Tired

Eye knead Piece an Quite!

Undetectables

Doubt it will go anywhere, Rep. Israel (D-Nassau) want to legislate printed receivers (ostensibly as a renewal of a 1988 law that was flawed back then).  So he knows nothing about how guns work, how gun laws already on the books work, and yet he feels he needs to add to the pile with a new law of his own, the Undetectable Firearms Act. 

Part of it is a minimum weight of a magazine.  

30 is bad because of the number of bullets, 10 is bad because it is too light, and they are both made of all metal.  This is before he get into the discussion of the dreaded plastics.   Some all metal magazines weigh close to the that 4 ounces, making them conceivably verboten.

Now no magazine is legal.  Ever.  Period.  I see what you are trying to for here, Mister Congressman...

Me personally... I would never fire an actual gun made of so little metal that it was undetectable at the airport scanners.  I value my hands and face too much to take that chance.  

And MORE Rain

More money out of my pocket and into Martin O'Malley's, to fund his leftist schemes and plots and presidential ambitions.  More rain means more Rain Tax, doesn't it?

Oh?  You say it's supposed to go toward environmental improvements?  Mmmm.  Ever notice when politicians say "We need more money for teachers and firemen and to pretty up the Chesapeake" it never seems to get to teachers, or firemen, and the Bay never seems to get any better?  But some guy in a wood paneled office somewhere gets another $1200 suit or three.

I wonder if I harvested rain that fell on my roof and used it for garden irrigation and the lawn if that could get me a tax credit?  At least this isn't like some other states where it is illegal to have a rain catchment.

 

Over Militarization

THOUSAND of SWATed up masked cops combed the town to no avail, acting like an occupying power, all to find one kid that had a good reason to believe was injured and not the brains of the outfit.

A couple dozen squad cars with and Andy Taylor and a Barney Fife armed with scatter guns would have got the terrist to go to ground, as he did.  And only a pair would have been needed to apprehend the bad guy after the tip from the boat owner.

I thought we had gone to far with our police years ago.  I am really concerned now.  We citizens need to push back on this trend at the ballot box.  Qualified immunity makes it harder at the jury box, but there, too.  And I'm on my soapbox now.  SWAT abuse is real, it's wrong, it's too expensive, and it needs to stop. 

Also, I'd love to see Congress pass a law that says whatever the gun laws are in a community, the cops have to adhere to them too.  Want to carry a pistol concealed off duty?  I can too.  Want to ban Uzi's and not let me own one?  Don't issue them to cops.  Ban AR's?  Give the cops a .30-30.  You want cops to open carry a pistol on their duty belt?  Let 'regular fold' do so too.  You areguing hollowpoints are bad somehow?  Break it to the cops that they have to go back to FMJ rounds.  Want 'smart' guns and microstamping and extra trigger locks onboard all new firearms?  Start with issuing those types to the po-po.  If the cops convince you it is a bad idea to do any of those, and overly burdens them in their job, then you can't apply it to the rest of us, most importantly.  The police get the best tool for the job, and so do I.  Or that is how it should be.

At least the ownership of Tanks and APCs is the same for the boys in blue as it is for the rest of us.  No change needed there.

If cops want to play at soldier they can join the National Guard.

Batteries

Is it just me, or have the price of batteries gone up significantly the past few years?

MBtGE showed me a cheap source of 4 D-Cells.  Your big-box home centers like Home Despot often have big cheap plastic flashlights on the end of the aisle.  It comes with one of those big block cube of a battery with 2 springs on the top.  These are often called a lantern battery.  The whole thing is often much cheaper than a pack of 4 D-cells, but if you pry the casing of the cube, inside, is 4 D-cells.  But don't destroy the lantern battery upon purchase.  Maybe the thing you need the D's is for light and heck, it comes with a cheap disposable flashlight.

All over, I guess

Now that gun control failed in the Senate, the news has commentary has moved on.  Oh sure, there is a burble or two.  "The Boston Jihadists are why we need gun control!" and "I bet some Bostonians kinda wished they mighta had at least a pistol during that lockdown..."  And post Marathon gun and ammo sales are semi-surging again.  (Man 2013 is a good year to be an FFL...)  But what they have to surge, I have no idea.  At this moment...  little is out there.


So it's ok that the metrocons are moving on to the latest subject.  They, for the most part, comported themselves well during the mad dash by Bloomberg to do something.  I wish they had been able to help in states like MD, and NY, and Conn, but really?  What are the chances there?

Now...  about that supply problem...

Reports from a the Contrarian about the the Nation Gun Show last weekend suggested while we are nothing like back up to stock in supplies, there were guns available.  And they seemed to be staying available.  The panic is over and people are waiting for the prices to come back down and leaving guns on the table.   Now it's just waiting for the ammo supply pipeline to fill back up and the all round prices to normalize.   

Shootout

During the shootout between the bombers and police, Sumdood recorded the event with a smartphone.  It's a shame he couldn't have helped out by shooting at the bombers from their flank.  If it had been in Texas and he had engaged the bad guys he'd have gotten a thank you from the cops.  In Massachusetts the cops may have shot at HIM too for his trouble, and arrested after, probably.  But his chances, based on the angles, of the cops hitting him were kinda minimal. 

If it had been my house there was plenty of time for me to fetch a rifle from the safe, turning on the red dot, and being careful of the backstop, potting at least one of them.  Or disabling the car.  Or, if I noticed the pressure cooker at their feet, shooting that...  At least ONE shot.  Maybe others. 

But the photographer probably didn't have a gun.  6,000,000 people in Mass, and only 200,000 FOID holders.  So 1 in 30 chance.  A little greater if you don't count people under 21.  But there is also the thing that he might have had one gun, and that gun was a snubbie... That might put a crimp in armed response at that range.

Anyway.  Should I, though, if such an event happened in my neighborhood?  Would it be the right thing to do?  The wise thing to do?  Would it be my DUTY to help in that manner?  


-




[actually, in Texas, I bet the cops would haul you downtown.  So the police commissioner could give you a medal.  But the mayor would be pissed.  Because he wasn't able to give you a medal first.  And do you got any traffic tickets?  Don't worry about those.  Don't worry about em for a few years but try to keep it to only 10 over the speed limit if you could...]

It Rained Again

Drat.  Brief T-Storm.  That means I have to pay more taxes to the corrupt philandering Martin O'Malley.  He's using spy satellites to assess my property even now.  No really.  It's not the paranoid delusion getting beamed through my Mad-Maxian colander headgear that makes me say that, he is actually using spy satellites. Rain.

90%

"90% of Americans support new gun controls" is a canard.

/kəˈnär(d)/ Noun -- An unfounded rumor or story.

Sorta like a lie, except some people are ignorant it is a lie.  If someone says it, tell them it's wrong and a canard.  If they say it again you can call the a liar.

Sorta like the canard "75% (or whatever) of the guns in Mexico come from US gun stores."

There was a poll done shortly after Newtown, with emotions running high, where we don't know the question asked, but it was about background checks, and the people polled had no idea what kind of legislation would come to bring about back ground checks, but had assume a law expanding them that came around would match what was in their head, and before they could even know what the bill would look like, and even THEN, can we really trust the pollsters...

Well, time passed, people informed themselves, people argued, and it is certainly not "90% of Americans support new gun controls," or even "background checks" now.  It is not true now and probably never was.

It is a canard.  A lie.

Shut UP, Bloomy

Bloomberg says "Interpretation of Constitution Will ‘Have to Change’ After Boston Bombing"

Take one of those 2 liter bottles of RC Cola you hate so much and shove it up your fifth point of contact... sideways... you petty tinpot.

---

He is lucky my endorsement of some forbidden 'cruel and unusual punishement' is in the Constitution, as that may be the only thing between him and a bad end. 


---

That's your answer to everything Mike.  Perceive a problem, and the solution you always apply is to remove your subject's rights.

---

"Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms."  Yes.  Agreed.  So STOP OBLIGING THEM, ASSHOLE.

Self Fulfilling

I wonder of Joe Biden's "40% of guns sales are done without background checks" canard is a self fulfilling prophecy.

Look, we know the bad guys want it all.  Ban all guns, and round up the ones already in private hands.  We know that is true, with DiFi and others.  They let the mask slip.

Well, a rational gun owner, even NEW gun owner, will want to get while the gettin's good.  More folks will be looking to get an off books gun before they get another bite of the apple.  So now the false statistic of 40% might even get close to coming true.  You don't have to bury your off-books gun until they start a round up.  After the first 10 confiscations, then is the time to bury one of them.  One of them.  You need to have another for just-in-case situations.  So now there is motivation for more than one off-books gun.  And now.

I know some gunnies will think like this.  And I can't blame them.  No one wants to jeopardize their families safety.  Not while it is perfectly legal now and even if something horrible passes there is a half chance that their off book guns will get grandfathered in. 

Getting into a bad habit

Of running out of blog fodder on Mondays.  Yeahm got nuthin again...

I was in Virginia yesterday, so I was CCWing.  At a Lowe's.

All the talk about pressure cookers has me sorta wanting one.  Chili can be done with one.  Chowdah.  It's good for braising, and I wanna try some pork shanks that way.  Mmmm.  Plus KFC style fried chicken.

Another buddy at work is a better cook than me and is thinking along the same lines to get the gadget and expand his culinary horizons.  I told him, "I'll give you cash for two if you go to Bed Bath and Beyond and buy two pressure cookers for us.  Wear dark glasses and a hoodie, it's sunny out and a bit chilly."  He didn't think that was a good idea.

Does anyone else call that store Bloodbath and Beyond?

--

I'm a little hinky about all the house to house searches by SWAT teams done in Boston.  Lots of other blogs have been covering this.  Things must be done to STOP that sort of thing in the future, because had it been here and I was ordered to bunker in, I'd, naturally, have my M1A out and ready and telling any knock on the door to go away.  If the announced they were cops I'd say that it was just the homeowner at home, so they can save time by moving on to the next house as this one was well secured.  If they persisted I'd suggest, strongly, that they should come back with a warrant.  If they kicked my door in things would go pear shaped fast and no one would be happy after.  I hope my relatives, in such a circumstance, would sue the police over my wrongful death.

People have been congratulating the cops on this, but I'd say their actual behavior was a mixed bag.  Yes, they got 2 terrists and one of them was a cop killer and they did 4 days after the crime.  Those terrists will pose no further threat.  But this police state gestapo stuff doesn't cover them in glory.

--

Smile for the camera.  Just protecting and serving...

Lesson Learned

What are the lessons learned over the gun control failure?

Not for us, for the other side.  How will Bloomberg and Obama and any future banner adjust their tactics when they get an oppurtunity, again?

The narrative seems to indicate that they asked for too much in their negotiation as a starting point.  And they waited too long.  When you dance in the blood of children you have to act quickly before it clots up, is going to be their takeaway. 

So look for them, if they are able to control the legislative process, to offer something more limited and faster.  This will require riding herd on the DiFi types who LIVE for the big hearings and big gun-grabs.  I don't know if she has enough self-discipline. 

This also means if they get anything passed next time it will seem pretty innocuous.  Especially to the mass of voters that don't think about gun control either way.  Some closing of the so-called gun show loophole or some quasi registration thing.  They will, again, try to paint our side as hideous monsters for opposing such legislation and might make that stick easier if they start at a lesser restriction rather than shooting for the whole Magillah like they tried to do this time.

So... how do we work the ground ahead of time to foil such a tactic by the bad guys?

He might be the hero Bagram needs

Still don't know if a lower is illegal

A little guideline of what the new MD regime is in PDF form.

Still nothing saying you can't buy a lower this time next year.  It doesn't have any of the features that are banned.  Maybe it becomes banned when you tack the normal stuff on it.  But how would they know when I tacked that stuff on it?

Ha!

From Gay Patriot

This would have been over by now if Senate Democrats hadn't pilloried Jack Bauer and disbanded CTU. #ChloeTweets
— GayPatriot (@GayPatriot) April 19, 2013

Afeared

John Kerry recently said that foreign students were afraid to study in the US 'because GUNS'.

Now it looks like the primary suspects in the Marathon bombing were foreign engineering students at MIT (reportedly) (some kind of student... you know how the press screws up the details, so, grain of salt).  Doesn't sound like they were that afraid.

Care to revise and extend those remarks, Mister Secretary?

Wheelgun Smithing

So I referenced a gunsmithing manual.  Kuhnhausen has others, and I wanted to get a hard copy of the 1911 version.  Plus...

Looking through this... Revolvers look HARD!  Lots of skills machining and fitting that I don't have.  I think I'd have an easier time with the 1911 than to do similar complicated things with a Smith and Wesson. 

Am I going to do those complicated things, myself?  Probably not.  Not with my own stuff.  I'd rather practice on someone else's money first.  But with these resources, at least I can communicate better with a smith and diagnose things better. 

I like these books, and it made me realize there are few gun books I do like.  Jeff Cooper is a fun read.  But a lot of other titles by other authors aren't re-readable.  Hatcher, is good.  I'd like to get some Elmer Kieth that doesn't cost north of $100.  I like old stuff like period catalogs from before I was born.   These books fall into my "keep handy on a shelf" criteria more than Green Eyes Black Rifles does.

Any other recommendations, book wise?

Headline

Headline I'd like to see after that pitiful performance in the Rose Garden:

"'Peasants' Prevail over the Petulant Political Posturings of a Puny Petty Potentate"

Inspector Callahan

Been watching Dirty Harry DVDs.  I realized I must have seen them all on commercial television.  Why?  There is a bit more nudity that I've ever seen before on previous viewings 

Boy howdy did he get Model 29 sales to soar, huh?  That's common knowledge.  And he was an icon of a cop almost from the day the movie was released.

Hmmm.

Did Dirty Harry keep revolvers around a few extra years against the onslaught of semi-autos?  A litte boost of popularity that kept them in police departments just a few year longer than they would have?

Plus some more iconic cops came on the movie screan scene about the time 9mm became more acceptable in a little-c community of toters. 

(and not to mention the Miami FBI shootout and the results from that...)