Background Checks: Do They Sometimes Go To Far?

I Carry a Firearm Every Day. How do I carry it? Let’s Take A Look… Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales I do carry every day. I am however not permitted to carry a firearm at work, Policy. So, I don’t. All other places and when I travel, I carry all the time. I am frequently asked whether I carry a round in the chamber. The straightforward answer is that I do carry a chambered round and a full magazine of 16, along with one or two backup magazines at all times. Safety? I carry a Glock 19, need I say more? My opinion best firearms made. More on that at another time. Why do I carry it this way? It can be safe if you understand what you are doing and consistently practice safety measures. Remember, to only put your finger on the trigger when you are ready to destroy something or someone. Never touch the trigger unless you have your gun on target. Just because you unholstered and pointed your firearm doesn’t mean you have to pull the trigger. Be the “reasonable person”. Your actions and what may have led up to this encounter will he highly scrutinized by a lot of people. Think and always have a plan. Please also consider this, a person who is 15 feet away can charge and hit you with a knife in about the time it takes for a person to draw their gun. 15 feet isn't far. If you must draw and then chamber a round there is no chance of stopping someone from charging you at that short distance. Always remember time and distance. When you buy yourself distance, you buy time. Always be in code yellow. Why do I carry daily? I have a lot of reasons that I talk about in my CCW classes I teach. As I said before, it is better to have and not need it, than to need it and not have. Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

Ruger .44 Magnum Are you considering purchasing a 44 Magnum? Will you be able to manage the recoil? Would it be a reliable self-defense weapon? Let’s Take a look. Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales First, ask yourself ‘do I really want or need a .44 magnum?’ If it’s got anything to do with the Dirty Harry quote “did I fire five or six?”, then stop. Do you really need to spend the money for ‘the most powerful handgun in the world because of a movie”? LOL Now, if you’re going to be in an area known for a significant grizzly bear population, then by God you may need the most powerful handgun in the world so carry on. If not, I recommend going to a gun store that has a gun range on site and asking if you can shoot a .44 magnum. If you convince them you’re going to buy, and there’s a range on site, they will almost always let you shoot. Purchase the ammo for the shop, it’s only courteous if they are going to let you shoot a gun you haven’t paid for to let them make some money even if you don’t buy. Let my just say this, unless you’re a large man with a strong grip, you’re probably won’t enjoy the .44 Magnum. There’s a reason a lot of these end up being sold as used guns. Folks buy them, figure out they don’t like them, and sell them back to the gun store at a loss. If you want magnum force, look at the .357 magnum. This round is powerful enough to shoot through the side of a car’s fender and into the engine block, meaning it’s strong enough to stop a fleeing car. You will rarely be in a situation where you need more power than that. And, as a bonus, the .357 can also shoot .38 Special ammo. Using that, you can go to the range and practice all day long without killing your wrist or budget. Yes, the .44 mag will also shoot .44 special, but that is still a very potent round. One final note, it’s nice to see people gravitating back to the revolvers. Not that I’m a revolver gun proponent, however, it’s nice to see the revolvers making a return. Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

Gregg Kielma FFL and Gunsmith Firearm Modifications: Appearance or Functionality? Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales Let’s look at some “firearms modifications”. I’m going to take a chance and assume you are asking specifically about handguns. Though most of what I will talk about would cover rifles as well. My thoughts, to start would be with the trigger. Most factory firearms come equipped with “factory triggers”. Meaning that they are excessively stiff and heavy to minimize the chances of an accidental discharge. The downside to this is that stiff heavy triggers are an impediment to accurate shooting. So, my first priority is a trigger job (polishing contact surfaces and replacing stiff factory springs with lighter aftermarket springs.) Alternatively, consider replacing the trigger group with an aftermarket trigger group that comes pre-polished, equipped with lighter springs, and potentially improved geometry to reduce take-up and over-travel. That is the distance the trigger moves prior to and after the gun fires. Grips are the next thing I take into consideration. It’s difficult to shoot a gun well that doesn’t fit your hand well or squirms around in your hand from shot to shot. Aftermarket grips or slip on rubber grip covers can make a marked difference. Especially in shot-to-shot accuracy. Sites are a close tie with grips. If a gun’s sites are difficult to see or get on target with I will l probably change them out for better aftermarket ones even before dealing with the grips. Better after market iron sites, red dots, lasers or optics depending on the guns intended purpose. Adding ports (holes) at the front top of the barrel will reduce muzzle flip upon recoil making follow up shots quicker. There are a couple of ways of doing this. Have your factory barrel (and slide if it’s a semi-automatic pistol) ported by a qualified gun smith. Replace your barrel and slide with after marked units that have ports already or if your gun has a threaded barrel, you can add a screw on muzzle brake which serves the same function as a ported barrel but adds a little more weight forward on the gun. All these modifications can influence a gun’s accuracy to some degree. However, I think trigger, sites and grip fit are the areas that will give you the most returns for your money. And to be quite honest anything beyond the first three won’t make much difference unless you are in the category of world class shooter. Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

Do Burglars Really Avoid Houses With Dogs? Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales My seven dogs when I’m home and someone approaches the front door entry, my dogs go crazy. No one gets by them, ever. They are fierce and love to protect their home and family. They then stand next to the door, watching, and bark until the perp has figured it out, don’t even try. Go to away, get a job and leave my home alone. I always wondered what would happen if I wasn't home and some criminal tried to gain entrance? I believe my team would relieve the perp of much of his clothing and a large part of his a$$. The short answer is don’t! Go away or get mauled. The perp may get out, however, not without injuries. Some are drug addicts, just plain thieves or burglars who try to invade the sanctity of our or your home. My dogs, inside and outside cameras and good old Rosco are all we need. And maybe a few traps to help the fearless team inside my home…My kids my family of four legs. Here’s my thought, the bad guys no way in hell would have broken in if he or she known about my dogs and the surprises that awaits them inside. Degenerates choose wisely… Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

If Your Homeless and Sleeping in Your Car… And It’s going to be -10 °F in a few days. How Do You Survive? God Bless The Homeless Humans and Animals Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales If possible, go to any place that is open 24/7 and, worst case scenario, spend the night walking. Sleep during the day. If you get a sharp stubbing pain in your fingers, toes, or (less likely) cheeks, immediately take off your glove or sock or what have you and massage the part that is hurting. Massage until circulation is restored, i.e. until it’s red. Rubbing with snow is a good way to restore circulation. It’s counterintuitive, but you want to shock your capillaries into expanding. No circulation = no oxygen for your cells = necrosis. Warm blood circulating will warm you up. If you are dressed for the weather and know how to do the above, I’d recommend spending the night exercising. Exercise will keep you warm. Others who were more passive didn’t survive. The car will keep you warm but also humid. Too many variables there. Warm shoes, socks, gloves, and a hat are a necessity. If you are staying warm by burning candles or other things, get a carbon monoxide/smoke detector. If you have access to firewood, consider burning fire all night. Get a bunch of reflective thermal blankets (you can get them in a dollar store) and make a shelter out of them near the fire. But you can’t sleep. Don’t be a hero, don’t brave it. Stay warm and save yourself from death. God Bless The Homeless Humans and Animals Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison for Selling Firearms Without a Federal License Wednesday, January 15, 2025 U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio Legally Purchased Firearms Traced to Numerous Shootings Including One Homicide Say's FFL and Firearms Instructor Gregg Kielma, "don't purchase firearms to be resold. It's illegal and called a "straw deal" God forbid it's used in a crime or homicide. You will go to jail when investigated and caught by the ATF. Don't lie on the 4473 ATF Form. This form is like signing your tax return. Be honest. Answer all the questions truthfully. And most importantly don't jeopardize my livelihood, my good name and my business by lying to me and the federal government (ATF). Continues Kielma, if I feel the something is wrong with the sale, I'm contacting the ATF and presenting the paperwork and facts as I understand them. You will be investigated. Please, just do the right thing. After the background check and waiting period if you don't have a CCW pick it up and enjoy. Concludes Kielma, purchase the gun for yourself and enjoy the shooting sport. Do the right thing. Now let's take a look below and see how you don't do it. Don't Lie For The Other Guy! CLEVELAND – Richard Seawright, 28, of Cleveland, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, after he pled guilty to reselling firearms he acquired legally, reselling them without a federal firearms license, and lying on paperwork that he was the actual buyer. According to court documents, Seawright legally bought more than 50 firearms from around April 17, 2018, to about Dec. 12, 2022, at federally licensed dealers throughout Northeast Ohio. He admitted to lying on federal firearms transaction record forms which he completed and submitted when the firearms were purchased. The forms are a requirement of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to inform buyers about the specific restrictions on the receipt and possession of firearms. Each buyer must certify that they do not intend to transfer or sell the firearm. Seawright admitted to making the purchases with the intent to sell them to others who were not legally allowed to buy or own firearms. The practice of acquiring firearms for others who are legally prohibited from buying, owning, or possessing them is known as ‘straw purchasing.’ During the investigation, law enforcement officials discovered that Seawright’s purchases from the licensed firearms dealer, were in fact re-sold to others and found to have been used in multiple acts of violence. Firearms that Seawright purchased were traced to crimes using the ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, known as NIBIN. Ballistic cross analysis determined that firearms originally purchased by the defendant had multiple NIBIN connections to other shootings including one that resulted in a homicide. This case was investigated by ATF-Cleveland and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Kane for the Northern District of Ohio. Contact Jessica Salas Novak Jessica.Salas.Novak@usdoj.gov Updated January 15, 2025

Most defensive gun cases don't involve discharging the weapon. If you use a shotgun for home defense, are you statistically safer if you rack the slide to deter an intruder? Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales There are many who will disagree with me on this point. It’s recommend that all defensive firearms used for in-home defense be loaded, stored with a round chambered and ready for use at a moment’s notice - with one exception. I recommend that pump action shotguns be loaded but stored with an empty chamber. The sound of a pump action shotgun being racked to chamber a round is unmistakable and many times will deter an attack. This is well documented. You still need to be ready and willing to use it if necessary if: Assuming the sound alone will deter attackers, and they retreat, you have already saved your life and possibly the attacker. Some attackers are betting you won’t have the bravery to use it while others may have a death wish. In any case, you only deploy a firearm in necessary self-defense situations, you are the “reasonable person” and if you are willing and able to use it. If not, the possibility of having your firearm taken from you by an attacker and used against you is very real. Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

Do you think a gun keeps your home safe from burglars? The Knoxville Study Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales Burglars, like all criminals, must assess risk before engaging in a particular criminal activity. Some are dim bulbs and get caught rather easily. The smart ones become quite good at-risk assessment and run for a long time period before they are caught. Breaking into a residence involves significant risk. How much risk? That depends on a wide variety of factors, including the physical security level of the house, whether it will it be easy to ingress and egress without being seen by neighbors, cameras, passersby, and whether the homeowner is home. Above all, they would like to know if there is someone in the home with a gun. That would constitute an extremely high risk break in. Criminals are rarely suicidal, and there are countless cases where a criminal has broken in (alive) but came out dead in a body bag. We know it, and they know it If you have not heard of the Knoxville study, you should. Here it is: The Knoxville Study: Today burglars fear the homeowner much more than the police. They know the police cannot shoot them for crimes against property and cannot chase them if they flee in a vehicle. When was the last time you heard of the Supreme Court handing down a ruling in favor of the victim and their property or more authority for the police to apprehend? Burglars are familiar with how the criminal justice system works to their benefit from slap-on-wrist judges who hand out probation five or six times to sympathetic jurors who view a burglar’s drug addiction, abusive father or alcoholic mother as a valid excuse. They are also aware of jail overcrowding and budget cuts which lessens punishments for their crime. Hardly a day goes by that a team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, behaviorists, criminologists, etc. aren’t doing Q & A surveys in prisons and jails seeking answers to antisocial behavior. The most profound and undisputed survey I reviewed was asked of convicted burglars by an FBI behaviorist: 1. Would you B&E (break and enter) a home if you thought it occupied? A. No — 88 percent (the other 12 percent are hard-core burglars). 2. Would you B&E a home if you knew the owner was home and maybe had a gun? A. No — 95 percent (the other 5 percent are called cat burglars) 3. Would you B&E a home if you knew the owner was home and did, in fact, have a gun? A. No — 100 percent (I told you they fear the homeowner). So, to answer the question, no, a gun (a metal tool) in the house without an operator has no effect on keeping the home “safe.” That same gun in the hand of someone who is willing to use it to protect him or herself is very different matter. Gregg Kielma FFL-Firearms- Instructor First Aid Fundamentals Instructor-Gunsmith- AED Defibrillator Sales

Grand Rapids Man Sentenced For Firearms Violation, Apprehended With AR-Style Gun At High School Graduation Friday, January 17, 2025 U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Michigan GRAND RAPIDS – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced that Shyon Malik Armstrong, 19, of Grand Rapids, was sentenced to 50 months in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms. “At one of life’s most celebratory moments – a high school graduation – Mr. Armstrong created the risk of horrendous harm for these graduates, their families, and school officials,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “I’m so grateful to the Grand Rapids Police Department officers who acted swiftly to protect the community. Every person – no matter who they are or where they live – has a right to live free from the fear of gun violence.” On May 30, 2024, Grands Rapids Police Department responded to information that violence might break out at a graduation ceremony at Calvary Church. The police had learned earlier in the day that two street gangs were fighting and threatening acts of violence at the graduation ceremony. Mr. Armstrong attempted to flee police, but when they detained him, they found two loaded firearms in his backpack. One of the guns was an AR-style pistol with an extended magazine containing 35 rounds of ammunition. The Grand Rapids Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated this case. This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. For more information, visit www.justice.gov/psn. Updated January 17, 2025