Quote of the day—brookster1

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Less guns means less shootings. End of story. No statistic can circumvent this simple formula. We need less guns.

brookster1
December 2, 2015 1:30 PM PST.
Comment to Active shooter reported in San Bernardino, Calif.; authorities say multiple victims, as many as three attackers
[“End of story.” I presume thins means discussion needed or allowed. Just so ou know, this means they would eliminate the First Amendment as well as the Second.

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

Crazy? Or sarcastic?

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Sometimes I just can’t tell if someone is crazy or just being sarcastic. This is the most recent example:

… guns are the machine that accomplishes what it sets out to do no matter who the shooter is. The end results is all the same yet we have gun right supporters who continue to concentrate on demonizing the shooter instead of the weapon itself.

Quote of the day—Comrade Enver Hoxha‏@ComradeEnver

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@NRA The best way to stop violence is a prompt march of you delusional fanatics to the nearest labor camp.

Comrade Enver Hoxha‏@ComradeEnver
Tweeted on December 1, 2015
[Via a tweet from Linoge.

This is what they think of you. This is what they want to do with you.

Take appropriate action.—Joe]

OPM letter

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Months after the public knew the United States Office of Personnel Management loss of the background investigation records of people who applied for security clearances OPM still hasn’t notified everyone affected. Everyone on my team at work has or at one time had a security clearance and hardly a week goes by without someone asking, “Have you got your OPM letter yet?” Yesterday was one of those days and I told them, “No”, as usual, and further elaborated that I wouldn’t be surprised if they never got a letter to me.

This is because since I had my clearance I have moved five times and no government issued ID has my current address. Nevertheless, yesterday I checked my mail and found my OPM letter (PIN number has been removed):

OpmLetterWeb

I suspect they used my address I used for the IRS.

Quote of the day—Geoff Garin

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Opposing common-sense gun safety laws either means that someone is too extreme or too much in the pocket of the gun lobby.

Geoff Garin
A pollster for Clinton’s 2008 campaign now with her super PAC, Priorities USA Action
November 6, 2015
Why Hillary Clinton Thinks Gun Control Can Win in 2016
[Via an email from Miles (a frequent commenter here).

As he also said in the email:

Yep, this is what they think of us. And if they’re this delusional, I hope thy keep thinking it.

While it’s clear the Democrats don’t have very strong presidential candidates and they are choosing their issues poorly I currently don’t see a lot of strength in their opposition. So I suspect it will be another one of those elections where many people will vote for the candidate who they think is the least evil.—Joe]

Steel match results

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On November 3rd I had surgery on my left shoulder. Over three and half weeks later I still have large bruises and somewhat limited range of motion.

WP_20151109_18_35_22_ProWeb

But I had made it to the range a couple of times for practice and my shooting was okay and only occasionally experienced some pain. So Saturday I went to Whidbey Island for the Holmes Harbor Rod and Gun Club steel match.

I tried to take just a little more time before squeezing off the shot but still make the target transitions as quickly as I could. This seemed to work a lot better than if I tried to make everything go fast.

My rimfire results in particular were very good. I cut my total match time by over 10 seconds (this is about a 15% improvement!). This was a total of 56.64 seconds for five stages. Since there are four strings of five shots in each stage this means my average time for each string was 2.83 seconds. And since every stage requires five shots the average time per shot was 0.5664 seconds. I’m constantly amazed this is even possible let alone that I am capable of shooting this fast on targets likes these:

WP_20151128_10_33_29_ProWP_20151128_11_00_38_Pro
WP_20151128_11_14_13_ProWP_20151128_11_35_48_Pro
WP_20151128_09_57_44_Pro

But it’s possible. Here is the video to prove it:

The scores were:

Class: Rimfire Rifle Open  
Name Match Time
Brian Lawson 37.54
Tony Ceci 48.39
Brian Lawson 48.64
Ron Wigger 50.24
Dan Lavaty 54.02
Ethan Kimball 63.90
Class: Rimfire Iron
Name Match Time
Joe Huffman 56.64
Brian Lawson 71.27
Scott Bertino 84.73
Class: Rimfire Open
Name Match Time
Dan Lavaty 64.03
Jim Dunlap 88.05
Rev Barchenger 96.47
Dave Shupe Mechanical Issues
Class: Centerfire Iron
Name Match Time
Joe Huffman 78.44
Bruce Barchenger 90.18
Dave Shupe 124.71
Dennis Bohling 132.05
Scott Bertino 140.83
Class: Centerfire Revolver Open
Name Match Time
Chris Ceci 80.93
Class: Centerfire Revolver Iron
Name Match Time
Ron Wigger 96.82

Quote of the day—Bacon @Baconmints

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Hey everybody, that guy you know who is super proud of his guns, ya, he’s impotent. #tinycockclub #bokbok #fuckthenra #gunsense

Bacon @Baconmints
Tweeted on December 23, 2014
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a Tweet from BFD‏ @BigFatDave.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dana Loesch

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Women think it’s not a world for them and I say the hell with that! It absolutely is. I believe if you can drive a car you can handle and shoot a gun.

Dana Loesch
April 18, 2015
Dana Loesch – Truly A Well Armed Woman
[Actually, in many circumstances, you can shoot a gun safely and effectively even when you can’t drive a car.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Shabtai Shavit

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With this enemy, we have to push aside arguments on law, morality and comparisons of security and the rights of the individual. That means to do what they did in World War II to Dresden. They wiped it off the map. That is what has to be done to all the territorial enclaves that ISIS is holding.

Shabtai Shavit
Former chief of Mossad
November 15, 2015
Experts Explain How Global Powers Can Smash ISIS
[Opinions vary. Read the article for other views.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Aaron Duncan‏@AaronCDuncan

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You want friendly, head to your local gun show and masturbate with the other gun cum guzzlers.

Aaron Duncan ‏@AaronCDuncan
Tweeted on November 24, 2015
[Via a Tweet from Linoge.

This is what they think of those who exercise their specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. Just remember that we have SCOTUS decisions and they have childish insults.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Venkatesh Rao

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What do you fear most? An evil group or an evil person? Read Shirley Jackson’s thoroughly scary story of group insanity, The Lottery. Watch Children of the Corn. Would you rather live in a town where there is a sole vampire terrorizing the population, or be the sole non-zombie in a town that has gone all-zombie? Ask yourself, who scares you more — Hitler or the mindless army he inspired? Would you prefer the tyranny of a dictator or the tyranny of an illiberal democracy, where a mob tramples over individuals? Dictators can be overthrown. Can an evil group culture be as easily displaced?

Venkatesh Rao
November 21, 2009
Morality, Compassion and the Sociopath
[H/T to M.E. via her post The morality of sociopaths, clueless, and losers.

I’ve dealt with sociopaths before and was amazed at how effortlessly they would “win” when you got in their way. The most fundamental assumptions I had about human behavior were completely destroyed as they crushed me. I “follow the rules” and it is difficult for me to imagine other people not doing the same. Sociopaths know the rules far better than you. The rules that you acquired as a small child and “just follow” without thought or even awareness they have thoroughly examined under a light of hyper rationality. They may follow them most of the time but it is with the knowledge that it is to their benefit to do so at that time and place. When it is to their benefit to not follow them they effortlessly break them.

I began following M.E., a diagnosed sociopath, a year or more ago and my burning hate for sociopaths diminished some as read more. After a time I was able to develop a model for their behavior that allowed me see them in a different light. They lack empathy for other people. In a sense you can think of them as totally selfish but to do that would be to continue misunderstanding them in a way that is detrimental to both yourself and them. The short version of my model for them is hyper-rational beings who only care about themselves. They will act to the benefit of others but only if it furthers their own interests.

They examine the rules of society and understand them and use them to their advantage. They have and frequently need and want friends and family. They can be good friends, family, neighbors, and citizens when they want to be. But what you consider fundamental principles of behavior to them is nothing more than a suggested script to be read at the appropriate time. They examine, evaluate, and act with full awareness and no guilt for “going off script” when they need to achieve their goals.

This, perhaps surprisingly, was reassuring to me. It explained to me why there might be a genetic component to sociopathetic behavior. Having a small number of sociopaths in society is almost certainly an advantage to the group. Let me explain.

In The Walking Dead there are many people who avoid doing things that are clearly the rational thing to do and put themselves and a great many other people at extreme risk. You watch the show and you understand the dilemma of the character but you also understand they really need to put a bullet in the head of the zombie that was their child.

The show is make-believe but you have to be extremely well insulated from reality to not realize we have similar situations all around us.

We euthanize our pets when they are in pain and have no hope of recovery. We, in the gun community, think about and train for the use of deadly force to protect innocent life. Yet most, if ever in the position of taking the life of a human, even when clearly saving innocent life, will suffer for a significant period of time, if not their entire life, for doing the right thing. We send our young adults to war to kill and be killed when the alternative is even greater loss to our society.

These are tough choices and we agonize over them before and after making them when “the proper choice of action” is frequently crystal clear and obvious to the sociopath. Having people with this clarity of vision, ability to make these decisions quickly, and implement them without guilt or hesitation, is an advantage to a society.

One of the things that M.E. said in a previous post has almost haunted me. She said, IIRC, she fears mob behavior because it is so unpredictable. She understands individuals because after observing and interacting with them for a very short period of time she knows, with a high degree of certainty, how they will behave. Their behavior probably isn’t rational, but it is predictable. A mob is unpredictable and powerful.

This observation of mobs extrapolates well to a mindless or evil group culture which is destroying the good and the innocent. The sociopaths among us may be able to make tough choices, in direct violation of deeply held principles, and save a good society from the indecision which would result in the total destruction of that which is good.—Joe]

Quote of the day—DEA Public Affairs

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DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg today announced results from the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), which found that drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, ahead of deaths from motor vehicle accidents and firearms.

DEA Public Affairs
November 4, 2015
DEA Releases 2015 Drug Threat Assessment: Heroin and Painkiller Abuse Continue to Concern
[H/T to Ryan McMaken for his post: DEA Releases New Drug Overdose Death Figures: Guns Safer than Prescription Drugs who also says:

If policymakers responded to drunk driving the way they respond to gun violence, we would be forced to endure nationwide bans on fast cars and automobile engines that can exceed speed limits. We would be hearing demands for laws shrinking the overall number of automobiles sold each year. “More cars equal more fatalities! We are awash in cars,” we would be told.

…

But the fact of the matter is that gun violence is simply not a leading cause of death in the US, and those things that are more likely to kill us or our children — such as prescription drugs and alcohol — are approached with caution and demands for a “measured” approach.

It’s like those opposed to gun ownership have an agenda other than public safety. The next time someone says they want to restrict guns ask them, “What’s the real reason you want to do this?”—Joe]

First rocket VTOL?

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This is pretty cool. Via Drudge. With video.

A rocket with landing gear. We saw that in books and SciFi movies all our lives. Never thought it would take this long, but apparently it’s difficult.

Better book yourself a flight. You get four minutes of free-fall, and the best “roller coaster” ride yet. Once they can go orbital it’ll cost more for a ticket I bet.

Bad guys and worse guys, bad news and good news

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To laugh or cry. Hard call. A recent terrorist shooting Paris has some unlikely, er, heros? (it’s transplated, and a little hard to tell if it was the big ISIS shooting or another one at a nearby or related restaurant) It is being reported that when the terrorists entered and started shooting, there were people in the restaurant that rose and returned fire, killing “the two attackers.” So score two for the good guys? Well, ordinary civilians can’t easily carry for self-defense, there. Turns out the concealed-carry guys were Columbia narco-cartel traffickers.

Huh.

Oh, well. Red-on-red fire still counts as a win, yes?

Good advice

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From Tactical Warrior Wear.

I like this one best:

KeepCalmReturnFire

Quote of the day—Sean Davis

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Democrats aren’t doing this because they think it’s the only possible way to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons. We know this because we’ve established that the attorney general already has all the power she needs to indict, arrest, convict, and sentence known, dangerous terrorists. Democrats are doing this because they think it will benefit them politically. In the wake of a massive terrorist attack on free, innocent people in Paris, Washington Democrats have decided that their real enemy isn’t ISIS. Just like Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton declared in a recent debate, their real enemies are Republicans.

And they’ll do whatever they can to defeat these dangerous electoral terrorists…even if it requires the wholesale elimination of the constitutional right to due process.

Sean Davis
Co-founder of The Federalist
November 23, 2015
Sorry Democrats, But There Is No ‘Loophole’ That Allows Terrorists To Legally Buy Guns
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Superguts™ @superguts

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@Phibear94 Don’t worry about me, go give a hug to those mini dick assault rifle -toting insecure little boys who call emselves men #NRA men.

Superguts™‏@superguts
Tweeted on October 14, 2015
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a tweet from Huntin/Shootin Nurse ‏@Duck_Hunter7.—Joe]

A religio-political tangent

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As much as there ever was a primary thread.

I’m working on another book. Well, three or four of them, nominally in parallel. Because one at a time would be to simple 8-0… Anyway, I’m not much of a biblical scholar, but there are a series of related topics that are not “easy look-up” sorts of subjects on Catholic church teachings, monastic order traditions, and canon that I need to know so I don’t make too many , er, “fundamental” errors on the faith and teachings. If you know something about the Bible, and perhaps are a regular church-goer who would like to see that a SF books gets the basic correct and would like to weigh in a few thoughts, head on over to Not A Biblical Scholar and add your two cents worth.

Quote of the day—Brian Keszler

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My brother Scott passed away. From what we know, he was sitting at his computer desk and just fell over.

He was supposed to arrive in Phoenix around midnight last night and when we didn’t hear from him by this morning we started making phone calls.

We were able to get a deputy out to his apartment and have the office open the door. The chain was still latched from the inside but nobody responded. The fire department was called to enter the apartment and they found him there. A detective was brought in and said there was no sign of foul play. Given the family history with heart conditions and his many years of smoking, they’re guessing it was a heart attack. A medical examiner was supposed to do an autopsy on Monday but it sounds like they’re just going to do an “external examination”.

Scott absolutely loved the Boomershoot, and he loved sharing it with me, my wife Rachel, and our nephew Cody. He looked forward to it every year and planned ahead for it. He’d come to Phoenix for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the only other time he’d travel anywhere was the annual trek to Idaho so he could enjoy the event you put on.

I wanted to write and tell you the sad news, but also to thank you. The Boomershoot gave us a few extra days every year to hang out and have a good time together.

Brian Keszler
Email, November 21, 2015
[This is Scott at the Boomershoot staff dinner April 28th, 2011:

IMG_5163ScottK

Here he is making targets at the Taj Mahal April 28th, 2011:

IMG_5151Web

Here he is cleaning equipment after making targets at Boomershoot Mecca May 2nd, 2014:

WP_20140502_009

Near the tree line May 2nd, 2015 with his brother Brian on the left, sister-in-law Rachel in the middle and Scott on the right. I don’t know the name of the guy wearing camouflage:

IMG_0044Web

Scott has been attending Boomershoot since, I think, 2003. For a few years he would drive to Boomershoot from his home in Fargo North Dakota. Later he got a job in the Washington D.C. area and would drive from Virginia to North Dakota, load up his pickup, and then drive to Boomershoot. Yes, I said DRIVE! That’s about 2500 miles each way.

After a couple years of attending he volunteered to help. I accepted and he was always the first person, after me, to arrive. He brought the 200 foot tape we used to mark the shooting positions each year. He helped make the targets. He helped pound stakes, place targets, and came up with new ideas to make Boomershoot better. Each year he brought the two steel targets we would put on the hillside between 550 and 700 yards from the shooting line. If you hear the clang of a bullet on steel in any of the Boomershoot videos during the main event on Sunday it was almost for certain from one of Scott’s targets being hit.

The last several years he always picked shooting position number 46. This is in the “Main” section just to the left of the berm.

He also left a few comments here on this blog. There are 29 comments by my count. Here are some of the better ones:

Other blog posts that make mention of Scott:

He was 53 years old. That is much too young to die.

Scott will be greatly missed.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lisa Subeck

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Our nation has watched as community after community has had to confront the tragedies that occur when weapons designed to kill large numbers of people quickly get into the hands of a dangerous person. No Wisconsin community should ever have to face such a tragedy at the hands of someone armed with a semiautomatic assault weapon.

I can conceive of no legitimate reason that any citizen should need to own or use a semiautomatic assault weapon.

Lisa Subeck
State Representative, Democrat Wisconsin
Media release November 4, 2015.
[H/T to Barron for the email pointer.

I can think of many reasons why citizens should own and use the type of firearms she wishes to ban. And like a fish who doesn’t know what water is Ms. Subeck doesn’t have the imagination to recognized the most obvious reason. That is, the number one reason for owning and becoming skilled in the use of these type of firearms is to defend ourselves against people like her who are contemptuous of basic human rights.

In addition to the general stupidity of her media release her bill demonstrates she is clueless in many dimensions. Here, for example, is her description of the pistols to be banned from the proposed bill:

3.  A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and that has any of the following:
a.  A folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock.
b.  A 2nd handgrip or protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand.
c.  The capacity to accept an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip.
d.  A threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer.
e.  A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel, and that permits the user to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being
burned.
f.  A manufactured weight of at least 50 ounces when the pistol is unloaded.

She has crap for brains and should be treated as such.

But the real lesson to remember from this is:

Under the bill, whoever transports, purchases, possesses, or transfers a semiautomatic assault weapon is guilty of a felony and may be fined up to $10,000, sentenced to a term of imprisonment of up to six years, or both.

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