Year: 2018

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Why gun owners are ‘shooting themselves in the foot’ by supporting the bump stock ban

 

Any gun owner that’s spent time on gun forums or Facebook gun groups knows that gun owners are split over the bump stock ban.  Half of them respond with “bump stocks are stupid anyways, who cares,” and the other half are pretty sure it’s the end of the 2nd amendment as we know it.  The truth?  Probably somewhere in the middle.

Let’s be honest.  Are bump stocks useful for personal defense, target shooting, or hunting?  No.  But that’s not the point.  No one is claiming they are.  The reason anyone is upset about it is the ATF is claiming they are machine guns.  So, let’s examine what a machine gun actually is, according to the parameters set by Congress.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 regulated machine guns and defined them as “any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”  Meaning, you pull the trigger ONCE, and it fires continuously until the trigger is released, or the magazine is depleted.

The ATF’s latest stance on bump stocks is that a bump stock works with a single function of the trigger.  But that is outrageously false.  And flies in the face of the Obama Administration’s ATF entire reasoning to approve them in the first place.  They acknowledged that the trigger is still pulled and reset every time a shot is fired.  It is a still a semi automatic weapon.  This video, courtesy of The Gun Collective, clearly demonstrates that.

So, it’s pretty clear that a bump stock does NOT convert a semi automatic firearm to fully automatic according to the laws passed by Congress, and the ATF is using its own definition.  Is that a problem?  Absolutely, for several reasons.

You don’t need a bump stock to bump fire.  It’s nothing new, has been around for years, and anyone with a little time to practice can reproduce the rate of full auto fire by ‘bumping’ the trigger.  So, since a bump stock only aids in bump firing, and is now considered a machine gun, wouldn’t anything that aids in firing quicker fall under that category as well?  Triggers with lighter pull weights, lightened bolt carriers, adjustable gas blocks, etc.  Technically, these things could aid in firing quicker, or bump firing, and would therefore fall under the machine gun category?  Far fetched?  Yes, but under an extremely anti gun administration, not so much.  We’ve seen how far they’ll go.  (Remember the SAFE Act in New York, where you could possess ten round magazines but only load 7 rounds in them?)

Second, remember it said “or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot” in the definition of a machine gun?  “Readily restored to be a machine gun,” in other words.  Since installing a bump stock on an AR15 takes only a few minutes, or even installing a trigger that would aid in bump firing(remember, that falls under machine guns now) would definitely fall under readily or easily restored to a machine gun, any anti gun administration could use the same powers used to ban stocks, that half of gun owners are cheering, to ban entire categories of weapons.

Far too many gun owners just say ‘well we gotta give em something, give em bump stocks’ as that’s going to satisfy them.  Why compromise?  We’ve given far too much already that we’ll never get back.  And giving in on this issue that could become a massive problem next time an anti gun administration is in office is foolish.   Truly shooting ourselves in the foot.

 

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5 Police officers killed in the line of duty last week

Officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli were the latest officers shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to a 911 hangup call.

 

(2-11-2018) Every day when officers put on those colors and badge, they know they’re putting their life on the line.  All of those lost this week leave behind a wife and kids.  You’re all in our prayers and your sacrifice will never be forgotten.  God bless you.   And to all those officers still in the line of duty, be safe.  We got your back.

 

2 officers shot and killed after responding to 911 hang up call.  RIP Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli

3 law enforcment officers shot, one killed.  RIP Locust Grove police Officer Chase Maddox

1 officer shot and killed.  RIP Officer David Sherrard.

2 officers shot one of them killed.  RIP El Paso County sheriff’s Deputy Micah Flick.

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Craftsmanship: Woodworking, Kydex, Cerakote, And What Drives Us.

holster wallet
Over the past five generations, this family’s style of craftsmanship has changed. But the quality has always been there, and always will be.

The Schiwerks Way

(1/28/2018) – First things first, thank you thank you thank you for being interested enough in our company to click on this. We’ve worked hard and come a long way, and along that way, every single person that’s “liked”, “shared”, bought, or commented on any one thing that we’ve done has meant more to us than you’ll ever realize. In today’s world of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., you would think building a website and driving enough traffic to it to generate an income wouldn’t be all that hard. But I’ll tell ya right now, it has not been easy. It has been hard, it has been frustrating, and at times, even a little maddening. We’re not even close to achieving what we know we can, and without you, none of it is even possible. So, sincerely, thank you.

Now, to the reason I’m writing this. We want you to know who we are. What we stand for. Why we’re “different”.

If you’ve had any interest in us prior to this point, you’ve probably figured out that this company consists of Sam, the owner, and myself, Jesse. We’re a couple of brothers who are probably more alike than we’d like to be.

Growing up, we spent a lot of time in Dad’s wood shop. And he did the same with his dad. Four generations of this before us. Somehow, in a town of less than 400 people, he managed to make a living and provide for Mom and their four children. A woodworker. In a town of less than 400. And he made it work. Churning out some of the best damn woodworking you’ll ever see. Hell, his projects have even made the newspaper! It was a horse-drawn hearse, and it was frickin’ impressive. He’s the purest definition of a craftsman.

Sam and I, while we did “dabble” in wordworking a little bit, it just wasn’t for us. Out of high school, Sam went to college for collision repair and mechanics. Up until January 1, 2018 that has been his life.

I don’t know how much you know about automotive paint. But it can be a real pain in the ass. Now, we’ve both been doing it long enough where it just kind of comes naturally, it’s not really something we have to think about. Of course, there are still times when we’ll get our ass kicked by color-matching a white pearl tri-coat, but that’s a whole different story.

What we’ve developed an eye for throughout the years are tiny little imperfections. Imperfections that most people would never notice, or if they did notice, probably wouldn’t even care about. Not only did we develop an eye for these things, we both grew to REALLY hate having an imperfection in our paint. We both know we can create a perfect finish with relative ease. So why let that one little thing fly?

Body work and paint translates perfectly to what both of us do. For Sam, cerakote is just another day in the shop.

Myself, I was kind of a computer guy. I decided to go to college for Computer Aided Drafting. Sam was working in Kansas City, and I had just been accepted down there. A few hours after I graduated high school, I drove down there and moved in with him. That went….poorly, to say the least, and before I even started school, I moved back home and started working construction.

After about a year of that, we were on vacation, and I still had no idea what I was doing with my life. We were sitting on a dock at the Lake of the Ozarks, and my oldest brother said, “Well, why not do what Sam does?”

Yeah, why not? I’d had an interest in cars before, I had just never really thought of it. A couple months later, I was done working construction, and I’ve kind of been unintentionally following Sam’s footsteps ever since.

I’ve been doing collision work now for eight years. I loved it, for a long time. And I probably will for a long time to come. But at this point, I need a challenge. I need a change. I need something bigger, something that matters. I can’t speak for Sam, or why he chose to start Schiwerks. But I do know that he is passionate about what he does, and that neither of us will quit until we succeed.

At first, making holsters was just a nice change of pace from the monotony of beating out dents. A nice hobby. Then Sam asked if I’d like to sell them under Schiwerks. There’s the challenge. An even bigger challenge: helping him create a brand that can make a difference.

Although expert craftsmanship has been in our blood for five generations now, and we’ve both learned to be maybe a little bit over-critical of our work from our time as body-men, giving you a superb product isn’t our lone top priority.

We put everything we have into our products. Our time, our money, and on multiple occasions I’ve put quite a bit of blood into it, never cried though. Man stuff, ya know. And when we’re done putting in, we put out. Err….donate. Sorry.

We recognize that without our military, we wouldn’t be where we are, doing what we’re doing. We aim to give back to those who deserve it most. To support those who defend us. Who’ve literally given their everything.

We’re just a couple of freedom-loving brothers, and we’re just getting started. Just wait until you see what we can do.