Firearms Background Checks and Gun Control Facts

4 Facts about Firearms Background Checks and Gun Control
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Today’s guest post is from Jane Smith

Whether or not you believe that firearm background checks should be required to purchase firearms, most firearms dealers in the United States do perform such checks after the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act was passed in the 1990s. As a responsible gun owner, it’s important to know basic facts about background checks and other standards of federal and state gun control. Here’s what you need to know.

1.An individual is not allowed to own a gun if a background check reveals a specific criminal history.

Of course, a prospective gun buyer is not automatically disqualified from owning a gun if he or she has had any sort of criminal history. However, in accordance with the Brady Act, a firearms dealer cannot sell a firearm to a person whose background check indicates that he or she has/is

Persons Disallowed Firearm Purchases

  • Been convicted of or is under indictment for a felony punishable by up to one year in prison.
  • Been convicted of a felony punishable up to two years in prison.
  • Renounced American citizenship
  • A fugitive
  • An illegal immigrant
  • Been deemed mentally unstable by any institution.
  • Used illegal controlled substances

2.If a background check cannot be cleared in three business days, a firearms dealer is allowed to sell the firearm.

Most background checks for purchasing firearms are issued to dealers in a matter of minutes. Firearms dealers have access to national database that streamlines the background check process. Delays mostly only take a couple of hours. If, however, a background check has been delayed by three business days, the firearms dealer may sell the firearm without a background check.

3.It is illegal to privately sell a firearm across state lines.
This is an important rule to keep in mind if you happen to want to sell any of your firearms to an individual privately. While you can sell a firearm to another individual, the transaction must occur within the state that you reside.

4.It is illegal to sell a firearm privately if you know or have reasonable suspicion that the prospective buyer has a criminal history.

Again, this is another important regulation to remember. Of course, it’s entirely possible that you may accidentally sell a firearm to a criminal. But if you have reasonable doubt about the buyer’s criminal background or mental instability, you can be held liable.

Gun control in the United States is ever-evolving, and as the government increasingly encroaches on our freedoms, it may be more and more difficult for a law-abiding citizen to purchase and keep a firearm. Even so, it’s important for all gun owners to be aware of the laws and how it may affect them.

Preparing for Disaster with Your Child

DIY: Bottle Cap Candle
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Today I have a guest Post from Nancy Parker on Preparing for Disaster with Your Child

There are many different kinds of disaster sand they are always out of the human’s control. As an adult you know how to prepare and what to do during a disaster, but what about the children? Some adults neglect to teach their child what to do base on the fact it could ‘never happen’ to them. Before it’s too late, here are ways to help you prepare your child for a disaster:

It is always good to keep your child informed of possible and potential disasters. Now this doesn’t mean that you educate them to the point where they live in fear but that they understand the potential disaster. When teaching them about disasters, keep the conversation upbeat and positive by stating that there is a solution to the disaster. Keep the conversations short, allow for questions and answer honestly.

Always be prepared, that is the best advice for a disaster. Get the supplies that you need to help yourself during a disaster. For example if it’s preparing for bad weather gather the tools you need like candles, emergency radios, food and water. Teach your child what is needed in certain disasters so that they know what is available for them, if ever needed.

Plan:

You should always have an emergency plan for you and your child for any dangerous situation. Teach them the first they should do for different disasters. Write out a simple and easy least that they can read. Typically that emergency plan should start with listen to an adult’s advice and/or call 911.

Practice:

Once you have purchased the correct safety tools and figured out the right plan, practice. Practicing with your child what to do during a disaster will help them if the time comes. Explain during the practice the procedures that they need to take and why. Practice this emergency plan every few months.

Reaction:

The most important advice that regency officials can give people during a disaster is to remain calm. Teach your child to remain calm during emergencies. You can do this by leading by example, if you remain calm you child is more likely to remain calm. Disasters have the potential to be worse if there is fear and panic to cause confusion and difficulty.

Disasters can’t be avoided but they can be lessened the more you are prepared and ready for one. Teaching your child this will help you and them in any future events. Remember above anything else, remain calm and work with them on the emergency plan.

Replace a Jerry Can Cap with a Drum Bung

Replace a Jerry Can Cap with a Drum Bung

 

5 Gallon Jerry Can Tip
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The CARB compliant gas can law means all gas cans and gas can lids sold in this country have to have a vapor lock on them. The extra spillage associated with the new caps causes a lot more hazardous material to be released than the vapor it was trying to prevent.  Which by the way is still released when you open the darn thing.  That matters because you cannot buy caps for the military 5 gallon jerry cans anymore.

I have seen several functional 5 Gallon Jerry Can gas containers in surplus stores around Tennessee, but I never bought them because they did not have lids.

Jerry Can Comes from the GI Term for Germans

Imagine my surprise when I realized that when we stole the idea from the Germans in North Africa during WWII.  Then, we redesigned the cans to use standard bungs from steel drums.

I did not want to take this at face value.  To investigate, I went to Nashville Drum and Barrel to get a bung as well as a steel drum for a homemade charcoal post I am working on.

I do not get any compensation from them; they just have always treated me right.  Therefore I wanted to pass their information to those interested. They are located in Fairview TN and their phone number is 615-799-9449.

The reason I like these guys is not just that they are the only game in town for small purchases, but because when I tell them what I am doing, they try to get me a used drum that best fits the intended purpose.

They will not sell you a used barrel for projects involving potable water.  However, they will tell you what was in the drum you are buying.  That is nice when you are making a rain barrel or a barrelponic setup.

Sometimes when I go to other stores and explain what I need and what I need it to do the clerks get funny looks and tell me they don’t have the parts.   When I went to the drum store and tell them what I want they help me the best they can.  When I told them about the bung fitting the jerry can, I was pleasantly surprised when they gave me a drum bung just because they thought it was interesting.

Jerry Cans are Great for Preppers

So to get back on topic, the bung fit the jerry can perfectly.  Now, I have a spare for my gas can.  From now on every time I find a jerry can on sale without a lid I buy it.

They are perfect for preppers, 5 gallons is a fine balance of weight for one man to carry, and capacity. They are strong, easy to store and stack, and because of the three grips on the top, one man can carry it by grasping the center handle, and two can carry one by grabbing the grips on each side.

Jerry cans are a wonderfully engineered product, let’s just hope modern government stops stealing bad ideas that collide with good ideas our past governments won by conquest…

The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters

The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters
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This video was created by a lawyer to give the viewer tips on how to deal with police.  It’s name, “The citizen’s guide to surviving police encounters” is a very accurate summary of it’s content.

It is not a lawyer video for thugs, nor does it help if you are guilty, but it does provide valuable information for innocent citizen’s whose instincts for helping and cooperating with government officials may lead them into trouble.

If a policeman is talking to you about a crime they may suspect you, the courts have ruled a law enforcement officer can lie to you, they can use anything you say against you, and cannot use anything that you say that may help you to help you.

When teaching self defense, and especially armed self defense I try to incorporate many of the concepts in this video as they are standard to the field.  This is not rocket science and the video does not show anything new or groundbreaking to those in the know, but much of what it teaches is not commonly known to the millions of honest law-abiding citizens that are just trying to mind there own business and help out when asked.

I’m not a lawyer so don’t believe me – Just watch BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.

 

Front Sight Post

Front Sight Post
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While I am not a perfect shooter, I do consistently score in the mid/high 90% range on my targets in just about any situation. I was not always able to do this. As a matter of fact, when I was in the service I shot much worse. Each time I went to the pistol range the range staff would ask “Hey corporal, are you looking at the front sight post.” To which I would always answer in the affirmative and then crunch the trigger and send a bullet hurtling in the general direction of the target.

I could not understand why I qualified sharpshooter (that’s the mid-range qualification in the USMC). I had a good stance, controlled my breathing, and did not jerk the trigger. I felt like my sights were aligned when I pulled the trigger, and I felt I understood the fundamentals of accurate shooting.

It was not until I had my End of Active Service and joined the TN Department of Correction that I found out my problem.  I was not focusing on the front sight post.

It interesting to me that the way I found out the solution to my problem was by following a principle of education that I feel is overlooked. It is a well-known secret that people learn by doing, and they retain more information from performing an act than they do by hearing a description of the act. Well if someone TEACHES this act they retain (and understand) more about whatever they are trying to learn.

I guess its mentally organizing the information to pass it on to another that enhances retention and understanding, or it may be thinking deeper to prepare for a student’s questions. I don’t know. But I do know that after I attended my very first firearm instructor course something clicked. I went to the range and thought about all the same things I normally think about. This time though, when I got to the sight alignment piece, I played back the “script” on how the eye focuses and decided I would concentrate and fully focus on the front sight post of my handgun.

It was interesting, now that I decided to ACTUALLY perform the actions I half-stepped through all those years; the front sight came into a sharp focus. I could make out the striations on the ramp, the colored strip on the revolver front sight; the slight imperfection where it was dropped once (followed it)…

Amazingly, with this one change my group went from chest sized to saucer sized. I became a convert and began to throw out all my old understanding and try to explore why the fundamentals are what they are as well as to concentrate on performing them consistently perfect each time.

We have a tendency as shooters to want to look at the target; I understand it – that’s where we see the results of our shooting. However, the target is a reflection of the past – the round we just fired. It does not help us with the round we are preparing to fire. Focusing on the target has the effect of causing us to aim over our sights and shoot low.

Because our eyes can only focus on one distance at a time, if we focus on the target we will not be able to even see our rear sight. If we focus on the rear sight we won’t be aware of our target.

A compromise is to clearly focus on the front sight. Because it is between the rear sight and the target, if we focus on the midpoint we will have the ability to see them both (albeit a little blurry). This will allow you to place the clear front sight centered on the blurred target and centered inside the blurred rear sight.

If you try it, and truly focus on the sight until you can make out all the fine detail on your front sight post I promise that you will see a difference in your shooting. I do not promise that it will be comfortable or easy the first time. You will have to practice.

If you want a clearer explanation, or you want to hear me ramble on about Massad Ayoob’s front sight study from his book “The Ayoob Files” by all means watch the video above.

I also have a great video from a former Navy SEAL that I use with a lot of my students below.