The Violence Policy Center is probably the most anti-gun organization in this country.  I notice they have a page devoted to explosives.

America must face the fact that we have a love affair with guns that exacts a tremendous and unacceptable cost in human lives lost. Mass shootings like that at Red Lake High School are the future for America's children until policymakers decide it's time to enact real gun control. Other countries have found the solution to mass shootings, and it consists of severe restrictions on the availability of specific classes of firearms, such as handguns and assault weapons.

Kristen Rand
Legislative director for the Violence Policy Center
News release March 22, 2005

[Note: The guns used were stolen from the shooters grandfather--a police officer killed by the shooter.  The school guard, also killed, was unarmed.]

How much sand does it take to stop a bullet?  How many sheet rock walls will your 9mm JHP's go through?  Can you shoot a lock off with a pistol?  These and many other questions answered here.

The private party for tomorrows Boomershoot Adventure decided to reschedule.  The rain they could deal with using makeshift shelters and tarps.  The forecast of 15 MPH winds would have made the shelters impractical and their bullets wander.  These were people with hunting rifles and they were asking to be closer than 375 (they suggested 200) yards.  I was pushing for it some.  I would rather they had a good time as well as the added stress on my crew of dealing with the wet and the cold.

Read all about it here.

Last year it wasn't until mid-April that Ry and I started having nightmares.  But as I mentioned before things are very dry this year (except for the private party tomorrow when it is supposed to rain all day).  So this morning I was dreaming about the shooting line filled with eager participants.  I give the signal to commence fire and people bring their laser range finders to bear on the various targets.  Like some science fiction movie the hillside is turned into narrow streaks of fire and clouds of smoke and dust as the laser beams instantly ignite the grass and detonate the targets.  The startled shooters jerk their range finders in random directions and the streaks of fire erupt over not just the hillside target area but the fields and trees on both sides and some even ignite the grass in narrow paths from the distant hillside to the feet of the shooter.  At least 80 acres of fields and woods is fiercely ablaze within a couple seconds.  The booms from the first reactive target detonations reach me and I wake up.

The entire discussion of "stopping power" is both stupid and irrelevant. Statistics cannot be applied to individuals. People that need to be shot need to be shot soon and often. They need to be shot until they run out of fluid, brains, or balls.

If during the time you were reading the latest "stopping power" article you were instead practicing to save your life you would be far, far ahead.

Greg Hamilton
Self-defense instructor
May 08, 1998

Assuming the people of our country have the political will to stick with it long enough our technology will make it nearly impossible for the Islamic extremists to function.  I just look at the requests for proposals (here and here--these links may die in a week or two) and I know most of them are possible.  Not all of course, but we might have partial solutions for even the more “far out” requests. Compare what they think is really hot stuff to what we are working on:

R2017 Text Attribution
Design and develop computer software tools to automate existing stylometric and related psychological analysis of Arabic and English text to include e-mail, passwords, chat conversations, and other documents. Design analysis to generate investigative leads such as author’s age, sex, geographic orientation, English as a second language, and other basic psychological social and personality traits with resultant probabilities. The software shall include the capability to provide the investigator with a probability of a match to other inputted text (from known or unknown authors). Techniques shall include message stream profiling analyses from computational linguistics that have been used in investigations. The solution shall include a combination of techniques and approaches including, but not limited to, clause analysis, common word approach, idiosyncratic indicators, lexicon analysis, unique word approach, and other word use. The software shall have an interface to allow non-technical investigators the ability to upload text for automated analysis. The tools must employ a modular approach so multiple foreign-language capabilities may be developed in subsequent work efforts.

Imagine monitoring a chat session in real time.  Their chat is entirely innocent stuff but within a few minutes one of the participants is identified as the same individual that wrote the speech for a half dozen beheadings.  The other person is new to the database but the computer says he is the superior of the first person.  The IP addresses of both people are known and from that we know their city and probably can even construct databases of exact locations for a lot of the IP addresses.  The Blackhawks get launched while the chat is still in progress...

You can imagine the impact of the following systems:

R2047 Wireless Sensor System
Develop and test a wireless sensor network integrating seismic, acoustic, IR, and/or other intrusion detection and assessment technologies capable of detecting and tracking human and vehicle intruders while excluding local wildlife. The system is to be deployed in forested or otherwise visually obstructed areas. The system must provide security personnel with a situational awareness overview, alarm on detection of threat events, track multiple intruders, determine direction and speed of travel, and provide information for operators to identify and locate potential adversaries. The command and control unit will be a typical PC-based system.

R2073 Tunnels and Tunneling Detection System
Develop and field-test a prototype tunnel detection and tunneling activity detection system suitable for use by U.S. military and law enforcement personnel in domestic and foreign locations. The system must be capable of scanning the earth to 50 feet below the surface and be usable in urban and rural locations without creating safety or environmental hazards. The system must be capable of displaying a three-dimensional composite picture of the area scanned and must compare the results of scans from prior and subsequent surveys in such a way as to trace a tunnel's path. The system must be capable of providing operators clear information on the quality of the data and provide indicators of system limitations such that the reliability of the information can be estimated. The system should be air or surface deployed, with minimal and preferably no digging, drilling, or core sampling required. Data acquisition should be relatively fast and accuracy of tunnel location sufficient to allow a protective response.

Of course she is sitting on my lap as I write this too.

Her cat, wanting attention came up to us meowing and then started “sharpening his claws” on my knee.  “OWWW!!!”.  Xenia started giggling.  I glared. Her mood suddenly became somber, grim even, and barked, “Bad cat!”.

This was all the more funny because it isn't the first time she has done something like that.  Another time she was telling me about how her cat talks to her.  “Oh?  What does he say?”  “He thinks you're stupid.”  Glare and the mouth opens to return her to her proper place of respect for her parental units.  Before the first word can get out she blurts out, “But I don't believe him.”  She saved her ass.  Damn, she is fast.

To know how to say what others only know how to think is what makes men poets or sages; and to dare to say what others only dare to think makes men martyrs or reformers or both.

Elizabeth Charles

BP and the FBI both say it wasn't an intentional act but one has to wonder how they know that for certain so soon.  Details here.

FBI agents found "no evidence for any criminal or terrorist activity" linked to Wednesday's blast at the third-largest U.S. refinery, FBI spokesman Al Tribble said in Houston.

Two Islamist groups claimed responsibility, but BP also said it had ruled out sabotage as a cause of the third fatal accident in a year at the 71-year-old plant.

Of course various groups would probably claim responsibility if a meteorite fell on the Pope too.

I missed it when it first came out but late last month the TSA banned all lighters from checked as well as carry-on luggage.  I had grumbled about the congressional idiots who passed the law before and sort of expected the TSA would bring some smarts to the table.  I was wrong.  The TSA expanded the congressional idiocy.  Read their press release here.  Relevant snippets are here:

After carefully evaluating the security threat, Congressional intent and operational considerations, TSA determined that passengers should be prohibited from carrying all lighters on their person or in carry-on luggage in the sterile areas of airports or onboard an airplane. The policy will be fully enforced beginning April 14, 2005.  

...

All lighters will be banned from sterile areas beyond security checkpoints at airports.  This includes, for example, butane, absorbed-fuel (Zippo-type), electric/battery-powered and novelty lighters.

TSA’s mission includes preventing air piracy and use of an airplane as a weapon.  TSA prohibits items that may be used to that end from being carried aboard an airplane.  The lighter ban will fulfill Congress’ intent as expressed in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act and reduce security vulnerabilities, providing one more layer of security for the nation’s travelers.

No mention of matches in their press release.  So I guess if you light a fuse with a match they don't have a problem with it.  And interestingly enough, confirming their idiocy, is that their list of prohibited items says:

Up to 2 lighters or 4 books of safety matches are allowed in your carry-on baggage - NOT checked baggage. Disposable lighters and absorbed liquid lighters are allowed in your carry-on baggage.

Everything I said before about the congress critters applies to the TSA idiots that implemented the idiotic law.

Yesterday I sent an email to the author of an anti-freedom editorial.  I received a response from her today and I responded:

From: Zackywacks@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 4:40 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Re: Red Lake, Minnesota Shooting [On Gun Control]

Hi Joe.  Thanks for your thoughts on this subject.  I guess that any percentage of decline would not make a difference for those bent on carrying guns that get in the hands of babes and then kill other children...so let's begin to issue guns to children in grade school so they can protect themselves from each other.  NOT!

 

Thanks again and have a nice day.

Michelle

 

From: Joe Huffman 
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 8:39 AM
To: 'Zackywacks@aol.com'
Subject: RE: Red Lake, Minnesota Shooting [On Gun Control]

The point wasn't that it wasn't possible that some decline in gun related deaths occurred due to the assault weapon ban.  The point was that the numbers used could not possibly be accurate and that the number of gun related deaths are really irrelevant.  This is because thousands of those deaths are people shot by the police and private citizens in the defense of innocent life.  Furthermore if firearms become less available, the criminals substitute other weapons, and their victims are less able to defend themselves due to the lack of a firearm the total violent crime death rate may actually increase. To evaluate the benefits of gun control there is only one question we need to answer:

 

Can you demonstrate just one time, one place, throughout all of human history, where restricting the access of handheld weapons to the average person made them safer?

For more background:

 

http://blog.joehuffman.org/archive/2004/12/14/583.aspx

 

And I fail to see how sarcasm is productive in this discussion.

 

You have a nice day too.

 

 

Joe Huffman
Senior Research Scientist
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
----
http://blog.joehuffman.org
http://www.boomershoot.org

I was never molested by any person but those who represented the State.

Henry David Thoreau
(1817-62), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist.
Walden, "The Village," 1854.

My son once suggested we auction off a rainy day on eBay to someone who wanted it to rain on a particular day.  They would choose the day and we would then schedule Boomershoot on that day to guarantee that there would be rain.  Except for the one event in July of '99 (we had a fire the next day instead of rain the day of) he would have been able to deliver on his auction.

This Sunday, the 27th, we are putting on a “private party”.  I started watching the weather forecasts last weekend.  It didn't look good--rain AND snow was predicited.  I sent an email to the participants telling them to bring rain gear and to plan on getting wet.  No response.  Okay, if they can handle it so can I and the kids helping me.

I sent an email to my cousin who owns some of the land we use for the event.  Being a farmer he watches the weather forecasts pretty close.  Our email exchange follows:

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 11:21 PM
To: Alan
Subject: Boomers on Sunday afternoon.

There will be a few guys shooting some boomers this Sunday afternoon.  Is this something that would interfere with any of your plans?

The regular boomershoot is April 29, 30, and May 1.

-joe-

From: Alan
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 5:30 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Re: Boomers on Sunday afternoon.

It will probably be snowing this week end so I won't be out and about.  Have fun.

Alan

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 6:48 PM
To: Alan
Subject: RE: Boomers on Sunday afternoon.

The forecasts I have been looking at predict rain but since it's a boomershoot event I figure freezing rain and 30 MPH winds is more likely.  But I suppose snow is possible too.

-joe-

I just sent the following email to the author of an anti gun editorial.

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wed 3/23/2005 12:31 PM
To: zackywacks@aol.com
Subject: RE: Red Lake, Minnesota Shooting [On Gun Control]

I just read your article (http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/mar/article320.html).  There are a couple errors that I thought you should be aware of.

You stated:

 

As a matter of fact, according to the Brady Center there was a 66% decline under the ban for crimes that could be traced back to the use of assault weapons.

But what the Brady Center actually said (http://www.bradycampaign.org/ler/docs/doj_study_talking_points.doc)

 

The Brady Center report had found a 66% decline in assault weapons’ share of total crime gun traces from the pre-ban period to the post-ban period.

The difference is that in your statement you said the 66% decline was in the USE of assault weapons.  Whereas what they actually said was there was a 66% decline in the assault weapons' share of total crime gun traces.  "Crime gun traces" does not mean the gun was used in a crime.  Those traces include guns that were stolen and the trace was done to find the true owner.  In fact if you read the actual report the Brady Center bases their talking points on (http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/grants/204431.pdf) you will find (section 6.1) "...up to a quarter of the guns confiscated by police are associated with violent offenses or shots fired incidences".  Furthermore the traces are at the discretion of the local police who confiscated the firearm.  Any changes in their policies regarding traces will affect those numbers.  Hence, the trace data is unreliable and to the extent it is reliable it does not reflect the use of that gun in the commission of a crime.

 

You also state:

 

Just prior to the assault ban being enacted it was noted that there were approximately 15 people killed per 100,000 in gun related deaths. By 2002 the death rate due to guns was down to 10 per 100,000 or 30% less. (www.inasa.org) I don’t know about you but that looks pretty effective to me!

Aside from the fact that you include ALL people killed with firearms, including those that are justified or even praiseworthy shootings by the police and private citizens using them in defense of innocent life if you read the National Institute of Justice report rather than the Brady Campaign talking points you get still more concerning errors:

AWs were used in only a small fraction of gun crimes prior to the ban: about 2% according to most studies and no more than 8%. Most of the AWs used in crime are assault pistols rather than assault rifles.

Therefore it is simply not possible that a 30% decline can be attributed to the banning of something that was only used in, at most, 8% of the crimes.  That doesn't even include the effects of criminals substituting other weapons to commit murders if the banned firearms are unavailable. 

In short your article only focuses on the adverse effects of firearms ownership and use and relies on Brady Campaign talking points rather than actual criminological results.

 

Regards,

Joe Huffman
----
http://blog.joehuffman.org
http://www.boomershoot.org

Update: Fixed some format errors in the blog post version, and a couple of typos that were in the letter I sent to the author.

They tell us, sir...that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a country as that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.

Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable -- and let it come!! I repeat it, sir, let it come!!!

It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace; but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

Forbid it, Almighty God -- I know not what course others may take; but as for me -- give me liberty or give me death!

Patrick Henry
Speech, March 23, 1775

Looking over the requests for proposals from TSWG today I ran across this one:

R2016 Rapid Threat Assessment Screening

Develop a capability for the rapid, real-time threat assessment of an individual’s potential terrorist threat at ports of entry or other sensitive entrance areas. This proposed system must integrate physiological signals with biometric information. Preferred procedures are real-time and rely on non-invasive measures and on proven psychophysiological indices and psychometrically sound criteria. System performance must balance the risks associated with the threat environment. The capability must provide for the processing of large numbers of individuals at airports, embassies, border crossings, or other ports of entry where the base rate of intent to do harm is very small. The pre-screening device must be be portable and easily operable for use prior to a more in-depth interrogation.

Very cool if it is actually possible, some parents would love to have it for dealing with their teen-agers, and George Orwell could have used it in one of his novels.

I found the bit of information I was waiting for.  The security guard at the school in Minnesota was unarmed.  It took men with guns (the police) to stop him.  The teachers (and probably the security guard) were disarmed by law and were unable to provide effective protection.  How long will it be before the lawmakers in this country figure out what others already know about how to prevent or at least drastically reduce the damage of, these type of events?

I had problems the first time.  It was a little better the second time, but it still wasn't good.  Once when Barb and I were driving by the Red Cross Donation center I pointed it out to her and said that was where she could pick up my body if they managed to kill me.  She didn't think my joke was nearly as funny as I did.

This morning I donated for the third time.  The nurses/technicians seemed to recognize me and remember notes they had made on me from months ago (I think the last time was October). Not a good sign I suppose.  They started out really slow and gave me lots of Tums (for the calcium which mitigates the problems with the anti-coagulants) but after a few minutes I started having the tingling in my lips and they slowed things down even more and gave me more Tums.  Every 30 minutes or so it would happen again.  Then I started sneezing.  One of the people came over and asked if I just wanted to call it quits.  I said it was just allergies.  She said it was one of the symptoms.  I only had about another 20 minutes left and I said to go ahead and finish up.  I made it through and as I was being disconnected they told me that it would be best if I didn't try to donate again.  She thanked me for persisting but said it's hard on me physically and probably mentally as well.  Some people don't have problems with donations of any type, some donate whole blood without any problems (I am one) and can't donate platelets and some people can donate platelets but have problems with whole blood.  She recommended I stick with just donating whole blood.  I'm okay with that and, of course, so is Barb.

I've been exploring ways to get internet access to Boomershoot 2005.  I don't know how much it would cost yet but I found the SpeedRay 3000.  It's not quite available yet anyway.  But it's very cool.

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.

Daniel Webster

I went in to have my teeth cleaned this morning and was pleased to have LeEllen as the hygienist. She is incredibly bubbly and friendly. She makes me smile--as much is possible when your mouth is full of hand tools and portions of her hands. She and her husband are also students of mine. They took a handgun class from me a few years ago and we frequently talk a little bit about guns when I see her. This time when she introduced me to the new dentist she told him about my being her instructor and that I was "a really good teacher". That made me feel good and caused a real smile since she had temporarily removed the tools and her hands from my mouth.

The thing that made me smile, to myself, the most was something she surely didn't intend to be funny. She talked about the new dentist and how he liked to "do everything" in dentistry--just like Dr. J that we have been seeing for the last dozen years who is the primary owner of the clinic. She then went on and on about "Dr. J. likes to do root canals and he likes to do extractions, everything!" My mind immediately thought of a sadist getting pleasure from causing pain to someone else. Not at all what she meant and certainly not what my experience with the good Dr. J. has been. But my mind twisted her words to give me many minutes of pleasure on my long drive to work this morning.  I thought of her, so cheerful and bubbly, and the gentle Dr. J. in some sort of Monty Python like skit where they do root canals and tooth extractions because they enjoy them so much.

A belief is not true because it is useful.

Henri Frederic Amiel

I finally updated numbers of the referrals from the various bloggers.  My ISP had some problems for a while and I didn't have any log files for several weeks.  That has been corrected.  I also changed the target size information.  I may change the target number (up, not down).  I need to run some numbers first.  But my guess is I need more targets now.  The new targets are four and six inch squares instead of four and six inch circles.  The rectangles will be easier to hit.  The largest target is now a 7 3/8 x 7 3/8 rectangle compared to the old 8 inch circle.  So that will be just slightly larger.

I also updated the general information page on what to bring.  The biggest change there is I removed “tarp” from the options to shoot off of.  Shooting off a slick tarp on the built up shooting positions can be “challenging”.  A non-skid shooting mat is preferable.

My family, from the farm, showed up for Barb's birthday party yesterday and I found out there have been several grass and brush fires in the neighborhood recently.  Most years there would still be snow on the ground.  But this year they are having fire problems in mid March!  I probably will have to take special precautions to reduce the chances of fire this year.  Unless of course it snows on us--which has happened.

Here are the pictures from the party.  A sample:

The video I made for the party, Barbara Scott From 1 to 50, is here.

Update: Barb requested that I make a slight change in the movie.  She was right, it made it better.  The original is here.

I found some more pictures in my camera, browsed through the pictures that were in Xenia's camera and put a few more up.

Sheep can be controlled by the sheepdog for the same reason they fear the wolf -- they are both predators.  The same relationships hold with the general population, the police, and the criminals.  Most people are sheep, but you don't have to be.  If you have the skills and attitude of a predator the criminals will leave you alone -- because they will recognize you as a predator and there is easier game available.

Greg Hamilton (paraphrased)
Self Defense Instructor
February 5, 1997