Ask And Ye Shall Receive...

The World's Most Dangerous Librarian has a meme:

Post a photo of yourself as a baby or a small child. (and if you do, let me know about it by linking back here, ok? Because, seriously? I need a distraction from the news today.)

As the title says... Ask and you shall receive:

That's the picture in the frame with the bronzed baby shoes I "inherited" when my grandmother passed on. I would guess I'm pre-toddler there, maybe 6-9 months or so (sitting up, but not standing).

So there you have it. Incontrovertible proof that yes, I did once have hair...

That is all.

Gone To The Dark Side...

"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."

Well, perhaps I'm prone to a certain level of hyperbole. Or maybe I just wanted to toss out another sci-fi quote to bolster my geek cred...

Either way, there's a good chance that tonight I will officially cross over to the dark side. I won't elaborate, but I will ask two questions that might shed some light on my enigmatic title and introduction. I'm hoping that certain people who know these things might be able to enlighten me...

1. Does the subcompact Glock 45 fit in the same holsters as the subcompact 9/.40S&W?

2. Anyone got a line on pre-ban G21 13-round magazines?

Just asking. Purely out of academic curiosity, you understand...

That is all.

Riddle Me This...

Okay. Help me out here, folks. I'm trying to understand something here... Now, I've been trying to avoid talking about the mortgage industry bailout, as I've been off my blood pressure meds for a while now and really don't want to go back on. My sentiments mirror those of my esteemed colleague to my north, suffice to say.

Well, as everyone has heard, the House killed the bill yesterday. It wasn't dead more than oh, five seconds, before the fingers started pointing and accusations started flying. According to Barney Frank, it was because Republicans got their feelings hurt. Really, Barney? Then answer this: What about the 95 Democrats who voted against the bailout (three of which were from your own state)?

Were their feelings hurt? Was that partisan politics? Face it, pal, the American people don't want Congress tossing our money down the Fannie Mae hole (only for it to wind up in Barack Obama's campaign war chest. Second place and Barry's only been a Senator since 2005. Nice.) The bailout plan lost by 23 votes. 23. 95 Democrats voted "nay". Had merely a quarter been swayed by your Botox Queen Pelosi, the bailout would have passed.

The GOP finally remembered it was supposed to be the party of (slightly) smaller government. After 7 years of spending like it was going out of style, they finally woke up from their big government bender and started to make amends. Too little, too late, in my book; but it beats a kick in the ass with a frozen boot, as a co-worker from Maine likes to say.

I'm just curious where they found the spine...

That is all.

One More Time, Daddy...

Just got an e-mail from my sister-in-law. She was downloading some pictures from her digital camera, and came across a handful from a get-together at my in-laws last month. It was a beautiful day for a ride, so I took the Harley down, and we bribed the boy with promises of a ride home if he behaved (loosely interpreted as "don't kill your sister or otherwise interrupt the grown-ups").

My sister-in-law's the one responsible for getting me hooked on Harley Davidson motorcycles. I'd always been a Red man, preferring the quiet efficiency and reliability of Honda motorcycles to the fragile and outdated V-twins of the orange and black. Until she brought home a 2003 Sportster that she wanted me to break in for her while she got her license... 500 miles later, I was hooked. I had the fever for the flavor of a V-twin rumble.

I opted for the Electra Glide basically because it was the least expensive touring bike going - I would have preferred the Road King, but the Electra Glide Standard was significantly cheaper. I wanted a touring bike for several reasons. First off, it's built to be comfortable for long rides. I enjoy taking off for an afternoon and getting lost (and then found). Secondly, I wanted something big and heavy that I wouldn't be tempted to push. I'd owned a V45 Magna before, and found myself starting to push the little 750cc engine further that I had any business pushing it. And, lastly, I wanted something solid to plunk my son on for his first ride...

Well, we've gone out on a few rides over the summer. He's still only good for about a half-hour, 45 minutes tops, but we've even ventured on the highway for short blasts. I can't tell who enjoys it more: Me, because I get to share on of my passions with my son; my son, who gets to ride on Daddy's Harley for uninterrupted father-son time; or my wife, who gets one-on-one mommy-daughter time without the kids jockeying for her attention.

I'm hoping we can segué from him riding on the back to him riding his own. Looking forward to getting him his own Sportster when he's old enough; of course, Dad will just have to get it a few years ahead to break it in and customize it to his liking, right? :)

Anyways, here's the day's progression:

---

My son, hamming it up as Mr. Cool on Daddy's Harley:

---

Here we are, getting ready for the ride home (he's saying, "Can we leave yet, Dad?"):

---

And here we are underway:



I love this. When we pulled into the driveway, he leaned forward, bonked helmets with me, and uttered the title line. "One more time, Daddy. Please?!"

It was supposed to be a quick trip around the neighborhood. We were gone for another 45 minutes. What can I say? We took the long way (back) home...

That is all.

Interesting...

House votes down massive bailout measure

WASHINGTON - The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.

Waiting on "Crushing Defeat For Bush/McCain" headlines in 3... 2...

Never mind that the Democrats, who have controlled the House for nearly two years, have been gallivanting around just flush with excitement over this bailout, calling press conferences and looking insufferably smug (Barney Frank, smug alert on line 1...).

That is all...

Way To Go Dad!!!

Home Invader Dies In Struggle With Father Of Intended Victim

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man who police said broke into a home with the intention of sexually assault a 17-year-old girl in her bedroom died early Sunday morning after a struggle with the girl's father.

David Meyers, 52, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after officers arrived following a report of a home invasion in the 3500 block of West 79th Street at about 3:20 a.m.

Officers said they found Robert McNally, 64, on the floor with his arm around the neck of Meyers, struggling to hold him down.

Dude was found with "his arm around the neck of Meyers" - he put him in a headlock and choked the sonofabitch to death. That's hard-fucking-core right there.

I can't help but wonder about my own reaction in this sort of case. Wake up in the middle of the night to my daughter screaming... I'd like to think I'd have the presence of mind to call 911 and grab a firearm. But I'm wondering if the primeval "OOG SMASH" portion of my brain would kick in and I'd break down the door in a true fit of Hulk-like Dad rage.

In which case, choking the motherfucker out in a headlock would probably be the most civilized option I could think of. Tossing him out the window, landing on his stunned carcass from the second floor, then proceeding to auger him into the ground like a fence-post would most likely be the true path...

Kudos to you, Mr. McNally. You rescued your little girl from a monster and rid the planet of a depraved sexual predator in one motion. Here's hoping you don't lose one second of sleep thinking about the scumbag you were forced to put down...

(And on a side note: Imagine being the next poor bastard who wants to date this girl knowing that her father killed a man with his bare hands rather than let harm befall her...)

That is all.

When Did This Happen?

When did I become a... a...

It's just too horrible for words.

I'll have to spell it.

A... g-r-o-w-n-u-p.

I don't know how it happened. I don't know when it happened. All I know is that I looked in my refrigerator today and saw... The refrigerator of a grown-up. No beer. No three-day-old pizza. No six months-past the expiration date milk. Instead, there was real food. Vegetables. Yogurt. Condiments - for the love of G-d, there was piccalilli!

At some point, I went from being a kid, to a teen, to a college student, then a graduate student, then... an adult. That was tough. Having rent to pay and groceries to buy and car payments to make, well, those were all signs that I had become an adult. Getting married was a step, but countless teenaged brides and bridegrooms can attest that a marriage license doesn't automatically confer adulthood. Building the house was a cornerstone in becoming a grown-up, that's for certain - grown-ups don't tend to live in ratty apartment complexes next to drug dealers.

And it wasn't just having kids - any idiot with the proper body parts can reproduce, given a sufficient amount of Natural Light and the back seat of a Chevy Lumina. Merely providing the genetic material necessary to start the mitosizing ball rolling doesn't grant one the "grown-up" appelation any more than pumping one's own gasoline makes one a car manufacturer.

It was becoming a dad.

Being there through the ups and downs. Sleepless nights during colicy infancy. The pangs of regret and fear and uncertainly the first time dropping off at daycare. The tentative first steps. The sheer ecstasy of hearing "Dada!". The same doubts and questions on the first day of pre-school. Then kindergarten - enrolling in public school, even a good one, was a risky move. What if he meets a bully? What if the other kids don't like him?

At some point, the trials and tribulations of another human supersede your own. I think that's really when you become a grown-up - when you can subordinate your own ego for that of another. When lessening the pain of another becomes more important than helping yourself. When making someone else happy is more important than your own happiness.

When you honestly and truly care more for someone else than you do yourself.

That's being a grown-up. At least in my book.

That is all.

AAR: First Pack Meeting 2008/2009

Alternate title: What do you get when you cross 20 Cub Scouts, a downpour, and an outdoor event? Mud...

Today was our first Cub Scout Pack Meeting of the year. We had limited attendance owing to the poor weather - it rained all day Friday, all day yesterday, and a good portion of this morning. So, needless to say, we went ahead with our outdoor event anyways - we're Scouts. That's what we do.

The first Pack Meeting of the year is intentionally planned as an outdoor, "track-and-field" type event. We have sack races, tug-o-wars, relay races, etc. for the boys to compete for bragging rights (which, among 7-11 year old boys, is serious business...). We set up a mock campsite complete with tents, fire pit, and sleeping/eating/cleaning gear for the new Scout parents to see what they're in for at the overnight next month.

Basically, it's a chance for the returning Scouts to get back into the swing of Scouting, and for the new Scouts to be introduced to the Pack in a fun, relaxed environment. The official uniform is not required for Track & Field Day; in fact, we prefer they wear old clothes, as they are going to get dirty...

It's interesting to see who's returning - and who's not. My goal this year, my last as Assistant Cubmaster before stepping into the Cubmaster role this coming March, is to increase communication among the Pack. A recurring issue I've heard from Den leaders and parents alike is that we often operate in "stealth" mode - only making plans at the last minute and quite often neglecting to inform key people in the organization.

I'm hoping to change that this year. Wish me luck...

That is all.

Shut Up And Sing...

My good friend tweaker hits yet another one out of the park, this time aiming his ire at musicians who let their politics ruin their music.

Good, good stuff. Go. Read.

The complaint isn't that that musicians are composing songs against the administration; it's that they're doing it so poorly and at the expense of both their fans and their integrity.

Like, oh, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead playing at a political fundraiser for Al Gore. Yeah, Al Gore. The political genius behind the PMRC. One can only hope that somewhere, Frank Zappa was kicking Jerry Garcia in the ass...

That is all.

Doc's Gone to the Speedway in the Sky...

Acting legend Paul Newman dies at 83

WESTPORT, Conn. - Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money" — and as an activist, race car driver and popcorn impresario — has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

The "Doc" in the title would of course be Doc Hudson from the Pixar film "Cars", Newman's most recent work and the one I've seen the most (having two young kids who loved it...). Paul Newman's on-screen resume includes such icons as Eddie Felson, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy, Judge Roy Bean, and one of my favorites, Reg Dunlop. The man practically defined bad-ass.

Rest in peace, Paul. May the Newman Foundation continue to flourish as a testament to your vision.

Thanks to alert reader brad_in_ma for alerting me to this news...

That is all.

I Have Arrived...

For I am the recipient of a "Saturday Redneck" courtesy of my blogson...

Not only that, but it's one of my very favorite songs in the world. And I suspect it will become even more beloved in 8+ years, once BabyGirl G. is {SHUDDER} starting to date...

That is all.

It's Fall...

Yep. There's a distinct chill in the air. The leaves are starting to leach out chlorophyll, turning shades of crimson, orange, and amber.

And it's time to put the full windshield back on the Electra Glide and dig out the leather chaps.

It's a good time of year to ride. Full leathers are comfortable again, which is a good thing.

Now if it would only stop raining...

That is all.

Random Rambling...

*Picked up the replacement laptop last night. Got it home, set up, and working just fine. Now it's the waiting game to see if the USB ports on this one get pooched or not...

*On the ride to Best Buy, I apparently took a side-trip through Darwin's Waiting Room. There was some imbecile dressed in black walking his dog - with no reflectors, flashlights, or any other means of letting the motoring public that Joe Stupid was walking in the dark. There was a pair of bicyclists riding down the middle (!!!) of the winding, unlit backroad with little blinking taillights and helmet head lamps.

*Some poser in a Civic ricer-wannabe pulled up next to me at the lights on the 495 Connector. It's a straight shot to 495 with a speed limit of 55 MPH and no place for Johnny Law to hide. So Rico Suavé pulls up next to me and starts revving his go-kart engine, complete with coffee can muffler. Naturally, I give the hemi a goose... Light turns green, I get the truck sideways, then take off for Canada... I can hit triple digits in no time, come to find out... Ah, yes, some things never change...

*Yesterday was a banner day here at MArooned - over 700 hits, our best day yet. Thanks to everyone who stopped by my little corner of the 'web, and a special thanks to SayUncle for the linky-love.

*And speaking of banner events, it looks like we might break 100 posts this month. That's a lot of my blathering in 30 days. I'm going to have to think of something nice to do for y'all for putting up with me...

That is all.

New Blogs! New Blogs!

Folks, we have five new blogs added to the blogroll today. Busy day.

The first three blogs are blogs I've been reading for ages and finally realized that I didn't have them on my 'roll (Shame, shame Jay G!). {Shameless link whore alert} I don't see MArooned on any of these blogrolls, so if you happen to see this note... Oh, you might feel a pang of regret and remorse that your blogroll is missing a foulmouthed biker gun nut from Massa-fucking-chusetts... *g*

1. Murphy Was A Grunt is a former Marine (NEVER say "ex-Marine" unless the person in question was literally drummed out of the Corps) who has one funny take on life. He's also generous enough to share his tales of derring-do in the service with us. Thank you for your service, Murphy, and welcome aboard.

2. Home On The Range is home to the delightfully talented Brigid. Hmm. A stunning redhead who's a pilot, loves Sigs, and goes shooting with Tam and Roberta. What's not to like???

3. The aforementioned RobertaX from The Adventures of Roberta X. Another fan of the holy trifecta: Firearms, motorcycles, and science fiction. Plus she rooms with Tam and is a Hoosier a la Og.

4. Epijunky at Pink Warm And Dry (I know there's gotta be a story behind that name!) I found through various comments but also through the new "Follow This Blog" feature. For some bizarre reason she thinks that my insane monkey poo flinging here is interesting enough to follow. I'm flattered beyond the capacity for rational thought...

and lastly, but certainly not least, please welcome:

5. Sir Limerick at Pajamaverse. Posts his commentary in limerick form. Most creative! And, what's most amazing of all, he actually e-mailed me to tell me about the blog! (That's a hint for anyone out there linking MArooned that's not on the MArooned blogroll...)

That is all.

Friday Motorhead Fun Thread

Okay, time for something a little... lighter.

I've done the "coolest" cars of the 1980s. Call it the "good". Today, we're going to focus on the "bad" cars of the 1980s. Next week, naturally, will be the most subjective, the "ugly"...

My criteria for choosing the "bad" cars is just that - mine. Some were chosen because they were just horrifically bad ideas. Some were pieces of junk. Some were genuinely unsafe. All are, IMHO, bad. So here we go!

---

1. Late 1980s Ford Taurus. I know that commenter sci-fi is going to disagree with me on this one, particularly in the #1 slot, but his experience bears out why this is the worst of the bad. Two transmissions. Three engines. Countless electronics. All in a scant 7 years. And his wasn't the worst - a buddy of mine's dad bought an '88 Taurus that chewed through SIX transmissions before he finally had Ford take it back under the Lemon Law.

2. Mid- to late 1980s Dodge Caravan turbo. Yeah. Great freakin' idea, guys. Put an underpowered four banger in a big, heavy box. Then, in an attempt to get more power, slap a turbocharger on it. This was Chrysler's "Put A Turbo In It!" policy taken to the extreme.

3. Cadillac Cimarron. SRSLY? A Chevy Cavalier with Caddy emblems on it? WTF??? Guys... Honest. This is a twofer for badness - the Cimarron is arguably the granddaddy of "badge engineering" that brought us such idiocies as the Lincoln Blackwood and the Cadillac SVT.

4. Third Generation Chevrolet Camaro, 4-banger. Yes, that's right. They stuffed the 2.5L I4 "Iron Duke" four-banger into the freakin' Camaro... GM's "pony beater" was turned into a bloated, underpowered piece of rolling crap. This was, IMHO, the beginning of the end of the J-body...

5. 1987 Cadillac Allante. While we're talking about underpowered GM offerings, let's mention the first-issue Allante. Originally slated to take on the Mercedes 500 series convertibles, the Allante's anemic powering quickly made it abundantly clear that the big Mercedes was in no danger from General Motors.

6. Okay, one last underpowered GM and I'll stop bashing: The 1988 Buick Reatta. It was supposed to be a high-performance coupe/convertible. And then the bean counters got to it and stuffed the same, tired, 165 HP 3800V6 into it. Once again, GM comes up with a great concept, then stuffs it full of FAIL.

7. Ford Bronco II. While the Suzuki Samarai gained notoriety for rolling over, the Bronco II was actually worse in rollover tests. Its tall profile, short wheelbase design made for a very unstable platform prone to rolling over even at relatively slow speeds.

8. Chrysler TC. Yeah, here's a great idea. Grab a stock LeBaron. Throw a bunch of over-priced Maserati emblems on it. Don't touch the engine. Then charge triple the price of a stock LeBaron. How'd that work for ya, Lee???

9. 1988 Ford Festiva. This was Ford's second attempt at re-badging a small foreign car (first was the Fiesta). Like the first, it was ill-received here on American shores. Basing it off a Kia was probably not the greatest idea going, especially given the "quality" of Korean automobile manufacture in the 1980s (think Hyundai).

10. K-Car based limousine. Yes, you read that correctly. Chrysler actually made a limousine version based on their line of K-cars. I am not making this up. No, I don't know what they were smoking. Obviously it was skunked... This is epic FAIL...

I hope this list has been entertaining, and as always, feel free to include your own nominations for "Bad Cars of the 1980s" in comments!

That is all.

Verbal Beat-down

Kevin takes a "journalist" out to the verbal woodshed...

Go. Read. 'Tis a thing of beauty...

That is all.

Friday Gun Pr0n #78

Alternate Title: Finally, We See the New & Improved Model 17!

*sigh*

I really was hoping that I'd have to postpone this gun pr0n one more week. Last Saturday, at the GOAL Banquet, I bid on a succession of fine firearms, but did not manage to acquire any. Obviously, I blame George Bush and his eeevil gun show loophole...

However, there is an upside - I finally get to put up the picture of the corrected Model 17 that I promised, oh, three weeks ago... As I mentioned in that long-ago post, I had acquired a Model 19 with the 4" barrel last summer, and it came with the target grips from Smith & Wesson. The Model 17 was sporting a pair of Hogue Monogrips, which replaced a garish pair of faux wood (read: genuine plastique) Safariland grips.

In the run-up to my second new shooter outing earlier this month, I had grabbed the trusty Model 17 and the 19 at the same time. Looking at them, it struck me that the grips really ought to be swapped - the recoil-reducing Monogrips were much better served on the .357 Magnum Model 19, and the checkered target grips were made for the Model 17 in the minimally recoiling .22lr.

Here's what she looks like decked out in her Sunday finest:

Damn, but that's a beautiful wheelgun... Much better with the original S&W target grips to go with the target hammer and trigger... And the good folks at Smith & Wesson really know their stuff - those grips work awesome on the Model 17. I was nailing clay pigeons on the 25 yard berm at the pistol range with alarming frequency...

That is all.

I Know I Shouldn't Laugh, But...

This had me roaring:

Yes, there is Bailout FAIL...

(Photo sent by alert reader and longtime friend Sci-fi...)

That is all.

Slave to the (Recent) Grind...

(My apologies to anyone who now has Skid Row's Slave to the Grind stuck in their heads... Like I do...)

As I mentioned earlier, the new laptop that we bought on Sunday has a glitch. A quick call to the SuperMegaTelcoMart where it was purchased indicated that it was still under their 14 day return policy, and that I could bring it in and have it repaired or replaced. So last night I boxed up all the pieces parts and dragged it back to the store.

The customer service dude booted it up, saw the error message, and called over a manager. He took a look at it, authorized a replacement, and sent another associate to see if they had one in stock. Needless to say, given my rather Murphyian luck, a replacement was not in stock, but expected on a shipment coming in today.

What this (long-winded) explanation means is that I left the new laptop sitting in the original packaging last night, as there's just no reason to unpack it only to pack it up again tonight. Which means that we're back down to one computer, the cranky old machine in the office on the second floor (the room over our garage).

In just three short days, I got into a new routine with the laptop. I'd get the kids up and dressed, get them downstairs and seated for breakfast, and then pop the laptop open and read the news while drinking my morning coffee. I like this routine - I can still read the latest news and blogs, but not have to leave the children to their own devices to do it. Three short days. And this morning I had to bring my coffee cup up into the office so that I could continue the routine. I grew accustomed to the laptop in half a week. This is rather disturbing, especially given the typical "luck" I experience with home electronics.

And, naturally, I started thinking about routines in general. With kids, it's good to get them into a routine. They seem to do better when they know that they're supposed to do "X" at "Y" time (it helps even more once they can tell time!). We note everything on the calendar, such as what the "special" of the day is at school (their library/gym/computers classes are called "specials" and they have a different one every day of the week). And then there's the extra-curricular activities, the soccer, karate, Cub Scouts, Daisy Troops, swimming, gymnastics, etc. Every day they're out the door and on the go; every day has its own unique routine.

Remember one thing, though: You can't spell "routine" without "rut"...

We should endeavor to shake things up; to get out of the routine; to escape that daily grind and do something different. Go for a walk at lunch today. Screw the prepared dinner plans and take the kids to McDonald's - on a school night! No one remembers the routine later on in life. They remember the one time you took off for the weekend and drove to DC just because one of the kids was curious about the Lincoln Memorial that they were learning about in school. Have fun - this is the only life we get. Live it to the fullest.

That is all.

More Tolerance from the Left...

TV anchor who resembles Palin gets 'hate mail'

BANGOR, Maine - A television news anchor in Maine who looks a lot like Sarah Palin says she's been getting "hate mail and nasty phone calls."

Cindy Michaels from WVII-TV has long brown hair that she sometimes wears up in a style similar to Palin's, and she also wears glasses on occasion.

Michaels says some viewers recently began accusing her of trying to copy Palin's style or, worse, somehow trying to subliminally sway votes.

First, while Ms. Michaels is certainly an attractive woman, she's no Sarah Palin:

Not even close...

Second, Ms. Michaels apparently has the dumbest viewers in America, if they think that her hairstyle and choice of eyewear is some sort of subliminal message to vote for McCain/Palin. Her cohorts in the rest of the media are unabashedly supporting Obamessiah; why would she intentionally torpedo her own career?

That is all.

I Give Up...

Puzzling through another McCain surprise

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain jolted the 2008 race Wednesday by saying he’d suspend his campaign and come to the Capitol to help pass a bill to rescue the nation’s financial sector.

He also called for a postponement of the debate with his Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama, set for Friday night.

You know how that's going to be spun against him? It's going to be painted as giving up.

We just witnessed Barack Obama winning the Presidency, folks. You don't suspend a campaign a scant month before the election. Not when you're the Republican candidate. Not when the media is completely and unabashedly in the hip pocket of your opponent. McCain just had his "tank" moment, I fear.

Get ready for Jimmy Carter, Part II.

That is all.

Huh!

Okay. Just called Best Buy about the computer issue.


I'm not going to get my hopes up too much, but I was told that they have a 14 day return policy and to bring the new laptop in. They'll check it out and repair or replace it as part of their policy.


So color me cautiously optimistic. Obviously I'll feel better once it's back to normal, but at least there's hope right now. Cabin in Montana has been put on hold...

That is all...

Shorter AWB Opposition Post

I found a much simpler way to encapsulate just why I hate the AWB. Pictures.


You see, this is perfectly acceptable:

Whereas this is considered an "Assault Weapon":

See? One's a traditional rifle, wood stock, nothing special. The other is an eeeevil scawy black rifle, with folding stock, pistol grip, and "banana clip" high-capacity magazine.

Except, of course, that they're the same fucking gun. Astute readers will immediately recognize both as the venerable Ruger 10/22; the more discriminating gunnie will note the Krinker conversion in the second picture.

Same gun. Same action. Same caliber. Same same same.

The difference between the two guns is purely cosmetic. They function identically. And yet I am perfectly free to own as many of the first type, but I become a felon upon taking possession of the second.

Does that make a lick of sense to anyone with two functioning brain cells?

One gun is illegal in states with continued AWB (or the US once Barry gets in and implements AWB II, now with even more intrusions!). Even though it is the same damned thing...

Here, let's do it again:

Legal:

Illegal:

Once again, I've chosen a Ruger; this time the Mini-14. The "legal" gun is the Mini-14 in standard "factory" configuration; the second has received a Wilson Precision treatment with Butler Creek folding stock and scope.

Same gun. Same action. Same caliber. Same same same.

But one gun looks eeeevil and scawy. Doesn't matter that they function the same way or shoot the same round or accept the same damn magazines. One looks scary.

And on its looks alone, we fear it and make laws prohibiting its possession.

It's time to free the evil rifles, folks. They've done nothing wrong. They just want to be loved and brought to the range just like all the nice wood-stocked ones...

That is all.

Respect for the Law

Kentucky man arrested for 1,000th time

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) -- He's hit another a milestone. A Lexington man, famous for how many times he's been arrested, took his 1,000th trip to jail.

Police arrested Henry Earl for alcohol intoxication, a charge he's faced hundreds of times before.

Earl is a pseudo-celebrity because of his extensive record. He's been featured on late night talk shows and has several websites dedicated to tracking his arrest record.

Earl's 1,000th arrest happened late Monday night on South Limestone. He'll be in court Tuesday afternoon to answer to this latest charge.

If you're wondering what 1,000 arrests equals, here's a look at Henry Earl's history.

In all, he's spent 4,123 days in jail.

35 of his 1000 arrests have been this year alone, landing him behind bars 189 days in 2008.

On average, Earl is out of jail about two days before he lands back behind bars, although this time he was out for four days before his latest arrest.

1,000 arrests. 4,123 days in jail. That works out to a little over four days in jail per arrest.

What does it say about our justice system here? To me, it says two clear and distinct things. First off, the concept of incarceration and rehabilitation fail for some people. That Earl didn't learn his lesson after the 10^th time or even the 100^th is blatantly obvious. The sentences were obviously either too lenient to make an impression or the "crimes" he was arrested for should not have been crimes at all.

Which is my second point. If the law is so feeble that a man can be arrested one thousand times in the span of a dozen years, why bother? Earl's peers see him in and out of jail, even to the point of gaining notoriety, and what message does that send about our criminal justice system? It says the system is broken, with little hope of repair.

When a man repeatedly engages in a pattern of behavior contrary to the laws of society, and we let him walk into, and out of, our penal system, it makes a mockery of that system. This man's record is either replete with crimes that should never have been considered crimes (public drunkenness, for example), or he should have earned a longer stay in the greybar hotel to make him re-think his lifestyle.

To allow a travesty of this magnitude, though, turns our penal system into a grotesque caricature of itself. We see a repeat offender sentenced to multiple incarcerations - 35 arrests this year alone for a staggering total of 189 days in jail - yet no reform of either the offender or the revolving door justice system that coddles him. At what point do we say "enough"? How many times must the system fail before we scrap it entirely? We need to reach a point where we say, "this is not working" and take steps to address it; otherwise we're simply saying "Do it again, only exactly the same".

It's high time we took back the justice system. Certainly we want to attempt to rehabilitate those that want help; however, once a recidivist has shown a certain level of contempt for the system, it's time to make the punishment more draconian. Perhaps adding multipliers per year - i.e., this is your 10^th arrest this year, we're going to multiply your punishment 10 fold. Harsh? On its face, yes. But considering that the offender would need to be arrested nearly once a month, arguably not cruel nor unusual.

In any case, someone as blatant as Earl needs to be dealt with in a more severe manner that he's been receiving for the past decade or so. 1,000 arrests, no matter what for, is unconscionable. Our system needs significant reform to bring itself back from the shallow parody that it is today, otherwise this will only deteriorate the longer it is allowed to metastasize. Unless and until we start dealing with criminals in a manner they can understand - cold, harsh, and immediate - we will invite more of the same.

And in that meantime, the politicians will stand over the bodies of the dead and cry out that they need to restrict my Second Amendment rights so it won't happen again. Bullshit. Making the goblins pay for their crimes, and dearly at that, is the clearest way to reduce crime. Not going after barrel shrouds or pistol grips.

That is all.

One Day...

Sonofabi...


Had the new computer for one stinkin' day and already come across the first problem... The USB ports have stopped recognizing peripherals. This is a huge pain in the ass.

A quick check on the ol' intarweb reveals that this has been an issue with Toshiba laptops for several years now. Fuck me.

Why the fuck do I always, without fail, manage to find the one fucking product that has all the problems?

I'm guessing I'm pretty well-screwed - best-case scenario is that I'll have to ship my computer back to freakin' Japan to get it fixed in the next 6-18 months or so...

It's times like these that the 14' square cabin in Montana looks pretty fucking good...

That is all.

QOTD

Today's Quote Of The Day comes from that erstwhile philosopher og, the Neanderpundit:

I’m willing to deal with a little danger and inconvenience for freedom, and everyone should be.

Damn skippy og. As Jubal Harshaw would say, there's no safety this side of the grave.

That is all.

Life Imitating Art...

'Heroic' coffee toss foils robbery

Coffee can offer more than just a morning jolt. A steaming cup of java, it turns out, can also stop a crime.

Early this morning in Brookfield, two men in hooded sweatshirts and Halloween masks tried to rob a Cumberland Farms on Route 9. A customer tossed his coffee on one of the bandits, and the two would-be robbers scampered away empty-handed, police said.

Jeff Spicoli declined comment.

That is all.

(Tip 'o' the keyboard to poster Bob P at Northeastshooters forum)

Deconstructing the Assault Weapons Ban...

Given how one of the candidates currently running for office has voiced his support for making the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 permanent (oh, and his running mate helped write said ban...), there's a 50:50 chance that we could be staring down the barrel (ha! a gun pun!) of a new and/or "improved" assault weapons ban.

That said, I'd like to take a look at the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, in particular Title XI (a.k.a. Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, abbreviated forthwith as AWB) with an eye towards pointing out the blatant absurdity inherent in the original ban. I'll admit to my own prejudice here, right up front: I think the AWB was a poorly-constructed, ill-written pile of bovine excrement whose supporters have to lie, cheat, and otherwise stretch the truth to heretofore unseen proportions to even vaguely begin to justify this travesty.

I'd like to focus on the criteria used to ban said "assault weapons". Ignoring the idiocy of banning weapons by name (which, of course, was circumvented in seconds by re-naming the weapons), here's what made a semi-automatic rifle an "assault weapon":

`(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of--
`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
`(iii) a bayonet mount;
`(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor; and
`(v) a grenade launcher;

Got that? It had to have the detachable magazine, and at least 2 of 5 features to be considered an assault weapon. Why two features and not one or three? Who knows? Perhaps the good folks at Monty Python were involved...

Of the five features, two are patently ridiculous from the get-go: Bayonet mount (please, can anyone point out an instance of a bayonet assault occuring sometime, oh, since the start of the Industrial Age?) and Grenade Launcher - considering that "destructive devices" (a.k.a. grenades) are already heavily regulated by the BATFE, what is the rationale behind prohibiting a grenade launcher? The pistol grip is nearly as ludicrous - all it does is provide a different grip angle than a straight stock. That's it. There's no magic inherent in the so-called pistol grip that confers extra ballistics or super-lethality to the rounds fired; although the proponents of the ban were often spouting nonsense such as "spray-firing from the hip" (one can only assume they stumbled across footage of someone bump-firing a semi-auto AK clone or they saw too many Liberian Freedom Fighters in action...)

The last two features are the flash suppressor and the folding or telescoping stock. These have at least some tenuous connection to reality - the folding/telescoping stock could conceivably make the weapon easier to conceal, and the flash suppressor could possibly reduce the visibility of the muzzle flash, making it harder to spot the rifle in use. Yes, it is a stretch - a *big* stretch. But easier than a grenade launcher...

What's mind-numbingly stupid is that none of these features make a damn bit of difference in how the gun performs. There's nothing that helps in aiming. They didn't go after a pistol-grip on the forend. They didn't preclude scope mounts or other types of improved aiming systems. They didn't even limit the calibers that the rifles could chamber - basically, the Mini-14 firing the marginal .223 Remington is considered as dangerous as an FN/FAL in .308 Winchester... In short, nothing affected by the ban changed a single thing about how the weapon operated. If the object of the Assault Weapons Ban was to make semi-automatic rifles less dangerous, epic fail.

Of course, some would argue (your humble host included), that there was never any interest in reducing the number of so-called "assault weapons" - the aim was, pure and simple, to get the American people used to the concept of further Second Amendment intrusions. Back in the 1930s the hue and cry was that the police were outgunned by the mafia because of the easy availability of machine guns; hence the 1934 Federal Firearms Act. The assasination of Robert Kennedy lead to the infamous Gun Control Act of 1968 which put significant restrictions on the importation of certain types of firearms, mail-ordering of firearms, and age limits.

In short, we were long overdue for more gun control in the eyes of those who would deny us our rights.

---

Onto the pistol portion:

`(C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of--
`(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip;
`(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;
`(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned;
`(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded; and
`(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm;

These are even more nonsensical than the rifle prohibitions.

A magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip??? Did anyone think for even a second about this one? The reason that magazines traditionally go into the pistol grip is that it's easiest to find your own hands - our bodies are designed to automatically go together. Putting the magazine outside the pistol grip makes the weapon less intuitive to use. This makes it less dangerous.

Threaded barrel? Considering that silencers are already heavily regulated and foregrips make the pistol an NFA weapon, the only things left are barrel extenders (HUH?) and our nemesis from the rifle ban, the flash suppressor. Stupid, stupid, stupid. None of these have ANY basis in reality.

A barrel shroud? Are these people on crack? There's only one pistol I can think of that utilizes a barrel shroud, the Intratec-9 (Tec-9). It's a poorly manufactured jam-o-matic that looked real cool wielded by Jack Burton, but in reality suffered from so many design flaws that it was best suited for use as a boat anchor... In fact, most of the pistol portion of the AWB sounds like it was specifically written with the Tec-9 in mind...

Manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more. Are you kidding me? If the basis for banning folding stocks on rifles was that it made the gun more portable, explain why lighter handguns are desirable??? Hell, I'd say we're lucky they didn't demand that ALL pistols be made to weigh more than 50 ounces as part of the AWB... To put things in perspective, the Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum with 4" barrel weighs 56 ounces. It's a freakin' brick (by design, of course, to soak up the massive recoil). It's not something you toss in your waistband and jog through the 'hood with.

And, lastly... A semi-automatic version of a fully automatic weapon? Considering that there aren't a whole heckuva lot of machine pistols as compared to light rifles, this one puzzles me the most. It would appear that they were trying to ban Uzis without specifically naming Uzi. Other than that, I'm out of ideas. The Glock model 18 is available as a fully automatic pistol; does this mean that all models of Glocks should have been banned?

These regulations were apparently written by someone with a poor grasp of English, let alone basic engineering or general firearms construction. It's abundantly clear that they had a very small selection of firearms in mind when this bill was drafted, and outside-the-box thinking simply was not tolerated. But then again, clear thinking often falls by the wayside in the rush to trample unpopular rights...

---

And, lastly, high-capacity feeding devices (magazines) :

(b) DEFINITION OF LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICE- Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by section 110102(b), is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(31) The term `large capacity ammunition feeding device'--
`(A) means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device manufactured after the date of enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition;

More than 10 rounds. Newly manufactured 15-, 20-, 30-, etc. round magazines were prohibited under the AWB. Why? Does anyone seriously think that the 1-2 second delay in changing a magazine makes a lick of difference in a mass shooting? A madman armed with a semi-automatic weapon and three 10 round magazines is somehow less dangerous than with one 30 round magazine? Was any thought put into this whatsoever? Why 10 rounds? Why not 5? It just seems so freaking arbitrary. What makes this even more meaningless is the abundance of "pre-ban" magazines for military surplus weapons - AK-47 clones and AR-15 variants have literally millions of pre-ban magazines available.

I'll even admit one of my deep, dark secrets. I actually prefer 10 round magazines for my semi-automatic rifles. I find that, even with light-kicking rounds like .30 Carbine or .223, after about 10 rounds I'm ready to shoot something else. Hell, I simply start getting bored... Even the 15 round magazines for my P226 get onerous after a while. Not to mention that with ammo prices skyrocketing ever higher, it's cheaper on the wallet to shoot slower...

---

So there's my (admittedly shallow) analysis of certain portions of the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. Since we could possibly be in the unenviable position of repeating history through our inability to learn from it, I figured a quick primer would be in order. Any politician voicing support for such an egregious violation of our protected Second Amendment rights should be opposed vigorously and thoroughly. It's clear they either do not understand our Second Amendment, do not trust us with liberty, and/or actively view us as subjects to be controlled.

I want no part of that noise. And I will work to the best of my ability to insure that anyone supporting such nonsense be defeated at the ballot box. I'd prefer "be run out of town on a rail" or "be tarred and feathered then placed in the town stocks", but we'll take crushing defeat as a close second...

That is all.

For My Blogson...

PatriotPost. Sign up for their thrice-weekly e-mail here. It's well-worth the time to read...

Here's a good bumper sticker for you, Ted...

That is all.

Goldilocks He Ain't...

Mom finds hungry stranger snoring in son's bed

BILLINGS, Mont. - A man was charged with burglary after he allegedly broke into a home, ate cheese from the refrigerator, made a mess in a bathroom and fell asleep on a child's bed.

Home Invasion: UR doin it wrong.

However:

The woman said she found a strange man sleeping in her son's bed. She woke her husband and left to call police from a neighbor's house. The husband confronted the man with an unloaded shotgun and held him until police arrived.

Home Defense: UR doin it wrong. But UR lucky.

Unloaded? SRSLY? WTF?

That is all.

Unintended Consequences...

Alternate title: File Under "N" for No Shit Sherlock...

Across Mass., wait to see doctors grows

The wait to see primary care doctors in Massachusetts has grown to as long as 100 days, while the number of practices accepting new patients has dipped in the past four years, with care the scarcest in some rural areas.

Now, as the state's health insurance mandate threatens to make a chronic doctor shortage worse, the Legislature has approved an unprecedented set of financial incentives for young physicians, and other programs to attract primary care doctors. But healthcare leaders fear the new measures will take several years to ease the shortage.

Okay, raise your hand if you didn't see this coming. MA passes a law that says all MA residents must have health insurance. Doesn't matter if you're a healthy young adult with no history of medical issues who can chance not having insurance - in this case, you have no right to "choose" what to do with your body.

The medical profession then sees the writing on the wall: increasing regulation and interference by the state under the guise of protecting the Medicare "investment" as more formerly uninsured folks start going to the doctor. The article states that only 2% of all medical school graduates go into Primary Care.

Hmmm. Waits of 1 to 3 months to see a doctor. Why does that sound familiar?

That is all.

AAR: GOAL Heritage Banquet...

Okay. I mentioned it earlier, so here's the AAR.

Took Mrs. G. to the GOAL Heritage Banquet last night. Every year, GOAL has several Heritage Banquets around the state to raise funds and to bring its members together for a night filled with good food, good company, and to keep us informed as to against which windmills they will be tilting anti-gun laws they will be trying to thwart in the hive of scum and villiany that is the MA state house...

There are many raffles in which to participate, covering everything from collectible baseball cards to shotguns to full IDPA packages. There are also numerous auctions in which to participate, with many firearms and firearms-related items up for bid. Last night's guest speaker was Cam Edwards, of NRANews fame. Cam gave a rousing speech filled with history, activism, and tales from his show; he kept the crowd entertained but also made some strong points about how far we've come and how far we still have left to travel in the struggle for 2A freedom.

I also had a first. I got blanked.

This is the third Heritage Banquet I've attended (they started in 2006); and the past two years I've walked out of the Banquet with a shiny new rifle - a new Marlin Model 60 in 2006 and a Marlin Model 39A last year.

But this year, it was not to be... The bidding was fast, furious, and (eventually), too rich for my blood. There was a Heller Commemorative Smith & Wesson Model 442 revolver that I was quite interested in; however I wound up bidding against a friend and chose to leave it to him. There was a Ruger Mark II that I bid on fairly aggressively; however, another gentleman in the crowd was bidding just as aggressively, and while the money was going to a good cause, I wasn't about to pay more than MSRP for a Mark II...

So, empty-handed I left. Oh well. There will be other events, other guns to buy...

*sigh*

That is all.

30 Second Range Report...

Took my blogson to the club for some shootin' this afternoon. Much .22LR was flung downrange. Many orange clays met their untimely demise.

Shootin' stuff is fun. The S&W Model 17 is crazy accurate, and fun to boot. Nothing says "good day shooting" quite like to busting 6 out of 6 clays on the 25 yard berm...

And I've got a new computer and wireless internet. Heheheheheh...

That is all.

Live & Direct Kitchen Blogging...

Well, it appears that I have managed to both set up the new computer (read: take it out of the box without dropping it...) and get the wireless network up and running (read: follow instructions like a good little chimp...)

Holy crap, this is pretty freakin' cool...

That is all...

New Laptop!!!

EDIT: I have the new G. laptop.

And the winner is... a Toshiba! 3G RAM, 160 G HD, DVD RW. 17" monitor - it's actually bigger than the TV we have in our camper!

Now I just hope I can elbow enough people out of the way to get one at Best Buy this morning...

Heh. It's amazing how the sea of computer geeks parts when a 6' tall shaved head biker walks up to the entrance. Actually, I kid. Some geek even stepped on my foot on the rush in and I even refrained from re-arranging his facial bone structure...

(Side note: How hard is it to set up a computer these days? Look for much cursing in Casa del G...)

Still working on setup. It appears I'm stuck with Vista, at least for now...

((Side note2: Should have a review of the GOAL Heritage Banquet later today. A good time was had by all, but I had a first...))

That is all

Bet You Thought I Was Kidding...

...when I said I was ordering one of these...

Well, if you did think that, you thought wrong:

Heh. I predict this will see extensive wear. Might have to order a back-up just in case...

That is all.

Complete This Headline...

Bill Clinton likes Palin's...

Oh, the jokes just write themselves, don't they?

In a related note, I watched the morning news today during my workout and saw that Clinton was talking about Palin during some interview he'd given recently. I'll chalk it up to an endorphin-induced hallucination, but I could have sworn Clinton said,

Sarah Palin? I'd hit it.

Heh.

That is all.

Yarrrr!

Well shiver me timbers, matie, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Here aboard the SS MArooned, we're lucky buccaneers indeed, as there are not one, not two, but three pirates on the blogroll: Cap'n Weer'd Beard himself, First Mate Strings, and Bosun Paul, the Pirate. Go visit those scurvy bilge rats and tell them Cap'n JayBeard himself sends his regards (and a bucket 'o' rum).

That is all.

Friday Gun Pr0n #77

*sigh*

I really did intend to post a picture of the new and improved Model 17 last week.

Except that a(n almost) too-good-to-be purchase fell into my hands at the GOAL yard sale two weeks back, and new guns take precedence over pre-arranged pictures of guns that have already been featured. I was planning to put up the picture of the new and improved Model 17 today.

Until...

I looked at the date. September 19^th. 9/19. Well, you don't need to be a numerologist to know that this is a sign - today's guns have to be chambered in 9X19mm!

We'll start with a quick primer on the various and sundry 9mm offerings out there. The X19 part is pretty important, as there are at least three other 9mm variants in some stages of use currently out there:

9X17mm, a.k.a. .380 ACP, 9mm short, or 9mm kurtz
9X18mm, a.k.a. 9mm Mak (Makarov)
9X23mm, a.k.a. 9mm Largo or Steyr

None of these should ever, under any circumstances, be loaded into a gun chambered for 9X19mm (a.k.a. 9mm Luger or 9mm Parabellum). Bad, bad things will happen...

---

Without further digression, here are the various 9X19mm-chambered firearms in the G. armory:

Smith & Wesson Model 39. Single-stack, steel frame, 8+1 capacity, traditional double action semi-automatic pistol. This is the single-stack companion to the Model 59, considered the progenitor of the high capacity wunder-nines.

SigSauer model P226. Double-stack, steel frame, 15+1 capacity, traditional double action semi-automatic pistol.

Smith & Wesson Model SW99 compact. Double-stack, polymer-frame, 10+1 capacity double-action only (DAO) striker-fired semi-automatic pistol.

---

So there's the 9X19mm offerings in the G. armory. There's an equal number of 9X17mm handguns, however we are lacking in the 9X18mm department. With any kind of luck, a CZ-82 will fill that hole in the not-too-distant future. I don't foresee any 9mm Largo acquisitions on the horizon, though...

That is all.

Yeah, Let Us Know How That Works For You...

Biden Calls Paying Higher Taxes A Patriotic Act

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. The Republican campaign for president calls the tax increases their Democratic opponents propose "painful" instead of patriotic.

I'm guessing this ought to go over like Read My Lips...

And I can't help but wonder who Biden "borrowed" this from...

That is all.

Permit Permutations...

I'd like to talk about the concept of concealed-carry permits, and specifically why I think they're useless.

First off, there's the unconstitutional aspect - I feel strongly about the "shall not be infringed" part of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms". There's a good deal of debate over what, exactly, the founding fathers meant by "bear". Some scholars point to evidence that the phrase "bear arms" was limited only to military persons during the time of the Founding Fathers; others disagree. From reading their own words, though, it's pretty hard to think they could make statements such as:

No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms. — Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776.

or

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined or determined to commit crimes. Such laws only make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assassins; they serve to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. — Thomas Jefferson: 1764 Letter and speech from T. Jefferson quoting with approval an essay by Cesare Beccari.

or

A free people ought to be armed. — George Washington: Jan 14 1790, Boston Independent Chronicle.

if they had intended only the standing army to be allowed to carry arms.

That said, Jefferson's quote about laws forbidding the carriage of arms is central to my disagreement with the concept of requiring a permit to carry a weapon, concealed or otherwise. The people that will jump through the hoops to obtain a permit are exactly the kind of people that do not need to be permitted; that is to say they are the most law-abiding citizens to be found.

Study after study show that concealed permit holders commit far fewer crimes than the average citizen - for instance, David Kopel's study in 1996 pegged the number at a staggering 0.002% of FL permit holders. Do we infer from this that the granting of a permit to carry a concealed weapon somehow magically transforms sinners into saints? Occam's Razor would posit that it makes the most sense that folks who get permits are already extremely law-abiding.

Why, then, are permits necessary? If the people who apply for concealed permit applicants are the crème de la crème of honest citizens, isn't it redundant to ask they get the permits in the first place? Isn't it safe to assume that less-than-savory citizens wouldn't bother with the permit at all, and carry regardless? It's a given that criminals carry without regard for legalities and permits (and we'll discard the circular argument that by carrying without a permit one is automatically a criminal; we'll consider that strike to be null).

Isn't it far more likely that the reason for granting a permit to carry a concealed weapon is simply another roadblock to prevent people from taking charge of their own self-defense? The more onerous the restrictions are made, the less likely the average person is going to be to bother with the process. In a larger sense, this is borne out every time there's a natural or man-made tragedy in the US - one of the first things to happen in the wake of the LA riots was a large increase in gun sales. It was only in the wake of the lawlessness shown in LA in 1992 that folks realized their vulnerability; it took wide-scale destruction and terror to move folks to consider self-defense.

Now place roadblock after roadblock: Proficiency testing; written tests; letters of recommendation; classes to attend. All time-consuming, inconvenient, and expensive as well. All for what? A slip of paper granting permission from the government to participate in an activity that the government has already been told it cannot abridge...

One need look no further than the state of MA and the draconian measures it passed 10 years ago to see the chilling effect on gun ownership:

85% Decrease in licensed gun owners
=
67% INCREASE in homicide related firearm deaths since 1998.
236% INCREASE in assault related firearm hospital discharges since 1998.
331% INCREASE in firearm assault related emergency room visits since 1999.
590% INCREASE in firearm assault outpatient observations since 2001.

(courtesy of GOAL - Gun Owner's Action League). A quote comes to mind:

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. — Ayn Rand

Make it so hard that very few bother; then crack down on the very few...

On its face, the idea of requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon looks reasonable. Place simple, basic requirements to pass before the permit is issued, then grant once all requirements are met. What could be simpler? Well, as states like CA, MA, NJ, MD, etc. have shown, those "simple" requirements become not-so-simple over time as the desire to control grows. Even in "shall issue" states, onerous regulations such as requiring a license to purchase a handgun have wormed their way into the laws of the land.

How anyone can claim that this process is reasonable defies basic logic and reason. Simply put, we are either free or we are not. If we cannot be trusted with firearms, then we should not be trusted with kitchen knives, chainsaws, or toasters. All a firearm does, quite simply, is make the killing of another from a distance a little easier. Within contact distance, a knife is easily as deadly; clubs can be improvised from nearly limitless objects; one's own hands can kill through blunt trauma or suffocation.

Blaming the inanimate chunk of metal for a crime (gun crime. What a simply moronic term) removes blame from the person responsible. It makes it less likely we'll focus on the true problems behind interpersonal violence, hence perpetuating the cycle. Isn't it time we looked beyond the tool used, and focused on the mindset of the person misusing the tool? Can anyone give an honest, fact-based reason to believe that a simple slip of paper will prevent the tool from being misused?

I don't think so. Vermont and Alaska do not require these slips of paper, and yet these states are not awash in bloodshed and mayhem. In NH (and certainly other states), the process is so simple and inexpensive (fill in a single sheet of paper, pay $10 and wait a week) that they might as well not even bother. Yet my neighbor to the north enjoys a crime rate an order of magnitude lower than MA, which requires a permit to own any firearm and an act of G-d to get a permit to carry.

It's not about the gun. It's about the control. And the sooner we realize that, and start pushing back against the gun-grabbers and nanny-staters who would gladly assume said control, the better.

That is all.

Bingo...

Tam distills the media coverage of the economic "crisis" to a single pithy sentence:

In business news this morning... ...ZOMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!

And encapsulates my sentiments on the matter to a T. Yes, we've had some bad news. But it's highly suspect to be receiving all economic doom all the time mere weeks before an election. Especially when the news conveniently ignores which of the two candidates had the former CEO of Fannie Mae on his VP search committee...

As a matter of fact, didn't the media jump all over George Bush in 2000 because he was saying less-than-stellar things about the state of the economy? In fact, I believe the term used was "talking down the economy". Of course, less than a year later, the headlines were ablaze with breathless human interest stories of folks whose lives were ruined in the "Bush Recession"...

Nope, nothing to see here, folks... Just more history beginning yesterday.

That is all.

Y'Know What Would Be Nice?

If the media showed 1/10^th as much interest in Barack Obama's working behind the scenes to alter troop withdrawal plans in Iraq as they do about Sarah Palin using a Yahoo account for Alaska government buisiness.

Actively suborning US interests overseas? Yawn.

Daring to use a personal e-mail account to get work done? OMFG, release the hounds.

The press is biased? Surely you jest! (and stop calling me Shirley...)

That is all.

Help A Blogger Out...

Mrs. Sailorcurt is going in for some exploratory surgery. Please keep her and Sailorcurt in your thoughts and prayers until this is a distant memory.

That is all.

All Linky...

Man, I have got some seriously excellent folks linked on the ol' blogroll...

Lots of good stuff out there today, but these guys really stand out:

Bruce puts a hurtin' on Obama and Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac special interest money.

Breda kicks the faux-feminists (you're only a feminist if you believe what we tell you to believe) right in their hypocritical keisters regarding Sarah Palin.

Lissa is on the same page I am with regards to the hookerification of our nation's children.

Mike W. came out to his dad - about being a gun owner.

Go. Read them all...

That is all.

221 Years Ago Today...

...The Constitution of the United States of America was signed.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

How many of our Congresscritters have ever read this document, let alone digest and understand it?

How many hope, nay, depend on the ignorance of their constituency on what this document actually states, as compared to what the politicians claim it states?

What a magnificent piece of work our Constitution is. In a little over 4,000 words, the framework for a system of government unlike that of any previously attempted was laid. 4,000 words. Should be an easy hour's read; perhaps half-a-day to digest entirely (FWIW, I scanned it in a little over six minutes).

And yet we've strayed so far from this hallowed parchment. In some areas, it's been necessary as we added new territory and corrected fundamental wrongs inherent in the society of the time. In other areas, not so necessary, and in other still, downright hostile to the original intent of the Founding Fathers.

How did we get so far removed from the framework laid down, and how can we best get back to it?

That's a question I wish I could answer...

Happy Constitution Day, everyone. Please take the time to read this document today. If you think of it, read it to your kids (I'm going to bore mine tonight). Take the time to educate a friend, a co-worker, a family member. Remember the sacrifices needed to make this document a reality, and the continuing sacrifices made on its behalf to this very day.

That is all.

Earworm?

Y'know, there are worse things to have stuck in your head than the guitar riff to "YYZ"...

That is all.

Calling All Heinlein Fans...

Here's a specialized request for the libertarian sci-fi fans out there...

I have just discovered the wonderful world of Robert A. Heinlein (I'm slow. Sue me). I've been slowly devouring his body of work, starting with Starship Troopers (ah, now I see why the movie sucked so mightily), then Stranger in a Strange Land, moving on to The Cat Who Could Walk Through Walls and finally The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

With so many books to his credit, I'm wondering just what I should tear into next.

Any thoughts on which way to go? I've liked everything I've read so far, with Stranger in a Strange Land my favorite so far (which, mind you, is akin to saying that out of my Colt Gold Cup, Smith & Wesson Model 17, and SigSauer P226, the Gold Cup is my favorite...) I'll most likely wind up getting pretty much everything he's written (when I find an author I enjoy, I tend to do just that...), but it'll be a bit at a time.

Thanks in advance.

That is all.

Did I Miss A Memo?

...or was today designated National Drive With Your Head Up Your Ass Day?

I mean, between being tailgated, cut off repeatedly, and having cars intentionally stop at green lights, there's no other explanation possible.

Oh, wait, there was a Democratic primary yesterday. That might explain it...

That is all.

Optics...

Steve over at The Firearms Blog has a question for us:

TFB Poll: Have you ever spent more on the optics than on the gun?

And I started thinking about it (always a dangerous proposition). I've got four guns with some sort of optics on them:

1. Remington Nylon 66 (Cheap Tasco 4X scope)
2. Remington model 511 (BSA 3-9X variable)
3. VEPR (Russian PSP scope)
4. S&W Model 422 (BSA red dot sight)

The model 422 and the VEPR came with their respective optics, so they don't count. Both Remingtons were given to me, so any price > $0 means yes. The scope on the 511 was also given to me, so that's a wash (unless you count the $5 I paid for shipping); the Tasco that's on the 66 was all of $10.

So, yes, I have spent more on optics than on the guns they're on. But me being the cheap bastard that I am, that's not surprising...

Oh, wait... I just thought of a fifth possibility. I have a spare BSA Weaver-mount red dot sight that I've put on my Winchester 1300. In that instance, I paid less for the optics than the gun...

Someday I hope to have a gun worthy of putting expensive optics on and shooting skills to make spending the money worthwhile. For the time being, I'll remain a cheap bastard...

That is all.

Takin' The Good With The Bad...

I'll start with the bad (if not unexpected):

Kerry wins primary decisively

US Senator John F. Kerry won a decisive victory last night against Edward O'Reilly, carrying virtually every Massachusetts city and town in his first Democratic primary challenge in 24 years.

Oh well. Six more years of Lurch. At least he's finally having to actually, you know, run for his office rather than have it handed to him every six years...

---

Then, the good:

A Senate fixture toppled

Dianne Wilkerson, the state's lone black senator and one of Beacon Hill's most controversial figures, lost in yesterday's primary by a paper-thin margin to a second-time challenger in a race in which Wilkerson's legal issues apparently overshadowed her high-profile endorsements and her record.

Sonia Chang-Díaz, a 30-year-old former Jamaica Plain schoolteacher and the daughter of an astronaut, defeated the 15-year incumbent who had the backing of top state Democrats including Governor Deval Patrick but was weakened by campaign finance and past legal troubles that left many voters in the vast and diverse Boston district demanding fresh representation.

Heh. How's that awesome endorsement power workin' for ya, Coupe? So we now have proof that the voters in Boston are not complete idiots. Maybe there's hope for us yet... (Nah...)

That is all.

Quote of the Day...

The Quote of the Day comes from my mother-in-law, explaining why she voted in the Democratic Primary today:

I wanted to be able to vote against John Kerry TWICE this election.

Heh.

That is all.

So Proud I Could Burst...

Alternate title: Like Blogfather, like Blogson.

Ted, my erstwhile Blogchild, has a New Shooter report of his very own up.

Go. Read. Congratulate Ted on a job well done.

That is all.

Gettin' Something Started...

National "Talk Like a Pirate Day" is coming up in three short days (ARRRR!), and it got me to thinking...

If we can have a day dedicated to talking like a pirate, why not something else that's even more fun?

I think it's time we got something started here. I hereby propose:

National Punch-A-Hippie Day.

What would work for a day? Or should we look broader, and make it Punch a Hippie month???

That is all.

Official Laptop Info Bleg...

Okay... After the latest round of technical difficulties, Casa del G. has finally opted to bring our computing hardware up-to-date (current PC was built in 2002).

We have decided that a laptop would be the way to go - run a router off the modem and set up a wireless network throughout the house. We can add on more laptops down the road as the kids start needing their own computers (using, of course, the trickle-down theory as our old laptop gets a HD wipe and becomes their new laptop...).

We don't do a lot of video editing or online gaming, so there's little need for a blazing-fast machine. Our needs are pretty basic - surf online, play a little music, burn CDs/DVDs.

I'm curious about what brands to look for or avoid; what the minimum system requirements for a new laptop should be; and what brand router to get. In the comments to the linked posts, there were plugs, and dings, for Acer as well as plugs for Dell and Lenovo (side note: that went into my head as Lenore. Can you tell I've been trying to think of scary things for the upcoming Cub Scout Halloween party and revisiting the works of Edgar Allen Poe?).

Any and all thoughts/experiences/etc. are greatly appreciated. It's been a while since I've shopped for computer equipment, a process I used to enjoy quite a bit (I even went to the Computer Expos!), but now view similarly to root canals or buying a new car...

That is all.

In Case Anyone Was Wondering...

This had nothing to do with me:

In road rage incident, driver chases, stabs other motorist

In what police say was a violent burst of road rage, a driver who thought he had been cut off chased another motorist through a Somerville neighborhood early Saturday, tracked him to a dead end, rammed his car, and then stabbed the other driver multiple times before fleeing.

First off, I unequivocably condemn violence against other motorists.

I understand it. Some people are just fucking clueless and have no business behind the wheel of an automobile. Some of the people I encounter on the roads have no business operating anything more complicated than a nutcracker... But I don't support violence.

Unless they cut me off. Then the gloves come off. And the bumper-mounted atomic land torpedoes get armed...

That is all.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond...

Pink Floyd member Wright dies at 65

Richard Wright, a founder member of Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 65 after battling cancer, his spokesman said.

Wright played the keyboard with the legendary band and wrote music in classic albums such as Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

His spokesman said: "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness, that Richard died ... after a short struggle with cancer. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

Rest in peace, Richard.

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel breeze.

Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,

rode on the steel breeze.

Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

That is all.

Handy Cleaning Tip...

One of the few downsides to shooting more often is that, well, one has to clean more often as well.

I'm positively fanatical about cleaning. I wipe down my guns before I put them in the case at the range; if it's been an extended range session I'll run a brush through the bore to clean out the majority of gunk before I'm even off the line (this does not happen very often). I try to clean the same day as the shooting; barring that it's within 24 hours.

Since I've joined my club, I've gone shooting every week. While shooting more is always a good thing, it necessitates cleaning more. Now, since I'm shooting regularly, I don't feel the need to bring 10 guns to the range at once, so I'm cleaning fewer guns, but still... The level of cleaning has increased.

I stumbled across a handy little tip for cleaning revolvers. Now, I prefer a boresnake, especially if it's been a fairly low round count. One of the problems I've run into while cleaning revolvers is losing track of which cylinder I've cleaned. Well, I hit on something today:

When cleaning a revolver with a boresnake, feed the brass tip through the next cylinder before you finish the one you're cleaning.

Now, in a 5-shot J-frame this isn't as critical, but with a 7-shot L-frame or 9 shot Hi-Standard, it can get confusing (and yes, eventually you get to the point where you just look for the dirty cylinder...)

Just thought I'd pass it along.

That is all.

Holy Change of Pace, Batman!

SayUncle has a new look.

And apparently it's all Robb's fault. He's some sort of way-cool wizbang designer dude or something. Who still won't blogroll me. The bastard. :)

That is all.

Gunnie Warm & Fuzzies...

Okay. I'm officially a gun nut.

At the aforementioned "shooting event" yesterday, I was fortunate enough to share bench space with Paul, the owner of State Line Guns (and yes, another free plug for the man kind enough to share class III weaponry at the Bloggershoot...).

Paul reaches into his rifle case 'o' wonder, and puts a gorgeous FN-49 down on the bench. I take one look at it, recognize it from the ad in J&G Sales (I was thinking of buying a C&R version they had chambered in .30-06), and remark, "Hey Paul, that's an FN-49, right? Looks to be chambered in the original 8mm."

He responded "Yes it is, as a matter of fact!" He seemed pleasantly surprised that the rifle was recognized - he'd been asked if it was a Garand earlier.

True Gunnie Happiness is surprising a gun store owner with your knowledge of arcane mil-surps. Oh, and hitting steel with a pistol at 50 yards. That was a treat, even if I could only do it 2 out of 6 times with the Model 17... Getting good advice from a friend is excellent. Putting it to good use is sublime...

Heh.

That is all.

Beware The Librarian!

Apparently Breda is not content to merely be the world's most dangerous librarian. She has apparently felt it necessary to branch out into other avenues of world conquest. Oh, sure, she might try the "mild-mannered librarian" act from time to time, but in the meanwhile she's consolidating her power and turned her attention to yet another nefarious scheme: Trendy public transportation design:




Her handiwork was seen on the side of some MBTA buses in and around Boston. Alert reader sci-fi was on hand to witness this brazen attempt to capture the hearts and minds of soft-hearted city dwellers. Stay vigilant, folks. You've gotta keep an eye on them librarians all the time. As we all know, the Dewey Decimal System is really a code language for their ancient and mystical organization, with plans for world domination contained in the byzantine dots and abbreviations...

(Why, no, I don't think I inhaled too many fumes at the range yesterday. Why do you ask?)

That is all.

Gone Shootin'...

Couple updates first, then it's off to fling copious amounts of lead downrange...

1. The boy survived his first sleepover just fine. No 2AM calls to come get him, he didn't get surreptitiously dropped off on the front porch bound in duct tape, he was not banned from the premises for life. All reports are he behaved impeccably. Who is he, and what has he done with my son? Srsly, I'm very proud of him - once again, he came through like a champ. This opens the door to more sleepovers, though, which means we'll have to entertain his friends here at some point.

Bloody hell. Guess I'm gonna have to break out the vacuum cleaner. I think we have one of those somewhere...

2. Computer and I have reached an uneasy truce. It continues to work, I let it live. I showed it pictures of the teletubby charge and keyboard trap to get my point across. Oh, yeah, and the workstation. That was a pretty direct threat...

I think I've managed to get across the need for a laptop here at Chez G., though. I think we'll do some checking around this week and pick something up next weekend. Thanks to everyone who offered opinions on what to get; real-world opinions mean about 100X more to me than any review. Let's face it, raw, honest, open reviews tend to last, what, picoseconds in this litigation-happy society???

One last tech bleg, though... I've got Comcast cable internet, with the standard Comcast cable modem. If I'm reading things correctly, here's what I need to do to get a laptop running wireless off this modem:

• Pick up a wireless router, one that is compatible with the wireless card in the laptop (I won't get a laptop without a card).
• Plug cable into router, then router into PC for direct connection (PC does not have, nor is it worth getting, a wireless card; we'll do the direct ethernet link). Alternately, plug the router into the second port on the cable model and run the laptop that way.
• Configure wireless router so that people don't park in my driveway and steal mai internetz. I assume that this is going to involve sacrificing a live chicken to Poultra, the God of Internet Connectivity or something equally messy and complicated.

Man, somedays I really wish I hadn't gotten out of the DIY computer biz... And then I remember that I was never very good at it to begin with...

---

Okay. T-minus 30 minutes until I leave for the range. Be good y'all...

That is all.

Conflicted...

My son is away at his first sleepover. Ever. It's eerie how quiet the house is - I took my daughter out for ice cream (because she was upset that her brother got to have a sleepover, so I wanted to do something special with her, too), and she collapsed in her bed as soon as the chocolate wore off. It's weird walking by his room and seeing his door open at 9:15 at night. Knowing he's not there brings that feeling... that empty feeling.

I'm not concerned about him being away from home - between the camper, tenting, and varying cabins in Maine he's an old pro at waking up in a different bedrooom. I'm quite certain that the family he's staying with is top-notch - this is my buddy Dave (mentioned in my Labor Day post). Dave's even got the ultimate in persuaders for good behavior - be good or go home...

Son G. has been itching for a sleepover for a while now; his friends have all been regaling him with stories of how cool it is, how much fun they have sleeping over someone else's house or entertaining a friend for the evening. I could hardly say "no", especially where everything fell into place this weekend, between Mrs. G. working the overnight - having one less child in the house drastically cuts the yelling! - and me taking Monday off (big shootin' event tomorrow + lots of guns to clean + many sick/personal days left to use before the end of November = Day Off For Gun Cleaning!).

So why am I conflicted? Well, he's sleeping over a girl's house...

I thought it would be at least another 8-10 years before he slept over a girl's house; and I certainly didn't expect to hear about it from him - or the girl's father... (Interesting side note: Dave referenced the "I'll be here, cleaning this gun" song. Wild to be on the other side of the table there...).

He sees her as a "cousin" - Dave's a close enough friend that they call him "uncle", so naturally his daughter would be my son's "cousin". They're friends in school as well - in fact, their desks are together.

In a way, it's kinda cute that he's young and innocent enough that he sees nothing wrong with having a sleepover at a girl's house. I'm sure I (and Dave) will feel differently in, oh, 7 or 8 years...

That is all.

Technical Difficulties...

We are currently experiencing "technical difficulties" at the G. household (basically, the gerbils that power the ancient computer in the office have gone on strike and are refusing to power anything any more).

Will be attempting to restore some semblance of order; barring that, it may be time to pony up and buy a laptop (bringing our computing power into the late 2000s rather than relying on turn-of-the-millenium hardware)... Any thoughts on good/bad laptops? Minimum configs, etc.? We're hoping to wipe the old computer and use it as a server for the laptop(s) down the road and possibly as a homework machine for the kids down the road...

Stay tuned. It may be a bumpy ride, but we'll get it sorted out. And watch the news for "man goes berzerk and shoots PC 185 times with a rifle"... In which case it may be significanty longer before we're back...

That is all.

Friday Afternoon Thought Question...

In the Garth Brooks song "Learning to Live Again", is the man in question a widower or a divorcée?

Discuss.

That is all.

Gunnie Instructional Bleg

I need some assistance from the gun community, specifically folks that have made it their mission to introduce new shooters to the community.

I've brought a couple new folks to the range recently, and it has become apparent that I need to pull together a more formal introduction than just random ideas popping into my head. At some point, I'll clear the time and spend the money to become a certified NRA Instructor, most likely to give the Home Firearm Safety Course needed to obtain a permit in MA. But that's not in the immediate future, as time and money are on the thin side right now...

So my request is simple. I need a source or sources of basic instructional information: Proper grip for a handgun, different stances, sight picture, etc. Manual of arms I'm pretty confident of my own knowledge, but a general overview would be good too. Sources of training-type targets would be good as well (I'm thinking specifically of the one that diagnoses common shooting errors, I think you know the one I mean). Something pertaining to general safety guidelines would be excellent as well - I go over "the four rules", of course, but really, there's no such thing as "too safe"...

Basically, I want to put together my own "Intro to Shooting 101 Course" that I can present to a person new to the shooting sports. I'm thinking a good solid half-hour to an hour of general safety, equipment, and operational overview would be good; even better would be if there's some material to pass along beforehand.

I'm pretty new to this, so feel free to pass along any and all information. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, and can only help everyone in the long run as we bring new people into the shooting sports.

Thanks for your help!

That is all.

More Motorhead Madness!

Alternate title: Friday Fun Thread - Favorite Cars of the 1990s.

Last week's Fun Thread on cars from the 1980s was so enjoyable, I figured I'd go for the next decade, the 1990s. We started out the decade with a Bush in the Oval Office, and ended with a second Bush waiting in the wings. Along the way, we saw Saddam Hussein take Kuwat, grunge rock's rise (and fall), and a young intern named Monica blew into our collective conscious (sorry, couldn't resist).

But what about the cars of the 1990s? The 1980s saw the American Automobile take a definitive downward spin towards the craptacular, as new emissions standards choked the horsepower out of even the largest engines. The 1990s saw the start of the resurgence of the American automobile, with great strides made towards relability, longevity, and styling.

---

In that vein, allow me to present my favorite American cars from the 1990s:

1. 1991 GMC Syclone. Four wheel drive. Automatic. Six-cylinder. Pick-up truck. Doesn't sound like a recipe for a vehicle that can take a Porsche 911 in a drag race, does it? Well, unless that pick-up happened to be a Syclone, that is - a compact truck that could go from 0 - 60 MPH in 4.6 seconds and run the quarter-mile in 13 seconds...

2. 1992 Dodge Viper. Chrysler Motor Corporation, under the guidance of Lee Iacocca, took a bold chance on the concept-car-turned-production theme with the Viper. An 8.0 liter (488 cubic inch) V10 engine making an astounding 400 HP powered Dodge's street-legal dragster (complete with side pipes) to go even faster than the Corvette.

3. 1990 Corvette C4 ZR1. The ZR1 featured a 375 horsepower V8 engine made by Lotus that was rumored to cost some $27,000 on its own. The ZR1 was, at the time, the fastest American car on the road, bar none. Sales were hindered by the price tag: the ZR1 sold anywhere from $60K to $80K (rumor has it that some dealers charged - and got - $100K!) when a standard C4 Corvette was selling for slightly over $30K.

4. 1993 Cadillac Allanté. With the addition of the Northstar V8 engine to finally provide some much-needed power to the Allanté, Cadillac finally had a winner in its luxo-sport-convertible. The Northstar provided some 295 horsepower for the Caddy coupe, with rumors that it was de-tuned so as to not compete with the Corvette. Naturally, being General Motors, this would be the last year of the Allanté, the only year with the Northstar V8...

5. 1990 Chevrolet 454 SS. Chevrolet claimed the horsepower to be 230, which seemed awfully low for a 7.4L V8 monster more suited for heavy towing in the 3/4 and full ton models. Looking at the power curve, it appears that they started measuring well before the power band tapered off to achieve such a low figure...

6. 1997 Ford Thunderbird. The last model year of the T-bird (before being resumed as a "boutique" model in 2002), the 1997 T-bird featured Ford's "modular" 4.6L V8 and not much else save number of doors to differentiate it from a standard Crown Vic. But the end of an over-40 year run of the model means something, at least to this sentimental motorhead...

7. 1999 Ford F150 Lightning. What's not to like about a production pick-up with 360 horses under the hood??? The Lightning package started in 1993 to combat the Chevy 454 SS and GMC Syclone, and saw a significant power boost in 1999 with the supercharged 5.4L Triton V8 engine.

8. 1997 Jeep Wrangler TJ. With the introduction of the TJ model in 1997, Chrysler brought Jeep both closer to its roots with the return of the round headlights but also further away, with a coiled suspension akin to that of the Grand Cherokee. Purists loved the headlights and hated the suspension, but the general public, who by and large only left the pavement to park on the soft shoulder near the soccer field, appreciated the extra comfort.

9. 1997 Plymouth Prowler. Chrysler's attempt to capture the lightning-strike success of the concept-turned-production Viper wasn't quite as stunning with the Prowler, but it wasn't from lack of styling. The Prowler had world-class looks, a combination of old school hot rod with futurist drag racer. What it did not have, however, was a v8 engine or a manual transmission. The anemic 3.5L V6 coupled with an automatic tranny applied serious brakes to Prowler sales...

10. 1994 Chevrolet Impala SS. 4,200 pounds of LT1-Corvette-V8-driven sedan fury. A B-body with attitude, this was not your grandmother's Buick Roadmaster (my grandmother actually did own one. We called it the "Roadmonster"...) An ad campaign that showcased the black-on-black motif with the tagline: "Lord Vader, your car is ready." How could you not love this choice?

Anything I missed? I didn't leave a slot for reader's choice this time, but as always, feel free to suggest alternatives...

That is all...

Friday Gun Pr0n #76

Okay... time to reveal the mystery gun from last Saturday's major find... It was hinted at in the second New Shooter report... Someone came awfully close...

Without further ado, here she is!

It's a Remington model 572 Fieldmaster pump-action .22S/L/LR rifle. Took it along on the new shooter trip last Sunday, and it shoots like a champ - I was busting clays on the 25 yard berm like nobody's business (mental note: pick up a couple boxes of clays to bring to the range...).

What a fun, fun little gun. Lightweight, easy to shoulder, accurate as all get-out... I really can't find any fault with this rifle. The pump is a very short stroke, which can lead to issues loading rounds if you're not aware of it. Once you're used to the action, though, it's really easy to shoot this rifle quickly and accurately.

It's funny. I already own 7 .22LR rifles. I wasn't looking for another one, really... Well, I do need to pick up a Ruger 10/22. But another pump-action? Hmmm... I mean, I've got a Winchester 1906 which is a helluva lot of fun to shoot. Sometimes, though, something just falls in your lap, and you've gotta take it...

That is all.

One More...

Some music for today.

First, the sadness:




And the anger:





More anger:



That is all.

9/11 Remembrance, In Pictures...

I came across this Harley last summer at the top of Mount Washington. Talked with the owner a bit, it's been featured in a bunch of biker magazines for the September 11^th paint scheme.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

---

That is all.

Seven Years Ago...

Alternate title: No politics, please.

Seven years ago today, at 8:46AM EST, our world changed irrevocably.

19 men armed with sharp knives and sharper ideology slashed and beat their way to control of four airplanes. They then used these airplanes as missiles, intent on causing as much death and destruction as possible. They left three demolished buildings, one scarred building, and thousands of people dead in their orgy of violence and mayhem.

Two planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, at the time one of the financial centers of the free world. One plane hit the Pentagon, where the brains of the mighty US military congregate to plan how to best keep our nation and our way of life safe from harm. One more plane landed in a field in Pennsylvania, its target unclear, but its purpose just as deadly. The four men who commandeered that plane were prevented from achieving their terrible goal by ordinary Americans giving their lives so that others may live.

There were villians that day. Grotesque, evil caricatures of what was once human, men who hewed to a twisted ideology that claimed paradise and sexual gratification beyond compare lay in store for those who died while killing infidels. Their "holy" places urged them on, telling them that there could be no finer end to their existence than slaying those who did not worship as they did.

But there were heroes that day. Men who ran into deformed and flaming buildings while others ran screaming out. Men who advanced up staircase after staircase, lugging heavy equipment intended to save lives, all the while waiting for the building to crumple. On United Airlines Flight 93, men banded together to fight the evil personified by the four hijackers who had taken control of the plane. Alerted to the intentions of these wicked men, they fought a battle whose outcome was predetermined - death - with the sole purpose of sparing those on the ground.

And they won. They gave their lives so that others would live.

I remember holding my infant son, only 9 months old, and watching the carnage on television. The video of the second plane hitting the South Tower played on an endless loop, burned into our brains from the massive fireball and destruction. I could only cower helplessly in my seat, a schism of pain and anger ripping apart my soul; torn between soul-crushing despair and white-hot anger. I knew that someone had to pay for these heinous crimes; had the President ordered an all-out nuclear assault on the entire Middle East I'd have volunteered to push the button myself.

I remember watching the bodies. Oh my God, the bodies. Men and women hurling themselves out of 100-story high windows because the heat and smoke of the fire was too much for them to bear. Video from the scene was interspersed with stomach-churning "thud"s as bodies hit the ground. Cameras captured bodies on their way down, a voyeuristic snapshot of death imminent.

And I watched the towers collapse, first the South Tower, then the North Tower. News reports estimated the number of people who worked in those towers on any given day to be between 50,000 and 100,000. The death toll was presumed to be staggeringly high - as many as 25,000 dead, then 10,000, then 5,000. Even the final number, nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks, was greater than any other attack on US soil in our nation's history.

I lost a friend on Flight 77. Vicky Yancey was a poster on the old TimeOnline/Pathfinder bulletin boards where I had my first online political discussions. She was unfailingly polite; someone who I did not agree with ideologically but respected greatly as a person for her cheery personality and unfailing love for her family and her country. Those monsters murdered her for no crime other than her very existence.

As I type this I am choking back tears, tears of great sadness but also towering rage.

Take a moment to remember the heroes of September 11^th. Remember the men and women of the NYPD and NYFD and NY EMS who sacrificed their lives trying to help those unfortunate souls trapped in the World Trade Center. Think of the 9-1-1 operator on the phone with someone trapped on the 101^st floor, knowing full well that they were lying through their teeth when they told that person that help was on the way. Help was not on the way, as the middle portion of the building no longer existed. That operator must replay that phone call every minute of their nightmares.

Never forget that there is evil out there, an evil so monstrous that words alone cannot fully capture its depravity. Men and women so thoroughly brainwashed by a demented perversion of religious zealotry that they believe it better to die while killing others than to live among them.

There is no rationalizing with these people. There is only complete and utter defeat. Whether we choose to be the victors, or the victims, lies entirely with us. They are resolute and steadfast in their quest to destroy us; only we can allow that to happen or push them back under the rocks from which they crawled out.

Hug your children, everyone. My son kept me sane that fateful day, a smiling infant untouched by the horror I had witnessed. I've been pushing myself to be a better person, to make this world a little better place, all because of my kids. I need to set the example that, while there is tremendous evil all around us, there is also goodness.

That is all.

And Yes, Even More New Blogs!

Man... It's a good thing I am completely and totally anal-retentive about checking my stats. Because otherwise I'd miss these good blogs that link to me and don't send me e-mails... (actually, one did). Without further whining, please welcome the following new blogs to the MArooned blogroll:

1. Mulligan at Random Rambling. He's got a listing up of folks around the country that have offered to take new folks to the range (and yes, your humble host is listed). I especially liked his goals:

To promote firearms in a safe positive fashion,
fight ignorance, apathy and fear,
and protect our rights, one voter at a time.

2. Red over at what the hell am I doing here. Anyone with the tagline "I'd rather be on a farm with my wife keeping things simple." is okay in my book...

and last, but certainly not least:

3. Erica at the eponymously named Erica's Blog. Not only was Erica kind enough to add MArooned to her blogroll, she sent me an e-mail warning me that she was having template issues and to not be offended if the link vanished for a bit. Somehow, she saw through my macho posturing and saw the insecure little boy inside. That takes talent. Plus she's friends with Teresa, who I've been trying to drag to the range for well over a year now. I may have to enlist her help...

Welcome aboard everyone!

That is all.

Be Prepared for a Shock...

Secret society: City Council mulls end to open meetings

Boston city councilors are mulling a scheme to keep their business secret from the taxpayers who elected them, creating a cone of silence that would make the Hub the only city in the commonwealth exempt from the state’s Open Meeting Law.

An 80-page report the council takes up today recommends asking the Legislature for an exemption from the law that requires all cities and towns to conduct their business in public. An exemption would mean citizens have no legally guaranteed right to attend council meetings, or even receive meeting minutes.

Got that? They want complete and total freedom from review. No press. No public.

Gee, why would anyone object to that? I mean, all that pesky publicity... With those... those... rabble actually allowed to attend the meetings?

It's hard to imagine the kind of horrors the Boston City Council has had to endure that they feel the need to invoke Maxwell Smart's "Cone of Silence". Can anyone see any possible good coming out of this? Of having the government arbitrarily and capriciously excuse itself from the very laws it is sworn to uphold?

And, next question, is Joe Biden going to want the City Councilors hauled off in irons? This seems to be the very sort of thing he gets all worked up about...

That is all.

This Could Get Interesting...

Obama shows his misogynist colors, and Breda opens up a big ol' can of Librarian Whoop-Ass.

Smart money's on the world's most dangerous librarian...

That is all.

Clean Up Your Act...

At the request of New Shooter Liz, I have been tasked with presenting the steps involved in cleaning one's firearm(s).

Grab a cold one, folks, this is gonna be a long one. Kevin Baker long...

---

First step: Assemble your cleaning supplies. I have a Rubbermate tote in which I keep the majority of my gun cleaning accoutrements: Cleaners, oils, rags, brushes, steel wool, etc.; it's all in the tote. Makes it handy to just grab the big box 'o' supplies, as shown here:

There's just about everything you need right in one handy place. There's rags - actually old cloth diapers that we bought when our son was born. No, they weren't actually used as diapers, but for burpers (the parents out there know; those without kids, well, ask a parent...). There's plenty of cotton patches. There's lubricants. There's cleaners. The big red box contains brass bore brushes, cleaning jags, and patch holders. There's some 0000 steel wool for removing light surface blemishes (it works really well on stainless and the cylinder of the S&W 360PD, too!). There's cleaning rods for everything from .22s to shotguns. Oh, there's also a couple dozen manuals and take-down instructions, too...

Basically, this box is the culmination of well over a decade and a half of cleaning the crud off of my guns. Stuff that works - like good ol' Hoppes #9 - stays in the rotation.

---

Next step: Set up your cleaning area.

Notice the careful placement of the towel over the kitchen table. Don't let Hoppes spill on the table. Trust me on this one... A small but powerful flashlight is good for illuminating barrels to see if all the crud is gone. The red plastic cup is quite useful for tossing dirty Q-tips and patches into for easy clean-up of the cleaning area. And it doesn't leech out Hoppes onto the table. Once again, trust me... And boresnakes. I can't say enough good things about boresnakes. Especially for cleaning .22 rifles. A boresnake, some Break-Free, and a little bit of oil and you're good as new.

---

Lay out the guns to be cleaned. (Edit to add) This is a good time to double- and triple- check to make sure that ALL GUNS ARE UNLOADED. Check 'em again. Even if you are 100% certain the firearm is unloaded, check again. (thanks to DJK for the reminder!)


In general, I like to have a seperate section for each firearm to be cleaned. Note the cloth diapers, which serve an extra purpose. Not only do they present a unique section for each firearm to be cleaned, but they are extra-absorbent for inadvertent spills and overspray.

---

Then prep the guns. For revolvers, 99 times out of 100 all you need to do is open the cylinder. For semi-autos, "field stripping" will suffice.


Here's where the "one section per firearm" comes into play. All the parts for each gun stay on their respective section. Helps eliminate confusion if you're cleaning similar arms.

Note the S&W model 422. It's not field-stripped for a reason. It didn't get shot very much, so it got a quick run-through with the boresnake and was good to go. This is a judgement call made every time a gun goes to the range. They always get cleaned, but sometimes it's a quick hosing down with M-Pro or CLP.

---

Cleaning a semi-auto, part I - the frame.


Generally, a cotton swab soaked in Hoppes and a toothbrush are all that are needed to sufficiently clean the frame. Pay extra attention to the feed ramp, as this is where the bulk of the crud will accumulate (as shown in the pic).

---

Cleaning a semi-auto, part II - the slide.


Yeah. See all that crud? All that needs to be scrubbed off. Usually takes a good handful of Q-tips - helpful money saving tip from Jay? Buy in bulk at a warehouse store...

---

Cleaning a semi-auto, part III - the barrel.

Barrels are pretty easy. Take a bronze bore brush. Dip in Hoppes. Run through 3-5 times. Put a cotton patch on a jag. Dip in Hoppes. Repeat until patch comes out clean. Dry with a clean patch, then run a patch lightly covered in oil through. Barrel's done.

---

Cleaning a revolver is easier. The hardest part is getting the ejector free of powder residue and other assorted garf.


Basically, repeat the barrel-cleaning instructions above for the barrel and cylinders of the revolver, and clean the inside of the frame with a cotton swab.

---

Pay special attention to the forcing cone (where the bullet enters the breech):



This is what gets the most fouling. This is also a good time to check for flame-cutting.

---

Here's our semi-auto barrel all cleaned up:


Ahhhh. Isn't that better?

---

Almost done. Time to clean the exterior.


M-Pro 7. Good stuff. Just spray one side, let sit for a couple of minutes, then wipe clean. Flip gun over, repeat. Also works wonders on small parts for semi-autos like springs, barrel bushings, etc.

---

Once the exterior is clean, it's time to oil the interior. Run a patch with oil through the barrel and cylinders, then a little bit of oil for the crane and ejector rod (use sparingly, or you'll be wiping it up for a week...). For semi-autos, generally oiling the rail where the slide meets the frame and a couple drops on the barrel does the trick.

The last step is to wipe down the exterior with some oil to prevent corrosion.


This step isn't really necessary if the gun sees any kind of regular use, but it certainly can't hurt! (It's also my favorite part, because it means I'm almost done cleaning...) Now it's time to put everything away! I'll typically wrap the cleaned firearm in a clean cloth diaper - this helps wick away any excess oil left on the gun, as well as protect the finish from scratches when it inevitably gets jammed in the pistol safe.

I hope this was an informative post, and I'm curious to see how my cleaning regimen compares to others out there in the gunnie universe...

That is all.

Three Stages...

Y'know, it just occurred to me... There are three stages in a man's life when it comes to the ol' coitus interruptus...

• There's getting caught by your/her parents. (BTDT.)

• There's getting caught by your roommate. (Also BTDT.)

• But the worst, IMHO, is getting caught by your kids... (needless to say...)

That is all.

Yaawwwnnn...

I know I should care more about Tom Brady's ACL, but I don't.

Red Sox are only ½ game out of first place, but all I can muster is a half-hearted meh.

Folks, I have an announcement to make, one that might shock you, about me:

I am not a sports guy.

There. I said it.

I don't care a whit about organized sports. There's something distasteful about the level of attention we pay to grown men playing children's games. There's something even more distasteful about what we are willing to pay so that the grown men in question can be obscenely compensated for playing children's games. And there's just something deeply and fundamentally wrong when these men are held up as heroes and role models.

Don't get me wrong, there are certainly sports figures who are good role models. However, idolizing someone because they can dunk a basketball or hit a baseball real far is kind of silly. While those at the top of their respective games almost always work extremely hard to get where they are, the focus is never on the hours of training; on the years spent perfecting their game; on the focus needed to attain their goals. It's on the here and now, a sad monument to our instant gratification society.

Is some of this sour grapes because I never played sports at the high school/college level? Quite possibly. Being a heavyset kid who hated football with a passion (because my true love was basketball and I just wasn't blessed with height, speed, jumping ability, or any other discernable talent towards playing hoops...), I never got into the whole sports thing. Chess and billiards were about as close as I came to any sort of organized games (I was on the Chess team in high school - stop snickering! - and played tournament-level pool in college).

So in this regard I'm not a typical male. I don't have a "man cave" with sports memorabilia. I don't block off Sunday afternoons from September to December for sitting on the couch and watching football. I don't participate in fantasy anything. I'll jump on the bandwagon when the local teams are doing well, but even then a quick look at the score so I know who won is all I need.

Another random Jay G. fact. Discuss amongst yourselves...

That is all.

Random Ruminations...

• Getting stuck behind a dumptruck traveling 20 MPH in a 40 MPH zone sucks. Being the 10^th vehicle stuck behind a dumptruck traveling 20 MPH in a 40 MPH zone sucks even harder.

• Listening to Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now?", it struck me that the song has a lot less emotional impact when the list of girls to whom the song could apply couldn't easily be narrowed to a top ten, let alone just one...

• At the risk of losing all my tough guy cred, I will admit to coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road (with no one behind me, of course) so that the bumblebee stuck on my windshield could re-take flight. What can I say? Having kids is turning me soft...

• Even though I've been doing it for well over a year now, getting up at 4:30 in the morning so that I can get to the gym before Mrs. G. has to leave for work at 6:00 really, really, really sucks...

That is all.

Disclosure...

In keeping with yesterday's missive on "that" question, today's sermon is on the controversial question of what to do when one has a run-in with Johnny Law. Specifically, do you tell the officer that you are carrying or not? For simplicity's sake we'll set the LEO encounter as a routine traffic stop, say for speeding or running a red light.

Now, first off, the very most important thing here is to know the laws of the state(s) in which you are carrying a concealed firearm. I don't think I can stress that enough. Some states, MA ironically enough, do not require that you inform a police officer as to your status. Other states, ironically TX being one of them, make it a requirement of the CHL permit that an officer be informed of the CHL permit holder's carry status ASAP.

So, for those of you in states where you are required to inform the officer, do it.

The rest of this post will focus on those of us in states where there is no duty to inform. What follows is my own personal opinion and nothing more; I have never been pulled over while carrying (knocking on wood furiously here), in fact, I've only been pulled over a handful of times since getting my permit at all. Don't rely on some retarded chimp banging on a keyboard for legal advice, that's what my mom always told me (well, "retarded chimp" may be a little creative license on my part...)

Over at the Northeastshooters forum, this debate has been waged pretty intensively. There's input from folks in the law enforcement community, and it runs pretty heavily towards "keep your damn fool mouth shut."

Which is my take on things.

Let's face it: Any police officer who does not approach every single traffic stop with the mindset that the operator - or passengers - could be armed is setting himself (or herself) up for trouble.
Knowing that the operator has a permit to carry shouldn't make a lick of difference - they should be approaching each and every stop with the thought in their mind that this person could be armed.

Whether or not the CCW status of the vehicle owner is relayed to the responding officer is another point of contention - some localities relay this information, some do not. In any case, I would caution not to inform unless asked.

That's the key phrase. Unless you are asked. If you are asked by the officer, DO NOT LIE. Not for any reason. Cops do not like surprises, especially surprises that go bang and can kill them. If you lie to the officer, you are in for a world of hurt and rightfully so.

Word of caution: Try to phrase your response without using the word "gun" or "weapon" or even "firearm". If the officer asks "Do you have any weapons in the car?" (or something to that effect), I'd respond "Officer, I have a Class A LTC [insert your state's abbreviation here] and I am carrying right now. Please advise how you would like me to proceed."

Another reason for informing the officer would be if there is any chance, no matter how slight, that your actions inside the car might reveal your carry weapon. If you're carrying on your left side, for example, and you reach over into the glove box while the officer is looking into the car, will your cover garment ride up and reveal your pistol? See above comment about surprises.

Definitely inform the officer if you are asked to leave the car - let's face it, there are very few reasons for an officer to ask you to step out of the vehicle; even fewer that do not result in you tasting asphalt; and it will swirl down the bowl even faster if you hop out with your Glock hanging in the breeze...

---

I try to minimize the chances of such encounters while carrying or transporting just out of a general desire to avoid conflict and de-stressify my life. However, sometimes things are beyond your control. When I was 19, I was cruising Hampton Beach with some friends and I was the subject of a felony stop. It seems that a plate somewhat close to mine had been reported stolen, and the rent-a-cops on the beach patrol thought they had their car theft ring nailed down.

Aside: Far be it from me to cast aspersions... But I was 19; Italian (dark hair, slicked back, dark skin); in a Buick Regal with tinted windows and hot green pinstriping (including "heartbeats" on the side and rear windows - ask commenter sci-fi, his remark was that my car was very "ethnic"...).

Anyhoo, the car was surrounded by officers; two cars in front, one behind, with beat cops coming over to assist. I was asked for my ID and registration, and when I went to retrieve the registration from the glove box I wound up with a Glock in my face because I apparently moved too quickly.

Yes, before you ask, I did manage to maintain control over my bowels.

Barely.

Anyways, come to find out the cop was dyslexic (as well as unable to distinguish the letters "MA" from "NH") and the plate that had been reported stolen was not the one on my car. They let me go with not even so much as a "sorry" for detaining me, at gunpoint, for well over an hour.

And this was me just driving along!

---

Bottom line, expect and prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Sage advice for any situation. Don't tell unless you have to; always be honest; and "yes sir" (or ma'am) and "no sir" the officer until they're sick of hearing it...

That is all.

Tootin' My Own Horn...

Dwight, yesterday's New Shooter, just sent me an e-mail thanking me for yesterday's festivities. I have to excerpt his e-mail:

Jay - Thank you for your help and the Sunday afternoon experience.

Your concern with safety was admirable and confidence inspiring.

Your instructions on the art and science were excellent. You also answered questions well.

Your selection of firearms was excellent.

Elizabeth was not quite accurate. I had never fired a handgun before. I have used BB guns as a kid and one time in the late seventies I got the chance to shoot at clay pigeons from a river boat in Nashville and of course there are the booths at fairs etc. This was also the first time that I had been to a target range of any type.

I had a very good time. I just don't get really fired up-gushy very often.

...

Thank you again for an enjoyable and educational experience.

No, Dwight, thank you. Thank you for letting me share my favorite pasttime with you. Thank you for taking the first step towards gun ownership. Thank you for trusting me - I'm certain that it's got to be just a little intimidating to meet up with someone you met online who you know to be armed.

I hope I conveyed just how much plain fun you can have while shooting - I think that nailing the clays on the 25 yard berm was a good idea (mental note: Pick up a couple of boxes of clays at Wallyworld next trip...). For me, there's not much better way to shed tension than to head to the range and relax on the shooting line. I sincerely hope you felt the same way.

And finally, thank you for the kind words. I'm always concerned that I come across as too technical, or too wonky, or even too overbearing when I'm talking to a new shooter. It's great to have the feedback!

That is all.

Almost Forgot...

Sometimes, being anal pays off...

Went up to Kittery Trading Post over the weekend. Wife wants to do outlet shopping; my revenge is we go to KTP and I spend an hour ogling the GIANT ROOM 'O' GUNS...

Well, they've got Septemberfest going on. There's an archery exhibition put on by my alma mater (UNH); there's a Dewalt tool display; Toyota was pimpin' their full-size truck line; and there was a small trailer set-up by Crosman where one could shoot a variety of their BB guns.

My son, naturally, was drawn to this display like a moth to a flame...

We're standing in line, and I, being me, ask him to tell me the Four Rules before he can shoot. He makes me proud by bangin' all four right out, no hesitation whatsoever.

Guy running the Crosman registration was so impressed, he gave my son an official Crosman baseball cap... Man, you would have thought he was given a million bucks, that's how happy he was...

And, to be honest, Dad was pretty darn happy too... (You should have seen the look on the Crosman rep's face when I told him we were from Mass...)

That is all.

"That" Question...

You know "that" question.

• It might come from a loved one, perhaps even the Mrs.

• It might come from a friend, acquaintance, or co-worker.

• It might even come from a complete stranger.

What question do I mean? The inevitable question one receives when it becomes known that one is a 2A supporter / proponent of CCW:

"Are you carrying a gun right now?"

There are many possible answers to this question, and I've probably given most of them depending on circumstances. When it's the Mrs. (who at the time was not yet the Mrs.), it was generally answered with "Why don't you frisk me and find out?" (Note: Guys, while we might think this is hilariously funny and witty, I have yet to hear of any single instance of it working. You're welcome for the tip).

Harder still are the questions from the kids. I generally do not advocate lying to one's progeny; however, in this case, generally a little obfuscation goes a long way.

"Daddy, are you carrying a gun now?" is generally met with either silence (the old "pretend I didn't hear the question" - the other parents out there are nodding vigorously in agreement) or a blanket "that's not the kind of question you ask someone, buddy" in the same tone as when I remind him it's not polite to ask someone their age or weight (of course, you know these questions are only asked of the elderly/heavyset...)

---

Strangers - like someone spotting the "NRA" sticker on my truck, generally get one of two answers. If it's asked with a sneer, derision, or distaste, I'll generally take the wiseass approach (I'm sure you didn't see that coming...)

"Are you carrying a gun now?" (it's almost universally followed with an attempt at witticism generally hinting that I am either unstable and/or prone to random acts of violence towards folks I don't know) - in this case, generally met with a stock question of my own:

"That's a personal question, like me asking how much you weigh."

Or "That's my business. I wouldn't ask you if you were circumsized." (resist the temptation to use this on women. Just don't do it...)

If it's a sincere question, asked out of genuine curiousity without any apparent agenda, I'll generally go for the vague.

"I don't discuss my security protocols with people I've just met."

Bottom line: I see absolutely no reason ever to divulge this information with a complete stranger. Silence is golden.

---

What, though, when it's an acquaintance/co-worker/neighbor - someone you have a passing familiarity with? That's where it gets more complexious (to use a engrish term coined by one of our Japanese counterparts).

Basically, it boils down to how well you know and trust the person, and how you think they'll react to the answer. You've got three general choices:

1. Up-front: "I would no sooner leave the house without some form of self-defense than without pants" or some variation thereof. Personally, I think it's best to avoid "gun", "firearm", or even "weapon" entirely if at all possible. This response lends well to the "Do you have a fire extinguisher in your home?" "Do you wear a seatbelt?" rebuttals - make it clear that you carry for your own defense in the same manner that one would have the basic tools for any given emergency.

2. Some form of the above deflection - generally along the lines of the vague "That's a very personal question that I would prefer not to answer". Note that this answer will most likely be taken as a yes...

3. Lie. Yeah, honesty is the best policy. We have no reason to hide it. Etc. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor. No sense getting into a pissing contest with one's boss, or be accused of trying to intimidate a neighbor.

---

So that's my thoughts on "That question". Please bear in mind that I live in one of the most restrictive states for CCW and general 2A acceptance, and my responses are filtered through that particular prism.

In a less-restrictive state, where my response might not get my permit revoked, I might be tempted to respond far more argumentatively.

"Yes, I am carrying a gun right now. Carrying a whole cop was too heavy for my back."

"There's only way you'll find out, and I don't recommend it."

"Of course I am. Only a complete moron would adjucate personal responsibility for his own self-defense to another."

(to a questioner of the female variety) "Why, yes, I do have an 8" hogleg in my pants. Want to shoot it?"

You get the idea...

That is all.

Two For Two...

Two weekends, two new shooters.

As I mentioned earlier, this weekend was round 2 (Electric Boogaloo) for new shooter Liz and her husband (returning shooter) Bill. We were getting together at Liz's request for another round of shootie goodness, and this time my thought was to introduce rifles. I planned to keep it simple, .22LR only, and we could stay on the pistol range for all shooting.

Well, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and gunnies...

I got a call on my cell phone around noonish. Look at the number, I recognized it as Liz's number and started to worry that they weren't going to be able to make it. Heh. I should have known better.

[Liz] Hi Jay, I've got a question for you.

[me] Shoot. {yes, I use gunnie puns even IRL}

[Liz] Would it be okay if my dad came along? He's never shot a gun before.

Well, that was the magic phrase right there. Apparently, Liz and Bill mentioned that they were going shooting a while back, and her dad decided he wanted to give it a try. I didn't traumatize Liz sufficiently in her initial outing, so they felt comfortable introducing her dad to me so that I could be his guide into the fun and challenging world of the shooting sports. Her dad's an engineer and had a keen insight into the mechanics of shooting, particularly recoil and how to best manage it.

After a quick overview of gun safety, rules of the club, and general shooting issues like stances, loading & unloading, how to grip the various pistols, etc., we got down to the very serious business of converting currency into noise...

---

Naturally, we start off easy, with the Smith & Wesson Model 17 .22LR:

This gun is worth its weight in gold for new shooters. I can't stress enough how the hefty weight, long barrel, and .22LR chambering make it a very comfortable fit for a new shooter - there's no recoil to speak of; it's fairly quiet; and the target trigger, hammer, and long barrel make even the greenest of shooters look good (it can't help me any, but hey...).

---

Next up was the Smith & Wesson Model 19 stoked with modest 158 grain .38 special ammo. Dwight's first comment was priceless: "It's certainly a lot more... loud than the first gun!"

I would normally have brought the Ruger Security Six for a first-time shooter, rather than the Model 19, except that I found out about the noob after I'd loaded everything up (and since the Model 19 was already in the case...). I elected to skip the S&W 422 from last time, as I hadn't had a chance to sight in the red dot yet (note to self - get to the range solo sometime soon!).

Obviously I need to buy another semi-automatic .22LR...

And, yes, we even got to send some fire-breathing rather tame .357 Magnum rounds downrange. I'll need to remember to bring some of the 125 grain screamers for a proper introduction to the .38 special's unruly big brother...

---

And, of course, everyone's favorite, the Colt 1911:

Dwight wasn't terribly impressed with the 1911, feeling that the grip was just a little too long for his reach. Once he got comfortable with it, though, he had a lot of fun. Punching large caliber holes in targets is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, even if it is the first time...

I was starting to get a little worried about Bill, though. From the moment he laid eyes on the Gold Cup in my gun case I could tell he was salivating over the prospect of shooting it. And, naturally, he shot it better than I did, putting three of the first four shots into an area no larger than a quarter about ¼" from the bullseye...

---

The last gun for the newbie shooter was my new mystery gun, which will remain a mystery until Friday. I'll offer up a quick hint here:

And mention that it's an excellent rifle for breaking leftover clays at the 25 yard berm. Liz managed to catch me cheering Dwight's excellent rifle shooting - he nailed three clays in a row after only a couple of trial shots with the rifle.

---

So...

Now, two weeks in a row, I've brought a new shooter to the range. Two new MA residents who previously had no experience whatsoever handling a firearm have been indoctrinated. One is a returning shooter, so I think we can consider at least one more person drawn into the addicting world of the gunnie. Jury's still out on Dwight's experience - when I asked what he thought, he mentioned that it was "Very interesting" and that he had a "pleasant afternoon."

It was only later that Bill took me aside and mentioned that, for Dwight, that was high praise indeed. (Edit: a direct quote from Bill in an e-mail: "'very enjoyable' is Dwight-speak for WOOHOO". Heh.)

Time will tell if we've pulled another person into our ranks, but the effort has been made...

That is all.

Must Be Livin' Right...

Wow. Sometimes I even amaze myself...

Went to the GOAL "yard sale" this morning - the local hometown festivities were canceled due to the advent of Hurricane Hanna - and scored. Mightily.

How's about a new rifle, 250 rounds of JHP .380ACP ammo, and 50 rounds of .38 special target wadcutters... For $101.

Details to follow on this Friday's Gun Pr0n (complete with Range Report, as new Mystery Gun will be coming to the range tomorrow - coincidentally, for Round II {Electric Boogaloo} of "Take a Newbie to the Range", where we will introduce rifles...

Life is good.

And that is all.

Quick Targeted Bleg...

Anyone got any leads on finding a new stock for a Universal M1 Carbine? I mentioned it in my post on rifles a couple of days ago, and have decided I want to see if I can get it running.

The gun is definitely pre-ban (hell, I owned it in September of 1994), so I can use a folding stock if applicable. Wood preferred, as close to USGI as will fit a Universal M1 Carbine.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

That is all.

10-Second Review of McCain's Speech

General impression: Meh. It was pretty bland, nothing spectacular. Pretty much exactly what we'd come to expect from a polished politician. He touched on his strengths, hit his opponent's weaknesses, basically ran the standard format. The booing and cheering were jarringly scripted; the one bright spot, ironically, was the way McCain flippantly dismissed the FOURTH protestor of the evening.

Grade: C. And that's being charitable. I saw little to excite or energize those on the fence. I'm concerned about how McCain is going to do in the debates - while he's got a strong grasp of policy and experience, Obama can work the crowd. And, sadly, that seems to be all that matters these days...

That is all.

Clearing Up A Misconception...

I've noticed, between comments here at MArooned and in posts on other blogs, a misconception about my political views. I'm a conservative. I am not a Republican. At one time, it was rumored that the Republican Party might possibly contain a conservative or two; however, recent events, say, from 1996 forward, just to pick a time frame, have proven this demonstrably false.

I've always laid out my political beliefs thusly:

I hate the Republicans and the Democrats. I just hate the Republicans a little less.

That remains unchanged.

Do I single out the Democrats more than the Republicans? Certainly. One of the signature policies of the Democratic party is gun control - they haz it, and I don't want it. I'm what Unc might term a Second Amendment absolutist - i.e. the "What part of shall not be infringed don't they fuckin' understand???" group. I foolishly think that a gun is an inanimate object, incapable of being "good" or "bad" all by itself - requiring a human (who can be good or bad) to be of any use, good or ill. Ergo, any attempt to curb crime based on regulating the tool used is made of fail.

And they know this.

Time after time, location after location, gun control has proven to be an abysmal failure. Fucking England, which is a goddamned ISLAND, has gun crime even though handguns are completely banned and all other firearms are so insanely regulated as to constitute a de facto ban again. But people get threatened by, robbed with, and even shot at by handguns at an alarming rate.

See D.C., Washington; or Chicago, Illinois as well. Draconian gun bans. Sky high crime. Boston, my beloved city of the water that's dirty, ditto. Mumbles can rant all he wants about guns flooding the city from out of state, but he's full of shit (he is a politician, after all...)

So... Gun control doesn't work, yet they insist on pushing for more, more, more. One or more of several factors are in play here.

1. They thrive on ignorance. One need look no further than Carolyn McCarthy "answering" the question of what a barrel shroud is to see that they have no fucking clue what they're banning. What's the functional difference between three 10 round magazines and one 30 round magazine? Nothing. Not a fucking thing. Maybe 1-2 seconds, tops. Define a "Saturday Night Special".

'Nuff said.

2. They purposefully and routinely embellish, obfuscate, and otherwise outright lie their asses off every time their lips move. How many times were "assault weapon" and "machine gun" used interchangeably in the months preceding the 1994 ban? How many times has the completely bogus statistic of being "43 times more likely to be shot with your own gun" been used (and immediately debunked)? How many times do we have to find out that "children" killed by gunfire includes adults up to the age of 23 to make the statistics?

3. They appeal to emotion and feelings rather than logic. Put up a grieving mother whose son was gunned down in a gangland drive-by gone wrong, who could possibly argue against her impassioned cries to prevent another family from being devastated by gun violence? A police officer senselessly gunned down in a routinely traffic stop makes a sensational anchor for an assault weapons ban - never mind that it's about as statistically relevant as the police officers killed when their doors opened and the door-mounted seat-belt ejected them from the car...

All this, and they still push gun control. Why? Why do they need to lie? Why do they need to cherry-pick statistics to back up their arguments? Why do they need to prop up phony pro-hunting groups to appear mainstream?

Could it be that they really have no interest in controlling crime? Could it be that they're far more interested in removing firearms from the hands of law-abiding citizens?

Every time a gun control bill is passed, we lose more of our precious freedom.

For everyone out there bleating about the PATRIOT Act, or waterboarding, or calling George Bush Hitler's equal, just what the flying fuck do you propose to do about it if you don't have access to firearms?

The lone protestor in Tianneman Square standing up to the row of tanks was a powerful, iconic image. It also didn't change one damned thing. He died. More than likely, his family was thrown in jail, the women raped, the men murdered or sent to slave camps. Equip them with rifles, and see how much harder the task becomes.

Good thoughts and singing Kumbaya ain't gonna cut it, folks. Only the very real threat of cold blue steel being put to the ultimate test keeps these fuckers from breaking out the cattle cars. And every time we allow them to bind us in golden chains, we get one step closer to the ovens.

FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

I will ALWAYS side with the group that trusts me to be armed. Always. Even if it means holding my nose and voting for an authoritarian prick like John fucking McCain. Especially when the Democrats nominate a man who wants to ban all semi-automatic weapons, limit purchases to one a month, renew and strengthen the Assault Weapons Ban, etc. Barack Obama is the most strident supporter of gun control the Democrats have ever nominated.

• He doesn't want me to carry a gun for my own defense.
• He wants to take away my cherished Colt 1911 that I inherited from my grandfather.
• He wants to make sure I can't even have a semi-automatic version of the current military-issue battle rifle.
• He wants to limit my ability to purchase what I want, when I want it - and for those who say one firearm a month is not an infringement, I ask, what, then, is? One a year? One a decade? One a lifetime???

I want no part of it. So I hold my nose and vote for McCain. I don't like it, but I like the alternative a helluva lot less.

---

All this, basically, to try to explain why I've been cheerleading the GOP recently. I don't want to. But the Democrats have forced my hand...

That is all.

Friday Fun: Back to the '80s, Motorhead Style...

Okay. Time to take a break from the heavy political stuff for a moment, if we may. Time for a trip down memory lane...

Set your chronometers for the 1980s. What comes to mind? Ronald Reagan, Cold War, John Hughes teen angst movies, etc. But what about the cars?

Ah, the cars of the 1980s. For the most part, the cars of the 1980s sucked. Big time. The 1970s saw, with the advance of high (!!!) gas prices and ever-increasing pollution control, the death of the muscle car. The 1980s started with some truly awful cars: The Ford Escort, Chevy Chevette (yes, I know, it debuted in the late '70s. Grant me license), and the Chrysler K-cars, just to name a few.

We saw the Ford Mustang, bloated to obscene proportions in the early '70s, then micro-sized in the late '70s to near clown-car status, turn into an amorphous blob with a four-banger. The T-bird, which started out the 1970s as a behemoth and only got larger, was made smaller and uglier in the '80s. Chrysler phased out their muscle cars entirely in the 1980s, offering no rear-wheel drive coupes at all. GM downsized to the Camaro/Firebird and Corvette.

In short, there wasn't a lot of fun stuff in the 1980s. Or was there?

Let me present my choices for the top ten coolest American cars of the 1980s.

1. Delorean DMC-12. Yes, it had an anemic French four-banger. Yes, the founder was hauled off to jail on drug charges. But is there any automobile more iconic of a decade than the car immortalized in the "Back to the Future" trilogy?

2. Buick Grand National. I'm partial to the 1986/1987 variant, as that had the intercooler as well as the supercharger. What's not to love about a big honkin' six passenger monstrosity with only a six-cylinder engine that could take on pretty much all comers? 245 horsepower in an age where the 350 cubic inch V-8 only made 200 HP is pretty respectable...

3. Ford Mustang GT. The 1985-1988 versions are the most enduring of my teenaged years, as it was the car to have for cruising the beach. The 5.0 liter engine in the LX trim launched the 'Stang from 0-60 in a very respectable 6 seconds flat, which in today's day and age doesn't sound like much, but at the time it was attainable only by the Corvette for cars made in North America.

4. Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible. Yes, Virginia, there actually a factory-offered convertible pick-up truck, and it was Chrysler Motor Corporation who offered it. The Chevy S-10 has probably seen more shade-tree sawzall conversions, but only the Dakota came straight from the factory with no roof.

5. Dodge Omni GLHS. What's not to like about a four-door hatchback with a quarter mile time of 13 seconds. From the factory? The Omni was designed with the energy crises of the 1970s in mind, a small, four-cylinder econobox designed to get decent gas mileage while slowly falling apart. Enter the benevolent madman known as Carroll Shelby...

6. 1984 Chevrolet Corvette. The first redesign of the body in 14 years and only the fourth generation 'Vette overall, the styling of the C4 was the beginning of GM's refining of the Corvette from road-rippin' brute to euro-compatible sports car. Sure, the engine was anemic by the standards set in the late '60s and early '70s, but given that the 'Vette initally started with a 6-cylinder, not too bad considering the time period.

7. AMC CJ7. Considered by many to be the last of the "true" jeeps, this was the last Jeep not owned by the Chrysler Corporation. The 1986 variant would be the last of the "round eye" Jeeps for a while, as Chrysler re-styled the body to the Wrangler in 1987 with square headlights, which continued until they came to their senses in 1997...

8. 1987 Chevrolet El Camino SS. The very last year of the El Camino, 1987 ended a run that started in 1959 with GM playing catch-up to Ford's Ranchero in the half-car, half-truck wars. The SS package, far more common on the Monte Carlo, was a limited run with numbers in the low thousands.

9. Chevy Camaro IROC. No list of the 1980s would be complete without at least some variant of GM's F-body pony-basher. Being nostalgic, I had to include the IROC variant - the International Race of Champions version came with extra body cladding, styling cues, and, in the Z-configuration, had a modified L-98 Corvette engine. There are no truth to the rumors that IROC also stood for "Italian Retard Out Cruising"...

10. This spot left open for reader choice. What American car from the 1980s have I missed in my list?

That is all.

Friday Gun Pr0n #75...

Well, seeing as how I don't have a CZ75 to put up for today's pic, I thought I'd use a little math...

Take a Model 17:

Subtract the Hogue Monogrips from it.

Then take a Model 19:

And subtract the factory S&W target grips from it.

Then, perform your best impersonation of Dr. Frankenstein, being sure to count to 39 (17 + 19 + 39 = 75, get it?!?!?!). Mix the two together and get:

Voila!

How to make a Smith & Wesson wheel gun more tactical in just three easy steps.

Next week: How to make a target .22 even better...

That is all.

Why Am I Not Live-Blogging McCain's Nomination?

...because I just don't fuckin' care...

That is all.

EDIT: I lied. Sue me.

McCain just stuffed that asshole into a hurt locker. And nicely, at that...

---

sci-fi just e-mailed me - I'm listening to the speeches, not watching - this was apparently the fourth protestor to interrupt McCain.

Riddle me this, Batman: How many times was Barack Obama interrupted?

---

I'm sorry. McCain's making good points, but the fucking booing is as scripted as "professional" wrestling, for G-d's sake...

---

Wow. School choice. Gee, this is only the, what, 5^th or 6^th Republican Presidential candidate to promise us choice. Pardon me if I don't hold my breath...

---

More nuke plants. Yeah. Right after we toss a rope around the moon and move it closer for better hydroelectric power via higher tides...

---

"Rejecting good ideas because we didn't think of them first." That was a great line, Senator McCain.

---

If he breaks out in a chorus of "Proud to be an American" I'm gonna hurl...

---

And Jimmy Carter can kiss my hairy, sweaty, Italian ass. John McCain has earned every fucking right to talk about his time as a POW.

Anyone who says otherwise can fuck off and die.

---

{chortle} Be a Scout leader. It's only an hour a week... *g*

---

Charlie freakin' Daniels. I LOVE IT!!!

---

And now, honest, that is all.

Love It, Love It, LOOOOOVE IT!!!

MADE. OF. WIN.

I need one. SRSLY.

That is all.

Another Palin Speech Review...

The World's Most Dangerous Librarian reviews Palin's speech.

I love the closing line:

America has a new hero - and she wears heels.

Kick ASS...

That is all.

What Is This, 1950???

Palin's teen daughter is pregnant

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, dealt with two startling disclosures Monday. She announced that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant and plans to keep the baby. And Palin has hired a lawyer as Alaska investigates the firing of her public safety commissioner.

Palin hired a lawyer three weeks ago to act on her behalf as state legislators investigate whether she may have abused her power in firing the state public safety commisioner for refusing to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper, CNN confirmed.

(Wow. Just in the opening paragraph they manage to take not one, but two swipes at Palin.)

Emphasis mine. What is this, 1950? Are we supposed to believe that the media fucking cares about the marital status of pregnant teens now? Funny, when Britney Spears' little sister got knocked up, I don't recall seeing "unmarried" in the fucking description.

Oh, and love the objectivity over the firing of the brother-in-law. Note the absense of words like "stalker" and "abusing his authority as a police officer".

Biased motherfuckers. Here's hoping you choke on the copy.

That is all.

More Letters... And Links...

Got this in an e-mail yesterday:

My name is Edgar Acosta and I am an editor at Opposing Views. I came across your site, liked what I read, and wanted to introduce us because we both write about gun
issues.

Opposingviews.com is a debate site where experts go head-to-head on many topics. I think you might be interested in our debate "Does Owning A Gun Make You Safer?" which can be found at: http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/does-owning-a-gun-make-you-safer

The experts in our Gun Ownership section include such names as the NRA and Gun Owners of America.

I believe that you and your visitors will appreciate this debate and might want to weigh in with votes or comments. If you like our site, we would appreciate it if you would write a blog entry about us or give us a link to the debate at :

http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/does-owning-a-gun-make-you-safer

Go take a look. It looks pretty interesting; I haven't really had much of a chance to go through it yet, but it looks like they're at least trying to present a fair debate.

That is all.

30 Second Review of Sarah Palin's Speech

Initially, I wasn't all that impressed - I was really hoping to see Palin walk out on stage with the 2X4 in hand and start whomping away at Barry & Joe.

But I re-read the speech. Watched parts of it again. Listened to the reaction (my apolitical wife liked it a lot). And realized something: She did a great job.

Sarah Palin had three things to do with her speech:

1. She needed to introduce herself to the American people. As a relatively unknown quantity, she needed to present her qualifications (a.k.a. wonk out) as well as her humanity (hockey mom/pit bull? Gold, baby). Check.
2. She needed to praise John McCain - present a united ticket. Yeah, I think we can call this an unquestionable hit. She hit all the right points about McCain, with proper buzzwords and soundbites. Check +.
3. She had to whack at the Barry & Joe piñata. This was the one area where I would have liked to have seen more of that hockey mom pit bull - while she took some definitive jabs at Obama, the words "unapologetic socialist", "gun-grabbing elitist", "thin-resume pretty-boy", or "kid-glove rock star" were never mentioned. Check, but with reservations.

I'd call this a high B+, low A- for a speech; or, delving into baseball analogies, a triple driving in a couple of runs. Good solid effort, she didn't mispronounce "nuc-u-lar" or name the head of Russia as "Don Corleone" or commit any other faux pas that would cause the MSM to pounce on her like a hungry lion on raw meat.

Good job, Governor Palin. Here's hoping we can call you Vice President Palin in two months...

That is all.

You're Kidding Me...

Biden Rips Bush Administration

Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."

Awww... Poor widdle Joe. He's still smarting that neither Reagan nor GHW Bush were clapped in irons over Iran/Contra. How much money do you want to waste this time, Joe? $50 million dollars wasn't enough the last time.

Asshat. Yeah, you guys are all about uniting the country. My aching Italian ass you are...

That is all.

RNC Convention Live-Blogging

9:15 PM: Enter the Ken... Mitt Romney...

Am currently refreshing multiple browsers; watching Fox News; and talking to a long-time friend (commenter sci-fi) who has been my go-to guy for political issues since the FIRST Bush administration...

---

Interesting choice of ads during the RNC... An Obama attack ad. Don't know how much you want to push the number of houses, Barry, given that the last two Democratic candidates for president could buy and sell John McCain... Hell, Al Gore's electric bill could pay McCain's mortgages...

---

Heh. Sci-fi's comment: Oh, look, it's the dorky hat parade...

---

Y'know, I really don't care about T. Boone Pickens' gas...

---

Newt Gingrich. Karl Rove. All we need is now is for Dick Cheney to shoot someone in the face...

---

Complete this sentence: The last time the GOP waited this long to hear a woman speak...

---

I'm kinda expecting/hoping to see Gingrich rip Colmes' heart out any second now...

---

T. Boone Pickens sounds a little like Boomhauer from King of the Hill...

---

It just dawned on me that I didn't even pay attention to Romney's speech. Then I realized it's because I hate him...

---

I want to give Alan Colmes a wedgie in the worst way...

---

Speaking of things I want to see, wouldn't it be cool if Sarah Palin came into the convention hall on the back of a Harley, holding an M-16 a la Sarah Connor in T2??? (ETA: Yes, I know Sarah Connor never actually rode on the back of a Harley, but it's cooler that way...)

---

Here's the scene I want: Intro music: "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth. Palin walks in holding a 6' length of 2X4 a la The Rock in Walking Tall...

---

Possible quote of the night from Sean Hannity: "Print media is dead im this country".

---

There's Bristol Palin. Would comment on her prodigious protuberances, except I keep hearing the '80s hair band Winger... "She's only 17..."

---

Nope. Comment of the night: If McCain/Palin doesn't win, at least Palin's got http://www.hotgopmilfs.com/... (Note to GOP: This is still available...)

---

Odd random comment of the night: Blog T-shirt. What would the MArooned T-shirt look like? I'm thinking a cartoon pick-up truck with a gun rack and me flipping the bird...

---

OOOOooooooooh McCain ad for Palin's experience vs. Obama's. Empty words. All I could hear was the trap range: PULL! BLAM! (insert sounds of little clay shards falling to earth)

---

What the hell was that? They just introduced Giuliani like Captain Lance Murdock and Truckasaurus...

---

Most important election in our lifetime? Hmmm. Getting Jimmy Carter the fuck outta the Oval Office was pretty damn important. Although many would prefer Jimmy, even in his advanced stages of dementia, to Barack "143 days" Obama...

---

"Footsoldier in the Reagan Revolution"??? I'm as wild-eyed right wing as they come, and even I admit that was forced...

---

YES! YES! FUCKING YES! Hit Obama on Chicago political machine; voting "Present" 130 times; Giuliani is, quite frankly, tearing Obama a new one...

---

And the hits keep coming!!! Never run a city/state/business/people in crisis. Hot damn Rudy is a man on fire, baby!!!

---

OJT! He did! He went there!!! And bringing up Biden's words against Obama... Wow... Good fucking job Rudy.

AND YER LITTLE DOG TOO! He brings in Hillary!

Wow. I'm ready to vote for Giuliani...

---

BWAHAHAHAAHHA! Sci-fi's wife (commenter B) comes up with another good quote: "You guys are such dorks. You're MST3King the Republican Convention!"

---

Sci-fi notes that even Rudy hasn't brought up ANWAR. I replied, "That's because no one wants to talk about drilling in Alaska with Bristol present...

---

Hmmm. Cindy McCain. Sarah Palin. We could see "Playboy: Girls of the White House" (and not chubby interns this time...)

---

And, yes, Rudy slams home the clinging... YES!!!

---

Now Rudy's NAILING the left on their misogyny! YES! Fucking finally!

---

Got-DAMN. I am impressed with Rudy Giuliani. Holyfuckingshit...

---

Governor Palin is up next. This is for all the marbles...

---

Palin is out. No Harley. But, she's in a skirt - take that Hillary!

---

She DOES look like a naughty librarian... Rowr...

---

The only way Sarah Palin could have better received would have been if she'd out dressed as a nurse. Oh, wait, that's just me...

---

"Profile in Courage" - nice way to subtly bring up Kennedy, who politically was further to the right than McCain, let alone Obama...

---

Children serving in the military for both McCain and Palin. McCain a POW war hero. Don't think the left will be tossing around the chickenhawk meme this time...

---

Tugging the heart strings. That's a dangerous ploy... Don't overplay it...

---

Just put my finger on Palin's accent. She sounds like the sheriff in Fargo...

---

Comment from Sci-fi (who is so right wing he makes me look like a flaming liberal): "We need more red meat"...

---

I so wanted to hear her say, "I'm going to Washington to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and right now I'm all outta bubble gum"...

---

Energy independence I can grok...

---

Key phrase missing according to from sci-fi: "I'll nuke the bastards"...

---

Heh. "Styrofoam columns are hauled back to some studio lot"...

Finally...

---

She just said the magic fucking words: "Government is too big". I think I'm in love...

---

And she twists the ol' "Change" knife in Barry's back. Heh... How's that Hopenchange feel?

---

And a slap at the Obamaseal!!!!! YES!

---

Did she just take a poke at Harry Reid? OUCH!

"The presidency is not a journey of personal discovery". Wow. That's gotta sting. Better put some ice on that...

NAILED on Community Organizer. Ouch...

---

Oh, Jimmy Carter will be pissed. She brought up Hanoi...

---

From B. "Obama's gonna be sore in the morning, 'cuz he's getting his ass kicked tonight!"

---

Interesting. I'm certain the media is going to rake her over the coals, and most likely point to the crowding booing at what she was saying as evidence they were booing her. I thought she did a decent job, not phenomenal, but passable.

I wish she had channeled Ted Nugent for a little bit, though. Tell us some of her hunting stories - like what type of rifle used, what kinda handloads she prepared, how she ate the heart out of the caribou...

That is all.

I Can't Be the Only One...

...who's just a little creeped out by McCain's "Country First" slogan?

I mean, I grok the dig - that America comes before a political party - but still... It's right in line with the authoritarian, anti-First Amendment, McCain-Feingold garbage line we expect from... John McCain...

That is all.

One More Thing...

Someone remind me how many non-Democrats spoke at the DNC?

Yeah. Obama's gonna reach across party lines... My hairy ass he will...

That is all.

Talkin' About Rifles...

Chatting with folks last night during the Gun Nuts radio show on the Appleseed program, I had a revelation...

I have exactly one fully-functional semi-automatic centerfire rifle, and it's the Russian VEPR in .308, whose magazines are only slighty harder to find than Alaskan virgins (I kid!). I've got two M1 carbines, but one has a cracked receiver and the other is a Universal of questionable functionality. I've got a lovely SKS. Which only functions as a bolt action. And I've got a semi-auto AK-47 clone, which needs the receiver rebuilt, as the pins holding the trigger and hammer have come loose after approximately 10 rounds (!!!).


And that's it for my semi-auto centerfires (I have three semi-auto .22s, only one of which is magazine-fed and that's mighty finicky...). Now, I'd imagine that getting the AK-47 clone repaired should be an easy task (yes, I know, I can/should/oughta do it myself, but it's been busted for over a year and a half now and I just haven't gotten to it yet...).

Now, the reason for this is three-fold. First, rifles are, as a general rule, more expensive than handguns. I'll start saving my money with the intention of buying a rifle, and then I'll happen across a pistol I just can't do without (like the Colt Lawman I got earlier this year). Second is storage. I've got room in the pistol safes for a couple more pistols. I've got both rifle safes stuffed to the brim, with extras stored in locking gun cases (these are the ones that get taken out on a regular basis). And, lastly, I'm pretty pragmatic about which I'm more likely to need. Odds are pretty good I'll never need a rifle to defend my life, whereas there's somewhat of a chance a pistol might be needed.

That said, I have a hankerin' for a good semi-auto rifle. The obvious choice would be an AR-15 variant, as they're plentiful, have a bunch available in MA-compliant status (basically conforming to the AWB, fuck you Mitt Romney), and have about a bazillion "pre-ban" magazines (ibid re: Mitt). However, I've come across a couple other possibilities that I'm just not sure about...

First up is the Kel-Tec SU-16 series. This is MA-compliant, in that there's no folding/telecoping stock or bayonet lug to eeevil it up. MSRP is significantly lower than most AR-based rifles. And it takes AR-15 magazines. Downside is... it's a Kel-Tec. Now, don't get me wrong - I lurve my lil P3AT, but it's not exactly the world's most, um, refined pistol...

Next up would be an M1 carbine from CMP. The rack grade Inlands are selling for ~ $450 shipped, which is a very good price. Other upside is that I've got a TON of DEFINITELY pre-ban 15- and 30- round magazines. Downside would be placing the CMP order and waiting, coupled with the .30 carbine round itself - it's really a pistol-caliber carbine. Another upside, though, is that it's got no significant recoil and is good for a first centerfire rifle for a newbie to shoot.

After this, it gets fuzzier. I'm not really all that interested in a .308-chambered semi-auto for now - I'm looking for something with minimal to moderate recoil to use mainly for new shooters. I'm also looking for something that uses common (read: cheap) ammo.

Any and all ideas would be appreciated.

That is all.

Rules of the Road, Part 14...

If you insist on tailgating me, even though I'm going 5 MPH over the speed limit AND there are several cars in front of me, you can expect any number of things to happen:

• I will lower my speed to the speed limit. Quickly.
• I will become hyper-cognizant of any and all ambulatory fauna that might wish to cross the street, and act accordingly.
• I will show great compassion towards my fellow motorists and let every single person I see out into traffic in front of me.
• I might listen to the voices in my head that tell me to SLAM ON THE BRAKES NOW!
• I might develop an intense interest in saving gasoline by traveling 10-15 MPH below the speed limit and coasting to stops.
• Should we happen to stop, I will accelerate with approximately the same caution normally applied to the launch of the space shuttle (leaving stoplight in 10... 9... 8...)
• I will stop if the light even looks like it might turn yellow.

In short, I will become the most insufferable prick you have ever had the misfortune to be stuck behind. Why? Well, there are three reasons. The first is that I resent your obvious disdain for the rules of the road. The second is that I get pissed off when people put my safety in jeopardy in the interest of shaving a few seconds off their commute. Never mind that my three ton truck would utterly destroy your Civic; it's the principle of the thing.

And, lastly, I'm an asshole...

That is all.

Thought Question...

For those who claim the media is not biased towards the Democrats:

How do you reconcile the media circus that surrounds the Republican Vice Presidential nominee's teenaged daughter's pregnancy versus the near-total media blackout on, say, the Democratic Presidential nominee's sweetheart mortgage deal from a convicted felon?

On the one hand, we have the poor decision making skills of a 17 year old girl.

On the other, a Harvard-educated lawyer getting something for nothing.

One is newsworthy; the other isn't. Go figure.

That is all.

Thank You, Tam...

Alternate title: Quote of the Day...

I was going to just call this QotD, but since Tam had already used that as the title, I figgered I needed somthing different...

I've been trying like hell to put my finger on just what, exactly, the media frenzy over Sarah Palin reminded me of.

Tam hit the magic playback button:

I haven't seen such bigoted vitriol since the Clarence Thomas nomination.

Bingo. Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearing. That's what the media-circus over Sarah Palin reminds me of. Oh noes! Her 17 year old daughter is preggers. That's an OBVIOUS sign that her family valuez is teh suxxor!!!!111!

Fucking morons. The absolute furor that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his VP has created tells me one thing: The Democrats are scared out of their fucking minds.

Thanks Tam.

That is all.

Yes, Even More New Blogs!

And a change...

First off, please welcome three new blogs to the MArooned blogroll:

1. US Citizen at Traction Control, who links to MArooned through the eminently excellent People of the Gun site (gratuitous plug alert!). All good stuff, definitely worth a read.

2. Caillean at Caillean's Ramblings. Not exactly the same political wavelength as the raving lunatic editorial board here at MArooned, but still good people. Please also note the inclusion on "Bloggers I've Met"; this is someone I know in meatspace and consider a friend; please refrain from pre-judging based on political affiliations (even if they are wrong...) :)

3. Westie at The Ward Twenty. This is the blog I was frantically searching for a while back; I remembered the "Twenty" part of the name but nothing else and was completely and utterly stymied in my searching... Anyhoo, he's a fellow MAhole with similar likes and dislikes to your humble host.

Secondly, I'm happy to move Bill at The Eclectic One to Bloggers I've Met after this past weekend's trip to the range. See the above note for Caillean regarding good people and not pre-judging.

Welcome aboard everyone!

That is all.

It Pays to Advertise?

Maybe I'm flush with the success of this past weekend's newbie range trip.


I've decided to be a bit more, err, prominent in displaying my support for the Second Amendment:

Let's see... GOAL, NRA, and RKBA. All I need now is an NES sticker under the Harley emblem and I'm all set...

I figured, yeah, having pro-2A stickers on my truck might make me more of a target. It wouldn't be the first time my truck was vandalized for the stickers displayed. But I'm willing to take that risk - if I can get even one person to ask me about going to the range, it's well worth the risk.

That is all.

From the Noob's Perspective...

Liz posted her impressions of Saturday's range trip. It's an interesting read from the other perspective, that of someone new to shooting and their "first time".

Go check it out, it's a neat companion to my range report yesterday.

That is all.

New Shooter Report!

What a way to start a Monday (even better since it's Labor Day and I've got the day off...) - a new shooter report!

A few weeks back, Bill contacted me with some questions about getting back into the shooting sports (posted here). Naturally, I wasn't about to pass up a golden opportunity to help bring Bill back to the gunnie goodness, as well as to help get Liz started along the path to gunnervana... A little back-and-forth over dates and times, and we decided on last Saturday. I packed up my representative samplings from the G. armory for a new (and returning) shooter (seen in this past Friday's gun pr0n). Got to the range and we were literally the only people there, which was fortunate, as we pretty much took over the pistol range... :)

We started off with a brief overview of gun safety; basically the four rules (which Bill had been kind enough to pass along ahead of time), a quick overview of some of the range regulations, and then a brief tutorial of the manual of arms [mental note: need 9mm snap caps]. I brought along two revolvers and three semi-automatics; I laid out one of each unloaded and we practiced loading/unloading with snap caps to get a feel for it. Quick primer on different stances and how to hold the pistols, and we were off to the races.

I feel that in this case, the pictures really do tell 1,000 words, so I'll present the day in pictures:

---

Here's Liz's first time with a firearm:

Ah, yes. The medium-framed .22LR target pistol. Mssrs. Smith & Wesson's gift to reduced recoil and noise. With the open range and double plugs, there was little-to-no report to startle or vex the new shooter (not that Liz is of the easily-vexed sort, mind you, but more of a general statement). Good to ease a new shooter into the sport.

---

Moved up to the 422 with the red dot sight - it took a little getting used to (and I need to sight it back in...), but it's just a super-fun little plinker to play with.

I believe Bill's comment was something along the lines of "this gun is just too much fun!"...

---

At this point, we were ready to move up to something with a little more oomph. I chose the Ruger Security Six over other .357 Magnums in my collection for the longer barrel/heavier weight - the longer sight radius means an easier time aiming; the extra weight makes shooting .38 special wadcutters quite easy, and even takes the bite out of full-power .357 Magnum rounds. How was the more powerful handgun received? You tell me:

She doesn't look intimidated by a .357 Magnum, does she? What's missing here, mind you, is the laugh that accompanies the picture. It was a lyrical cross between a giggle of happiness and a quasi-maniacal all-out laugh fest. It was easily the quote of the day, something along the lines of HehhehehehehehehMUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *g*

---

Next up was the wonderful world of centerfire semi-automatics. The first offering was the SigSauer P226 in 9mm, a good, solid, hefty steel-framed auto chucker with a 15 round magazine (and I only scratched the surface of the whole clip-vs.-magazine issue, leaving it only as a "this is the subject of much debate...)

I'm going to let Bill take this slot, because he deserves recognition, too. I had to admonish him with his very first shots (after a 12 year absence) - had to tell him that it was generally considered poor form to out-shoot a man with his own gun... Seriously, this dude is good. Makes me realize just how much more practice I need to get...

(Yeah, in case you can't tell, Bill's a biker, too. Scooter gunnie trash. Best kind of people).

---

The last gun of the day, and I'll be so bold as to presume it was everyone's favorite, was, of course, the Colt 1991A1. Why do I think this was the favorite? Well, this should decide the issue right here:

That looks like a woman who's intimidated by handling a firearm, doesn't it? Heh... I think I can safely say that the best-known creation of John Moses Browning (PBUH) was a hit...

I caught a one-in-a-million shot with my cheap-ass Canon Elph of Bill shooting the 1991A1 and catching it in mid-recoil:

And they were even kind enough to get a picture of me with the 1991:

Just call me Mr. Weaver... I think this is going to become my new profile pic. Yeah, I like it enough to replace the maniacal shotgun-wielding me... ;)

---

I think I can safely say that we have a new shooter joining the ranks of MA gunnies as well as a returning one... I'm now in the process of helping them jump through the myriad hoops and rings of fire necessary to obtain LTCs in MA.

Smell that? That GSR? That's the smell of freedom. Breath deeply, folks. It's a beautiful thing.

That is all.

UPDATE: ETA - we've already scheduled a tentative second outing... Heh heh heh...