That which one of my favorite YouTubers says is his “most valuable” firearm is one of my favorite (carbines?) also, and his has one of my favorite creations on it. OK, he doesn’t mention his M1-B optic mount, and doesn’t have an optic on it for the video, but we’ll take what we get.
He had his AK worked over at Rifle Dynamics, which is one of our distributors. They seem to know what they’re doing, and that is something worthwhile.
Other than the one shiny wheel, the white letter tires, the stupid lift job and the stupid foot step, this would have been a common sight from the time of my childhood. That rig would have been just an old rig, kept in service beyond its years because newer rigs cost money. It would have been used for serious work, thus it would not have been lifted, but it may have had a plow blade or some other makeshift whatsit cobbled onto it, and it would have shown more rust.
Post apocalyptic? I don’t know. Maybe if it had a wood-smoke burner conversion. I do appreciate the fact that someone is keeping it in operation.
“After Newtown, nothing changed, so don’t expect anything to change after Las Vegas.”
How often have you heard that said? Yet it’s not true. The five years since a gunman killed 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have seen one of the most intense bursts of gun legislation in U.S. history—almost all of it intended to ensure that more guns can be carried into more places.
David Frum
October 3, 2017
Mass Shootings Don’t Lead to Inaction—They Lead to Loosening Gun Restrictions
[Gee… I wonder why that is? Could it be that people realized that having the ability to protect yourself is a good idea?
One would think this is the obvious answer. But Frum is apparently immune to such thoughts:
This may explain why gun advocates insist that the immediate aftermath of a spectacular massacre is “too soon” for the gun discussion. They want the pain and grief and fear to ebb. They want ordinary citizens to look away. Then, when things are quiet, the gun advocates will go to work, to bring more guns to places where alcohol is served, where children are cared for, where students are taught, where God is worshipped. More killings bring more guns. More guns do more killing. It’s a cycle the nation has endured for a long time, and there is little reason to hope that the atrocity in Las Vegas will check or reverse it.
The mind of an anti-gun person is broken. Some can be repaired but for the most part we need to point them out to those who haven’t yet drank the Kool-Aid and let reality sink it. It’s generally a better use of our time.
But if you look at the psychology of the these type of people there is a way to win them over. You remove social support for their position and/or you give them unequivocal disconfirmation of their beliefs.—Joe]
The Impact of Mass Shootings on Gun Policy
There have been dozens of high-profile mass shootings in recent decades. This paper presents three main findings about the impact of mass shootings on gun policy. First, mass shootings evoke large policy responses. A single mass shooting leads to a 15% increase in the number of firearm bills introduced within a state in the year after a mass shooting. Second, mass shootings account for a small portion of all gun deaths, but have an outsized influence relative to other homicides. Our estimates suggest that the per-death impact of mass shootings on bills introduced is about 80 times as large as the impact of individual gun homicides in non-mass shooting incidents. Third, when looking at enacted laws, the impact of mass shootings depends on the party in power. A mass shooting increases the number of enacted laws that loosen gun restrictions by 75% in states with Republican controlled legislatures. We find no significant effect of mass shootings on laws enacted when there is a Democrat-controlled legislature.
I found this difficult to believe. Didn’t the elementary school shooting in Stockton California enable passage of the “assault weapon” ban in California? Didn’t the Newton Connecticut school shooting result in more restrictive laws in New York, Connecticut and Colorado?
I didn’t duplicate their math but I read their process details fairly closely. It sounds like they did a good job of accounting for various factors and categorization of legislative action and every other variable I could think of (and some I didn’t think of).
The bottom line appears to be that those increasing of firearms restrictions due to the mass shooting events I think of are statistical noise. This is interesting and timely because one hypothesis of the most recent mass shooting in Las Vegas is as follows:
It has been said that ‘the medium is the message’.
In this case that is the literal truth. There is only one plausible motive for what this man did. And here it is:
This man wished to telegraph to America in graphic form the hard irrefutable evidence that guns and gun ownership and the ease of gun purchase in America are an evil and must be controlled. On that hypothesis everything now makes sense. And it must be said his concept has a certain demented genius.
Because even if the public learns and believes that his motive was all about ‘guns’ the horror of the act itself – an act to protest such acts – is in some ways even worse for being plain evidence that there is no limit to the insanity to which guns can be put.
Also note that nearly all mass shooters are inclined to be Democrats. Most are way around the bend nuts, but was part of their nuttiness that they were trying to convey their message that guns were too dangerous for private citizens to have “because look at what I did?” If so, then widespread knowledge that gun laws tend to be relaxed as a result of mass shootings may tend to reduce the frequency of mass shootings.
This shooting is more evidence that NO ONE is safe from gun violence. Let’s all recognize that and get guns out of our society. The sense of security advocated by people in favor of gun rights is false and not real protection. Gun pushers like the NRA should be treated like the pariahs on society that they are. They’re conducting a war on the American people. Let’s take away the arms.
Repeal the 2nd Amendment. The time to talk about it has passed. The time to do it is now.
gwaz17
October 2, 2017
Comment to Preventing Future Mass Shootings Like Las Vegas
[People like this aren’t telling you something:
This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed.
Chief Justice Morrison Waite
U.S. Supreme Court
U S v Cruikshank
92 U.S. 542 (1875)
But almost as important is for freedom loving people to make sure that no one gets away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]
There should be a MINIMUM PENlS LENGTH LAW for the purchase of a gun.
SpidermanDC
September 29, 2017
Comment to Appeals court order blocks enforcement of D.C.’s strict concealed carry law
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]
So why are lawmakers responding to mass killings by loosening gun laws? The wrong answer is that the N.R.A. is this maliciously powerful force that controls legislators through campaign dollars. In fact, the N.R.A. spends a minuscule amount on campaign contributions compared with the vast oceans of dough washing through our politics.
The reality is that in some places people want these laws. It’s true that individual gun control measures, like banning bump stocks, have popular support, but, over all, the gun rights people are winning the hearts and minds of America. In 2000, according to a Pew survey, only 29 percent of Americans supported more gun rights and 67 percent supported more gun control. By 2016, 52 percent of Americans supported more gun rights and only 46 percent supported more control.
…
Today we need another grand synthesis that can move us beyond the current divide, a synthesis that is neither redneck nor hipster but draws from both worlds to create a new social vision. Progress on guns will be possible when the culture war subsides, but not before.
David Brooks
October 6, 2017
Guns and the Soul of America
[For a New York Times opinion piece I found this to be very insightful. His view on “progress on guns” is much different than mine but I believe his words to be correct even if his intended meaning is 180 degrees from mine. We need to win the culture war.
Even in Brooks opinion piece there is evidence this is about a culture war rather than about the facts of gun ownership related to public safety, constitutional law, or philosophy:
This gigantic shift in public opinion hasn’t come about because the facts support the gun rights position. The research doesn’t overwhelmingly support either side. Gun control proposals don’t seriously impinge freedom; on the other hand, there’s not much evidence that they would prevent many attacks.
Even though he knows the evidence doesn’t support his goal of “progress on guns” he thinks it should be done anyway. Why?
It’s about control. He want a culture controlled by a central committee. We want a culture of liberty. We have to win this war. We should only compromise if it takes us a small step closer when we find we can’t make a large step closer to our goals.
Take new shooters to the range. It works. I just found out a couple days ago that new shooters Kurt and Tracie recently bought their first gun.
Guns are a “gateway drug” to liberty. Get them hooked.—Joe]
The US has too many guns and too many idiots who buy them. And we have too many idiot judges that support the idiotic republican view of guns. It may have to do with “small hand syndrome” or an inability to interact with the opposite sex.
MMSJkenB
October 2, 2017
Comment to Why Congress still won’t ‘do something’ about gun laws after Las Vegas
[This is what they think of you and the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms.—Joe]
I am 100% in favor of total repeal of the 2nd. NO RIGHT TO ANY FIREARMS WHATSOEVER. PERIOD. At the very least, it would get rid of annoying squeaks like that.
JDPlenty
October 2, 2017
Comment to Why Congress still won’t ‘do something’ about gun laws after Las Vegas.
[Considering there are tens of millions of gun owners, with 100’s of millions of guns and billions of rounds of ammunition. Many of which will be inclined turn in their bullets, minus shell casing, primer, and powder, prior to surrendering their guns I would expect few will describe the response as “annoying squeaks”. But as we have long known anti-gun people are mostly disconnected from reality. JDPlenty is, of course, projecting.
And, of course, don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]
Civilians have no legitimate need for center fire cartridge, semi automatic rifles, with interchangeable magazines. They are weapons of war, developed for killing people in combat in the most efficient manner possible. Whenever the Democrats finally regain power, they should be banned, with people given 2 years to turn them in for some reasonable cash payments, after which, possession would be a felony punishable by a $10,000 fine, and up to 5 years in jail. Ditto with semi auto center fire pistols.
Bill Simpson
October 2, 2017
Comment to Video from Las Vegas suggests automatic gunfire. Here’s what makes machine guns different.
[It’s a Bill of Rights. Not a Bill of Needs.
If I could tell Simpson just one thing it would be that we need to enforce the laws already on the books—18 USC 242.
Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]
The country is awash in 300 million guns. Until that number actually reduces, rather than grows as the NRA wishes, our nation’s gun death rate will always be the highest of any developed nation. The only way to accomplish that is with some sort of gun buy-back and destruction program.
EricNM
October 2, 2017
Comment to Preventing Future Mass Shootings Like Las Vegas
[Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.
EricNM is delusional. It addition to “buy-backs” presuming facts not in evident (the government can’t “buy-back” some they never owned to begin with), there may be as many as 660 million guns in the hands of private citizens, voluntary “buy-backs” have been found to be ineffectual in our country every time they have been tried, and even if it were politically possible legislate mandatory confiscation the most likely result would be for the police and military to, at best, ignore such laws to infringe upon the inalienable right of the people to keep and bear arms.
There would also be a significant chance the surviving politicians would find themselves arrested, convicted, and sent to prison. But don’t expect delusional people break out of their alternate reality no matter what the evidence.—Joe]
There was no such thing as cowboy ammo in the 19th Century, but now in the 21st we have a new metal cartridge called the “Cowboy 45 Special”.
Continue reading
Take the goober’s guns away! Ban the damned things already! Melt ’em down! If Billy Bob has a hissy, so be it. This second amendment is not protecting Americans, it is killing us.
Engraver
October 2, 2017
Comment to A scary turn: Las Vegas may be first mass shooting using an automatic weapon
[Dear Engraver,
I would like to suggest you take point on one of the teams going through the door to collect them and “melt ‘em down”. You’ll meet a lot of people who do a good job of on the spot copper engraving you might have an interest in.
Regards,
Joe]
It’s still early but this seems to be detailed enough to be believed:
Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter, had an arsenal of 17 weapons in his hotel room, mostly military-style rifles, according to a law enforcement source.
At least one of them had been modified with a legal “bump stock” style device that allows the shooter to rapidly fire off rounds without actually converting it to a fully automatic weapon, the source said.
The devices modify the gun’s stock so that the recoil helps accelerate how quickly the shooter can pull the trigger. The devices are legal in the U.S.
Other weapons may have been converted to fully automatic fire, and were still being examined, the source said.
Paddock had four Daniel Defense DDM4 rifles, three FN-15s and other rifles made by Sig Sauer.
CBS fired a company executive Monday after she criticized some victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting as “Republican gun toters” who did not deserve sympathy.
She wrote:
If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs will ever do the right thing. I’m actually not even sympathetic bc country music fans often are Republican gun toters.
Don’t forget, this is what some people think of gun owners. They do not think of us as fully human and deserving of life and/or liberty. Violence in support of their beliefs is easily justified. It’s part of their nature.
On this day of extreme sadness and the predictable attacks on private gun owners remember this evil person could have chosen a worse weapon to kill and injury. From Nice France in 2016:
On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19 tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people[2] and the injury of 458 others.
If “properly” equipped such a vehicle could have killed many times more than this in some Las Vegas venues.
Early this morning The New York Times posted an editorial by Nicholas Kristof titled “Preventing Future Mass Shootings Like Las Vegas” and described infringements upon the right to keep and bear arms which would have done absolutely nothing to have prevented the mass shooting:
After the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians will be to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead a national mourning. Yet what we need most of all isn’t mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America.
Here is what this liar said, “that would, collectively, make a difference”:
The intentional deception continues with comparison to regulations on ladders in the workplace and automobile accidents. This deception conflates accidental deaths with intentional deaths. If he were being honest here he would have compared accidental deaths by falls off of ladders or automobile accidents to firearm accidental deaths. Or the use of automobiles in violent crime such as bank robberies, kidnapping, and terrorist attacks. That would be fair. But it’s obvious Kristof is not interested in fair or honest.
Lets do an “apples to apples” type comparison with accidental firearm deaths and see how gun ownership stacks up. I’ve reported the accidental death by firearm numbers before, but here is it again with slight editing to make it consistent with this blog post.
Here is the data I downloaded from the CDC on accidental firearm deaths.
From 1985 to 2015 the total number deaths dropped from 1649 to 489. A decrease of over 70%. And if we look at the death rate instead of total deaths it went from 0.69 to 0.15 per 100,000. That’s a drop of over 78%. And that’s without a government program.
I can’t say that it is cause and effect but the NRA Eddie Eagle program (gun safety for children of any age from pre-school through third grade) was developed in 1988. And there was a big push for more NRA firearms instructors in the mid 1990s.
But don’t expect Kristof or any other anti-gun person to talk about the successes of the private sector or gun organizations. It’s not about safety. It’s about government control.
People in civilized cities who don’t want your little substitute penises going off in parking lots and killing their children have no say
Roger Canaff @rogercanaff
Tweeted on April 24, 2017
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
Childish insults. It’s what they do when they realized they are on the wrong side of the law, have a philosophically losing position, and are outwitted.—Joe]
The numbers are subject to change but the current count is 50 dead.
The shooter was on the 32 floor of the hotel across the street from a music festival.
No known motive. The best info on the shooter I have seen is here.
Speculation the shooter was a Democrat is premature. Speculation that Democrats will immediately use this horrific act for political gain is a winning bet if you could find someone to bet against you.
I saw a cool vid over at Bayou Renaissance Man., on this particular page. This: a transparent suppressor and a high-speed camera.
Interesting stuff.