121220-N-ZN152-189A shipyard worker at Newport News Shipbuilding found an unattended firearm onboard the USS Enterprise last week. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is in the yard undergoing decommissioning. The owner of the gun, a crew member on the Enterprise, was found, and after NCIS determined charges were not warranted, the matter was turned over to Enterprise command staff for possible disciplinary action. In the wake of the recent shooting at Naval Station Norfolk and the Washington Navy Yard incident in September of last year, this most recent discovery caused some concern. Navy spokesman Mike Maus said no weapons are permitted at the shipyard . . .

and “we take this matter very, very seriously.” Neither the Navy nor the shipyard would identify the sailor by name or rank. The president of the shipyard, Matt Mulherin, told his 23,700 employees in a letter Friday that this was an “isolated incident” and “we are taking this matter very seriously.” Three “verys” in two comments. That’s a lot of serious.

Once again, a reminder to check your bags for firearm paraphernalia when you go on a trip. A 27-year-old Wyoming man in the Cayman Islands for his honeymoon was arrested Saturday after officials found ammunition during a search of his luggage. He said he had simply forgotten about the ammo, and was granted bail, and according to the government information service, will probably be charged. I find the “just forgot” excuse pretty amazing, because this wasn’t just a forgotten round of .22 that had gotten caught in a seam, it was 50 rounds of 9mm. That’s a couple pounds in a very dense package, and seems to me it’d be pretty hard to miss.

An editorial at the Kansas City Star decries the recent decision by state lawmakers to allow the carry of concealed weapons into the state Capitol beginning July 1. The author is aghast at the idea that this should be allowed, asking “Why would someone need to be defending themselves in the Capitol?” The nonsense continues with the statement that “In reality, this is just another absurd expansion of the Second Amendment.” Take a moment to think about that. “Shall not be infringed” is a pretty broad statement to begin with, and the only reason it would need to be expanded is if it had already been encroached upon.

The North Little Rock, Arkansas city planning commission last Wednesday approved Precision Ammunition Components, LLC’s plans to build a factory in town, but now the company is facing some FUD pushback from residents and business near the proposed site. The ringleader of the signature-gathering opposition and local business owner, Michael Carpenter, said, “With an ammunition factory where ammunition is being made and produced and fired, I mean I wouldn’t want to bring my family down here.” While some argue that the company will bring in jobs, others say it’s not enough to justify the risk. “Everyone wants a job and everyone wants people in Argenta, but I don’t think we want bullets and bombs,” says Charlie Hart, resident. “It’s not like they’re going to be employing 50-100 people. I mean it’s 4-5 people,” Carpenter added. The rabble-rousers are expected to present a petition “with at least 100 signatures” to the full city council, who will vote on the matter Monday night.

The Chiappa Rhino is a pretty polarizing gun; certainly one of the most “distinctive” in appearance that I’m aware of. The Yankee Marshall recently made a couple videos detailing its design, function, and internals.

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61 COMMENTS

  2. “Everyone wants a job and everyone wants people in Argenta, but I don’t think we want bullets and bombs,”

    There’s so much stupid and Reductio Ad-Absurdum packed into that statement it makes my head hurt. Apparently these FUDDs don’t want jobs or people in Argenta. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be opposing it so vehemently.

  3. A gun on the Enterprise? I thought they only had phasers. Somebody better tell Captain Kirk… or is it Picard now? I can’t keep track anymore.

        • Sailed around the world on the Big-E in 89-90. Great war ship with an amazing history…Looks like we’ll be shaving with here soon…

        • SkyMan, my wife’s grandpa was part of the commissioning crew of the Enterprise. In fact he gave me his commissioning books to go through and I’ve been looking through them for a few weeks now.

          One of his funnier stories involves diapers. They determined that the best cloth for cleaning or polishing of some of the unfinished plumbing was diapers, and they ordered them by the crate and had them delivered topside. He said the family-men enlisted crew and yard workers made off with the “free” diapers so fast, they lost two crates of diapers before they even realized what happened.

  4. “Why would someone need to be defending themselves in the Capitol?”

    Come down to Wisconsin and see some of the sociopaths still protesting over the collective bargaining law. Or ask the Governor or state legislators for a days worth of death threats in the voicemails and emails. Madison at its finest.

  6. “Three “verys” in two comments. That’s a lot of serious.”

    Good thing I did not choose that moment to take a drink.

  7. “In reality, this is just another absurd expansion of the Second Amendment.”

    Wow.
    No, the absurdity here is her expansion of the First Amendment.

    • Yes, she does. I like gun spotting in TV shows. Like when Root on Person of Interest was carrying and using a DoubleTap. It looked cooler in use than it previously had in static pictures.

    • Question: is it chrome or stainless steel?

      If I remember correctly (and I am sure SOMEONE here will correct me if it ain’t so) Annie took the Rhino off a bad guy a couple of seasons ago. Since then she has dropped, lost, been relieved of, or otherwise separated from that gun several times, but it just keeps coming back.

      • Ah. From their website: “The Chiappa White Rhino is the same as its Rhino cousin, except it has an electroless nickel finish instead of tactical black.”

        Ok, so, White Rhino. Nickel finish.

  9. Neato. I lived in Newport News for a time and right next to the shipyard. I can almost see my old apartment in that photo. Never did find that gun I accidentally tossed off my balcony, though.

    • I don’t see how you could almost see your apt. In Newport News in that picture as that is the water front of Norfolk Naval Station. The cameras not even facing towards Newport News.

        • I’ll take the hit for that. I knew it was a picture of Norfolk attached to a story about Newport News, but it was in the file already under the name Enterprise, so I used it anyway.

      • Yep that’s the Norfolk Naval Station. An earlier account also wrongly stated that it was a Navy yard which is also wrong. the Enterprise has not been scrapped yet. They’re still removing stuff from it.

  10. I was thinking about getting a Rhino later this summer. I’ve been reading some reviews here and there, and the Yankee Marshall convinced me.

  12. So, what is suppose to happen with all the small arms found on a capitol ship, when it has to go to the shipyard? I was on a Destroyer Escort, a pretty small ship, and we had probably in excess of 100 rifles pistols, and other stuff that goes bang. So how many small arms would a ship the size of an aircraft carrier have? Too many to take them all off and put them someplace where they would be vulnerable to theft. Can’t they just secure the armory better, and leave them alone?

    • Well, since she’s being decommissioned, I’d think most if not all of them would have been removed already. I saw two stories on this, and both referred to the sailor as the “owner” of the gun, but neither story specifically said if it was a personal weapon, or just one the sailor was responsible for.

    • How you rock the town.
      Just Sling the rifles on the shoulders and strap the pistols to your waist and head for shore right?

  13. They are taking it very seriously. They would hate to have members of our Armed Forces armed.

  14. As a firefighter who has responded to a large explosion at a relatively large ammunition plant, I can say that there’s relatively little danger to neighbors. Unless they are, like, within 75 yards.
    I don’t know HOW much powder they had go up, but it was in 55 pound canisters, and they had a HUGE mound of empty ones next to their dumpster (think 12 feet high, in a pile), so I imagine they had a fair bit of powder on the inside. Ripped a huge hole in the building and killed one person and maimed another.
    http://wkrn.images.worldnow.com/images/3521899_G.jpg

    • She’s a 50-year-old ship; she’s basically obsolete. Nuclear reactor designs have improved drastically in efficiency, safety, and reliability a lot since she was built. Enterprise has eight reactors; modern nuclear vessels do the same job with just two reactors. Nuclear carriers are generally designed with a 50-year service life in mind, so it’s really just her time.

      The first Ford-class ship, the next-generation carrier, will be commissioned as the next Enterprise, so the name will live on.

      • Captain Kirk and Spock will be pleased.

        Thanks for the tech info!

        Guess she Lived long and (prospered) a Whole lot longer as a Ford,
        Could have met a much sooner demise if she were an Edsel.

        I guess it just adds to the fact that WE are all getting older.

        Any idea if she’ll be cut up or become Museum ship?

        • She is too “hot” to be come a museum even after being defueled. My guess the owner of that pistol is an officer, hence why it’s being down played so much. Most likely didn’t feel safe walking out of the car to his parked car out in the ‘hood. Please feel free to research the crime rate in the surrounding area of Newport News. Also why the shipyard is not having a total meltdown fit about it (slight pun intended). Back to the Big “E” she built with 8 submarine reactors, they are end of life cycle of the cores. They were spending more and more just to keep her going the last few years she was commissioned than it took to run 2 newer CVN’s. All the piping in the plants were dangerously thin in places from erosion. They would find one thin spot only to discover they had to replace 10 times the length of pipe to find pipe thick enough to weld to. We got our money’s worth out of her.

      • Negative Stinkeye, the first Ford class ship is the USS GERALD R. FORD (CVN 78), that is why it is called the Ford class. If the first ship was going to be the Enterprise, then it would be the Enterprise class. The next carrier in line after that is to be commissioned as the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CVN 79).

        • Stinkeye said,
          The first Ford-class ship, the next-generation carrier, will be commissioned as the next Enterprise, so the name will live on.

          Oh. I get it now, being late night I took Stinkeyes statement “The first Ford-class ship” to mean the “Old” Enterprise, hence the Edsel joke, (silly me) As apposed to the “New” to be commissioned. The New Enterprise will be CVN 80.

          Found this,
          The only ship of her class, Enterprise CVN 65 was the third oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and USS Pueblo.

        • I stand corrected. CVN-80 will be the new Enterprise, which will be the third Ford-class ship. I think they expect her to be commissioned sometime around 2025.

  16. I reeeeeally want to get a Rhino eventually, probably the 4″ barreled one. But I just can’t talk myself past the price at the moment.
    I’ve seen the 40DS hovering right about $800 on Buds and other sites, and I’ve come super close to going for it, but that kinda coin can get me a really nice S&W performance center, which while more conventional, probably shoots just as nice.
    And while they shoot extremely nice, and look as cool as all hell, I honestly don’t know that either one would perform that much better than my wolff-triggered GP100. And that one was almost half the cost.

    • Yea, I know, right? Even though it’s are a special kind of ugly, it’s look is intriguing and reminiscent of a rhinoceros to me. I’d like to get one even though I’m not a revolver kinda guy. Bah, who am I kidding. I”ll probably just bite it, get one, and suffer the wrath of the Mrs. LOL

    • Yep, I want one too. But $800 for a revolver? My mind has difficulty overcoming any expense over $400, whether its a hunting rifle or a water heater. I feel genuine pain when that much cash leaves my wallet. I keep hoping the price will come down a bit on the Rhino, though. If I could find one for $500-600 I might justify the expense.

      Did Chiappa hear that?… More people willing to buy at a lower price point!

  17. “It’s not like they’re going to be employing 50-100 people. I mean it’s 4-5 people,” Carpenter added.

    Yes, you’re right. It’s nothing like a city’s union-based pot hole crew. That crew consists of the team leader level I, assistant team leader level I, team leader level II, supervisor level I, safety leader, area day time manager, paid union representative, asphalt truck driver and assistant, transportation driver and assistant, summer intern, and the one poor smuck actually doing the digging and filling. Now that crew is providing jobs.

    An ammunition *factory*, as we all know, is likely to be just one chain-smoking, semi-retired individual behind a desk, a BIG LOTS! lamp and a Lee hand press. Oh, and the part-time kid who runs out for smokes and liquor.

    Idiots.

  18. “With an ammunition factory where ammunition is being made and produced and fired, I mean I wouldn’t want to bring my family down here.”

    Well, I guess this guy will have to find some other industrial manufacturing facility to let his kids play in, if this proposed ammunition factory is not to his liking. How about Dessault Falcon Jet Corp. Let his tykes play among the planes and jet fuel that are already there, if “bombs and bullets” he deems too dangerous. Or perhaps Harcros Chemical, also in North Little Rock. I’m straining my memory of organic and inorganic chemistry classes here, but reading down their list of products is a who’s who, or more like what’s what, of some pretty dangerous base chemicals used for all kinds of perfectly legitimate applications. Not a place I drop the kids off for a field trip, but hey, this place is already there and this guy didn’t have a problem with bringing his family diwn before. So I guess it’s a go in his family. Let’s see, what else? Ahhh….University of Arkansas Medical Sciences. I’m betting there are some radiation therapy and nuclear medicine facilities there. Definitely not playground appropriate.

    So, I don’t know, dude. How about you just keep your kids away from factories and such, extant or proposed, go about your business, and leave the pearl clutching and panty bunching to the professional antigun worryworts?

    • The crazy thing is that the local media has stressed the only thing they will produce are bullets and no powder or finished projectiles will be anywhere near the place.

  19. I carried a pistol when my ship was at the BAE shipyard in downtown Norfolk. If it had been in Newport News, I would have carried a rifle.

  20. About the editorial at the Kansas City Star:

    The writer wants handgun permit holders to leave their weapons in their cars. One of the problems this idea is that leaving a gun in a car is a bad idea because of the potential for theft. On a permit holders’ persons the weapon is relatively safe from theft; in a car the weapon could easily be stolen by thief and thus into the hands of a criminal.

  21. The irony on stories like this is thick….as another poster above referenced Kubriks’ Dr. Strangelove…… ‘There’s no fighting in here, this is the War room!”

  23. The fact that they would not identify the sailor by name or rank means he is probably a high ranking officer.

  25. to what ever moron wrote this try checking your facts 50 rounds of 9mm lugar weighs approximately 1 to 2 lbs a very negligible amount when one thinks about it.

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