MUST READ: An Opinion on Gun Control

I typically refrain from using my finance blog as a bully pulpit, but in this case I simply must suggest reading a 10K word essay on gun control because it is so damned good.

An Opinion on Gun Control by Larry Correia

Some choice quotes:

The average number of people shot in a mass shooting event when the shooter is stopped by law enforcement: 14. The average number of people shot in a mass shooting event when the shooter is stopped by civilians: 2.5. The reason is simple. The armed civilians are there when it started.

The author is an advocate of having teachers permitted to carry a concealed weapon:

Then they’ll say that this is impossible, and give me all sorts of terrible worst case scenarios about all of the horrors that will happen with a gun in the classroom… No problem, because this has happened before. In fact, my state laws allow for somebody with a concealed weapons permit to carry a gun in a school right now. Yes. Utah has armed teachers. We have for several years now.

On Gun Free Zones:

I testified before the Utah State Legislature about the University of Utah’s gun ban the day after the Trolley Square shooting in Salt Lake City. Another disaffected loser scumbag started shooting up this mall. He killed several innocent people before he was engaged by an off duty police officer who just happened to be there shopping. The off duty Ogden cop pinned down the shooter until two officers from the SLCPD came up from behind and killed the shooter. (turned out one of them was a customer of mine) I sent one of my employees down to Trolley Square to take a picture of the shopping center’s front doors. I then showed the picture to the legislators. One of the rules was NO GUNS ALLOWED.

The man that attacked the midnight showing of Batman didn’t attack just any theater. There were like ten to choose from. He didn’t attack the closest. It wasn’t about biggest or smallest. He attacked the one that was posted NO GUNS ALLOWED.

There were four mass killing attempts this week. Only one made the news because it helped the agreed upon media narrative.

1. Oregon. NOT a gun free zone. Shooter confronted by permit holder. Shooter commits suicide. Only a few casualties.
2. Texas. NOT a gun free zone. Shooter killed immediately by off duty cop. Only a few casualties.
3. Connecticut. GUN FREE ZONE. Shooters kills until the police arrive. Suicide. 26 dead.
4. China. GUN FREE COUNTRY. A guy with a KNIFE stabs 22 children.

And here is the nail in the coffin for Gun Free Zones. Over the last fifty years, with only one single exception (Gabby Giffords), every single mass shooting event with more than four casualties has taken place in a place where guns were supposedly not allowed.

On Gun Control Laws:

The left side of the political spectrum loves it some gun control. Gun control is historically extremely unpopular in red state and purple state America, and thus very hard to pass bit stuff, but there’s a century’s accumulation of lots and lots of small ones. There have been a handful of major federal laws passed in the United States relating to guns, but the majority of really strict gun control has primarily been enacted in liberal dominated urban areas. There are over 20,000 gun laws on the books, and I have no idea how many pages of regulations from the BATF related to the production and selling of them. I’ve found that the average American is extremely uneducated about what gun laws already exist, what they actually do, and even fundamental terminology, so I’m going to go through many of the things I’ve seen argued about over the last few days and elaborate on them one by one.

On banning high capacity magazines:

Finally, let’s look at the logistical ramifications of another magazine ban. The AWB banned the production of all magazines over ten rounds except those marked for military or law enforcement use, and it was a felony to possess those.

Over the ten years of the ban, we never ran out. Not even close. Magazines are cheap and basic. Most of them are pieces of sheet metal with some wire. That’s it. Magazines are considered disposable so most gun people accumulate a ton of them. All it did was make magazines more expensive, ticked off law abiding citizens, and didn’t so much as inconvenience a single criminal.

Meanwhile, bad guys didn’t run out either. And if they did, like I said, they are cheap and basic, so you just get or make more. If you can cook meth, you can make a functioning magazine. My old company designed a rifle magazine once, and I’m no engineer. I paid a CAD guy, spent $20,000 and churned out several thousand 20 round Saiga .308 mags. This could’ve been done out of my garage.

Ten years. No difference. Meanwhile, we had bad guys turning up all the time committing crimes, and guess what was marked on the mags found in their guns? MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT USE ONLY. Because once again, if you’re already breaking a bunch of laws, they can only hang you once. Criminals simply don’t care.

There is much more to this article… You must read the rest of it.

An Opinion on Gun Control by Larry Correia

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The Christmas Trade

Here Comes Good Old Santa Claus

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All these articles and more can be found over at The Whole Street Quant Mashup.

We’ve just returned from a new range that opened earlier this year. It is purported to be the largest indoor shooting range in the country.

Mrs. Woodshedder has been interested in a small handgun for some time. Charter Arms makes the Pink Lady, and it appealed to her feminine sensibilities. However, I have been trying to talk her out of these super-small alloy and polymer guns because I felt they would be too light and the recoil would hurt her hand or keep her from hitting her target. At the range I wanted her to try out a similar small gun before committing to buying one. She first tried out the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 38. It is a small, aluminum alloy and polymer based (making it lightweight) .38 caliber revolver designed specifically for concealed-carry. It has an integrated laser. She did well shooting it, although it wasn’t sighted in correctly. After 25 rounds it began to make her hand sore. I also shot it, and I was surprised how little recoil there was from a 14 oz. gun shooting a .38 special round. The trigger wasn’t very smooth, and when squeezing it slowly it seemed to take a long time to fire.

She then tried the Smith & Wesson Model 60. It is a .357 caliber all stainless steel beauty that also shoots .38 special rounds. At almost 23 ounces, it is a little less than double the weight of the Bodyguard 38. After shooting the very first .38 round, she said to herself, “This is the one for me.” She is an amazing shot and was quickly getting good grouping. The grip is longer than that of the Bodyguard and didn’t hurt her hand. I had shot this one before, but when comparing it to the Bodyguard, I thought the trigger was smoother and didn’t seem to take forever when squeezing it slowly.

Once back in the retail store portion of the range, the effect of Obama’s rhetoric and the Connecticut tragedy was very evident. One wall that previously had many different assault-style rifles for sale was empty, save for some traditional hunting rifles. The selection of concealed carry handguns was also more sparse than it was when I visited the store shortly after Obama was re-elected. At that visit the salesman told me that $SWHC had a backlog of 4-6 weeks on many of their popular handguns. Based on the fact that there were even fewer Smith & Wesson revolvers now than then, I can only assume that the backlog is probably worse. Honestly, their offering of concealed-carry and small frame handguns was lacking. This is a high-quality range and retail store. With the volume they do, it was apparent the recent discussions on tighter gun-control laws has increased demand for many different guns, not only assault-style rifles and semi-automatic pistols.

I ended up buying her the Model 649, which is very similar to the Model 640 except the hammer is shrouded. A shrouded hammer is designed to not get caught on clothing when drawn from concealment.

I also bought her some pink grips, and she is in love.

I believe the recent sell-off in $SWHC may present a decent buying opportunity. Even with new, tighter regulations, the Obama administration is the gift to gun manufacturers that never stops giving. The Connecticut tragedy will be milked politically for all its worth, but it will eventually become part of our collective pain, like Columbine, and removed from our foremost thoughts. All the while, the threat of chaos and unrest from a ________ (fill in the blank) crisis will remain. Constant uncertainty, fleeting happiness, and the feeling that one is losing his right to live life as he chooses while liberty is sacrificed to the State, will drive gun sales for years to come.

This one looks like it is going to continue. I have no idea what the story is behind it.

Charting December to date against previous Decembers shows that the Santa Rally may have just started a few days early.

Let’s take a look at the S&P 500, starting in 1928, and $SPY, starting in 1993, to chart the average December performance.

I’ve assumed that the $SPX and $SPY was bought on the open on the first trading day of December and sold at the close on the last trading day of December.

Santa really gets flying about halfway through December. In fact Santa rarely disappoints. We can see how true this is above.

While current December action (white line) is more volatile due to not being smoothed by the averaging process, the month seems to be following a typical December pattern, except that Santa appears to have started his run several days earlier than normal.

December Statistics (using $SPX)

• Average Monthly Profit/Loss = 0.89%
• Winning Months= 69.41%
• Worst December = 1931 loss of -17.27%
• Best December = 1991 gain of +11.16%

Equity Curve: (using $SPX)

Profit Distributions: (using $SPX)

The Christmas Spirit is really building around my house…Here’s hoping that today’s rally means Santa has fired up his sleigh and is heading your way!

Despite the minor pullback we’ve seen over the last few days, there are some surprisingly bullish cup with handle charts. I’ve posted them below. As always, the cup with handle chart is looking for a breakout above the right handle in order to trigger an entry.

Have a great week trading!

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Don’t forget to check The Whole Street  for some of these articles and more…