Saturday, April 6, 2013
Beretta Leaves Maryland Because Of Stricter Gun Laws
Established in 1526, Beretta holds the distinction of being the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world. The U.S. factory is located in Accokeek, Maryland, and has been a staple of the local economy for years.
Beretta warned that stricter gun control laws would push the company outside of state lines, but that didn’t stop Maryland legislators. Jeffrey Reh, a spokesman for Beretta who also serves as the President of Stoeger Industries under Beretta, announced that the company would begrudgingly uproot and take its business elsewhere. He said, “We don’t want to do this, we’re not willing to do this, but obviously this legislation has caused us a serious level of concern within our company.”
He added that Beretta paid approximately $31 million in taxes, employs 400 people, and had invested $73 million in the business over the past several decades. Despite being such a prominent player in the local economy, Beretta was unable to prevent legislators from passing tighter gun control laws. Ironically, Beretta manufactures some firearms that are now banned in Maryland.
Republican state Delegate Anthony J. O’Donnell lamented: “Losing [Beretta] would be a big disappointment. Maryland has a reputation for having a horrible business climate, and this would be one more nail in the coffin.”
Legislators had ample warning. Back in the ‘90s, when Maryland beefed up gun control laws, Beretta moved one of its warehouses a short drive away to Virginia.
Beretta’s bold move is regrettable but understandable. Reh told reporters, “Why expand in a place where the people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?”
All of Beretta’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Even as Reh lamented Beretta’s looming departure and emphasized the company’s centrality in the local economy during the hearing, Maryland legislators grilled Reh on self-defense.
One legislator stated: “Other than target shooting, the only other reason [for a semi-automic firearm] would be for self-defense… [Why would you need a] rifle that accommodates 20 rounds semi-automatic for deer hunting? … It’s only very infrequently that someone commits a crime with an assault weapon – why do you need one for self-defense?”
from http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/beretta-leaves-maryland-following-stricter-gun-laws
More: Magpul Leaves Colorado
And: Heroes Of The New Revolution...
The Coming Ammunition Price Crash
Government purchases of Ammunition and Panic Buying has taken all of the ammunition out of the supply chain. .22 LR is now selling for nearly 5 times what it used to sell for. Some ammunition manufacturers have gone into 24 hour production cycles to fill some of the need.
If you are buying ammunition at these jacked up prices you are throwing your money away. When the supply chain catches up to demand, and it will, there will be an oversupply of ammunition. You will be able to buy ammunition at prices lower than what you could before the panic buying began.
Here is a purchase I made in August of 2012 before the panic set in:
If you are paying more than this, then just STOP, wait. All of us need to stop buying ammo, allow the supply chains to fill up and then we will be able to purchase ammo at prices below the above prices.
Here are some pricing guidelines for various random ammunition types, do not purchase until prices go below these:
Don't waste your money and lets all work together to pop the ammunition price balloon.
Long term food storage is still inexpensive. It will not be for long, now is the time to buy long term food storage. At 25 years shelf life, this is a great investment of your money; money that will lose significant value in the coming years.
If you are buying ammunition at these jacked up prices you are throwing your money away. When the supply chain catches up to demand, and it will, there will be an oversupply of ammunition. You will be able to buy ammunition at prices lower than what you could before the panic buying began.
Here is a purchase I made in August of 2012 before the panic set in:
If you are paying more than this, then just STOP, wait. All of us need to stop buying ammo, allow the supply chains to fill up and then we will be able to purchase ammo at prices below the above prices.
Here are some pricing guidelines for various random ammunition types, do not purchase until prices go below these:
Don't waste your money and lets all work together to pop the ammunition price balloon.
Long term food storage is still inexpensive. It will not be for long, now is the time to buy long term food storage. At 25 years shelf life, this is a great investment of your money; money that will lose significant value in the coming years.
"Ladies, we like big boobs, long legs, and tight asses!"
OBAMA’S $100 MILLION PLAN TO LASSO AN ASTEROID
WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon for astronauts to explore, a top senator said Friday.
The ship would capture the 500-ton, 25-foot asteroid in 2019. Then using an Orion space capsule, a crew of about four astronauts would nuzzle up next to the rock in 2021 for spacewalking exploration, according to a government document obtained by The Associated Press.Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the plan would speed up by four years the existing mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by bringing the space rock closer to Earth.
Nelson, who is chairman of the Senate science and space subcommittee, said Friday that President Barack Obama is putting $100 million in planning money for the accelerated asteroid mission in the 2014 budget that comes out next week. The money would be used to find the right small asteroid.
“It really is a clever concept,” Nelson said in a press conference in Orlando. “Go find your ideal candidate for an asteroid. Go get it robotically and bring it back.”
This would be the first time ever humanity has manipulated a space object in such a grand scale, like what it does on Earth, said Robert Braun, a Georgia Institute of Technology aerospace engineering professor who used to be NASA’s chief technology officer.
“It’s a great combination of our robotic and human capabilities to do the kind of thing that NASA should be doing in this century,” Braun said.
Last year, the Keck Institute for Space Studies proposed a similar mission for NASA with a price tag of $2.6 billion. There is no cost estimate for the space agency’s version. NASA’s plans were first reported by Aviation Week.
While there are thousands of asteroids around 25-feet, finding the right one that comes by Earth at just the right time to be captured will not be easy, said Donald Yeomans, who heads NASA’s Near Earth Object program that monitors close-by asteroids. He said once a suitable rock is found it would be captured with the space equivalent of “a baggie with a drawstring. You bag it. You attach the solar propulsion module to de-spin it and bring it back to where you want it.”
Yeomans said a 25-foot asteroid is no threat to Earth because it would burn up should it inadvertently enter Earth’s atmosphere. These types of asteroids are closer to Earth – not in the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. They’re less than 10 million miles away, Braun said.
“It’s probably the right size asteroid to be practicing on,” he said.
A 25-foot asteroid is smaller than the size rock that caused a giant fireball that streaked through the sky in Russia in February, said Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, head of the B612 Foundation, a nonprofit concerned about dangerous space rocks.
The robotic ship would require a high-tech solar engine to haul the rock through space, something that is both cutting-edge and doable, Braun said. Then NASA would use a new large rocket and the Orion capsule – both under development – to send astronauts to the asteroid.
There would be no gravity on the asteroid so the astronauts would have to hover over it in an extended spacewalk.
Exploring the asteroid “would be great fun,” Schweickart said. “You’d have some interesting challenges in terms of operating in an environment like that.”
Nelson said the mission would help NASA develop the capability to nudge away a dangerous asteroid if one headed to Earth in the future. It also would be training for a future mission to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, he said. But while it would be helpful for planetary defense, “that’s not your primary mission,” Schweickart said.
George Washington University Space Policy Institute Director Scott Pace, a top NASA official during the George W. Bush administration, was critical of the plan, saying it was a bad idea scientifically and for international cooperation.
Instead, NASA and other countries should first join forces for a comprehensive survey of all possible dangerous space rocks, Pace said.
The government document describing the mission said it would inspire because it “will send humans farther than they have ever been before.”
Money well spent or more wasteful spending from Washington?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)