Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The New York Times, much, much smarter than you.

So you have a segment of the population that commits crime at a rate far less than the general population. You'd normally consider said segment to be responsible and relatively law-abiding.

From Gleen's link Robert VerBruggen does some basic math that the NYT couldn't be bothered with.


North Carolina has a statewide murder rate of about 5 per 100,000. Even without counting manslaughter, that’s 25 murders committed per 100,000 North Carolinians every five years. There are about 230,000 valid concealed-carry permits in North Carolina, so by pure chance, you’d expect these folks to be responsible for nearly 60 murders over five years. And yet only ten of them committed murder or manslaughter. Instead of “rais[ing] questions,” the Times has demonstrated yet again that permit holders are more peaceful than the general population.

That's New York Times. They can use innumeracy to justify their paranoid hand wringing and calls to restrict civil rights of people that have committed no crime.

Consider that you have a mainstream and "respected" press organ taking the actions of 0.08% and blaming the whole group. Interesting bigotry at work.

So they're not just bad at math, but monstrous too! They consider the worst of the law abiding while excusing the actions of the criminals.

And speaking of monstrous siding with criminals over others. Joan Peterson makes excuses for a man willing to commit armed robbery but casts a suspicious eye on the man that stopped him.


Bob Owens also reminds us that just because one area the news reports on is completely bunk doesn't mean the rest can't be too.


What would happen if all of the stories in the Times – or the Washington Post, or your local newspaper or television news – were subject to the sort of expert scrutiny as this Luo article, in a given day or week? What percentage of reporting would we discover is marginally biased, seriously slanted, or even fabricated?

I strongly suspect that the resulting scrutiny would reveal a dark and ugly secret that the media isn’t remotely interested in reporting the news, it’s interested in shaping the news, and your perception of the world.

...

If you doubt this, please tell me how much you’ve read (for example) about Operation Fast and Furious outside of the blogosphere, and ask yourself if a Republican government would still be standing after orchestrating crimes that left hundreds of citizens of a neighboring state dead.

Ah yes, Eric Holder. Guess who is using increased police deaths as an excuse for more gun control?

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Carry Your Damn Guns.

If you think you'll only carry when "things are dangerous" you're deluding yourself.

If you think a situation is risky then you shouldn't go there.

And if you think it's paranoid to always be strapped, like say when going to the grocery store well... from Jay G here's a story that proves otherwise.

Man comes into the store at 6pm and forces an employee into a back room as part of a robbery (and it's never a good sign when a goblin moves his intended victims). Fortunately, one of her coworkers was armed and ended the situation. Nothing reduces repeat offenses quite like a lethal shot to the head.

This has resonance with me because this is one of 2 Krogers near where I live. I've been there several times. Though never disarmed.

Don't think that crime is something that happens to other people. It can happen at work, at the store, when doing errands.

That's why one needs to be prepared materially, physically, and mentally.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Papers Please

A roundup on the administration's attack on voter ID laws (for some reason South Carolina and Texas can't do it, but states like Indiana can) from Glenn Reynolds.

Remember it's racist to show your ID to vote but not to buy a gun (and let's not even get into background checks.

Why yes, Eric Holder is behind this, but if you want to listen to his explanation then you'd better pony of an ID to get into the event.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Only Ones, Dead Rats, Prostitute Police Taxis, and A European perspective.

Via Jay G we have some grand creepy "only one" abuse.

BOSTON (CBS) – An MBTA police officer is suspended after he was caught mailing dead rats. The I-Team has learned it stemmed from possible involvement with prostitutes.


Why? Well the rats were sent to a John that didn't pay. And the officer's involvement? Well he was using his police cruiser to provide escort for the... escorts.

And Jay G does title his post: Remember, Only the Police Should Have Guns...

I was talking with someone, mentioned this story, and got this response: "Stories like this make me glad our police aren't armed."

Now she lives in a European nation where handguns are illegal, so are semi-auto rifles, and the rest shotguns and bolts are the toys of the rich.

There's almost a bit of honesty in the idea that everyone should be disarmed. Not just the "proles" but also the agents of the state.

Of course it's a fantasy, because there will always be some agents of the state (special police or military) that are armed with guns. The whole threat of force is what makes a person comply with the state. And then there's those that will simply smuggle or make their own guns.

But even if you suppose a state somehow existed with no guns at all what would you have?
Well... look to the past. Violence and crime are not new.

In fact removing guns turns violence into the field of muscle and vigor. Now age and physical fitness and size become paramount.

So there's still violence, and it becomes truly Darwinian where the smaller and weaker and older have far far less power against the younger and stronger. But at least it won't be any "Gun Death".

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hey Look a Cliff and everyone's jumping!

So Unc, JayG. Zercool, and Weer'd have shown off what's in their pockets'.

I figured I might as well join in.


My primary is a full government size 1911 (early TLE II Kimber so not too bad) carried in a DeSantis OWB. Two spare magainzes are on my opposite hip. My backup is a PM45 in pocket carry. DeSantis

In situations where I can't carry my full-size I sometimes carry a 4 inch barrel aluminum frame 1911. That's often a lawn mowing and gardening gun, but more and more I just use the fullsize.

If I can't have something draped over my waist I just carry the Kahr.

And last is my LCP. That's often a jogging or shorts gun. It's when I can't carry anything bigger.

Edit: Thanks for the Chance-lance. If anyone wonders why I have that defensive Kimber aside well look here.

No one's a villain their own eyes.

But they're oven a victim. Of course it helps to have the New York Times at your back.
You see Holder's a victim. All these challenges for him to explain his actions and turn over documents as ordered by the House of Representatives... it's all for racism.

Never mind why the ATF put thousands of guns into the hands of drug gangs in Mexico, without tracking the weapons and without even informing the Mexican government.

Never mind that the operation resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans and at least one US citizen border agent Brian Terry.

Never mind that the ATF has been documented saying they'll use the blood bath resulting from said operation to call for more gun control.

Never mind that there is documentation that the Justice Department and the ATF have lied to Congress about said operation.

Never mind that Holder continues to cover for said operation and stonewall the Congressional investigation.

And never mind that if Holder really did not know about the opeartion it somply raises more questions:

If you didn’t know about Operation Fast and Furious then why aren’t you outraged? Why aren’t you firing those who are responsible for the operation? Why aren’t you cleaning house? Why aren’t you outraged that the people who started this operation haven’t been identified? Why aren’t you outraged that when people found out about Operation Fast and Furious (including your second in command) did nothing to stop it and more importantly did not tell you? I can’t speak for the others, but the fact it appears you don’t care something like this happened bothers me a lot.

Yes, if you look at the idea of limited, representation government.

This is literally agents of the US government involved in a false-flag operation illegally smuggling arms in another nation and then using the result and bloodshed to justify restricting a constitutional right.

And here we have the US Attorney General himself, the head of the United States Justice department stonewalling a congressional investigation and acting like he's the aggrieved party.

There you have it. Racism in America: Asking Democrats about a conspiracy that killed hundreds of Mexican citizens.

Or maybe Racist Realpolitik in America. Because we bitter-clingers couldn't possibly care about those dead people or about rights, no it's all because we were tough on Ashcroft and Gonzales so you're just looking for some tit-for-tat.

This is the lens they see the world through: it's all about race (Gonzales doesn't count because he was a Republican you know) and politics.

Let's give them more power over our lives! I'm sure they won't abuse it.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Kimber "Quality". They can't even make basic parts.

Well, this is pathetic.

I picked up a Kimber Pro-Carry for my father. He always wanted one, which got more intense when he saw mine.

My father is left handed like me and thus needs and ambidextrous safety.

I've written before about Kimber's issues, but this is the first it's happened to me.

There are a couple methods of retaining the ambidextrous thumb safety on a 1911. There's using a modified sear pin (which I haven't seen). There's extending a paddle out that slides under the right grip. And there's the Kimber/King method of engaging a dovetail on the hammer pin.

I like this latter method the most for it's reliability, ease of installation and removal, and its "clean" look.

I've installed them on both of my 1911's and on my father's full size without a problem.

Then we get to this year. I made the same purchase and install my 4th ambi-safety. On the 27th of November. And today, less than a month later, after a bare 300 rounds we have this:


From another angle:


The safety sheared off right on the shoulder next to the pin.

That's... pathetic.

Comparing with the ambidextrous safeties in my 1911's the parts look very similar but mine have worn a bit and are still going strong. While this new one has broken after just a couple T&E trips to the range.


What's worse is that of the two suppliers that make the ambidextrous safety I like one has reduced its quality to a pathetic joke (Kimber), while the other has a webpage with a dead email, and an invalid phone number for orders (King).

I did manage to get an answering machine on King's other phone number for an actual gun shop. So maybe they're still in business.

I've also sent a charge ticket off to Kimber, but I have my doubts.

Kimber, this is just an unacceptable degradation in quality.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The new Blacklist.

Paul Tassi talks about the SOPA bill and the sweeping effects it will have.

Why is this? Am I a pirate, who feeds my users stolen content every day and deserves to be slain by a new law like this? Not at all, and this is the fundamental problem with SOPA and other prospective laws like it (Protect IP most recently). . . . The fine print of the law says sites that distribute copyrighted content could be subject to summary censorship, ie Torrent sites and the like. But it also encompasses any sites that LINK to copyrighted content, which is the bomb that blows up any semblance of sense this bill might have had. . . . Watching the House debate this bill yesterday was beyond pathetic. These representatives, if they deserve to be called that, have no idea the amount of power they’re giving the entertainment industry.

Via Glenn Reynolds.

Wow, politicians regulating something they have no idea about that will be intrusive and liberty destroying. How... familiar.

Also from Prof Reynolds, Eris S Raymond has similar thoughts on the familiarity.

It’s a bad bill, all right. It’s a terrible bill – awful from start to finish, idiotic to the core, corruptly pandering to a powerful special-interest group at the cost of everyone else’s liberty.

But I can’t help noticing that a lot of the righteous panic about it is being ginned up by people who were cheerfully on board for the last seventeen or so government power grabs – cap and trade, campaign finance “reform”, the incandescent lightbulb ban, Obamacare, you name it – and I have to wonder…

Don’t these people ever learn? Anything? Do they even listen to themselves?

It’s bizarre and entertaining to hear people who yesterday were all about allegedly benign and intelligent government interventions suddenly discovering that in practice, what they get is stupid and vicious legislation that has been captured by a venal and evil interest group.

Rice-bowls, cannibal pots, and cell phone bans. Well maybe some people will realize that using the power of the state to "make people better" is nothing more than a fantasy covering a bloody nightmare.

Maybe.

But I'm not being too hopeful. No matter what happens, it looks like we'll be stuck with this crap.

Here's Tam showing the few reversals and wins. Asside from the CCW revolution (which is big) the rest of the wins can be counted on one hand.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Scotland: Not anti Gun, not anti knife, but anti freedom

From Soft Green Glow (via Tam). Scotland's utter descent to madness:

Anyone caught carrying a knife in town and city centres in Scotland in the coming weeks faces a potential four years in prison, under a new crackdown announced today.

The six-week pilot scheme will see cases automatically prosecuted as more serious offences, increasing the length of jail terms available to sheriffs from one year to four.

...

Scotland’s top law officer, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, QC, said the pilot would involve a zero-tolerance approach to the problem. He said: “The public will wish to enjoy the festive period in our towns and cities without fear. The zero-tolerance crackdown should help to deter anyone stupid enough to think about carrying a knife.

Ah yes, live without fear. Because the criminals will surely fall in line if there's just one more law.

And it's not like the public will live in fear of the police. As Phil notes:

What if you buy a knife for someone for Christmas? How do you get it to the car? And what about scissors? You know, for wrapping gifts. What if you need a new pair?

A gun is a tool, so is a knife. And you'll be more likely to use a knife in every day use. Here's something Tam wrote a few days ago that seems prophetic.

Some people get all clutch-the-pearls at the sight of a knife, which strikes me as utterly bizarre. How come H. habilis could see the utility of keeping a sharp rock handy, but the concept seems to elude H. cubiculum? Hardly a day goes by that my pocket knife doesn't see use: opening letters, opening packages, breaking down boxes, trimming loose threads on clothing...

And now Scotland wants to ban basic, basic tools. How's that for "enlightened" for you. Maybe next they'll ban possession of matches and lighters in order to prevent arson and "fire-crime".

Oh yes, there's the beloved "zero-tolerance". Now where have we seen zero-tolerance policies before? Policies where people are convicted on ridiculous charges (like having a cake-knife for *gasp* cake) or for drawing (that is making a picture) of a gun?

Edited: Or a piece of pizza shaped as a gun. Yeah, nice to see Scotland treating its subjects like children.

That's right. Schools.

As we see in Scotland, the antis think of the general population as children. Children that need to be told what to do.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Birthdays



I can agree with this. My friends can attest to that.

Ron Swanson is amusing. And it's interesting to see a TV show portray an unabashed Libertarian in a positive light.
And he's even trying to reduce the state from the inside... with mixed results.

Shame the show's other characters seem weaker and more annoying. Makes me enjoy the character but be ambivalent towards the show itself.

Also in the poorly remembered words of another Tam "Surprise parties are not seen as wise among my people."

Yeah... that's pretty much New Jersey.

Ed Driscoll has the link.


For reference I grew up in the "farmers and sub developers" portion of the state.

Horrid, horrid drivers. People everywhere, and some of the most inane gun laws.

But I haven't set foot in NJ for over a decade so I've got that going for me.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Winning? Sure how about some cute hats.

More evidence of the re-normalization of firearms.

This comic.

Now look at the comments. Nothing negative about guns. In fact there's many anecdotes of stores like "Gowns and Guns" and "Handbags and Handguns", and a universal positive response to them.

And bonus, redneck being used as a compliment.

Then again, this is a comic that celebrates manliness, and not the ironic or overblown-overweening man-child manliness either.

And here's another example of normalization and the difficulty of finding opposition.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Blast from the Past

Here's something Glenn Reynolds wrote.
Even lamer was the claim that the Sept. 11 attacks were an argument for closing the (nonexistent) "gun show loophole." This claim, made first in a Brady Campaign press release and then in a suspiciously similar op-ed bearing the byline of former Clinton Administration official Eric Holder, just plain flopped. Nobody could be persuaded that Usama bin Laden’s boys would have trouble laying their hands on an AK-47, regardless of what rules govern gun shows.

If the September 11 line wasn't enough, here's the dateline: November 4 2001

Over a decade ago Eric Holder was working hand in glove with gun control organizations to restrict gun rights by using the fears of foreign terrorists buying arms from American gun dealers.

Familiar, eh?

Well, at least Holder wasn't overseeing a plan to send arms to said terrorists back then.


Via Instapundit who remarks "At least."

Here's some more thoughts by Prof. Reynolds.

Properly understood, the gun control movement has always rested on certain essentially religious notions (indeed, though it is little publicized, much of the gun-control movement’s financial and institutional support comes from non-evangelical Protestant denominations). These notions are that violence – even against a criminal – is always bad, that ordinary people are not to be trusted, and that it is best to let the authorities look out for you.

In addition, the movement has always contained a rather strong undercurrent of hostility toward traditional American standards of masculinity, of which it sees the gun as a symbol.

It is here that things seem to have changed the most. Americans have learned that being harmless does not guarantee that they will not be harmed: in fact, it seems that terrorists (like ordinary criminals) actually prefer victims who cannot strike back.

And here's a demotivational that seems quote appropriate: Zombie Free Zone.

Blogmeet

Welp... I really missed the train here.

Went to a real good blogmeet on Saturday organized by Roberta X

Lucky 13 of us sat around the big round table. Much knife talking, aviation, and engineering... mishaps. Disk-bursts are bad. And while electricity is not actually invisible it will screw you up.

Brigid has pics. And Tam has a good roundup of people that can actually write a summary within 24 hours.

It was great to meetup with OldNFO for the first time. And talk aviation and engines. Also with Uncle Jay who has a great Cuba story.

Mr.B, and Midwest Chick can't escape a mention either. And Old Grouch and the Lurker 1 and 2.

And oh yes... I solved the riddle of the Karl and won a free hat. Warm for winter and customizable for all your alt history and future needs.

Friday, December 9, 2011

It's never Ever enough.

So some in Japan are mulling over loosening some of their draconian gun laws.

Like reducing a waiting period for a rifle license from a "common sense" 10 years so a "blood in the streets" 5... years. In Japan the way to get a hunting rifle license is if you've had a shot gun license for 10 years. And no civilian handgun ownership at all, and no self defense or carry, and the expected storage and capacitance laws.

But these fairly mild changes... aimed and reducing crop damage due to animals are drawing some ire.


The comments are also illustrative. Runs from "nobody needs a gun" to "penis-penis-penis" to "gun owners are cowards and sociopaths - real men defend themselves with knives" to "hunting is a crime" to "civilized countries realize that guns only hurt people" to "I'm so glad to be in a country with no crime" to "You need NO freedom to..." to "a gun won't address those fears nearly as well as a good therapist" to "Hurr-hurr-Americans" to "If you have a gun you *will* kill yourself or someone else" and of course "But generally speaking I agree with the posters that keeping guns out of the hands of the general populace in Japan is for the best."

Ah, the special kind of arrogance that it takes to look at a population and go "Yes, one must keep the firearms and firewater out of the hands of the savage redyellow-man, it's for the best."

Their rage is based on the idea that Japan has low-crime because it has draconian gun laws and thus low "gun death". Thus the idea that any loosening of gun rights would result in blood in the streets. Hmm... sounds so familiar.

Though you gotta love people who see the proposal of reducing the waiting period to own a rifle reduced from 10 years to 5 years to be unreasonable. As one of the sensible commenters pointed out that the people on the waiting list already have a shotgun permit so it's not rapidly increasing the total number of gun owners (the horror if it were!).

And then you have the "I had to run the gauntlet so do the rest of you" gun owner.
Special bonus for Fudd-ism.

I have a Japanese gun licence and hunting licence. I think the current system is fine. It is longwinded and quite expensive, but this tends to ensure only serious people can be bothered to go through with it. Getting a gun on a whim here is just not possible. In rural communities, the local deer and boar populations are causing a lot of damage. With the aging hunter population and the unwillingness of younger people to take up hunting, this problem is only going to get worse... I seriously doubt relaxing the current laws would encourage many extra would-be hunters from taking up hunting. The lack of gun ownership/hunters isn't down to the current law; it's due to people increasingly being out of touch with the nature around them and the ease of popping to the supermarket.

Get that? Only serious people can be bothered. Sure there's a demographic shortage of hunters, but somehow the idea of it being a decades long process with repeat mandatory safety lectures *isn't* a restrictor on potential hunters.


I will give one of the commenters a bit of honesty. He wants guns totally banned from Japan, not just among the "serfs" but also among the government. Police and all.

There's also some fine ignorance on display and strong naivetee. Apparently, US gun laws are monolithically uniform and NYC has Wal-Mart giving AK15's to toddlers. Mexico and Columbia and South Africa all have loose gun laws just like the US. All civilized nations have gun laws on par with Japan (somebody tell Canada and Finland and Switzerland and hell Italy). Heck compared to Japan, Australia is an easy country to get arms. As for the naivete, well remember you can always outrun a man with a knife, and if you give the criminal what he wants you won't ever be hurt.


What all this does show is that nothing, *nothing* is enough for the anti's. 10 years to get a rifle? Too short. Swords (as much a part of Japanese culture as British) are just as banned as guns over there as they are in England. The comemnters even talked about knife crime and Japan's "slashing sprees" and how knives need to be looked at.

There's also the old gun-death chestnut specifically that suicide by a firearm is specifically worse than other types of suicide. And was cited by why the Swiss shouldn't be armed.

There's also an element of spite. (Some good old US do-gooder spite can be found here). They, specifically and emotionally, recoil at the idea of making things a bit easier for a gun owner in any way shape or form.

It is NEVER enough for these folks.

Via Unc

Thursday, December 8, 2011

And that's enough happy talk.

Here have some doom.



Watch the whole thing, down to the manufacturing jobs that cannot be filled. High unemployment and a labor shortage. And then the demographics. In Alabama 1/3 of their skilled workforce is over 55.

And then remember that something like this is tossed around by all the "smart" people as a big chuckle.

I do have a graduate degree, but in engineering. I got a job in the field and I'm no longer in debt, not even my car. I also don't look down on "hand workers" given my parents are truckers and have had jobs ranging from construction to real estate to farming.

I also never thought I was entitled to a job or that I could coast to a degree or that I was "better". I was also only able to afford college (remember the no debt thing) by scholarship, work, and the sacrifices my parents made for me. Which is a debt that I cannot truly repay but will gladly bear.

Via Carteach0

Winning? (Part Whatever II)

As some can guess, I got back from Buffalo and have been thinking about it some.

NYS laws for handguns are quite hideous. CCW (which is may issue and often comes with target only or hunting limits) is required to even posses a handgun let alone carry. There is no reciprocity and no non-resident permits. There's also no person to person sales and the requirement for a purchase slip from the state for each handgun bought.

It's a system that quite handily pushes aside anyone with a casual interest or from out of state.

Frankly, I'm amazed it's even legal in New York to rent a handgun. Still people are going through the process. Which at least in western New York, even in Buffalo, is getting faster and somewhat easier.

I am seeing an attitude change where even in mixed company with people who don't shoot and have never touched a gun, seeing ammunition and talking about firearms does not cause a rote gun control response.

I'm thinking that maybe the gun control movement has a generational divide. Or maybe firearms are renormalizing into the culture. The conceal carry change has been huge and it could be spreading. People stuck in May Issue states can see what it's like in Shall issue states and despite the anti's claims the streets haven't yet run red with blood.

And as bad as the state is, NYC is far far worse. Permits that are home-only, carry restricted to friends of city hall, and limit of one gun purchase every 90 days regardless of type.

Edit: And before I forget here's a post Unc's that also got me thinking along those lines. 47% of US households own a gun. And a post of Jay G's on *Another* Compact Single Stack 9

From the standpoint of someone who grew up in the late 1980s and came of carrying age in the bad ol' Clinton years, it is nothing short of amazing to see so many guns dedicated to concealed carry now. Back when I first got my permit in 1994, we had the J-frame, the Detective Special, Baby Brownings, and the Makarov for small guns, and not much more. Now the options are staggering, as are the number of states in which one can legally tote them...


Some Perspective.

Gun Safety from Cracked.

5 Terrible Things You Can't Stop Your Children From Doing.

Number 2 is about firearms.

Writer John Cheese has worries about his children and firearms.

Now, here's where things really start making me nervous. Every contact my kids have had with guns has been on a fantasy level. Playing Halo and Modern Warfare on the Xbox. Playing with their Nerf guns, which are designed to be shot at humans ... the newest set is comprised of Velcro darts that stick to special T-shirts.

I'm not one of those people who thinks that movies and games turn ordinary people into raging psychopaths, shooting up schools while shouting out the Ten Commandments. But I'm also not ignoring the fact that the only lesson they've had about guns so far is, "Point at a human and pull the trigger to make fun occur."


Sounds like a problem. How does this man confront the issue?

So this year, I went back on my word and got them BB guns for Christmas. Yes, it's not quite the same thing as a 12-gauge shotgun, but it makes me feel a lot better knowing that I can teach them about gun safety without the fear of becoming a newspaper headline.

It's yet another compromise, and you've probably noticed that's pretty much the running theme of this article.

Depending on the ages of his sons the BB gun makes perfect sense. And once they learn and grow maybe a shotgun would become appropriate. But the key is again teaching gun safety. So that when his sons are with friends, or when they're older they'll know how to use a firearm safely.


My point is, I think every single person reading this has a similar story. Yep, violence is bad. Nonviolence is awesome. But you want to tell me that there's never a time to fight? Bullshit.

The first time my own kids encountered a bully, I had to sit down with them and tell them as honestly as I could that they should never go out starting fights or specifically looking for one. But if they found themselves in a situation where nobody could help, they wouldn't be in trouble with me or their mom if they had to throw punches in order to protect themselves.

No, it's not always the best solution. But, standing there and taking punches while nobody comes to your rescue is the quickest way to tell a bully, "You can do this to me anytime you want. I'm easy prey."


And that lesson doesn't stop when you become and adult.


And then there's this bit at the start.

So, when Clusterfuck approaches them, what are they supposed to do? It's really goddamned easy for me to tell my kids, "Just say that you don't want to be friends any more." Sure. Have you ever done that? Looked somebody right in the eyes and said, "I can't talk to you because a third party has determined that you're a bad person."

Okay, now imagine being a ten year old boy and not only having to say that, but also having to explain to your group of mutual friends that either Clusterfuck goes, or he goes.

At least as parents they're in an authority figure. It's far harder when a peer pulls rank with a mutual friend. And it's worse on said mutual friend because they're been placed in a situation of emotional blackmail. Distance and past history also makes it harder, but when someone has proven by his actions to be... unreasonable cutting off contact is the only action.

Though not being in Buffalo made things easier for me in many ways.

But Cheese's ending line is rather poinent on that too.

So yes, kids, sometimes the world is an imperfect place, riddled with assholes. And no, we won't always be there to protect you. If we're not honest about that as parents, what good are we?

Rule 4: Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

MythBusters crew, you guys really screwed up here.

They were test firing a cannon at some water barrels and missed. Thankfully no one was hurt, but there's a reason ranges are limited on the kind of ordinance you can use and what is a safe direction to fire.

And they also report that this was a "misfire". So that's a violation of rule 1 and a potential violation of rules 2 and 3.

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

There's a reason it takes breaking at least 2 rules for something bad to happen. Depending on the details the Mythbusters could have broken all four (at the very least they broke 2). 4 is especially important since the cannon ball bounced out of the range.

They were very lucky no one got hurt. This also shows that for a group that has been doing this for years and normally has a pretty good safety record that complacency and sloppy safety *will* catch up to you.

One lesson that can be taken from this is the importance of range capacity and limits. What size projectiles can the range's berms, walls, whatever soak up. What angles of fire are acceptable. How much kinetic energy can be used before there's a risk of a projectile ricocheting or bouncing out of the range. How far can a projectile reasonably travel if it is not stopped.

Another interesting thing was the reaction. Last night I was with a mixed crowd when I learned of this story. Those who were more on the gun control side or even just inexperienced with guns were more willing to make excuses for the Mythbusters. While those that were pro-firearms or at least knowledgeable placed the blame on those operating the canon.

The former group treated it like some sort of natural disaster or random accident and underscored how hard the situation would be to repeat. They saw the weapon itself as some sort of actor, bearing some of the blame. One person even pointed to the house that got hit and blamed California building codes.

Meanwhile the latter group admitted that randomness played a big role but that was besides the point on where the responsibility lay. The Mythbusters clearly violated safety rules when operating a large firearm. The weapon was only a danger when people started playing with it in an unsafe manner.

Link via Ace.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Quote of the day... me?

Yes I made Weerd's Quote of the day.

Here's my reaction to a childish morality play on why we need "gum control".
An anti named Baldr likens gun control to a school trying to clean up gum.

Once again we see that the Anti’s dream world is the school. A place of total top down order and control where no mater who started a fight both parties are equally punished, where anything can be banned, and most importantly where there are two classes of people: the teachers and the children.

That they don’t see people as adult citizens but instead as children that *need* the guiding hand and wise judgment of the Mrs. Cali’s of the world.

On further thinking it's even worse.

Say you want to go from a “strong gum control” class (gum is banned) to a “weak gum control” class (studends can chew gum)? You can’t! Not without the administration’s permission. Internal Passports Ho!

Also students don’t elect teachers, administration, or have any say in school spending or policy. The only representative “government” they have are powerless student councils and a figurehead of a Class President.

Weerd's original post also has a good deconstruction of the anti's mentality too.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Now they ask.

The New York Times is asking if maybe the police are getting a bit too militarized.

Geee... I wonder what gave them that idea.

Hat tip Glenn Reynolds.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Nanny Bloomberg's Empire... State

Bloomberg's getting even more out there...

While bragging about how his city is like a nation unto itself, with it's own diplomatic representation, and state department, Bloomberg says this.

I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world.

There you have it, militarization of the police from the mouth of NannyBloomberg himself.

And what nation is the Number seven that Bloomberg's mighty gendarmerie would supplant? Why the US. And how big is the US Army? 550,000

Wait... so the NYPD has more than half a million people on the payroll?

Well no. The NYPD has about 44,500 officers, auxiliary officers, and school safety agents.

Only off by over an order of magnitude eh Bloomberg?

Gross gross delusions of grandeur aside. This very man who crowing about the mass numbers of gunmen in his employ is the head of and financier of the leading Anti-Second Smendment Rights organization in the country.

Isn't it great when a "great leader", who has broken term limit rules to stay in office, brags about his power?


And Bloomberg's crusades against salt and transfats and other nannying nonsense is also well known.

As Weer'd is wont to say, they're not anti-gun, but anti-freedom.


Bloomberg antigun? Clearly, he loves armed people... but only if they've taken the "king's shilling" as it were. In fact, he seems to wish that he had a literal army of guys with guns at his beck and call.


Via: Uncle