My next book

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I just discovered the next book I’m going to read: Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up.

I’m downloading it from Audible.com as I type…

Some people are speculating that Fast and Furious could be the next “Watergate”. But I’m not really convinced it will become that. Sure, it’s almost certain what happened was worse than Watergate because of the people who died and that an attack on a fundamental right was involved. But Watergate only became such a big issue because the media cared about it. The media cared about it because it was a Republican president involved in the scandal. In this case it’s a Democrat and it was about infringing upon the 2nd Amendment which the media thinks is a good idea.

Quote of the day—Fusil Banniere

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As a violence policy advocate, the steps needed to end gun violence are clear.

The First step is to make people aware of the problem. The easiest way to do this is to take advantage of high profile incidents that involve guns and to use them to get media time for our cause. This bigger the incident, the better so be sure to highlight the carnage and the emotional aftermath. People will readily make decisions when their emotions are elevated that they would not have considered at other times. It’s important to ignore comparisons to incidents that involve other implements such as explosives or planes since these will distract from the ultimate goal. Treat all defensive uses of guns as suspect and doubt their credibility and viability. It might be helpful in these circumstances to confuse the lawful use of guns for protection with criminal use since the moral difference isn’t easily distinguishable to some people. When using statistics, remember to include all gun deaths including those that could be self-defense or suicide. As an example 15,000 people commit suicide with a gun each year. By labeling these deaths “gun violence”, readers will assume they passed because of a criminal act. Since this doubles the number of true gun violence victims from 15, 000 to 30,000 then the number is twice as high and therefore seems twice as tragic and should produce twice the emotional response.

Fusil Banniere
May 2, 2012
Comment to A Little Girl Named Annie, and a Man With a Gun
[I’m nearly certain this is satire because I don’t think I have ever seen an anti-gun person this rational and open about their methods. In any case it is nice to see it articulated so well.—Joe]

Quote of the day—NRA-ILA

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The Brady Campaign’s willingness to argue seriously that a would-be assassin would buy or rent an apartment overlooking his intended target’s travel route, then register his intended murder weapon, speaks volumes for the group’s view of the world.

NRA-ILA
In D.C., Baby Steps Toward Gun Law Sanity
March 2, 2012
[That is, their connection to reality is exceedingly tenuous.—Joe]

Swimming pools versus guns

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Sarah takes Brady Campaign President to task about his irrational fear of guns:

Dan Gross, President of the nation’s largest gun control group, is afraid of guns. Will he ever overcome his irrational fears?

I’m optimistic. If Dan can conquer his fear of water, then he can conquer his fear of guns.

Then invites him to the gun range:

Dan Gross, Brady Campaign President: Consider this an open invitation to join me at the gun range. Afterwards, maybe we can hit the pool for a few laps.

I think I see a Boomershoot invite in Mr. Gross’s future.

Quote of the day—Julie Was Here

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I don’t think there should be a waiting period for abortion care. Waiting periods for guns allow time for back-ground checks, and allow for a “cool-off”period, as no one should purchase weapons designed specifically to kill just on an angry whim.

But the purpose of waiting periods for abortion care is to make abortion harder to get, abortion being something very time-sensitive in a way that gun purchases aren’t.

Julie Was Here
April 30, 2012
Comment to Gun Control. Let’s Be Reasonable Adults
[Wow! Only if I were trying to mock someone would I say such a thing and pretend not to see the parallels that are so blindingly obvious.—Joe]

Bowling ball mortar

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We have a couple people that have been bringing a bowling ball mortar to Boomershoot the last couple years. Here is a picture of one of them in action (thanks to Dion for the picture):

Boomershoot 2012 067

The fireball is the result of adding gasoline.

Very cool.

Quote of the day—Cynicism

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I despise guns; they have a single aim, to inflict massive damage upon its target. By its very nature, guns in the public are completely antithetical to peace, and should be cast out by all sane people. It should only be used by the enforcers of the law.

Cynicism
May 3, 2012
Guns And Gun Control
[I find the mind of anti-gun people “interesting”. Statements of facts apparently do not need to be based on reality. See the first sentence as an example. And adjoining sentences need not be in agreement with each other. See the last two sentences as an example—unless they are of the opinion that “the law” is also antithetical to peace.

If rational thought is present at all in the majority of humans it is but a thin, easy ruptured, veneer over a core of incoherent impulses. And as pointed out over a decade ago by son James some high school teachers actively promote the removal of this veneer.

I, and you should as well, fear for our future. These people not only vote they run our government institutions and command great power.—Joe]

Soldiers Angels donation

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I just made the payment to Soldiers Angels from the Saturday Boomershoot dinner and raffle:

Payee Reference # Send On Deliver By Amount
Soldiers Angels 5B6BDQOG 05/02/2012 05/09/2012 $1,981.00

For those of you that were at the dinner and remember the exact numbers Bruce said $1645 was raised for Soldier Angels. That does not match with the amount I sent. The envelope Bruce gave me actually contained $1651. Then two people quietly shoved money in my hands as they left the dinner. That brought this year’s total to $1981.

Previous posts about Boomershoot donations are here: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Quote of the day—Shelley Rae

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I can’t call it “Boomershoot“, that’s not right at all. It has to be “BOOMERSHOOT!” There was too much awesome in the space of one weekend for it to be anything less.

Shelley Rae
April 30, 2012
BOOMERSHOOT!
[She “almost fell over from the heat and shockwave of the explosion” but I think she liked it anyway.—Joe]

Burning hair

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Ry says he smelled burning hair after taking this shot:

As I have commented elsewhere I’m glad I had Ry move the opening fireball back about 20 feet further from where he wanted it. There is a fine line between thrilling and calling for an ambulance. Ry was right on the ragged edge of that line.

Dennis Prager Demands Violence, Torture

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Last night on his radio program, Dennis Prager said we need to “hold [Republicans’] feet to the fire”.

No doubt he’ll be hearing from the Secret Service any second.

Quote of the day—Dave B.

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ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou!

Awesome event, as always.  Please accept my thanks and pass them on to all your volunteers and family.

This was my tenth year and I’m already planning for the 11th…

Dave B.
April 30, 2012
Via email regarding Boomershoot 2012.
[In my opinion Boomershoot 2012 was very nearly perfect. I’ll say more later when I have more time but from my view point things went very well this year.—Joe]

Quote of the day—someguy

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Guns: a pill for what ails you, if what ails you is insecurity about the size of your pecker.

someguy
March 4, 2010
Comment to Open Thread: Penis Substitutes At the Ready!
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]

This Would be Cool

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…but the manufacturer defaced it horribly by putting lettering and numbering all over it.  I wouldn’t mind owning one, but then I’d be forced to advertize for Colt’s without compensation, flashing that company name and address around everywhere I went.  They should pay me to own it.  And those serial numbers?  Those weren’t required by law in the 1840s and ’50s, and the gun would look SO much tidier without them.

(This in response to people who complain that my products have to be defaced with my company’s name and the model number, or the patent number in some cases.  It turns out that there’s also a significant culture in the muzzleloader world that hates the idea of signed or numbered guns.  That fact that maker’s marks, serial numbers, inspectors marks and proof marks have been a necessary and worthwhile part of manufacturing since Grok made his first stone club seems to get lost on some people.  Maybe the famous works of art would be worth more if they’d never been signed, too [they were such shameless self promoters they turned every work of art into an advertizing billboard for themselves].  We do refrain from using flashing lights in our logo if that’s any consolation.  Our engraved logos are matte black on matte black, but they’re still too obnoxious for some people)

Quote of the day—Charles

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I had no idea.

Next year we are coming back with all our friends.

Charles
Spouse of 30 Cal Gal
April 29, 2012
[This was in regards to the awesomeness of Boomershoot where his wife and Shelley were shooting.—Joe]

Quote of the day–Tony Finley

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Boomershoot makes them put up or shut up.

Tony Finley
April 28, 2012
[After the Boomershoot dinner and raffle were over Tony came over to me and said so many nice things about me and Boomershoot that I wondered if perhaps we should have closed the bar earlier. But he did say the above that I certainly agree with.–Joe]

Quote of the day—Matthew Jensen

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This is boring. I just keep hitting the same spot.

Matthew Jensen
April 27, 2012
[He was shooting my “Spud Gun” at a 700 yard steel target. He was hitting the same spot on the target…

I love my Spud Gun. He did have an excellent coach in one of Gene Econ’s staff, but still the gun, ammo and shooter had to be doing their job too.—Joe]

A very wet Boomershoot prep

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Today Scott, Tim, and I got soaking wet as we put the 500+ stakes in the hillside for Boomershoot. And it was cold.

Tomorrow is forecast as 100% chance of precipitation until 8:00 PM when it drops to 90%

The generator didn’t work for a while this morning. I think the electrical system was wet. I covered it with a tarp and let the engine run and it started working again. Tim is bringing his generator as a backup for tomorrow.

antitango got stuck trying to turn around near Mecca.

I realized I didn’t have the scope rings required to put a scope on the rifle Sarah was going to use. I did get the rifle Ry is going to use scoped but it was so cold and wet I didn’t go out to zero it in.

Scott then got a flat tire trying to make it to Mecca. That makes the third tire to die while making the trip to Mecca since last September. Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, three times…

Am I having fun yet? Actually I really enjoyed having dinner with Boomershoot friends and bloggers at the Ponderosa tonight.

Quote of the day—Will Rogers

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A fool and his money are soon elected.

Will Rogers
[Some things never change.—Joe]

Outlaw Socialism

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There.  Fixed it.

(and no – it doesn’t become legal if you give it a new name)