The View From North Central Idaho

Windows mobile 6.5 will be out soon. Windows Mobile 7.0 will come out later.

I'm working on 7.0 and it looks very nice. I too was worried about 6.5 until I saw it for the first time last week (competely different team so it's not quite so weird that I didn't see it sooner). 6.5 is a big step forward and I am much less worried about it now.

The release of 7.0 will make me much happier with our position in the mobile phone market.

That is all... Back to work...

While I approve of law enforcement finding and disrupting criminals before they can carry out their criminal acts I find it a little bit disconcerting that in this case the criminals/terrorists had to be led by the hand to actually commit (what they thought were) criminal acts:

Two men who professed devotion to Al Qaeda -- one a convert to Islam, the other a Jordanian native -- were charged Thursday with plotting to blow up buildings in Illinois and Texas.

In both cases, the men thought they were working with Al Qaeda operatives when they were really working with undercover federal agents.

One man, according to authorities, planted what he thought was an explosive outside a Dallas skyscraper, while the other parked a van, supposedly armed with a bomb, outside a federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill. The devices were fakes.

...

The FBI had a drug informant become friendly with Finton, according to the complaint. The informant told agents that Finton had talked about wanting to get terrorist training and to fight in Gaza against Israelis. Agents then worked to set up an "opportunity for action that we controlled," began recording encounters with him and put him in touch with an undercover agent who told Finton he was an Al Qaeda operative.

In a July conversation, Finton allegedly told the agent he was considering attacks on "government buildings, banks and police stations." His hope was that an attack would cause the U.S. military to withdraw from conflicts overseas.

"Finton said attacking the FBI office would be great, because he had no love for the police, so that would not bother him a bit," according to the affidavit. He allegedly proposed bombing the federal building in Springfield in July with a backpack bomb or an explosive in a vehicle.

In August, the agent told Finton that the plan had been approved by his supervisors in Al Qaeda and had Finton make a videotaped message that supposedly was to be shown to organization leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

They apparently weren't capable of building their own bombs so the FBI did it (fake ones of course) for them. And encouraged them with fake approval from the highest level within the terrorist organization. It sounds to me like the FBI was walking a fine line very close to entrapment.

This sounds like what the radicals of the 1960s said about how easy it was to identify the FBI infiltrators--they were the ones encouraging people to commit crimes.

The Second Amendment is a constitutional right, not a carnival ride. How could the right to keep and bear arms ever be exercised in Rachel Maddow's world, a world in which "keeping" arms wouldn't be allowed? Would Ms. Maddow also like to see a world in which the First Amendment could only be exercised under the bright lights of a television studio? I suppose since she has her own show, she might not object to that either.

Wayne LaPierre
NRA Executive Director
September 24, 2009
[This tends to be an all too common theme--the constitution only applies if it doesn't get in the way what someone wants the government to do. That's not the way it is supposed to work and in fact things get really screwed up when this is the mode of operation.--Joe]

Bitter and Sebastian are teasing us on Twitter:

bitterb Oh wow. I just did a little Googling and found a pretty sizeable story on MAIG. Wait until tomorrow kiddies...

SebastianSH Sometimes in politics, the prairie dog sticks his head out of the hole and presents an easy shot. Tomorrow we eat prairie dog stew!

I'm looking forward to it. I expect it will appear here.

Update: It's out, "That’s right, Nacheman admitted that in his position with MAIG, he also represents the Brady Bunch and that they both seek to accomplish the same agenda."

Reports are coming in that it went well in California this morning.

David Hardy has some news but the good stuff is here (I cherry picked the mini-posts):

Why can’t we assume without deciding that the second amendment is incorporated? What would change? Alameda still floundering.

Why isn’t this a summary judgement case? Apparently since guns aren’t posessed at a gun show for self defense then Heller doesn’t apply… Weird.

Alameda has serious foot in mouth. Just agreed that only dimwitted judges would not accept incorporation arguments.

Alameda says Heller does not guarantee guns! Judge is dragging her through the mud.

What if fairground isn’t a sensitive place? Then we would have to declare ordinance null (judge question and statement) What is sensitive about a fairgrounds? Is every government property a sensitive place? Schools and govt buildings. Invitees who don’t know eachother, thus it is a sensitive place. Gun shows cause liability problems, look at fairground shooting that caused 11 liability lawsuits.

Oh no, we had one shooting at the fairgrounds! 11 people, 4 of them children! What about shootings in office buildings? Gun show was not in place when the shooting happened. Gun shows in conjunction with other events did not cause problems. Open carry us allowed! Metal detectors to detect illegal concealed firearms. County has no problem with firearms carried for self defense. Alameda is screwed!

Alameda GETTING HAMMERED! Legislature can ban guns tomorrow based on her antiquated case law.

Update: Via Dave Hardy I find we now have audio of the proceedings.

Update2: Also via Dave Hardy we have a decision (sort of).

I'm trying to do my part to stimulate the economy by upping the number of rounds I'm putting down range each month and getting new shooters to the range. I figure we just about have to do it. The ammo factories hired new people and if we don't keep buying the ammo they will get laid off, right?

Here's the background story:

Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.

...

"We are working overtime and still can't keep up with the demand," said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. "We've had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It's a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business."

Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds, said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak.

Nine billion rounds in one year with about 80 million gun owners in the U.S. works out to about only about 112 rounds per gun owner. I went through that many rounds both last night and the night before. I'll go through probably another 200 rounds tonight and then another 150 on Sunday. What the heck is going on here? I'm figure I'm just doing my civic duty here and it turns out I'm doing the job of about 100 other people as well.

If every gun owner were going through just 100 rounds a month that would be nearly 100 billion rounds a year. That is a way to stimulate the economy and have something to show for it afterward--an armed and well practiced citizenry and respectful politicians.

Via email from Anthony who said, "I am amazed, no SHOCKED you have not blogged on this yet."

Yeah, yeah. I'm getting slow in my old age. That and preparing for a pistol match on Sunday.

Here's how you prepare for a sporting event:

India's cricketers at the Champions Trophy in South Africa are being encouraged by their coach to have sex to boost their on-field performance, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The benefits of sex feature prominently in a secret document circulated among players by coach Gary Kirsten and mental conditioning expert Paddy Upton, the Hindustan Times said in a front-page report.

It came as India take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their first Champions Trophy match in Centurion on Saturday.

The large-selling broadsheet, which claimed to have a copy of the document, said the relevant chapter was headlined "Does sex increase performance?".

"Yes it does, so go ahead and indulge," the document said, before detailing the benefits of a good sex life and even suggesting "going solo" if no partners were available.

"From a physiological perspective, having sex increases testosterone levels, which cause an increase in strength, energy, aggression and competitiveness," the document said.

"Conversely, not having sex for a period of a few months causes a significant drop in testosterone levels in both males and females, with the corresponding passiveness and decrease in aggression."

The document quotes Tim Noakes, a professor and sports scientist at the University of Cape Town, Kirsten's home town, as saying that "sex was not a problem, but being up till 2:00 am, probably having a few drinks at a bar while trying to pick someone up, on the eve of a game, almost always was."

The document helpfully suggests a solution.

"If you want sex but do not have someone to share it with, one option is to go solo whilst imagining you have a partner, or a few partners, who are as beautiful as you wish to imagine," the document said.

"No pillow talk and no hugging required. Just roll over and go to sleep."

Dr. Joe's Cure for Everything is validated yet again.

Tuesday I reported on taking Priyanka to the range for her first experience shooting guns. It turns out that her officemate overheard us talking and asked to go with us. He had never shot a gun before either and really wanted to try it.

I didn't really want to take two new shooters to the range at the same time when I only had one small booth to work in. So I offered to take him to the range on Wednesday (last night).

It's always interesting to see what different students have trouble with and how to come up with an exercise to get them past it. Priyanka had trouble shooting fast and accurately. Shooting slow and accurate wasn't a problem. By moving the target very close she could exercise the "fast" aspect without having to worry about the accurate part so much. Then when the target went back out to a more normal distance she was able to combine the two skills she had learned.

Andrei had problems with pulling his shots low and left. Because of the Crimson Trace laser on the Ruger Mark II I could see that he was aiming well but just as the gun would go off it would dip low and left. Dry fire exercises enable him to see the problem as well. I told him to do most of the squeezing of the grip with his weak hand and concentrate on just moving his trigger finger so his dominate hand didn't grasp at the same time as the trigger finger moved. Plus, pay less attention to having a good sight picture and more attention to getting a surprise trigger break. It was hard for him but more and more shots started going where they belonged.

After putting a 100 or so rounds of .22 LR down range he wanted to try the Gun Blog 45. Here he is looking for the little knob on the side of the magazine (like on the Ruger Mark II) to push the follower down:

I didn't let him struggle for long and soon he was getting pretty good results with the .45:

Andrei is originally from Canada but is currently working for a company in California (this company is partnering with Microsoft on a project so he is in Redmond for a while). He asked about how he could buy a gun. What does he have to do? What kind of guns could he buy? I told him what I knew about the gun laws in Canada, California, and Washington and told him that California was more oppressive than Washington and Canada was much more oppressive but he could still have handguns in Canada if he put in enough effort. He said he wanted to stay in the U.S.

I had put on my holster and gun (Gun Blog 45 and the Blackhawk holster I got last year when I went to summer camp) as soon as we got in the car which I had parked off campus. As we left the range he commented on concealed carry and so I explained licenses, open carry, and the laws in Washington versus California. He seemed quite interested and eager to learn more. Next week is not available because Barb will be visiting but if he is still in town the week after I'll offer to take him to the range again.

Handing your permit under you license is a purposeful and proven psychological manipulation that produces better outcomes. There is no doubt in my mind at all about that. Maybe 1 time in 30 interactions has it produced the opposite affect and even then all that happened was I got the ticket I deserved in the first place. The other one ticket I received was given to me with no hostile intent because of the gun or permit, they just didn't factor in at all.

Telling an officer you have a permit or gun WILL produce anxiety because the officer now has to react quickly to new data and it throws their script. He can't just ignore verbal interactions or choose to act on the data at his own pace. Officers crave control, telling him he must deal with anything new and not on his plan makes him feel he is losing control. He will respond aggressively/dominantly as a default reaction to lack of control. An officer finding out you are carrying after interacting with you for an extended period will cause him to feel you have been holding out and been one-up on him without his knowledge.

Greg Hamilton
Chief Instructor Insights Training
August 24, 2009
From the Insights Training Center email list on the proper interaction with the police when you are carrying a concealed weapon and have a concealed weapons permit.
[I have used this method for years with good results. I'm strongly inclined to believe Greg has the psychology correct.--Joe]

I have taken something like eight classes (and some of those were taken twice) from Insights. I have put my wife and kids through some of the classes as well. I have been very impressed with their training.

Contrary to the stereotype of gun owners being stupid and just wanting to kill and destroy stuff I was always impressed with how smart the instructors were and how they taught us to avoid confrontations before deploying lethal force. I have been very, very impressed with how much thought they have given to the topic of self defense. They have distilled the concepts and present them in succinct form that you almost instantly recognize as, "Wow! That right!" Examples of such are some of the quotes of Greg Hamilton and John Fogh I have in my collection (not a complete listing):

• The combat philosophy
• Complying with a mugger/rapists demands
• Sheep, wolfs, and sheepdogs
• Stopping power
• Taking the fight out
• When to shoot
• How many shots
• Universal hand signals
• The proper fighting mindset
• Attitude to avoid being prey
• Dealing with an active shooter
• Increasing the effectiveness of your ammo
• Why the world needs guns
• How to say, "Please don't rape me"

Sean Flynn is similarly impressed with Hamilton and company.

Today Kevin Kerkam, also an instructor there, contributed a blog post that is another one of those insights (pun intended) that makes you think, "Of course! I should have thought of that but I know I never would have."

Two views.

A sheriff:

Many gun owners spend a lot of time polishing their weapons, stocking ammunition - whether for hunting or home protection - and logging target practice hours.

But if their guns were lost or stolen, many of those people would have a hard time getting them back for one minor reason: They have no record of the weapons' serial numbers.

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said registering a weapon with the county can be a good way to log the gun's identification for future reference.

"It's a great way to keep up with the serial number," Rushing said. "When people get them stolen or lost and don't have them, we can enter them on (the National Crime Information Center) and everywhere else as stolen. It's a good proactive way to keep up with your guns."

I prefer an encrypted file on a CD buried somewhere in Idaho to accomplish the same task. But that's just me.

Robb Allen has another demonstration of the benefits.

The greatest advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science and literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.

Milton Friedman
[So... Why is it that so many people demand more and more centralized government? Is it that facts are irrelevant to people? Is it that despite a hundred years of statist and socialist failure people still don't see the pattern? Or is it that Labrat nailed it with Parasite memes and monkeyspheres?

And if you don't have good answers to those questions I'll still give you an A+ if you can tell me a simple and clean way to dramatically reduce the size of government.--Joe]

As I said yesterday I had arranged to take a new shooter to the range this evening.

She was a little nervous and at first you could even see her hands shake when she loaded the magazine of the Ruger Mark II. When she did some dry fire exercises I could see the gun shake as well. It wasn't all nervousness though. She has very slender arms and the longer she held the gun out at arms length the more it shook and the more she bent her elbows.

Still, when she fired her first shots at a about 10 feet away they were all "in the black":

After several ordinary targets I put up a slightly used USPSA target and said, "This is a bad guy." Here is the A-zone. Keep all your shots in the A-zone while shooting as fast as you can.

She had some problems. Many of the shots were going way low. I moved the target in very close about two feet from the muzzle and told her to point and shoot as fast as she could--the bad guy was very close. She shot fast and all the bullets were A-zone hits.

She wanted the target further away so gave her another slightly used USPSA target and she moved it to about 15 feet away and opened fire: 

This time nearly all the shots were solid A-zone hits and she had a big smile on her face (Update: she didn't like any of the pictures of her face so that photo has been removed).

I showed her my Gun Blog 45, hollow point bullets, FMJ bullets, and emptied a couple magazines. One at slow speed with maximum accuracy and one as fast as I could shoot and keep them on target. She declined to shoot the .45.

I showed her a S&W .22 revolver and let her shoot that. She much preferred the semi-auto pistol.

We had a long talk about self-defense and "who needs a gun". She explained that in India it is very difficult to get a gun and very few people have them. Here many people have them and people use them to hurt other people. Why is it that people can get a gun so easily here?

I told her it was a choice everyone needs to make for themselves. She lives across the street from work and goes to work and gets off during daylight hours. It is in a nice part of town. She has no abusive ex-boyfriends. Other people may go to work or get off work very late at night in a very bad part of town. Everyone needs to make their own decisions. I told her of one of my first students who was a very petite middle-aged woman who told me she was a judge and some of her "customers" were very unhappy with her decisions. She had seen some of these people watch her as she left the courthouse. She had never considered owning a gun before let alone carry one when she went to/from work or when she went to the store. She sometimes traveled on her job and would spend the night alone in a motel many miles from home. She and her husband decided she needed to have a concealed carry permit, a gun, and training. She bought a gun and I taught her to use it defensively. The sheriff issued her a permit and she now carries the gun. I think she made the right decision. I told her of the person searching for "what means of self defence will you use as a woman when you are been raped by a man" who found my blog. And I told her of John Fogh's advice for such a situation.

I told her of my Just One Question and what the numbers were on criminal use, defensive use, and suicide. I told her how a gun made it possible for a weak 85 year-old woman to defend herself against a large young man.

She said she had a wonderful time and I dropped her off at her apartment--she took all the targets with her.

I never imagined I would even just hold a gun in my hands.

Priyanka
September 22, 2009
[Priyanka is from India. She is my mentee at work and now at the range.--Joe]

When I read something like this in my referral logs I want to reach out to them and give whatever advice I can:

Domain Name		newcom-intl.com ? (Commercial)
IP Address		204.14.45.# (Karib Cable Kelcom International)
ISP		NewCom International
Location		Continent  :  South America Country  :  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  (Facts) State/Region  :  Saint George City  :  Kingstown Lat/Long  :  13.1333, -61.2167 (Map) Distance  :  3,954 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Firefox Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3
Javascript		version 1.5
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  24 bits
Time of Visit		Sep 21 2009 9:44:19 pm
Last Page View		Sep 21 2009 9:44:19 pm
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://www.google.co... by a man.I want to
Search Engine		google.com
Search Words		what means of self defence will you use as a woman when you are been raped by a man.i want to
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffm...date,2009-04-13.aspx
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffm...date,2009-04-13.aspx
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-8:00
Visitor's Time		Sep 21 2009 9:44:19 pm
Visit Number		599,244

Send me an email or even call me (208-301-4254).

Tomorrow evening I'm taking a young woman to the range. She has never shot a gun before. I'm nearly certain she asked to do this because she is adventuresome and thinks it might be exciting to shoot a gun (she wants to try some explosives next month). But I'll be explaining the utility of multiple jacketed hollow point bullets and the advice of John Fogh while I'm at it.

Via email from Chet.

What? Do they only have enough money for food or something? I thought they could always find money to fund their hate of capitalism and buy more Kalashnikov rifles. But perhaps not:

Russia's largest small arms manufacturer, the Izhevsk Mechanical Works [Izhmash], could be declared bankrupt. It became know today that a corresponding petition has been received by the arbitration court of [the Republic of] Udmurtia from the enterprise.

...

This largest Kalashnikov assault rifle manufacturer now stands idle. No state order means no money to pay employees, nor to repay debts to creditors.

This Christmas I'm going shopping for the girls at GlamGuns.com where I can pick up stuff like this:

It's never to early to learn demolition. Hard targets are no longer a challenge with the Glambo Signature Series EZ-Boom Oven. Locked out of the clubhouse? Fight back! Includes enough of her patented, quick-setting mix to make one pound of plastique and will provide your child with hours of fun. (Safety armor not included.)

My girls just loved "My little Pony" but now that they are all grown up it's time for grown up toys fully loaded with nostalgia:

The Glambo Signature Series "My Little Pony" M4A1 carbine with forward handgrip and AN-PVS4 night vision sight. This fully functional weapon fires standard 5.56mm ammunition -- great for those AR-15 fans with extra ammo lying around the house or even extra parts! (Note: the full-auto selection has been disabled in this model in favor of three-round-burst. This product cannot be shipped to California.) The perfect way to introduce your little princess to the wonders of nocturnal wet-work!

There are also Hilton Handcuffs and Martha's Mines--just the thing for stocking stuffers at the Huffman-Scott compound and bunker complex.

H/T to Kris who sent me the link in an email.

On the evening of September 9, President Barack Obama was at the U.S. Capitol preparing to address a joint session of Congress on the subject of health care reform. At approximately 8:00 p.m., Joshua Bowman, 28, of Falls Church, Virginia, attempted to drive his Honda Civic into a secure area near the Capitol. U.S. Capitol Police stopped him and, searching his car, found a rifle, a shotgun and 500 rounds of ammunition. Bowman was arrested on the spot and charged with two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition. An Associated Press article noted that “Bowman’s intentions were unclear.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington has stated that they have decided against prosecuting Bowman on more serious charges. It is difficult to imagine, however, what legitimate reason there might have been for bringing that kind of firepower to the Capitol when so many important elected officials were gathered in one place.

...

How many other individuals carrying guns at political events (either openly or concealed) have disturbing criminal histories? And why is the media already losing interest in what should be headline news?

Michael Beard
September 12, 2009
Gunning for the President
[First of all there wasn't anyone "gunning for the President". The guy accidentally drove across a political boundary which made his firearm possession a crime. Law enforcement investigated and decided not to prosecute. It's no different than if a black person had stepped into a "whites only" restaurant in the deep south 60 years ago and quickly apologized and tried to leave. Prosecutors gave him a pass because he was trying to play by the rules and got tripped up by a law that shouldn't have existed to begin with and through no intentional fault of his own.

"Disturbing criminal histories"? If the legislature had wanted to make drunk driving, disorderly conduct, or urination in public grounds to loose your right to keep and bear arms they should have gotten the votes to pass such a law and defend it in court. Until they do Mr. Beard can be as "disturbed" as he wants to be and I don't care. We are a supposedly a nation of laws not beholding to how "disturbed" he is.

I suspect the thing that disturbs Mr. Beard the most is the media is losing interest in making headlines of someone obeying the law. That's not "news". And I have to say, it's about fricking time.--Joe]

I appears there is an interesting new show coming soon to a security theater near you:

First it was shoes, then water bottles and snow globes.

Now dried baby formula, makeup, talcum and other powders have joined the long list of seemingly innocuous household items drawing closer scrutiny from airport screeners as potential security threats.

Federal authorities haven't banned powders toted by passengers or set limits on the size or amount they are allowed to carry on planes in their hand luggage.

But the Transportation Security Administration is now paying closer attention to common powders and has outfitted O'Hare, Midway and other airports around the country with new kits to test them for explosives. Passengers should be aware that after belongings are X-rayed, TSA officers may test a small sample of any powder in their possession.

I wonder if my post contributed to that. I know it got some attention by "government employees".

If it was my fault I'm not going to say I am sorry. One of the ways you get people to rethink their security systems is to overload them with false positives. If I could only demonstrate that it were relatively easy to bring down a plane by grinding up you hair into a fine powder and making an improvised explosive device out of it using a couple coins as tools...

Sometimes it boggles my mind just how stupid some people can be and still be able to write complete sentences and breathe--and apparently at the same time. Case in point:

Free marketers don’t care much for bank bailouts so long as they’ve gotten their money out the bank before it fails.

But when it’s health care? I think you will find that teabaggers everywhere will have a very different perspective when they find themselves out there alone with no way to pay for their family’s medical costs.

Who will need the save the day when this happens? The government will – and that means a single-payer system.

Whether the result fits your ideology or not, the numbers would seem to make clear that it is only a matter of time before private health insurance prices itself out of the market, leaving only the government with the capability to insure the nation’s health.

"Leaving only the government with the capability"? And just where does he think the government will get the money that private health insurance companies and individuals couldn't?

When I used to play chess a lot (high school and college) it was very rare that someone couldn't see pretty clearly two and usually three moves in advance. And the better players would have a pretty fair view out six or seven moves on some critical branches. But this guy apparently can't see even one move in advance. What would you call someone like this? In my chess playing days we would call those people losers.

Update: He makes an "interesting" comment in response to another commenter to his article:

I rarely watch CNBC and, anyone who reads this post knows I wouldn’t be caught dead watching Fox.

He admits he studiously ignores data considered to be fair and accurate by millions of people? This isn't someone concerned with knowing the truth. This is someone who has a deep and profound commitment to some sort of cult.

On my last trip to Idaho from the Seattle area got caught up on the Gun Nuts Radio podcasts. I think it was Breda that said in one of them that she didn't see what the big deal was with carrying a gun. She asked (IIRC), "Why should it be any different than carrying a cell phone or flashlight on your belt?"

Good question. I shoot probably 10,000 rounds a year but I don't participate in anywhere near that many phone calls or turn on the flashlight (I carry all three on my belt most of the time). By some measures it could be said that I use my gun far more than my cell phone.

Americans buy between five and nine billion rounds of ammunition each year yet there are only about 10,000 murders and 700 accidental deaths by gunshot each year. Something on the order of 0.0002% of those rounds of ammo result in the illegal death of someone. I wonder what the percentage of telephone calls are involved in illegal activity? My bet is that even if you were to use "criminal use of ammunition" the rate of phone call crime is much higher than for ammunition as well. And the ammunition death rate versus the involvement of cars in accidental deaths makes cars look like a guaranteed death sentence. Yet there are very few people trying to ban cars.

And another thing... why do we have enhanced sentencing for crimes involving a gun but not enhanced sentencing for crimes involving cell phones or cars? Isn't it unconstitutional to have enhanced sentences for blacks and Jews? So why enhanced sentences for gun owners?

I think there are more than a few anti-rights advocates I will start referring to as "the woman with the earrings".

Linoge
September 18, 2009
uncannily appropriate
[You must read the rest of the post for the context--unless you remember the woman with the earrings at the party in the book Atlas Shrugged.

There is a reason the sales of this book skyrocketed last year.--Joe]

Four minutes, 365 pictures:

See also here for the best as stills.

Awesome job Xenia.

This must be Greg Nickels' desperate parting shot at gun owners who worked hard to make sure that he not survive the primary election last month. The proposal is blatantly illegal.

Alan Gottlieb
September 18, 2009
Mayor proposes gun ban at city-park facilities
[I would like to remind, soon to be, ex-mayor Greg Nickels of this post. I wish that Federal prosecutors would file charges for violation of 18 USC 242 the day after the signs go up.

See also Ry's post and the Second Amendment Foundation news release.

I'm doubling the amount of money I donate to SAF each month through payroll deductions. That money is matched by Microsoft.--Joe]

You know, I turn back to your ancient prophets, in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if we're the generation that is going to see it come about.

Ronald Reagan
[I'm reminded of this by the articled titled Iran reportedly able to make nuclear bomb and the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he wants Israel wiped off the map.--Joe]

The Brady Campaign Blog has a post up about a gun rights activist and concealed carry permit holder. Basically it outlines what a slimy guy he is.

This is new territory for the Brady Campaign.

With so many of us and so few of them simply by the sheer number of people in the "tails of the bell curve" that we don't to be our "poster children" this could be somewhat painful for us. It turns out they have a few "skeletons in the closet" as well but there isn't going to be nearly as many of them.

I don't think that is an appropriate way to play the game. The political battle should be fought over ideas and data rather than the criminal convictions and/or drinking problems of the messengers. But politics is almost never a clean fight.

For us the lesson to be learned is to make sure people that are going to be getting the attention of the press and/or police are people that can stand up to public scrutiny because the Brady people may now have a policy of making sure our activists get more attention than they expected in manner that is less than endearing to the public.

I needed some repair work done on my STI Eagle 5.1 and from my phone call to them I expected to have it back in about 10 days. It arrived at their factory on August 12^th. I received it back yesterday. That was exactly 35 days.

I started getting a hint that things weren't going so well about a week after they got it when I got a call and instead of them telling me it was on it's way back David told me he had just briefly looked at it and, "that's a really old gun". Hmm... And your point is? It turns out there was far more wrong with the gun than I knew and that a lot of things were built different that they were when the gun was new. That meant some replacement parts weren't just drop in. They were going to have to do some machining on the frame. Stuff that wasn't going to be covered under warranty. Fine, give me an estimate and then I'll decide.

Nearly a week after that on August 31^st I had an exact amount and sent David (yes, to him personally rather than STI) a check for $231 for the non-warranty work. He also told me there were things wrong that he couldn't really fix and but it would still be good enough for "What we down here in Texas call a 'truck gun'". Great. My STI is now a "truck gun". But for $231 I would have functional gun that would be far better than any other gun I could buy for $231.

To be fair the stuff he didn't want to work on were things that I had long suspected were messed up by the original gunsmith (who shall remain nameless because he is no longer working as a gunsmith anyway) who built it from a kit. Nearly the first thing I did when I got my hands on the gun back in 1998 was check the slide to frame fit when the gun was in battery. I was shocked and disappointed that there was quite a bit of movement. I looked up in surprise and the gunsmith said that he had asked me if I was going to carry the gun or just shoot it in competition. I told him both. So he made the tolerances much greater than a competition only gun. He said that he was taught that a carry gun needed to have looser tolerances so it would be more reliable. I asked if it could be tightened up and he told me that for all practical purposes the answer was no. Rather than rejecting the gun due to a misunderstanding I took it. I really couldn't complain about the accuracy. It wasn't what I expected but there were very few stages which I competed in for which the accuracy was a limiting factor.

But that wasn't the only problem with the gun.

The lugs for the barrel link broke on the original STI barrel after only about 20K rounds. The gunsmith figured it had to be a defective barrel. STI didn't see it that way and I paid for new, non-STI barrel to be installed. A few years later I told someone else about this and he told me the only way that break occurs is if the barrel was installed wrong. David, at STI, told me the "new" barrel was installed incorrectly as well but it isn't likely to break--it just doesn't lock up quite right and the accuracy is degraded.

So, I took the gun to the range tonight and it functioned well. The new safety fits better than the old ones (I had the first gunsmith replace a one that broken once before) ever did but it required some machining on the frame to get the new safety to fit. I'm glad I didn't try to do it myself because I don't have access to a milling machine to do the type of cuts that were required--besides not knowing that the frames were built different now and that the frame cuts were required instead of removing material from the safety.

I'm a little annoyed at STI for taking five weeks when I expected something closer to one week. And the non-warranty work being done via a direct payment to David is a little unprofessional. But except for the slide to frame fit everything on the gun looks very good to me. I'll probably continue to use the gun in competition for quite a while longer. Maybe next summer I'll be able to justify (money, it's a lot of money) a new STI (Eagle 5.0 or maybe an Eagle 6.0--any suggestions?) and put this one "behind the seat of the truck".

Regardless of my irritation with STI I still say--I shoot a STI gun in competition, I carry a STI gun and you should too.

I have an expired Utah license and because it has been expired too long I have to reapply as a new applicant. I'm seriously thinking of taking this Utah Concealed Firearm Permit Class on September 26^th.

Anyone else want to show up at the class and hang out with me? It's just four hours on a Saturday.

Update: I was reminded by Barb that her schedule is changing and I will be in Idaho on this weekend. And with her new schedule none of the Utah classes listed match my schedule.

Bitter and Sebastian (along with the Apex of the Triangle of Death) have been kicking ass and keeping score while going after Bloomberg's collection of bigots against gun owners.

Here is a letter from another mayor (from Vancouver Washington) to drop out of the group once they realized they had been duped (via WA-CCW email list--Thanks to Dr. Brown for doing the all the work):

Subject: RE: Royce, say it ain't so!
To: rkba2001@comcast.net

Dr. Brown,

Please see below my letter of resignation from the Mayor's Against Illegal Guns coalition that I sent last Friday:

Thank you!

I became a member of Mayor's Against Illegal Guns based on my belief that this group would help in the fight against criminal gun use. After all, who isn't for making our communities safer by getting illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of the wrong people? After careful consideration and after listening to the concerns of many of my constituents I have come to the conclusion that some of your organization's statements and actions can be construed as infringing on the rights of legitimate gun owners. Because of this, I request that you remove my name from your web site and from your membership lists.

As a lifetime gun owner and user and as a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Army, I strongly value our constitutional right to bear arms and would never support anything that restricts that right. Please know that while I am withdrawing my membership from your organization, I will continue to work with our local law enforcement officials on the problem of criminals illegally obtaining and using guns to commit crimes.

Sincerely,

ROYCE E. POLLARD
Mayor
America's Vancouver

The headline reads, "Sen. Murray`s Anti-Gun Bigotry Shows in Amtrak Debate, Says CCRKBA." The news release goes on to say:

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) is once again demonstrating her disdain for gun
owners and their rights by opposing an amendment to her Amtrak funding
legislation that would allow firearms to be carried in baggage aboard trains,
the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

"Patty Murray evidently has a short memory span," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan
Gottlieb. "Has she already forgotten what happened to her friend, Seattle Mayor
Greg Nickels, in the primary because of his extremist anti-gun philosophy?
Surely she knows about Tuesday`s primary election results in New York City,
where anti-gunner Richard Aborn came in last in a three-way race for Manhattan
prosecutor by running on his gun control record."

Murray is opposing an amendment, added to her Amtrak bill by Sen. Roger Wicker
(R-MS), that would allow train travelers to transport firearms in their luggage,
provided the guns are declared at check-in and they are locked up for transport.
This is no different than flying with firearms, Gottlieb noted, "and people do
that every day."

"The amendment passed 68-30," Gottlieb noted, "and Murray`s opposition shows she
is way out of the mainstream on this issue. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid supports the measure. People used to take firearms on trains all the time.
Someone should tell the senator that constitutional rights don`t end at the
Amtrak boarding platform."

Murray argues that the amendment would be too costly and time-consuming, because
Amtrak would have to create a process for checking and tracking guns.

"That`s a bogus argument," Gottlieb countered, "and she knows it. The
Transportation Security Administration already has that process down pat. There
is no need to reinvent the wheel. That option has apparently not occurred to
her, or maybe it has and she just can`t get beyond her narrow gun prohibitionist
viewpoint.

"Amtrak has been losing money for years," Gottlieb concluded. "Maybe it`s
because American gun owners won`t travel with a carrier that treats them like
outcasts. Maybe gun owners will return that sentiment when Murray runs for
re-election next year."

Although she is considered the one of the "dullest knives in the drawer" (see also here for possible euphemisms) she hasn't had much trouble getting relected and this vote against gun owners probably won't be all that detrimental either. But it's nice to remind her and others that we are not happy with her and if someone else were to be a little more tolerant of diversity we would probably give them our support.

I get this type of email so you don't have to:

I'm writing looking to connect with those that took any classes with me this past Sunday.

ThreeSomes and Group Sex Play - discussion
Butt Sex - informal discussion
G-Spot and Female Ejaculation - interactive, couples only

In this context one has wonder what the meaning of "connect" is.

Regardless, the answer is "No". I did not take any of those classes last Sunday. Barb and I were doing other things near Mount Hood (don't let your dirty mind go there) that weekend.

Via email from Kris:

The power to do good is also the power to do harm.

Milton Friedman
[There is also a variation of this attributed to Barry Goldwater (probably false), Thomas Jefferson (probably false), and Gerald Ford (probably correct), "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."

Regardless of who should get the credit the idea is correct and people advocating for health care involvement by the government need to realize the terrible risk they are advocating we all take by giving the government control of our health. They can "give" but they can, and will, take it away as well.

Similar cases can be made for government involvement in weapons ownership, the banking industry, and just about anything the government was not given specific enumerated powers in the constitution.--Joe]

An atomic blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways.

Salvor Hardin
[This is as true today as it was in the future. Something both tyrants and "Threepers" should keep in mind.--Joe]

It appears the FBI and the ATF can't seem to play well together:

Agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are feuding over bomb investigations — racing each other to crime scenes, failing to share information and refusing to train together, according to a draft report obtained by The Associated Press.

The report says Justice Department bosses have repeatedly failed to fix the problem.

The Justice Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, has drafted a preliminary report on the two agencies' repeated squabbles to claim jurisdiction in investigations of explosives incidents across the country — from Times Square in New York City to Arizona and the West Coast.

The most recent documented spat came last December when the FBI protested a local prosecutor's request to use the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to investigate a blast that killed a local bomb technician in Woodburn, Ore.

FBI and ATF supervisors "tend to deploy their employees to the larger, more sensational explosives incidents, sometimes racing each other to be the first federal agency on the scene and disputing upon arrival which agency should lead the investigation," according to a draft version of the report.

It seems to me the Justice Department bosses are overlooking the obvious simple solution to the problem. If they would just look in the Constitution they would find they don't have the authority for either the FBI or the ATF. If they would just disband both organizations and let the state law enforcement organizations handle the issues there wouldn't be these squabbles between the two illegitimate siblings.

But the Justice Department is just like any other welfare mother and the more children it can bring into the world the more money it can justify taking from the tax payers. It's time to kick the bums out and demand they make an honest living.