Author Archives: Joe

Quote of the day—enlightenment

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I really wish someone would start seriously wondering why having private, for-profit companies running – and ruining – the lives of millions is a good thing.

At the very least, there should be serious limits put on their role in society, because at this point, they own us all.

enlightenment
October 1, 2015
Comment to Experian says 15M have info stolen in hack of T-Mobile data
[“enlightenment” thinks serious thought should be given to eliminating private, for profit, companies? I presume that the functions performed by private companies for everything from the food supply and health care to banking, communication, manufacturing, and transportation should all by done by the all powerful, benevolent government, right?

I don’t think there has been any other political system than that which I suspect “enlightenment” desires which has been more thoroughly tested or found to have inflicted more evil upon society. In the 20th century alone there were hundreds of millions of people murdered trying to make such systems work.

People such as “enlightenment” cannot possible have a mind that functions in any sort of way that I think of as normal. The overwhelming evidence of the errors of their thinking can only mean they have total crap for brains. That such people exist, in apparently large numbers, means the right to keep and bear arms is just a critical to the security of the free state today as it was 200+ years ago..—Joe]

Fisking the modern man

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The New York Times posted some drivel about ways to be a “modern man”.

Numerous others have weighed in on this:

I say a modern man is user of tools and has the right tool for the jobs he needs to do (see items 16 and 25).

If there were no guns

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It’s common for ignorant people to claim society would be better off if there were no guns in the hands of private citizens and some go so far as to say no guns at all. We then frequently explain young, large, thugs would run roughshod over the small, old, and docile. But I think a stronger case may be made by regressing only as far as the iron or bronze age rather than an age before tools.

One of the more recent genocides was largely committed by people with machetes, clubs, blunt objects and other weapons. It is easily demonstrated no guns are needed for mass murder.

It is said one man with a gun can control a hundred without one. But the odds are probably not much different for one well trained man with a bronze sword and shield.

If the next mass murdering nut job really wanted to get notoriety they would use a sword and shield. I wouldn’t be surprised if they couldn’t get an even higher body count because they would be much quieter than those who would use a gun. And never forget that you never need to reload your sword. Swords, for all practical purposes, have an infinite capacity compared to any firearm.

Taking this even further we realize that one, fit, and well trained swordsman is probably the equal of a half dozen or more weak, poorly trained swordsman. Strength, endurance, and training matter more with primitive weapons than with firearms. Firearms are a great equalizer. One elderly, frail, person with minimal firearms training has a decent chance against a couple of thugs, even with guns, as they attempt to invade a home.

Because of this great equalization power it dramatically reduces the need for thuggish “protectors” for the less strong. Dealing with others of near equal power then becomes a process of reason rather than an exhibition of force. The more equal the power the more important the ability to convince and reason with others. It is my belief that those that would have us disarmed do so because of their frustration at being unable to reason well. They long to be in a position to force us to their will. It is in their nature.

Because of this change from a society of force to a society of reason one could, and should, go so far as to say the gun is civilization. Those who claim “civilized countries” are disarmed have it exactly backward.

Quote of the day—Vladimir Lenin

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One man with a gun can control 100 without one. … Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms.

Vladimir Lenin
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union
[To remove guns from the hands of private citizens is to make them easier to control. Gun control is not about guns. It is about control.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Bryn Mickle

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Make semi-automatic weapons illegal. The Second Amendment crowd can keep the muskets that our forefathers were carrying when they came up with right to bear arms.

Put a ban on high-capacity magazines. It won’t prevent drive-by shootings but it will create a pause if you have to reload after six shots.

Bryn Mickle
October 1, 2015
More billboards won’t fix Flint’s violence problem — gun control will
[Mickle should read the Heller decision before he proclaims what “The Second Amendment crowd” can and cannot do.

Don’t every let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Not a gun-free zone this time

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Update: As more information becomes available it’s clear the campus was “gun-free” by policy even though not by law. Students and campus employees were defenseless by college decree. Those who made and enforced such a despicable policy should be accountable for the deaths they enabled.
End Update.

Don’t spout off about the mass murder happening in another “gun-free” zone too soon. The details are not entirely clear yet. It wasn’t in a government mandated “gun-free” zone but it could have been campus policy that discouraged carry by students and staff.

From John Lott:

— 5 states now have provisions allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on public postsecondary campuses.  These states are Colorado, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin.

…

According to Students for Concealed Carry there are 206 colleges that allow this.  Here is a partial list.

…

26. UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

But there is speculation that state law allows it but the college will discipline employees and students who exercise their rights. So perhaps only visitors can safely carry on campus without risk of being fired or expelled.

Isn’t that interesting?

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If true (this early information is frequently nothing more than unsubstantiated rumors) this tidbit about the mass murder in Oregon today is very interesting:

The gunman who opened fire at an Oregon community college was forcing people to stand up and state their religion before he began blasting away at them, survivors said Thursday.

A woman who claimed to have a grandmother inside a writing class in Snyder Hall, where a portion the massacre unfolded, described the scene in a tweet.

“The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christian,” she wrote. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs. My grandma just got to my house, and she was in the room. She wasn’t shot, but she is very upset.

For certain he was a nut job. But what flavor? Probably not “right-wing” as the anti-gun people want to speculate. Probably not Jewish because for the last few hundred years Jews seldom have differences with Christians so great they think it worth killing for.

So my wild speculation is they were either Muslim or some flavor of the political left.

Quote of the day—Andrew Cuomo

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If the far right is willing to shut down the government because they don’t get a tax cut for the rich, then our people should have the same resolve and threaten to shut down the government if they don’t get a real gun control law to stop killing of their innocents.

Andrew Cuomo
New York State Governor
September 26, 2015
Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tells Democrats to Shut Down Government Until They Get Gun Control
[He wants people to shut down the Federal Government in an attempt to get what he wants?

Don’t make any promises you aren’t willing to keep!

A less active Federal government is what we want! Shutting it down means no Federal gun law enforcement during the down time. If the NICS system is shutdown then just about anyone can get a gun without a background check (with a three day wait).

These people have never been known for the rationality and this is just another example.—Joe]

The path forward

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Lobbying and money in politics only gets you so far. It nudges government in a one direction or the other but changes in the mindset of the people is what makes the real differences. On the gun issue we are taking new shooters to the range and creating more gun owners. We can legally carry guns in public in all 50 states (theoretically, in some jurisdictions it is still impractical or even impossible in practice). Crime rates are dropping as gun ownership increases. And most importantly the mindset of the general population is changing:

According to Quinnipiac, when asked, “Do you support or oppose stricter gun control laws in the United States?” 48 percent of all voters responded by opposing gun control while 45 percent responded by favoring more.

When broken down by parties, only 16 percent of Democrats opposed more gun control. A full 76 percent of Democrats–roughly 3 out of 4–want more of it. Republicans were just the opposite, with only 23 percent supporting more gun control while 73 percent–roughly 3 out of 4–oppose adding more laws.

Independents oppose more gun control by a margin of 49 to 45.

I haven’t done the math so it’s a little difficult to know what this means for the electoral vote count for President. It could be that the Anti-Gun Presidential Candidate is only looking at the short term to the nomination and will attempt to switch directions after the nomination. But we need to keep doing what we are doing and create more and more gun owners. Give or sell cheap your old guns to people without guns. Give them some skin in the game when a politician tells them how they are “a minority of people that hold a viewpoint that terrorizes a majority of people”. That’s right. Some politicians believe that just holding a viewpoint terrorizes people. Such politicians are not fit to be on a government payroll and the more gun owners there are the less likely they be successful in gaining power and if they are successful the less likely they will be to impose their anti-freedom agenda upon the good people of this country.

Quote of the day—George Reisman

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Our entire Constitution and Bill of Rights are essential measures of gun control—this time, gun control directed against the government. For example, the First Amendment prohibits the government from using its guns to abridge the freedoms of speech or press. The Second Amendment prohibits the government from using its guns to abridge the freedom of the citizen to keep and bear arms. Indirectly, the Second Amendment also operates to limit the government’s use of its guns to abridge freedom in general. This is because, in our system of checks and balances, an armed citizenry constitutes a check on the possibility of the government becoming tyrannical and attempting to use its power to threaten the citizens’ lives and property. It should be understood as protecting a balance between the power remaining in the hands of the people and the power they have delegated to their government. Indeed, the language of the Second Amendment—“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”—should be understood in this way.

George Reisman
September 25, 2015
Gun Control: Controlling the Government’s Guns Part 1
[I have nothing to add other than to say, “Read the whole thing.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lonnie and Sandy Phillips

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We hope that we are spearheading a movement to expose these egregious and unconstitutional laws for what they really are. They are an attack on our civil liberties. With these laws in place ordinary citizens are effectively barred by the exorbitant cost from bringing any civil action against sellers of firearms and ammunition.

Lonnie and Sandy Phillips
September 25, 2015
We Lost Our Daughter to a Mass Shooter and Now Owe $203,000 to His Ammo Dealer
[They believe the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act is an attack on their civil liberties and is unconstitutional?

I only have a small inkling of they pain and suffering they are going through with the loss of their daughter. They have a tremendous amount of sympathy from me in regards to having their daughter murdered. But I’m not going to remain quiet when they go all crap for brains on us and confuse, in essence, up from down, black from white, and right from wrong.

They should be seeking the services of a grief counselor and not attempting to infringe upon the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Berlincopa @Berlincopa

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@PC_Banned_Humor Ok, you need it as phallus replacement @ZeitgeistGhost

Berlincopa @Berlincopa
Tweeted on February 23, 2015
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via a tweet from LowRider ‏@PC_Banned_Humor.—Joe]

A very select audience

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If programming languages were weapons. This won’t make much sense to you unless you are a computer programmer and a gun nut.

Police car stolen on Mugme Street

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The story includes dash cam footage from both the stolen police car and the pursuit car:

Shortly after noon, officers were investigating a disturbance at 3rd Avenue and Pike Street when the suspect suddenly jumped into a running patrol car and drove away southbound.  After a brief pursuit, the suspect stopped and surrendered to officers at 3rd and Marion.

Of course it was on Mugme Street in Seattle.

Quote of the day—LWYRUP

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Canada should really ease the laws about guns so that more people can have them and eventually kill each other with them.

LWYRUP
April 14, 2015
Comment to Supreme Court strikes down mandatory minimum sentences for gun possession
[Why are anti-gun people so violent?

Oh yeah! Now I remember. It’s because it’s in their nature.—Joe]

Mugme street news

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Why am I not surprised this took place near 3rd and Pine in Seattle?

Officers Matthew Newsome and Britt Kelly were patrolling near 3rd and Pine yesterday around 10 p.m. when they spotted a wanted person walking towards 2nd Avenue. Officers Kelly and Newsome caught up to the 23-year-old suspect in the 100 block of Pine and placed him under arrest.

Officer Newsome searched the suspect and found 108 baggies of heroin, 2.7 grams of crack cocaine and $338 dollars.

Oh! That’s right. This is what Barb calls Mugme Street. I’m so glad I don’t work near there anymore.

Have your lawyer question everything

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I agree with Professor Reynolds. Prosecutor conduct like this should carry the death penalty:

the California Court of Appeal reveals that state prosecutors and California Attorney General Kamala Harris continue to be part of the problem. Kern County prosecutor Robert Murray committed “outrageous government misconduct.” Ms. Harris and her staff defended the indefensible—California State prosecutor Murray flat out falsified a transcript of a defendant’s confession.

Kern County prosecutor Robert Murray added two lines of transcript to “evidence” that the defendant confessed to an even more egregious offense than that with which he had been charged—the already hideous offense of molesting a child. With the two sentences that state’s attorney Murray perjuriously added, Murray was able to threaten charges that carried a term of life in prison.

My view on this sort of thing is that if they aren’t going to play by the rules and are not punished by breaking the rules then their opposition is under no obligation to play by the rules either. It’s game on.

We really don’t want to go there but I don’t see an alternative.

Marysville Monster Match

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This was a “USPSA like” match I shot in last Sunday. The shooting part was by USPSA rules but the stage designs were NOT! Stages had from 40 to 60 rounds. This was the 60 round stage:

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Here is a 59 round stage:WP_20150920_11_24_08_Pro

I didn’t do all that well at this match. I made a fair number of mistakes. I overlooked one target. I failed to shoot another target twice, and I had far too many misses on the all steel stage. I also started one stage, stage 5 which I don’t have video of, with a magazine that was only about half full.

It was fun though. There weren’t any no-shoots. There wasn’t any hard cover. There weren’t any disappearing targets. There was just a lot of trigger pulling, reloading and of course fun.

Overall I placed 44th out of 83. In Limited Division I was 25th out 41. Other results things such as individual stage results can be found here.

My shooter point of view video:

Loke was in my squad and has his own video and commentary on the match. His video, and of course his shooting (he came in second overall) is far better than mine:

Alpaca farm

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Daughter Xenia and I went to an alpaca farm today. Here are some of the pictures:

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The two pictures below were taken at the same time. The one on the left by Xenia and the one on the right by me:
AlpacaAndJoeIMG_4178

They have a variety of colors and some enjoy having their neck scratched (neck scratch photo by Xenia):
IMG_4195AlpacaNeckScratch

They have some very odd (to me) toes:
IMG_4215IMG_4215Cropped

They are raised primarily for their fiber. It has some interesting characteristics (from Wikipedia):

Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, similar to wool. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States.

…

Alpaca fleece is a lustrous and silky natural fiber. While similar to sheep’s wool, it is warmer, not prickly, and bears no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic. Without lanolin, it does not repel water. It is also soft and luxurious. In physical structure, alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy. The preparing, carding, spinning, weaving and finishing process of alpaca is very similar to the process used for wool. Alpaca fiber is also flame-resistant, and meets the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s standards.

Flame-resistant? Wow.

We saw people carding, spinning, and weaving the fiber:
IMG_4170IMG_4169IMG_4172

Alpacas have been domesticated for thousands of years and I found them to be far more interesting than I expected.

Quote of the day—esquire2

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Hillary could become the 1st Woman POTUS serving from INSIDE a federal prison … The DNC can still get her elected.

esquire2
August 30, 2015
Comment to Hillary Clinton vows to be gun-control president
[I had to think about this for a bit.

Hmm… That’s probably true. Not particularly likely. But I think it is possible.

More likely is that there is more than enough evidence available such that the general public know it would convict any ordinary citizen and keep them in prison for a long time. But Ms. Clinton will get a pass because the law only applies to the little people. She then gets elected while laughing off the felony charges.

Even more likely is that she isn’t elected and nothing happens in regards to all the crimes she has committed.—Joe]