Author Archives: Joe

Steel match results

Posted on by

As I posted yesterday two new shooters, Chris and Vic, were preparing for todays steel match at Holmes Harbor Rod and Gun Club on Whidbey Island. We were on the same ferry and chatted on the way across the sound:

20180825_082712

Today’s stages were a bit more difficult than usual and prone to penalties:

20180825_095443

Stage one, above, required the shooter to shoot the white plate four times then shoot the yellow stop plate. This was fairly easy but I was handicapped by the fact that I can’t count very fast. They told me after I had finished that I was shooting the white plate five times instead of six.

Ignore the cardboard to the left of the two steel plates.

20180825_095446

Stage two was one of the tough stages. It was very easy to hit the stop plate and incur the miss penalties for the white plates not yet hit.

20180825_105504

Stage three was a much more typical stage but it was still a bit difficult with the two small plates on the right.

20180825_111943

Stage four was another fairly typical stage. Moderate sized plates at a moderate distance.

20180825_114722Stage five was rather evil. Four large plates and then a tiny plate in front of a “no-shoot” plate (I’m pretty sure this is outside the rule book of any steel match types I have ever seen). A hit on the “no-shoot” plate incurred a six second penalty.

20180825_114722Cropped
This deer can be seen in the picture of stage five. Look at the center of the pictures at the top of the berm. It left as soon as we started shooting.

I thought stage four was the easiest stage. But compared to me, Vic and Chris actually did better on stage five

20180825_101302

This is Vic shooting stage 1.

Vic and Chris did good for new shooters. Complete match results are here. Vic and Chris shot in the rimfire, iron sighted pistol division:

Rimfire PI Iron
Final Name ISSA# Division Time 1: Bay 1 2: Bay 2 3: Bay 3 4: Bay 4 5: Bay 5
1 Huffman, Joe RPII 65.99 8.57 12.78 16.77 15.30 12.57
2 Koch, David RPII 102.13 10.37 24.00 30.99 20.62 16.15
3 Speck, Greg RPII 123.37 12.51 30.21 32.27 32.38 16.00
4 Carson, Vick RPII 146.08 17.26 35.00 27.69 47.39 18.74
5 Stone, Christopher RPII 213.69 22.48 49.38 46.44 68.64 26.75

I also shot in the centerfire, iron sighted pistol division:

Centerfire Pistol
Iron
Final Name ISSA# Division Time 1: Bay 1 2: Bay 2 3: Bay 3 4: Bay 4 5: Bay 5
1 Alldredge,
Thomas		 CPI 81.78 10.98 23.65 17.00 16.05 14.10
2 Huffman,
Joe		 CPI 88.24 12.68 21.84 20.51 18.18 15.03
3 Bigby,
Alexander		 CPI 97.94 12.28 31.81 19.91 18.48 15.46
4 Sun,
Eric		 CPI 119.64 11.97 33.49 27.56 28.72 17.90
5 Koch,
David		 CPI 132.40 16.21 29.95 25.13 41.63 19.48

Update: Vic gave me some pictures he took—with his drone:

YUN00004

YUN00007

Quote of the day—Gilad Erdan

Posted on by

Many civilians saved lives during terror attacks and in an era of ‘lone terrorism.’ The more skilled civilians carrying weapons, the greater the chance of thwarting attacks without causalities and reducing the number of casualties.

Gilad Erdan
Israel Public Security Minister
Eradan eases gun-control rules
[Anytime, anyplace, gun regulation is reduced as well as improving the lives of the innocent directly affected it makes it more difficult for our opponents in this country to make their case.—Joe]

New shooter report

Posted on by

A few days ago a co-worker, Vic, told me he had someone call him up from “back home” (the Washington D.C. area). It was a young guy, Chris, who just got a job (Support Engineer) at Microsoft and didn’t know anyone in the area except Vic. So Vic has been “taking him under his wing” and helping him get settled in. Vic asked if I would take Chris to the range and teach him to shoot and prepare him to participate in the Fun Steel match at Holmes Harbor Rod and Gun Club tomorrow. Vic has been wanting to go for several months but never followed through on it. This time, with Chris needing to do something fun and different over the weekend, it looks like Vic will be following through.

Vic was in the Air Force many years ago and had mostly rifle training with a small amount of pistol training. When I took him to the range he was using a “cup and saucer” grip and I offered some coaching. He readily agreed and he picked it up really quick. His accuracy was good and his speed was great for a relatively new pistol shooter.

Chris, on the other hand, had never shot a pistol. He shot a little bit of rifle when in the Boy Scouts several years ago. We started out with the grip, stance, and dry fire. After about 20 “shots” with me chanting the mantra, “Trigger prep. Sight alignment. Squeeze. Follow through.” Chris got to the point where there were no noticeable wobbles of the gun as the hammer fell on the Ruger 22/45. I loaded the gun and told him to keep doing exactly what he had been doing. There wouldn’t be any significant recoil and the suppressed .22 would be very quiet. The target was at 3 yards and the first shots were just to the left of the bullseye. Out of the first 20 shots only one was out of the black with several in the bull (see the right target in the picture below).

We brought the target back and talked a little bit about his shots. I told him things were looking good and to add something new. Keep his focus on the front sight at all times.

He took another 20 shots. It was a much tighter group with more shots in the bull.

Here’s that new shooter smile and his target:

20180824_170241

I took the suppressor off and told him we were going into competition mode. I had him start with the gun pointed at the floor ahead of him, told him about the range commands for steel matches, and told him to shoot five rounds, hitting three targets once and one target twice. His first string was almost funny. He was a little too excited and only put holes in the general vicinity of the targets. I told him to calm down a bit and remember the mantra, “Trigger prep. Sight alignment. Squeeze. Follow through.” for every shot. The next strings were much better. He shot about another 60 rounds at various ranges as if they were strings of fire for the steel match and only had about a half dozen misses. I used the shot timer for about half of those and we could see his times getting better while maintaining good hits.

He is very unlikely to win the match tomorrow but I think he will do well enough to feel good about the experience. Zero to match shooting in less than 24 hours!

We lost a battle on I-1639

Posted on by

State Supreme Court orders gun control initiative back on Washington’s November ballot

Washington voters will get to vote on a gun control initiative this November after all.

The Washington Supreme Court today reversed a lower court’s decision blocking Initiative 1639 from the November ballot, ruling that Secretary of State Kim Wyman does not have the legal authority to reject it.

…

State law governing the acceptance of intiative [sic] petitions is narrow, Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst said. “It does not allow for pre-election review of the form, process, subtance [sic] or constitutionality of an initiative petition,” she wrote.

Instead, it only allows a court to examine whether the petitions have the required number of signatures from voters.

“There is no actual challenge to the county of signatures,” Fairhurst wrote.

Wyman can’t be ordered to keep an initiative off the ballot “based on readability, correctness or formatting of the proposed measure printed on the back of the petitions.”

See Encouraging news on I-1639 for background material.

I look forward to someone using the argument “does not allow for pre-election review of the form, process, substance or constitutionality of an initiative petition” when the wording on the back of petition says it will ban all guns while the official wording says it will repeal all gun laws.

Liberal tears

Posted on by

This made me smile:

A coalition of prominent gun control, teacher and civil rights groups is threatening legal action against the Department of Education if it moves forward with a controversial proposal that would allow states to spend federal funds on guns for school personnel.

“We are extraordinarily concerned with this dangerous, and what we believe to be unlawful, proposal under consideration to supply teachers with federal funds to buy gun for their classrooms, instead of books and school supplies,” said Giffords Law Center chief counsel Adam Skaggs, whose group, which was co-founded by shooting victim and former Rep. Gabby Giffords, is taking the lead on the potential suit.

I know this isn’t a sure thing but if it does end up being a win for us I know daughter Jaime, big fan of President Trump, is going to ask me, “Are you tired of winning yet?” My answer will be, “Nope, we have a lot more battles to win before I get tired of winning.”

In the mean time, I’ll just keep cleaning and lubricating my guns with Liberal Tears:

LiberalTears

Update: Liberal Tears are not currently available on Amazon. But they do appear to be available here.

Quote of the day—John Boch

Posted on by

Lott’s report serves as nothing but bad news for Democrats who have fully embraced gun control as a campaign plank going into the midterms this fall.

John Boch
August 20, 2018
Lott: 7.14% of Americans Have Carry Licenses, Up 273% Since 2007
[Generally I think this is true. But it might help solidify their support in areas guns are already heavily regulated and support for Democrats may be weakened because of the good economic news. In heavily regulated areas people can’t imagine knowing “someone like that” who would carry a gun in public and are scared of people who exercise their right to keep and bear arms. The support of Democrats for more gun control to “protect them” from “people like that” could be a net positive in some geographical areas. On a national basis? It’s going to be a net loss.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Robert Lasnik

Posted on by

You know, it’s a little bit frustrating to be sitting in this chair as a United States District Court judge and seeing this is an issue that should be solved by the political branches of government. And I really hope and wish that the executive branch and Congress would face up to this and say, it’s a tough issue, but that’s why you got into public service to begin with.

Robert Lasnik
U.S. District Court Judge
August 21, 2018
3D-printed guns: Federal judge in Seattle frustrated over case, could make decision by Monday
[My initial response was, “The issue was resolved long ago and is still resolved. There is no Federal law against 3D-printing a gun. Therefore there isn’t anything the court can say except, ‘Case dismissed.’”

But reading a little closer it appears the argument of the anti-freedom people is a little more twisted:

The legal dispute before the court centers on ITAR, a law that involves regulating the export of certain weapons — not the potential dangers that may result if criminals print out guns and later use them to commit offenses.

Okay, unless ITAR is directly challenged, which it is not, the court has to assume ITAR is valid law. And then the question, “Is the Federal government following the letter of that law?” is a fair question that is a valid for the court to get involved in.

Wilson’s lawyer has to be scoring some points with this argument:

Chad Flores, a lawyer representing Wilson, also raised the arguments that other files for 3D guns are already available online, and Wilson could simply disseminate his plans legally by other means.

My client could mail the files at issue to everyone in the country and violate no law.

Next week we find out which side is more convincing to Judge Lasnik.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ayn Rand

Posted on by

Remember that rights are moral principles which define and protect a man’s freedom of action, but impose no obligations on other men. Private citizens are not a threat to one another’s rights or freedom. A private citizen who resorts to physical force and violates the rights of others is a criminal — and men have legal protection against him.

Criminals are a small minority in any age or country. And the harm they have done to mankind is infinitesimal when compared to the horrors — the bloodshed, the wars, the persecutions, the confiscations, the famines, the enslavements, the wholesale destructions — perpetrated by mankind’s governments. Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. When unlimited and unrestricted by individual rights, a government is men’s deadliest enemy. It is not as protection against private actions, but against governmental actions that the Bill of Rights was written.

Ayn Rand
1963
POV: Man’s Rights; The Nature of Government
[Via email from Stephanie.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Cody Wilson

Posted on by

People come to me and say, ‘Cody, tell us why you want to do it.’ No, no – more like all these authorities, all these powers, they will have to justify why they should have the right to stop me.

…

If they could build a system that could prevent people from downloading that pistol, it would be far more dangerous and the effects would be far more terrible than that little pistol. Power wants to know everything, surveil everything, absorb everything. This impulse should be checked.

Cody Wilson
August 14, 2018
3D-printed gun inventor welcomes Seattle legal battle
[I would make the correction that it is actually all these authorities will have to prove they have powers delegated by the people to do what they are attempting to do. The 1st and 2nd Amendments reinforce the fact the Constitution did not give them any such power.

Also, I would say, “must be checked” rather than “should be checked.” It fails my Jews In The Attic Test.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mark Wetzler‏ @Wex2

Posted on by

having a weapon makes you an adult. I think not. It doesn’t even make you virile or a man. It’s just a form of penis envy. Feeling a little light are you?

Mark Wetzler‏ @Wex2
Tweeted on August 8, 2018
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a tweet by Jonathan‏ @CorrelA_B

Also in response to Wetzler:

Agreed.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rob Shattuck @RobShattuckAL06

Posted on by

I think expanded police forces and police technology, subject to civilian control, will be sufficient to do any necessary killing of citizens who are needed to be killed.

Rob Shattuck @RobShattuckAL06
Candidate for U.S. Congress
Alabama 6th District
Tweeted on August 17, 2018
[The background for this is a gun control thread:

There are many laws banning or restricting items for which there is a market. It is true such laws can have limited or no success (e.g., Prohibition, unlawful drugs, child pornography). I don’t think society is ready to give up trying to impose restrictions. #alpolitics

Rob Shattuck‏ @RobShattuckAL06 Aug 16

And none of those three things are protected by the Constitution. This time you are targeting a specific class of items that is protected by the Constitution. There is a big difference.

It’s the end of the World as we know it…again‏ @AntCar0123 Aug 17

And laws banning those items tend to have a reverse effect as those items become more available. Hell, prohibition helped usher in the age of organized crime.

It’s the end of the World as we know it…again‏ @AntCar0123 Aug 17

I have acknowledged problems and difficulties society has in enacting restrictions and prohibitions. I don’t think those problems should be considered an absolute impediment to restricting guns. #alpolitics

Rob Shattuck‏ @RobShattuckAL06 Aug 17

Have you acknowledged that you’d need many people with guns and the willingness to kill their fellow citizens to properly enforce such a thing? Have you acknowledged that as you push for more restrictions the other side will push against you harder?

It’s the end of the World as we know it…again‏ @AntCar0123 Aug 17

While it is a little unusual for leftists to openly admit it, if you dig deep enough it always boils down to this:

CollectivismExecution

It’s very generous of a candidate for U.S. congress to confess this is what he has in mind for U.S. gun owners. One has to wonder if he is bright enough to realize he probably just got himself put on a few lists of people who do not plan on being on the receiving end of the rifles.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mark Brockway

Posted on by

So much ado about nothing. People have been making guns since the founding of our nation. As far as these files go, they are already out there and anyone can get them. Criminals don’t make crappy ass plastic guns, they simply buy quality firearms from the black market or steal them. More political grandstanding by Ferguson to make his sheep feel safe. The only way you’ll ever be safe is if you take some personal responsibility and learn self defense by the method of your choosing (martial arts, knife, firearms or all the above). Practice self awareness and get training. The police and government are under no legal obligation to protect you. Stop being a victim and take control of your life.

Mark Brockway
August 16, 2018
Comment to Seattle judge blocks publication of 3D-printed gun design
[I would like to make a minor correction. People were making guns long before the founding of our nation. Other than that, Brockway has it right.—Joe]

Encouraging news on I-1639

Posted on by

Via the Spokesman Review:

A gun control initiative should not appear on the November ballot because the proposed changes in the law on the petitions that some 378,000 voters signed were not readable, a Thurston County Superior Court judge said.

Judge James Dixon agreed with gun-rights advocates that the size of the print was too small and the proposed changes not clearly marked.

“I have 20-20 vision. I can’t read it,” Dixon said in granting a court order to keep Initiative 1639 off the ballot.

A notice of appeal was filed within minutes after the order was drafted and signed, and will go to the state Supreme Court on an expedited process in an effort to get a decision before counties have to print ballots in early September.

…

Safe Schools Safe Communities spent nearly $2.8 million to pay people to gather signatures for the initiative.

Via the Seattle Times:

A Thurston County judge Friday dealt a major blow to a proposed firearms-regulation measure, raising questions about whether Initiative 1639 will appear on Washington’s fall ballot.

Superior Court Judge James Dixon ruled that the formatting of the signature petitions used in the Alliance For Gun Responsibility’s campaign “did not comport” with Washington law.

…

Dixon’s decision, however, might not stand for very long, according to Hugh Spitzer, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law.

The state Supreme Court has generally “been quite hesitant to knock out initiatives because of technical defects,” said Spitzer. As a result, Dixon’s decision appears to be “inconsistent with a century of case law,” he added.

I find it “interesting” that the Spokesman Review mentions the size of the print was a critical issue in the decision while the Seattle Time does not even mention print size.

The Washington State Supreme Court has been rather mixed in it’s support of gun ownership in recent years. The Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA have kept this particular legal battle over the process of the initiative rather than the constitutional issues at stake. So perhaps this will somewhat dull the court’s dislike for private gun ownership.

Religious extremists

Posted on by

While not all people will agree it appears to me that one critical component of religion is faith. Where faith is defined as:

belief that is not based on proof

And perhaps even further:

a belief in spite of proof to the contrary.

As one datum I offer this from Martin Luther (if you have the time read the entire post because it is exactly on point for the conclusions of this post):

Die verfluchte Hure, Vernunft.
(The damned whore, Reason).

The political left has their belief that socialism/communism is a superior form of government to any other. This is without convincing proof and, in fact, in spite of proof to the contrary. While I don’t know the belief system of members of ISIS as well as I do that of the political left in the U.S. I imagine their faith is similarly immune to factual refutation.

Hence I submit, via email, from Rolf the following memes:

OffensiveImages2

patterns

There is a reason the political left defends ISIS. They are kindred spirtis.

Quote of the day—Kaitlin Bennett

Posted on by

Repeal all gun laws. We can prevent gun violence if we stop prohibiting non-violent people from getting guns. Gun control only hurts law abiding citizens.

Kaitlin Bennett
August 15, 2018
‘Repeal all gun laws,’ says Kent State’s rifle-carrying graduate behind viral photo
[This was in response to the question:

How can tragedy resulting from gun violence be prevented in the future?

Also, in response to the question:

Parkland survivors and other March for Our Lives organizers have been registering young people to vote and advocating gun-control in a nationwide tour, what would you want to say to them?

She replies:

…

If I had to say something to them, it would be come and take it.

It appears she has her act together. I wish I could afford to pay her way to Idaho for Boomershoot 2019 to be our dinner speaker.—Joe]

Quote of the day—kgbudge

Posted on by

I am reminded, once again, of the old lawyer’s joke. A lawyer begins his opening arguments before SCOTUS:

Your Honors, I’m hear to appeal a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court. And I have other arguments in my favor as well…

kgbudge
August 14, 2018
Comment to Ninth Circuit Returns to Form, Upholds Bizarre California Gun Regulation
[I could see that happening.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jess Grant

Posted on by

I’m not suggesting we disarm the police or army. Not exactly. But we might want to take a closer look at our culture and try to understand why we’re all so darned gun crazy.

It’s a frontier mentality, I suppose. A couple of hundred years of stealing land and fending off angry natives can really make a culture trigger-happy.

I suggest we start at the top.

I worry about somebody shooting me at the mall, but I worry a lot more about being incinerated by nuclear weapons.

If we’re serious about gun control, we might want to refocus on multilateral nuclear disarmament. To fret about handguns in a world of hair-trigger nuclear weaponry is textbook denial.

Jess Grant
August 14, 2018
A new approach to gun control
[I found to difficult to decide if they were this vacuous because they were naturally this way or if they were exhibiting the effects of the readily available marijuana in Washington state.

In either case, they had crap for brains when they wrote this.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mike Thompson

Posted on by

When we take the majority in November you will see a background-checks bill right away.

Mike Thompson
U.S. Representative from California
August 9, 2018
The Democratic Party’s New Litmus Test: Gun Control
Candidates for the 2018 House midterms are pushing a muscular firearms-regulation agenda, a wholesale repositioning after the party for a generation avoided new limits
[Via email from Paul Koning.

Also, from the same article:

Democrats running for Congress in 2018 are pushing a muscular gun-control agenda that represents a wholesale repositioning on the hot-button issue. In this year’s midterm election, gun control has become a party litmus test from which few dissent, alongside abortion rights and support for same-sex marriage.

It is critically important to make this the biggest political miscalculation disaster possible. Find things you can do to contribute to their loss and do them.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J. Effingham Bellweather‏ @SenCassius

Posted on by

3-D printed guns will be the biggest development in conservatives’ sex lives since the Fleshlight.

J. Effingham Bellweather‏ @SenCassius
Tweeted on July 30, 2018
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a tweet from Jonathan‏ @CorrelA_B.

I have to wonder, is this claim is based on:

  1. Marketing projections
  2. Peer reviewed research
  3. Personal research
  4. Projection

My guess is #4.-Joe]

Quote of the day—Sherry Suen-Mizell

Posted on by

I prefer rifles.

Sherry Suen-Mizell
August 11, 2018
[Sherry was on the Huffman family farm and was given an opportunity to throw a tomahawk at the end of a log. She wasn’t interested and gave this as the reason. This was an excellent way decline in a manner which endeared her to me.

Also, from the same day, she acted as a chair for my grandson Bryce:

20180810_130922

We didn’t get to the rifles or the Boomerite this weekend. We will make it happen someday.—Joe]