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Sorry, not sorry.

Thursday, November 7th, 2024

Part of me thinks I should apologize for not posting yesterday. The other part of me doesn’t.

I got about 3.5 hours of sleep Tuesday night, though I did nap some on Lawrence’s dog couch. So I was pretty worn out yesterday and still had to put in a full day at work. Plus, as I’ve said before, I am not a politics or geo-politics person. I have some things I could say about politics and gun politics, like what I’m hoping for out of the new boss (same as the old boss) but I’d just be stirring the metaphorical pot with a metaphorical stick.

There are plenty of other people who are smarter about politics than I am. I’d suggest Lawrence and Borepatch to start with. I’d also recommend the folks on Lawrence’s sidebar.

At least I can stop muting political ads, and continue muting Medicare supplement ads and lawyer ads.

In other news, I wanted to bookmark this article from American Handgunner, “Sixguns To The Rescue: The M1917 In World War One” about the M1917 revolvers. (Previously on WCD.)

From the obit front: Geoff Capes. I’d never heard of him, but he was hugely popular in the United Kingdom. He was a multiple time winner of the World’s Strongest Man competition, a six-time winner of the Highland Games, and won the “U.K. Truck-Pulling Championship” in 1986.

At 6-foot-6 and 365 pounds, Mr. Capes was a crushing Adonis whose daily diet consisted of seven pints of milk, two loaves of bread, a dozen eggs, two steaks, a jar of baked beans, two tins of sardines, a pound of butter and a leg of lamb.
His gargantuan caloric intake powered his extraordinary feats in strongman competitions: pulling 12-ton trucks uphill, flipping cars, tearing London phone books in half and tossing five-pound bricks as if they were Kleenex boxes. He could run 200 meters — nearly the length of two American football fields — in under 25 seconds.

…

His physical prowess made him a favorite of Queen Elizabeth II, who howled in laughter after her glove stuck to his sweaty, sticky hands when she congratulated him on winning the Braemar Games, another Scottish skills competition, in 1982. Prince Charles and Princess Diana stood nearby having a giggle.

He was also a world-class breeder of budgies.

He competed in budgerigar shows throughout Europe, winning a world championship in 1995. He was named president of the Budgerigar Society in 2008 and frequently judged competitions.
“There’s something about their color and beauty that fascinates me,” Mr. Capes told The Sunday People. “They bring out my gentler side.”

This is one that I’ve been a little behind on: Richard A. Cash, big damn hero.

One of the things that people don’t understand until they’ve read at least a little bit about medicine is: dehydration will kill you. And there are lots of diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, that trigger fatal dehydration.

Patients could go “from a grape to a raisin” within hours, Dr. Cash often said.

Dr. Cash and Dr. David Nalin were working in Pakistan in 1967, and together developed an experimental oral rehydration therapy. It worked exceptionally well in trials.

Their approach was put to the test in 1971, when Bangladesh’s war of independence drove tens of thousands of refugees into camps across the border in India. Cholera and other diseases soon spread rapidly.
An Indian pediatrician helping with the response, Dilip Mahalanabis, made oral rehydration a cornerstone of his strategy, with astounding success — proof for all the world that a simple solution could be brought to bear against one of the world’s greatest killers.

…

The World Health Organization estimates that oral hydration therapy has saved more than 50 million lives, a majority of them children. In 1978, the British medical journal The Lancet called their innovation “potentially the most important medical advance this century.”

Posted in Admin, Birds, Bookmarks, Guns, History, Obits, Politics, Smith and Wesson, Sports | No Comments »

Please to remember…

Tuesday, November 5th, 2024

Happy Guy Fawkes Day to all my peeps everywhere!

(Still busy as all get out running around with Mike the Musicologist. I did accomplish something yesterday, though: I managed to get one of the Lipsey’s/S&W Ultimate Carry guns. Mine is a 442 in .38 Special: Cabela’s, it turns out, had a few and I think I got the last non-display one. They had no .32 Magnums. I hope to be able to post at least a brief range report, maybe even with chronograph data, once my eye doctor clears me to shoot.)

Posted in Guns, History, Smith and Wesson | No Comments »

Trip report: Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2024

“Back to Tulsa AGAIN? You were just there in November.”

True that. But the Smith and Wesson Collectors Association tries to rotate the symposiums around the country: “West Coast” one year (that was last year’s Glendale symposium), “East Coast” one year (Concord in 2022 and again next year), and “Central” (Tulsa this year).

I’m glad to say that this year’s hotel (which we were also at in 2021) was very very happy to see us. Last year’s hotel…wasn’t, and I’ll just leave it at that. The Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center, on the other hand, could not have been more accomodating. (They did have “No Firearms or Weapons” stickers on the doors, but I never heard anything about anybody being hassled by the hotel staff.) I was privy to a conversation between one of my friends (who is a S&WCA officer) and one of the hotel managers, and the manager was very excited about having us back. We tip well, we don’t throw loud obnoxious parties, we have our own security, and we don’t trash the place.

There are two popular questions people ask me. Well, maybe one “popular” question and one not-so-popular.

“Did I buy any guns?” Answer: yes, but we’re still going through the transfer process. Once that’s complete, I plan to do a post. Here’s a hint:

“Did I buy any books?” asked nobody, ever. Answer: Yes! My book buddy from the Association came down from Canada and brought a stack of books. He thought I might be interested in “some” of them and planned to put the others on his sales table. I bought the whole lot, which came out to ten books by my count. This includes two new-to-me Samworths, one duplicate Samworth that’s in better shape than my copy, three Jack O’Connor books that I didn’t have, and some miscellaneous books from other publishers. I will be annoying my loyal reader with posts on those books as time permits.

Additionally, I happened to be working the registration table with another gentleman who, it turned out, was also a gun book person. He had somehow wound up with a spare copy of a recent gun book and gifted his spare to me.

I also picked up a fair amount of old paper, some of which my book buddy threw in as part of my purchase and some of which I bought from other dealers. I may scan and post some of this, especially when I do the gun post.

(And as a side note: the night before I left, I got two huge and heavy packages from an auction lot I’d placed a lowball bid on, and won. The lot was for old “gun and ammo” books. So I’ll be sharing interesting bits from that lot as well.)

Since Sunday was an off day, I drove up to Oklahoma City specifically to see the 45th Infantry Division Museum, which is now known as the Oklahoma National Guard Museum (and which is moving to a new facility). You may recognize the 45th Infantry Division Museum from such hits as:

(Hattip: Lawrence.)

I thought it was a very nice museum. They had me when I discovered there was an entire room devoted to Bill Mauldin.

Here. Have a random photo of some bazookas.

I’m very glad I went, especially now. As I noted above, the museum is moving to a new location. And I got into a conversation with the curator, who told me that they are planning to deaccession some things, as the new museum will be placing more emphasis on “telling stories”. I think that’s kind of a shame. Where else are you going to see this?

Except maybe in “The Green Berets“.

I encourage you to go now, if you’re in the area and have the opportunity. I would actually like to spend more time at the museum, but I wanted to get back in time for dinner and to take a couple of photos in Muskogee:

The first Girl Scout cookie sale took place in Muskogee in 1917. I could not find a reference to price at the time, but in 1922, the Girl Scouts recommended selling home-baked cookies for “25 to 30 cents per dozen”. $6 in 2024 money works out to 32 cents in 1922 money, and 24 cents in 1917 money, according to the inflation calculator I like to use.

I took a group of my friends to Siegi’s Sausage Factory and, as far as I could tell, everyone loved it. Another large group of my friends took me to the White River Fish Market and Restaurant, which I liked, but which was in a really gritty part of Tulsa.

We also went to an Abuelo’s one night, because it was very near the hotel. I went by myself one night to a place Mike the Musicologist calls “The Laugh-In Restaurant”: Sake 2 Me Sushi. It is all-you-can-eat, but I wasn’t wild about the sushi.

And Sunday night’s celebratory dinner was at The Chalkboard, because I haven’t been in forever and wanted some Beef Wellington.

Everything went smoothly. No complaints here, except that eight hours in a car does get a little tiring.

Usual thanks to the usual suspects. You know who you are. (It appears that word has gotten around within S&WCA circles that I have a blog.)

Posted in Books, Food, Guns, History, Hoplobibilophilia, Nazis, O'Connor, Smith and Wesson, Travel | 1 Comment »

I hear the train a ‘coming…

Wednesday, May 29th, 2024

…it’s rolling ’round the bend,
And I ain’t gun book blogged
Since I don’t know when…

Sort of scans, don’t it? And it was April 25th.

Anyway, I have a stack downstairs that’s getting precarious, even more so than the stack upstairs. So here’s a few for today, and maybe a few more in the next few days.

(more…)

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia, Planes, Smith and Wesson, Travel | Comments Closed

NRA annual meeting 2024: a collection of random thoughts.

Friday, May 24th, 2024

I ordered a set of Cocobolo grips for my Browning Hi-Power from Hogue. They aren’t terribly expensive and look nice: I handled a set of walnut grips (I believe) at the show and was favorably impressed. They should make that old gun look a little better.

Hogue is offering a discount code that’s good through May 26th: NRAAM24HOGUE.

Lyman also sent over a discount code for their sites: NRAENTRY for the Lyman website (20% off), and NRAENTRY (15% off) for their Mark 7 reloading website. Valid through June 3rd.

The Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network is offering $100 one year memberships through May 31st with code 2024NRA. I have heard nothing but good things about ACLDN: FotB (and official trainer to WCD) Karl is a board member. I plan to take advantage of this offer before the 31st.

XS Sights also has a promo code good through May 31st: NRA24 gets you 24% off. Which is great, because I plan to order a set of ghost ring sights from them for my social shotgun.

I picked up some chamber flags at various points during the meeting. I bring this up because: have you ever seen folks giving out chamber flags and wondered about them? Who do you order them from, and how much? There were at least two vendors at the show who would sell you custom chamber flags. The one I have in front of me right now, Manufacturing Services, will sell them to you with your custom (black and white) art for 60 to 85 cents each (the more expensive option has printing on both sides) with a minimum order of 100. That seems to me to be very reasonable, if you’re doing something like a Boy Scout Scouting USA firearms exercise and want to have something to give to the kids.

If you’re interested in what I’d call more “conventional” NRAAM coverage, The Firearm Blog has that. I haven’t watched it yet, but they have an interview up with Jerry Miculek about the new Smith and Wesson Model 327 WR. S&W was running a contest at the show: I figure my odds of winning one are somewhere between “slim” and “out of town”, but you never know.

One thing I did buy from S&W was one of their snazzy limited edition NRAAM 2024 hats:

This should be fun to put on my display table at the symposium.

When I say “conventional” above, I’m not sneering at TFB or anybody else. For me, when I go to cover these things, I like to highlight the more obscure vendors who don’t attract the same press attention as Colt or S&W, and the people who are nice to me. Like the guys at the Ruger booth, or the Hornady podcast folks, or Marissa Brinkman who edits the Texas State Rifle Association magazine. That’s where I get my joy. Well, that, and winning stuff in drawings.

Speaking of which, unless there are two “Dwight B.”s who live in Austin and went to the NRAAM, I apparently won one of those TagMe by Ocufil systems. I plan a report once it arrives and I go through the setup and testing process.

Fun story: there was a guy at the show (and I wish I could remember his, or the company’s name: maybe one of my friends will fill this in for me) who was giving away his product in return for reviews. The product was a Glock 17/19 magazine with a key lock at the bottom. Once you inserted the mag and locked it, the gun was secured: you couldn’t remove the mog, you couldn’t fire the gun, you could work the slide and eject rounds, but that was it. Unlock it, and you had a fully functional Glock. You don’t even have to remove the locking magazine, it feeds normally with the mag unlocked.

Edited to add 5/27: Thanks to FotB John for providing the name of the company: GoSafe. I’m pretty sure this is a different company than the one that sells industrial safety equipment, so I’d recommend using the embedded link. GoSafe does say they are working on equivalent products for the Smith and Wesson M&P and Sig Sauer, but as far as I can tell, those are not ready yet. Also, it does look like they make a version for .40 S&W Glocks, which I do not recall them mentioning (or having) at the show.

The hilarious thing about this was: none of the four of us currently own a Glock 17 or 19. I own two Glocks, but neither one is a 17 or 19. Probably the single most popular gun in the world, and zero out of four of us own one. (I overheard an interesting conversation on the bus between another gentleman of the press and a couple of attendees. The member of the fourth estate was opining that, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, his gun of choice would be a Glock 19. 9mm ammo should be readily available, the gun is so popular that you should be able to find spare mags and even entire guns easily, you can stockpile parts kits to keep it running, and it is simple enough to work on that even I could probably fix one.)

I don’t think I’m going to be commissioning one right away, as I have another holster priority ahead of it, and I’m saving money for the Smith and Wesson Collectors Association symposium in a few weeks. But there was a company called Palmetto Leather Works that had a nice looking holster for a Browning Buck Mark, complete with magazine pocket. It reminded me of a vintage George Lawrence holster that I bought Mike the Nusicologist for Christmas one year, and I could easily see this being modified for a Model 41.

Speaking of holsters, it amused me greatly that Galco is rocking the 40th anniversary of the Miami Classic, aka the “Sonny Crockett“. $440 is a little rich for my blood, but the thought of carrying a Commander length 1911 in a shoulder holster tickles my fancy. (I’m pretty sure Galco still catalogs an updated non-custom shop version of the Miami Classic.)

Shoutout to the Ranch Products people, who are always nice. Shoutout too to Wolfe Publishing, who saved me $10 and a trip to Barnes and Noble by giving me a copy of the latest Handloader.

I made it by the U.S. Armament Manufacturing booth, and did get to briefly handle their reproduction DeLisle carbine. TFB has coverage of this as well, but not tied to their NRAAM coverage. I think it’s an interesting gun, but for me, not $5,999 interesting (plus $200 for the tax stamp, since it is a Class III weapon). At least, not unless I win the lottery, and I’d buy a BAR reproduction from Ohio Ordnance Works (or even a real BAR) first. I can see the DeLisle being a fun toy…if you’ve got used car money to spend. Those reproduction Colt 1903 and 1908 pistols look nice and expensive too.

I picked up a card for Rugged Rare. They make some nice looking concealed carry bags (which I don’t need) and belts (which I do need). They are producing Smith and Wesson licensed leather belts and wallets. I actually thought their belts were very reasonably priced, and I wish I had bought one: I just couldn’t fit it in with all my stuff. And unfortunately, it looks like their website caters more to retailers than individual purchasers. I can’t even see the prices without setting up an account, and I can’t set up an account without uploading a business license.

We went by the Precision Small Arms booth, too. They make really nice looking reproductions of the “Baby Browning“, which I’ve always thought was a neat little gun. I’ve heard all the .25 ACP jokes, but the gun you have on you is better than the one in a safe at home, and these are a very discreet option. We also handled some guns at the Seecamp booth. I’ve always heard good things about Seecamp guns: yes, they’re more expensive than a LCP, but they’re also (I hear) extremely well made and reliable, and are often carried by people who need a backup gun that 100% works.

I have a card for Powder River Precision, but I don’t know why. It may have been for their 10/22 stuff. I also have a card for Shilen, but I know why: if I ever need a new barrel on one of my guns, I’m going to them.

Pigpen51, we went by the Tisas booth. I still haven’t shot one, but I did get to handle a few of them. Yes, these were show guns, but I was fairly impressed. They seemed like solidly made 1911 clones, and I’d really like a chance to run one for a bit. They are also importing clones of the Inglis Hi-Power, which seem like nice guns. Maybe not as nice as the new FN guns, but the Tisas Inglis is also about 1/3rd the price. I’m not sure about parts compatibility: I wish I had thought to ask while i was there.

Oehler, who is here in Austin and makes chronographs, told me they’re looking for somebody. It sounds like they want a sort of jack-of-all-trades. That is, some one who can do tech support, assist in set up and testing, read a schematic and identify components, and generally do what’s needed. I don’t imagine this is a huge company, and I have no idea what they are paying. But if you’re recently retired, healthy, and looking for a job to supplement your retirement pay, this might be a good opportunity.

That’s all the business cards I had stuck in my badge holder for later reference. I still haven’t gone through the big bag o’ stuff that I set aside to go through when I got back. I want to try to do that this weekend. I also want to get another gun book post up, and maybe even a gun post. And I have some non gun-related work to do for some of the other organizations I’m involved with.

For a three-day weekend, it feels like it is going to be full.

And Marissa Brinkman is probably saying to herself, “This guy really needs an editor.”

Posted in 1911, Guns, Holsters, Smith and Wesson | 1 Comment »

NRA annual meeting day 3 notes.

Sunday, May 19th, 2024

Miles walked today so far: 3.4.

We finished up around 4 PM. I think I can safely say we saw everything, even the stuff that didn’t interest us or that appalled us.

Not much to report from the rest of the upper level, to be honest. There were a lot of really nice displays from the collector’s associations in the area we looked at. My people, the S&WCA, had an excellent display of Schofield revolvers, and I got to chat with some of my friends in that group. The Remington collectors had a huge display of Remington Model 720 rifles that had been awarded by the Secretary of the Navy to winners of marksmanship competitions. The one that really blew me away was the Ruger Collectors display of Model 1 rifles…in every known caliber they’ve been made in. Which is something like 66 calibers total.

We got to handle a TC86 rifle at Taylor’s and Company, and this is something both Mike the Musicologist and I are interested in. A takedown .45-70 lever gun that looks wonderful, and isn’t going for that much more than the revived Marlin .45-70 lever guns? You have my attention.

I did manage to make it to the Smith and Wesson booth, which was in a back corner of the upper level. It kind of felt like they had been exhiled to Siberia, though it may just be that was the only place they’d fit. I don’t have a whole lot to report from there, except that the wood stocked Model 1854 does look nice in person.

One vendor whose products interest me, though I didn’t get a chance to talk to them, was Oasis Scientific. They make wireless borescopes. I don’t know that I need one, but it seems like something worth having. Lyman also makes one now, too, which I did not know.

Mike reminded me that we had a really good time chatting with Gordon Bond, of Bond Arms. Mostly we chatted about the Cyclops, which is silly and something I don’t need, but which also looks like fun. If you miss the bad guy with your one shot, you’ll set him on fire with the muzzle blast. (Personally, I’m thinking about getting one of Bond’s .45 Colt/.410 bore derringers.)

I had a good chat with the Burris folks on Friday. According to their rep, Scout scopes are still an active product. They’re just backordered right now due to supply chain issues and the fact that everyone is buying them – at least, everyone who wants a long eye relief scope, because they are pretty much the only choice. Leupold discontinued theirs. As for a model with the features of the Veracity PH…seems unlikely.

We did get to talk to everyone we wanted to who was at the show. But there were a lot of people we expected to be there who were not: Steyr, Leupold, and Brownells were three absences that we noticed.

At this point, I feel like I need to get home, sleep for a week, and sort through all the stuff I picked up before I can write any more about the show. I’ll probably be trickling stuff out over the next few days. Tomorrow is a travel day for us, so light blogging ahead.

Addendum: Number of protestors seen or heard by me personally: zero. Our other two friends did say that they saw some near the city hall while they were walking back to their hotel, but I did not see or hear a single one. I also did not see any of the mobile sign trucks that they were using in Houston in 2022.

Edited to add: Apologies for the confusion. I don’t know what’s going on, but it feels like the WordPress app on the iPhone is eating my posts when I make changes and replacing them with previous drafts. I think I have this one back to the way it was now.

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Gun books. And train book.

Monday, March 25th, 2024

I haven’t done one of these in a bit, and need to get back to it. And since it looks like the baseball season begins this week, I’m going to take the opportunity to throw a metaphorical change-up pitch with a train related book.

I would love to be able to document a book about guns on trains, but I don’t have a copy of Gerald Bull’s book. Yet.

After the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia, O'Connor, Smith and Wesson, Trains | Comments Closed

Christmas Eve gun crankery.

Sunday, December 24th, 2023

A short one for you. My book buddy in the Association sent me scans from a 1928 Smith and Wesson catalog, along with a scan of a letter from the great Walter Roper. This was a very nice Christmas present, and one I can’t thank him enough for.

You will find each of our arms fully described in the catalog we are enclosing but we want you to ask any questions you may wish about either guns or ammunition, as it will be a real pleasure to help you select a revolver.

The past was another country.

I don’t want to reproduce the whole thing, as I’m not sure about the copyright status and I don’t want to make my book buddy mad. However, I thought people might find this one page interesting, and I think it qualifies as fair use. Keep in mind, this is 1928 data.

Posted in Bagatelle, Christmas, Guns, History, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

It was the gun book post before Christmas…

Friday, December 22nd, 2023

How do you feel about gunstocks?

Not gun stocks, but gunstocks. The kind made out of wood, back in the day before synthetics became common.

After the jump, some more Samworths for those of you who still like wood.

(more…)

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! (Random gun crankery.)

Thursday, December 21st, 2023

Previously on WCD.

This is going to be a shorter than usual gun crankery post, since it touches on a lot of things I’ve written about before.

For example, I’ve written a lot about .45 ACP revolvers with moon clips. As I noted in that post, the first one I shot was a S&W 625 JM at the late Smith and Wesson Shooting Sports Center.

I’ve also written a lot about Jerry Miculek. You remember Jerry Miculek, don’t you?

He used a 625 to set the 12 shots with a reload in 2.99 seconds record. I don’t think it was a 625-8 JM, as I believe that was introduced after he set the record. (The Standard Catalog says the 625-8 was introduced in 2001, as an engineering change that added the lock. It also says the 625 JM was introduced at SHOT in 2005.) But it was a 625, it was almost certainly modified by the Performance Center to his specifications, and he almost certainly had input into the design of the 625-8 JM.

Even though it is a stainless steel revolver, the sort-of dull (I think “bead blasted”) finish isn’t obnoxious to me. So when one of these showed up used at my official arms dealer…

Rockin’ the signed JM hat there.

Unfortunately, it does have the internal lock (or as some call it, “the Hillary hole”).

I didn’t get keys for the lock. (I did get moon clips, and a moon clip tool.) It came unlocked, and I’m not sure I’m ever going to use the lock. But here’s a fun fact for you. Do you know where you can get keys for the internal lock on a S&W revolver? Amazon, that’s where.

I think that “gold bead” (which is probably not an actual “gold bead”, but I can’t think of a better description) sight is very nice. I’d love to take this out and shoot a bowling pin match or something similar with this one. This also wouldn’t be a bad barbecue gun, with a nice holster and maybe some tasteful engraving.

Here is another interesting fact: Smith and Wesson claims to offer Performance Center gunsmithing services. The “Outdoor Package Large Frame – N” looks particularly interesting. I’ve measured the trigger pull on this one, and it comes in right at 11 pounds. That’s probably not out of line, but I wouldn’t mind shaving some off of that. As long as it goes “bang” when I pull the trigger.

Sometime after Christmas, I plan to give them a call and see what the backlog for those services is. I know I’m not the only person wondering, and I also get the feeling that S&W (like everyone else) is being pinched by the gunsmith shortage.

Review of the 625 JM from The Firearm Blog.

Coming up: two more followup teaser posts, plus another post about a gun I’ve written about previously. I’m hoping to get at least one of those up before Christmas.

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Preview of coming attractions. (Random gun crankery)

Saturday, November 4th, 2023

I’ve been neglecting gun books and guns for a minute now. It just seems like every time I sit down to try and work on one of my gun related projects, either I just can’t build up the motivation, or I end up getting involved in someone else’s bolshie bushwa.

The early part of next week I’m going on the road. I’m hoping that when I get back, the bushwa should have tapered off, plus the holidays will be approaching, plus my morale will have improved, and I can work on gun books and guns. In the meantime, some quick previews with captions that the educated reader could take as “hints”.

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

Three of an imperfect pair.

There is no God but John Moses Browning, and Cooper is his prophet.

I’m kind of hoping that I can get another gun book post up, and maybe even a post about one of these guns, before I leave next week. I’ve already kind of written about one of the pictured guns before, so my post about that one will probably be short (and refer back to older posts) but educational.

We will see how things go.

Posted in 1911, Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Quick and dirty updates.

Wednesday, August 30th, 2023

The Elvis gun went for $199,750. I don’t know if that’s inclusive of the bidder’s premium. (Previously.)

I wrote a while back about the criminal charges against Thomas Moyer, Apple’s security head and the somewhat related (I think) case against former Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith.

I missed, however, that the case against Moyer was dismissed in 2021.

But: a California appellate court reinstated the charges last week.

Friday’s opinion, written by Justice Daniel Bromberg, joined by Justices Adrienne Grover and Cynthia Lie, claimed that the evidence presented to the grand jury was “sufficient to raise a reasonable suspicion of such bribery.”

Appellate decision here. Interesting quote:

During the relevant time frame, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office rarely issued CCW licenses. Indeed, the office’s practice was to not even process an application for a CCW license absent a special instruction to do so. Only Sheriff Laurie Smith and a small number of others in the Sheriff’s Office had the authority to give such instructions. One of those individuals was Rick Sung, who appears to have run Sheriff Smith’s 2018 re-election campaign and after the election became the undersheriff, second in command to the sheriff. Undersheriff Sung also had authority to place license applications on hold even after licenses were signed by the sheriff.

Posted in Apple, California Über Alles, Elvis, Guns, Law, Music, Politics, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

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