All posts by Chris Knox

Alerts List

Congress & Night Out

Hello Gun-Voter,

    Tonight is National Night Out Against Crime.  Block parties and community festivals are being planned around the country to show support for crime prevention, build neighborhood and community cohesiveness, and recruit for programs like Neighborhood Watch. 
    This is a wonderful opportunity for gun rights advocates to let their neighbors know just what they can do to "Take a Bite Outa' Crime."   Worthwhile activities include distributing literature about concealed carry and home defense and exercising open carry rights in those places where that right has not been abrogated.
   
Congress Vacates Washington
    August in D.C. means hot, humid weather and empty halls of Congress.  They call this a "District Work Period" which is political-speak for "Month-long Vacation."  To keep up appearances, many Representatives and Senators attend events and hold Continue reading Congress & Night Out →

Chris's Blog

AK-47 As The Open Source Rifle

"Open Source" is a familiar term among computer cognoscenti. It's what brought us the Linux operating system, the GNU tool suite, the Firefox browser and all manner of other handy tools free for the downloading. "The Register," a sharp-tongued UK-based online computer magazine, has a feature" calling the AK-47 "the open-source weapon that took the world by storm." Bearing in mind that the authors aren't primarily gunnies, it's a decent overview of the history and development of the AK-47 and its family, even linking to an article explaining the origins of the "assault rifle" with the Nazi Sturmgewehr 44.

 

Continue reading AK-47 As The Open Source Rifle →

Informative

DEA Foot Shot

Initiating a new "Friday Funnies" feature. He's "the only one in this room professional enough" to handle a gun. Gotta wonder. The former agent sued alleging that DEA had leaked the video and that he was now unable to work as an undercover agent. It didn't go anywhere. This one has been around the block. We posted this a couple of years ago and I saw it on YouTube and decided to clean up our files. Contribute your gun-related links! Continue reading DEA Foot Shot →

The Knox Update

The Color of Gun Control

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      (Manassas, VA, July 31, 2007) There is no question that many early gun control laws were specifically aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of African Americans and other unpopular minorities.  In the early 1900’s there was a movement led by the KKK to enact discretionary permitting systems whereby an individual must obtain a permit from local law enforcement to purchase or possess a firearm.  While current media may revise this history to suggest that the system was intended to “keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally deficient”, there was little effort made at the time these laws were passed to conceal the fact that they were intended to protect the “dominant race” from “the sons of Ham.”  New York’s infamous “Sullivan Law” (aimed more at Catholics, Jews, Italians, and other immigrants), and North Carolina’s strict purchase permit system are the only two examples I know of where these laws have survived with only minor changes since their enactment in 1911 and 1917 respectively. Continue reading The Color of Gun Control →

Chris's Blog

Blast From the Past — AK-47 Video

Over twenty years ago, Neal Knox teamed up with Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America to try out the latest technology:  A VHS video recorder.  Their object?  An experiment in comparative terminal ballistics:  Shoot watermelons and see what gun makes the biggest splash.

The hot issue of the day was the awesome power of the AK-47.  Keep in mind the context of the times, massacres in Stockton, California, Louisville, Kentucky and elsewhere were raw memories.  The media, as Josh Sugarmann had predicted, was in a frenzy over “para-military” weapons and “assault weapons.”  Even today, it’s not unusual to see a nicely groomed news-reader gasp over the power of the AK-47.  And let’s just forget about the crime dramas.

It’s amazing how little has changed over the past twenty years.  Every TV station’s news department has the consumer reporter who investigates extravagant claims.  But I’ve never seen one of those guys investigate his colleagues’ claims of the over-stated power of an AK.  This despite the fact that it makes for some really cool video.

I finally got around to digitizing a copy of The Truth About AK-47 Firepower and, with the kind permission of Larry Pratt, posted it to YouTube.  To comply with YouTube’s file size restrictions, I had to cut out Larry’s narrative.  The, uh, juicy parts are all there.  Just follow the link below: Continue reading Blast From the Past — AK-47 Video →

Jeff's Blog

Parker discussion at VCDL meeting

I had the opportunity to speak briefly about the Parker case at a recent Virginia Citizen's Defense League meeting and someone was thoughtful enough to post my comments on You-Tube.

For clarification, the long question that is inaudible was asking whether DC was going to be forced to repeal their law while the case was under appeal – I don't think so.  There was also a question about SCOTUS dividing the decision and only hearing part of it – Again, I don't think that will happen.

BUT – I am not a lawyer and there is no guarantee of what the Supreme Court will do.  Having studied the court and the case rather thoroughly and having spoken with lots of lawyers and professional court watchers, I am pretty confident in my evaluation.

Click below to view the video. 

Continue reading Parker discussion at VCDL meeting →