More on Concealed Carry in Ohio

A piece in the Medina County Gazette (Ohio) about concealed carry now that it has been in effect for a year there. The author rightly (in my opinion) points out that it has not caused vigilantism to run rampant, nor has the mere presence of concealed carry obviously deterred any crimes, because, well, you can't really prove a negative. But I just wanted to mention that there is one aspect of the law on Ohio which I find absolutely horrifying:

As the concealed-carry law stands, only members of the news media may see the list of permit holders. The Gazette so far has not published the list, but other newspapers have. Hassinger said he disagrees with the media-only aspect of it. Either the list should be public or it shouldn't be. No in-between.

In-between, hell. There shouldn't be a list, period. In Texas it is possible to find out if a specific individual has a license, but that individual must be specifically named, and all you get is a yes or a no. And frankly, I am uncomfortable even with that. Allowing a complete list is insane. And whose idea was it to give media outlets the sole power in accessing and publicizing this list? Ye gads, it boggles the mind.

More Stupid Gun Tricks

A deputy holding a gun safety class in an Anderson County (South Carolina) middle school apparently pulled a really dumb stunt when he had a student demonstrate "how hard it was to take a gun from an officer's holster."

'The officer there today had a major lapse in judgment,' Crenshaw said Wednesday. 'He was just trying to be nice to the kids and made a faulty decision. It was an accident. The good Lord blessed us that nobody got hurt.'

Yep. God looks out for children and idiots, or something like that.

Good dog!

I have written plenty of complaints about dogs here, so I must be fair and post this link about a stray dog that saved an abandoned baby in Kenya. The dog--now named Mkombozi (or "Savior")--has been given a home as well.

Now that's hot sauce!

Winds of Change has a few comments (w/ link) about a new hot sauce this is 8,000 times hotter than Louisiana ant piss Tabasco, at a whopping 16,000,000 Scovilles. I use another fairly potent sauce called Vicious Viper to soup up chili. At a mere 250,000 Scovilles, 5 drops will heat up a pot of chili quite nicely. Somebody should put this stuff in a spray can. It would make a heck of a chihuahua sauce.

5 day waiting period for swimming pools?

Willisms.com has an interesting gun-related Trivia Tidbit Of The Day.

Operation Falcon

"Operation FALCON successfully executed in excess of 10,340 felony arrest warrants and cleared by arrest or other means over 13,851 warrants."

But only 243 weapons were seized. Posse Incitatus has more.

tnx to Clayton Cramer's Blog

Some Dawsonville, GA workers get lucky

Employees of various stores in Dawsonville, GA, chase away an armed robber. Fortunately for them, he wasn't desperate enough to actually use the gun.

Better luck next year for Nebraska

Nebraskans will have to wait until next year for another chance to legally defend themselves from unlawful violent attack.

More on the service Ruger

I mentioned before about the 5,000 units of the Ruger P95 being ordered by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command of Rock Island, IL. There's another brief mention of this in the June 2005 issue of Guns & Ammo. It mentions that each pistol is shipped with 10-round magazines. What the...? Why aren't they being issued the standard 15-rounders, I mean, they're in the military. (Yes, for this model of pistol 15 rounds is standard capacity. Ten-round magazines are low capacity. Anything that makes the magazine stick out past the butt of the grips is high capacity, if you feel that you still need that category for any useful purpose). Another funny thing in this article is that they are still shipped in the regular Ruger plastic box, just like for civilians, complete with the "safety" locks. Of course, the soldiers have no use for the locks, so they have become quite popular as bicycle locks among some Iraqis. Unfortunately, all the locks use the same key.

I still say that if they were going to give them Rugers, they should've gone for the P97 or the newer P345.

Massachusetts man loses concealed carry license because of his zipper

Sticking to their guns is an article from the Daily News about Joseph Landers, who had his license revoked because his coat blew open, momentarily revealing his legally carried firearm.

Landers' coat was not entirely zipped up that day, and when the wind blew it open, a Dedham Police officer across the street zoomed in and noticed the gun. Upon request by the officer, Landers produced a valid five-year license issued in 1995 to carry the gun. But the problem was, state law required that he keep the weapon concealed.

While the officer let Landers go without an arrest, the Adams Street resident soon after received notice from Dedham Police Chief Dennis Teehan that his Class A license to carry firearms had been revoked due to the incident.

And...

"I have always erred on the side of caution when issuing a license to carry firearms," Teehan said in a 2001 letter reaffirming his denial. "For this reason, I find it necessary to deny your request for a license to carry."

What is to err here? His coat blew open. He has no criminal record. He had followed all the rules. There was no arrest. This is just arbitrarily jumping on this poor guy by an obviously anti-self-defense chief of police. But then, it's Massachusetts, so I guess he should be glad he's not in jail just for possessing a firearm at all.

Concealed carry in North Carolina

A permit to pack is an article from the News-Record of North Carolina (all emphasis mine):

While experts debate the merits of concealed handguns, this much is known: a News & Record analysis of thousands of state records shows proponents made at least one accurate prediction -- those who receive permits follow the law.

One-tenth of 1 percent of all permits issued since the law's inception have been revoked. Though the State Bureau of Investigation declined to release what led to revocations, local law enforcement officials say most weren't because of crime.

And those who carry hidden handguns may surprise you.

They're teachers and electricians, salon owners and factory workers, bus drivers and university accountants.

"As we like to say, a concealed-handgun-permit holder is the only certified law-abiding citizen that a law enforcement officer is likely to meet," said Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots North Carolina. "The people who have concealed handgun permits by and large are very ordinary people. They come from all walks of life."

There are also some lines from the victimization folks, like:

But she said the expansion of the law -- allowing permit holders to purchase guns without a sheriff's direct knowledge -- sets a dangerous precedent.

I haven't noticed any dangerous problems here in Texas. I don't see why NC would be any different. Also:

"In some states, almost anyone can get a concealed-carry permit."

Well, I would say almost anyone you meet is a law-abiding citizen, so why shouldn't almost anyone be allowed to carry concealed?

A couple of differences between the Texas and NC laws. They qualify with their handgun at 21 feet, which apparently in NC is "the maximum distance allowed under law for shooting an attacker in self-defense." That's kind of scary. How in the heck under that kind of stress are you going to be able to tell if they're within the "legal to shoot" zone? Besides, I don't see any criminals waiting to make sure they're within 21 feet before they start shooting at me. I'm glad TX doesn't have that restriction, and I think the NC gun folks should start some lobbying on this nonsense, if they haven't already.

The other difference I noticed is that the woman profiled used a .22, assuming this report is correct. No one should seriously expect to use a .22 for their standard personal defensive weapon, and they should qualify with something closer that what they actually plan on using. In Texas, you must qualify with a minimum of a .32 caliber firearm. Originally a minimum .38 caliber was necessary, but they changed it later on. What type of .32 is not specified, but of course I suppose they are referring to the .32 ACP.

I find this requirement kind of funny, because it means that you can legally qualify with your little .32 ACP Kel-Tec, but you would not be allowed to qualify with the vastly more powerful and difficult to handle CZ-52, because the CZ uses 7.62x25mm, which is technically only .30 caliber.

And I finally received my certified law-abiding citizen card in the mail yesterday. I messed around and waited so long that I was not able to legally carry for about 6 weeks. It's nice to have a license in my wallet again.

I once wrote some fiction...

deleted

If you repeat a lie often enough...

I consider it way outside my purview to comment on the Tony Blair election, but NPR has been whipping this idea to death recently: that he won but he really lost. Chrenkoff has some very good comments on this, with numbers to back it up.

Saturday Night Special #3

This week's link collection are all for various holsters and carry gear.

Michaels of Oregon -- All kinds of holsters for all kinds of guns.
Welcome to The Wilderness -- Slings, holsters, belts, lights, and other tactical accessories.
Excalibur Enterprises Survival and Emergency Preparedness Supplies -- Holsters, fanny packs, optics, and other tactical gear.
Concealed carry handgun holsters by PagerPal -- Holsters mainly for smaller guns disguised with a fake pager. I don't know, a Bravo Plus pager these days would look pretty suspicious to me. (But then, I'm an ex-pager tech).
Pocket Holsters -- Hand crafted holsters for small handguns and derringers, carried in the pocket.
Action-Direct -- Holsters and carry gear, plus knives, sights, and other accessories.
Passport Holsters - Concealed Carry Holsters and Unique Handgun Concealment Products -- Holsters as well as briefcases, purses, etc., all designed for concealed carry.
Holsters from Fobus USA -- Fobus USA.
DeSantis Holster & Leather Goods
Holsters.com - SAFARILAND Holsters, Duty Gear, and more
Comp-tac [www.comp-tac.com] -- Maker of a "tuckable" holster for the XD40 that I am going to get pretty soon.

Unarmed security guards are useless

An opinion piece in the San Antonio Lightning has so many quotable quotes that I can only recommend reading the whole thing, but it boils down to this one quote:

There is a simple lesson here. Unarmed security officers can't protect themselves let alone others from armed killers.

I spent a very brief time as a security guard at the Texas Department of Child Welfare Services in San Antonio. There were usually 3 or 4 guards on duty, as well as one armed police officer. As you can imagine, a place that looks out for child welfare often involves protecting that child from his/her biological parents. I saw a lot of scumbags coming through that door. But get this: the guards were at the front entrance, supervising the entry of every single person (employees and "clients") into that building. The armed officer was about 100 feet down the main hallway, closer to the center of the ground floor. Due to the "security" design of the entrance, there was basically no way to escape if a violent person had come in through that front door. On the other hand, the officer on duty would have been easily able to hear the gunshots that would be dispatching us and be able to react in some way. It wouldn't have done us, or the receptionists, one bit of good. We would all be deadmeat.

Fortunately during my time there, we had no such people come through the door. I couldn't even get away with carrying concealed, because the security guards had to be scanned in as well. I couldn't even keep my Swiss Army Knife on me while on the job. My personal defensive weapon was safely (and distantly) stowed in my vehicle, which may have given me a chance if I happened to be the one patrolling the parking lot when something went down. I fully understand where this commentor is coming from.

category:advocacy

Friday Night Ramble

Not much exciting this week, work-wise. Spent all week delivering notices, no meter reading. Thursday and Friday were deliveries out in the "country," very low volume (50 one day and 29 the next), very high mileage driving all over the eastern part of Bexar County. Dogs were no problem. As a general rule, country dogs are a lot less crazy than city dogs, probably because they get to roam on a lot more range, and are more free to socialize with each other. A dog kept apart from all other dogs for it's entire life gets somewhat whacko after a while. I did encounter a trio of Dobermans today, but one was scared and the other two were friendly as all get-out. I have encountered very few vicious Dobermans.

I wanted to mention that I realize very few people read this blog regularly, occasionally someone comes through and leaves a comment, but probably doesn't ever come back. If I ever saw my number of subscriptions go up to "2" on Bloglines I think I would probably faint. Yeah, I have subscribed to my own blog (you don't see it on the blogroll because it's marked as "private"), but it's not because of some big ego or anything. I do it so that I can see how my articles look when they come out on Bloglines, in case I need to tweak the formatting. I also do it to see how long it takes an article to show up after I've posted it (usually a matter of minutes). And there's that number of subscribers. A lot of the blogs I read have very few Bloglines subscribers, but I know that lots of other people read them "straight," without using any kind of news aggregator.

Something that I don't want anyone to do is to put me on their blogroll merely because their blog is on my blogroll. This "courtesy blogrolling" is not for me unless you feel that I actually am worth checking into occasionally.

By the way, the free web statistic tracker that I use shows that the one blog that sends most people over here is Lest Darkness Fall. A lot of other folks have come through here due to my occasional posts regarding the Minuteman Project. Also by the way LDF, you have 2 subscribers who use Bloglines (one besides myself). Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has also been sending a few hits my way.

I occasionally see that someone has been here by Googling certain search terms that I have mentioned. If you come through here only to find that I have just mentioned something in passing, please feel free to leave a comment asking for more information. If I can add anything to it, I will. For example, yesterday someone came here after Googling "sp 101 ruger concealed carry." This was something I just mentioned briefly, but now I feel that I should add more detail to it.

This week I had a couple of article titles that might be too obscure to make sense to anyone. The time-traveler post made a reference to John Titor. I'm not going to try and explain it, but if you're curious, just go to johntitor.com. The other one I will explain ("Okay, Rockford, throw out the BB gun...). It was an old episode of The Rockford Files, in which Jim Rockford was holed up in a house with a woman while a gunman waited outside to kill him, occasionally firing shots into the house. Rockford asked the woman if she had a gun, and she replied, "I have an old pellet gun that I shoot gophers with." Rockford says, "Well, you better get it out." He eases the barrel through a crack in the window and takes a potshot at the bad guy. The pellet richochets off the hood of the BG's car and stings his cheek. After recoiling slightly, he realizes what happened, and yells, "Okay, Rockford, throw out the BB gun." Among people who know me, I am semi-famous for having a wealth of useless, trivial data in my memory. This is just one of those bits of trivia.

The book by Bob Dole has been very gripping, and hard to put down. Books by people who were actually there seem to be better than books by scholars who have only studied something. I'll probably comment more on the book when I finish it, which will probably be tomorrow.

Amen.

A swift, deft dissection of a popular factoid at Insane Troll Logic:

The Pelopenesian War? Economic motives
The Trojan War? A woman
The Napoleanic Wars? Land
The Revolutionary War? Land/freedom
The Crimean War? Who the Hell knows
The American Civil War? Federalism/economics/slavery
World War I? Strange alliances, land
World War II? Land, alliances
Korean War? Civil War, ideology
Vietnam War? Civil War, ideology
The Persian Gulf War? Alliances, land, oil

Dirty Harry should've had one of these

Very cool picutres of Kim du Toit lighting up a S&W .500 Magnum. Now that's a hand-held howitzer.

Paging John Titor...

A student at MIT is hosting a time-traveller convention. More power to you, Amal.

Philippine police to allow journalists under threat to carry guns

AP has this article about how tough it is to be a journalist in the Philippines.

Sixty-seven journalists in the Philippines have been killed since 1986--23 of them in the past three years alone, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, or NUJP, said. The mostly unresolved deaths prompted the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists to describe the Philippines as the world's "most murderous" country for reporters.

So...

Bataoil said the police will issue permits to journalists who are licensed gun owners to carry firearms outside their residence only if they prove there is a "verified threat" on their lives.

However...

Gun owners have to undergo neuro-psychological and drug tests plus a gun safety seminar before they are issued licenses.

I have no objection to a gun safety seminar, but I would be interested to see what kind of neuro-psychological test they are subjected to. It reminds me of Superintendant Fowler's attitude on the Britcom The Thin Blue Line: "Anyone who thinks they need a gun is obviously too unbalanced to own one." That's a paraphrase, I don't remember the exact words, but then, it's only a TV show.

Nobody wants poor Bobo the Ratdog

Bobo the ratdog chihuahua that I mentioned last month, has now apparently been outcast by his owner(s). So I assume that unless someone jumps forward to save him, it's only a matter of time for poor Bobo. This must be one bad-a#$ chihuahua. Maybe they should have tried some chihuahua sauce.

More Anti-Self-Defense Nonsense from Florida

An article in the Miami New Times drips with sarcasm. And, as usual, at least one glaring error:

Zapata's arsenal consists of a nine-millimeter handgun and a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum, the hand-held howitzer popularized by Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry character.

Can't these guys even pay attention to movies? Everyone knows it was a .44 Magnum, doofus.

Sarcastic & condescending, I say? Read this excerpt and decide for yourself:

How do you get a license?

First, you'll have to submit an application to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which is charged with the constitutional duty of arming Florida's citizenry. But handling a concealed firearm is like downing twenty shots of José Cuervo tequila: With great power comes great responsibility. So you have to be at least 21 years old to apply for one. You'll have to drop $75 the first time you apply for the license, which runs for five years, and an additional $42 for fingerprint processing. You'll have to fork over another $70 each time you renew it. You must provide your full name, address, place and date of birth, and occupation. If you're pimping hoes or selling crack in the Magic City, just write down "entrepreneur." But always remember that state licensing officials use your fingerprints to run Florida Department of Law Enforcement and FBI criminal background checks on you. So if you're one of Miami's many convicted felons, celebrity or otherwise, you're scarred because the state will not issue you a license. The state will also deny a license if you have been committed to an insane asylum, sent to a drug rehab clinic, or convicted on a drug-related misdemeanor within the last three years from the date of your application.

It's nice to know that my own S&W .357 is a hand-held howitzer. That means I should be able to demolish a house from several miles away. It's this kind of language that makes me immediately discount said person's opinion as meaningless. Just try, Francisco, to get your facts straight before gracing us with your boundless wit.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 15-21, 2005

Yeah, that's right. This gimmick was created by the Postal Service, whose poor babies are stupid enough to let themselves get bitten even though they constantly tempt fate by wearing those goofy-looking grandpa shorts, and even though they never have to climb a fence into someone's backyard that's overgrown like a Congo rain forest in July and spend 15 minutes digging through the brush for a gas meter that's been covered up intentionally because it just doesn't look very chic, all the while watching their six to make sure the family Cujo doesn't dash in for a quick nip. Even though they're never more than 5 minutes walk from their mailmobile. Even though they have time to take a whole hour for lunch, sitting on their fat butts in a southside taqueria, and daring to stop me to ask stupid questions about meter installation when I'm obviously not in the mood to slow down for anyone and I obviously don't have a truck full of meters, tools and other gear like the installation guys do. Even though they spray dogs that aren't a threat in the first place because it yips at them a few times, just to make sure I have a tougher time of it next time I have to go read the meter.

My heart bleeds for them all.

Good news in St. Louis

A snag in Missouri's concealed weapons law was fixed on Tuesday, so that now law-abiding citizens of St. Louis (city and county) should be able to carry:

Legislative supporters said the bill eliminates any legal wiggle room for counties to continue to refuse to issue the permits.

'It ends all the Supreme Court challenges, all of the objections that the chief law enforcement officers have,' said Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, an attorney who handled the bill.

The Senate passed the bill 29-3. The House passed the same bill 142-7 in March.

Because it contains an emergency clause, the bill will become law as soon as Blunt signs it, instead of on the state's traditional Aug. 28 start date for new laws.

tnx to Alphecca

Meanwhile, in Idaho...

Garden City police officers need to put in some range time:

According to insurance claims filed with both departments by residents, shots fired by four officers in pursuit of 39-year-old Harlan Hale hit doors, windows, window moldings, garage doors, an all-terrain-vehicle and a clothes dryer. No one was injured in the March 9 chase.

But seriously, this sounds really bad for the police. If the report is true (heh) they fired 22 shots at a fleeing man. No indication if the man was armed, only that he was fleeing, because he had been accused of shooting at two other officers back in February. Hmm...

Okay, Rockford, throw out the BB gun...

Man, 79, Pulls Gas Pistol on Firefighters from AP. Gas pistol? Well, okay. I guess that's technically correct. Who knew pellet guns could be such a deterrent?

The weapons are powered with CO2 cartridges that shoot projectiles, unlike conventional guns that use bullets or shells.

Makes them sound almost dangerous. Firefighters in full gear probably wouldn't even notice a pellet if it did hit them.

Prediction

I think we'll be seeing more and more of this kind of thing coming from England:

A British school teacher jailed for six months because she fired an airgun at the ground during a stand-off with a group of youths was freed by London's Court of Appeal Wednesday.

Those Brityouth must be a bunch of wimps if one woman with an airgun could stand them off.

Despite Finger, Body Parts in Food Rare

I don't have anything to say about this, I just love the headline.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska...

State Senator Ernie Chambers has apparently revealed himself to be a stark raving loon:

Included in the amendment [to the concealed carry bill] is a requirement for licensed citizens to "carry concealed the maximum number of pistols for personal protection due to paranoia and stark terror of the licensee toward the licensee's family, friends, neighbors, strangers, and possible enemy invaders."

Mr. Chambers has obviously lost his grip on reality, and should retire to bedlam.

Gun Owners of America has some reasons to support Tom DeLay

GOA Alert-- May 03, 2005:

Then, there are activities the liberal media concede are legal and legitimate -- but seek to demonize nevertheless.

For instance, a legal DeLay trip financed by a conservative non-profit organization was challenged because the non-profit, in turn, received contributions from groups which could not fund the trip directly. Even the Washington Post concedes that DeLay had no knowledge of the group's funding, had no obligation to find out, and therefore acted legally.

Funny. Bill Clinton committed perjury -- and the liberal media rallied behind them. So the members of the Washington press corps are obviously no sticklers for ethics.

The bottom line? This fight is about an effective, pro-gun congressman who is being persecuted because of his beliefs.

My solution: introduce caning. It works in Singapore.

I would never make it as a professional scumbag politician. I have no tolerance or patience for bullying behavior of any sort. I was frequently the target of bullies as a kid, often getting beaten up by punks who were a foot or more taller than me and who outweighed me by at least 50 pounds. Representative Ruben Hope (Conroe) has introduced a bill that would require transfer of a victim of bullying to a different school or class. I am so tempted to use intense language here that I can barely type. This is complete bovine feces. GET RID OF THE DAMN BULLY, YOU IDIOT!!! Show some spine and beat the punk senseless with a big wooden dowel, but don't teach the victim to be a cultural victim by running him away from the situation. The bully is only going to find a new target anyway. The bully must be stopped, dead in his tracks. I don't care if you're talking about elementary kids--the bully is not just another little kid to the victim, he is a nightmare come to life.

Bullies were completely ignored, where I went to school as a kid. My solution was eventually to go stark raving mad when I got picked on, and hit back as hard as I could with whatever I could get my hands on. This meant a rock, a jagged piece of metal, a baseball bat, or a big metal pipe that was part of a baseball backstop before I ripped it free. I was extremely fortunate that I never seriously hurt anyone. (Well, one guy did bleed, but he didn't say anything to anyone about it).

I hope I don't sound like a raving lunatic with this post, but it really makes me angry. Bullies should be punished, immediately and decisively, and be allowed absolutely no tolerance.

Senator Judith "Legs" Zaffirini has another proposal that wold require bullies to attend a sensitivity course. This also makes no sense. This kind of training only works on people who have a "mature" enough mental process to understand the consequences of their transgressal. Bullies in school don't have this. They will sit in the back, roll their eyes, and make crude jokes under their breath. It works on adults because they can get fired and lose their income (or possibly even go to jail) if they break the rules. What's going to happen to a bully? Worst case: expulsion. What kind of punishment is that? The bully doesn't want to be in school anyway. He'd much rather be cut loose on the town all day so he's free to vandalize and rob untended homes while their owners are out at work for the day. How do I know? Well, I saw it happen, and I saw it happen a lot. So take your sensitivity training and shove it. I'll take a good caning any day.

tnx to Pinkdome for this rise in blood pressure

In the mail yesterday...

Was this book:



Everything is on the Bookshelfonomicon is on hold until this one gets finished. But...err...I didn't buy it from Amazon. I ordered it from Military Book Club.

Random Observations, no comments

In 2001, State Senator Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) pushed a bill that would ban firearms disguised as cell phones.

From about.com (emphasis mine):

Security experts say the cell phone guns, as well as other "improvised explosive devices," can be detected by screening equipment now in use at airports internationally. Though they have been the subject of security alerts in the U.S. as recently as December 2003, none have yet been sighted in North America.

From snopes (emphasis mine):

Do "cell phone guns" represent an alarming turn in concealed weaponry technology? Probably not, as a customs spokesman maintained "there's no indication that these are being mass-produced," and a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms noted: Though the novelty of cell-phone guns is interesting, ATF spokesman John D'Angelo says the idea of concealing firearms in common devices is not new. "Disguised weapons have been around forever. We've seen guns in the form of canes, pens, beepers. As technology progresses and becomes more prevalent, disguised weapons will change to mirror that."

From the North American Arms FAQ (emphasis mine):

Why has the wallet holster been discontinued?

The wallet, in and of itself, is a benign piece of folded leather. The minirevolver is a time-tested, high-quality small firearm but, when you join one with the other, watch out! you've just created what ATF defines as 'any other weapon', a rather nefarious classification which includes pen guns, cane guns and other disguised weaponry. While legal to own, AOWs require registration and payment of special taxes similar to those for fully-automatic weapons. Possession of an AOW without meeting these requirements subjects the holder to a felony charge (which further exposes us to the liability of a lawsuit).

No comments, just random observations.

It might help convict Barney Fife...

...but in the real world it's just ludicrous. Sierra Times has some comments on California's idea for bullet serialization:

Gun Owners of California understands that SB 357 is truly motivated by a subversive desire to see all guns removed from the citizens of California. What other reason could there be when the stated goals cannot be matched up to conclusive studies and actual realities prove the goals unrealistic. It has been long known, for it is not hidden, that gun control proponents seek any, every and all avenues of stifling legitimate firearm ownership in this state.

Woo hoo!

Today's check at the DPS website shows my CHL renewal as "license issued, certificate active." That means I should be getting the hard card in the mail any day now.

More on the Minuteman Project

Media Lies provides us with a link to a Christian Science Monitor article that seems more or less "balanced," but it neglects to mention what the ACLU freakazoids were up to while this was going on.

He [Salvador Zamora, Border Patrol Spokeman] says the vigil generated 1,100 phone calls to the Border Patrol and 2,000 apprehensions. Those statistics appear to differ from the minuteman's own statistics which claim that 335 apprehensions were directly facilitated by their volunteers who observed illegal crossings and called the Border Patrol. The difference can be accounted for by the number of possible calls by local residents.

Two thousand apprehensions. Wow.

Minuteman Project Wrap Up @ Lest Darkness Fall

LDF has a collection of media reports now that the Minuteman Project had ended. Somehow I have a feeling that this is going to get bigger before it's over with.

More anti self defense b.s. from Reuters

I don't blame Yahoo. They're just feeding up everything that Reuters throws into it's "odd" category. Apparently the numbnuts at Reuters think it's odd (absurd, bizarre) for it to be legal to use deadly force to defend yourself without first allowing the crook the opportunity to shoot/stab you in the back in Florida.

The fact that they're making such a big deal out of this is still more indication of their bias. Such action is already legal in many states. I'm surprised it took Florida so long to pass such legislation, seeing how they were the leader in the concealed carry movement.

This is really quite funny...

Here's a satirical article about what Ariana Huffington's upcoming celebrity mega-blog may look like. By the way, the real url for this blog is apparently www.huffingtonpost.com, and it's supposed to open May 9. It will be on my blogroll, if only for cannon fodder.

Minuteman Project Ends (for now)

Here's a Washington Post article about the close of the Minuteman Project:

Organizers said volunteers' calls to the Border Patrol resulted in the arrests of 335 illegal immigrants. Project organizers had ordered volunteers not to detain any illegal border crossers they encountered, and no major incidents were reported.

So that's 335 illegals arrested. Zero ACLU potheads arrested for illegal drug use in spite of being caught on camera. Zero ACLU extremists arrested (or even wrist-slapped) for aiding illegals and harrassing the Minutemen. I hope those guys with video cameras documented all the ACLU b.s. It would make a great documentary.

tnx to Michelle Malkin

April Readability Check

This is just something for my own curiousity. Please feel free to ignore it.

Total sentences ---------------------------------- 1,371
Total words ------------------------------------- 17,148
Average words per Sentence ----------------------- 12.51
Words with 1 Syllable --------------------------- 11,988
Words with 2 Syllables --------------------------- 3,333
Words with 3 Syllables --------------------------- 1,341
Words with 4 or more Syllables --------------------- 486
Percentage of word with three or more syllables -- 10.65%
Average Syllables per Word ------------------------ 1.44
Gunning Fog Index --------------------------------- 9.26
Flesch Reading Ease ------------------------------ 72.67
Flesch-Kincaid Grade ------------------------------ 6.23

tnx to Juicy Studio: Readability Test

Bullet energy spreadsheet

Go to energy at the North American Arms website. Here you'll find an html table of bullet energy. At the bottom is a downloadable Excel spreadsheet of same. Very handy, and you can customize the velocities and weights yourself.

Saturday Night Special #2

In the second installment of gun links, here are some links in no particular order which you may or may not find useful. These are the rest of the links in the "Manufacturers" category of my bookmarks.

North American Arms -- Makers of the famous .22 mini-revolvers. Get one, they're cool!
STURM, RUGER & CO., INC.
Kahr Arms
Kel-Tec
Beretta USA
GLOCK
Springfield Armory
Charles Daly -- Pistols, rifles, and shotguns.
Smith & Wesson
Taurus USA
Freedom Arms -- Big, fine revolvers.
Spartan Gunworks -- Break action (or breech-loading) shotguns, rifles, and combos.

"Range" Report

Today I broke out the new Daisy BB gun and a sticky target, stuck the target to a cardboard box, backed off about 20 feet, and started the lesson. My students were my two kids, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy. The daughter is hereafter referred to as "G" and the son as "L."

Before they touched anything we started with muzzle control. After a long sermon on how and where to keep the muzzle pointed, as well as additonal little things like "don't run in front of it when someone else is holding it, either," I gave them some info on the gun itself. No, I don't expect them to learn everything all at once, and though this was only a BB gun, it was never handled by either of them without my strict and immediate supervision, usually involving me helping them physically hold the gun. We went over how the safety works, how not to touch the trigger until you were really going to shoot, how to load, and how to safely make sure it was no longer cocked when it came time to put it away.

This is the Daisy Buck, the smallest BB rifle they make, which weighs 1.6 pounds unloaded and shoots a BB at about 275 fps. Still, they are small kids and haven't developed rifle-holding muscles, so they needed help handling it. An outdoor canvas chair provided a convenient barrel rest.

"G" did most of the shooting. She had a bad habit of trying to grab the gun by the trigger, which I came down on pretty hard, and by the end she was conciously lying her finger along the lever beneath the trigger until she had lined up the sights on the box. Just teaching her to find both sights and get them lined up somewhere in the vicinity of the black circle took quite a while, but she was beginning to get the hang of it. Out of the ten or so shots she took, she got 6 or 7 to hit the box (about 2 feet square). I felt that was a pretty good start for a 6-year-old who had never done any such thing before in her life. By the end of the session she was even beginning to get the hang of the safety, but the trigger pull was still a little stiff for her little hand.

With "L" I didn't attempt too much, focusing mainly on just letting him get the feel of how to properly hold a rifle. My final summation: it was a great start, but there's a long way to go, which is good. Shooting with my kids is great fun. I expect it will be even more fun when they get old enough to handle firearms.

After our session with the rifle, I broke out my Crosman 1008 pellet pistol and fired off 40 or 50 shots. It's a fun gun, but has a lousy trigger. I did a lock of cocking so that I could fire single-action, which more closely simulates the trigger pull of my XD40. When it came time to put everything away, I made sure the pistol was unloaded and then put it down on the tailgate of the pickup. While we were cleaning up, neither of them tried to pick it up. I brought them both together and asked what they should do if they found a gun just lying around somewhere like that. "G" immediately answered, "Don't pick it up, and get an adult." I don't remember having given this speech before, so I told her that was exactly right, and asked who had taught her that. "I don't know," she answered, "it was just in my brain." Hm. Maybe I did something right, sometime, and don't remember doing it.

The Buck is the same model that my sister had when we were kids. It has changed somewhat since then (25 years ago?). It now has a fiber-optic front sight that is very easy to see. It also has a cross-bolt safety that blocks the trigger. That's a nice touch for such a cheap gun, but then, it's a Daisy. It has a fixed rear sight but it still shoots quite accurately for what it is.

I have previously let the kids "help" me when cleaning my firearms after a range session, and with me, that usually involves cleaning up a minimum of three guns. They also helped me go through about 150 .40 S&W rounds to check for bad reloads (some reloads I got at a gun show a while back, one of which severely jammed the XD). I have done this with them to try and get them over the "fascination" attitude that many kids have who have not handled guns much.

Both kids want to do it again tomorrow.

Not extinct!

In case you haven't heard already, the ivory billed woodpecker has been confirmed as not extinct and living in Arkansas:

'For those of us who tenaciously cling to the idea that man can live alongside fellow species, this is the most incredible ray of hope.'

New Must-Add to Blogroll: Shakey Pete's Shootin' Shack

Check out the good stuff at Shakey Pete's Shootin' Shack. I especially like Child Proof Guns Or Gun Proof Children?:

Once a child is about five or so, it's time to start the gunproofing. Step one is simple enough, shoot a melon, something about head size like a cantalope or honeydew (I especially like the honeydew as it gives the the feeling that I'm shootin' those damn lists) with a gun and load big enough to blow it up. Test this first! Make sure that this load is impressive, if it's not, try another load. If you have to beg a shooting buddy for the loan of a bigbore or high velocity gun, do so. And, fa Heaven's sake, practice enough that you hit on the first shot, we're trying to impress the little bas, um, angels. Do NOT bother with hearing protection for them and don't let 'em stick their fingers in their ears. Keep them about ten feet or so behind, the noise of one shot won't cause any real damage. It will be unpleasent. Good. Just remember ten feet or so behind and a little to the side so they can see the impact. This, BTW is the only time we ever shoot around the kids without suitable hearing protection. Ever.

Assault weapon B.S.

Check out this excellent disembowelment of the New York Times assault weapons article over at The Smallest Minority.

In other words, the VPC supported the "Assault Weapons Ban" that wasn't a ban because it was: A) perceived as a great way to frighten people into supporting legislation by lying to them about what that legislation actually did; B) It looked like a great "wedge issue" to separate the NRA from the police on the beat who generally support the right to arms even though their politically connected Chiefs don't; and C) As Charles Krauthammer noted, it was a great symbolic "first step" towards eventual confiscation and widening of gun bans. (Oh, and note the "plastic" firearm bit - be afraid of a gun that doesn't exist!)

Thanks for clearing that up. I kept wondering what the heck they were talking about. Maybe they should be more worried about those double-barreled wooden guns.

tnx to Heads Bunker

Friday Night Ramble

After doing meter routes all week, we got an easy day today and only delivered overdue bill notices. After meter reading, delivering notices is like having a paid day off. Oddly, the closest dog scare this week happened today, from a dog that violently busted through a gate and came at me--or so it seemed at first. I thought my goose was cooked for about 1/2 second, until I realized that the dog was frantically doing a Scooby-Doo stop, butt dragging and all four feet desperately pushing backward. He got himself stopped and hit the gate again, this time going back in, then took up a position about six feet inside the fence and resumed barking. Apparently his gate-busting was an accident due to him slipping on some smooth concrete. It really cracked me up.

We had several people make jokes this week about spraying chihuahuas. Thanks to the CPS shenanigans this week, we have begun referring to the pepper spray as "chihuahua sauce."

While doing some news searches tonight on meter readers, I came across one "tips" list that suggested carrying doggie treats to reinforce friendliness in dogs that are prone to it (some just aren't). I might actually try that. Except that I expect there are enough paranoid freaks out there who will accuse me of trying to poison their dog if they see me do it.

Something I have been considering for some time is to start the kids on gun handling and safety. I got inspired by last night's American Shooter, so today I went and bought a small Daisy rifle and some neat silhouette targets rated for BB guns, and I plan on starting the project tomorrow. (More posts on that as it develops). I also picked up a carton of CO2 cartrdiges for my pellet pistol. While at Walmart, I saw that they also have a Walther PPK look-alike pellet pistol that has a functioning slide to simulate recoil. That looked pretty cool to me, and I might have to shell out the money for it sometime soon. I expect that the slide uses up a lot of extra air--if anyone has experience with a gun like this, give me some comments.

I had a Daisy when I was a kid, not a real Red Ryder, but something similar. My favorite targets were empty shotgun shells. I had a big shoebox full of 16-gauge shells (from my dad's gun), plus a few 12-gauge and .410 from my uncle and cousin (and later, some 20-gauge shells from my own gun). I spent uncountable hours as a kid setting these up and shooting them down, eventually even building small sand walls to provide them with "cover" and make them even smaller and harder to hit targets. I had a good collection of empty shells because, before I was big enough to hunt myself, I basically served as bird retriever and shell collector for my dad.

I have already exposed my son to firearms in a limited sense, letting him collect empties during target sessions with my various semi-autos. He has his own set of earmuffs, and loves wearing them. Lately he has been asking me, "When are we gonna shoot your big guns?" It might be time to break out the .50 Hawken and let him get a whiff of good ol' black powder.

Oh yeah. The picture in my profile has been changed to a photo of the mummified face of Ramesses II, a pharaoh who died in 1213 B.C.

Something in the water

I swear, sometimes it seems like we have a little mucal clump of California right in our own state (Austin, that is), and whatever is wrong with that place, it seems to be infectious. Send a rep there and all of a sudden he/she goes downright fruit-loopy. This bill would change our state law so that anyone with an "identity document" from a foriegn country can get a driver's license.

Bullsquat. Anyone who still remembers 9/11 (some people have obviously forgotten) should know that handing out DL's willy-nilly is a big mistake.

During my brief stint as a trucker, I had a load that was going from Washington (state) to Edmonton, Alberta. The Canadian border guys gave me all kinds of hell because I wasn't carrying my birth certificate. It took them about three hours of phone calls to verify my birth records. And this was after they had opened the truck and verified that I was only carrying 33,000 pounds of pulp rolls.

Why don't they just disband the Border Patrol, build a couple hundred more bridges, and get it over with?

The border cops in Vancouver also confiscated my pepper spray. Apparently it's a "dangerous offensive weapon" up there. While being grilled about it, I was asked, "What are you doing with this, anyway?" He really wanted to nail me for something, I guess. I asked, "Have you ever walked across a truck stop in the middle of the night to use the bathroom?" You can't even get out to do an early-morning tire check in OKC without beating the lot lizards off with a stick, fortheluvva...

Good thing they didn't find the stun gun.

tnx to Down Deep In Texas

Good grief, they're only there until the end of April!

This woman is on a hunger strike to protest the Minuteman Project. Maybe she thought they meant April 2006 (or 2012, perhaps).

So I took this insanity test...

...at The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and here is the result:

INSANITY INDEX 6.81 Your score suggests that you are what's known as 'bughouse.' That's a colloquial term for madness from a time when people who thought they were crawling with bugs were often correct. In these more hygienic times, it indicates a potentially serious problem. Others who scored at this level include pop star Michael Jackson and Greek philosopher Plato.

Maybe I shouldn't have chosen the chainsaw as the ideal instrument to perform a lobotomy.

Another Rampaging Chihuahua

Yesterday a huge, vicious Chihuahua was sprayed by a meter reader in San Antonio, in full view and company of the dog's owner. It even made the evening news.

The first thing I want to say is: You idiot.

The second thing I want to say is: It isn't Mace, you idiot. It's Halt! pepper spray, with a deadly 0.07% capsicum rating.

That's right. Zero point zero seven percent. Spray it on your eggs, and you'll just barely have huevos rancheros.

Third thing: This is why I'm glad I'm a contractor and not an employee of CPS. Having to learn everything from scratch as I did has prevented me from picking up a lot of bad habits.

It seems that CPS s.o.p. is to spray first without evaluting the dog. If they would just use half the wits they were born with, this would never be a problem. I constantly hear complaints from customers that the previous meter reader sprayed their dog, to which I proudly answer, "I don't even carry the stuff."

I've mentioned before how worthless this stuff is. It's only effective against dogs that don't need it. A truly vicious and dangerous dog will either ignore it or be effected so slowly that it will be all over you before it takes effect. Chihuahuas are just too small to worry about. Just wear some decent boots and let them come. They can't reach over the top of the boot, so don't worry about it. Let them yap their fools heads off, read the meters, and get out.

Other problems with this spray is that it's really hard to hit a dog in the face. Any dog that can be hit easily isn't moving fast enough to worry about. If there is any breeze at all, it must be hitting you in the back. If it's coming from the side, it will blow the spray away before it hits. If the wind is hitting you in the face, God help you if you spray, because you will get a snoot full of it and you will feel it--but it will by no means incapacitate you. That's how wimpy it is. Point is, Chihuahuas are naturally so hyper that they constantly run in circles around you, screaming and never stopping for an instant. If this guy nailed one in the face, it must have either been sick, very old, or extremely docile.

All this idiot did was make it more difficult for the next guy, which, with my luck, will probably be me. The customer is going to be hostile, and the dog is going to hate everyone now because it was just minding its own business when this moron sprayed it.

If it were up to me, all their meter readers would be issued dog sticks and be prohibited from ever using pepper spray. It's ineffective to the point of worthlessness (have I mentioned that before?) and just ticks off customers because their precious baby was temporarily in pain.

The last thing I would like to say is: You idiot.

Another entertaining test...

Air Strike
You preferred a weapon with 50% power over speed and 83% range over melee.
You use Air Strikes.

Fighting? Fighting is for idiots! All you have to do is make a quick walkie-talkie call and have the ground ahead of you carpeted with explosive charges. Your enemies will be searching frantically for refuge as you chuckle from afar.

The What's Your Signature Weapon Test written by inurashii on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Possibly. But I would feel more comfortable if I also had a sidearm starting with either a "4" or a "357."

tnx to Fun Turns to Tragedy!!!

New to Blogroll: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has just been added to the Blogrollonomicon. How can I not add the blog of a fellow gun-nut who quotes H.P. Lovecraft?

tnx to Fun Turns to Tragedy!!!

The best movie ever

Sadistic Humour 80% Artistic 75% Sci-Fi/Fantasy 70% Mindfuck 70% Drama/Suspense 60% Mindless Action Flick 45% Romantic Comedy 10% Movie Recommendation. created with QuizFarm.com

This quiz hit the nail on the head, rating me as a lover of sadistic humor. Among the recommendations were Mallrats and Napoleon Dynamite, two of my favorites. The latter especially is the best movie ever.

tnx to Temple of the Gnu

Another addition to the blog

I used to be a very disciplined and voracious reader. For the past few years I read sometimes, but not nearly as often as I should. And by read I mean read actual books. Most of my time is spent reading news and blogs, but I still try to sneak in some reading time when I can. It takes me a long time to read a book these days, because I get sidetracked on something else that I find equally interesting and end up jumping back and forth between them, taking forever to get anything finished. So, at the bottom of the sidebar will be my current bookshelf: the books that I am actually in the process of reading. Of course, this list is getting interrupted by gun magazines all the time that I like to read. When I finish a book, it will be removed from the bookshelf. When I start a new book, it will be added. So there you have it.

Altogether now..."Well, DUH!"

This article from The New York Times reports on what many predicted:

Despite dire predictions that the streets would be awash in military-style guns, the expiration of the decade-long assault weapons ban last September has not set off a sustained surge in the weapons' sales, gun makers and sellers say. It also has not caused any noticeable increase in gun crime in the past seven months, according to several metropolitan police departments.

Notice this paragraph (emphasis mine):

What's more, law enforcement officials say that military-style weapons, which were never used in many gun crimes but did enjoy some vogue in the years before the ban took effect, seem to have gone out of style in criminal circles.

Unfortunately, some whackos refuse to see the pernicious truth when it's obvious even to the New York Times:

"In my view, the assault weapons legislation was working," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, a chief sponsor of the new bill. "It was drying up supply and driving up prices. The number of those guns used in crimes dropped because they were less available."

Yeah, even though they were "never used in many gun crimes."

This stupid law banned guns on the basis only of their appearance, not function, even when it was something as inoffensive as a Ruger 10/22. Note:

Mr. Pasco of the police organization disagreed. "We knew exactly what we were doing by trying to ban guns with certain features," he said. "While it didn't affect their function or capability, those features, at that point in time, seemed to make those weapons more attractive to those who wanted to commit crimes."

What can we expect from a law that creates an arbitrary term ("assault weapon") which can mean anything they want it to? Oh, and note to Ms. Feinstein: it's magazine, not clip. Either learn the correct terminology for what you're attempting to talk about, or stop talking about it.

Saturday Night Special #1

That's a good name for a post, eh? I will try to start another weekly installment here by posting 10 or so gun-related links every Saturday. Just starting with all the links I've bookmarked, this should take several weeks. Once I've used all those up, I'll just post whatever new ones I found during the week. These won't necessarily be links that are new to everyone. Most of the links I've bookmarked are not something I consider especially important, but I consider them all to be resources of information one way or the other. So here for the first installment are a few random links, plus some manufacturers links. Also please note that these links are provided for information and I don't automatically endorse any of them--they are just here for your information. If I do have any recommendations to make, I will do so in the comments after the link.

Nagel's Gun Shop -- My favorite gun store. I've done plenty of business with them and don't hesitate to recommend them.
A Place to Shoot -- A range that I occasionally use.
Bullet Hole Shooting Range -- Another range that I sometimes use. They also hold regular CHL classes.
Cruffler.com -- The place to go for information about Curio & Relic firearms.
Remington Country -- Remington's website.
American Derringer -- Texas' own derringer company.
Bond Arms -- Another derringer company.
Cobra Arms -- Maker of derringers, single- and double-action semi-auto pistols.
Winchester -- Website of Winchester firearms.
H&R Firearms -- Website of Harrington & Richardson and New England Firearms. I've long been wondering how cool it would be to get one of their Handi-Rifles in .45-70.

So there are the first ten. If you find any of these useful, or if you have any links that you think I should add to my collection, just drop me a comment.

Review of the North American Arms .22 Magnum Mini-Revolver @ Concord Arms

Note: The linked article is from more than a month ago, but I just learned of this blog, so it's new to me.

I have the .22LR version of the mini-revolver, and I can confirm the unexpected accuracy of these little guns. Many years ago I owned (for a short time) a four-barrel .22 derringer, with which I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. It was also painful just to shoot with anything bigger than a .22 Short--the grips cut into my hands and I had to re-establish my grip after every shot. I eventually took it to another gun store that had a used Single-Six and made a trade.

So, having had a bad experience with a derringer, why did I get one of these mini-revolvers? For some time I had been carrying a Kel-Tec P-32--one of those little .32 ACP pocket rockets. I had carried it for convenience and comfort, with a small pocket sheath it was something that I occasionally forgot I even had on me. Later I came to be so comfortable carrying a Ruger SP-101 in an IWB holster that I decided I had no use for the Kel-Tec anymore. I checked out some prices and figured I could probably get away with a straight-across trade--no cash involved--for one these mini-revolvers. One impractical gun for another, except the little revolver is just way more cool.

It is much more comfortable to shoot than the old derringer was, and is amazingly accurate for such a tiny gun. Unlike the gun reviewed in the linked article, mine shoots more or less where it's aimed, not 7" low at 7 yards or some such. I think soon I must take it out for some serious target-punching and see what it can do, and post an update.

I do sometimes carry this as a sort of "deep concealment" gun by simply slipping it into a nylon multi-tool sheath and sliding the whole thing in my pocket. Most of the time, however, it's just a fun plinker. It is also quite potent against snakes, if loaded with CCI Shotshells and the snake is near enough to actually be a threat to you.

New to the blogroll

Concord Arms has just been added to the blogroll. Comments on concealed carry plus ammo & gun reviews. Check it out.

tnx to Freedom Sight

Sure, it was funny on M*A*S*H*

This is improper use of a firearm, folks. A .380 just isn't enough for a Chrysler of any variety. This is a job for a .45, at least.

Reuters calls this "odd" -- "Man Accused of Blasphemy Shot Dead"

I remember when these "odd" news stories usually had an element of humor involved, but never a tale of sheer horror. What are they thinking? This isn't odd. It isn't even close. This is just the witch hunt arising again:

"He blasphemed!"

"How do we know he blasphemed?"

"Because I saw it! And besides, he floats!"

Bang.

It isn't odd, it's disgusting.

Giggle...(snort)

Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio has been much in the news lately, thanks to his reactions to the Minutemen Project. But this one makes me think he's not all that bad: Inmates March To New Jail In Pink Boxers:

"This isn't a publicity stunt, this is their normal wear," Arpaio said. "What do you want me to do, put them in tuxedoes to move them?"

Oh yeah, there's a picture. Just make sure you aren't drinking at the time, or you may spew all over your screen.

Friday Night Ramble: The Great Witch Hunt

I hope to continue this new tradition of just writing up about my weekly experiences/impressions on Friday night. This is my recess night. Everyone has gone to bed, and I don't have to get up early in the morning, so I smoke a pipe or two and catch up on reading some blogs and doing some blogging myself. This is why you should see more activity here during weekends.

An experience this week reminded me of another of my odd beliefs: a certain large cross-section of the human race will always require something to witch-hunt. That is, many people will always need something or someone to fear and/or persecute. Maybe eventually we will evolve out of it, but I don't see it happening in my lifetime, or many generations yet to come, for that matter.

Back in the days of yore, it was actually witches (or suspected witches, I should say). The Nazis had the Jews and eventually pretty much everyone else, the KKK have African Americans (and Jews), and recently some witch-hunting has been going on against perfectly innocent Arabic Americans. Which brings me to the point: the terrorism of the past few years has opened up the witch hunt to include anyone whose (note to Ms. Ficara) face you don't immediately recognize.

A few months ago one of my co-workers was actually detained by a property owner. We work for a company that is contracted to the local C.P.S. to provide extra meter readers, so we don't wear C.P.S. uniforms. We do have our own uniform, which includes a bright yellow shirt that can be seen from several blocks away--not exactly the kind of color you would wear to sneak into someone's backyard to commit some mischief. We also wear ID badges that include our photo along with the logos of both our company and C.P.S. Our meter reader was not allowed to leave the property until both our manager and the police were on the scene to assure the whacko that this guy was, indeed, only a meter reader. Why do I equate this with the witch hunt? Because of what the whacko said: "We got a war going on. How do I know who's in my backyard?" (Once more, note to Ms. Ficara). Now how does a war against terrorists have any relation to some poor guy standing in your yard, wearing a uniform, holding a handheld computer, and looking at your meter?

A similar, though less dramatic, event happened to me this week while running an OMR route. I had stopped to check the map and see which way I was supposed to turn at the end of the street, when I heard someone yell. He ran up to my truck on the passenger's side--the truck was already in drive and all I had to do was accelerate, and besides, lots of people have legitimate questions. The most popular questions, among people who don't realize their meter is automated, are "Do you need to get into my yard?" or "Did you get my house?" But this guy said, "You searching for RF?" (The handheld unit has a rubber ducky antenna to pick up the signals). I told him exactly who I was and what I was doing, and the entire time he kept looking all around the inside of my truck, trying to find something. "Okay, just checking," he said. "Lots of strange stuff been going on around here lately." I don't know what kind of nefarious activity he could be expecting from someone who was just driving down the street holding a radio out the window. I was dying to ask him what kind of stuff, but he had just a little too much of the whites of his eyes showing, if you get my drift. "Oookay," I replied, and went on my way. The guy seemed to be solidly in the paranoid freak category.

On a lighter note, we had our weekly "safety meeting" this Thursday. This one was on "proper conduct" or something like that. One of the rules was "no unauthorized firearms." My first question was, "How can we get an authorized firearm?" Well, the rule made it sound like this was possible. Only my immediate supervisor--a fellow gun nut--thought it was funny. Heck, most of time I'd be happy to just have some big ol' clunky .38 Special security guard revolver, except that it would be getting mighty heavy by the end of the day.

The Continuing Saga of (turn reverb to 11) Adventures in Meter Reading

First, a disclaimer: I don't work for this Kinder Morgan company, so much of what I'm about to say is based on my own experience where I do work.

Interesting article here about what they call "automated meters," and what we refer to as "OMR's." But I have a few problems with it. First:

Last year, an error-prone meter reader's mistakes led to some Casper-area customers, including City Councilwoman Lynne Whalen, receiving bills of over $1,000 because they had been undercharged for several months and their accounts needed to be caught-up.

This is almost certainly incorrect. If their bill had to be "caught up," it was not due to an error on the part of the meter reader. It was because the meter was either impossible to find, locked inside a back room with no access provided by the property owner, or guarded by a rabid 1500-pound Rottweiler (or a computer glitch, which I have also seen happen). Meters that have to be "caught up" are that way because they haven't been read in a long time. Second:

When a meter cannot be read manually, meter readers estimate how much gas has been used at that residence, Long said.

Wrong. Experience leads me to believe that this spokesman has never actually been on the street/in the back-alleys/walking all over somebody's godforsaken 17 1/2 acre estate looking for meters and actually reading them. If I were ever caught entering a read that I didn't actually get from a meter, I would be terminated. The estimating is done by the billing folks, by averaging several months worth of older bills. (This "spokeman" was just covering his own backside and blaming it on the peons.) Third:

Estimating gas usage does not happen often and Kinder Morgan tries its best to make sure gas usage is not estimated for two consecutive months, he added. But sometimes it is necessary.

I know of several meters that haven't been read in at least several months, because no one knows where they are. This particularly applies to gas meters. Electric meters are usually mounted on the wall of the house somewhere, but gas meters can be anywhere. And by anywhere, I mean it could be right against the house, somewhere in the back yard, somewhere out in the mosquito-infested Cambodian jungle of an alley behind the place, or even on someone else's property. The old guys who have been doing it for 30 years know where they are, but due to seniority they never read those routes--they only do the easy stuff. There are also "lost" electric meters. They are usually temporary meters that were never removed after construction was completed. I found one of these once, sealed up nice and tight between two adjacent privacy fences in a space just wide enough to house a meter on a pole. Due to its position, I was unable to read it.

The "automated meters" still have lots of problems. On larger properties, it is still necessary to know where the meters are so that a "line of sight" can be established to pick up the signal. If the property is large enough, and it has a nice, big brick house with the meter in the back, forget about it. There's too much distance and too many brick walls between you and the meter, and you can't pick up the signal.

Ruger DA Revolvers Part III at Wadcutter

Crimson Trace makes laser grips for SP's?! I didn't know that. I'll have to check that out.

I actually had an idea just like those "Speedstrips" several years ago, and handmade a few for myself. They fit in the pocket a lot more comfortably than a round speed-loader.

Minuteman Project may be gaining momentum

An update over at Lest Darkness Fall.

From the Accidental/Negligent(?) Discharge Files

I guess I would be remiss in not mentioning this little gem: Officer Accidentally Fires Gun While Going to the Bathroom in San Antonio:

Officer Craig Clancy, whose been going to the bathroom for many years now, took the appropriate steps to relieve himself. Unfortunately, as he began to pull down his pants his gun fell off his waistband and fired off two rounds as it hit the tile floor.

I'm almost positive these guys carry Glocks. How could an impact with the floor have caused it to fire? That's not supposed to happen. Not only that, but how in the heck did an impact with the floor make it fire twice? My guess: when it started to fall he tried to catch it. Since he was off-duty, maybe he was using a non-regulation holster that didn't fasten the weapon in securely? There should be lots of questions about how this happened. And yes, I noticed that All Headline Staff News Writer Christina Ficara did not use the correct version of "who's."

Update--9:10PM: Oddly, I was unable to find anything about this at the San Antonio Express-News website. But I did find this at the website of WBBH in Ft. Myers, FL (?):

SAN ANTONIO--This is a story they'll be telling around the San Antonio Police Department for a long time.A police spokesman says an off-duty officer was at a San Antonio auto auction house yesterday when nature called.Officer Craig Clancy strolled to the appropriate facility and was lowering his trousers when his pistol fell from his waistband. When Clancy fumbled for the falling firearm, it went off -- twice.One of the bullets nicked a bit of floor tile into the leg of a man who was washing his hands nearby. That man was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.Police internal affairs is investigating.

This makes a lot more sense, and fits my earlier assumption. So, if the latter story is correct, this means that not only does Ms. Ficara not know the difference between "whose" and "who's" (where do they get these people?), she is guilty of anti-gun bias at the worst, or, to give her the benefit of the doubt, sloppy journalism. Well heck, she misspelled "who's" so I guess sloppy investigative journalism is to be expected. Glocks don't "fire off" two rounds from being dropped, but they will easily fire two rounds if someone gets his finger inside the trigger guard while trying to catch it when he drops it. Maybe it was headed for the bowl and he was trying to save it before he had to reach in and...extract it. Heh. He should've just let it fall, rinsed it in the sink, and done a thorough cleaning when he got home. But perhaps I've assumed too much.

Pizza guy eliminates punk

This will be one to watch. I'm amazed that a mere pizza guy was able to get a CHL in New York. I thought you had to have special connections or something like that. It sounds promising that the police are already saying it's justified. This is another job I held in the past (pizza guy, that is, not mugger), although I was in a much safer part of the country and during the 8 years I worked there, none of our guys were ever mugged. The closest it came to any such thing was when one driver stopped to use a payphone at a stop & rob in the wrong part of town for a white guy to leave his car. He was followed back to his vehicle by a small gang of punks who "issued verbal threats." Fortunately, they were too far away to actually touch him when he opened his door and pulled his deer gun out from behind his seat (a Thompson-Center Contender). They swiftly backed away and left the scene. (Point is, it wasn't for money. You got it, it was "racially motivated.")

The photo of the attacker doesn't exactly make him look like a model citizen, either.

What am I doing here again?

The History of the Battle of Flowers Parade:

The idea for the first Battle of Flowers Parade was conceived early in 1891 by the wife of a congressman who had seen a similar parade in Spain. She suggested to her friends that a flower parade should be held in San Antonio each year on April 21 in memory of the fallen heroes at the Alamo and to commemorate the victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, where Texas had gained its independence from Mexico. These ladies formed the Battle of Flowers Parade committee, enlisted the support of fellow community leaders and the planning began. The first parade had an actual 'flower battle' with half of the fresh-flower-covered carriages, floats and bicycles going in one direction and the other half going in the opposite direction, tossing fresh flowers at each other as they passed.

By 1895 the parade had developed into a weeklong celebration. The first queen and king were added in 1896 and a princess, duchesses and other attendants were added in 1890, but parade royalty was 'hit and miss' until several years later when local organizations took over their selection. In 1901 the parade included its first horseless vehicle. By 1915-16 the parade had grown so much in scope that the floats could no longer be decorated with fresh flowers and artificial flowers were used. In 1976 the tradition of association members wearing yellow dresses and yellow hats on parade day began. In 1991 to celebrate the parade's centennial anniversary, former association presidents arrived in carriages and tossed flowers at each other and spectators as was done in the first parade. Today it includes some 40 flower-covered floats, dozens of military, college and high school bands, cavalcades, horse-drawn carriages, antique cars and giant, helium balloons. The Battle of Flowers Parade has been held every year since its beginning except during war times and originated what we now call Fiesta San Antonio.

Many businesses in San Antonio have given up on keeping this as a normal workday because of the high number of people who call in "sick." My employer is one for whom this is an official holiday. So that's why I'm home during the day on a Friday. As for myself, I've never been to anything involving Fiesta, and I don't plan on ever going. For me, San Antonio is a place to work and to stay as far away from as possible at all other times.

Engage...

This article at The Masthead is an example of what I mean by a "pernicious truth":

If you've remained nonplussed as they took down Dan Rather and four of his Black Rock colleagues, if you haven't the slightest interest in acquainting yourself with the blogosphere, don't move an inch. You won't have to. Bloggers will be knocking on your door any day now. Or knocking it down.

To many of you, bloggers are a presumptuous rabble-amateurs elbowing their way into the publishing world. You may not know them, but they know youyour face, your manners, your prejudices, your conceits.

They're your readers. And, God help us, they've become the one thing we've always begged them to become ...

Engaged.

I'm just a schmuk with an inconsequential personal blog. I'm not the guy these people should be worried about. But there are plenty of others who are the ones they should be worried about.

Sometimes good things do happen

This from KFYI in Arizona:

"Patrick Haab is a free man. Haab, 24, was arrested April 10 by Maricopa County sheriff's deputies at a rest stop along I-8 after Haab had held seven illegal immigrants at gunpoint. Haab said he thought he was in danger. After looking at the evidence, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas concluded Haab was making a citizen's arrest, stopping people he saw violating federal law. The real saving grace for Haab was that one of the illegals was a coyote - a human smuggler - which is a federal felony. Thomas says if the men weren't here illegally, Haab would be facing felony charges of his own. Thomas is repeatedly cautioning people not to start rounding up immigrants at Home Depot. He says actions like that will be dealt with severely."

Or, "just because we couldn't nail this guy doesn't mean we won't try to nail the next one." Maybe those deputies should check out some of these guys.

Friends and Enemies

This from the JPFO:

"Good news! At the urging of freedom's friend Len Savage, Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia's 11th congressional district has introduced H.R. 1603, 'The Fairness in Firearm Testing Act.'

This brief, clearly worded bill would require the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to video-record ALL tests it conducts on firearms and to make copies of the unedited recordings available to owners of the tested items and defendants in cases involving those items.

Gingrey's bill was directly inspired by the JPFO documentary _BATFE Fails the Test_ (http://www.jpfo.org/batfevideo.htm). That documentary contains the first -- and so far only -- footage showing the BATFE trying to frame an innocent owner of a semi- automatic rifle.

Gun owners have been aware of such dirty ATF tricks for decades. But not until Len Savage delivered this explosive footage and JPFO made it available to the world did higher- ups in the U.S. Justice Department and Congress finally begin to believe us.

If Rep. Gingrey's bill passes as written, the ATF will have a much harder time destroying American lives. If the bill _doesn't_ pass (or gets weakened), then the ATF and a compliant court system will d everything they can to make sure We the People never again witness how that agency operates behind the scenes.

JPFO cannot and does not take a stand on any particular piece of legislation. We are an educational, not a political, organization. But we hope every reader will watch this bill carefully. (...go to http://thomas.loc.gov and search on 'Fairness in Firearm Testing.')

Watch who signs on as a co-sponsor. Watch who works to get the bill out of committee -- or who connives to keep it from ever reaching the floor of Congress. Watch who compromises, who sells out, who tries to weaken or twist the bill's language, and who stands firm. Watch which representatives vote for it and which vote against it.

Then you'll know, without a shadow of a doubt, which members of Congress are true friends of liberty and which only give lip service.

No reason why every single senator and representative shouldn't support proper conduct by a government agency, right? No reason at all.

You'll never guess why this ticks me off...

There are lots of reaons why this article should annoy or even anger me. But I am sick of hearing this word "vet" in its verb form. For many years this has been a colloquialism that, as a verb, means "to subject to a veterinary examination." What idiot suddenly decided that it was better to say that someone or something has been "vetted" instead of "examined" or "evaluated?" Yeah, this kind of thing makes me see red. Silly, isn't it? As for myself, if someone ever tried to shove a horse thermometer up my backside vet me, I would consider it a threat of deadly force and respond accordingly.

Down on the Border Patrol

I went to this site to read the comments from the Border Patrol Union Local 2544 in Tucson, AZ, regarding the Minuteman Project. I found many other things to get your dander up. Like this:

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: You Can Now Be Detailed Away From Your Family indefinitely. Notice how everything they talk about and the reason for continuing to strip your employment rights is "TERRORISM", yet our borders remain wide open to TERRORISTS because our President kowtows to illegal aliens and refuses to shut our borders down. The good news just keeps coming folks. Read about their continued assault on your employment rights here.

Be sure and follow the link to the pdf file. Heck, just read the whole page and prepare for your blood pressure to rise.

tnx to No Quarters

Only problem is, it didn't happen #2

Just received an entertaining email about an old lady in Australia who emasculated her grand-daughter's rapists with a 9mm pistol. Only problem is, it didn't happen.

And apparently this chain email is about 5 years old.

I can't believe no one said this

"CRIMSON-CLAD CARDINALS CONGREGATE IN CONCLAVE TO CONTEMPLATE CONTENDERS"

It's okay, I have a license to alliterate.

Join ACLU, hang out in the desert, and smoke dope. It's cool, man!

All the dope on the ACLU breaking the law in more ways than one over at American Princess.

Punching holes in anti-self defense arguments

Be sure and check out the Weekly Check on the Bias at Alphecca.

I meant to mention this earlier...

...but forgot. April is Jazz Appreciation Month. How to celebrate? Just listen to some jazz. If you live in San Antonio, tune in to KRTU, 91.7 on your FM dial. Or follow the link to listen online. It's a jazz party, baby.

"Guns don't kill people, doctors do."

Some interesting statistics.

tnx to VodkaPundit

What Age Will You Die?

I suppose this thing is based on some statistic or other. What is interesting is that if I began practicing yoga and meditation again (as I did for several years during my 20's & 30's), it would add 3 years to my life. If I changed my outlook and began considering myself a "lucky" person, it would add an additional 3 years. The yoga would be easy. Changing my attitude to consider myself "lucky" would be a major undertaking. Most of the time I think someone placed a curse on me at birth.

Now that's stoppin' power!

If my BAG Day wish list could have included non-existent fantasy firearms, it would without exception have been this one. Yeah, I know, there is no such gun. I just said "non-existant fantasy firearms" didn't I?

Some interesting stuff this week tnx to Tech Dirt

On weekends I catch up with large-volume newsfeeds, like Techdirt. So here are a few links that interested me.

Authorities arrest four, seize 60,000 pirated Nintendo game consoles in NY, NJ: More bad "journalism," as an AP reporter in this article can't figure out if games are being pirated, or game consoles. So he/she/it just switches back and forth, calling them both. (And look at the game names. Donkey Kong? For goodness sake! Somebody get me a pirated copy of Joust).

Local cable companies, who once sat fat & sassy with their monopolies, are now scrambling desperately to do anything to maintain themselves, like pushing for a tax on satellite TV service just because it's satellite TV service, as this report from BroadbandReports.com points out. I don't have the option of cable where I live, and began using satellite TV 4 or 5 years ago. However, I have seen the anti-satellite TV commercials coming from Time-Warner Cable (which services--yeah, that's a good word--San Antonio), and they insult my intelligence. Some idiot is crying because he doesn't know how to read a compass. Of course, no one requires you to self-install these days, so I guess their commercial is kind of obsolete. I wouldn't use them if I could. Passage of taxes like this can affect everyone who uses satellite TV, even those like me who don't have a cable option. So I say: up yours, cable fascists. (Of course, they have not yet tried this in Texas, but it's only a matter of time).

Intel pulls a bonehead stunt, and offers a $10,000 reward for a copy of the April 19, 1965 edition of Electronics Magazine, apparently forgetting about an old-fashioned thing called a library archive. Now some librarians are expectedly steamed because their magazines are disappearing.