Bath Salt Zombies

Those crazy kidz and their Bath Salts Goofballs.  The kookie new drug makes its way to New York City, and a particularly potent version of the drug turns them even more murderous and hungry.  #OWS types take it on the chin.



I can't wait until this is released at my local Cineplex Odeon.  It's got blockbuster written all over it.

Emergency Broadcast Network

Speaking of Ass

Why do they keep saying?

Why do they keep saying, "I'm a gun-owner butt..." ?  I don't understand.

They are @ssh0les, because the next thing out of their mouths is often proposals to abrogate the constitution, be tyranical, and cause me and other gun owners no end of face-palming over their civil rights violation proposals. "Hey, let's confiscate all the boomsticks AND bring back separate drinking fountains, that would be great, yuck yuck... Vote Democrat!" 

Are they just cleaning up their language for broadcast radio and TeeVee? 

Is it because opinions are like butts and they all stink but espeically ther irrational one they are just about to spout?

Is it because they don't really have any firearms but are a pain-in-the-butt to actual gun owners?

Are they talking out of their butt, best personified by that washed up anti-vaccine actor that talks out of his butt, literally and figuratively?

But yes.  You are a Gun-Owner Butt, Mr. Gun-Banner.

I don't know which is better...

Beer made civilization

Whiskey made civilization bearable.

One was invented by the Germans, the other by the Irish.

You heard me!  Don't contradict.

Criminals

Conservatives and even non-ornery Libertarian Conservatives are Law and Order types.  They aren't scofflaws.  So successful gun restrictions are effective in disarming them.

Liberals lean Socialist and even Communist.  Commies have been getting away with murder, literally for decades.  No Crimes against Humanity trials for them, even with similar body counts racked up that would make a Nazi jealous.  Cambodian gummint murderers are sorta facing the music, but the process is so long the genocidal bastards are dying in their sleep.  Stalin and Mao died in bed, not at the end of a rope.  So... Lefties are criminal.

Lefties are also BIG into breaking taboos.  Now, they are borderline criminals already for working toward a Dialectic Materialism Utopia, and disregard law and order...   Lefties coddle criminal, thus hardened criminals tend to be Liberal in outlook out of self interest.  If there is a total gun ban only Liberals would have guns!  Disregard of law and order, desire to break taboos, a large cohort of actual bad guys.

Charlton Heston was right.  Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns.

Another plus for leftists?  They HATE to be held accountable.  So the outlaw thing dovetails with that. 

Heh.  I know that if there was a draconian ban a lot of erstwhile law and order conservative types will get their civil disobedians on, and be ornery, so any unconscious effort to target infringe on law and order types by Lefties will be for naught.  But that speaks to another habit of them types.  An inability to forsee unintended consequences and a tendency to Stage One thinking.

One Good Thing

One good thing about all this anti-gun legislation in Colorado, Maryland, and New York.  If things work out at the ballot box in 2014 like it did in 1994, there is no way Hickenlooper, O'Malley, or Cuomo have a chance with their presidential aspirations.  Cuomo, even now, is beclowing himself with a mulligan on his 7 round magazine requirement.

Provided the GOP doesn't renominate McCain or something.  And I don't put it past them idjits.  (Ya know, GOP, if only the 9 million Republicans {like me} that didn't vote for either Obama or Romney had voted for Romney...)

Gun Culture

You want more gun safety, Bloomberg?  You need to get some of the Liberal gun owners to join the gun culture.  And these non-liberal new gun owners that are buying up guns in record numbers lately.

The so called Gun Culture is obsessed, often annoyingly (but appropriately) so with the four rules of gun safety. 

Those isolated from the gun culture do not know this.

If your gun ad gun-banner guy was a real gunnie with even the most cursory association with the Gun Culture, he'd know that Rule 3 governs where his trigger finger should and should not be...  And that muzzling is bad.  My guess is the guy in the ad is a neckbeard #OWS hipster type that is just an actor.


Does he really have his finger on the trigger, or is he palming it and getting all the fingers around and through the trigger guard?  Doesn't matter.  Dude like this at the next lane at the skeet range holding his shottie like that?  Sorta thing gives me the heebie jeebies.

If your true mission in life was to improve gun safety you would try to bolster and support the Gun Culture.  And the NRA's Eddie Eagle child safety efforts to spread gun safety information.  But that's not your true mission in life, is it, Mayor Bloomberg, founder of Illegal Mayors Against Guns?

Commander and Snub

Besides being a recent purchase, those words have a ring to them.  Like a 1970s cop show.

"Commander and Snub, they fight crime."

Feels like a Streets of San Francisco vibe.  The grizzle veteran detective played by a Mauldin type would be nicknamed Commander.  His short, young, brash partner would be called Snub.   He may be short, but he's a firecracker.

To put a twist on it, Commnder would carry a small revolver and Snub would carry the .45...

Finally

I put in the paperwork at the FFL on the 4th of February.  FINALLY able to take these home.

So what are they?  Well, one is none and two is one these are two's.  I will be setting them up like my other Commander and Snubbie.

Actually, when finished with customizing them to my preferences, these two might become the primaries.  They feel better dry firing right from the git go.

They came with nice extras.  A galco pocket holsters, a gun rug, the case, and an extra McCormick magazine.  What did I pay for them offa that auction site?  I got a decent deal on the revolver and was taken to the cleaners on the Colt.  But isn't that the way of the world?  It was a semi-panic buy, as I didn't know how the whole MD gun law would shake out.  Still don't know that, but I have a better idea.  This also hits the reset button on the one-gun-a-month deal we have and I can start looking for a stripped lower here in a month.  These were always on my List, but the purchase schedule got pushed way up.


So what changes do I contemplate?  I like XS sights.  Probably go with the little front sight on both.  The bigger sight might be TOO big.  Also, I have a Crimson Trace that the snubbie will wear.  VZ grip for the 1911.  I already swapped out the slide release.  The one that came with gun was one of those huge extended models that lefties do not need.  I'll need to get the ambi safety, too.  Probably leave the grip safety alone.  I have a spare flat mainspring housing I can swap in, too.  I'll need a gunsmith to install the sights on the 1911.  Probably the snubbie too.  Expensive... 

Putpockets

I thought of a great new scheme for our side.

We all know Cuomo wants people to snitch out New Yorkers who keep some of the now contraband "EVIL BOOMSTICK THINGIES" or whatever those bedwetters call their new law.   He is even offering a $500 bounty if you turn in some scofflaw that has a stripped lower and nothing else in the back of a sock drawer. 

Here is what we do.  We buy a crapload of 10 round mags in say, Maryland, (oops, unless Cuomo makes a correction, then you'd have to get 12 rounders in PA...) and go up to New York.  Then we scout out liberals hoplophobes with casual conversation. Then instead of acting as pickpockets, we are putpockets.  We secrete the illegal mag into a purse, bag, or pocket.  We enter their homes under some pretense and hide a magazine in there.  We get invited to their parties, drink their white wine spritzers, and leave mag in some inconspicuous place.   Then, we go to the cops and finger those bastards! 

It's anonymous, so it won't get back to us.  We get 500 clams to live off of.  THEY get a felony rap and are out of circulation for a time and after lose their franchise.  If we do this enough the civil rights lovers of New York State that respect the Bill of Rights will eventually gain an electoral majority and can rescind the silly gun ban in the legislature.  It's win win all around!

Who Has Heard...

Of Pulse O2DA Firearms Training Incorporated?

There are a lot of press releases at the top of search engine searches, but precious little real information.

This again...

The SAS is thinking on switching to the 7.62 from the 5.56 round.

If only some 6.5mm-ish round was adopted one of the dozen times they tried in the past 80 years...

I'm beginning to think 6.5mm stuff is the 16 gauge of the military rifle centerfire ammunition world.  Both are ideal theoretically, both have a limited number of HUGE fans, yet the popularity never seems to break through to widespread use for many sundry reasons.

From my Governor

In an email.

"We are so close to passing legislation that will reduce gun violence and make our families, schools, and communities safer.

But according to recent news reports, some members of the Maryland House of Delegates are trying to water down the ban on assault weapons; they want to continue allowing the sale of weapons like the Bushmaster M-4 Carbine and the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle in Maryland. These weapons are similar to the ones that were used in the mass shootings in Newtown and Aurora, and by the Beltway Sniper.

We need this common sense ban. Please call your Delegate and urge him or her to SUPPORT the Assault Weapons Ban in the Firearms Safety Act of 2013."

You go to hell, you perverted Leprechaun.  You give Irish Americans a bad name.

I think I can _transport_

Looks like they expanded the wording in Maryland's Senate Bill 281 from merely 'possess' a registered assault weapon (like a stripped AR lower) to possess and transport.  They were still hashing out the House Bill 294 vis SB281 when I wrote this, but the wording of the HB was the same as the original Senate Bill. 

So, worst case scenario, for me personally, I can no longer buy an AR lower, M1A, etc. after December 2013.  I don't have to 'register' any I have before that date because they already were when purchased.  I can no longer buy 20 round mags in Maryland, but there is nothing against me possessing or transporting 11, or 20, or 30, or 50+ round magazines in this state, and can still buy that stuff at a Virginia gun show and take them home.  I don't have to get a special gun-purchase license because I am a military veteran honorably discharged.

There was a worry in the original verbiage that I'd have burdens in those matters. 

So I can live it. Hell no!  That doesn't mean I am not wholly opposed to this law.  What if I want to buy something ELSE in the future?  Definitely need to get one more stripped lower before the end of the year.

I did send another note to my Delegate this week.  He's probably getting sick of me. Coincidentally a couple hours before THIS came over the wire.

Also... M1A and others might be kosher if they are modified so they don't have some features.  The big one on a plain service type M1A is the flash hider.  And they must come with 10 round magazines.  But what if I bought a flash hider and screwed it on myself?  Nothing at all about user modification for a so called assault long gun, that I can see.  It's law, it's confusing.  But I am pretty sure that buy a stripped AR lower or an M1A (for example) is right out.  But if someone beside Springfield makes a clone of the M1A...  and puts it in a standard stock with no flashhider... 

It's even more confusing.  Say you move here from Texas with an AR.  You might be able to just register it with the state and still be able to possess and transport thereafter.  That one is a bit more iffy...  Good luck getting them to accept your registration.

"But I live in Northern Virginia, T-Bolt, and I want to go to a blog shoot in south central Pennsylvania, what happens if I drive that little 6 mile length of I81 on my way there with an AR in my Pick-em-up truck?  It's not registered in Maryland, perfectly alright in VA and PA, and I'm only transporting it through MD.  I may stop for gas..."

Well... I recommend not getting pulled over.  Failing that, hopefully FOPA has your back.  Sorta like going from Vermont to New Hampshire and passing through a sliver of Massachusetts.  Technically you are ok, but, I wouldn't push it.

4th Circuit

The Court of Appeals ruled against the Woollard Maryland CCW case, saying they prefer to rule by intermediate scrutiny and the case doesn't prove the the law in question violates that scrutiny.

What next?  Alan Gura appeals.  It either goes En Banc at the 4th or they refuse to hear it and the law stands and then it goes to the US Supreme Court. 

It would have been nice if it ruled in our favor, as the Kachalsky ruling was also against us and this would mean a splite circuit and be a motivator for SCOTUS to hear it.

[update:  is there a split decision with some other court of appeals or not?]

What Makes a 1911 Jam?

Operator error.  In a new mid-level 1911 right out of the box, my guess is any jams you may experience are operator errors.

Ok, no selecting and using decent magazines is a big 'operator error' that isn't really operator error, but work with me on this.

Limp wristing is an operator error.

Overloading a magazine is an operator error.

For some 1911s, not giving the rails an occasional lube is an operator error.  I haven't really noticed this, but I've never tested it with 1000 rounds between cleaning.

Selecting crappy ammo is operator error.

Selecting a $200 1911 and having high hopes for it's reliability is operator error.

Lately I've been letting the thumb that rides on the safety rub the slide.  If Glocks had a thumb rest in the same place you'd hear about a lot more Glock jams.  And I've seen someone handling one of OldNFO's 1911s get a weird double tape for another odd grip configuration they did.  (I like to borrow a guy's Glock after he brags it never ever jams and grip it just the right way to make it jam 3 times with one magazine, and then point out my 1911 didn't jam once with a whole box of ammo.  I show him what I did, after, of course.  They always guess I limp wristed it, but that isn't the case.)

Then, because of all these operator errors, taking a dremel to your heater to 'improve' it and for some reason it doesn't get better (because you are still using crappy mags or a screwy) so they improve it some more and then get frustrated and sell it to the used market.  BIG operator error, there, an no mistake. 

--

That said, large volume training classes report issues with 1911s.  I'd love to know the reasons.  I like it when I see rare stories of trainers eschewing their $500 plastic gun and running a $900 1911 and have little or no issue on that single occasion... just to see.

Now that $400 price differential is still a HUGE advantage, and one I can't argue with.  Also, capacity.  Both serious considerations before making the old 45 your go-to preference, sure. 

--

I need to go back to the range.  Burn off some of this extra .45, and tamp down the operator issues more.  Hope the range is starting to thin out.  45 minute waits are not what I am looking when I want a .45 workout.

The H Word

A metrocon uses it.  Hoplophobe.  Good for him.

DiFi Foiled?

They aren't going to let her bill come to the floor of the Senate in the larger Senate Gun-Ban bill.

Good News?  Sorta.  Maybe.

I think if her stuff was included there then the whole bill had a greater chance of being filibustered, and Harry Reid knew it.  I think Harry wants to vote on SOMETHING, and thinks a more tamped down bill has a chance of a floor vote and maybe passage to be sent to the House.  And Harry wants to not embarrass Obama but not have anything go through to a vote, and there is the chance of less backlash for pro gun dems in 2014 with a milder bill, and there is the chance wobbly Republicans will actually send some lesser, but still bad, bill to the president to sign. 

Yeah, it's political baloney slicing.

I want all gun control bills to fail, with plenty of people on record voting FOR the bill anyway that can then be targeted for defeat in 2014.  And then defeated.  But first, I want any new restrictions, NOW, to fail.

--

And there's the rub... let's see what the Feds do with background checks for everything and a backdoor illegal gun registration.

--

But this does mean that at least 16 democrats in the Senate don't want the exposure of this bill with their vote on record either way.  16 of 55.   Only 39 or less would vote to bring it to the floor.  I hope my statehouse is paying attention.  The proportion of Dems in this state, total, isn't much higher than it is in the US Senate.

! Attention Marylanders !

Alert from Maryland Shall Issue.

Like, now.

Things are moving in Annapolis.  Won't be long now.  Oppose any new MD gun control and let your Delegate know how you feel.

I did today, already.

Metrocons reporting DiFi's Humiliation

Yay.

And here.

Money quote of Cooke's:

"Can sheer bloody minded insistence work against a Senate that’s not interested, a House that will never pass such a measure, and a raft of evidence that suggests that banning guns based on their appearance does nothing?"

If the Magazine Limit Passes

Well, people that go with idea that "two 9mm rounds in a bad guy is better than one .45" will probably switch to .45s.  A 10 round limit gives a slight edge to Smith and Wesson.  The M&P .45 takes 10 round magazines, while the Glock 21 has a 13 rounder.  I'm sure Glock would quickly produce a gimped 10 round mag for it.  The 7 round limit in New York state is a boon to Kimber and every other 1911 maker.

People will practice more instead of relying on the extra rounds, which we should be doing anyway, stressing shot placement.

Expect more new fangled guns to come out like the XD slim. 

People will buy 10 round 1911 mags and Barney the pistol so they carry 10+1 in the gun.  Plus spare mags.

It might be a good idea to frequently carry a BUG.  Back up gun.  A New York reload.  Maybe more than one in a backpack or courier bag or fanny pack. 



~

So keep that in mind, Gun Banners.  I bet one or more of those suggestions will give them the vapors, but leftists have never been very good at thinking about the unintended consequences of their actions.  The surge in gun sales and new gun developments will hurt their feeling the most.  ("But we passed more gun control!  How can the sales have gone UP?!")

Familiarization

Scenario:

Bad things are happening.  Adrenalin is pumping, and panic is not far away.  It's twilight so vision is slightly impaired by the low light.  You are stressed, but not useless.  You are without your gun!  A buddy's friend throws you a spare firearm because there are ZombieGoblin Terrorist Bad Guys coming right around the corner.  Are you gonna be able to wield it at least semi-effectively?  There is no time or light to look it over.  You can assume it is already loaded or you would have been tossed ammo, too.  Are you able to reload it from the ample supply after the initial rush?

If I got tossed a revolver?  No problem.  "Revolvers work as easily as a fork."  Not much difference between them for 95% of the revolvers he might toss my way.  If it's a Colt, I'd have less of half second hesitation realizing I should pull instead of push on the cylinder release.

If I got tossed a Garand or M1A?  Or 1911?  Also no problem.  A hitch might be the non-ambi safety on the pistol, but, again, half a second to figure that out.  It would have to be some weird configuration to throw me for longer that that.

I've used to those models often enough they are like old friends.

But what if it is something else?

I'd have trouble with any pump shotgun of any type.  If it hangs up I don't know how to remedy it.  I don't instinctive know the fiddly bit I need to push to reload it.  And I am not super familiar with shotguns in general.  If he threw me a Reminton Model 11 or a Browning Auto-5 I'd do better, but even those can have variation in the safety.  And I don't instinctive know which position is safety on/off.  I've shot one, but only a Mossberg.  I have no idea is the fiddly bits are the same with Remingtons.

An AR?  I could probably handle this.  Again, with the safety, positioning is not instinctive for me yet, but Up and Down is pretty obvious.  I could see screwing up safe with full-auto/burst as it is horizontal.  I know how the mag and bolt release work and can work those under stress.  Forward assist, too.  It wouldn't be super smooth, but I could get it into the fight against the ZombieGoblin.

An AK?  I'd never even held one in my hand.  That said, it's a pretty simple platform.  Port cover up, safe, down, is not safe.  Work the bold to cycle a round.  Mag release is like an M1A, sorta.  I bet I could be ok.  Better than with a pump shotty.

Glock/S&W/HK/Regular-SIG pistol?  Yeah, no problem.  Even with HK's mag release.  That would only slow me down briefly.  I'd have to be pretty stress to fail to find that.  Other than that, there isn't much to them.  Almost as simpe as the revolver.

Lever or Bolt gun?  Again, no problem unless the safety is unfamiliar.  Even the total lack of a safety can be a problem if you are expecting it and waste time trying to unengage it.  Loading a Krag might delay me. 

Luger?  I've half field stripped one.  Once.  Poorly.  I know where the safety is and sorta how the mag release works.  I can cycle the action.

Other things?  That might be a problem.  I've never looked at an FAL.  I have no idea where the stuff on it is.    MP5s?  Nope?  Tommy gun, BAR?  I've shot an MP40.  It was simple enough, but not instinctive for me to use, obviously.  And M2 Browning?   No, but that might not take long. Yank the handle, try to the butterfly trigger.   If it hangs up I have no idea how to get it back in the fight.   I don't know the Beretta pistol.   
--

The point I'm getting at is it might be a good idea for me to get MORE familiar with likely 'found' weapons.  At least of the more common varieties.  Terrorist drops his AK in the the mall rampage... Cop is shot dead and I can get to his duty belt and retrieve is pistol to try to ward off the horde of bad guys...  I escape the zombies by crawling into a tank and the dead soldier inside has a Beretta....  It'd be a good idea to not have to familiarize myself for 5 minutes before needing to use the random gun.

I need to shoot an AR more.  I need to shoot a pump shotgun more.  I need to at least try an AK model once.

California Confiscation

H/T Borepatch

 I knew I was forgetting a recent one.  That california cop that thinks confiscation is only matter of time.

Wrong Copper.  I'll be old and close to death in 20 years.  Watch out if I take up smoking again, as my long term plans have gelled.  Molon Labe and all that.

Remember the Metrocons?

They've stopped talking about guns.  It's not really front page news anymore, so, as usual, they move on to the next thing to continue their political gamesmanship.

Well, beggars can't be choosers.

They weren't in their comfort zone, anyway. 

I take that back.  I wish 2nd amendment rights were more bipartisan. 

Science

The SCIENCE! or lack thereof, of gun research.  And part 2.  From Boing-boing

Racism pt II

I've read arguments that "The only time the NRA liked gun control was in the 60s when they were worried about the Black Power and Civil Rights movement and black men arming themselves!"

Yes, that was a unfortunate time with the NRA.  (And Ronald Reagan in California, too.)  And I hear arguments that 'it was better to support the GCA of 68 because it would have been a worse infraction of our rights otherwise.'  Yeah, yeah.  Better GCA than a repeal of the 2nd Amendment, certainly.  Like that was ever really going to happen.

But what that argument about 1960s era NRA refuses to acknowledge...  It was a different organization back then.  Fudds getting ready to move out to Colorado and forget the hustle bustle of politics.  There is the NRA Revolt of Cincinnati in 1977.  There is what came before 1977 and what came after.  So consider that, liberal columnists, before excoriating the NRA for its lapses in the 60s.  That was when it was a shooting and sportsman club with an interesting politics.  Now it co-equal:  Shooting AND a Civil Right Advocate.

There would be less rancor if the gun issue didn't also fall one of side of the political fault line.  Liberal writers think the NRA is racist because there is more GOP types on the gun freedom side and the GOP is the wrong 'team.'  If the NRA was a third amendment advocating group it wouldn't be called racist because support of the 3rd is still pretty bipartisan.

African Americans forgave the Democrat Party despite their history of pro-slavery and Jim Crow laws, they can certainly forgive the one lapse the NRA made in the 1960s.  A lapse that may have not even been a lapse but a miscalculation.  (Or may it wasn't a lapse but they had to amputate a 'limb' to save the whole.)  And there are other reasons to be for gun rights other than for where it comes down to in the political party football game.  So I am optimistic.

Projection

Have you ever noticed that with the more execrable politicians almost every statement is a reflection on themselves? 

It's famous for an anti-gay advocate to be caught going to same-sex prostitutes, for instance.

But with gun banners.  "The NRA and gun owners today is nothing but racist old white men, and their numbers are dwindling, living in fear and hating on black people."  Then you look around their organization and there are few than there were 20 years ago...  and they all have gray hair... they ban things because of scary looks, and we already went over how racist gun banners are.

Or that they don't trust ordinary people with a gun.  What that is telling you is that they don't trust THEMSELVES with a gun.  And probably for good reason.  (Heck, there was a time I didn't really trust myself with a gun.  I didn't jump up and down to keep one out of YOUR hands, though.)

You know, I don't mind them being crazy cranks, afraid of their shadow.  It's them spreading their fear onto others and directing policy that's an issue.  If they left people alone we'd all be much happier.

Try that trick though.  When one of Them says something, especially if it sounds funny, a non sequitir, or has nothing to do with fact... turn it around onto them.  See if they are just projecting their own foibles onto a larger population.

~~

Happy Pi day!  My default is Key Lime.  Tho I may stretch my culinary skills and make a peach pie sometime...  With homemade crust.

Wild Wild West

The usual hysterics:  "If you pass CCW laws ( or what have you, value for X ) you'll just make this fine locale/city/state into something just like the shootout at the OK Corral."

Really?  Aside from that prediction hasn't come to pass in the dozens of times it was argued in the past 30 years...

Only 3 people died at the OK Corral.  And they were all bad guys.  Shot by ostensible lawmen.

Of course they were enforcing gun control, so, I am of mixed emotions on this.  But you'd think the gun-banners would be all for that.  But the Clanton's were also 'outlaws' so, by today's standard, prohibitted persons... 

Like I said... mixed feelings.

Spam

I'm getting a lot of Spam.  It was ok when they were spamming old posts, as I moderate anything older than 3 days.  But now they are hitting current posts. 

So, sorry, I have to turn off Anonymous postings.  I want to resist turning on CAPTCHA as long as possible. 

It's a shame because there have been decent Anonymous non-spam comments in the past.

'AWB just the beginning'

When they say they don't want to confiscate your guns and never proposed to do so they are lying.  They tell that lie a lot.  Call them on it.

I got my ears perked up now.  Gun banners are coming out of the woodworking and putting it on record that 'no one is talking about taking YOUR guns away'.  Like it's us.  WE are the paranoid ones lying about THEM.

Any other reference to some policy maker talking ban/confiscation, I will try to capture that.  Their statements will be recorded and used against them now and in the future.

Arbitrary and capricious.  Just like soda bans.

Like I've been saying

Gun control is racist.

Why do you have to be so racist, Martin O'Malley?  Just because you are a Democrat governor in a former slave state? So when you vie for the Demo nom in 2016 against Joe Biden it will be a choice between a racist and a sexist?

WD

As Grumpy Cat would say... Good!

So Sad

In which Ms. Feinstein beclowns herself.

So she wants a way to keep veterans suffering from PTSD from purchasing firearms?  There IS a way, Diane.  It's called due process.  Just adjudicate them as unfit.  Otherwise, leave them alone.  Are you calling for a better mental health treatment regime?  I doubt it.

"Limiting magazine capacity is critical because it is when a criminal, a drug dealer, a deranged individual has to pause to change magazines and reload that the police or brave bystanders have the opportunity to take that individual down."

With what do you suggest you 'take down' a bad guy?  You'd have the good guys all disarmed, lady.

And she thinks PTSD is a new thing.  Hundred years ago it was Shell Shock.  Seventy five years ago it was Battle Fatigue.  It's already a thing and has been for some time.  You can look it up. (heh... some commenters already riffed on that observation independent of me...)

Legit Dummy

Huh.  I am a good speller, but horrible with typos.  If you see a misspelled word it is probably my fingers' fault, not my brains.  Or it's intentionally misspelled.

But my brains is wrong about 'Conumdrum'

Huh.  It's 'Conundrum'.  I didn't know that.  Oops.  Learnt sumthin'.  Thanks commenter.  You got me on that one.

They are making them new

You, too, could have a nigh ideal zombie getaway residence.  Just modify the stairs and put up some barricades.  With a deep enough frontage your fishing boat will provide you food.  Some solar panels, rain catchments, wind turbines.  Voila.

Zombie defense home.

Multiple levels inside for defense.  I bet that's a helipad on top.  Buy LOTS of MREs and enjoy the perfect sniping platform.  You are high up to make your POA a little low.
 (i think this can be embiggenated this time...)

Caught Mapping

Brought to you by Chevrolet

Safety Conumdrum

I have an associate on what is essentially an internet forum.  He has a very serious problem.

The husband of his nanny is abusive.  Very abusive.  He and his wife recommended to the nanny to go to the police.  She is afraid to for what he might do to her children.  The husband found out about the associate advising his wife and now the nanny's husband is making veiled threats to him and his family.  And if the nanny is afraid the husband would hurt his own children, what deterrent is there to hurt children NOT his own?  He is quite concerned, as you can imagine, and at a loss as to what to do.  And the rest of the forum is perking up with advice.

Now, the forum is heavily Liberal, and the most yakety members certainly are.  The associate in question is Liberal too.  They are telling him to go to the police himself and get his own restraining order, &c.  Like most Leftists they see the State as their protector and custodian. 

So, I know how readers would treat the situation.  We know the implications of what a paper restraining order accomplishes.  In a similar scenario we'd go to the police to get things on record and to get as much help as possible from than angle.  Even a restraining order.  But that's not all we would do.  And we would have no illusion on the effectiveness of only doing that. 

So I piped in and recommended this associate arm himself and to take his and his family's safety as his number one priority and responsibility?

No.  No I didn't.

He, and the other Liberals in the forum, aren't emotionally mature enough to switch gears and thought processes like that overnight.  (good luck finding a gun to buy these days.  plus, I think he lives in Brooklyn.  yeah...)  A total shooting neophyte, buying a gun in a panic, and not even seeking training?  He'd be lucky to get the right ammo.  The time to acquire a gun for this emergency was last year before their was any pressing possible need for one.

I kept my silence.  If I had piped up and revealed this truth the whole place would vapor lock and devolve down to PSH over gun control.  They wouldn't listen.  Instead they'd bunker in, mentally, dig in their heels. and be less likely alter their thought processes.  It would be hijacked into a political thing.  Fools.

Sorry, buddy.  This is the bed you all made and now you have to lie in it.

Gunnies on this forum are in the minority, but we are not unknown.  Especially lately.  If he sent me a private message I'd render the best advice I could.  But otherwise he'd not listen.

Caliber Conumdrum

Not 'being' there, and just as a look back through the patchwork of history I've noticed and committed to memory...

Pistol rounds. Everyone has looked for the 'most effective' caliber to maximize the utility of this less than ideal solution to "If I can't carry a rifle..."  The caveat is in place that if you have to get into a gunfight, have a gun.  Even better, have a rifle. (and friends, with THEIR rifles, &c.)

So we start the era after the great war with 2 rounds of great utility.  The .45 and the .38.  But lets not leave well enough alone.  How do we improve upon them.  So Elmer Keith comes along and make magnum rounds for the pistol.  .357 being popular.  But that's too much.  .44 magnum is too too much.   How so people stuck to .38 special and .44 special.  But then you are back to square one.  Is there a happy medium?  .41 revolvers become popular in the 70s and 80s.   And the Miami shootout changes everything when the FBI has a bad scene and decides they need a change.  The way the FBI goes, general law enforcement goes, and the general republic from them.  So a 10mm come about.  But it is too much, like a .41 magnum is too much.  So it is stepped down to the .40. 

So that should be the be all end all?  Well...  Now no one is happy with it.  For those that don't like snappy, it has too much recoil.  For those that like big it isn't big enough.  For effectiveness it isn't really that much better than 9mm.  Or worse than a .45.   (Notice revolvers by the wayside at this point so the best 'smallish' round is still .38 inches in diameter but it is the 9mm.)  We are so into esoteric details that we are essentially splitting hairs. 

So, like I said, no one is happy.  But the impossible is asked for.  The effectiveness of a .44 magnum (or, 7.62x51!) with the recoil of a .38 special in a package that will fit in your pocket.  Well, wish in one hand and poop in the other and see what fills up first. 

You are better served practicing lots.  Practicing under stress.  Practicing in the weather.  Pacticing when you feel poorly.  Practicing with whatever you shoot well as long as the caliber is somewhere between .38 and .45.  Practicing so that you have the shot placement as good as you can get. 

Then you are practicing your awareness and your tactics. 

Gah, I need to get to the range more, and draw more, and think about scenarios more.

Snowpacalypse 2013

The schools all closed.  The federal gov't was code red.  I woke up and the streets were wet, slush on the grass, no flakes coming down.

I got dressed, wipe the slush off my car, delaying my start 5 minutes.

I had to use the wipers.  Wet stuff was coming down, and there was spray.

Almost no one was at work.

When I went home, still no snow.

I had to use the wipers.  Wet stuff was coming down, and there was spray.


I was fully prepared to enjoy a day off even if they charged vacation.  Not today, not tomorrow.

Robber Stopped by CCW Holder

Robber Attempts to Hold Up Bank with Plastic Gun Gets Shot in the Face with a Very Real .357 Magnum.

Then leads cops on high speed car chase.

Huh.  You can't say he didn't use enough gun.  A .357 is a perfectly respectable round.  It's not .38 S&W, or, God forbid, a .25 ACP.

Further in the article is that the shot struck the bad-guy's jaw.  So shot placement is an issue. 

Which leads to a parallel lesson.  To stop a zombie you must remove the head or destroy the brain...

Infographic

So, some leftists at the Center for American Progress posted this infographic and think it is damning.

It IS damning, but not how they think.  So 2 million people have failed a background check and the reasons are:

58% felons
9% fugitives
10% misdeamor domestic violence convictions
4% restraining order
1% mentally ill
8% drug abusers


But how many of those 2,000,000 people that have convicted a felony (or NEW felony) by attempting to buy a gun have been arrested and prosecuted for it?   Or is the gov't fine with them now pursuing different means to illegally obtain a firearm and then committing mayhem with it?

It's an argument AGAINST their position!

Plus their are outright lies in he graph.  The "40% Canard" and they conflate suicide with homicide.

[Crap.  Does anyone else have problems when you click to embiggenate the image?  I'd hate to drive traffic to CAP by linking the image....]

Runnin on some fumes here...

I hope to have a range report for ya.  Maybe tomorrow. 

But one thing, I know I joined the NRA for the Wine Club.  Discounts on rental cars and wine; what other reason is there?

They Keep Saying That

Liberal keep telling me, "No one is talking about taking your guns away!"  But this latest push, they sure are.  Lots of people that have always thought that seem to be coming out of the woodwork and admitting to it out loud.

DiFi always has.  Difi is famous for admitting she wants to confiscate them all.


I wish I had thought back in January to save a link to every quote of every Liberal in power that admitted that confiscation of guns is the goal.  That way, when one of them called you crazy because NO ONE is talking confiscation, you could refer to this.  Or this.  Or this from DOJ.

(Have you noticed that people talk about that 'justice' department memo, but they rarely link to it?)

There are other links to prominent politicians and commentators calling for confiscations.  If you know of one, send me a link and I'll post it here to help put pay to the lie.

For instance

Illinois promises confiscation.

Oregon

Washington state.

Civil Rights

Looks like the Maryland Senate will be keeping the fingerprinting requirement when you register/buy a pistol here. 

~sigh~

One day, in the future, I'd like states like mine, California, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts to be ashamed of their civil rights restrictions now the same way Jim Crow states in the south are now abashed at parts of their history. 

Deny a man a gun with onerous fingerprinting and licensing restrictions, seen in the same light as deny a man a vote with literacy tests and poll taxes.

Maybe some day.

Even today you get, "That guy from Mississippi has a good point, but, remember, his state used to have separate water fountains, so anyone's opinion from there is still suspect. You know what I mean..."  And I'd like to hear one day, "That guy from Maryland has a good point, but, remember, his state used to keep a pistol registry, so anyone's opinion from there is still suspect.  You know what I mean..."  From regular people.  

I don't remember

I wasn't engaged in the issue last time.  Help me out old timers.  Or young timers that paid better attention...

Last time there was a push for gun bans in the early 90s, the gun banners took a bath at the polls. 

Was there a similar amount of panic buying back then, or is it a MUCH bigger run now?

Were the protests as big back then compared to now?

What I'm asking is, "what's different now?"  We have more multimedia video thingies airing, but so does the other side.  

It was all Dems in charge back then, so something got passed.  Then that passed bill became a millstone around their neck.  Less chance of getting something passed now, so there will be less reason to punish pols.  Ima thinking if something passes now the GOP will be hit as bad as any Dem. And the GOP is just stupid enough to try to pull that off...

I'm trying to predict what may happen in November of 2014.

I am foreseeing a very real possibility that I could have a Maryland Shall Issue CCW permit in my wallet and a 1911 on my hip  (because the Court settled that the right says keep AND bear), but would get arrested for the felonious crime of letting my walnut stocked M1A (made in Maryland!) see the light of day...

Sequester Coverage

Various sources quoted.  See if you can pick the gunblogger!


"Just tried driving but since sequestration went into effect the roads have all crumbled into dust."


"OH MY GOD THERE ARE GOVERNMENT WORKERS SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTING ALL OVER THE PLACE, THIS IS HORRIBLE, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP"


"BREAKING: CALIFORNIA DECLARES WAR ON OREGON; KENTUCKY LAUNCHES SNEAK ATTACK ON TENNESSEE. MASS CHAOS."


"It wasn't until I ate my neighbor's pancreas that I realized president Obama was right about the sequester."


"The corpses are piling up outside my window like cordwood, oh my God the humanity."


"Nothing to worry about! I grabbed my double barrel shotgun & blasted #sequester through the door, just like the VP said."


"President Obama is right. Undo the sequester! I can't stand it already."


"I don't think my neighbors are taking sequestration seriously. They're giving me weird looks and making fun of my war paint and loincloth."


"So this is what anarchy feels like . . . From now on, I shall be known as ExJon, Warlord of the Western Deserts.'"


"Did America lose 170,000,000 jobs in the last 10 minutes? Keep me informed, everyone."


"The #sequester may now join the Mayan Calendar and the Y2K bug in the '[Stuff] Everyone Survived' Hall of Fame."


"A few hours of fitful sleep, the sound of sirens and screams of the victims of the Barackolypse rending the night air . . . I saw their fires in the dark, savagery swiftly tearing away the thin veneer of civilization only government diversity programs provided."


"Just looked out the window. Five hedge fund guys fighting over a piece of raw meat."

Destroy the Culture

Looks like that is what Leo Hindery Jr. is up to.  Buy a gun periodical publisher, then shut it down.  Because guns are icky, and you redneck cousin-humpers shouldn't be allowed to have any.  Get rid of the gun shows and magazines and maybe we'll turn into Great Britain.

Sorta like a rich Klansman buying up Jet and Ebony magazines, just to shutter them.  Shameful.
~

Turf war

So the MD Lt. Gov had a 'Town Hall' meeting to discuss gun control in a Google Hangout, with a link to participate and everything.

A co-worker did the legwork to put in his 2 cents.  When the town hall was going on he was in the chat room to give our Poltical Better a piece of his mind.

Except the chatroom was separate.  There WAS one, but it was nothing but a select gun-banning friendlies.  The unwashed masses weren't given access to participate.  The link to the forum was a sham.  DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!  He took a screenshot to document the farce.  Click to embiggenate.

Then he went over to his 3D printer to make a bunch more AR lowers and magazines.  That's what you GET astroturfers.  Pre-passage civil disobedience.  Post passage, too.

Remember Back?

Remember back when that EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeevil Newt Gingrich shut down the fedril gummint in a budget fight with Clinton?  All the feds were furloughed.  This company town I live in burst into flames!  Rioting by government workers left scars throughout the Federal Enclave that you can still see today.  It looked light Haiti's Port Au Prince after the Earthquake.  

Well, actually, no, it wasn't that bad.

Heck, only unpaid interns were working the Whitehouse.  And Clinton got a lil' sumthin-sumthin to lie about under oath later, but at the time, I figured he thought it was pretty sweet.  They closed the Washington Monument back then, but it's closed for repairs NOW. 

This time, the sequester cuts only impact 5% of the federal spending.  Where I work they are talking about one day a week rotational furloughs.  So, A) they can do 20% less damage to you people outside the beltway, and B) parking will be MUCH easier for the contractors.

So, no big thang, is my thought.

Now, just means test COLA for Social Security and we'll be on sound footing.  Obama could then take the credit for fixing the budget for decades so and then feel extra justified for asking for crippling new spending and taxes.

"You can get a lot done in this town if you don't care who gets the credit."