I'd never heard of Jim Pontillo.  I found him through a link on Jewish World Review.  Liberalism's Tragic Soul is a long post, but there are a lot of very quotable statements in it:

...you are victim to the liberal propaganda which suggests CEOs are big all controlling evil despots who can set policy and control the population at their whim. CEOs in a truly capitalist society are the biggest slaves of the planet. They are enslaved to the whims of the market—to you and me.

That one reminds me of a good friend, who opened a retail store in a small village that had a two-store monopoly.  The two stores had been price-fixing for years.  My friend saw this monopoly, correctly, as an opportunity.  He did his homework and found out he could provide goods at vastly lower prices and still make a good profit.  So long as his property rights were protected against coercion and other forms of force, he could do a nice business and in the process he'd be giving every resident of this little village a raise, in effect, by lowering the prices on all the goods they needed.  He did just that, and has done very well for many years.  That's the value of a free market right there, in microcosm.  There can be no lasting, anti-consumer monopoly in a free market, since anyone taking undue advantage of the consumer is merely creating an opportunity for their competitors.  That is, unless government steps in and screws it all up.

The next time you get into an argument about freedom with a liberal, the freedom they profess to defend, the freedom that conservatives venture to usurp with their fascist beliefs, ask them what freedom they are talking about.  Is it the freedom to possess firearms to protect ourselves if government fails to, or the freedom to keep most of the money we earn, or the freedom to speak candidly about religion, or the freedom to provide the best for our families; or is it the freedom to hand our lives over to some elected official where he will decide what is best for us...

We believe that this domestic violence prevention strategy "should" be implemented. However, we recognize that it would be difficult to implement all these measures due to the clout of the gun lobby and subsequent lack of political will and resources.

In lieu of this, GunGuys.com has considered launching a new "cultural change" campaign with a simple message to young women:

"I Don't Date Boys Who Own Guns."

Mike of Gun Guys
With So Many Men Owning Guns, Domestic Violence Is Difficult to Prevent for Justice System
April 4, 2008
[I wonder if he has also considered a campaign with these simple messages to young women "I Don't Date Black (Jewish/Italian/Chinese/whatever) Boys". It would be entirely consistent if he did. One form of bigotry is just as valid as any other.--Joe]

The idea that the only way we think we can make a safer, better society is for everyone to carry a gun is incredibly sad. It's also individualistic--the answer to racism, rape, and gay bashing is to carry a gun, not have any form of social organizing.

Gwen
January 10, 2008 10:48 PM
Comment in Equal Opportunity Gun Ownership
[This is very revealing of their mindset. Apparently "social organizing" makes individual responsibility obsolete and justifiably deprives all individuals of the right to defend their lives. The collective is to defend the members it deems worthy of defensive. And of course we know how that works out. The "leaders" get their armed guards and the ordinary individual gets a dysfunctional and corrupt police system. The issues is that in the U.S. the elected officials are supposed to be "public servants" not "leaders". When the government successfully claims a monopoly on the use of force they have dropped all pretense of being "public servants" or "leaders" and have declared themselves to be "rulers".

Although Gwen didn't make the blog post she was commenting on she is a co-editor of the blog.

As Kevin pointed out "everyone" is blogging about this post and the comments. It was the source of my own QOTD yesterday.--Joe]

This is more like what I expect from Xenia.

"This makes ten" refers to the tenth bone she has broken in her life. It's not entirely obvious from the post.

Gun control serves violence, oppression, genocide, and other evil purposes. Opposing it serves peace, freedom, human dignity, and the triumph of intellect over brute force. Choose your side. Do you want the side that was supported by the KKK, racists, Nazis, rapists, gay-bashers, and other scum, or do you want the side that is supported by fine folks like the brave Jews who fought back against the Nazis, and men of peace like Ghandi?

The choice is yours, and history will remember you by it...

maineshark
April 3, 2008 5:37 AM
Comment in Equal Opportunity Gun Ownership
[H/T to Tam and Uncle. I'll probably use another comment from that same post as my QOTD tomorrow.--Joe]

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

Ronald Reagan
["Best" doesn't necessarily mean brightest. It can also mean ethical. Now think about how much time the current presidential candidates have spent in government versus private business.

Reagan was right.--Joe]

Boomershoot 2008 shirts, caps, mugs, etc. are now available.

Update: The link has been updated. I had a private link before.

Lame.

Xenia, I know you can do better than that. 2007 was better and so was 2006.

I've been thinking about this for a long time and Sunday while waiting for the ferry to cross over to the island to visit Mr. Completely and Keewee I made my decision. The event that confirmed everything was the dog sniffing for explosives around the vehicles waiting for the ferry:

There were two things that really struck me about this. 1) The dog didn't take any particular interest in my car even though I had been making explosives and driving that car just a week earlier. No special precautions on cleanliness and the dog didn't hit on us. I also had several hundred rounds of ammunition in the trunk. Therefore the dog and all the WSP officers standing around are just more Security Theater. 2) Why isn't this considered an illegal search? We were on public roads doing nothing suspicious and we get searched.

After a few minutes of thought I realized the game I had been playing was over. For years I have pushing for restoring our freedom and yet we have suffered more and more infringements. There is always some "justification" for the infringement. Before 9-11 it was because of crime and recreational drug use. Now it's the threat of terrorism. Nearly all of the infringements are mere theater in regards to addressing the problems they claim to be concerned about yet they adversely affect the ordinary citizen.

With this realization I concluded I have been playing the game wrong. Therefore I have decided to change sides. From this moment forward I am on the side of Islam. Yes, I know, for the most part they are a bunch of losers. But I have my reasons:

• I think I can make a major contribution to turning their loser ways around.
  • I have thousands of pounds of explosives materials available for immediate use.
  • I have long range rifle experience and equipment.
  • I have computer security expertise.
  • I have extensive engineering experience.
• The U.S. Constitution is dead. It was killed by neglect years ago and there is no hope for its resurrection. This great hope for freedom has died and pretending otherwise is a fraud.
• If we can't have freedom then the next best thing is peace through uniformity of belief. Islam is the best hope for that.
• I'm getting older and so is Barb. Those 72 virgins for eternity are looking better and better.

I know I am handicapping myself by making this public announcement but I feel morally obligated to tell my friends and family the truth. I don't play the part of secret traitor well--I have to look at my face in the mirror each morning. As Winston Churchill once said in regards to formal declarations of war, "When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."

My apologies to Uncle and others who (correctly at the time) said, "I’m glad he’s one of the good guys." Things change and perhaps you should too.

When Barb left this morning she didn't know. It was just returning to work in Idaho as she does every other week after spending the last several days with me. But that was the end of a 34 year run we had. Our first date was in March of 1974. This was a picture I took of her on that date, a walk along Dworshak Lake:

It was nice but she was only a virgin once. She just can't compete with 72 virgins for eternity.

You might ask, "What are you going to do?" and that's a fair question. I figure I have at best a few months before I am caught and probably killed but I am certain I can make a significant impact in that time frame. Think for a moment about how long a city could last if all the bridges, roads, water, and electricity were cut off with the repair crews taking sniper fire from 1000 yards away. Draw a circle with a radius of 1000 yards around each of the severed connections and imagine trying to protect the crews from someone, someplace in that area. And as law enforcement is searching for me there they won't really know if I am there are not. I could be several hundred miles away getting ready to sever another city from food, water, and power. You don't need nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons to create mass destruction. By creating the appropriate circumstances you can cause the delicate fabric of society to collapse and let nature do the rest.

Ry and I have observed it's rare that a single person can kill more than 200 people before being stopped. It is my ambition to set a record in the 10s of thousands and perhaps higher. I want my name to be in the history books as a demonstration of just what one determined person can do.

Allahu Akbar!

We've been waiting for this one a long time. The steps have been slow and incremental, but now, thanks to this judicious and far-sighted law, we can finally take full advantage of the Second Amendment rights guaranteed us under the United States Constitution. No longer will we have to become a convenience store owner or an elementary school teacher just to get our mitts on some of this tasty ordnance.

Sally Ack-Ack
Spokesman for the NWMDA (National Weapons of Mass Destruction Association, formerly known as the NRA).
October 9, 2021
Tactical Nuclear Weapons Approved for American Consumers
[I suspected "Sally Ack-Ack" was actually an alias for Ashley Varner at the NRA working on plans for a post Heller world. I sent an email and got a response that neither confirmed or denied:

Hey, at least they finally got the quote right! It's "guaranteed by the Constitution," NOT GRANTED!

Cool! Just wait until I upgrade Boomershoot to the new ordnance.--Joe]

Position 75 just opened up. This is a position that requires a shooting bench. You can see the pictures and sign up to take the position here.

The shooter in position 76 lost his spotter and:

I need a single entrant from Seattle area that can share gas and lodging expenses. I will be leaving Friday morning and returning Sunday night.

If you would like to be that person send me an email with your contact information and I will forward the information on.

I've made the big time.

If you mouse over the link to me it even says, "He blows stuff up."

Free entry to Boomershoot to whoever is writing this great blog.

If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

Bill Vaughan
[Continuing the theme of humans as pack animals.--Joe]

If anyone doubts that there's an epidemic of gun violence in this country, let these statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain just one category of it: In 2004, 5,292 young people ages 10 to 24 were murdered -- that's 15 per day -- 81 percent with a firearm. Homicide is the second leading cause of death in this age group.

And here is a sad commentary on how far removed the nation is from confronting this scourge that leads to the deaths of thousands of children a year and wounds thousands of others, not to mention many more adults: The discussion inevitably gets bogged down in conflict over gun rights and gun control.

The Patriot-News
March 30, 2008
Rather than get bogged in rights vs. gun control, focus on why so many are bent on destruction
[I just thought people should know that someone 24 years old is considered a child. Apparently someone changed the definition and never bothered to tell the rest of us. And that includes Merriam-Webster.--Joe]

Via a tip from the Apex of the Triangle of Death I discovered Kansas is considering allowing private citizens to possess suppressors, machine guns, and short barreled shotguns again. Here are some articles on it:

• Bill allowing possession of machine guns passes House
• Bill allowing possession of machine guns passes Kansas House

Here is the existing law. Here is the House bill that quietly repeals it. Here is the Senate Bill with which it must be reconciled.

The Kansas House approved this bill by a vote of 105-18!

And speaking of pack animals and conforming with the herd, this is from another news story on the Kansas class III issue:

The House gave final approval to a bill allowing dealers, manufacturers and private citizens to own machine guns, which would bring Kansas in line with all but a handful of states.

"I don't pass judgment on why people want to own anything — Mercedeses, mink coats, diamond rings, fully automatic weapons," said Rep. Candy Ruff, D-Leavenworth, a sponsor of the measure.

The emphasis is mine.

Sign up here.

The observation that most humans are "pack animals" and conformists leads me to conclude that in addition to having the obvious detrimental effects of forcing conformity to harmful and even dangerous beliefs there are ways this human characteristic can be exploited to the advantage of freedom loving people. In essence we need to align the pack norms with our principles rather than let the anti-freedom movement align them for us.

I haven't read it, but I suspect Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes would be very insightful. In the absence of my doing the proper research here are my speculations on the gun issue and how we might take advantage of this human characteristic:

• The more gun owners "come out of the closet" the more difficult it is for the anti-gun bigots to herd the pack in the desired direction.
• The more times you take a new shooter to the range the less people there will be who accept the implied characterization by the bigots of all gun owners as actual or imminent criminals.
• Every time you speak up when someone else is denigrating gun ownership you make it more difficult for others to agree with the anti-gun position.
• Every time a piece of pro-gun legislation is introduced and/or passed it makes it harder for the anti-gun forces to introduce their legislation even if it is mostly unrelated to the pro-gun law. Hence getting a state preemption law passed (YEAH Mike!) helps prevent "assault weapon" legislation from getting a toehold. Another example would be a law requiring the ownership of firearms in one city throws into question a proposal in another state or city to limit gun ownership.
• Every court ruling that says gun ownership, no matter how narrowly defined and incremental from the existing group think, is a right protected by the constitution it makes it harder for the bigots to get critical mass for restricting some other aspect of gun ownership.

We need to create a "pack" where gun ownership and freedom is the predominant viewpoint. When the forces of anti-gun bigotry and socialism are viewed with justified contempt the forces of freedom can then advance and turn back the terrible cloud hanging over our country and the world.

When Prophecy Fails also gives us insight and ideas for breaking people out of the pack. 

Are there any pro-freedom psychologists and sociologists out there that can contribute more on this topic?

Yes, it's true. Barb and I are headed to the island tomorrow.

I really like what Ronnie Barrett has to say here:

Be aware there are more companies that will respect this position. If Hawaii or any state bans the sale of the .50-caliber rifle, we will immediately stop the sale and service of all Barrett products to that state’s government agencies. We will also welcome all small arms manufacturers to take the same action.

He already stopped sales to California as did STI.

I did a similar thing with my restrictions on Modern Ballistics. But I have no way to enforce this when the downloads are free and essentially anonymous. Plus I have only received a couple hundred dollars for all the hundreds of downloads and usage of the product over the years. Any income I lose from adhering to my principles is measured in pennies.

While I greatly admire and encourage the Barrett and STI actions it is not my pocket book that suffers from this. I know other manufactures that simply cannot afford to refuse sales to California because of the volume of business they would lose.

Via an email from Kirby I get this link and story:

LARP fans at Bowling Green State University may have to contend with a crippled game of Zombies vs. Humans after the University banned Nerf guns on campus.

Nerf guns are banned???

I started poking around the University website to try and figure out what sort of place this is. I found this scary:

Established in 1910 to educate teachers, BGSU is the 14th largest producer of teachers in the country

They pride themselves on producing teachers and they think 18 year olds should not be allowed to have Nerf guns? I think some teachers of teachers need to be taught something. Perhaps some time at a reeducation camp would help. I suggest they start with the U.S. Consitution and the basics of a free society.

Americans have a very low tolerance for differentness, whether it's racial, ethnic, or sexual.  Despite our rhetoric about individualism, we are a desperately conforming people.

Martin Duberman
[My QOTD from yesterday was on this same topic. As I was laying in bed last night I had a lot more thoughts on the topic and decided to make a post on the subject. When looking for a QOTD for today this one jumped out at me. I'll try to get the post out sometime this morning.--Joe]