Growing up in eastern Kentucky like I did, I’m used to having a few guns around to protect me.
Loretta Lynn
[Not all celebrities are gun grabbers. Add Loretta Lynn to your list of common-sense people.–Joe]
Category Archives: Gun Rights
Quote of the day–Ted Nugent
There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period.
Ted Nugent
Still looking
Firecracker Films have changed their contact person for the “Gun Families” documentary they are making. I’ve updated my post to reflect the changes.
They are still actively looking for people. If you have kids under 12 that are reasonably knowledgeable shooters please consider getting involved in this.
Gun porn–Saiga 12
I probably will get in trouble, as I have before, for using the word “porn” in the same post with one of my daughters. But I’m 300 miles away at the moment and figure everyone will have enough time to cool off before I get home.
Anyway, on Saturday I took some pictures of our daughter Kim as she checked out a Saiga-12 with a 10-round detachable magazine:
Caleb, my son-in-law, says he always listens to Kim and does what she tells him to. I think she was telling him to do something when I took that last picture above…
North Central Idaho Practical Field Ballistics Terminology: “M.O.C.”
We spent this weekend out camping in an Idaho mountain meadow, in an “open range” area (where cattle wander free, and are branded for later roundup). Aside from being stunningly beautiful, with the fall colors coming on and the abundant wildlife resulting from recent logging operations (you did know that logging results in copious new foliage for the grazing of deer and elk, and cover for small game, didn’t you?) there are quite a lot of cow pies.
Grass and water go in one end of the bovine, you see, and cow pies are what come out of the other end. The name applies whether the bovine in question is male or female. That saves you the trouble of determining whether a given pie is a cow pie, a bull pie, or a heifer pie, etc..
I’d been doing some shooting out there with several firearms, and asked my 10 year-old daughter to get out her .22 rifle. She wasn’t much interested until I pointed out that she could try shooting at small pieces of wood floating in a pond. She quickly discovered that if you place a bullet just under the floating stick it will jump 15 feet into the air. That got her attention, and she was soon asking for more ammo. She’s a fairly new shooter, so her hit rate wasn’t very good, and she lost interest until she discovered that a fresh cow pie will explode if hit with a .22 Long Rifle hollowpoint.
In other words, her shooting may not be minute-of-angle accurate (one M.O.A. equals one sixtieth of a degree) but she can shoot “Minute Of Cow pie” (M.O.C.) which allows her to enjoy a 100% hit rate on these impromptu, reactive targets.
She spent the rest of the afternoon shooting cow pies with a big grin on her face (and me laughing to myself, thinking how wonderfully stereotypical, North-Idaho-redneck an activity that was).
For further study, I picked up some beer cans (probably discarded by some pale, leftist San Franciscans who thought getting drunk and littering in Idaho would be a hoot) filled them with water and shot them with various calibers. It happens that a .223 Remington cartridge, pushing a 55 grain, hard-jacketed spitzer at around 3,000 feet per second will cause the water-filled aluminum can to burst out in all directions, yet still hold together in one piece, whereas a soft lead sphere of .495″ diameter (50 caliber patched round ball – the patched ball is an American innovation that was used with deadly effect against King George’s officers during the Revolution) traveling at about half that velocity will blow the can into several pieces, scattering them up and out about 15 yards, leaving the base of the can still holding water where it stood (I picked up the pieces and took them home if you must know, leaving the meadow cleaner than we found it).
I also discovered that you can hit gallon jug-sized targets at 200 yards (you do travel with a rangefinder, don’t you?) with a little youth model .22 rifle, zeroed at 20 yards, if you aim about 5 1/2 feet high. You have enough time to bring the rifle down and listen/watch for the impact at that distance.
Ain’t freedom grand?
VPC stops by to visit
Nice of them to stop by.
| Domain Name | e-nt.net ? (Network) | |||||||||||||||||||
| IP Address | 66.7.41.# (Violence Policy Center) | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time of Visit | Sep 24 2007 2:34:51 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Visit Length | 6 minutes 26 seconds | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Referring URL | http://blogsearch.go… Center%22&scoring=d | |||||||||||||||||||
| Search Engine | blogsearch.google.com | |||||||||||||||||||
| Search Words | “violence policy center” | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Entry Page | https://blog.joehuffman.org/2007/09/20/quote-of-the-day-cam-edwards/ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Exit Page | https://blog.joehuffman.org/2006/10/ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Out Click | What A Tangled Web They Weave http://www.camedwards.com/2007/09/19/what-a-tangled-web-they-weave/ |
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| Visitor’s Time | Sep 24 2007 5:34:51 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Number | 194,160 |
Since I now that I know their IP address I also went looking through old log files for them. They visited in March after doing a blog search for “Josh Sugarman”. Then they were here a couple times in August looking for stuff about Larry Craig. For more details see: VPCVisits.xls (28 KB)
Steel match pictures
Joe (a different Joe) ROs Don as he blasts through a stage. Yes, Joe’s shirt says “INFIDEL” on the back (and the front).
That’s Adam with the “air gun” practicing for the next stage.
As I mentioned in the QOD yesterday Xenia’s boyfriend John went with me to the match.
Michelle and Adam as he ROs while she shoots a few rounds.
We also had an anthropology grad student, Michelle, from Washington State University show up. I asked if she knew “Joan”, an anthropologist from WSU who has studied the gun culture. She claims to not know Joan Burbick (and here and here). Michelle has only been in town for a few weeks having just arrived from Iowa. She also said she is a Evolutionary Anthropologist while Joan is probably a Cultural Anthropologist which means they wouldn’t be as likely to meet each other. Since I was wrong about Joan being an anthropologist it’s quite believable.
We managed to talk her into shooting a little bit. She also claims to have only fired one gun on one occasion. Had it not been for her poor posture while shooting I, and probably everyone else, would not have believed her. In her first six shots I think she only had one miss. She did amazingly well for a completely new shooter. She emptied two magazines out of two different guns and didn’t develop a flinch which is quite common with new shooters with a fairly large caliber handgun.
I spent several minutes talking to her and answering questions. The questions had some anti-gun bias and I finally asked what her sort of opinion she had on guns. She said as anthropological observer she was not allowed to have an opinion.
Quote of the day–Joan Burbick
People in a society find ways to avoid conflict, and instead they find substitutes for it. I think the gun has become one of those substitutes.
Instead of addressing the root causes of the inequalities in our society, such as the limits of access to education, jobs, housing, the legal system etc., we invent or come up with crime scenarios. The gun becomes the substitute way to solve conflict in the United States, and the biggest conflict of all is crime.
So that’s how I view it as a political fetish — that it’s a substitution. This is a moment in the United States when access to political power is, I think, limited to a class of professional politicians and lobbyists. And the act of buying a gun can mimic political action. It makes people feel as if they are engaging in politics of political protest.
I’ll give an example of how I think guns have political meaning. One of my old friends who is an ex-Vietnam vet, a Navy pilot, said to me one night, “Whenever I get mad at the government, I go out and buy a gun.” And to me, that’s a form of mimicking political action. One is left only with a gun in one’s closet. One has not changed or affected the government at all. In that way, I see it as a fetish, a substitute.
Joan Burbick
October 16, 2006
Joan Burbick’s ‘Gun Show Nation’ Explains How the “Gun Rights” Movement is a White Male Political Power Play
[Just so you know what they think of you.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Greg Hamilton
If fact the whole culture of certain units is competition. They shoot “matches” quals, standards, stages, etc all the time. In that world everything is graded and the results posted for all to see.
These guys could be very good competition shooters, instead they are very good at killing our enemies.
Greg Hamilton
September 18, 2007 8:34 PM
[Greg teaches military, law enforcement, and private citizens how to shoot. He is very, very good. Not just at shooting but at teaching, thinking, understanding what he is doing, and explaining it.
On a related note–Xenia’s boyfriend just came back from “playing in the sandbox”. He went to a steel match with me today. His shooting has improved considerably since the last time we went to the range together. I still did better than he did, but he did make me proud. I should have some pictures up soon.–Joe]
Machine gun interest
I never was one who was interested in fast or flashy cars. Vehicles, to me, are a means to transport people and things from point A to point B. I once had a long series of conversations with this guy named Walter about cars and women. He figured that a nice car was essential to finding a nice woman. He drove a Mercedes when I first met him. Then it was some sort of flashy looking muscle car. I forget the make and model. I just don’t pay attention to that sort of thing. Then after he hit it big he bought a brand new, bright red, Ferrari. Within a day or so after buying it he came over to my place to show it off. “That’s nice Walter.” I just wasn’t interested. And when we went for a ride I couldn’t sit up straight. It was extremely uncomfortable for me. I just can’t see the point. The only way I could see getting something that “over the top” is if it were REALLY over the top. If it could spread wings and fly at 300 MPH then I could see the appeal. But to be merely 50% faster than an ordinary car just seems pointless to me.
I feel the same way about machine guns. I just don’t get the appeal. I’ve shot them a few times. And sure, they put a lot of lead down range in a short period of time but so what? I can put more pieces of lead on target with a semi-auto in any realistic situation that I can imagine myself being in. There isn’t even someone like Walter who could plausibly argue that machine guns will attract the babes–so what is the appeal? I really don’t get it.
That said, I just saw the analog in the machine gun world of the car that can spread wings and fly at 300 MPH.
I told Barb this is what I want for Christmas:
P.S. After a decade of faster and faster, flasher and flasher cars Walter eventually did find a woman that would marry him. Barb and I always figured it would be a gold-digger that took him for a ride since that seemed to be what he was advertising for. But the reports I got back (he is on my “every time I see his face I involuntarily start to draw my gun” list now) is that she appeared to be an alcoholic instead.
Quote of the day–John Gilmore
We have to realize that people who run the government can and do change. Our society and laws must assume that bad people – criminals even – will run the government, at least part of the time.
John Gilmore
A transcript of remarks given at the First Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy, March 28,1991
[Gilmore’s primary concern is privacy. He is a big name in the opposition to a national ID card, unreasonable search and seizure, etc. But the justification for that concern, as stated above, is also applicable to being opposed to restrictions on firearms.–Joe]
Bigoted Moscow Idaho Mayor is told by AG to back off
Just today I received a copy of the letter the Idaho Attorney General sent to the Moscow City Attorney.
If you recall our Mayor wanted to ban guns in public places. The AG told her in legalize via the Moscow City Attorney to not even try going there.
I wish he had warned she was dangerously close to committing a felony but that is expecting too much even for Idaho in today’s political climate. We need to work on that for a few more years first.
Robyn Ringler stopped by again
| Domain Name | verizon.net ? (Network) | |||||||||||||||||||
| IP Address | 68.236.146.# (Verizon) | |||||||||||||||||||
| ISP | Verizon Internet Services | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time of Visit | Sep 20 2007 5:57:21 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Referring URL | http://blogs.timesun…/underfire/wp-admin/ | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time Zone | UTC-5:00 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visitor’s Time | Sep 20 2007 8:57:21 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Number | 193,023 |
Previous visits were documented here.
Just So We’re All On The Same Page…
…regarding the police chiefs out there (who, we are told, have come out against the Second Amendment): Every law enforcement officer is required to take an Oath, affirming said officer’s commitment to the Constitution of the
“I swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland and support the Constitution and laws thereof; and that I will, to the best of my skill and judgment diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, execute the office of police officer according to the Constitution and laws of this State.”
Notice the first clause– support for the U.S. Constitution. Taking an Oath not only suggests or recommends, but it requires individual judgment and individual commitment to the U.S. Constitution when deciding to follow a particular order or enforce a particular law. It requires, in this case, that the sworn individual understand the Constitutionality of an action before taking that action. Why else take the damned Oath?
The Nuremburg defense doesn’t cut it here.
On the matter of law enforcement officers who have taken the Oath, and who then actively lobby against our Constitutionally protected civil liberties: Words fail me at the moment, but I’m envisioning a physician who takes the Hippocratic Oath and sets out thereafter to murder his patients.
To you chiefs of police out there who are on the fence: Be reminded that some of us actually take our civil liberties seriously. Just sayin’.
Update 09/21/07: Another reminder for our friends in law enforcement (and to law makers as well). I use this example only because it is so well known, though there are plenty of other examples: In early 1942 there were a whole lot of German officers and government agents who were as cock-sure of themselves as anyone could be. Their degree of swagger was quite an impressive sight to behold. Only a few years later however, many of them were fugitives from justice, while others were swinging from ropes (things can change in short order, and being on the right side of Liberty is good insurance). As Joe points out in comments, there is this little thingy we call 18 USC 242. Not that it would be needed as the Constitution already spells out the law in plain English, but here we have teeth, out in front of the brain, as it were.
Quote of the day–Cam Edwards
This is an anti-gun report bought and paid for by an anti-gun foundation, assembled by anti-gunners from the Joyce Foundation, Harvard, and the Violence Policy Center. I’ve seen more serious studies written by Carrot Top and Larry the Cable Guy.
[…]
They’re officially parodies of themselves.
Cam Edwards
September 19, 2007
What A Tangled Web They Weave
[Yup. See also what Uncle has to say about it.–Joe]
Gun porn
Son James and I watch DVDs of some Science Fiction TV series together nearly every Monday evening. Until we got all caught up with the releases we were watching four episodes of Stargate SG-1 each get together.
About three weeks ago Sean and I checked out a gun store that he had never been to and I had only been to once about 18 months ago. The wall looked like this:
James has been saying he needs to buy a gun. And right there, in plain sight, was a suppressed PS-90 TR (Triple Rail, semi-auto version of the P-90 used by SG-1 as they battle evil aliens from all over the galaxy). I tried to get James to buy it with his bonus money but he was too smart for that. It’s space-a-roma (I think that was the word Sean used) appeal is very high but neither James nor I have a use for one.
Quote of the day–Mac Johnson
The Founding Fathers systematically democratized the powers of society through the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They democratized the power of law through the right to vote. They democratized the power of wealth through the right to private property (since repealed by environmentalists and courts). They democratized the power of ideas through the right to free speech (since repealed by McCain/Feingold). And they democratized the power of violence (or the capability to commit it) through the right to bear arms (since repealed by “gun control”).
The four great powers of man: law, money, thought and violence were thus divided among the people and not reserved exclusively to the connected, the rich, the approved, and the enlisted. That’s the basis of our Republic. That’s America. And that is, apparently, a total surprise to liberals.
Mac Johnson
Court Rediscovers 2nd Amendment, Liberals Fear Other ‘Rights’ May Soon be Found
March 15, 2007
[Liberals just got pwn’d in this very case. The D.C. lawyers messed up and the lawyers for the good guys just nailed their scrotums to the wall.–Joe]
A nice pointer from the Gun Guys
For once I can actually thank the Gun Guys for doing something useful. They pointed me at this video. Nice. Thanks Gun Guys.
Of course they call it ridiculous. But hey, what do you expect from him?
I still have the sneaking suspicion this guy is working for our side and collecting money from the bad guys. Nice gig if you can get it and aren’t encumbered by little things like morals and principles.
Bumper stickers for gunnies
Reader Rob pointed these out to me.
Setting aside the ones that appeal to my sick sense of humor and the one that would piss off my vegetarian daughter I think the pro-choice one is my favorite.
Quote of the day–Ginny Burdick
It’s just ludicrous to allow guns in schools under any circumstances. There are regular common-sense gun owners who overwhelmingly want the local school board to at least be able to make their own decision on this at the local level. Most of the parents I talked to had no idea, and they were horrified when they found out it was possible to bring a gun to school. . . . Johnny’s parents don’t want his first-grade teachers packing heat.
Ginny Burdick
Oregon State Senator
D-Portland
September 11, 2007
Teacher demands to carry gun in school
[Oh really? ANY circumstances? How about when some nut case or (redundancy alert) religious fanatic is shooting up the school? Should the cops leave their guns at the station when they come out to put a stop to it? If no, then why shouldn’t the teachers put a stop to it even sooner? And how about this teacher who has a nut case ex-husband? If she is a teacher then she doesn’t deserve to be able to defend herself? And it’s particularly noteworthy that she appeals to “common-sense”–because there is no factual data to support her conclusions. If she lived in the deep south 40 years ago she would be appealing to the “common-sense” laws prohibiting blacks to use the same water fountain with whites. It’s typical that she claims she is an advocate for “gun safety legislation”. I’ll bet she has never taught or even attended a gun safety class yet wants to legislate on the issue. In conclusion, not everyone is a bigot or has mental problems like Ms. Burdick. Some people want teachers to be able to protect themselves and their students. That is the real “common-sense” which should be adhered to.–Joe]