February 13, 2013

The video below, SAAMI – Sporting Ammunition and the Fire Fighter, “is recommended as an educational tool for fire departments.” Its length is 25:47. It “explains how firefighters face no danger from sporting ammunition in a fire when protected by standard turn-out gear.” Even hundreds or thousands of rounds of firearm ammunition cartridges stored in boxes or other containers are safe for firefighters fighting a fire. Thus, firefighters are safe fighting a fire even in a gun store or target range with lots of boxed or loose sporting ammunition present.

This result is based on extensive testing. “Nearly one million rounds of sporting ammunition were subjected to ten different tests-from open burn conditions to tightly confined burn conditions-to examine what happens to sporting ammunition exposed to severe impact and fire.” A link to an article on the subject follows the video.

“Sporting ammunition includes shot shells up to 8 gauge and handgun and rifle cartridges up to .50 caliber. This video examines sporting ammunition only. It does not address military or law enforcement ammunition, such as tear gas cartridges, tracers, or incendiary projectiles.”

“Note that ammunition loaded in the chamber of a firearm and exposed to a fire IS dangerous just as if the trigger of the firearm was pulled, and the bullet can shoot out the barrel with full velocity.”

Therefore, all firearms should always be treated as if they are loaded and should be pointed in a safe direction.

“CONCLUSION: Projectiles ignited outside a firearm have significantly lower velocities and energies than when shot from a firearm.”

The reason there is no danger to firefighters from sporting ammunition in a fire is that the ammunition is not contained in the chamber of a firearm and therefore the walls and head of the cartridge casing are not supported by the steel walls of the chamber and the steel bolt face. The cartridge cannot build up enough pressure to propel a bullet out of the shell casing at a dangerous velocity.

The bullet will pop out of its shell casing at an extremely low velocity, and will NOT have sufficient kinetic energy to cause injury to firefighters protected by wearing standard turn-out gear. After the bullet pops out of the shell casing, the gas generated from the burning powder is not contained by a chamber and barrel, and it has little effect in propelling and accelerating the bullet. Furthermore, the shell casing may split open, releasing pressure from the burning powder. Typically, much of the powder in the cartridge is left unburned.

Firearm ammunition is designed to be fired from the confined volume inside the firearm chamber, where the shell casing is supported by the round steel walls of the chamber and by the steel bolt face. This builds up high pressure of substantially more than 10,000 PSI in the shell casing inside the chamber and in the barrel, propelling and accelerating the bullet down the barrel to full muzzle velocity when the trigger is pulled and the firing pin or striker strikes the primer in the head of the cartridge and ignites the powder contained in the cartridge.

This educational video below was provided by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI), an association of the nation’s leading manufacturers of firearms, ammunition and components. SAAMI was founded in 1926 at the request of the federal government and tasked with:

• Creating and publishing industry standards for safety, interchangeability, reliability and quality;
• Coordinating technical data; and
• Promoting safe and responsible firearms use.

SAAMI – Sporting Ammunition and the Fire Fighter

“The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI), the standards-setting organization for the industry, has provided this video to fire departments nationwide to help firefighters better address the realities of fires in which sporting ammunition is present.”

“WARNING: These demonstrations do not apply to a loaded firearm (with a cartridge in the chamber). In a fire, a chambered firearm will shoot as if the trigger was pulled.”

ARTICLE: Facts About Sporting Ammunition Fires

For more information, CLICK HERE to download the following article (PDF file) from the SAAMI web site: Facts About Sporting Ammunition Fires, by Harry Hampton, Fire Journal, January, 1977.

http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_212-Facts_About_Sporting_Ammunition_Fires.pdf

The following are excerpts from the SAAMI leaflet linked below:

http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_202-Sporting_Ammunition.pdf

SMALL ARMS AMMUNITION

Properties & Recommendations for Storage & Handling

These statements and recommendations do not supersede local, state or federal regulations. Local authorities should be consulted regarding regulations on the storage, transportation, sale and handling of sporting ammunition in each specific community.

Properties of Small Arms Ammunition

All ammunition is carefully engineered and manufactured as an article of commerce. It has a specific use; if stored in a proper manner and used as intended in firearms in good condition and designed for the specific cartridge, the safety and satisfaction of the shooter should be assured.

Small arms ammunition is packed in cartons and cases as specified by the US Department of Transportation. These container designs were developed in the interest of safety in transportation, storage and marketing. Therefore, unapproved packaging should never be substituted.

Specific properties or characteristics of small arms ammunition of particular interest to shippers, warehouse operators, dealers and users are as follows:

• Stocks of small arms ammunition will NOT mass explode. That is to say, if one cartridge or shotshell in a carton or case is caused to fire, it will not cause other adjacent cartridges or shotshells or their packages to explode sympathetically or in a simultaneous manner. There are no limits imposed on packaged quantities of ammunition which may be shipped, warehoused or displayed in commercial establishments.

This fact recognizes the inherently safe, non-hazardous characteristics of such ammunition in public or private storage.

• Small arms ammunition is not a super-sensitive item. Packages of ammunition may be dropped from any height which the packages will physically withstand, and cartridges or shotshells therein will not fire due to the shock. Properly packaged small arms ammunition will withstand all the rough handling tests of commerce such as drop test, vibration tests, and rotating drum tests without individual cartridges or shotshells firing.
• This fact recognizes the inherently safe, non-hazardous characteristics of such ammunition in public or private storage. Small arms ammunition is not a super-sensitive item. Packages of ammunition may be dropped from any height which the packages will physically withstand, and cartridges or shotshells therein will not fire due to the shock. Properly packaged small arms ammunition will withstand all the rough handling tests of commerce such as drop test, vibration tests, and rotating drum tests without individual cartridges or shotshells firing.

Insofar as the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute has been able to determine, there have been no substantiated reports of serious or fatal injuries caused by the discharge of packaged or loose ammunition in handling or in fires, regardless of the quantity or type of cartridges or shotshells involved. SAAMI has no verified report of any fire fighter hurt by flying bullets or shot pellets in fires involving a sportsman’s in-the-home personal supply of ammunition, a retail sporting goods store’s stock, wholesaler’s or distributor’s sizable inventory, or an in-transit cargo of this product.

Small Arms Ammunition in a Fire

Although much has been written and rumored about the 4th-of-July characteristics and so-called havoc of ammunition in fires, it just isn’t so. Members of fire fighting units are understandably uneasy when confronted by fires where ammunition is involved.

Several members of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute have undertaken extensive experiments to show what can be expected when ammunition is involved in a fire. These companies have also made careful investigations after such fires, which show that the missiles do not have sufficient energy to penetrate the garments and protective gear worn by fire fighters.

Tests also show that the whizzing sound heard in the vicinity of ammunition fires are caused by primers expelled from the burning cartridges. The “pops” and “bangs” are exploding primers; the propellant powders burn inefficiently and make little noise.

Metallic cartridges in a fire are difficult to sustain in a burning condition once the packing materials have been consumed due to the cooling effects of the metal parts and the relatively high ratio of metal weight to smokeless powder. Only a vigorous fire around metallic ammunition stocks will cause all cartridges to burn. Shotshell ammunition is difficult to ignite, but once ignited it will sustain its own burning due to the plastic or paper tubes (hulls).

NOTE: SAAMI is the source for all quoted material above.

“SAAMI – Sporting Ammunition and the Fire Fighter” video
http://www.saami.org/videos/sporting_ammunition_and_the_firefighter.cfm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlOXowwC4c

Facts About Sporting Ammunition Fires, by Harry Hampton, Fire Journal, January, 1977. (PDF file)
http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_212-Facts_About_Sporting_Ammunition_Fires.pdf

SAAMI leaflet, “SMALL ARMS AMMUNITION: Properties & Recommendations for Storage & Handling” (PDF file)
http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_202-Sporting_Ammunition.pdf

Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute – Who We Are
http://www.saami.org/who_we_are/index.cfm

State Ballot Measures

Please vote “yes” on Propositions 32 and 35, and “no” on all others, including all tax measures, all L.A. County measures (except B?) and El Camino Measure E. Taxes are unreasonably high. We’re forced to pay for massive welfare fraud (at least 25 percent, billions of dollars per year statewide) and K-12 education costs for illegal alien children who are not supposed to be in California (about 40 percent, $20 billion per year).

Proposition 32 bans automatic employee payroll deductions for political purposes, and bans direct union and corporate contributions to state and local candidates. Proposition 33 repeals some consumer protections in Proposition 103 and increases costs to many drivers. Proposition 34 repeals the death penalty in all cases, even for terrorists and mass-murderers, no matter how many murder victims. Without the death penalty, lifers can murder guards and other prisoners with impunity. The death penalty saves money by plea-bargaining down to a life sentence without an expensive trial.

Proposition 36 weakens the three-strikes law and will likely increase violent crime. Many violent felon repeat-offenders have committed unsolved violent felonies and have violent felonies plea-bargained down to lesser crimes due to court overcrowding before they accumulate their official third strike. Proposition 37 is a trial lawyer’s full-time employment act in the guise of consumer protection. It was written by trial lawyers to create a giant and expensive trap for farmers, grocers and consumers, where lawyers can file frivolous lawsuits without a client and without injuries or damages.

See http://PublicSafetyProject.org for more information.

Michael Robbins
El Segundo

No to Proposition 30

It seems that The Beach Reporter has decided to jump into the political arena and into the deep end for that matter.

Proposition 30 is yet another shifty tax increase, disguised to “save the children” yet once again. The money will go to schools and nobody can touch it, just like Jerry Brown promises. (Anybody buying this one?) But where in the “schools” — classrooms, teachers, supplies, teacher benefits?

Please tell me:

Whatever happened to all the money that lotto was supposed to infuse our schools? Paying for all the “stuff” to free up the money for actual school operations.

Where is the reform in the pension programs and operations? I’ll pay more, but show me where you’re going to cut.

Do I need to remind any Manhattan Beach resident of all the past failures with the school administration?

It’s hard to rally us for new taxes as a new building goes up at the high school. Yes, “we need it,” I know. Still think the new administration building next to the school looks great? Let’s just forget how much money was wasted on it.

If we, as a state, would stop wasting money on feel-good projects (high speed rail) we would have plenty of money to fund schools. We are taxed enough, near the top of all the states. Use the taxes you already take from us properly and we would be fine.

Kurt Schweter
Manhattan Beach

Wrong Choice

No congratulations on your first endorsement of a proposition. The column has total emphasis on that old emotional manipulator, education. Voters should be aware that Proposition 30 has no guarantee of funds going exclusively to education. It will only provide more money to a state that is already spending too much in the wrong direction. Priorities are badly scrambled. Not many students are likely to be taking the “Bullet Train” to class.

Bob White
Manhattan Beach

R.B. schools have received enough

The Redondo Beach School Board and Superintendent Keller should be ashamed of themselves. Putting another bond on the ballot four years after the last $140 million Measure C is a slap in the face to all the parents who constantly support the fundraisers, the never-ending cash requests and the Ed Foundation donations.

What’s worse are the deceptive glossy mailers coming to our homes. The latest one, received this week, lists over 200 names of “community leaders and members.” That list includes principals, few if any who actually live in our district, RBUSD administrative staff, including the superintendent, who don’t live in our city and handfuls of business folks who don’t own or operate a business in Redondo. I counted almost 80 names on that list that I personally know don’t live or own property in Redondo.

To further illustrate the deception is the Political Action Committee (PAC) that is behind Measure Q. It’s called “Redondo Citizens for Quality Schools.” When I checked PAC contributions with the county office, I found that the actual people behind this PAC are all developers, land use attorneys and more developers! Almost none of these companies have Redondo addresses either. These developers have given in excess of $60,000 toward funding the Measure Q bond campaign. Are these developers really in it for the “greater good” or because they stand to win contracts, based on their assistance with the bond campaign? If these developers are in it to help R.B. create “quality” schools, then why haven’t they ever donated to our Ed Foundation? I’ve given my last penny to R.B. schools and I’m also voting “no” to Measure Q.

Mitch Kimball
Redondo Beach

Don’t support Measure E

As a longtime, knee-jerk supporter of education, the decision to oppose Measure E was not easy. In making my decision I considered the following:

El Camino College is unable to provide instruction to meet the needs of current students. There is not enough money to pay operating expenses, (i.e. money for classroom instruction). Measure E does not address this problem, instead it creates debt to rebuild and remodel existing infrastructure. Proponents advocate the expenditures for “future students” who they assume will attend classes on campus.

Opponents fear that the community will incur debt for buildings that may stand empty for lack of operating funds. Opponents suggest that online courses may continue to replace on-campus classes as they are already doing at many colleges and universities, including USC’s Virtual Academic Center and El Camino College, which currently provides over 100 online classes.

I have decided that we should not incur 21st century debt on the basis of a 20th century idea of the future of education, especially when we cannot meet our obligations to provide an education to current students.

Marilyn Montenegro
Redondo Beach

Not another bond

Are you as exasperated with yet another school bond as I am? If Measure Q passes, it will be the third bond in the last 11 years totaling a quarter of a billion dollars in property tax hikes for homeowners in Redondo Beach. For people who purchased their homes in the late 90s or within the last 12 years, you will assume an abnormally large portion of this property tax increase. People who have homes valued between $600,000 and $1 million will see very noticeable increases to your already expensive tax bill.

We will need bonds for other civic improvements in R.B. Is it really fair to our fire and police departments to extend ourselves with $253 million worth of school district bonds? They will need infrastructure improvements as well. Will we want to keep hiking our tax bill more or will we say no to other vital civic responsibilities? Can we really keep adding hundreds of millions of dollars to our property tax base every few years to make up the difference?

There comes a tipping point in every household where the bills just start to become too much. If you live in a house that is valued around the average of $750,000 in this city, you will have already added about $700 per year to your property tax bill (with the two existing school bonds, Measure E from 2000 and Measure C from 2008). If we pass this bond, you will be adding nearly $1,000 to your property tax bill in a 12-year span. It doesn’t make you a bad person for saying “enough is enough.” I’ve voted for bonds in the past, but I just cannot keep hiking up my property taxes.

Sanford Motte
Redondo Beach

No New Taxes

Please vote “yes” on Proposition 32 and “no” on all tax and bond measures, including 30 ($6 billion/year income and sales tax hike), 38 ($10 billion/year income tax hike), 39 ($1 billion/year tax hike); L.A. County Measure J (another 30 year sales tax hike), and El Camino Community College District Measure E ($350 million in new bond debt, probably costing about $700 million with interest).

Taxes are too high, and we also pay business taxes which are passed on to us as consumers. Bond measures create additional debt and require taxes to pay principle and interest. Bonds often cost double the amount borrowed with interest.

California, L.A. County, and local cities and school districts have a spending problem far more than a revenue problem. Approving more borrowing (bonds), tax increases and spending only encourages more of the same irresponsible and abusive government of, by, and for the government employee unions rather than the people.

We are repeatedly asked for more taxes and fees to pay for excessive and unsustainable government employee union salaries, raises, benefits, and pensions; to pay for the same things two or more times; and to pay for things promised but never delivered.

The tax increases will be used to pay for these through a financial shell game. Existing money that normally pays for operating and maintenance expenses specified in the tax and bond items will then be used to pay for the continued excessive employee union contracts and other waste (e.g., the unneeded over-budget “high” speed train).

Marianne Fong
El Segundo

Supporting Proposition 32

South Bay and other California cities are at much greater risk of bankruptcy than residents are being told. Unrealistic optimistic revenue projections by city finance directors have not come to fruition, just as I warned would happen in El Segundo. City revenues actually declined.

Voters can and must help protect against city bankruptcies by voting “YES” on Proposition 32. It puts voters first by cutting the money tie between politicians and special interests and ensuring every individual contribution is made voluntarily.

Special interests have already contributed $43 million to defeat Proposition 32 with totally deceptive campaign ads. The same government employee unions that have been driving cities and school districts toward bankruptcy with astronomical and unsustainable salaries, benefits and pensions have contributed 98 percent of that campaign money ($42 million).

Proposition 32 will break the stranglehold government employee unions have on Sacramento and local government — that has blocked real and meaningful compensation and pension reform, and Senate Bill 1530, which would have made it easier to dismiss teachers who sexually abuse their students.

It bans automatic employee payroll deductions for political campaign contributions by labor unions, government and corporations, and bans direct union and corporate campaign contributions to state and local candidates for public office. Employees will still be allowed to make voluntary individual campaign contributions as they choose.

The only “loophole” is the one Proposition 32 closes — the one that allows corrupt unions to campaign against Proposition 32 using involuntary employee payroll deductions.

See http://PublicSafetyProject.org/ and http://YesProp32.com/ for more information.

Michael Robbins
El Segundo

Photo of “Empty Chair” Obama after the coming Election Tsunami. Help make this happen! Vote for Mitt Romney & Republicans! PublicSafetyProject.org

Photo of “Empty Chair” Obama after the coming Election Tsunami. Help make this happen! Vote for Mitt Romney & Republicans! PublicSafetyProject.org

Empty Chair Obama

After the Coming Election Tsunami

Many bloggers, Twitter users, and other Internet users have posted various images of “Empty Chair” Barack Obama after Clint Eastwood had his fantastic dialog with the empty chair during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. The Leftist, pro-Obama mainstream media (MSM) tried to mislead their audience members who did not see that conversation into believing it was unremarkable and not worth watching.

Many of those who saw Clint Eastwood’s conversation with the empty chair live or later on the Internet changed their Twitter user icon images to various images of empty chairs, some plain and some ornate. But what seemed to be missing was photos of “Empty Chair” Obama after the coming November 6, 2012 election. So here are the missing photos.

These photos are video frame captures of waterlogged empty chairs drifting aimlessly in the water after the Tsunami. Enjoy!

And please do everything you can to help elect Mitt Romney and Republican candidates to the U.S. Senate and House. This is the most important election in our lifetime to preserve our Liberty, safety, and national security.

The economy, jobs, business climate, $16 trillion national debt, reduced national defense, and foreign policy all indicate it is time for a positive change in the White House.

President Obama’s presidency has been a re-run of a bad movie: Jimmy Carter’s failed presidency with a failed economy, high unemployment, failed domestic policy, and failed foreign policy.

Many people are calling President Obama’s presidency “Jimmy Carter 2.0″.

President Obama’s actions follow a clear pattern to:

1. Weaken and undermine America;
2. Weaken, undermine, alienate, and antagonize longtime American allies; and
3. Strengthen, help, and embolden America’s enemies and competitors.

Be sure to see the movie, “2016: Obama’s America“.

It is a documentary movie that clearly explains what makes Obama tick, and how his upbringing and mentors shaped his world view and his view of America’s future as a downsized, less powerful, less influential, and less important player on the world stage of nations.

For more information, also see:

Obama’s Record: Investor’s Business Daily series of editorials