What about the Oath?

Ever wonder how people can get charged with Illinois' "Aggravated Unlawful use of a weapon", a class 1 Felony for transporting arms outside of the statutes of the state if the officers took the state oath of office pledging to

"support the constitution of the United States" 

while the 2nd Amendment reads:

...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

Check out the conservative examiner's article today for his take on it all.

Only in Illinois...

Only in Illinois can a Sheriff be found guilty of 15 counts of drug dealing and witness tampering... and up to the bitter end still b eon the payroll:

In both his opening and closing statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Cutchin of Carmi told the jury the entire case against Martin would be about "greed, arrogance and abuse of power." The jury rejected defense attorney John O'Gara's argument that Martin was the victim of a series of unreliable witnesses — many of them convicted felons and alleged drug dealers themselves.

Jurors also were shown a series of aerial surveillance videos taken by Illinois State Police detectives that showed Martin handing over bags of marijuana to Potts. The video also showed Martin made those transactions while in uniform and while driving his county-issued vehicle.

"The minute he was found guilty, he was stripped of being sheriff," said acting Sheriff Shannon Bradley.
"His pay stops immediately, and there will be a special county board meeting soon to elevate me to the position of sheriff."

Wow.. if the Illinois State Police had to watch a Sheriff to find out what he's doing... who's watching the Illinois State Police?

Light side: scared to start reloading? don't be!

You can get started cheaper than I listed in my supplies list, however, my list will make the job easy, fun and fast.  The advantage of a turret press are quite nice.   If you had monotonous grinding, it allows you to do smaller sections at a time, thus changing up what you're doing every couple minutes, without having to reseat all your dies.   An RCBS hand primer seems trivial, until you realize you can prime prepped cases while watching TV, or relaxing.   I can normally re-use .45acp cases 4 times before they get too dented or cracked which is why the price reflects that.  So here is the price breakdown on .45 ACP, the analysis at the end is comparing to store bought rounds (from browsing cheaperthandirt.com):
 

.45 ACP
Product	qty	cost	cost per bullet
Alliant Unique	4	$59.99	$0.01
Starline 45 brass	100	$17.49	$0.04
CCI large pistol primers	1000	$30.99	$0.03
Ranier Copper plated 45 bullets	1000	$107.99	$0.11
		Total	$0.20
Analysis
.45 bullets (cheap)	50	$18.19	$0.36
.45 bullets (expensive)	25	$22.19	$0.89
		Average	$0.63
		Expected savings per round	$0.43

Additionally, here is a breakdown on .308 Win
 

.308 Win
Product	qty	cost	cost per bullet
IMR 4064	8	$153.99	$0.12
Winchester Brass	50	$16.99	$0.07
Winchester Bullets	500	$103.99	$0.21
CCI Large Rifle Primers	1000	$30.99	$0.03
		Total	$0.43
Analysis
.308 bullets (cheap brass)	20	$13.89	$0.69
.308 bullets (expensive)	20	$32.75	$1.64
		Average	$1.17
		Expected savings per round	$0.74

 And finally here is my list of starting gear for you, keep in mind you can go much cheaper, but this is an optimal list, designed for your comfort, plus, I want you to stick to this!  If you shoot an expensive round, like .308, or .45 Colt, you'll be happy you did this.

Necessary Reloading Supplies
Lyman T-mag Turret Press	1	$147.00
RCBS powder measure	1	$69.99
electronic Powder Scale	1	$39.99
Lyman universal with pilots	1	$89.99
RCBS hand primer	1	$47.99
Vernier Caliper	1	$29.99
Die set for each caliber	1	$34.99
lyman case sizing lube	1	$5.09
Total		$465.03

Reloading a .45 ACP, expect to reload 1000 rounds before the equipment pays for itself.  .308, expect it to take 750 rounds.   Once you get a handle on it, get ready to want to delve into more aspects of it.   I started casting my own bullets last year, and it has been a really nice hobby, good way to spend a few hours. 

2 shot cops got it wrong

In Chicago there are 2 cops who were shot in the line of duty running for public office.   Both cops agree on one thing only:

Both men said there are too few officers on the streets, and they would both push to get more cops working the beat.

But they got it wrong, it's not that there are too few cops, it's that there are too few armed law abiding citizens, this makes .1% of your population a police officer, 2% of your population dangerous criminals, and 97.9% of your population unarmed, defenseless victims waiting for violent crime to happen to them.


Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Jim-Mullen-Paralyzed-Chicago-Cop-running-for-alderman-shot-in-the-line-of-duty-41st-Ward-sgt-richard-gonzalez-103245284.html#ixzz10YFR5WVI