I had no idea one of the symptoms of COVID-19 was penile shrinkage.
Mike Roberts @ecopoesis
Tweeted on April 1, 2020
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
This was his response to the record number of NICS checks in March.—Joe]
Quote of the day—bitterb @bitterb
It seems that “Holy Shit March” is a phrase we can just use for everything in life at this point.
bitterb @bitterb
Tweeted on April 2, 2020
[This was in response to this tweet by Tamara K. @TamSlick which I was seriously considering for a QOTD in it’s own right until bitter topped it:
Almost four million NICS checks in March. That’s a lotta guns.
It’s interesting to see the normalcy bias in action. Six months ago I, in my rational mind, knew something like this was possible but it didn’t feel possible in any reality I might experience. Today, working from home, seldom going to stores, wearing a mask when you do, and wiping down everything that has had recent contact with another human before it comes in the house feels ordinary.—Joe]
Free business/entrepreneur coaching
A few days ago I received an email from Brian:
I am doing a bunch of webinars for entrepreneurs where we do group coaching- essentially, brainstorming and deploying ways to connect with our customer bases and increase the chances that we stay in business.
I’d be happy to do one for your audience. Definitely off topic for your blog. But you have plenty of business owners I bet who would appreciate getting together and access to a business coach in this format for free.
This led to:
Hello Joe’s audience,
I’m Brian Keith and a member of the gun culture like you.
Current events show me more than usual that we are in a culture war for the soul of America.
As a business coach, the main contribution I can make is helping our team’s businesses survive this season.
If you are an entrepreneur, or you know a business owner who is in the gun culture (“one of us”), I have two offers for you:
1. I can lead a regular (monthly? biweekly? weekly?) group coaching call where you bring your problems to me and we figure them out together. The group format means you get to learn from your peers, and it keeps my costs low.
2. You and I can talk one on one for an hour. You get more privacy, and leave our call with a more customized plan on what to do in your business to survive and maybe even grow right now.
What does it cost?
You and I rubbed shoulders at Mecca manufacturing Boomerite. You comment on Joe’s blog. You and I look forward to Boomershoot 2021. We’re on the same side in this cultural fight.
So the cost is free.
All you need to do- email me (brian (at) redbeardconsulting.com) whether Option 1 (regular group coaching calls) or Option 2 (a single one-on-one call with me) would best help your business survive.
The range is open
I haven’t been to the range in several weeks now. And probably won’t for a while still. But the range I go to most frequently (Bellevue) sent out an email a few minutes ago:
Why is Our Range Open?
We have many clients who work in law enforcement or in the private security sector. These individuals must maintain
firearms proficiency for their personal safety and to meet professional certification requirements. We have other clients who don’t fall into the above categories but have personal circumstances which make firearms proficiency a priority for them.
Additionally, many families perceive an increased need for all members to have familiarity with defensive firearms. It is especially important that these new or less experienced shooters have the opportunity to learn and practice safe firearms handling skills in a controlled environment.
Federal guidelines recognize the above issues and have designated firearms retailers and ranges as essential critical infrastructure.
Our opinion is that each individual should have the opportunity to make an assessment of their personal risk factors and act according to that assessment.
firearms proficiency for their personal safety and to meet professional certification requirements. We have other clients who don’t fall into the above categories but have personal circumstances which make firearms proficiency a priority for them.
Additionally, many families perceive an increased need for all members to have familiarity with defensive firearms. It is especially important that these new or less experienced shooters have the opportunity to learn and practice safe firearms handling skills in a controlled environment.
Federal guidelines recognize the above issues and have designated firearms retailers and ranges as essential critical infrastructure.
Our opinion is that each individual should have the opportunity to make an assessment of their personal risk factors and act according to that assessment.
What are we doing to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission?
Traveling alone in your vehicle does not increase your risk or the risk to anyone else. The risk of COVID-19 transmission is increased most significantly by close interpersonal contact.
Upon arrival, clients are asked to maintain 6’ or more of distance while waiting to approach the check-in-counter one client at a time (unless in a group of two who already share close social distancing.)
Clients are assigned shooting lanes one person per booth. (The only exception is that two family members who already share close social distancing may share a booth.)
Once on the range shooters are separated from each other by over six feet of space and two partitions (we leave an empty booth between each shooter.)
The ventilation system on the range provides constant air flow away from the shooters.
Upon exiting the range all clients are directed to wash their hands in the bathrooms located in the range lobby.
All surfaces that people contact are cleaned multiple times during each day.
Going to a shooting range is not the best choice for all persons at this particular time. It is however an essential activity for some people and an activity which can be engaged in without significant risk of exposure to COVID-19.
The range will be open Thursday through Sunday,
10am to 8pm until further notice.
Quote of the day—Brantley Starr
The federal government forgot the Tenth Amendment and the structure of the Constitution itself. It is concerning that the federal government believes it swallowed the states whole. Assuming the federal government didn’t abolish the states to take their police power, the Court DENIES the motion to dismiss WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The Court will allow the federal government to try again and explain which enumerated power justifies the federal regulation and whether it allows a taking without compensation. The Court requests that the federal government also address any limits on that federal power and the Court’s proper role in examining the validity of the underlying rule when determining if there was a compensable taking.
Brantley Starr
United States District Judge
March 30, 2020
BRIAN P. LANE, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES
[Via Reason: Another Trump-Appointed Judge Benchslaps the Trump Administration for Rewriting Federal Gun Laws
[It’s a good start.
I know it’s too much to ask for, but I’d like to see those responsible for rewriting the definition of a machine gun without going through the proper legislative procedures being recommended for prosecution. If if they did go through the legislative process see the prosecution any legislators who voted for the illegal infringement of our rights as well as the criminals who advocated for such legislation.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Cam Edwards
For years, Everytown for Gun Safety has presented itself as a moderate “gun safety” group that isn’t interested in stripping Americans of their rights, but is only in favor of “commonsense gun safety” regulations. Now they’re exposing that lie all by themselves. In a time of uncertainty, and during an emergency, Everytown is doing everything it can to prevent Americans from acquiring firearms and ammunition. There’s nothing common sense about that. Their position has nothing to do with gun safety and everything to do with keeping as many Americans as possible unarmed and defenseless when more Americans than ever before are choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Cam Edwards
April 1, 2020
Everytown Law: It’s Totally Constitutional To Close Gun Stores Right Now
[Has there has ever been a firearms restriction this organization has publicly opposed? I don’t think so and and I doubt there ever will be. Their objective is to incrementally eliminate firearms in the hands of ordinary people.
They need to be opposed and prosecuted.—Joe]
Quote of the day—STAY FKING HOME @flopperdog
So we’ll lose 100k to Covid and another 100k to self-inflicted dumbass shootings.
STAY FKING HOME @flopperdog
Tweeted on April 1, 2020
[I realize arithmetic, or in many cases even numbers, are not within the domain of knowledge for these people. So, I’ll take care of that for this numbers illiterate.
From the CDC (2018 was the most recent data I found):
So, assuming a constant population, at that rate it will take over 218 years to achieve the 100k number asserted. Of course the population is almost certainly going to increase instead of remain constant. But, the rate of unintentional firearms deaths have been falling:
Assuming a linear* rate of fall that current 0.14 rate will drop to zero about half way through the year 2034 with a rate of 0.132 at the beginning of 2020. The area under that triangle from the beginning of 2020 until it drops to zero at year 2034.625 is 0.965 per 100K of the population. Assuming a rough population of about 280,000,000 that means about 2,700 people will die in the next 14 years due to unintentional firearm deaths before the rate drops to zero.
But, of course, the rate could increase some due to new ownership and potential lack of training. But with 100,000,000+ current owners the “worst” case is that the total number of gun owners increases to something like 200,000,000 adults.
Assuming the worst case, all unintentional firearms deaths are due to new owner gun sales inspired by COVID-19, and their rate of unintentional death by firearm is double the existing population for a few years before they are trained it is still far less than 100,000.
My rough estimate is that this dup (or evil) flopperdog is probably off by something like a factor of 25.
Not bad. I expected worse.—Joe]
* Poor assumption. It’s probably going to be closer to a decaying exponential but I don’t want to bother doing the curve fitting to find a better model. Besides, I doubt even one out of 1000 anti-gun people understand linear interpolation yet alone curve fitting and integration.
Quote of the day—Stephen P. Halbrook
Americans should be mindful of the dangers of “emergency” decrees. History tells us that government diktats in response to man-made and natural disasters often lead to unprecedented restrictions on individual liberty that last long after the disasters are forgotten.
Stephen P. Halbrook
March 31. 2020
Will the Second Amendment Survive Coronavirus?
[I strongly agree.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Alan M. Gottlieb
While we pursue litigation elsewhere we’re happy that the situation in New Jersey has changed. Regardless what some politicians might think, the Second Amendment is not subject to emergency orders, same as the First, Fourth, Fifth or other constitutional protections.
This is one more example of SAF’s ongoing mission to win back firearms freedom, one lawsuit at a time.
Alan M. Gottlieb
SAF founder and Executive Vice President
March 30, 2020
N.J. GOV. MURPHY BACKS DOWN, ALLOWS GUN SHOPS BACK OPEN IN SAF VICTORY
[I think legislative action is going to be increasingly difficult and even impossible in many states. The courts is where we have to fight and win. It appears to me that SAF is on the leading edge of this.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Kris Brown
State and local governments are well within their constitutional rights to broadly close businesses in order to prevent the spread and flatten the curve, and they are definitely not required to designate gun industry businesses as ‘essential’ and keep them open. There is no constitutional right to immediately buy or sell guns, and there is certainly no right to spread coronavirus while buying or selling guns.
Kris Brown
President of Brady United
March 29, 2020
BRADY OPPOSES DESIGNATION OF GUN STORES AS ‘ESSENTIAL’’ BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[I find it very telling Brown refers to the “rights” of governments. Governments don’t have rights. They have enumerated powers granted to them by the people.
When and how did the people give governments the power to force people to stop or delay the exercise of a specific enumerated right?
Answer: The people did not give governments any such power.
Apparently Brown believes governments have rights and, if they should chose to do so, sometimes grants them to people. Brown has it exactly backward. The people have rights and grant certain power to governments to protect those rights*.
With such an upside down view of reality Brown’s opinion should be given as much respect as a flat earther or an space alien abductee.
While I agree there is “no right to spread coronavirus while buying or selling guns”. That isn’t the issue. One can buy and/or sell guns without putting others at risk of a deadly disease. Public health officials can certainly put appropriate restriction in place to prevent that without a ban on selling or buying. We are still buy and selling food aren’t we? A complete ban is no more appropriate than a complete ban on religion because religious organizations traditionally gather in enclosed spaces to worship.
I would also like to remind Brown that a right delayed is a right denied**.—Joe]
**Although Martin Luther King, Jr. is frequently credited with this, as near as I can tell, King never said it.
Quote of the day—Christopher C. Krebs
Functioning critical infrastructure is imperative during the response to the COVID-19 emergency for both public health and safety as well as community well-being. Certain critical infrastructure industries have a special responsibility in these times to continue operations.
This advisory guidance and accompanying list are intended to support state, local, tribal, territorial and industry partners in identifying the critical infrastructure sectors and the essential workers needed to maintain the services and functions Americans depend on daily and that need to be able to operate resiliently during the COVID-19 pandemic response.
…
Workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges.
Christopher C. Krebs
Director
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
March 28, 2020
MEMORANDUM ON IDENTIFICATION OF ESSENTIAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE WORKERS DURING COVID-19 RESPONSE
[Emphasis added.
There are some weasel words which give local area discretion to add or remove items but SAF and the NRA have been suing the politicians who have been shutting down gun stores:
- GUN GROUPS SUE CAL. GOV. NEWSOM, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF VILLANUEVA
- SAF, GRASS ROOTS N.C. AND FPC SUE N.C. SHERIFF OVER PISTOL PERMIT HOLDS
- SAF ADDS PLAINTIFFS, AMENDS FEDERAL LAWSUIT, FILES SHOW CAUSE MOTION v. NEW JERSEY GOV. PHIL MURPHY
- SAF SUES N.J. GOVERNOR FOR DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS
I’m surprised at the lack of howling from anti-gun ownership groups. The worst I have seen so far is from the Gifford group:
Even some gun control advocates say it might not be wise to shut down federally licensed firearms dealers, whose sales require background checks. That could force buyers to use a website or seek a private sale that doesn’t require a check, making it more difficult to trace a firearm if it’s used in a crime.
There are risks to both closing a gun shop or keeping it open, said David Chipman, a retired agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“If you keep it open, there’s the risk of first-time buyers who are largely buying out of fear and panic and untrained,” said Chipman, now senior policy adviser for Giffords, a gun control advocacy group.
Gun control advocates are concerned about a large number of new owners lacking the usual access to training on how to store and handle their weapon properly. They also worry that Americans who are stocking up now eventually will sell their firearms privately.
“If we can imagine how horrible this crisis is … the people who hoarded the guns might decide six months from now – once they see no zombies around but they’ve run out of tuna and beef jerky – that they need the money to buy food,” Chipman said.
Millions of new gun owners has to be the nightmare scenario for these groups. This is a silver lining in the dark cloud of COVID-19.—Joe]
COVID-19 news you can use
How you can reuse N95 masks. It’s a very technical paper but the takeaways I got from it are:
- The N95 mask gets most of its filtration capability from semi-permanently electrically charged particles in the mask material.
- Attempting to clean the masks with alcohol or even alcohol vaper will SERIOUSLY degrade the filtration ability of the mask. Don’t do that!
- “…it is reported (if it is true) that COVID-19 cannot survive at 65C for 30 minutes. Therefore, it is safe to treat the masks in hot air at 70C for 30 minutes and this process can be repeated multiple times to reuse the masks without a noticeable loss of efficiency. But be sure to suspend the masks in the hot air in the oven without contacting or putting the masks too close to a metal surface. The respirator can be hung in the oven using a wood or a plastic clip on its edge of non-breathing zone or put on a wood grill at least 6” away from a metal surface.”
- “…our investigation showed that the charge loss on the electret is unnoticeable by sterilization using 125oC steam for three minutes.”
- “…our investigation showed that the charge loss on the media is unnoticeable in boiling water for three minutes but stirring on the mask is not recommended to avoid its physical damage.”
- If you plan to use water to sterilize the mask “…be sure that the inner or the outer veil of the mask is not made of paper-like tissues – paper pulp or nonwovens bond by water soluble binder, which will either dissolve in water resulting in loose fibers in the veil or the loss of its strength after exposing to water.”
To save you a minute or so of your time, 70C is 158F and 125C is 257F.
Boomershoot 2020 is canceled
At 2:45 AM this morning I sent a version of this email to all entries and the spectator and announcement list for Boomershoot:
Boomershoot 2020 is five weeks away and COVID-19 infections are still increasing across the country. I’ve had several people tell me they are not coming this year. Many states, including Idaho, have travel and social contact restrictions.
I’m canceling Boomershoot 2020.
I’m sorry to do this but both the legal and moral issues don’t give me any other options.
Regards,
Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director
Cell: 208-301-4254
There has been a Boomershoot every year since 1998. It makes me sad to know that continuous record will be broken. I considered rescheduling for this fall but the end of fire season and the beginning of mud season is too unpredictable.
Quote of the day—2nd Amendment Daily News
Some gun owners hoped that because H.R. 5717 was filed by House Fruitcake, Democrat Hank Johnson of Georgia, that it wouldn’t go anywhere. Why is he a fruitcake? Well, there are dozen of examples, but our favorite is when Johnson said that he was worried that the island of Guam would capsize and tip over if 8,000 Marines were stationed there.
2nd Amendment Daily News
March 2020
Elizabeth Warren Throws Her Weight Behind Gun Control Mega Bill, Files Companion In Senate
[Just because someone is a “fruitcake” doesn’t mean they are harmless or can’t find and persuade others to assist them in doing evil. There are far too many examples I could give from political history as well as personal experience for me to ever suggest otherwise.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Jeff Tomlin
We don’t know if this last two weeks has been a calm before the storm or if the social distancing and all those things that are being practiced are working.
Jeff Tomlin
EvergreenHealth CEO
March 26, 2020
Where coronavirus outbreak started in Washington state, officials see hope as cases appear to be leveling off
[EvergreenHealth is close to home.
Barb and I talked about this almost two weeks ago: Our area was first in the U.S. to get hit and so it should be the first to recover.
It probably helped that it was a suburban area like Kirkland that was ground zero. With the lower density at ground zero the spread was slower as the response was still ramping up. NYC has much a higher people density and is getting hit much harder.
We got step daughter Maddy home from Brooklyn as things were ramping up there. She’s been through the two week quarantine here and is fine. The stories she tells of the crowed conditions on the subways make it clear NYC had an impossible problem to solve without immediate and drastic action. And it looks like they missed their opportunity which Kirkland was apparently able to grasp. I expect the much lower people density made that possible.
This looks to also be an contributing factor (from the same article linked to above):
A spokesperson for EvergreenHealth said the hospital was uniquely positioned to deal with an infectious disease outbreak, owing to its status as one of Washington’s highest-rated hospitals and the presence of Francis Riedo, the hospital’s Johns Hopkins-schooled and CDC-trained medical director of infection control.
I doubt that we are in full recovery mode yet.
As soon as people without immunity start moving around again things will flair up again. Recovery will start when anti-body tests and/or vaccines are available. But the prediction that our local hospital ICUs would fill by the end of this month may have been in error. The response to the outbreak has stymied that prophecy. That’s good enough for now.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Tim Pool @Timcast
More and more polls show American’s approve of Trump and its hilarious watching the media go through the five stages of grief
Denial was yesterday and today it’s anger
I’m excited for the bargaining phase
Tim Pool @Timcast
Tweeted on March 25, 2020
[As funny as this is I can’t see the media ever bargaining.
I think they would rather go out of business and be homeless than admit President Trump might have done something right.—Joe]
Very sad
Say Uncle’s wife died. Cardiac arrest. Nothing to do with COVID-19 that I know.
I spent quite a bit of time with Say Uncle at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, NRA annual meetings, and Gun Blogger Summer camp. I occasionally was in his area of the country and was hoping to stop in for a visit someday and get to meet his wife.
If I remember correctly they had two kids who I would guess are in their teens now.
This makes me very sad.
In forced quarantine
No. Not me. My phone.
Yesterday I noticed my phone wouldn’t lie flat. Odd. Upon further investigation I realized the battery was swelling. It’s a Galaxy S8 Active. The back doesn’t come off to allow you to replace the battery.
Rats! I don’t want to go out and buy a new phone now. I don’t want to have to move all my two factor authentication stuff to a new phone. It could take a full day to move to a new phone.
I looked on Amazon for a new phone and then decided to look for a battery anyway. Success! It includes tools and adhesive to take the phone apart and glue it back together. I ordered the battery.
But I need my phone for accessing things at work because of the two factor authentication. I can’t just put my phone in an old ammo can in the back yard to avoid explosion and fire hazards then run out there to check text messages every once in a while.
I made an indoor quarantine for it:
The phone is inside two zip lock bags, on top of an old cookie-sheet, and surrounded by nearly 200 pounds of lead (and brass).
I pulled the phone out a few minutes ago to check something and the swelling has increased:
The new battery is supposed to arrive in the next 45 minutes and the phone will then undergo battery replacement surgery.
Update: The battery has been replaced and the phone is functional. And it is in the process of being fully charged.
The battery replacement is not for the faint hearted. There were two electrical connecters which were the smallest I have ever seen. I put on my magnifying glasses to see many of the components I needed to manipulate. The adhesive replacement was a bit of a sticky problem (pun intended). They supplied two large strips that needed to be cut into six (or more) pieces. No instructions on how to use the adhesive.
Quote of the day—Carletta Whiting
And never is the Second Amendment more important that during public unrest.
Carletta Whiting
March 22, 2020
[Never is a bit too strong of word but it’s close enough.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Mike
Ironic that the Chinese curse of “may you live in interesting times” has been kicked off by the Chinese government itself.
Mike
March 21, 2020
[Via email.
Excellent observation!
The rest of the email is of potential interest:
Hey Joe,
Up here in Canada, the Chief Firearms Officer for Ontario (the province I live in) has just suspended the required Firearms Safety Courses one needs to take to be able to APPLY for a firearms license. Just like that, if you didn’t have a gun license at this point, you’ll have to ride out the coming storm with whatever is at hand, it would seem.
Considering someone pulled a gun on another person who was apparently looking at them funny, in the liberal stronghold of Toronto, no less, things should get mighty interesting over the next few weeks (days?).
Ironic that the Chinese curse of “may you live in interesting times” has been kicked off by the Chinese government itself.
Thanks for your time,
Mike
It’s interesting the response some of the political jurisdictions in the U.S. have taken. Two movies on one screen.
According to SAF (emphasis added):
SAF: ILLINOIS GOV. SETS EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS ON GUN, AMMUNITION STORES
BELLEVUE, WA — The Second Amendment Foundation today applauded Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for including firearm and ammunition suppliers on the list of “essential businesses and operations” that will remain open during the Prairie State’s “Shelter-In-Place” emergency due to the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus emergency.
“When an anti-gun Democrat governor declares that essential businesses include firearm and ammunition suppliers and retailers for the purposes of safety and security, that is a really big deal,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Every governor should copy the Illinois example when issuing ‘shelter-in-place’ and business closure orders in the face of the Coronavirus.”
Three other states are already under sweeping emergency orders as the nation copes with the Coronavirus pandemic. They are New York, Pennsylvania and California.
“Depending upon how long this emergency continues,” Gottlieb observed, “many Americans may find themselves facing situations where they will need to be their own first responders. Gov. Pritzker obviously understands this, and we encourage the governors of all other states to recognize this isn’t an issue of party politics but of personal and community safety.”
Executive Order 2020-10 directs all individuals living within the state of Illinois to stay at home, except for “Essential Activities, Essential Government Functions, or to operate Essential Businesses and Operations.” These include information technology equipment manufacturers and suppliers, hardware, food, cleaning supplies, and “firearm and ammunition suppliers and retailers for purposes of safety and security,” the order says.
“We are all in this together,” Gottlieb stated, “and we will make it through, together, as well. Stay safe, stay well and stay ready.”
And in the San Francisco Bay Area, of course, gun stores are not considered essential. Nevermind, as pointed out by author David Codrea, in the article:
What about gun stores? If we’re talking that which is essential, what is it the Founders deemed “necessary to the security of a free State”?
The politicians responsible for issuing such an order should be prosecuted.—Joe]