years back, so it's a nice milestone for me to step up.

The second big thing is that I'm going back to Pinewood. My first seminar over at Act Tactical was so much fun they asked me to come back for more in August.

The pic says the most of it. If you're in Atlanta next month and interested, take a gander at the page for it and see if it's up your alley.

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Front firing... for now.

7/17/2014

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I hadn't planned on blogging today. The day job's been rambunctious and I more or less just wanted to chill for a while. And one thing led to window shopping.
And then I found this.

It's long, so I'll give the short version.

Maxsell is one of the companies I go to for my prop firearms. It's a small business in Florida run by a older gent named Vico who sounds like he walked off the set of the Sopranos. They sell imported prop guns (usually from Italy and Turkey), blanks, and assorted other stuff. He's pretty much stayed out of the news, outside of being sued hard by Glock a while back.

And now his shipments of stock are being seized by U.S. Customs. It's hard to tell with no opposing statement and Vico's curmudgeonly belligerence, but it looks like there's at least a degree of bureaucratic shenaniganry going on in Miami. Paperwork, fines, fees, incompetence, belligerence, you know, government stuff.

It may be another copyright and trademark suit going on (The only firearm manufacturers I know of that license their frames for blank-fire versions are Colt and Walther. Maxsell sells neither.) It may also be related to good old Chapter 76.

I'm personally inclined to believe it's the latter, if nothing else because Front firing weapons are rapidly disappearing off of various commercial sites, while top and side venting ones are staying in place.

It's really too early for me to even see what's going on, let alone make a judgement call over what should be done. But I will point out a few things.

Despite what if-it-bleeds-it-leads excuses for journalism may make it seem, there's a huge world of law and regulation hovering in the background of anything having to do with a firearm in the U.S., real or simulated. It doesn't take public outcry to change the world of guns, it takes lawyers and money.

There are indie directors and performers around the country now who have no idea of the bigger picture, in which the manner in which they fire off blanks before audience or camera is too small to even be noticed. Hell, if the state of New York can pass sweeping firearms legislation while giving no creed to their own entertainment industry (New York! For fuck's sake, New York of all places!), it's entirely possible for a small potatoes prop gun business in Florida to be paperworked off the face of the earth with scarcely a byline to note its passing.

I get hired a good bit because film culture only talks to gun culture through those who can translate between them. I'm fortunate enough to have the skills and tools to do so, and tell awesome stories and keep my people safe at the same time.

I filmed Just Blanks using weapons bought from Maxsell.

You've sold me worthy tools in the past, Vico. Here's hoping you're around long enough to sell more.

~J.

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Grading "5 Most Dangerous Guns"

7/15/2014

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So, what popped up on my feed today was this: The 5 most dangerous guns in America.

One only has to take a glance at the comments to see that the author of the piece is taking quite a pasting.

I'm neither apologizing for this article's existence nor the more tasteless comments it's spawning.
(Fwiw, I've only seen a few dozen comments, and have yet to see threats or things of that nature. If such happen, I hope to see investigation and, if warranted, prosecution.)

That said, I do want to see the record set straight.

So I'm going to grade it. Out of 100 points.

Bear in mind: this is Rolling Stone. It published Generation Kill, for fuck's sake. I am holding it accountable as far as accuracy, grammar, structure, flow, and pacing go.

Slide 1 - Deadly weapons

(Availability, portability and criminal usage are your markers? These are never used or mentioned again in the piece)

- Accurate percentages per 2012 UCR, tables 8 and 20. Good job.

Full credit.

Slide 2 - Pistols

-1 grammar: Unnecessarily hyphenated "handgun-owners."

-5 Factual error: Neither a built-in barrel (whatever that means) nor a short stock define a pistol.

-5 Factual error: a stock is not organic to the pistol, regardless of length. That said, a rare one (the Hk VP-70, the Broomhandled Mauser) have one as an attachable accessory.

-5 Factual error: Glock is a manufacturer. "Glocks" are a model line and not an individual pistol in and of itself.

-1 Incongruity: Your source for police market share (which I'm assuming is Wikipedia, as you damn near quoted it word for word) dated to 2008. Springfield XD is growing rapidly, though not at a level to replace Glocks as yet. Only taking a point for this one.

Slide 3 - revolvers

-5 Poor sentence structure: A revolver has multiple chambers contained within a cylinder that rotates.
(What the fuck is a "rotating chambered cylinder?")

- 5 Factual error: the cylinder rotates, not the barrels, with the exception of multibarreled machine guns such as the M134 Minigun.

- 5 Glaring omission: You're using action as a way to delineate firearm types? Insufficient explanation of the difference.

Slide 4 - rifles

- 5 Factual error: How many projectiles a rifle fires per trigger pull is determined by the action (automatic as opposed to semi-auto, bolt, lever, ect.), not by the fact that it's a rifle.

- 5 Historical error: Musket balls were most often loosely fit for ease of loading. Manufacturing difficulty had nothing to do with it. Muskets and rifles were used side-by-side for well over a century before the Minie ball's invention in the 1840's.

Slide 5 - Shotguns

- 1 Clarity: What is a "fixed shell?" What significant difference does it have from a rifle cartridge?

Slide 6 - Derringers

- 2.5 factual error: Jurisdictions make legal definitions. Some define a derringer, some do not.

- 5 Spelling error: "assault weapons have bee linked to..." You mean "have been?"
(You're Rolling Stone, for Fuck's sake! Proofread, dammit! )

- 5 Factual error, poor word choice: "High-capacity-magazine-assault weapons?" If you mean assault weapons that use high capacity magazines (I've given up hoping that you know what high capacity actually means in this case), then say so.

- 5 Factual error, off topic: Who links Assault weapons to mass shootings? I don't care if information is difficult to access. If you don't have it, don't claim it. If it's conjecture or speculation, say so.

- 5 Poor structure: If you're going to go and make your own definition, then say so. Also, shoehorning in an assault rifle paragraph in a slide on derringers is lazy.

-65.5

Grade: 34.5/100

- Appalling lack of research, poorly structured, and heavily damages the credibility of the stated position. The Introduction set up three statistical variables as what would determine "most dangerous," and followed only one of them. Absolutely no effort was made at determining the various capabilities of these weapons, only in forming a weak narrative that supported a weaker premise.

I expect better from Rolling Stone.

~J.

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Post - A' Viking

7/13/2014

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Ready for battle

Had a very successful workshop down at Act Tactical swinging sword & shield. All and sundry worked hard, fought hard, and learned a lot.
All pics courtesy of KMJ Photography.