Dead in the Water

JayG?   You don't want that boat.  I can almost guarantee it is FULL of zombies.  I mean, look at it.

Meet the New Boss

He's different from the old one...

For one thing he is 10 years younger than me. [grumble grumble... in MY day... whippersnapper... get offa my lawn... * ]

For another, he is a shooter.  Out and proud, while I am bit in the closet, talking in code words, mostly, to avoid scaring the quasi gummint workers around here.

I've overheard that he has a Glock 21 and a .357 Sig from HK, I think.  He is looking to sell the HK on gunbroker and pick up a Glock 17 or somesuch.  Wants the 9mm.  He goes bird hunting but never cleans or eats what he shoots.  He gives his birds to fellow hunters there with him that do clean and eat.  He's Ex-Army, too.

So that's nice.  I haven't asked if he's ever read my blog...

* {No, I don't mind a younger boss.  Not anymore.  I prefer to stay on the technical/operations side of the house.  From what I see, now, in my aged wisdom, is that good bosses exist to shield me from meetings and compliance paperwork.  Been lucky lately with bosses.  Also, when contracts get renegotiated and some other company wins the bid, the bosses get the axe, the tech folks get hired to do the same job with paychecks from a different company.} 

Bare Arms

I wish I'd stop typing 'bare' when I mean 'bear'.  I know the difference, and letting that slip by makes me look and feel like an idiot.

Work Buddy

Bought a Remington 870 tactical shotty.

Well, he put a down payment down because they have to order it.  I guess everyone wants a shotty now that Joe Biden's imprimatur is on them.  "If it's good enough for Mumbly Joe and Doctor Jill Biden to fend off zombies for encroaching on the grounds of the Naval Observatory then it's good enough for me."

He's getting rid of his AR.  Why?  MONEY!  As in, doubling it.

They used to have a time-ball at the observatory.  Interesting.  Now you know where that thing in Time Square comes from.

Metrocons Report on DiFi

Just reporting today at the Corner.  Not so much editorial opinion conveyed, other than a general disdain for Senator Feinstein.

Private Armories

With new regulatory regimes coming down, there may be an in for some entrepeneur to set up a private armory.

A place to store some of your shooting irons across state lines and away from the sticky fingers of the local constabulary with confiscation on their minds.

Of course, how the details will work out is beyond me.  There would have to be a good vault.  The owner would probably have to be an FFL.  Might be a good idea to have a range on site to make it worth the trip.  Insurance or a bond would have to workable to be sure everyone is protected.

Yeah, lots of hinky details with a group of people that aren't known for trusting 3rd parties to watch their firearms.  And the bigger and more successful they got, the more chance someone would want to break in and take everything.

But it would be neat to have it an old Armory building that used to dot the American landscape.

Maxpedition

Man, for some reason, Maxpedition gear just seems kinda neat to me.   I really like their stuff.  I wish some of this stuff had been around when I carried a bookbag in school.

No I HAVE one small Maxpedition item.  And I have other items for Bug Out Bags, a smallish one with water, poncho, first aid stuff -- 'day trip' items I can carry in one hand, also a full size ruck that I keep a sleeping bag and tent and multiple MREs in, plus other camping accoutrement, and hunting togs...  There is a Get Home bag in my car.

So I really can justify yet another gear bag...  Maybe someday.

Wiki Hole

So I went down a wiki hole after looking over this and the following post on Forgotten Weapons.  That made me look up SALVO.  They thought they might be onto something with a flechette weapon that on paper fire 2300 round per minute and was controllable even though it only weighed three and half pounds, loaded with 60 cartridges.  Can you imagine?  If that had been more workable we'd have never even heard of the AR, maybe.  AR would be a footnote like a Johnson rifle.  Their are PISTOLS that weigh more than 3.5 pounds.

Doctrine would involve a lot more Spray and Pray suppressing fire, I'm thinking.  There was also a thought, made new again recently, of adding a 12 gauge style grenade launcher.  A smaller M203.  Like a XM25, but 50 years ago.  So, picture Viet Nam with a even MORE walls of bullets and lots of booms from the grenades of every squad member.  BrrrrrraaaaaapppppBOOM! BrrrrrraaaaaapppppBOOM!  BrrrrrraaaaaapppppBOOM!

But, as we know, such a future-gun didn't really make it out of the gate.  


The search for a solution that was solved by the .276 Pedersen was instead settled by the .223.  After overcoming LOTS of inertia, prejudice for stopping power over volume of fire, and a conservative mindset in the people in the Army in charge of ordnance decisions.  The opposing forces still hanker for more stopping power.  Imagine if we had adopted the .276 pre-WWII.  We'd probably have people today looking to lessen the ammo weight and increase volume of fire with something like the .223.  And the wheel turns and turns.

Exclusive Claim

Why Argue Gun Control

With a gun-banner?

You won't change their mind.

You do it to put them on notice that their crazy whacked out ideas are opposed.  That they can't enact their fantasy utopia without resistance.  That the pie in the sky formulation they made up in their heads that makes so much sense to them is not agreed upon by a huge section of the nation, and we aren't The Other, we are their neighbors.  We aren't going to roll over, show our belly and submit.

THAT's why you argue with and make fun of gun banners on the internet.  And when they lose at the polls and can no longer enact other libtard legislation precious to them, you will get a subset of them that put two and two together and get a synapse fired up.  Aha!  So when the next gun law comes up that is in our favor, THEY roll over, show their belly, and submit and let it pass.

And if you oppose gun banner's smart, and not too nasty, you might even change a mind on the margins that happen to be reading.

Threatening

My Congresscritter, the execrable Chris Van Hollen is threatening our civil rights.  He is taking joy, based on his Tweet, that NICS checks may get backlogged because of the sequester.

A right delayed is a right denied, Congressman!  What's next?  Holding up the voter registration of oppressed minorities?  For shame! 

If the sequester goes through, gun background checks may suffer - ow.ly/hXdhB

— Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) February 22, 2013

Taxes

Did my taxes.  I got bills to pay to fund my early BAG day purchases.

Except... I owe.  I make up my $160 Fed bill with a $250 State refund.  Looks like I need to up my 401k contribution up higher than 15%.

Ima be pissed when they Congress critters look at the huge pile of money in the nation's 401kays and gets ideas to tap some revenue out of that.  Perhaps violently so.  (Peeved, I mean.  Not violently tapped by Congress)

I'm Batman

I just finished re-reading the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, written by Frank Miller.  Just because.

I had read originally in 1986.  Every Batman movie that came out since then owes it's existence to Miller's rehabilitating the Adam West version (a version that is good in its own right, in it's own way.)

He also took Superman down a peg.

If you younger readers of mine don't remember the 1980s, this comic book will evoke the mood for you.  New Wave and punk stylings, fear of an explosion in crime, anxiety over the Soviets and nuclear Armageddon.  Reagan is depicted as a slightly doddering president and westerner ex-actor.  People smoke.  Indoors.  The Political Correctness cult is only in its infancy. [If you want to know what the 70s felt like, try this movie.]

Gun content.  Cops used revolvers back then.  Revolvers weren't ubiquitous, but they were nearly so.  The book makes it feel like a workingman's tool.  Semi-autos were... not exotic... but as though they still need seasoning?  No that's not it.  And this after 75 years of 1911s and everything else semi-auto.  I guess when every cop has a revolver, and people take their cue off of the cops, semi's feel... other.  Something soldier used or people with a special purpose, like a young police commissioner that need something more compact.  Or by a villain that doesn't hold to convention.  Of course the OLD police commissioner used a revolver.

Back to the story.  Batman has been retired since Robin (Jason) died a dozen years prior and political pressure cause costumed heroes to hand up their cloaks.  Except Superman who works for the DoD.  Jason had replaced Dick Grayson who is estranged from Bruce Wayne.  Rampant crime depredations brings Batman out of retirement just as Commissioner Gordon is being eased out.  Gordon is 70, Bruce is maybe 55.  A new Robin, Carrie, emerges.  It's hard fighting crime as a 55 year old.

There are four 'chapters' originally stand alone comic books, assembled into one cover.  The villains/antagonists thus four in number: a 'healed' Harvey Dent (plastic surgery and psychiatric rehabilitation by a Liberal psychiatrist), a leader of an immense street gang reminiscent of the Lord Humongous, the Joker, who emerged from catatonia when Batman re-emerged, and, finally, Superman.

In a fight between Batman and Superman, who do you think would win?

Yay, Metrocons!

Tam referenced me!  I am pleased.  Now instead of 3 readers and 297 hits from Chinese Spambots, I will get 8 readers!  Welcome!

I'm not sure if I got the term anywhere or it appeared in my head-movies, unbidden, after observing the behavior of some Republicans.

I just got to notice, as I learned the backgrounds of various commentators, that the ones that grew up in DC or New York or where have you, rarely commented on the topic (boomsticks) at hand.  If at all.  They grew up in the 70s and 80s where guns just weren't done if you lived in a city.  Only Cops and Robbers had guns.  Regular people did not.  There was no place to go to shoot, anyway.  In DC and NY and Chicago and other Big Towns, as we still know, guns were either effectively or actually banned.  So, to a metrocon, guns are an abstraction.  Maybe their alliance with more rural or suburban conservatives, gun owners, gave them some sympathy to the Second, or their Libertarian side defaulted them to lean that way, but it was all still out of their personal experience, so not a priority and something they rarely gave much thought to.  Especially if it was a current event to propound on.

Metrocons are conservatives with a more urban(e) outlook.  And I wasn't thinking 'metrosexual' when I formulated my version of the term, despite what some have assumed.  It was purely in the context of the Second Amendment because of this blog, naturally.

Jonah Goldberg, grew up in New York, went to Goucher college, lives in NW DC, married an ALASKAN and visits her family regularly, never said a thing about guns.  So I wouldn't trust him to be the single individual to formulate gun policy for all time as some sort of Grand Poobah entrusted to come up with a new scheme we'd all have to follow.  He might be fine, but I suspect not. 

Sean Hannity.  New Yorker.  Has the rare McGuffin of a NYC CCW permit, but never said Boo for our side on his radio show in all the time I'd catch part of his show.   

Other Metrocons:  David Frum, Mark Steyn, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, the late William F. Buckley Jr., Ramesh Ponomoru, Jay Nordlinger, &c.

For the longest time, the only person in National Review's web stable that talked firearms was the now exhiled John Derbyshire.   And I may have read every post on their Corner blog for a decade.

Things are changed now.  The Second Amendment has risen in the national conversation via debated policy and inter-party conflict.  So many more Metrocons become ostensible 2nd Amendment advocates.  But you get the feeling that they are only doing it because it is the closest stick to hand to beat on Obama's policies.  If Obama was pro gun they'd be silent again.  So, they are really pro gun because they are pro Republican Party.  You get the feeling many would throw us over the side if was advantageous to the the Party to do so.  I get this vibe from Hannity, who I think of as a mere rabble rousing cheerleader for the GOP.  If you like rabble rousing, he's fine.  But I worry his principles on this would shift with the politics if the politics moved.


That said, National Review does seem to have recruited some actual 2A folks relatively recently.  Robert VerBruggen and Kevin Williamson come to mind.  Others.

Young Male, no police record

Goes on a spree in College Park Maryland.  Reports that he may have been schizophrenic.

And another goes on a spree in Orange Country California.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess than the unemployed California man, may, too have been schizophrenic.

No let us think back to the other mass murderers that have been cropping up lately...  What do they have in common?  Anyone?  Bushmast ARs?  No, the common Bushmaster wasn't always the weapon of these young men.  Some chose the common Glock to conduct their mayhem.  They were all a particular racial group?  No... the various and sundry flavors that make up the US were well represented in the mass shootings... White, Black, Asian, Clown-American...  Arizona, Minnesota, Virginia, Connecticut, California, Colorado, Maryland, California...

Hmmm.

Were they all schizophrenic?  And noticeably so ahead of time, but no one did anything or reported anything or raised red flags? 

C'mon!  Think of patient privacy!

Now WAIT a second.  You worry about the privacy of the mentally ill but have no problem of violating randoms at the airport in job lots every day?  You're gonna have to swing one way or another.  Or perhaps stop violating the privacy of air travellers AND care enough about the mentally ill to perhaps get them actual treatment before they turn violent looking for their 15 minutes of glory on the news.

Regardless of 4th Amendment issues, notice that the predictor of a mass shooter is not 'gun owner' that sorta forecasts mayhem possibility.  It's young, and male, and schizophrenia.  But the predictor of general murderer tend to be young, and male, and involved with the unlicensed retail pharmaceutical entrepreneurial bidness.   Declaring victory on the War on Drugs and ending the conflict and treating the mentally ill would go a long way to getting so we can point to where Great Britain use to be and call it a crime cesspit for ALL categories instead of just MOST like we do now.

And leave alone the middle-aged, and male, and firearm enthusiasts like me.  And the young, and female, and librarian-turtle-owners.  And the more-middle-aged, and male, and aspiring novelists.  And the young and male and 3D-Printing... oh YOU get my point.

3D Printers

Like JayG sez, "Hey, I KNOW that guy."  Got interviewed for the Post.  Dunno why, he has barely tested the things.  I guess he was the only one that said yes to the interview request.

I told him not to talk to reporters.  But at least the article is fair.  Ish.

The photographer wanted him to pose with the barrel pointing at the camera.  My buddy nixed that idea. 

The article does expose Rep Steve Israel as an ignoramus.  He things plastic parts in guns makes them undetectable to airport scanning equipment.  1982 is calling, and they want their fake 'plastic gun' meme back.

[Fark.com linked to this article.  Titled it 'scary'.  One commenter is worried the buddie wants to turn the country into hickster/Jesus-land.  They don't know him very well....]

The worst lil Metrocon

The WORST Metrocon around is David Frum.  He became unconservative enough that he no longer fit in with the regular metrocons at National Review.

In fact, VerBruggen at national review rebuts Frum's idiocy here.  Good on ya, NR.

Frum wrote Obama needs a plan 'B' on gun control.  He thinks gun control is the same thing as Syphilis or HIV.  And wants the Surgeon General to do a study on gun control.  Dave, the Surgeon General can't even get a handle on STDs, why do you think it's that office's place to do a criminology study?  Oh, you think the fake results will bolster the gun banner's case...  Get bent, you chowderhead.

He goes on to blame the gun manufactures for not adopting new technologies like biometric scanners and some magical firing pin microstamping thing.  Like it's the manufacturers that don't want to do this.  Ever think it might be the customers that don't want that ineffective add ons on their guns that might hang them up when they are desperately needed?

He wants indicator light to tell you if their is a round in the chamber!

He thinks modern guns go off when dropped.

He thinks civil suit immunity covers gun makers that make a defective product instead of protecting them from harassing nonsense suits, the same way Ford is no held responsible for drunk drivers

He also seems to believe that legitimate defensive gun use is in the single digits annually.  

The man is DANGEROUSLY ignorant.

Don't worry ladies

This Colorado Democrat you don't need a gun when you are getting raped.  Just call the cops, and they will stop it before it gets TOO untoward.  It what the cops are THERE for, to protect individuals from criminals.  Like it's their duty or something... /s

"Did the rape victim have a rape whistle?"

"Oh yes, we found it clenched in her teeth, filled with her own coagulating blood from the stab wounds she received to her lungs after the act was completed and the rapist was done with her."

"Well, at least she didn't shoot him.  That would have been bad."

Smith & Wesson

I like Smith & Wesson products.  But I am glad I didn't pay attention to the gunnie world back when they were voluntarily bending over and acquiescing to the gun banners.  That would have led to a bad taste in my mouth and might make me more reluctant to purchase their products.

That said, I have only bought one new Smith.  A .22 revolver.  Model 617.  It has a pimple-lock on it that's ugly, but, since it's a .22 that is less of an issue to me. 

If they want me to buy factory new revolvers, they'll ditch this dingus.  I'll wait til then to get a 625 or an R8.

Maybe a M&P one day.  Or their version of a 1911.  One day.  Maybe.  I'd rather spend my cash on a revolver

I guess they don't want my money.

Mikulski

Oh, Senator Mikulski, would that it were required you know a little something about what you are voting for before you vote for it.

A Note from Babs

Dear Mr. Thunderbolt:

 

Thank you for contacting me to express your views on gun control. I appreciate you taking the time to write. 

 

I am horrified by gun violence in our country.  The shooting that occurred on December 14th in Newtown, Connecticut - the murder of 20 sweet, innocent children and the six adults who died protecting them - is an unthinkable, terrible tragedy.  I join with all Americans during this tragic time in extending my deepest condolences to these victims' families, who are facing an incredible amount of grief and heartache. 

 

Now more than ever, we need to work together to make sure another tragedy like this never happens again.  I support the Second Amendment rights of gun owners.  I also believe that we can take steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those with mental illnesses without infringing on the right of law-abiding citizens to buy firearms. 

 

That is why I believe that we must take a substantive look at various proposals to strengthen background checks and get assault weapons off our streets.  This includes reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban and limiting the use of high capacity ammunition.  I have also continually supported extending required background checks at gun shows to help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.  Your views will be helpful to me as we further consider this issue. 

 

While we need to look at gun control, I believe we must also look at the mental health issues that plague our nation.  We need to make sure that people have access to the services they need.  As a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I fought for over ten years to get mental health parity passed so that all Americans suffering from mental illness could have access to the treatments they need.  We also need to find better ways to treat, or even cure, mental illnesses.  That's why I am such a strong supporter of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  I will continue to fight to improve and expand mental health services.

 

Again, thanks for getting in touch with me about this issue.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can assist you with in the future. 

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator 

Wisconsin

To ban hunting.

Good thing there aren't a lot of hunters in Wisconsin.  Or cops or FBI.  As they wouldn't be too excited about using nothing but FMJ rounds in their duty weapons. 

Metrocons

Reporting on the reverse boycott York Arms and others are doing to the state gov'ts that piddle on civil rights.

Obama's DOJ,

Says...



Sebastian is right. Been spreading the word that needs to be spread.

Housegun

Until recently, most people recommended a shotgun for an ideal home defense weapon.  It's powerful, more so than any pistol.  There is that whole "the sound of racking the slide makes burglars lose bowel control" myth.  Plus the "you don't ahve to aim it" myth. The bird shot loads won't over penetrate through dry wall and injure other folks in the house or neighborhood.  Myths that can cause problems.

Lately people have been rethinking that advice and suggesting an AR would be better.  The .223 supposedly dump energy fast enough that over penetration is less of an issue that people think for a rifle round.  It holds 30 rounds instead 5, 7, or maybe 9.  It's often more compact and lighter to manuever around.  Easier to attach a sling and flashlight to.  Yeah, for me, I like defending the house with an AR better than a shotty. 

But if you can overcome the myths of a shotgun there is one advantage I (stupidly) hadn't considered...  Cost.  An AR, cheap, will run, what?  $700 for a bare bones one?  More?  (when the market isn't screwy like it is now...)   A typical shotty for home defense is south of $300.  Even today, during the gun buying frenzy.  As Joe Biden says, that price delta can be, "a BIG friggin' deal..."

If you HAVE an AR, or can afford one, or want one more than a shotty and have a line on one, I'd say use the AR.  You don't HAVE to run out and get a shotgun if you don't want one.  If you have nothing, now, or don't have deep pockets, getting a shotgun today to defend your house is better than waiting a while to get an AR.  And if you just moved out of your parents house or graduated college and took a job away from your hometown or what have you and can't find and AR now for love or money.

Please don't use bird shot for a defense load, and have a backup plan if the sound of racking the pump doesn't scare off badguys.

[addendum:  'But T-bolt, you don't use your AR or shotty for primary home defense!  You use .357 revolvers'  True.  I still haven't prepped the place to keep a longer gun secure yet accessible for bumps in the night situations.  My choice, when I do, is an AR or a 18 inch 12 gauge.  I will go with the AR, then.  But there is something to be said for ease of use when you wake at 3AM to kicks at the door and the revolver can excel here.]

World Shocked!

SEVEN people murdered in Chicago.  Headlines nationwide.  OUTRAGE!

Well, 86 years ago.  Nowadays Chicago calls 7 murders a 'Thursday'.   Maybe 'at least is was only seven.'

Cleaning

I've cleaned a few deer, with supervision.  It gets easier each time, as the lesson internalizes, but it's still not a simple thing. 

I've cleaned fish as a kid.

I should probably at least LEARN the basics of other critters, just to know, just in case.

Positive Gun Control

The NRA needs to be FOR some legislation instead of opposing everything.  Specific laws, to ram through Congress.

They need to use terms like gun bans and gun control.

But they need to be written in a way that expands our rights, rather than contracts.  "We need to strengthen our gun bans to and from felons.  We need to improve gun control by enabling nationwide reciprocity."

Let MAIG sputter in opposition to legislation, for once.  Gain and cement some ground for OUR side.

What Dreams May Come

I wrote this before the SOTU speech.

I was thinking what gun control is gonna get through Congress.  I think the mag ban and new AWB aren't going to happen.  If DiFi forces the issue she may poison the whole think for her side and get nothing at all  through.  She is dumb enough to shoot herself in her own foot that way (pun indended.)

But if she doesn't do something stupid, the way the GOP is mumbling and whispering, I'd bet the only really onerous thing that goes to the Pres is background checks for ALL transfers.  Obama will declare victory, and a backdoor registration system will be in place in place for NEXT time.

Grumble.

Now, I got no problem with universal background checks, with some caveats.  We should be able to do it online.  It should cost $5.  Flashing a valid CCW should adequately subsitute for a check.  Background checks shouldn't be triggered until AFTER there is nationwide shall issue in every state and the District, and 51 state reciprocity, so hurry up and pass that NY, IL, MD... (COMPROMISE our way for once).  The 1968 GCA should also be modified to allow to interstate face to face sales if a background check is done.  And this Home-NICS check should not include serial numbers.  

e.g.

Let's say the Contrarian (MD resident) is introduced to My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast (VA resident) after this law is in effect.  Contrarian LOVES MBtGE's Glock Fohty, and MBtGE is looking to sell.  A price is settled on and cash is to hand.  MBtGE logs onto some website, puts in Contrarian's name and driver's license number and the 'pistol' checkbox is checked, (maybe even Glock and .40 is included in the info) and that's it.  PayPal pays the fee to the gummint.  $5... maybe $15 at the most.  The Feds come back and say "The Contrarian is a good egg according to our records and here is a reference number to keep for your records to prove you didn't unload your pistol onto some criminal reprobate."  Money changes hands and Contrarian traipses off to the range for some boomstick fun.  Done and done.

NRA?

No one is proposing a ban on guns?  Multiple prominent gun banners have in the couple months have let slip they want to ban guns.  It's ubiquitous.

The NRA is boosting gun sales?  I'm a life member and I haven't heard a peep suggesting I do so.  Nice using a 20 year old quote about jack booted thugs.  A quote that he made after... jack booted thugs SWAT raided the Branch Davidians.  How many children did the fed get killed there?

The NRA is controlled by the gun industry?  The video admits that $200 million a year goes into the NRA.  But only $38 million from the so called gun industry?  So the the other $160 mil?  From people I guess.  MidwayUSA is the big villain?  That's because I round up my purchases to the nearest dollar.  Also a lotta money from The People.

Hollow point bullets are evil now?  Someone tell the cops and FBI to switch from them back to round nose.

Oh no!  Profitable companies?!  That HAS to be bad.  They all look like the Monopoly Moneybags guy or have a pencil thin mustache and a conniving mannerism.

Gun banners against privacy laws?  Didn't the liberal New York newspaper get in trouble for publishing gun owner names and addresses?  Protection from lawsuit abuses?  They'd change their tune if lawfare was conducted against them.

Gun safety?  Just say gun control.  It's what you mean.

"Americans are starting to get wise to the NRA."  Yup.  That's why support of the first Civil Rights organization is through the roof right now.  Thank you, NRA!  And all the smaller rights orgs fighting the good fight (I'm looking at you Alan Gura, Alan Gootlieb... Bravo Zulu.)

Ooo, an expansion in their depredations.  They want to go after and pass "common sense conceal carry legislation."



Move on morons are HI-larious.

Contact your congresscritter.  Tell them NO more gun control, of any kind.  It's just abusive at this point, to enact MORE laws that bad guys won't follow and disarms the good guys. 

I WARNED you!

Zombie outbreak reported on Montana's Emergency Broadcast System.

On the plus side, it's cold there and slows Zed down.  On the minus, the population is not dense, which can be good, but you can also get a slow steady spread before anyone notices.  As appeared to have happened.

Happy Birthday, Abe

Good ol' Lincoln. 

Mom was a big fan, and there was a coffee table book about his life every present in the living room, growing up.  It was where I learned about hanging at a very young age from the picture of the executed assassination conspirators.

I'm also reading Team of Rival by Doris Kearns Goodwin, right now.  The man knew how to run politics, I'll give him that.  He makes Reagan and Clinton look like amateurs.  He was like a chess master, always several moves ahead of his apponents.  Kinda slick.

I know he is not a favorite of the wookie suiters.  What with habeus corpus suspensions and the expansion of the federal gov't that caused so much damage 50-75... 100 years later when that trend was extended out. 

Gun content?  I liked how he tested repeating rifles on what would be the National Mall, downtown DC, today.  And something about those early 'Assault Weapon' lever guns fascinates us even today.

This makes my blood boil

Mutha Pussbucket Feds and their over-reach.  SWAT raiding people at will.  Angry.

Got some stuff coming

The only way I'd find a gun I wanted was through gunbroker, anyway.  On one I got a good deal.  On another I got kinda hosed. 

And it will be a month before the gun store can release them to me, instead of a week.  The state police is registering them as fast as they can. 

Yes, register.  Maryland could pass a law tomorrow and tell us to turn in for confiscation whatever they wanted to.  Make me wish I lived in another state for a year or so and bought stuff there Maryland doesn't know about.

Or, did I...  Let them wonder.  Also, there are guns that look like assault rifles out there that aren't on the Maryland list of controlled items.  You can still buy them in Maryland too.  Or Virginia.  Just saying.  I need to get a list of those and blog about it.

Why the accelerated acquisition?  Well, gun control, duh.  The state is looking to make it more onerous even to pick up the 'non-SUPER-evil' varieties I am getting. 

I like this guy

And he has a lot of videos to go through. Like gun reviews.

Shoulder Thing

That goes up.

I has one.  I had no idea it was called a barrel shroud...

And I thought...

ball o' nickel

Weeping

Because his policies have caused so much suffering to his constituents.

Perhaps he is realizing his culpability, finally. 

Extra Mag

This intrigues....

 If I see one in brown I will pick it up.

It's be nice to grab a rifle and have a reload without also having to grab a bandolier or pouch of some sort.

Wait... How do I attach a buffer tube to that?

AR are murder weapons

And only weapons of war.

Who are the police at war with?

Jiminy Christmas

Rule 4, officers.  Be sure of your target (and what's behind it.)  You're not looking to apprehend a blue truck, stop shooting every blue truck you see.  Stop shooting women, too, when you are looking for a man.

[summary: nervous cops shot up newspaper delivery woman that happens to match the description of the truck owned by an at large spree killer threatening cops in his manifesto.  a manifesto that credits Piers Morgan for his 'wise' anti-2nd beliefs.  so I blame the killer.  then I point at Morgan...]

Bit nervous, in the service, LAPD?

After this is over, maybe some remedial training, department wide, is called for.  Same with NYPD.

Simple rule?  Only shoot bad guys that are an actual threat. 

Little bit of panic shooting there.  Ya know I am against restricting magazine size for ordinary non-police citizens, but maybe cops need revolvers until their threat response improves.

Glenn Reynolds:  "An armed civilian who made this mistake would be tried for every possible crime a prosecutor could imagine. How likely do you think that is here?"

Good Job

Maryland Gunnies.

Wish I could have been there.

But Glock doesn't MAKE ARs...

Looks like the gun-banner/confiscators are casting a wider net and trying to ensnare a primarily not-automatic pistol maker. 

So, that's semi-auto rifles, pistols, magazines that hold more than 7 or 10, scary looking stuff...  Also squirt guns, fingers that go 'pew', pictures of guns, and imaginary grenades if the hysteria coming from the people we entrust to watch over schoolchildren is any indicator...

I'm beginning to think they won't be happy until only their police forces have guns. 


h/t: Alphecca

Movie Sighting

Of one of my favorite old designs, the Colt Pocket Hammerless, 1903/08.

The moll manages to pick the pocket of the Boss Ganster (Edward G. Robinson) and then sneaks it to our intrepid hero (Bogart).

The movie, or course, is Key Largo.  Lauren Bacall and Lionel Barrymore...  What a cast.

It was so prominently displayed and clicked in my vision so well that it brought a smile to my face.  "Hey, I have one of those!"

Dunno if it's a .32 or .380.  Like you could tell without holding it and inspecting.  Bad guys shot with it don't die right away and it take a few to put the last mobster down.  Bogie has to rely of good tactics to separate the opposing gunmen on a boat, plus he takes position from unlikely angles.  He still takes a slug from a revolver from a already wounded gangster.  If I was more interested in Colt revolvers I would have easily IDed them, too, but I didn't notice them as anything other than 'revolver' until I looked them up.   The Pocket Hammerless is the 'star' of the show, to me, and based on screen time.  There was a blued one and a silver one, and 2 revolvers. 

Big time crime movie blockbuster with 4 six or seven shooters.  How many guns/bullets/shots do you get a modern movie of the same genre?  Over a dozen different guns in a Die Hard movie...

Annapolis Rally

Look at all the concerned state citizens Frosh hates:

State Senator B. Frosh

Says YOU are CRAZY!

Oh, Mona...

Mona Charen, at the flagship fortnightly get's her metrocon on.

"I stand out among my conservative friends in disliking guns. I favor reasonable restrictions on the Second Amendment, like bans on fully automatic weapons, background checks for purchases, and forbidding the sale of guns to those with histories of mental illness or criminality."

Luckily for her, fully automatic weapons were severely restricted in 34, and banned except for grandfathered examples in 1986.  Background checks went nationwide in 1993.  And criminals and mentally ill have been prohibited since 1968.

Welcome to our side, ma'am.  And she goes on to support us in the rest of the piece.

Another Letter

I was just thinking, I hadn't gotten a response from any of the politicians I wrote to except for Senator Ben Cardin.  Not even from my State Delegate on the Judiciary Committee, who usually writes back.  Then THIS showed up in the mail that very afternoon:

-

Good for him.  I wonder if he sends the same sort of letter to people that right demanding gun bans and confiscations and other usurpations of civil rights?

Lessee, he's supported longer sentences for felons in possession... good, I support that.  He's supported a blue ribbon panel to study the availability of guns for the mentally ill...  I support that too, but don't see how a study actually does anything, but he anticipates action on the study's results.  Very nice.  He says nothing that will offend the gun enthusiast voter like me.

Ah, but what of the dog that didn't bark?  He doesn't say anything one way or another on the current legislation banning scary rifles, regular sized mags, and extra registration requirements.  He hasn't painted himself into corners.  Why commit yourself on paper to something that may or may not come up for a vote?  Especially if he agrees with bans on principal but doesn't want to get me all riled.  If the bill fails, but I have him on record opposing something I hold dear he's needlessly offended me.  Wait til AFTER the vote before burning that bridge (ugh, 3 semi-cliched metaphors in one paragraph).

Still, I bet State Senator Frosh says in HIS form letters, "I support greater gun control now!" and doesn't care if it offends constituents.  Waldstreicher isn't as secure in his seat as Frosh, but he is almost as.  If he was a dyed in the wool (4!) gun controller he could probably say so publicly without a problem.  So there is good reason to keep the lines of communication open with Jeff.

Something fishy

While, if you owned an assault weapon (AR, M1A) in Maryland before October 1, 2013, according to this, you may continue to possess it as long as it is registered with the State AG by November 1, 2013.

If you bought it in Maryland, it is already 'registered' with the State AG.

It says nothing about transporting it, except to a police station after a court order to do so...  (page 9).  So I can still have them, they just can't leave my house?  Hmmm.

I've sent letters and composed emails.  Today, I did the 'auto-email' function through MSI.  Flood the zone, I figure, from every angle.  Though those form letter utilities may carry less weight.  This one is a little customizable.

What Gun

New shooters have asked me "What gun should I buy?"

My response up to now has been "What do you want it for?"  They usually mean a pistol for self defense, then I say "Try a lot of guns.  I can help you with a sample of different types. Pick a gun that shoots well for you and fits your fist and budget and what not."

I'm not going to do that anymore.  Now I'm going to say "First get an AR, then a pistol that takes a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds.  Spend lots of money on these two.  Guns politicians want to confiscate from you.  Then we'll talk about your third purchase..."

Need more stakeholders.

Gun Control

Flapjacks?

Pres

He's a lefty, like me.

-

Also, like me, he has 7 fingers on his right hand.

Baby

Brefass

Am I Upsetting You Princess

It's gonna be cold. It's gonna be gray. And it's gonna last you... for the rest... of your life.

My Favorite Holiday

Chuck

Chuck Jones with

a 602.

Wanted: Gunsmith.

My guy took a job at Beretta.  Good for him, but now I don't have one for those jobs that I don't trust myself with.

Anyone know of a good gunsmith in these parts?  My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast has a 1911 specialist I may use, but that's an hours drive.  Just checking if there is someone more local to Silver Spring.

Hmmm... 1911 class... I'd love to be better at detail stripping...

Any gunsmithing class or whatnot.