The View From North Central Idaho

I've long been disgusted by Hollywood's portrayal of sounds.  Sounds in space, sound traveling at the speed of light, and the ridiculous sounds of gunfire made up in a studio.  Even the news services will often do a time-shift, to synchronize the sound of a distant event with the video even though anyone who's been alive long enough to understand what they're seeing on TV knows that sound and light travel at different rates.  I just, do, not, get why TV and movie people have to screw up reality so much.  Far from adding anything, it subtracts from the final product.

For example, I think the long delay in the sound of a distant explosion at Boomershoot makes the experience more awesome.  It adds to the perception of enormity.  The movie, "Band of Brothers" is an attempt to show it like it really was, and for the most part they seem to have done a good job.  Not when it comes to sound editing though.  Super-sonic bullets whiz by, "whoosh-whoosh, zip, zip" and so on, and of course the sound always travels at the speed of light.  It's taking a serious subject and turning it into slapstick.

In the interest of universal understanding, I made this recording of .308 rifle fire from about 380 yards while setting up some rifles for Boomershoot.  The camera is about 20 yards from the targets (yeah, I was holding the camera, but I was behind a hill from the gun and in radio communication with the shooter-- completely safe).  Each shot delivers multiple sonic effects or events.  First is the "CRACK-hiss" (mini sonic boom) from the bullet.  Take the sonic boom from a jet flying over, speed it up a few octaves, and you'll have about the same thing.  That bit is interesting in that it does not come from the gun, but from the bullet.  You have no sense of the direction from which the bullet came.  Imagine standing in the water on the shore of a lake and feeling the wake from a passing boat on your legs.  From that sensation alone, you have no idea of where the boat came from, and little or no information about its direction of travel.  The bullet's wake, as sound, gives you no more information-- just a "snap" that seems to come from nowhere.  Next is the sound of impact, which is only audible in the first shot in this recording.  Then comes the "boom" from the muzzle blast, followed by the reverberation in the surrounding hills and trees.

Note that the reverb almost seems louder than the crack-boom.  That's due to the AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuitry, A.K.A. "compression" built into the camera.  The initial crack drives circuitry into gain reduction, and the gain comes back up for the reverb.  To get the relative levels of the events portrayed accurately, I'll have to take a full-range stereo recorder into the field on another day and use its un-compressed level mode.  If you have some nice speakers (and pretty powerful, as the dynamic range is quite wide) you’ll hear it as if you were actually standing there.  Regular CD audio has a dynamic range of about 100dB, IIRC-- close enough.  This recording isn’t all that bad, though.  Crank up the volume, use good speakers, and boost the bass to get the full effect (the mini electret mic on the camera isn’t great for bass response);

Can you name one time where the press has published a NRA letter or media release as if it were there own? I can't think of one. In fact it's hard to find instances where the media has published more than a few sentences of what NRA has to say on a topic.

Yet here is what appears to be a complete story written by the Brady Campaign and published if it were a story from the newspaper. Notice that the bottom line of the story says:

# # #

SENT AS A COURTESY OF THE BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

What media bias?

A few weeks ago I piled on James Kelly with Kevin over the usual topic of gun control. I left the debate when Kelly admitted facts were irrelevant to his beliefs.

Yesterday Kevin dropped a nuke on him and Kelly responded, in part, with:

Secondly, if as Kevin earnestly believes, he has 'statistically proved' that more liberal gun laws actually make people safer, why can't he show that the level of violence has not just fallen, but fallen to a lower level than in a comparable country that has had stringent gun laws for a prolonged period? As I've said repeatedly, that's the kind of 'statistical proof' that would impress me, and it's distinct absence is one of the reasons why most people in this country are secure in the knowledge that, at least on this one issue, we've got it right and countries like the US have got it disastrously wrong.

But Kevin showed that the U.K. violent crime rate dramatically increased after stringent gun laws were passed while U.S. gun laws remained "lax" and the supply increased while the violent crime rate went down. And if current trends continue it will only be a couple years before the official reports will show U.K. has more violent crime than the U.S. I say "official reports" because the U.K. government recently admitted they have been under reporting the numbers for years.

And furthermore Kevin pointed out numerous studies, including ones done in the U.K. that showed gun control laws, at best, did no good.

And what does Kelly say about Kevin's post?

I will obviously never convince Kevin that those benefits exist, and he will doubtless continue to try to disprove their existence by resorting to a barrage of voodoo statistics, but I remain more than content that I am on the right side of this argument.

...the vast bulk of Kevin's dissertation genuinely makes no sense to me at all.

He claims something would "impress me" then when given just that he says it is "voodoo statistics" and "makes no sense to me at all".

He also takes the time to say that he didn't read one of my posts because he didn't like the title of the post:

I was also concerned at Joe Huffman's semi-abusive blog post title, directed toward me personally. (Joe, incidentally, seemed astonished that I didn't bother reading the contents of that post - did he seriously expect me to consciously choose to read a post entitled 'What Was It That James Said That ****** Me Off'?) No-one with an ounce of self-respect would persevere with a 'debate' that had descended to that level.

That was "semi-abusive"? That was the reason he didn't bother to read it? And he got the title wrong! It was actually "What did James say that pissed you off so much?". Typical. He hears/reads what he expects/wants to hear/read rather than what was actually said.

And of course he refused to answer Just One Question with anything other than numbers that were easily demonstrated as wrong at which point he ignored it.

Kevin's nuke from orbit was overkill for the pointy sticks and stones defense Kelly put up but it's a great to have that post in the arsenal for next time.

Ah, yes, gun control: the debate where reciting facts and analysis actually counts against you since it proves you are a rabid fanatic.

Reasonable people just know that guns are bad, and gun owners are dangerous lunatics.

DJMoore
May 14, 2009
Comment to Cultures: Compare and Contrast
[Ain't it the truth?--Joe]

Most people know that massive numbers of gun owners in Canada ignored the licensing requirements for long guns. And after spending about $2 Billion the Feds have been giving serious thought to scrapping the registry. Similar results are occurring in New Zealand:

Thousands of firearms remain potentially unaccounted for despite a police campaign for lifetime gun licence owners to renew or hand weapons in.

Police national manager operations Tony McLeod said nearly 50,000 people had not responded by the end of a campaign targeting lifetime gun licence holders to renew or surrender their weapons in 2002.

The Government scrapped the lifetime licences in 1992 for 10-year licences after David Gray killed 13 people in Aramoana in 1990.

Mr McLeod, who said there were about 225,000 licensed firearm owners with about 1.2 million guns in New Zealand, could not confirm how many weapons had since been retrieved.

He said police still actively pursued expired lifetime gun licence holders, but there was "also a process of natural attrition in relation to these".

50K people who had originally registered with the state as gun owners are now openly defying the law. That is about 22% of the known gun owners defying the law. I wonder how many originally defied the law to register.

Μολὼν λαβέ

H. R. 2159 would allow the U.S. Attorney General deny people an ATF license for firearms or explosives without due process:

The Attorney General may deny a license application if the Attorney General determines that the applicant (including any responsible person) is known (or appropriately suspected) to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism, or providing material support thereof, and the Attorney General has a reasonable belief that the applicant may use a firearm in connection with terrorism.’.

"Appropriately suspected"? Yeah, right. Like I donated money to his bosses opponent in the last election? Or he read Why Boomershoot?

Surely it there must be some sort of hearing and you are given a chance to see or respond to the evidence they used to arrive at the decision, right?

by striking ‘The Attorney General may, after notice and opportunity for hearing, revoke’ and insert ‘(2)’;

...

(1) in the 1st sentence of paragraph (1), by inserting ‘, except that if the denial or revocation is pursuant to subsection (d)(1)(H) or (e)(3), then any information on which the Attorney General relied for this determination may be withheld from the petitioner if the Attorney General determines that disclosure of the information would likely compromise national security’ before the period;

...

‘(b) In any case in which the Attorney General has denied the transfer of a firearm to a prospective transferee pursuant to section 922A or has made a determination regarding a firearm permit applicant pursuant to section 922B, an action challenging the determination may be brought against the United States. The petition must be filed not later than 60 days after the petitioner has received actual notice of the Attorney General’s determination made pursuant to section 922A or 922B. The court shall sustain the Attorney General’s determination on a showing by the United States by a preponderance of evidence that the Attorney General’s determination satisfied the requirements of section 922A or 922B. To make this showing, the United States may submit, and the court may rely on, summaries or redacted versions of documents containing information the disclosure of which the Attorney General has determined would likely compromise national security. On request of the petitioner or the court’s own motion, the court may review the full, undisclosed documents ex parte and in camera. The court shall determine whether the summaries or redacted versions, as the case may be, are fair and accurate representations of the underlying documents. The court shall not consider the full, undisclosed documents in deciding whether the Attorney General’s determination satisfies the requirements of section 922A or 922B.’.

No crime need be committed. The AG just has to have a bad feeling about you and you don't get to see or respond to the evidence being used against you.

What Henry Kissinger said comes to mind.

You can be pretty sure no one has been killed or injured with a gun used for laser tag and permanent injuries with paintball guns are exceedingly rare. But that isn't really relevant is it? It's the thought that counts:

The Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democrat Party agreed on Tuesday evening to reforms to Germany's gun laws, which include a controversial ban on war games like paintball or laser-tag.

...

The draft law would also bar youths under the age of 18 from shooting high-caliber firearms at target practice.

...

The plan also contains provisions to impose hefty fines on the operators of war games like paintball, a game in which players use air-guns to shoot paint-filled ammunition at opponents. Lawmakers say the sport "simulates killing" and should be outlawed.

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country.

Ben Franklin
[Unfortunately just the opposite has happened. Anywhere I may set my foot on this planet is oppressed and there is no place that I can say I want to live with this system of government. Now that Cheerios are being considered a drug (and here) will the fields in which we raise the oats for them be treated like fields of opium poppies?--Joe]

I've used that reason to close a bug before. But the meaning of the word "reproduce" was different in my context.

This afternoon I watched with fascination on my cell phone as I got Twitter updates from bitterb on the amendment to a Senate bill that would allow guns in National Parks. It was debated and passed 67-29.

Can it pass in the House? Will Obama veto it if it reaches his desk?

Last November I could not have imagined any pro-gun bill passing by a 2/3s majority in either house at the Federal level.

If President Obama has ruled out a revival of the Assault Weapons Ban, he should at least use his political capital to redefine the issue of gun control. As a Chicago resident, he must be acutely aware of the toll of reckless gun use. As a party leader, Obama may be keen to renew an old party tenet through an electorally important lens. Perhaps even the term, “gun control,” should be overhauled. Democracies and, ultimately, the people, thrive on adversarial conversations on public policy. Despite disagreements on the efficacy or constitutionality of such restrictions, the nation is being done a disservice if at least one party doesn’t question the role of non-sporting guns in our society and their limited state of regulation. At the very least, the families of the thousands of dead due to gun violence deserve an honest debate.

Alex Levine
May 12, 2009
The gun control debate must be re-framed as a pro-security issue
[There are at least three things which Mr. Levine fails to recognize. 1) The anti-gun people lose big time from that view point as well; 2) The anti-gun people lose big time in any honest debate; and 3) The anti-gun people have been renaming their objectives, their names, and "reframing" the debate for decades and each time they were identified for what they were--wolves in sheep's clothing and anti-gun bigots.

In my comment I asked Just One Question, but I don't expect an honest answer.--Joe]

Socialism. It's made of FAIL:

The state budget deficit has nearly doubled in the past two months, climbing past $15 billion, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disclosed Monday.

The sober news comes a week before a May 19 statewide vote on a set of ballot budget-related measures that, if defeated, would push the deficit past $21 billion, Schwarzenegger warned in a letter to legislative leaders.

It was Socialism that brought about the collapse of the U.S.S.R. It will be socialism that brings about the collapse of the California government. And I'll not be surprised if it brings down the U.S. government as well.

And as painful as it will be to most people I'll still laugh because I'm not above saying "I told you so." And I'll have all the food, clean water, and the guns and ammo to defend it while the socialist "intellectuals" are unable to find a way to dispose of their own waste in a sanitary manner let alone find water or food fit for consumption. They can tell me, again, how important, how right, how justified they are in their cities as they cry themselves to sleep with an empty stomach, in their own filth, in the dark.

This is what America is all about. Regular, hard working people, getting together to have fun in whatever way pleased them. There aren't very many other countries in the world that would let their citizens own, essentially, the same guns their military uses, practice shooting at what could be considered head-sized targets at hundreds of yards, and mix explosives in a shed for fun.

Boomershoot was a celebration of our freedoms.
A celebration of trust between a government and its citizens.
A celebration of challenge and skill.
A celebration of us.

ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[Awesome post. But then I'm exceedingly biased. He's giving praise to my "baby".--Joe]

Full disclosure and disclaimer time. I work for Microsoft. The following opinion is my personal opinion and does not represent, to the best of my knowledge, the opinion of anyone in MS management.

The EU is about to fine Intel:

Microsoft and Intel are taking it on the chin in Europe these days. On Wednesday, the EU is expected to bring down a heavy fine on Intel for its myriad anticompetitive activities at the expense of AMD. The Wall Street Journal reports it will be one of the biggest fines in the EU’s history.

The anticompetetition commissioner can fine Intel as much as 10 percent of its annual revenue. That would be a $3.8 billion fine based on 2008 revenue, more than triple the $1.16 billion charged to Microsoft for noncompliance in the EU’s long-running antitrust action against Redmond.

One has to wonder what percentage of the EU income is based on fines and what percentage is based on taxes. But most of all I wonder how long the EU would last without Intel and Microsoft products. I'm sure Intel and Microsoft could do without the EU a lot better than the EU could do without Microsoft and Intel.

I just wish Microsoft and Intel had the gumption and the means to demonstrate that to those commies.

Via Joe D. on an email list:

A Mother's Love

Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read it. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.

This is so beautiful.....

A little boy says to his mother, "Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?"

His mother replied, "Don't even go there! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!"

This reminds me of the wise-ass response I used to give after our son James was born. It used to go something like this:

[Barb and I meet some friend or relative with our new-born son. They smile and look at him, then the smile fades to a look of confusion.]

Friend: Why does he have blond hair and blue eyes when both of you have dark hair and hazel eyes?

Joe: We don't know for sure. We are just glad he didn't turn out black or Asian.

Barb: Joseph! That's not funny! We both have a sibling with blond hair and blue eyes and both of his grandfathers have light colored hair and blue eyes.

After a few occurrences the exchange changed. It then went something like this:

Friend: Why does he have blond hair and blue eyes when both of you have dark hair and hazel eyes?

Joe: We don't [thump] You hit me!

Barb: You deserved it.

The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.

Lewis Mumford
[It seems to me that most people don't really realize what government is. Some people think of government as a replacement for god(s). Some people think of it as a replacement for parents. These people are wrong and, if they weren't allowed to vote, their delusions would be mostly harmless. But they enable the ever growing power and danger of governments. I just wish everyone didn't have to suffer through the lessons of what government really is when so many of us have been trying to explain it, to deaf ears, for so long. But it appears the lesson is coming whether we already knew it or not. I just hope this lesson sticks this time.--Joe]

This year I decided to have a Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day. If you were a gun blogger you could show up on Thursday and get a behind the scenes tour and help (with the proper ATF paperwork) or watch the explosives being made. As it turned out most of it consisted of me standing around and telling stories. I had hoped they would have some fun ideas for doing things with the explosives like putting them in the water and/or mud, making craters, or blowing holes in old logs or some such thing. But everyone seemed to have a good time anyway, even after putting out the fire from the fireball demo.

Here is the list of Boomershoot Gun Bloggers and their posts about the event who were in attendence for at least part of Boomershoot (arranged by their shooting position on the line):

• Ry Jones (#1)
  • Moment of detonation
  • What can we learn from that?
  • Boomershoot Day 2
  • Calm down kthx
  • Somewhere, Petrdoubt is crying.
  • Made it back.
  • Boomershoot Sunday
  • Next year, it will be harder.
  • New worst injury at Boomershoot
  • Tango Down CS
• Benjamin (#2)
• Lyle at UltiMAK (#4, co-blogger here with me)
• Alan Andrews (#20)
  • Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day
  • Easy Shot
  • Boomershoot 2009 Fireball
  • Boomershoot Slacking
  • View from the hotel room window - Orofino, ID
  • Welcome to Orofino
  • The OTHER squeee! you heard was me.
  • Boomershoot 2009 - The Day
  • Through the Scope at Boomershoot 2009
  • Shooting the Anvil - Boomershoot 2009
  • Looking down on Orofino, ID
  • Dam!
  • Bloggers At Boomershoot 2009
• ErnestThing (#25)
  • Boomershoot 2009 (Added May 11, 22:10)
• JD (#25)
  • Boomershoot
  • bit of this, bit of that
  • I’ll just leave this here…
  • T-Minus
  • T-Minus (yes, a different post with the same title)
  • Boomershoot - Take Off, 4/22
  • Consternation
  • Boomershoot 4/23 - Media Day
  • Hardware
  • Boomershoot - Field Fire
  • Boomershoot Main Event
  • postcard
• Derek (#26)
  • Did I forget anything?
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Travel Day 1
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Travel Day 2, Arrival
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 3, Gun Blogger Day
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 4
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 5
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 6
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 7
• David (#27)
  • Boomershoot Prep Pics
  • More Boomershoot Prep
  • Less than 12 hours to go…
  • Boomershoot Dinner Raffle Prize
  • Back from Boomershoot
  • New Office Decoration
  • My Favorite Boomershoot 2009 Photo So Far
  • Trib Update
  • Triggerfinger and the Boomer Everyone’s Talking About
  • How I Broke Squeaky’s Nose
  • Derek and his prize from the Boomershoot Dinner raffle
• Bonnie (#29, sort of, she left early Sunday morning and someone else took her position)
  • Things DID happen. But first, a post about Boomershoot.
  • GAH.
  • Home.
  • Boomershoot 2009 - Epic Post #1 (Wednesday/Thursday)
  • Yes, I broke my nose. No, I don’t look like someone beat me up.
  • Spokane to Orofino
  • Friday
  • Boomershoot 2009 - Epic Post #2 (Friday)
  • THE NOSE STORY. *UPDATED* with David’s side of things.
  • Party Foul at Trib’s Place
  • The last of the photos people actually care about…
  • The long ride home.
• Aaron Neal (#50)
  • Home from Boomershoot '09
  • Some Boomershoot stuff
  • Boomershoot - the Journey
  • Boomershoot - the good stuff
  • Boomershoot - More Good Stuff
  • Boomershoot - Ponderings and People
  • Boomershoot - More Good Folks
• Barron Barnett (#54)
  • Boomershoot 2009
• Matthew (#61)
  • It's off to see the Wizard...
  • Boomershoot 2009: Media Day
  • Boomershoot 2009: Precision Rifle Clinic Day 1
  • Boomershoot 2009 High Intensity Event
  • Boomershoot 2009: Opening Ceremonies
  • Boomershoot 2009: Boomers with handguns
  • Launching the Anvil
• Kevin Baker (#74)
  • Another Trip to the Range
  • Range Report: I've Got My Boomershoot Load
  • If Someone Had Told Me a Year Ago...
  • Oh Thank Jeebus, We're Here!
  • How Cool is THIS?
  • Quick Post
  • Travel Report
  • HOME!
  • BOOMERSHOOT!
• George (#75)
  • Twi-nighter?
  • In crew rest
  • Boomblogging I
  • Boomerblogger II
  • Boomerfreezing III
  • Boomerblogging IV - Send it!
  • Boomershooting for real, Ch. V
  • Boomershoot wrap-up
  • Boomershoot photo post
• Earl
  • if I wanted to see the West, just go East
  • If I knew it all I wouldn't be on the road and so alive!
  • It's already Saturday, my library is closed...
  • Sometimes I really do well, and others...
  • Upon Reflection I am not as represented...
• Bill Waite
• Kris
  • Photo Friday
• Xenia Joy (Official Boomershoot photographer)
  • Day 217
  • - 365
  • - 365 (yes, another post with the same title)
• Joe Huffman (Boomershoot Event Director)

Thanks to all the bloggers that attended, posted wonderful stuff, and took thousands of pictures.

If I've overlooked a blogger or some posts let me know and I'll make the corrections. Thanks.

Update: I've made a couple updates since the original posting. I added a section for Kris and another post to Aaron's list.

Update2: I added a link to ErnestThing's (#25) post.

Update3: I added some more links from Matthew (#61).

Update4 (May 18): Another link to Aaron Neal's list of posts (#50).

As the “Right Wing” is now being singled out by the Janet Nepolitano’s DHS as “extremists” and taxation is inevitably being prepared to bankrupt generations to come, perhaps we should realize that War has already been declared on American Values, Heritage, Birthright and Prosperity.

I say we prepare to designate households, then neighborhoods, towns, cities, counties, States, Regions and eventually the whole country as “Hell No” zones.  Starting with the refusal to pay ANY TAXES, and showing up en masse to prevent the lawyers from enforcing any individual seizure of private property in a self-proclaimed “Hell No“ zone.

Rolling back every law enacted since the Constitution was ratified would be a good start, too.

I hereby declare ALL Taxes are against my consent.  And pledge to defend any other household to declare itself a “Hell No” zone. 

Beginning with mine.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

Traction Control
May 2, 2009
Democracy Overrun in Pakistan. In the US? Hell No!
[I admit to getting a warm pleasant feeling from the thought. But most of my taxes are paid without my control via payroll deductions and as part of the purchase price as in sales and gas taxes. It will take people "unplugging from the grid" to even to begin to accomplish this on a wide scale. That doesn't mean I might not support others that can establish a "Hell No" zone but I'm not sure how much that would help.--Joe]

Sometimes I will read about "creeping socialism". No one with a room temperature IQ, half functional news sources, and at least one foot outside the nearest mental hospital can avoid the conclusion socialism is in high gear and about to shift into overdrive at full throttle. GM, Chrysler, and the banking industry in this country are already being crushed by the socialists. Our path leads to Venezuela:

Venezuelan soldiers at an event presided over by President Hugo Chávez on Friday celebrating the seizure of contractors’ assets.

President Hugo Chávez asserted greater control over the country’s energy industry on Friday by seizing the assets of some foreign and domestic oil contractors while his government grapples with a sharp decline in oil revenue and mounting debts.

...

Venezuela, which relies on oil for about 93 percent of its export earnings, has not paid some of the oil contractors since late last year, according to filings by companies like Williams Companies, based in Tulsa, Okla., which said last month that it did not expect to receive $241 million it was owed here. Petróleos de Venezuela had been seeking a reduction of about 40 percent in its overall debt to the companies, which is estimated by industry analysts to be about $10 billion.

Our “people will never again be anyone’s slave,” Mr. Chávez said Friday.

Industry representatives in the oil-producing state of Zulia said uniformed soldiers had begun occupying oil installations on Thursday, shortly before the National Assembly approved a measure allowing the takeovers. The move deepens Mr. Chávez’s control of the oil industry, following the imposition of higher royalties on foreign oil companies, raids on their offices by tax authorities and the nationalization of large oil-producing projects in recent years.

"...never again be anyone's slave"? Really? What do you call it when someone claiming superiority over you takes the results of your work for their own use without compensation? It seems pretty clear to me the oil contractors are being treated like slaves. And as things continue to deteriorate both in Venezuela and the U.S. expect more and more slaves to be created.

I'd ask my cousin who used to work in the Venezuela oil industry what he thought of the situation but I can't. He died while in Venezuela a while back under suspicious circumstances.

The nature of the right as understood and incorporated by the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment also affects the type of protection implied by that right. Being an individual right against all levels of government, the degree of scrutiny should be heightened and governmental justifications viewed with skepticism. Furthermore, given the self-defense justifications of the right, any competing claim that seeks to deny the right of or need for self defense would be inconsistent with the embedded purpose and assumptions of the right to bear arms and hence invalid on its face. Finally, while there certainly are some restrictions on arms that even the Framers understood to be permissible -- use only for lawful purpose, for example -- any restrictions supposedly advancing permissible interests cannot be allowed to prevent ordinary citizens from exercising the core of the right and owning a weapon capable of protecting themselves, their families, and their communities if necessary, in the very circumstances where such protection would be necessary.

Steven M. Simpson
D.C. versus Heller, Brief for the Institute for Justice as Amicus Curiae in support of respondent.
[Basically, if the government is going to claim a restriction on weapons they cannot do so in a manner which would restrict self-defense. Hence prohibitions on weapons in certain cities, such as Chicago, should be considered unconstitutional.--Joe]

I heard a local news report on the radio today.  It seems a couple of innocent young men were minding their own business, you know, urinating on someone's car, when the man in the car stepped out and set about beating the two "urinators" with a golf club.

Nothing out of the ordinary for a college town, except that the report referred to the car owner as the "suspect" and the urinators as the "victims".

Oh yeah-- nothing out of the ordinary there either.

How does that saying go; "While I don't condone the action [of beating them with a golf club] I can certainly understand it"?

Tip: If you don't actually want to have yourself beaten with a golf club, it would be a good idea to refrain from urinating on other people's possessions.  Just sayin'.

From the New York Times:

Two weeks ago, Mr. Schumer, a prominent gun control advocate, invited Ms. Gillibrand to a news conference in Manhattan to unveil a gun control plan.

When it was her turn to speak, Ms. Gillibrand faced skepticism, given her past support for gun owners’ rights. “How much of this is political expediency?” one reporter asked.

Eventually, Mr. Schumer, stepped in, saying he, too, made adjustments when he went from a House seat to the Senate. “When you start representing a new area, you learn, you meet other people and you grow,” he explained.

Then the news conference came to an end and the two senators strolled off to lunch.

Would you call it "growth" if a defender of equal rights for blacks started praising George Wallace's segregation policies? For Gillibrand to support a gun control plan and "stroll off to lunch" with Schumer is like a NAACP supporter going to lunch with David Duke. Gillibrand is just another politician without principles.

I get a number of rewards from and it's hard to enumerate them all or say which is at the top of the list but things like this have rank right up there:

Domain Name		(Unknown)
IP Address		204.97.104.# (New York State Assembly/NYSERNET)
ISP		Sprint
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  New York City  :  Albany Lat/Long  :  42.6706, -73.7791 (Map) Distance  :  2,113 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  32 bits
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Someone at the New York State Assembly in Albany did a Google search for "richard aborn five point plan" and found my post explaining why Richard Aborn, candidate for District Attorney in Manhattan, is a bigot.

What were the odds of me getting that viewpoint to that person or persons in a position of power and hundreds (or more--I get about visits from about 45K unique IPs per month) of others with so little effort prior to the Internet and the existence of blogs?

I’ve covered what I think are basics, based on what I saw work and what I think might work reasonably well here. I assume that a lot of you are thinking that this is all quite far into the future, if in fact it ever gets that bad. You should certainly feel free to think that way. The danger there is that you will miss the opportunity to adapt to the new reality ahead of time, and then you will get trapped. As I see it, there is a choice to be made: you can accept the failure of the system now and change your course accordingly, or you can decide that you must try to stay the course, and then you will probably have to accept your own individual failure later.

Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
Social Collapse Best Practices
[Is society collapsing? I don't know for sure. What I do know is that we haven't had so many banks and major companies failing anytime in my lifetime. I know there are very, very few things governments can do better than the free market. I know government "solutions" are almost always worse than the original problem. And I know that our government has expanded and plans to expand into more areas than any other time in my life. I've not personally seen society collapse but it seems to me this is likely to be what it appears like in the early stages.--Joe]

There is talk in this post (and some behind the scenes email) about having a "Gun Blogger Invitational" match. There is a poll on Caleb's post and lots of comments. Robb Allen has his own thoughts on the topic as well.

Check them out and give your own suggestions.

We received an email from Steve Ballmer yesterday morning saying the other shoe was dropping. I'm fine and everyone I checked with is fine but I still need to check in with a few more.

It is astonishing how poorly researched this brief is--perhaps competent gun control advocate lawyers realized how hopeless the task was, and decided to put their energies into briefs for cases easier to win, such as repealing the law of gravity.

Clayton Cramer
May 5, 2009
Embarrassingly Bad Amicus Brief in the Chicago Case
[See also Dave Hardy's take on it.--Joe]

I just finished listening to Alan's (and Squeaky and PDB's) podcast on Boomershoot 2009. It was nice. I've been reading all the various posts and looking at all the pictures everyone being posted but the podcast was something a little different and I really liked it.

At the Boomershoot dinner I promised I would post a list of all the bloggers in attendance and I will do that (and more) soon. That will probably happen this Saturday when I have some time to do the job right.

I've said this before but it doesn't hurt to mention it again with a fresh example. Never give your enemy an opportunity to regroup. If they are on the run keep them on the run. When you are attacking you are choosing the time, place, and terms of the engagement. Sure, defenders have some advantages. But I'd much rather be on the outside laying siege to the castle than on the inside wondering if we can hold out long enough for help to arrive.

And so it is in politics. We won Heller less than a year ago. We won a bunch of cities in Illinois in the weeks and months that followed. We got a partial victory with Nordyke two weeks ago. Now we are attacking again in California. From The Second Amendment Foundation last week:

The Second Amendment Foundation, The Calguns Foundation and four California residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a California state law and regulatory scheme that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “certified” handguns approved by the State. This case parallels a similar case filed in Washington, DC, Hanson v. District of Columbia.

California uses this list despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer that protects handguns that ordinary people traditionally use for self-defense, and a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. The California scheme will eventually ban the purchase of almost all new handguns.

And, again from SAF, today:

The Second Amendment Foundation, The Calguns Foundation and three California residents today filed a lawsuit seeking to vindicate the right to bear arms against arbitrary state infringement.

Nearly all states allow qualified law-abiding citizens to carry guns for self-defense, but a few states allow local officials to arbitrarily decide who may exercise this core Second Amendment right. In the action filed today, Plaintiffs challenge the policies of two California Sheriffs, in Sacramento and Yolo counties, who reject the basic human right of self defense by refusing to issue ordinary people gun carry permits. Of course, violent criminals in the impacted counties continue to carry guns without police permission.

State scientist Deanna Sykes believes her sexual orientation and small stature makes her an appealing target for criminals, particularly as she often transports firearms as a competitive shooter and firearms instructor.

“I am highly qualified to defend myself against the sort of crime that the Sheriff cannot, despite his best efforts, completely eradicate,” Sykes said. “Violent crime is a real risk in our society, but happily, we enjoy the right to defend ourselves from it.”

Andrew Witham has over 15 years experience as a police officer in Britain, and is licensed to carry a firearm while working as a private investigator and campus public safety officer. But despite having been the target of death threats stemming from his work in security, Sheriff John McGinness saw to it that Witham’s license to carry a gun while away from work was revoked upon Witham’s relocation to Sacramento.

“I’m allowed to defend other people,” said Witham, “so why can’t I defend myself, where the Bill of Rights guarantees me that right?”

Adam Richards, a Northern California attorney, would also exercise his right to bear arms in self- defense. But the Yolo County Sheriff’s policy on gun permit applications is: don’t bother. “How can the Sheriff tell whether I am capable of responsibly exercising my Second Amendment rights, when he doesn’t even acknowledge that these rights exist?”

I'm donating money with every paycheck to SAF which is matched by Microsoft. You can also donate money directly to Calguns to help keep our forces on the attack. Don't let a lack of money be the reason they have to slow down. The only thing I want holding them back is the flood of tears from our enemies.