Friday, November 29, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!



My holiday was exceptional .,., I spent it with my Son, "The Squid Kid:" and his family.  And my sister, and bro-in-law.
I can only hope that your holiday was even better than mine.

My loving sister hosted the gathering, she and her husband John.  Good peope, I've been blessed .

This is the third anniversary of the passing of SWMO

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

High School Football: "If you can't remember the play, You May Be A ......"

Star QB for Utah high school takes ‘big hits,’ can’t remember scoring winning TD | Fox News:
A Utah high school is under fire after its star quarterback told reporters during a post-game interview that he took big hits on the field and could not remember the last play, KUTV.com reported. 

 Britain Covey, the Timpview High School quarterback, was addressing a scrum of reporters after winning the championship on Friday and said, "I don't even remember who scored on that last drive. I think it was me, but....uh...so, I took some big hits, but it was all worth it. Unless I have permanent brain damage, which I'm really praying not...not to have."
 (Underlined Emphasis Added)

One of the things I say to people who ask to enroll in the "Introduction to USPSA" class which I teach is that ".  it's safer than playing High School Football".

In the interest of brevity, I don't expand on this theme in my "boilerplate" (standard) commentary.  However, my personal commentary is easily exemplified here.

The thing about Practical Shooting is, surprising?  That it IS truly safer than playing football.


"IPSC" is demonstrably less likely to result in physical damage to its practitioners.  Which has, admittedly (by my practice of comparing it to High School Football), established a very LOW standard of safety ... as this article establishes.

"IPSC"   (the International Practical Shooting Confederation) has established several "rules" which are not acceptable to "USPSA" (The United States Practical Shooting Association), primarily because some national states have LAWS which require, for example, that the targets involved must not, in their judgement, represent the human form.  Other laws have to do with the restrictions upon the specific technical forms of firearms which may be owned and/or available to adherents of the sport ... and other restrictions which are to numerous (and diverse among nation-states) to delineate in detail here.

Well, these folks do not live under the beneficent and benign Constitution of the United States of America, which recognizes the Rights of Man as opposed to the Rights of The State.  Their loss, and since the USPSA folks have made it clear that they are not required nor disposed to accede to the laws of foreign land, this is why the United States Region of IPSC (USPSA) has been "allowed" to establish and issue its own Rule Book for Competition ... which is quite different from the IPSC Rule Book, in that we fortunate few have a Constitutional right to take advantage of our own laws, rather than follow the laws of ... say ... Kazakistan *.  (They can't "always" have guns legally, but some folks have guns because they actually need to worry about, y'know, "shooting at people".)

* (Apologies to the good folks in Kazakistan.  I wasn't trying to make the case that they were the "worst place in the world to be", but only to emphasize the point that even though local laws might be restrictive, The People may find that their personal security needs may be more fundamentally a priority than National Laws ... and they can still see Practical Pistol Shooting to be a legitimate sport.)
Back to "Safety" and "IPSC":

I don't know how it is with other trainers, especially in other nations, but within the limited confines of USPSA .. when I teach a class in "Introduction to USPSA", my primary goal is to instruct people in how to run&gun SAFELY!

The secondary goals are to introduce them to the safety rules in a benign manner.  Which is to say ... you don't want to run & gun with people who are unsafe, so we're teaching you have to be the kind of gunner that you would feel comfortable with in your squad.

Beyond that are other goals:
  • Learn the practices and purposes of  competing with a loaded gun;
  • Become comfortable with the range rules, the Range Officer Commands, 
  • Understand how and why the safety rules reflect on basic gun safety, and also who and why the competition rules address safety first, and then address rules of competition
  • Evaluate the ability of the individual competitor to practice basic gun-handling skills
  • Make the new competitor familiar (and comfortable) with the practices and procedures consistent with safety, skills and competition rules

All of these goals support the basic premise of instruction:

If you can't handle a gun, if you aren't safe, you will not pass the course.  Other than that, our primary goal is to insure that EVERYONE who commits to USPSA competition is a Safe Shooter.   Essentially, we want everyone to be a gunner who doesn't scare the pants off their squad members.  And the only one who can hurt you, is .. you!

First Turkey of the Season

Democratic Colorado state senator resigns to avoid recall over gun law | Fox News:

A Democratic Colorado state senator resigned Wednesday to avoid a possible recall election over a controversial gun control law that led to the ouster of two of her colleagues earlier this year.

Sen. Evie Hudak, who has represented a district that includes Denver’s western suburbs since 2008, announced her resignation less than a week before opponents planned to submit petitions to recall her.
So, a Colorado state Senator dodges the bullet and refuses to oppose a recall ballot which would castigate her for her support of unreasonable and outrageous "Gun Control" (read: "anti-Constutional) bills.

Ho hum, nothing new here.  Just another Democrat who got herself elected, decided to impose her own biases on her constituents, and when push leads to shove ... she hasn't the nerve to stand her ground against the mere threat of opposition.

Why is she the "First Turkey"?

Because her fellow state legislators were ousted well before the Thanksgiving Holiday.  She brought this approbation upon herself.  Other than that, she's just one more arrogant sow sucking on the public teat, until her constituents realized that she represented not them, but her own warped interpretation of "Civil Rights".

This follows the successful recall of Colorado State Senate President John Morse  and State Senator Angela Giron, both of whom not only supported but actively lobbied for strong state bills within the Colorado Senate.  Those bills would  require draconian restrictions on the number of rounds which would be allowed to be loaded into the magazine of a firearm, and would also require a "Universal Background Check" (and the parties involved in transfer of a firearm would be required to pay "a fee" for the background-check process).

Since the bill did NOT pass the Colorado Senate, the details of the background check are less specific than the "fifteen round" magazine capacity limit.


The good citizens of Colorado could see no reason why their civil rights should be so limited by local laws which so obviously obviated the Second Amendment Rights which were clarified in the Constitution, and they (rightly) availed themselves of their rights under both the Federal and the Colorado State Constitutions to recall their "representatives".

Silly Senators: Kix are for Kids, not elected public officials.  When you try to exceed your legal powers, when you abuse your office to advance your personal preference, should it be surprising that your "constituents" decide that you are no longer representing their common interests?

Fortunately for all the citizens of Colorado ... there WERE enough "Cajones" in Colorado to unseat two leading State Senators:  Senate President John Morse, and Senator Angela Geron.

Subsequent to their political demise, Coloradoan citizens set their sights on the second tier of (Democratic) senators, starting with Ms  Hodak ... who at least demonstrated the basic humanity to admit that she was acting under the emphasis of her own personal bias, rather than representing her constituency, and had the good grace to just quit!

Those among us who believe that the Constitution of the United States of America is the basic
"Law of the Land" in America should recognize the citizens of Colorado for their valor and determination.

The ONLY way we can defend our own Constitutional Rights is to stand up to those wussies who would impose their will upon us, whenever they clearly refuse to represent us.

These three State Senators chose to represent their own political bias, rather than their constituents.

They got JUST what they deserved:  when our representatives refuse to serve us, they should fall upon their political swords.

And this is JUST what Senator Hodak has done.

Whether she has done so because the realized the error of her ways, or because she chose to quit her "Day Job" because she would rather commit political suicide rather than being voted out of office ... is ultimately immaterial.   She saw which way the hammer was going to fall, and got out wile the getting-our was less bad than being summarily ousted.

Good for you, Colorado!

---

Other comments on the original FOX article:

The recall efforts came after Colorado's Democratic Legislature and governor last year approved a slate of gun-control measures including ammunition magazine limits and expanded background checks. ----


KDVR reports that by resigning, Hudak ensures that a Democrat will be appointed in her seat and the party will retain its one-seat majority in the Senate, which they would have lost if Hudak was successfully recalled.
(As if the Colorado Voters have confidence in the Democratic Majority in the State Senate!   Best Guess:  The Colorado voters will be VERY cautious about electing another Arrogant Democrat to that Senate,)