Independence Day and Flashback

There are two days of the year when Americans act like crazed Savages.

New Years Day, and Independence Day.

This is the second of those days, and my neighborhood sounds like a war zone.

It's the fireworks.

Usually, I don't mind loud noises.  Hell, I spend as much time as I can on a firing range, contributing to the general miasma of Gunsmoke.  Sometimes I look around for James Arness, but he's not there, so .. I expect the noise and the light and the smell.

But when all of my neighbors are shooting off fireworks, sometimes I get that "Flashback" thingie.

I can handle the strings of firecrackers, although too often it sounds like a squad initiating an ambush with their M16s.

The big aerial bombs, though, they sound like the CRUMP! of a B52 strike from a distance.  Sometimes like claymore mines, or even hand grenades.  It depends on how far away they are when they go off.

This is the one day a year when it gets me.

I've learned that it's easier to handle if I go outside and watch the displays .... at least it helps me to put the noises and the flashes of light into the perspective.  I tell myself: "It's okay, it's just fireworks.  people are having fun.  Relax and enjoy it."

A few years ago a group of folks who enjoy shooting together in USPSA matches gathered at a friend's house for a Fourth of July celebration.  After dinner, we gathered at the curb while the host set off fireworks.   I recall that, when a string of firecrackers went off, The Hobo Brasser (a certified Chief Range Officer) was counting off:

Two Alpha, Two Alpha, Two Alpha ....

In the context, it was great.  It was fun, and fine, just good friends enjoying the display.

Papal Opinion on Guns is like my opinion on God

On the pope, gun laws and hunters:

June 28, 2015
Last week, hunters took notice as the pope questioned whether gun manufacturers could call themselves Christians, and the U.S. president again suggested we start limiting firearms.
 Pope Francis said: "It makes me think of ... people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn't it?" The pope didn't make an exception for hunting weapons.
,,,, every pope for centuries has been protected by an elite military force called the Swiss Guard. Though these defenders of his holiness carry swords, they also carry submachine guns, specifically the Heckler & Koch MP5.

I may have not offended my friends sufficiently with my last article.

So whether or not I am forgiven for my criticism here might be difficult.

World Leaders may be anti-gun, but they use hired goons with guns to defend their own person from anarchists, terrorists, assassins and louts.

Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage may pave way for expanded gun rights.

Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage may pave way for expanded gun rights.:
(June 27, 2015)

With the high court’s latest ruling on same-sex marriages, some contend the decision could lead to increased gun rights, specifically national CCW reciprocity, by using the same argument. Friday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and recognize those sanctioned by other states. “No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in the landmark decision that arguably made same sex marriage a reality in the 13 remaining states that continued to ban the practice.

With all due respect for those who do not agree with this decision, I do not understand what the controversy is all about.

This is a Freedom ruling; it allows everyone to determine their own preferences, and live under the same rules for Homosexuals as are accorded to Heterosexuals.

I acknowledge that some people consider that this undermines the sanctity of marriage.  I don't see that anywhere in the Constitution, which generally acknowledges rights, rather than establishing limitations on The People (which is NOT the purpose of the Constitution!)   I've heard the expression "Sanctity of Marriage".  Is this something which must be 'protected'?  Or is it something which speaks for itself?

So, why should I care if homosexuals marry?   You don't agree with me?  First Amendment Protection .. rail away, I 'get' to say this because I CAN.  (Of course, you can be vehement in your disagreement; it's your right, too.)

 With similar logic applied, gun rights advocates argue that the nation’s patchwork of firearms laws governing the concealed carry of handguns are now circumspect under the same guidelines. In short, they reason if marriage equality is guaranteed from state to state, then so should concealed carry rights.

(emphasis added)

WAPO LamentsThat "Feelings Based" Anti-Gun Proposals Are Unsuccessful ... But They Got GAME!

Look away from the Confederate flag to what Mr. Roof held in his other hand - The Washington Post:

The Washington Post admits that Gun Control Laws would be unproductive for the pruposes they have been proposed ... prevent "mass shootings":

By Editorial Board June 26

Adding to the feelings of defeat is the sense that many of the gun-control policies that seem politically feasible wouldn’t necessarily have stopped the country’s most spectacular mass shootings. Mr. Lanza used his mother’s gun collection. Mr. Roof apparently didn’t set off alarms in a background check. None of the defeatism is warranted. Mass shootings draw attention to the nation’s relationship with guns. They should spur us to action because they demonstrate the easy, efficient horror that guns are capable of inflicting, and they make us wonder about permissive gun policies.

 .... but they think that Gun Control Laws should be enacted 'anyway', because ...

Public policy can’t prevent every gun death. But it can do a lot more than it is now: make it harder for the mentally ill, family abusers or criminals to obtain and keep firearms; crack down on gun trafficking; require proper gun storage; and reconsider laws that seem to encourage people to use guns in situations they consider threatening. 

The odd thing is,  most of the laws which they seem to espouse have been enacted here and there, with no apparent influence on those "mass shooters" who commit these heinous crimes.

But they still want to enact them universally.