Taxes

Employment has never been better in my lifetime

Yet Liberal friends repost this.

They LOVE that cartoon.  Really says something.  Speaks to them.  They are sure it is Truth with a capital T.  The closest thing to a Truth they'll concede.  

We're in a boomtime.  I hope it lasts extra long.  I want to see leftists try to take credit for it eventually.  As soon as they do, watch out.  Sell short. 

But it isn't really Trump's boom.  It's not his tax cut.  Taxes weren't the top of his pile upon election.  But it was the closest to the top for him AND Speaker Ryan, as a shared doable effort they both could support.  It's where there was no daylight between the President and the Better Business Bureau quasi-conservatives.  They see eye to eye on little else.

"If you cut tax that money will get invested and create jobs."  Correct.  And it has.  You gotta do something with that money after you drink too much champagne and smoke too many celebratory cigars.

I've been able to invest more.  I am far from rich.  Warren Buffet has been able to invest more.  We were promised a recovery summer in 2010, and the Dems just hoped the economic cycle would come around for them and it didn't.  They put up too many obstacles.  Because of that is cements Obama as the figurehead of an awful steward for the economy.  

Here's a thought for you Neo-Commie to make you feel better.  Uncle Sam is the RICHEST rich guy around.  Sam DEFINITELY didn't earn that money.   And the cuts gave HIM a haircut. 

Annapolis

This week has been legislative gun testimony on various gun bills at the state capitol.

Remember, some nutbag shot up the town's newspaper pretty bad since this time last year.  Do they have laws proposed where people can shoot back and stop such a monster?  No, they want to ban Heavy Barrel ARs (regular ARs have been out since 2013) and limit you to one rifle a month and a 7 day waiting period. 

Yeah, it makes no sense.  No sense for stopping mayhem.  Makes sense for killing a little more gun culture in the state.  Which is 100% what the laws are for.  To inconvenience the law abiding. 

Maryland Shall Issue has been on the scene, helping folks testify in front of lawmakers into the wee hours of the morning yesterday at the house of delegates, and today is the state Senate.  Might be into the wee hours tomorrow for them.

I am a poor gun rights advocate for not getting my hands dirty and showing up in person to lobby these elected fools, even if it is futile.  But I appreciate the MSI peeps doing so.  I have written them checks and will continue to, but I need to get off my butt and do more. 

Why are Democrats

So racist?

We got a politician on THIS side of the river just as bad as all them Virginia Democrats.

It took a while to find out what slur she said, but with some digging... not every outlet goes into slur details.  Yup.  The big one. Apparently she thinks Prince Georges County, southeast of DC, has too many black people around. 

She from a county on the Pennsylvania line, on the 95 corridor, northeast of Baltimore. 

And wow.... does not seem too bright.  This is Public Figure 101, first day stuff.  If you had a propensity to ever utter that sort of thing before, you don't anymore. 

Yeah, I know

I knew .38 +P was inadequate if I really wanted the fancy self defense bullet to do what a fancy self defense bullet is supposed to do (and does do more out of longer barrels) out of snubnosed J-Frames.

I guess a part of me was in denial, hoping for a suspension of the laws of physics, and a bullet would be invented, near term, that would expand reliably after poking through the first front bit of a bad guy, and still poke through to near the back part of a bad guy.   Physics wasn't suspended.

Part of it is laziness (I don't WANNA change), part of it is inertia (I already have a .38/.357, why change horses in mid stream), part of it was path of least resistance (.38s are thick on the ground, I can pick what I want, and the ammo is also readily available still).  I kidded myself that I could always load magnums in my 640s, knowing that that is punishing, slower-shooting, and unlikely. 

But those are excuses.  Only half-thought-out reasons. 

Now keep in mind, I don't think the .32 bigguns self-defense rounds expand any more reliably, either, out of a snubbie.  They might.  But that's not really the point if they are roughly the same is it?  It's 'small gun still shoots 6' that appeals more.    But Lucky Gunner promises to get that data out to us in the future.  They already did .38s a while back.

And I was aware of the hotter .32 revolvers YEARS ago as a reader of Tam's.  I groked her reasoning, even then, as an uber-noob.   Persuaded to its wisdom.  This was BEFORE I had owned my first snub nosed revolver. 

There is no good reason to be stuck in a .38 rut.  Yet I am.

It's not so bad.  .38 isn't a nerf dart.   It's just not ideal.  And I carry that more than 90% of my time when I can carry in public.

So all that to say "It's not ideal, yet I am not changing."

I'm trying hard to think what COULD make me change?  House fire that takes all my guns?  Start from scratch?  Would I even get any revolver if I started from scratch?  Yes, I would get a revolver.  And maybe that would be the push to .32 biggun.  I wouldn't relish stocking up the ammo for it...

Tagged for Later Viewing

Range 21 FEB

I was relaxed.  Which is nice. 

41 shots,  the first 6 are circled in yellow, at 8 yards.  A few magazines at the head at 8 yards.  The rest at the chest at 25 yards.  No malfunctions of any kind.

Similar to my usual recent flaws.  Up and right flinch. 

Shot kinda fast as with the black the silhouette there is less temptation to 'prairie dog'.  Shoot, look at where you hit, shoot, look at where you hit.  Instead it is front site, bang... hey, there is the front site again might as well.. bang.   

More confidence that I can reliably hit center mass at 25 yards.  Don't laugh, I wasn't anywhere close to reliable for YEARS.  Might as well get a big old front sight back then, I wasn't gonna try to hit things more than 30 feet away, with a pistol, even if they were shooting back. 

775 rounds through this pistol.  Not one issue.  Zero.  Pile of parts.  Filed on them parts.  Dremelled them parts.  Assembled them parts.  Dead reliable from the word go.  A well running 1911 is a joy, isn't it?  Even better when it is your hands that did it. 

CCW map

https://www.usacarry.com/concealed_carry_permit_reciprocity_maps.html


I post this link to the CCW map from time to time.  I am very happy they keep it updated, and the last update was the 11th, but I still like to go to the states' gov't website I am traveling to to double check.  You can't be too careful.  But great job on usacarry.  Thank you.

I renewed my Utah CCW, but my Virginia one is gonna lapse.  Non-resident permits, of course.  I will renew Virginia soon enough, but I have to do it in the courthouse instead of online.  The only state I gain with the additional VA permit is New Mexico.

See?

 


If I somehow got a Maryland CCW that only adds Michigan. 

Magic Trick

Check out this magic trick.


It's a good trick! But look closer. That t-shirt the lady is wearing.

Thirty years ago, an ordinary person wouldn't have on a shirt like that. I think. Sure, there were pro gun t-shirts. Sometimes worn by sketchy looking dudes or gun nuts or what have you. You wouldn't see one on an ordinary woman like this. Or am I way off base and needed to open my eyes and look around more thirsty years ago? Still. Regular people in a shirt like that means 'winning' for this issue.

Facts

I'm slipping.

I used to have more in my head.  Gotten lazy since internet searches were invented.

Like, I, and seemingly everyone, knew how many miles wide the United States was.  Thirty years ago.  2,000?  3,000?   Lemme check.  2,680 mile.  Huh.  I thought I remembered a rounder number.

I used to know the circumference of the earth.  11,000?  Nope, that's just halfway.  Ish. 

Packaging damage

So I order ammo from Lucky Gunner and UPS was a bit rough with it.  The box on the end look like this.  Must took a hard corner.

So, I shot off 48 rounds from it and kept these two.  And undamaged one and the one at the heart of the impact.  I could see a size difference at the range.  All the other rounds appeared the same, by eye.  The offending one was noticeable.

Regular size is 1.265

And shucks you can't see this one so good.  Take my word for it.  1.247.

So it was shoved in about two one hundreds of an inch.  Advertised Overall Length is 1.275.

Should I be worried about the short one?  Probably not.  It's not packed in too tight.  And the case isn't so deformed it might not chamber.  Prolly safe to fire.  There is some wiggle room to those official dimensions.  And this is only 3% under spec. 
 
Am I gonna fire it or bin it?  Oh, I am binning it!  Why take the chance.  Save maybe $.35 with a risk of blowing out a custom 1911 for no good reason beyond that?  Yeah, I am binning it.  It goes beyond an excess of caution into wussy-land, but, again, it's just thirty five cents.

Hey, besides dud cans at the range, or the local police station, where do YOU dispose of dud ammo?  If it's one just chuck it in the trash?  Well, my neighbors trash?

[yeah, a bullet puller is the obvious-yet-overlooked-by-me way to go to get rid of ammo i don't want.  silly me.  plus:  new tool.  always good.]

I don't care

Coast Guard Terrist

This isn't me.  Though he is my age and might have been living 4 miles away, at most. 

That 'arsenal' is a little light for a gun nut.  I guess crazy doesn't pay very well.  Plenty there to commit mayhem, sure.  You can only hold so many guns in your arms when committing heinous acts. 

49 and a LT in the Coast Guard?  Lil old for that?  Maybe that detail is wrong.

And 49 and he hasn't committed his terrist act yet?   Been hating on folks his entire adult life?  I'm think he might have just been all talk.  "Bent on committing acts dangerous to human life..." Bent on running his mouth, if my guess.  But if he was close to actually crossing that violent line, good on netting him up coppers.

Don't target Democrats, fella.  Not if you want racists to win.  Turns out the Dems were the dyed in the wool racists all along.  Dems are your allies in that white supremacy garbage you cotton to.  

Note his loadout

Two plate carriers (if he puts a plate on the back...), two 1911, two suppressors, two revolvers, two shotshuns, two plastic pistols, two rucksacks...  He's of the one is none and two is none school.  Three .22 and thee ARs.  One long range bolt action.  Not enough magazines.  

Popular Mechanics reports

"Kalashnikov is Making Kamikaze Drones!"

Whatr?  You mean cruise missiles?

-------


Scientists Finally Figured Out Why Hot Dogs Spark in the Microwave

Spoiler:  It's all the metal shavings from industrial meat packing in the dogs.

(Kidding!  The metal shavings are in grapes, not hot dogs.)

It's snowing like a MoFo out there

I gave myself a code Red, liberal leave, day off.

Had I left for work at my regular time I'd have been fine til I got to the parking garage.  Then I'd be stuck there.  As it's coming DOWN.  Gonna change to ice later. 

My company never closes.  It's really code Green, all the time.  We aren't the gummint.  "10 feet of snow and the building burnt to the ground?  Come to work!  Or burn a vacation day."

I don't talk about metrocons much anymore

I don't talk about metrocons much anymore.  A big part is the venn diagram is pretty much over lapped between Metrocons and #NeverTrumpers, and you get into ugly arguments down that path.  Arguments I'd rather not go into here.

"Guns are icky!  That's why I pay the city taxes, for the police to keep the Poors on another block"

"Trump is icky!  That's why I get paid by folks to write nasty things about him and wander the woods like Hillary.  Maybe this will pass and I'll be on top again," he kids himself.

See?  It'd just get uglier from there.  But, while getting their time monopolized bad mouthing Trump, metrocons have little time to bad mouth the 2nd Amendment apart from quietly acquiescing to the Democrats demands of backgrounds checks that also won't be enforced.

Trump has been no friend to us Gunnies, yet, apart from judge appointments.  And the appointments are from a boring task he sub contracted out to the Federalists.  Which is good.  Keep that inertia up, Mr. President. It could be he second greatest legacy.  Apart from keeping Hillary from returning to the White House

T-Bolt's Unpopular Opinions

Ubiquitous self driving personal vehicles and 18-wheelers are the 'a flying car in every garage' pie in the sky promise of 2016.

I'm not gonna see it, you are not gonna see it.  It's a scientifiction story.

Specific Language

All of this is in English.

"... set the quill dial to zero then advance upward for one quarter of the cordial thickness at the small end and remember to take up the backlash."

I understand it.  Or I understand enough to be able to consult references to fill in the gaps.  For instance, I'd have to look up the codial thickness to get an exact number.

It's machinist talk.  I've been learning a lot about it on youtube, and that that specifically is for a bevel gear being fabricated here.

But most folks reading that have no idea what it is on about.  And that struck me.

And firearm folks have similar specific language item.  Here is a gunsmithing patter:

"I need an oversized hand for my three-screw Model 10, as the the timing is off and the forcing cone is shaving off lead."

And lots of other example of specific language pertaining to the tiniest details in communication of a specialized profession, abound.  Typewriter repair, circus work, diner waitress to short order chef, oil rig wildcatter, seamstress/tailor. 

None of these things

Are national emergencies, Hillary

The real national emergencies:

- Relentless gun violence.
- Children separated from their families at the border.
- Climate change.
- Americans dying for lack of health care.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 18, 2019

'Gun violence' is lower than just about ever.  Don't become an illegal alien trespasser and you won't be separated from your families.  Climate change in non-falsifiable political hooey, and has always been a solution (command economy) in search of a problem (let's do ecology this time...).  And health care is widely available nationwide with short wait times compared to countries with socialized medicine.

Happy President's Day, tho, Mrs. Rodham-Clinton.

Marooned

I had a dream that JayG got back into blogging daily.  But not about guns, as that is his day job.  He, in the dream, had gotten big into fighting robots.   He was super into it, and good thing he makes the Gun Lobby size salary as he was spending a lot more on robuts than motorcycles or guns. 

Which disappointed his son, as the boy is about 18 and is getting ready to go off and join the Navy.  The Navy part is true and not part of my dream.

You can still hear Jay on a podcast, nigh weekly.  The Squirrel Report.

Maybe that is where Jay pulls down his robut money.  Ad revenue from the podcast.

Jay did lose his MARooned domain name.  But not his old StuckInMassachusetts one.  So you can see his yearly real life blog post there.

Ow, my molar!

I know Tam doesn't control the ads on her blog.  Most anything can appear there.

Apparently Dr. Madison is some kind of dentist, and can give relief to this lady who is obviously in a lot of dental pain?  That's nice.  I hope she doesn't need an extraction, and merely needs cavity filled.  No deep drilling to the root of a canal.

[You know, that ad might be fed up to me not because Tam gets sketchy ad placed on her blog by an ad service, but the ad service thinks that ME, T-Bolt, need to know about the wonders of the Ashley Madison dental services team.  Which is a whole different 'blegh...']

Haven't Been to the Range in a While.

Yes, work is still busy, but I'd still normally squeeze in a session.

Yes, I am old and have aches and pains.  There was that time I couldn't raise my support hand higher than my chest a year and a half ago.  That curtailed range work to fewer sessions and more single-hand work.  All because of pinched spinal cord in my neck

Same issue now.  But differnt.  Pain, again.  Just not as bad.  Exacerbated by work.  It's all the mice work at the computer.

Still, I like to practice hurt because the Red New Deal will require a blood revolution and I can't pick the day the jackboots come to my house to ask me to come with them to the train station and board my assigned cattle car.  I may have to say 'no thank you' when I am feeling less than 100%.  So, as much as I can, I practice when I am not 100%.  Just maybe not as long, making things worse.

So, this post is to inspire me to get off the stick a bit. 

My 12 years of blogging

Distilled into a single post by another more famous blogger.  More succinct and elegant than my meager efforts.

• a current event
• a failure of gun control policies already in place
• in a state with more-prolific-than-average gun control policies
• a proscription for a better, cheaper, easier, and demonstrably more efficacious policy
• and written in a wittier-than-average few short paragraphs
• fin

Fry my WHAT?

Back 30 years ago there was a funny show on the Telly.

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Telly.  That's what they call a television on Engelande.

They have lil-dick jokes over there, just as we do.  But unlike here, where they claim your choice of firearam or large SUV means you are compensating for... shortcomings... shall we say?  In Engelande large SUVs are banned because the roads are too small and composed of loose pea gravel, and firearms were already quite banned by the early 90s.  By decades. No, in Engelande you must have a small one if you have the wrong type of dog.

See?



Also, Laurie went on to play an obnoxious know-it-all drugs addict named House.  

Trump is a loudmouth vulgarian

But here is what he has done besides (perhaps) coarsen presidential theatrics:

In case you can't read it.

• Ending some wars we could have won a lot sooner, but apparently someone around here didn't want to.  Not gonna win it?  Let's get out.  And only get into wars we intend to win from now on, dammit.  At least I hope he is ending them...
• Got us out of the Paris Accord CAGW scam.
• Cut gumming regulations
• Full employment after the Great Recession (I got my first raise since the W administration and it was BIG)
• Tax cuts (speaking of raises, got this raise before the other one)
• Two good SCOTUS picks, one despite gawdawful slanders, and LOTS of federal judges that might be useful to the 2A cause.  (RBG MIA 56 days)
• If he just throws a bone to the NRA, or if SCOTUS puts the gun controllers to bed permanent, I would vote for him again.  He can even insult me personally on live television, as long as his actions are more of the same.
• And now, MAYBE, emergency wall funding.  And groundbreaking. So maybe we'll see a calmer Ann Coulter, God love you.

All the things he has delivered are satisfying but they are all half measures.  He hasn't delivered the whole magillah.  He has room to give even more.   That's good business, there.  Making the 'customer' happy with room to make them happier.

It's uncanny how he does this.  You don't think, with his idiotic theatrics, that he can manage to tie his shoes.  But somehow.  Either this is instinctive for him, or he has it planned out like a 4D chess master, or he is luckiest sumbitz going.  And I don't care how.  I just like what's happened to the country so far.  I haven't REALLY disagreed with anything, yet.

Except for gun stuff.  Throw us another bone, and embarrass the Democrats doing it, and that's be pretty sweet.   And you know, he just might.  But the clock is ticking.

For me, I agree with the policie progress he has made so far, and still would rather he had a different style, but that 'want' is LOW on my list of needs.  He's still doing a GREAT job of being Not-Hillary, and the thought of a Hillary administration is still a nightmare. 

I just wanna get a C

The ten states with the worst murder rates are all graded F, according to Gabby Giffords.

Oh wait, that's not murder rates.  That's something called 'gun death rates'.  

10 'gun death' states are, according to her list, alphabetically:

• Alabama 
• Alaska 
• Arkansas 
• Louisiana 
• Missisippi 
•  Missouri 
• Montana 
• New Mexico 
• West Virginia 
• Wyoming

States Worst for MURDER are:

• Alaska 
• Arkansas 
• Delaware w/ a B 
• Florida 
• Louisiana 
• Maryland w/ an A 
• Nevada 
• New Mexico 
• South Carolina 
• Tennessee

You are least likely to be murdered in these Safer States:

• Idaho with an F 
• Kentucky with an F 
• Maine with an F 
• Minnesota 
• Montana with an F
• New Hampshire has a D grade 
• Utah with a D- 
• Vermont with a D+ 
• Virginia with a D 
• Wyoming with an F

So, sadly, there are some reasons to be armed in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico, as they have a murder problem.  And the law supports the law abiding to defend themselves, but certainly that's not a good thing, such a high murder rate.

But Montana and Wyoming have a lot of people dying from a firearm, but a low murder rate.  Another sad statistic.  But no study about suicide rates links firearm ownership to a higher self harm rate.  Only a greater suicide success rate when guns are involved.  Go ahead, DuckDuckGo that. 

But look at the murder states.  One state is mine, and our neighbor Delaware.  With strict gun control in both! 

And, with the exception on Minnesota, the 10 safest states in the country all have lax gun restrictions hampering their polity. 

There are mixed conclusion except this last one, which is pretty telling.

I wish Maryland could get a C grade.  I have a higher than average chance of being murdered but the law keeps me as helpless as possible about it.

Non-Interventionist Hawk

I told you Cruz would make a great Preznit.

Non-Interventionist Hawk?  I like that. 

And I bet he'd have been better on the Second Amendment compared to that Trump guy.  Donald.  Trump's sons are prolly better than either Cruz or Dad.  But they weren't running. 

MREs

This packaging has been around for a while.  But folks notice it kinda looks like someone.

Trump and Kanye?

I say Caddyshack era Bill Murray and Glory era Denzel Washington.

Self Defense

To fend off over-intellectualized barbarians that telegraph they will initiate violence, "to achieve [their] idea of a better society," it may be necessary for good people to defend themselves. 

Gross.

You know them socialists.  Can't have an omelette without breaking a few eggs, they say.  Thing is, nobody ever gets to taste that omelette...  Have you noticed that?  Lotsa broken 'eggs' never any brefass.  Maybe we should fire that chef and just make some oatmeal for ourselves.

I haven't done my taxes yet, but...

Kamala Harris says Ima get scrood.

The average tax refund is down about $170 compared to last year. Let’s call the President’s tax cut what it is: a middle-class tax hike to line the pockets of already wealthy corporations and the 1%.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 11, 2019

I usually have to pay the Feds a couple hundred and get back from the State a couple hundred. Because I have withholding fine tuned for years.

So, this lady thinks less 'refund' of $170 is bad. Like I don't understand how taxes work. Say I paid the Feds $230, this idjit Senator from California is warning me, if I am at my most charitable, that I may have to pay $400 this time. Maybe MORE! She is relying on me being dumber than her.

I get paid 26 times a year. The tax cuts kicked in at the beginning of the year. My paycheck was $80 more, with nothing changed in my circumstances besides that tax cut. Yeah, I noticed that. Back then.

So, because I can math that's... 26... times... 80... carry the two... A bit over two grand! Come back at me Kamala when I do do my taxes and I have to write a check to the feds north of that. $170 is no big thang. And I am no corporate 1 percenter big wig.

I say all this, like I said, at the risk of being wrong. Maybe I WILL get a big kilo tax bill and Harris will be right. I will fess up if that is the case when taxes are complete.

Grocery Habits

I don't have a set routine for grocery shopping.  Apart from "after work, during the week."

Well, middle aged men, shopping alone... are most likely to be out Mondays, early evening, round these parts.  And not just the day before Valemtimes.

What a Difference

Twenty years makes at Smith and Wesson.

20 years ago they'd have gone the other way and promoted taking an eraser to the 2nd.

Great

Currently up for bid...

Which doesn't mean it will be passed and signed.  Plenty of these bills go down in flames...

We now already have an HQL requirement.  It's the Handgun Qualification License.  You need that buy a handgun.  Not tote a handgun.  Buy it.  It has a training requirement, fingerprints, ANOTHER background check you'd be doing when you buy the actual handgun.  Fees.  It's a buncha hoops to jump through to destroy the shooting community.  It inconveniences the law abiding and does nothing to the criminals.  It disproportionately impacts negatively women, minorities, and the poor.

Well, now inn the statehouse is the same thing.  LONG GUN QUALIFICATION LICENSE.  But, obviously, for rifles and shotguns.  You have to register the long guns you already have.  If you move hear you have 90 days to do so.

There are other on the docket.  Some will not see the light of day.  But the fact they are there is worrisome.  Ban handgun rentals, ban the rest of the ARs, ban on home gunsmithing.

This damn state. 

SCIENCE!

As a conservative, I believe in modern technology, & reject superstitious fear of it:

-Vaccines
-Nuclear power
-GMOs
-Missile defense
-Automobiles
-Airplanes

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 9, 2019

World War Ghost Fleet

Ever wonder what happened to all them ships mothballed after the war?

No, not World War II.  The Great War.

They are here, in Maryland, on the Potomac River.  Well, in the Potomac.

Who are these people?

Who are these people coming at you like both of these at the same time?

It’s pretty wild that the GOP can’t decide whether they’re going to run with the conspiracy theory that I’m secretly rich, or the exaggeration & mockery of my family’s struggle after my dad died during the financial crisis.

Instead, they decide to defy logic and run with both.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 9, 2019

I haven't seen em, and I am paying attention.  Maybe a tiny bit from Column A, but not from any big wigs like, say, the Assistant Deputy Vice Chair of the Maryland GOP.  Maybe it someone on her staff?

I've seen people come at you because you are an idjit, but they seem to have a point.  Farting cows...

#LearnToCode

Stop!

Stop encouraging journalism majors to Learn to Code.  I work with coders.  Lots of them.  I've coded some myself.  We have enough stupid people around here without adding a whole bunch more Leftists that are an order of magnitude dumber than the dumbasses that we have already.

Tell them the world needs ditch diggers.

Filing Off the Serial Numbers

Why?

It's a Hollywood trope, sure, but it also happens in real life.  Criminal want gun with the serial numbers filed off.  But what does that gain them beside an additional felony charge when they get caught?

Ok, if your source of guns is a straw purchase using a friend or relative, and you toss your gun at the scene, it is important to you that when the gun is found the cops don't go right to your Aunt Susan who then says "Oh I bought that for my nephew Methhead Mike."

Filing off the serial numbers is good criminal practice in that case. 

But if your source of guns is a local criminal re-seller, Gun-Seller Gus, and Gus doesn't care about the serial number, Mike shouldn't care too much either. 

If Gus's source is burglarizing homes or vehicles, and Mike gets caught with the gun, the burglary charge is less impactful to him than the federal beef for filing off the serial numbers.  Might as well leave em on.

Crime makes you stupid.  It might be stupid to file them serial numbers off.  It might be stupid to NOT file them off.  I bet most of these criminal masterminds choose poorly.  The polar opposite of what is appropo.

As for us.  Regular gun owners.  Never file the serial numbers off.  Like I have to tell YOU that.

If it saves one life

Some Connecticut legislative busybody wants to hike taxes on ammo to kill the gun culture and if "it saves one life" it will be worth it.

What if that ammo tax kills somebody?  Kills just one person?  Is that a reason to not pass the law and to impeach the lady for even bringing it up? 

What if a person can't train or practice effectively because of cost and because of those rusty skills fails to defend themselves effectively from a home invader, huh, Jillian?  Why do you hate poor people, ma'am?

You 'if it saves one life' argument is silly.  And wrong.  Even as a mere emotional appeal, forgetting the fallacy and the human rights aspect of this subject.  Because you can just as easily say CUT ammo taxes.  If it saves just one life won't it be worth it?

Over Tired

And over worked.

Work has been kicking my ass.  But in a good way.  Beats unemployment, too.  But busy busy, making the donuts.

Lots less time to skylark on the innernet and think up blog topic, tho.

Lessee.  A buddy has a son in high school that was given an assignment to interview a local person.  He live in Hanover PA.  His thought was to interview the Flavor Engineers at the Utz factory or Snyders, both local concerns.  And dad said, "that's a great idea and I am going to be sure this happens!"  So it did, but that's not the important bit.  He got a tip from the Engineers.  Put a Lance Lemon Cookie in the freezer.  The cold changes the experience of the icing. 

304,000,000 is a big deal.  That's a LOT of guns.  Yeah, some are the same gun resold, but that don't make it NOT a lotta gun. 

I like beer.  Too much.  So I go through periodic dry spells.  Voluntarily.  Maybe shed a pound, give my liver a break.  Be sure I can quit and that it isn't a problem.  No bigs.  I'm in a dry spell right now.  Before the dry spell it'd been a little while since I noticed gout-like symtpoms. 

I like liverwurst.  Too much.  Got some a few weeks into the beer ban.  Gout-like symptoms.  Ah-ha!  It's the liver.  Good to know.  Science!

Let's see.  This post has snacks, snacks, NICS, beer, sammich.  Sheesh.

Oh, yesterday was the 110th anniversary of bakelite.  Formaldehyde, carbolic acid, and asbestos fiber binder.  Mmm mmm good. 

Forever War.

This Jesse Kelly article needs more circulation.

I am all for punishing the barbarians for what they did, and punishing all their friends, and punishing anyone even halfway sympathetic for those monsters.  Wherever it lead.  And then making the rubble bounce.  Hell, I'd approve it again, in a heartbeat.

But back in 2001.

The damn war should have been successfully prosecuted and all the combat areas excessively peaceful.  By 2005.  It's 2019.  If you were going to do it right, meted out all the justice, you'd have done it by now.  End it.  Tell your bipartisan Senator to shove it. 

Read the whole thing, as they say.

[oops, set this to publish in PM instead of AM]

BFD

Guy at work asked for a recommendation of a Blow Forward Device for his AR15.

"One day I'll pop for a suppressor, but the BFDs range in price from $35 to $200."

???

I asked him what he wanted it to do.  He wasn't trying to alleviate recoil, but wanted less of a fireball.

Oh, so a flash hider? Not a compensator.

"No, that's not it..."

???!!!

Look it up again and get back to me with another name, buddy.  I'm not sure what you are on about.  Or, more likely, YOU aren't sure what you are on about.

Or maybe it's this thing:

New one on me, if so.

 

"You do this to an AR"

"It makes the recoil feels much lighter, like it is only as bad as a .38 Special."

Huh?

What an odd thing to say. 

Is the 5.56/.223 recoil really bothering you?

It's hard for me to judge, just thinking about it.  That I could perceive a big enough difference between the two calibers in felt-recoil in a shoulder fired arm.

There is more propellant in the 5.56.  And normally a longer barrel and heavier platform to alleviate some recoil, compared to the usual platform a .38 comes out.  But a big part of felt recoil equation is the Newton part.  No, not the fig filling.  The mass.   5.56 is the 55 grain projectile and the .38 is summat like 158 grain.  So a 3X difference.

All this is apple and oranges, tho.  I don't why I have devoted the above amount of brain sweat to this madness.

I wonder, if you did make a .38 Special AR, if you could notice the difference between it and a regular AR in a blind taste test sort of range session?  I'm guessing no.

Don't make a .38 AR. 

Not the first time

Identifying the super racist person as a Republican even though it is clearly a Democrat?

CNN chyron tonight labels DEMOCRAT Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam a Republican. pic.twitter.com/fRgO8lrHOS

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 2, 2019

That's happened before.

I remember an NPR interview of Robert Caro, biographer of LBJ, and he was discussing the Civil Rights act of 1964, calling out that damn dastardly Republican Speaker of the House, John McCormack of Massachusetts, by name.  He was just so damn racist, that speaker.  So Caro labeled him a Republican, that Speaker, on the RADIO.

In the early 80s my 9th grade history teacher talked of Democrats controlling the house since the beginning of time. I remember that vividly

And in the early 90s Newt won the gavel, first Republican since  Ike. I remember that.

I am man of a certain age.  Not like Caro, born in the Silent Generation.  So the history of who controlled the House left more of a mark.  But it had been 3 presidents since GOP had control, and it would be 6 more before they'd get control again when the Civil Rights Act was passed. 

But there is a narrative to pursue these days and Historians and Wikipedia can't be calling out Democrats as vile racists, but rather MUST mislable Democrats, who invented racism in this country, as Republicans.  So downplay the Demo opposition to the Civil Rights Act and sweep that McCormack guy, #1 or #2 in the Demo leadership since before WWII, under the rug.

If you did something good, you must be a Democrat or it was of no consequence.  If you did something bad you must be a Republican and be shunned, according the NPR and CNN and... others. Caro AND LBJ can eat a bowl of Nixons. 

Ned? Ned Ryerson?

Your NRA membership?

IT'S ABOUT TO EXPIRE!

"Upgrade your Endowment Life Membership to Patron Life Membership!"

Or what?  My Endowment Life Membership expires?  

Did I die?

You can tell me if I am dead, I can take it!

JayG, did the NRA get a copy of my death certificate that I don't know about?

Range 28 Jan

42 rounds of AE . No malfunctions in the gun.  Plenty of malfunctions in the old ass shooter with no stamina anymore. 

What I've noticed since I went from 'absolute crap' to 'merely crap' in the shooting department is how often I will get 2 consecutive shots in the same hole.  (green circle)  I have to bring the target back because I am thinking "you know, I KNOW when I shoot so bad it leaves the paper and that didn't happen this time and there are only 3 holes in the target and that was my fourth shot of the day.... I gotta see."  The one hole looks a little bigger than one shot. 

Also, it is so easy for an impatient shooter to get ahead of themselves in a string and perform poorly.  And I am an impatient shooter