I would have rathered that Alan Gura had the time all to himself since he really understands the issues better than just about anybody on the planet. But I’m expecting a 7-2 or maybe even 9-0 victory for our side unless someone really, really messes up. So I’m not concerned that the NRA is getting some face time at the Supreme Court.
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Two Boomershoot 2010 positions to open up
I have cancellations for two positions at Boomershoot 2010. Both positions are on the Berm and will open tomorrow evening, January 26, at 6:00 PM PST (the same time as Gun Nuts Radio comes on).
The pictures for these positions may exaggerate the view of part of the tree-line (375 yards away). I extended the berm further to the left to make each position a little wider. I didn’t notice it at that time but the view of the targets on the right is obstructed. I should have made the extension a little higher. You will be able to see about 1/3 of the tree-line targets and all of the hillside.
To sign up for a position visit http://entry.boomershoot.org/ tomorrow evening.
Update: Lots of changes are happening. Existing entrants have requesting positions swaps. I had another cancellation. A .50 caliber position is going to be dedicated to hourly use. Position #31 may be available as well as one Berm position.
Quote of the day–Richard M. Nixon
It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody.
Richard M. Nixon
[I am reminded of this by the Obama Report Card by the Brady Campaign. On that same day the candidate they endorsed and everyone initially expected would be a shoo-in for the open Massachusetts Senate seat was beaten by a (at least moderately) pro-gun candidate. Now they want to beat on Obama who was considered their savior just a year ago.
The Brady Campaign would do well to remember the conditions under which President Nixon left the political scene. Claiming “necessity” and acting on that without adhering to the universal principles of honesty and integrity can lead to ruin. But then honesty has never been a strong point of the Brady Campaign so my advice is probably going be totally ignored.–Joe]
Almost true
There are rumors going around about the stuff I am working. Some of them are almost true:
“Orion” is a cloud-based assisted GPS system that is supposed to dramatically increase initial location-lock performance. This will guarantee rapid GPS performance across all future Seven devices, regardless of carrier support (currently, aGPS is dependent on individual carrier implementation).
The radio-interface layer (RIL) is being updated to support multiple-tower signal detection and trilateration (think Google’s My Location service in Google Maps) and IP resolving. In addition, information garnered from WiFi connections will also be used for faster location detection (also similar to Google Maps). All of this information is then passed on up via API to third-party software for ease of access and limited instruction sets.
Planned performance for an initial lock (cold start) is targeted at less than 1 second and would find you within 300 meters. A hot or warm start is targeted at less than 0.25 seconds and would track you at less than 10 meters.
What actually happens with this location-information in terms of end-user services is currently not known — that is we do not know how the OS will utilize it for the the end-user experience. See the video from Channel 9 for some hints.
The people on our team laughed and rolled our eyes at parts of this.
The truth will be released soon.
Help stop the WA AWB
From Joe Waldron’s Washington State Gun Owner Action League post dated January 22, 2010:
A public hearing will be conducted on SB 6396, the so-called “assault weapon” ban bill on Tuesday, 26 January. The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room “1” in the John A. Cherberg Senate Office Building on the Capitol Campus in Olympia.
It is imperative that as many individuals as possible attend the hearing and sign in in opposition to the bill. A sign-in sheet will be available at a side table just inside the hearing room (or if the crowd is large enough, the sign-in sheet may be outside the room in the corridor). Sign in with your name, address and a position on the bill: “con.” There is a place on the sign-in sheet to indicate whether or not you would like to testify. Time is limited, so I anticipate only a few individuals will be called upon on both sides of the issue. Who gets to testify and who does not is solely up to the committee chair (Senator Adam Kline, sponsor of the bill).
Hints on testimony: public input is limited to three minutes or less. Begin by stating your name and where you are from. Personal attacks on the motives of bill supporters are not allowed. If a point has already been made, do not repeat it. As with a letter to the editor, short, concise points are best. While reference to “cold, dead fingers” may be dramatic, this is NOT a drama. Courtesy is a virtue!
Parking in and around the Capitol Campus is extremely limited. Olympia parking enforcement makes a ton of money enforcing the one-hour limit in the residential areas just south of the Campus! If the spaces on Campus or overflow parking lots to the east are taken, it’s best to park in the business area in the blocks to the north, using the parking meters. Car-pooling is the way to go!
It is equally imperative that, whether you can attend the hearing or not, you contact your Senator, by e-mail (https://dlr.leg.wa.gov/MemberEmail/Default.aspx), direct telephone (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx) or Legislative Hotline (1-800-562-6000) to indicate your opposition to the bill.
A committee vote on the bill will likely be taken a few days later in executive session. The Judiciary Committee has eight members, five Democrats and three Republicans (matching the proportion of Democrats to Republicans in the Senate). The three Republicans and one Democrat lean our way.
WA AWB is likely DOA
People are still saying the proposed AWB will be stillborn at best:
After 2009 ended in a hail of high-profile gun violence, Washington state’s gun-control advocates are frustrated by an apparent lack of political support for an assault weapons ban, warning that the state will likely face more deadly shootings without it.
The bill comes just weeks after a spate of deadly police shootings, and proponents of the ban say those killings should force politicians to confront gun violence.
“There’s more guns, a repressed economy and a lot of angry people,” said Ralph Fascitelli, board chairman for state gun control group Washington Ceasefire. “You can’t sweep this problem under a rug. Apparently the shooting of eight police isn’t enough to confront gun violence in the state.”
The bill was named in honor of 18-year-old Aaron Sullivan, who was shot and killed by a SKS 7.62-caliber rifle in Seattle in July. The legislation focuses on “military-style” assault weapons, which can fire rapidly and carry large magazines of ammunition.
Similar bans have not fared well in the state Legislature in the past, and in an election year, supporters face a battle to even get the bill out of committee.
They did manage to avoid Fascitelli embarrassing himself with more talk of “animal assassins”.
Quote of the day–Alastair Reid
Looking for temporary Edens is a perpetual lure certainly not confined to writers, who sooner or later discover that the islands of their existence are, in truth, the tops of their desks.
Alastair Reid
Whereabouts–Notes on Being a Foreigner, Page 73.
[The same applies to socialists, progressives, and liberals (but I repeat myself). Anti-gun people also attempt to set sail for their imaginary island oblivious to or deliberately ignoring the fact that so many similar voyages ended in genocide. And those voyages that have not yet ended in genocide did not find Eden or even a better place than the one they left. I wouldn’t mind it so much if they didn’t insist, at the point of a gun, that others join them on their own version of Voyage of the Damned.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Colin Moore
…[S]uch ideas have merit in Hillary’s world, where even little victories lead ever closer to the big prize: no guns, just government.
Colin Moore
January 21, 2010
Ban by baby steps
[As Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton has influence on the gun ban treaty and will probably do whatever is possible to push us closer to her version of utopia–a world without private ownership of arms.
This part of the reason I push so hard on the bigotry and “specific enumerated right” issue. We need to putting pressure on foreign governments that infringe their citizens rights as well. Canada, England, and Australia would be first on my list. It’s a human right and we should be sending the appropriate messages when any government infringes on this right. And part of that message should be Col. Cooper’s view on the topic.–Joe]
New ad appearing
I have approved a new ad which should be showing up in the right column soon. It is the first “adult” ad I have received. It’s probably not safe for work. And unfortunately it’s too late for Christmas or I might have ordered something as a present for Barb–even if they are in the U.K.
Oh well, Valentines day and her birthday are coming up soon.
Geeks and guns
I almost made the alt-text from XKCDs comic this morning (hover your mouse over the picture at that link) the QOTD.
Here is the comic itself:
[The Geeks With Guns website is here.]
New shooter report
I had been putting Ian off all week. Last week I told him Monday evening should work. I had forgotten about the previously made plans to have dinner with James and Kelsey.
I didn’t even offer Tuesday because that was the evening Barb was showing up from Idaho.
Tentative plans were made for Wednesday but those were scrapped when some tentative plans for dinner with some friends I expected to fall through didn’t.
Thursday I loaded up my car with over a thousand rounds of ammo, three handguns, a rifle, and some other gear. I parked off across the street (Microsoft doesn’t allow guns on campus) and that evening Ian and I went to Wades where I have a lifetime membership.
I went over the NRA three safety rules and he asked some questions about the NRA. The answers amounted to a brief history of the NRA. and NRA-ILA.
As he filled out the new shooter paperwork I paid the guest fee and purchased a USPSA practice target.
I started him out on a Ruger Mark II at about three yards:
Then an Olympic Arms AR-15 at seven yards:
Then S&W .22 revolver at three yards:
Then my STI Eagle 5.2 chambered in .40 S&W at three yards:
This is his single action revolver results (the double action results were just as good):
But he did well with .40 S&W too (the smaller holes are from the AR-15 at seven yards):
This is at seven yards with the .40 S&W:
We picked up the brass and as we drove to his bus stop I explained the economics and custom load benefits of reloading. It was during the drive he said the words I made my QOTD.
Another day, another oppressed minority from another country liberated (see also representatives from China, Canada, India, and Taiwan).
Quote of the day–Ian
I’ve been America three weeks and I’ve shot four different guns. This is so cool!
Ian
January 21, 2010
[Ian is from Toronto and is an intern at Microsoft. He said the above after going to the range, touching, and shooting a gun for the first time. Freedom is very cool.
Pictures to follow.–Joe]
What you don’t read in the MSM
The headline reads, “Groups rally for, against gun control in Va.” I kept looking in the article for how many were on each side. I’ve commented on this before, but the recap is short. In the past when I have been to protests and rallies the pro-gun people outnumber the anti-gun people up to 1000:1 and always at least 10:1. But the article didn’t say what the numbers were. It just said:
Later in the day, far fewer gun control supporters wrote the names of those killed or injured in gun violence on hearts made from construction paper and placed them into a basket before lying on the grass outside the Capitol for three minutes to signify the time it takes to purchase a gun.
A commenter gives us the answer:
2,400 v 24… For every one person against the bill of rights, there was 100 for it…
On a logarithmic scale that was about average.
One has to wonder why the votes in the legislatures don’t have similar ratios. The bigots/special interest groups apparently have pull far beyond their representation in the people at large. And it is the MSM failing to report the facts that help them get away with that.
A victory for free speech
I’m surprised. Very surprised. I am also pleased with this:
The justices overturned Supreme Court precedents from 2003 and 1990 that upheld federal and state limits on independent expenditures by corporate treasuries to support or oppose candidates.
The decision was a victory for a conservative advocacy group’s challenge to the campaign finance law as part of its efforts to broadcast and promote a 2008 movie critical of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She later became President Barack Obama’s secretary of state.
The justices appeared at a special Thursday session to summarize the ruling and issued a total of five separate opinions exceeding 175 pages.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the limits violated constitutional free-speech rights. “We find no basis for the proposition that, in the context of political speech, the government may impose restrictions on certain disfavored speakers,” he wrote.
New FFL in Pullman Washington
Pullman Washington is just over the border from Moscow Idaho. Moscow has numerous stores that sell guns and used to have a few dedicated gun shops. It’s down to one gun shop now but Pullman has zero stores that sell guns and only for a year or two had a gun shop. Who, Kevin I. says, “the city fathers chase him out”.
This makes it a bit of a hassle for Pullman and surrounding residents to buy a handgun. It is illegal to go next door to Moscow and directly buy a handgun from someone in Moscow. You need to transfer the gun across state lines via a FFL. In this case it means a trip to Spokane–75 miles away. Just one more stupid infringement on our specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms.
But that recently changed. We now have a FFL in Pullman again.
Palouse Operational Supply is now in town and FFL transfer are only $25.00 ($20.00 for law enforcement, fire, and military). They also provide quotes on whatever toy and accessory you have an interest in and promise “You won’t find a better deal, period!” for some manufactures.
Quote of the day–Tam
Five gets you ten his new company has nothing to do with fruity “LDA” triggers.
It must have been physically painful to have been contractually obligated to pimp those things.
Tam
January 21, 2010
Comment to Todd Jarrett Leaving ParaOrdnance.
[Similar, but far less succinct and articulate, thoughts went through my head when I read the news.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Daniel Johnson
If gun people and libertarians want to reject the benefits of American society and live freely, independently and unfettered on their own, they should look for caves in Montana and, if they’re full up, Afghanistan probably has vacancies. They’ll definitely need their guns there.
Daniel Johnson
January 20, 2010
The Second Amendment Fantasy and How Americans Have Been Taken In
[I find it interesting that Johnson and his ilk cling to their beliefs after all nine of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices found that the right to keep and bear arms was and is an individual right. And then they want us to leave when the facts don’t suit them. But then, what else can you expect from bigots?–Joe]
New Jersey gun advertisements are regulated
If you don’t use the proper words in an advertisment for a gun New Jersey you are a “disorderly person”.
If I were somehow persuaded to sell guns to the victims of New Jersey it would be on such a scale and for such purposes that it would go much beyond being a “disorderly person”. They would think of me as they did those that sold guns to the Indians 150 years ago.
Quote of the day–Thomas Carlyle
I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Thomas Carlyle
[Nor do I.
However you will frequently read of the anti-gun people proclaiming with great satisfaction that such and such a poll shows “the people” want “assault weapons” banned or the “gun-show loophole” closed.
So what is it? Do they believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance?
I am quite sure that is not the case. We have direct evidence the anti-gun people deliberately prey on the collective ignorance of people. Like other con-artists their success depends on coming up with new scams with which to fool their victims as their old scams are exposed.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire
I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.
Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire
To M. le Riche, February 6, 1770
It was not Voltaire, but his biographer, S. G. Talentyre in The Friends of Voltaire, who originated the famous remark, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
From The Great Thoughts (link is to the 2nd Edition, mine is the 1st Edition–1985) compiled by George Seldes.
[I sometimes think of deleting a comment on my blog from someone too stupid to know how to determine truth from falsity. They may be so pig-headed as to continuing insisting the righteousness of their cause despite uncountable instances of them presented with overwhelming evidence their cause is at best ill-advised and I feel some frustration at their inability or refusal to follow even the simplest of logic trains. But then I think of what Voltaire said.
I wouldn’t directly give my life to enable him or her to continue pushing their agenda. Indirectly I suppose it is possible via my pursuit of liberty but that would be a side effect rather than in direct support of such an individual. I think I might consider looking the other way rather than risk my own life in defensive of theirs should I know harm to them was imminent.
I sometimes wonder if in a fight to the death if adhering to principles is a luxury only affordable when you are winning. Does the other side abandon their principles when they are loosing? Or do they adhere to them until the end? If so then perhaps those principles are best known by their examples of Reasoned Discoursetm (see also here and here). Is their insistence that you should be silenced or put to death a sign they have abandoned principles because of the hopelessness of their cause? Or is it insight into the true nature of their principles?
I don’t know for certain.
At least for now I exercise loyalty to my principles by not deleting their comments.–Joe]