One must learn to dress around one's pipe.

A totally clueless anti-Second Amendment screed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has now received a swarm of two-by-fours upside the head comments providing some necessary clues.

I am not one of the commenters there--just pointing it out.

Santa Clarita, CA:

A newspaper promotion for Tom Cruise's upcoming "Mission: Impossible III" got off to an explosive start when a county arson squad blew up a news rack, thinking it contained a bomb.

The confusion: the Los Angeles Times rack was fitted with a digital musical device designed to play the "Mission: Impossible" theme song when the door was opened. But in some cases, the red plastic boxes with protruding wires were jarred loose and dropped onto the stack of newspapers inside, alarming customers.

Sheriff's officials said they rendered the news rack in this suburb 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles "safe" after being called to the scene Friday by a concerned individual who thought he'd seen a bomb.

Times officials said the devices were placed in 4,500 randomly selected news boxes in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in a venture with Paramount Pictures designed to turn the "everyday news rack experience" into an "extraordinary mission."

Ben Wade Chesham loaded with Cornell & Diehl's Bayou Night.  And I just had another match-related mishap with these dang inferior Diamond brand matches.  I just can't find Ohio Blue Tips anywhere anymore.  At least I didn't actually burn myself this time.

Today was spent mostly recovering from the past week--sleeping and doing nothing so the hamstring in my right leg could recover from a bad pull I did on Monday while trying to scale a fence.  I sleep quite well to Star Trek marathons on G4.

I have to say that G4's new Star Trek 2.0 gimmick is at least a little interesting.  A question posed today was:  Who catches your eye, Ensign Rand or Uhura?  I would have to say both.  I am one of those semi-deviants who is still steamed that the green-skinned Orion s*x slaves never turned up on TNG.  I bet one of them could have given that snot-nosed Wesley Crusher a new outlook on life, I tell you what.

The kids and I went to a local used book store this morning and I discovered that someone recently got rid of a lot of Terry Pratchett books.  I picked up two today and will go back Monday for the rest.  They will fill out my Discworld collection quite nicely.  I was also looking for Tony Hillerman, but they didn't seem to have any of his.  They did have quite a few books of Ed McBain.  The kids also got a couple of books.

Anyway, I spent a great deal of my awake time today researching and writing up a new article for the blog.  I guess real gun writers who actually get paid to do this kind of thing have plenty of time since they make their living from it, but it took me most of today and some of last night to complete it.  I think it will probably be my best article for the month of May, as far as traffic goes.  I like to try and come up with something good once per month, and I'm already wondering what I'm going to do for June.  I'll probably post it mid-week, so I can submit it to the Carnival of Cordite.

Seattle:

A highly improbable shot left an officer's bullet in the cylinder of a gunman's revolver, and police say it's a pretty clear sign that the officers who shot the man faced a deadly threat.

"Physically, it is impossible to conclude anything other than the fact the suspect was pointing directly at the officers," Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer said Wednesday, adding, "I've not seen anything quite like that in my 24 years."

Check out the photo of the revolver.

Ride Fast & Shoot Straight has an interesting Mantel Gun Meme going, worth checking out.  Alas, I have no entry for such a meme.

Did you know that there is a Texas XD Practical Shooters Association?

I just discovered it, myself.

So, maybe it was Anna Magdalena herself who was the pipe smoker.

tnx to All Things Conservative

I use a local ISP called Blazeisp.com.  They provide local numbers so people outside of the big city don't have to dial long distance or pay for a metro line just to use the internet.

The "local" numbers they provide aren't truly local, they just serve as such.  Someone with a more technical knowledge of how the phone system works in this country could probably provide a much better explanation.

I use Statcounter to check my stats sometimes.  Mostly I just use it to following "visitor paths" through the site.  Statcounter doesn't always know for sure where someone really is.  For example, the old number that I had on Blaze up until a few days ago would sometimes show me as being in either Houston or San Antonio, and a couple of times in Temple, although I am in none of those places.

Now check this out:



So as you can see, the IP address shows Houston, TX, but look where Statcounter thinks it is.  Those are my own visits to this blog while looking up the permalinks for two articles that I just referenced in the previous post.  That just cracks me up.

More on Orange County.

Martin said an article in the O.C. Weekly and accompanying photos show Carona smiling while the arm of Rick Rizzolo, a man the FBI has called a mob associate, is draped over Carona's shoulder. Carona is in uniform.

The article also contains photos of Carona with Freddie Glusman, owner of the Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach and Piero's in Las Vegas, and Gary Primm, owner of a Nevada casino.

Both Glusman and Primm, according to the Weekly, are Carona contributors and were sworn in as departmental reserve deputies before they were cleared through background checks.

Michael Schroeder, campaign advisor for Carona, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Martin said he saw the pictures Wednesday for the first time. "Rick Rizzolo is a known Mafia associate," Martin said. "He owns a strip club up in Vegas and he has a criminal background."

The picture, he said, was taken at the Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach, "during some ceremony. We know the sheriff is in uniform, and (it is) obviously a social gathering. They look to be pretty close here."

Pointing to another photo, Martin said Carona is "in the middle giving deputy reserve sheriff's badges to Glusman, who likes to associate with the Mafia especially at his (Newport Beach) restaurant and another one in Vegas."

Martin said Glusman likes to host a clientele that is known to law enforcement officers.

"His places are hangouts for known mobsters," Martin said. Martin said he does not know of any criminal background for Primm. "I don't know if he has one," Martin said.

[...]

Carona drew criticism for appointing political allies to reserve deputy positions in 1999 over the objections of the department's own background investigators.

According to published reports, Carona appointed 86 allies, friends and relatives to the reserve program, before background checks were completed and days before the state stiffened training requirements.

They were later removed from the state's peace officer database after it was determined the checks were incomplete, but the Sheriff's Department allowed the reservists to keep their badges and in some cases, department-issued guns.

I'm sure all the folks in Orange County feel safe and secure since only the local Sheriff can say who will and will not legally carry a gun.

Previous:  Foreign businessman finally sees "Dirty Harry"... and Oh yeah, that's where I left it...

I also received the comment spam as written about at Baboon Pirates and Hell in a Handbasket.

For a few minutes I thought I was special, and that I had somehow managed to attract the attention of a loony.  Unfortunately, it was just loony spam (spamoony?).

Apparently the spammer was angry that I used a captcha to block comment spam, because he emailed it to me with the subject:  "ONLY CHICKENSH*TS DON'T ALLOW POSTING" (asterisk mine).  Mr. GAUGE, I do allow comment posting.  It's just that you personally must post it.  You can't just go around using automated software to do everything for you.  It just ain't right.

No word on exactly which kinds of SH*TS use spamware to start a flame war, by the way.

Since the guy who allegedly sent this has a real email address, I don't think he actually sent it.  My email was received from a free webmail service.  Why would he use a "dummy" service if he was going to put his real email in the message anyway?  That would be kind of stupid.  I suspect that someone else just copied some rants from his website because they were bored, unless he really is stupid enough to put his actual email inside a post that was sent from another service.

Anyhow, the email I received came from THE(underline)GAUGE(at)k(dot)st

And if you want to see the website of the alleged sender, it's:  www(dot)deanberryministries(dot)org

You'll have to copy, paste and edit these.  No direct links from here!

Fnord.

This is obviously staged.  But is it worth it to put a gun to your own head just to make fun of the ATF?

Rule #2. Never let the muzzle of a firearm point at anything you are not willing to destroy.

I learned about these a long time ago.  I'm not sure why I blew them off and forgot about them.

I think, at the time, I was considering a snubby revolver as only a very rarely-used item that I wasn't really going to practice with much.  Maybe I had fever at the time, or something.  I obviously wasn't thinking clearly.

This should open up some backyard practice with the SP-101 for me.  I should be able to get primers and any other tools I might need locally.

Anyhow, I just ordered a box of each--.38 Special cases and bullets.  We'll see how it works.

...which I kind of hopes ticks somebody off.

Once upon a time there was an airplane carrying a flight of passengers, among which were an Englishman, a Frenchman, a big Texan and two small Mexicans.

The plane, for some reason, began to run low on fuel.  The pilot informed the passengers of the situation, and told them that they did not have enough fuel to make it safely to the nearest airport.  However, he and the rest of the crew had calculated that there would be enough fuel if they were carrying slightly less weight, say, the equivalent weight of three people.  If three people would volunteer to sacrifice themselves, the rest would be saved.

The Englishman immediately jumped up, shouted "God save the Queen!" and leaped from the airplane.

Not to be outdone, the Frenchman stepped to the door, shouted "Vive le France!" and jumped to his death.

Several seconds of silence went by, with all the other passengers looking at other.  Finally, the big Texan stood, seized the two small Mexicans, shouted "Remember the Alamo!" and hurled them both out of the plane.

I have blocked referrals from the Eponym home page.  I don't know if they ever expected anyone to use their IP blocking to block their own home page, but I have a good reason.

Since I moved here in February, I have been among the "top blogs" listed on the home page.  For a few days this month, I was even #1.  This causes a massive increase in traffic.  And it seems being #1 causes about 100 times more traffic than being #4, which is about where I usually end up.

So? you say.  Isn't that what you want in a blog?  Not necessarily.

The vast majority of traffic from that list on the home page were people who have no interest whatsoever in what I have to say here.  They load the main page and five seconds later they are gone.

This "empty" traffic is an enormous drain on my bandwidth.  If I can cut down on it, it will make a huge difference in my bandwidth usage for the month.  The Eponym home page gives me several times as many referrals as the next higher referring site all on its own.  For example, for the month of April (so far) I have had over 800 referrals from Eponym but only about 250 from the next highest one in the list.  I have already essentially stopped using Eponym for image hosting because it also causes a huge drain on bandwidth.  And by the way, file sourcing is blocked from my blog.  So if someone wants to display a graphic that is still hosted at this site, you'll have to save it and host it somewhere else.  Feel free to directly link to images that are stored at my other place.  And for all I know, if the home page traffic is cut off, I might actually be able to host images here again without trashing my bandwidth.

As far as I can tell, this has no effect on other Eponym blogs (I tested it by following the link from Auxiliary to the World), only from pages at www.eponym.com.  If someone really wants to view my page after seeing it in that list, they can always copy and paste the url.  But I'm hoping this cuts down on my bandwidth so I don't get charged extra every month just because I happen to be in the "top blogs" list.

Perhaps, as time goes by and more and more users join Eponym, I will no longer be showing up in the "top" list anymore.  If that does happen, I will unblock it.

Maybe if Eponym could adopt a policy of giving the "top" list blogs a break on bandwidth?  Just a suggestion.  Anyhow, if I stopped getting all this empty traffic from the "top" list I would easily stay within my monthly bandwidth.  And I am pretty much content with the traffic I get from other blogs and blogrolls, search engines, and the like.

Some of you might be thinking maybe I wish I had stayed at Blogger, where there's no bandwidth restrictions.  Guess again!  I wouldn't go back there for anything.  Although I do still find them useful for free image hosting.

I'll have another post in a few days about web stats for the last couple of months.  Eponym has its own stats system built in, and it's pretty cool.  And unlike many of the free web stats, it keeps the records apparently forever.

UPDATE:  I shouldn't be showing up on the "Top Blogs" list anymore.  Apparently it is possible to opt out.  Thanks to Eponym tech support!

In Florida:

She looks at the experience two ways.

She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But she had a son-in-law in the right place at the right time.

...jumps on bandwagon 35 years too late.

Freer is the former managing director of Gizmondo, a once high-flying European video game player company that went bankrupt last year and is now the subject of several investigations. A fellow executive, Bo Stefan Eriksson, has been accused of crashing an Enzo Ferrari on Pacific Coast Highway while drunk in February.

Freer and Eriksson were also members of the "anti-terrorism unit" of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority, a small private company that provides rides to disabled people and the elderly in Monrovia and Sierra Madre.

The men served as advisors and were not sworn officers. But the agency issued both men cards, and Freer received a gold shield with "deputy commissioner" embossed on it.

Until now, detectives were puzzled about why two Bel-Air businessmen would be involved in an obscure transit agency.

But sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Wednesday that officials now believe Freer used the badge to buy one weapon and in at least one case, signed a sworn document saying he was a police officer.

Neither Freer nor Eriksson would be allowed to purchase guns in the U.S. because they are foreign nationals, Whitmore said.

"We have a wider investigation into who was given police identification by this supposed police agency," he added.

Miller, however, said in the statement that Freer "never misused the SGVTA badge."

Freer was arrested on suspicion of perjury for allegedly signing a declaration for the gun dealer that he was a police officer to obtain a .44 magnum handgun. Investigators are checking the background of the other weapons seized to determine how he obtained them, Whitmore said.

Detectives are still trying to determine what role the transit authority plays in the case. After deputies arrived at the scene of the Feb. 21 Ferrari crash, Eriksson showed them a card saying he was a deputy police commissioner for the agency.

A few minutes later, two men who identified themselves as "homeland security" officials arrived and spoke to Eriksson.

The transit agency has five buses and operates out of a garage in Monrovia. The two cities that had agreements with the agency have since canceled them.

"I think it's safe to say the house of cards is falling down," said Sierra Madre City Manager John Gillison of the latest revelations. "We were uncomfortable with a lot of the events and circumstances surrounding the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority."

So ridiculous, any attempt at satire would be superfluous.

Previous:  Oh yeah, that's where I left it...

This morning, after a few cups of coffee and a couple of hours of reading meters in the borderline hill country of Rogers Ranch, I remembered a dream I had last night.

I dreamed of Winchesters.
Three old rifles, misplaced and forgotten for decades.
Covered with dust.
Long, octagonal barrels and archaic blackpowder cartridges.
How did I get so lucky?

And on the radio was playing a song by Stan Ridgeway that I had never heard before.

OLN, or whatever they're going to call themselves, is back on Dish Network!  Are they still showing Shooting USA?  That's about all I watch on that channel, anyway.

Link here.

Floridians with a permit to carry a gun would be guaranteed the right to continue to do so during a declared state of emergency under a measure the House has passed.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

The measure (HB 285) was inspired by threats of weapon confiscation in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

Police and soldiers removed guns from houses after the storm flooded New Orleans, and confiscated guns from some evacuees.

The National Rifle Association and other groups sued the city, saying it took away people's means of protection amid the lawlessness that gripped the city. The suit was dropped after the city agreed to return the guns.

The bill's sponsor says it would ensure that following major disasters, gun owners would still be able to protect themselves.

Once more the SAF gets relegated to "and others" status.

And it sucks to need laws to protect an already existing constitution, but it seems that's the world we live in.

From Los Angeles Times:

Detectives are trying to figure out why a handgun belonging to a reserve deputy for the Orange County Sheriff's Department was found at the Bel-Air mansion of the former European video game executive accused of crashing a rare Ferrari Enzo in Malibu in February.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies confiscated the gun during a raid at the home of Bo Stefan Eriksson, who faces grand theft, embezzlement and DUI charges related to the accident.

In reference to the Samurai Champloo quiz post.

This is an anime show that airs four night a week on Cartoon Network.

Jin (pronounced Gene) is a highly trained and skilled ronin samurai.  Mugen is an "independent fighter."  He has no formal training but he is the only man Jin ever met who, in Jin's words, "I wasn't able to kill."  They fall in with a girl name Fuu and have some adventures during their trek to Nagasaki to find Fuu's father, eventually becoming friends and allies instead of enemies.

No guns in this show.  Well, I can remember one instance of a firearm, but it was wielded by a bad guy who ended up getting chopped up with a sword.

It's a pretty good show, 25 episodes long if I remember right.

...April 24, federal law mandates that we received a lock-shaped, reactive target with every handgun purchase.

tnx to Triggerfinger

Which the writer titles Gun control: holding the gun with both hands. 

A good article at Progressive U:

Imagine this: a family is asleep in their beds at 3:30 in the morning and an armed robber breaks into their home. Because their governments have banned personal firearm ownership they are completely defenseless. You out law guns and then only the out laws have guns; it’s not a pretty situation. There are many myths surrounding gun control and the facts about places that have tried it, in this speech I intend to debunk as many of them as possible.

Free Constitution is considering holding a blog carnival related to Second Amendment or illegal immigration issues and is looking for input.

Jin You are 77% Jin, 16% Mugen,  and 27% Fuu!

You are most like Jin!  Intelligent, stoic, and reserved, you tend to be the quiet one of the bunch... at least until your sword-skills are required.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Jin You scored higher than 0% on Mugen You scored higher than 99% on Fuu

Link: The Samurai Champloo Character Test written by aimlesscoyote on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Last month I joined a music club called yourmusic.com.  In this club, you build up a queue of CDs which you want, and every month the one at the top of the queue gets sent to you.  So for lack of anything better to do, here is a 20-month queue that I've built up.  Some of these I have on vinyl and would like to get digital versions of, but most I don't have.

Enigma -- MCMXC A.D. (already received)
Jimmy Smith -- Rockin' the Boat
Stanley Turrentine -- Never Let Me Go
Jimmy Smith -- Dot Com Blues
Trio Mediaeval -- Stella Maris
Jimmy Smith -- At the Organ, Volume 3 (remastered)
Warren Zevon -- Genius:  The Best of Warren Zevon
Jimmy Smith -- Christmas Cookin' (timed to be received around Christmas)
Queensryche -- Operation:  Mindcrime (remastered)
Jimmy Smith -- The Sermon (remastered)
Suzanne Vega -- Suzanne Vega (I'm sure that one will surprise someone out there)
Styx -- Pieces of Eight (my favorite band from high school--still listen sometimes for sentimental reasons)
Jimmy Smith -- Cool Blues (remastered)
Todd Rundgren -- The Very Best of Todd Rundgren
Jimmy Smith -- Home Cookin' (remastered)
REO Speedwagon -- Hi Infidelity (another high school favorite)
Stanley Turrentine -- Sugar (remastered)
The Alan Parsons Project -- Ultimate
Enigma -- The Screen Behind the Mirror

Of course, the list is subject to constant revision.  I will likely begin slipping some Rush stuff in there, since they have pretty much the entire catalog on CD.  I would get Alan Parsons entire catalog (almost entire, anyway) on CD if they had them.  Also in my cart but not yet purchased because they are double albums and not eligible for the queue are:
Kate Bush -- Aerial
Styx -- The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings

There are lots of groups that they just don't have available.  For example, I would buy just about anything by Husker Du on CD if they had it.  All I have of them are on vinyl.  No Hawkwind, either.  I'd also like to get a CD of Zevon's Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, which I once had a cassette of but wore it out.  It has one of my favorite Zevon songs:  "Gorilla, You're a Desperado."

Big gorilla at the L.A. Zoo
Snatched the glasses right off my face
Took the keys to my BMW
Left me here to take his place

I wish the ape a lot of success
I'm sorry my apartment's a mess
Most of all I'm sorry if I made you blue
I'm betting the gorilla will, too

They say Jesus will find you wherever you go
But when He'll come looking for you, they don't know
In the mean time, keep your profile low
Gorilla, you're a desperado

He built a house on an acre of land
He called it Villa Gorilla Now
I hear he's getting divorced
Laying low at L'Ermitage, of course

Then the ape grew very depressed
Went through Transactional Analysis
He plays racquetball and runs in the rain
Still he's shackled to a platinum chain

Big gorilla at the L.A. Zoo
Snatched the glasses right off my face
Took the keys to my BMW
Left me here to take his place

Article here.

Quick summary:

One man commits aggravated robbery, but doesn't injure his victim.  Gets probation.  Tests positive for marijuana once, judge sentences him to life in prison.

Another man shoots someone in the back, killing the victim.  Gets probation.  Tests positive for cocaine multiple times, remains free on "postcard probation."  He has to keep in touch by sending in a postcard once per year.

Don't miss the fine print.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention there would be another maintenance downtime for several hours last night.  I had plenty of warning, I just forgot to mention it.

Headline calculated for maximum spin--I'm practicing to be a professional.

But "seriously,"  New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has jumped through the hoops and received a license to carry a concealed handgun.  Apparently this is a big deal to some people, both pro and con.  He did it, he said, "to symbolically show my support for concealed carry."  He also said he doesn't plan on actually carrying one.  And why should he?

Richardson, who was flanked by state police officers from his security detail during an interview Friday, said personal safety wasn’t a factor in his decision to apply for a concealed-handgun license.

I'm sure personal safety isn't a factor in being flanked by state police officers from his security detail, either.

In further details, Richardson has revealed himself to be a GLOCK elitist--although he doesn't plan on actually carrying it.  I have to give the reporter credit for actually using a GLOCK to illustrate the article, and even more credit for correctly using all caps just like the company does.  Because lower-case letters aren't good enough, I suppose.

In related news, he has also applied this year for a license to hunt elk.

In even further related news, he is still straddling the fence about cockfighting.  (Why do I hear Peter Griffin snickering in the background?)  Even after being lobbied by celebrities--celebrities, mind you--who are among the most powerful, influential, and wisest people in the world, he still hasn't taken a stand.

Unfortunately, cockfighting is "an important Hispanic cultural tradition."  And we all know what that means.

Xavier has started a meme.  It sounds like fun, but I've already posted these kinds of pix so I won't bother posting them again.  I'll just point to previous posts.

The usual -- okay, I admit, this one was staged.  I don't normally carry several pounds of .38 Special +P semi-wadcutters.  No, really.

Special occasions -- Not a very impressive picture, but then I did just unholster it and take the picture.  That's the .40, by the way.

And sometimes -- Staged again.  It's usually loaded.

UPDATE:  Xavier has created a Carry Gun Gallery!

This time at the University of Michigan:

College Libertarians chair Jeremy Linden reached his hand deep into a white box yesterday and pulled out a raffle ticket. He then read out the number, and University alum Laura Dodd stood up, holding the winning ticket.

Dodd walked to the front of the room, shook a few people's hands and smiled for a picture with Linden.

She had just won a gun.

Since it's against the rules to defend oneself on the campus, "the group will take Dodd to purchase a gun of her choice at another time."

Dodd said she already owns one gun and uses it for home safety as well as target shooting.

When asked what type of gun she was interested in, she said "something concealable."

Of course, certain people are unhappy about it.

College Democrats chair Jamie Ruth disagreed with the group's message.

"The College Dems do not believe that focusing on the Second Amendment should be the priority of anyone genuinely committed to the preservation of the entire Bill of Rights and our  Constitution," he said in an e-mail interview.

Ruth questioned why the College Libertarians have made the Second Amendment a priority while "the Bush administration has condoned violations of the First, Fourth and Sixth Amendments."

Typical anti-logic.  Just typical.  And besides, Jamie-boy, Bush has condoned a few violations of the Second, too.

I wonder sometimes if anyone out there wonders why I post these things.  My targets are certainly nothing to be boastful about.  I post them because:  shooting is fun!

My usual practice now is to take at least three guns to the range:
1) For general practice and trigger pull improvement--Walther P-22, minimum 100 rounds
2) Utility gun--Springfield XD-40 and/or Ruger SP-101, minimum 50 rounds
3) Something else just for fun.


Starting out with the P-22 as usual, I started out right at the tiny bullseye in the center and didn't do much good, so I switched to the big target and, also as usual, my shooting improved as I went along.  Many of the .22 bullet holes in the big target were later chewed out by .40 holes, so you can't see them all.  Later I worked on the two small targets on the upper left, and finally went back to the tiny center target one more time.  I finally managed to hit it a couple of times.

I switched to the XD and worked on the big target, doing pretty well except for some extreme fliers.  This is a problem I have.  I'll do quite well for a while and then I lose concentration or something and I'll have some bad fliers.  I finished off by working on the small target at center right.

Just for fun, I took along the CZ-52 as pictured.  The first two shots were at the big target, but then I realized that I couldn't tell where they were hitting anymore so I moved up to the top center target, and as you can see the remaining six rounds of that magazine went into the black (woo hoo!)  Then I went for the target at top right.  Some strayed off-black, but that raggedy hole had quite a few bullets going through it.  I shot 35 rounds in all, I think.  Four 8-round magazines worth plus a few odd extra to finish out the box.  As usual, my trigger finger was starting to get numb from the beating, so I switched to right-handed shooting for one magazine.  I think the nagging tendonitis that I've had for several years in my right wrist is finally starting to effect my off-hand shooting.  I didn't do too well right-handed today.

All targets were shot at the 7-yard line.  They recently rebuilt the range and eliminated the 10-yard position.  Now they have only 7, 15, and 25 yards.  I'm not ready to go up to 15 yards in public yet, although when alone I have even attempted 25-yard shots with pistols, just not with very good results.  I think I have improved since the last range session.

The plus side of their rebuild is that they now have a separate range for the Saturday morning CHL class, so the rest of us can start when they open at 10:00 instead of having to wait for the class to finish their qualifications.  This morning's class had about a dozen people in it, and at least three women.  It is actually quite fun to hear those volleys of gunfire in the distance when the command to fire is given (a dozen semi-autos all going off at once).

I don't just blaze away as fast and furiously as I can.  I like to take some time, take breaks, and get a look at the guns and performance of other people.  Today a couple of guys came in and each rented 9mm Glocks, which they did quite well with.  They were obviously experienced shooters, and I couldn't figure out why they didn't have their own guns.  Maybe they just wanted to shoot Glocks today.

To my immediate right was a man shooting a small .38 Special.  I'm not an expert at identifying guns at a glance, but my guess is it was a Rossi or Taurus.  To his right was another man with a larger-framed .38.  The odd thing about these two were that, although both of their guns were double-action, they were both cocking and firing single action.  In my opinion, that's cheating.  It almost made me want to break out the SP-101 and make a few holes double-action just so they could see that it is, in fact, possible.  The man with the larger revolver also had a S&W Sigma in .380 ACP.  They were both shooting quite well.

To my left were a couple of friends who were taking turns shooting an H&K 9mm and doing quite well.  All the way at the far left, in one of the 25-yard positions, was a man shooting a Ruger P-345.  That's one gun I recognize even at a distance.

I had planned on trying to get the rightmost position on the line but those four other people got there first.  So when I got around to the CZ, there was some room to my left so I shifted down a little to give them some space.  The guy with the H&K gave me an odd look, and I told him, "I just want to give them some room so they don't get pelted by my empties too bad."  He thought he understood until I actually started shooting.  It immediately became apparent that no one there, including the range marshall, had ever seen a CZ-52 before.

After the first shot, I heard someone exclaim "Whoa!"  After the second shot, someone said "Wheee!" or something like that.  When I finished the magazine, the range marshall had to come up and look at it.  "I was catching your empties from 10 feet away!" he said.  I told him I had actually measured it before, and the empties can easily fly 30 feet before they hit the ground.  I'm almost positive he pocketed a couple of the empties.  As I said, he had never seen anything like it before.  Heh heh.

Ammo used today was Remington High Velocity .22LR, Winchester white box 165-grain FMJ .40 S&W, and Sellier & Bellot 7.62x25mm 85-grain FMJ.

Final result:  I shot better with the CZ than with either of the other guns.  I have said before that, as far as my own guns go, the CZ and the 1911 are the most naturally "pointable" of them all (with the XD following closely behind).  I also like the narrower sights on the CZ.

And I was happy not to be the worst shooter at the range.

UPDATE:  Updated to fix the graphic link and change the category.

Here's an interesting thread at The High Road about a pro-shall-issue candidate for sheriff of Orange County (CA).

This is huge. We talk about CCW battles in Delaware and Maryland and a lot of places. Let me point out that if Orange County were a state, it would be the 31st largest state (in terms of population) in the US. Bill Hunt winning is as big of news as getting shall-issue in 20 other, smaller states, including Delaware, Hawaii, and Rhode Island (currently may-issue states).

To put it another way: If Bill Hunt wins and Orange County goes shall-issue, it will probably double the number of permits in California. Logic: OC has about 3mil people. In states that are shall-issue, typically between 1% and 2% of the population gets issued. CA currently has 40k CCWs. That would probably double of OC were truly shall-issue.

Emphasis in original.

--New York narrowly escapes collapse of civilization as they know it:

A strike would have left apartment owners and residents to take on tasks performed by their doormen, porters and handymen -- everything from pressing elevator buttons to moving furniture and taking in deliveries.

Ye gads, they may have even had to flag down their own taxis!  Oh, the humanity!

Apparently once, in his younger days, "Bloomy" (do people really call him that?) used a .22 rifle as a Boy Scout:

"When I grew up, I was at Boy Scout camp. We had riflery," Bloomberg, 64, said. "When I was, I don't know, 15 or so, I had a .22-caliber rifle. But I used it only at a range. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Probably my hearing's gone because of it," he laughed. "But that's not the same thing as having guns."

The mayor, a lifelong Democrat who became a Republican to run for mayor, has repeatedly said his pledge to staunch the flow of illegal guns into New York has nothing to do with ideology or partisan politics.

"If you want to go hunting and have a gun, you know, I'm not opposed to that," said Bloomberg, who explained he's trying to stop illegal guns and the violence they cause.

Even when trying this lame, half-assed attempt to sound gun-friendly, he slips up.  Target shooting to get your merit badge as a Boy Scout is not the same thing as having guns.  As in, getting your merit badge is okay, but having guns is bad.  Note that he didn't say anything about "having illegal guns" (whatever they are).  He just said "having guns."

Newsflash, Mikey:  it's not about hunting.  It's not about getting a merit badge.  It's all about freedom and people like you.

NOPD, NRA call truce over gun seizures

We have video evidence of guns being seized from the hands of people, not picked up from an abandoned house.

We have a police chief declaring that "No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons."

Where is the criminal prosecution?

Wayne?  Anyone?

I forgot to mention it, mostly because I was very tired and actually went to sleep early on a Friday night, but yesterday was San Jacinto Day.

The Tattler mentions partying on Cinco de Mayo.  As for myself, Cinco de Mayo is...well, the fifth day of May, and that's about it.

Instead, how about some parties on February 2?

And as long as I'm on the subject, take a look at the way prisoners were treated.

Mexican soldiers captured at San Jacinto:

After having kept us sitting in camp about an hour and a half, they marched us into the woods, where we saw an immense fire. . . . I and several of my companions were silly enough to believe that we were about to be burnt alive, in retaliation for those who had been burnt in the Alamo.  We should have considered it an act of mercy to be shot first.  Oh! the bitter and cruel moment!  However, we felt considerably relieved when they placed us around the fire to warm ourselves and to dry our wet clothes.  We were surrounded by twenty-five or thirty sentinels.  You should have seen those men, or, rather, phantoms, converted into moving armories.  Some wore two, three, and even four brace of pistols; a cloth bag of very respectable size filled with bullets, a powder horn, a sabre or a bowie knife, besides a rifle, musket, or carbine.  Everyone of them had in his hand a burning candle. . . . Was this display intended to prevent us from attempting to escape?  The fools!  Where could we go in that vast country, unknown to us, intersected by large rivers and forests, where wild beasts and hunger, and where they themselves would destroy us?

Texan soldiers captured at Goliad:

The Texians were marched back to Goliad and held as prisoners. On 26 March 1836, at 7P, Portilla received orders from Santa Anna in triplicate to execute the prisoners. At around 8A on Palm Sunday, 27 March 1836, Colonel Jose Nicolas de la Portilla; commander at Goliad, had the 342 Texians marched out of Fort Defiance into three columns on the Bexar Road, San Patricio Road and the Victoria Road. Urrea wrote: ..wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility.

Once the columns reached their selected location the Mexican soldados formed into two ranks on one side of the captives. The defenseless and unarmed Texians were then fired on point-blank a few hundred yards from the fort. The wounded and dying were then clubbed and stabbed. Those who survived the initial volley were run down by the Mexican cavalry. Fannin's men wounded in the Battle of Coleto were shot or bayonetted where they lay. Colonel Fannin was the last to be executed, after seeing his men butchered. Their bodies were stacked into piles and burned. There were twenty-eight Texians who did manage to escape by feigning death and other means. Three known survivors escaped to Houston's army and were known to participate in the Battle of San Jacinto.

I don't see what's so great about Cinco de Mayo anyway.  It celebrates a victory of Mexican forces over the French.  Who hasn't beaten the French at one time or another?

I have gone back to using a Bloglines script to display the blogroll.  This is nothing against Blogrolling--it's just easier to handle this way, and more convenient to use it to reflect my actual reading habits.

I had realized that I was skipping through the list and always reading certain blogs every day, and then catching up with many others when I had the time.  So now I've rearranged my Bloglines subscriptions to show this.

Lady's Perspective On Defensive Shooting is a pretty good article about one woman's introductory experience to guns.

I was recently contacted by a lady friend in Arizona who felt the need to obtain a defensive handgun and the training that should go with it. She was open to suggestions and sought advice to help her get on the right track with a realistic personal-defense plan. Because I want to respect her privacy, I'll just call her Ann.

From our conversations I knew that Ann had some prior experience with guns, and she had a grown son who was a hunter and shooter. For these reasons, I didn't think it was necessary for her to start out with a .22 rimfire, learning the rudiments of marksmanship and gun safety. What I did think was that Ann needed a dependable, no frills handgun that she could understand and quickly learn how it functioned. I suggested a medium-frame, double-action revolver chambered in .38 Special.

She got a lot of good advice, ended up with a good dependable gun, and discovered that shooting is fun.

But this article, and many others I've seen like it, has one statement that I always have a problem with.  Here it is:

According to the Sheriff, a three-inch-barreled, medium-frame, double-action .38 Special makes a good defensive gun for a lady. And he says the most important part of a defensive plan is proper training.

Emphasis mine, of course.  This is a sexist statement.  It has a very condescending tone for a "lady."  What he should have said was, "a three-inch-barreled, medium-frame, double-action .38 Special makes a good defensive gun for someone who is beginning the learning process, regardless of gender."  Not as catchy, I know, but more accurate.

The women in my family are frighteningly good with guns.  Why frighteningly?  Because although they are all firm supporters of the Second Amendment, self-defense, and even hunting, they are not what you would call gun nuts.  But on the rare occasions that a gun is to be used, I have seen many female members of my family simply pick up a gun and put the bullet exactly where it is supposed to go.  They seem to be born shooters (which I am not).  I would never casually recommend to any of them to get any particular kind of gun because they are female, because they would probably humiliate me with it at the range.

Spoken by a co-worker today:

"I figure one out of ten people are complete idiots.  In a city of over a million people, that's at least 100,000 f****** idiots running around."

I think he was being generous.

I have correctly guessed the moron of the week at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns.  It was way too obvious--that, and the fact that I was probably up so early in the morning that I was the first one to read the post.  Lots of other people got it right, too, I was just lucky(?) enough to be first.

Only two people in history have had a hairstyle like that, and since I haven't heard of Buckwheat doing anything especially stupid lately, I knew it had to be Cynthia McKinney.

So today I expect there may be a slight increase in traffic here from Sam's blog.

Welcome to Blogonomicon, the blasphemous blog of unspeakable wisdom.  If this is your first time here, I'll warn you right off that this blog is primarily about guns and the right of self defense.  If that turns you off, avert your eyes or roll d10 SAN loss.

I am slapping this post together before work, so I don't have a lot of time to look up links, but feel free to poke around and see what you can find.  There's even one post about McKinney herself!

The search box up in the corner works great, and in the sidebar is a list of what I think are some of my better attempts at bloggery.  By sheer coincidence, there are actually a few non-gun-related posts on the front page today.  So feel free to trash my bandwidth, relax and smoke a pipe, and sweep up your brass before you leave.

Since I have nothing especially intelligent or incisive to say today, I'll just point you to ChuBlogga's definition of happiness.  Looks like a lot of fun.  My favorite picture is the "birthmark."  Heh.

Death by a Thousand Cuts at Voices Magazine:

Lately a new affront to the Second Amendment's protection of the right of the people to keep and bear arms has been under way in the DHS. The Founders of our republic clearly viewed rights, including the Second Amendment, as universal rights which are inherent in all men. The Declaration of Independence even says that all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."

It would be too lengthy to do so here, but an excellent collection of the Founders' statements on the universality of the rights, and the right to keep and bear arms in particular, can be found in a friend of the court brief by Michele L. Lombardo, et. al.

The clear intent of the Constitution hasn't bothered the folks at DHS any more than has the law telling them to send the pilots packing, so to speak. They seem to have taken a liking to an idea popular at the UN instead. The UN has been attempting to impose a gun control treaty on the US. It would require registration of all guns, and the stated intention of the promoters of this treaty, on the record, is to keep guns out of all private hands (or "non-state actors" in UN-speak).

That means that if your government is trying to wipe you and the rest of your minority group out (for example, 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda), it is wrong for you to take up arms because you are not the government.

The application of this amazing view at the Department of Homeland Security is to deny refugee status to minority groups in Burma who have been targeted for genocide. The immediate problem concerns 9,800 Karen refugees whose main crime, other than not being ethnic Burmese, is that many of them are Christians. To keep from being exterminated, some of them have taken up arms (as a "non-state actor!").

The Department of State has given a green light to allowing the Karen refugees asylum status in the United States. The DHS refuses to issue a waiver (which is necessary under our PATRIOT and REAL ID Acts). The DHS anti-gunners are holding to the UN view of the "right of the government to keep and bear arms" rather than the Founders view that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."

Now that the Karen freedom fighters have actually been designated a terrorist organization by the DHS, which means "the US government" to foreign governments, the neighboring rulers of Thailand are getting ready to scoop up these unwanted minorities (they are not Thai either) and throw them into Burma from the refugee camps along the border areas they have inhabited for some time.

If that happens, and when the Karen run out of their limited supplies of ammunition, the genocide will begin. All of which could be prevented if the folks at DHS were told by the President (their boss) to issue the waiver, declassify the Karen as terrorists, and let these freedom fighters enter the US. Other countries would also be willing (and have been willing) to admit Karen refugees, but this is coming to an end if the US continues to label these victims of oppression as terrorists.

If only they lived in a country that was separated from the U.S. by a slender, shallow river!  Then they'd have it made.

Take up arms against an oppressive government--a government which is actually intent not only on subduing, but exterminating you--and the Department of Homeland Security says you're a terrorist.

Someone came to this blog after Googling "re-animator pyrodex".  Having no idea how someone could connect Pyrodex (fake blackpowder) with the movie Re-Animator, I had to Google it myself.

Apparently there is a company named Pyrodex which makes font creation software named Reanimator.  Most of the Google results turn up cracks for the software.  So that solves that.

...you never know what kind of weird side effects those might give you.

Kansas farmers reap meteorites by the acre:

HAVILAND, Kan. - Kiowa County farmers have found a new crop worth harvesting: meteorites.

But even though a 20-pound meteorite can go for up to $20,000, area farmers Don and Sheila Stimpson have another goal in mind. They want to open a meteorite museum and establish Haviland as the Meteorite Capital of America.

I sold a fanny pack on ebay.  Another $15 to the Paypal gun fund.

I wanted to make just a couple more comments in relation to the previous post about must-read SF books.

Although I said I would include the Amber series by Roger Zelazny, I would agree to remove them from the list if someone insisted that they are not actually science fiction, because I would be prone to agree.  They are more fantasy than SF, in my opinion, although they are still some great stories.

However, if that were to happen, I would also insist that Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider books be removed, because they are not SF, either.  Just because a fantasy takes place on another planet, and the characters therein are descended from space explorers from Earth, that doesn't automatically make it science fiction.  Seeing one of her Dragonrider books in the same list as Robert L. Forward's Dragon's Egg almost made me snort coffee through my nose.  And I say that as someone who has read pretty much her entire series more than once (including going to the trouble to get all the short story collections that include Pern stories), and thoroughly enjoyed them.  For an example of great story-telling that is also some serious SF, Dragon's Egg and its sequel Starquake are highly recommended.

I also wonder why C.S. Lewis's "space trilogy" didn't make the list.  Some may argue that it isn't real SF, but it's a lot closer than the Pern books.  I call it "space trilogy" because I don't think Lewis ever gave the entire trilogy an official name.  I'm talking about the books Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.  The overt Christian theme of the books didn't keep it off the list, because Blish's A Case of Conscience is on there, which is also Christian-themed SF (the main character is a Jesuit priest).

Another book that I recommend whenever this kind of topic comes up is Strange Invasion by Michael Kandel.  Anyone who is either a fan of H.P. Lovecraft or Philip K. Dick is sure to enjoy this book.  For anyone who is a fan of both, I would consider it pretty much required reading.

Although he didn't write any books, as far as I know, I also like to recommend the short stories of Stanley G. Weinbaum.  Some SF readers don't care for the older stories anymore, back before technology taught us that other planets in our system are not actually habitable by humans.  But as long as the stories are well told, I don't care if they take place on Mars or Venus.  Weinbaum, like Lovecraft, was a writer who died fairly young.  Whereas Lovecraft was a horror author who was tending more toward SF as he got older, Weinbaum was an SF author who was tending more toward horror.  Many of his stories, although SF, contain definite elements of horror that most Lovecraft readers would probably enjoy.  I know I did.  One story that takes place on Venus has a species of Venusian nocturnal predators that, when I read it, I thought sounded like minature versions of Nyarlathotep.  I have only been able to find one collection of Weinbaum's tales, and that was in a used book store.  But that was back before amazon.com was available.  You can find some used and new story collections there.

Another one worth hunting down is Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn.  In this book, which takes place at some time in the future, Earth has been inhabited by technologically superior giants, and humans have become little more than irritating vermin.  They have had to learn to survive while being regarded in the same way that we would regard mice.

Although it was written by L. Ron Hubbard, I still think Battlefield Earth is quite good.  If it has any hidden scientology propaganda in it, I haven't been able to discover it, but then I've never studied scientology very closely.  If you were unfortunate enough to see that travesty of a movie, try to forget it.  It has almost nothing to do with the book.  It contains elements of adventure, westerns, detective fiction and real SF (particulary when the humans are trying to figure out the Psychlo system of mathmatics).  I'll also say that things start to get really interesting when the humans discover a cache of ancient firearms preserved in solidified cosmoline.  Buy a used copy if you don't want your money to go to his estate.  I'll also add that the movie really only covered the first half of the book.  After the Psychlos are defeated there are still lots of problems that have to be dealt with.  Since the Psychos had come to rule the known universe, their defeat disrupted the governments--and especially the economies--of many planets.

For another one that is only arguably SF but still pretty good is American Book of the Dead by Stephen Billas.  This is one that I haven't read in so long that I've forgotten most of it, and probably should read it again.  I always mention it when the topic of "good books you've probably never heard of" comes up.

Getting even further away from true SF, but still William Kotzwinkle always comes to mind.  Doctor Rat and The Fan Man are worth checking out.  Doctor Rat is the more science-fictiony of the two, only because the main character is a rat who has somehow gained human-level intelligence due to laboratory experiments.

David Brin's Startide Rising is in the list, but it is the second book of a series of at least six.  I have read it as well as the first book, titled Sundiver.  So I think I've just discovered some books I should get.  These books have an interesting premise, which I'll try to explain correctly.  Most intelligent races in the known universe have begun genetic development of lesser species to bring them up to being actual intelligent races.  At the time of the first two books, humans have successfully developed chimpanzees and dolphins so that they have human-level intelligence, and are beginning to work on dogs.  All intelligent species in the story can trace their lineage back to another race that at one time "gave them intelligence," so to speak.  Except the humans.  It is speculated that humans may have derived directly from a lost and forgotten race which can only be referred to as "the Progenitors" because no one knows anything about them.  This causes some jealously and tension between alien races and humans.  In addition, all of the alien races, when they bring one of the lesser animal species on their planets up to being intelligently self-aware, hold these "new races" to a fate of essential slavery for centuries before they earn their freedom.  The humans, on the other hand, immediately free the intelligent chimps and dolphins.  This is another factor that causes the alien races to have a certain measure of hostility toward humans.

Another pretty good read by David Brin is The Practice Effect, but I would call that science fantasy if I was forced to put it in any category.

Well, that turned out to be more than just a couple of comments.  I hope it wasn't too boring.

Mention of the Hale-Bopp comet in the previous post reminded me of someone and something I once wrote about him, and although it may be of no interest to most (or all) who come by here, I'm going to recycle it.  For a time--sporadically--from 1996 to 1999 I had another website where I occasionally put up short essays, for lack of a better term, that I called Ramblings.  This was back before the kids were born and I had lots of time to sit around late at night writing things like this.  Without futher ado, here is the entry from March 29, 1997.

Another brother led astray,
well I'll be damned if I go that way,
say a little prayer for him,
he lived a life you just can't win...
--Brian Setzer
Bobby's Back

Thirty-three years ago, on the second day of Spring, I was born, the first child in my family. In the eight years that followed I gained two sisters, but never a brother. This is something I've never felt unfortunate about, since being the only son gave me a certain measure of solitude which I always enjoyed when I was growing up. But, along the way, I have encountered a few people who I felt a certain kind of kinship toward. Perhaps because of common interests, or perhaps because we were thrown into similar situations and complications in our lives, or maybe just because there was something barely tangible in our souls, something that we never grasped on a conscious level, that told us, somehow, we were alike, almost related on a metaphysical level. Lately, and especially this week*, I have been thinking of one of these soul relatives.

John and I were never friends, but neither were we enemies. When we knew each other in high school we were both too busy just trying to survive being teenagers to go out of our way to become friends. I have always been of slighter build and less physically strong than the average person, with almost no aptitude (nor interest) in athletics, which put me somewhere outside of the mainstream when I was growing up, and though (if I may say so without being called immodest) I had a quick intellect, I couldn't run fast enough to avoid all the bullies and frequently ended up the target of budding psychopaths who were twice as big and several times stronger than I was. In this, John and I were very much alike.

I'm not sure when it started, but for as long as I can remember I have enjoyed reading science fiction. I think it may have started when I was only five years old, in 1969. It was the time of the Apollo 9 mission, the first to land men on the moon and I distinctly remember walking back home from the grocery store with my grandmother. In the late afternoon, walking down "A" Street in Floresville, Texas, the moon had risen early. I had heard on the news that some astronauts had actually gone to the moon in a spaceship. I peered intently at the moon and wondered, if I looked hard enough, if I could see the astronauts as tiny as ants walking around the surface of the moon. Of course, I didn't, and I asked my grandmother if the astronauts were still supposed to be up there. She said yes, and I wondered if any of them were looking down at the Earth right then. In any case, I grew up reading science fiction, among other genres, and still enjoy reading it now. I was the only kid in my class to always be carrying a book. I especially liked the Pocket Books--the ones with the kangaroo on the spine--because I could cram them into the back pocket of my blue jeans and never be without a book in case I got a few spare minutes to read. I was a junior in high school when John became a freshman, and after that there were two of us who always carried a book (except for some of the girls who were always reading romance novels--but I never counted them--not because they were female, but because they were reading romance novels, which are a tragic waste of paper). I noticed we were both reading the same kinds of books: the "Dune" series by Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy," among others.

And we both played alto sax in the high school band. But somewhere in here, our paths diverged.

I don't even know if he had any friends. I had many. Friends who were both athletes and at the top of the class in their grades, friends who were musicians, even friends among the group that would go across the street from school during lunch so they could smoke cigarettes. I was never lacking in friends as I grew up, but John always seemed to be alone.

I think the happiest I ever saw him was at the keyboard of a computer. For some reason of which I'm not exactly sure, our high school bought one Apple IIe computer when I was a senior and put it in an empty classroom, and then some of us were informed that we could go and play with it during any free time we might have. We spent hours on it mastering Little Brick Out when we should have been studying trigonometry, and I remember one day walking into the room and finding John at the keyboard, and he was smiling. I think this may have been the only time I ever saw him smile. He had been learning BASIC programming. I can't remember what he had done now, it was probably something very simple but he showed it to me and beamed--a strange but welcome expression on a face that always seemed a little haunted. I was somewhat in awe, actually. It was the first time I realized that normal folks could make these computers do new things just by learning to program them. He was reluctant to relinquish control of the computer to me, so I let him stay on it. He seemed to be in his own element, at last. With the world of electronic machines opening before him, he could type in commands and make it do what he wanted. For years afterward, when I no longer knew him, I thought he had probably gone into the computer field eventually, but apparently that never happened.

John was the only kid I knew who could solve a Rubik's Cube without a cheat sheet. I say this because I could never do it, and to me, this made him a genius. I envied him for that. Many of the other kids would suddenly become friendly with him so he would put their cube back the way it should be. In a matter of minutes, the cube would be set aright, he would shrug and everyone would compliment him, and the brief association would end.

I graduated high school and went to college. After two years, I dropped out and returned home. My old acquaintance Tim (mentioned in a previous Rambling) had gotten heavily into CB radio, and we soon had impromptu base stations set up in both of our homes. We talked to lots of people in the Stockdale area for several months, and I became reacquainted with John, whose handle was Whiz Kid (mine was Dragon). We talked mostly about science fiction literature, and got to know each other pretty well over the radio, though I never saw him in person.

The last time I saw John was several months ago, when my wife and I went to a pizza restaurant in nearby Seguin, and I saw him sitting alone at a table, reading. I can't remember the exact title of the book, but it was science fiction. I thought about going over to say hello, but then his brother arrived and they exchanged a few words, apparently quarreling, then his brother left, leaving John sitting with an angry expression on his face, so I decided not to interrupt what might be an unpleasant scene.

About a month ago I opened up our weekly newspaper, the Wilson County News, and saw his name in the obituaries. I was surprised, not to mention a little disturbed, seeing that someone two years younger than I had died. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say I was shocked when I learned that one weekend he had shot himself, taking his own life.

I will readily admit that I have had some dark moments myself. There was a time about ten years ago when I was so sick of life that I prayed to God to take me--I didn't care how. An unexpected heart attack, a lightning bolt out of the clear blue sky, or maybe just go quietly in my sleep. But I never in my deepest depression ever for a moment considered suicide. Somewhere along the paths of our lives, this distant soul-relative of mine and I took different routes--who knows when it happened? Maybe long ago, when we were kids, and I learned to deal with bullies by developing a vicious anger when I was picked on, but he didn't? Or when we were in high school, and I found many friends to help me along the way, and he didn't? Or perhaps after high school, when I eventually (after many years) found a career of sorts that I could live with, and he didn't? Or maybe just because he never fell in love, and I did?

It is early spring in south Texas, and the deep indigo of the bluebonnets cover the roadsides, mixing with the bright pink Indian paintbrushes and the brilliant violet phlox, and last night I saw the comet--an appropriate time of year for such a visitation. We stood outside during our 9:00 PM break at work and stared into the northwest sky, able to see it even over the artificial glow of the lights of San Antonio. A blurry, smudged pinpoint in the sky, one of my workmates said that it was kind of disappointing, it wasn't what he expected. I told him to remember that it only came by the Earth once every 3,000 years, and now that he had seen it, it would be carrying a little bit of his soul on its long, long journey through space. I said it jokingly, but a part of me wasn't joking.

I hope John has found his comet.

---

*"This week" was the week that the Heaven's Gate cult committed mass suicide.

Which I am actually participating in voluntarily because it's at least slightly educational.  Saw this at Thus I have Spoken.

Rules:  Look up your birth date in Wikipedia.  List three neat facts, two births and one death in your blog, including the year.

Three neat facts:
1622 - Jamestown massacre: Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population.
1933 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law a bill legalizing the sale of beer and wine.
1997 - The comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to earth.

Two births:
1908 - Louis L'Amour, American author (d. 1988) (I didn't know we shared a birthday!)
1923 - Marcel Marceau, French mime (unfortunately, I did already know that)

One death:
1687 - Jean Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer (b. 1632)

Well, that was fun.

After extensive research today after lunch, I have discovered a hitherto unknown firearm designed for Alucard's use.  It is almost certain that he never used it in action, although it is possible that he may have used it in an undocumented encounter.  It is quite likely that he carried it in a hidden shoulder holster for use as a backup weapon.

I was able to uncover only a single photograph of this weapon, which is presented here.  In conjunction with Taurus, here is the Hellsing Arms custom .454 Casull revolver.  Cursory estimates are that it has a 13- or 14-inch barrel.

The tax return went for more important things--actually it hasn't gone anywhere yet, but it's there in case we need it.  I have a self-imposed gun allowance and the P22 I bought not long ago means there won't be cash for another for at least a couple more months.  I am torn primarily between two guns for my next purchase.  I recently mentioned one.  But there has been another one that has long been nagging at me.  My usual method of acquisition is to start with the most expensive and work my way down, which sounds like a good way to go.  Which means that vying for the top of the list is a lever-action .357 magnum rifle, or this:


That's the Taurus Thunderbolt "Short Action Pump" that holds 14 rounds of .357 magnum or .38 Special in the tube.  The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a slide/pump action over a lever.

Anyway, this is my official "no BAG Day gun on BAG Day" post.

Sally Jacobsen of Northern Kentucky University says:

"I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to," Jacobsen said.

Wrong.  Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

This is why these extreme liberal facists can not be reasoned with.  Yeah, I'm off topic, but this is something that infuriates me.  Anyone who believes their right to freedom of speech gives them the right to destroy that right when used by others is WRONG.

These people should:
1) Be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for vandalism and property damage.
2) Be required to reimburse the pro-life group for the materials and time that it took to put this display up.
3) Be required to perform community service by helping to re-erect a new display.
4) Be required to attend constitutional "sensitivity training" in the interest of avoiding future transgressions of the consitution and the unalienable rights of others.
5) Be required to attend pro-life "sensitivity training" in the interest of avoiding future offending behavior against pro-life activists.
6) Be taken out behind the woodshed for a damn good thrashing.

The pro-life students are pressing charges.  Whether they will get anywhere with their legal action is another matter.

(update:  corrected a couple of typos)

I usually stay up late on Friday but I actually had to work hard today and I'm burned out.

Talk of books in a previous post has reminded me that Eponym has some special posting formats just for reviews.  I might take advantage of that and do a book review now and then, even though I'm lousy at writing reviews.  The books probably wouldn't be anything new, just books that I have read at some time in the past.

And I finally came up with an epigraph.  But I don't expect to leave it the same forever.  You get extra credit if you know where it came from.

I've been tagged.  I've done another version of this one before, but I guess I could take this opportunity to change some answers.

Four jobs I've had in my life:
pizza delivery guy/pizza cook (a twofer!)
truck driver
pager repair tech
meter reader

Four movies I could watch over and over:
The Ninth Configuration
Buckaroo Bonzai
The Longest Day
anything with Jackie Chan

Four websites I visit regularly:
(check the blogroll)
The War On Guns
South Park Pundit
Of Arms and the Law
Hell in a Handbasket
(plus lots of others)

Four of my favorite foods:
Pizza
Nachos w/ jalapenos
Enchiladas
Scrambled eggs with Sontava XXX Habanero sauce

Four most wonderful places I've been:
(wonderful?  er...well...I'll go for scenic value)
British Columbia/Jasper National Park (in the interest of being more clear on this statement let me rephrase it:  my trip through British Columbia which included a side trip to Sicamous before going through Kamloops and heading up to the northeast where I went through Jasper to enter Alberta)
Donner Pass covered with snow
Any place I spent a few hours hunting or fishing in complete solitude
An old ranch in Atascosa County south of Charlotte, Texas

Four songs I could listen to every day:
This is the kind of question that I have always found very difficult to answer.  I haven't declared a favorite song, or even a favorite kind of music, since I was very young--and I mean very young, like before I learned how to read music, which is a long time ago.  I don't know if there really are four songs that I would listen to every day indefinitely, but I can come up with a few that, if they came on the radio, I would probably turn it up and stop everything else.  Listing a mere four songs seems almost ludicrous (only four?) but here goes...
Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers (like you'll ever hear that on the radio)
What's Up by 4 Non Blondes
Paradise by John Prine (and Angel from Montgomery, too)
Suspended in Gaffa by Kate Bush (anything by Kate Bush--yeah, I mean it)
Since the breadheads cracked down on free music downloads, I don't know where to point you to sound files of the songs--sorry.

I'm not tagging anyone.  If you want to play along, go for it.

Saw this at Wadcutter, so I thought I'd see which ones I've read.  I don't give much weight to these lists.  There are lots of books that I would probably put on such a list that other people wouldn't agree with, and I certainly don't agree with some of the books included here.

Phobos Entertainment - Top 100 SF Books
2. Foundation Written by Isaac Asimov (entire series, I think)
3. Dune Written by Frank Herbert (entire series, not including anything written by his son after his death)
4. Man in the High Castle Written by Philip K. Dick (sorry RAH fans, but Philip K. Dick is the Master)
6. Valis Written by Philip K. Dick (the trilogy)
7. Frankenstein Written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
11. Cuckoo’s Egg Written by C.J. Cherryh
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey Written by Arthur C. Clarke
16. Ringworld Written by Larry Niven (and the sequel)
17. A Case of Conscience Written by James Blish
21. More Than Human Written by Theodore Sturgeon
27. The War of the Worlds Written by H.G. Wells
28. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Written by Jules Verne
30. The Time Machine Written by H.G. Wells
33. Neuromancer Written by William Gibson
38. Dragonflight Written by Anne McCaffrey (whole series)
39. Journey to the Center of the Earth Written by Jules Verne
40. Stranger in a Strange Land Written by Robert Heinlein
43. Blood Music Written by Greg Bear
46. I, Robot Written by Isaac Asimov
49. Brave New World Written by Aldous Huxley
51. 1984 Written by George Orwell
52. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
57. Startide Rising Written by David Brin (also Sundiver--which was the first book in this series--Startide is the second)
60. A Clockwork Orange Written by Anthony Burgess
61. Fahrenheit 451 Written by Ray Bradbury
68. Flatland Written by Edwin Abbot
70. Dragon’s Egg Written by Robert L. Forward (also the sequel)
79. The Martian Chronicles Written by Ray Bradbury
84. Alice in Wonderland Written by Lewis Carroll (and Through the Looking-Glass)
85. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Written by Douglas Adams (whole series)
91. I Am Legend Written by Richard Matheson

Only 31.  But then I've read lots of things not on the list.

Others that I would probably put on this list:
The Amber Series by Roger Zelazny
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson
The Four Lords of the Diamond series by Jack L. Chalker
The Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster

Just kidding!  Heh heh.  That last one was just a sort of in-joke with one of the readers here. You know who you are.  But I'm serious about the other three.

I noticed that A.E.Van Vogt has a book on this list.  I read a book by this author once.  Unfortunately I no longer remember the title.  I considered it the biggest waste of time I had ever spent reading a book.  I was so disgusted with it that I didn't even take it back to the used book store to trade for another book.  I just threw it in the trash.

There are several authors on this list who I have read books written by, just not the specific book mentioned.  Saberhagen, Simak, and Cherryh come to mind.

Writing this up has made me think it's way past time to re-read my Theodore Sturgeon collection.  And I'll probably have more comments in the vein in a later post.

Just look at my shiny gold mayor's badge:

Danks cited a state law which states a "mayor shall be active and vigilant in enforcing all laws and ordinances" for the city.

Danks said Melton is "an ex-officio police chief" by virtue of his status as chief executive officer of the city.

But a 1990 Mississippi Attorney General's opinion states "the mayor does not have the authority to supervise law enforcement" and cannot "personally involve himself in the daily operation of the police department."

A 2003 opinion found that "while the mayor is the chief executive officer of the municipality, the mayor does not have authority to supervise law enforcement ... or supervise police officers on a daily basis."

Shirlene Anderson was appointed by Melton to head Jackson's almost 500-member police force. When contacted Wednesday to comment about the mayor's crime-fighting tactics, she asked the reporter to call her back. When the reporter called again, Anderson did not answer the phone.

On Sunday, the mayor, accompanied by police officers, went to a Jackson home and confronted a family he believed had threatened him. He carried the shotgun and a holstered pistol.

Attorney General Jim Hood said a holstered firearm constitutes a concealed weapon if the person is not a certified law enforcement officer.

"If you have a permit, you can carry it on your person," Hood said. "You need a permit to carry a gun in a public place in a concealed manner. You need a permit, unless you are a sworn law enforcement officer."

Melton maintains he has been a certified officer "since 1974" but will not say where he received that certification.

Deputy Attorney General Mike Lanford said it is a misdemeanor for anyone to impersonate a state or local officer or employee. The law carries a fine and a possible jail sentence.

The state law is a bit ambiguous because it doesn't mention law enforcement and does not address someone who holds a general office, Lanford said.

According to the city code, it is illegal for anyone "other than a duly appointed and regularly acting police officer" to wear police equipment or anything resembling police equipment.

Plenty more there, read the whole thing.

What is clear to me is that the local police in that town have sanctioned some goofball with a domination complex to harrass people just because he can.

He confronted an entire family with police backup--just to show them who's boss, I guess.

I can't help but hope that he tries this on someone when he doesn't have his goon squad with him, but since his behavior is obviously cowardly, that probably ain't gonna happen.

Tomato 7 has joined the Cult of the XD.

A good article that also points out the anti-gun bigotry that many gays face from other gays.

"When friends find out I'm in this, they're horrified," says Greene's 25-year-old straight roommate who asks not to be identified because he doesn't want his co-workers to talk about him. He speaks softly in a high-pitched voice. A long blond ponytail sprouts from under his camouflage Winchester Rifle baseball cap.

"They think I'm a fascist, a warmonger," he says.

Many of the Pink Pistols revel in their ability to live in two worlds that seem so ideologically divergent: the gun-loving NRA crowd and the queer community.

I have a dream.  I dream of a day when gun rights activism doesn't automatically equate to the NRA.

(I had a few minutes before work, so I had to say something--back to laying low).

I know I usually get at least one post in each day, but this week I've been kind of worn out.  I think I'll just kind of lay off until the weekend.

Maybe I'll get a picture up this week sometime.

I was going to go try to take some pictures of the big protest in San Antonio yesterday, but I didn't.  I had good reasons not to.

1)  I have a job, which I am unable to just casually blow off for something as silly as this.

2)  It was in downtown, and there's no place to park there without paying for it even under normal circumstances.  How did 18,000 people get there?  I suppose they must have been bussed in by the local commies LULAC or SEIU or something.

The funny thing was, the gathering was in Ben Milam park.  I wonder how many of them realized they were using a park named for one of the heroes of the Texas war for independence.  Heh.

Well, I tried the camera out today and I guess I'm not completely out of business when it comes to pictures.  This one was still clear enough that the serial number on the frame was readable before I blanked it.  Looks like my tactical barbecue platform will now also be my photography studio.

I'm sorry it's only a plain, boring evil black tactical pistol, but it's just what I had on me at the time.

From Salina Journal:

Few people think church is an appropriate place to take a gun.

How many of those non-few think it's a good place to be brutally murdered?

UPDATE:  Linked to Free Constitution's Soaring Sunday open post.

UPDATE II:  Be sure and follow ChuBlogga's link in the comments.  Also, ChuBlogga! has been added to the blogroll.

UPDATE:  Now updated to version 1.5.

ChuBlogga! has created a Concealed Carry Coverage Calculator which is pretty cool and runs on XP.  The database is editable so the user can make his/her own changes when the law changes.  Future upgrades include a graphical map of the U.S. to illustrate coverage.  Currently it only shows a color-coded list.

I did notice that he does not have Texas/New Mexico reciprocity, so I'll have to add that.  It is relatively new, and he used the database from packing.org, so I guess they haven't updated theirs, either.

First you indicate your home state, then you add in any other state for which you might have a non-resident CHL.  A very small utility, and very easy to use.

tnx to Hell in a Handbasket

Free Constitution has noticed something fishy about a Google search.

However, when I checked it, the "original context" url has changed.  This is a transparent lie, because the link to "see full-size image" is obviously at Indymedia.

And by backtracking into the parent directory, you get to check out all kinds of other offensive and inflammatory pictures in their "uploads" directory.

Is Google aiding Indymedia in spreading lies?

As I said in the comment I left at Free Constitution, this image search is something we all need to keep an eye on and see who Indymedia decides to target next.

I almost don't want to put tags on this, even though it's the right thing to do, because I know it's going to draw the freaks.  Oh well, here goes...

UPDATE:  The link now points back to Free Constitution again, at 7:35 AM April 9.

UPDATE II:  It's changed again (5:50 AM April 10), back to digitalbrownshirt.blogspot.com, which is where it was the first time I looked at it.

Technorati Tags: Google, Indymedia, Dean, nazi

Lefties might want to check out my latest auction for a Pager Pal holster that I bought for experimental purposes when I had some extra cash to blow (once, long ago).  It has been used very little so if you've been curious about these, here's your chance to get one cheap.  No bids yet, but there are several watchers.  Starting at $19.99.

The auction is here.  It ends about 8:30 AM Sunday central time.

ADDENDUM:  I have just started a new auction for a fanny pack, if anyone is in the market for one.  Link here.

My son and I cleaned up some handguns this morning.  He labored over that Single Six magnum cylinder for about 30 minutes, and did a pretty good job.  But I think I need to get some better solvent.  We also reviewed the difference between single action and double action and went over proper gun handling--even for guns that I had just made sure were unloaded.


We did a couple of evil black tactical-type pistols too, but who wants to see pictures of those?

UPDATE:  Well, bummer.  Looks like this is the last up-close picture I ever take with my camera.  The tiny switch that flips it into "macro" mode broke, and it doesn't look like it will be repairable.  So although I can still use it for people & landscapes, close-ups like this are no more to be.

So I've finally found the original letter which provoked more letters that I mentioned in these two posts.

This letter may be read here.

This last Thursday night, as I was studying for my economics exam (OK, I was actually watching CSI, but whatever) the sound of out-of-sync chanting reached my window. When I checked outside my window, I realized it was the Take Back the Night Rally, this campus’s annual one-night stand against violence toward women. As the marchers held candles and chanted such catchy tunes as “I will not be silent so you can be violent,” I realized the hypocrisy of several of the groups participating in this march, as well as the university as a whole. I am speaking of the denial of a woman’s most basic right, her right to self-defense.

Candles and chants.  That's what is supposed to stop murder and rape, according to the people indicated in the other two posts.  Candles and chants.

UPDATE:  I am also finding it curious that, although this original letter was published a day before the first reply, it still hasn't turned up in my regular Google search, but both replies have.  I only found it when it was linked to by FirearmNews.com

From The Item - South Carolina

And the winner of the AK-47 assault rifle given away by Clemson University's conservative newspaper is ... state Rep. Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach.

Viers was in the woods near the Anderson-Greenville county line on Friday getting the required range training that came with the prize.

"It was great today," Viers said. "I got the NRA-certified instructor, he showed me how to use it. I never shot one before.

"It was one of those guns that you've heard a lot about in movies and stuff and now they're legal to own. This is going to be my sixth gun."

The 28-year-old lawmaker didn't actually win the drawing for the rifle. Rather the first two winners rejected the prize, and the third winner gave it to Viers, who had to pay sales tax on the gun valued at $550. Viers plans to add the AK-47 to his collection of pistols and shot guns.

More details on the people who should have won here.

According to The Monitor of McAllen, Texas, Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra's re-election has been made difficult by a couple of cases he summarily decided on.  One of which was a violation of the law by State Senator Juan Hinojosa.

Another case Guerra has had to repeatedly explain is his decision not to prosecute State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, after the McAllen Democrat tried to board a plane with a 9mm handgun in his briefcase at McAllen-Miller International Airport in October.

Hinojosa, who has a concealed handgun license, said he forgot he had placed the gun in his briefcase days before the incident.

McAllen police arrested the senator, and took him before Municipal Judge Kathleen Henley, who dismissed the charge and let the senator free.

However, McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez requested McAllen police continue the investigation and turn the case over to the U.S. Attorney’s office and the District Attorney’s office.

Before a grand jury could review it, though, Guerra dismissed the case, explaining he did could not prove Hinojosa had the intent to break the law.

State law requires that prosecutors prove a person "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly possesses or goes with a firearm," or other illegal weapon into a prohibited place, such as an airport. Known as the "place weapons prohibited" violation, it makes it a third-degree felony that is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and an optional $10,000 fine.

The grand jury does not make legal decisions; rather, their purpose is to decide if the case has enough merit for trial, Guerra said.

"People still don’t understand the senator’s case is a question of law, not of fact. Grand jurys don’t decide law," he said.

Guerra points out that the international airport is also governed by federal law. If he made the wrong decision in not prosecuting Hinojosa, he questions why the federal government has not arrested the senator for a federal crime.

"The truth is they are bound by the same law as we are on criminal intent."

The truth is he got off because he's one of the special people/ruling elite/whatever you want to call them.  You know, Rene, just like you.

Note the paragraph that I emphasized above.  I find this particularly interesting, because in a statement at the time, Hinojosa said this:

"I am relieved that the Grand Jury chose not to prosecute in this unfortunate incident where I absent-mindedly carried a licensed, concealed weapon through airport security. I am well aware, however, that many will see this as special treatment. I have read, and listened, to the many letters to the editors and comments on talk radio, and I understand where people are coming from. I have, though, heard from ordinary citizens, people I did not know personally, that they believe the system worked as it should � and that our heightened national security efforts were effective and the judicial system took its time in looking at the incident and making their judgment. I want to thank the citizens of South Texas for their understanding and patience during this unfortunate incident."

But...but wait.  According to Rene Guerra, it never went to the grand jury.  He just dismissed it all on his own.  You guys need to get together and get your stories straight.  Just to keep the ignorant peons from getting too worked up, you know.

Also notice that I emphasized the word "reckless."  If I, or you, had mistakenly forgotten a gun was in a briefcase and tried to board an airplane, do you think that would not be called "reckless?"

Read this by Dan Simmons.  No point in me saying anything about it, just read it.  Here's a taste.

I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said.

“The Century War,” said the Time Traveler.

I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .”

“I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he stood, refilled his Scotch glass, and sat again. He said, “It was important to me to come back to this time early on in the struggle. Even if only to remind myself of how unspeakably blind you all were.”

Thanks to Atlas Blogged for the tip.

A rare day of solitude today.  I spent some barbecue time keeping an eye on the smoker's temperature and dipping into the Gun Digest from 1985.


This is the oldest Gun Digest I have.  Why a 1985?  I don't remember anything specific from the time, but I can say that 1985 was the year I turned 21, and I probably just went out and bought myself a Wish Book.  Evidence for the wish book theory is found in the small penciled "x" marks next to several of the guns that must have appealed to me at the time.  About the only one of these that still strikes my fancy is the AMT Hardballer Longslide.

The 1985 edition had cover art of cutaway views of three Rugers:  a red label 12-gauge shotgun, the Mark II pistol, and the Redhawk revolver.  There are also some articles in it that are still interesting, or perhaps interesting in retrospect.  This was in the days before polymer guns; no Glocks in this book--no Ruger P-series, for that matter.  It was before the concealed carry wave had swept the country, and small handguns of more potent calibers are also noticeably rare, although not completely absent.  Most small, concealable guns in this edition are of .380 ACP or less.  The only indication of the future of handguns back then was Detonics.  They had a Mark VII Auto Pistol available in .45 ACP, .451 Detonics Magnum, 9mm or .38 Super that was a compact M1911 with an overall length of 6 3/4".  They also had listed a Pocket 9 double-action only 9mm with an OAL of 5.7".  All other small pistols in this book were of lesser calibers.

One article that I found especially interesting was "THIRTY MILLION HANDGUNS:  Over a dozen autoloading and revovling pistol designs have sold over 1,000,000 copies each."  Although not published until 1985, the article was actually written in 1982 (according to the editor's note).  Handguns in this list were:
Colt M1911:  more than 3 million
Colt Detective Special:  more than 1 1/2 million
Colt Python & Trooper:  more than 1 million (combined)
Ruger Standard Auto:  1.1 million
Ruger Single Six:  1.5 million
Ruger Blackhawk:  more than 1.3 million
Smith & Wesson 38 M&P:  more than 6 million
S&W .357 magnum revolvers (all models):  more than 1 million
S&W J-Frame revolvers (all):  more than 2 million
Harrington & Richardson .22 revolvers (all models):  more than 6 million
H&R .32 (that's .32 S&W Long!):  more than 3 million
H&R .38 S&W (not Special, that's just the .38 S&W):  more than 1 million

In another article titled "HANDGUNS TODAY:  Sixguns and others" I noticed that North American Arms did not always restrict themselves to the mini-revolvers and pocket autos for which they are known today.  In 1985 they were making a large-frame revolver with either a 7 1/2" or 10 1/2" barrel that fired the .450 Magnum Express.  They also made a .454 Casull model, and they produced ammunition for both of these calibers.

There's a brief article about Kleinguenther Firearms.  Many years ago--in fact, about the time I must have bought this book--I worked in a feed mill just across Highway 46 from the Kleinguenther place on the outskirts of Seguin, Texas.  Only a small building where a few people did custom work, I could often hear them test-firing their creations at the range behind their building.

Prices?  Someone must be curious about prices back then.  Several of the manufacturers listed in this book no longer exist, and many of those who do no longer produce the models listed here, but here are some of the more common models for comparison.  The Desert Eagle in .357 magnum went for $699.  No other calibers listed.  The Ruger Mark II (blued) went for $168.  Imported semi-auto Uzis could be had for $550.

As for revolvers, the infamous Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special went for $200 blued, but you could get it in stainless with neoprene grips for an extra $64.  The Ruger Redhawk started at $381 and the Speed Six started at $221.50.  And the famous S&W Model 29 started at $409.

I'm pretty sure I have a couple of other old gun books around here that I'll have to pore over during my next barbecue session.  As for the barbecue itself, today was something of an experiment in that I tried using only pecan wood for the first time.  The smoke, while it was burning, had an odd incense-like hint similar to sandalwood.  It did a fine job of smoking the roast and turned out to have a milder, though still delicious, flavor than my usual mix of  mesquite and hickory.  It also seemed easier to maintain a lower temperature than the mesquite.  Once I got the initial bed of coals built up, keeping it right around the 250-degree range was effortless.  I usually have to constantly tweak the baffles to keep the temperature just right.  Five hours at 250 degrees and the roast was well smoked and well done all the way through.

I consider this kind of post off topic, even for me, but since this particular issue seems to have been buried in the muck of recent events, I thought someone should bring it up.  This article is from  July 27, 2004:

Of course, something else has also changed in two years. The final report of the 9/11 Commission investigation proves that McKinney's 2002 assessment of that terrible day — and thus the war — is dead wrong. There were no numerous warnings, only little signs and portents, mostly kept away from law-enforcement officials barred from intelligence sharing. The Bush administration could not possibly have warned anyone to get out of the way of an attack it didn't see coming. The administration had nothing to hide.

But McKinney did. She accepted large and frequent political donations from Islamist donors and organizations. They kept her campaign awash in cash. She was their best friend on Capitol Hill.

McKinney ended up losing the Democratic primary in 2002 to Denise Majette. Majette rode to victory largely on the negative publicity that flowed McKinney's way both when the "Bush KNEW" accusation made national news and when her anti-Semitic and pro-Islamist beliefs were exposed. She supports Yasser Arafat's intifada. She was the only American to refuse to walk out on the 2001 Durban Conference on Racism, a United Nations confab that swiftly descended into an abyss of anti-American and anti-Semitic rancor. She has often taken to the floor of the House to defend her friends in radical Islamic circles — when she isn't busy attacking American policies. She has taken donations from a handful of "charities" the U.S. government has shut down for allegedly funneling cash to terrorists. And her father blamed his own August 2002 political defeat on Jews, who he claimed had "bought everybody." He even helpfully spelled it out — "J-E-W-S" — just in case anyone got confused.

[...]

But no matter. Radical Islam will get its voice back in the halls of power. America, prepare to be simultaneously entertained and disgusted as the most virulent and anti-American and anti-Semitic elected politician in the nation rejoins the Democrat fold. Two years ago, the Democrats may have been a bit embarrassed to have such a noxious presence on their side of the aisle, but much has changed in two years. Who knows — she just might get a standing ovation and a slap on the back from McAuliffe himself at the next caucus meeting.

This woman is an enemy of the United States.  Have no doubt about it.

Another letter writer states:

Bringing weapons into the picture fails to eliminate the attackers. That is why knowledge is the greatest weapon against violence. Abuse encompasses domestic violence, date rape and murder to name a few.

Or, in other words:  knowledge, or awareness, that there are people out there who are evil and twisted enough to perpetuate these crimes eliminates the attackers.

Whereas, a simple mechanical tool that allows one to defend oneself against attackers does not.

I submit that neither method will eliminate such criminals en masse.  However, the latter method will do so when used on an individual basis.

And as for the mention of children:  no, of course small children can't use guns to protect themselves.  But then the original letter-writer was talking about the "Take Back the Night" movement, which is about violence against women, not children.  Just Google it.

Previous:  Awareness of violence stops violence

For the first time this year, there's no work for us, so I'm home today (this happened three times last year).  After I get my son on the school bus I'll be barbecuing again.  I think I'll also practice dry-firing the SP-101.  Today I'll be barbecuing a roast, a sausage purchased from the local meat market, and some hot dogs.  Most people don't barbecue roast, but it's one of my favorites.  I do it quite often.  Far more often than brisket.

I hope the new header isn't too pretentious.  It's only about 30k, so it shouldn't be too large even for those such as myself who are still on dial-up.

I have been trying to change the text color to be more black and less gray, because I'm thinking it would be easier on the eyes, but I can't figure out where the code is to the change the text color.  I found the right code to change the link colors easily, but I don't know where it is for the basic text.

Since I'm paying for this blog I do have email tech support now, but that seems like far too simple of a problem to bother them about.

The review of the Walther P22 continues to draw lots of hits from searches--so far this month it is the most popular article.  I'm getting a noticeable number of visitors from eastern European countries who are looking for info on the P22.  It's nice to be able to help.

Lately a couple of different readers have translated this site into German and Italian.  I even had one visitor from Baghdad!

Nothing too important about this article--except that the word "gat" was used.  Does anyone really say that anymore?  I thought that was sort of a 1920's-30's thing.

No, the really incredible thing about this article is that the gun used for illustration is the rare, eminently collectible and extremely valuable mirror-image Beretta Tomcat.  At least one of which apparently now exists.

Or so some people think.  I'm undoubtedly wasting my time commenting on this article from the Collegiate Times of Virginia Tech because:  1) the young lady who wrote this letter probably won't ever see this post; and 2) it has all been said before.  Nevertheless...

I am writing in regards to the letter to the editor entitled “’Night’ illustrates need for concealed weapons” (CT, April 4). I would like to say that in my three years at Virginia Tech I have never read such a misrepresentation of an event that is supposed to empower. Take Back the Night is meant as a non-violent protest to bring about awareness of violence against women.

Protesting violence against women?  Or protesting unawareness of the concept of violence against women?  Believe me, violence against women is a well-known concept, it is an occurrence that happens all too often, and many women would probably not agree with your views.  I refer you to Armed Females of America, NoVictims.org, Second Amendment Sisters, and Women Against Gun Control.  And while you're at it, you might want to check out a similar viewpoint at Pink Pistols.

The author begins his letter with a blunt statement that the rally is hypocritical. I was not sure how the rally could be deemed hypocritical until I saw the author’s reasoning: women should not be marching to prevent violence, but rather to demand what he calls “a woman’s most basic right, her right to self-defense.”

Please explain to me how a march is going to prevent violence. I assume that rapists, muggers, and murderers will suddenly see the error of their ways and stop attacking women when they see this march.  Is that the idea?  I don't think that's really going to work.

In my opinion, a woman’s most basic right is the right to feel safe and to go about her daily life without having to fear her fellow students, colleagues, citizens, etc. Her self-defense should not enter her mind unless she is being threatened.

Fear has nothing to do with it.  Do you intentionally neglect your automobile and risk breaking down on the highway, because the maintenance of your car should not enter your mind unless you have suddenly realized there is something wrong with it?  Do you neglect adequately feeding, clothing, and providing yourself and your family with shelter because your and your family's welfare should not enter your mind until someone is malnourished, naked, or without a home?  Do you even intentionally not provide yourself with health insurance because the possibility of serious illness or injury should not enter your mind until you are actually sick or injured?  Have you neglected to pursue higher education until you are faced with the prospect of not having a decent job because your education is inadequate?  Obviously not, on that last one, since you are a college student.

The author uses examples of both men and women being assaulted while “walking the streets at night.” According to the website for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a total 67 percent of rape cases are perpetrated by acquaintances, family members or intimates. If a woman were to use a concealed handgun to kill her rapist, would that be her defending her most basic right?

I'm sorry, but I don't follow the train of thought for this paragraph.  I don't understand how the first two sentences logically lead into the final question.  But since you asked, yes, that would be defending a very basic right--the right not to be raped or murdered.  The fact that the attacker may be someone who is known to the intended victim does not change that right.

Perhaps I’m an optimist, but I think that women can be empowered by banding together to stop violence, and I implore the author to re-think his theory of women’s most basic rights because by solving violence with the potential for more violence, like a concealed handgun law, it would violate the safety of all people.

Perhaps it would be empowering if women (or anyone else, for that matter) were constantly "banding together" in large groups.  But how many in that group would be willing to die in the process to overpower an armed attacker?  This is a fairly moot question anyway, because it is impossible for all people to constantly travel in large groups.  I only offer it as a theoretical question.

You are not an optimist.  You are willfully choosing to remain ignorant, and willfully choosing to remain a potential victim.  I hope that you still have time to realize this.  Carrying a concealed handgun for personal protection does not create a potential for more violence.  It creates a potential for ending violence.  It allows you the possibility to stop yourself from being the victim of the horrendous crimes of rape and murder.

The violent attacker has already chosen to behave not only outside the bounds of law, but beyond the pale even of common decency and respect.  He/she has no regard for your rights.  If you are unfortunate enough to be the intended victim of such an attack, your previous awareness of the possibility of such a situation will not protect you in the slightest, unless you have chosen to use that awareness to pro-actively  take steps to protect yourself if and when it does occur.

Technorati Tags: self defense, concealed handgun

Someone from from NY,NY was taking the Eponym blog tour and, after stopping off at this blog, used the search box for the query, "is everyone a republican crazy on this blog".

I assume he/she/it really meant "on this blog host."

Tip for the Yankee:  Don't assume someone is a Republican because he obviously is a conservative with a strong streak of libertarianism.

But I guess as long as you keep assuming that all such people are by default crazy, it's safe for me to continue to assume that you're a dumbass.

Story here.

(use Bugmenot)

Today at 1:49 PM, Eponym hit the 10,000 mark.  There are now more than 10,000 blogs at Eponym.

You can click here to see a list of the top 10 out of those 10,000.

Pay no attention to that guy at the top.  He likes to shoot small guns with lots of recoil.  That's right, he's one of those.


(The list updates at noon, so I might not be there anymore if you read this after noon Thursday).

At last weekend's gun show, my daugther spotted someone selling bumper stickers that stated, "IF GUNS CAUSE VIOLENCE, THEN PENCILS CAUSE MISSPELLED WORDS."  She gave me a quizzical look, and I asked her, "Do pencils misspell words?"  "No," she answered.  "People misspell words."

So simple, a seven-year-old can understand.

Fred of M14 Stocks and Revolutionary War Veterans Association has been interviewed by JFPO.  Follow the link to download the mp3 or read the transcript.

Legal firearms have not entirely disappeared from Australia.

Despite the hundreds of thousands of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns surrendered since John Howard announced the gun buy-back after the Port Arthur massacre ten years ago this month, the public remains well armed with more than 2.5 million firearms registered across the country.

There are now more than 750,000 individual gun licence holders and each has an average of three weapons.

The greater concern however is for the unknown number of unregistered handguns currently in the community.

Of course.  Can't have people defending their lives and families without a license.  That's a recipe for anarchy.

This is what I've been doing today.  It's not finished yet, but I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to progress from here, and I'm tired.  Time to watch last night's Adult Swim.  (This is the "thumbnail" version sized for a blog post).


By the way, that episode of Futurama with all the people from Star Trek has to be one of the best Futurama episodes ever.  I was constantly cracking up.  Poor Welshy.

Let's see.  I guess I'm still missing Spike and that guy with the odd revolver from Ghost in the Shell, but I'm kind of running out of room anyway.  And I know Brock Sampson doesn't like guns, but he's still one of my favorite characters.  Besides, he's not an actual gun-hater.  He just prefers to use his knife and/or his bare hands.  More satisfying, I guess.

Another by the way, if you have not seen the episode of The Venture Brothers where the little U.N. pipsqueak tries to take Brock's knife, oh man...that's so funny it just kills me.

U.N. Pipsqueak:  I'm sorry sir, you'll still have to turn it in.
Brock (husky whisper, eyelid twitching ominously):  Take it from me.

Brock's voice is done by Patrick Warburton.

When Jerry Patterson was a Texas state senator, he was the primary author of the Texas Concealed Handgun law.  He is currently a commissioner in the Texas General Land Office.  He has responded with a letter to the editor regarding the article I had mentioned last week.

The Chronicle editors misread the bill and my comments and translated them into a scheme to help Tom DeLay get his gun back.

Nonsense.

When it comes to the Second Amendment, fear, not facts, still rules the editorial board room at the Chronicle. The fact is that the concealed handgun law clearly states "a license may be revoked" for numerous reasons, including indictment on a felony or Class A or B misdemeanor. Apparently DeLay is seeking due process through an appeal, also allowed under the law.

"Is there no limit to legislators' willingness to accommodate DeLay?" the editors harrumph.

This issue is much larger than one congressman. Whether or not this provision is necessary should be evaluated with a view toward the rights of all Texans, not just one.

Regardless of DeLay, I believe this provision of the handgun law is flawed and should be fixed. But as Texas' land commissioner, I will leave that to the Legislature.

I happened to notice while looking through some Technorati links that several weeks ago I used the word "disclaim" in a post.  I'm not sure I used it correctly.  But the strange thing is, when I saw it, it struck me as very odd that I had ever used this word.  I didn't even know I knew this word.

I'm thinking maybe I plucked it out of a thesaurus.  I do that a lot.

If anyone pokes through the source code here and notices that I am storing many of the pictures at my old Blogspot account, that's just to cut down on bandwidth from Eponym.  I can't believe all you goons loyal readers sucked 1.5 gigabytes of bandwidth through here last month.  It was mostly the fault of the Hellsing article.  I foolishly stored all the pictures here and it really used up the bandwidth, especially because somebody went and hotlinked to a couple of them.

By the way, the aforementioned article was the #1 top post for March, with 323 page views.

Thanks to all the traffic from the recent Carnival of Cordite for putting me at the top of the list of Eponym's top blogs.  I know I'll drop down as the month goes by, but it was cool to see my blog at the top of the list.

The temperature here broke 90 today.  So much for Spring.  Summer is here.

One guy there had a bunch of "collectible" guns under glass with pretentious price tags.  One gun had a big label on it that stated "Liberator."  As with most pretentious price tags on "collectibles," there wasn't actually a price on it, just that it was a "Liberator."

This is a Liberator.  Most gun folks already know about this gun.  If you don't, a quick explanation.  This was a very crude pistol that was made from stamped metal and fired a single .45 ACP cartridge.  They were made during World War II and dropped into occupied Europe along with a cartridge and a simple printed picture showing how to load the gun.  The purpose was that it was believed that resistance forces could use this weapon to kill a German soldier, and then take the soldier's (far superior) firearms.  Did this gun ever actually make a difference?  I don't think anyone has ever been able to answer that.  A real Liberator commands a high price on the collectible market.  A Liberator that is still complete with box and instructions is even more valuable.


The aforementioned "collectible" gun seller had actually labeled as a Liberator one of these:


This is called a Downsizer.  It is also a single-shot gun that I believe was originally made only in .45 ACP but is now also available in .357 Magnum/.38 Special.  It is tiny.  It is also modern, and has no collectible value whatsoever.  I don't know if this seller was that ignorant, or if he was trying to hoodwink someone less knowledgeable.  But it is not a Liberator.

Okay, that was a really horrible pun, I know.  Found at The High Road.  How to use your Makarov as a bottle opener.

Personally, I'd just use my Swiss Army Knife, if it was that important.

Thus I Have Spoken recommended a new blog and I had to check it out.  So now I would also like to recommend I Just Wanted A Pony!  So far she has made some great comments on 9/11 and illegal immigration.

My own experience on 9/11 was nothing like hers.  I was not paying attention to the news at the moment it occured.  I heard about it a few hours later on the radio as I was driving to work.  The day went ahead as usual.  The workplace did not shut down, everyone showed up and did their job.  The only emotion I noticed related to the event that day was anger.I did not actually see the film footage until several days later.

The attack of 9/11 did not change the world for me that day.  It confirmed my opinion of the global situation.

I still wish that most people could have come to realize how bad things were without such a horrendous event to awaken them.

I almost forgot to mention that I handled an ancient Le Mat revolver at the gun show today.  It's long history was etched into it--worn, and battered, and as tired as an old warhorse.


This is a picture I found on the internet.  An interesting gun that was used during the Civil War and afterward, and if I can remember the details correctly, was a cap-and-ball affair with a 9-shot cylinder that fired .40 caliber balls.  That big tube under the barrel is another barrel of .65 caliber that was loaded with a charge of shot.

The one I saw was much more weathered than this one, and was without a price tag--apparently being of interest only to collectors.  I didn't ask.  I only hefted it, sighted down the barrel, and wondered if it had really been there amidst the echo of rebel yells and the roar of gunfire.

Just received by email.  Yes, I've seen it before, and you probably have too, but I thought I'd make a joke about it anyway.  I'd install a small bookshelf somewhere, as well.  And probably a small refrigerator.

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.  I took a little time out today to dig into the templates and figure out where and how to change the link colors.  Having all the links the same color as all the regular text was bugging me a little.  I hope the colors aren't annoying for anyone.  I was having problems spotting links in my own posts sometimes.  Maybe it means I'm old fashioned, but links that don't change color according to status just ain't right.

I went today just to get some specific ammo and browse the Tiny Nines.  My daughter came along with me this time.

I picked up a value box of Remington .22 LR (525 rounds for $10.95) and a brick of those Super Colibris that have no gunpowder, but work on the priming only.  I just stepped outside for a few minutes and tried them out to see how loud they really are.  They do require hearing protection.  I tried them in my 6" barrel Single Six as well as my NAA mini.  However, my wife reported not being able to hear them from inside the house.  My goal is to use these for backyard practice that won't disturb the local peasantry.  The Remington ammo is just to replenish my Walther supply for extended range shooting.  I also got one box of 7.62x25mm, cost this time was $9.95 per 50, which I think is higher than last time.  I plan on taking the ol' CZ-52 to the range next trip and torture testing all those other guys' range-issued hearing protection.

I would have purchased more ammo, because I still could have carried several more pounds, but I am pacing myself because I am looking at another gun.  It looks like it's going to be a Kel-Tec.

Yeah, some people sneer at Kel-Tecs.  I used to own a P-32.  I didn't get rid of it because I didn't like it or could find anything wrong with it.  It was absolutely reliable and more comfortable to shoot--and more accurate--than some might think.  I bought it just for a deep carry gun that would really fit easily and comfortably in my pocket.  I have a small nylon belt holster which served as a pocket holster for the P-32 perfectly.  Eventually I bought the SP-101 and learned to carry it very comfortably IWB.  So the P-32 became a sort of backup pocket gun.  Then one day I neglected to don the SP-101 and in the middle of wherever I was, I suddenly thought, "What the heck am I doing walking around with a frikkin' .32 in my pocket--and nothing else?"  I came to think that the SP-101 was good enough on its own, and at the time I was really getting a hankering to acquire a mini-revolver.  I didn't have the cash to buy one, so I just went and did a trade.  Nagel's Gun Shop got the Kel-Tec, and I walked out with a pretty little stainless steel mini-revolver.

I have never regretted this trade, except that it left a hole in my caliber collection.  But I suppose I will remedy that someday with some old C&R .32.  I had made up my mind that I would never carry anything less than a 9mm for personal defense, and for the past several months have been looking at some of the tiny 9mm pistols that are out there.  Due to price, size, and light weight, the Kel-Tec is going to the top of the list.  Based on my past experience with the P-32, I have no qualms about getting a new one in 9mm.  They have a new single-stack version (PF-9), with a 7-round magazine, but it is only slightly thinner and lighter than their old P-11, which is a stagger-stack magazine that holds 10 rounds.  The PF-9 hasn't yet hit the gun show, but the P-11's were in abundance, priced from $216 to $235 (for the one stainless steel slide model).  Being able to do side-by-side comparisons between the P-11 and P-32, I'm certain it will fit easily in the pocket.

Always keeping an eye out for Makarovs, I found a Baikal .380 ACP just like the fellow at the range had yesterday for $209.  These are turning out to be more common than 9x18 Makarovs at the gun show lately, and are starting to tempt me as well.  Not because I have any practical use for it, but just because I like those little guns and I don't have a .380 in my caliber collection, either.

I mention my "caliber collection."  Right now the most obvious missing calibers are .25, .32. and .380.  Of course there are many other more obscure calibers that I will probably never own, and don't want to that much.  But I would at least like to cover these three, just because.

I handled a NAA Guardian in .380.  Those suckers are heavy.  They are small, but they are so dense I don't know if they would make a good pocket gun.

I also handled a scandium .357 magnum.  Now, if I were at the range and someone else there offered to let me shoot his, I would.  But I would never buy a gun that light that shoots a caliber that potent.  It seems barely heavy enough to use as a paperweight.  Recoil must be brutal.

Someone had some real, traditional black powder guns.  I momentarily lingered over a very nice percussion-cap .50 caliber single-shot that would have matched my Hawken quite well.  It was priced just a little over $200.  He also had some absolutely beautiful rifles, and plenty of cap-and-ball revolvers.

I should be ready to buy a pocket 9 in a couple more months, depending on how much money I spend on ammo between now and then.  And for the curious, it will not replace either of my larger guns.  It will just be a little something extra.

This will mean I'll have two 9mm's.  I momentarily considered trading my Ruger P-95 for another gun, but when I came to realize that I wanted the Kel-Tec, I changed my mind.  I'll spend cash for a Kel-Tec, but I won't trade a Ruger for it.  Besides, I think that big Ruger should make a fairly good training gun.

Blah blah blah...

Glendale News-Press: Close loopholes in weapons sale laws

Choice quote:

I, for one, am a believer in the 2nd Amendment, which gives Americans the right to bear arms. What I do not agree with is the National Rifle Assn.'s unwillingness to come to any compromise. The NRA, for years, has been lobbying against all and any gun-control-related bills.

Next time please explain exactly how to compromise an unalienable right.  You might also provide examples as to how the right of free speech, the right to free exercise of religion, and the ban against slavery, and the right of women to vote may be compromised.

All the same old tired arguments.  No such thing as a slippery slope, ballistic fingerprinting works, gun show loophole, blah blah blah...

It's the first weekend of the month, and that means...I'm going to the gun show!