Slugs & Plugs

Utah CCW: Next best thing to national reciprocity?

The July 21 U.S. Senate defeat of the Thune-Vitter Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Bill was a genuine disappointment to many gun-rights watchers and for those who believe strongly about carrying firearms for personal protection.

The amendment, which would have provided the interstate recognition of right-to-carry firearms permits for the first time, fell two votes shy of a filibuster-proof 60 votes required for its passage.

Despite the Summer Setback in the Senate, there remains a viable, albeit less-than-national alternative to true interstate right-to-carry legislation. And, it’s being utilized by a growing number of gun owners who wish to legally carry a concealed firearm in multiple states while obtaining a single authorization to do so.

It’s a Utah concealed-weapons permit, and it’s widely known as the most sought-after state CCW. That’s because it is currently recognized by 32 states, far-and-above more than any other carry permit in the country.

In addition to its obvious reciprocity advantages, instructors outside Utah are permitted to conduct the required CCW permit training. Presently, 60 percent of its certified instructors are doing business in other states other than Utah.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, a total of 71,428 Utah permits were issued, with 35,466 going to residents and 35,962 to out-of-staters—giving non-residents a slight edge with 50.3 percent.

According to data released last week by the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification (the agency entrusted with issuing the permits), 57,104 CCW applicants have paid a non-refundable $35 permit fee so far this calendar year (through Aug 31).

S&P random quote

“I think that birds were made to shoot and some of us were made to shoot them and if that is not so well, never say we did not tell you that we liked it.”

-Ernest Hemingway, “Remembering Shooting-Flying, ”Esquire, 1935

W. Virginia number one—with a bumper

For the third straight year, data compiled by State Farm Insurance indicates that drivers in West Virginia have the greatest likelihood of hitting a deer with their motor vehicle.

Research shows that drivers in The Mountain State have a one-in-39 chance of hitting a deer during the next 12 months—a marked increase from last year’s one-in-45 odds. Michigan ranked second with a likelihood of one in 78.

State Farm’s data also reveals that the number of vehicles on U.S. roadways has grown by 7 percent over the last five years, certainly a contributing factor to the rise in deer encounters.  But the number of times those vehicles have collided with deer has increased by an even greater margin.

The research estimates 2.4 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the U.S. during the two-year period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009 — 18.3 percent more than five years earlier. That breaks down to one deer/vehicle encounter every 26 seconds in the U.S.

Following the lead of West Virginia and Michigan comes Pennsylvania (1 in 94) and Iowa (1 in 104). Montana (1 in 104) moved up three places to fifth.

Arkansas and South Dakota each dropped a spot to sixth and seventh.  Wisconsin remained eighth, while North Dakota and Virginia round out the top 10. 

The bottom line: the average property damage cost of deer/vehicle incidents is $3,050, up 3.4 percent from a year ago. 

Ohio rooting out root poachers

Investigators in Ohio believe rising unemployment and a tough economy is driving some ginseng diggers in the state to illegally harvest the root on private land and out of season. 

For the past month, State Wildlife Officers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife have been contacting many Ohio ginseng dealers and diggers as part of an ongoing investigation.

To date, Ohio wildlife officers have identified more than 30 individuals and 60 violations of Ohio law. As the investigation continues, authorities say formal charges will likely include digging ginseng without landowner permission, collecting or possession of ginseng during the closed season, failure to maintain accurate records and failure to certify ginseng prior to export.

The perennial herb is one of the most sought-after medicinal plants in the world. American ginseng occurs from Quebec, Canada, west to Minnesota and south to Georgia and Oklahoma.

Ohio certifies about 3,000 pounds of ginseng for export annually. There are 46 licensed ginseng dealers in the state with an estimated two to four thousand diggers. The number of diggers/harvesters varies annually depending on market conditions.

Last year, 3,626 pounds of ginseng were legally harvested in Ohio and sold to dealers at around $400 a pound. The value of the dried wild root fluctuates, and was as high as $1,000 per pound in 2007.

Hand-held arrow ends grizzly attack

A Fort St. John, British Colombia bowhunter saved his bacon last week by plunging one of his hunting arrows into the neck of an attacking grizzly bear at his Kechika River hunting camp.

The action began when Rory Chapple, 39, heard the telltale huffing sounds of an agitated grizzly bear coming toward him. Though he was armed with his hunting bow, there was no time to nock an arrow, much less draw, aim and fire.

As the bowhunter back-pedaled and the sow grizzly moved closer, he concluded his only defense was to use one of his hunting arrows as a lance. When the grizzly made its lunge, Chapple jabbed—Zorro style—and the broadhead-tipped arrow sliced the bruin’s throat, inflicting enough damage to thwart a further advance.

“It was a glancing blow but as soon as that arrow struck home, she went from gnarling and growing and huffing at me to gurgling,” Chapple said.

The father of two and president of his local archery club escaped the ordeal with ripped pants, a sore back, and a whale of a story to tell.

'He was just a dog'

One of our favorites from Baxter Black.

The safest haircut joint in town

That’s what customers can expect at Bruce Gooden’s Okolona Barber Shop.

And, for a limited time, those doing business at Gooden’s clip joint also have a chance to win an AK-47 semi-auto rifle valued at $750.

You see, besides being a longtime haircutter in the Okolona community of greater Louisville, Kentucky, Gooden is also an avid hunter, gun lover, NRA Life Member, certified concealed-carry instructor and outspoken supporter of the right to bear arms.

“It’s not so much about the AK. It’s about the Second Amendment. That’s what I’m trying to do, raise awareness,” the barber recently told local television station WLKY.

In addition to raising awareness and generating more business, the promotion is also increasing the membership roster of the nation’s premier gun-rights organization, the National Rifle Association.

Regular customers receive one ticket for a chance to win the rifle each time they get a haircut. If they’re a card-carrying NRA member, it’s two chances. And, if they sign up as a new NRA member, they’ll receive six tickets for the December gun drawing.

In its newspaper advertisements promoting its AK giveaway, The Okolona Barber Shop is described as “The Safest Shop in Town.”

From what we know about Gooden and his shop, we’re confident that statement reflects truth in advertising, a rare commodity these days.

Pistol-packin' mamas

The ten-month surge in the sale of firearms and the accompanying increase in applications for concealed carry permits in the U.S. have been well documented by the pro-gun media. But a relatively under-reported related gun-sales story has everything to do with sex.

Got your attention?

By all accounts, women are buying guns for personal protection like never before and seeking firearms training and education in increasing numbers.

Last week it was reported that in 2009 nearly 12,000 new pistol permits were issued in Connecticut, a state with one of the historically lowest gun-ownership rates in the country. Between January and May the state saw a 90 percent increase in the number of pistol permits over the previous year, with retailers and safety instructors reporting a spike in first-time gun purchases, particularly by women.

“I think that the percentage that you’d see of women coming for the first time has quadrupled,” John Petricone, a staffer at Tactical Arms in Torrington, told the Danbury Republican-American. Pistol safety classes that once drew about nine men for every woman are now evenly split, Petricone said.

That contention was all but confirmed by survey results released this week from the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s “First Shots” program.

“First Shots” is just what the name implies: a program that introduces people to handgun shooting for their first time—along with expert coaching and safety instruction.

Of the 3,106 participant surveys tabulated from handgun events as of this June, a total of 1,498 participants (48 percent) identified themselves as female. In addition, 64 percent of the female participants indicated the First Shots seminar marked their first-ever experience shooting a handgun.

 In a follow-up survey conducted six months after attending the seminar, 20 percent of the female participants said they went on to take formal handgun training such as basic handgun, concealed carry, defensive handgun, NRA safety instruction and other formal programs. Further, nearly half of the responding female First Shots participants reported to have met their state’s requirement to own or purchase a handgun.

Study: Feces may spread CWD

The results of a groundbreaking new study indicate that chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk may be spread by excreted proteins found in the infected animal’s feces.

The report, published in the September 9 issue of the journal Nature reveals that CWD-symptomatic prions (or modified proteins) are found in the droppings of deer months before clinical symptoms of the disease are seen in the animals, according to the research team, at University of California, San Francisco and the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Wildlife Research Center.

Deer, elk and moose inadvertently consume feces and soil in the course of their daily grazing. Given this, the team set out to determine whether the animals could develop CWD through long-term consumption of contaminated feces.

Researchers measured the amount of prions contained in the feces of orally infected deer up until the time they became symptomatic and then calculated whether prolonged exposure to the concentrations of prions in these feces would be enough to cause the disease.

“Our findings suggest that prolonged fecal prion excretion by infected deer provides a plausible explanation for the high level of transmission of chronic wasting disease within deer herds, as well as prion transmission among deer and other cervid species. Our work may also explain transmission of scrapie prions among sheep and goats,” says senior author and Nobel laureate Stanley B. Prusiner, MD, UCSF professor of neurology and director of the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Facebook post leads to deer spotlighting charges

In Wisconsin’s first hunting violation case based on evidence gathered from the social networking site, Facebook, two men were charged with illegal deer shining after an anonymous tipster led to their posted video. 

One individual pleaded guilty last week to shining wild animals while possessing a firearm. The case against the second is pending.

Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources cited Adam M. Frame, 25, and Dustin J. Porter, 24, after an anonymous tip led them to a video on Facebook showing the duo shining a light and shooting a gun at a deer.

The case marked the DNR’s first-ever arrests based on a Facebook video, although it has built cases from information found on other Web sites—such as Craigslist and eBay, Conservation Warden Supervisor Rick Reed said in a news release about the case.

Frame and Porter were charged in April with one misdemeanor count of illegal shining of deer or bears as party to a crime in connection with the November 2007 incident.

Frame, as part of an agreement, pleaded guilty last month to shining wild animals while possessing a firearm. He was fined $354.