Molon Labe! (55 page)

Fail to make all five hits and Wyoming kept your$100.

Finally, you were allowed only five rounds in your rifle, and you had to bring your
own
rifle. No borrowing of rifles on the range was allowed.

For those too frail, old, or infirm to accurately shoot their rifles, their $100 fee would allow them to choose a minor rifleman as their proxy under the same terms. (Adults were presumed to shoot for themselves.) A youth could proxy only once per year. This would keep the elderly in the loop, plus help to train the next generation of riflemen.

New target ranges quickly opened up, and crackled with gunfire. A 4MOA group at 300yds was standard accuracy for antelope and deer, which abounded in Wyoming. Many hunters already had the skill to make grade.

Of the bolt-action riflemen, by far the preferred cartridges were: .270, .30-06, .308, .243, 7mm RM, and .280. There were also significant numbers of 7-08, 6.5x55, .260, and .25-06. These ten cartridges made up 95% of the chamberings, with the remaining 5% being 7x57, 8x57, and .257 Roberts. Occasionally you'd see something funky, such as a 6.5-06 (perhaps the ballistic ideal for a 6.5mm), or a .25-08, but that's generally as wild as the wildcat loads would get. Wyomingans were a practical people, and if you couldn't make grade with a .270 or .308, then a .30-378 Weatherby wasn't likely going to win your tax credit.

The cartridge requirement inevitably included cartridges which were clearly not a great choice at 300yds, such as the .30-30 and the .45-70, but were fairly effective out to 200yds. These were allowed under general principle, as had been the .223. Granted, nobody buying his first rifle for an election would likely
choose
a .30-30, but for many PVs a lever-action .30-30 was all they had. Thus, why break up a man and his rifle? One Olde Duffer, for example, had a burnished Marlin 1895 in .45-70 which very accurately (
i.e.,
1MOA at 100yds) threw his handloaded 350gr Hornady JHPs.

Regarding battle rifles and carbines, while the .223 was satisfactory within 200yds, the .308 was much better suited for Wyoming's open spaces, which effectively made the excellent .308 the battle cartridge of the realm. The .223 was relegated to smaller framed shooters.

Regarding the semi-auto military pattern battle rifles, there were several viable choices.

Fred's primarily sold stocks for the M14/M1A, which Fred considered the best battle rifle ever made. He had a point. The M14, a "product-improved" M1 Garand, had positive chambering (which the AR10, FAL, and HK91, with their non-reciprocating charging handles, did not), excellent sights and whopping 27" radius, ambidextrous safety and mag release, a quickly replaceable trigger group, and buttstock storage which contained a cleaning rod (vital to tap out a stuck bullet or case). Semi-auto versions of the M14, called the M1A, had been manufactured by the Springfield Armory since the 1980s and were generally regarded as very fine rifles. (Many M14 riflemen preferred a forged receiver gun custom built by Ron Smith of Smith Enterprises in Guernsey, formerly of Tempe, Arizona.)

M14s were accurate and robust, and a fine choice for one's battle rifle. They easily make the 4MOA/300yds grade with iron sights. One Viet Nam vet, a U.S. Navy riverboatman, carried an M14 back in 1966 and thus preferred an M1A as his battle rifle. M14 owners were a very organized group, and shared with each other many tips and sources.

Speaking of AR10s, they are considered too fussy and exotic, and too often suffered from quality control problems. Still, those who carried AR10s usually shot them very well (when they functioned reliably). One of the AR10's greatest champions, a software engineer, lived in Worland.

Those who chose the FAL remained a noisy group, and much good-natured joshing was heard back and forth between them and the M14 folks. The FAL is a very fine and proven battle rifle, but the M14 people don't care for its lack of positive feeding, mediocre sights, and poor trigger. Still, the FAL is quite accurate and reliable.

The HK91 is a very rugged battle rifle, but has a poor trigger and coarse rear sight which severely hamper its long-range accuracy. The 91 has substantially more recoil than the M14 or FAL, which reduced its popularity. Their fans, however, seem a somewhat pompous lot (as is often the case with owners of any expensive German product), grandly extolling the 91's engineering and ruggedness over all other rifles. (They did, however, give the M1A and FAL their due.)

Still, most people didn't make a cult out of equipment. A western rancher explained why over a century earlier:

The truth is that any good modern rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun.

— Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

Regardless of one's rifle, the shoots became very congenial occasions.

One 15 year old young man was to be his Grandpa's proxy using his antelope rifle, a four-digit (
i.e.,
circa
1937) Winchester Model 70 in .270 with a Leupold Vari-X III. A young wife was keen to shoot with her first rifle (a gift from her husband), a Browning BLR in .308. A college freshman at Laramie bought her first AR15 (a pre-ban Bushmaster Dissipator with 16" barrel) and shot 100rds of 55gr FMJ every Sunday afternoon following church in preparation for her tax credit shoot in 2016.

It was the proliferation of stories like these which further knitted together Wyoming society around the issue of riflery and common defense. People all across the state really felt like they were part of an important, shared destiny. Wyoming was fast creating a citizens' militia which trained itself at private expense.

Even the Swiss began to take notice and sent over a couple of observers with their SIG550s. Everyone loved their fine carbines, but lamented that they weren't made in .308. Now
that
would be a rifle.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

December 2015

"Hey, Gov! I heard you're in this month's
Playboy!
" a radio show caller says.

Preston laughs, "Yeah, but not the centerfold. It was just an interview. I think it turned out pretty well. They even quoted me accurately."

__________

1
   Refers to King Solomon's 40 year peaceful and prosperous reign from 972-932 B.C. at 1 Kings 4:25,
"And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree."
)

2
   
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization
laws designed to investigate, control, and prosecute organized crime. Originally relating to extortion and coercion, the term "racketeering" (like the USSR's "hooliganism") has come to mean just about anything the DoJ wants it to mean, such as interfering with interstate or foreign commerce.

3
   Held every 50 years, the jubilee was a semi-centennial celebration in which all of Christendom pilgrimaged to Rome with offerings. Local Romans made a fortune from the several hundred thousand jubilee visitors, who needed food and lodging. To cancel a jubilee would be similar in economic impact to New Orleans by cancelling Mardis Gras.

4
   
Blanton v. North Las Vegas
489 US 541, whereby the Supreme Court ruled that the 6th Amendment meant only
"capital"
crimes, and that offenses punishable by less than six months imprisonment are
"petty"
in which you have no constitutional right to a jury trial. For more information, visit
www.fija.org
.

5
   An exotic and expensive High-Explosive Armor-Piercing round. Known as "Greentip" to the US military. It contains a small quantity of RDX Comp A-4 explosive (less than ¼oz., thus legal for civilians) which, upon impact, sets off the incendiary and zirconium compounds to enhance the target penetration of the tungsten carbide core. Very zappy stuff. Standard M2 HB ammo for the US Navy. It costs the USG $9/round, and fetches over $40 at gun shows.

6
   MOA means "minute of angle" and describes the ever widening cone of bullet impact over distance. There are 360° in a circle, and each degree has 60 minutes. Thus, a circle has 21,400 minute "slices." 1MOA is a very thin slice: at a mile it is just 18" in width.

     1MOA at 100yds roughly equals a 1" diameter circle; 4MOA equals 4". At 200yds, 4MOA is an 8" circle. At 300yds, 4MOA is a 12" circle — the diameter of a large dinner plate.

PLAYBOY INTERVIEW:

JAMES PRESTON

a candid conversation with Wyoming's
new Laissez-Faire Party Governor

A third-generation Wyoming native, James Wayne Preston hails from one of the Cowboy State's oldest and wealthiest families. Expecting a career as a military aviator, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy to fly Marine attack helicopters. A combat veteran of the first Gulf War (where he won a Purple Heart and Silver Star), he was honorably discharged as a Captain and joined father Benjamin Preston with the family businesses.

His entrepreneurial talents quickly blossomed as he formed several ancillary enterprises, most notably his ranching software firm.

Raised in a Republican house-hold, James Preston was always interested in free-market philosophy and economics, and grew to embrace a more libertarian creed. Major influences in this thinking were Ayn Rand, Henry Hazlitt, Bastiat, Robert Heinlein, and Lysander Spooner.

Though originally uninterested in professional politics, James Preston felt increasingly drawn to the governor's mansion due to the exhortations of many friends and colleagues.

As the apparent culmination of a decade-long libertarian migration, Wyoming, a rugged and conservative western state, recently elected the rugged and arch-conservative Preston as America's first Laissez-Faire Party governor. His administration, with the enthusiastic support of the libertarian legislature, has enacted the most dramatic state reforms in history.

More surprisingly to most observers, it seems to be working. Violent crime (previously very low) has all but vanished. GDP is rising at a phenomenal 1% per month, and the state is leeching the nation of top business and computer talent.

James Preston is married to Juliette Kramer, a highly regarded defense attorney specializing in Bill of Rights abuse cases. They have two teenage children, James, Jr. and Hanna, whom they homeschool. They live near Casper, on a 160 acre horse ranch.

In a series of intellectually electric conversations with
PLAYBOY
's interviewer, Thomas Phalk, Mr. Preston spoke about a wide variety of topics, such as jury nullification, Christianity vs. libertarianism, evolution, drugs, abortion, guns, Ayn Rand, and his Wyoming agenda. His opinions were startling, fiercely held, and well delivered with cheerful seriousness. He answered every question without evasion, however, his replies were often very challenging.

Brassy. Intelligent. Opinionated. Sincere. Provocative. Vigorous. Articulate. Wealthy. Candid.

James Wayne Preston is a man whose worldview is uncommon, yet oddly compelling.

You'll either love it or hate it.

Governor Preston, we're very pleased that you agreed to be interviewed by PLAYBOY. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you, Tom. I've always enjoyed the frank nature of your interviews. Not that I'm a subscriber... (laughs)

What do you hope to accomplish for Wyoming as Governor?

To help usher Wyoming into a new era of very limited and highly responsible
laissez-faire
government. To do that, I have to gradually become the weakest governor of the 50 States. The other States all have some degree of intrusive government, so if Wyoming doesn't suit you, you have 49 choices of bondage. Free people, however, needed
someplace
to live, and many of us finally decided to make that place Wyoming.

In what areas do you believe government has overstepped its bounds?

A shorter list would be the inverse: in what areas has government
remained
in bounds? (laughs) You name it, Tom, government is improperly and unlawfully involved in many things that are not government's affair. Health, education, child care, business operations, gun rights, property rights, jury rights, and privacy, to name just a few.

Turning to politics, how does the Laissez-Faire Party differ from libertarianism or Objectivism?

In the matter of free enterprise, not at all. LFPers are, however, more deeply involved in the gun culture than are Libertarians and Objectivists, who often pay philosophical lip service to the RKBA — the Right To Keep and Bear Arms. How anyone can claim to be a gun enthusiast or RKBA supporter and live in New York City eludes me. LFPers, on the other hand, simply
love
to shoot. We're "gun-nuts" and proud of it! We wouldn't dream of living anyplace where we couldn't shoot, and shoot often. True mariners don't live in Kansas.

Also, Ayn Rand had more faith in the institution of government than we do, as we flirt quite a bit with anarcho-capitalist ideas.

Anarcho-capitalism holds that all government functions could be performed by the private-sector, is that right?

Yes, spot on. There is only one political continuum, and it is
not
"right wing" and "left wing." It is No Government versus Total Government. Anarcho-capitalism is not anarchy. Anarchy means "without a leader," but it incorrectly connotes lawlessness and chaos. Anarcho-capitalism has law and order, but enforced by armed citizens and private security agencies.

What if an accused refuses to recognize the authority of any private security agency?