Author Archives: Joe

Assumptions

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I’ve been embarrassed frequently enough by making assumptions that I’m sometimes chastised for asking questions. It’s uncomfortable to be glared at as someone says, “I’m not even going to answer that question” but I prefer that to giving shooting advice to Lisa Munson (I knew the name but didn’t know what she looked like) just prior to her shooting an USPSA stage. She just smiled and thanked me. But when she shot it with a better score than I in about half the time I wanted to leave the range in embarrassment.

I’m reminded of this by the incident which occurred here. To the best of my knowledge the commenter is a nice guy and was trying to be helpful. But it was a lot like me giving shooting advice to Ms. Munson. We both made erroneous assumptions. We both assumed the woman was less of an expert than we are because we are men and it involved firearms. As we both learned this assumption can be drastically wrong.

Ms. Munson delivered her response to me in a way that was extremely gracious and I really appreciate that.

There were two lessons there. One is to not make assumptions. The other lesson is you can deliver a response graciously such that the person on the receiving end will be thankful (perhaps in private prays to their god(s)) rather than be resentful for being publically humiliated. Her two lessons are something that I will never forget and I hope others can learn from as well.

As an additional aid to help you remember this I would like to point out you can’t spell ‘assumption’ without an ‘ass’ and ‘u’.

Quote of the day—Tasso Rampante

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Shockingly high rates of gun ownership and shockingly low rates of summary executions by totalitarian regimes.

Tasso Rampante
May 29, 2012
Comment to How do you say “Come and take them” in Mandarin?
[This was in regard to the Chinese complaining that the U.S. has “rampant gun ownership”.

As Robb said, “This is a feature, my oriental friends, not a bug.” But from the point of view of the Chinese government it would be a severe “bug” if summary executions (with the family being charged for the cartridge used) became more “challenging”. After all, they have an obligation to “protect the people” by killing those that disrupt the collective and interrupt the narrative. But they are making progress: “The switch from gunshots to injections is a sign that China ‘promotes human rights now.'”

To be fair it’s not just the Chinese government. There are people in our country who advocate the harming of dissidents as well.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Richard Schiffman

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The recent killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in a gated community in Florida has reignited the controversy over gun violence in America.

Whether the shooting was an act of self-defense, as Zimmerman’s lawyer claims, or murder plain and simple has been left to a jury to decide. But clearly it never would have happened if the possession of handguns were illegal, or severely restricted, as it is in Europe.

Richard Schiffman
Guns Now Kill More People Than Cars in 10 States
May 29, 2012
[There are two important things to note here.

  1. Schiffman has no respect for the Bill of Rights. He wants handguns, specifically protected the the Supreme Court in the Heller case, banned or severely restricted.
  2. He does not recognize self-defense as legitimate. In his world view the world would be a better place if Zimmerman had continued to get his head bashed in and possibly killed rather than use a gun to defend himself.

The only reasonable conclusion I can draw from this is that Schiffman should leave the U.S. and live some place where guns are banned and thugs bash in heads without fear of people defending themselves. If he has such severe problems with the Bill of Rights he does not belong here.—Joe]

Overheard

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I hear the most interesting things sometimes. This was a woman…

I love the way my body smells. I sometimes get horny from smelling myself.

Posted in Sex

Random thought of the day

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If having your cell phone or other electronic device turned on could jeopardize the safety of an airplane then why allow electronic devices on the plane at all? Why couldn’t a group of suicide terrorists carry high powered electronic devices on airplanes and turn them on during critical portions of the flight and bring them down at will? Or even aim a directional beam at planes from the ground and bring them down?


One has to conclude that the prohibition against having your cell phone turned on is just more security theater.


Update: Some awesome stuff in the comments. I think I need to back down some on my claims above…

Quote of the day—Mikee

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Prosecutors and police have an authority, not a right, to hold evidence. Citizens have rights. State agents have “authority” or delegated powers, based on the decisions of the citizenry. When the police and prosecutors overstep their authority, they are infringing on rights, not exercising them.

Mikee
May 26, 2012
Comment to Three years
[Mikee is absolutely correct. But that is not anywhere close to the way our opponents talk about our political system. They talk in terms of terms of people being allowed to have rights.

But what I find most interesting at the highest level at least some of them know the truth. From the Brady Center Legal Action Newsletter Spring 2012 (emphasis added):

The people of Colorado should have the right to protect their communities from the dangers of loaded guns on their streets and parks. The gun lobby wants to force guns onto the streets of Denver, and they don’t care how many lives it costs. Their position is so extreme that Colorado’s Attorney General, who has an A- rating from the NRA, is arguing side-by-side in court with us against the NRA and other members of the gun lobby.”

Jonathan Lowy, the Director of the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project who argued the case in court, stated, “States and cities have the authority to keep guns off the streets.”

When talking to the public they speak of the collective people and governments having rights. When speaking to the courts where words have more carefully defined meanings and the opposition is going to point out their errors they correctly speak of government having authority.

They are not merely ignorant or careless with the truth. This is concrete evidence they are deliberately deceptive.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jonathan E. Lowy

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The work of the Legal Action Project — like all Brady’s work to prevent gun violence — is really a battle over two visions of America.

In our vision, a 17-year-old boy can buy Skittles and a soft drink at the local 7-11 and walk back home safely to watch a basketball game with his father. But in the NRA’s vision, the boy is stopped by a man on the street with a violent past and a loaded hidden handgun.

In the NRA’s vision, George Zimmerman kills Trayvon Martin.

Jonathan E. Lowy
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Legal Action Project Director
Spring 2012
Legal Action Newsletter Spring 2012 (if this link goes dead let me know because I saved a copy).
[Lowy is absolutely correct about there being two visions of America.

The Brady Center and Brady Campaign appear to have made the Martin/Zimmerman case the centerpiece of their legal and political campaigns. This is could be a goldmine for us. The media tried to help the left by falsifying data and the left, including the Brady’s, ran with the lie. The lie was exposed and as more and more evidence brought out it looks as if Zimmerman will come out as justified in using deadly force to defend himself.

By making the Martin/Zimmerman case their showcase of the evil NRA it is likely to be savagely shot down as part of the lie. They, to a certain extent, participated in the lie by using the photo of Martin as a 12 year-old rather than as a 17 year-old. Their only real out at this point in time is to back down and quietly drop the Martin/Zimmerman meme but I don’t think they strength of character to do that. They are too psychologically weak to admit their mistake and change direction.

We should use this to our advantage at every opportunity. The Brady vision of America is not, and should not be, supported by the people of our country. Help them wither up and blow away into the dustbin of history.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jeff Knox

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The old adage of never looking a gift horse in the mouth does not apply in civic matters – just ask the Trojans.

Jeff Knox
May 24, 2012
Scandal! Cities pay anti-gun lobbyists
[This is in regards to the Illegal Mayors Against Guns and the Joyce Foundation partially funding city “staff positions for professional lobbyists whose primary function is to drum up support for ant-gun legislation, ordinances and regulations.”

As Jeff points out in his article if this were the NRA getting pro-gun lobbyists on city staff the media and liberals would explode in fury. Bring this point up as needed to eliminate these questionable if not illegal use of tax money.

There are other ways to get the point across as well. What if they were lobbyists for other controversial political positions such as:

  • Pro-Life?
  • Pro-Choice?
  • The KKK?
  • Creationism?

Government is rightly limited to specific enumerated powers. For them to use taxpayer money to advocate the infringement of specific enumerated rights goes way beyond any power they should ever be allowed to have.—Joe]

Life’s little tradeoffs

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30 Cal Gal sent me an email this morning with a picture of the Western Shooting Journal cover for June (supposedly on newsstands now):


WSJCover


The article was written by Shelley (thank you Shelley!).


I showed it to Ry and his response was, “I’m glad I got it in one shot!”


Yeah. Had it taken four or five shots (it’s happened to me) the teaser line would have been a little embarrassing. Of course at near contact distance with the flame front misses are less likely and having your hair burned could be embarrassing too. Life is full of tradeoffs.

Your bias is showing

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Google news shows Fidel Castro’s niece endorsed President Obama (last Google entry shown on this page):

 CastroEndorsesObama

Yet when you go to that page the name “Obama” and that quote is not to be found.

Other sources include the quote, “I would vote for President Obama. I think he’s sincere and speaks from the heart.”

Apparently the AP removed that portion of the story. Perhaps because it is because it really shouldn’t be considered news. Communists endorsing communists is even less newsworthy than “dog bits man”.

Quote of the day—Ry Jones

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I feel so small.


Ry Jones
May 24, 2012
[This was after viewing some of these pictures of fireballs (click for very high resolution versions):


rip_02_sml wall_o_fire_workers_sml pyro_b17_sml


Ry gets and deserves a lot of praise for his fireballs at Boomershoot (2007, 2011, 2012). But apparently he is experiencing some performance anxiety.


Today is his birthday so I’m going to take him out to lunch and try to cheer him up as we plan our tests (scheduled for June 9, 2012) for Boomershoot Fireball 2013.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Josh Sugarmann

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Assault weapons are increasingly being perceived by legislators, police organizations, handgun restriction advocates, and the press as a public health threat. As these weapons come to be associated with drug traffickers, paramilitary extremists, and survivalists, their television and movie glamour is losing its lustre to a violent reality.

Because of this fact, assault weapons are quickly becoming the leading topic of America’s gun control debate and will most likely remain the leading gun control issue for the near future. Such a shift will not only damage America’s gun lobby, but strengthen the handgun restriction lobby.

Josh Sugarmann
1988
Conclusion to Assault Weapons and Accessories in America
[There are multiple things of interest in this 1988 prediction.

As an almost off the wall observation I find it curious Sugarmann uses the British spelling of “luster”.

More on track is that Sugarmann, in some ways, was brilliant with this study. He correctly identified a political weakness and was instrumental in exploiting it. The 1994 Federal “Assault Weapon Ban” and as well as several previous and subsequent state and local bans can trace their roots to this study.

But Sugarmann failed in his prediction “America’s gun lobby” would be damaged and that the handgun restriction lobby will benefit from the debate and restrictions on “Assault Weapons”.

The NRA membership exploded to record levels with the political debates and actual passing of the Federal “Assault Weapon Ban”. Today they are as strong or stronger than ever before and members of Congress have ranked the NRA as the most powerful lobbying organization in the country several years in a row.

Handgun Control Inc., now known the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, is specifically called out as having 180,000 dues paying members and an annual budget of $4,000,000. They changed to the more stealthy name in 2001 and as of 2010 only had about 28,000 people who had given donations or paid dues in the previous year. (Tamara has the appropriate words).

The National Coalition to Ban Handguns, now known as Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, is also called out. This organization changed their name just one year later, ‘because the group felt that “assault rifles” as well as handguns, should be outlawed.’ These days they are reduced to little more than sparing with gun bloggers on Twitter.

And of course we need to look at Sugarmann’s own Violence Policy Center. Yesterday, which inspired this QOTD, Sebastian posted the answer–VPC: The Most Irrelevant Anti-Gun Group?—Joe]

Private fireballs

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One of the new things we are planning to offer for Boomershoot 2013 is an opportunity to shoot your own fireball from as “entertainingly close” as I feel comfortable with. Hint, this year Ry was pushing the envelope for my comfort zone.

There will be a very limited number of them, perhaps three to five, they will take place Friday evening, perhaps near dusk, and the price will be $500 each. And to a certain extent you will control the audience. There will always be range safety officers present but if you only want to allow your immediate family or have it be “all yours” you can do that. We will keep all other spectators at least a couple hundred yards away.

The question are: 1) Are there people interested in such an experience? 2) Is there some modification to the scenario such that it would be more attractive to you?

Quote of the day—John Longenecker

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Loss of life due to heart attack was the primary motivator for the paramedic program worldwide. In primary training, heavy emphasis was given to emergency cardiac care. The Paramedics became the SWAT of emergency medical care. To aid EMS, there has been a worldwide drive to train millions in CPR to keep the patient alive until the arrival of Advanced Life Support.

The armed citizen is identical to this concept of humanity and compassion. In terms of human decency to one another in time of emergency, the armed citizen is its only equivalent. The idea of the Good Samaritan is much deeper than kindness and specific care, it is involvement as an expression of devotion to the nation by an unmistakable restatement of our values. When we care about medical emergency patients, why can’t we also care in time of criminal violence?

We can. In 49 states, we do.

John Longenecker
May 22, 2012
A Footnote in EMS History Discredits Gun Control Today
[Good job John!

I have nothing else to add.—Joe]

Bumper snickers

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I was looking at some bumper stickers online and ran across this one:

PeaceActivistsViolent

Gun bloggers have been asking similar questions for years.

Other bumper snickers that caught my attention included:

GunsKillDinner

And probably my favorite (I love sick humor):

SavePaper

Update: It’s not a bumper snicker and I would never put this outside my door because I wouldn’t want it being introduced as evidence at my trial. But I thought this doormat was funny:

GunsSleepingDoormat

Quote of the day—State Senator Leland Yee

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It is extremely important that individuals in the state of California do not own assault weapons. I mean that is just so crystal clear, there is no debate, no discussion.

State Senator Leland Yee
May 20, 2012
CBS 5 Story Inspires New Legislation To Ban ‘Bullet Button’
[Let me fix that for you Senator Yee. What you really meant to say is, “It is extremely important that individuals in the state of California have no debate, no discussion. Just so it is crystal clear I respect neither the 1st nor 2nd Amendments.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—stingray68

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“Guns as penises” does not just apply to you African American males. There are plenty of males from every age and ethnic group, who see firearms the same way. That’s the biggest factor in gun violence—insecure, inadequate males who try to compensate for their lack of manhood with firearms.

stingray68
September 3, 2011
Comment to Commentary: A gun does not equate manhood.
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]

Overheard at the furniture store

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Guy1 (in a suit at a high end furniture store in Bellevue Washington): “So when is Bumbershoot this year?”


Guy2 (wearing a coat that says, “Boomershoot Event Director” on the back): “I don’t know. This is Boomershoot, not Bumbershoot. It’s something different.”


Guy1: “Oh! I’m sorry. What is Boomershoot?”


Guy2 (quickly finishing his transaction): “Boomershoot is a long range precision rifle event with high explosives as the targets.”


Guy1 (eyes get big during a long pause): “That is different.”


Guy2: “Yeah. We don’t hold the event in the city.”

Gun cartoon of the day

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040309

To be accurate the ATF logo should be added to the U.S. flag on the side of the truck.

Read Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up. It’s a quick read and very good. One of the more interesting things I discovered from reading the book was that the Mexican government stopped making such a stink about the ATF running guns into Mexico because the U.S. threatened to cut off $500 million in aid if they didn’t shut up about it.

Ry recommends the book too.

Quote of the day—Alan Dershowitz

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A medical report by George Zimmerman’s doctor has disclosed that Zimmerman had a fractured nose, two black eyes, two lacerations on the back of his head and a back injury on the day after the fatal shooting. If this evidence turns out to be valid, the prosecutor will have no choice but to drop the second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman — if she wants to act ethically, lawfully and professionally.

Alan Dershowitz
May 18, 2012
Drop George Zimmerman’s murder charge–New evidence suggests Trayvon Martin’s killer acted in self-defense
[If the name Alan Dershowitz doesn’t ring a bell then go read up on him. For Dershowitz to say this is a big deal.—Joe]