The .357 I Couldn't Do Without

Alternate title: Gratuitous Monday Gun Pr0n!

Kim posed the following assignment for the weekend:

A Reader asked me to do a GGP on fine .357 revolvers, both for carry and as a home defense / bedside gun.

With pleasure—except that I don’t know enough about every .357 revolver ever made.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to send me an email with your thoughts.
Subject line: [cut & paste this] The .357 I Couldn’t Do Without

Here's my response:

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Gotta be my Smith & Wesson model 360PD:

Yes, it hurts like hell with full power .357 Magnum loads. Yes, it was literally twice the price of the aluminum-framed S&W model 637 in .38 Special +P. No, I wouldn't trade this gun for anything. If anything, I'm trying to get up the motivation to buy its hammerless brother, the 340PD.

This gun is just a fantastic, fantastic gun. It's small, light, and packs the wallop of the goblin-stopping .357 Magnum. If that's too much oomph, .38 special +P+ rounds work nearly as well - the goblin sure won't know the difference, but your wrist sure will.

At 12 ounces empty, this gun is light enough to toss in a pocket for summer duty; it's great to put in an ankle holster as a back-up gun; with a good Comp-Tac or other such tuckable IWB holster it'll ride your belt all day long with no fatigue whatsoever. A couple of Bianchi speedstrips in another pocket and you've got 17 rounds of .357 Magnum goodness. If that doesn't settle the argument, you'd best be wearing running shoes...

It's a Smith & Wesson j-frame revolver, so you know that:

a) it's got over 50 years of history behind it

b) there are several BILLION holsters/grips/accessories to support it

c) it's gonna last long enough to give to your grandkids

Sure, it's not a target gun like the Python, the Model 27, or even a GP100. Yes, it is not a gun for a novice handgunner by a long shot. But it's the one I couldn't, nay wouldn't, do without.

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I also realized, upon hitting "Send", that I had only covered the "carry" portion of the question in my response.

This gun makes a fine choice for home defense as well - the short barrel means less area for a goblin to grab if he gets within arm's reach. It's also small enough to hide in pretty much any drawer or nightstand, or anywhere around the house you'd want to have a small but powerful gun for defense should the need arise.

Rednecks are Universal...

Came across this story and just had to share:

Do you take this drunk guy’s brother ...

PATNA, India - Villagers at a wedding in eastern India decided the groom had arrived too drunk to get married, and so the bride married the groom's more sober brother instead, police said Monday.

If you've ever been too drunk to get married, you might be a redneck.

(With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy)

Friday Firearm Figure

Since I went to the S&W Factory yesterday, I figured it would behoove me to show some S&W firearms... So here's a bunch:

Clockwise from top left:

SW99 full size (.40 S&W); 17 (.22LR); 360PD (.357 Magnum); 629 Classic (.44 Magnum); 10 (.38 Special); 38 (.38 Special); 422 (.22LR); and SW99 Compact (9mm).

And yesterday I got to see where most of these were "born"...

15, 15, 15 More Minutes to Go...

...until I head west for the S&W tour.

I'll obviously be angling for some free samples. :)

That is all.

Better to Have a Gun and Not Need It...

...than to need a gun, and not have it. That's the cliché, right?

Well, here's a story about a time I really would have liked to have been CCW'ing. This is part of a pathetic attempt I like to call "Jay mines his life-experience to find something, anything, about which to blog in a vain attempt to catch people's interest"... :)

Actually, Les Jones got me thinking about this with something he posted yesterday. Go, read, and come back (please!) and read my own story.

...

I was a junior in college. I had arranged my schedule one semester so that literally all of my classes fell on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; with only Physics lab on Tuesday afternoon. I had no classes whatsoever on Thursday. This mean, naturally, that Wednesday night was a big party night. I went to a "pre-party" bash (basically a dozen guys and a quarter barrel), then was heading back to the dorms to change before heading out to the actual party. It's amazing that I never, not even once, had my stomach pumped...

Anyhoo, I'm walking with a couple of friends, when, from across the street, this kid walks over to us. I'm guessing he was about 15 or 16, a few inches shorter than me, and about a hundred pounds lighter. This was during my weightlifting phase, as opposed to the "fat tub 'o' goo" phase I would morph into later in life, but I digress (as another Jay is wont to say)...

He walks up and gets in my face. "You say somethin' to me?"

Now, I was talking with my friends about the party we're going to. I was only dimly aware of this kid's presence on the street to begin with.

"Uh, no, I was talking with my friend here. I didn't even see you until two seconds ago when you crossed the street."

"Well, I heard you say something to me."

"Nope, sorry, I didn't say a thing".

It was at this point that I heard a {click} and saw the switchblade in his hands. My "friends", fucking abject cowards that they are, took off running.

"I know you said something 'bout me."

Now, at this point in time, all I can hear rushing through my brain is, I'm going to get stabbed. Oh shit. Oh shit. And those fucking cowards just ran off, which means help is going to be a long time coming. I'm going to get stabbed. I am going to get fucking stabbed. Shit shit shit.

Apparently he could sense this, because he gets even more in my face.

"So what's your problem? Why you disrespecting me?"

Okay. He hasn't stabbed me yet. This is a good thing. And I notice something. I am twice this guy's size.

"Look, man, I didn't say anything to or about you. I was just talking to my friends about a party we were thinking about going to."

"Oh, college boy's going to a party, eh?" The knife is gleaming in his hand.

Shit, I *am* going to get stabbed. It's another townie who hates college kids. Why did those fucking assholes take off???

And then, a cold wave swept over me, and the fear was gone. I had one overwhelming thought:

When he moves towards you, block his hand, then break his fucking neck.

I don't mean "break his neck" like your mom telling you not to jump on the bed because you'll fall off and break your neck. I mean "break his neck" as in "sever his fucking vertebrae with the intention of ending his life".

Break his fucking neck.

"Look, man, I didn't say anything, okay?"

"I know you said something to me motherfucker. You want a piece of this?" And the knife started moving back and forth.

BREAK HIS FUCKING NECK. KILL HIM.

The thought was crystal clear. Sweep the arm aside, prevent him from stabbing me a second time, and then do everything in my power to end his life, right there on the spot.

KILL HIM. The thought was overwhelming. I was looking at this kid and mentally preparing myself to grab his right arm (which had the knife in his right hand) and immobilize it, then put him in a headlock and snap his neck.

"Look, I don't want any trouble. I don't know you, there's no reason for me to say shit to you, I was just talking to my friends. I just want to go drink some beer, okay?"

KILL HIM. Kill this scrawny motherfucker. He makes one fucking motion near you, you grab his fucking neck and twist it like a goddamned Budweiser cap.

At this point, I had subconsciously puffed out my chest and drawn myself up to my full 6' height. I'm running about 220 pounds, 16" biceps, 48" chest. I'm a big guy. And I'm starting to psyche myself up about killing this guy, literally, with my bare hands.

And this is starting to show - and he thankfully is realizing that I *am* twice his size, and his knife isn't the magic talisman he thought it was, as I (his intended victim) am no longer cowering in fear but now shaking in barely controlled rage.

"That's cool, man, that's cool. I just thought you said something, but we cool".

And the knife was retracted and put back into his pocket. And he walked away. Quickly.

When I got back to the dorm, I had barely made it inside when I started shaking. Literally shaking. What frightened me the most, by far, was not the knife in that kid's hand. It was the overwhelming, overpowering, frightening thought that I was literally seconds away from killing a man. I'm a pretty big, strong guy. I've moved couches and refrigerators by myself. I have little reason to doubt my strength or ability to physically injure or even kill an attacker when the adrenaline is pumping.

And I was ready to kill that kid. I was ready to make every effort to end his life on that spot. Had he moved any closer, had he made any attempt to stab me, I was going to try my level best to break his neck with my bare hands and kill him on the spot. I suspect I would have been successful in that endeavor.

When it came to "fight or flight", I chose "fight". And when I made that decision, I wasn't planning to fight to win. I was planning to fight to the death. The other guy's death. And that five minute vignette of my life is one of the reasons I trust myself to rely on a firearm for self-defense. I am reasonably certain that, G-d forbid, if I am ever in a life-or-death situation, I will not hesitate to use lethal force in defense of me or mine.

(For the record, when I found my "friends", I kicked both of them in the ass hard enough to lift them off the ground. "Thanks for nothing, you assholes".)

Revisionist History

I'm tired of it, quite frankly. Queen Ann put it thusly:

For liberals, history began this morning.

And we're seeing the "Columbine-ization" of psyCho:

High school classmates say gunman was bullied

Yep. He was picked on. Bullied. Laughed at. Just like the Columbine shooters. If only someone had stopped the incessant bullying, this could have been avoided.

Bullshit.

First of all, the idea that the Columbine shooters were "bullied" is a media creation. By all accounts from people in the school and from the area, the "trench coat mafia" as they liked to call them selves actively sought confrontation with the jocks and "in crowd". That they would deliberately provoke the so-called bullies by taunting them, walking hand-in-hand (not that there's anything wrong with that), etc. That they had multiple "rumbles" with the jocks that allegedly bullied them to the point of mass murder.

Let me tell you something, folks. When a group of kids is actually bullying you, the last fucking thing in the world you want to do is provoke them. Let me take you on a painful walk down Amnesia Lane and offer a glimpse into the world of someone that was bullied. Me.

I had a lot of strikes against me:

• Dad was a cop. In the 1970s, cops were "the man", and it was de rigueur to lash out at "the man" for all his wrongs against society. This is coming of age after the civil rights unrest, forced busing, integration, etc. combined with the rise of television and news coverage. People saw, live and direct in their living rooms, police beating on protestors. Police dragging "peaceful" protestors away from nuclear plants. The days of Officer Krupke were over.
• I was a chubby kid. "Husky" if you will. Always last to be picked for any sports event at recess; the kid who, when picked (grudgingly) would engender a sigh of defeat from the team that chose him.
• I skipped second grade. I basically finished first grade in the first quarter, spend the second quarter screwing around and making the teacher's life difficult, and was promoted to second grade halfway through the third quarter of school. I got the worst of both worlds - not only was I the "smart kid", but I was also the "new kid" to boot. Talk about a target... (As a side note, I've spent pretty much the rest of my life "playing dumb" because of the taunts and bullying I got for being "the smart kid").
• Because I skipped second grade, I was a year younger than my classmates, which meant that my growth lagged well behind everyone else's. I was, for the better part of a decade, the smallest boy in the class and the second or third smallest kid. So, smart kid, new kid, small kid... Yeah. Lots of memories from grammar school and junior high. None good.

Basically, I got beaten up, pushed down, kicked, tripped, lunch taken, knocked over, teased, shunned, ignored, and otherwise put down every day from the time I was 7 until high school (my parents shipped me off to a private high school not out of concern for my well-being but as a vendetta against the school superintendent - I was going to be "challenged", you see, and my grades were going to skyrocket once I was taught correctly. This would then "prove" that the local schools were mismanaged, etc. They were disappointed. But that's a story unto itself).

And yeah, I tried fighting back. Got my ass whipped over and over again. Being a year younger than everyone else, coupled with a complete and utter lack of concern from my parents (i.e. Dad's only words of advise to me were "Don't come crying to me if you lose the fight"), I'd get maybe one or two licks in before two or three kids pounded the crap out of me. I took to hiding in the library, which only served to ratchet the taunting up another 5 or 6 notches. "Bookworm". "Geek". "Teacher's pet". That one was especially ironic, as the teacher was generally the only person I could count on to not harass me - no shit I was the "teacher's pet".

I know about bullying. Been there, done that, don't want the t-shirt.

psyCho was teased because he "talked differently"? Boo fucking hoo. Told to go back to China? C'mon.

This cat had some serious mental issues, and for whatever reasons, be they political correctness, sloppy handling, or significant deficiencies in how we handle folks with mental problems, he was not treated properly. But to boil it down to "bullying", like they did with Columbine, does both the victims of bullying and those that suffer from mental illness a disservice. For example, now any child who gets bullied will be suspected of being the next psyCho. Talk about adding insult to injury - the last line of defense (telling an adult) just got yanked out from under a bullied kid, because that adult is going to call the cops thinking they've got the next campus shooter in front of them.

It also takes the onus off the mental health field, none of it for good reason. We need to devote more time and energy into identifying those that really need help and getting them the treatment they need - and damn the political correctness bullshit that prevents it. "Oh, we don't want to damage their self-esteem"? Fuck you. This crazy fuckwit things he's the second coming of Jesus Christ. Get him the fuck out of general pop and figure out how to cure what ails him. Don't write a script for Zoloft and send him on his way, confident that you haven't damaged his fragile ego.

And maybe, just maybe, we can start to figure out why people snap and decide to take others with them. Rather than developing wicked tunnel vision and focus on the tool used, let's try to decipher why they felt that killing a bunch of people would be the appropriate response. Maybe they were "teaching society a lesson". Maybe they were sharing their pain. Or maybe they cynically reasoned that it was the easiest way to become famous. Stranger things have happened.

But to pigeonhole it as "he was a bullied kid who snapped" is a cheap, quick cop-out that's only going to lead to more of the same. As the media perpetuates the myth that these were all poor, put-upon kids who had taken year after year of bullying until they snapped, more and more kids are going to latch onto the idea that taking a bunch of their tormenters out will not only "get back at them" but also make them famous. And believe me, the idea of everyone knowing who you are is quite attractive to a kid who only wants to melt into the background.

One last thing. As I mentioned above, my dad was a cop. That meant that, growing up, there were guns in our house. Loaded guns. Unsecured loaded guns. With lots of ammo. Not once did I even dream of walking into school with a gun either for protection or to do harm to others.

It's not the guns. It's not the easy accessibility to firearms. That's a bullshit excuse that blames the "how" of a mass murder rather than the "why". It's a helluva lot easier to say "guns are easy to get, let's pass laws against guns" than to say "why do these killers feel the need to take others with them" and look into the reasons behind a mass killing. It's the easy way out. And it's far beyond time we started looking at the harder questions. Because by focusing on the tools, by concentrating our efforts on the quick fix, we're only allowing the "why" to fester and get worse.

And there will be more victims. On all sides.

Yuri Andropped-off...

So Borin Yeltsin is crushing dissidents in the gulag in the sky, eh?

If all you read were the news reports, you'd think that Yeltsin brought about the end of the Cold War singlehandedly.

All by himself.

With no outside help whatsoever...

Unfuckingbelievable...

Ricky's got the low down on something so fucking unbelievable that I did something I don't normally do: I checked out the Kos website. Now, far be it from me to denigrate the good folk that post there [ed: he's lying through his teeth. He thinks those whack-a-moles should have lithium squirted down their throats with a turkey baster], but they've gone beyond the fucking pale:

Seung-Hui Cho. I Mourn Your Life and Loss

I won't link to this filth. Ricky's got a stronger stomach than I, and has provided a link to the rest of the circle-jerk nuttery.

Suffice to say, there's plenty of apologists for Cho. If only society had been nicer to him. If only the mental health care community hadn't failed to properly diagnose and medicate him. If only guns weren't so readily available.

Blah dee fucking blah blah blah.

The mentally ill don't take time DURING A KILLING SPREE to mail a fucking manifesto to the nightly news. That's premeditation. I knew plenty of kids who were picked on all through school and yet didn't snap and kill a bunch of their classmates.

Are we so far fucking gone that we can no longer recognize evil? Here's a newsflash, kiddies. Some people are just evil. Not everyone needs a hug and a shooter of Prozac. Some require the extra attention that only a 180 grain hollowpoint can provide. And for psyCho, it's just a damn shame no one did it sooner.

Gah. Apologists for mass murders. This country is as soft as a sneaker full of shit.

Checklist...

1. Boss out? Check.

2. Weather good? 8am: Sunny, 63°F 10% chance of precipitation. Check.

3. Bike fueled and ready to go? Check.

4. 40 MPG vs. 13 MPG? Check.

5. Black and chrome vs. ... well, Black and chrome... Check...

Yeah. Takin' the bike today. Wanted to take it yesterday, but it's awfully hard to pick two kids up from daycare on a Harley. Even an Electra Glide...

Is It Thursday Yet?

...cuz on Thursday, this is where I'm gonna be...

Thanks to C-pher at the NortheastShooters forum, several dozen forum members will be converging on the Smith & Wesson campus for a guided factory tour, followed by several hours of trying out new goodies at the Shooting Sports Center. It will be a bad day... for my wallet...

Why do I feel like a 10 year old kid waiting for the field trip to the amusement park?

Meditations on VA Tech Shootings

It's been a week since the horror unfolded at Virginia Tech. We've been bombarded with sound bites from various and sundry politicos; seen countless disturbing images from the lunatic's manifesto; there's been armchair quarterbacking on what could/should/would have happened if...

My simple take on the matter is as follows:

1. Gun control in general is an abysmal failure. If anyone out there honestly thinks that psyCho couldn't have gotten his hands on a similar weapon just as easily through illegal channels, I've got a leaky tunnel in Boston for sale.

2. While I remain unconvinced that the outcome would have been different had VA Tech allowed CCW on campus, one fact is inescapable: Banning guns, creating a "gun free zone" is absolutely meaningless as a crime-preventing measure. Those intent on doing harm are not dissuaded by a "No Guns Allowed" sign; in fact, they are encouraged by the lack of armed opposition.

3. The usual suspects acted in their typically disgusting manner with regard to this tragedy. From Carolyn McCarthy (the person responsible for the "new and improved" Assault Weapons Ban HR1022) who didn't even know what a barrel shroud was (but wanted it banned) to that despicable waste of oxygen Phelps protesting at the funerals (side note: G-d? If ever there was a time and place to drop a load of frozen shit from a passing jet on someone, Phelps would be the person...); to Dennis Kookoonovich wanting to ban all handguns (Jay's two-three-word response: Molon Labe, asshole)... Entirely predictable.

Nothing new, just "ban guns and all gun crime will magically go away".

4. What could possibly have prevented the VA Tech shooting? Realistically, there are (IMHO) only two possible scenarios that could have prevented psyCho from shooting up the VA Tech campus:

a. A complete and utter ban on all firearms and ammunition, with draconian penalties for possession thereof (IOW, the repeal of the Second Amendment).

b. Armed resistance.

I prefer letting honest, law-abiding people provide for their own personal protection to creating a police state, thank you.

5. Will VA Tech be our version of Dunblane or Port Arthur? Will it result in harsh, draconian gun laws that shred the Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms? Only time will well.

Obviously, I choose freedom.

Happy Earth Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Earth Day.

If anyone needs me, I'll be out driving my 345HP Hemi V8-powered Dodge Ram. In four-wheel-drive. With the air conditioner on. And the e-brake.

Don't worry, though, I'll be sure to purchase some carbon offsets to make up for it...

Friday Pic...

If it's Friday, it must be time for a Friday Gun Picture...

I figured I'd offer up something different from the previous two weeks pictures. Since I've featured rifles recently, I'd show a firearm that's about as far from a rifle as possible:

This is a North American Arms NAA mini-revolver in .22LR. It's a single action, five shot revolver chambered in the ubiquitous .22LR. Even in this small caliber, it's a handful - that picture is about actual size (and if your monitor has low resolution, possibly LARGER).

I think I've only shot it once. I intend to remedy that the next time I get to the range...

Just for Og...

Og has a post up about vomit-blogging. Which, naturally, brought me back a ways...

Back in the day, I had a buddy, let's call him Bill*, that I used to go bar-hopping with. We'd take turns, one night he'd be the designated drinker and I the driver, the next we'd swap. Worked pretty good that way. Until... We're at a sports bar, shooting pool and watching hockey on the big screen. It's his turn to stay sober, so I grab a 20 oz. Killian's draft and start playing pool for beers. I used to be a decent pool player, so I had 3 more Killian's bought for me by the losers when I look over at Bill.

*Name has been changed to protect the (not so) innocent

Some of his friends from work stopped by the bar. While he was sitting out this round of pool, they invited him over to their table.

And they're doing shots.

And Bill is doing shots.

Lots of shots.

Shit. I've now had 4 large beers at this point. And *I* just became the designated driver... Fortunately, it was early in the evening, so I switched over to water. Lots of water. The bartender knew Bill and I pretty well (we closed the place down on a semi-regular basis), and I explained my predicament to him, so he kept my water glass full, and I worked on emptying it...

Needless to say, I was not a happy person - I was enjoying myself, getting free beer, and now I'm guzzling water and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes...

So, at the end of the night, I'm all sobered up and ready to drive us home. Bill is liquid at this point. He's also got a buddy who's also too inebriated to safely drive him. So we've got to make a stop before we can get home... Great, just great...

Drop Bill's friend off, then head back to my place. We're about 10 minutes away when Bill turns green. He rolls down the window (those of you who have been there before know where this is heading). Couple minutes later, he's expelling the contents of his stomach all down the side of his brand new car. The first new car he's ever owned. And now he's got a flamejob done up in stomach lining down the passenger side...

I almost felt bad for him, then remembered all that free beer I could have been drinking...

I Don't Know About Anyone Else...

...but I, for one, am pretty fucking sick of seeing psycho-Cho's badass-wannabe mugshot picture plastered all over the fucking place.

I can't help but think of how many more pathetic losers out there are going to see the non-stop coverage and think, "hey, that could be me"...

UPDATE: I'm not alone. Bruce feels the same way...

UPDATE #2: While reading through the comments on Bruce's post mentioned in Update 1, something dawned on me. The mainstream media showed their stripes last year with the brou-haha over the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammed as a bomber, etc. Most, if not all, major media outlets declined to show the cartoons, claiming that the cartoons were too offensive to the Muslim faith, etc.

Yet these same slimy bastards have no compunction about putting psycho-Cho's gun-toting visage all over the front page or airing his sick fantasy videos. His victims haven't even been interred yet, and the media doesn't have the common decency to refrain from giving this sick motherfucker his much-desired air time.

Rot in hell, you hypocritical, sanctimonious assholes. Fuck off and die.

In the Midnight Hour, We Blogged More, More, More...

Three new additions to the blogroll, and a bleg.

1. Oscar Poppa. A bloggin' Texan whose tolerance for liberal BS is only slightly higher than my own.

2. Freedom Under Fire. A collective blog including a neighbor to my north.

3. The Hobbesian Father. A gentleman with a particularly conservative outlook on things.

All good blogs, all worthwhile additions to the blogroll.

Now, the bleg. Folks, I've found the above blogs through my referral logs. All had kindly added MArooned to their blogrolls, for which I am very thankful. But no one told me about it so I could reciprocate! I maintain a reciprocal blogroll here at MArooned, and if you're crazy enough to link me, let me know so I can return the favor...

That is all.

And in Other Flaming Hypocrite News...

Ain't this a kick in the ass?

Corzine’s SUV traveling 91 mph at time of crash

CAMDEN, N.J. - The sport utility vehicle carrying Gov. Jon S. Corzine was traveling about 91 mph moments before it crashed, the superintendent of state police said Tuesday.

The governor was critically injured when the vehicle crashed into a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway just north of Atlantic City last week. He apparently was not wearing his seat belt as he rode in the front passenger’s seat.

The speed limit along that stretch of the parkway is 65 mph.

Hmmm. 26 MPH over the speed limit. I was placed under arrest for 20 MPH over the speed limit in New Hampshire (fortunately the officer changed his mind and merely issued me a court summons). And not wearing his seat belt, either.

Wonder how much his ticket is going to be?

(okay, okay, stop laughing now...)

Talk About Ironic Timing...

While anti-Second Amendment posters lament the gun culture of the United States in the wake of the VA Tech horror, the mayor of Nagasaki is shot to death in a country whose gun control laws make MA look lax...

More gun control is not the answer...

Fuck no. Fuck no. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.

By now, I'm sure everyone has heard about the massacre at VA Tech. Let me start by saying that I hope the gunman is roasting in hell as I type this, and my heart goes out to the families of the young people senselessly cut down in their prime by some lunatic with a death wish.

Secondly, I fucking hate the fact that my first thought was how the gun-grabbers were going to have a fucking field day with this. HR1022, the new and improved Assault Weapons Ban, is sure to shoot to the top of the 110th Congress' docket (never mind that the mutant in question used a handgun).

How fucking wrong is that, though? Nearly two dozen college students senselessly murdered, and my first thoughts are of the Brady Bunch et al dipping their hands in the blood of the victims and using this horrific tragedy to further their agenda. I hate that I have to think that way; that circumstances and today's political atmosphere mean that, once again, the honest, G-d-fearing, law-abiding folks are going to have their Second Amendment rights ripped away from them because of the actions of one lone nutcase.

That's wrong.

What's also wrong, let me add, are the activists on the pro-2A side laying the blame for this shooting on the "gun-free zone" school campus. Allowing firearms on college campuses is not going to deter a suicidal/homicidal maniac. End of fucking story.

G-d damn this fucking mutant to hell. And bless the innocents taken so young. DAMMIT this sucks...

Happy Buy A Gun Day!

In case you've been living under a rock, today is "Buy A Gun Day". If you haven't gone out and made Baby Vulcan smile already, please go forth and do so post haste.

That is all.

Bored, Bored, Bored...

Okay, so it's late Saturday night and I'm waiting for my shoulder to stop throbbing so I can go to sleep... Broke in the VEPR with Bruce this afternoon (thanks for hosting me, Bruce!), and all I can say is YEE HAA WHOOP WHOOP!!! Me likey .308 velly much... (No, I have no idea why I'm talking like Krusty the Klown in "Krusty Gets Kancelled", but that's how much I like this gun...) The scope and/or scope mount had some issues, so items #1 and 2 for this gun are to get a new, more solid scope mount and a new scope, preferably one with instructions in English (or at least in characters I can interpret...)

Anyhoo, while I wait for the codeine to kick in...

I have decided I need a theme song. Specifically, the blog needs a theme song. So I'm playin' around with "Stuck In Massachusetts with You" (to the tune of "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealer's Wheel, natch).

Well I don't know why I stay here in Mass,
Politicians talkin' out of their ass,
Gonna take away my guns and my choice,
A conservative in MA gots no voice,
Mumbles to the left of me,
No one to the right,
here I am,
Stuck in Massachusetts with you.

Okay, it's doggerel to be sure. And I'll prolly regret it in the morning... But what the hell...

It Is Time...

...to unveil this year's Buy A Gun Day purchase. Since it is Friday, after all, and therefore time for the Friday Gun Pic, I present to you the 2007 Buy A Gun Day gun. I did mention that it's a .308, right?


Yep. I got a Russian VEPR in the manly .308 Winchester caliber. Here's the whole deal:



So here she is in all her communist-bloc sporting glory.

Anyone got a line on magazines? Apparently they're rarer than hen's teeth...

Global Warming...

Lots of talk about "global warming" in the news these days. The MSM is hyping GW as the next big thing, the "looming catastrophe" threatening to bring about TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It, for those out of the acronym loop). Bear in mind, this is the same MSM that, thirty years ago, was predicting a coming Ice Age. So forgive me if I'm wearing a big honkin' "S" for skeptic here...

In that vein, I've got three questions for the global warming true believers:

1. Can you prove that the current increase in temperature that we are experiencing (usually quoted as a 1ºF rise over the past century or so) is beyond that of a normal warming trend?

2. If #1 is in fact correct, can you prove that the cause for the increase is man and man alone? Bear in mind that the ice caps on Mars are melting as well, and also that we're seeing an increase in solar output.

3. Once we've established that #1 and #2 are correct, can you propose any meaningful solution that:

• Doesn't involve mankind going back into caves for the next 1,000 years, or
• Doesn't specifically target only the United States for systematic hobbling of its industrial processes.

'Cuz, I have my doubts on all three. I'm not entirely certain that the rise in temperatures we've seen over the past hundred or so years is out of sync with standard fluctuations. But I'm willing to listen to evidence to the contrary. I'm more skeptical that man is the problem - volcanic eruptions alone account for lots of CO2 emissions, and there's not a damn thing we can do about those. And, lastly, and perhaps more importantly, I fail to see any solutions being proposed that do NOT specifically target the United States of America as the be-all, end-all to global warming.

Any "plan" for reducing global warming that lets China and India off scot-free is doomed from the onset. Provided, of course, that the actual goal is the reduction of greenhouse gases and theoretical increase in global warming, as opposed to the toppling of the American economy...

UPDATE: Talk about timely! Bruce has a perfect bumper sticker for my truck. Go. Buy several.

Crossed Fingers...

...For og, the Neanderpundit, who's going under the knife later this month. Stop by and wish him well. Take a look around while you're there - if you're not reading og, you're missing out...

DILLIGAF?

Things I do not give a hairy rat's ass about:

1. Anna Nicole Smith's babydaddy - shut the fuck up. Next.

2. Don Imus's moronic comment or the "scarred for life" Rutgers women's basketball player.

3. The Duke Lacrosse case - just drop the fucking thing and put Nifong in jail for malfeasance.

4. American Idol anything, but especially this Sanjay's sister. Seriously, people care about this shit?

If I never hear another fucking word about any of the above I'll be a happy man.

That is all.

The Best Revenge Is...

...Laughing like a tickled hermit when someone who fucked you over takes it in the shorts...

Toyota offers rebate on new Tundra pickup trucks

Toyota Motor is offering a $1,000 rebate on trade-ins to boost sales of the redesigned Tundra pickup less than two months after the truck's debut.

The rebate became available Tuesday from Toyota's U.S. dealers on 2007 Tundras other than the four-door CrewMax, spokeswoman Denise Morrissey said Wednesday. Other offers on the full-size trucks include interest rates as low as 3.9 percent and a discounted lease program, she said.

Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, is turning to rebates to help meet a goal of increasing Tundra sales by 60 percent to 200,000 vehicles this year. The redesigned truck is Toyota's biggest potential source of U.S. growth this year - as well as its costliest U.S. development project ever.

"Adding this much dealer cash so early in the life of the truck isn't a good sign," said Alex Rosten, a vehicle pricing analyst for Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com.

Heh heh heh. So the all-new Tundras aren't selling themselves. Here's a couple friendly tips:

1. Don't fuck over people who want to buy your product.
2. Work with your customers, not against them.

Fuckers. Hope them Tundras taste good when you have to eat 'em...

Life Imitates "The Blues Brothers"

LMAO here, boss...

New York Officers Injured in Cruiser Pile-Up

A police chase in the Bronx ended with a mangled mess of police cruisers, several injured officers and an arrest on Wednesday.

Three NYPD police cruisers crashed into each other on the Bronx River Expressway at 177th Street after chasing a suspect who allegedly stole a car around 9 a.m. in the Bronx.

Some police officers suffered minor injuries as a result of a crash that left three police cruisers snarled end-to-end on the parkway.

"This is car... What number are we?"

"Fifty Five".

"Car 55. We're in a truck!"

(For the record, of course, I am in no way, shape, or form happy that officers were injured. I wish them all a speedy recovery to full health, which they will certainly need once they get back to work and have to face the endless ribbing of their fellow officers...)

Monday Morning Musings

• Children Easter Math: Large amounts of chocolate ingested in a short proximity to bedtime = A mess daddy has to clean up a couple hours later
• Morning commute interrupted by turkeys. No, I don't mean average MA drivers, I mean actual, honest-to-goodness turkeys. As in butterball turkeys. And drivers too fucking stupid to go around them. So I guess there *were* average MA drivers, too...
• Road rage math: 345 HP Hemi motor + stupid soccer mom on phone who runs stop sign and stops halfway in the intersection = powerslide and a big ol' shit-eatin' grin replacing the grimace on my face.
• Workplace math: One day off from work = at least a day-and-a-half's worth of backlog.
• Six shopping days to Buy A Gun Day.

That is all.

Cold is...

75 MPH down the highway on a motorcycle when it's 25ºF out.

Heated handgrips just moved to the very tippity-top of my "gotta have" list for the bike.

That is all...

Happy Birthday Jim!

Jim over at Smoke on the Water is celebrating twice this week. Today's his birthday, and he recently passed his 500th post.

Both are impressive milestones. Go and congratulate him on both. Please, we need to do all we can to keep this man blogging. We need more men of his caliber.

Jim, I'm happy and honored to call you friend. Salut!

(Side note: 49??? But a young pup. Although I am forced to admit that you are old enough to be my... well... my older brother...) :)

Friday Gun Pr0n...

Since I mentioned Buy A Gun Day and guns chambered in 7.62 X 39mm in my last post, I figured it was only fair to showcase something that combined the two - my Buy A Gun Day purchase from last year:

Here we have a Yugo model 59/66 Samozaryadniy Karabin sistemi Simonova, more commonly known as the SKS. It's not technically an "assault weapon" (a politically correct bullshit buzzword uttered by fools who know nothing about firearms) as it has no pistol grip nor a removable magazine. However, it has both an eeeeevil bayonet AND a grenade launcher. The horror! I hear Dianne Feinstein gets the vapors just thinking about rifles like this one...

In all seriousness, it's a helluva fun gun to shoot, and even with recent price increases the 7.62 X 39mm round it fires is still ridiculously cheap for a centerfire rifle. I really do need to stock up on some more, though - I think I'm down to my last ammo can... ;)

Reminder: Buy A Gun Day Approaches...

Just a friendly reminder that there are only nine shopping days until April 15th, otherwise known as Buy A Gun Day.

This year's Buy A Gun Day purchase will be something new for me: a .308. While I own firearms chambered in 7.62 X 25mm, 7.62 X 39mm, and 7.62X54mmR, I do not yet own one in 7.62 X 51mm. Yet.

That will change this Buy A Gun Day. Watch this space...

That is all.

Jesus H. Tap Dancing Christ...

Okay. Mother Nature can kiss my hairy Italian ass.

April 4th. 4" of fucking snow. And the "walking wounded" (my polite euphemism for the rompin' retards on the road around here) have completely and utterly lost their ever-lovin' minds in the three weeks since we last had a snowstorm. Yup, they took out their "know how to drive in the snow" brains along with the ice scrapers and snowshovels at the start of spring.

Took me over an hour to drive the 15 miles from work to home. Over an hour. Here's the kicker: I never put the truck into four wheel drive. Yes, I was driving a ridiculously over-powered, rear-wheel drive, no-weight-over-the-drive-wheels pick-up truck without 4WD all the fucking way home and I didn't have a single problem. I even stopped off the side of the road in untouched snow to clean off my windshield (after another rompin' retard blew through a stop sign in front of me and I slammed on the brakes hard enough to launch all the snow from the middle of the roof onto the windshield, but that's a rant for another time...) and got going without using 4WD.

And yet, sure as shit, here's Herbie Fucknugget going 10 MPH uphill, petrified beyond belief that the evil white mystery substance falling from the sky is going to muscle his car completely off the road and into the underbrush, where it will be carried off by mutant squirrels and used to replicate an automotive facsimile of Stonehenge For Squirrels...

I knew this was going to happen. I just got the call from Manchester Harley-Davidson. My bike's back from winter storage, and I've got to go pick it up this weekend. Did I mention that none of my cold-weather gear fits me any more??? The forecast for Saturday is 40ºF and snow flurries. I blame George Bush and his refutation of the Kyoto Accords...

Movie Review: Meet the Robinsons

Took the kids to see "Meet the Robinsons" this past weekend. It's been pretty heavily advertised on the Disney channel (duh), and both kids expressed interest in seeing it. So off to the cinema we went.

First impression: The partnership with Pixar is obvious, if in no other way than in the way the characters are drawn. This isn't the soft, gentle Disney of "Snow White". This is "The Incredibles" (which, BTW, is my favorite Pixar flick hands down) with a different script.

Notable: My hyperactive 3½ year old daughter stayed put the entire movie. Start to finish, an hour and a half, it held her attention. That speaks volumes.

I liked it. It was cute, escapist fare with a good central theme, a few plot twists (some I saw, some I didn't), and generally a good movie for an afternoon with the family. The artistry is breathtaking, with a strong art-deco feel to it. The characters are wacky, with notable talents such as Adam West as a superhero/pizza delivery man, and Tom Selleck as the, well, I won't give it away.

Bottom line: If you've got young kids, they'll like it. And it won't bore you to tears or editorialize you to death, either...

Satellite Radio Has Its Privileges...

...and one of them is making this 35 year old, married father of two with a truck payment and a mortgage feel like a 15 year old kid again.

Yes, I mean, there's just no stopping the head from bangin' when Sirius station 23 (Hair Nation) plays Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It"...

It's a Trap!

Guys...

A friendly tip from your ol' buddy Jay: When your wife swears up and down that she doesn't want anything for her birthday, don't believe her. It's a trap.

Even if you do surprise her with flowers at work, it's not enough. When she says "we've spent so much money recently, let's just pass on each others' birthdays", what she really means is "I'm not getting you anything, but you had damn well better get me something".

That is all...

New Wheels!

Okay...

It's been a week and a half since I picked up the new truck. I figured it was about time I showed her off... :)



2007 Dodge Ram 1500. Thunder Road package (3.92 rear axle, power rear slider, Sirius satellite radio, six-speed auto trans, fog lights, etc.). Towing mirrors, wiring, and Class IV receiver hitch as well as tubular step rails for extras.

I like it. A lot. Now I just need to get a nice Leer cap and a Rhinoliner and I'm good to go...