Interesting

Here is an interesting bit.  Let's say Maryland is forced to start issuing 'shall issue' CCW this year and I would then go ahead and get the permit.  Then I could stop this nonsense of getting non-resident permits, right?  No.  None of the surrounding states that currently trust me to carry a pistol in a holster inside my waistband will recognize my right with just the Maryland license, currently.  Heh.  Good.  Thumb in your eye, Maryland.  Civil rights denying ninnies.  (I would get Michigan, oddly.)

Don't get complacent

Until this week I was under the impression that the HS of Federal Premium HST stood for Hydra Shok (well it still might) and is very different from the ammo called Federal Premium Hydra Shok.  Two different generation of self defense ammo.  While the older one isn't shabby...  Technology has advanced since.  And not gimmicky advances neither.

I was too complacent about what I knew that just wasn't true.

But this thread  and subsequent discussion sparked the information upgrade in my wetware.

CCW isn't Rocket Surgery, but you still gotta pay attention to what's happening.  The 'New' in New Jovian Thunderbolt still applies.  Or N00b.

Hydra Shok:

HST:

Reciprocity Maps

Here is the map from here, showing where I can tote with both VA and UT non-resident permits.

And here is with JUST Utah:

 And JUST Virginia:

I don't gain much getting the Virginia CHP.  Just gain New Mexico but lose Washington and Minnesota and Pennsylvania, I think?  The big surprise is not getting Florida or South Carolina with any combination.  I always check when I am looking to travel someplace, but I haven't driven more than 2 states away in some time, (and don't intend to), so I would have known about SC and FL before crossing their borders, but the facts messes with my assumptions, regardless. 

And if you do the same map with resident permits from VA and UT you get a slightly different picture.  Michigan is fine with you, for instance.  And Florida.

The tricky business for me?  Travelling in Pennsylvania.  A policeman might get justifiably steamed if I showed him a VA permit (assuming it comes) until and when I produce a UT permit. 

LOOKOUT, MAN!

Utah is pretty fast with CCW permits...

I sent away, online, with a crappy selfie of a passport picture, on the 17th.  My new Utah non-resident permit came on the 25th. Now I am good for five more years.

They told me it would take 2-4 weeks.  Did it in 8 days.

Cheap and fast and easy renewal.

I wish Maryland gov't was that efficient.  On second thought, if it was, they'd just violate me more efficiently.

My worries that Utah now required I have a permit in my state of residence were unfounded.  If I lived in Virginia, I'd have to prove my CCW(CHP) to Utah, I think.  But if I lived in Virginia, I'd have less reason to have a Utah permit.

Does anyone have an interactive map of CCW reciprocity?  This website seems to be dead.  Wait, what about this one?

Let's see if the Virginia permit I applied for on the same day as Utah comes pretty quick like.

This again...

Journalists thinking that maybe it might be a good idea to compile and publish a list of all gun owners or CCW permit holders or what not.  Silly leftists.

It's not just YOU that can play that game.  How would you feel if your personal details, name, address, were known and then labelled "Hates the Constitution and Guns"?  That might cause you some consternation.  Of course you'd be much safer than we, as CCW people are law abiding by nature and less likely to bother you.  But YOUR list is a shopping list for burglars to come to our houses when we are at work and then steal our spare pistol.   

Would you post the names and addresses of all the police officers in your jurisdiction, Civitas Media?  If not, why not?

Would you post the names and addresses of battered spouses that are fleeing their batterer who persists on trying to track them down?  If not, why not?

Would you post the names and addresses of everyone that got a marriage license where both parties are the same gender?  If not, why not?

Are you thinking publishing are vital info is a matter of public safety?  Do you really think CCW holders near you are a majority of the gun owning households near you?

You employ 1400 people Civitas Media.  There are certainly some CCW holders in that group.  You ever consider that? 
 
We are CCW holders.  We aren't felons.  You complain about privacy issues then contemplate doing this?

Zombocalypse vehicle

Or maybe as a daily commuter.  Paging JayG...

First Wave

Cured Zombies



This is actually kind of touching.

Cockneys Vs. Zombies

An interesting Brit zombie movie.  Produced by Simon Pegg, who brought us Shaun of the Dead.

A medieval era tomb is inadvertently dug up in the East End by a construction crew, next to a retirement home, and their are two shamblors inside.  It quickly spreads, of course.  While this is going on, two ne'er do wells, as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike, have a plot to rob a bank to be able to help their gran-da in that self same home be able to preserve it from encroaching construction of luxury apartments.  The outbreak bollocks the pinch as they leave the bank, but now they gotta rescue the old fogeys, wot?

Starts slow, then ramps up nicely.

Zombie Crass Commercialism

One of them hipster fancy shmancy online catalog house that sorta looks like the catalog you find on airlines, SkyMall has a Zombacalypse Survival section.

Neato stuff.

Mostly anti-Zombie vehicles.

Rocketeer

I caught part of the movie Rocketeer this past weekend.

It's got Jennifer Connelly, what's not to like?

Lots of gun content.   1911s, Tommy guns, MP40 ish looking German guns.

Only it is set in 1938.  So...  Odd there would Machine Pistols from the year 1940...

But that is my favorite era in US History.  The 1930s.  Really the Hoover administration and the first two commie terms of the FDR administration.  Not reason to like it from those two socialists, but I like it stylistically.  No reason to like it for the Hard Times of the Depression, then Great Depression, but I do.  It's where I set my 'modern day' fiction when I have a gumption to write.

My Uncle was born in 1934.  My Father in 1938.  My favorite Stanley woodworking tools era was in the 30s, and they'd all be eclipsed post war (I sorta collect tools made between when my Grandpa was born in 1906 and when my father was born in 1938).  The US wasn't dragged into overseas foreign policy stuff.  I like the look of the cars.  Prohibition ended.  Air conditioning and antibiotics were invented.  Men wore hats.  Those horrid ballpoint pens weren't a thing yet.

The war changed everything.  What came after it had it's charm, but I like the time before the war.   

DC Blizzard Zombies

The dire winter weather we have experienced hereabouts got me thinking.

You know those HUGE snowplows that are more common in more northern areas?  With minimal modification they'd make GREAT zombocalypse survival vehicles.  That big blade up front would make short work of the hordes, and the dump truck back could be repurposed with a welded on roof and firing loops.  You'd have to reinforce the windows to the cab, too.  Perfect for a family of 4 and a couple more friends.

Not Shooting Enough

I didn't even realize I forgot to renew my range membership two months ago.  I have been shooting, just not there.  And not enough. 

It's a whole different range experience now compared to 6 years ago when I started out.  I am thinking about different things.  Some things I still need to consciously work on, like finger placement when I start shifting off, or to slow down and pull back the trigger ever so smoothly. Other things fall into place.  I care less about a perfect stance, as long as it isn't a bad stance.  My grip only concerns me when I isn't automatically right.  I consistently hold the pistol on the same place. 

I jump less, I guess.  Though it's been months since I've been in a crowded indoor range.

I guess I am also getting lethargic of the whole 'gun' thing.  There is less novelty to the subject.  And I have hashed out my thought process on my personal development an infinitum here.   I am getting blase enough about it that I sometimes forget the model numbers of guns I own and have to think about it for a moment.  Sig 226 or 229 or...?  The revolvers are stainless Smiths, so they are all 6 sumthin... but sumthin what?  I only have 3 and handled 4 of them (the ex-gf and MBtGE had the .44).  Is the Pocket hammerless 1903/07 or 1903/08?  Hmph.

It's this state I think.  I never thought I'd leave it, but I'd pick up and move to WV after retirement I am sure, now.  West Virginia is like Maryland, just without the Bay and flatlands.  And a different political climate.  

John Pedersen

Pedersen...

Is it pronounced Pehderson or PEEterson?



He's been in the news, naturally. Sorta the famous second tier US gunsmith greats. I liked him before her was cool because of the esoteric stuff he came up with. I still wish his round had become the US Army standard in the late 20s. I still fantasize that essentially the same round would be standard today if that is happen, but i am kidding myself. The cartridge is too tapered and too long and the projectile is a bit heavy. And if you correct those to match modern preferences. Plus, what would people have hunted with if the .30-06 was last used by the Army 90 years ago?

Oh, GREAT

JUST what we need.  Dammit.  I hope you upgraded that damn shotting to something else.

"America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other Disturbing Behavior"

Star Streak Zombie Apoc Vehicle

This would make a stylin' Zombie Apoc vehicle with very little modification.

That's a 71 Olds Toronado under all that.   It was custom built by an Air Force officer so I am sure he was thinking about the utility against zombies when he made it.  The windows are bullet resistant glass.  Sleeps 2, onboard water storage, and low enough to be garaged.

Nice To Know

The Constitution applies to ME, New Jovian Thunderbolt.  Good. Now I can keep my news sources confidential and whatnot.

Fan Submission

A big fan of the blog sent this to me.  Yarn Zombies.  Not too late to shop for next years Christmas for all the kids and zombie hunters among your friends and relatives.

Thanks, anonymous tipster!

CCW Renewal

I don't think Utah is going to let me renew my non-resident CCW next month.  They only seem to want to extend their license to people that have a license in their home state.  Since I can't provide them a copy of my Maryland CCW, not having one, they are wary to sanction my carry in other states besides MD.  

So, what to do?  Get a Virginia non resident permit.  I gotta jump through hoops, of course, but I don't need to drop $300 on another CCW training class.  A hunter safety course (who knows where my certificate for that is, but I got it somewhere...) is enough.  Or, a copy of my DD214.  My abbreviated career as a butter bar in the USN (no 'R') is fine.  I only earned two ribbons in the service, a National Defense Service ribbon for watching the first Gulf War on teevee, and a pistol marksmanship qualification using a WWII era 1911.  I don't need the pistol qual to get the VA CCW, but I figure that is nice icing on the cake.

Then a check, fingerprint this, notarize that, sign here in triplicate, and mail off the application.  Done and done.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Since the renewal of the Utah one is only $15, I did that renewal process, too.  Just in case I am reading the new regs wrong.  It was all online, provide my license number and upload a new picture, yada yada.   I'll let you, and, more importantly, my Maryland peeps, know how that goes as well.

I'm Still Tracking Them Metrocons!

Over at National Review.

This is from Brendan Foht.  Commenting on people from the Metrocon Fortnightly commenting on guns.

It's about how the Leftists like to declare conservatives crazy, and ergo we need policies (like gun bans) to stop those dangerous wackos.  A fallacy, as we well know, and Mr. Foht gives the idea its usual deserved evisceration.

"But beyond the silliness of the appeal to neuroscience, the attempt to psychologize political debates has a troubling tendency to reduce important components of arguments to merely emotional drives that cannot be subject to rational discussion."

 Seems the Leftist, Phillips, in question likes minimize the emotional appeals from conservatives while simultaneously validating the emotional appeal of his side.  Another way to concede the Left doesn't have the rational arguments going in their favor...  He's fishing in new holes to see if he gets a nibble, and to draw the pro civil rights side onto a battlefield of the gun banners choosing.  And the metrocons are onto him.

Foht notes that while Phillips is talking gun control, his psychobabble extends to people that also value other Constitutionally guaranteed rights.  Foht is inside his OODA loop.

Their side is losing the debate and losing on gun policy, even if our momentum is glacially slow.