Author Archives: Joe

Quote of the day—J.D. Tuccille

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The end result of pushing through gun laws that people won’t obey is very predictable. You end up with a society in which people continue to own vast numbers of weapons regardless of the law. Connecticut may be on the way, sometime after the new year’s registration deadline, to turning itself into a replica of Germany, where up to 20 million unregistered firearms are held in addition to 7.2 million legal ones, or France, where as many as 17 million illegal guns overshadow 2.8 million legal ones.

If you bother to learn from history, it shouldn’t be a surprise that people stop caring whether they’re “not a law-abiding citizen” when they lose respect for the law and the people who inflict it on them.

J.D. Tuccille
December 3, 2013
Connecticut Shouldn’t Be Surprised That “Fewer People Than Expected Have Registered Weapons”
[H/T to Sebastian.

I expect the registration rate in Connecticut will be much lower than that in either Germany or France. And if you could get a police officer to talk to you about the “benefits” of the registration be prepared for a 10 minute profanity laced rant about how it makes their job more difficult. People that used to cooperate with police will now regard them as suspect and the enemy.—Joe]

Markley’s Law in Playboy

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This is in the 2014 Jan/Feb issue of Playboy magazine (page 238):

WP_20131212_001

As Barb said when I showed it to her, “I can barely get the joke.”

Could it be they actually think in those terms and it make sense to them?

Via email from Jay F. who says, “Perhaps the antis really are addicted to this sort of thing.”

Small goals from small minds

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I received the following email from CSGV which gives us insight into just how small their support base is. $3000 after a week of fundraising? And a goal of $10000? Wow!

If the contributions were the suggested $20 then that means they have about 150 people who were willing to support them with actual money as opposed to just pressing the “Like” button on Facebook. Boomershoot attracts that many people who travel hundreds or thousands of miles and spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to participate.

Even though I am far from an expert on the subject I know they are totally clueless about writing a fundraising letter. But what do you expect from people who are totally clueless about the people and culture they want to destroy?

Small goals from small minds.

Continue reading →

I fear for his job

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Paul Barrett and I have a friendly but somewhat strained “relationship”. But today he wrote something I completely agree with. That he works for Bloomberg means I fear for his job. From his article in Bloomberg Buisnessweek, Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead:

Dispassionate observers must question the simplistic liberal slogan that more guns equals more crime. The U.S. has seen a two-decade period during which private gun ownership has continued to soar (some 300 million firearms are now in civilian hands), while crime has diminished.

…

The strategy adopted by well-meaning activists post-Newtown may undermine their cause. Consider Moms Demand Action, which is allied with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an organization started by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg Businessweek parent Bloomberg LP). Watts, the Moms leader, describes her campaign as “a war for the culture.” She talks about firearms as a symbol of an America she doesn’t “recognize.”

Watts is fighting on the NRA’s preferred battlefield. Gun rights organizers have become expert at framing any gun control proposal as an attack on their culture. In a Dec. 6 “grassroots alert” to members, the NRA sounded its usual theme that President Obama and gun control backers push an agenda seeking to “fundamentally transform America” and will “exploit any occasion, no matter how crassly, to promote it.”

Gun control advocates often appear not to appreciate that their country, for better or worse, has a widespread and deeply rooted gun subculture that isn’t going away. No lesser body than the Supreme Court, in decisions issued as recently as 2008 and 2010, has interpreted the Constitution as enshrining that reality.

Barrett has spent a lot of time associating with gun people. It would be a stretch to say he is “one of us” but I think it is fair to say he understands and respects us while only partially agreeing with us.

This understanding, his Harvard law background, his living in New York City, and his calm, cool approach means he has a better view into the political and culture gun rights war than most. That he says “gun control is basically dead” is a very good sign we are winning the war more than just superficially.

Quote of the day—Keri L (@ikeriover)

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@JoeHuffman @linoge_wotc that’s a backwards argument. I own guns to kill people with guns. *facepalm*

Keri L (@ikeriover)
December 11, 2013
In response to “Defense of innocent life is why I own guns.”
[Then why do the police have guns?

The lack of rational thought process in these type of people has me convinced they have a mental disorder. Further evidence is that this tweet of mine:

If you believe no one is trying to take away our rights then you aren’t paying attention: https://blog.joehuffman.org/category/gun-rights/no-one-wants-to-take-your-guns/.

Resulted in a response from her of:

if you believe that it’s OK to gun down little children… you both need your head checked.

I’m very familiar with this sort of thought “process”. Apparently they imagine, and truly believe, you said or wrote something other than what you did. There was a case where I went through an email line-by-line with a certain person and ultimately they agreed I didn’t say what they claimed I said. Then mere seconds later they again made the same false claim. Pointing out they just agreed I didn’t say that resulted in a claim that they didn’t mean it when they said it. I went through this process three times with the same result each time before I finally gave up in extreme frustration.

Mental problems. I’m completely convinced of it.—Joe]

Mugme Street news

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As I have mentioned before Barb refers to a street close to where I work as “Mugme Street”. It’s a pretty rough place at times:

A man sustained minor injuries after a group of women assaulted him and stole his wallet while he waited for a bus downtown.

…

Seattle Police officers responded to the scene, assumed control of the incident and investigated further. The victim told officers that he was waiting near the bus stop at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street to catch a bus home. A female suspect approached and asked him for a cigarette. The victim declined to give one to her. The female suspect got angry and began striking the victim with her fists. Some of the suspect’s female friends joined in on the attack and then stole the victim’s wallet from his backpack before fleeing the area on foot.

One block away is Westlake Park with more criminals as Seattle Police report:

Two men are now in custody after detectives identified and located the suspects wanted in connection with Friday night’s robbery of a First Hill gas station.

…one of the suspects, an 18-year-old man, was observed by officers as he was walking through Westlake Park.  He was taken into custody and interviewed by robbery detectives.

Tell me again that it’s safe here and people don’t need to carry tools to defend themselves.

Quote of the day—Thomas Sowell

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If you believe in equal rights, then what do “women’s rights,” “gay rights,” etc., mean? Either they are redundant or they are violations of the principle of equal rights for all.

Thomas Sowell
November 26, 2013
Random Thoughts
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Ammo for 3-D printed guns

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The plastic guns being made have been tested with conventional ammo intended to be fired in conventional guns. Why not load up some low pressure rounds specifically intended to work with the plastic guns?

Even if the bullets had muzzle velocities half that of conventional guns you aren’t going to get volunteers to be bullet backstops. Choose a common cartridge which already has a fairly low pressure then tweak the bullet weight and powder charge to get something that the plastic is much more capable of handling.

Here is a list of max pressure recommendations in PSI for various cartridges with the obvious high pressure cartridges removed:

380 Auto 21,500
25 Auto 25,000
32 S&W Long 15,000
38 Auto 26,500
38 S&W 14,500
38 Special 17,000
44 S&W Spl 15,500
45 Auto 21,000
45 Colt 14,000

Quote of the day—Anonymous Reader

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The truth about the average American gun owner is that he is a slobbering fundamentalist alcoholic who would rather shoot you dead than shake your hand. These are people that would rather commit acts of terrorism against their homeland than work within the legal confines of the system to get their message out.

Anonymous Reader
July 26, 2001
The Terrible Truth About Gun Owners
[Imagine what they think “the government should do” about “the average American gun owner”.

These are very dangerous people.—Joe]

Waiting periods fail scrutiny

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Via Calguns Foundation.

Calguns is challenging the law requiring a waiting period before taking possession of a firearm you have just purchased. The California AG, Harris, moved for a summary judgment dismissing the lawsuit. The judge slapped her down. A waiting period for someone who already owns a gun just doesn’t making any sense. The only reason for such a requirement must be to place a burden on the exercise of a specific enumerated right. If that is the only reason then the law is unconstitutional.

The complete decision is here.

The conclusion which makes me smile is:

Harris moves for summary judgment on each of the claims alleged by Plaintiffs. With respect to the Second Amendment claims, Harris has not sufficiently met her burden. Harris has not presented sufficient evidence to show that the WPL passes either intermediate or strict scrutiny for either the “background check” rationale or the “cooling off period” rationale. With respect to the Equal Protection claims, Harris has focused exclusively on rational basis scrutiny. However, Harris has not adequately demonstrated that rational basis scrutiny is appropriate. Therefore, Harris’s motion for summary judgment will be denied in its entirety.

The lawsuit challenging the waiting period will now go forward. It doesn’t means that the waiting period has been struck down, yet.

Sebastian has his own comments.

Simple homemade gift

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I hadn’t done any reloading in a couple years so it felt really good to crank out a few hundred rounds. My last rife reloading was done in 2001.

The picture below is a sample of the result. It is a gift for a friend. It was simple, shiny, and you can’t buy it in stores:

WP_20131209_001

Plus it should give the anti-gun people heartburn.

See also this video:

Quote of the day—rich roberts ‏@boris3324

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@linoge_wotc Keep projecting #NRAdicklesswonder

rich roberts ‏@boris3324
Tweeted on May 16, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday via a Tweet from Linoge!

This was in response to:

Linoge@linoge_wotc

It’s intriguing how fascinated #guncontrol #extremists like @boris3324 are with other men’s genitalia. Not terribly polite, that.

—Joe]

If it were only true

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20131207_dems

If it were only true for 98% of the politicians in Washington I’d be much happier about our political situation. As it is I am incline to believe we would be better off if the people we sent to Washington were chosen at random or maybe even the ones who tried hardest to avoid going.

Via Tyler Durden.

Quote of the day—John Stossel

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We don’t live in a reasonable world. We live in a big government world.

John Stossel
2012
No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails-But Individuals Succeed
[I’m just finishing up this book. It’s a good book. For me there were lots of examples of how government screwed up things—all with the best of intentions. I knew in general that was the case but having more examples was nice. If you could get them to read the book the most benefit would be gained by politicians and progressive voters reading it. But if they could be convinced by facts and logic they probably wouldn’t be politicians and they certainly wouldn’t be progressives.—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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The Bill of Rights isn’t about protecting rights the government has no interest in infringing. It’s about protecting those rights which are in danger of being repressed by government.

For about the first 150 years of this country there wasn’t a serious effort to disarm the citizens. Starting in about 1934 and continuing until the present day there has been.

The Second Amendment isn’t outdated. It was ahead of it’s time.

Quote of the day—Dennis Levinson

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Our politicians are unwilling to stand up to the terrorist organization using the name the National Rifle Association (NRA).

…

It is now time to overturn the Second Amendment, which no longer has any more validity than slavery or suppression of women’s rights, all supported by our founding fathers in our original Constitution.

We now live in the 21st century and need to become a “civilized” society. No one should be allowed to own a gun of any kind.

…

The time has come for all of the intelligent, sane citizens to demand an end to all guns in our society. It can be done when we have finally had enough of going to the funerals of innocent little children.

Dennis Levinson
December 26, 2012
Time to ban all guns
[I wonder what he thinks should be done with those non-intelligent, insane, supporters of the “terrorist organization using the name the National Rifle Association”. Jail perhaps? Or maybe psych wards? Progressives in the Soviet Union utilized psychiatric medical institutions to suppress political dissent. With his attitude toward gun owners it’s not hard to imagine he would think it appropriate.

I always find it baffling that people conflate some repugnant anti-rights government support for something, like slavery, with government recognition of a right like the right to keep and bear arms or freedom of speech. Do they think other people can’t tell the difference? Or are they so lacking in the understanding of principles that they cannot distinguish the difference?

I suspect in this case it’s a matter of lack of understanding. If he thinks all it would take is having “enough of going to the funerals of innocent little children” then that demonstrates he has no clue as to the issues involved. Gun in the hands of private citizens save lives. That includes the lives of innocent children. Gun Control Kills Kids! It doesn’t save them.

We have the right to defend innocent life with the best tools available and no government has the authority to disallow that.—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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A silencer speaks louder than words.

Via an Adam Baldwin Tweet (look at the words on the shirt in the picture).

Quote of the day—Ken White

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As long as you ignore the fact that the shooting victims were innocent bystanders, hitting two people with three shots represents unusual excellence in marksmanship for the NYPD, matching another recent incident in which skilled NYPD officers were able to hit their target and nine bystanders with only 16 bullets.

Ken White
December 5, 2013
NYPD: Baby, You Know We Love You. Why Do You Make Us Angry Like That?
[See also some of the experiments done by Barron and I with our shooting club.

One should not make the assumption that because the police have such a terrible problem with shooting the wrong people that private citizens are worse. The last I heard innocent people were accidently hit by private citizens at a rate of about 2% of the time.

H/T to Sebastian.—Joe]

Not all democrats are slobs

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Ry sent me a link which lead to this article.

I’m not going to say that just because democrats like Dick Durbin, George Miller, and Chuck Schumer live like slobs all of them do. My understanding is that Al Gore has a very nice home.

Slowing the march isn’t a step in the right direction

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Say Uncle pointed me to this article about MSM whining about the lack of “productivity” of Congress. Apparently slowing down the destruction of freedom with still more laws is considered a bad thing.

In my book Congressional “productivity” would be measured by the net number of laws repealed per unit of time. But no one really knows how many laws we have so we really need a different metric for productivity in Joe’s world.

We do know as of the 1980 we had something on the order of 23,000 pages of Federal law. But we know that Obamacare has about 2,400 pages all by itself! And that doesn’t include the regulations that are derived from the law. The estimates on the number of pages of regulations are on the order of 170,000 pages. And the U.S. tax code has something on the order of 13,000 pages.

I’m thinking a reasonable productivity rate would be something on the order of a page per minute. After an entire year on the the job they would be most of the way through Obamacare. It would take decades to get back to constitutionally enumerated limits. But it took us decades to get here so as long as they are making progress at a rate equal to or greater than the rate we arrived here I can’t really complain a whole lot.