Number 5. Breitbart News. New Colorado law requires guns in vehicles to be in locked containers.
It would behoove High Country dwellers to take care when transporting firearms in their personal vehicles.
State-issued carry permits still seem to be available (for some reason) in the rapidly blue-ifying state. If you have such a permit, you are allowed to keep the piece on your person, or placed somewhere inside the car and accessible while you are in the vehicle.
If, however, you plan to exit the car and leave the hardware behind, it must be locked inside a secure hard-sided enclosure. It also must be covered, so as not to be visible through a window. Also, the car must remain locked.
This is one of the new statutes that took effect last week. It is no doubt a bold step toward keeping Coloradoans safe from armed evil-doers like Tren de Aragua gang members, well known for their adherence to local and state firearms regulations.
Colorado is not the only state coming to its senses — or senselessness, depending on your perspective.
California, long the standard-setter for Draconian gun control, has just upped the ante. In the Golden State, a legal purchaser must not purchase more than one gun a month, a restrictive provision sure to disappoint legal purchasers intending to go all Josey Wales with two (brand new) sidearms.
(In Josey’s case, those would have been either the Colt 1851 Navy, or the Colt 1860 Army, or variations of the above. They had either a loading gate conversion, a Richards cartridge conversion, or a Richards-Mason cartridge conversion. All those models were apparently used in the movie in various scenes, even though the cartridge conversions were not available until 1871, 6 years after the Civil War setting of the movie.
While we are on the subject, or rather off the subject, I personally think the 1851 Navy is the coolest-looking gun creation of all time. Note the loading rod under the barrel, which pivoted downward to activate a pin that seated the .36 ball into loose powder in the cylinder.)
And that’s not the only new California gun-safety initiative:
AB 1598 requires firearm dealers to provide consumers with a pamphlet covering the reasons for and risks of firearm ownership, "including the increased risk of death to someone in the household by suicide, homicide, or unintentional injury."
This is a not-unexpected addition to the growing litany of laws to keep us safe from ourselves. The pamphlet probably does nothing to keep us safe from law-abiding gun owners, who by definition are low on the threat list. Nor does it help when thieves, robbers or home invaders come knocking. But it’s nice to know the opinion California lawmakers seem to have of We the People.
California can hardly be out-done on well-intentioned gun safety initiatives, regardless of how effective (or ineffective) they might be. Here is a partial list of other regulations already on the books, compliments of the Sacramento Assembly:
“high capacity” magazine ban
universal background checks
“assault weapons” ban
10-day waiting period
red flag law
gun registration
background check for ammunition
“good cause” for concealed carry permit
ban on college campus carry for self-defense
ban on K-12 teacher carry for classroom defense
I feel safer already, knowing just how that “shall not be infringed” thing is applied in creatively new and stretchy ways.
Number 3. Breitbart News. Sheriff: Expect to be shot if you break into a Florida home.
At the other end of the spectrum, and of the continent, is the public statement by the Manatee County (Florida) Sheriff who promised that home invaders will likely be shot if they break into random homes. This is Florida, after all.
That was exactly the case for a recent would-be burglar last week as he attempted to force entry into a home around 9:00 pm. The 23-year-old, apparently a Mexican immigrant who had not bothered with the paperwork at the border, died from what we might term “lead poisoning” a few hours after his confrontation with the homeowner.
The accomplice of the deceased is a man from Chile, also in the U.S. without papers. He fled the scene when the gunfire started — do tell. He was identified and charged with armed burglary.
It’s getting harder and harder to make a living without working these days.
However, feeling a little mellow after the holidays, this news items does remind me of Gordon Lightfoot’s single, “Is There Anyone Home.”
Lyrics: “Turn around, don’t look down, There’s a man behind you with a gun.”
The prevalence of guns in Florida raises the question: Where exactly in this country do guns proliferate? Aren’t they illegal in lots of places?
The answers appear to be “All over” and “Yes.”
United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) publishes a map that gives general guidance as to where firearms are permitted in the hands of those whose right keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (If that sentence sounds a little paradoxical, it is.)
Warning: Just because a state may allow a citizen to carry a firearm, that does not mean that every municipality allows it. The legal constraint is called “pre-emption” and is a little confusing. Just know that what is allowed in the state may not necessarily be allowed in each city.
Also, be aware that, while a state may allow carrying a gun without a permit, in some states that freedom extends only to residents of that state. If you are traveling from out-of-state, you may not be legal. Unless, of course, you have a permit from your own state, AND if the state you are visiting acknowledges that permit.
If this sounds confusing, it is. There are lots of ways to fall afoul of the law where a gun is concerned. Nevertheless, below is the USCCA map (current as of this writing) where you may and may not carry your gun. Green is good; in most cases no permit is required. Yellow is only good WITH a permit, and in some states those are virtually impossible to come by.
This has changed about 100% since 1986. In the map below, here is the color coding:
Red = no carry permitted
Yellow = carry only with a permit (and those were extremely rare — “may issue”)
Blue = carry only with a permit, which was almost always granted (“shall issue”)
Green = carry permitted, no license required
There was only one green state on the map in 1986: Vermont.
The top map above — the USCCA Concealed Carry Map for 2024, shows the 29 states where guns are allowed, usually without any permit at all. It is informative to compare that map with the Trump Electoral College map in the 2024 presidential election. It is shown below. Those states with red were for Trump, blue were for Harris.
With only 3 exceptions — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — states that went for Trump also allow carry without a permit. No real surprise there, but it is interesting to see (a) the visual effect of the widespread acceptance of guns across the country, and (b) to contrast that with the 1986 map where gun carry was almost universally refused.
Number 2. CBS News. Man with Glock switch in his underwear arrested outside Pentagon.
In certain circles, the Glock switch is all the rage. What exactly is a Glock switch?
The semi-automatic Glock 9mm (in most cases) handgun can be modified into a fully automatic firearm, if one is so inclined.
For those few of you in the Alligator Posse who do not keep up with this sort of data, a semi-automatic firearm means that one press of the trigger will cause one cartridge to fire. Upon firing, the force of the explosion pushes the firearm’s slide back, expelling the spent cartridge case and immediately loading a fresh round into the chamber. The loading event is assisted by spring pressure from the magazine, pushing a fresh round upwards.
As the slide returns to its forward position (by means of another spring) the new round is seated in the chamber, the trigger is automatically reset and the gun is ready to be fired again by another press of the trigger.
This is a common design. it is called semi-automatic because, while many things happen in the blink of an eye, each fresh round requires another distinct press of the trigger. One trigger squeeze = one shot.
Military firearms can be manufactured as full automatics, where simply holding back the trigger will continue firing rounds — “automatically” — until the gun runs dry. Infantry types can assert how beneficial this is when lots of bad guys are inside the wire and coming fast. Aim suffers mightily due to the collective recoil, but with enough targets that becomes not quite so important.
Many people confuse “semi-automatic” with “automatic,” and can be excused for doing so. Many things happen simultaneously even in a semi-automatic gun.
So… the humble polymer-frame Glock 9mm pistol: It is sold for civilian use as a semi-automatic. The popular full-size versions — think police officer service guns — have magazines holding 15 rounds or more, but they are semi-auto: Each bullet fired requires a separate press of the trigger.
Glock manufactures the item, however, for many different customers the world over. Some of these are legitimate military buyers who require full automatic handguns.
(Why they do so is an open question. The recoil from a single round requires concentration and some tenths of a second to bring the sights back on target. I can imagine that holding the trigger back will create 15 sudden holes in the wall in front of you tracing upward to the ceiling, all in less time than it takes for the shooter’s brain to tell his finger to LET GO THE TRIGGER! Nevertheless, the gun can be made as a full auto.)
A device converting the Glock from semi-automatic to automatic is, I learn, readily available. Personally, I am unwilling to search the web for such an item from my own IP address. But the “Glock switch” can apparently be installed in off-the-shelf semi-auto Glock models with only minor gun-smithing. It has become a favorite of gang-bangers. Probably it is something of a status symbol.
The man who is the subject of this article, with a vaguely foreign-sounding name, was arrested near the Pentagon in December. Police stopped him for holding his cell phone while driving — he no doubt watches too much American TV — and arrested him when they smelled marijuana in his car.
Eventually they found 14 lbs of weed in his trunk, and somehow — It is not clear how this search was conducted, and I will not ask — they found the Glock switch in his underwear. Possession of which is some kind of felony, I expect. Carrying it in his underwear should get a heavier sentence.
What he had planned to do with the Glock switch is not covered in the article. But whatever it was would involve more than a dozen 115-grain projectiles going downrange at about 1,500 feet per second, mostly unaimed.
Number 1. Euronews dot com. Poland introduces mandatory firearms training for schoolchildren.
Tolkien famously said: “It is does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near one.”
Some scholars have asserted that this bit of wisdom, and indeed the whole “Hobbit/Lord-of-the-Rings” setting, was borne of J.R.R. Tolkien’s World War I experience with trench warfare. The nearness of Germany in the east to Great Britain in the west put the nations on a collision course.
Poland, it seems, has now read Tolkien and made application in the real world. Poland has only Ukraine and Belarus standing between itself and Russia. I’m not sure what Vladimir Putin’s plans for Belarus might be, but his invasion of Ukraine seems to be headed for the Russian bear sitting in Kyiv.
If one wanted to develop a generation of draftable young men familiar with firearms, it probably needs to start in grade school. That is now the case in Poland. School children as young as 14 are handling guns, learning to fire, strip, clean and reassemble.
Live fire practice is generally with laser sights rather than with bullets, but every 14-year-old is now required to go through the training. Until this year, schools could choose to participate or not. In 2025, such training is mandated across the country.
Kids also learn “knowledge of the local area” and first aid. That “knowledge of the local area” thing might be useful. Curmudgeon that I am, I suspect that most 14-year-olds I know could find their way to, say, Walmart, only with the aid of Google Maps.
Every boy who watches action-adventure movies — which is to say, 100% of teenage boys — knows that handling a gun means putting a finger on the trigger and discharging a bullet. There is little thought to target acquisition or awareness of what is beyond the target. Aside from a few scenes with Tom Selleck or Clint Eastwood, field stripping and cleaning are rarely portrayed.
Will training schoolkids in Poland keep Poland safe from Russia? Maybe not. But NOT training kids about guns will do NOTHING for their national defense.
I suppose Poland could be polite and simply ask Russia not to invade them. But they seem to have taken Al Capone’s advice: “You can get much further with a smile and a gun than you can with a smile alone.”
Gun Slang
While I was writing this post, I came across some alternate terminology for guns that you might find interesting, compliments of the Carolina Shooter’s Club. The Al Capone thing started this chase.
Do you feel the need to refer to a gun with a word other than “the gun?”
Euphemisms for carrying:
Packing heat.
He’s walking heavy.
He’s walking the dog.
Hanging out with Roscoe.
Asking if your friend is carrying:
Are you heeled?
Got your heater?
Are you strapped?
Are you holding? (can also refer to drugs)
Asking what caliber your friend is carrying. The larger caliber is a .45, smaller would be at .380 or .32. I’m not sure what the street protocol is for the 9 mm or the .38 Special, but I would assume they are in the smaller category. The .357 Magnum could go either way, but for that hand cannon I would go with large:
Question: “You got your big brother?” Either: “Yep, he’s right here,” or, “Nah, but my little brother’s around.”
Did you bring the Snickers or the Kit Kat? (Large caliber vs small caliber)
Ruger SR1911, .45 semi-automatic pistol
I am not sure what application you will find for all this new-found wisdom, but when the occasion arises, it may suddenly become clear why slang is preferred to plain speech.
Thanks for joining The Alligator News Roundup for Monday, January 6, Year of Our Lord 2025. Remember Thomas Jefferson’s words of wisdom: “Let your gun be your constant companion on your walks.”
Well… that was 1785, and this is now. I wonder if he would still have the same opinion today? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Don’t forget to share, and have a good week.
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