Dog Wagged

Think Obama is planning something to help with re-election?

Funny & Furious Update

The LATimes 'airbrushed' out Jimmy Kimmel's gun reference. 

Do they think people don't notice when they do this? 

Awesome!

I would have LOVED to have had this bedroom as a kid.

He's got a pet lizard, he robin-hooded 2 arrows, he is ready for turkey season with those shotguns, he's got a good rifle target on the wall.  Yeah, that's a privileged kid.  Skilled, too, from the looks of it.  More kids should have his opportunities.  It's be better all around for the country, prolly.

F&F stands for Funny & Furious

Hahahaha... All those dead Mexicans and onesy twosy Border Patrol agents. 

4 minutes in:




If I gave some firearms to known criminals and they then went on a predictable murder spree with them (no matter what my intentions) I'd be in prison right now.  Eric Holder has his department do it on a grander scale and... what?  The people that brought this to attention get put on administrative leave, and?  That's it so far.

OMG

Why didn't I think of this first?!

Good job on the lyrics.

Fodderless

I often cover ground and stories already trod on by other gun bloggers.  It adds to the echo chamber and I'd rather not, but it is usually indicative that I have naught to write about. 

I DO try to throw my own angle into the scheme.  For instance, MBtGE's super power in the previous day's post.  Nobody was gonna connect THOSE two dots, chances are.  It's all part of the full exclusive service I try to provide every day at Hotel Thunderbolt.  Please stop calling the concierge so often, there is a senile old man that keeps waking him up at 4 AM to ask why it is so dark out in the afternoon.  He often calls back at 4:05 AM to ask why it is still so dark even though he went back to sleep for 4 hours since he last called.  And why are the digital clocks showing fractions and irrational numbers?

Open Carry

Check out the video of some Open Carry types trying to eat in peace at the Steak and Shake in this post.  Local police can't gin up a reason to toss them nice people with their wives and chillun' in the paddy wagon they brought, so they beg the manager to help by complaining about the OC types.

The manager, in my imagination, says something like this, "Why are you police here?  Those people aren't causing a problem.  YOU are.  Why are you harassing my customers?  Why are you costing me money?  Why can't you just leave nice people alone?  Please, please, please leave officers.  Haven't you done enough damage already?  Why do you have to LOOK for trouble?  I wish you guys came this fast when we got robber 2 years ago..."

And I'm not a fan of OC.  But more than 30 seconds chatting with those nice people and the cops should have left to look for actual criminals and jaywalkers.  Let the nice OC folks OC if they want.

MBtGE always deals with cops the perfect way.  I wish I had his touch.  His spiel is essentially, "Is this illegal, officer?" in the most innocent voice you ever heard.  You have to hear it to believe it.  It casts a spell.  The cops always say to him, "Oh no no no!  We were just called, and had to check up on it.  You have a nice day sir." And they go. 

I don't know how he does it.  It's like a super power. 

Sticky Wicket

Yet ANOTHER co-worker.  Let's call him Dipstick (not meant in a way that makes fun of perceived lesser intellect, mind you.  he comes by the nickname from another route.  let's leave it at that...).

He is going through a divorce.  His soon to be ex is shacking up with a former Marine.   Which is normally fine but this one is a little on the "scary, mind-poisoned by the ex, perhaps violent" side of the former Marine spectrum.

The ex hasn't gotten her stuff out of Dipstick's house, so there is tension involved with a possible meetup of all 3 people simultaneously.

So his question is, "I can buy a gun now that that Maryland court case went through and get my CCW in an afternoon, now, right?"

Sadly, no.  You'd need a good and substantial reason, still, and that would require police reports.  If the Marine gives you a beat down a few times that should do it.  Call 911 after each beating! It will still take 90 days or so for the CCW. 

Getting a pistol also takes a week.

"I'm not allowed to have a pistol at the parking lot of my work.  What if I drive home and they are standing in my driveway, and me without a gun on my property, they between me and it!  I'm BONED!"

Well, you are in a vehicle.  It's an excellent means of evasion, being able to drive 80 mph or more.  Faster than most angry Marines can run.  It is also a 2 ton conveyance with a lot of momentum....  Look, Dipstick...  The pistol you don't have or would be trapped in your house is not the weapon.  The car you are driving is not the weapon.  The weapon is between your ears.

Besides, Marines are cuddly.  And if he wanted to commit 1st degree murder on your sorry self then you'd probably never feel a thing.

And maybe, just maybe, the throes of a divorce is not the time to turn ones thoughts toward firearms.  Just a thought.  It's certainly his right to purchase a firearm at any damn time he pleases.  But it's like he has a problem in mind and thinks possessing the item solves it.  It's more complicated than that.

I am pretty confident he is gonna pre-emptively spend that money on a good lawyer instead.  

Ima Hunter Butt

Lots of this going around.


"I'm a hunter, but, I don't support yada yada with self-defense whatchahoosits."

When someone starts a diatribe with "I'm a hunter but..." or "I'm a gun owner but..." my first, immediate, thought is:  "No, you probably aren't."  It just sounds like astroturf with a narrative made out of whole cloth.

Or.  They really DO support gun rights for what have you, whatever it is they are railing about at that moment, but they only want those rights for themselves.  Not for you or me or those swarthy people she saw on the news.

I don't think the people that say that are delusional and unaware that folks will be coming after THEIR supposed preferred method of shooting sport.   I think they are the enemy.  Plants by Brady/Bloomberg/CSGV.  I don't think there are real Fudds or their equivalent anymore.

"I'm a Gun Owner, but..." just means "I am lying right now..." as far as I'm concerned at this point.

Metrocon Attack Dog

Taking on the execrable New Yorker magazine for being anti-civil rights.

I like it when they are on our side there at National Review.  Thanks, VerBruggen...

Liberty

Parent to Science and Industry according to a 1.15 million dollar penny from 1792.

Metrocon Jay Nordlinger at Mr. Buckley's Fortnightly's website: "In this Age of Obama, we’ve been chewing over some fundamental questions: a classical-liberal society, a more social-democratic society. One of the things we classical liberals have been saying is: All the innovation that America has been responsible for? It will dry up, if we allow the government to grow too big, too domineering, and too confiscatory."  Then he mentioned that penny.


And low and behold there are other things going about lately with regard to the value of Liberty and of the dangers of the Blue Social Model we struggle under, and grows more burdensome under the current administration.  (and probably the next one, and the next, but that's another story.)

At least the State Department declared the War on Terror 'over.'   Did we win or lose?

MSI

I'm kinda tapped on blog fodder...

Lessee...   The Maryland Shall Issue people suggests I might want to treat the return of my application as a rejection, and either resubmit or appeal, as their is an internal appeal process if you are denied.

Alternative they suggest I time if for the late May call on whether the stay should be made permanent, and try to duck into that window.  I'd have to be light on my feet, because Judge Legg could kibosh the stay, and the Appeals court could be dashed to by the AG for them to put their own stay on the ruling.  I'd have to have my ducks in a row.  With an appointment to get my fingerprints done, and passport picture taken, again.  Plus notary.  It costs $50+ in administrative stuff before you even GET to the application fee of $75.  It's frustrating to think of all that money wasted with several re-applications.  And we aren't counting the Supreme Court Appeal.  You think if the Appeals court slaps down Maryland again they WON'T appeal? 

That's about it.  I'm gonna cast about for more inspiration now.

Springfield Single Stack .45

Anyone shoot one of these yet and can give the straight dope?  I guess they finally are getting the new XDs out.

The idea has always intrigued.

Ah, bother!  You know what else is thin, single stack, and has been field tested for 101 years? 

Ah, but I have liked XDs in the past over similar competing models...

[update: I knew it.  Too new. no comments]

Hammerless Ad

Stolen from the lieberry.  (Thanks Breda!)

Colt Pocket Hammerless action!  One of those prints might be cool to have.  Like this:

Yeah, hold the home invader at gun point with your .32.  I guess that would work most times.  Run bad guy!  He's a decent fellow and probably won't shoot you in the back.

Trophy

You know, my birthday is coming up...

Troll #1

Yay.  I got my first actual Liberal Troll! in the comments!  The troll even made a thinly veiled threat to kill me and Ann Coulter.

"Coulter is wrong. We need the right to bear arms to protect us from anybody with the mentality of Coulter or yourself lest they take over this country. When that happens we should shoot all your jack-booted thugs before they even touch us. "  LJP

It took 5 years but I finally got one.  

I wonder why it thinks I am a jack-booted thug?  I don't work for the ATF...

Marine Propeller

Patternmakers were the rockstars of the woodworking world, back in the day, and still are pretty badass. 

What does he do?  He makes something out of wood (generally) to precise measurements.  Then that wooden bit is placed in a sand mold and removed.  Molten metal is poured in the void.  Bingo, a casting. Often a BIG casting.

In the old days they'd build up the pattern with dimensionally stable wood, typically mahogany.  Now they might use plastics or plywood for big bits:



How do you make half a cylinder with hand tools?   The inside part.  The negative.  Easy!  A core box plane.

Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter schools the Democrats on their racist past and current racist policies regarding gun control.

Many very smart members of the Progressive Intelligentsia will undoubtedly counter with biting and clever ripostes and carefully worded and meticulous supported factual counter-arguments like:

"Nuh-uh!"

"Coulter is a Doody-Head!"

and

"Look, she has Man-Hands!  So everything she says is invalid!"

Bull Market

So if you had bought shares in Ruger and Smith and Wesson back in 2008 right before the election you'd have turned a pretty profit.  More than double in 2 years.

I am of the same opinion as Borepatch (or what opinion he used to have, as he has folded up like a cheap card table).  With the drop in enthusiasm from Millennials and Independents alone, plus he's not running against 8 years of W, Mussolini's corpse could beat Obama handily.  But it's not gonna be Il Duce, it's gonna be Mittens.  The Media will be against him, but people kinda notice when the unemployment is at a real 10% level, and gas and eggs and Cheerios is so much more expensive.  They won't be able to maintain the enthusiasm.  I'm seeing Carteresque auger-in.  I don't LIKE Mittens, but that's what I forsee.

So... what equities do we buy NOW that would be a parallel to firearm manufacturer's stocks that will take off in Romney's 4 years at the tiller?  Be nice to put a couple grand on something and take out 5 four years later.

Mitt himself uses a LOT of hair care products it seems.  Maybe buy stock in Aqua Net.

He's Mormon, people will be buying beer and coffee ahead of a ban.  And sales of green jello will spike.

He'll ditch the stupid greenjobs failures so go short on wind farm totem poles and go long on Exxon and North Dakota.

Pet Peeve

Investing is what you do with your money.  Or one of the things you can do.  Do what you want with it, it's your money, I don't care.

Spending is what the government does with your money.  They never invest it.  They spend it.  And often waste it.  When they insist on calling it investment they are undoubtedly getting ready to waste your money.  They don't bother to call worthwhile spending 'investment'.  They rebadge the spending with another term to make it seem more worthwhile.  SEEM being the kicker term.  It's marketing.  It's trying to make the poop-burger look more palatable. 

Brit Zombie Mall

More on that sort of thing...

Japan?

Japan?  Really?  C'mon!  Really?  Do you have to walk right up to the line... and then sprint a few leagues beyond it?

This zombie video is a bit NSFW, so... you've been warned.  It's a movie trailer.  In Engrish.  Sorta.

That Japanese have made the freakiest fetish-Germans seem normal by comparison.

Follow up

An anonymous commenter wanted to know how much the EOTech I got cost and where I got it.  It was $500 and some significant change and I got it through Opticsplanet.com.

E Cards

Some eCards.  Please excuse the French part.

I didn't mention this...

But apart from the bad news from the State Police refusing to process my CCW applications...  In the mail the same day came this:

Eotech.  AA batteries (I hope they never go the way of B batteries.) and a .308 reticle that looks like this:

Perfect for my M1A or Garand because while not ideal because of the necessary scope placement, I still get the eye relief I need and want.  Dunno how useful that 1200 meter dot is, but you never know.  It's been a long time coming, and I've saved me pennies. 

When I turned in on and pointed it at my knee...  OHNOES!  It must be defective.  It's all blurry and junk!   Wait... to the internet!  Nope, according to the FAQ, it's blurry because I am looking at the reticle, and not a target in the near or far distance.  My knee is too near.   Point it at the van down the street and... perfect.  No point it at the van down the street BEFORE you mount it on your rifle, dummy.  Oh jeez.

I don't think it will help that much against cat sized flying bees.   But zombies?  Oh yeah.  Even sprinters.

So it was a mixed mailbag.

UNIVERSAL Human Right

If I were going to make a presidential candidate out of parts there would be a good bit of Newt in it.  He gets it on quite a lot of stuff.  He does meander into the weeds at the drop of a hat, yes, but not lately on gun rights. 

BAG day

I got no room!  Where do I store a new gun?

Wait... got it.  I'll take commenter BGMiller's advice and get a .22.  A stripped lower.  One day I'll build it up, but I'll have it NOW.  And SO many options for uppers.  I loved Lego as a kid, too.  3 Position safety too. Here it is.  Cheap too.

Dreamed of Bees

Bees the size of dachshunds!  My preparations and advice for the zombacalypse were for naught because I eschewed shotguns.  Shotguns would definitely be useful for giant bees.  These bees were crashing through house windows to get at people.  Yeesh.

blogged

Metrocons cover Romney at NRA

And have a transcript of the speech up here.

My CCW Application Update

On the 4th I mailed in my application.  On April 5th the tracking system from the Post Office said it was delivered.

On the 12th, yesterday, the application came back.  The check was uncashed.  It also had a letter from the State Police.

"[Blah blah blah, stuff about the district court case that went against them.  Blah blah blah, stuff about the temporary stay placed on the order a month later.  Blah blah blah, the state is appealing...]  You have recently submitted an application in which you have not provided any representation or evidence that you are a good or substantial [may issue clause, italics mine] reason to wear, carry or transport a handgun.  Therefore, rather than procession your application and denying it on that basis, we are returning your application and fee to you.  You have two options; you can resubmit your application and provide a good and substantial reason for your permit request and the State Police will process it as we have always done.  Or you can decide that you will not apply for a permit at this time, but instead will wait for a ruling from the appellate court."

During the court case, the State said they approved over 97% of applications.  The approval rate is high because no gunnie types have bothered knowing what would happen if they didn't have a good and substantial reason... denial.  If they had denied the flood of apps that came in the past month that would hurt their numbers and thus part of their court case argument.  Probably why they weren't tempted to take my money.  Gura has already beaten them like a screen door in a hurricane, why ask for more punishment.

Now, what to do if Judge Legg lifts his temporary stay but before the case reaches the Fourth Circuit?  I imagine the State will promptly ask the Fourth for another stay, thus going over Legg's head (heh!), and promptly put a stay of their own on the processing until they make their ruling a goodly time later.  So trying to duck in that window will also be a waste of fingerprinting and passport photoing and mailing money.  Unless the Circuit Court refuses to issue a stay of their own, in which case it will be off to the races again.

One last thing.  They gave contact information should I have any questions that have not been addressed or if I need additional information: email licensing@mdsp.org

Bloomberg redux

Wow!  The metrocon fortnightly editors (meaning Rich Lowry et. al.) have come out AGAINST Bloombergs insane rant against Stand Your Ground laws.

Will wonders never cease? 

Money quote:

"The Martin case aside, some have noted that many prosecutors dislike Stand Your Ground. But as Reason’s Jacob Sullum has pointed out, this is unsurprising: The entire purpose of Stand Your Ground is to make it more difficult for prosecutors to obtain convictions in cases where self-defense may have occurred."

Prosecutorial overreach is anathema to justice in cases against the otherwise innocent, here and beyond this case.  You commit 3 felonies a day, they say.  2nd Degree Murder?  Really?  If there are no more salient facts that what has been released that aren't mere theories...  That's a bit much.

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."  -- Ayn Rand

Ammo Scarcity 2

You know it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Start talking about ammo scarcity and folks like you and me, go, "huh, I better get in on this before there is none to be had."  And then you get a run on it.  Now, if there wasn't one before, NOW there is. I am glad I did.  I have practice ammo to weather the storm now, so to speak, but if I wanted to get some today, it would be harder.

Bloomberg PSH

Bloomberg says self-defense laws are a license to murder.

He's right, you know.  If you do away with long standing common law and make it impossible for the innocent to defend themselves then actual murderers will have a field day preying on people.

Oh wait, that's not what he meant?  Are you sure?

Maybe he is stupid and doesn't understand the law.  I have a feeling he is smart.  That means that what he is advocating is just evil, and a distortion of reality for his own evil agenda.  In which case... I don't like to wish harm on people, but... I hope Mayor Bloomberg chokes on a piece of food.  Not til he suffocates, just choke on it for a while and cause a bit of consternation in his mind.  You can wish that a little bit on people that are truly evil, can't you? 

If a person is someplace it is legal for them to be they should be able to defend themselves from violent felonious attack.  It's what Bloomberg's bodyguards do for him.  No different.

Zimmerman to be Charged with a Crime

Unless the Post is joining a long list of media outlets to screw up an aspect of this story.

A Look Back

At what a Metrocon concluded.  Al Sharpton had a point with regard to the Zimmerman shooting, according to Rich Lowry.

Bob Owens was similar back then but now thinks he may have been rash about the case.

Map of the Dead

Nifty!  Seen on SaysUncle.  A map that shows useful things to flee to and/or loot in the event of a zombacalyspe.  Count on people getting there ahead of you in hordes.  With hordes behind them...

Zimmerman's lawyers

Are off the case.

Well.

It appears Zimmerman has been doing things they recommend he not do.  Like going on, literally, the Sean Hannity show, it sounds like, via phone.  (Listen to Sean Hannity for 15 minutes.  If he doesn't say the word 'literally' when he goes on some exposition at least 3 times, I will buy you a beer the next time I see you.  I listen to his radio show for about that long whenever their is a pledge drive on NPR.  It's about all I can take.  You just can't unhear 'literally' repeated over and over once you are aware of it.)

And he phoned the special prosecutor.  His own self.  Without his lawyers on the line.

Odd behavior.

So his representation quit, justifiably, under those circumstances.  Weirdness.

Wobomagonda!

My knowledge of the French and Indian war of the mid 18th Century was limited, so when I saw a book reviewed online somewhere I availed myself of it.  It's titled White Devil...  That's what the Abenakis called Major Rogers the 'founder' of the US Army Rangers (see his Rules, that are still taught today to young infantry types, like "I see Bantha tracks but I... sand people walk single file to hide their numbers"  Wait, I'm confused...).  In their language it is pronounced Wobomagonda.  Wobomagonda... White Devil... 

You get a good overview of Rogers' area of operations and also other events of the war.  Depredations on both side are extensive.  But after the war the Indians were no longer the danger to New England settlers as before conflict.  Before the war, the northern colonies was savage wilderness with bears and Indians ready to kill and eat you, after the war is was settled pastoral expanses.  Or at least that's what it seemed.

If you want to keep wilderness wilderness if is probably a good idea to make it a frontier between 2 potential combatants to keep the area in flux.  And, of course, war changes things.  When a war ends things are invariably different.  No different here.

So Roger was pretty much a badass snake-eater type.  Light infantry that took to Indian style tactics rather than standard 18th Century European set piece unit tactics.  And this is how Roger's unit was employed.  They drew from rugged colonial types accustomed to a wilder existence.  Also recent Scoth-Irish immigrants.  Not exactly London townies.  The Rangers were paid more, and were hell raisers and carousers when in camp.  In battle they were often deployed on long raids and as scouts, including the most famous looong raid, and the purpose of the book, when they went from where Fort Ticonderoga was being built all the way up to the mouth of the St. Francis river where it empties into the St. Lawrence.  180 miles of so as the crow flies, all through hostile territory.  Then exfiltrate south to what is now Charleston on the Connecticut river.   The object of the Rangers was the Abenaki village that the ranges pillaged and burned.  Much hardships result on this trek.  And there was a LOT of animosity between the British colonists and the Abenakis, who were vengeful badasses in their own right.

Very little gun content, believe it or not.  One thing:  Yes the Rangers used rifled muskets, but it wasn't universal.  For one thing, in a dense forest the range advantage for rifles is null.  A faster loading smoothbore is preferred for hot action.  They did practice a LOT with their arms, so even muskets in the hands of Rangers were more accurate, relatively.

Firearms accidents, and their frequency, were reported.  The 4 Rules were not followed with these flintlocks.  Assuming a gun was unloaded one Ranger wanted to double check to be sure so he loaded the primer pan and pulled the trigger on his flintlock.   Yet he couldn't manage to do that without refraining from also pointing it at a comrade.

Next up on the reading pile... Verdun.

-

Cos 2

See?  Colt Pocket Hammerless?  Cosby strikes as more of a J Frame man, tho.  (H/T to SaysUncle, then Black Sunday.)

The Walking Dead

For kids!

Confirmation

I now have confirmation that my CCW application packet was delivered on April 5th at 2:30 PM to the State Police Licensing division in Reisterstown Maryland.  Now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing.  And finger crossing.

Things I've learned

Things to live by, from various sources...

Tam:  "Put up a blog post every day."

Archie's Mom:  "Always call first."

SaysUncle: "Don't get hung up on the X vs. Y debates.  Unless you are tweaking someone..."

MBtGE: "Have you tried a full reboot?  That fixes most things."

Dad: "I'd rather see your sister in a whorehouse than you in a seatbelt"  Then he beat my bloody with a sjambok.  That was my 9th birthday.

Archie:  "If it's stuck, apply some heat.  I'll go get the MAPP torch."

PO Bryndl (my batman in the Navy):  "Never drink grain alcohol after a few beers, sir."

The Cos sez...

According to Bill Cosby.  It's the gun's fault.  We need to get guns out of people's hands.

UPDATE: Oh, Shadenfreude, you are a fickle master.  I wonder what the Cos carries as his CCW piece in Manhattan? He strikes me as old skool.  I bet it's a revolver.  I don't remember what he carried on I Spy.  Looks like a Colt Pocket Hammerless, tho.

Militias

Apparently the Southern Poverty Law Center is drumming up some PSH over an explosion of patriot and militia groups.

I like that they added that graph.  Nice touch.

Well that Mayan Doomsday thing is coming, and the last time this growth of groups happened it was about Y2K.

Or... they are lying by changing what they count as a militia group.  Joined a Tea Party?  You are dressing up in camo and going to race rallies in the woods.

Or.....  there is a Democrat trying to pretend to be El Presidente for Life or summat.  What with the Court not mattering, and that he has decided that he can do the Legislature's job by Executive fiat and regulation.  And you gotta demonize the opposition and make it personal, ala Alinsky.  Oh, poor SPLC, they are such a shadow of their former selves.

And what the hell is wrong with being a Patriot, anyway? 

Happy Easter

I never liked chocolate rabbits, but...

Now I need to go eat something with Hollandaise sauce on it and drink way too many Bloody Ceasars and Momosas.

Thanks Breda! (she sends me stuff sometimes...)

BAG Day Comin'!

Don't forget, April 15th is Buy a Gun Day.  One week away.

I'm at a loss.  What to get, what to get...

What are you all getting?  I need inspiration.  Nothing screams at me.  No 9mm, please.  I don't need a new ammo type to inventory, no matter what people like about their shiny new M&Ps.  So get a .40 M&P?  Naw.  I don't like M&P triggers (even the improved kind).  Get an XD in .40 or the new single stack, because I like XDs?  Naw...

Sell my Sig .40 and replace that with something?  Heck, get rid of the .40 ammo and go 9mm!  Naw...  Selling is a big step I'm not psyched for.  But that is a thought.  I'd probably buy aother .45 of some flavor, instead, at that point.  Even simpler ammo inventory.

In my ideal gunsafe, every rifle takes M14 mags, every pistol magazine is a 1911 variety (including pistol carbines) and all the revolvers shoot .38/.357.  Plus .22.

But that doesn't help me for BAG day ideas NOW.  I don't live in an ideal world.

Mitt AAR

Voting for Ron Paul or Newt delegates on my part was an exercise in futility.  All 37 MD convention delegates are bound to Mitt Romney.  Well I didn't vote for them or him.

On the plus side, non of Santorum delegates will be there.

I hope Obama isn't there at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave on January 21st, but I still can't vote for Mitt. So I am hoping he doesn't win, but does.  I know.  Convoluted.  It's complicated.

Momentum

Well this is a surprising victory of sorts.  I wasn't expecting a Illinois case to be anything but a slam dunk for the forces of evil. 

MD CCW update

Details are still sketchy, but there may be some Shenanigans going on with a tacked on training requirement for CCW.  This requirement would be open ended, supposedly.  Techinically some bureaucrat could decide I need to resubmit for a permit after a 6 week and $10,000 training course or summat.  The requirement is a tack on to another bill that exempted federal law enforcement types from training.  HB 579.

It sounds like internet rumor, but it's on MD Shall Issue website so...  Wait and see.

[Update:  The concern seems like baloney, but I contacted my Delegate anyway with my concerns, overall, and to touch base.]

[update 2:  The amendment http://marylandshallissue.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hb0579t.pdf

"(5) HAS COMPLETED A CERTIFIED FIREARMS SAFETY TRAINING COURSE IN PERSON APPROVED BY THE POLICE TRAINING COMMISSION BEFORE SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION FOR A PERMIT; "]

Spammer

So a suspected spam commenter saw my post about my gunstore offering 62 gr green tip 5.56 ammo, 420 for $160, and put a link to a website that has something similar, 1000 rounds at $270.  Except the 1000 rounds are 'remanufactured.'

Now it could just be a anonymous commenter that wants to alert folks to a good deal.  Or it could be the website owner trying to drive commerce, which is sorta fine, too.  Sorta.

But is it a good deal, really?  Sure it's about $100 cheaper for 1000 rounds, but I've had personal trouble with remanufactured stuff. 

More News

On Maryland's appeal of the Shall Issue ruling.

"This office has a legal and constitutional obligation to vigorously defend the laws of the state of Maryland," said David Paulson, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.

But no obligation to secure the citizen's Civil Rights, apparently.

Money quote:

"[Judge] Legg has granted a temporary stay of the ruling. He has requested both sides to file additional briefs before ruling on whether the stay should remain in effect throughout the appeals process.


Legg has also ordered the Maryland State Police to re-process Woollard's 2009 permit renewal application without considering the "good and substantial reason" requirement."

So, maybe he'll make it a permanent stay if the state can't convince him.  So the state should probably hurry up, process my application, and deny me, before the temporary stay becomes permanent.  Unless Judge Legg says they have to process as Shall Issue for everyone that applied after the date of the original ruling...  I hope Judge Legg reads my blog so this detail is at least considered in the proceedings.  (Ha!  Fat chance of that.)
 

Judge Legg to Maryland

Day before yesterday the Judge essentially said:

"Let me be clear.   Process Mr. Woollard's CCW permit app renewal immediately."

Bad news...  He has enacted a temporary stay in his ruling.  He will consider and rule on a permanent stay on the 23rd of May.  Money quote from Maryland Shall-Issue

"This means that the... ruling cannot yet take effect. The temporary stay is designed to give Maryland and SAF time to prepare a formal argument for and against a permanent stay until the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rules. Unfortunately Maryland is still free to use Good & Substantial Reason [may issue] during the temporary stay. It is not yet known how Maryland will interpret the temporary stay "

Worst news.  I sent in my application through the mail not 15 minutes before I read this...

DammitDammitDammitDammitDammitDammit

DammitDammitDammitDammit

Shucks.

That said, if I HAD heard before hand I would have sent my application in anyway.  It's only 2+11+40+75+6 dollars.  $134?  Plus time.  I'll do it again if I have to after all the appeals are done.  Anyway, it's a waiting game now.  I am 'in the system.'

Voted

First as myself, J. T. Bolt, 223 Donder Avenue, born on February 2nd 1968.  Then, half and hour later, as Archie M. Crotchety, 226 Donder Avenue, born on March 9th 1927. 

Easy peasy.  Because showing a picture ID at the polls is apparently horrible.

~~~

Of COURSE I didn't do that, though Archie told me to do so.  He think they are all crooks and thieves and won't vote for em anymore.  He's right, but I still vote.  Just the one time. "No Archie, I don't want to vote for you and thus commit some sort of election fraud felony."  I figure plenty of Dems do that in Maryland, though, based on the evidence and example set in other parts of the country.  Plus all the non-citizens.  My little sticker that says "I voted" doesn't say that.  It says "Yo Vote'."

Wolves

Looks like wolves have been extinct in Britain since 1680.  Certainly since the 18th C.  And that's Scotland.  England had market hunted the predators into extinction in the southern part of their Island since Henry VII.

No body likes it when nature eats YOUR food livestock and digs up grandma's grave, I guess.  Lots of bounties put down to get rid of the varmints.

Nowadays they contemplate reintroduction to do something about the red deer population.  I guess the hunting and shooting culture in the UK isn't what it used to be, but...  Think on it, treehuggers.  You are always so susceptible to first stage thinking, and never think on even the more obvious possible unforeseen consequences.  50 million people live in England alone now.  A thousand years ago there were 3 million.  Do you see where this might lead?  Ok, recent wolf attacks on humans are rare. Wolves are rare.  But do those 50 million English have pets they love?

Rats!

I got rats.

Outside at lease.  And my house is brick and block so I am less worried that I would be.

The neighbor loves squirrels and she feeds them half a pound of peanuts every day.  I don't think it's just squirrels eating those nuts.

I found a burrow right at the fence line, so the nest is on the neighbors side, but the fence is the front door INTO my yard.  Lots of bushes and stuff protect it as well as the fence.

What to do...

Anyone got a poison or non-cat non-owl abatement method they like?  Like granules or...?  I'd prefer #7 12g birdshot, but the County prefers I not.



My county has this on their website:  "Rat control is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Call (240) 777-3986."  And I pay property taxes.  Can't hurt to call.

S&W triggers

A whole SLEW of gunbloggers have 'drunk the Kool Aid' and purchased the S&W M&P pistol, usually in 9mm.  They have almost always bought the Apex aftermarket trigger to go along with the new gatt. It is cheap, easy to install, and the satisfaction with the improvement is so extraordinary I half expect S&W to buy out Apex and make the better trigger standard.

But there is zero chance I will buy an M&P, so there is no way I can get in on the fun...  Or IS there...

Well, lookee... They make a drop in trigger improvement for J-Frames.  I wonder what that will do for me.  Hmmm.

Here is a question.  People unfamiliar with my snubbie will pull the trigger all the way back, slowly, and the hammer won't trip.  so:  Squeeeeeeeeeeze, nothing.  I know that they just need to pull a hair more that they haven't pulled it ALL the way back.  It did this to me until I knew to pull with authority.  Is there something there I should be worried about correcting?  If I had more experience with LOTS of revolvers I might know this already.  Maybe if I get the sideplate off I'll see it.  But I bet there is even a NAME for this phenomena and some more knowledgeable gun enthusiast will tell me.

Zombie Banks

More evidence that the Zombie thing has truly Nuked the Fridge.

Zombie Banks!  When you glom onto a popular entertainment meme to sell economic expository lit...  Though the parallels are apt, I think.  I wish Mr. Onaran high sales and much success.  But don't buy this book to prep for the true zombacalypse.

Archie

Archie, my crotchety WWII veteran neighbor that I occasionally check in on turned 85 this past month.  He's starting to fade a bit.

His biggest frustration is the loss of physical dexterity.  He'd be fine forgetting things as long as he could still fix the valve and float unit in the toilet tank.

The middle part of March was the worst, though there are signs he is coming back to more of his old self.  He'd been sun-downing for months.  Lately he's also 'sun-rising'.  Not combative, but more confused.  He fixated on Daylight Savings time. Hates that policy, and he doesn't trust his clocks for weeks after.  He'll wake at 4 AM and wonder why it is dark at 4 in the afternoon.  Then he'll call and ask me about it.   He also wonders why the phone he is pointing at the TV doesn't work like the remote.  Pushing 5-1 on the phone doesn't change the TV to the History Channel.  He's beyond those habit for now, thankfully.

Another problem is that his contemporaries on the street are breaking a hip or simply moving to Assisted Living.  He knows that he'd be there himself if I hadn't been checking on him so much the past few years.

If its any consolation for him, I think Daylight Savings is worthless, too.