Quote of the day—Maile McCann

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Finally, and most importantly, incorporating considerations of gun suicide into policy-making decisions is necessary because it would lead to different policy outcomes. One of the main focuses of the gun-control debate revolves around limiting the types of firearms that can be purchased, which could work to decrease the casualties of individual mass shootings, but would do little to prevent gun suicide, which requires only one bullet. Instead, focusing on mental health screenings, making it take longer to buy guns, making it harder to buy guns, and eliminating guns altogether would prove much more effective.

Maile McCann
March 8, 2017
Suicide: Gun Control Advocates’ More Pressing Problem
[McCann thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to “eliminate guns altogether” (Maile, are you taking point on that task?) because some people wants to exercise their own “right to chose”. Even if 100% of those decisions were easily and conclusively known to be wrong decisions (I know of suicides where one can make a decent case that it wasn’t an unreasonable decision) the decisions other people make for themselves cannot give some government entity the power to infringe upon the rights of the population as a whole.

And don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Stranger

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someone stopped by searching for “key question about gun control.”

Inspector of Police Colin Greenwood of the West Yorkshire Constabulary, (Rtd) , in a report to Parliament tells of flying to Australia for an international conference of Criminologists. Everyone before his scheduled speaking time was high on the myriad virtues of gun control, so the Inspector scrapped his prepared notes and, stepping to the podium asked the hall full of criminologists if they knew of a single case in which gun controls had reduced crime rates, made anyone safer, or done anything else a sane person would consider “good.” No one did.

Inspector of Police Greenwood’s question is the key question about gun control.

Stranger
March 6, 2016
“The Most Important Fact About Gun Control?”
[Just one question.—Joe

Update: Sometimes what I think is blindly obvious and doesn’t need to be said, actually should be said…

This demonstrates those who support gun control do it for reasons other than the public good. So, one has to ask, what is the real reason they support gun control?]

Joe’s [Done] Answering Qs on Reddit AMA

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[Update: Joe’s done at Reddit. Thanks to all who participated in the interview.]

Joe’s over yonder on Reddit, still answering questions. Join in the conversation here.

For those new to Reddit (hint, hint Lyle), you’ll want to create a Reddit account, then go to this link and ask away.

Quote of the day—John Hoschen

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After 20 years of active duty military experience and nearly 30 years involved with professional civilian handgun training I have observed that:

1) Handguns are at best of tertiary interest to the Army.

2) The criteria used to select a handgun for the military includes several factors of very limited value to the civilian self-defense practitioner and fails to address several other factors which are critical to that user.

3) Only a VERY small minority of all military members EVER fire a handgun.

4) The training provided to the majority of military members who do fire a handgun is extremely rudimentary. (InSights General Defensive Handgun course is far more in depth and the material in our Intermediate Defensive Handgun course is not found in the military training system other than a few special operations schools.)

Based on the above observations it is my opinion that:

What handgun the Army has chosen for standard issue should have exactly zero impact on what handgun a civilian should consider for self defense use.

John Hoschen
March 3, 2017
Via the InSights Training Center email list regarding the Sig P320
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

We talked about this years ago

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Now apparently the technology to use sound sensor arrays to locate a source in urban environments is being deployed.

I do not for a moment believe that its main impetus is the desire to save lives however.

Notice the tricky little dance in the text, whereby they point to the high rate of gun ownership in Texas as a reason why a city needs a sonic surveillance network to locate gun shots. This kind of lie (we call it “fake news” now, but it’s just a form of lie – we could call it “the subtle art of the lie”) will always sway a few people and so it will continue to be used.

In reality of course, the city and state governments which commit the most significant infringements against the right to bear arms will tend to have the higher rates of violent crime in those areas as a result. They know this, and yet call for more of the cause, presenting it to us as the cure.

I love living in the future

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This will shake things up:

“We will be providing access to quantum systems for selected industry partners starting this year,” said Scott Crowder, who’s leading the handoff of the quantum computing work from IBM Research to the IBM Systems product team.

Certain problems that were computationally impossible to solve using current computers will be solved in a fraction of a second. The programming and the algorithms used will be mind bending but the results will be astounding.

This will be as big, or bigger, than the invention of the microprocessor in the 1970s. I was there for that (in college I built a simple system on an 8080 and programmed it by hand assemble of the instructions and keying the hex bytes into a PROM programmer) and I’m thrilled to be here for this.

Reminder: Joe/Boomershoot & Maj/Black Guns Matter on Reddit AMA

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Join the live conversation tomorrow, Tues. March 7, 11am EST: Joe Huffman of Boomershoot & Maj Toure of Black Guns Matter on Reddit AMA.

Joe Huffman, Founder of Boomershoot:
I’m white + from Idaho. I make reactive targets for people to shoot at, and detonate, thus causing fiery, fun explosions.

Maj Toure, Founder of Black Guns Matter:
I’m black + from Philly. I teach urban communities gun rights and responsibilities, to prevent inner cities from self-imploding.

We’re two peas in a pod, here to talk guns, gun safety, exploding targets, keeping cool, and peace.

We’re not here to nitpick about gun facts — that’s already been done.

We’re here to have fun. We’re individually atypical, so let’s dig deep into what makes us tick: why we do what we do, and how we do it! Ready. Aim. Fire. Kaboom!

#BlackGunsMatter
#Boomershoot

Precision Rifle Clinic and Field Fire update

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Boomershoot Precision Rifle Clinic instructor Gene Econ has sent me an update to share for the events he is running this year. Basically it is the schedule and some safety issues.

News you can use

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Apparently, if you tell the police you are going to be inappropriately touching people, before you actually do it, the police will then give you a pass:

the TSA decided to inform local police in case anyone calls to report an “abnormal” federal frisking, according to a memo from an airport trade association obtained by Bloomberg News.

Good to know.

Quick Way To Help the Gun Cause: Volunteer To Convert This Boomershoot Video Into A More Universal Format

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[Update: Phelps helps in a flash. Thanks, Phelps. Much appreciated. — Stephanie]
………………………

Greetings, thousands of readers/potential tech-savvy volunteers!

Is there anyone out there who could please volunteer to convert this old Boomershoot .wmv video from King 5 Seattle’s award-winning feature into a more universal format, and then post to YouTube… for educational use? Deadline: ASAP.

Video’s on the Boomershoot website, here:
http://boomershoot.org/2005/KING5.wmv

If you’re able to help, please post your YouTube link in the comments below.
Thank you! — Stephanie

P.S. To keep within YouTube guidelines, it’s important to include this wording in your description on YouTube:

This video is posted for teaching, scholarship, and research purposes.
Credit: King 5 NBC Seattle, King5.com

Learn more at: Boomershoot.org

Quote of the day-OMG How Could I?‏ @DidITweetThat

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@seahawks575791 What purposes do guns have?

1 Kill
2 Target Practice
3 Penis Enlargement
4 Penis Replacement
5 ?

OMG How Could I?‏ @DidITweetThat
Tweeted on June 1, 2016
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via a tweet from Proud Hunter ‏@Duck_Hunter7.

We have SCOTUS decisions. They have a startlingly limited view of reality.—Joe]

Boomershoot stuff

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I have completed the CafePress Boomershoot 2017 section. The image used was the beginning of the fireball from Boomershoot 2015. The slogan is from a comment by JFT on one of my Boomershoot postings.

CafePressBoomershoot2017

In addition to the usual t-shirts, cups, and thongs (yes, there has been more than one sale of a Boomershoot thong) there are now king-size blankets, coffee trays, cutting boards, pillows, and potholders. For some reason a potholder with an image of a fireball on it makes me laugh even more than the Boomershoot thong.

Take a look and see what you think.

How times change

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I was doing some reorganizing and throwing away of old things on my library shelves and ran across a “men’s magazine”, Cheri (caution explicit photos), from October 1983. I don’t know why I still had it. I never subscribed to it. It was a favorite of a friend of my ex-wife and I. But we lost contact with him in about 1979 or 1980.

I was about to toss it in the recycling when I noticed something on the cover:

Cheri1983_10Cover

A sex and gun club in Hawaii? That’s odd. For one, I wasn’t into guns then. And two, were guns that less frowned upon that a magazine of that genre would, let along a club, risk combining the two subjects? And three, I never could, and still don’t, see a connection between sex and guns. They just don’t mix for me.

I scanned in the first two pages of the article (probably NSFW) and put them here and here.

In the second page of the article you will find they say that all calibers greater than .22 LR are banned in the state. Even though they still suffer under extremely repressive gun laws it seems as if Hawaii’s gun owners made progress in some areas over the last 33+ years.

I wondered if the magazine was still in existence and found the link to their website. I discovered their current content is all hard core. I remember our friend saying he liked the magazine because it was not as explicit as many other magazines and it featured women who looked more real than those in the better known magazines. Looking at my sample it appears to be a notch less explicit than Playboy magazine was at the time.

Times change in many ways.

Boomershoot shirt history

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I was looking through my collection of images for Boomershoot shirts and thought I would share:

shirt2001

Shirt2002

Staff2003

Shirt2004

BS2005

Shirt2006

Shirt2007

Shirt2008

Boomershoot2009

Boomershoot2010

Boomershoot2011Lightened

2012boomershoot

Cafepress

Boomershoot2014

Boomershoot2015Image

CafePress2016

Yes, the 2016 slogan is a duplicate of 2006. That was intentional.

The 2017 image will be coming soon.

Security theater has another act

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U.S. Airport Pat-Downs Are About to Get More Invasive

The TSA reacts to a study that found weapons making it past security.

While few have noticed, U.S. airport security workers long had the option of using five different types of physical pat-downs at the screening line. Now those options have been eliminated and replaced with a single universal approach. This time, you will notice.

The new physical touching—for those selected to have a pat-down—will be be what the federal agency officially describes as a more “comprehensive” physical screening, according to a Transportation Security Administration spokesman.

Denver International Airport, for example, notified employees and flight crews on Thursday that the “more rigorous” searches “will be more thorough and may involve an officer making more intimate contact than before.”

“I would say people who in the past would have gotten a pat-down that wasn’t involved will notice that the [new] pat-down is more involved,” TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson said Friday.

It’s still going to be security theater.

When will the people say this is too much and demand the abolishment of the TSA?

Quote of the day—Benjamin Franklin

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I ran over in my mind every property by which she was distinguished, not only from other animals, but from those of the same genus or class of animals, endeavoring to fix some meaning to each, not wholly inconsistent with common sense.

I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds ’till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.

Benjamin Franklin
December 27, 1775
Benjamin Franklin on the Rattlesnake as a Symbol of America
[Via an email from Firearms Policy Coalition promoting “a limited-edition “Don’t Tread on Me” morale patch.”

FpcDontTreadOnMe

Interesting. I had never given the Gadsden flag anywhere that much thought and there is far more reflection on the meaning at the link.—Joe]

This Tues. March 7, 11am EST: Joe Huffman & Maj Toure on Reddit AMA – Ask Me Anything

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Stop by Reddit this Tuesday, March 7, at 11am EST, to participate in Reddit AMA interview of Joe Huffman, Boomershoot Founder & Maj Toure, Black Guns Matter Founder.

Joe is white + from Idaho. Joe makes reactive targets for people to shoot at, and detonate, thus causing fiery, fun explosions.

Maj is black + from Philly. Maj teaches urban communities gun rights and responsibilities, to prevent inner cities from self-imploding.

They’re two peas in a pod, and will be on Reddit AMA to talk guns, gun safety, exploding targets, keeping cook, and peace. Please, ask them anything!
….
More Joe/Boomershoot info:
Boomershoot.org
At Twitter
On Gab

More Black Guns Matter info:
GoFundMe Page
On Facebook
At Twitter

#BlackGunsMatter
#Boomershoot

Quote of the day—NRA-ILA

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It’s not that the permitting standards of these states are any more effective in screening out dangerous applicants. It’s that concealed carry permits in those states are treated as the exclusive domain of the wealthy and the connected. The idea that “common” people would have the same rights simply offends the ruling elite’s sense of entitlement.

NRA-ILA
March 3, 2017
Cornyn Introduces the “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017” in the Senate
[I’m sure this is at least part of the reason for some people. This would be particularly true for those who can afford their own armed guards (Mayor Bloomberg, I’m talking to you).

But another part is that anti-gun people who understand sociology and psychology know that they cannot let the right to keep and bear arms be seen as normal. The more people who openly keep and bear arms the more ordinary it becomes and once it becomes commonplace they will have lost.

We are winning the battle to carry handguns in public and getting reciprocity in all 50 states will probably be the last significant “coffin nail” in that battle. There will be “cleanup” of things like carry in Post Offices, schools, government buildings, and on airplanes, but it will very, very tough for them to regain the ground they have lost with so many people carrying so many guns so much of the time. It will also give us traction in the anti-gun states like New Jersey, Hawaii, California, and New York to repeal some of their repressive gun laws. This, I suspect, is the big fear of the anti-gun people.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dana Loesch

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Armed and trained women. They make the world a better place to live in.

Dana Loesch
February 27, 2017

The DL | S1 E4: “Why Women Own Guns”
[Via Beth Baumann.

I fully agree. My daughters all have guns in their homes and they have training. And, of course, Barb shoots as well.—Joe]

Rounds in the last month

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I was busy doing a lot of things for Boomershoot this month (I have to tell the story of what Barb calls “the box” someday) and haven’t done any reloading since February 5th, still, I did load 975 rounds of .40 S&W. They were all Blue Bullets with minimum powder charges for shooting steel.

This brings my lifetime reloaded ammunition totals to:

223.log: 2,424 rounds.
3006.log: 543 rounds.
300WIN.log: 1692 rounds.
40SW.log: 63,420 rounds.
9MM.log: 21,641 rounds.
Total: 89,720 rounds.

Boomershoot is going to take some time this month and especially next month. But I think I’ll be able to load a few rounds each month. I’m hoping to make it to a lifetime total of over 100,000 rounds by the end of the year.