Under-No-Pretext

Dude.  That new knife looks bad to the bone.  If I didn't make it clear before: I hate you in the nicest way possible.  

Just like the issue with the court clerk in Kentucky denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples, this is BS.  If a sheriff can choose to ignore a law, they can just as easily deny 2nd Amendment rights as protect them.  It's not new for elected and appointed law enforcement officials to deny carry permits, refuse to sign NFA applications, and threaten to ignore court rulings protecting gun rights.  This game of nullification is not a road we want to be going down, even if we agree with the underlying reasoning.   If you want to make the states' rights argument, this question was settled in 1865.

I've been pretty good about the wait until now. Something about hearing that they are finally done and now I'm sitting here like this:

Fair enough, and in defense of your point, a small and fast projectile is harder to stop than a big and slow projectile, but there is more to body armor than just catching a round.  Body armor also has to absorb the energy of the round and redistribute it effectively enough to prevent it from being transferred to the soft tissue of the wearer.  In that regard, a hard-hitting .45ACP is just as effective as a 9mm hitting body armor.  It's all a trade off.  This is why this whole 9mm vs .40 vs .45 debate is really a waste of time.  It's all about the energy of the projectile and how well it transfers that energy to the target.  The bullet weight advantage of a larger caliber is offset by the velocity of the 9mm.  Look at the gel tests of modern defensive ammo and you will see that the penetration and wound cavity tends to be very similar across the board.   I'll also point out the classic case of shot placement versus bullet weight.  South Carolina Trooper Mark Coates was shot and killed on November 20, 1992 during a traffic stop.  Trooper Coates shot the perpetrator 5 out 6 times with his .357 magnum duty revolver, which included hitting the suspect in the arm shattering the bone just below the shoulder.  The perpetrator who was armed with one of those little North American Arms .22LR derringers returned fire shooting a single round using his off hand.  That round entered the officer's torso under his armpit, just above his ballistic vest.  Trooper Coates died on the side of the road while the suspect sits in a prison cell.  The argument that a big round will completely disable an attacker is BS.  It's simply not true.  It is all about shot placement.  The Coates shooting is proof positive that a single well-placed (or lucky) shot from a teeny short-barrel .22 is much more effective than 5 less-ideally placed shots from a .357 magnum.   http://www.odmp.org/officer/420-trooper-mark-hunter-coates

You. Are. Evil.

No way.  He misses the leg and there is a loose round unaccounted for and the threat isn't stopped.  If you need to use deadly force to stop a threat you use it the most effective way possible.  There is a reason no firearms training teaching shooting for any target area except center mass or head shots when the torso is behind cover.

Yes, but in my experience and training (not in Tennessee) the discharge of a firearm in retaliation of a threat is considered deadly force, warning shot or not.  This is why LEOs are specifically trained to not fire warning shots.   It goes back to my point about a projectile being fired in the general direction of another human being.  Let's consider this: what if he intended it as a warning shot but inadvertently hit the individual or a bystander and killed them?  In this case it appears that the person armed with the bat did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury, thus the discharge of a firearm was not lawfully justified, warning shot or not.  Assuming that is a correct statement, the guy is lucky he wasn't charged with aggravated assault.  

  The 9mm is not going to easily penetrate properly rated ballistic armor.  Since the early 1990s most armor has been rated to stop the 9mm because it is so common.  FMJ ball ammo is a bit tougher than the hollow point stuff, but I can attest from personal experience from testing various brands of body armor for my former police agency back in the early 2000s, I have not seen a body armor panel yet that wouldn't stop a 9mm projectile.

I have always understood the law to be that you are not to fire warning shots because any discharge of a firearm is a use of deadly force due to the potential for serious injury or death.  When it comes to shooting into the ground, this is highly unlikely to hurt anyone, but the legal logic still remains that you don't discharge your firearm unless you are doing so for the purpose of using it specifically to fend off a threat to your life.  That traditional legal logic that you don't use your firearm unless it is absolutely essential to defend your life is likely what motivated the citation, especially since it was a densely populated area where a stray round or ricochet could hit a bystander.  This was common practice when I was a LEO in both Kentucky and Florida.  If you are in enough fear that you need to use deadly force, you use it against the attacker, not the ground or the air.     Now, if it were me in that particular situation, I'd take a citation any day over having to live with the fact that I had to kill someone even if it were justified.  If I can cease the threat without shooting someone, that's a win in my book.  Ultimately, it's the view of the judge and/or jurors who will ultimately decide his fate.  My prediction is that he will likely go to court, explain it to the judge/jury, and have the charges dismissed, or as DaveTN said, the prosecutor may drop the charges before it gets that far.  

That. Was. Awesome. 

Call the traffic court and see if you can request traffic school by submitting a request online or by mail.  I got one in south Georgia and sent a letter to the traffic court requesting that no points be assessed in exchange for a guilty plea.  It was one of those small towns that generates revenue by hammering the tourists on I-75.  Talk about lumps... the fine was over $300, but at least no points were assessed.     If you really wanted to fight it, you would have to prove that the officer misread your speed, that his radar wasn't calibrated, or something like that.  Assuming the officer knows what he was doing, that would be a difficult sell.

I carried a Sig P-229 in .357 Sig for a couple of years back in the late 1990s when I was a LEO.  At the time it was touted as the next great thing to sliced bread.  It was quickly eclipsed by the .40 SW and I'm honestly very surprised the caliber is even still around.

     Suh-weeeeeet!   :woohoo:

I used to go to Midway as a first option, but over time I find myself going to them less and less.  It seems their selection and prices aren't all that competitive and their shipping is pricey compared to other sellers.  

Actually, I would not use neatsfoot oil.  That looks like veg-tan leather and neatsfoot oil can cause leather to breakdown over time and it would likely stain your clothes. I do custom leather work and I never use the stuff for anything. Although I'm a leather "purist," it looks like a good job molding that kydex, especially profiling the edges of the holster body.

More than likely the leather has been treated. If it is the scrap leather I have seen there, it's either scrap upholstery leather or the small pieces of vegetable tanned leather. If it is the veg-tan leather, it wouldn't hurt anything to put a little coating of something on it. I typically use an acrylic finish on the holsters and sheaths I make, but I have also used a wax finish. I have also read that it's not uncommon for people to wipe a light coating of olive oil on, but my gut says that the oil would go rancid after a while. It's going to be pretty much impossible to prevent any and all sweat from reaching the leather. It's hard to say without seeing the leather and the product you have exactly whether that would be a good product for your needs. You may just want to head over to the Tandy Leather shop in Nashville, take the holster with you, and let them suggest what to use. My gut tells me they will recommend their Super Shene or Satin Shene. You may also be able to use neutral shoe polish.

I know I'm fine with any changes should it be necessary.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but I do worry about a somewhat long-term lack of power should there be a major incident that results in widespread damage to the power grid.  We have seen in the past how even a minor disruption in one local spot can create a massive blackout under the right conditions.  Take the blackout in New York City back in 1977.  It was the result of a damaged transmission line that was struck by lightening, lasted less than 24 hours, and the city saw social unrest and looting.  Imagine if power was down for days or weeks following a coordinated terrorist attack or cyberattack.  As I understand it, part of the problem is that there isn't a stockpile of some major physical components of the grid and it would take time for these to be produced, transported, and installed if there was a widespread need for them.  Also as I understand it, there are three grids in the US.  The eastern grid, the western grid, and one in Texas.  That means an incident anywhere in the eastern US could potentially impact the power supply here in Tennessee.  I'm not a gloom and doom kind of guy, but I know a bit about our pitiful effort to defend from a cyber attack, so this is an issue that is on my mind when I think about my preps.

I could definitely stand to stockpile more food.   On a related note, a question I have is this: do you think people would come together an share resources or would people just hoard what they have?  In other words, wouldn't a community of like-minded people come together, pool their collective knowledge and resources in a real SHTF scenario?  It seems to be the nature of humanity to do this for mutual benefit and to protect their resources from those who seek to take from others. 

I really feel as if I have been fair in my criticisms, perhaps too much so.  In a nutshell, the original issue was related to a special order my wife placed for a Uberti Cattleman to give me as a Christmas gift.  When she ordered it the first part of November, the clerk told her the gun was in stock with the distributor and it would arrive in about a week.  She paid the deposit and waited.  It didn't arrive until well into January, which is very likely out of the hands of the people at FF.  Here is the rub: 1) She was told when the gun was ordered that it was in stock and would be there in a week. 2) When the gun was not in stock, the people at FF did not call her to let her know. 3) When she called multiple times, they gave her the run-around and basically lied.  The gun was always "on the truck for the next delivery" or "definitely on the way."   4) Christmas came and I got a nice picture of the gun with her story about how she was being treated.  I then started calling and got the same treatment.  They always said, "we called and they said it's in stock and will be shipped out tomorrow."   5) I finally called and said we just wanted to cancel the order and they said they could not do refunds on special orders. 6) When the gun finally arrived the second week of January, we went to pick it up.  The manager made no apologies for what happened and made no effort to make up for the hassle.  As I was talking to the manager about the issue, the owner came up, butted into the conversation without so much as an "excuse me," and talked to the manager about something else.  I have always been under the impression the owner was well-aware of who I was, why I was there, and what problems I had experienced.  Thanks to all of that crap, my wife has sworn off buying guns forever and she hasn't set foot into a gun store since.  No kidding on that. She wasn't a gun person to start with and that experience totally tainted her. I even gave the place another shot after that - not sure why, but I guess I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I was looking for a specific handgun and called them multiple times over the course of a week to see if they had it and if not, what it would cost to order it.  I was promised a return call every single time, and on the last call I got the owner's wife who was referenced above.  She was rude, huffed about how she didn't have time to look up a price, and would call me back later in the day.  Needless to say, I'm still waiting on that return call.   Now, according to the owner of FF, since this all happened a few years ago my complaint is not valid, and he even accused me of being dishonest about ever being a customer.  I have looked at some of the other complaints people have left and I don't think there is a single one where they admitted the possibility that they did anything wrong.  Even in my complaint I posted a couple of days ago, he had every opportunity to try and make up for it, but instead he went on a rant and then maliciously sought out my other pages to harass me.  Real high-class guy.

I was thinking something similar yesterday.  Is it just me or does the gun business seem to have an above average number of these sorts of people?

Why have two active FB pages?

I added it above.  Probably doing it while you were typing.  I'll be curious to see his reaction.

I think it looks like copper or lead buildup, but I could be wrong.  I would find it really hard to believe that a bore would rust and pit to that degree from just one week exposure to rain.

Yup.  Hozzie got that one correct.  I would actually build a frame and add the cable/turnbuckle.