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

This lady rocks. She is a firearms instructor that specializes in teaching women how to shoot. She has found a market niche, and is filling it. Good on ya.

A couple of months back, I noticed a problem women students were having in the range - particularly indoor ranges. They were much more jumpy and jittery than the men. Much more. I did some internet searches and came across her site.

One of her articles was talking about this. She made the observation that gun shot reports are in the lower "pitch" range. Just like mens voices. She hypothesized that this was triggering some sort of primeval "danger" response in the women, which in turn manifest itself as excess jitteriness on the range.

I needed a way to acclimate the women to the sounds prior to entering the range.

To test this, I brought a digital recorder to the range with me, and recorded about 3 minutes of gun shots. With new, female students, while we are doing some of the hands-on drills BEFORE we enter the range, I have them wear headsets with the recorded gun shots being played.

So far, it seems to be working!

I don't know if it has anything to do with getting them used to the lower pitch, or if it is just giving them a taste of what's to come. I don't care! If students are less jittery while on the firing line, I'm less likely to have someone freak-out and cause a problem.
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She had an article that was her own version of The No Buy Zone. Her focus is on anti-Second Amendment companies.

She's singin' to the choir on that one! Give it a look-see. And boycott those businesses.
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Many people know that JP Morgan Chase bought WAMU. I am/was a WAMU customer.

They are in the midst of the conversion from WAMU to Chase. Having been in banking for a million years, I understand how conversions go. Stuff NEVER goes perfectly. Never.

How you handle those screw-up tells what kind of company you're dealing with.

I went to my branch on Friday to make a deposit. I always use the ATM machines. These had been swapped out months ago and converted to the Chase machines.

I put in my card, punched in my numbers and got to the main screen. There was no "deposit" option. I figured I had pushed some wrong button, so I re-did everything. Same result.

I got in line and when I got to the teller, I was terse, but polite. I let him know what had happened. His explanation turned me verbose and rude.

He said, "Oh yeah. We JUST found out about that 45 MINUTES ago."

I proceeded to tell him - and everyone else in line - that I had just pissed away 10 minutes on their machine (they're MUCH slower now). If it was not taking deposits, why didn't they put a sign on the machine stating this?

He said, "OK. Oh, the other machine works just fine."

Thankful that I was constrained by California law from carrying a weapon (jk), I said, even louder, "Do I look like the Amazing Kreskin? Am I supposed to get brain-waves from the ATM telling me which one accepts deposits?"

I got lots of chuckles from the people in line behind me. My work here was done.
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I stopped watching the Raider game mid-way through the second quarter. At this time, they are behind 28-0, and it's not even half time. A top-notch Youth Football team could kick their asses today.

JaMarcus Russell is still their quarterback because.....?

They must already be eying the 2010 draft choices...

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, welfare state

Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.
--Martha Graham

The hectic pace continues, but I wanted to share some stuff.

I have a puzzle for the gunnies out there. I had an interesting training session this weekend, and want to see if anyone could determine the cause of this guy's problem. It is primarily a two-part problem. I nailed one part of the problem based upon our pre-lesson phone interview.

Based upon the information, plus one observation, I SHOULD have picked up the second issue more quickly (the second item took me a little over an hour to diagnose).

Interview information: He's been shooting this gun for a number of years - 5+. He is very confused and frustrated. The gun is a Beretta Elite II in 9mm.

He owns a number of rifles, and is able to shoot them all very accurately, but sucks with his handgun. He wants to have better accuracy, as he keeps the gun for self-defense in his home. The last time he shot the handgun was about 4 months ago. He buys his ammo in bulk, so training is only limited by motivation.

Observation: Relevant observations were that he tea-cups with his left hand (cups his left hand under the handle and right hand). His stance was a bit too closed and lock-kneed. Pistol presentation was a bit weak, with a lot of elbow bend in both arms. Lots of muzzle arc after presentation - he was having difficulty getting a sight picture (his Beretta had all-black sights). He had a nice, "soft" trigger pull - no slapping or jerking at all.

His shots were consistently 8-12 inches off bullseye at 7 yards. Most shots were in the lower left-hand quadrant - between 6 and 9 o'clock.

With that information, what do you think were his main problems (two of them)? He had a number of tweaks - each which improved performance, but two things produced MAJOR improvements.

Based upon this information, take your best guess as to what the major problems were. The one I figured out based upon our interview brought his shots consistently grouped just off of our 8" target (so, he had gone from 8-12 inches off center, to 4 inches off center). It took what seemed like forever to figure out the second part. In hindsight, it should have been the second or third thing I addressed - it seems so obvious now.

It was funny as hell, as soon as we got him consistently on target, I thought he was going to hug me right on the range! It was almost like he couldn't believe that is was HE that was shooting the gun. He had been shooting for years like this, and had just about given up. It was very satisfying to see.

Best part is, he signed up for two more hours...!

Post your guesses, and I'll reveal what the two major items were either in tomorrow's post or in the comments.

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I inadvertently got to build some skills this weekend.

We've been in our home since 2002. When we moved here, we bought a new lawnmower. For the past year or so, the engine has been having some problems, and I got a small leak in the gas tank. Then, two weekends ago, one of my son's called me out front to show me one of the rear wheels had snapped off. WTF?

They used a carriage bolt for the axle. The manufacturer had taken a 1/2 inch carriage bolt and then reduced the size of the threaded portion to 5/16", which screwed into the side of the lawnmower frame. The bolt snapped right where the threads met the smooth portion of the bold.

Well, you can't find bolt at Home Depot that are built that way. They're either 1/2' or 5/16" - not some Franken-bolt bastardization.

I figured I had two options: Bite the bullet and get a new lawnmower (a minimum of $200) or repair the wheel.

I chose the latter. I went out and bought a tap and die set. I drilled out the 5/16" hole, then used the tap to ream out and thread the hole at 1/2".

I'll be damned if it didn't work! The tap cut the threads like butter. I'm primarily a woodworking guy - I don't do a lot with metals. I thought it was going to be some complex, convoluted process. I watched a couple of Youtube video and was off to the races.

I bought an entire kit with multiple sized taps and dies for under $40, so this was a win-win for me. I got a new set of tools AND saved the money I would have to spend on a lawnmower.

I've got to find some steel rod and try making a bolt with the dies. I'm hooked!

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

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

Don't find fault. Find a remedy.
--Henry Ford

As you might have noticed from my past few posts, I'm concentrating on things I can control. Personally of late, I've been working on getting some better cash-flow into my business, developing my skills, preparing as best as I can for what I think is coming.

It has become too draining to focus on things over which I have virtually no influence. The deck is simply stacked too high.

Barry lies about the health care plan, and the compliant press go along, gleefully spreading the propaganda. When people begin to call, "BULLSHIT" to the lies, they are painted as unpatriotic mobsters and thugs. More MSM compliance.

When even that proves ineffective, they start with the demonizing. A man, exercising at least two of his rights - free speech and the right to bear arms - is hysterically painted as some sort of threat to society [BTW, well done, sir, for maintaining your composure with Matthews. I can't say that I would have been so calm.]


The presumption of Matthew's bed-wetting is that regular people are not to be trusted. He points to the presidential assassinations and failed attempts as proof.

Consider this: Every president in the last 100 years has been surrounded by guns - government guns.

What is so maddening is that most regular people seem to agree with Matthew's view - only government guns can be trusted. That somehow, because you've taken a government oath, you are somehow anointed as 'trustworthy'.

Good Lord, how have we found ourselves in this upside-down world?

We have this great country because of the principle that government guns could not be trusted, and private guns were the guarantee for personal liberty. We built these beliefs into our Constitution.

I want you to add up the number of government officials assassinated by citizens, and compare it to the number of citizens assassinated by government officials. Ruby Ridge and Waco alone make the comparison lopsided. Work in the number of citizens killed by local police and federal alphabet-soup agencies and the comparison is off the charts.

But WE'RE not to be trusted.
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I can't continue to waste energy on things I can't change. No Nanny State is going to become a place where I will talk about what can be done to insulate myself from the madness of the lemmings and their circus trainers. I can't change what the press does, or reverse a law when a government official does something stupid.

I can insulate myself against their actions.

I'm not folding up my tent with regards to railing against Nanny - I'll still do some posts about grotesque abuses of government powers - but by and large, they will be the exception, and not the rule.

I'm going to do more stuff on how we as individuals can help maintain and increase liberties for ourselves and for others. For example, instead of bitching about how the government and the press try to oppress dissent, I may do a post on how to organize a Tea Party. The focus will be on the action, not on the reason for the action.

One of the topics I'm going to more deeply investigate is propaganda. The socialists in government and the press are masters of the techniques. We who love personal freedom have to learn from their successes.

I want to talk about things to deaden the blow, and how to make their jobs more difficult when they intrude into my life without my permission. It's time to actually exercise some rights while we still have them.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Media Bias, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, welfare state

The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice.
--Proverb

Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.
--Dave Barry

A buddy of mine and I went out and spent two hours picking blackberries. We did pretty well.


That, my friends, is 4 pounds, 5 ounces of fresh, ripe blackberries. At $5.33 a pound in the stores, we did OK.

We headed out for the Sacramento Delta levee roads to hit some of the bushes right on the road. At the first bush, we collected perhaps a quarter of a pound. The further and further we got off the main drag, the better the haul.

A couple of the bushes we hit looked almost untouched. We stopped at a total of 4 massive hedge rows of the stuff, and only picked the stuff that was easily accessible.

There was one problem: Spiders.

Click the picture to check out this sweet little pup -


These were some big-assed spiders - some perhaps with bodies of an inch and a half. They were everywhere on the windward side of the bushes. Not a spider to be found on the other side.

My guess is that they did this to get the grasshopper and crickets that were in abundance to blow into their webs. They were so thick, you'd think there wouldn't be enough food for them. We just took stick and moved the webs aside to get to the berries.

A portion of the berries will become blackberry jam (yessum!) and the rest will be crushed and added as flavoring to a portion of my hooch - a blackberry brandy of sorts. I'll ziplock these and freeze them, since the visual quality of the berry is irrelevant for this purpose.

If I get motivated, I may head out again for more berries to make an actual blackberry wine. The road we were picking on is 14 miles long, and we only picked from perhaps 2 miles of it.

LOTS of berries still available. I would say that the bushes we hit, the unripe-to-ripe ratio of berries was at least 10 to 1, probably higher. Should be a nice, long, plentiful season...
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Just before I left for the berry pickin', another buddy called about ammo. He was up in Reno at a gun show (I had to pass, and NO not for the berries!). He's picking me up a butt-load of 9mm and .223REM at some very decent prices - much better than anything offered online.

In fact, the .223 is cheaper per round than anything I've purchased in the last 2 years, except for one small purchase 18 months ago. He got the 9mm for the same price as we got it back at the last gun show in April.

All name brand - all new, factory stuff.

So why is it in such abundance at gun shows, but not online or in gun stores? This just doesn't make any sense to me.
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Here's a video of my wife getting the berries ready for the hooch...

Labels: American Spirit, Life and Times, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

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

I'm certified (shut up... I didn't say certifiable)!


I'm now a card-carryin' (and T-shirt wearin') member of the Diablo Action Pistol Association.

Yesterday was the classroom stuff and a bit of live fire. Today was a full-on IDPA match. There were 15 of us from the class that were in the match with 26 other certified shooters. We had to complete the match without getting disqualified for any of twelve zillion reasons you can get booted.

They broke the 41 of use into 3 groups. We had 9 scenarios to complete. Some were very simple, some were very VERY complex.

IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) is different from IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation), in that IDPA is the "anal retentive" sport. The rules are much more stringent. IPSC is much more free-form, in that you can shoot targets in any order you see fit.

My certification allows me to shoot in both groups. I'm guessing they start you with IDPA to make sure everyone is grounded in the safety aspect of the sports.
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It was so much fun, but my day almost ended early. There is a very stringently followed rule called "the 180 rule." Basically, if you draw a line parallel with the targets - a line being 180 degrees - you cannot have your muzzel cross that line (basically pointing behind you). It's a very good rule.

At the very first scenario, we had to run for cover and do a reload behind a barrier. I got too close to the barrier, and when I was putting in the new magazine, I brought the muzzle dangerously close to crossing the 180 line. Figure I was at 175!

After I finished the stage, the Range Officer told me what I had done - he said it was a typical newbee mistake, but I was very close to being booted. He reiterated what we had learned in the class to NOT hug the barrier - stay a good 3 feet behind it until you need to shoot around the backside.

Every stage after that where we had barriers, I consciously did a mental walk-thru that took me in a direction back away from the barrier. It worked well.
----------

A cool stage: The series of events for a stage is to load your weapon and reholster it (well, most of the time). You then have your hands at your side, or up on a barrier. The Range Officer the asks, "Are you ready?" Then, "Standby", then the buzzer goes off, and you do the stage.

On this one stage, we had three targets set up in a "V" formation - one in the center at 6 yards, and one on either side, both at 8 yards. When he said, "Standby", you started walking towards the center target. When you got to within 3 yards, the buzzer went off. You drew your weapon, and had to do a "tactical sequence". One in the body of the target directly in front of you, then one in each target to the sides, THEN one to the head of each target.

Oh, did I mention that you had to do all of this while walking backwards! After you drew your weapon, you had to shoot all 6 shots while going backwards, THEN move to cover and take out 3 more targets with two shots each (so you had to work a reload in there).
----------

I felt very good about my shooting. I was fortunate that my "regular" firing range training, I use 6 inch targets. The sweet spot for the IDPA target is 8 inches. I'm typically not a "tack driver", but I'm pretty good keeping it on the target.

We won't have our final scores until sometime next week (I believe), but I think I did pretty well. I was regularly coming out with times better than the certified folks. They tended to go for very low times, but their aim was horrible, so they'd get buckets-o-penalties.

For the entire match, I only had one 3 point penalty, and perhaps a dozen 1 point penalties. Oh, and I didn't kill any hostage targets!

I and beat and burnt. Standing almost continuously for 6 hours in close to 100 degree sun was very draining. I drank a lot of water! Off to the shower and get some food in my belly.

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

The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.
--Samuel Adams

I am absolutely crushed. I've mentioned here before that I have a Utah non-resident CCW permit. It is accepted in some thirty-odd states. Up to now, the only state where I've used it is in Nevada.

No more.

As of July 1, 2009, Utah and Florida have been removed from the list of states accepted by Nevada -

Utah’s permit process does not require live fire training that Nevada
law requires...

Great. Utah must have changed their requirements, because when I got my permit, I had to do a number of live-fire drills. No more, I guess.

I need to chew on this a bit. I'll probably contact Utah to find out why they made this change, and if it is going to be reversed. I'll also look into either a Nevada non-resident permit or another state with a broad acceptance like Utah used to have.

One more "gun thing" to stress about...
----------

In yesterday's post, I got some information on some of the US laws pertaining to gunsmithing. It is amazing how far Nanny feels compelled to crawl up your ass when it comes to guns.

27 CFR 478.11 is the section used by the BATF for definitions. Here are some of the interesting ones that I stumbled across -

Commerce. Travel, trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, or communication among the several States, or between the District of Columbia and any State, or between any foreign country or any territory or possession and any State or the District of Columbia, or between points in the same State but through any other State or the District of Columbia or a foreign country.

Well, well, well. It seems as though the states that have passed, or are considering the passage of laws flexing their Tenth Amendment rights to build guns - in their entirety - inside of their own state - and thus NOT be subject to the Commerce Clause in the Constitution - are on very firm ground.

Right. How long do you think it will take the BATF to change this definition? Hell, it's probably already been done.

It appears as though I was this close to becoming an arms dealer -

Dealer. Any person engaged in the business of selling firearms at wholesale or retail; any person engaged in the business of repairing firearms or of making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms; or any person who is a pawnbroker. The term shall include any person who engages in such business or occupation on a part-time basis.

So, if I had cut down that lady's barrel I discussed in yesterday's post, AND had accepted any kind of compensation - from a 6-pack of beer to cash - I would have fit the definition of a part-time Dealer in the eyes of the BATF.

Un-Fucking-Real.

Under the Principal objective of livelihood and profit section, they somehow stray off into terrorist activities. According to the BATF, if you're a legal resident, you cannot be a terrorist -

For purposes of this part, the term “terrorism” means activity, directed against United States persons, which—

(a) Is committed by an individual who is not a national or permanent resident alien of the United States;

It doesn't say anything about if a natural born citizen can be a terrorist - at least in their eyes. Why in the hell would you carve out who could and could not be a terrorist? Isn't it the act that we're worried about, not their place of birth or legal residency status?
----------

I just had to shake my head at the definition and characteristics of an "assault weapon" - it is mind-numbing.

A semi-auto, magazine-fed rifle with a telescoping stock and a pistol grip is magically designated an assault rifle? Somehow, it's not a "menace to society" if you cut off the pistol grip?

Are they insane?

Do they really think that we are somehow protected from some deranged bastard bent on killing a group of people because he can't buy a rifle with a pistol grip? Really?!

The way you are protected from the deranged bastard is to have decent, law-abiding citizens exercising their 2A rights - part of which is the unrestrained ability to carry a weapon of self-defense.

I know I'm "preaching to the choir" for most of the folks that come by here, but this is just nuts.

Think about what brought this on: If I had helped a friend out by cutting down her shotgun barrel, and she gave me a couple of bucks for my troubles, that act could have been construed as breaking the law, as I didn't have a business license and ATF Dealers license.

A federal criminal.

Absolute insanity.
----------

Another Atlas Shrugged Moment of Zen -

"We started with no time limit in view," said Galt. "We did not know whether we'd live to see the liberation of the world or whether we'd have to leave our battle and our secret to the next generations. We knew only that this was the only way we cared to live. But now we think that we will see, and soon, the day of our victory and of our return."

"When?" she whispered.

"When the code of the looters has collapsed."

Labels: American Spirit, Constitution, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

A lion's work hours are only when he's hungry; once he's satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together.
--Chuck Jones

I received a call from a woman about my Pepper Spray and Stun Gun class. She told me about some trouble she is having with one of her neighbors.

It seems that, for whatever reason, she and a neighbor family don't get along. At one point, she had been attacked by the husband next door, and was roughed up a bit. She called the police, and had gotten a restraining order and figured that was the end of it.

Not.

Some time passed, and out of the blue, she gets confronted by the wife of the guy with the restraining order. Things escalated to where the wife reached into the woman's car, grabbed her by the arm and twisted it in such a way that her arm was broken.

In front of her own house, and with her kids in the car.

The police were once again called, arrests were made and more restraining orders were issued. But this lady didn't feel safe, and wanted to learn how to protect herself.
----------

Through this whole story, I kept thinking, "Where is your husband?" Why is he allowing his wife to be beaten up by the neighbors?

It then came out that she was married to a guy in the Air Force. He is stationed at a local military facility - Travis Air Force Base. Both times she was attacked, he had been out on deployments. They live off base, so they don't have the protection that base housing affords.

She told me there is a Base Wives club, and they share tips on things to watch for when their husbands have been deployed. She said one of the most common is for an announcement to be made about local units, and when they're being deployed. As soon as the deployment occurs, the neighborhoods that are within a couple of miles of the base are suddenly inundated with door-to-door salesmen. "Get your carpets cleaned." "Get a new home security system." "Do you need a handy-man?"

Some may be legit business people. They see a business opportunity and are taking advantage of it.

But some are predators looking for an easy mark. It seems as though her neighbors are this type of people, since the attacks all happen when hubby is away.
----------

One of the things we talk about in our workshop is that predators have a plan. Part of that is identifying opportunities - finding instances where the risk of being caught or harmed is low, and the reward is high.

Some people have difficulty with the concept of possibly harming or killing an intruder. They might have been socially passivized. They may have religious concerns. They might just be the type of person who hates confrontation - they've been led to believe that submission is preferable to conflict.

We give them two things to think about in trying to change their minds -

The intentions of an intruder or aggressor are to violate you, your family or your home

More importantly, I think is -

There is no forgiveness on the part of a predator

Think about how brazen and cowardly this lady's next door predators have been. They attack her when it is less likely they will be harmed in return. They wrenched her arm so violently, it was broken while she sat in her car.

They couldn't care less. They had no forgiveness, and in fact worked around the law so the predator husband wouldn't be punished for violating the original restraining order. They tag-teamed her.
----------

If (when?) TSHTF, and more people don't have jobs, housing, food, money, clothes - whatever - do you think the number of predators will decrease? Will Barry's Minions be able to keep the hoards happy? Do you think the police will be able to investigate every instance of a beating, robbery, home invasion or car theft?

Nope. They'll be swamped. They'll only be able to focus on the truly heinous crimes - the sexual assaults and murders. Investigating your home stereo being ripped off and you getting slapped around a bit will be at the bottom of the police "To Do" list.

If you don't have some sort of lethal or non-lethal defensive tool - and know how to use it - you're almost asking to become a victim. Make a plan on what to do in threatening situations. Increase your awareness of what is going on around you.

Choose a weapon, buy a book, get a video, take a class, stay alive.

Don't wind up having the police at your house because they're identifying your body with mourning family members.

Labels: American Spirit, Concealed Carry, criminal, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, Political Correctness, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, Terrorism

Taxation WITH representation ain't so hot either.
-- Gerald Barzan

It's not bad enough that my once-great state of California has turned into a festering cesspool of socialism. It seems that my local Assemblyman (the state version of the House of Representatives) is getting out front, helping to lead the charge towards a Stalinist Nirvana.

I've mentioned my pinhead representative before when talking about the upcoming, "Want ammo? Spread your cheeks!" law. Yep, he's for it.

This guy is my former city councilman (in another city I used to live in). He's a former school teacher. As a State Assemblyman, he has proposed literally hundreds of pro-teacher's union and "It's for the children, so let's give a little bit more," bills.

His latest ploy - along with the majority of Democrat politicians in the state - is to stomp their feet over Aahhhhnold's proposed tax cuts. They're steep and deep.

In an email message I received, he asked that I take a survey about how I feel about the cuts. I was happy to do so.

Let's just say that I didn't support any more taxes.

The Dems don't like that kind of thing. Take a look at a video on the page of my Assemblyman. It has a heartstring-pulling video of all the people that will be hurt if the Big Bad Governator gets his way.
----------

I'm getting all teary just thinking about it.

Not.

As is my wont, here is the letter I sent to my Politburo member -

Assemblyman Torlakson,

Thank you for providing me the opportunity to complete your survey. If I may suggest: In the future, perhaps you could provide a section allowing comments.

Since none was provided, here are my thoughts:

From the tone of your survey and the video on your site, I take it that you are against the cuts proposed by the Governor.

If this is correct, you are out of touch with your constituents.

As a state, we are broke. We're in this mess precisely because of programs such as those shown on the video. It is not the job of the State to put people through college. It is not the job of the State provide medical services for its citizens. It is not the job of the State to train people on how to get a job.

It is the individual's responsibility. The safety net mentioned in the video has become a comfortable hammock, swinging in the breeze.

Give-aways such as these have "programmed" people into believing that the State will take care of all ills and shepherd them through life. It was so ironic at the end of the video, there was a person that held a sign that said, "We have families to support."

So go out and support them! Holding a sign asking for a hand-out is not the way to succeed and prosper.

The answer always seems to be to tax the rich, tax business and "close those loopholes." When does the answer become, "Deal with it yourself."?

I'm curious: Have you ever read, "Atlas Shrugged?" If not, I highly recommend it. It's main theme is about the impact on society and on the individual when the producers have their incentive to produce taken away. It's not pretty.

Haven't we had enough of that in our State? You realize, of course, that when you tax a business, you're actually taxing the end user of the product or service. Taxes are just a cost of doing business, and get passed on the the buyer of the product. In our State's case, it is making our businesses less competitive, as other businesses in other states don't have the same onerous taxes, so their products are less expensive.

How many businesses have thrown up their hands in disgust and left California? Nevada, for one, LOVES our laws. The out-flow of businesses, jobs and tax revenues has been a boon to that state.

How about we change our path? How about we give businesses an incentive to stay here and hire more workers? How about we teach our fellow citizens about personal choice, personal responsibility and the benefits that come from both?

It appears as though your stance is, "More of the same." Well, that hasn't worked. What are your ideas?

He has yet to respond to a single message I've sent him, so I doubt he'll respond to this one. His type tends to hide from confrontations with constituents that use logic to disagree with their New World Order view of things.

Not satisfied with just opposing tax cuts, he now wants to tax smokers to pay for our current budget short-fall. Again. Big time.

Did I mention that I smoke?

So this guy is an anti-smoker, big government, pro-union, tax-it-if-it-moves, gun-grabbing politician.

I feel so well represented.

Labels: communism, Concealed Carry, Constitution, Corruption, democrats, Ethics, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Political Correctness, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

I'm gonna drink lots of beer and stay out all night.
--Homer Simpson

Interesting day yesterday. Guns, preps and beer (YES, in that order), all rolled into one!

A good buddy of mine and I headed to the range. We did a bunch of defensive shooting drills. "Combat accurate" shooting, and the like.

Most of the drills were with targets at 5 yards. We did a series of double-tap drills, then followed up with drills for two assailants. It was a lot of fun, and really helps to keep the shooting skills sharp.

A week ago, I went to the range at my gun club. They had 9mm Wolf ammo available for $13 a box. I grabbed two boxes to give it a try.

I put perhaps 60 rounds down range in my FNP-9. No problems whatsoever. I was actually kind of surprised.

I thought I had left the remaining rounds at the range, but found them buried deep in my range bag. Yesterday, after firing 100 rounds of the Winchester ammo I picked up at the Reno gun show, I pulled out the remaining Wolf rounds.

I loaded 6 rounds into the magazine. I got a failure after the second round.

It was kind of odd. I could tell something was wrong after the second round went off. It didn't feel like enough kick. I looked at the pistol and the hammer was not cocked.

I presumed it was a mis-fire, hang-fire or squib fire and kept the muzzle pointed down range for 30 seconds. Nothing happened, so I removed the magazine. There were 3 rounds left in the magazine.

I pulled back the slide, and out popped an unfired cartridge.

Apparently, there was enough powder in the previous cartridge to open the slide/ejection port, eject the brass and feed the next round, but not enough to cock the hammer.

Anyone ever heard of this happening before?

I may still use Wolf at the range, but I'll never depend upon it for self-defense.
----------

After killing a bunch of targets, we went to my friend's house to do a test/demonstration of my homemade Berkey-based water filter. This system cost approximately $120 to build, and holds about double the volume (6 gallons) of a commercial Berkey filter (such as the Big Berkey).

This system will purify 6,000 gallons of water. I purchased two extra filters, so I have the ability to purify 12,000 gallons.


It uses two of the Black Berkey filters. These things are awesome. They filter out virtually anything in the water. In fact, they are considered to be "purifiers" as they filter out 99.9999999% of pathogens (that's seven 9's after the decimal point).


I've used the filter to prepare water in a pinch for my beer brewing, but haven't really put it through its paces. My friend was interested in building one of these himself, so I brought it over to do a test.

He has a 30,000 gallon pool in his backyard. The Berkey says it can remove chlorine (not just the smell, like charcole filters). We filled the bad boy up, and did a taste test.


While his pool water was not, "burn your eyes" reeking with chlorine, the resulting water was "spotless". No indication whatsoever that it was pool water - just fresh, clean, good tasting water. Pretty damned cool.
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Warning: You may wish to avert your eyes from the following image. You've been warned!

A month or so ago, I was in BevMo picking up some sort of booze. At the check-out counter, the girl behind the counter asked me if I'd like to buy an Obama Beer.

My head whipped around, and I was going to blast her with a, "Are you out of your damned mind!?"

Instead, an evil grin came over my face, and I said, "I'll take 4 of them."

I kept one for myself, gave another to each of my two brothers, and the last went to my buddy with the pool.



It's not too bad if you don't look at the label while you're drinking it.

For some reason, though, when we were finished with the beer, like zombies, we drove to San Francisco, took all of our money out of our wallets and gave it to a bunch of deserving junkies sitting on a street corner in a pool of vomit.

Weird, huh?

Labels: Life and Times, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
--Ayn Rand

I read stuff that comes out from our various courts of law, and I just have to scratch my head. It just amazes me how judges will come up with some off-the-wall interpretation. That interpretation then becomes legal precedence, and other laws or rulings are made, further crapping on the citizens.

I saw this article by David Codrea. He's the "examiner" for Gun Rights at Examiner.com. This guy is a great gun rights proponent.

As he points out in his article, a recent decision in Chicago now says that a state has the ability to limit a person's right to self-defense -

States can not only ban guns, they can ban self-defense. That's what a court just ruled.

I read the entire court ruling. It is revolting. The "money shot" in the ruling is this -

The [Supreme] Court did not say that Cruikshank, Presser, and Miller rejected a particular argument for applying the second amendment to the states. It said that they hold “that the Second Amendment applies only to the Federal Government.”

What these dog-dick sucking pukes are saying is that states aren't bound by the Second Amendment - only the federal government is so constrained. So the 2A would only apply to federal property - not you and me (unless we're in DC or paid by Uncle Sugar).

They continue with their bastardization of our Constitution -

One function of the second amendment is to prevent the national government from interfering with state militias. It does this by creating individual rights, Heller holds, but those rights may take a different shape when asserted against a state than against the national government.

What? An individual right is an individual right, regardless of where that right is being asserted.

They then build up a strawman argument to support their contention that states can do as they please with regards to the 2A. They make up some fantasy about Wisconsin passing a law saying that the militia can only have long guns - no hand guns.

...it is not clear that such a decision would be antithetical to a decision made in 1868. (The fourteenth amendment was ratified in 1868, making that rather than 1793 the important year for determining what rules must be applied to the states.)

The argument that they are building is that a state can limit how the militia is armed. Since they have the power to limit some aspects, why not all aspects?

Suppose a state were to decide that people cornered in their homes must surrender rather than fight back—in other words, that burglars should be deterred by the criminal law rather than self help. That decision would imply that no one is entitled to keep a handgun at home for self-defense, because self-defense would itself be a crime, and Heller concluded that the second amendment protects only the interests of law-abiding citizens.

Sounds insane, right? How can a rational person go from a state being Constitutionally able to control the types of weapons its militia can possess to stripping people of their right to self-defense?

An obligation to avoid lethal force in self-defense might imply an obligation to use pepper spray rather than handguns. A modification of the self-defense defense may or may not be in the best interest of public safety—whether guns deter or facilitate crime is an empirical question, ... but it is difficult to argue that legislative evaluation of which weapons are appropriate for use in self-defense has been out of the people’s hands since 1868.

What The Fuck!? The 14th Amendment (1868) strengthened the rights of the individual, not weakened them.

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;

The Second Amendment guaranteed (provided immunity) that the right of the people - NOT the states - to keep and bear arms, would not be infringed upon.

Irrelevant. At least to these bastards. They finish up their insane ramblings with this -

After all, Illinois has not abolished self-defense and has not expressed a preference for long guns over handguns [Nice how they use their own strawman as part of their justification].

But the municipalities can, and do, stress another of the themes in the debate over incorporation of the Bill of Rights: That the Constitution establishes a federal republic where local differences are to be cherished as elements of liberty rather than extirpated in order to produce a single, nationally applicable rule.

Don't you like how they ended that by telling us how stripping us of our freedoms, we're actually much more free?

How do you like your, "common sense" gun laws now?
----------

The case was one brought by the NRA. They sure as shit had better fight this, and bring it to the SCOTUS. If not, this ruling will give states and judges the ability to do as they wish with regards to our guaranteed freedoms.

Every gun grabbing, Brady-blowing, totalitarian politician and judge will do everything in their power to only put guns in the hands of agents of the state.

Believe it.
----------

Section 1 of the 14th Amendment ends with this -

... nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

How could a police agency or police officers then be granted the ability to have weapons that are any different from those allowed to other citizens?

Just askin'...
----------

Cache while you can.
----------

UPDATE: The NRA has petitioned the SCOTUS to hear the case.

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

Abandon the search for Truth; settle for a good fantasy
--Unknown

Yesterday, I talked about how the stock market has just not made any sense. Crappy news comes out - but since it's not TEOTWAWKI news, the market jumps. It makes no common sense to me.

On Morning Joe this morning, some guy made a comment that perfectly captured the phenomenon: The Dead Cat Bounce - if you take a dead cat and throw it on the floor, it will bounce a bit right after you throw it. But the cat's still dead.

I need to remember this phrase...
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Two good pieces of CA gun law news.

First, the bill I wrote about (No Shoot For You!) has been shelved. It was going to limit personal transfers of ammo to 50 rounds a month, require fingerprints when you bought ammo and not allow online ammo purchases.

It's not dead, so we need to keep alert, but perhaps our letters to the assemblymen on the committee worked...

The other good piece of news is the Second Amendment Foundation and CalGuns Foundation have brought suit in state court to require CA to become a Shall Issue state.

A bill that would have done that didn't make it out of committee, so these guys are bringing it to the court. They are hanging their hat on two recent cases: The Heller case in which the SCOTUS affirmed the individual right to bear arms, and a surprising ruling by the Ninth Circuit court (who is notoriously liberal):

Last month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment -- which required states to offer freedoms found in the Bill of Rights such as a jury trial -- protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.

I need to not get too excited, as the communists running this state will find a way to delay or circumvent a ruling in favor of the right to keep and bear arms.

But I will be hopeful....
----------

NEW jobless claims for last week hit 601,000. The spin is that it is lower than expected and is the lowest in the past 14 weeks.

We're currently at 8.5% unemployment, expected to move to 8.9%. That's damned close to the 10% SHTF scenario the Big Banks used in their Stress Tests. Many economists are calling for 10% before the end of the year.

Expect a jump in the Dow. Watch for falling cats....

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

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.
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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.
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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).

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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