2nd AMENDMENT: The gateway drug to freedom addiction.
GraySkies
Signature line used in a forum post on February 16, 2018
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Author Archives: Joe
Quote of the day—Jordan B. Peterson
If you can fight you generally don’t have to. When skillfully integrated, the ability to respond with aggression and violence decreases rather than increases the probability that actual aggression will become necessary. If you say “No!” early in the cycle of oppression and you mean what you say which means you state your refusal in no uncertain terms and stand behind it then the scope for oppression on the part of oppressor will remain properly bounded and limited. Forces of tyranny expand inexorably to fill the space made available for their existence. People who refuse to muster appropriately self protective territorial responses are laid open to exploitation as much as those who genuinely can’t stand up for their own rights because of a more essential inability or a true imbalance in power.
Naïve, harmless people usually guide their perceptions and actions with a few simple axioms: people are basically good; no one really wants to hurt anyone else; the threat (and certainly, the use) of force, physical or otherwise, is wrong. These axioms collapse, or worse, in the presence of individuals who are genuinely malevolent.
Jordan B. Peterson
2018
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
[Daughter Jaime and I share an account on Audible and generally pick books that we are both interested in and then discuss them. This was one of the books she picked that, from the title, I wasn’t particularly interested in. Even after she said that this was a book that she was putting on a list for her son to read when he got older I just didn’t have any interest. But then, I ran out of books on my phone and decided to at least start it rather than immediately go searching for another book.
I am extremely pleased with what I found.
Among other things Peterson is a psychologist. In this book, what he tells us is how our minds work and how to make them work better.
What Peterson says in the quote above works on many scales on many topics. From the personal, to the political, to the international. The grand scope of this would not come as a surprise if you read the chapter. He tells us the knowledge in this quote was learned by animals 100 million years before the arrival of dinosaurs. It is an essential part of all animals today.
Extrapolating only the smallest amount you realize what he says is an argument for the right to keep and bear arms. It is instructive on how to retain our rights.—Joe]
Rounds in the last month
After reloading 300 rounds of .223 I started reloading .40 S&W to practice for Steel Challenge and USPSA matches. I reloaded 750 rounds before Boomershoot consumed all my spare time.
This brings my lifetime reloaded ammunition totals to:
223: 4,813 rounds.
30.06: 756 rounds.
300 WIN: 1,591 rounds.
40 S&W: 81,080 rounds.
45 ACP: 2,007 rounds.
9 mm: 21,641 rounds.
Total: 111,816 rounds.
Prosecute them
Via a tweet by Firearms Policy:
One of the largest public pension funds in the nation voted Wednesday to use its financial might to pressure gun retailers across the country to stop selling military-style assault weapons and accessories like rapid-fire “bump stocks” used at the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.
The $222.5 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System said it will try to unseat board members at companies that resist and could dump its stock in those retailers if they still refuse to conform to laws already in effect in California.
These people should be prosecuted for conspiracy to infringe upon the rights of the citizens of the United States.
Quote of the day—Dr. Karim Brohi
It is ridiculous to suggest guns are part of the solution to knife violence.
Dr. Karim Brohi
May 7, 2018
At NRA Convention, Trump Slams Gun Control Laws in France & U.K.
[Apparently this crap for brains doctor has never heard the phrase, “Never bring a knife to a gun fight.”
I would like to suggest the good doctor should visit a USPSA match in the U.S. carrying a knife and see how much knife violence is possible.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Jonathan Chait
On the left, victimhood is a prime source of authority, and discourse revolves around establishing one’s intersectional credentials and detailing stories of mistreatment that reinforce them. Within the ecosystem of the left, demonstrating that you have suffered harassment or microaggressions is a big win. But among the country as a whole, the dynamic is very different.
Jonathan Chait
April 22, 2018
Democrats Have Great Female Presidential Candidates. They Need to Avoid the Victim Trap.
[The Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations repeatedly make this error. Apparently they don’t seem to understand that when they use someone who was shot in a mass shooting as their spokesperson they are not presenting someone who is an authority on solutions regarding those type of events. The truth is they are being represented by someone who is an expert victim with no experience as a victor.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Hieu Nguyen
I carried a gun all the time. I used to have a Mac-10, I used to have a .44, a 380, a 9 millimeter.
Those gangs, those criminal people, that want to do criminal thing they will go to the black market and purchase the gun.
Hieu Nguyen
Former San Jose gang member
May 6, 2018
San Quentin Inmates Join The Gun Control Debate
[Others interviewed also spoke of how easy it is to buy a gun via the black market.
What found most interesting was that the author thought it insightful to ask people who made such poor decisions they ended up in prison what they thought what public policies should be.
But, this is San Francisco. Perhaps they were just making sure the criminals would still have plenty of job opportunities.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Robin Hanson
One might plausibly argue that those with much less access to sex suffer to a similar degree as those with low income, and might similarly hope to gain from organizing around this identity, to lobby for redistribution along this axis and to at least implicitly threaten violence if their demands are not met. As with income inequality, most folks concerned about sex inequality might explicitly reject violence as a method, at least for now, and yet still be encouraged privately when the possibility of violence helps move others to support their policies. (Sex could be directly redistributed, or cash might be redistributed in compensation.)
Robin Hanson
April 26, 2018
Two Types of Envy
[Interesting. Read the article to get background about “incels” if you aren’t familiar with the term.
Some people see “incels” as about male supremacy. See, for example, What Are ‘Incels’? The Anti-Woman Online Community Behind the Toronto Van Attack. I think it is more about envy and inability to find a partner which results in the symptoms of a somewhat male supremacist attitude. The author doesn’t even mention this as a component. I suspect counseling, social skills training (not pickup artist type stuff), and attending social events to practice their training would provide the “cure” for “incels”.
I knew the scum bag loser who shot some people then drove his car through groups of people in Isla Vista California in 2014 had problems with his relationships with women. But I didn’t know there were online communities of these type of people and that the April 23rd terrorist attack in Toronto was perpetrated by someone who identified as an “incel”.
Getting back to the QOTD by Hanson. In the quote above, Hanson may appear to advocate for the forced redistribution of sexual access. In an addendum they clarify:
Let me also clarify that personally I’m not very attracted to non-insurance-based redistribution policies of any sort, though I do like to study what causes others to be so attracted.
…
Apparently many people can’t imagine any other way to reduce or moderate sex inequality. (“Redistribution” literally means “changing the distribution.”) In the post I mentioned cash compensation; more cash can make people more attractive and better able to afford legalized prostitution. Others have mentioned promoting monogamy and discouraging promiscuity. Surely there are dozens of other possibilities; sex choices are influenced by a great many factors and each such factor offers a possible lever for influencing sex inequality. Rape and slavery are far from the only possible levers!
What I find interesting about this whole thing in that the political left has some components which would appear to make them likely to take this on as an issue. Consider the following:
- The left uses violence to achieve their ends just as the “incel” attackers.
- The left appears to take the side of those who use violence to achieve their ends.
- The left uses envy and disparity of outcomes as political issues to justify government intervention (government intervention is actually just a special case of using violence).
- “Slavery”, one method of addressing the sexual access inequality, can also be used to described the nearly 100% marginal income tax rates frequently advocated and sometimes implemented by the political left.
- The left views many issues through some sort of sexual lens. i.e. Markley’s Law, feminism, celebration of sexual minorities, etc.
Hence, one could make the case that taking up the cause of “incel”s will soon be part of their political platform. It appears to be a good fit.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Devin M.
They seem to be legitimate illegal activity.
Devin M.
May 3, 2018
[This was from work.
Devin was researching a business that, essentially, sold stolen goods and had a good reputation with their customers.
This is sort of like an “honest politician” is one which, once bought, stays bought.—Joe]
Quote of the day—BJ Campbell
There is no clear correlation whatsoever between gun ownership rate and gun homicide rate. Not within the USA. Not regionally. Not internationally. Not among peaceful societies. Not among violent ones. Gun ownership doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t make us less safe. The correlation simply isn’t there. It is blatantly not-there. It is so tremendously not-there that the “not-there-ness” of it alone should be a huge news story.
BJ Campbell
March 13, 2018
Everybody’s Lying About the Link Between Gun Ownership and Homicide
[Via email from daughter Jaime.
For people who care about practical outcomes but think rights and constitutional law are irrelevant this article may be influential.—Joe]
Do the math, “Do you need an AR-15?”
Via email from daughter Jaime.
Do the same math … we see a 37% chance that any American of average life expectancy will experience at least one nationwide violent revolution.
This is a bigger chance than your floodplain-bound home flooding during your mortgage.
…
Following the same procedure, we can see that even over an 18-year span we have a 10% chance of violent revolution, which is an interesting thought experiment to entertain before you have kids.
He goes on to look at it from several other viewpoints and shows the above estimate is probably low. It’s easy to argue the odds are MUCH higher. And furthermore, things change very rapidly making it difficult or impossible to prepare once you are almost certain you need to prepare.
Quote of the day—Tom Knighton
The only people being hurt are people like Rhode who want to be law-abiding citizens but are thwarted by rules that keep them from doing something they should lawfully be able to do.
But then again, it’s California. What do you expect?
Tom Knighton
April 29, 2018
Olympic Medalist Files Suit Against California Over Bullet Control
[It would seem that in California the only hope we have are the courts.
It is very clear the intention is to harass and have the ability to imprison innocent gun owners at their whim (see Ayn Rand quote). It has nothing whatsoever to do with public safety. Now, if the courts see it that way and decide to intervene instead of cheer the authoritarians on remains to be seen.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Steve Hornady
Today, the State of New York did one of the most despicable acts ever perpetrated by any state by asking New York banks, financial institutions and insurance companies to stop doing business with the gun and ammo industry.
While it may not make a difference to New York, Hornady will not knowingly allow our ammunition to be sold to the Government of the State of NY or any NY agencies. Their actions are a blatant and disgusting abuse of office and we won’t be associated with a government that acts like that. They should be ashamed.
Steve Hornady
President of Hornady Manufacturing Company
April 23, 2018
Hornady stands up to State of New York
[I just ordered 500 Hornady bullets for reloading in response to this announcement. I’ll order more if the price stays competitive and they work out well.
I’ve had this sort of restriction on the use of Modern Ballistics since it’s creation over 20 years ago. Not that I have any means to enforce it.
It’s nice to see big players doing something similar with at least some ability to make it stick.—Joe]
International Workers’ Day
Today is International Workers’ Day. Don’t forget there never seems to be an end to the number of positions available at either end of the guns needed to implement utopia. It’s job security for the rest of your life. What more could you want? Freedom from want, that’s one of the rights guaranteed by the socialists and communists, right?
Quote of the day—Kris Brown
The AR-15 is modelled after a military grade M16 assault weapon. It’s designed to be able to shot at a long distance, with high-capacity magazine attachments that can spray many, many bullets in rapid fire, at a velocity that’s three times that of a regular pistol and can shoot the front and back through a helmet.
Kris Brown
Co-president of Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence
April 30, 2018
How The Gun Lobby Uses Van and Knife Attacks To Shut Down Gun Control And why experts are calling bullshit on it.
[Yet another example of where they have ignorance, drama, and deception.
We have SCOTUS decisions, data, and inalienable rights.—Joe]
Use cash
Scary stuff:
I already use cash for any gun related purchase that isn’t online.
But what really needs to be done is to prosecute these people who are conspiring to deny people their constitutionally protected rights.
Forensic ballistics under fire
And in 2016, a government-appointed advisory group of leading scientists and engineers released a study that cited serious concerns about the underlying science of ballistic analysis. The study said the practice relies on circular logic and its “conclusions are subjective.”
“It’s basically a guess,” said Jon Loevy, an attorney representing Pursley’s case in civil court. “I’m sure there’s a lot of ballistics examiners that swear by the science, but that doesn’t make it scientific.”
Specifically, Loevy questioned the subjective nature of the analysis.
“Why do we believe science? It’s not just because it’s a guy who says ‘I’m a scientist’ giving it — it’s because you can replicate results with studies,” Loevy said. “Well, there’s no study that corroborates that this shell casing looks like that shell casing — it’s just some guy’s opinion.”
I know a fair amount about biometrics and it appears some of the same issues which trouble the use of fingerprints are also issues with forensic ballistic analysis. Verification is much better than identification. That is, the examiner can say that the odds that a given bullet (partial fingerprint) matches a given gun (person) with 99% certainty. But given a bullet (partial fingerprint) then finding the correct gun (person) out of the entire population of guns (people) the certainty might be only 0.1%.
Think of it this way: Suppose each gun stamped a number from 1 to 100 on each bullet fired. Given a random bullet and a random gun you could reject 99 guns out of 100 as not shooting the bullet. But if there are 100,000 guns, and the numbers are distributed evenly, 1000 of them could have shot the bullet.
The markings left on the bullets (and shell casings) don’t have sufficient persistent “resolution” to uniquely distinguish between all guns when the population of guns is very large.
Quote of the day—LeAnne L @sindereyla
A measuring device. And not a measuring device for one’s hands. Kinda like a huge pickup truck, lifted, with humongous tires. Ask any woman what that means.
LeAnne L @sindereyla
Tweeted on April 22, 2018
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
Via a tweet from Jonathan @CorrelA_B.
We have SCOTUS decision. They have Junior High insults.—Joe]
Quote of the day—John Legend @johnlegend
The NRA is a danger to this nation and to the police.
John Legend @johnlegend
Tweeted on April 27, 2018
[For certain definitions of “this nation” he is correct.
One must necessarily conclude Legend’s definition is a nation in the process of becoming a police state.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Timothy Callahan
Somewhere out there, there are british cops who are, no shit, filing charges against people for saying how shitty they are for protecting a bureaucracy that is actively preventing a third party from treating a sick child.
And here’s us, talking about how best to range them under field conditions.
If that doesn’t sum up the vast gulf between our nations, I’m not sure what else will.
Timothy Callahan
April 26, 2018
On Facebook regarding commentary on this photo:
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]