Archive for July, 2013

SWAT August 2013 Issue

In this issue:

Sig Sauer SIG50

Civilian Response To Active Shooter

Semi-auto vs pump shotgun

The case for weapon mounted lights

The importance of ambidextrous controls for your AR

In-place survival

swat_aug13

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USPS Must Allow Firearms In Parking Lots

The previous ban on firearms in Postal Service parking lots has been found unconstitutional.

From Gun Watch:

A Colorado federal district court ruled today in favor of a Colorado man and a national gun rights group holding that a U.S. Postal Service regulation barring firearms in its parking lots violates their right to keep and bear arms under the Constitution.

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Stratfor Third Quarter Forecast

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Jihadis Say They Started Arizona Fires

From The Long War Journal:

A Palestinian jihadist group, Masada al Mujahideen, recently claimed credit for ongoing wildfires in Arizona in a statement posted to jihadist forums today. The statement, titled “Masada al-Mujahideen Fulfilled its Promise and Attacked America Again After the Expiration of the Period with Fires that Achieved Historic Results,” was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

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The Next Phase of the Arab Spring

The Next Phase of the Arab Spring is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

Analysis

The Arab Spring was an exercise in irony, nowhere more so than in Egypt. On the surface, it appeared to be the Arab equivalent of 1989 in Eastern Europe. There, the Soviet occupation suppressed a broad, if not universal desire for constitutional democracy modeled on Western Europe. The year 1989 shaped a generation’s thinking in the West, and when they saw the crowds in the Arab streets, they assumed that they were seeing Eastern Europe once again.

There were certainly constitutional democrats in the Arab streets in 2011, but they were not the main thrust. Looking back on the Arab Spring, it is striking how few personalities were replaced, how few regimes fell, and how much chaos was left in its wake. The uprising in Libya resulted in a Western military intervention that deposed former leader Moammar Gadhafi and replaced him with massive uncertainty. The uprising in Syria has not replaced Syrian President Bashar al Assad but instead sparked a war between him and an Islamist-dominated opposition. Elsewhere, revolts have been contained with relative ease. The irony of the Arab Spring was that in opening the door for popular discontent, it demonstrated that while the discontent was real, it was neither decisive nor clearly inclined toward constitutional democracy. Read the rest of this entry »

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Vet, Adam Kokesh Arrested For Carrying Shotgun in D.C. in Act of Civil Disobedience

From Military Times:

Libertarian gun rights activist Adam Kokesh — who canceled plans to lead an armed march into Washington from Virginia on July 4th — has been arrested at his home in his northern Virginia on charges related to a video he made showing him loading a shotgun in downtown Washington in violation of strict local laws.

Here is the video that led to his arrest:

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First Drone Carrier Landing

From Military Times:

If all goes as planned, a successful landing of the X-47B experimental aircraft will mean the Navy can move forward with its plans to develop another unmanned aircraft that will join the fleet alongside traditional airplanes to provide around-the-clock surveillance while also possessing a strike capability. The aircraft’s success would pave the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft without the need to obtain permission from other countries to use their bases.

Update (16:51):

First Carrier Arrested Landing:

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US Army To Purchase Swedish 84mm Recoil-less Rifle

Read the full article at Small Arms Defense Journal:

Saab has been awarded a contract for the supply of additional Carl-Gustaf portable weapon systems and ammunition to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).  The new deal is worth $25.8m and follows the previous $31.5m one secured by the company in December 2011 for the delivery of 126 systems to the command for use in Afghanistan.

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Illinois Legislature Overrides Veto, Approves Concealed Carry

From the AP:

Both chambers of the Legislature voted to override changes Gov. Pat Quinn made to the bill they approved more than a month ago. Even some critics of the law argued it was better to approve something rather than risk the courts allowing virtually unregulated concealed weapons in Chicago, which has endured severe gun violence in recent months.

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CDC Classifies Gun Violence as a Contagious Disease

From Sunshine State News:

The study was commissioned in January as one of Obama’s 23 executive orders to enact gun control. To get Congress to fund it with taxpayers’ money, the CDC had to classify gun violence as “a contagious disease.”  It’s all phony baloney, but after Sandy Hook, the general feeling in the corridors of the White House was that the end justifies the means.

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China’s Space Program Tries to Catch Up

China’s Space Program Tries to Catch Up is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

Summary

China’s strategic focus on space is less about national pride than about the importance of space for both the military and economic progress of the country. The Chinese space program has developed rapidly over the past decade, illustrating the importance of the program to Beijing. Shenzhou 10, a 15-day mission that began June 11 and returned to Earth the morning of June 26 marked China’s fifth manned mission to space. An increasing, ongoing presence in space is essential for civilian and military communications. Satellites’ functions include navigation systems such as GPS, weather data and communications relays. But the significance of space goes beyond satellites. Technological advancement and development is required for countries such as China that want to participate in future resource development in space. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mounties Confiscate Canadians’ Guns

The Mounties went into homes evacuated due to flooding and took people’s guns.

From NationalPost.com:

“We just want to make sure that all of those things are in a spot that we control, simply because of what they are,” said Sgt. Brian Topham. “People have a significant amount of money invested in firearms … so we put them in a place that we control and that they’re safe.”

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New Software Designed to Prevent 3D Printing of Firearms

From ArsTechnica:

On Tuesday, Create it Real announced that in the coming months its software would include an option to find and block gun parts. When it detects a file that contains firearm parts, the software will shut down and disallow printing. Create it Real’s software will likely be licensed to 3D printer manufacturers for around “several thousand euros annually” and then bundled with a 3D printer sold to individual consumers.

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Army Reducing Amount of Combat Brigades

From MilitaryTimes.com:

The Army will cut 10 brigade combat teams over the next four years, bringing the number of active-duty BCTs to 33, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said Tuesday.

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Egypt: Military Coup Bodes Ill for Future Stability

Egypt: Military Coup Bodes Ill for Future Stability is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

Analysis

Egyptian military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced July 3 that the country’s president, Mohammed Morsi, had been removed from office in the wake of popular unrest. In a short media statement, al-Sisi, who was flanked by the three armed services chiefs, opposition leaders, the sheikh of al-Azhar Mosque and the pope of the Coptic Church, announced that Adly Mansour, chief justice of the Constitutional Court, has replaced Morsi as interim president. He also announced that the constitution has been suspended. Mansour’s appointment is notable in that one of the key demands of the Tamarod protest movement was that he become president. The provisional government will be holding fresh parliamentary and presidential elections.

The arrangement was made without the involvement of Morsi, whose whereabouts remain unknown, or of anyone representing the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. The Muslim Brotherhood, which has effectively been thrown out of power, must now figure out how to respond. The group probably will not respond violently, but it will engage in civil unrest that will lead to violence. Though the Brotherhood is unlikely to abandon the path of democratic politics, Morsi’s ouster will lead elements from more ultraconservative Salafist groups to abandon mainstream politics in favor of armed conflict.

The overthrow of Egypt’s moderate Islamist government undermines the international efforts to bring radical Islamists into the political mainstream in the wider Arab and Muslim world. Ultimately, within the context of Egypt, Morsi’s ouster sets a precedent where future presidents can expect to be removed from office by the military in the event of pressure from the masses. In a way, this was set in motion by the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, and it does not bode well for the future stability of Egypt.

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