Hi, Kids! Say hello to the Look-Alike Weapons Safety Act of 2013.

What does it do?

- Current commerce code says that imitation guns sold in the U.S. have to be either completely made of bright-colored material or have a bright orange plug in the muzzle. This Act changes the law to only allow imitation guns with their entire body brightly colored.

Um, Why?

Ostensibly the law is a reaction to the deaths of Tamir Rice and John Crawford. Both were holding realistic airsoft imitation guns when they were shot and killed by police in 2014. The idea being that easily removed or covered orange tips are no longer a viable safety measure in helping police identify a fake from a real gun.

Will it work?

Without getting into a pages-long lecture about the factors that play in a shoot/don't shoot scenario, the short answer is "pretty unlikely."

What are the side effects?

The airsoft sport will suffer, as realistic weapons are a big part of the sport's appeal. Certain reenactors (WWII in particular) will find their supply of weapons drying up overnight, as will the entertainment industry.

What if I just buy some of these bright orange ones and paint them black?

Depends on whose lawyar interperets the commerce code. On the one hand, if they're yours, then you're not buying, selling, or transporting over state lines, you might be good. On the other hand, they might be "entered into commerce." Nobody's so far been charged with the current law, so there's no real case studies to follow.

So, worst case scenario, it's a Federal Offense with no precedent. If you want to risk some prosecutor wanting to make an example of someone...

Wait, isn't there a waiver or something for the entertainment industry?

Technically, yes, but it's a one-at-a-time waiver from the Secretary of Commerce. From what I hear, similar waivers are available today for doing without the orange tips. I'm told the office processes only a handful of waivers a year.

So, get a waiver and make my John Woo tribute series! Let the Hollow-eyed hippies have their bullshit!

Not so fast, cupcake. YOU might be willing to do the paperwork for however many fake guns you want to own. How many manufacturers do you think are willing to? How many wholesalers? How many retailers? This law intentionally shrinks that market to custom fabricators willing to do the paperwork (and cheerfully pass the expense, time and effort on to you).

That Sucks! Who's responsible for this bullshit?

That would be Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Yes, I know we're all shocked that this comes from a California Democrat.

Fuck That! I'm moving to her district and voting her out!

Good initiative, but a little extreme. Besides, she's already retiring. And then you're stuck in California, which has an identical state law that went into effect in January.

Wait, you mean this bullshit can become law?

Maybe. California's law was signed by Gov. Brown back in September, and Ohio (where both Rice and Crawdord lived and died) has a similar bill going around at the state level.

Federally? Unlikely with the Republicans controlling both chambers, but unlikely doesn't mean impossible. I give it one chance in five, and that's being generous.

That's all for today, folks.

~J

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.

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.

Yep. You read that right.
I'm justifying teacupping.
Hell, I've done so once in a private class and once on a gig in the past month, I might as well keep at it.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, "teacupping" is a derogatory term used for a certain way of gripping a handgun that's currently out of favor.

In fact, nowadays I'd have to say in the top ten of "things to make your firearm advisor happy on set," "not teacupping" might rank just below "calling it a magazine, not a clip," and "not flagging me."

So, what is it? What makes it a bad thing? (if it even is a bad thing?) Why the bad rap?

History lesson time.

For the bulk of its existence, the pistol was a one-handed weapon. Once technology could scale down from the "handgonnes" of earlier times, the pistol became a favored backup weapon alongside the saber and cutlass, not to mention reins or rigging. Until WWI, U.S. Army holsters were designed to cross-draw, reflecting a right-handed officer's instinct to use the sword with the right hand and pistol with the left.  

Here and there, two-handed grips were used for whatever reason, but on an ad hoc basis. It's my personal belief that the first use of a two-handed grip was what we now call The Teacup.

This grip is almost invariably the first two-handed grip that an untrained shooter uses.

The reason is simple. With the pistol operable with one hand, the other is relegated to a support role. The most immediately needed support to a new shooter the vast majority of the time isn't against recoil, but against weight. Pistols are heavy, so the support hand naturally rests under the butt to take some of the weight off of the shooting hand.

Looking at it this way, teacupping is the untrained, but natural and instinctive response to having to hold a pistol two-handed.

It felt so natural the U.S. Army was recommending it in WWII.

(Teacupping ensues at 5:20)

So, if teacupping is a natural and instinctive response, what's the big deal?

Well, the major sin of teacupping these days is inefficiency at worst. When actually shooting, the support hand offers no support against the force of the shot (what with coming from the wrong direction and all), leaving the shooting arm to absorb the recoil.

There's a couple different ways to be more efficient. Jack Weaver took a teacup and turned it into a sort of piston grip by having the support hand pull back while the shooting hand pushed forward. This helped get the pistol back on target after the force of the shot lifted the muzzle up.

The most popular grip these days, however, seems to be a wraparound of one kind or another.

In this particular case, the support hand comes up on the side, fingers sliding into the grooves left on the grip by the fingers of the shooting hand. The shooting hand's thumb curls down and forward, paralleling the thumb of the support hand.

(Hint: if you ever hear gun enthusiasts yell "thumbs forward!" while watching an action scene, this is what they're talking about.)

What this grip ends up doing is keeping the grip balanced between both hands, giving the shooter the strength of both arms (and in some instances, the torso) to alleviate the effects of recoil.

That's pretty much it.

So, why teacup in a gunfighting scene if you know that?

Any number of reasons: an untrained character, a period piece (wraparound grips didn't become popular until the great pistol technique argument was kicked off by folks like Cooper, Weaver, and Chapman in the late 50's-early 60's), character fatigue or injury (where a steady shot is more important than recovery for follow-up shots), or any number of other reasons.

I can recognize the teacup isn't the best grip out there. But it's there for a reason. And knowing why and how lets me and my performers come to a more informed choice, and ultimately, a more nuanced story.

~J.

The 2014 A-Town Throwdown has come and gone.
I love combat workshops. Color me addicted. Having one nearly in my backyard has made the Throwdown a special one for me since it began 4 years ago.
And of course, the second that happened I had to attend to everything else that was on my desk, so here's the big points:

~ Knife and hawk throwing outdoors was greeted by some sunny but cool weather on the first day. I've been working on some hawk tricks, but my throwing knife collection is somewhat limited. Getting to play with a variety of blades, throwers and targets is always fun.

~ Renewed small sword (with a Terry Pratchett scene against an old friend, no less). It's a rarely used weapon, but it's really elegant (and nasty, if used right).

~ Taught an intro (theatrical) firearms class. Fun had all around. Had a serious "I feel old" moment when I realized less than a quarter of the class had ever seen The Crow. That muffled sound in my closet is the pile of black t-shirts weeping at their own irrelevance.

~ As is my wont, brought a handful of my colleagues to Cafe Istanbul. One of my favorite places in Atlanta, and one of them is just up the highway from the workshop. Pillow seating, incredible food, talented belly dancers, it's a me kind of place. 

~ Capped off the three-day workshop by going right back to training day Monday. My friend Sara stuck around to pick up some gun tricks, so we mainly concentrated on those between us and Kat (my go-to assistant, who has a firearm-heavy feature coming up). But even unofficially extended events must come to an end, and I had an important date with some arnica and tiger balm.

Mixed in and around this is more good conversation and time with some of the best friends and colleagues a Barbarian could ask for. Even more fun is that my lady got to come out and hang around with the other fighters. (She's met many over the years, and is rather fond of quite a few. But she's not in the industry at all, and consequently rarely gets to see many of them).

Can't wait until next year.

Anyways, more fun stuff on the horizon. Inevitable gets released on the web May 27th. I did a little fight work and appeared in a small role for that a while back. I'm doing pre-vis work for a project I'm not at liberty to discuss (my colleagues have been calling it the Vague Project of Vagueness. Eh well, Blue Harvest was already taken). A couple of articles are still in draft form, and of course there's knives and leather and more kniv

Today in my home state of GA, Gov. Deal signed into law what's officially known as HB 60, or the Safe Carry Protection Act, and what the Brady crew have been referring to as the "Guns Everywhere Act."

Since no news outlet I've seen has actually detailed what the provisions are, I just went through the entire bill, translated the changes into simpler language, and added my own commentary.

If you'd like to check my work, here's the Bill Itself.

And for cross-referencing, you'll find the GA title code here and here.

My comments will be in Italics.


Section 1-2
- An exception in housing law. It prohibits landlords from banning or restricting lawful gun ownership from their tenants, unless federal law says otherwise.

No, you don't get to discriminate against the law-abiding because you don't like guns.


Section 1-2A
- Makes using suppressors while hunting illegal, unless on private property with the owner's permission.

I'm not a hunter, but at first glance, this looks like an enforcement on hunting season restrictions (by keeping people from hunting out of season in a way that won't be easily noticed).


Section 1-3
- revises a code on justified use of force.

More or less just clarifies which article of GA code to get your definitions from.


Section 1-4

- Private property owners can decree who carries and who can't. If they don't want you to do so, they're within their rights to not let you enter or kick you out.

Essentially, this clarifies that being armed on private property where the owner doesn't want you armed is trespassing, and treated as such.


Section 1-5

- Allows carrying in Bars, unless the owner specifically prohibits doing so.
- Allows carrying in churches if the church authorities allow it.

Bars=can opt out. Churches=have to opt in.

Carrying is still prohibited in jails, courthouses, mental health facilities, and nuclear power facilities.

Carry is allowed in government buildings that are open for business and do not have security screening. Although if there is screening, a CCW holder just has to leave the area upon being discovered to be armed. (for non-CCW holders, it's a misdemeanor)

Yes, kids, drinking and carrying is still illegal. That said, why disarm your Designated Driver?

Section 1-6 (Guns on campus section)

- Allows "A duly authorized official of a school... local boards of education" to allow someone to possess a weapon on school property they would otherwise not be permitted to. "Such authorization shall specify the weapon or weapons which have been authorized and the time period during which the authorization is valid."

I'm not sure what exactly was the impetus behind this one, but as a fight choreographer who occasionally works on campus, having a framework in state law to provision the need for me to legally have weapons  and weapon-style props on campus will make my job a lot easier in the future. 

- Allows a CCW holder to have a weapon in their vehicle parked on campus.
(Elementary, middle, and High school students with hunting liscences are specifically an exception. No going straight from class to hunting)

I hated having to park off-campus when I carried as a college student and left my pistol locked in the glovebox. Picking up a kid from school shouldn't mean that you have to be disarmed the entire day when you're out of the house.

I think this was the section that was watered down the most from the original proposal. Senator Carter (Jimmy's grandson) was bragging in one article that he'd kept it from being "worse," by which I assume he meant that he got campus carry out of it. Ass.

Section 1-7

- Focuses on eligibility requirements for CCW
- requires a guilty verdict for conviction (previous version included nolo contendere and such)
- Allows an 18 y/o servicemember who has finished basic to apply for a CCW (for all others, the age is 21)
- Institutes a time limit on applying after a license has been revoked (3 years, in this case)
- Prohibits applications by those found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity.
- Allows petitions of relief of various prohibitions. (looks like a "jump through enough hoops to damn well prove you've paid your debt to society" kind of thing)
- Allows private GBI approved fingerprinters to fingerprint applicants for the background check. Does not require fingerprinting for renewals.
- No multijurisdictional database of CCW holders may be created or maintained.
- A judge has to confirm whether or not a CCW was issued, but cannot give out further information on the license holders.

A lot of this is administrative cleanup, but allowing for 18 y/o servicemembers to carry is a very positive step in my eyes. If they can carry to defend us, they can carry amongst us.

Section 1-8

- Expands eligibility of CCW for various types of judges and retired judges.

Section 1-9 (The "arming teachers" section and the airport part)

- Gives local school boards and administrators the option to form a policy that allows certain school employees to possess and/or carry weapons.
The policy must include:
- mandated training (which can include prior military or LE service training)
- lists of Approved weapon types, ammunition types, and authorized quantities
- exclusion of personnel with a history of mental or emotional instability.
- mandated method of securing the weapons used.
- such personnel are required to be licensed, and the local board of education is responsible for background checking them
- Being an armed school employee is strictly voluntary.
- The local board of education is responsible for the costs. That said, the approved-to-be-armed school employees can pay themselves if they so choose, or apply for sponsorships, grants and suchlike to do so instead.
- Records of which school employees are armed are considered exempt-from-disclosure.

Another part that caused a flood of bitching from the left. Oh me, oh my, without the blue island of Atlanta in the midst of this backwater red state, who knows what these crazy local school boards will do with such terrible POWER?

I dunno, maybe be the adults entrusted with our children that we've empowered them to be?


Airports
- Can carry outside restricted areas.
- If they do carry inside a restricted area and are discovered, they have to leave immediately, otherwise it's a misdemeanor charge.
- Doing this sort of thing while intending to commit another felony, makes it a felony in and of itself.
- renders null and void any county, city, or local law that contradicts this one.

I don't think this is an expansion of weapons carry more than a way to get Hartsfield running smoother. As it stood before this law, if Jimbo from the gun show packed the wrong carry-on that still had a pistol inside from a range trip, there was a hue and cry, fines, jail time, TSA applauding themselves on actually finding something, DHS filling out forms,  and more important: delays out the ass.
With this law, he just has to grab his stuff and walk away. Yeah, he'll lose his flight for his lapse in judgement, but everyone else will get to go about their business as usual. I don't see much to not like here.


Section 1-10
- If you're a CCW holder, have it on you at all times when carrying a weapon.
- A weapon carrier will not be detained for the sole purpose of finding out whether or not they're licensed.
- Not having your license on your is a $10 fine.

Some police officials have spoken out against this one. I can see their point, but at the same time, I'm all for seeing weapons carry not being a crime, while misuse of weapons still being crimes. And if it's denial of a profile tool, so much the better. I have no idea if something along the lines of "Carrying while Black," is a thing, but if it is, good on this provision for acting against it.

- Self defense is an absolute defense to any Chapter 11 offense.

Self defense even with a weapon you're not supposed to have is still self defense.
Even felons have the right to defend themselves.


Section 1-11

- The GA General assembly is the only one who regulates firearm commerce in GA.
- Allows Sheriffs and D.A.'s to regulate issue firearms to deputies in their jurisdictions.

Not sure about this one. Eliminating the firearms equivalent of "dry counties," maybe?


Section 1-12

- Self defense is an absolute defense to a violation of a public transport safety law.

This one, like section 1-10 above, has been lambasted as an extension of GA's Stand Your Ground laws. Without going into a whole 'nother post about how SYG is mislabeled, I will say that these provisions look more like a prevention on selective sentencing.

No, a felon isn't legally supposed to possess a handgun. But if one is attacked and defends themselves with one, there's something a tad fucked up about dropping charges of murder/manslaughter on self-defense grounds, then turning around and charging the same person with possession of the weapon that saved their lives.

I can also see this provision aiding in some of our lousier sentencing habits (AKA putting women who kill their abusive S.O.'s in self-defense behind bars, which happens way too damn often).


Section 1-13

- Amending and adding what mental health records will be submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background check system.

Admin cleanup. Moving on.


Section 1-14

Repeals chapter 16 of title 43 of the Georgia code, relating to firearm dealers.

Wait, what?

If I'm reading this right, and I think I am, GA's book of law on firearms dealers has been struck down in its entirety. Either that Chapter is being rewritten for whole cloth, or ordinary GA business and Federal Firearms Dealer laws are currently what regulate GA dealers.

I THINK it's the former, but I can't find evidence of that.


Section 2-2

- Prohibits confiscation, registration, or prohibition of possession or carry of privately owned weapons during a state of emergency.

Apparently this sort of confiscation happened all over the place during Hurricane Katrina. Don't see a downside to this one being in place.


Section 2-3

- Denies the Governor the emergency power to prohibit firearm or ammunition sales.

See my commentary on section 2-2

The rest of the sections are just minor corrections, updating where reference points are now in the current edition versus where they are now.


*********************************

So, Guns Everywhere?

Not really.

Yeah, it's opened up somewhat. For the most part, it's still respecting private property owners while loosening some of the dumber location-based carry restrictions. The biggest potential change is the wiping the slate clean of dealer laws, which was pretty much ignored by the press.

As for the school parts, it offers reasonable guidelines for a local school board to decide on their own if they want to take those steps. It's not a mandate by any means, but it keeps the option on the table, which beats the no-way-no-how alternative that hasn't worked.

The self-defense expansions may seem wide-reaching, but they highlight something that has plagued self-defense for generations: costly and often vicious court battles that often do more damage than the initial conflict the defender survived in the first place. They honestly look like perhaps overly broad but honest attempts to alleviate some of that.

So, what do you think?

~J.

Been a busy time the last month and change.

The biggest for anyone reading this is the move of the site over to the current digs, which are much, much easier on my limited coding skills. Between a host and a wysiwyg editor that even a savage like me can understand, I got this place up and running in an afternoon, where the old site would have taken me weeks. As an unfortunate consequence, the old email (Jay at Jaythebarbarian dot com) no longer exists. It was mostly a redirect anyway, and there's a handy button at the top that will accomplish the same thing.

Went up to Cincinnati OH to T.A. at the Cease & Desist workshop. Fun was had all round, saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones. Actually went up a day early to go shooting with some friends. Ready Line outside Cincy is a brand new facility with a really nice setup.

Did some work on Public Enemy #1 (an action-comedy short) and a music video for a film school bud of mine, along with a day of military advisement for a production of Ruined.  

Gig-wise, its been a tad slow lately. But I haven't minded, as that means I've had the time to photograph and catalog my rental stock page. Local business has already picked up, and made the "Jay, do you have a ...?" questions answerable with a quick url.

And in the coming soon section, the Theatrical Firearms Handbook, penned by Kevin Inouye over at Fight Designer. Definitely looking forward to this one.

Spent the last several days in the shop, making about a dozen viking-style round shields. By the end I may well have enough to build a literal wall.

~J.

Oh yeah, my new business cards came in the other day, too.