Quote of the day—The Common Sense Gun Regulation Act

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(1 )(a) “Assault weapon” means any:

(A) Semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of the following:

(i) Any grip of the weapon, including a pistol grip, a thumbhole stock or any other stock, the use of which would allow an individual to grip the weapon, resulting in any finger on the trigger hand in addition to the trigger finger being directly below any portion of the action of the weapon when firing;

…

(B) Semiautomatic pistol, or any semiautomatic, centerfire or rimfire rifle with a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition;

The Common Sense Gun Regulation Act
Oregon, February 26, 2019
[There is a lot more but the above is all you need to know. Their intent is to ban nearly all semiautomatic rifles and pistols.

This is despite the Heller decision which specifically protected a semi-auto pistol and almost explicitly protected rifles of the type targeted by this law. These people, such as Greg Wasson, are criminals. I hope they enjoy their trials: http://bit.ly/EnjoyYourTrial1 and http://bit.ly/EnjoyYourTrial2.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Brianna @BriannaWu #EnjoyYourTrial

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I had an opportunity to fire a fully automatic M16 assault rifle today under professional instruction. This is the same weapon US Armed Forces use. The experience made me feel even more strongly there is no reason for a civilian to have access to this weapon, or one like it.

For starters, growing up in the South, I took an NRA safety class as a teenager. I spent many an afternoon as a kid in target practice. But this assault rifle is a different beast. It would take A MINIMUM of 30-40 hours of professional instruction to learn to operate safely.

It shoots a 5.56 mm bullet. You can feel the wind of it firing three feet behind the shooter. The gun is very difficult to control. I’ve seen these fired thousands of times in games and movies. In real life you understand the devastation even being grazed would cause.

Brianna @BriannaWu
Candidate for US House of Representatives in MA District 8 for 2020.

Brianna Wu

Tweeted (and here and here) on February 26, 2019
[She feels strongly. Apparently she is also an extremely slow learner because the first set of Boomershoot 101 students did just fine with only a few hours of instruction and practice.

There are no strong feelings or imaginary excess wind exceptions to the 2nd Amendment. http://bit.ly/EnjoyYourTrial1.—Joe]

Pew! Pew! Pew! = Boom! Boom! Boom!

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Via email from Stephanie:

PewPewPewBoom

Boomershoot 2019 is coming up fast!

Sign up here.

#EnjoyYourTrial

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The anti-gun people have a narrative of “gun safety”. We know, as do they, they have never encouraged people to take a gun safety class or learn about guns. Ignorance and deliberate deception is all part of their game plan.

They insist background checks are “common sense” and save lives. They don’t save lives and are a deception for the real objectives:

  • Creating lists of gun owners
  • Delaying the exercise of a specific enumerated right
  • Increasing the costs (time and money) of exercising our rights

They insist we don’t need a particular type of gun or accessory and we end up trying to convince them we do need it. It’s a Bill of Rights, not a Bill of Needs. They should be the ones attempting to convince us there is a “compelling governmental interest,” and have narrowly tailored the law to achieve that interest (strict scrutiny). Until they can do that the proposed law does not pass constitutional muster and they are attempting to infringe upon our rights. The default position is the proposed law is invalid until they can conclusively demonstrate they have met the requirements.

As it is we are playing defense and losing in public opinion.

It would seem to me that we need an easy narrative of our own. It must be something that tweets and sound bites well. It must put them on the defensive. We must gain the initiative in social media and when we contact our political representatives.

I discussed this with Brian K. and we came up with:

These can be used in a variety of ways:

Think women shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns without a man’s permission? #EnjoyYourTrial (Aimed at may-issue states.)

Send teens to war but don’t let them own handguns? #EnjoyYourTrial

Disarm peaceful African Americans because they live in the wrong state? #EnjoyYourTrial.

Deny me the right to defend my family because of my skin color? #EnjoyYourTrial

You are trying to ban guns in common use protected by the Heller decision. #EnjoyYourTrial

A right delayed is a right denied. #EnjoyYourTrial

You are demanding people ask permission for a guaranteed right. #EnjoyYourTrial

Background checks don’t save lives (https://fee.org/articles/california-s-background-check-law-had-no-impact-on-gun-deaths-johns-hopkins-study-finds/) and infringe our rights. #EnjoyYourTrial

Gun control is prior restraint of specific enumerated right and is illegal. #EnjoyYourTrial

“Red flag” laws are prior restraint and are illegal. #EnjoyYourTrial

What you are doing is illegal. Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. #EnjoyYourTrial

In each invocation you can include http://bit.ly/EnjoyYourTrial1 (for private citizens) and/or http://bit.ly/EnjoyYourTrial2 (for politicians, law enforcement, and other government employees).

Yes, I know it’s not 100% correct in every context. But the point is to gain the initiative and put them on the defensive. I think this has a chance of doing that.

Quote of the day—Thales

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If a Rightist is going to have a problem with you, the odds are he’s going to punch you in the face. Or follow you into a bathroom and beat you down. The Right is much more fond of directness. Does anybody really think, say, a redneck is going to dump bleach on you and run away? Do you think he cares about the symbolism of a noose, or that he’s going to go out of his way to wear a certain hat – so as to make the right fashion statement during the attack? No. If he has a problem, he’s going to get in your face, probably punch it repeatedly, and walk away when he feels his point has been made.

In this the Left betrays how little they understand us. For even their hoaxes seem like bad parodies to us. It’s what a Leftist would do, only reversed in ideological polarity. It’s not what a Rightist would do. They don’t get us. Their rank-and-file doesn’t have any clue who they are dealing with anymore. Even the Media is too stuck on Leftism to understand anymore. There was a time, perhaps, when wiser Leftists would have thought “well, that doesn’t sound a whole lot like them… maybe we should check into this a little more.”

That time has passed.

This is profoundly dangerous to us all. Because, not knowing us, they cannot understand where the limits are. They’ve been butting up near our maximum levels of tolerance for some time now. Sooner or later, one of them is going to exceed that boundary because he doesn’t even know it’s there, anymore.

Thales
February 22, 2019
Leftist Hoaxes: A Failure to Understand the Right
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—L. Neil Smith

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I’m afraid they’re going to get crazier the more power they lose. Beware the wounded bear. By which I mean “let’s make them crazier.”

L. Neil Smith
From his website
[Sounds like a plan to me!—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don’t turn this ship around and so it’s basically like, there’s a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult. And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question, you know, ‘Is it okay to still have children?’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S. Representative (D-NY)
February 24, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez: People Maybe Shouldn’t Reproduce Due To Climate Change
[Via email from Lyle.

With such crap for brains one could make the case our country would be better off if her parents had not had children. But there is also the case to be made that we would not have such wonderful political entertainment and in-fighting in the Democrat Party if it weren’t for her.—Joe]

A risky truth

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Via a tweet from UR a Smart Ass, Carl‏ @cleflore23:

MenGunLawsSex

However much truth is in this statement I suspect this is good way to drive your odds of having sex asymptotically close to zero.

Quote of the day—Maj Toure @MAJTOURE

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Currently, folks can be locked up for feeding homeless, stashing rain water, growing plants, recording public servants and owning guns. What a time to be alive.

Maj Toure @MAJTOURE
Tweeted on February 22, 2019
[Look on the bright side. There is lots of opportunity for improvement because there is so much low hanging fruit.

Or is that, “Fruits that should be hanged”?—Joe]

Quote of the day—Colion Noir

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But then, progress to what? Progress to Hell?

Colion Noir
At 23:20 in Seattle: The Utopian Lie | NOIR S7E8
[Via email from Stephanie.

I knew there was a big homeless issue. Until the weather got cold late last fall there was a guy you lived on a bench in Bellevue next to the street which I drove by on the way to work. In downtown Seattle you can see tents next to parking areas on the streets. But I didn’t realize there were piles of used needles on some streets and schools had to pick up needles from the sports fields before they could use the fields.

Government officials are enabling these things (watch the video). Someone in the area dies from illegal drug use every 36 hours. And the politicians want to demonstrate their hatred, prejudice, and bigotry of gun owners who are among the most law abiding and productive members of society. Screw that. We aren’t a problem. But if they keep it up, we could be. And the police are likely to look the other way when we ignore the politicians stupid and hateful laws.

The video is a bit long and is mostly about heroin use with a little bit of gun rights stuff mixed in. But the points that really stuck with me is that Seattle city officials:

  1. Have a set of beliefs which they they cannot or will not reconcile with reality. And/or:
  2. Are deliberately attempting to destroy society.

My guess is that “progress to hell” isn’t the intent they discuss even when they talk among themselves. But they do know that is where they are headed. They are almost certainly suffering from their own addiction. An addiction to power and an addiction to a failed belief system and it’s difficult to kick their habits. And as one of the people in the video points out, 95% of junkies cannot get cleaned up until they hit bottom. And politicians are a long way from hitting bottom. They will die of old age while still a junkie.—Joe]

Recondo Class is Coming — Adventure Training!

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Via email from Insights. I wish it was some other time than Boomershoot weekend. Some people might be interested in doing both:

Over 60 hours of training in 4 days!

Its finally here, the class you’ve been waiting for — Recondo School! Four completely packed fully immersive days of training with Special Operators on all aspects of patrolling. Learn all there is to know about small team reconnaissance, ambush, and raid.
Starting with the basics, 3-5 man element teams will conduct day and night reconnaissance missions. Next the teams will combine to conduct ambush patrols. The teams grow again to conduct raids on enemy encampments. The final day is live fire battle drills, learning to do everything safely with live ammunition.
Outside of the military nothing like this has ever been offered before. Others have done fantasy camps, no one has run the real deal. Most active duty infantrymen never get a chance for this level of training!

The Details

One of the ultimate expressions of this class was done during the Vietnam War and was known as MACV-RECONDO school. This school was set up by Project Delta (yes, the guys who later founded Delta Force) and then turned over to 5th SFG. This was the basis for LRRP/Ranger type operations in Vietnam. This course will be modeled after that school but with a modern backdrop and modern planning procedures.
Taught by Army Green Berets, Army Rangers, Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol members and other select Special Operations personnel.  The best of the best. Each combat patrol will have at least one cadre member and larger patrols will have two or more per patrol. Cadre will be teaching, mentoring, and leading the patrols.
The course will be taught inside of a scenario wargame, just like all military exercises and like the Special Forces Qualification Course which uses “Pineland”. In this course we will be using the scenario of “Red Dawn”. A foreign military force has invaded America and now you are in the resistance fighting against them. Luckily US Army Green Berets have infiltrated your area to provide you training and leadership!
Immersive scenario based training is far more effective than a conventional course. Everything is “real” and has context and pieces learned on one day connect back in later in the scenario. This course will have over a dozen live role players playing the part of the enemy, have real people as part of the “underground” etc. FULLY IMMERSIVE TRAINING. InSights will be offering numerous “linked” courses around this scenario in the future.
Besides the patrolling track we will be offering a Tactical Operations Center track. These are the guys who make the missions run, produce and give intelligence briefings, run radio networks, debrief teams after missions, coordinate with underground forces and assets, meet and interview intelligence sources, “Battle track” teams and the enemy. Learn intelligence preparation of the battlefield, operational security, and tradecraft for the resistance environment. The TOC track is perfect for those who might not be up for four days and nights of moving through the woods but who still want to learn to contribute to the team.
Class dates: May 2-5, 2019
Location: 3 hours from Seattle (location provided upon registration)
Tuition: $1600
Prerequisite: Concealed Pistol License or documentation of good character
Minimum required equipment:

  • AR-15 type rifle in 5.56 with blank adaptor and 400 rounds of blanks and 200 rounds live ammunition
  • Compass
  • Simple chest rig or load bearing equipment
  • Day pack
  • Outdoor clothes and boots with multiple changes and gear for inclement weather.
  • Sleeping equipment to include cot or sleeping pad

    • Optional equipment:

  • Binoculars
  • Night vision equipment
  • GPS
  • FRS/GMRS radios

    • A full field kitchen with cooks will be present so students will not have to worry about meals or snacks, etc. You will be able to dedicate yourself 100% to training.
    Large squad tents are also provided.
    To register, call us at 1.888.958.0884 or email us at: info@insightstraining.com.
    Stay safe and we’ll see you in class!

    Another beautiful day at Boomershoot

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    Boomershoot territory received some fresh snow recently. Then the sun came out (webcam and current weather conditions are available here):

    P19022312482410

    Only 69 days left before Boomershoot 2019. That plenty of time for the snow to melt but not that much time to make all your preparation for long range precision rifle shooting at highly reactive targets.

    It’s going to be a great event this year with lots of explody goodness. Just today I bought almost all of the remaining chemicals needed.

    Boomershoot 2019 is currently 57% full. Sign up now while there are still positions left.

    Quote of the day—Ozzie Knezovich

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    This is an individual who wants to ban guns — except he wants to kill people.

    Ozzie Knezovich
    Spokane Sheriff
    February 21, 2019
    Washington Man Arrested For Allegedly Vowing Sheriffs Who Oppose Gun Control Law ‘Will Be Shot. By Me.’
    [Well, of course. As Lyle pointed out a few days ago when the question “Why are anti-gun activists so violent?” came up again:

    When you turn that question around and ask it the other way (Why are the violent so opposed to honest people being armed?) then it pretty well answers itself.

    That an obviously violent person thinks it is so vitally important that the guns of common people must have their guns taken away is one of the best reasons possible to hold on to your guns and prepare to use them.

    Here is a picture of the thug:

    jaydinledfordmugshot

    Be on your guard. He may not remain in jail long enough to cure him of his violent and Marxist ways.—Joe]

    Quote of the day—Russell Shafer

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    I have an issue with having to go to a dealership and do a background check before you can even trade a gun or sell a gun to your brother or your best friend. That’s my concern, that’s infringing upon our second amendment rights.

    Russell Shafer
    Quay County Sheriff
    February 20, 2019
    ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties’ Declared in New Mexico
    [I like this trend (see also the map here).—Joe]

    Overheard at work

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    Caity: Do you remember the time we had to write the report on the electromagnetic pulse? A solar storm or something?

    Joe: I remember the report on the possibility of North Korea setting off a nuke and creating an EMP.

    Kelsey: I remember that! That was really depressing. It was like, “Time to go to Idaho and hide in a bunker.”

    [Laughter from everyone and they all look at me.]

    Joe: I don’t have a bunker in Idaho! I may have an explosives production facility in Idaho but I don’t have a bunker.

    [laughter from everyone]

    Joe: It’s all about offense, not defense.

    Quote of the day—Eric Boehm

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    Timbs is a good reminder of how ridiculous the argument in favor of civil asset forfeiture really is. During oral arguments in November, Indiana’s solicitor general got boxed into a corner by Justice Stephen Breyer, who managed to twist the government’s lawyer into arguing that Indiana should be allowed to seize vehicles for as small an offense as driving 5 mph over the speed limit, which literally elicited laughter in the courtroom.

    After Wednesday’s ruling, there’s a better chance that more civil asset forfeiture cases will be laughed right out of court for being what they obviously are: unconstitutional, excessive punishments that don’t fit the crime.

    Eric Boehm
    February 20, 2019
    Supreme Court Delivers Unanimous Victory for Asset Forfeiture Challenge
    [And as Tam said:

    When Clarence AND Ruth are on the same side of an argument, you gotta be kind of a weirdo to be on the other side of it.

    This is great news.—Joe]

    Quote of the day—Alan Korwin

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    Finding and arresting the armed criminals, that’s what makes you safer. That’s what we all seek, or should. Keep the dangerous, the repeat offenders, the people who have guns by the millions who should not have them — isn’t that what you want?

    Spending all this money and police effort and computer power to find and write down the name of every innocent citizen who goes out and buys or transfers a gun — what does that do but make people who don’t understand feel good?

    Americans buy and transfer tens of millions of guns all the time, all of it legal, none of it connected with crime. Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, Bernie, Hillary, the solid block of knowing (and unwitting) Democrats in both houses of Congress, they want to control THAT. That’s what their H.R. 8 background checks are aimed at. Checks have nothing to do with making us safe and controlling crime and danger. Their leadership is 100% aware of this.

    Alan Korwin
    February 15, 2019
    Background Checks Are…Wrong
    [I have nothing to add.—Joe]

    Quote of the day—Wednesday Martin

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    Most people in sexual partnerships end up facing the conundrum biologists call “habituation to a stimulus” over time, a growing body of research suggests that heterosexual women, in the aggregate, are likely to face this problem earlier in the relationship than men. And that disparity tends not to even out over time. In general, men can manage wanting what they already have, while women struggle with it.

    Wednesday Martin
    February 14, 2019
    The Bored Sex
    [I’d like to see the research on this. I’m a bit skeptical that women are more likely than men to have these feelings. However, I have talked to a number of women who identify with this.

    One women asked me to take some sexy pictures of her. It turned out it was for one of her boyfriends. Not her husband. The husband wasn’t supposed to know about them. “How many boyfriends do you have?”, I asked. Her answer was a bit of a surprise to me, “Enough for my own basketball team.”

    Another woman was married a couple years to a really nice guy when she started getting “restless”. She felt she just had to have sex with someone other than her husband. She decided there was something wrong with her mate selection and divorced him. She found someone else, thought things were great, then after a couple years the same thing happened. She ended up finding a local sex club that she started attending regularly.

    Another woman had been married something like five to seven years and found she could barely stand to have sex with her husband. He was a really nice guy and she liked him a lot, he was good looking, but sex just wasn’t something she wanted to do with him. What about sex in general? Did she have an interest in sex with some other men? Ahh…. yes, she would like to have sex “with like seven guys at the same time”. The last time I talked to her she was meeting a married man several times a week but still had no interest in her husband.

    Another woman “stopped counting” after she had 200+ sex partners (both male and female) before she finally “settled down” and got married. After a couple years she was “climbing the walls”. She got her husband to regularly go to a sex club with her and her cravings were brought under control. But her husband didn’t really care for that solution and the last I heard from her there were a lot of compromises on both sides but without either being very happy about the situation.

    Those are just the few I can think of off the top of my head. I could go dig through my notes and find many more examples. The point is,I am quite sure what Martin is saying has some truth to it. “Conventional wisdom” on this topic is at least not universally applicable. I’m willing to consider the hypothesis that a significant portion of the female population is content being monogamous but there is a lot of data that says it is not universal and that women who have very ordinary childhoods with no discernible “damage” are not comfortable with monogamy.

    See also Sex at Dawn (Sex at Dusk is a counter argument) and Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Infidelity Is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free.—Joe]

    Quote of the day—Matt Shea

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    The problem is I am not going to sit in a state that is going to try to take away our firearms, either by regulation, by cost or by confiscation, are you? So if they try to do that the only solution left is the 51st state. A lot of people say, ‘Why do you want to do that?’ It would better represent downtown Seattle’s values and our values in Eastern Washington if we split. They would stop calling us the welfare freeloaders, as one publication said. They would stop calling us names, we’re the ignorant hicks. Have your socialist values in downtown Seattle. It’s awesome. Go and do that do that experiment, but let us live free.

    Matt Shea
    Washington State representative
    February 15, 2019
    Supporters of forming 51st State of Liberty gather at capitol rotunda
    [As Richard said yesterday:

    Absolutely right about CW2. I have never experienced it, thank God, but have studied it enough to know I want no part of it. Trouble it takes only one side to start it. That is why I want a civil divorce before it is too late.

    Sounds like a plan. Make it so.—Joe]

    Signing some papers at the courthouse

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    Last Thursday evening Barb, some friends, and family members went to the courthouse to watch as Barb and I signed some papers.

    This was our point of view:

    20190214_174823

    This was their point of view:

    IMG_0877
    Photo by Mark.

    Attach0
    Photo by Jaime.

    Check out the judge’s boots! It was because of the Snowpocalypse.

    The next two pictures were after we had finished.

    IMG_1014Adjusted800x1200
    Photo by Jane.

    IMG_1031Adjusted
    Photo by the judge.

    Then most of us went back to our house for dinner and cake.IMG_1037

    IMG_1039

    I would have been certain “it would work out” had we gotten married after the first couple of months we were together. After several months the topic of marriage would occasionally come up and Barb didn’t see the point and then after a year or three she was quite clear that she did not want to get married. It wasn’t my preference but I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it and it almost never came up between us.

    Then last June she proposed to me (the proposal blog post has been in draft form for months and I just now published it). There were some tax and other issues to resolve and we finally sort of settled on Valentines Day by the November/December timeframe. Valentines Day saves some hassle because you have one less card and/or gift to worry about during the year and you are less likely to forget about it. A bonus is that it is the 65th anniversary of when my parents got married.