Monthly Archives: May 2011

Quote of the day—Alan Gottlieb

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When it comes to filing pro-gun lawsuits, SAF has an itchy trigger finger.


Alan Gottlieb
May 13, 2011
SAF sues Illinois over prohibition on self-defense carry
[While the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) doesn’t have a perfect record on lawsuits they have a record that is much better than the opposition and their competitors in the gun owner rights activist space. Donations to them are tax deductible and some companies will match your donations. I have a monthly donation deducted from my paycheck for them. Lets keep the momentum going. The only restriction on the speed of our advance should be the speed of the courts and sleep required by “The Two Alans.” Don’t let it be money.—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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I just realized the CSGV disclosure of peoples real names makes sense if you have the correct world view. Perhaps they think of gun bloggers as superheroes and themselves as the bad guys.

Wrong answer

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The answer given is close but I think whatever college major people who end up as gun control activists would be far better.

Quote of the day—Barbara Scott

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Maybe they will try to out you next. But do you think they are smart enough?

Barbara Scott
May 11, 2011
To me. After reading about CSGV outing bloggers they don’t like.
[My response was, “Quote of the day!”—Joe]

CSGV who?

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The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is so “low on my radar” that I almost always ignore them. How many people do they have on staff? More than three? They claim they have 48 member organizations. I have not heard of about two thirds of them. And what political influence do they have? Can they send out a mailing and get more than 10 people to contact any politician or sway an election? I don’t think so.


They have a “sister organization” called “Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence” which is a 501(C)(3) corp. I looked them up on Charity Navigator and found this:



We don’t evaluate Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.
Why not? We had previously evaluated this organization, but they are now filing the IRS Form 990 EZ as allowed under the Internal Revenue Code. Charity Navigator can not complete an evaluation for charities that file the 990 EZ because that form does not contain all the information we require.


The Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence is listed ( Primary Revenue Growth -11.5%). And so is the Violence Policy Center.


But I did find their IRS filing for 2009. They had total revenue of $372,600 with net assets or fund balances of $86,407. This is down from 2001 when they had a total revenue of $1,579,241 and net assets or fund balances of $316,274.


$372.6K in net revenue? Really? Paul Helmke of the Brady Campaign has a yearly salary of nearly 70% ($258,828) of that.


I suppose that should explain some of their efforts recently. They just don’t have the resources to do anything of substance. [sarcasm]But they are really on their path to the big league by threatening a few bloggers.[/sarcasm]


But how do you explain this email from a week ago?



What are Gun Rights Groups so Afraid of?


If you ever needed evidence that the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is having a powerful impact on the national conversation about gun violence, look no further. Just in the past week, gun rights groups have made several panicked attempts to counteract our work.


First, the NRA lashed out at CSGV in an editorial in the most recent issue of its flagship publication, America’s First Freedom. The editorial referred to a recent blog I published at the Huffington Post and was a desperate attempt to defend their view that the Constitution sanctions private political violence. Mocking my philosophy and “life’s work,” editor Blaine Smith compares American citizens in a constitutional republic to starving grizzly bears in the untamed wilderness of Alaska. You can read the NRA’s bizarre piece here.


Second, the National Shooting Sports Federation (NSSF) responded to a recent “countermarketing” strategy guide by our affiliate, the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (Ed Fund), with panicked threats of litigation. Our report educates activists about using the “buyer power” of cities to require gun manufacturers to implement marketing safeguards on firearms sales. In the face of this powerful new advocacy tool, the NSSF has resorted to blanket threats to sue any municipal government who tries to leverage their purchasing power to curb illegal gun trafficking.


Third, the Ed Fund placed prominent newspaper ads signed by 105 gun violence survivors during last weekend’s NRA convention in Pittsburgh. The survivors asked NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre to sit down and have a constructive dialogue about how to prevent gun violence in our country. When confronted face-to-face about the invitation to talk, however, LaPierre ran away!


Gun rights groups are clearly feeling the heat, and your gift today will help keep up the pressure. If you want to keep gun rights groups on the defensive, please support CSGV’s hard-hitting work.


Thank you for joining with us to take on the gun lobby,


Josh Horwitz
Executive Director


CSGV is having a powerful impact? It’s more like they are being made fun of as the village idiot.


Hard hitting work? I guess that would be finding out and reporting the real names of a couple of bloggers.


I say just ignore them. I’m sure all the politicians and courts do.

First banning of a Boomershoot participant

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I suppose there is a first time for everything. I hope this is the last time this happens. I took no pleasure in doing this. But after hearing the reports and then getting the emails it was very clear what had to be done. The situation was very bad. Every year I think I will do some training with my range officers and make sure they know they have the authority to kick someone out on the spot and I will back them up. Had they been kicked out on the second offense I might not have had to permanently ban them. As it is I didn’t see that I had a choice. I had numerous people report the same incidents and all strongly recommend the ban.


I sent the following email today and will be making modifications to the online entry software to help enforce this:



From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Subject: We have a problem.


After Boomershoot this year I had two of my range officers tell me of some persistent and severe rule violations by one of our participants. I then received email from several participants describing the events reported by my range officers and naming you as the offender.


I cannot in good conscious allow you to participate at Boomershoot again. If an injury were to occur as a result of your actions I would be bear some of the responsibility since it was known to me that you repeatedly violated the safety rules even after being told many times.


I am sorry to do this but while you are welcome as a spectator you are permanently banned from participating in Boomershoot.


There is no appeal.


Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director

Quote of the day—Maksim Khrapov

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In the country where I grew up only the KGB had the guns.


Maksim Khrapov
[If you think you want to live in a place where only the police and military possess firearms you should first talk to various people who have lived under such conditions before attempting to force your beliefs upon an entire nation. Those that have lived in those countries and talked to such people may be less accepting of and more vigorous in their opposition to your plan than you anticipate.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Senator Al Franken

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Steve Jobs said to the press that ‘we build a database of cell tower hotspots that could be 100 miles away from where you are, those are not telling you anything about your location.’ Yet in a written statement, Apple explained that the very same data would help your iPhone calculate its location. How can those two statements be true at the same time? Does this data indicate anything about your location or doesn’t it?

Senator Al Franken
May 10, 2011
Senators press Apple, Google for answers about location tracking
[I know! I know!

While Apple is a direct competitor to my employer (Microsoft) with this product and it’s not in my best interest to defend them I feel compelled to say that in this particular instance Apple is getting a bum rap. I worked on this same feature in Windows Phone 7 and understand the problem very, very well.

The answer given wasn’t the best and that probably made it difficult for Franken to grasp the concepts. So I’ll try again. Almost for certain this is how it works. The phone obtains a collection of cell tower  locations and unique cell tower IDs in a particular geographical area. This area could be a rectangle that is 100 miles by 100 miles on a side. When the user requests their location the phone obtains the unique ID of the cell tower the phone is connected to. The ID is looked up in the collection of cell towers, just as someone’s name might be looked up in an address book. The location/address of the cell tower is then returned to the user as the best estimate of the user’s location.

As long as the cell tower IDs used for location lookup are not stored then the best that can be done by examination of the files on the phone is to see the different cell towers (and Wi-Fi) collections that were stored. As long as those collections were large (100 miles by 100 miles per collection) then the best that can be deduced is the user was someplace within that collection area. If the collection area is much smaller, say 100 feet by 100 feet (this could happen because Wi-Fi access points have much greater density that cell towers) then it becomes very important to make sure those collections are secure from snooping. If those collections are sometimes for a small geographical area and the files are not made secure then shame on Apple. They were being careless with the users privacy and should be chastised for that carelessness. But at this time I cannot conclude Apple screwed up.

So to answer Franken’s questions, those two statement can be true at the same time. The data does indicate your position within the geographical area of the hotspot locations. But that does not necessarily mean the location is know with the type of accuracy that a stalker would find particular useful–unless just knowing the city or zip code is sufficiently damaging.—Joe]

Rational thought isn’t their strong point

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As Dave Hardy points out the Brady Campaign cannot be truthful and yet simultaneously claim they do not wish to make firearm ownership difficult just for the sake of making it difficult and claim it is good news there are reports that firearms ownership is declining. Their pleasure at the claims of lower firearms ownership must be interpreted as reduced ownership rates as a desirable goal. If they desire that goal then all their actions must be viewed as something they consider might further that goal.

I find their views on reports of reduced gun ownership rates like someone cheering a reduction in the number of people who vote, write letters to the editor, or people voluntarily becoming slaves.

They just don’t get it

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This is from an Australian reporter who attended the NRA Convention:

NRA defies hopes for gun control in America

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: After the deadly shooting in Tucson, Arizona earlier this year which claimed six lives and injured a congresswoman, gun control advocates were convinced they’d have some weight behind their argument for tighter gun laws in the United States, and they say the US president is finally speaking up.
But there appears to be little tangible change to the gun culture in America. If anything, one of the most formidable political lobby groups, the National Rifle Association, appears to be more confident that it’s winning the fight against gun control.

…

LISA MILLAR: But while the enthusiasts keep turning up here and at the polling booths, it may be that the hopes of gun control advocates proof elusive yet again.

If it were convention for gay rights would they use words like, “The hopes of homophobes and gay bashers prove elusive yet again.”?

How can they not see their own bias and bigotry?

Boomershoot special events

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In addition to the boomers people shoot we do a few special things as well. The opening fireball (when it worked) and anvil launch have been regular features for years. For a couple of years we had a bowling ball mortar. This year we had three bowling ball mortars.

Here is a video of the special features:

I didn’t realize the fireball set off a car alarm until I viewed this video.

Lewiston Pistol Club Appleseed Rifle Marksman Clinic

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Via email from Adam M.

The Lewiston Pistol Club will host an Appleseed Rifle Marksman Clinic at the Bernie Petersen Memorial Range on May 14-15, 2011.  The entire range will be reserved from 8 – 5 on Saturday and Sunday (May 14-15). 

The Appleseed Clinic focuses on the basics of good marksmanship – sight alignment, sight picture, breath control, trigger control and follow through.  Interspersed with the shooting, the Clinic leaders deliver an oral history of April 19th, 1775 – the day the shot heard around the world was fired on the Lexington green. 

The Appleseed Clinic is an excellent introduction to rifles for youth and beginners.  But even old hands have trouble passing the graduation exam – the Army Qualification Test.  The final target is the size of a postage stamp at 25 meters.  Think that’s an easy shot?  Come show us how it’s done!
•    General information on Appleseed: http://www.appleseedinfo.org/index.html
•    LPC Appleseed Clinic information: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=18878.0
•    LPC Appleseed Registration: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1080526885
•    Information on what to bring: http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_prepare.html

If you have any questions regarding the Appleseed Project or specifics for coming that day, please contact Larry Cernik at r.contender@juno.com.

If you have any questions regarding the LPC portion of the Appleseed Clinic, please contact me at action@lewistonpistol.org.

This is the Lewiston Idaho Pistol Club in case you are wondering.

Gun cartoon of the day

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This certainly seems to be the way it works:

WhatAntiGunnersHear

I’m not sure if it is deliberate or they simply lack the mental facility to process information correctly.

Cartoon via email from Barron.

Quote of the day—W. Scott Lewis

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Despite all of the media hype, all of the fear mongering, and all of the misinformation, a vast majority of the Texas Senators tasked with researching and voting on this issue opted for empirical evidence over emotional rhetoric.

W. Scott Lewis
May 9, 2011
Texas Legislative Director, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
PRESS RELEASE: TEXAS SENATE PASSES CONCEALED CARRY ON CAMPUS BILL
[Sebastian also got a copy of the release.

Empirical evidence. It’s odd how difficult it is to get people to consider that.

Oh well. Another step closer to total victory.—Joe]

Quote of the day—George Orwell

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That rifle on the wall of the labourer’s cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.

George Orwell
[I slightly disagree. It is a symbol of the ultimate power residing in the hands of the general population rather than solely in the hands of the despot or the well connected. Those that seek and exercise power to their own advantage will always exist and will always take advantage of those that are less powerful. But the rifle on the wall creates limits such that truly epic injustice is unlikely to occur because of the fear by the powerful and their thugs that their reign of terror will be ended by a bullet. And if it does occur the rifle guarantees it will not long continue.—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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Now that the U.S. has established the precedent of sending a hit squad into another country to kill those wanted for planning and implementing acts which resulted in the deaths of our citizens I wonder if the Mexican government will consider that justification for doing the same to those responsible for sending firearms to drug cartels in Mexico.

Quote of the day—Ry Jones

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I figure it’s like when you go to a Gallagher show and sit in the front row. You bring your rain coat because you know what is going to happen with those watermelons. Well… the Boomershoot fireball is like that. Those people don’t have anything to complain about.

Ry Jones
May 1, 2011
[Ry and I had an “after action” discussion about Boomershoot 2011. The opening fireball was among the topics discussed.

What most people don’t know about that fireball is that it almost didn’t work. If you play back the video frame-by-frame you will find that nearly all the road flares went out. You can also see this from the pictures afterward. There are only about three or four flares still burning. Which leads us to the runner up for the QOTD, by Ry again, “If you had told me a week ago I would be putting out road flares with gasoline I would never have believed you.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Paul Helmke

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In yet another sign of how out of touch it is with how people interact in a civilized society, the National Rifle Association is apparently so wrapped up in its paranoid view of the world that it planted an undercover cameraman at our news conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday when the Brady Campaign released its annual Scorecard of State gun laws that can help reduce gun violence.

Paul Helmke
May 6, 2011
NRA Didn’t Have To Spy: Their Deadly Agenda Is Out
[I wasn’t aware that news conferences were intended to be secret and that if someone showed up without being specifically invited they were considered a “spy”.

I guess that shows how out of touch I am with how people interact in a civilized society as well. Or maybe is shows it is the Brady Campaign which is paranoid instead of the NRA.—Joe]

Soldier’s Angels donation

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Every year we have a raffle at the Boomershoot dinner. The raffle items are donated by various companies and individuals. This year NightForce donated a rifle scope which was the highlight of the raffle. There were also items such as a shooting bench, AR-15 magazines, shooting glasses, and many, many other items.

The proceeds of the raffle went to Soldier’s Angels. Here is the report from my bank on the donation:

Payee Reference # Send On Deliver By Amount
Soldiers’ Angels 6BFBXMRY  05/03/2011 05/10/2011 $1,592.00

For those of you who listened closely at the dinner this is more than the amount actually raised and given to me. A Boomershooter quietly slipped me another $230 to give to Soldier’s Angels and Gene Econ added another $100.

Random thought of the day

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The anti-gun side uses the word “loophole”, as in “gun show loophole” to great advantage. I think we should adopt their tactic.

We don’t have a regulatory agency for speech, religion, assembly, or association so why do we have one for arms? The “F” in “ATF” exists only because of a loophole in U.S. law. We need to plug the loophole by unplugging the ATF from Federal funding.

If the states want their own regulatory agency then let them fund them and we will battle their existence and scope as needed in the courts.