Down Range: 09/07

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. The proposed rules included restrictions that would shut down most gun shops, sporting goods stores, and ammunition dealers. After continued publicity and after dozens of members of

Congress complained about the rules impact, OSHA decided to go back to the drawing board.

Kristine A. Iverson, the Labor Departments assistant secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, wrote in a July 16 letter that it “was never the intention of OSHA to block the sale, transportation, or storage of small arms ammunition, and OSHA is taking prompt action to revise” the proposed regulation.

Under the proposed rule, a workplace that contained any small arms cartridges would have been considered a “facility containing explosives” and therefore subject to many restrictions. The public comment website for the proposed rule is no longer accessible.

Beretta practice kit. Though we havent tested it yet, a $249 .22-conversion package from Beretta is likely to be a great and long-overdue product. The 92 Series Practice Kit includes a steel .22 LR barrel, aluminum slide with FS manual safety and firing pin block device, recoil spring guide, recoil spring, magazine loader and 10-round polymer magazine. The slide features a fixed front sight and

fully adjustable rear sight. The locking system becomes blowback. The finish is matte black. The kit can be mounted on all series 92 pistols with standard frame. These include Models 92SB, 92F, 92FS, 98F, 98FS and 96 as well as Models 92G, 96G, 92D, and 98F in 7.65mm Parabellum and on the Target, Brigadier, Centurion and Elite versions. However, the practice kit cannot be used on models Compact L and Compact L “Type M,” and the 90-Two due to their shorter frame and slide. The kit also wont work on the Combat, Stock, and Billennium versions due to their different frame-mounted safety systems.

Lott skewers Philadelphia politicians. If you want a good belly laugh, Google a piece in the July 17, 2007, Philadelphia Inquirer. Titled “Guns dont kill people, Phila. Does,” co-authors John R. Lott Jr. and Maxim C. Lott point out that anti-gun politicians should be on the hook for the citys exploding murder rate. In the five years from 2001 to 2006, Philadelphias murder rate soared more than 36 percent, while nationally the murder rate increased only 2 percent.

The rest of the op-ed article is a systematic smack-down of Pennsylvania politicians calls for more gun control. Youll shake your head and laugh, if it doesnt make you cry. GT