Society's Child

Politicians want to solve "The Gun Problem" by penalizing legal firearms owners; but these are not the people who are are using firearms to commit crime.  The people who intend to break the law ... and eventually do the crime ... are often juveniles or adolescents who have no recourse but criminal activities to feed themselves and their families.

They have no job skills.  They have no future.  The only thing they know that they are GOOD at, is crime.

So that's what they do.

They rob, they steal, they take away from others who have money; because those people have a good job and lots of money, so they won't miss the little that is in their pocked when they are mugged, assaulted, attacked.  Violence is often necessary to establish dominance of the "robber" over the "target".

The victims are usually the robber, not the muggee; although that is not obvious to the person who gets his pocket picked and his face bashed in during the process.

But Politicians promise faithfully every election year to "clean up the neighborhood", and "Stop Crime!".

For the zillionth time ... politicians cannot reduce crime by penalizing the underdog.  They can only do so by recognizing, addressing, and solving the societal problems which lead young men to a life of crime.

If the politicians would find/create jobs, grow the economy, make crime a less attractive alternative than being able to support self and family through social programs which bring pride to a young man and a living wage for his family ..... who wouldn't vote for them?

But the (PTUI!)  politicians all want to be "Crime-Fighters".   And they can't be crime-fighters if there is no crime.  So they choose the easy way, by passing laws which don't help anyone but DO make it harder to be a "young man trying to find his way in a complicated world".

King County Gun Safety Action Plan

Seattle, Washington (located in King County, Washington)  has floated an "Gun Safety Action Plan" which promises to undermine the ability of firearms owners to defend their family, themselves, and their property.    The "County Council" has also suggested that the State Legislature allow municipalities to over-ride state limitations on ban on confiscating firearms.  (See below)

What this means is ... yes, they DO want to "take your guns away from you"; it's an open door to confiscation of private property and an imposition on the right to sell or transfer private property.

This isn't a "Safety Action Plan".  It's a blatant attempt to deprive the citizens of King County of their Second Amendment rights.

King County Gun Safety Action Plan: King County Council Chair Joe McDermott introduced the Gun Safety Action Plan, a King County initiative to protect our residents from gun violence. He also called on the Washington State Legislature to lead or lift the ban imposed on local jurisdictions prohibiting local governments from enacting laws that might limit the sale or possession of firearms in Washington State.

When the guns come out

Worth the read.   American Shooting Journal dot com

Gunfights that Changed LE Tactics: The following are compilation of Police Mag interviews with LEO trainers, firearms experts, and tactical instructors to assess the lasting impacts of these events on patrol officers. As noted by Massad Ayoob, former director of Lethal Force Institute, in addition to horrific circumstances, these incidents contain plenty of bravery by law enforcement officers. “One thing you take from all of these is the tremendous courage of cops fighting against the odds, for their brothers and for the public they serve,” Ayoob says. “It’s inspiring.”

Michigan State student steals identities to buy weapons parts,...

I'm not sure about the question of "full-automatic weapons", but I'm certain that identity theft is not the best way to support your political agenda:

Michigan State student steals identities to buy weapons parts,...: EAST LANSING, Mich. - A Michigan State engineering student is heading to prison after officials said he became an identity thief to buy weapons parts and create illegal machine guns.

However, we are assured of his devotion to the truth when he vows to go straignt:

Elliott said he will never touch a gun or steal from anyone ever again.

Right.

Stop Digging!

When you find yourself in a hole, and you don't know what to do, the first thing is to STOP DIGGING!

Unfortunately, the good citizens of Chicago seem to be "unclear on the concept".  They've been electing Democrats to leadership positions for so long, they apparently aren't aware of that their ballots have both a right and a left side ... they just automatically put a checkmark on the Left side. One wonders if they are even aware of the names by the box ... let alone the history of malfeasance and chicanery of the Leftist candidates.

(Or perhaps that is a prerequisite for appearing on the ballot?)

I'm not a Chicagoan,  so perhaps I am just ignorant of their thought process, but many of us who are casual observers of the workings of Bizzaro-Land  sit by in casual wonder of a people who seemingly delight in electing the most malignant politicians to represent their city, their county, and their state.

Here's the most recent news from Bizzaro-Land:

IDIOCY: Out of ideas, Chicagoland Mayor Emanuel BEGS violent gangs to cut out all the murder and mayhem:

After yet another highly publicized and very deadly weekend in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanual has come up with a plan to finally address the rising gang-related violence. Sort of. He’s essentially asking gangs to cut it out.

That's what I call "Leadership"!


Oh ... sorry, I lost my mind for a minute.  That's actually what I call ... um .. INANE?

Think of the most simple-minded soap opera on television, and double it.  That's the best view from afar that you can imagine of the historic Democratic leadership of Illinois in general, and Chicago specifically.   Are you people all suicidal?  You actually vote for these people?

Are you all on The Dole, and do Democrats decide who gets their welfare checks depending on how they voted last year?

I don't mean to be critical of Chicagoans, but .... gee, it's hard not to.  You keep voting the same crooks, idiots and Democrats (sorry to demean crooks and idiots by conflating them with Democrats) into leadership offices, and apparently nobody cares that their elected leaders are sucking on the public teat and you don't even get what's left when they're through.

And they are never through'   they just keep on sucking, and you keep on voting for them!

I probably won't actually PUBLISH this article; it's mean, and dismissive of people in Chicago, and if I lived there I would be very offended.  So I apologize for even writing it.

Still .. have you no pride?

Mistakes were made; people died! Now, it's time to blame the innocent

The 2017 Texas Church shooting was a tragedy which shouldn't have happened.  There were people who knew (cough the United States Air Force cough) that the maniacal attacker should never have been allowed to purchase a firearm, but someone dropped the ball. 

And people died.

IN THE SEARCH for someone to blame (someone who was not dead, and so they could be sued), a Texas couple have chosen the sporting goods store who sold the gunman the firearm used in the shooting.

Academy sporting goods chain sued by couple wounded in Sutherland Springs church shooting | Courts | Dallas News: AUSTIN — A Texas couple who survived the Sutherland Springs church massacre last year have sued the sporting goods store that sold the gunman the firearm used in the shooting.

It's difficult to adequately assign the blame for the acts of a madman, but there's always someone who is willing to accept the challenge.   Usually, the target is someone with "Big Pockets", and so the survivors have chosen to attack the sporting goods store which sold the gun to a man whose record was crystal clear.

His record should not have been so transparent; his employer (United States Air Force) declined to report him as a "domestic abuser", so his application to purchase a firearm was not challenged.

But it's very difficult (and expensive!) to bring suit against an arm of the Federal Government ... but shouldn't the victims, and their families, have SOMEONE to blame?    So the survivors chose the least responsible, but most vulnerable, corporate identity in the BIZARRE chain of events: They sued the store that sold the gun to the man who shot the innocents even though his employer  (the Federal Government) knew he was irresponsible ... a "Domestic Abuser".

The store was not irresponsible; they followed the rules, and the rules required that they perform a background check.  They did that.  They found no reason to deny the purchase, on the federal database of "Bad Guys/No Fly List/Whatever!":

The problem was; nobody who was responsible survived!

Still, the survivors had a right to sue for damages (something about "denial of filial relationship", etc; .. I'm not a lawyer)   But they knew they could never be able to fund a suit against the Federal Government of the U.S. Air Force. 

So they sued the store who (entirely legally) sold the gun.   I don't blame them.  Someone had to pay.  The problem is ... nobody who was responsible

You can write the rest of the story.   You've read it all before. Plaintiff loses the case and is fined court costs plus legal fees.

NOBODY wins in this tragedy.

VPC claims hundreds killed by Licensed Concealed Carriers

The Violence Policy Center (an anti-gun group who has no dog in this fight at ALL and therefore has no reason to cook the statistics) claims* that owners of Concealed Handgun Licenses are "responsible" for hundreds of deaths "... not involving self defense...".

One needs to read carefully when evaluating claims from this source.

Since the article doesn't provide links to the "websites" which 'offer details', it's impossible to confirm or refute their claims.

As for their assertion that these killings were "not involving self defense", one wonders how many deaths were deemed necessary due to defense against other violent crimes, or in defense of other persons (including family).   Nor does the article provide information about whether the shooters were charged with a felony ... let alone tried, or convicted. 

Are they lazy?  Do they have any facts to support their message?   Or are they just liars?

Blanket Charges such as this are typical of VPC screeds.   Unsubstantiated by reputable third parties, their so-called statistics meet the lowest level of believability; "if they say so, it must be true".

I call this innuendo; an obvious distortion of facts offered to convince the already convinced anti-gun crowd which has declared it's intention to delete your 2nd Amendment rights from the Constitution.

As a counter to their charges, read the Pew Poll recently posted from Ammoland.

(It is telling, to compare the sourced claims of Pro-Second Amendment websites to the unsourced  claims of the anti-gunner websites.)

* In case  VPC deletes their egregious statement from their website, the link and full text is printed under the fold.

Goblin Count

Col. Jeff Cooper, writing a regular column in a popular gun magazine (I believe it was "Guns and Ammo"),  published a running count of the number of felons who were taken down during the attempted commission of violent crime.   The defenders were armed private citizens.

(Cooper's column was titled "Cooper's Corner".)

He called each successful defense an increase of the "Goblin Count" ... the Goblins being the bad guys, the count was the death of the goblin.

Cooper is gone now, but Goblins are a self-renewing resource.    Here's the latest incident:

Police: Armed bystander takes down gunman at Titusville back-to-school event | WFTV:  August 7, 2018   TITUSVILLE, Fla. - An armed bystander shot a man who opened fired on a back-to-school event at a Titusville park after a fistfight, police said.  The shooting occurred at Isaac Campbell Park on South Street shortly after 5:20 p.m. when the shooter, whom police have not identified, returned to the park after a fistfight and began firing, investigators said. 

The Colonel would certainly counted that engagement as "Goblin: 0, Good Guy 1"

California has officially become a "NICHE" market for Firearms Manufacturers

California's new "Bullet-Stamping" law serves no useful crime-solving purpose, because it's prohibitively expensive and ineffective even if it were technically and economically feasible.  Which, as of this date, it is not. It only serves the Leftist agenda of making it more difficult and expensive for law-abiding citizens of that state to purchase  new semi-automatic handguns.

Proposed Gun Laws are Unconstitutional: "Automatic Weapon"

A lot of  the new "proposed" gun laws make no sense. 

Okay, I take that back; most of them are so nuanced that (when you parse them) they make no sense.

Take the issue of the term: "Semi-automatic weapon".

According to many sources, that defines a firearm which will fire one shot with every pull of the trigger.

Imbeciles of the World, Unite!

I may or may not own a double-action revolver.
 It will fire one shot with every pull of the trigger.

According to the lame-ass definitions provided by imbeciles who know nothing about firearms, that should be considered a "Semi-automatic firearm", and subject to draconian restrictions.   But it's a Revolver, and not easy to reload, so they ignore this inconvenient fact item.

There are definitions on the internet which attempt to address this conundrum:

A semi-automatic firearm, or self-loading firearm, is one that not only fires a bullet each time the trigger is pulled, but also performs all steps necessary to prepare it to discharge again—assuming cartridges remain in the firearm's feed device. Typically, this includes extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge case from the firing chamber, re-cocking the firing mechanism, and loading a new cartridge into the firing chamber. To fire again, the trigger is released and re-pressed.

"Typically":

Well, what if you don't have to physically extract the "spent cartridge case", and what if the action of "recocking the firing mechanism and loading a new cartridge in the firing chamber" is accomplished by merely pulling the trigger again?   How is this different?

A better, and more accurate definition of "semi-automatic"  might be that you fire a shot each time the trigger is pulled until you run out of ammunition or discontinue pulling the trigger.   That presupposes that you don't have to perform any manual action other than pulling the trigger again to fire the next shot.

Well, then you have just defined a double-action revolver .. against which the cognoscenti have no defense.  Their definition requires that the gun "automatically" load the next round, instead of the user doing so "automatically"  upon pulling the trigger again.   (Petty bastards)

But gun-grabbers are all about restricting Second Amendment rights of people who use pistols ... rather than revolvers .. to perform the same function: pull the trigger to fire the next shot until the ammunition supply is exhausted.  They're good with that.   They are comfortable in their ignorance, believing that nobody can run a revolver and reload it as quickly as they (personally) might be expected to run a semi-automatic pistols, reloading from magazines.

I have just two things to say:

Jerry Miculek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzHG-ibZaKM

Money for nothin'; Chicks for Free!

"... Anyone who wants to vote ... " Really, Michelle?

Michelle Obama joins nationwide voter registration effort | News | wisconsingazette.com:
(July 20, 2018)

Stepping back into the political fray, Michelle Obama is lending her star power to a new nationwide effort to register anyone who wants to vote in the November midterm elections. The former first lady this week announced her involvement as a co-chair of When We All Vote. The nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization will work online and in person to help register anyone who wants to vote in the fall, when Democrats hope to ride a wave of anger among liberal voters against President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, health care and other issues to take back control of the House and Senate.

Usually, we expect that voters are at least American citizens.

Michelle Obama carefully avoided the issue; she said "ANYONE" and we can only assume that she meant what she said.

Apparently, this is not an issue for Democrats.  And Ms Obama has not established a qualification which includes American Citizenship.

She said: "ANYONE WHO WANTS TO VOTE"; and I take her at her word' which assumes that the vote will become available to anyone who is a resident ... not just those who are citizens.

We now have millions of non-citizens in this country.  Some of them are working and some of them are living on "The Dole".  There's something wrong with this, and non-citizens should not vote.

Those who can, do; those who cannot, teach

For the past eight years, I have been the instructor at my local club in a program of "Introduction to USPSA".  It was an opportunity to introduce new shooters to USPSA competition (which I have been active in since 1983), and gave me something to look forward to in every month.

I kept telling myself that I was donating my time as a way of "giving back to the sport".   In truth, since my eyesight has degraded over the years, it was a way of keeping my hand in it, since I was no longer able to see well enough to be competitive.

But last month, I slept through the beginning of my class.  I had to phone the range and tell them that I was unable to attend.

That was a personal disappointment to me, not only because I had several students who wondered where I was, but because it was one of the best parts of my month.   And I slept through it!

The club thought I was "giving back to the sport";  while I enjoyed meeting new shooters and sharing the insights of rules of safety which I had learned over 30+ years of Competition. I had an intrinsic interest in teaching new shooters how to be safe.  It was the best part of my month, and I always looked forward to it.

AS a consequence, I announced to my home club that I was retiring.  Because I was unable to even show up for a scheduled class, it was obvious that I was no longer competent and they should no longer schedule the class.  (I hope they found someone else to take over the class, but I haven't heard from them on that issue..)

It's disappointing to give up one of the few activities which allow me time on the range.   And it was embarrassing to read the emails from the scheduled attendees who asked me "WTF?"

But when it's time to retire ... you know it.  And I knew it.

The gun club was very understanding, and they even provided me an honorarium in the form of a gift card from WalMart.   I hadn't expected that, but it was touching to learn that they appreciated my small contribution to gun-safety at USPSA matches there.

I don't think anyone realized that I had donated eight years of once-a-month class instruction because it was the only way I could enjoy the sport in which I had participated for so many decades.  (In truth, while I was still able to compete, I wanted to ensure that the people  I was competing against had the best instruction on rules and safety ... but it it eventually became more important that I got to meet New Shooters, and none of them ever disappointed me by being an unsafe shooter!)

I'll miss the class, and the opportunity to meet new shooters.   But when your time is through, it's better to gracefully yield to the inevitable, than to fight against it.

It's all about safety, after all.

Tanks For The Memories

Arnold Schwarzenegger Demolishes Stretch Limousine With 50-Ton Tank | Daily Wire:

 He might be 70 years old, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is still a total bada**. The Terminator appeared last week on "Jay Leno's Garage," but instead of showing off a vintage car, Arnie was there with his 1951 M-47 Patton tank.

Nah, I'm not going to embed the video.   Go to the article on Daily Wire; they need the traffic.

You might be a Gun Nut. (Huge list) – Gun Free Zone

You might be a Gun Nut. (Huge list) – Gun Free Zone:

If your answer to the recent rec.guns newsgroup thread, “How many guns do you need?” is, “How many do you have room for in your house?” you just might be a gun nut.

I recently found a link to this 2010 mega-list of  "Gun Nut" characteristics.

It's fun, it's funny, and there's too much truth in it to be denied.

Actually, I remember reading this when it was published ... I was working then, and I spent an entire lunch hour at my desk reading it.   My co-workers asked me what I found so amusing, so I sent them all links to it.

Lunch our was over-extended; we all had to put in some unpaid overtime that evening.

Go, read.  Enjoy.   And thank the Gun Free Zone.

Gun Violence in Peaceful Canada? Impossible!

Hard to believe that Canadians, who have often been dismissive of America's "Culture of Gun Violence", are finally admitting that they have their own share of crazed mass murderers.

Toronto City Council Urges Ban on Handgun, Ammunition Sales After Shooting:
On July 22, 2018, Faisal Hussain opened fire in Toronto’s Greektown, killing two and wounding 13. CBS News reported that Toronto Mayor John Tory reacted to the shooting by saying, “Guns are too readily available to too many people.” The National Post quoted Tory saying, “Why does anyone in this city need to have a gun at all? ....”

Eventually our Northern Neighbors will acknowledge that all nations need to address the problem of rising gun violence.   And banning guns and ammunition will only disarm the honest public, and turn their citizens into sheep at the mercy of the wild dogs.

Hard to believe that a nice Irish lad like Faisal would go rogue, isn't it?

(NOTE: Bearing Arms reports that the firearm was obtained illegally.   No great surprise.)

UPDATE: 

I mentioned "a nice Irish lad" ... then I read the current news.  It seems that the Irish (bless the ancestral home of my "DILDINE" ancestors) are still causing mischief:

July 27, 2018 by Zendo Deb And you thought the Criminal Justice System in the USA was screwed up. 

Violent burglar dressed up as garda during raid on family.
It seems things aren’t much different in Ireland.
He has 130 previous convictions for burglary, theft, road traffic offences, criminal damage, possession of drugs, taking vehicles and public order matters.
If he was sentenced to 6-months for each of those 130 offenses, he wouldn’t be out causing more mayhem. But the Irish, like their European neighbors, are too civilized to actually put people in prison.

https://wheelgun.wordpress.com/2018/07/27/failures-of-the-criminal-justice-system-international-edition/

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime

Where does it say in the U.S. Constitution that if you get away with a crime for 20 years, you don't have to pay the price?

Trump voter says she is 'ashamed' to be an American after daughter-in-law is deported: report | TheHill: 
Missouri woman who voted for President Trump now says she is “ashamed” to be an American after her daughter-in-law, a Mexican immigrant who had been in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, was deported.

So ... if you get away with breaking the law for "long enough", that makes it  okay?  Is that the story?

 Shirley Stegall told the Associated Press that while she supported Trump’s campaign promises to deport more criminal immigrants, she did not think her son’s wife, Letty, fell into that category.

You were not aware that your daughter-in-law was an illegal immigrant, after 20 years? 
And you support "TRUMP:", as long as his laws don't affect you personally?

 “I’ve always been proud to be an American,” Stegall said. “But now I’m ashamed.” Letty Stegall came illegally to the U.S. in 1999 and was living with her husband, Shirley's son, and a 17-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage.

Shirley ...you thought that America was "Okay" as long as the laws didn't affect your family.
That's ... interesting, considering your daughter in law is a drunken driver. But that's another story.

 Letty Stegall was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in February, six years after a misdemeanor drunken driving charge, for which she spent a month in jail, alerted authorities to her undocumented status.

So your daughter-in-law is an out-of-control drunken driver, a threat to her neighbors, and you think that's not just cause to expel her?

But that's not the point:

The road to American Citizenship by marriage is clearly defined by law.

(It took me 30 seconds to find the applicable law)

If you marry a U.S, citizen, you won’t be eligible for U.S. citizenship right away. But you may become eligible for a U.S. green card, which can lead to U.S. citizenship.
However, there are certain requirements that must be met before you can apply for a green card and ultimately for U.S. citizenship after marriage to a U.S. citizen.

Apparently, nobody in the family assumed the responsibility to research the law.

Here is the point:

The mother-in-law is "Ashamed" to be an American, because nobody cared enough to research the law on Immigrants who marry American Citizens.

It's not what you don't know that leads to "problems"; it's what you don't know, but think you know.

So .. lady, you can be ashamed to be An American, but it's not because America done you wrong.

You should be ashamed to be An American because you just assumed something that isn't true!

Oh, and by the way?  Claiming that you support TRUMP will buy you a cup of coffee, if you have a buck to pay for the actual .... you know ... cup of coffee.

Teapot ... meet Tempest

If someone buys a soft drink in California and requests/receives a straw, and later sells the "Like New Straw Only Used Only One Time!" to a third party via the internet ... is that a Straw Purchase?

Borepatch: Criminalizing Soda Straws:

There is a proposed bill in the California House that would make it a crime to give a restaurant patron a straw unless the patron specifically requests one. Each instance would be punishable by 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Leaving aside the costs associated with incarceration and the availability of jail space for the offending wait staff, The larger issue is the ongoing criminalization of activities performed by non-criminals regular people everyone.

There are more "Second Amendment" allegories in here, but I've used my Bad Pun quota already.

Readers are invited to contribute.

Public Service Announcement: Heroin Epidemic. Pass it on

"If it saves just one life ..."

Read this:

The Heroin Epidemic, Narcan, and First Aid for Opioid Overdoses | Active Response Training:

Last Thursday at work I saved a heroin overdose patient’s life by giving her Narcan.

I don't think I know anyone who is using drugs which have fatal consequences, but you never know.

I'm not sure what you will do with this information, but it's better to know than not to know.

Doctor Doctor, Tell Me The News ...

Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership (DRGO) frequently publish articles describing the way that anti-gun activists (aka: "Gun Grabbers") warp news reporting to put the blame for gun violence not on criminals and mad men, but on ... well, "responsible gun owners".

Several professionals contribute to this site.

Here, Dr. M.S. Brown provides what may be regarded as satire describing the preferred talking points for anti-gun news articles.  Only the first paragraph is quoted; you are encouraged to "GRTWT" (Go Read The Whole Thing): but since this was published 2 years ago, I suppose I will have to do an internet search to find the implied "Part 2". 
Or you will.

Here's a teaser:

The 2016 Journalist’s Guide to Gun Violence Coverage–Part 1 – Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership:

Guns are a sad fact of life in American culture and are a major topic in modern journalism. As a Journalist, you have a duty to get involved and make a difference in this important societal debate. By following certain guidelines, the concerned Journalist can be assured of having the maximum impact on this shameful American problem. The concepts discussed here apply both to broadcast and print media. For the purposes of this Guide, our work is divided between routine stories about gun violence and the broader coverage of the political debate about gun control. They are both equally important. Let us first address the proper way to construct a news story involving common gun crimes.

I can't wait for Part II to be published! 

And by the way in case you didn't notice .. the Good Doctors use satire to emphasize their pro-Second Amendment political position.   
So if you go to the original article and start ranting ...  you may embarrass yourself.

What the hell is:Free Trade"? And why can't I buy a gun in another state?

Interstate commerce regulations started out to regulate shit. States were shipping "solid waste" to other states whose regulations were more "lenient". Congress got involved ... politically adding to the burden of  "wastes".

Eventually, it was permitted to ship "wastes" between states (for disposal) without much regulation.

Now that decision is being applied to the question whether states have differing regulations concerning the purchase of firearms.   Specifically, can a resident of one state purchase a firearm from another state of which he is not a citizen?

Didn't we resolve this with the Second Amendment?

I guess not.

Interstate handgun purchase ban divides federal court - Guns.com Interstate handgun purchase ban divides federal court:

A decision not to grant a retrial in a challenge to the federal law barring handgun sales to out-of-state residents sparked intense debate in one of the nation’s federal appeals courts last week. The judges on the U.S. 5th Circuit were divided on overturning a decision by a three-judge panel that supported the gun law earlier this year. They narrowly voted 8-7 against granting a rare en banc hearing by the full circuit. The thin majority agreed that the longtime ban on selling handguns over the counter to out-of-state residents is in the public interest. The minority vehemently disagreed with the concept, which predated today’s modern instant criminal background check process, holding it was against the Second Amendment and was confusing when compared to the ability to sell rifles and shotguns without such prohibitions.

The upshot of this is that the lawyers in Congress consider your Second amendment right to "keep and bear arms" to be of lesser importance than shit.

see below: