MOLLE light

Saw a review of these in Shotgun News last month, and thought it looked pretty neat. So I checked it out, and ordered one









I'll state right off that I'm still a bit ticked off at PentagonLight who make it. Ordering it involved a delay("I didn't get a confirmation for shipping like the site says to expect." "We're backordered, it'll be a week or so."), then more delay, then a couple of unanswered e-mails, then a "Tell me where it is or cancel the order" from me followed by "We're sorry about that, yours should ship Monday at the latest".

It shipped Tuesday. Yeah, it's just one day, but it was damn near a month after I ordered it. So while I'm hoping that this was an exception for their service, I'm still ticked.

MOLLE is short for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment, the system that replaced the old ALICE gear(no, I don't remember what it's short for). This light looks kind of like the old military right-angle flashlight. This one is small(3.5" tall) and light(1.5 oz) and uses a single AA battery. Instead of a bulb, it uses a .5 watt LED with about 40 lumens output, and can be had with blue or red filters that screw onto the base for storage and over the lamp for use. It's supposed to fit inside one of the loops on the MOLLE gear(don't have any to check that) and has a spring clip that allows it to be hooked on a belt, pocket or whatever.

A bit unhappy with the company or not, so far I have to say this is a very good light. Not as bright as my Surefire G2, it's a very similar white light with no shadows or holes in it. The switch is on top: press down a little for momentary, down all the way for constant on. It's supposed to run about three hours constant with a fresh battery, soon as I get a chance I'll stick a brand new Duracell in and try it. It'll sit upright on the base, and I've hooked it on pockets and belt; the hook does swivel so you can aim it.

Overall I rate it as a good piece to have.

Further on the Christian/Newsom murders

here and here. The reports of mutilations are now reported by the authorities as false, which- assuming they're not downplaying things- leaves a bloody, horrible case of kidnapping, rape and murder.

It's being(unfortunately) used by apologists for the dirtbags and some white supremacists and some general 'these rumors are just because the suspects are black' weenies to push their viewpoints. And we're still stuck with the simple fact that if a gang of whites had done this to a black man and woman, the major media would've been screaming about it from the start.

Lots of thoughts on this mess, but I'm going to have to work on them a bit.

Memorial Day Updated

Over the years, I've known a bunch of people who were currently in uniform, or had been in the past. Family, friends, people who(in CAP) taught/trained my son.

This is the first Memorial Day since son joined up. He's currently in a quite nice place; in a few months he'll be in a somewhat less nice place. He's had good training, in Basic from people freshly back from the immediate war zone* and since with people who've been there; a bunch of people in his unit have been there before. They're prepping hard for it. There's a certain amount of concern, of course, but knowing that does make this a bit less difficult to deal with.

What'll I do today? The flag is up out front, at least unless('until' by the look of the clouds) it starts raining again. I'm not going shopping. There's things I'll take care of in/around the house, and when I take a break I'll check around on the web on the State Of Things, and I'll be thinking about people I know and don't know who're out on the sharp end. I'm uncertain about God, in that while I think He's out there, sometimes I'm not too fond of Him, but I'll probably do a bit of praying(can't hurt).

This is a marvelous country we live in. Because a bunch of people of all social classes were willing to put their lives and families on the line to create it; because a lot of people have fought for it in many ways since, many losing everything. Someone once asked how, if I liked this country so much, I could be so distrustful of the government and I said it's because I love this country and I don't want the muck-sucking politicians and their buttmonkeys to screw it up because I wasn't watching. There are a bunch of people in ACUs all over the world as well as here, some actively fighting the bad guys and the others training for the time, and it's to keep this country going without the bad guys killing and torturing in the streets here.

From those in graves in many places to those old ones who fought in the past to those currently out there, we owe them. A lot.


Update: Kevin has a list of places where you can donate to help the troops and the families of the fallen.


* I call Iraq and Afghanistan the 'immediate' zone; I think we're in the 'warm to cool' zone, depending on what part of the country(as in "What's nearby they'd like to hit?") you're in. As to training, in Basic every member of the training cadre had been in one or the other immediate zone within the past six months; the Army has been taking the top few percent of noncoms coming back and rotating them to training duty.

With one thing and another, haven't had much to write lately

Work with strange shifts, trying to get enough sleep, not much time to do anything and then Security Staff(Senior) passing on... it all kind of drains the enthusiasm out of you.

So I thought I'd just post some links, in case you haven't run across these things yet.

From Kim, his opinion on the 'Illegal Immigrant Amnesty By Another Name' bill. I'll second him on the pissed off, though I have the slight mitigating factor that both OK Senators voted against this mess and have made their opinion of it very plain. I'll add to it that the only reasons for them to be surprised by the anger on this is
A. Abject stupidity(quite possible)
B. Acting(also possible)
C. Actually believing they could say a few words and have everybody go along. Though I think this one would be a side-link to 'Abject Stupidity'.

Take a look at these grips Xavier tested. I don't know about the bone, but I like the buffalo horn on the maker's site.

Remember I mentioned a while back word that the Yugo government, in keeping with a treaty they'd signed with the God-cursed UN, would stop exporting arms and ammo? Got this today in an e-mail from Century:ITS DEFINITE NO MORE YUGO SKS’S AND YUGO UNDERFOLDERS GET THEM NOW WHILE YOU CAN
The price on them has been going up(along with everything else), and this'll only make things worse.

One of the things about the current IIABAN bill is the emotion being used by some of these clowns to try to sell it. Both the 'teary-eyed children' crap, and- the one that REALLY pisses me off- is the comments(especially by people who damn well know better) that "Anyone who's against this bill is a racist". Let me state that if either my Senator or Rep. had said such a thing, not only would I have told them exactly what I think of them, I'd do everything I could to see them out of that office.

Also note, from His Majesty and Michelle Malkin, phone numbers to the House and Senate that bypass some of the usual crap needed to get to them. Where'd the numbers come from?
The hotline is paid for by something called the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and it’s being blasted to pro-open borders groups all over the country. The hotline gives its callers access to their senators that average Joes don’t have.
The numbers are;
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)

Don't you just love it? A Spanish number for people who apparently can't or won't speak English to yell at the Senate and House?

And last, from Michelle, a bit about the way the murdering fornicators-of-swine we're fighting treat people. And the absolute friggin' silence from the usual suspects who whine about us even daring to fight them.

I'm going to try to enjoy this weekend. Catch you later.

CZ-82

This is one of the firearms from former com-bloc countries that have become available. It was the Czech replacement for the CZ-52 pistol as a military sidearm















The -52 was a single-action semi-auto chambered for the 7.62x25mm cartridge, which propelled a 90-grain bullet to about 1400fps. SERIOUS penetration, and a fireball at the muzzle that does indeed get attention at the range. The -82 is smaller(6.77" long, 4.99 high, 1.42 wide), double-action, weighs a shade over 28 oz and is chambered for the 9x18mm cartridge. Where the -82 used a single-stack magazine that holds eight rounds, the -82 uses a double-stack that holds 12.

The -82 has an ambidextrous thumb safety, can be carried cocked & locked, and has white-dot sights. And one interesting characteristic: polygonal rifling. Which at first glance causes it to look like a smoothbore.

Takedown is much like the Makarov and the Walther pistols: drop the magazine, pull down the trigger guard at the front, pull the slide all the way back, lift the back up a bit and ease it forward off the barrel and that's it to field-strip. It feels a lot like those pistols, too. The workmanship seemed quite nice, everything well fitted and smooth working.

About that double-action. Firing the first shot, just pull the trigger or you can cock the hammer first. And, as mentioned, you can carry it condition one(no idea how secure the safety is on this point so cannot say if a good idea or not). Since there's no decocker, to lower the hammer on a live round means holding the hammer spur with one thumb, pulling the trigger and easing the hammer down. Could be just a bit touchy at times.

How'd it work? Quite well. Fired it with some Wolf ball and Silver Bear hollowpoints. Recoil is just like the Makarov, which means- for me- a touch uncomfortable after half a box or so; very snappy. I don't know if something like the Pearce grip that helps on the Mak is available, if it is and I planned on shooting one of these much, I'd get it. Accuracy was much like the Maks I've fired, quite good, especially since this has much better sights than the Mak. At ten yards it printed all shots about two inches below point of aim.

They generally come with a holster designed to allow for either left- or right-hand carry that also holds the extra mag and cleaning rod, I'll try to get a picture of that and add it on later.

Overall, an interesting piece.


Had a chance to try one of these out a couple of weeks ago and with one thing and another finally got around to writing about it.

Some days just suck

Security Staff(Senior) died this morning.

Gun Show

this weekend. One of the better ones. Looked around and found some bits & pieces, and some ammo. Found out that:
Ammo prices have gone up on a lot of stuff. Again.
M1 Carbine parts from some vendors are priced at ridiculous levels.
M1 Carbines themselves, bloody amazing. Fairly standard mixmaster carbines people are asking $800 and $1k for.

My favorite ammo dealer had, among other good stuff, .303 British ball. Both some Pakistani stuff(32-round boxes), and Brit-manufactured ball, on clips in bandoliers, $16 per bando.

The Paki stuff is uncertain. When I first got an Enfield I bought a bunch of it, and it was great: sure-fire and accurate and cheaper than anything else. Last batch I saw, lots of reports of click-bangs and some flat duds. This recent import stuff is supposed to be pretty good, if I go back to the show Sunday I may pick up a box or two.

Between at work late last night, woke up early and been busy all day, I've had it. See you later.

Essay you really need to read

Was over at the Geek's place and found a link to this: Waco Rules vs. Romanian Rules.

Go read it.

Range day

Having survived(and remained conscious throughout) another shift at work, and it being a very nice day outside, I loaded up some stuff and hit the range. Nothing serious, mainly just to get out and shoot and enjoy it.*

Real hit for that was the Martini Model 12(written up here) and a box of Eley Sport. I have lots of favorites, but for fun .22 slowfire, this is it. Between the sights, trigger and balance, it just makes hitting the target seem easy. Working the lever, loading another round, lining up and squeezing off just kind of go in a rhythm that keeps putting holes right where you want them(within reason). And occasionally you have the joy of some guy with a fine bolt rifle and BIG scope wondering why he can't group as well as that damned old thing?

Putting a box of .22s downrange with a tool as nice as this makes for a fine part of a day.

*Side note, the last couple of nights as I left for work at oh-dark-thirty, there was some bird singing. I think a mockingbird; sounded just as happy as if the sun were shining. I didn't know they sang after dark.

Be it stated(again) that John Edwards(Dipshit)

and Harry Reid(Enemy buttmonkey) are a couple of sorry excuses for human beings.

First, to the "I need my $400 haircuts) Silky Pony Edwards, and his little example of 'supporting the troops'. This little scumsucker has, barring the rest of the field all being struck by lightning or a meteorite, zero chance at the Oval Office, once again demonstrates just what he is.

And Reid, in a measure that will undoubtedly be trumpeted as a 'great act of courage' by surrender monkeys and socialists in general, made it known that "he'll allow a vote this week on the Feingold-Reid amendment, which would cut off funding for the war by March 31, 2008."

Slight problem: he still doesn't have the balls or integrity to just put the measure up for a vote, so he's "he's attaching it to the Water Resources Development Act Reauthorization."

Chickenshit little bozos are STILL playing games with funding for the troops, and doing this crap too. Once again: "Lamppost, rope, politician: some assembly required"


Added: more on Edwards here; key line :
What kind of cynical political beast would profess to all that—noting a direct threat, recognizing a Security Council that was acting out of its own financial interests, claiming that his own reading of the intelligence led him to believe Iraq that was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, and saying categorically that no, he wasn’t misled in his vote to go to war—and then call for us to pull out, leaving the Iraqi people hanging out to dry, and virtually insuring that the middle east becomes further destabilized?

One more treacherous politician to keep an eye on

Heard the other day that when the vote in the House came up, Rep. Dan Boren(D-2nd District) voted with Pelosi & Co. to fund the war for three months.

Rep. Boren, I doubt you'll see this, but just in case you do:
Whatever Pelosi & Co. offered you, I hope in the long run it's worth it to you. To sell the troops out like that for an attempt at political gain.

And you better believe this won't be forgotten. I don't live in your district, so I don't have any blame for you sitting in that office; that also means I can't vote against you got get you out of it. But I can make damn sure to bring this up every time you open your mouth about the subject of the war, and do my part to see you can't dodge having done this.

These bastards really don't care about the Constitution at all, do they?

I speak of the assclowns like LA State Rep. Cedric Richmond(Dumbass-New Orleans*). Aside from the usual 'restrict-license-ban' crap, it includes "and allow the State Police to inspect private homes for compliance".

There's another bill somewhere(I want to say VA, but don't have time to look it up right now) plus some federal crap that's been proposed over time that includes the same: basically, "If we allow you to own these evil objects, our minions can search your home/car/business at any time, and we don't have to worry about a warrant". Fancy way of saying "Screw the Fourth and Fifty; we don't care".

It's pretty consistent, they just don't care about the Constitution if it gets in the way of their desires. Screw 'em.


*as if you couldn't figure both parts out

And once again, a 30% chance turns into

thunder and lightning and rain. Dammit. It had dried out just enough I was able to get the front yard mowed, finishing just as it started.

They're now saying a 'slight chance of scattered showers' tonight, which means taking the truck to work(too many times has 'slight chance' become 'drowning trip home on motorcycle').

Gerry, the climate(other than waiting for various volcanoes to blow) may suit you just fine, but places from which people say "my layer of protective mildew is in excellent condition, thankyew" do not really tempt me for some reason.

Back in the Dark Days of Clinton,

when the 'Assault Weapons Ban' was passed, I didn't have much free cash(hell, NO free cash) to do so, or I'd have done what a lot of people did: buy an EEEEEVille Assault Weapon. In the days that mess was being debated every shop in town that carried them, and ammo and magazines, was selling more than before. In the thirty-day period between Clinton signing it and it going into effect, more yet. One local shop said(in a newspaper article about a week before it took effect) they sold more in that period than ever before, and if there'd been a supply they could've sold at least that many more. And one telling note was a comment from one man: "I never wanted one of these, but if the government is going to tell me I can't be trusted with one, then I'll buy one". Lot of other people said the same thing(but in more profane terms) and bought.

At the time I primarily thought of it as a way of saying "Fuck you" to the politicians; over time I started thinking of it as 'putting together stores'. And I started considering a lot of things I'd never really given serious thought to before. I had kids, and the idea of not being able to take them shooting and hunting like my father & grandfather had... it really, really pissed me off.

All of which leads to this piece at RNS leading to this at The War on Guns. Referring to the first paragraph above:
The Law of Unintended Consequences decreed that there would be two unexpected results of this Clintonista constitutional misbehavior. The first was the importation and sale within a few months of several millions of semi-auto rifles (principally SKS and AK-variants) into the U.S. This was in anticipation of, and defiance of, the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban." Indeed, this was more rifles of these types than had been sold in the previous TWENTY YEARS. And it was in a political climate where it was fully expected that the next law would call for the confiscation of such weapons. Why, then, did this massive arming take place? Were we buying these rifles merely to turn them over later? When the Clintonistas realized that we were not buying these rifles to turn them in, but to turn ON THEM if they became even more threatening to our liberties, it gave them considerable pause. I am told the analysts in the bowels of the J. Edgar Hoover building were particularly impressed.

Well, they should have been.

You see, what impressed us gunnies the most was the fact that under what we came to know as "Waco Rules", Catch 22 was in full swing. It was as if the Clintonistas were shouting, "We can do anything you can't stop us from doing." The constitutional militia movement, despised by the administration, caricatured by the media (and professional liars for money like Morris Dees of the Southern "Poverty" Law Center), and unjustly vilified after the Oklahoma City bombing, began to explore the question of just what could be done to stop such unconstitutional conduct on the part of the government. We realized that another way to express Catch 22 is to say, "You can do only what we let you get away with."

I'd been around law enforcement most of my life, and I'd grown up thinking of the men with badges as Good Guys. Time went by, and I discovered that there were some Jerks mixed in, and(this was the real shock to me) some first-class Bad Guys. And that, due to the conditions/pressures of the job, the Good Guys tended to protect the Jerks and Bad Guys from being thrown out/prosecuted. And if you couldn't trust the Good Guys to stand against the Bad Guys, then what the hell DO you do?

I flat detest the idea of civil war with the cops- Good Guys and Bad- on the other side. No, let me rephrase that: I HATE it. You know what makes it less of a detestable idea? Kathryn Johnston. All the victims of SWAT (or Tactical Teams or Special Operations teams or whatever the hell they're called locally) teams being misused and getting away with it, over and over. And all that video from New Orleans of cops and National Guard troops holding people at gunpoint- sometimes after beating hell out of them- so they could steal their firearms.
(side note: the fact that most of the major media flat ignored this garbage didn't help matters, either)
Note to law enforcement types who haven't figured this out: if you do crap like the above, people do not look on you as Officer Friendly anymore; they look on you as Jackass in a Ninja Outfit Who Abuses People. And you're seen- rightly- as thinking yourself above the law and not to be trusted.

Hell, I've said this before in one form or another. Go read at TWOG, it's much worth it.

Tony Blair

announced he's leaving office in June.

I've done some thinking about him the past while, with it being a given he'd be out of office soon. My original opinion was that I gave him full credit for seeing that the islamists are the enemy, and for getting it through Parliament to get troops into action in Afghanistan and Iraq; but that in every other way, he was the kind of nanny-state politician I despised.

I do still give him credit for the first, but my respect for him on the matter has dwindled. When you have troops being sent into combat who have to borrow ammo from allies because they were sent to the front areas without a basic load; when, in the middle of a war for survival, you cut the number of ships in your navy and cut the number of troops in your military forces; when you can't even provide wards for the treatment of wounded where they don't have to worry about being abused by relatives/friends of the enemy, you have failed to honor the threat that you stood up to speak of. And you've failed the people you sent to do the fighting.

It's been kind of amazing to watch this man both insist that the war was absolutely necessary at the same time he and his party was trashing the British military. 'Mind-boggling' as Peter Plunkett would say. And his "abolition of Britain’s liberty" at the same time he was working to trash the idea of being British while simultaneously giving special consideration to people who, bluntly, were the enemy of Britain(while bloody LIVING THERE, yet)...

Remember the Brit cop who was murdered in a raid on a house of suspected terrorists? Sent in with no arms, no armor and apparently orders not to be too mean and nasty, he was stabbed to death. Officers ordered not to launch raids during prayer times or to search where the people being raided objected to so as to not be seen as 'racist' and/or 'insensitive'. Absolute idiocy that cost lives and has allowed the enemy to make serious inroads into Britain, cheered along every step of the way by the upper levels of Blair's government.

But if you're a Subject of the Crown who uses too much force in protecting yourself from an attacker; if you own a firearm that's disapproved of, or more ammo than is approved of; if you say something 'upsetting' to people carrying signs calling for your death, you WILL by God go to jail.

And I cannot agree with Cella that "he disarmed Socialism in Great Britain"; indeed, he worked hard to advance it, a nanny state with cameras everywhere and personal freedom trashed.

Yeah, he did stand with us, and I do appreciate it. I wonder how it would have worked if he'd been more worried about defeating the enemy he recognized than in being friendly with the enemy inside his own house, though.

Sondra, if you sent this down this way,

first, some rain is indeed appreciated. But ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, dammit! Swing some of it into California before that spreads and runs the weenies to surrounding states to mess things up. Send some of it to Florida to knock down the fires there. But stop sending it here!

Yesterday, before I crawled into bed(at four friggin' pm, did I mention my schedule was FUBAR?) I checked the rain gauge: an even five inches in the previous 48 hours. That's not counting the few inches in the few days before that. And now it's bloody raining again. Not just a little sprinkle, oh no, it's raining. Again.

If you didn't send your lousy Oregon/Washington weather down here, then I apologize. But if you did...

One other thing about the Taurus titanium revolvers

Can't speak for the snubnoses, but on the 4" I've fired, that ribbed rubber grip does a very nice job of soaking up recoil. Within reason.

'Within reason' depending on the cartridge. .45acp, no problem, but...

First time I fired one was basically the same pistol in .41 Magnum. Now, I flat love that cartridge, and as previously mentioned I'm on the lookout for a Model 57 I can afford. And I'm not particularly recoil sensitive. But when I touched off a .41 Mag round in that thing, it kicked the crap out of me. I finished the cylinder, and have no desire to repeat the experience. As something with serious power that you'd carry a lot and shoot little, ok, but when something's that painful to practice with, I don't like. A very well-made gun, but way too light for that cartridge.

"It's globalur worner- Climate Change, that's what it is!"

Last year was dry, drought conditions over this state and parts of surrounding states, and we heard lots of "Is global warming causing the drought, and what comes next?" crap from some sources(big surprise, right?).

Well, from dry last year to damn wet this one. Along with the rain and storms of the previous few months, and the snow and sleet and freezing rain in winter, it's not only raining now(well over 2.6 inches in the last six hours) but something like 50% probability over the next few days.

I haven't heard it yet- probably becuase I don't go looking for this crap- but I have no doubt that someone already is talking about 'changing weather patterns due to globalar warmening'. Which is flat amazing, because they apparently cannot be bothered to remember their own life or look at the records. Cycles like this have always happened, long before any human activity could have affected it, and always will. Dry years, wet years, average years, all working their way through with no concern for our notice of them. For us at all.

Oh well, it'll make them so happy to point at it and squeal.

More on the death of Kathryn Johnston

Demonstrating that the 'say anything to get a warrant, etc.' mess was indeed an ongoing problem, Balko has this:
The 80-year-old Thompson was in her bedroom the afternoon of Sept. 20, when she heard a terrible crash and shouting. Startled and confused, she grabbed a pistol and was immediately confronted by three Atlanta narcotics officers.

"They had masks covering their face. I thought I was being robbed," she recalled. "They pointed those big guns at me."
...
The two incidents share striking similarities: Two elderly women living alone with guns; police battering in a door; faulty reports from street-level dealers helping narcotics officers; and police parsing the truth, if not outright lying.

And take note of this:
The team did not have a no-knock warrant as they did in the Johnston case. But narcotics agents are allowed to quickly batter in a door if they hear the residents scurrying around, presumably hiding drugs, or if they hear nothing. The team that day heard nothing, the police report said.
Got that? If they hear you 'scurrying around', they can kick in the door; and if they DON'T hear anything, they can kick in the door. Just freakin' unbelievable.

He notes that the judges who've been in the habit of signing these warrants, often under conditions that should have told anyone with three working brain cells that something was wrong, need to be dealt with also. However,
Fulton magistrates don't plan on making any policy changes, said Stefani Searcy, court administrator for Fulton County State and Magistrate courts.

"I'm sure the judges, not just here but across the state, are concerned about whether officers are telling the truth," Searcy said. "It's a problem that has to be handled internally by the police department."
"Because we clowns in black robes have NO responsibility in this, no sir, none at all!"

Of course the Empire In Decline is the U.S.

in this article. I admit that I'm seriously suspicious of anything coming from someone who writes things like "An imperium in its death throes can be a nasty beast; I am by the same token nervous that the American empire may lurch dangerously around for decades to come.", but I will say his idea is interesting. I don't think it'll work, for the simple reason that 'containing' radical islam is just a touch different than the Soviet Union.

Pretty good article on th 2nd Additional

in, of all places, the New York Times.
There used to be an almost complete scholarly and judicial consensus that the Second Amendment protects only a collective right of the states to maintain militias. That consensus no longer exists — thanks largely to the work over the last 20 years of several leading liberal law professors, who have come to embrace the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns.

Considering it was 'liberal' politicians and law professors who gave us the 'collective right' crap, it only seems fair that some of them realize the truth and speak about it.

I've always been amazed at how, in a document specifically noting individual rights, the rights of free people, that these people could argue with a straight face that the 2nd was only a 'collective' right.

The earlier consensus, the law professors said in interviews, reflected received wisdom and political preferences rather than a serious consideration of the amendment’s text, history and place in the structure of the Constitution. “The standard liberal position,” Professor Levinson said, “is that the Second Amendment is basically just read out of the Constitution.”

No kidding?

But(of course), those 'individual' rights people don't really believe it:Scholars who agree with gun opponents and support the collective rights view say the professors on the other side may have been motivated more by a desire to be provocative than by simple intellectual honesty.
Just like if you don't agree with the 'concensus truth' on globular wormering you're either a Gaia-hating troglodyte or just trying to cause problems. 'Course, though, this is coming from people who on one hand say a criminal caught in the act has more legal protections than you do, but on the 2nd say things like this:
“The Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to have firearms at all,” Mr. Burger said in a speech. In a 1991 interview, Mr. Burger called the individual rights view “one of the greatest pieces of fraud — I repeat the word ‘fraud’ — on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

Take careful note of that last; it came from a former Chief Justice of SCOTUS. Considering we've had idiots like this on that Court, it's amazine there's anything left of the Constitution at all other than their approved form of the 'living document'.

And I just love this:
“It’s truly a life-or-death question for us,” she said. “It’s not theoretical. We all remember very well when D.C. had the highest murder rate in the country, and we won’t go back there.” Uh, you might take a moment to consider that one factor in that still horrible crime rate is that idiots like you disarmed honest people.

Found over at Instapundit.

Additional:
Two pieces noting that it wasn't 'liberal professors' who did all the work on this subject. Not even close. At Volokh and Balkin.

Almost always happens somewhere this time of year

Anniversaries of disasters always bring bad stuff back to mind. The edge dulls over time, and the stresses of the mix of fear/anger/fight-or-flight/amazement/wonder don't strike as hard as before.

May 3rd was the eighth anniversary of the 1999 F5 tornado that travelled through, smashing everything in its path and killing anyone who couldn't get out of the way and wasn't under enough shelter. Wrote about it a couple of years ago, with some of the specifics. A mile wide on the ground at its greatest strength, one of those natural forces that demonstrates every so often just how small our efforts generally are in comparison.

What a lot of people don't realize is what an outbreak happened that day. Something like seventy tornados were noted by either radar indications or ground reports. As I recall, there was one they think was another F5, but that one had a much shorter path and was out in the boonies, doing very little damage.

Thanks to lots of warning(the weather weenies here are pretty good at tornados and severe thunderstorms) from radar, stormchasers and- soon as they could get into the air- choppers tailing it, the death count was far smaller than it could have been. A similar strength storm
hit the town of Woodward(and other places) on April 9, 1947. From the NWS records:
The tornado that would strike Woodward began near Canadian, TX. Moving northeast, it continued on the ground continuously for about 100 miles, ending in Woods County, Oklahoma, west of Alva. The tornado was massive, up to 1.8 miles wide, and traveled at forward speeds of about 50 miles per hour. It first struck Glazier and Higgins in the Texas Panhandle, devastating both towns and producing at least 69 fatalities in Texas before crossing into Oklahoma. In Ellis County, Oklahoma, the tornado did not strike any towns, passing to the southeast of Shattuck, Gage, and Fargo. Even though no towns were struck, nearly 60 farms and ranches were destroyed and 8 people were killed with 42 more injured. Moving into Woodward County, one death was reported near Tangier.

The violent tornado (F5 on the Fujita Scale) unleashed its worst destruction on Woodward, striking the city without warning at 8:42 pm. Over 100 city blocks on the west and north sides of the city were destroyed with lesser damage in the southeast portion of the town. Confusion and fires reigned in the aftermath with over 1000 homes and businesses destroyed, at least 107 people killed in and around Woodward, and nearly 1000 additional injuries.

No radar to warn, no local meteorologists familiar with the history and terrain of the area. Something like that hitting the same path as the May 3rd storm would have killed hundreds. As it is, the damn things can form and drop so fast that even with Doppler radar and all the other fancies, they can surprise everyone.

Greensburg, KS took the hit this time. Some dead, a lot more injured, and much of the town destroyed. I say 'some dead' because they won't have a final count for days, most likely; takes time to search through a mess like that. And, just to add to the joy, NWS says:

A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK...INCLUDING THE POSSIBILITY
 OF LONG-TRACK AND VIOLENT TORNADOES...ARE EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE
 CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE
 DEVELOPMENT OF A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK OVER PARTS OF
 THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

 THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE

        CENTRAL KANSAS
        CENTRAL NEBRASKA

 SURROUNDING THE HIGH RISK AREA...THERE IS ALSO A POTENTIAL FOR VERY
 LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND STRONG TORNADOES FROM SOUTHERN SOUTH
 DAKOTA SOUTHWARD INTO WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND THE EXTREME EASTERN TEXAS
 PANHANDLE.

Not going to be a good night for a whole lot of people.

Taurus Total Titanium Tracker

in .45acp













I posted on this revolver once before, but since I had a chance to shoot one of these the other day, and I think it's a fine piece, decided to show it again.

It's about identical in outside dimensions to a K-frame S&W revolver, with the frame, barrel and cylinder being forged of titanium. The barrel and each chamber has a stainless steel liner(to take the pressure and hold rifling), and the lockwork is steel. The combination gives a revolver holding five rounds of .45acp that weighs the grand total of about 1.5 pounds. The steel versions have a vented barrel, and I believe some of the titanium models in other cartridges are vented also.

Since it fires a rimless cartridge it uses a steel moon clip to hold five rounds. Five instead of six means the cylinder can be that much smaller in diameter, which means a smaller frame, so smaller AND lighter for easy carry. These clips are not as heavy and stiff as those used in some other revolvers, so for fast reloads I'd think something like a speedloader carrier to set them into.

The grip is a ribbed, soft rubber that both fits to your hand very well and does a good job of soaking up recoil, the latter being a Good Thing in a pistol this light. Sights are fixed.

The action on those I've fired have all been very smooth with a light, clean single-action pull. Double was a bit heavy; I'd imagine it would lighten up much like a S&W revolver, though you'd have to make damn sure you didn't scratch the titanium surfaces inside.

I'm told they don't make this model any longer, which is a pity. It's light, well made, of a size that will fit a lot of hands, in a serious cartridge, and quite accurate. For something to carry on hikes, or as a concealed-carry piece it would work nicely.

I think it started when 'Band of Brothers' came out,

it got worse when CMP announced they had Carbines, and now that they're taking orders it's worse.

In this case, I'm speaking of the prices for Carbine parts. Just for the hell of it I went over to Evilbay and searched 'M1 Carbine', and while some things are reasonable, DAMN!, some things are flat amazing.

The clowns in Congress aren't helping, either, since every time someone like Schumer opens his mouth and starts talking, people decide to get spares or stock up. Which isn't helping the ammo situation, either.

By the way, something I found that may be handy for others with those short little rifles:
The chargers for Carbine magazines come in two forms, the early with the magazine adapter attached and the later with a separate adapter. If you've got some, you know that after a few uses the little brass tab on the end- that keeps the cartridges from getting out until you push- breaks off. I found that the brass insert from AR15/M16 chargers is a little longer, and just a touch wider. You can trim just a tiny strip off the sides with scissors, shape a new tab(I use my dremel) on one end, and it'll replace the brass insert in the Carbine charger.

Dammit, I can't make the Shoot

Been looking forward to the Nation of Riflemen Shoot down in Dallas since Kim announced it. But it's official, I ain't gonna be there. Things at work are FUBAR, and- barring a miracle- I can't get the days for it.

I wish I believed in lotteries, I'd walk to the store and buy tickets.

Oh yeah, the Left just loves free speech

as long as nothing is said they don't like. Such as information about the Goreacle that upsets them.
Shortly after the story made headlines, popular liberal blogs Daily Kos and Huffington Post, laid out their plan of attack. A blogger called NeuvoLiberal wrote on Daily Kos, "please post any specific (action oriented) ideas you have for fighting back…. We'd like to target every person out there that is spinning in various rightwing and other outlet for this kind of smear job (the damage is done before you wake and smell the coffee)."

Over at Huffington Post, bloggers Dave Johnson and James Boyce issued another call to action: "Al Gore is a hero. Even heroes need help - join us, add to the comments, let's find out everything we can about these guys and stop them in their tracks. Now."

Got that? Say something that makes their 'hero' look bad, and they want you shut up. 'Course, if you've followed damn near any story that touched on their prickly little sense of "You fascists don't get to criticize us without being destroyed", you already knew that. This is just another example if it.

Vegans are freakin' insane

That's a blanket statement, based on the few I've met. Known some vegetarians, some of them are nuts, but just about everyone I've ever met who was vegan was also a socialist(or socialist-leaning at the least) nanny-state type. Through Sondra, found this piece of idiocy:
Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31, will get an automatic life sentence for the death of their 6-week-old infant, Crown. After being fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice, he weighed only 3 1/2 pounds when he died.

Nothing but soy milk and apple juice. For a newborn.

Attorneys representing Sanders and Thomas told jurors the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to their vegan lifestyle.
...
The couple's attorneys said they didn't realize their baby, born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

Bull-SHIT they 'didn't realize the baby was in danger'. When you feed a baby only that, and it KEEPS LOSING WEIGHT, the baby is STARVING TO DEATH. And when there are soy-based formulas available, there is no excuse- period- for this garbage.

And I'll tell you something else: if the baby needs formula(and unless there was a medical reason not to, why weren't they breast-feeding?) and the only formula that worked had some banned-by-vegans ingredient, you give it to the baby anyway. Because that baby's life if MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GOD-CURSED DIETARY PURITY.

If it weren't so early, I'd need a drink.

Rosie O'Donnell has been called an idiot,

but I don't think that quite fits. I think she's a malicious, vile, disgusting example of a human being who may actually be too stupid to understand the implications of what she says.

Or maybe Raging Dave is more accurate in his description.

On top of that we have that sorry, worthless excuse for a man Senator Reid(Traitor-NV) and his buttmonkey Pelosi(Tyrant's asskisser-CA) who are quite willing to betray their country for political advantage. Which, from some stuff Michelle Malkin dug up, is almost certainly connected to this crap. As one guy says here,
Saw your article on the crackdown. Although it's speculation on my part, I think my own vet background provides me enough experience to make the determination that the reasons for this are the armed forces member responses to Harry Reid's comments and anything said or done by other elected Dems. I'm sure after receiving a slew of criticism that was identified as originating from any service man or woman, they contacted DoD and angrily issued complaints.

Undoubtedly true. These are some of the pimples on the ass of humanity who did everything they could in the 2000 election to have troops' absentee ballots thrown out; would it surprise anyone to find they went bitching to the politicians and lawyers in uniform because some of those peasants in the military service dared to criticize the Holy Democrats?

I didn't think so.

Like the Emperor says, "Lamppost, rope politician: some assembly required".

It shouldn't be considered the 'new, aggressive' approach:

it should be considered the old-fashioned, effective approach.
"Some of them were trying to get the heavy machine-gun up a small hill to engage us," Lt Denton said. "Capt Staley used the 30mm gun to take out the two guys who had taken off, and then we fixed on the ones with the heavy machine-gun. They were huddled around a large boulder and we shot them. We put as many rounds around it as we could, because if they got to it they could cause us trouble. But they never had a chance to set it up."

Seriously, why and when did 'hunt the bastards down and kill them' become a 'new, aggressive' approach? It's what should have been happening all along.


Found through Our Lady of the Thong

And further on official thugs

A police officer and a former officer pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. Another officer still faces charges in the woman’s death.
...
Former Officer Gregg Junnier, 40, who retired from the Atlanta police force in January, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation and making false statements. Both men are expected to face more than 10 years in prison.

This is in the Kathryn Johnston mess in Atlanta. And from Balko:
We now know that Kathryn Johnston fired only a single bullet, through the door as police were trying to break in. They responded with a storm of bullets, which apparently both wounded Johnston and the officers themselves. When they realized their fatal error, they planted cocaine and marijuana in the woman's home. They then pressured an uninvolved informant to testify to having made controlled buys at Johnston's home to cover their tracks.

The New York Times is now reporting that the officers have told federal investigators that their behavior was not out of the ordinary. That corruption, planting evidence, and giving false testimony are routine at APD. That's not surprising. The only way these officers could think they'd get away with all of this is if they were operating within a system that routinely allows for—or even encourages—such behavior. APD's focus on arrest numbers and professional rewards for the big bust apparently incentivized such short cuts.

Now, substitute 'guns' for 'drugs', and this is the kind of thing the former 'diplomat' in the previous post thinks should be done. Gah, I need a drink.

Speaking of jack-booted thugs and statist swine,

The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm.

Clearly, since such sweeps could not take place all across the country at the same time. But fairly quickly there would begin to be gun-swept, gun-free areas where there should be no firearms. If there were, those carrying them would be subject to quick confiscation and prosecution. On the streets it would be a question of stop-and-search of anyone, even grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for "carrying."

And where does this wondrous piece of shit come from? Why, from a liberal(in the modern sense) jackass who seems to think a police state is a wonderful idea. Since we'd all be 'safe', you see. Let's see, at the bottom of the piece it says "Dan Simpson, a retired diplomat, is a member of the editorial boards of The Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Oh, joy, he is/was a diplomat. You know, one of those types who seem to think the UN should control all. Who says "And before anyone starts to hyperventilate and think I'm a crazed liberal zealot wanting to take his gun from his cold, dead hands, let me share my experience of guns."

Mr. Simpson, got news for you: you ARE a 'crazed liberal zealot'. You prove it by your own words. Your willingness to trash various parts of the Constitution(which, as a diplomat, I would've thought you'd have sworn to protect it. Or is that only something the lower orders in the military and such do?), your contempt for those who don't agree with you show it.

And take note of this:
The "gun lobby" would no doubt try to head off in the courts the new laws and the actions to implement them. They might succeed in doing so, although the new approach would undoubtedly prompt new, vigorous debate on the subject. In any case, some jurisdictions would undoubtedly take the opportunity of the chronic slowness of the courts to begin implementing the new approach.

Got that? Only the 'gun lobby' would have a problem with warrantless searches, with all the other crap he proposes. And if this were proposed, and 'some jurisdictions'(Chicago, you think?) sort of jump the gun and start doing it, this jackass seems to think it's just fine for state/local governments to ignore the Constitution and the law in hopes that the law will change and take them off the hook for violating it.

I know people who dislike guns who would be flat horrified by this. And everyone should be, because a police state like that described will ALWAYS find something else that their widened powers should be used on. Think of the crap Bloomberg and Daley & Co. would like to make us do, and then imagine them with this kind of power to force you to do it.

Dammit, this kind of crap makes me want to put some more ammo aside. Just in case.

Kim & Family may like the weather there,

but it's a damn good thing they got out.
In the last edition of The Illinois Shooter, we reported on the activities of a shady taskforce known as the Chicago Anti Gun Enforcement (CAGE) unit. This elite squad, operated jointly by the Illinois State Police, the Chicago Police Department, and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, supposedly exists to identify illegal gunrunners. However, information gained by the ISRA makes it clear that the CAGE unit is targeting law-abiding citizens, not criminal gunrunners.

Thanks to a ruling by a liberal federal judge, the CAGE unit now has the name of every single person in the United States who, since 1992, lawfully purchased more than one handgun in the period of a week. The CAGE unit also has all the makes, models and serial numbers of those guns. In essence, the Chicago Police Department is now registering guns and gun owners nationwide.

The terms 'jack-booted thugs' and 'statist swine' come to mind.

All right, NRA, this is the kind of thing those millions of members pony up for; are you going to go after their ass or not?

I tend to think this IS what some people in the White House think

"I'd just like to reiterate the White House's absolute contempt for you barely literate morons who ask me questions," Dana Perino told the reporters. "On a personal note, I'm starting to believe that Tony Snow's illness was simply his body protesting be subjected to such idiocy. Now, what are your questions?"

and

"Representative Dennis Kucinich recently issued articles for impeachment of Cheney. He seemed to dissappear right after, but later he was found standing on Cheney's lawn in a blue coat and wearing a red pointy hat and he would not answer our questions. Do you know why?"

"Because lawn gnomes don't talk. Any other questions?"

"With visionaries like Sheryl Crow concerned about global warming, shouldn't the White House take a tougher stance?"

"Once again, I want to remind you that celebrities are exceptionally stupid people," Dana said. "I know you reporters think they're smart, but that's because you are very dumb yourselves. This is an issue of science, and thus you should all stay away from it because there is no chance of you even understanding the slightest thing about it. Remember when I tried to explain a chart about greenhouse gases to you? Many of you started crying."

Better go read it all. Before the monkeys get him.

Haditha update

My work schedule has, let's say 'gone to hell' so I haven't had much time for anything. But I did get a chance to check the Emperor's thoughts on things, and found this post, leading to this article about the case.
Although the prosecutors said they needed more time to prepare their cases, there is much more to the story than that NewsMax.com has learned, and it paints a shocking picture of a prosecution that should never have been pursued.

In a nutshell, the case exploded when an intelligence officer dropped a bombshell on prosecutors during a pre-hearing interview when he revealed the existence of exculpatory evidence that appears to have been obtained by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and withheld from the prosecutors.

Think about that: not withheld from the defense, which is bad enough, but withheld from the prosecution. 'Interesting' isn't quite the word.

Check it out, and pass it around.

The American Hunters and Shooters Association

is 'The Brady Ban-Guns Group' by another name

And has former BATFE agents in house. Who tell bullshit stories to the media about- among other things- ammunition. And MSNBC quotes him without bothering to mention he's part of an gun-ban group.

Which makes
MSNBC dishonest( I say 'dishonest' because I don't think there's a chance they didn't know);
This former agent either an idiot or a liar, and considering the group he's a part of I'd bet on the latter;
and Oliver Willis a wanker(but you knew that already).

There are some people who need- BADLY to be reminded

of two things. First, that the 1st Amendment applies to ALL, even when they say something bad about Islam and second, This crap ain't gonna be tolerated:
Imam Fouad ElBayly, president of the Johnstown Islamic Center, was among those who objected to Hirsi Ali's appearance.

"She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death," said ElBayly, who came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1976.
...
Although ElBayly believes a death sentence is warranted for Hirsi Ali, he stressed that America is not the jurisdiction where such a crime should be punished. Instead, Hirsi Ali should be judged in a Muslim country after being given a trial, he added.

"If it is found that a person is mentally unstable, or a child or disabled, there should be no punishment," he said. "It's a very merciful religion if you try to understand it."

At least, it won't be tolerated by the non-pc people who think your belief system is a plague upon the earth. Which it is. And if you and your buttmonkeys think she'd be somehow abducted and taken to some place where you have power, have five words for you: Ain't No Way In Hell.


Found thanks to His Majesty

Oh, damn!

Look at this! And this! And most of all, this!

Dammit, I need two things: first to know I'll win, then to buy a lottery ticket.

It's that time of year,

when God's vacuum cleaner starts dropping the nozzle about the place, and storms with a generally bad attitude start dropping chunks of ice on us. Some storms yesterday evening/last night out west, with some damage from tornados. Tomorrow afternoon/evening there's a fair chance of severe stuff in southwest OK, lesser chance here(about 30%); tomorrow night into Tuesday evening it goes up to 60% here. At least as far as the current forecast goes.

Ever had to wear a helmet to go outside to check for damage? It's an interesting sound, hailstones bouncing off it.

Next time someone starts the 'We should license guns

just like we license cars' crap, borrow the words of Lawdog. I've used some of these points in arguments before, but Dog covers just about all of it. Very well.

Once again, the UN proves what a bunch of

pains in the ass they are. Got this in an e-mail a couple of days ago:

SKS’S ARE SOON TO BE A THING OF THE PAST BASED ON TREATRIES BEING SIGNED BY YUGO AND THE UNITED NATIONS GET THEM NOW THIS LOT MAY BE THE LAST

Oh, joy.

Because, of course, it's MUCH better for the rifles to be sold on the black market and the money pocketed by politicians and UN officials the rifles to be destroyed, than that they be imported to these here United States and actually used by us.

Bastards.

The White Truck of Happiness came today

and left me something good.













Which when opened proved to hold smaller cans of happiness













Yeah, that'll last a while.

And unless the bad guys fit the 'proper' template,

horrendous crimes just don't seem to make the major media 'requirements' for broadcast.

Senator Harry Reid(Surrender-NV)

is a sorry, worthless, chickenshit, waste of oxygen. And if he actually had any ethics- GOOD ones, that is- would be so ashamed of himself he'd leave the Senate.

Fat chance, the sorry little scrote.

The Brady 'Let Us Ban Guns' Group lies

This has been noted before, but it's worth repeating, since they keep doing it. On their 'all the kids killed by guns' BS, check here.

Oh, and AP is pushing a 'the NRA is anti-semitic' BS. And(of course) some of the other major media picked it up.

I don't go by Riverdog's place often enough

Tonight I found this:What calibers/brands/bullet weights of ammo are lying on your desk at your blog station right now?

My computer desk is next to the worktable and on the opposite wall from the desk where the loading press is. Looking around, not digging,
Five rounds Federal .38 Special HydraShok, in pistol
Most of a box of Gold Dot 185-grain HP, .45acp
Couple of .30 Carbine, 110gr. ball
three Blazer 9mm ball Cancel that, just noticed about 100 rounds of Winchester, Monarch and Blazer ball in boxes.
Half a box of S&B .45acp ball
About 75 rounds of .30 Carbine handloads, some 110gr. hollow-point, some ball
About 300 rounds .45acp handloads, 230gr. cast ball
About 35 rounds 12-guage 00 buck handloads
Some Aguila SSS .22, about two boxes
Box of .455 Webley, 230gr. handloads
Box of 50 .30-06 handloads, 150gr. cast
Box of 7.5 Swiss handloads, 150gr. cast
Box of .380/200 handloads, 200gr. cast
Box of .45 AutoRim, 230gr. cast
Half a box of .357 Mag, 158gr. semi-wadcutter handloads
A couple of odd .303 Brit, a 12guage slug, some .303 plastic-bullet training rounds,and a couple of shotgun shells I can't decide on from this angle.

Damn, I've got a lot of crap I need to put away...

Hmmm, then he says For extra credit, list the knives or edged weapons lying on the blogstation (or within arm's reach)
Oh, Lord, I am a knifemaker, and sort-of collector. On the desk or table or the filing cabinet right here,
M4 bayonet
Swede Mauser bayonet
Six CRKT folders(hey, a guy had them on sale! Cheap!)
One CRKT neck knife(see above)
Small belt knife(2" blade)
and in the box on the end of the table, a dirk, a big sax-style chopper, about a dozen fixed-blades of different designs and about two dozen finished blades that need hilts.

I think that's it.

'Course, around the corner in the other room is the small fighting axe, the big axe and two swords...

Thoughts on people who fear other honest people

more than they fear the bad guys

I've been thinking about some of the noise being thrown off the last couple of days. My sympathies being where they are, most of what's irritated- in some cases enraged- me has been the 'ban the guns, you people who own them are evil,', etc. Compound that by the absolutely infuriating verbal sour manure vomited out by that brass hat at the university both belittling the student who wished he'd had his sidearm and working hard to cover his sorry ass.

Two things about it. One is the usual 'take the argument to the ridiculous extreme to discredit it' garbage. You say that someone who has a carry permit should be allowed to carry on campus, that becomes "You want to hand out guns to everybody!" Mr. Wiles says he did not like the feeling of having his safety entirely in the hands of others and wished for his sidearm, that becomes "You people would get killed by the police because you'd be running around shooting at anyone you thought suspicious! And before you were shot, you'd kill innocent people!" And, in the case of Asshat Hincker, "You seem not to trust the police, you think you need a gun to protect you from them!"(which, I repeat was either one of the stupidest things to come out of his mouth, or a coldly calculated effort to make Mr. Wiles look like a nutcase; in the first, Asshat Hincker is a fool, in the second he's a sorry excuse for a man). Heartily sick of this garbage and the dishonesty- in some cases flat stupidity- of it.

Second, I'm sure you've noticed the constant "People would be running around shooting at everything" marfi*. The 'I hate guns, just wait for the police' people just cannot seem to wrap their brain around the idea that an honest citizen with a gun just might act in a responsible manner. In this case, you've got three possibilities:
1. If the classroom is one with no window or other exit, teacher/student(hereafter 'T/S') gets everyone to move away from the door, blocks it if there's time, then takes cover behind what's available and guards the door. If bad guy comes in: Bang.
2. If there's a way to get people out, the T/S provides cover- covering fire if needed- while others escape. If bad guy doesn't show, they all get out; if bad guy shows: Bang.
3. T/S is heading for class and comes up against the bad guy. Outcome uncertain, depending on readiness/accuracy/etc. Worst case, T/S is wounded or killed without stopping bad guy. Middle/best case, T/S may be wounded or killed but bad guy is stopped.

I think part of the reason for the 'You people can't be trusted!' may well be that these people cannot or will not consider that someone would knowingly place themselves between death and someone else. They wouldn't do it, or have it firmly fixed in their mind that they're incapable so they shouldn't even try; so when someone says "If I have my sidearm, I can protect myself. And in such a case, protect others", they don't believe it. In fact they either flat hate it or- and in some I know this is it- they fear it. Whether because they've been trained to or don't think that they could do it(or know they wouldn't), they fear someone who would. So in their mind, you wanting the means to stop a bad guy makes you a bad guy. As Kevin puts it, they don't understand, or will not make, the differentiation between aggressive violence and protective violence; the difference between the rabid wolf and the sheepdog. So they fear the sheepdog as much, maybe in some cases more, than they do the rabid wolf, and want to castrate the sheepdogs and make them yappy little lapdogs.

Which, now that I think about it, means a lot of them think of the police as their partially-castrated wolves; they don't trust them, they wait for the chance to punish them if they do anything wrong/possibly wrong, but want them around on a leash to bite the rabid wolves when they show up. After which they'll be (sometimes metaphorically, sometimes not) locked up to decide if they are still usable wolves, or out of control types who should be gotten rid of.

If you carry, you know what I'm talking about when I speak of the "What would/could I do?" scenarios that go through your mind. You sit in a restaurant and look at what you could do if a robbery occurs, or someone pulls a weapon to attempt murder. You walk through a store and take note of places from which you could, from cover/concealment, fire on a terrorist or spree killer, or gang-banger careless about who he's trying to kill, who opens up on people. You know the responsibility of that weight you carry, and you prepare for it, both by trips to the range and by running these things through your mind. Which may be one of the things that scares some people so much; that we actively prepare for what may come.

The big factor, I think, is the Decision: that it makes some people very nervous, sometimes flat terrified, to be in the presence of someone who has decided that, if absolutely necessary, they will kill. As James put it:

Everybody who shoots knows what I'm talking about. You see it in their eyes, their expression. All of a sudden you're not a person but a dangerous beast that might suddenly lash out and kill everyone around you. A Deathbeast.

If you carry for self-defense or have a weapon in the home for the purpose, you’d damned well better have decided this; when you’re facing someone with a knife or club or gun, or just hands and a homicidal impulse is NOT the time to decide if you can/will do it. There’s a paper called ‘Survival Stress in Law Enforcement’ that says this:

Commitment To Deadly Force:

If an officer hasn’t already, he must take a serious look at the issue of having to take someone’s life. That thought alone will cause great levels of stress throughout a career, but if an officer is not convinced or has questions as to what he/she would do in a deadly force situation, they are endangering themselves as well as the lives of others. With all things considered, faith, religion, and murder vs. killing, must be weighed, but in this career a total commitment to deadly force must be adopted when this situation presents itself.

Exactly. And to those who are terrified of that decision, often refusing to even consider it no matter what, having made the Decision makes you something non-human, something to fear. They don't care that your fondest wish is that all the preparation will never be needed for real, they don't care that having to pull the trigger on someone is a nightmare you deal with: they sense the teeth, and see no difference between wolf and sheepdog, so they want to remove the teeth- and preferably the balls- of the sheepdog. Instead, they put their trust in the magical thinking of "If we pass another law, and this time we really, really mean it, this time, we'll be safe!"


I’d suggest reading the paper mentioned above, link found at Winds of Change.

*Marfi: Capstick described it as ‘what comes out of the south end of a northbound hyena'

Additional: just found this at Chris' place on the 'you're paranoid/leave it to the pros/etc.' viewpoint.

If you're thinking about compact flourescent bulbs,

Check this out.

Found thanks to Rodger

A bit of a roundup on the mass murder

All kinds of them out there, just a few pieces here I think good to see.
Mark Steyn on some of the attitude problems out there. He includes this, which I'd never read before about a school shooting in Canada:
Every December 6th, my own unmanned Dominion lowers its flags to half-mast and tries to saddle Canadian manhood in general with the blame for the “Montreal massacre,” the 14 female students of the Ecole Polytechnique murdered by Marc Lepine (born Gamil Gharbi, the son of an Algerian Muslim wife-beater, though you’d never know that from the press coverage). As I wrote up north a few years ago:

Yet the defining image of contemporary Canadian maleness is not M Lepine/Gharbi but the professors and the men in that classroom, who, ordered to leave by the lone gunman, meekly did so, and abandoned their female classmates to their fate — an act of abdication that would have been unthinkable in almost any other culture throughout human history. The “men” stood outside in the corridor and, even as they heard the first shots, they did nothing. And, when it was over and Gharbi walked out of the room and past them, they still did nothing. Whatever its other defects, Canadian manhood does not suffer from an excess of testosterone.

Junkyard Blog has a number of thoughts and links.

The Emperor links to two good pieces here. I'd like to call your attention to something from the second. It covers, among other things, a letter to the editor by Larry Hincker. You might remember him, he's the idiot mentioned here. Well, it seems a student who has a carry permit, but- obedient to the rules Hincker is so approving of- wasn't carrying, had the temerity to note that he did not like the feeling of being unarmed in the face of a spree killer running around(full letter in the post). I strongly urge you go read the full letter that Larry Hincker wrote; partly to get the full "I am an Elite, and therefore know better than you" attitude, and partly to witness the full level of stupidity and ass-covering in his words. In particular:
Wiles tells us that he didn’t feel safe with the hundreds of highly trained officers armed with high powered rifles encircling the building and protecting him. He even implies that he needed his sidearm to protect himself against the officers.

No, Mr. “I can’t believe he really wants to say that.” Larry Hincker, he does NOT 'imply' he needed to protect himself from the cops. And if you think he actually said that, then you're even more stupid and condescending than I thought. Since you're either too busy covering your ass to own up to it, or(quite possibly) too stupid and arrogant to see it, he's pointing out that the police got there after everyone was dead. They were not able to do anything except, at the very end, secure the crime scene and begin first-aid. Because, unfortunately, that's what usually happens, because the police are called either while the crime is being committed, or after it's over. So them showing up with rifles and shotguns and the bloody kitchen sink after it's over doesn't do much to protect you, now does it?

Two more bits:
The writer would have us believe that a university campus, with tens of thousands of young people, is safer with everyone packing heat. Imagine the continual fear of students in that scenario. We’ve seen that fear here, and we don’t want to see it again.

No, you haven't 'seen that fear here'; you had your little politically-correct pants-wetting at the thought of someone ready and willing to use force in self-defense. NOW you have fear there, and it's not because of honest citizens with firearms. And no, you brainless jackass, he didn't say 'everyone packing heat'(and don't you just love the way he phrases that? must have made him feel all street-wise). He pointed out that disarming people who have received the training and the carry permit, just because they set foot onto the Holy Campus, is stupid. There would be no 'continual fear' unless some neuter like you worked to stir it up, because they would not know; there's a reason for the saying 'concealed means concealed'.
and
Who among us thinks the writer of the commentary would not have been directly in harm’s way if he showed himself to those tactical squads while displaying a deadly weapon? Would he even be here today to tell us the story? Contrary to his position, the writer’s commentary actually gives credence to the university policy preventing weapons in classrooms.

And it doesn't mean they'd go chasing around after the bad guy. It means guarding the door so the murderer can't get in; if he tries, he goes down. It could mean giving cover to other students so they can escape. And when the cops make it in, you set your sidearm down.

I can't cover any more of this crap, the "I am the All-Knowing One" attitude is enough to make you break things. And since Mr. Hincker isn't handy, that wouldn't be productive. Just go to Gonzo's, he says it nicely.

Once again, honest people denied means of defense

because a bunch of jerks think criminals with murder in mind will obey the law.

HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died in subcommittee.

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the General Assembly.

House Bill 1572 didn't get through the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage, the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.

The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the bill's defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General Assembly session.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."

Note the 'feel safe' part. Not BE safe, but 'feel' safe. Because honest people who carry are disarmed.

This was a horrible crime, committed by someone who knew there would be no armed opposition on the campus. Would it have stopped him if he had known that the moment he began shooting someone must might pull a sidearm and stop him? We don't know. We do know that he'd have been facing a fight instead of a school full of victims.

And the usual suspects are screaming to ban this and ban that and ban everything. Of course.

Dammit.

Smith & Wesson Model 57

I was thinking the other day about "Is there any firearm I particularly want?" Not just 'that would be nice to have', but "I want it!" And this came to mind

It's built on the large 'N' frame, and chambered for the .41 Magnum. I've wanted one of these since the day I first fired a Model 58; same gun with a 4" barrel and fixed sights. At about ten yards or so the five shots made one big, ragged hole and the recoil didn't bother me at all. Pretty much the same experience every time I've fired one.

So I've lusted after one of these for years. First, I couldn't afford one. Then I couldn't afford or find one. Now, I might be able to afford one, but I can't find one. You see, S&W stopped making this model some time ago. They still make a couple of .41 Mag revolvers, but one's the Scandium frame and the other's stainless, and I want a blued-steel Model 57.

Ammo for these tends to be expensive, but dies are available for handloading, so that's not a big problem. It's a powerful, accurate pistol with that old Smith quality. Maybe one of these days...

I'm not sure if this goes under 'separate but equal'

or 'some animals are more equal than others'. Because if a christian or jewish group went to a university and demanded separate dorms, separate gym hours, separate washing facilities and so on because being around kuffars unbelievers evil jews people of different beliefs "distracts them from their desire to become better Muslimsbelievers, and even draw[s] weaker Muslimsbelievers away from Islamtheir beliefs.", the university would lecture them about the need to 'experience other people and their ways' and so forth.

But for muslims? Hey, lets build separate but equal facilities and set things up to appease please them, because we want to be nice to them.

Arrant bullshit. At the least.

What's NOT getting taken care of

while Pelosi(Vile Harridan-CA) is running around kissing up to murdering dictators includes the funding for the military.

Remember that? The "It runs out on April 15"? The funding bill that the Democrats(Pelosi and Reid-Sorry Bastards) kept loading up with crap, and loading with 'we will get out by' bullshit?

Over at Q&O, back on April 1st, McQ posted this:
As acknowledged by the CRS report, money for the Army begins to run out exactly on the date noted. The report acknowledges that fact by pointing out that the only way the Army can continue to fight the war is to take money already obligated to other areas of Army operations, defund them and shift that money t
and
Oh, and all that blather about making sure units are fully mission capable before deploying? Well, unfortunately, to fund the war, we'll have to cut depot level maintenance on equipment necessary for the effort and that equipment won't be available to those deploying units. They certainly won't be able to "overhaul" equipment, increasing both their reliability and servicability. And putting the latest upgrades on the equipment, such as, perhaps, additional armor for troop protection, or the latest technological gadget which might help them locate and defeat IEDs? No go. Additionally, such transfers of money might, as the memo states, "slow down training".

Any more pissed than you already were? Well, on April 3 he noted this:
Said the commenter: "The troops will be "suffering"? Please. No one is going to notice any difference."

Don't you just love that sentiment? Real support from someone who obviously doesn't have a clue. Let me lay some things out here for you. As you recall (and if you don't, go to the link above) the Congressional Research Service said that if the Army began shifting funds from other areas to the Operations and Maintenance budget (i.e. the warfighting budget), it could continue its warfighting until the middle of July before it ran completely out of money. That was supposed to justify Democratic dallying with finalizing the supplemental to send to the President.
followed by some detailed information on what's being screwed up:
One of the many areas (facilities repair and upkeep, training, etc) that the CRS said would be effected is "depot maintenance". Now for those who don't know what that entails, that doesn't mean a whole bunch. So what is depot maintenence?

Well here's a short answer:

Army Depot Maintenance provides the Army with the industrial capability to repair, overhaul, and upgrade weapon systems and equipment; store and distribute ammunition, war reserve material, and other selected items; and provide tenant support to Army and other DoD Activities. Depot Maintenance Activities both compete and partner with private industry to deliver goods and services efficiently and effectively.

followed by more information on the support systems that money is being taken from.

The other day he noted this:
Those funding shifts being requested include:

* Defense Secretary Gates will soon ask lawmakers to approve the transfer of $1.6 billion from Air Force and Navy personnel accounts to cover the costs of Army operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* The Army already has had to reduce quality of life improvements, including upgrades to barracks and other facilities, Gates wrote.

* Officials also have reduced repair and maintenance used for deployment training and cut back on training exercises for non-deployed Guard and Reserve units.

If funding isn't approved by mid-May, look for this to happen:

* ... the Army will reduce the pace of equipment overhaul work at Army depots.

* ... curtail training rotations for some brigades scheduled for overseas deployment, and.

* ... delay transforming Army brigades into more modular units.

So while these slimy dictator-kissing little bastards are playing games, the troops and their families suffer. And it'll get worse unless they stop playing these damned games and push through a bill that funds the military and the war.

And if they don't? Then we need a bunch of pitchforks, torches, rails and tar and some pillows. Or some nooses; as the Emperor says, "Lamppost, rope, politician: some assembly required".

Bag Day

comes but once a year. I have to admit I picked this up a bit early; I was at Brigadoon Surplus and found this, and I knew this was one of those "If you don't get it now, you won't get it at all" deals. So, thanks to tax refund(and some help from the change jar) I present the Sistema Model 1927













Yes, it looks like a 1911A1; that's because it is(full rundown here). Short version, Argentina contracted with Colt to make 1911A1 pistols(in 1927) and then, in 1945, began producing them in Argentina. With small differences, they're identical to the GI model, and all parts interchange.

At some time in the past a set of wraparound grips were installed(no markings, so not a clue who made them); otherwise, it's as-issued. The crest visible in front of the slide serrations indicates it was a government issue pistol, not one made for the commercial or export market. The finish is best described as 'gone', some very light pitting below the slide on the sides. The bore showed worn rifling and some fine pitting, not unusual for these from what I've heard. They let me field-strip it, and close exam showed no cracks, rust or other 'forget it' findings on the inside. And the price was right, so...

Once home I detail-stripped it, and was very pleased to find no rust, pitting or other trouble on any of the internal parts(lots of old oil/grease/dust), and all were actually in very good condition. Cleaned and lubed, the action works smoothly and the trigger is actually pretty good, breaking clean at about 5 pounds.

Took it to the range a couple of days later and tried it with some S&B ball and handloads, and it functioned perfectly with all. Accuracy wasn't wonderful, part of it may well be the barrel but some of it is the !*)+##% sights being not the easiest things for my eyes to work with.

So, let's see, get a oversize firing pin stop and fit it, probably stick with these grips for now, maybe a new barrel to fit. I'm not sure about the arched mainspring housing, being used to a flat one, but a flat is easy to find if I decide to change it. And, maybe, some new sights; this would be a good carry piece, but for that I'd have to change them to something easier to pick up fast.

So here's my BAG Day acquisition. Hope you found something, too.


Addition: from what I've been reading, the last shipment of these came in about a month or two ago, and I do mean last; as in no more from Argentina.