"More than 100 passionate, angry readers from around the nation told me I was wrong. I have heard from exactly four gun control advocates."Well, gee whiz, maybe you could look at the evidence and think for a change. This from Chicago, a city with some of the most repressive, anti-self-defense gun laws in the country, and also with one of the highest crime rates in the country. Seems like sooner or later they would figure it out.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Less than 4% must be right...
Only gun advocates speaking out:
New to Blogroll: Lest Darkness Fall
I am accustomed to seeing lots of other blogspotters showing up on my web stats because of the "next blog" button which just selects a blog at random and sends you there. But when I noticed that I had had three hits from the same site, I had to check it out and see what was up. So now Lest Darkness Fall has been added to the blogroll. While there I also discovered the neat anti-spam web-doohickey that is now at the bottom of the sidebar: Spam Poison.
Yep, home sick
I should be working right now but am too knocked down from this thing I caught. It's one those things that starts at the top of the head, rips the throat raw, and keeps going down. So until I knock myself out with some Nyquil or something, I thought I'd just spend some time cruising. Just went over to Cruffler.com to get the C&R forms. I had this license once before, but accidentally let it expire. Now several months later, and I think I'll get it again. There are still a few old guns I'd like to get my hands on, although my funds are not unlimited. During my last stint as a cruffler, I picked up a Hungarian 7.62x54R carbine, a M1923 Argentine Colt (M1911 clone), and a CZ-52 (7.62x25mm pistol). The CZ-52 really draws looks at a public range. It sounds like the cough of God, kicks like nobody's business, and throws empties a good 30 feet before they hit the ground. Fortunately, it throws the empties at an almost perfect 90-degree angle, so I've never had one hit me when shooting left-handed. It is very fun to shoot.
Update: In case you are unfamiliar with the 7.62x25mm round, it is a bottlenecked cartridge that fires an 85 grain bullet at somewhere around 1,400 fps.
Update: In case you are unfamiliar with the 7.62x25mm round, it is a bottlenecked cartridge that fires an 85 grain bullet at somewhere around 1,400 fps.
The Anti-Gun Male by Julia Gorin
Just came across a three-year-old article over at Cruffler.com that is, of course, still quite relevant: The Anti-Gun Male:
"He often accuses men with guns of 'compensating for something.' The truth is quite the reverse. After all, how is he supposed to feel knowing there are men out there who aren't intimidated by the big bad inanimate villain? How is he to feel in the face of adolescent boys who have used the family gun effectively in defending the family from an armed intruder? So if he can't touch a gun, he doesn't want other men to be able to either. And to achieve his ends, he'll use the only weapon he knows how to manipulate: the law."
This sounds like fun...
Australia politician urges golf with cane toads:
"CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australians in the country's Northern Territory should start smashing cane toads to death with golf clubs and cricket bats in a bid to stop the spread of the toxic creatures, a government politician has urged."I bet if you hit them just right, a .45 round would really make those suckers pop. How about this (yikes!):
"Cane toads, which now number in their millions, are so toxic that crocodiles, death adder snakes and wild dingo dogs can die of cardiac arrest within 15 minutes of eating a toad."And this:
"Animal welfare groups discouraged people from taking up Tollner's call to arms, saying freezing the animals to death was more humane."I still don't get why they think a slow death is "more humane" than a fast death.
"Female cane toads can lay 8,000 to 35,000 eggs at a time and may produce two clutches a year. The toads reach maturity within a year and have a lifespan of at least five years."Sheesh. That's potentially 350,000 new toads in one lifetime. Almost makes me glad I only have to worry about fire ants. Whoops, Australia has them too.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Left-handed comments on the Ruger P95D
Someone came to this blog by Googling "Ruger P95D report." I don't know if they were looking for info on the gun in general, or if by "report" they were wondering about how it sounds when it goes bang. I do own one, and have mentioned it previously. I guess more comments on it would make as good an entry as any.
Southpaw shooters might be interested in this information. I bought the P95D primarily because of two things: its ambidextrousness and its price. Ambidextrousness is an important consideration for lefties which many gun companies have overlooked/ignored until the past few years (or so it seems to me). Ruger semi-autos have long had ambi tendencies because Bill Ruger himself was left-handed (or so I've read). The P95D is about as ambidextrous as they come, with an ambi magazine release and ambi decocker. It does not have an ambidextrous slide release, and of course, as with just about all semi-autos, ejects the empties to the right. If standing in an isosceles position, my pistol ejects at an obtuse enough angle that all the empties miss (miss hitting me, that is). If shooting one-handed (with the left hand), and presenting a narrow side profile to the target, the empties come nowhere near me. However, shooting in the Weaver stance gets me tapped in the right shoulder/right side of head with almost every empty. This is only a mild annoyance and since I'm usually wearing a hat anyway it doesn't bother me. The slide release is not a problem during normal operation, since a pull back on the slide itself releases it, just like any semi-auto. It is only a problem during disassembly for cleaning. It might be easier to disassemble for a righty, but I don't know. It has always seemed to be a little bit of a trick to me to line up the marks so the release can be pulled out. I would also add that although I am primarily left-handed, I am also somewhat ambidextrous, and when practicing, I alternate hands every time I put in a fresh magazine. (My left eye is my strong eye).
As the name implies, this version is decocker only, it does not have a "safety" that locks the trigger or any such thing. You draw it, you pull the trigger, it goes bang. No unnecessary extra steps. This is another reason I chose it. The first, double-action shot does have a long, heavy trigger pull, and it pays to do lots of practice decocking after every shot so you can get used to that first pull. After that, single-action follow-ups are a piece of cake.
I have shot a full-size M1911 as well as a more compact version, both of which were all metal. Compared to the P95D, which has a polymer body, the P95D (vs. the 1911 in .45) seems to have a much sharper recoil. I have attributed this to the very light lower body against the very heavy slide assembly. The 1911 is more of a push, while the P95D is more of a twist, if that makes any sense. It is a very sharp twist that, to me, is harder to recover from than when shooting the good ol' 1911 in .45.
This is Ruger's idea of a "compact" gun but I think if they put their minds to it they could come up with something that really is compact. This is still a fairly large gun, strictly speaking about how much space it takes up. I have carried it concealed, but not comfortably.
One problem with mine is that I have yet to have it function 100% reliably with 115-grain ammo. It works perfectly and has never failed with 147-grain, but the lighter ammo sometimes fails to feed. I have not yet tried any of the 124-grain version. My carry ammo (when I carried it) was 147 grain Hornady XTP.
This pistol was the first semi-auto I ever purchased, back when I was planning on first getting a CHL (Concealed Handgun License, for you non-Texans). I have since kind of started leaning toward the "anti-9mm" crowd, but I don't ever plan on getting rid of this gun, mostly because I want to have at least one of each of the most popular calibers in my collection, and this one makes a fine representative of the 9mm. In fact, I would someday like to add one of Ruger's 9mm carbines to the collection, so I'll have ammo and mags that will fit both a pistol and a long gun.
I used this gun for a carry piece for a while, but for the past few years have switched to a Ruger SP-101 loaded with .357 magnum (I like revolvers, and wanted something that generally inflicts more damage than a 9mm). I have also recently purchased a Springfield XD40 and am still working it through a break-in period. When I feel confident enough with it, I intend for it to replace the SP-101.
I mentioned price at the beginning. This P95D (blued slide) cost me $350 at a gun show about 5 years ago. Ruger has a nice way of coming out on top of the cost/quality scale.
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a professional gun review. It is just a few of my own impressions based on my own experience. Your mileage may vary.
Southpaw shooters might be interested in this information. I bought the P95D primarily because of two things: its ambidextrousness and its price. Ambidextrousness is an important consideration for lefties which many gun companies have overlooked/ignored until the past few years (or so it seems to me). Ruger semi-autos have long had ambi tendencies because Bill Ruger himself was left-handed (or so I've read). The P95D is about as ambidextrous as they come, with an ambi magazine release and ambi decocker. It does not have an ambidextrous slide release, and of course, as with just about all semi-autos, ejects the empties to the right. If standing in an isosceles position, my pistol ejects at an obtuse enough angle that all the empties miss (miss hitting me, that is). If shooting one-handed (with the left hand), and presenting a narrow side profile to the target, the empties come nowhere near me. However, shooting in the Weaver stance gets me tapped in the right shoulder/right side of head with almost every empty. This is only a mild annoyance and since I'm usually wearing a hat anyway it doesn't bother me. The slide release is not a problem during normal operation, since a pull back on the slide itself releases it, just like any semi-auto. It is only a problem during disassembly for cleaning. It might be easier to disassemble for a righty, but I don't know. It has always seemed to be a little bit of a trick to me to line up the marks so the release can be pulled out. I would also add that although I am primarily left-handed, I am also somewhat ambidextrous, and when practicing, I alternate hands every time I put in a fresh magazine. (My left eye is my strong eye).
As the name implies, this version is decocker only, it does not have a "safety" that locks the trigger or any such thing. You draw it, you pull the trigger, it goes bang. No unnecessary extra steps. This is another reason I chose it. The first, double-action shot does have a long, heavy trigger pull, and it pays to do lots of practice decocking after every shot so you can get used to that first pull. After that, single-action follow-ups are a piece of cake.
I have shot a full-size M1911 as well as a more compact version, both of which were all metal. Compared to the P95D, which has a polymer body, the P95D (vs. the 1911 in .45) seems to have a much sharper recoil. I have attributed this to the very light lower body against the very heavy slide assembly. The 1911 is more of a push, while the P95D is more of a twist, if that makes any sense. It is a very sharp twist that, to me, is harder to recover from than when shooting the good ol' 1911 in .45.
This is Ruger's idea of a "compact" gun but I think if they put their minds to it they could come up with something that really is compact. This is still a fairly large gun, strictly speaking about how much space it takes up. I have carried it concealed, but not comfortably.
One problem with mine is that I have yet to have it function 100% reliably with 115-grain ammo. It works perfectly and has never failed with 147-grain, but the lighter ammo sometimes fails to feed. I have not yet tried any of the 124-grain version. My carry ammo (when I carried it) was 147 grain Hornady XTP.
This pistol was the first semi-auto I ever purchased, back when I was planning on first getting a CHL (Concealed Handgun License, for you non-Texans). I have since kind of started leaning toward the "anti-9mm" crowd, but I don't ever plan on getting rid of this gun, mostly because I want to have at least one of each of the most popular calibers in my collection, and this one makes a fine representative of the 9mm. In fact, I would someday like to add one of Ruger's 9mm carbines to the collection, so I'll have ammo and mags that will fit both a pistol and a long gun.
I used this gun for a carry piece for a while, but for the past few years have switched to a Ruger SP-101 loaded with .357 magnum (I like revolvers, and wanted something that generally inflicts more damage than a 9mm). I have also recently purchased a Springfield XD40 and am still working it through a break-in period. When I feel confident enough with it, I intend for it to replace the SP-101.
I mentioned price at the beginning. This P95D (blued slide) cost me $350 at a gun show about 5 years ago. Ruger has a nice way of coming out on top of the cost/quality scale.
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a professional gun review. It is just a few of my own impressions based on my own experience. Your mileage may vary.
Neat CSS Button
Thanks to 4GuysFromRolla, I now have a nifty little button created entirely by CSS for the Atom XML link.
Anti-gun bias at Snopes
As a regular reader of Snopes (yep, they're even on the blogroll), I must point out this analysis from Insane Troll Logic, which, in all fairness, must now also be added to the blogroll.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Ruger DA Revolvers
I finally got around to reading this quick history of Ruger DA Revolvers over at Wadcutter, which just got added to the blogroll. The SP-101 is one of my favorite shootin' irons. Now how about something on the single actions?
Friday, April 08, 2005
"No guns" sign = "please rob us repeatedly" sign
Five Ohio stores in ''no-guns'' UDF chain robbed!:
"Last week, Ohioans For Concealed Carry began receiving reports of 'no-guns' signs being posted in United Dairy Farmers (UDF) stores in Ohio. An investigation by Business Education Coordinator Joe Eaton discovered the Ohio-based chain had just ordered signs to be posted in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana stores.
Although it didn't take long for OFCC supporters to begin responding to the discriminatory signs, OFCC has learned that criminals in Ohio appear to have responded even more rapidly."
"Somewhat Normal"
I like doing these little "tests" that keep turning up. I don't know why. This is about what I expected.
| You Are 50% Normal (Somewhat Normal) |
 While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself |
More comments on Florida's new "Home Protection"
Kim du Toit has more insightful comments on Florida's new clarification.
News release from CCRKBA
CITIZEN'S COMMITTEE SAYS PROSECUTOR MADE RIGHT CALL IN MILWAUKEE SHOOTING:
"'It is sad that a young man lost his life over this,' Waldron stated, 'but the fact remains that he initiated the attack, and was joined by his companions. The victim had no choice but to defend himself, and if there is one thing positive about this incident, it is that the Milwaukee District Attorney's office did a good job and made a common-sense decision that recognizes the right of self-defense.'"
This guy can write
If A Day In Iraq is not part of your blogroll, it should be. Go read it all.
"Kofi Annan could come to collect some kickbacks he's still owed from the oil for food program. Sean Penn could come to promote peace, all while getting in fights with anyone who tried to take his picture. John Kerry could come get another Purple Heart. Barbara Streisand and Justin Timberlake could sing Iraq's national anthem before the race. Justin, I already have a place for you to stay. It's called the Neverland Ranch. Reporting live for everyone back home would be the dynamic duo of Dan Rather and Katie Couric."
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Right for self-defense in Hawaii
Women of Hawaii Should Be Allowed to Carry Firearms:
"Opponents to the right to bear arms say we should rely on police and calls to 9-1-1. But how does 9-1-1 help the young woman as she is snatched into a car with five men who intend to cause her harm.
How does 9-1-1 help the 85-year-old woman who is about to be tied up and raped by a man with previous sex offense convictions?
How does a 9-1-1 call help me when in the face of danger?
Truth is as good as police may be -- or not be -- at their jobs, they need time to respond to a call, and they need to be called.
What rapist is going to allow a woman to call police from her cell phone? What gang member will enable a victim to call for help? No such opportunity exists.
But what every gang member, what every rapist, what every previous sex offender can understand and will respond to is the barrel of a gun pointed between his eyes -- or lower."
Scents inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
With a name like Blogonomicon, I would be remiss in not providing a link to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Perfume Oils: Dark Elements
Al-Azif is described as: "A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay."
Al-Azif is described as: "A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay."
I am not surprised...
When nature calls, cell phone owners should answer carefully: "Powers said that last year about 20 percent of the claims coming in were because phones were damaged by some kind of liquid, including 'being dropped in a lake, pool, and, yes, in toilets.'"
This shouldn't surprise anyone. As someone who worked as a pager repair tech for many years, I can't count how many pagers I came across that had been dropped in toilets, and yes, even septic tanks (those septic tank clean-up guys just can't hold onto their pagers). And you would be amazed at how many people tried to dry their pager in a microwave.
This shouldn't surprise anyone. As someone who worked as a pager repair tech for many years, I can't count how many pagers I came across that had been dropped in toilets, and yes, even septic tanks (those septic tank clean-up guys just can't hold onto their pagers). And you would be amazed at how many people tried to dry their pager in a microwave.
"Stand Your Ground" bill passes in Florida
"For a House that talks about the culture of life it's ironic that we would be devaluing life in this bill," said Democratic state Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. "That's exactly what we're doing."I personally have no problem with devaluing the life of murderers, muggers, and their ilk. Fortunately, Florida has decided that you don't have to give a crook a chance to shoot or stab you in the back (which is what happens when you try to run from an armed criminal) before you're allowed to defend yourself. I don't know why this was considered "odd news" by Reuters. Just that "liberal bias" I guess.
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