After reading the email to her this morning Barb asked me if there really are people that stupid.  I don't know about stupid but he certainly is clueless.

The power and potential abuse of the licensing of gun owners lies with who owns and controls the database.  They (your government) have already demonstrated that their intentions cannot be trusted.

Brian Bourgoin
June 23, 1994 10:56AM

I was out running errands when Kim called a little before 19:30 to announce she had arrived safely.  There was lots of laughing and giggling with Kayla in the background.  Barb and I will sleep better tonight.

As of 18:15 Kim had passed San Pablo Bay.

I ordered the boxes to be used for the medium and large sized targets for Boomershoot 2005.  Just 50 each to test and make sure everything is going to work.  Assuming they work as planned I'll buy enough for the entire event.  Since these are standard off the shelf items there are no significant lead times and zero setup charges--contrary to last years target bodies.

The medium size targets are 6 x 6 x 1 inches.  The large targets are 7 3/8 x 7 3/8 x 1 3/8 inches.  All dimensions are interior.

I just called her.  Says she is doing fine.  She had some stop and go traffic for a while but made it past Sacramento.  She seemed to be in a much better mood this time.

PICATINNY, N.J. -- Mar. 04, 2005 -- The Army has approved its new long-range .50 caliber sniper rifle, the M107, for full materiel release to Soldiers in the field.

 

...

The M107 was funded as a Soldier Enhancement Program to type classify a semi-automatic .50 caliber rifle for the Army and other military services. It underwent standard type classification in August 2003. A production contract was awarded to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc., Murfreesboro, Tenn., the following month.

It's a bit hard to see from the picture shown here but I expect the M-107 is very similar to the gun shown here at Boomershoot 2001:

More from the Army website:

The weapon is designed to effectively engage and defeat materiel targets at extended ranges including parked aircraft, command, control and communications, computers, intelligence sites, radar sites, ammunition, petroleum, oil and lubricant sites and various lightly armored targets.

In a counter-sniper role, the system offers longer standoff ranges and increased terminal effects against snipers using smaller caliber weapons.

The complete system includes: the rifle itself, a detachable ten-round magazine,a variable-power day optic sight, a transport case, a tactical soft case, cleaning and maintenance equipment, a detachable sling, an adjustable bipod and manuals.

The Army plans to modify the M107 in the future by adding a suppressor to greatly reduce flash, noise and blast signatures.

“No one said to take the San Francisco exit on 80.  They just said follow 80.”

Kim is not happy.

A while back I reported a video I had worked on was going to The Whitehouse.  It apparently hasn't made it that far yet but my co-worker “from downstairs“ just popped her head in the door of my office to report the customer showed it to his boss and was “dancing up and down with joy” about it.  Everyone is very, very pleased so far.

I finally put up Kim's final target from Monday afternoon.  According to this site she will need to increase her speed by a factor of about 2.4 to qualify and will need to become just a little more accurate all while using a full power handgun instead of a .22.  I expect once a week for a year should do it.

When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away.  It is time to go elsewhere.  The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.

Robert Heinlein

Last night after Kim went to bed I continued to work on her navigation problem.  I started guessing alternate street names and got a hit in a city just outside of Santa Cruz.  The street Kim was to take as an exit off of highway 17 was close by so everything matched.  Kim apparently misunderstood the street name.  She had one letter wrong.  I sent her a message on her cell phone to call me before she left.  She called me a few minutes ago and I gave her the MapPoint directions which avoid I-80/880 through San Francisco which Kayla had given her and instead routed her south on I-5/205/580/880 to highway 17.  We also discussed how she should leave the GPS unit on to enable back tracking should she need that and finally I gave her the lat/long of Kayla's house.  I think I have prepared her as best I can now.

Kim was supposed to call when she arrived at Aunt Susan's place near Sacramento. ETA was 18:30. At 19:13 I called her. She said she got turned around and got lost for a while but was on a particular street that meant she only had to make one more turn to be on the street that Aunt Susan lived on. I figured five, maybe 10 minutes maximum and she would be there. At 19:21 I received a call from Kim. Happy moment! Whoops, celebration started too soon. She was lost worse than before. The street she was on changed into some highway and she didn't have a clue which way to go. From her description of how she got there I couldn't find the highway she was on. I had her give me her GPS coordinates, used my calculator to convert them to a matching format for Microsoft MapPoint and found her location on the map. Some way or another she had been going west when she thought she was going east. For the next 39 minutes I navigated as she drove. At 19:29 call waiting said Barb was trying to call me. I ignored her as Kim was going through one of many tough intersections. Kim then reported Barb was trying to call her. We agreed to ignore her for a while. Kim ended up in the wrong lane once and was forced to make a turn she didn't want to. No problem, she took the next easy turn into a residential area on Winding Creek Road and I navigated her past Random Lane (honest!) back to the street she wanted to be on bypassing that tough intersection. At 19:45 Barb called again. Kim had it easy for a while and I took the call, quickly said things were under control and to leave us alone for a while. Barb wanted to offer suggestions and I wasn't particularly polite in my response. I switched back to Kim and continued to navigate for her. At 20:00 she recognized Aunt Susan's house. I called Barb and reported the safe arrival.

Tomorrow Kim drives to her friends place in, supposedly, Santa Cruz. Kim just called a few minutes ago with the address but that address and other streets with the directions she has don't show up on MapPoint. It's going to be an interesting day for both of us tomorrow.  GPS, MapPoint, and cellphones will get us through.

I just got a call from our oldest daughter--Kim.  She just entered CA from Oregon and is on schedule to be at her Aunt Susan's place near Sacremento by tonight.  She spent yesterday afternoon and last night with me in Richland before continueing her trip to visit her friend in Santa Cruz.  She quit her job on Sunday and on Monday got her old job back from her previous employer.

While visiting me in Richland we went to the range to start her training towards meeting the handgun proficiency requirements of a being a Federal Air Marshal.  You can see a few pictures in the photo album I created to track her progress.  I have another target I still need to take a picture of which should go up tonight.

I love making empties.  The size and shape of the targets that I miss are rather irrelevant to my joy.

Kerry Pierce
IPSC email list
April 8, 1999

From the Toronto Star: $1B gun registry branded `useless'.  And some critics think the true cost is pushing $2 B now.  The proponents have been feeding the monster money “under the table”.  Alphecca has quotes and an analysis of the Star article.  One thing he didn't mention was this:

Alex Swann, spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, who is responsible for public safety and emergency preparedness, defended the registry.

"Obviously, no measure can strip away all risk in society, but the gun registry is a frequently used tool for police," Swann said.

He said he could not discuss Roszko's specific case, but emphasized gun registration ensures accountability for guns, and tightens ownership. That can help track the transport of guns, he said, including whether legally registered guns are moving into the hands of those who are not licensed.

Swann said police make about 2,000 queries on the firearms database every day.

Two thousand queries a day does not make people safer.  The only valid objective of restrictions on firearms ownership is to make people safer.  The defenders of the registry don't make that claim.  Reporters and the general public should be asking just one question.  When the defenders of the registry stammer, pause, and avoid the question they should be given the same sort of treatment one would give any other con artist that defrauds the public of over a billion dollars.  The Canadian people wasted that money in an experiment to answer a question.  We have the answer now.  Let just hope the politicians in this country can learn from the billion dollar mistakes of others.

The truly and deliberately evil men are in a very small minority; it is the appeaser who unleashes them on mankind; it is the appeaser's intellectual abdication that invites them to take over. When a culture's dominant trend is geared to irrationality, the thugs win over the appeasers. When intellectual leaders fail to foster the best in the mixed, uninformed, vacillating characters of people at large, the thugs are sure to bring out  the worst. When the ablest men turn into cowards, the average men turn into brutes.

Altruism as Appeasement
Ayn Rand
TO, 1-66, 6.

Executive summary:

Ry, his kids, and I spent the day testing reactive target mixtures in two different types of target containers. We discovered the target bodies we used for the first time last year were part of our problem with failures to detonate. Those problematic target bodies will not be used for Boomershoot 2005. We also found modifications to our procedures and to our mix to make the mixture more sensitive. With the new mix and the new target bodies but with small sample sizes we got 100% detonations with .22 caliber bullets (CCI Stingers) going about 1420 fps at the target. We got 100% failure to detonate with a target velocity of 1170 fps which means the targets are safe to handle. We did not do sufficient tests to determine the actual threshold for reliable detonation but do not expect it to be much if any below 1400 fps. The new mix has a lot more "punch" to it that the old mix and there is a very noticeable flash.

High level view of Boomershoot reactive targets:

The chemistry of our shoot.

History of Boomershoot reactive targets:

Explosive Experiments.

In 2003 we changed to a new type of fuel that cut the costs considerably and make things more sensitive at the same time. Since that time we have kept the fuels proprietary. The mixes listed on the web page work and are "good enough" for most purposes but our later mixes give us an edge in some areas. Yesterday was spent testing new fuels, a couple of catalysts, and the target containers.

Boomershoot reactive target innovation:

Almost all of our innovation to make the mix sensitive enough to detonate (not ignite, that is something completely different) and yet safe enough to handle has been with changing the amount of potassium chlorate and using different types of fuels. This has been an ongoing learning experience.  I have purchased probably twenty books and spent countless hours learning about explosives and the detonation mechanisms.  Then a friend (usually Ry) and I would test my latest hypothesis on how to make the mix better.  Most attempts were disappointments.  Only occasionally would we have something that worked better than what we had used before.  For the last three years we used the same components in the same proporitions with only an involuntary change in the grade of the AN we received from our supplier.  Yesterday was the first time we had a significant advance in a long time.

Yesterdays experiments:

Yesterday we took four new fuels with us but only had time to test three of them and only two in enough detail to be confident we found the "sweet spot" in the proportions. The two fuels insufficiently tested looked to be poor performers on paper and we probably won't investigate those anytime soon unless the storage tests being done turn out very poorly.

We use two different oxidizers in our reactive targets. Ammonium Nitrate (AN) is the main ingredient and Potassium Chlorate (PC) is used to increase the sensitivity. These chemicals are mixed with a fuel to create an bullet sensitive mix.

The fuels we used will be called:

• Fuel 0--the liquid fuel we have been using since 2003.
• Fuel 1--new solid fuel which looked the best on paper but is a little difficult to find and slightly more expensive than some others.
• Fuel 2--new solid fuel which looked second best on paper, is very easy to obtain and is cheap.
• Fuel 3--new solid fuel which looked poor on paper but is commonly used in the fireworks industry, is easy to obtain and is moderately priced.

As many people know the discovery of Penicillin was an accident. And so it was yesterday for us. One of the changes we adapted was because I made a mistake on the very first batch. From a chemistry and common sense point of view we should grind the AN. We buy it in prilled form (spheres about 0.1" to 0.13“ in diameter) with a very thin coating which protects it from moisture. But what we have found in the past is that either it didn't make any difference (Boomershoot 2001, 2002) or better performance was achieved with only some of it ground. In 2003 our supplier of AN had fertilizer grade material instead of the usual explosive grade material. It sort of went "POP" instead of "BOOM!!". We tried grinding the AN and it made a better boom but wasn't sensitive enough. We ground half of the AN to get a compromise. Since then we have had the best results when half the AN was prilled and half was ground. Yesterday the first batch was made entirely with ground AN. Whoops! Well, rather than just burn it (our disposal method) we decided to box it up and test it. We found that with the present fuels having all the AN ground made a huge positive difference in sensitivity. Another accident was that we used just a small amount of Fuel 0 "to keep the dust down". It turned out the presence of Fuel 0 was crucial to detonation. Without it there was no detonation even with a .223 at close range.

We ended up making 13 batches of reactive target mix. Each of the batches made from two to four targets depending on the size of the target and volume of fuel we used. Except when we intentionally left out Fuel 0 and only used Fuel 1 we could detonate everything with the .223 at 12 yards. The high velocity .22LR got at least partial detonation on most mixes. By observing the points at which we would start having failures to detonate we could bracket the acceptable limits of the proportions of the fuels.

We explored the limits of Fuel 0 and found that we had been using too much in previous years for optimum detonation sensitivity. We explored those limits and found the optimum proportion for maximum sensitivity. The power was a little lacking but the detonation was very reliable. We then adjusted the proportions of Fuel 1 for optimal sensitivity with the previously determined amount of Fuel 0. Fuel 2 was explored in a similar manner to Fuel 1. At the optimal levels of either Fuel 1 or Fuel 2 we could not distinguish a difference in performance between the two. Both would detonate in the new target bodies with the .22LR at velocities of about 1420 fps. And both would generate a significant flash upon detonation with a much better "punch" to the chest than mixes of previous years. Since Fuel 2 is cheaper and easier to obtain we decided it was preferable.

We tried optimal mixes of both Fuel 1 and Fuel 2 in the 6" target bodies from last year. We could only get rare detonations with the .22LR at velocities of about 1540 fps. The target bodies were creating an effective loss in velocity of something well over 120 fps with the 32 grain .22LR bullets! The .223 would detonate them every time at these short ranges.

With the Fuel 2 mix we added Catalyst 1 and tried it again in the 6" target body. We got one detonation out of four with velocities of 1540 fps. Not good enough.

We were in the process of trying Catalyst 2 when we had a big scare. I mixed the fuels with the AN and then added Catalyst 2. Within about five seconds there was a very strong smell of ammonia and I turned off the mixer and took the mixing bowl outside. There was no apparent heating or visible problems with the mixture but the smell was still very obvious. I dumped the mix on the burn pile for later disposal without ever adding the PC.

Next we tried Fuel 3 combined with Fuel 0 in the 6" target bodies. Zero out of three detonations with 1540 fps .22LR. The time was 1700 and Ry and the kids had to leave. I stayed to make one more batch of the optimal Fuel 2 mix in the new target bodies for storage tests, cleaned up, and then came home later.

Next week Barb and I will go back and test the stored product for sensitivity and then a couple weeks after that we will test again.

To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so.

To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assesed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harrased, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored.

That is government; that is its justice, that is its morality.

Pierre J. Proudhon
General Idea of the Revolution in the 19th Century

I like having a very direct and very powerful impact on worker safety and health.  If you put out a reg, it matters.  I think that's really where the thrill comes from.  And it is a thrill; it's a high... I love it; I absolutely love it.  I was born to regulate.  I don't know why, but that's very true.  So as long as I'm regulating, I'm happy.

Marthe Kent
OSHA director of safety standards program.
National Review's Internet Update
June 26, 2000

Kathleen Antrim at The San Francisco Examiner tells how Micheal Moore is reaping that which he has sown: 

"He was at every Oscar party and screening," said Moore's former manager Douglas Urbanski, a critically acclaimed 25-year veteran of the entertainment industry most recently known for the movie "The Contender," starring Gary Oldman, Joan Allen and Jeff Bridges. "He took out full page ads, cut his hair, bathed and even wore a suit. [Moore was] very present around town."

But the Hollywood elite turned up their surgically sculpted noses at Moore's flick. Urbanski explained that Hollywood has had it with Moore. Many blame him for provoking conservative voters and contributing to John Kerry's defeat in the presidential election. He's become the No. 1 favorite target of leftists.

"In certain [Hollywood] circles he is a shutout," Urbanski said.

Why would Moore's former manager be so forthcoming in his criticism?

"Michael Moore makes a substantial living going into peoples' private lives. Sneaking up on them," Urbanski said. So Urbanski feels no compunction in talking about the only client he ever fired. In fact, he fired Moore with a 10-page letter.

"A more dishonest and demented person I have never met," [Emphasis added] Urbanski wrote me in an e-mail, "and I have known a few! And he is more money obsessed than any I have known, and that's saying a lot."

It was over due and it couldn't have happened to a more appropriate person.  I hope people remember this when they think back to his 'documentary' Bowling for Columbine.  And it would be even better if they took back whatever award it was he got for “Best Documentary” for that piece of propaganda.

Ry, his three kids, and I are going to do some tests with explosives tomorrow.  Lots and lots of experiments to do.  Anyone that wants to stop by the Taj Mahal and watch and talk with us is welcome to do so.  Directions are here.  Give me a call on my cell phone (208-301-4254) first so I know to expect you.  If I don't answer leave a message and I'll get back to you with 30 minutes or so.  Don't show up unexpected or you might not like the welcome you receive.  I get a little edgy when people unknown to me approach when I'm working with explosives.

Lots and lots of MSM stuff as well as still more blogger stuff out there about what Bradley Smith had to say in CNET about the implications of the McCain-Feingold act.  I just can't get too worked up over it.  And not just because it's totally unenforceable.  I'm even skeptical that they will even try to regulate the blogs.  Surely they aren't that stupid.  And beyond that it could just be a big hoax to discredit bloggers.  Probably not, but it could be.  People believe what they want to believe.  And the bloggers want to believe they are so important that the government and/or MSM has to shut them down to get on with “business as usual“.  So the bloggers get all bent out of shape and then Smith is found to have never said any such thing or was high on crack the time he said it or suffering from a brain tumor the size of a grapefruit, whatever.  Where are the interviews with the other commissioners on this topic?

Oops.  I'm too late, others are throwing ice water on the fire already.

Well... Not really.  Although there are some people with rather high emotions about this.  Here is a snippet:

If Congress doesn't change the law, what kind of activities will the FEC have to target?
We're talking about any decision by an individual to put a link (to a political candidate) on their home page, set up a blog, send out mass e-mails, any kind of activity that can be done on the Internet.

Again, blogging could also get us into issues about online journals and non-online journals. Why should CNET get an exemption but not an informal blog? Why should Salon or Slate get an exemption? Should Nytimes.com and Opinionjournal.com get an exemption but not online sites, just because the newspapers have a print edition as well?

Why wouldn't the news exemption cover bloggers and online media?
Because the statute refers to periodicals or broadcast, and it's not clear the Internet is either of those. Second, because there's no standard for being a blogger, anyone can claim to be one, and we're back to the deregulated Internet that the judge objected to. Also I think some of my colleagues on the commission would be uncomfortable with that kind of blanket exemption.

So if you're using text that the campaign sends you, and you're reproducing it on your blog or forwarding it to a mailing list, you could be in trouble?
Yes. In fact, the regulations are very specific that reproducing a campaign's material is a reproduction for purpose of triggering the law. That'll count as an expenditure that counts against campaign finance law.

This is an incredible thicket. If someone else doesn't take action, for instance in Congress, we're running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation.

Enough to make your blood boil, right?  Except it will be impossible to enforce.  I can register a domain with a fake name and address in a foreign country, host the domain in still another country, then post anonymously to that website with an IP address from a third country, all without leaving my little town in Idaho.  Oh, and the traffic from my bedroom to the other side of the international borders is encrypted.  So how are they going to regulate that?  What authority do they have to regulate websites and Internet traffic of foreign countries?

At another dinner, a year or two ago, with the same friend from last week I had expressed my concerns about how the internet and computers could be a real threat to freedom.  The sniffing of your email traffic, the websites you browse, the things you buy, the people you communicate with, far, far too much information about you is known from your internet traffic.  He dismissed it by rolling his eyes, a wave of his hand and the statement, “Computers and the internet are a far bigger problem for the government than they are for the individual.”  Because to him this was so obvious I decided to think on it rather than push the subject with him.  In the time since then I've come to conclude he is right.  Yes, it's a problem for the individual but it's a bigger problem for the government.  Look at what bloggers have done in the past couple of years.  Look at the communication we get back from the war front.  Look at the bind the FEC is getting into trying to regulate us. 

Two lesson are important here:

1. The free flow of information is almost impossible to control now.
2. Freedom flourishes when you have the free flow of information. 

Fascists everywhere know the second lesson and are rapidly learning the first.  It won't be long before the slow learners at the FEC, in the courts, and in our legislatures grasp both.

Update:  See also Kim du Toit's response.
Update2: Geek with a .45 is organizing the insurrection.

For once I'd really like to see a 'women's' self defense book or whatever saying (show picture of IPSC target): “Here's a pressure point. Apply 124 grains of pressure.“

Buji Kern
March 17, 1999

I've long a been a critic of airport “security” measures.  But I think the Federal Air Marshal concept has a lot of validity.  I have reservations about the constitutionality of government supplied security for private enterprise, but the functionality of having highly trained, undercover, armed guards seems to be beyond rational criticism.  And of course if something should work you can probably count on the government finding a way to mess it up.  The FAM program is no exception to this general rule.  Michelle Malkin has been following the mess the program is in and reports the potential for Director Thomas Quinn to soon be fired or to resign under pressure.  My favorite option, allowing all passengers to carry defensive weapons on board any flight, isn't likely to happen anytime soon and having an effective FAM program is probably the most politically acceptable of the various potentially effective options for airplane security.  The sooner we can get the FAM program to be effective the better.  Besides, my 18 year old daughter says she wants to be FAM.  And although she can shoot a handgun she isn't anywhere near up to the level she needs to be; FAM handgun qualifications are the most demanding of any law enforcement agency in the country.  We are going to the range on Sunday to start her education.  I expect it will take a year to get her up to speed.  She is an incredibly strong willed person and if she really wants this I know she has the physical and mental strength to accomplish it.  We'll see what happens in the next few months as I chart her progress.

As I mentioned the other day I had dinner with a friend last week.  He commented on the insanity of Bush's State of the Union speech if you read between the lines.  I got a comment on that post defending Bush which I didn't bother to respond to in public.  I am in close agreement with Bush on the issue and it coming from this particular friend of mine it shouldn't really be considered as disagreement with the “Bush Doctrine“.  My friend is well aware that he cannot claim any high ground on the issue of sanity.  His solution for winning the war on terror is a case in point:

1. We tell the residents of Medina we are going to nuke the city in two weeks.  Anyone that believes Allah will save them or prevent it should stay.
2. Medina is converted to glass on schedule.
3. We tell the world that if so much as a US pizza restaurant is bombed we will nuke a city in response.  As soon as we find a piece of a turban or a scrap of their beard another city will be converted to glass ASAP and without warning.

We had enough nukes to deal with Russia so we sure as hell have enough to deal with the Arabs.

I suggested perhaps the Muslim extremist psychology might not respond in the same way that he expected.  His response was:

Their psychology has been adequate for them to survive for the last thousand years.  This is about their survival.  They will figure it out or they will cease to exist, either way we win.

His solution for dealing with the existence of Osama bin Laden is similar in that it is simple, ruthless, and nuclear.

I am always looking for better explosives for the Boomershoot and the other day someone suggested nitroglycerine.  I told him no, it's just too hazardous to work with.  While following up on idea for something else I ran across this story which I have to share:

In the 1920's and 1930's, liquid nitroglycerine was used for "shooting" oil wells to stimulate production. The productive formation might have a large porosity, so it held a lot of oil, but might be relatively impermeable, or "tight," so the oil would not flow into the small hole with sufficient speed. In limestone, hydrochloric acid was often used, but this was not useful in sandstones. By exploding from 2 to 200 quarts of nitroglycerine, the rock could be fractured for a considerable distance, greatly enlarging the surface through with the oil would flow, equivalent to making a much larger hole. The "shooter" drove alone in a Ford coupe, with the "soup" in the back where the rumble seat used to be, from his source of supply. Nitroglycerine could not be commercially shipped, of course. He poured the "soup" into tin "torpedoes" and lowered them one by one, each fitting into the top of the one below. On the top went a time fuze that ticked away and exploded the charge at a reasonable interval. Then everyone filtered back to the well from their places of refuge. Occasionally, all did not go well, but the "shooters" were well paid and their widows had insurance. There are few graves of "shooters."

Ultimately, people will have to be controlled directly. The only open question is whether it will be the "jackboot" model (1984) or the "soma" model (Brave New World). Soma's ahead by just a nose as they round the turn...

Scott Meredith
Upon hearing that there is a push to register air guns in the UK.
May 10, 2000 9:23 AM