Can Gun Control Work?

I've been reading this book for the past week, taking it slow because there's some thought provoking information to digest.

It's an 'old' book (2002), and while much of the discussion relates directly to the BRADY law  ... both BRADY I (1993)and BRADY II (1994), there are other restrictive laws defined and examined:  GCA 1968 (Gun Control Act of 1968) and GSAA (Gun Show Accountability Act of 1999) mostly.

It's worth the read if only because it provides a good reference to some of the (most comprehensive) national gun control laws, and the tweaks made in them by 'frustrated' legislators.

While the author (James B. Jacobs, who has also published books discussing drunk driving and hate crimes) makes an effort to remain neutral, neither advocating for or against the concept, there are so many circumlocutions it's obvious that he has little expectation that gun control laws perform any greater service than to inconvenience honest, rational citizens.

He cited a couple of studies which were interesting.  Especially ...

The Cook & Ludwig Study:

Professors Phillip Cook and Jens Ludwig in 1997 sought to test empirically the impact of the Brady Law by comparing gun crime trends  in the 32 states where The Brady Law (I) ["treatment" states] was effected vs those 18 states where it was not effected (because their state gun laws were already more stringent than Brady) ["control" states] .

The effect of the Brady Law was to add a waiting period and background check to those 32 treatment states,

Paraphrasing Jacobs:  Cook and  Ludwig compared the rate of change in violent crime in the Brady ["treatment"] states to the rate of change in the "non-Brady" ["control"] states.   Their study was based on the hypothesis that "... the trends in firearm homicides and suicides in both treatment and control states  during the 1990 - 1993 Pre-Brady period ... would be expected to continue on a parallel course unless the Brady Law had a significant impact".

(Jacobs notes that the rate of violent crimes in America had been declining for most of the century.)

The results of the study included a startling statistical truth.

Quoting the Jacobs text directly:

There was no difference in homicide and suicide in the Brady and control states. although the rate of suicide by handgun in the Brady states among persons 55 and older decreased in the treatment states ...
Nevertheless there was no difference in total suicides in the treatment and control states.
...
Apparently, if suicidal people in the Brady states were unable to obtain firearms, they found other ways to kill themselves.

(emphasis in the original)

I rather liked Jacobs' conclusion; probably because he agrees with me on that point.

Jacobs concluded this section by observing:

"Because there was no significant difference in homicide or suicide trends, the  authors rejected the hypothesis that a waiting period reduced handgun homicide and suicide.  This finding is consistent with most previous evaluations of state-level background checks and waiting period laws."

So we're still left with the question, can gun control work?

Well, if enacting new gun control laws provides steady 'work' for lawyers with an inclination to be elected to the legislature ... sure.  They work just FINE for law makers.

They don't do much for the rest of us, though.

"..A sensible dialogue on guns"

We need a sensible dialogue on guns | jacksonville.com:
(September 04, 2015) ... H/T: The Gun Feed

 As the state lobbyist for the National Rifle Association likes to point out, it’s the illegal possession of guns that kills people. But what solutions have the NRA and other gun organizations offered as helpful resolutions to gun violence — outside of keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill?

Florida State Senator Audrey Gibson seems, in her short (but not short enough, considering the lack of actual content) editorial opinion piece, to be putting the NRA on the spot.  She thinks that "they" (NRA et al) should be the source of "helpful resolutions to gun violence", but offers little in that arena herself.

This letter to the editor shouldn't be considered an attempt to establish 'a dialogue', let alone an attempt to offer a 'solution'.    The fact is, this is an area where the Senator has no opinion, no expertise,  neither compromise nor solution.    She just has a footnote to her next re-election campaign.  The letter is something that she can point at and proudly proclaim that she has tried and failed to establish a dialogue to resolve the problem of gun violence.

Let's count the talking points.  She has not defined the "problem", nor has she offered a 'solution'.

She has identified The Bad Guys (who are, surprisingly, not the people who constitute the 'problem' by attacking innocents with guns, but rather those who have been very clear that "the only defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun").  That's all she has.

She's an archer with an empty quiver, but she doesn't care.  She got her name in the newspapers. and surely it's a talking point for her next re-election campaign.  She has identified a problem, and she has pointed the finger ... at someone else.  Hopefully, someone with tuggable purse strings.

She doesn't have a clue about the genesis of the problem.  She doesn't have a solution.  She just has a straw-man to put on the spot.  And her name in the newspapers.

Hmmm ... would it be too easy to suggest that the Honorable Florida State Senator Audrey Gibson might just possibly be a Democrat?

The Naked President

Obama warns Republicans to avoid 'unforced error' of government shutdown | TheHill:
(September 07, 2015)

President Obama accused Republicans Monday of playing games with the federal budget, warning them that threatening a government shutdown over funding for Planned Parenthood or ObamaCare would be “completely irresponsible.”

"Completely Irresponsible" is a good description of ObamaCare ... which would be entirely funded by 'the next generation' ... under threat of government sanctions of those who refuse to sign onto Obamacare because they have nothing to gain from it.
_____________________________________________________________________

 Speaking at a Labor Day event in Boston, Obama said Congress should work to approve federal spending bills that end across-the-board funding cuts rather than wage policy battles over healthcare that could risk a shutdown at the end of the month. “So far, at least, instead of hearing about how we can move together, what we’re hearing from [Republicans] is threats that they might shut down the government over things that don’t have anything to do with the budget,” he said. “Try to stop the budget in order to force us to do something that would restrict women’s healthcare, for example. That’s not a good idea.”

Not a good idea?

Trying to force one generation to pay for their grandparents' health-care expenses sounds fiscally irresponsible to me.  And I'm the Generation who is hoping that my grandkids can pay for my lung cancer treatments, after I've been smoking since before their parents were born.

Isn't my cancer MY problem?

______________________________________________________________________

 When Congress returns this week, Republicans are expected to launch an assault on federal funding for Planned Parenthood in light of undercover videos accusing it of illegal activity. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last week that the Senate will vote on defunding the group when lawmakers return, though he acknowledged Obama is likely to veto such a bill if it were to pass. Democrats have said Republicans risk another government shutdown if they push the issue too far. 

Some people actually think that Planned Parenthood is a conspiracy to deprive Negroes (there, I said it) of their reproductive rights.  Whatever the hell that is.  Oh, and also that Planned Parenthood is a bunch of con artists who actually do more harm than job ... which (if they are right), the anti-P.P. folks are performing a public service by identifying a charade.

But Obama is trying so hard to be a leader that he's ignoring the back-issues.  Yes, he is black and so is his family.  Which suggests that he's not trying to find the best solution for the nation, but for his political position.
_____________________________________________________________________

Obama also needled Republicans for forcing votes to undo ObamaCare, a failed effort that lead to the 2013 government shutdown. “Everybody says it’s working,” Obama said. “It’s working better than even I expected, and costing less, and they’re still talking about repealing.” Obama plugged the state of the U.S. economy, saying it’s performing better than in other parts of the world and warning that a shutdown could threaten that status.

I don't think that "everybody" says it's working.  Everybody says it's a piece of shit,and nobody wants to sign up for it because the P.O.S. factor is so high that we just can't afford it.

Oh, and there's also that "... if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan" thingie which moves the bullshit-o-meter from "do you really think we would believe this?" all the way to the "lying sack of ..... " peg.

Plus the economy, "Performing better than in other parts of the world"?  Could you please be more specific?  Your Vice President, Joe Biden, thinks that "Something Is Wrong With the Economy".

____________________________________________________________________

 He compared a potential shutdown to an “unforced error,” and made reference to the infamous Bill Buckner error that helped cost the Boston Red Sox the World Series in 1986. “It’d be like a ground ball slipping through somebody’s legs,” Obama said, cheekily, to groans from the Boston crowd. “You guys have won a couple since then, so I can make that joke,” he said. “If you hadn’t had so many World Series, I wouldn’t make that joke.”

You're wrong, Mister President.  WE made the joke when we elected you. Twice.

Even new housing sales, which have been robust for a while, are beginning to slide;  price cuts are becoming more common.


Would a shut-down of the government really be such a bad thing for Americans?  At the least, it would take away your pen and your phone for a while.

And that's a "The Emperor Has No Clothes" moment.

Let Us Prey

Letter: It’s time that we say ‘enough’ to gun violence:
(Opinion Piece September 05, 2015: "Greenville News", Greenville, South Carolina)

To those who would say that if we couldn’t get it done after Sandy Hook it can’t be done, you’re part of the problem. Sensible gun legislation and a change in our culture that fetishizes guns will happen when the rest of us who don’t think guns belong in every corner say, “Enough!”

Demand a change. Vote for candidates who support change. 

(emphasis added)

The author of this opinion  piece doesn't define "CHANGE".

We all understand the frustration of those who watch their friends and families and neighbors  ... and even total strangers ... die in the "Gun Violence" milieu which they perceive from a skewed aspect.

My aspect is equally as skewed.  I think that human violence will continue until the end of times, and the only hope that the weak (weaker than their attackers) have is to find a weapon which will allow them to defend themselves.

The author's perspective is that guns are only violence-generating weapons of destruction, and that if only we could pass enough laws, the guns would go away and there would be no more violence perpetrated against innocents.

And the Lion shall lay down with the Lamb.
And there will be peace in the valley, for you and for me.

Isaiah 2.4:

And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

"Ain't Gonna Study War No More"

And muggers will become Community Exemplars and pass UNICEF cups among their neighbors to benefit the starving children.  

And their neighbors will drop their Cocaine habits so that they can find well-paying jobs in the Public Sector so that they can donate their paychecks to UNICEF.

Unfortunately, there is a word which the Wolves in this world use to describe those who think that this Eden is a possibility.

They call us .. PREY.

Cooper Video

Misfires And Light Strikes - Guns are the new Harley Davidson.:  *

This is where it all began, folks. This is like having video of Moses writing down the Fifteen Ten Commandments. When it comes to practical pistol competitions and defensive firearms training, this is the Magna Carta, “Maybelline” and “View from the Window at Le Gras“, all rolled into one.

Thirteen minute video of Jeff Cooper.  Worth bookmarking, or downloading, or whatever you wish to do to save the Colonel.

* Tnx for finding the video!

Looming Disaster!

Biden Says Family Will Decide Whether He Runs for President - NBC News:

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday night he "will not hesitate" to run for president next year — but only if his family is up to it. "I'll be straightforward with you: The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run," Biden said during an appearance at a synagogue in Atlanta.

Please, Mister Vice President ... resist!

With all due respect, you are a political Bozo and shouldn't be allowed to occupy the position of Post Master General for the state of Rhode Island.  (I couldn't find a smaller state.)

Nobody likes you, nobody has any respect for you, and if you should announce your candidacy you would reveal yourself as being dumber than the stump you speak from.

Do it for your family.  Do it for your country.  Do it for yourself ... please don't make your place in history as the candidate who had fewer votes than that dopy kid from the Mad Magazine!

OUR CHOICE:

Joe?  The anonymous Face In The Crowd?

Or That Kid From Mad Magazine?

Face it, Joe .. you're outclassed!

Prayers for both families

Missouri 11-year-old fatally shoots 16-year-old intruder | Fox News:

An 11-year-old Missouri boy shot and killed a 16-year-old boy during an attempted home invasion Thursday afternoon, St. Louis County police said.

I cannot imagine how either family can deal with the tragedy which all have suffered.

 Police said two suspects tried to break into the home north of downtown St. Louis twice before the shooting on Thursday. On the third try, authorities said the unidentified teen went through the home's unlocked front door while the 11-year-old and a 4-year-old girl were home alone. Police said the younger boy shot the teen in the head.
Fox2Now reported that police want to know why the children were home alone and why the 11-year-old had access to a gun. Police believe the mother bought the gun after prior break-in attempts.

Police should also wonder why the 16-year-old (and his companion) attempted to break into an occupied house.

These are children.  Everyone involved here was just a child.  They aren't expected to be able to deal with this kind of confrontation as an adult would.

Why should one teen be so determined to rob a house.  Was he so desperate that he would risk his life for monetary gains?  Obviously, he either didn't know there was anyone home, or he didn't care.

As for the younger boy, who defended his home and his little sister ... this will haunt him for the rest of his life.

In the state where I live, it's legal for a child over the age of 10 years to be left alone in charge of a younger sibling.  But obviously, it's not the 'best' solution to the problem of a Single Working Mother.

One wonders what would have happened if the defending boy had NOT been able to defend himself.  Would the older boy (the intruder) have assaulted him and his little sister?

We have no way of knowing what tragedy had been averted.  We only know the tragedy that we see.

That's bad enough. For everyone.

Nobody wins, everybody loses.


Compare that story with this story.

Stacy and "What If ..?"

Shining a light on the gun show - Las Vegas Weekly:

Las Vegas Weekly Correspondent Stacy epitomizes the Gun Show Quandary:

"You'll Need A Bigger Gun!"

I explain the scenario to him: What if someone is breaking into my home, and it’s dark, and I want to unlock my gun safe and load my gun and turn on my laser and make my way through the hallways guided by the red light for pinpoint accuracy?
Or what if I need the red light to help me see to unlock the back door and run like hell? Or to find and lure my cat to safety with a bouncing red light? 

“Oh,” he says, pointing toward tables of heftier handguns and rifles across the aisle, “if you’re getting this for home defense, you’ll need a bigger gun.”

 Or maybe I’m just better off with a solar-powered flashlight that also charges my cell phone, which calls 911.

Maybe there's a large segment of America which hopes that Stacy never NEEDS to defend herself.

Anyone who can use parable to shine such a wholesome light on the whole gun thingie should be protected.

She's an American Treasure.

How many Divisions does USPSA need?

USPSA Adds New Division - Guns & Ammo:
September 03, 2015

The United States Practical Shooting Association has added a provisional Carry Optics division to its competition categories for the remainder of 2015. “Recently, the tides have started to turn, and it is USPSA who must keep up with the industry,” USPSA President Phil Strader said. “We have recognized the progression of lightweight carry pistols that are being outfitted with slide-mounted electronic optics.”

For the difference between "Carry Optics" and "Open Division", see here.

This is a ten-round limited gun, short magazines, with restrictions on holsters (no race holsters and positioned like a carry gun).  Internal modifications allowed.

There are exotic (my word) restrictions on the gun, such as 'speed bump trigger'.

I don't have any history on the genesis of the provisional Division.  I'd be interested in the background story on why this division was (provisionally) approved by the Board of Directors.

Generally speaking, it sounds to me like Production but with a slide-mounted Dot-sight.

Well, USPSA has long been a proponent of trying to keep the competition focused on fairness, rather than an arms race.  It appears that there have been some concerns about people who want to shoot Production rules, but need the electronic dot-sight.  And that combination has become more popular in recent years due to the propensity of more 'modern' pistol designs.

Comments are especially solicited here.  Especially from anyone on the BOD or who has other information .. either background or technical.

I admit, I just found out about this 20 minutes ago, and I'm posting the information to make Practical Pistol competitors aware of recent changes .... and NOT because I know what the HELL I'm talking about!

Jerry the Geek

The Problem With Trying To Regulate Guns Is ....

America has to do more to prevent gun violence - The Washington Post: 

The late Jimmy Durante is famous for saying:

 "Everybody Wants ta Get In To da Act!"

It's the age-old complaint of professionals vs amateurs.  (Or, here .. people who know what they're talking about vs those who haven't actually 'thought it through'.)

GUN CONTROL is like that:  Everybody has an idea, an opinion, and a computer.  Geez!
Some times, I think that there are some people who shouldn't have access to a computer and the internet connection.  It's like giving MATCHES, or a gun and ammunition to a child ... you never know what's going to happen next but you're pretty sure you're not going to like it!  (SATIRE ALERT)

Here's a couple of comments on the WAPO opinion article listed above:

lerobinsontff 9/2/2015 6:05 PM PDT OK.  You don't like the term "gun show loop hole".  Would you then support closing the private sale loop hole. 
LikeShare2 TeddieK 9/2/2015 6:18 PM PDT @lerobinsontff - The problem with trying to regulate private sales is that there is no database of who owns what. 

The first comment was in reference to the fact that only dealers are required to 'vet' purchasers.  Which means that a criminal can be prevented from buying a gun from a dealer ... but not from a private individual.

Some states are working to close that "gun show loophole" by requiring private sales to also
'vet' purchasers, not necessarily by directly using access to the NCIS but by going through a dealer for this process.

The good thing about this is singular: every private transaction is (by design) subject to confirmation by NCIS.   Which keeps criminals and crazy people from buying guns on the private market ...which is also called the "Secondary Market".

The bad thing about this is the multiple consequences of the process:

1. it imposes the government into the process of a private transaction
2. it is not possible  to track transactions without definitively identifying the gun, which means that the serial number must be included in the paper trail ... which is tantamount to Registration.   Gun owners don't like Registration, because it's nobody's business but our own.  Well, that and also that it is the precursor to confiscation and other Bad Things.
3. If you need to get the Government involved, it's going to cost you money.  Well, SOMEONE has to run the NCIS process, and around here in Geekistan it's going to cost you around $50 for a dealer to run the paperwork.  This is ipso facto a tax on the transfer of firearms.  Gun owners don't like taxes, either .... especially when the sole purpose of the 'fee' is to support a regulatory process which we don't like anyway.
4. Trust and Honor.   My government doesn't trust my honor?  Okay, that's a wash;  I don't trust my government either, because they keep chipping away at the Bill of Rights.
5. WILL NOT COMPLY!  It's an extension of (4) .... If I think that the government is going to collect data based on these background checks, and if I'm a Cranky Old Poop (which I'm not, but I do know a few good, honest folks who are), I'm not going to abide by this unconstitutional law.  Which would make a criminal out of an honest person.  I'm not very smart, but this doesn't look like the thing that a Government that wants me to trust them would do.  It certainly doesn't engender a warm, fuzzy image of my Government in my heart.
6. Finally, and the most important thing is ... why does your want to oversee Secondary Market Sales?   Because they want to keep crazies and criminals from buying guns?   Does anybody think that Crazies and Criminals are so STUPID that they would buck the system?  First, Crazies aren't prevented because there is no database which identifies them (Patient Privacy Laws).  Criminals just steal the guns .. why should they pay Street Price for a gun they can get for free?  Hell, they're already criminals!

So, back to the original comments:

GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE:  Alternative is ipso facto registration of guns by serial number, because it cannot be regulated without that. have a problem with that.  Registration is the first step toward confiscation, and I don't believe the folks who say "we don't want to take your guns", because as soon as they day that ... you know that's exactly what they want.  They think they're being honest, but they're lying; they just want you to own guns that they think are 'acceptable'.  In the long run, no guns are acceptable to those who want to regulate them.

They're not worried about 'you', just the 'bad guys'.  But to them, every gun owner is a 'bad guy'.  To wit: the terminology of their description of gun owners is demeaning and dismissive.  "GUN NUT" is the least offensive of the bunch.

DATABASE OF WHO OWNS GUNS: oh yeah, we're going to register every gun in the country?  I don't think so. [eye-roll]   Because Confiscation.   Do we REALLY want the government to have a list of every gun in America?  Some people (such as the folks in the original thesis) think that would be a good idea.

That could have egregious consequences for The Little Guys in America.  Not today, maybe.  But ... until Tyranny.  Which some folks think is looming over us today. 

 (Not me, of course: I'm apolitical!)

PS: You may think I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.  I visualize a society that protects my constitutional rights under the second, fourth, ninth AND fourteenth amendments.

Honest, Officer, I thought that hooker was my grand-daughter!

Prosecutor Gives 87-Year-Old Man a Pass: (NEWSER) –
(September 02, 2015) in Michigan ... Cops have a Heart

An 87 year old Michigan man was busted for soliciting prostitution last June.

The cops let him go, on the grounds that he had ".. lived 87 years without so much as a blot on his criminal record."

Frankly, if a man at 87 years is out trolling for  *(ahem)* feminine companionship, I think they ought to give him a standing ovation.

Oh.

Maybe that's what he was looking for from the hooker.

Not that anybody wants to take your guns away, but ....

Why the US Leads the World in Mass Shootings:
(August 24, 2015)

Lankford says that the main lesson from the study is an obvious one: Mass shootings can be reduced if the number of guns in circulation is reduced, as happened after a spate of shootings in Australia. "I didn't come into this study with any gun control agenda—I just let the data speak for itself," Lankford tells Deutsche Welle. "Whether people are willing to act on it is another question."

Any suggestions, Mr. Lankford, about how this reduction might be accomplished?

Houston, We Have A Problem

12 ways to spot a potentially violent person in the workplace - Houston Chronicle:

How many times have you read about a workplace shooting, and the employees said something like, “I’m not surprised he did this,” or, “He always gave me the creeps, but I never thought he’d actually kill anybody”?
Experts on workplace violence offer a psychological profile of the typical perpetrator, and it’s worth the while of businesses to know the signs.

I'm not too sure how expert the experts are, but several of their 12-points seem to make sense.  In a creepy sort of way.

Essentially, if the person is a creepy loner who's always mad and seems power hungry ...

... he may be a "potentially violent person".

Or he may just be you, on a bad day.

For what it's worth, I found it somewhere between amusing and interesting.

(Note:  Not NEARLY as interesting as the "You Just Might Be A Redneck" thingie.)

ATF: Don't Ask!

Wondering if Something is ATF-Legal? Don't Ask. - AllOutdoor.com

.... He asked if shouldering a rifle-caliber pistol with a SIG forearm brace was indeed illegal, and was told in no uncertain terms that yes, it is. Heck, they even showed him the ruling. Shouldering a pistol with a forearm brace magically classifies it as a short-barreled-rifle (SBR), which is taboo and requires certain tapdance numbers and bribery of the government (a.k.a. “tax stamp”) in order to be legal. The nameless agents, who spoke with him on the condition of anonymity, added that the reason this ruling was made is that too many of us asked too many questions.

 (RTWT)

"Too many of us asked too many questions?"
  I'm ... without words!

WIN-7 & WIN-8 due for intrusive updates

Windows 10 Worst Feature Installed On Windows 7 And Windows 8 - Forbes:

 Laughing at Microsoft MSFT 0.00%’s controversial data mining and privacy invasions within Windows 10? Well Windows 7 and Windows 8 users should laugh no longer as this most hated spying is now headed your way… Software specialist site gHacks has discovered that Microsoft has pushed four new updates to both Windows 7 and Windows 8 which introduce new data collecting and user behaviour tracking features.

Damn!  I had settled into the smug satisfaction that I won't be installing Win-10 in the near future.  Now, what difference does it make?

I hate new operating systems; they're only installed when the old ones finally get all the bugs out of them.  Now they're adding new bugs!

I coulda tolja so .. but you wouldn't listen

Man Dies Attempting Appendix Carry Reholster In Milkwaukee - Bearing Arms - appendix carry, Milwaukee, Negligent Discharge, Timothy Phonisay, Wisconsin:
Posted by Bob Owens on August 23, 2015 at 3:43 pm

A 22-year-old Milwaukee man accidentally shot himself in the femoral artery around 11:00 PM Friday evening while attempting to reholster a pistol. Despite the best efforts of the local hospital trauma units, Timothy Phonisay did not survive his wounds.

Level I; Level II; Level III

Level Dead

The problem with "Appendix Carry" is that the shot heard around your apartment isn't going into your foot; it's going into the parts you love the best.

Like, the blood-spurty parts.

You know what the warnings are, I won't repeat them.

Except:  DO NOT DO THAT SHIT!

Why are you trying the oh-so-chic carry method, anyway?

Is it to keep the bad guys from shooting you?  And what does it gain you, if you shoot yourself?

Geez .. the bad guys might have given you a "Flesh Wound".  But guess what?  These are the worst kind of wounds: the soft tissue, the blood-carrying tissue; the kind that kill you..

We should learn something from this.

But we probably won't.

The Qualities Demanded of an Infantry Officer

The Army Looks to the Future | RealClearDefense:

 Army organizations must be led by the highest caliber of officer. Ideal officers should always take the initiative and be capable of daring feats due to high self-confidence and a creative imagination. Their physical and moral courage must be unquestionable and they need a physical stamina that is equal to their mental flexibility. Leadership is the most important element in the Army and we have been blessed to continue to find excellent combat capable leaders because of our great education system.

I read this article with great interest, because it reflected lessons I had learned during my own limited military experience:

How much does it cost to Buy Oregon?

Bloomberg Spends $764,232.35 Buying Oregon Background Check Bill:

It was the Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund that spent $764,232.35 in the reporting period covered, eclipsing even the Oregon teachers lobbying arm by $484,055.

There are about 800,000 Democrats in Oregon.
And about 110,000 independents.
Also, there are 530,000 "non-affiliated" voters in Oregon.

Versus about 650,000 Republicans.

That's right:  "Independents" and "Non-affiliated" voters total 640,000 votes.

So to beat the Republicans, you have to sway the independents and non-affiliated voters .. and only 10,000 Democrats.

[Demographics Source: Oregon Secretary State Voter Registration by County stats for July, 2015.. just to be fair]


Assuming (and these are gross assumptions) that the Independents and Unaffiliated split on this vote,
and that Dems and Reps split along party lines.. then the price of a Democratic vote is less than One Dollar American.

This is, of course, a bizarre assumption.  The dems are 90% anti-gun (cleave to the party line) but there are some registered Dems who have a slight tinge of blue.  So it may not be too magnanimous to say that you couldn't buy a Democratic vote in Geekistan for LESS THAN $1.00.

I'm just kidding.

The Democratic votes are already 'a sure thing'.  The cost of a Democrat's vote?  FREE!  Just pat them on the head and tell them what good boys and girls they are, and you can spend the rest of your three-quarters of a million dollars trying to persuade the 'Independents",  :Unaffiliated" voters.

Which, combined into a group, come MUCH more dearly than a Democrat.  And these people RULE Oregon!  (See below)

More crimes? Detroit solution: More guns!

Packing heat in Detroit: Motown residents answer police chief's call to arms | Fox News:

With a population of about 680,000, some 83 percent of which is African-American, Detroit's growing embrace of Second Amendment rights has a racial component that is not unique to the city. According to a recent survey from Pew Research Center, 54 percent of African-American residents nationwide now see legal gun ownership as more likely to protect people than to put their safety at risk. That figure was up from 29 percent two years ago.
 “If anyone should have the right or need to carry a gun, it should be the African-American community,” Philip Smith, founder of the National African American Gun Association, told Reuters.

Responding to encouragement by Detroit Police Chief James Craig,  Detroit Denizens are applying for .. and getting ... licenses to carry concealed handguns.

It's almost as if someone is actually listening to the NRA, and discovered that time-worn bromide is exactly the right solution to the awful problem of unbridled violence: a good man (or men, or good women) with a gun.

America has come a long way since the Jim Crow laws, and it hasn't been easy.   The first thing was to understand and accept that the whole race thing was a non starter, and get the most qualified candidates into the right job..


Maybe that's what happened to Detroit.  And Chief James Craig may be part of the answer.

Whatever it takes, Craig has been encouraging the citizens of the near-bankrupt Motor City to assume responsibility for their own safety.   How?  By applying for permits to carry concealed weapons, and seeing to it that they get the needed training to be effective.

The city finds it hard to maintain as many police officers as it needs, so Craig has been working to get his fellow citizens to take some responsibility for their own safety ... Not least because the overburdened department cannot guarantee a rapid response to a call for help.

You won't find Craig on Wikipedia, but you'll find him in Detroit, making the tough decisions.

Smirk!

America's 1st Freedom | Brady's Empty Suits:

“It’s been a bad year,” Sean Connery’s character says in “The Wind and the Lion.” “The next one will probably be worse.” The Brady Campaign’s Legal Action Project might as well say the same, as the group’s attempts to legally destroy legitimate gun manufacturers and dealers have met repeated defeats that were capped, this June, by a blow that threatens to destroy the Project’s very existence.

What's that word ... the word I'm looking for.

Oh, now I remember.

Schadenfreude.
 Go RTWT.

Thank you, NRA

Great White Shark Jumps Out Of Water Chasing Seal Off Cape

Great White Shark Jumps Out Of Water Chasing Seal Off Cape  CBS Boston: \

CHATHAM(CBS) – There have been plenty of shark sightings off the Massachusetts coast this summer, but none quite like this. Dr. Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries was working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy off Monomoy, Cape Cod Monday when a great white shark jumped out of the water trying to grab a seal. It appears the seal escaped.

Oh, go look at the pictures!

Washington State Can't Stop Gun Violence ... Part II

Last week I posted a commentary on Seattle, Washington mayors proposed gun control measures (both regulation and taxation).

This week, NSSF threatened suit if he signed the proposed laws.

Mayor Murray signed the bill Friday.

Today, he got sued.

Maybe Mayor Murray reads the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch?

PS:  Ordinarily, I would have merely cursed the mayor, as in "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your scrotum".

But being sued by the NSSF?  Oh, MUCH better.

Is there a Full Moon in Ohio today?

The Moonbats are out in full raving lunacy and this article in the Columbus Dspatch provides a forum for their howling.

I'm trying to convince myself that the proposal to "license ammunition" (and tax it, too!) was written tongue in cheek, but I'm afraid that the author was probably quite sincere in his demagoguery.

Just a short list of author Ted Schaefer's proposed measures:

Item:  You can only buy "bullets" for a gun that you can prove you own.  When you sell the gun, you have to return all the bullets.

Item:  A "BULLET BUYBACK" program.  (Like the gun buy-back program which has worked so well.)

Item: Bullet Buyers buy a bullet license, renewable every 5 years AFTER a new photo and Doctor's certification that you haven't turned into a raving lunatic in the interim.

Personally, I think Mr Shaefer should be calling his doctor for an appointment.


(H/T: The Gun Feed)

The French live up to expectations; they run and hide

France train shooting crew left passengers to take terrorist down | Daily Mail Online:

Train staff on board the high speed train which was the scene of a suspected Islamic extremist attack yesterday have been accused of barricading themselves in their staffroom and locking the door, leaving passengers to fend for themselves. The Moroccan terrorist was disarmed and beaten unconscious by US servicemen and a British man after he opened fire on a Paris-bound train with a Kalashnikov.

My comments:

A chicken walks into a bar.  The bartender says: "Hey, why the long beak?"
The chicken replies mournfully:  "Je Suis Francais".

The last French citizen I admired was Brigitte Bardot.

Once again, America and Great Britain have saved the French people.

I'm very proud of the Americans who saw what needed to be done and did it ... Right Damn Now!
Cool thinking and an immediate, overwhelmingly aggressive response were all that was required to eliminate the threat; but nobody expected that on a French Train.

(One of the "Immediate Responders" was from Oregon ... Roseburg is going to give him a great homecoming!  I hope to be there to shake his hand.)

PS:  Dear France, here's the way the "Surrender Position" is suppose to work:



PPS: One more word to the French:

Ptui!

UPDATE:  How America is responding to potential terrorist attacks on Amtrack

Unfortunate Conjugation of News Releases?

Sometimes, the new is not just chock-full-o-nuts.

This is not one of those times.

First:  "DON'T WORRY, THE WORLD IS NOT COMING TO THE END BECAUSE OF A FLYING ORB!"

NASA confirms we won’t all be killed by an asteroid next month: There is no asteroid threatening Earth\ NASA titled its Wednesday announcement, saying that numerous recent blogs and web postings “are erroneously claiming” that an asteroid will hit the planet at some point from September 15th and September 28th near Puerto Rico.

and then:

OH YES IT IS!

PLAYERS URGE ACTION AFTER FAN HIT BY A FOUL BALL

Los Angeles (AFP) - Major League Baseball players are urging action to improve safety after another fan was hurt at a game on Friday night.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander took to Twitter to push for changes after a woman was hit by a foul ball in the eighth inning of the Tigers' home game against the Texas rangers.

Obviously, (a) the world may end this week but not because of a foul-asteroid, but (b) Chicken Little thinks that baseballs may be all it takes.

It hurts to feel this vulnerable.

First Match Disqualification

It's not uncommon for people who have taken my "INTRODUCTION TO USPSA" class to break a safety rule in their first Practical Pistol match, but this week was a first; my "student" sent me an email describing the experience:

As you may know I DQ’d on the 5^th stage I competed in just before my last shot on the stage.  It was certainly a just DQ.  I was getting close to the 180 when the RO began informing me of the same.  I turned to look at him and when I did I turned my shoulders and with pistol pointed in the air broke the plane big time.  He apologized all over himself but I told him it was only me that was to blame and I believed that to be the whole truth, as I still do. I also was focusing on my trigger finger position because I was still having problems with that too.

The shooter (let's call him "Bill") did no worse than usual during the four-hour Course of instruction the previous weekend; in fact, he did a lot better than many people who thought they might take the IPSC-mobile out for a spin around the block.

But his experience is one that every person who tries to break into a complex and demanding game shares;  under the pressure of time, the good intentions to "JUST SHOOT SAFELY IN YOUR FIRST MATCH" sometime leaves them sitting at the side of the road wondering what just happened to them.   In Bill's case, too many conditions (especially the Range Officer's verbal warning) distracted him from his primary obligation ... obey the rules of safe shooting.

In other words, he forgot to obey the Cardinal Rule of Shooting Competitively:

THOU SHALT NOT SCARE THE RANGE OFFICER!

Fortunately Bill is a thinking man.  His Significant Other (let's call her "Debbie") took the same course of instruction the previous month, and she sat through the class again this month and also shot the Live Fire Exercise with him.   So Bill not only got his eyes opened, he learned something from it.

New competitors who are experience a Match Disqualification ("DQ") on their first match often never come back to another match.   A few have decided to take the course of instruction again, considering that they would benefit from direct personal training to reinforce good gun handling habits ... and that has always been beneficial.  Which suggests that these people have made a personal commitment to learning a new and complex skill set.

Occasionally, during the hottest or coldest  months of the year (eg: AUGUST IN OREGON with temperatures in the high 90's) people don't choose to spend their Saturday afternoon running arround in a gravel pit waving a gun in the air.  So this class had only the one student (Bill) until Debbie decided to keep him company.  I think it makes for a better class, as the students learn as much from watching their companions shoot as they learn from their own experience.

But when the clock is ticking it's hard to remember EVERYTHING ... as Bill discovered for himself.

Bill will be back.  He's one of those people who don't like to think there's something he can't do.

Besides, Debbie shouldn't have to go to matches alone; it's more fun to play with a partner.

Revolving Door in California

Police chiefs, sheriffs blast ICE over policy they say frees violent illegal immigrants | Fox News:

A California toddler fighting for her life Thursday after a brutal beating at the hands of an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record is the latest case to rile California sheriffs and police against a U.S. immigration policy they say is forcing them to release dangerous criminals out on the street.

Who is responsible for this travesty of justice?

I don't know.  Must be somebody far above my pay grade.

Concealed Carry Saves a Life in Liberal Stronghold

 Concealed Carry Saves a Life in Liberal Stronghold  News -- GOPUSA:
August 3, 2015

Police describe eriberto Haro-Luna, drunk and incensed, confronting his recently estranged wife in a Boulder church parking lot, trapping her by the neck and threatening to slit her throat as she uttered final prayers.

(RTWT:  H/T - "The Hobo Brasser)

Washington State can't stop "Gun Violence", so it's going to tax it!

Excellent Example of Political Power!

Seattle's New 'Gun Violence Tax' on Guns & Ammo - AllOutdoor.com
(August 12, 2015)

Seattle, WA – In yet another bonehead move by government officials, the city council of Seattle voted unanimously Monday in favor of a tax on all sales of guns and ammunition within city limits. At the same time, they passed a law making it a crime if you should fail to report a lost or stolen firearm within 24 hours.

 Land of the free, you say? Not so much. Both measures are reportedly supported by Seattle mayor Ed Murray. The gun tax law is modeled after a 2013 gun &ammo tax in Cook County, IL (think Chicago), which has already been the subject of litigation.
 Seattle’s new law is clearly aimed at punishing citizens and retailers for buying and selling firearms and ammunition. City council president Tim Burgess called the recent changes “innovative gun safety measures,” but as all thinking people know, criminals don’t buy their guns in gun shops anyhow.
This new tax will serve only to put gun shops out of business and force law-abiding citizens to travel farther to buy their guns outside of city limits.
 The tax plans to steal $25 per firearm and 2 to 5 cents per cartridge. While city officials predict monetary gains in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, it’s far more likely that most gun shops will simply close their doors, and most gun buyers will go elsewhere. Any “profit” reaped by this tax will very likely be spent trying to defend it in court.

(Emphasis added)

Okay, I'm not convinced that .. " (T)his new tax will serve only to put gun shops out of business and force law-abiding citizens to travel farther to buy their guns outside of city limits" ...  but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't encourage Seattleites (?) to  drive to one of the orbital cities to shop for guns and ammunition.

The whole "Gun Safety Measures"  thingie is pure bullshit.  What it is, is not necessarily an attempt to dissuade private citizens from buying "The Evil Gun" as it is targeting a market for taxation.  Guns have a bad reputation due to constant nationwide political chicanery, so there's no political down-side to taxing them.

And bullets.

On one hand, it's kind of flattering:  Politicians have been taxing gasoline for years, because they know that the hoi polloi are going to buy it whatever the cost.   So .. geez, it's a no-brainer:

TAX THE PEOPLE FOR WHAT THEY WANT, AND MAKE THEM THINK IT'S DEFIANCE TO KEEP BUYING IT!

So, no matter what the media tells you, it's not going to suffer The Little People a lot.  It's just going to add to the tax base of Washington State.

 (Well ... it's Seattle. Like they can't tax coffee, for goodness sake?)

(Okay .. Democrats would object to a tax on Coffee.)

When you look at it from the point of view of the vile politicians, it makes perfect sense.  After all, if the State isn't making a profit, they don't get paid.

And SCREW THE PUBLIC!

That's what they do best: they're politicians, after all!

"Take THAT, Brain-Dead Scholars!"

Democratic Senators at the State level are very good at enacting new laws which limit citizen rights .. but they aren't worth spit when it comes to funding the enforcement of those laws!

No money for gun background check enforcement, Burdick admits | KATU Investigators | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon:
\
August 07, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A new law requiring background checks for all firearm sales and transfers, including private transactions, goes into effect in Oregon Sunday. But will anyone enforce it? One of the main sponsors of the bill, State Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland), admitted Friday the law doesn't include money for enforcement. Still, Burdick said, “This will make it harder for the criminals and the dangerously mentally ill to get guns.” If you sell a gun privately, in person or online, the law says you have to meet the buyer at a licensed gun shop and have them go through a background check, which Burdick says costs $10.

 Law enforcement authorities in the Portland area and throughout the state say they won't go out and find people who are breaking the law, though they will investigate any reports they get. "It’s just a simple practicality - until we have the resources here to fully fund law enforcement and prosecution, new crimes probably aren’t going to get much attention," Lane County Sheriff Byron Trapp said when asked about the bill in June.

Ha Ha Ha!  Hee Hee Hee!
We always knew this wouldn't fit with the Economy!
(Hat Top to Say Uncle)

The Egretious Ginny Burdick admits that the law which she and other Oregon Democrats (most of the Senate and House are Democrats) worked so hard for is .. unenforceable.

Which we could have told them (and we did!) while the bill was under discussion.

But would they listen?   NOOOooooooo!

So all of we Oregonions who have been saying WILL NOT COMPLY! are reduced to empty-words status.

Which, of course, comes as no surprise to those of us with living brain cells.  (NOTE: DOES NOT INCLUDE ELECTED POLITICIAN!)

How Aggressive, Incompetent Legislators Can Make Felons out of Free Men

Oregon Ex Post Facto Gun Registration Law (ex SB941)
(Which law makes it a felony to transfer a firearm between individuals without involving a third party and registering your gun.)

I'm not sure exactly when Oregon's "Register Your Gun To Transfer Your Gun" law is scheduled to actually become law, but I suspect that I've already violated the terms of that unconstitutional act.

I mentioned the other day last month that I had broken my gun.  (Well, the trigger.)  A friend offered to fix it for me, knowing full well that I and mechanical things don't get along.

Anyway, I gave it to a friend who is more mechanically inclined than I am to fix it.  I ordered the needful parts and had them sent directly to his home.  Then at the next match we were able to meet, he gave my now-fixed gun back to me.

Pretty simple, huh?

But I think .. depending on the day of the week when either transfer took place ... one or both of us may now be felons.

Here's a suggested scenario, which may or may not be true.

I broke my gun on Monday, and gave it to my friend to fix on Tuesday.  Wednesday the law came into effect.  On Thursday my friend returned my repaired gun to me.  On Friday my friend and I were arrested because we didn't go through a third party (someone with a Dealer's license) to register the transfer.

My friend is not a dealer, nor a 'registered' armorer .. which means nothing in this state but surely it's the next step in refining the terms of the bad bill which has been passed but possibly not yet enacted.

 (I don't know if this law applies to us this week.)

So .. when I transferred my gun to my friend to repair, I didn't process the 'transaction' through the (as yet non-existent?) legal process.

But when he gave it back to me, we still didn't ask The State for permission to perform this entirely innocent act ...

So are we both felons now?  Or if not, is ONE of us a felon and the other innocent ... for performing essentially the same act of transferring a firearm between us??

We may both, or one of us, have run afoul of the law.  Which of us should be sent to jail, and is the other innocent merely because of fortuitous timing?

Dangerous Dan: The Man Who Would Not Quit

Everybody liked Dan.

But things happened to him.

I met Dan during my first year of shooting IPSC matches ... back when they had only three Divisions; Stock, Open, and Revolver.   And nobody was really sure what constituted an "OPEN" gun, because we rarely saw any that year.


Dan was an 'older' gentleman (probably 55 or so .. which age range I would now consider 'not older'), and he was an experienced competitor.  And he knew more about the rules of competition than I did.

Not that he had ever been trained as a Range Officer, but he had been around long enough to call me on it when I put "NEW SHOOTER" on my scorecards on my third match.  I admire a man who was willing to call me on my bullshit, although I was disappointed that I could no longer count on forgiveness from the range officer.

So I always tried to squad with Dan, because I knew that I could learn things from him.

REVOLVERS:
The first thing I learned from Dan was that Revolvers were not (in and of themselves) the perfectly functional piece of machinery which we had been trained to believe them to be.

Ever see what happens when you load a revolver with a round that has a high primer?

I remember with a certain amount of schadenfreude watching Dan trying to recover from a revolver which cylinder would not revolve because he had a high primer.  It was a simple stage of about a dozen rounds, but it required a reload.  Dan had not carefully inspected his ammunition (he loaded his own, obviously) before the match, so when the cylinder locked up after he reloaded the gun during the stage, ... well, did you ever see the Television advertisement for Samsonite luggage?  The one where the gorilla bounced all over the cage trying to open the suitcase?

That's what Dan looked like.

He couldn't unload the revolver .. it was in the middle of the cycle, so even though it was a double-action revolver .. he couldn't get the cylinder to swing out.  He couldn't advance the cylinder to the next register position, and he couldn't fire the revolver.

He ended up pounding the gun against some kind of standing prop (I think it was a vision barrier mounted on vertical two-by-fours), and then beating it with a rock which he picked up from the ground, and finally dragging out his pocket knife to use as a tool.

I think it took him about five minutes to resolve the problem.

And then, instead of taking a zero on the stage, Dan had the nerve to reload with more ammunition from the same batch and finish the stage.  I think his points score was in the low forties, and his time in the high 300's (seconds) in a 60 point stage.

Although I didn't understand the reason for his perseverance at the time, I now think it was that Dan would NOT be beaten.  He might not win .. but he would not LOSE!


Glock KaBOOM!

The second time I saw Dan really get into trouble was later that same year.   He wasn't shooting Revolver any more, but he had borrowed a Glock in .40 S&W from another shooter and using borrowed (from the pistol owner) ammunition.

You have probably already guessed where I'm going here.

Here's proof that the government DOES want to take away your guns.

Idaho residents line up outside veteran's house, protest fears of possible gun confiscation | Fox News: BOISE, Idaho –  (August 06, 2015)

A group of residents in northern Idaho lined up outside a U.S. Navy veteran's house on Thursday to protest claims that federal officials are planning on confiscating the man's weapons. Idaho Republican state Rep. Heather Scott of Blanchard said the Veteran Affairs office has sent a letter to John Arnold of Priest River warning him that he cannot possess or purchase firearms.

This is one of those situations where a veteran has been declared "incompetent".   This is a word which has several possible interpretations, which range from "he needs a lawyer to help him understand the legal complications which may influence his fiscal decisions" to "he can't remember to put his pants on before he leaves his house to pick up the morning paper on his front yard".

Currently, the incompetency declaration doesn't have a single guaranteed avenue of appeal.  Which is to say, there are a lot of guvmint wonks who can make the declaration, and it's unclear what the appeal process would be like ... or even if there is an established process where a veteran can appeal this declaration.

Which is a really shitty way for the guvmint to treat our vets ... especially in that it underlines the confidence that veterans can got to Veteran Affairs to help them when they are overwhelmed by either medical or financial issues.

Japan marks 70th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing | Fox News

Japan marks 70th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing | Fox News: HIROSHIMA, Japan – �
August 06, 2015

Japan marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Thursday, with Mayor Kazumi Matsui renewing calls for U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to step up efforts toward making a nuclear weapons free world. Tens of thousands of attendants stood for a minute of silence at 8:30 a.m. at the ceremony in Hiroshima's peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack, marking the moment of the atomic blast. Then dozens of doves were released as a symbol of peace.

In other news, Americans who still remember the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 .... wonder whether America has grown too soft to defend itself against foreign aggression.

Especially considering that the Secretary of State has signed a sweetheart nuclear deal with Iran:

Outraged families of American victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism moved Wednesday to block the deal to lift economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for nuclear inspections, filing a federal lawsuit to stop frozen assets to which they stake a claim from being released to the Islamic Republic.

I'm sure that President Barack "Has No Green Card" Obama and Secretary of State John "Unsafe At Any Speed" Kerry have the best interests of their country at heart.

Navy: May be okay for Military Servicemen to defend themselves

Navy unlikely to charge officer who fired at gunman:
(August 05, 2015)

 Lt. Cmdr. Tim White, the CO of Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga, has not been charged with "illegally discharging a firearm on federal property," said Cmdr. William Marks, despite the claim of a conservative commentator. "Stories of Navy personnel being charged with an offense are not true," Marks said in a statement. "There is still a long way to go in reviewing the facts of this tragic incident, but at this time we can confirm no service member has been charged with an offense."

This statement by a U.S. Navy spokesman may be a result of pressure from the public at large, or it may be that the military is beginning to wake up to the FACT that Negligent Discharges by armed servicemen is a lesser consequence than having unarmed members assassinated because they are unable to defend themselves.

I chatted with my son "The Squid Kid" about this last week.  He is a Navy Master at Arms Petty officer, and one of his duties is to provide arms training to other Navy personnel.

He was quite vocal about the low quality of the people who he had to train, in terms of their initial training.  Essentially, they had NO familiarity with firearms, and often seemed to be afraid of holding a gun.  As a consequence, they were a danger to themselves and to others.

The Navy and the Air Force are basically formed in support of "Weapons Platforms": Ships and Airplanes.

The Marines and the Army are the services who leave to the concept that "Every Soldier/Marine is a Rifleman".  The other services ... not so much.  So when a Naval officer accepts the duty of defending his fellows by force of personal arms, that is (in the caustic terms of the despicable Joe Biden) ".. A Big F*CKING Deal!"

It think that if one American is injured or killed accidentally by another American who is trying to provide armed support, then that's a tragedy.

If one American is killed or injured deliberately by a Terrorist who is not opposed by force of arms because of a chicken-sh*t high-level policy, then that's an outrage.

Congress will FINALLY trust our troops more than muslim extremists? (Or Will They?)

"You got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?"


July 27, 2015:

Eight days I posted this opinion article:

Congress pushes to allow troops to be armed on military bases - Stripes:

 July 17, 2015 

WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders said Friday they will direct the Pentagon to allow troops to carry guns on base for personal protection following a deadly shooting rampage in Tennessee that killed four Marines and seriously wounded a sailor at a recruiting center.

From here, it sounds as if someone in Washington has finally removed their cranial box from their customary rectal depository, but ... you know Politicians.

If the cameras stop rolling, the suits start strolling.  Usually whistling a tuneless ditty, as if they're merely engaged in a casual stroll across the Capital Mall, and ...

They waffle

"Oh, excuse me?  Sorry, I was misquoted" they say .. if there is any chance that they may NOT have to actually follow through on their promises to arm U.S. military in unsecured public areas in CONUS.

Because our guys are, like, in Gun Free Zones.

(I may have mentioned my dislike of GFZ before.  As in:  February 2008 - May, 2013 ... for starters)

Unfortunately, the Army's Top Brass has less confidence in the quality of our troops than has Congress!
(From Fox News:)

The Army's top officer said Friday they would review security at military recruiting and reserve centers in the aftermath of the deadly shooting in Tennessee, but urged caution amid growing calls to arm more soldiers to protect against these kinds of attacks.
Gen. Ray Odierno, chief of staff of the Army, told reporters that arming troops in those offices could cause more problems than it might solve.
"I think we have to be careful about over-arming ourselves, and I'm not talking about where you end up attacking each other," Odierno said during a morning breakfast. Instead, he said, it's more about "accidental discharges and everything else that goes along with having weapons that are loaded that causes injuries."

[emphasis added]

A day later, I had this article to reinforce the argument AGAINST arming American Service Persons Domestically.

But wait .. there's more!

Run and shoot? Or just shoot? (It's a GAME, Folks!)

Run and shoot? Or just shoot? | The View From North Central Idaho:

Frequently at USPSA matches there are stages that can be shot many different ways. It’s a thinking game almost as much as a shooting game. What is the best way to shoot this stage? And the best way frequently depends on the shooter too

I've been enjoying Joe Huffman's continuing story of his "Introduction to USPSA Competition", because so many of the issues he describes are typical of competitors ... both new to the sport and those who have been around a while and are just thinking about how they could be more competitive.

In his latest contribution, Joe brings up one issue (1: how to be competitive using your own personal skill set) and a comment on the article brings up another issue (2: whether the techniques we learn in competition would be counter-indicated in a Defensive situation).

I'd like to use this opportunity to address both issues ... and especially point out that they are individual and not at all related:

Who is in charge here?

The American Congress is willing (if tentatively) to allow American troops to be armed in (some) Domestic venues.

But America's Top Military Command is reluctant to allow his troops to "Carry", citing concerns about safety and gun-handling competence on the part of domestic troops.

WTF?  Who is in charge here?

And if the Army can't train troops to be responsible firearms handlers, what does that say about their leadership?

"Domestic Terrorism" My Ass!

Chattanooga Shooting: Four Marines Dead in Shooting at Military Offices - ABC News:

 Four Marines were killed and three other people were injured today in a shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to the mayor and military officials.

THIS IS JUST WRONG in so many ways!

Le Morte de le Beloved Kimber: A Toy Story

I broke my Kimber Custom 1911 in .45acp pistol at the match today.

After 17 years (I bought it for under $300 in 1998) and untold thousands of rounds punched through the gun ... I broke it.

I was at an IPSC [USPSA] match at the Albany gun club, and not doing all that well because I haven't been attending many matches lately I'm out of practice. when I found myself on the Third Stage with a gun that wouldn't allow me to reload a new magazine.

Let me be a bit clearer:

I tried to do a reload, but the magazine would only go halfway in.  I tried everything; I even leaned over and whispered softly:  "I promise I'll still respect you in the morning" but that didn't work.

So I quit the stage with one magazine fired in what I had expected to be a three-magazine problem (8-round magazines), and took a zero on the stage.

[NOTE:  I had a GREAT time:  about 11 seconds on a 30-second stage, but I got a zero score of course because I ONLY SHOT EIGHT ROUNDS.]

After I signed the score sheet, I took my broke-dick gun to the safety table to get a good look at it.  After I field-stripped it and found some strong sunlight, I could look down at the magazine well through the top of the frame, and the right-hand side of the trigger yoke was protruding into the magazine well a good eighth of an inch.  It didn't look as if it had broken (at least in that part I could see), but it was at least bent.  Into the magazine well.  

And here I always thought I had a delicate finger on the trigger!

Which explained why I couldn't even drop the hammer to clear the stage: by IPSC rules, the gun didn't leave the stage "loaded" but I wasn't "clear" in the strictest sense.

I gave The Beloved Kimber to my friend, The Hobo Brasser (THB), to do the mechanical stuff involved in removing the old trigger.  I'll be ordering a replacement trigger from Brownell's (I guess), and have it delivered to THB.

 I have as much mechanical ingenuity as a hog in a sty, except perhaps not as much manual dexterity.

(I once tried to replace the floater bulb in an old-style toilet:  I broke the porcelain tank in the process.  I ended up having to buy a new toilet and hiring a plumber to install it.  THAT is how much of a mechanic I am!)

TO CONTINUE:
My friend THB said "I've got a back-up 1911 in the car, you can finish the match with that", which generous offer I gratefully accepted.  I finished the match with a gun that felt a LOT different (it was a Taurus, and the grip safety ... unlike The Beloved Kimber ... had not been pinned).

But wait: there's more!

"...Conflicting Rights...." Yes, but .... No More Snarling Dogs!

I read that there's a lot of outrage about the recent Supreme Court decision accepting the concept of Gay Marriage.

I don't understand that.

What's the difference between a Gay Person and a Black Person?

Borepatch: Conflicting Rights and Our Ongoing Discussion:

In a free state, there can be no special rights. We take our rights equally. If the cake bakers had said they wouldn't bake a cake because one of the women was wearing a Confederate flag on her t-shirt, how would the press have handled it? It used to be I got to decide who I would buy things from and what I would buy. The businessman got to decide who he would sell to. It is no longer that way and it will not come back. Now I can be forced by law to buy things (healthcare, as a start) and businesses can be forced by law to sell.

Equal Rights .. it's a wonderful thing!

But some people have lately been saying that some people shouldn't marry some other people.


One thing President Obama has done for this country (or perhaps what he has done TO this country) is that he has forced us to look at societal issues from a new perspective.

President Eisenhower forced us to look at our society from the perspective of a Black Person when he integrated schools and lunch counters in the 1950's.

The 1950s were a good time to be alive. ... It must have seemed to most Americans that God had truly blessed America. ... But an important change had been occurring in the nation. In the post-war period a massive demographic change began to occur. Blacks in large numbers started to move out of the South to other parts of the country.

So ... if you don't like the way a vendor sells his wares,  you don't buy from him.  Okay, I get that.  It's a Free Country.

We thought we had finally got our minds around the whole Black Thing when Ike took on the racial bigotry of Alabama.  No more apartheid, no more 'separate but equal' bull-crap.  No more water hoses, no more snarling dogs

Okay, we're still trying to get that "Black Thing" figured out.  We'll do it, though.  This is America.  Land of the Free, Home of the brave.

Except we're not yet brave enough to see ALL minorities in the same light as we are now (sort-of / kinda) seeing Racial differences.

Gay Marriage

There use to be this really awful term :"miscegenation".

It referred to marriage between people of different races.   Horrible word, I'm embarrassed that there's even a dictionary word for this ... this expression of acceptance between two people regardless of their race.

But we got past that, and we're a better people for our acceptance that people will find love where it happens, and the rest of the world be damned.

Now we're getting equally all worked up because persons of ...not a DIFFERENCE but a SAMENESS ... have grown to hope that their country will learn to accept them as readily as they did Black/White relationships.

Gays.

Queers.

Lesbians.

Dykes.

I read so many rants about how Gay Marriage is going to undermine the Sanctity of Marriage.  But I'm not quite sure how that works.

As near as I can tell, the purpose of marriage (according to what I read) is to bless the conjugation of a man and a woman to produce children.

I married twice.   My first wife and I were blessed with two beautiful children who have grown up to be wonderful people.

My second wife and I produced no children.  She and I both had children by previous marriages, and she was no longer able to have children.  It did not matter to me; I love both my children and hers, and I felt no drive to be fecund.

So if the people who say that the purpose of marriage is to produce children, then my second marriage was an aberration?

Funny, it didn't seem that way to me.

Can someone please explain to me why it's okay that I married a woman who could no longer bear children, but if I had married a man who (obviously) could not bear children, then that would have undermined the sanctity of marriage?

The entire outbreak of outrage over gay marriage seems so queer .... I just don't understand it.

But the Good Thing is ... nobody is going to introduce aggressive canines and fire hoses at the marriage ceremony of Adam and Steve.

It's a Free Country.  This is America!

You may not like it.  I may not like it.  But it's none of our business, so ...

STFU

The Importance of Being Earnest

Sometimes you receive email from someone who sounds so real and the content is so earnest, you cannot resist replying ... even if the content is so bogus that you just KNOW it's a sham.  But you must resist the temptation anyway.

I recently received the following email:

Dear *****  

I just sent you an email note and apparently this got confused with sp*a*m. You may recall my earlier correspondence regarding our defending gun rights, including the work by our Research Fellow Stephen Halbrook, the renowned Second Amendment legal scholar, author and attorney:

xxxxx DELETED LINK TO STEPHEN HOLBROOK PROFILE AT INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE xxxxx

Hence, would you be so kind as to advise your email provider to remove your spam complaint?
Thank you again!
Best regards,
David

[obfuscatory text and highlighting added]

He didn't send me a previous email, nothing was 'confused' (my software works differently), and if an earlier email had been quarantined by my security software, then this email would have suffered the same fate.

I have not, of course, been corresponding directly with any member of the Independence Institute.  The premise is bogus, as is the entire email.

NCIS performs criminal backgroiund checks on firearms purchasers?

Private Gun Ownership on the Rise in US (Infographic) | Worldwide Gun Ownership & Firearms: Private Gun Ownership on the Rise (Infographic) by Ross Toro, Infographics Artist January 04, 2012 03:01pm ET

I ran across a firearms-related link *  to LIVESCIENCE today, and I was appalled by the political bias demonstrated in their articles.

There I found this infographic:

No, it wasn't a typo.  This 'scientific' website was so certain of itself that it took the acronym NICS, scrambled it to NCIS, and then looked up that acronym.

Note the source of the information.  I'm pretty sure that the FBI knows that background checks are really conducted by the National Instant Criminal Background System, not the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.

Or by a television series.

Perfect is the enemy of Good

In response to an article about point shooting, I have some opinions about this:

When I was going through Advanced Infantry Training (AIT) in 1969, one day our instructors took my class to the range to show us what Point Shooting really means.

They gave us BB-guns ... spring loaded, so very low powered (and also very inexpensive to teach the lesson) ... and told us that they were going to teach us to shootcoins out of the sky without using the sights.

Actually, the guns had sights, albeit crude ones.  But we soon learned that the instructors were correct.  In one afternoon we learned to point-shoot moving objects without really using the sights, and with an impressive degree of accuracy.

We started out shooting quarters out of the air.  We had to supply our own quarters.

As the exercise progressed (they actually gave us two or three hours to practice), we found that quarters were too easy to hit.

I found that I could get one-shot hits on dimes tossed into the air with a surprising consistency.

Which is to say ... after a while, I couldn't miss!