Boomershoot is the most interesting precision rifle event in the entire world.
Michael Bane
Down Range Radio #158
April 27, 2010
[My ego is probably blocking thoughts of something far more interesting but at the moment I am inclined to agree with him.–Joe]
I already checked: Georgia does recognize Idaho’s concealed carry permit. I will be taking my Ruger SP101 .357 with me. I will also invest in pepper spray, the biggest knife I can legally carry, and I plan on getting back into shape… those thugs in Atlanta will be sorry if they ever mess with an Idaho girl.
Lisa
April 25, 2010
Tech it or leave it
[Lisa is my niece.–Joe]
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
(1868)
[And those that would give up the tools with which they might fight for their freedom in the false hope that thugs and those that would take their freedom will give up their tools of oppression and become good neighbors are no better than those unwilling to fight for freedom.–Joe]
Joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Hoyt Axton
From the song “Joy to the World” made popular by Three Dog Night.
[I’ve been having this ear worm of Three Dog Night singing this song play in my head since Wednesday. Maybe now that I have delivered another Boomershoot to the world it will stop.
David from Random Nuclear Strikes said it was the best Boomershoot ever. From my standpoint this was true. The glitches were fairly minor and things went nearly perfectly on schedule. Having Michael Bane’s film crew make requests slowed us down some at times but it was for a good cause.
As this ear worm playing I kept wondering… what does the Brady Campaign and the other organizations of gun owner haters have to offer that compares? Like Robb Allen said, “what gun controllers must do for entertainment – hit up the anti-gun range or go to an anti-gun show”. Boomershoot brought 125 people from all over the country to help turn money into noise. Sure, the VPC or the Brady Campaign turn money into noise too but the people spending the money are not happy doing it. We bring joy to the world and they bring hate and sadness.–Joe]
If we set the place on fire today it will mean we are really doing something right.
Ry Jones
April 22, 2010
The context was Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day during the discussion of fireball targets and the unintentional fires we have had. It was raining and cold at the time.
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte
[Last night at the Boomershoot Gun BLogger dinner Rolf N. tried to remember this one when we were talking about the Brady Campaign.–Joe]
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
George Washington
First annual address to Congress, 1790.
[I was reminded of this by my (and about 125 other people) preparations for Boomershoot.–Joe]
Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.
Ronald Reagan
[A good strategy for the “war” on gun rights as well.
This weekend is my most important “battle” for the year.–Joe]
Conservatives admire radicals who were right. Liberals admire radicals who have been proven wrong, but remain convinced that the theory is sound if only the right people were in charge….
James
April 19, 2010
In a comment to Quote of the day–Leo C. Rosten.
[Of course this disregards the redefinition of “liberal” that has occurred over the last 150 years.
Reading between the lines of this you can see why it is so important to “liberals” to engage in voter fraud and engage in political violence. They want a powerful (and frequently totalitarian) government and they know it is critical “the right people” control such a powerful government.–Joe]
Conservative: One who admires radicals centuries after they’re dead.
Leo C. Rosten
[There is more than a little truth in this.–Joe]
You are in Boomershoot mode. I can sense the energy.
Barbara Scott
April 18, 2010
[Yeah. Boomershoot has been consuming nearly all my cycles and actually Barb is being a more than a little bit generous in saying she can “sense the energy”. I tend to get grumpy with her.–Joe]
Democracy is the road to socialism.
Karl Marx
[See also Socialism and Democracy.
Although Marx had not yet been born the Founding Father’s knew better than to give us a Democracy and created a Republic with enumerated powers instead. This has gradually been corrupted into an unlimited power monstrosity through appeals to Democracy. Remember this whenever someone espouses the virtues of Democracy. We don’t want a Democracy.
This quote was inspired by certain recent political events. I find it very telling that when asked where in the Constitution the Federal government is given the power to force people to buy health insurance the leaders of this monster say (via Bill Whittle), “Are you serious?” I think the appropriate answer to Ms. Pelosi’s response would have been to lower your voice by about an octave and slowly and clearly say, “As. Serious. As. A. Heart. Attack.“–Joe]
I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
George S. Patton, Jr.
Exhortation to troops, North Africa
[Even if we if only speak figuratively about fighting a culture “war” with the enemies of freedom the same sort of exhortation applies. “Dying” may be an economic “death” of their organizations from lack of donations. Or it may be that we starve them of media coverage because we outnumber them 10 (or 100) to 1 at rallies. But still we win the war by “killing off” their “troops” (supporters).
Think in terms of your activism doing the most damage possible to your opponents rather than sacrifice of yourself.
Also of possible interest is people attending Boomershoot this year will be within a mile or so of one of Patton’s Jeep drivers who served in Europe during WW II. He has a farm nearby and lives just over the hill a little way from the Boomershoot site.–Joe]
If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
Abraham Lincoln
From Lincoln’s Yarns and Stores by Alexander McClure, page 81.
[Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center; this is for you.–Joe]
Without free speech no search for truth is possible … no discovery of truth is useful … Better a thousandfold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse of dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.
Charles Bradlaugh
1890
[And what ultimately protects free speech from infringement? Our contracts with our governments, our constitutions. And how do we enforce our contracts? With the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and when all else fails, the cartridge box. Hence, a similar claim could be made of the importance of the “cartridge box” as Bradlaugh did for free speech. There will be abuse with such freedom exists. But the abuse will be minor compared to the catastrophe that awaits the society that embraces the denial of the specific, enumerated right to keep and bear arms.–Joe]
When it comes to realism about elections, democrats (the Evil Party) generally do better than republicans (the Stupid Party). Democrats really want to win. They’re motivated by a belief that America is a sexist, racist, homophobic, unfair, unequal country. At the same time, they believe that society can be fundamentally changed by the political process. Therefore, getting and keeping political power means everything, and justifies any and all subterfuges. In addition, many democrats know that if they don’t win, they don’t eat. Many leftwing activists live on government paychecks, or government grants to organizations that, like ACORN, meet their budgets with taxpayer money.
Bill Summer
Via Alan Korwin
[This matches my impression but Summers expresses it more eloquently than I could.–Joe]
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
Edmund Burke
[I’m not quite sure what to make of this quote. It’s sort of like one of those drawings that depending on which way you look it could be an old hag or a beautiful young woman.
Burke engaged in a spirited debate with Thomas Paine over what Paine called “natural rights”. Burke argued the Monarch had a divine right to rule. Paine argued there were certain inalienable, natural, rights.
Hence when I read the above quote by Burke I first thought of a gun rights activist pointing out the imagined security proposed by some gun ban supporter. Then, as if looked at the words through the other eye or something, I heard them in my minds ear being said by the likes of Josh Sugarmann.
It turns out that even in his own time people weren’t quite sure what to think of him at times.–Joe]
I believe, if guns were only used for target shooting or for events like Boomershoot, guns would be as controversial as bowling balls.
…
It looks like a fairly rural county. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t be armed? To me, this is exactly the kind of county where everyone should have guns. It just makes sense. If the cops are more than a couple of minutes away, you probably would be wise to have a gun.
ubu52
April 11, 2010
Comments here and here.
[The significance of this relatively mundane comments can only be realized if you take into account that she has also said such things as:
[To be fair, I have pulled the above quotes out of context from 83 comments she has left on my blog in the last year. It does represent a biased sample.]
And of note is that numerous gun bloggers have banned her from commenting on their blogs. I think it is safe to say that ubu52 falls on the anti-gun side of the fence. Yet, she admits (as she has in the past) that guns are useful tools and may in fact agree a gun is the self-defense tool of choice in some circumstances. I was surprised to read the comments she left today. Yes, there were some qualification that she made which I didn’t include in my QOTD. But it seems to me that she is breaking into somewhat new ground and may have made a small step closer to coming around to our side of the fence. I welcome that.
Some of the other commenter’s reminded me of a Libertarian essay or pamphlet I read 10 or 15 years ago. The author pointed out that hard-core Libertarians sometimes have the nasty habit of pushing until they find a point they on which they disagree with someone they are proselyting to. For example, they might find someone agrees that the war on some drugs cannot be won and is more harmful to society than the drugs themselves would be if legalized and taxed like other recreational drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol. The hard-core Libertarian would not try and “cement” that agreement but would go on to some other issue such as elimination of government schools or something. And then “hammer” on the potential new recruit if they disagreed.
This is not the way you recruit people to your cause. When someone sees a glimmer of the light you have been trying to demonstrate you should encourage them. You don’t tell them they are a blind idiot because they can’t see the entire spectrum of ultra-violet, infra-red, and X-ray, beauty to find in so many ways that you know and love. If you are right your viewpoint will grow better through careful nurturing than through pushing more and more new material down their throat until they start gagging.
I think the proper response in this case is to ask her where and how the dividing line between rural and metropolitan areas should be drawn. If guns are acceptable and appropriate in a “rural area” but not in “metropolitan areas” then legal definitions will have to be created. What might those definitions be? How will someone traveling from one area to another (perhaps several times in one day or hour) be able to change their status from gun possessor to gun free and vice versa?
When they get stumped or realize their belief system has an internal conflict let it drop rather than push on or gloat. Let them think on it and realize they have an irreconcilable problem on their own.
Welcome new people to your community even if you don’t really trust them to watch your back. You have considerable power to determine the nature of the future relationship of them with you and other people like you. Someone who is not really your friend is much better than someone who thinks you are jerk and maybe a little bit rabid.–Joe]
I’ve also known people who became pretty good shooters because they were motivated by fear. But, love always exceeds fear like light exceeds darkness.
Sam
July 31, 2009
A comment on the forum topic of Defining “Natural Athlete” vs. “Technical Athlete”
[This explains why we win in terms of membership in organizations like the NRA, SAF, CCRBA, JPFO, USPSA, IPDA, etc. (many millions) versus Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center, etc. (a few hundred thousand if you squint at the numbers just right). And of course the same applies in the intellectual debate. We who have some love for the study of the topics know our stuff so much better than those who try to debate the issue end up making fools of themselves.–Joe]
There is good and evil in the world. It gets so you yearn for a righteous fight. Personally I believe there are bad people, and God put people here to shoot those people, to let other people live peaceful lives. David was a shepherd boy who became king. The Philistines had their giant, Goliath. The Lord said to David, ‘I’m on your side. Go out and fight.’ David did. And you know, David killed Goliath as dead as Elvis Presley. He was a shepherd, a king, a follower of the Lord. But first and foremost he was a warrior. God understands that we have to have soldiers. Soldiers are part of God’s plan.
Russ Crane (pseudonym)
February 2010
The Distant Executioner (via Ry)
[“Crane” is talking about his work as a sniper with the police and military but most of what he says above can also be applied to anyone who carries a gun for defense of self and other innocent life. It’s a very sober read but I liked it.
I sometimes wonder how the anti-gun people view statements like that above. Do they see all gun use as wrong? Or is the use of a gun in the defense of innocent life acceptable? Or is it only acceptable when the person pulling trigger gets a government paycheck?
What about the fact that far, far more innocent people have been murdered by their government than by common criminals? Doesn’t that mean if firearms possession to be banned from anyone it would be more appropriate for the private citizen to be armed and government employees to be forbidden by law to possess weapons?–Joe]