rgaper

Correct. ARs are easy to change configuration in just seconds, so as long as you can convert it back to the configuration listed on the Form 1 or Form 4, your'e good. On the other hand, if your SBR is a Draco 12" and you decide to turn it into a mini, you can't really change it back all that easily. What you're talking about is "constructive possession." I play it safe and keep a 1:1 ratio, but there are plenty of people who like to try out different configurations, so they have one SBR lower and maybe 2-3 SBR-length uppers. I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on TV, but if that's your thing, I would definitely keep the NFA stuff in a completely separate safe at a bare minimum.

One comment, one question... First, the comment; Sweet Baby Jesus! In your video you put an empty magazine into your mag carrier. It was like watching two dudes make out. Question - Based on your statements, we seem to agree that there is a need for a consistent drawstroke that will allow you to deal with a threat. However, observing your trigger figger slide-indexed and the very late trigger contact & trigger press (only at fully extension at count 4) seems to go against this philosophy. I'm curious how you arrived at that and who teaches that method?

It's not right that he was denied access to beanie babies, pork rinds, and beef jerky!

Yes, I'm familiar with the rest of the story and I am glad for the guy and his family that it was dismissed. BUT... He spent some time in jail. I'm an exit-only kinda guy and the tour of the jail cells I got at Alcatraz is about the only time I ever want to spend in a place like that. My point about him being an idiot is that he stayed overnight and attempted to check-in at what a reasonable person would believe to be an "unfriendly and unknowledgeable" ticket counter for a firearms owner. He flew 2000+ miles to drive a car 2000+ miles back home, but when he got stuck at the airport, he decided to spend the night instead of just renting a car to drive 80 miles to Allentown? 80 miles! That's insane. I've driven more than 80 miles just to get a hoagie.

I stand corrected. Wow, thanks for passing on this document, I'm going to follow up on it. Living in Southern CT for the past few years, I regularly used the NYC-area airports (LGA, JFK, HPN, EWR) just as often as Hartford. Connecticut's gun laws are exponentially better than NY or NJ, so when traveling with firearms, everyone I know avoids NYC. I'm constantly amazed by the ignorance of gun owners on FOPA, especially those of us who have lived in areas where dealing with much stricter state gun control is a few minutes drive away. FOPA is easily one of the most important pieces of gun legislation that the average citizen should be familiar with. 1986 brought the MG ban, but it also brought FOPA.

I grew up in SE PA. The part in red is not correct. It's gotta be legal at Point A and at Point B, there's no safe passage that would allow you to get to the ticket counter if possession at the ticket counter is illegal. BATFE has no authority on this one as it's not their regulation that you're breaking. To your point about being diverted, the case mentioned on page 3 of this thread where a guy got stuck in his connection city of Newark, NJ was an absolute idiot. Being from SE PA, you'll appreciate this. His final destination was Allentown, PA which is 80 miles way. Instead, he stayed overnight and attempted to check his firearm at the counter. He was about to drive a car 2,000+ miles, but wouldn't drive 80? I've personally been diverted to Newark-Liberty and my solution was easy... walk outside with luggage, get a cab, "drive me to Connecticut." From: FOPA Doesn't Apply in NY/NJ!! February 27, 2006 - The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. (ANJRPC) announced that it has commenced a lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and one of its police officers for wrongfully arresting and imprisoning for nearly five days a 57-year old Utah man delayed at Newark Airport by a baggage error while traveling from Utah to Pennsylvania. The lawsuit seeks more than $3 million in damages for civil rights violations and a permanent injunction forcing the Port Authority to follow Federal law on interstate transport of locked, unloaded firearms that have been secured in luggage and declared by law-abiding citizens. The Utah man, Gregg Revell, a real estate broker and family man with no criminal record and a Utah firearms permit, was flying alone from Salt Lake City, UT to Allentown, PA to retrieve a car he bought and drive it home. [edit: WTF???] He was travelling with a firearm for personal protection. As required by Federal law, the firearm was unloaded, cased, locked and inside his luggage when he declared it at check-in in Salt Lake City on March 31, 2005. Due to an airline-caused baggage error, Mr. Revell missed his connection from Newark to Allentown and had to stay overnight in New Jersey. When he checked in at Newark Airport the next morning to complete his travels, he again declared his firearm, as required by FAA regulations. He was then arrested for possession of a firearm without a New Jersey state license, and imprisoned in Essex County jail for five days until his family arranged bail, which had been initially set unusually high at $15,000 cash (no bond). [snip]

The screenshot is from www.handgunlaw.us which is a pretty reliable site. The screenshot that they show indicates that it's not legal with the Indiana permit in NY, which pretty much everyone in the world knows... well, except for this guy and that lady from TN in the last few weeks too. I feel bad for him because he was a Marine and I doubt he had any malicious intent, but knowing the legalities of carrying a firearm are an individual responsibility. Here's the link to the Indiana page on handgunlaw's website which is clear as day. http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/indiana.pdf ETA: Here's the exact chart that they flashed on the screen. http://www.handgunlaw.us/documents/USReciprocity.pdf

Fair enough. I looked it up before posting and saw a population of 7,000 and lots of open space around it except Jackson. Replace "fairly rural" with "fairly small town." Same concern applies. When I lived in Central Virginia and was pulled over in my rural area... errr, fairly smaller town... it was like a visit from a family friend or hunting buddy. When I lived in the NYC area, not so much.

It wasn't meant as an offensive comment or smart remark, the reality is that your location is fairly rural and the reaction of a rural area police officer to a firearm is typically less alarmed than say one in Nashville, Memphis, or Atlanta. I did not want your experience, if limited to being pulled over in a rural area, to be what guided you as a normal reaction throughout the rest of your travels. I've had the good fortune of living in both extremely rural and extremely urban areas and felt that it would be beneficial to point out something that might help keep you and your family safe.

You misunderstand the "illegal gun" statement because you're assuming we're talking about bayonet lugs, flash suppressors, folding stocks, and high capacity magazines. That's not it at all. New Jersey DOES have an illegal gun problem. More accurately, the parties possessing/using them are illegal due to laws, but we're talking about all kinds of laws being broken, both State and Federal. In other words, there are a ton of people in places like Newark, Camden, etc. that you and I and every other law-abiding gun owner would agree should not have a gun. The perception in NJ politics is that the feds aren't doing enough to prevent guns from getting into prohibited persons' hands, so they need to step in. On a related note, if NJ and NYC politicians were to visit TGO and see a 10+ page thread about how everyone on here wants to sell/buy guns in TN via private party "parking lot" sales and not do so much as to even flash an ID or get a name, well, you can only imagine that would fuel the fire about how easy it is for prohibited people to buy a gun. With respect to Aiken, your knowledge of the criminal justice system, appeals, and overall strategy for change are lacking. On his own Facebook page, Aiken says his sentence has been commuted, which means that he still has this conviction, but his conviction is being appealed. If New Jersey's appellate courts overturn the conviction, the judge who sentenced Aiken will get pimp-slapped AND all of New Jersey will have slightly more sane gun laws. A pardon doesn't help to correct the underlying flaws of a bad judge and a bad law. Of course, if his conviction is upheld, Christie can pardon him. Most importantly Aiken ASKED to have his sentence commuted, not pardoned. If you can't read between the lines on that one... No problem, I'll say it again; In no way am I defending NJ's gun laws. Christie recognizes that sweeping change to gun laws is not something that's going to take place in his first term in office in a state that is firmly anti-gun, and I'm not just talking about the politicians. Southerners are quick to say "don't bring your Northern, big city politics here..." Same applies in reverse. If you think Christie is failing and an enemy of gun owners because he isn't openly proposing pro-gun measures in New Jersey, you're missing perspective.

That's a needless swipe at Chris Christie. Chris Christie has exactly zero to do with any initiatives that the mayor of Newark puts forth. Ever been to Newark or any part of North Jersey? I'm worried very little about anything that happens there because unless I'm watching "Bait Car" for entertainment or laying over at Liberty, it's not a place I care about. Here are some 2009 comments from Chris Christie on how he feels about gun control in New Jersey... Five Things Conservative Voters Would Hate About Chris Christie -- Daily Intel "Listen, we have a densely-populated state, and there's a big handgun problem in New Jersey. Now, I don't support all the things that the governor supports by a long stretch. But I think on guns — certain gun control issues, looking at it from a law-enforcement perspective, seeing how many police officers were killed, we have an illegal gun problem in New Jersey." If anything, Chris Christie has brought a dramatically pro-gun shift to an incredibly gun-restrictive state. I give him a ton of credit for commuting Brian Aitken's sentence in late 2010. NRA-ILA :: N.J. Governor Chris Christie Commutes Gun Owner If Corzine was still in office, this kid would be in prison still. New Jersey's anti-gun nature goes back into the 1960s and it's deep-seeded in most all of the counties and cities. If you think there's going to be some sweeping change or an overtly pro-gun agenda from Christie or anyone else in New Jersey politics, you've been in Tennessee way too long. When asked about the potential for some change, particularly after the Aitken issue... Christie on New Jersey “No. Not at all. In fact, I think that Democrats — if they had a Democratic governor, there would be even more of these put on the books. They tried to in [former governor Jon] Corzine’s last year [in office], and they got caught up in the legislature trying to do even more.†In closing, I wouldn't take an alarmist approach that "It happened in New Jersey, it can happen in Tennessee!" It makes for good internet forum fodder, but that's about it.

Shop I know up in New England has them for $1500... in the current market, that's apparently a good deal. Laughable.

Handling a firearm while an LEO is stopping you will get you voted "most likely to get shot in the face" any day of the week. I see your location is somewhat in the sticks, but if you did this on an interstate or in a semi-urban area, I can tell you that you're playing with your life and I don't mean to be overly-dramatic, but getting killed is a little dramatic...I mean, by my gauge at least it is... This thread is full of bad ideas.

Whichever way you go, do yourself a favor and add the Apex parts.

This. Most of the setups I've seen posted where someone has a "bright idea" about how to mount their pistol on/around their dashboard introduce a "please shoot me at a traffic stop" scenario.

My best advice is generally to not seek advice in a gun shop. They're a business, trying to push the merchandise that they have on hand, so they are incented to talk-up the stuff they've got, and talk-down the stuff that they either don't have or can't get. In most cases, they're also not shooters, so they don't go out and put hundreds or thousands of rounds through the products that they sell. A good example is that I was at a shop last week and while looking for something specific, the guys in the shop tried to "help" me by telling me I was foolish and that I should consider what they have on their shelf instead. Everything that they said was not only off-base, but there was some fiction to boot. I don't have one, but it's a solid performer. I have personally seen a 9mm Glock magazine version go through a 3-day carbine course with Progressive FORCE Concepts and there were no problems with the gun.

I'm glad the media is dismissing him, and I wish the Paulbots would take the red pill and do the same. On his best day, he's still wholly unelectable as POTUS.

This poster always cracks me up...

The cop was wrong, but the citizen was also an idiot. He sounded like Richard Christie's father from the Howard Stern show. There's a way to say things without being alarming and still being assertive. He sounded like a 14 year old boy getting the nerve up to ask a girl on a date. Awful.

I think Todd Green's G17 endurance test is really the most impressive I've seen in a while. For those that haven't been following, he's been putting a Gen4 G17 through its paces for the last 38 weeks. pistol-training.com » Blog Archive » Glock 17 gen4 Endurance Test: Week 38 The stats as of December 17th were... [TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD=align: left]52,426 rounds [/TD] [TD=align: left]9 stoppages (+1 w/non-LCI extractor) [/TD] [TD=align: left]0 malfunctions [/TD] [TD=align: left]1 parts breakages [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Generally the officer doesn't want you to do anything that will make them nervous like operating the action of a firearm. You can "suggest" but to "inform" an officer who is already apparently nervous enough to disarm you is going down a path that I will wish you well on.

Yep, especially for guys who don't have the time or money to go to courses, the Magpul videos are a great resource that you can translate to usable drills at home (dryfire) or at the range. I can tell you that having done training with several training organizations throughout the US, watching the videos still provides and good perspective even for a veteran shooter to see how someone else is doing it. As one of my favorite instructors @ PFC said once, "take what we teach and put it through your BS filter, see what works best for you." Same applies to the videos.

I have always been willing to provide my resident permit or license in every state I've lived, even when I'm not carrying a firearm. Felons don't have pistol permits, so by giving the officer your permit, you are letting them know you're not a scary guy, so they can spend less time thinking about whether you are a dangerous traffic stop. On the other hand - and I see that a number of folks here have experienced this - if they officer asks for you to give them your firearm, it can quickly turn into an unsafe situation. Here's why... 1. If they ask you to hand them your firearm, you're likely going to be muzzlesweeping yourself and handing a loaded firearm, which may or may not have external safeties on it, to an individual at an odd angle. That's dangerous every day of the week. It's unlikely that the officer will let you exit the vehicle to unholster, and if he does, now you're on the side of the road with a cop and pulling a gun out. None of these are high on my list of things to do. 2. Keeping in mind that most police officers aren't "gun guys" it's extremely possible that they may suddenly be handling a firearm that they are unfamiliar with. This can create a very dangerous situation very quickly. A good friend of mine who has been in EP, firearms training, and competitive shooting, described a situation where he was asked to hand over his 1911 and the officer had no idea what they were doing. This can get especially troublesome if the officer decides that they want to clear the firearm.

If the mags don't drop free, it's either because they are not OEM Glock drop free mags, or there are plastic burrs on the mag release notch that's on the magazine body. Regular maintenance should be to inspect the magazine and remove any plastic that has built up. You can usually do it with your fingernail, but if you don't want to mess up your manicure, you can use a pocketknife. I've found that the only other legitimate reason for a Glock mag "sticking" is when the shooter's hand is so big (or the grip is poor) and they are preventing the magazine from dropping free. i.e. you hit the button, but you're holding the mag in place so it doesn't drop. All of my Glocks have the Vickers extended slide release and Vickers extended mag release and I recommend them without hesitation. IMO, they are way better than the factory standard and extended offerings. The Gen 4 "FBI" mag release looks promising, but I know that the Vickers is good stuff. On the Walther PPQ recommendation - by the way - it's a new gun, so I'd let it go through its teething process before recommending one, but people seem to like them so far except for their somewhat unique magazine release. Ironic in light of your Glock complaints, many people find that the magazine release on the Walther is problematic both from a reliability and training perspective.

Interesting. I don't operate in circles where guys make fun of Glocks. We all have a respect for what they do and have all been down the path of trying different firearms and either transitioning to the Glock out of epiphany, or after seeing how much more practical they are for a trained defensive shooter. (same goes for the M&P series) If you would have asked me five years ago if I would own a Glock, or several of them, and that I would have retired or sold every other pistol (Beretta, Sig, HK, Kahr, etc.) in my safe in favor of the 9mm Glock plaform, I would have told you that you were smoking crack. What did it for me was the training and thousands of rounds downrange. If someone were to laugh at me about carrying a Glock, I would assume they are ill informed or a fudd. I guess this goes back to the biggest difference for me which is that I don't go to the range with a bag full of guns to play with, I do defensive drills, and getting better at that skillset gives me satisfaction. It seems there are some who view shooting their carry gun as a chore and shooting other guns as fun. I don't have that distinction. I need to be as proficient as possible with my pistol AND I enjoy shooting it.