No Nanny State - Molon Labe!

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
--James Madison

I live in a Northern Californian county called Contra Costa. We are the third largest county in the SF Bay Area. With nearly 1 million residents (of the 6.7 million in the Bay Area) we're one of the Big Dogs on the block.

Our current Sheriff is retiring. This guy is a piece of work - at least regarding 2A rights. Basically, the only way you can get a Concealed Carry Permit is to be a part of the Sheriff's Posse. Even then, it's not guaranteed, even if you meet all of the other state standards.

There is at least one person who has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the job. David Livingston is the current Chief of Police of our county's largest city. There looks like there will be at least one other candidate - a current Lieutenant of the Sheriff's department.

I just sent Livingston this letter seeking his views on basic 2A rights:

Mr. Livingston,

I am a long-time resident of Contra Costa County, having lived here for 35 years, including the past 21 in Eastern Contra Costa. I am an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, and Second Amendment rights are very important to me.

I would appreciate a response to the following questions:

1. Concealed Carry Permits allow law-abiding citizens to legally carry a handgun to defend themselves, their family and others in the community in the event a criminal chooses to harm or kill others. As you are no doubt aware, the state of California gives the Sheriff the ability to grant these Permits. Many counties in the state are considered, "Shall Issue" counties - as long as the applicant meets the requirements (demonstrate firearms proficiency, not a felon, etc.), they are granted a Permit.

Three parts: (A) If you are elected Sheriff, under what conditions will you issue Concealed Carry Permits? (B) Assuming an applicant meets all other applicable standards, will you consider, "Self Defense" as "Good cause" for granting a Permit? (C) Do you support laws similar to the AB 357 which would have made California a "Shall Issue" state?

2. The California Legislature recently passed AB 962 which will require, among other things, that law abiding citizens submit to registration and finger printing whenever they wish to purchase ammunition in this state. As with any law, the criminals affected by it will disregard it. They're criminals. California already has myriad laws addressing penalties for criminals buying or possessing ammunition. AB 962 will ONLY be followed by law abiding citizens. Since they are allowed to purchase and possess ammunition, it is a pointless intrusion into our lives and an invasion of our privacy.

Two parts: (A) What are your views on AB 962? (B) Will you support the NRA's and other Second Amendment Rights organizations in working to overturn this law before it goes into effect?

The same questions will be posed to anyone else that decides to run for the position of Sheriff. I will share your responses with my 1,400 fellow members of the Diablo Rod and Gun Club.

Thank you for your time.

The Other Mike S.

I'll pass along any responses. I'm not hopeful. His current city is as liberal as they come in Contra Costa.

Plus, I probably just put myself on an Enemies List. Oh well, now is not the time to go quietly into the night...

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

Mike, tell us how you REALLY feel.

The Democrat governor with a Republican business card - Arnold Schwarzenegger - has signed into law AB 962. It will require, among other things, that law abiding California citizens now be fingerprinted before they buy ammunition for their self-defense weapons. It will also prohibit the purchase of ammunition from online sources.

"The purchase records will provide our police officers with yet another tool to track down and apprehend armed and dangerous criminals," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Really, Paul? How might that work? How in the fuck will this law result in the capture of one, single bad guy? They'll all know they will have to be finger printed to buy ammo. Do you REALLY think they'll do that? Really?

Bad guys will do one of three things: They will have their flunkies buy their ammo; They will steal the ammo from gun shops or homeowners, or; They'll do like I will be doing - taking my business to Nevada or Oregon.

The result? The bad guys will still get their ammo, crimes at businesses and home to get ammo will increase, and tax dollars will now be going - once again - to another state.

You God Damned mother fuckers have your heads so far up your asses, it is a wonder you can function without parental assistance. And you are 'God Damned', in the truest sense of the phrase. God looks negatively upon people who put other people in danger for no good reason. The 'mother fucker' part is supposition on my part.
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Arnold, you were finally showing some backbone by standing up to the unions and Democrats with the budget. You had spent all of your two terms acting as a member of the Kennedy family. You amazingly stood up for actual Constitutional principles in the last stretch of your term. I figured you were not worried about getting elected again, so you could actually LEAD and not cower.

Clearly, I was wrong. You're a Kennedy bitch. Heel, bitch. You clearly have already been trained to roll over.
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Some other bills The Kennedy Bitch approved:

-- Senate Bill 43 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, allowing Santa Clara to award a contract to design and build a proposed 49ers stadium to a firm of the team's choice - rather than to the lowest bidder as normally required under city law.

Do you THINK there may have been some unmarked bills handed around to get this approved? Why would you want to allow for anything other than the lowest bidder? You write the proposal to include required safety, quality and materials standards, and get the lowest bidder.

--Senate Bill 572, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would declare May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in California. Schools and government offices would remain open, the day would not be a holiday, but schools would be encouraged to conduct commemorative exercises to remember the life of the former San Francisco county supervisor and gay-rights pioneer.

California school tax dollars at work. Do you think that crap like this might contribute to the fact that California has the highest per-student spending, but is number 47 in results. What might help change that? Learning more math, or learning about a gay guy in San Francisco?
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I need to have another SERIOUS chat with my wife. This state is simply too far gone, and continues to make incredibly poor decisions. Seriously, it is amazing to watch - how a group of people in Sacramento can so consistently make bad choices, despite the indisputable evidence that their choices are ruining our state.

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, democrats, Ethics, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Defense

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Many of you may have heard about the murders of the toll-taker and her friend that happened here in Northern California.

This sequence of events is sickening -

Recently dumped boyfriend (Burris) slashed the tires of a truck whose owner (Everette) had lent to the ex-girlfriend (Ross).

Burris watches the truck, waiting for Everette to call for a tow truck. Burris walks over to the truck with shotgun in hand, and kills Everette.

Two armed, Marin County sheriff's deputies (on-duty, in street clothes, in their cars at the toll plaza) see the muzzle flash - from 50 feet away. And do nothing.

Burris walks up to (ex-girlfriend) Ross' toll-booth, and shotguns her. Still nothing from the deputies.

Burris jumps in his car and escapes.

One [deputy] saw the muzzle flash in the south parking lot, where police say Burris shot Everette. Moments later, Burris jogged out into traffic toward the toll booth [where he subsequently slaughtered Ross].

The attack lasted less than half a minute. One of the deputies alerted her dispatch center in Marin County during the shooting, and the other used her car to block traffic so other drivers would not blunder into the gunman's sights, Richmond police said. They then checked on workers in the toll booths and the adjoining Caltrans building.

The deputy blocked traffic while citizens are being slaughtered. They finally caught him, a few hours later.

The cops were 50 feet away when they saw the muzzle flash. Seventeen yards. Even an average shooter, much less one that is expected to be proficient - such as a police officer - could place 10 rounds into an 8 inch circle at that distance (Oh wait... cops get to have the large capacity magazines us common California citizens are prohibited from owning, so they'd have more chances to stop the slaughter).

But because it's California, no one was armed and able to save the life of the toll-taker. Except the sheriff's deputies, who chose to do nothing.

DO YOU FEEL SAFE, CALIFORNIA?
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Of course, this will get spun by the press and the Brady Bunch as people can't be trusted with ANY guns. Hell, they're slaughtering government employees now!
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So, how do we protect and serve OURSELVES? With practice.

I went to the range yesterday with a buddy I haven't seen in 10 years or so. My old college roommate.

Most ranges in our area don't allow any type of rapid fire. Most require at least 1 second between shots.

While this somewhat limits the type of training you can do, there are still a number of self-defense exercises you can follow to keep your skills up.

Prep: Set up your large target with 4 smaller targets - in a diamond pattern. One top center, one bottom center, one middle left, and one middle right. All as widely spaced as the base target will allow.

1. Load 4 rounds into your magazine/cylinder. Start with your preferred two-handed grip, with your gun held chest-high with muzzle pointing down at a 45 degree angle (I believe some folks call this the 'high compact' position).

Extend the gun out-and-up to acquire the left-middle target as quickly as possible. As soon a you have your sight picture, fire. Count 'one thousand one'. With arms still extended, acquire the right-middle target, and fire.

Retract the pistol to the high-compact position.

Immediately re-acquire the RIGHT-middle target (the one you just shot), fire, one-thousand-one, acquire the left-middle target, fire, retract.

Clear the gun and reload.

I do this at 5, 7, 10 and 15 yards.

2. Repeat this exercise using the top-center and bottom center targets.

3. Repeat this side-to-side exercise one-handed strong-hand.

4. Repeat this exercise top-to-bottom one-handed strong-hand.

5. Repeat this exercise, side-to-side, two-handed, weak hand.

6. Repeat this exercise, top-to-bottom, two-handed, weak hand.

7. Repeat this exercise, side-to-side, one handed, weak hand.

8. Repeat this exercise top-to-bottom, one handed, weak hand.

Remember to count the 'one thousand one' before you move the gun to the next target (don't fire, move to the next target, THEN count one thousand one). The intention is to develop quick target acquisition skills while STILL putting lead on the target (I use 6 inch stick-on targets). Expect the acquisition and fire times to be longer as you move the target further away from you.

A shot that misses the target is a waste of ammo, and could result in an innocent being hit in real life. You want speed AND accuracy.

This will use up 128 rounds if you do all 8 steps at all 4 distances. It took me about 45 minutes yesterday. If you're worried about using up too much ammo, cut it in half and do the 8 steps at 7 and 13 yards. You'll get a good mix of up-close and semi-distant practice.

DO NOT cut out the off-hand and single-hand stuff. It would sure suck if you were shot in your strong hand and had no practice shooting with your off-hand.

Especially as the bad guy was walking up to a loved one with bad intentions in his eyes...

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Media Bias, Self-Defense

I'm all over the board today -

For those of you that like to think of Californians as simpering dolts with no more than organic turnips between our ears, have fun with this -



Ahhh, a shining example of our public education system. Yeah, let's dump more money into THAT sinkhole...

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OK, the last entry about the IDPA stuff (at least until my next match!) -

Woohoo! I did pretty well. As I noted, there were 41 shooters. My division, SSP (Stock Service Pistol) was the biggest division with 22 shooters.

I came in 7th! I was the top scorer of the newbees.

In analyzing the scoring, I'm clearly taking too much time in making my shots. The top guys had significantly lower times, and seemed willing to somewhat sacrifice accuracy for time.

It seems as though the strategy is to shoot fast, and just make sure you hit the target somewhere. Of the 22 shooters, I had the second best accuracy numbers, but was number 11 in regards to speed.

Where you get killed (pun intended) is if you have a procedural error (+3 seconds), hit a good guy (+5 seconds) or miss the target all together (+5 seconds). If you get an accuracy "ding", it only adds a 1/2 second penalty for each point. I was one of only 3 shooters not to have any of the big errors.

So, practice, practice, practice. I think I can shave a second - at least - off of each stage just by getting better with my draw, and as DAL357 suggested, using more point shooting for the closer targets.
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Have you seen this story on the 7 guys from North Carolina? They were arrested because they were planning on some "violent jihad" overseas.

Am I missing something here? What law did they break?

Although the indictment provided few details, it outlined a plan among four of the suspects "to meet up" in Israel, as well as other overseas forays. The conspiracy, according to the government, included other suspects "known and unknown," and its aim was to provide money, training, transportation and personnel to those wanting to fight a holy war against countries friendly to the United States.

Nanny makes a big, splashy, very damning press release, but the indictment provids few details. Still, the government makes this pronouncement -

"These arrests today show there are people living among us, in our communities in North Carolina and around the U.S., that are honing their skills to carry out acts of murder and mayhem," said Owen D. Harris, special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte, N.C., division, which led the investigation.

These arrest show no such thing. They show that the FBI THINKS these guys did something wrong. None of the evidence they've provided so far seems damning.

If these guys are such stone-cold killers, why this?

A year later, the indictment said, Boyd -- who called himself Saifullah, or Sword of God -- his son Zakariya Boyd and two other suspects went to Israel to wage jihad but returned without success.

Defendant Ziyad Yaghi, according to the indictment, traveled to Jordan in 2006 to "engage in violent jihad." And Hysen Sherifi, a 24-year-old U.S. legal permanent resident, traveled to his native Kosovo in July 2008 to "wage violent jihad," then returned to North Carolina to raise support for Islamic militants, the indictment said.

Did the second and third guys, Yaghi and Sherifi, actually engage in violent jihad, or were they unsuccessful as well? At worse, it sounds like these guys are all bark and no bite.

That's illegal?!

How are these guys supposed to prove that they were NOT there to wage jihad? The FBI says they were, so they're probably toast in a court of law.

How easy would it be for the FBI or ATF to say that a group that gets together to shoot shit up on weekends, are actually terrorists - overseas OR domestic?

We don't have enough information to know if these guys are terrorists or not. I just don't like the way this has been presented, and how they are making it very easy to paint people who go off into the hills to train with "high-powered weapons " as terrorists.

And of course, rags like the LA Times will do everything in their power to paint anyone with guns as a potential terrorist. They sure don't seem too hesitant to use the words "terrorist" and "Muslim" when it has to do with guns in America.

It makes me very uncomfortable.
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Kind of a follow up to trying to ban sugar 'cause it's bad stuff -

The medical costs of treating obesity-related diseases may have soared as high as $147 billion in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday, as its new director set a fresh tone in favor of more aggressively attacking obesity.

Shouldn't this be an issue left to the person and their insurance company? Stop smoking, or we'll raise your rates. Lose some weight, or we'll raise your rates.

Right -

The numbers underscore the urgent need for deeper interventions in society and the environment that will make it easier for people to maintain normal weight, Thomas Frieden, the CDC’s new director, told conference attendees.

I guess if Nanny is your insurance carrier, telling you how to live your life would make perfect sense.

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Media Bias, nanny state, Political Correctness, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, Terrorism, Thought Crimes, welfare state

It cooled off today. It was down to a chilly 104 from yesterdays blistering 105. Nice respite.

I went to the range today with one of my brothers. Lots of fun.

I worked on a number of quick target acquisition drills to kind of "prime the pump" for next weekend's Action Pistol/Practical Shooting certification.

I worked on drills from 5 yards to 15 yards (which I think is the maximum distance for this sport). Gawd, I'm looking forward to this!
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Interesting range note: The place was damned near empty. It has 20 lanes, and only 3 or 4 were in use on each side. The last few times we went there, it was packed, with the last time resulting in us being placed on a waiting list.

Is the rush off, or are people worried about shooting up all of their limited ammo?

The range had some ammo. They had 9mm Wolf for $14 a box. Pass, especially after my last problem with that crap. .38 spl American Eagle brand for $20.50 a box. Pass again.

After we finished up shooting, we went over to the gun store on the other side of the building. I asked for some .22 LR. He had a box of the Cyclone stuff. Box of 500 for $40. Kiss my ass!

We had gone to my brother's local Walmart the day before. They had tons of birdshot, a couple boxes of .270 rifle. No handgun ammo , no .22LR. She said to come in at 8am if I wanted a chance to get some. Nice.
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My wife is in Las Vegas for some teacher's conference. Don't worry - she's works at a private school, so no tax dollars will be going into the codpiece of some hunky male stripper. Better not be any of her bucks, either ;-)

Get this: They're staying at the Wynn. This place is VERY chic. And expensive. A regular room mid-week room is something like $300 a night, and they have some for $3500 a night.

This group of teachers is staying 2 nights, and the cost (paid for by the school) is $120 each, total! I don't know if the place has got a soft spot for old mature Catholic School Teachers, or what, but they got a hell of a deal!

Funny how you shop for the best deal when you're spending your own (company's) money, huh? I guess the SSA didn't get the how-to booklet when they did their recent little gig in Arizona.

Yeah, funny.
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If we only had stronger gun laws, this woman's life could have been saved -

Mitchell is suspected of beating to death his former girlfriend, 29-year-old Danielle Keller, with a baseball bat Sunday and then kidnapping their 1-year-old daughter, Samantha. The attack occurred at the home Keller and the baby shared with Keller's mother, Claudia Stevens.

Oops, sorry - my bad. I guess if some crazy bastard wants to kill you, he'll figure out a way, huh? The laws don't mean much to that kind of lawless animal.

I wonder how things would have turned out if SHE had had a handgun.

Sorry - I forgot where it happened. Not only was it in California, but in Marin County, where the liberals look at Marx as being a bit wishy-washy.
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Disaster plan in action? Gotta go, there is a HUGE fire. Huge. I need to keep an eye on this thing.

I'll post some video later. Big and black and boiling. I'm guessing 2 miles a way.

The temperature is about 95 right now, and a breeze is starting to blow.

I'll be back.

Labels: Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, Self-Reliance

Gotta get me one of these....


Probably not legal in CA...

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Fascism, Life and Times

The Nanny-ist of all states, California, is trying to make it even more difficult to buy ammo than it already is. I've just finished a letter to my Assemblyman, who happens to be on the Appropriations Committee:

OPPOSE AB 962

Mr. Torlakson,

I see that you are on the Appropriations Committee and on Wednesday will be voting on AB 962 which is sponsored by Assemblyman DeLeon. I want to strongly recommend a NO vote on this ridiculous law.

In reading the text, I see it has 4 very lofty, but very ambiguous goals: (1) To assist in the investigation of crime, (2) [aid in the] prosecution of civil actions, (3) [aid in the] arrest and prosecution of criminals, and (4) help with the recovery of lost, stolen or found property.

What I am unable to see explained, is how this bill will do ANY of these things.

More importantly, I am unable to see what problem this bill will fix.

The clear intended purpose of this bill is to make it more difficult for law abiding citizens to purchase ammunition. It will add increased burdens upon store owners to obtain yet another state-sanctioned certification to sell ammo. This burden will be passed on to law abiding gun owners in the way of increased costs to use our guns.

It will make it illegal for two law abiding citizens to transfer more than 50 rounds of ammo each month. Do you realize that is one box of ammo? What threat to California society will this eliminate?

It adds a chilling "Big Brother" aspect of requiring purchasers of ammo to be certified before they make a purchase, and be finger printed with each purchase.

Can you explain how this will realistically reduce crime? Is there a sudden rash of under-aged children buying ammo? If the intent is to stop gang-bangers and criminals, do you really think they buy their own ammo NOW?

Lastly, it eliminates our ability to buy ammo online. Especially in this horrendous economy, how can you support ANYTHING that will increase the costs being borne by your constituents? It adds insult to injury when it is a law that does nothing it purports to do.

To summarize, it is a bill, without a problem, that cannot do what it is intended to do. It only hurts your law abiding constituents.

Again, I strongly urge you to vote NO on this bill. Either way you vote, I will make sure that the members of my local hunting and fishing club (1400 strong) are aware of your vote at our next meeting.

Judging from this guy's past voting, he'll vote like the rest of the communist democrats in this state, and this will get passed on to the full assembly for a vote.

Looks like there will be more out-of-state trips for ammo purchases. Fucking idiots.

Labels: American Ingenuity, Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, welfare state

There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.
--Henry David Thoreau

The "Nanny-est" of the Nanny States, California, is hard at work making sure that those of us who support freedom and the Second Amendment are kept at bay. I received this very disappointing email from the NRA yesterday:

Yesterday, the Assembly Committee on Public Safety considered two bills of great concern to California’s law-abiding gun owners.

Assembly Bill 962 was passed and now heads to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations where it awaits a hearing.Sponsored by Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-45), AB962 would make it a crime to privately transfer more than 50 rounds of ammunition per month, even between family and friends, unless you are registered as a “handgun ammunition vendor” in the Department of Justice’s database. Ammunition retailers would have to be licensed and store ammunition in such a manner that it would be inaccessible to purchasers. The bill would also require purchasers submit to fingerprinting, which would be submitted to the Department of Justice. Lastly, mail order ammunition sales would be prohibited.

Assembly Bill 357, sponsored by Assembly Member Steve Knight (R-36), was defeated.This bill would have created a “shall issue” concealed handgun permit system in California. Under current law, an applicant must show cause as to why they should be issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense. AB357 would have removed that stipulation and required sheriffs to issue the license if all other mandated criteria were satisfied.

I guess they figure that with that first bill, if we can't get any ammo, we can't use our guns and all gun violence will magically melt away. What these pinheads continually forget is that the criminals don't follow the law. They'll continue stealing ammo, or going out-of-state to get it.

Once again, they have recommended a piece of legislation that has a negative impact on law-abiding citizens, and does nothing to prevent gun violence. Nothing.

The second bill hurts even worse, although it fared precisely as I expected. It didn't even make it out of committee to get voted upon by the full legislature.
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Today, I received a bit of good news. The idiotic 'smart gun' legislation was withdrawn by its sponsor:

Senate Bill 697 was scheduled to be heard on Tuesday, April 28 in the Senate Public Safety Committee.Yesterday, SB697 was pulled from the committee schedule at the request of the sponsor, State Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-7).

SB697 would prohibit the sale of handguns other than "owner-authorized (or ‘smart’) handguns" -- that is, handguns with a permanent, programmable biometric feature that renders the firearm useless unless activated by the authorized user. No proven, viable handgun of this type has ever been developed. The bill would require the California Attorney General to report to the Governor and Legislature on the availability of owner-authorized handguns; once the Attorney General finds that these guns are available, only “owner-authorized” handguns could be approved for sale in California.

This bastard DeSaulnier is my state senator. He's not a socialist or communist, he's a dyed-in-the-wool totalitarian. He was my county supervisor before being promoted to state office. I actually had my disgust of a past proposal of his, entered into the official supervisor minutes a couple of years ago.

I guarantee you, this bill is not dead...
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A bit of a follow-up on my Caching post (pure coincidence that it follows a post about the government restricting our gun rights... I promise!):

Stephen suggested trying to locate a site that you believe won't be disturbed for 20+ years.

Western mass man reminded us to consider where you live. If during the winter, your ground is frozen solid, you ain't gonna get your stuff out quick and easy like.

Jim recommended something called B 1/2 Sealant. It's a sealant used on aircraft fuel tanks. I can't vouch for it, but something able to keep fuel tanks sealed can't be all bad!

Dave made note that hiding a cache on government lands (national parks, state parks, etc.) might work. You could be pretty sure that it would never end up with a Walmart on top of it, but as he noted, it might be like hiding your chickens in a fox den. I like it, though...

TOR suggested using precise compass degrees in the instructions. I should have said that.

Finally, jimmycrackcorn, gave a link to a great Backwoods Home Magazine article about a guy who buried a rifle for 15 years. He was worried he was going to lose it during the Billy Jeff Clinton administration.

It's a great read of an actual start-to-finish caching.
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I say this every time it shows up in my mailbox, but you're nuts if you don't subscribe to Backwoods Home Magazine. I literally read it from cover-to-cover each time it arrives. It is always full of practical things you can do to make yourself more self-sufficient and/or save money.

I wonder how long it will take before the self-sufficiency publications are publicly heckled like talk-radio, or simply shut down as, "subversive".

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, communism, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, democrats, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, Thought Crimes

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
-- William Pitt, The Younger

Lot's of gun and Constitution stuff going through my head.

This weekend in Reno while decompressing after Day One of the gun show, my brother and I were talking about limits placed on private citizens owning guns. We were both in awe with the guns that people from free states can own.

During the conversation, I made a comment to the effect that I believe whatever weapons the police can have, the common citizen should be able to have. The police are citizens who are being paid to do a job.

But as citizens, they must be held to the same standards of Constitutionality as the rest of us. No one said it would be an easy job. Since there is no Constitutional provision to do so, they should not be granted super-constitutional powers.

Yet, they are. Or more precisely, OUR rights have been eroded.

He winced a bit, but I think he generally agreed with that.
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After I got home, I happened to turn on MSNBC (I think), and they had a show about kids and guns. In it, they showed a bunch of families that were "gun nuts" - kids as young as 5 or 6 shooting guns.

The reporter, with his very civilized British accent, voiced the displeasure of the producers with his negative comments and innuendo. I guess instead of teaching kids how to properly use guns, they felt it better that the kids figure guns out on their own, or better yet, never be exposed to them.

One of the segments showed a father with his AK47. The reporter asked why he needed such a powerful weapon in his home, especially considering he had so many kids around. His answer was basically that he hoped that a bad guy, seeing the AK, would choose to flee rather than fight.

[I answered the question in my head as I watched: "I have this gun because I don't want it to be a fair fight. If this bastard has the balls to break into my house, I have to assume he is armed and dangerous. I want him dead and I want to be sure of it."]
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Fast forward to Monday night. The TV show Jericho was on. The show is about what happens in some small American town after a big city has been nuked.

This episode ("New Bern") was about how another town was trying to take - by force - a bunch of farms that were part of Jericho. They built and fired a number of mortars into Jericho to make their point.

Since the nuke, food and other resources had become scarce. The federal government was no where to be seen. Jericho was on its own.

The folks of Jericho were able to fend off the attack because they all had Evil Black Rifles of the sort that are banned in many places in our country. They exercised their inalienable right to self-defense.
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Now, it would be easy to pass this off as some sort of survivalist wet dream or far-fetch ratings-grabber.

But is it?

The papers and Internet have been covered lately with stories about how the feds are concerned about some foreign country lighting off a nuke, producing an ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP), and frying up to 90% of our country's electrical infrastructure.

"As a scientist and engineer now serving my 17th year on the House Armed Services Committee, I have studied the threat of EMP with the world's experts," said U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett. "It is real."

If one of these goes off 200 miles above the center of the country, the result would be "effectively sending the continental U.S. back to the 19th century with a recovery time of months or years."

As if that were not bad enough, we have the increased likelihood of a massive solar burst sometime in 2012 - perhaps as early as 2010. They are predicting it will be a big one.

Who is "they"? NASA.

This week (March 2006) researchers announced that a storm is coming--the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.

Nature's very own EMP...
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So, back to the Constitution. Its primary purpose is to define the scope of the federal and state governments. They are only Constitutionally allowed to act within the framework specifically granted in the various articles and amendments. The Tenth amendment is intended to keep the feds in check by making it crystal clear that if a right has not been granted to them, that right falls to either the state or to the individual citizen.

The amendments can also either grant or guarantee rights to the individual. An example of a granted right would be in the Fifth Amendment, where you cannot be punished if you refuse to testify against yourself.

It's a bit different for the guarantee of rights. These are presumed to be, "God given," or inalienable rights which the government is compelled to guarantee and protect.

An example would be the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Through the written structure of the amendment - the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed - the founders recognize it as a pre-existing right, not one granted by the Constitution.

Yet this right is stomped on every day, in every state. I'll probably get some grief over this, but I have long asked how we can restrict any Constitutional rights of unsavory folks. A politically touchy example would be felons, for instance.

How can we rescind their right to bear arms once they are out of custody? The Constitution says nothing about felons, people with restraining orders (valid or not) or a history of violent acts, etc., losing rights simply because they were once a felon.

I'm not saying I would feel warm and fuzzy having some former murderer/rapist running around with a gun, but I believe in the Constitution as it is written. I believe in the rights and responsibilities as they are vested. No more, no less.

With the Constitution, I figure you're either all-in or all-out. If you don't like a part of the Constitution, change it with an amendment just like we've done 17 times since the original 10 were ratified.

Quite honestly, the EMP examples from earlier are irrelevant. We don't need justification to exercise our rights.

Why am I so adamant about this? Because once government begins limiting rights beyond that which is Constitutionally allowed, that right starts to become a privilege. And privileges can be revoked.

In California, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York and 9 other states, the right to keep and bear arms anywhere you wish is gone. Even in states with "shall issue" laws, you must first get the permission of the government before you can carry a gun.

It is now a government-granted privilege in all 50 states for any American to exercise any portion of their Second Amendment rights.
----------

So where am I going with this? I'm not 100% certain.

I know I will continue to exercise my right of free speech, my right to peaceably assemble, and my right to petition my government for redress of grievances.

I will also continue to exercise my inalienable rights, regardless of what the law may prescribe.

How far this is pushed is something I won't openly discuss, at least not now. There may come a time where I'll feel the need for my inalienable right of self-defense to become the public topic of my granted right of free speech.

We'll see.

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, Brady Bunch, communism, Concealed Carry, Constitution, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.
--William S. Burroughs

Reno is truly an armpit. A desperate armpit, I believe.


Even though it's only a couple of hours drive away, the last time I was there was 27 years ago when I was 23. I remember at the time that the place seemed old and gray. Everyone there seemed to be old.

Twenty-seven years later, I still got the same feeling. I'm obviously much older, but I felt like a youngster in Reno. The place is loaded with old-farts. It must have the per-capita corner on those little personal sitting scooters.

It's pretty dreary on the other end of the age scale as well. Very high unemployment. So many "lost children" walking the street. Teens and "twenty-somethings" that have that meth-head look - anxious, scabbed up, paranoid. This is right downtown near the major casinos and touristy stuff.

Lots of cops driving by, not seemingly doing much about it. Not really a Chamber of Commerce-worthy environment.

My brother had made the comment that he wanted me to carry concealed when we went out on Saturday night. I was already carrying (my set-up had virtually no "printing" and I was wearing a polo-style shirt). I was not going outside of the hotel unarmed. Period.
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The gun show was clearly a big financial boost to the area. Virtually everyone we spoke with (that worked there) had said Reno had been a ghost town of late, and it was nice to see the cash flowing for a while.

It was an interesting thing to see inside the guns show: the areas that were doing a brisk business - primarily the ammo, holster and magazine vendors, and the utility gun booths with modern, practical workhorse weapons - were all charging sales tax. Most of the others were only charging face value for the goods.

I was kind of surprised to see the large numbers antique gun dealers. I did not see a single sale at one of these booths. Same goes for the vendors selling animal pelts, WWII or Civil War memorabilia.

If it wasn't something with a practical use, the sales were light.
----------

I stayed at Harrah's, but that may be the last time I stay at any of their facilities in Nevada.

We got a room upgrade. What did that consist of? We got a coffee maker (no microwave) and this lovely lamp:


Click the picture. We named it "the Hair Lamp". It was this hideous thing covered in some kind of fabric that looked like hair. It looked like a big tinder bundle. And this was in a room that allowed smoking! Every time I'd stand up, my head went right in the middle of the lamp. I was not pleased.

The primary source of my anger was their policy on concealed carry. I honestly did not see the signs when we first arrived, but they had at least one of the entrances posted with signs saying that concealed carry was not allowed, even with a permit.

From what I've read, to be enforceable, the signs must be posted at all entrances and be very visible. As I said, I honestly did not see it until we were actually leaving.

Now, it's their property, and they can choose the type of clientele they want in their hotels and casinos. And it's my prerogative to spend my money elsewhere - and that is a prerogative I will exercise.

I'm going to write their CEO to voice my displeasure, most likely to no avail.

A company can pick its market niche - the rich, the common folk, the young, the ultra-cool. Apparently, they want to cater to sheeple, and that's their prerogative.

I ain't sheeple, and they'll get no more of my money. In all of the markets they're in, I have alternatives, and I'll spend my money in those businesses.

They're the newest member of the No Buy Zone, joining Miller Beer (pro-illegal aliens), Pizza Hut (for firing a CCW-carrying employee for defending himself by using a gun) and McDonald's (for not supporting an employee that came to the aid of one of THEIR customers who was being assaulted).

----------
OT: Why are we cutting Cuba a break? Is not it the job of the president to do things that are in the best interest of our country? If so, what did we get in return for the recent loosening of travel restrictions to Cuba?

This is going to be a huge boost to the Cuban economy. What did we get in return? Political prisoner releases? Free elections? How about cheap cigars?

This is nothing more than one Marxist giving a gift to another Marxist.

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Concealed Carry, Constitution, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, illegal aliens, Life and Times, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things.
--Robert Southey

I missed the 20/20 hatchet job on Guns In America when it was shown last Friday. I went to their site, and watched the short segment they had that was titled, "If I only Had A Gun." For now, it is on the front page of the 20/20 website.

Here's the premise: They wanted to test the theory that, if regular folks had guns, would they be able to protect themselves if a bad guy came in and started shooting up the place?

They took 6 students, and gave them a basic handgun safety course. They then put them individually into a lecture hall that was holding a seminar on some safety gear. The show producers gave each one of them (one at a time) a real handgun that was loaded with mini-paintball rounds. They were told they were the only one in the class with a gun.

The instructor is doing his thing when a "bad guy" bursts into the classroom. He peppers the instructor with shots. The cameras show each of the students struggling to get their weapons out and/or firing effective shots. In every instance, the student is "killed" by the bad guy.

Here's the set up: All of the students are carrying their handguns in a belt holster. Every one of them is wearing a big floppy white tee-shirt which which extends several inches below the muzzle of the gun.

When the bad guy comes in, he fires a few shots at the instructor. All of the students in the lecture hall scatter. In every example they showed, the bad guy then goes straight for the student with the hidden gun. Without exception.

Oh, and the other "students" in the class, are all real-life cops that are in on what is going to happen, and the "bad guy" is the firearms instructor that taught the gun safety class.
----------

The scam: In every single course I've taken, or video I've watched, CCW students are trained to make the weapon easily accessible. You would NEVER wear a big, floppy tee shirt that extended several inches below the muzzle of the gun for the exact reason you saw on the show - your gun will get caught up in the material.

And wasn't it just amazing how the bad guy knew exactly who had the firearm in every example and zeroed right in on them? Wow, those bad guys must be clairvoyant as well. In the first segment of the "mayhem", they have a "bad-guy's view" camera angle. It shows the bad guy specifically targeting the student in question, and specifically passing up people that run right across his field of fire. The same thing happened in some of the other tests.

They also just happened to place the student with the gun right in the front row. Why didn't they ever have the student in an upper level, or off to the side? We all know the answer to those questions.

Total set-up bullshit.
----------

Another blurb that just tweaks my ass on this was Diane Sawyer then goes on to give us the physiological reasons why you react slowly and inaccurately. Heart is pumping, etc. She then goes on to show us her own test with a guy in the back of a truck with a shotgun, and how he still blew her away even when she knew exactly what was going to happen.

I'd like to know what her solution would be to this problem. Is she and ABC suggesting that the proper course of action would be to curl up in the fetal position and wait for the bullet to the head? Wouldn't you at least want a chance to live?

And one thing they failed to roll play was what actually happens in most of these mass killings. You hear the bad guy shooting in the distance. You have the ability to take a defensive position, steady your shot, and make the kill.

Remember the Virginia Tech teacher who bravely barricaded the door to his classroom? He heard the bad guy coming and did something. If just one student in that classroom had a gun, that monster could have been stopped right there.
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Diane finished her hatchet job with a statement along the lines of, "We could not find one reliable study showing guns help save lives." I guess she has never seen GunFacts.info and the 481 citations it includes.

Apparently, in her eyes the US Department of Justice, the British Home Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and "rags" such as US News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times just can't be trusted.

I wonder if her friends at the Brady Bunch were able to supply her with any "reliable" information...

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Gun Grabbers, Media Bias

A conspiracy is nothing but a secret agreement of a number of men for the pursuance of policies which they dare not admit in public.
--Mark Twain

I'm having a very difficult time believing this ammo shortage across the country is simply a result of the recent upswing in gun ownership. It's not like there are restrictions on how many boxes of the typical firing range cartridges you can buy. There are none to be had.

Yesterday, I went to 6 different online ammo suppliers. Not one of them had ANY .357 Magnum or .38 Special, and 5 of the 6 had no 9mm.

CheaperThanDirt.com had some personal defense rounds (north of a dollar per round) in 9mm, and a few available boxes of American Eagle FMJ 124 grain. I held my nose and paid $21.79 a box for 4 boxes.

Even though I'm going to the Big Reno Gun Show next week primarily to buy ammo, I don't know if they'll have any.

In the past two weeks, I have been to 3 different ranges and two different gun shops. Two weeks ago, one of the ranges had a bit of .38 Special, but no 9mm. The two other ranges and two gun shops are all out of any .38 Spl, .357 Magnum and 9mm.

That's not quite true. One of the gun shops had 5 boxes of Chinese-made 9mm. I'd never heard of the manufacturer (neither had the owner) so I opened up one of the boxes, and the metal jacket was made of brass, not copper. They wanted nearly $14 a box for it. I passed.

At one of the gun shops, the owner said they are the biggest handgun dealer in Northern California. He sells over 100 guns a week, plus 50 a week are on back-order. He sells a lot of ammo. Well, he used to. He called one of the manufacturers directly, and was told they are producing 1 million rounds a day. Where is this going?

He surmised that it was all being warehoused to push up prices when it's released at a later date. Could be, I guess.

But that would mean that every manufacturer was doing the same thing. They could all be colluding to affect prices. I just find that hard to believe, especially with all of the press that this issue has been getting. But then, that assumes the press would actually do their job and dig a bit.
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I'm almost done with the caching post. I've gone back in and sanitized it a bit - I'd originally given out way too much information. A couple of finishing touches, and it will be ready for the world!

Labels: Brady Bunch, Corruption, Life and Times, Self-Reliance

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.
--Plato

Hermit had a post about yet another federal raid on some gun guy. I looked into the story, and am horrified by how this guy is being painted as a whack-job.

The article I found had this headline:

Update: Rumble Had Bunker With Enough Food to Barricade Himself for 3 Months

Bunker. Barricade. Hmmm. Hitler and Saddam both had bunkers. Only criminals or psychopaths have those things, right?

At least they're not whipping up the hysteria.
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With what information has been released, he appears to have broken the law by making AK47's. I'm assuming those are illegal in NY state. At least that's what he's being charged with.

He's an FFL holder and gun collector. Would there have been this much furor if he were a sword collector and had 200-300 swords and knifes?

Sorry, bad example. In New York, the answer is probably 'yes'.
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Just checking, but is it now illegal to store food? Three months of food for 1 person would only fill a few storage bins. The Mormon's had better watch out, as they are irresponsible enough to suggest their members hoard a year's worth of food for the entire family. Given my past relationships with Mormon's, they tend to have BIG families. Their food stores are huge.

My God (like the irony there?) they're almost a criminal enterprise. Just like drug kingpins, they have a vast network of preparation facilities spread across the country. THEY MUST BE STOPPED BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!

Where are the black helicopters and armored personnel carriers to kick in the doors of these families to cart them away?
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So who is next?

I have enough food and water for my family of 4 to last at least 4 months. I don't have 200 guns or enough ammo so that, "the smell from the ammo was so strong a police dog at the scene was overwhelmed by the odor," but I clearly have more "stuff" than the average Californian. What has he done with regards to all of the headline items (guns, food, ammo) that was illegal?

Why the need for the armored personnel carriers, multi-agency coordination and the serious, furrowed brows? Why not just wait for the guy to come outside and nab him?

I guess you kind of lose the 'intimidation factor'. And that's what this shit is all about.

There may have been a bit of the reasoning hidden deep in the article:

Fisher said he did not believe Rumble did anything wrong, and that the raid was 'retaliation' for a lawsuit Rumble brought against the City of Ogdensburg several years ago.

Additionally, the Watertown Times web site quotes another friend of Rumble's as saying Rumble is a survivalist, with strong opposition to big government.

Hmmm. Let's recap: Survivalist/prepper, pushed back against local government, dislikes any flavor of big government.

Go directly to jail.
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Hey, it will be interesting to see if the gun charges are as valid as the federal government's assertions regarding the flood of guns from America into Mexico.

It turns out it was just a big lie. It wasn't 90% of all arms. It's 17%. Tops.




Mr. Rumble, I wish you well, but you're screwed, dude. You've got Nanny and her well-trained press corps lining up against you. Even if you're not guilty, your shit is gone. You'll never see any of it again.
-----------

I swear, I swear, I swear - caching post coming soon...

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Media Bias, nanny state, Self-Reliance

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
--Martin Luther King

I mentioned that I picked up a new handgun this weekend. I forgot to mention that they were out of ammo. Not low on ammo, they were out. The only stuff they had was hand-loaded, or you could buy hand-loading supplies.

Along the same lines, I hit the shooting range with one of my brothers this weekend (on Saturday instead of the planned Friday). This is the 20-lane facility. We got there at probably their peak time - right round 1:30 in the afternoon.

We waited for more than a half-hour. While we were waiting, another dozen or so people came in, with probably half of them just turning around and leaving.

They were totally out of 9mm. 45 ACP was $24 a box (looking at CheaperThanDirt.com[CTD], that looks to be A DEAL, since the only available .45 ACP they have is Wolf steel at almost $30), 38 SPL was $19 a box (another deal, as there is ZERO available at CTD.com). CTD.com, ironically, has some 9mm - starting at almost $23 for the Wolf crap.

I popped over to MidwayUSA.com, and the story is basically the same.

Maybe we'll leave a day earlier to get in line at the Reno Gun Show......
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Prediction: The new bootlegged item? Cigarettes. Prices will be going up again. On Wednesday, the federal tax will go from 39 cents a pack, to a $1.01.

Want to get around the tax by rolling your own? Good luck. The tax for loose tobacco will go from $1.10 a pound to $24.78 a pound. Holy fucking shit.

At the same time, the People's Republic of California - you remember us, the broke, socialist state way over to the left side of the map - will be raising the tax on smokes by $1.50 a pack. This will also kick in on Wednesday.

Looks like the weenies at ATF are going to have their hands full. Ammo is screwed. Smoking is screwed. When (not if) they raise the booze tax, they'll all be able to cry, "BINGO!" with much glee.

It makes me proud to be an American...
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Oakland actually made me feel good this weekend. Over 20,000 people attended the funeral of the 4 slaughtered officers. It was pretty amazing. They had to hold it in the Coliseum.

I saw a news piece on this guy from the neighborhood - a black guy - who literally walked up on the scene of the two traffic cops that were first slaughtered. He tore his shirt off and jammed in into the hole in the neck of one of the cops that was still alive.

The reporter asked him why he did it when so many of his neighbors were jeering the cops. He said something to the effect of, "It was a human being that had been injured. What else would I do?"

This guy - someone who lived in the neighborhood - had the intelligence and the humanity to understand the difference between the acts of a murdering child rapist, and the acts of a few (perhaps more) officers in a troubled agency. He saw a wrong and did what he could to make it right.

He acted like a civilized human being, not a fucking animal. Perhaps you reap what you sow.
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Another thing that honestly raised my heart was a story about the make-shift memorials that pop up.

They showed one of them for the cops that were shot. This was right in the middle of this neighborhood where the shootings occurred. It was chock-full of cards, flowers, teddy bears, etc., and words of sorrow for the officers. It was very nice.

Around the corner, one had been set up for the murdering child rapist. It had a couple of flowers, and a couple of notes of thanks for getting back at "the man".

The people of the neighborhood promptly trashed the thing.

God Bless the civilized residents of Oakland.

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, democrats, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Race-baiters, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, Taxes

Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.

It's Sunday, I'm trying to relax, and I mistakenly turn on Face The Nation. They're interviewing Barry, and he's answering questions with a bunch of worthless pablum.

Blah. Blah-blah-blah. Blah-blah.

I zone it out, until I hear Bob Schieffer ask something about American guns in Mexico and do we need assault weapon laws.

Oh Lord, I can feel my BP rising...

I went back to the transcripts (see page 2), and it resulted in this letter to Bob.

Mr. Schieffer,

Where is your journalistic integrity? Here's a quote from your recent interview with the President.

"But things down there are really serious, as you well know. It's my understanding that 90 percent of the guns that they're getting down in Mexico are coming from the United States. We don't seem to be doing a very good job of cutting off the gun flow. Do you need any kind of legislative help on that front? Have you, for example, thought about asking Congress to reinstate the ban on assault weapons?"

You've heard stories? What kind of a credible journalist would make such an unsubstantiated assertion? Don't you ever check the validity of the information your sources provide?

I'm sure you've heard stories that there are little green men in Area 51 as well. Perhaps you could ask the President if they are providing the Mexican drug lords with their get-away space ships. They MUST be using them, because we can't seem to catch any of them with the American arms. It's super-natural!

Here's a tip on how to become a better journalist:

1. Ask for a count of the number of guns seized from drug lords.

2. Ask your "source" for a list of the serial numbers of every single weapon that has been seized from the Mexican drug dealers.

3. Make sure the number of seized gun matches the number of serial numbers you're provided.

4. Check those serial numbers to see who is the legal owner.

That will now give you someone to speak with to determine how their gun ended up in the hands of Mexican drug dealers.

Do you know what MY sources tell me? They tell me that the guns were either originally sold to the Mexican military and "some how" made it into the hands of the bad guys, OR they were purchased on the open arms market.

In case you're unaware, those Mexican drug cartels have LOTS of money and can buy whatever they need.

So, before you next consider implying that laws should be enacted to restrict a Constitutional right of your fellow law-abiding citizens, perhaps you could first do a little leg work. You know, at least scratch the surface of unsubstantiated "stories" before you further spread the rumors.

I don't expect a response from the Communist Bloviating Society (CBS), let alone from Schieffer. If anyone, any where doubts that the major TV broadcast networks have a political agenda, WAKE THE HELL UP.

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Gun Grabbers, Self-Defense

Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant
will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results.
--Sakyong Mipham

I'm sure most people have heard about the 4 Oakland PD officers that were shot and killed (3 are currently deceased, and the other is supposedly brain-dead) this past weekend. Obviously, it is a horrific event. It is one of the worst police shooting incidents in the city's history.

It is going to be red-meat to the gun grabbers.

The press has had a major focus: He had an assault weapon.

According to authorities, Lovelle Mixon used a semiautomatic pistol to shoot and kill Hege and Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, two motorcycle officers who pulled him over during a routine traffic stop. Two hours later, Mixon, who was holed up in his sister's nearby apartment, opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle, killing SWAT team sergeants Ervin Romans, 43, and Daniel Sakai, 35.

The Brady Bunch will be all over this. They will focus on the fact that he had an evil assault rifle, not on the fact that it was illegal for this piece of shit to have as much as a .22 Derringer in his possession. The was a criminal who had a long history of breaking the law, and doing so in a violent manner.

Somehow, in their twisted little minds, removing guns from the hands of law abiding citizens will fix the problem.

I hope the CRPA and NRA will be ready to counter-attack the gun grabbers. But they won't.
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I think the most disgusting thing about this whole thing has been the attitude of the community.

The parolee who shot five Oakland police officers Saturday, killing three and gravely wounding another, was hiding inside his sister's apartment just around the corner, where he ultimately was shot dead himself.

And neighbors knew it. But they didn't call the cops for nearly an hour.

If neighbors had spoken up sooner, said one woman who lives two doors down, some of those lives might have been saved. But in East Oakland, lamented the woman, Elaine, who refused to give her last name, that just doesn't happen.

"I've been crying all day. It makes you feel bad," she said, wiping her eyes just steps from the blood spatters that clung stubbornly to a broken sidewalk on 74th Avenue. "Because all the time, you knew he was in that apartment. But you just don't want to be a snitch. The word, 'snitch,' it's almost worse than murderer."

Well, isn't that special? I feel so bad for that woman who has been crying all day. Boo-fucking-hoo. Two cops are dead because these cowards didn't want to besmirch their social status.

I'm sure the LEO families are very understanding of the neighbor's reluctance to get involved. They'll think sympathetically of them as their sons and fathers are being buried.

These leaches expect the police to protect them, but will do nothing in return. Sounds like the attitude of a community that has been too used to always taking, and never having to do anything in exchange.

As if that isn't bad enough, these living, breathing, life-sucking maggots actually taunted the police.

By late afternoon Saturday, a group of about 50 people lined 73rd Avenue, a block from where Dunakin and Hege were shot. Some shouted obscenities aimed at police. Others said the officers' deaths were retribution for the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant, the unarmed Hayward man killed by a BART police officer on an Oakland train platform New Year's Day. Shouts of, "They had it comin!' " were heard in the crowd.

They had it comin'.

All I can hope for is that the OPD stops patrolling that neighborhood. Let the drug dealers, pimps, whores, murderers, thieves and crack-heads offer protection to the good, civic-minded citizens.

Fucking animals.

Labels: Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Ethics, Gun Grabbers, Race-baiters, Self-Defense

You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures.
--Charles C. Noble

On Saturday, I wrote about the California "Shall Issue" bill, AB 357. I have looked at the CRPA and NRA/NRA ILA sites. Both organizations have virtually no information on their sites. The CRPA site has a link to a story on the subject - the same link I provided on Saturday.

I have received absolutely no email alerts or Calls To Action from either organization. The only thing I've received in this vein was an email from FrontSight.com. Somehow THEY were able to get something out the same day the bill made the news.

On Friday, they sent me an email with the names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers of the members of the Public Safety Committee who have this bill in their laps right now.

Why can't these organizations, whose primary purpose is to support pro-gun laws, do the same?

Here's the letter I wrote to the NRA (a similar one went to the CRPA):

RE: California AB357

Sirs,

I have scoured the NRA and NRAILA sites and see absolutely nothing on AB357 - the "Shall Issue" bill in California.

As a California gun owner and NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, this is obviously of great interest and importance.

Considering California is the nation's most populous state, bringing us into the "Shall Issue Club" would be a huge event.

What are you doing to promote this legislation? What can you suggest individuals in CA do to help this become law?

Most of us have no idea how the legislative process works. We don't know if this bill is simply window-dressing, or if it has a real chance of success. We look to YOU for that guidance.

I look forward to hearing from you on this very important legislation.

I'm a member of both organizations, but I'm not a happy member...
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In other news.....

On Sunday, I pissed away half a day helping out my buddy that had the bad car accident. He had a water softener that had been badly leaking, and he wanted it removed. I had told him I was pretty proficient in soldering, and would be happy to help him out (I have made the majority of my own brewing equipment, and most involves soldering copper pipe).

We removed the softener with little problem. We ran down to the hardware store and picked up a couple of elbows to help us re-connect the water to flow into the house. I already had the torch, and all of the flux, solder (yes, lead-free) emery cloth, etc., to do the job.

I gave my brother (a home inspector) a quick call to make sure I didn't need to put any kind of P-trap on the fresh water pipes (just being careful...), and we were ready to go.

I dry fitted the parts, marked the joint angles, and was good to go.

I then couldn't run a bead of solder to save my life!

Over the next 2 hours, I tried to build a leak-less joint. No deal.

It finally dawned on me what I was doing wrong (basically, I was over-heating the joints). I took the whole mess apart, re-cleaned and fluxed the joints, and the whole thing went together - perfectly - in about a half hour!

All told, a job that should have taken about an hour and a half - disassembly, running to the hardware store, re-assembly - took 4 1/2 hours. Oy!

He's lucky I wasn't charging by the hour. He got off with a tank of propane, a Coke and a cupcake...
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I'm guessing it was a year ago when I bought, In Search Of The Second Amendment. It's a DVD by David Hardy, the owner of the site, Of Arms and The Law. Even though I bought it a while back, I had never watched it - until this weekend.

The documentary (about 2 hours) goes into great detail about the genesis of the 2A - which actually pre-dates the Constitution. It also discusses how even liberals in the legal profession believe gun ownership is an individual right, not a state or collective right. It is a position based upon fact, not hype.

I finally got around to watching it because I wanted more "ammunition" for the expected debates on the aforementioned AB357. By providing the historical and legal context of the right to gun ownership, we can take away the arguments of the Brady Bastards, and leave them with nothing more than emotional appeals.

While emotional appeals will certainly play a large part in both the pro- and con-arguments, removing one source of "talking points" from the gun grabbers will certainly help our cause.

One nice thing is, you can show it on your local Public Access cable channel for free. You just need to own the DVD, which costs about $25.

Get educated. Buy the video. Read GunFacts.info.

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, communism, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
--James Madison, The Federalist Papers #46 at 243-244

I just got a piece of kick-ass news from one of my brothers. This being California, it will be an up-hill battle at the very least, but still, it's very heartening.

There is a bill, AB 357 (notice the bill number? I love it!), which would make CA a "Shall Issue" state.

AB 357 takes the ambiguity and wide latitude out of the hands of individual Sheriffs who may personally oppose concealed carry and compels the granting of the permit. In the language of the amended version contemplated, the words may issue are struck and replaced with shall issue.

Most folks are probably not aware, but the new Sheriff of Orange County (down in the LA area) has taken it upon herself to stop issuing new permits, or re-issuing existing permits. These are people that already had them, have done nothing illegal since the last issuance, but she has decided that a group of armed, law-abiding citizens is a bad thing. Only having the criminals armed is a much better idea.

She has been getting all kinds of grief over this. It appears that one of the results is this bill.

I've sent an email to the CRPA and the NRA to get more information about what they intend on doing, and what regular citizens can do. I intend on sending emails out to literally every Californian I know telling them to contact their CA government officials in support of this bill.

If anyone is interested, here is the text of the actual bill.
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I'm feelin' a bit Moosey.

I am now a member of the Loyal Order Of the Moose (LOOM). I went down to the lodge last night with a buddy (a member), signed on the dotted line and forked over my bucks.

This place is huge. When you first walk in, there is a huge bar area (they have some sort of politically correct name I need to remember - something like 'member refreshment area'), a pool table room, a huge kitchen and hall.

The hall is what interests me the most. They rent it out for member dinners, wedding receptions and the like. I intend on holding some of my various classes there.

I met some great people last night. I need to get the skinny on who is who, and go over and talk with whomever is in charge of renting out the place and talking dollars and cents.

I'm getting pumped up....
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The Moose have an organization for women called Women of The Moose. One of the guys last night was telling me that they had a new woman member convinced that, as part of the initiation process, she would have to kiss the balls of a moose.

To her credit, she was ready to do it! Now that's commitment...

Unsubstantiated reports were that a number of the LOOM members were volunteering for Moose Duty....

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Gun Grabbers, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.
-- P. G. Wodehouse

I joined a Rod and Gun club last night. This club has been getting between 30 and 50 new members each month for the last year or so. They noted that they (uhm, WE) now have 1,300 members.

It was funny: There were about 30 new members signed up yesterday. The total attendance at the meeting was perhaps 60! They really were harping on folks to attend the meetings and to get involved.

I'm guessing the main reason people join is for the range fee discount. It is regularly $12. Members pay $6. With an annual membership fee of $25, it's pretty easy to make up your membership fee in just a few visits.

I joined primarily because they are a CMP-affiliated club. I can now take advantage of their military surplus gun sales.

One "bonus" I was unaware of is the size of the clubhouse. Perfect for teaching firearms classes. They've got some guy that does classes for the club itself, so I need to tread lightly. But I'm guessing that if I pay some nominal rental fee - plus my students paying range fees - I should have no problems.

I know very little about rifles. I need to get educated about common calibers, rifle types and the lot. I figure this is as good a way as any to get up to speed.

I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions here. Help me out here, folks!
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The range also has an Action Pistol arm that looks very interesting.

While I am looking forward to improving my rifle skills, I'm mostly a "handgun guy". This will be a great opportunity to sharpen my handgun skills, and have fun at the same time.

I need to attend a few orientation classes to show that I know my way around a handgun, but it doesn't sound overly onerous. One of the guys I was speaking with last night said that they have only had one accidental handgun discharge in their history.

It was a LEO.

He literally shot himself in the foot! The member had some choice words for his opinion of police officer shooting skills. I'll keep them to myself...
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Something I was very pleasantly surprised with is their outreach to kids. They have a huge program for kids. They start them off with airguns, and work them up to pistols, shotguns and rifles.

Remember folks, this is California. The Bay Area, no less - the provincial capital of the People's Republic.

One of the new members was a kid in a hoodie that had the name of my wife's school on the front. When us new members were getting sworn in, I asked him if he went to that school. He said yes. I asked him if he knew Mrs. S. Yep, in fact, she was his teacher last year!

Now, she's a 5th grade teacher, so this kid is 11 or 12. Very cool.

When I got home, I told my wife about meeting this kid. She started laughing. She had "written him up" that morning at recess! Those parochial school teachers are tough...
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I was going to share a story about my doctor's visit today. It is absolutely funny as hell, but a bit "rough". I know there are a number of ladies who stop by here on a regular basis, and they might not appreciate the humor.

And NO, it wasn't THAT test... ;-)

Labels: American Spirit, Brady Bunch, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Life and Times, Self-Defense

Every dictator is an enemy of freedom, an opponent of law.
--Demosthenes

First, some fluff...

I went to a new indoor range with a buddy yesterday. They had 10 lanes - 3 on one side and 7 on the other. We were on the 3 lane side with two other guys that were sharing one lane.

As we were getting ready, one of the guys starts shooting. It sounded like a damned cannon going off. My buddy asked him what he was shooting - we both figured it was a .44 magnum or something.

It was a 9mm!

It then dawned on us that it had to be because the 3 lane side was so confined. The walls were cinder block and it was only 20 yards long - we were getting echo up the ass!
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Kinda cool: This is the first range I've ever been to that allowed double taps. Man, that was an eye-opener. It seemed as though we could usually get at least one of the shots on paper, but it's anyone's guess where the other shot went.

It was strange: Sometimes the first hit, sometimes it was the second. Clearly, we were doing something wrong. Need to look into that....
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I want you to really look at this picture:


Both of these fish are of the same species. They're both rainbow trouts.

My friend who had the bad car accident caught both of them on Wednesday. The big-boy is 10 pounds 2 ounces and 26 1/2 inches long!

He called me and said he had caught it, and I didn't believe him. They just don't make rainbows that big, and you never find anything that big in the little puddle where he caught it.

Far and away the largest rainbow I've ever seen. He caught it on PowerBait with 4 pound test. He said he figures he had another 20 yards of line left on his reel after this beast made its run.

Oh, the little guy was a mere 16 inches long...
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Handbasket time...

Tactic number ??? for how they're going to justify taking our guns: We're causing all of the problems in Mexico.

Attorney General Eric Holder was busy announcing the capture of more than 50 alleged members of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel yesterday when he unwittingly stepped into a larger debate about gun control.

Responding to a reporter's question on weapons' regulations, Holder said, "Well, as President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons. I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum."

Well, if it will help out Mexico, then by all means, shit on the Second Amendment (again) and let's be done with it.

Buy and cache. Buy and cache.
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CitiGroup Nationalization: Check!

The U.S. government will exchange up to $25 billion in emergency bailout money it provided Citigroup Inc. for as much as a 36 percent equity stake in the struggling bank, greatly increasing the risks to taxpayers as voter unhappiness about the broader bailout program rises.

Voter unhappiness? Good Lord, gimme a cocktail....

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance