Quote of the day—AmericanHorseman

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How sad that the Democratic Communists are now employing children in their war against the United States Constitution. Also, isn’t strange that the Constitution does not make any provisions for automobiles? But it does for firearms. Makes you wonder how they can make a comparison. In any case, using hate speech to violate Americans rights is simply a crime and those responsible should be arrested and jailed just as any other bigot or church burning hater.

AmericanHorseman
April 10, 2014
Comment to 8th graders’ gun control film wins national prize
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Guarded support for Brady Campaign

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I just read the Brady Campaign is rolling out something new:

The Campaign this week is rolling out a PSA and social media push, “Speak Up,” coinciding with National Youth Violence Prevention Week, to urge students to report threats and warning signs of violence in schools. “When students speak up, they can save lives,” said Brady Campaign president Dan Gross, adding that the PSA campaign “is about something real that students can do to help make their schools and communities safer.

Basically, they are urging kids to anonymously report other kids that are carrying weapons at school and/or making credible threats of violence in the school. As long as they are talking about “kids” being under 18 and unable to legally carry weapons in school then I’m okay with this.

I do have to wonder how these sort of activities work when they are doing their fundraising activities. What sort of pitch do they give potential donors? I can just imagine, “We used to be able to influence Congress, the Senate, and the President to pass laws banning some of the most popular guns in the country. But now we want you give us money so we can try to get kids to snitch on each other.”

They still have a ways to fall but we are getting closer to my dream coming true. The clock is ticking.

Xenia on display

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Daughter Xenia is going to have some of her art on display at the University of Alaska Anchorage this week:

One of this year’s Student Showcase presenters, Xenia Vlieger, has been interested in art, storytelling and theater since elementary school.

“As I got older, I became more anxious doing theater and more interested in storytelling through images,” she said. She graduated last fall with a bachelor’s degree in art, with an emphasis in photography, but was still allowed to participate in Student Showcase for images she made in 2013—including an experimental photography piece entitled, “Thank God I don’t think out loud.”

Xania Vlieger poses for a photo with one of her photographs in the room where she will exhibit her work for the Student Showcase in Rasmuson Hall on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage in Anchorage, Alaska Friday, April 4, 2014.

She is also giving a presentation and “will discuss self-portraits and why they are important, her process for creating the piece—including how the image was conceptualized, edited and then printed—and also, how the symbolism of the image and materials used to create the piece relate to each other.”

Very cool Xenia!

Quote of the day—Mike Dickinson

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@danieljpayne @HustlerMag @NRA that the NRA is a god awful fear mongering group and those who support the NRA are pure trash.

Mike Dickinson
April 5, 2014
DickinsonForCongress (@VoteMike2014)
[This is what some politicians think of you. Don’t wait for them to implement their “take out the trash” programs. Make sure they don’t get elected in the first place.

H/T to Jeff.—Joe]

This is a clue

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When people this stupid are elected to national office is it any surprise nearly all government actions are messed up beyond all hope of functionality? Just think about this:

This FBI investigation of Leland Yee reveals how easy it is to import lethal assault weapons that were previously banned,” said Speier in an emailed statement from the Representative’s office to Guns.com.

“This case should be a warning to us all that even the most trusted appearing among us are ready to do real harm,” she said.

Her solution to fix future instances of potential gun running such as in the Yee case? Call on the White House to ban the import of “assault weapons.”

Furthermore, from her congressional website:

Jackie was appointed to serve as a Vice Chair of a new congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force…

Apparently she is one of the best and brightest the anti-gunners have to offer yet says things like:

She is an outspoken advocate for a federal ban on assault weapons, full and complete background checks on all gun sales, including sales at gun shows, and strict limits on high capacity ammunition sales.

“High capacity ammunition sales”? What does that even mean? Is that when I bring a semi-truck to the gun show to haul away my ammo purchases? And that is disregarding all the evidence that restrictions that she is “an outspoken advocate” for do not make people safer and violates the Bill of Rights. She truly has crap for brains.

If someone’s ability to think rationally is so impaired that they are unable to comprehend how stupid the things she says are then it surely extends to every other thing she wants government involved in. If this were someone in management of a private business they would be demoted to a manual labor position, fired, or the business would go broke. As it is people this stupid are still smart enough to get elected, spend your money on stupid stuff, and tell you how to run your life. And it’s not just her. Government is filled with idiots like this and they believe they are your superiors and they “intend to do you good”.

Although Thoreau had an appropriate response when it is an individual with the obvious intent to do you good (run for your life) when it is a government official you don’t have that option available. When they have the power of government behind them they are a threat to society. As Daniel Webster said when talking of those in government with “good intentions”, “They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.”

I’ve said this before but it doesn’t hurt to remind people that good intentions are not a valid defense at a trial. Should, as would be appropriate, Jackie Speier be put on trial we should not let her use good intentions as a defense.

Quote of the day—Robert J. Avrech

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The truth is that the left are the religious fanatics. It is they who excommunicate non-believers; it is they who shrilly denounce heretics; it is they who hold kangaroo courts where guilt and punishment are preordained.

Robert J. Avrech
April 7, 2014
Homo Fascism and the Mozilla Moment
[The left doesn’t have a monopoly on religious fanaticism but they certainly do have their share of true believers, crusaders, and history of persecutions.—Joe]

SentrySafe Quick Access Pistol Safe

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Authority Safes contacted me about reviewing one of the gun safes they sell. They wanted to give me a SentrySafe Quick Access Pistol Safe for review. Before I accepted it I told them that if I found something I didn’t like that I wouldn’t hold back in reporting that. They told me they wouldn’t want it any other way. That was a good start. I accepted the safe and played with it quite a bit.

I didn’t follow through with this post as quickly as I should have. I have had the safe since sometime in early February. It has been sitting beside my bed making me feel guilty every time I step over it to get into bed. So today I finally got around to doing the last of the tests I wanted to do and now I’m reporting everything.

First is the worst thing I have to say about the safe. As reported in this video review if you press the buttons too fast it won’t open. You have to try again. And “too fast” isn’t all that fast. I didn’t even have to try to have it fail. I have to deliberately slow down from what feels like a natural speed to me. But I may not be normal in this regard. Since I was in grade school people have commented on how quick I am with my fingers and hands.

The second worst thing I have to say about the safe is about one of its features. That’s right, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature! After not opening the safe for several weeks I tried to open it and it failed even when I did it slow. What? I know that is the combination. Oh! Now I remember. The first button push is just to get its attention and doesn’t count toward the actual combination. It turns on the backlight for the buttons and gives you low level illumination for entering the combination. I understand why they did this. It’s kind of a cool feature but it delayed my entry into the safe by several seconds. If I had just woken up and was in a high stress situation my brain might not have solved the puzzle nearly as quickly as I did this time. I would recommend opening it at least once a week just to keep your fingers and brain up to speed on the proper combination and speed of button pushes.

The third worst thing I have to say about it is that I am a little bit concerned about the back up lock. There have been reports of this type of lock being defeated with the barrel of a Bic pen. I tried some things but couldn’t find a plastic tube of the proper diameter. This concern is going to depend on who you are trying to keep the contents away from. If your threat model is small children then this safe is going to be great. If the threat model is a criminal with tools then the safe is probably susceptible, even if you utilize the supplied lag screws, to crow bar removal from your premises and a metal saw. If the threat model is a smart teenager with lots of time who wants surreptitious access then maybe you need to investigate further.

Now the good things I have to say.

It’s small enough it will slide under the bed and fit in a lot of drawers. It’s large enough I can get everything I can reasonably expect to need, short of body armor, that I might need in a quick access pistol safe.

The safe feels solid. I didn’t even have a temptation to try and pry or force things to gain access. I used to have a gun cabinet that just looking at it gave me the urge to apply a drill and a hacksaw blade to it. This safe did not tempt me in a similar manner.

I trust this safe to keep my grandkids and casual criminals out of it while giving me ready access.

Here are my pictures and further comments:

IMG_9864Web_thumb

It’s a nice looking safe. There are no easy pry points. The dark smudges are from me handling it with oily fingers. The surface cleans up easily and I would not expect corrosion even if I were to put it in a moderately abusive environment.

IMG_9869Web_thumb

Above you see that I was able to put my loaded, cocked, and locked STI Eagle 5.1 with a 18 round magazine in the safe with room for two more 18 round magazines, in their holsters, a Surefire flashlight, and hearing protection.

IMG_9871Web_thumb

In another configuration I removed one magazine and substituted ESS eye protection. I didn’t realize it until after I took the pictures but I can also rearrange things and put the magazine in it’s holster in the position where the eye protection is and move the eye protection to the magazine position in the above picture. It all fits.

I think it’s a good safe for most home applications and recommend people give it serious consideration.

See also reviews by Say Uncle, Robb Allen, and their commenters. I didn’t watch the YouTube video linked to by one but I scanned it without seeing this particular safe.

Quote of the day—Christopher Hill

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Using a decade old conviction of the father of a child killed by gunfire to uphold your “right” to intimidate others by carrying an unconcealed penis-extension, oops, I mean handgun, is an abomination. His child was murdered and you are nothing but a piece of shit.

Christopher Hill
Burlington, Vermont
Email to Connecticut Carry May 8, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

H/T to Rich Burgess for the comment and link.

It certainly seems that in the eyes of anti-gun people victimhood is analogous to sainthood and their character must not be questioned.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Glenn Reynolds

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Because they’ve decided that free debate isn’t a winner for the collective.

Glenn Reynolds
April 4, 2014
Welcome to the Collective: Justice Breyer turns the First Amendment on its head.
[This was in response to this question:

So why have the court’s “liberals” adopted a hostile attitude toward political speech, which has long been understood as being at the core of First Amendment protection? In his McCutcheon dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer elaborates the theory behind this odd development.

I suspect Reynolds is correct.

And as the situation worsens for the collective they will attempt to infringe more and more of our rights.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sten Deadio

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Allowing anonymous gun purchases makes as much sense as allowing anonymous anthrax purchases.

Sten Deadio
February 2014
Comment to Supreme Court rejects NRA appeals
[Anthrax possession is not a specific enumerated right unless you consider it a form of arm in common use.

Their analogy is just as invalid as it would be if you were to substitute any of the following for “gun purchase”:

  • “book purchase”
  • “printing press purchase”
  • “computer purchase”
  • “association meetings”
  • “religious meetings”
  • “speech”
  • “voting”
  • “homosexuals”
  • “Jews”
  • “Catholics”

As is usual, this anti-gun person has no comprehension of principles.—Joe]

Boomershoot prep blogging

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Linoge posts:

fuzzyKBP posts A journey of a thousand miles.

Phil posts about some of the guns he is bringing to Boomershoot.

There are still some positions open at Boomershoot 2014. Sign up here.

Quote of the day—Paul Barrett

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Our collective dedication to free speech and a free press comes with a price: media excess that may exacerbate a social pathology such as copycat suicide-shooting sprees. Our commitment to the Second Amendment, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to protect widespread gun ownership, has a price as well.

Paul Barrett
April 3, 2014
Another Shooting at Fort Hood: Four Blunt Points
[There are tradeoffs in nearly every decision made. That is one of the things the anti-gun people seem to always ignore. It is rare for an anti-gun person to admit there are benefits to gun ownership beyond some aspect they can dismiss as “unnecessary in today’s world” like hunting, or derisively like “making you feel like a man”.

If the other side wants to have another “conversation” about guns they need to admit there are substantial advantages to gun ownership and consider all the risks, including that to the entire Bill of Rights, by ignoring the Second Amendment. Until then they should be treated like a small child throwing a tantrum because they aren’t allowed to play with a rattlesnake.

DSCF0003Cropped

They apparently don’t understand that what they insist on doing has horrendous downsides as well as violating certain truths which are self-evident.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Imma Commenter

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All the NRA has to do is scream that Obama is coming for your guns & these gunsterbating animals foam at the mouth and dance like the monkeys on the string they are.

Imma Commenter
February 2014
Comment to Supreme Court rejects NRA appeals
[Citation needed.

This one almost qualifies as an example of Markley’s Law. And they do qualify for the category of “Crap For Brains”.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dave Champion

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In the debate over guns, both sides are angry. The pro-gunners are angry at the ignorance, lies, and distortions of the anti-gunners, and the anti-gunners are angry with the pro-gunners for presenting facts.

Dave Champion
I can’t find a date but it would appear there is a high probability it is this Dave Champion.
[I have nothing further to add.

Via a Tweet from Joethefatman™ referring to a blog post by Geoffrey & Mika.—Joe]

Quote of the day—critical1234

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NRA – The True American Domestic Terrorists.

critical1234
February 2014
Comment to Supreme Court rejects NRA appeals
[And what do you speculate he might think would be appropriate treatment for “True American Domestic Terrorists”? People need to exercise their right to keep and bear arms to protect themselves from people like critical1234.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Podcast Guest

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@JoeHuffman @wallsofthecity @adinaINdc @jrk1089 @JRGlocknStuff and guys like you have tiny peepees

Podcast Guest (@trevorjcavanagh)
Tweeted on March 28, 2014
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday via a Tweet from Linoge.—Joe]

Quote of the day—happy48

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The NRA officer board needs to be put in prison. They’re bad people. If I ever found it necessary to own a gun, I’d never support that organization. They don’t represent me, a responsible person. They represent the people that shouldn’t have guns. That’s why we have such a problem. They’re the devil. You’re safer without a gun in hostile situations then with one. How is a cop going to tell the difference in a shoot out. What are you going to do put out a sign that says I’m a good guy.? Guns are a big business. And money is their God. The devil supports the Republican party. Their policies support abortions and murder.

happy48
February 2014
Comment to Supreme Court rejects NRA appeals
[And if an organization such as the NRA did not exist and he found it necessary to own a gun it would not be possible for him to legally purchase one.

“You’re safer without a gun in hostile situations then with one.” I didn’t know that! I guess that is why when cops go into hostile situations they always leave their guns behind, right? Yeah. Right. And stealing the words of Roberta, “What color is the sky up his ass?”

This is what these people think of you. Imagine what they would do to you and the Second Amendment if they wrote the laws. Oh, that’s right. You don’t have to imagine. Just read the laws of Washington D.C, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, and Chicago. It is people like this that we need the Second as well as the 13th Amendment. And it is people like this that should be put on trial.—Joe]

We have interesting friends

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Some friends of ours are leaving the area for a year or two and we recently said goodbye to them. We had only met them a few months ago but really liked them. They are very smart, happy, high energy people. When we went on the cruise in the Bahamas last month we invited them to go with us. There was no one else we even considered.

They didn’t go. They said they really tried to make it work but just couldn’t. The fact that it was a Disney Cruise did not seem to be an issue.

In my personal life I keep this blog in the background and don’t bring it up unless I think they are going to be okay with it. I hadn’t mentioned it to them until this last meeting. I explained it was a little controversial and could bother some people.

It turns out they have blogs that are “interesting” too.

NOT safe for work.

Blissfully Open and Compersive Times.

We have interesting friends.

The Land – a real playground

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An interesting article in The Atlantic Magazine. A “junk yard” playground that is very popular. Apparently the story is making the rounds in my kid’s school district. I doubt it will change anything, but it’s a start. It’s similar to one from Kiwi Land.

Upshot of the two: more reasonable risk-taking, fewer rules, more natural consequences are better for kids than bubble-wrap and bureaucracy. Well, duh!

Right in line with your memories of the dump, Lyle.

Quote of the day—Lee Viola

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Essentially, gun advocates in 2014 are of the same mindset as cigarette smokers in 1964—just deny, blow some smoke in a rationalist’s face, and toss a butt on the street as though you own it.

Reasonable gun control will happen in the US, but it will require about fifty years of education, needlessly lost lives, price increases, lawsuits, and the same social/sexual shunning that have made smokers a powerless minority.

In the future, gun ownership will be rare and expensive.

Lee Viola
March 28, 2014
Comment to The Gun-Control Conversation Happened—and the NRA Won Again
[Apparently he hasn’t been paying attention in his gun political history class. He has it exactly backward and the time frame wrong. Rational arguments, taking new shooters to the range, court decisions, and political action is driving anti-gun people into political oblivion. At the present rate of advance we can expect that in 25 years we will have constitutional carry in all 50 states and “full auto” will be a selector switch option on nearly all new detachable magazine and belt fed firearms. Gun ownership will be as common as cellphone ownership today. More so if you count the number of guns owned per capita. The average gun owners has more guns than the average cell phone owner has cell phones.

He does have one thing right. Fifty years of mandatory government education could have the effect he desires.—Joe]