The “Important Announcement” and “Exciting Offer”

First of all, I’d like to thank all those who came back after seeing the pre-announcement on Thursday/Friday. Please do not confuse the mockery of pomp and fluff for actual pomp and fluff (I will inform you all immediately when I am taking myself too seriously).

At this time I would like to announce that I will be building up an AR type lower receiver (or six) in the not too distant future.

Making a stripped lower such as this

Look more like this

And I would like some feedback as to how many folks would be interested in a detailed photoblogging of said build here. If I get enough folks, I may even take video along with the pics.

Also, I’d like to let you all know that I have turned the ignition switch into the ON position for the “Phil’s Co-Worker AR Building Club”.

The premise is as follows: They go buy a stripped AR type lower, the guts and the stock of their choosing, and I instruct them on how to assemble it all together and point them in the direction of the upper of their choice to mate with their new creation.

And at this time, I am extending the offer to all the local-to-me folks in the gunnie-sphere. For the price of a simple gentleman’s agreement (aka: Free), I will meet up with you and show you the whowhatsit on building a solid AR lower. My tools, your place, your hands.

The Gentleman’s Agreement (or Lady and Gentleman Agreement, as the case may be) is as follows: A handshake deal that if you ever decide to sell said lower/firearm, I’d like the right of first refusal.

For those not living in the PacNW, if I can get a decent sized number of folks who are interested in building one, I wouldn’t object to holding a dealio Friday evening at the Gunblogger’s Rendezvous in Reno this October. Again, I’ll bring the tools and let you test your build on my 5.56 upper during the Saturday range session. For you Californistan residents, I think we can figure out a way to build up CA legal lowers relatively easily. This would all be dependent upon my being able to secure a location other than my hotel room.

I can tell you quite positively that if you build one, you’ll be able to build a dozen of them. And you’ll probably want to. This mind-numbingly simple process will help you gain the knowledge of exactly how the gun functions making malfunction troubleshooting easy as well as allow you the opportunity to do your own maintenance and repairs.

So what say ye?

(more on the method behind my madness below the fold)

During the run-up the release of the Heller decision I said that I was by nature an incredible pessimist but that I was all kinds of optimistic about Heller.

Thankfully, that worked out swimmingly.

But I am switching it up on the topic of a possible Obama presidency.

If he wins in November, he will be sworn in on January 20th, 2009. There is a high probability of a Democrat controlled 111th US Congress as well, and they will have been in session for at least 15 days by that date.

The current Democrat members of Congress realize they made a mistake in 1994 when the members of their party pushed through the Assault Weapons Ban in the run-up to an election year. Leading to huge losses for their party that November and over a decade in the passenger seat.

They won’t make that mistake again.

There has been a newer and more ignorant AWB submitted to Congress every year since 2004. As you read this, one sits available to be moved onto the “current business” stack of stuff in the House. Resubmitting it to the 111th will take all of 10 minutes and who knows how fast they can put it on the Executive’s desk. But with a high possibility of a Democrat supermajority in the House, it could be waiting for him on January 20th. Getting it done and out of the way early, with the Democrats hoping that the “Sheep” will have forgotten by the next election.

Of course, this is all only a bunch of maybes and what-ifs. It could just be pure paranoid delusion. But I’ve got a half-dozen folks from my work already on board without much suggestion on my part. And you can talk to be about “Blue Dogs” until you’re blue in the face; I’m not going to get caught out like I did back then. Fool me once and all.

I’m buying lower receivers for two very specific reasons: 1. That is the part of the rifle the ban would most likely bother with, and 2. At $150 to $200, they’re inexpensive in relation to the cost of an actual AR type rifle. So long as they haven’t wised up you’ll be able to buy the internals for the rifle for a good long time.

And if the past is able to tell us anything about the future, having a dozen or so pre-ban lowers around is a decent investment.

You can leave your questions in the comments or email me.