"Captain Ron" and NRA Perfidy

Do you remember "Captain Ron"?  Incompetent pilot/captain leads his intrepid small-boat owners/crew into heart-rending pathos and good feelings.  1992?

Sure, the guy seemed like a Loony, but it all turned out all right.
Hollywood.   They gotta sell tickets.  Go figure.

IRL ... "In Real Life" ... incompetents usually lead to pathos and no good feelings.

Current Day:  
Doney: Gun extremists show their callousness - Roanoke Times: Opinion:
September 04 2014

Scene: a semi-private shooting range.
Storyline: A "firearms instructor" puts an UZI in the hands of a little girl, and doesn't monitor the shooter safely.
Action:  Uncontrolled Uzi performs a Darwinian function.  Well .. that's its job.

Reaction:
Quote:

Many gun enthusiasts resort to trite slogans in order to further their cause of destruction. The Virginia Citizens’ Defense League handed out stickers at the Steppin’ Out street fair in Blacksburg that read “Guns Save Lives.” Guns did not save my life when I was at work at New River Community College on April 12, 2013; the student who opened fire at my school was subdued by an unarmed security officer. Guns obviously did not save Charles Vacca’s life. In case we need any more evidence of the National Rifle Association’s utter callousness and horrifying lack  empathy, the women’s Twitter feed of the NRA posted an article called “7 Ways Children Can Have Fun at the Gun Range” a mere two days after Vacca’s death.

Uh .. bad timing, there.  Charles Vacca paid the ultimate price for his incompetence, but his legacy lives on.

It's the NRA's fault!
  I always thought it was the fault of the instructor who didn't do his job right.  Was he an NRA Certified Instructor?  Haven't heard that yet, one way or the other.  And I haven't seen any other information about his training and his background.  As far as I know, Vacca was just a well-meaning, enthusiastic guy shooter who was eager to unculcate others into "the JOY of SHOOTING".

Did he not know his limitations.





And if you decide to allow your child to shoot a fully automatic firearm (curse of the Arugula Set), you got to ask yourself:
What was this family doing, when they put their small daughter's safety in the hands of someone whose competence is now being questioned?  Was there some earlier link between them, which caused them to assume some aura of competence which was apparently undeserved?

We don't know that yet, either.  Before we automatically blame the 'obvious' player, it is usually a worthy exercise to understand the back-story.

It's easy to blame others; not so easy to accept your own blame.

How To Stop An Airplane

Passenger dispute diverts flight to JIA | News - Home:
(September 02, 2014)

A Delta Airlines flight from LaGuardia to Palm Beach International Airport was diverted to Jacksonville when a passenger got into a dispute over a reclining seat.
---
"She said something to the effect of, 'I don't care about the consequences, put this plane down now'" (fellow passenger)

Apparently, all you need to do to stop interstate flight of an airplane is to be a Total Bitch.

It never occurred to me that it would be so easy to interrupt interstate transport.

I wonder if the Terrorists are aware of this chink in "The Body Electric".?

It seems a lot easier than blowing up power plants and national monuments. ...
... and HEY!  You can use the same "Professional TOTAL BITCH". for multiple interruptions before America catches on.

Or maybe she was just playing Airplane Catch-up.

A Bronx Tale

Considering the plethora of 'mass shootings' --- you know, where idiots who want to make a name for themselves by shooting up people in a "No Guns" zone, and then shoot themselves ... it makes you wonder why they don't just shoot themselves first.

Oh ... they want the notoriety?

Then maybe they should take a lesson from this guy's solution.

The Damn Thing Just Went Off! (Pocket Pool? Darwinian Solution?)

Imagine the scenarios: the teacher in a class and the gun in his pocket "just goes off" and IT shoots him in the foot.  Here are a few "lame" (pardon the snarkiness) explanations.

"I was just ... I don't know, writing something on the board and the damn thing just went off! Maybe the chalk squeaked, and it was a sympathetic detonation?"

Or,

"There I was, sitting behind my desk grading papers while the class was working on a pop quiz, and the damn thing just went off!"

Or,

"Gee, I don't know.  I think one of my students may have smuggled a cell phone into my class.  He was probably texting someone, and it accessed the chip in my Smart Gun and the damn thing just went off!"

Or,

"Okay, I had the gun in my pocket and I was scratching my balls ...."
(which sounds a bit less unlikely).

It could have been worse: he might have using the "Mexican Carry" ... where the gun is in his waistband, pointed toward the itchy parts instead of toward his foot.  * [see below the fold]