As suggested by Alan I would like to publically invite Paul Helmke to a private Boomershoot party. I’ll supply the guns, ammo, and reactive targets. He just needs to arrange his own travel and accommodations.
Send me an email Paul. I’m nothing to be scared of. You shook my hand once, remember?
As reported by AntiTango, LInoge, and Sebastian Joan Peterson has outlined what facts she will and will not allow in the comments to her blog. She would do well to remember what Gandhi had to say on the topic.
I wish you were right about the timing being appropriate for banning and impounding guns in the USA.
Unfortunately, the gun nuts are claiming that if there had been another person with a gun handy at the Gifford shooting he or she would have saved the lives of those killed and prevented Giffords from being almost killed.
These people are mad and there will never be a good time. It just has to be done when someone has the guts to do it.
The argument used by the NRA types that guns are needed for self-defense is farcical. There is almost never a gun-related death reported in which a gun was used by a person defending themselves. The vast majority occur in the home among family members or various criminal shootings.
I cannot think of a single good reason for anyone in the USA to have or carry weapons.
SantaMoniker
June 24, 2011
Comment to Time to target gun control
[SantaMoniker must have blinders on or have a severe inability to think because I can think of millions and millions of reasons. And that doesn’t even include possession by the police and the military.—Joe]
Former three-term Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke said Thursday he’ll step down July 10 as president of the Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Angela Mapes Turner
June 23, 2011
Helmke to leave Brady Center–Former mayor undecided about next step
[I have been wondering why he continued to stay on when we have them outnumbered, outsmarted, out financed, and of course (literally) outgunned. It turns out he gave them a five year commitment when he signed on. July 10th is the end of that commitment.
They are going to find it difficult to get someone to replace him with the current political climate. I think they should just close up shop and say, “I’m sorry, we were wrong.”—Joe]
In a letter to the editor in The Columbus Dispatch Greg Ward whines:
Thursday’s Dispatch carried the news that state lawmakers have passed legislation allowing concealed-carry permit holders to carry guns in bars, restaurants and some stadiums, as well as making it easier for weapons to be carried in a vehicle.
As if that weren’t, in itself, troubling news to the police, restaurant owners and employees and other people with common sense, there appears to be far worse news on the horizon: A Republican legislator has introduced a bill that would eliminate the need for gun permits “and allow anyone who ‘qualifies for a permit’ — but doesn’t have one — to carry a concealed weapon.”
The wording begs the question: How will our law-enforcement officials know if a person “qualifies” to carry a gun unless that person has had to submit his qualifications to be judged?
It’s really very, very simple. But apparently Ward has the mindset of “Unless specifically allowed it is forbidden.” I thought this mindset went out the door with the collapse of the USSR but apparently there are still people stuck in the past.
The individual does not have to get permission from a LEO and being “judged” before being “allowed” to carry a concealed firearm. It is probably beyond the capacity of Ward to view things from the constitutionally mandated view of “innocent until proven guilty” and “that which is not prohibited is allowed” but I’ll explain it for him anyway.
Law enforcement cannot search people to see if they have a concealed weapon unless there is probable cause to search them or there are special circumstances that require a search for the safety of the officer. Hence the LEO will do the background check after having doing a legal search and finding a concealed weapon. At that time the individual will provide their identity and the LEO will do the background check.
There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? I’m betting Ward still won’t be able to grasp it. It’s an alien mindset for far too many people.
Gunwalker’s objective was never intended to be a “legitimate law enforcement interest.” Instead, it appears that ATF Acting Director Ken Melson and Department of Justice senior executives specifically created an operation that was designed from the outset to arm Mexican narco-terrorists and increase violence substantially along both sides of the Southwest border.
Success was measured not by the number of criminals being incarcerated, but by the number of weapons transiting the border and the violence those weapons caused. An ATF manager was “delighted” when Gunwalker guns started showing up at drug busts. It would be entirely consistent with this theory if DOJ communications reflected the approval of the ATF senior officials they were colluding with — but as we know, Holder’s Department of Justice refuses to cooperate.
Bob Owens
June 20, 2011
Mega-Scandal: Was ‘Gunwalker’ a PR Op for Gun Control?
[This claim falls into the category, “Too Good To Be True” for me. I really want to believe it but it’s going to take a lot more data for me to be really convinced.
I hope investigators continue to dig and find the truth. If the claim above is true then I hope the perpetrators can and will be prosecuted.—Joe]
It was hard to fit this into one of Joe’s categories, so I put in “Current News”. I currently hear this sort of thing in the news. Does anyone else twitch a little bit when hearing that someone or other “taped” or “video taped” this or that, or that we’re about to be shown video “footage” of something that happened long after the 1990s?
Where do you buy the little videotape cassettes that fit into your mobile phone? How often do you change reels in your digital camera? Where do you get them developed?
What’s to be the replacement term for “footage”? Bitage? Bytage? How about “video”? “I got this or that on camera (or on video)” certainly works. I didn’t tape it– but I did record it and it’s on my flash drive. If the cops come after you for videotaping them, maybe it’s because they hate outdated technology. Ever thought of that?
Do we need some different terms, do we need simply to think about what we’re saying, or should we forget and submit? There are terms and sayings that linger well past the time when their original meanings were widely understood. “Flash in the pan” comes to mind. We still might say that someone is “letting off steam” but how many today understand that a steam engine might sometimes need to let off steam to avoid over-pressuring the boiler, so as to avoid a boiler explosion? It used to be that boiler explosions were a much more common problem, so when someone was said to be letting off steam it was understood to be the more preferable among possible outcomes.
My hope is that the recent hearing will further expose the ATF’s and Attorney General Eric Holder’s assaults on law-abiding gun owners, and more people will start questioning the need for unconstitutional agencies like the ATF that exist solely to infringe on American citizens’ God-given right to keep and bear arms.
Ron Paul
June 21, 2011
Rep. Ron Paul slams Obama over gun scandal, Second Amendment
[This is a little weak. The words “right to keep and bear arms” should be replaced with “rights”.
At least that would be a good start. Calls for tar and feathers would gain further support from me.—Joe]
Dad Passed Away This Morning at 10 AM.
…
The Hospice nurse, Kim (whom he really liked) was with him. No pain, he was awake but just relaxed and passed on.
Dennis R. King
June 20, 2011
Via email regarding the death of his father, Louis Ray King, my only true uncle, my mother’s brother.
[When I was in California last week I had hoped to visit Uncle Lou because I knew he wasn’t going to be around much longer. But he wouldn’t have recognized me and it was too far away to make it over there between my business and my flight schedule. I spent the two hours I had with Dennis.—Joe]
Nephew and Niece are wanting their first pistol. They’re interested in defense and fun, and they both can manipulate and control a full-on defense caliber auto pistol just fine, or more than fine, for beginners. I know; ask a hundred people, get 100 answers. Many of you have been shooting for decades and have fired 100s of thousands if not a million rounds or more in practice and competition, and so you have meaningful experience. They’re looking at a sale on an XD or XDm right now. I’ve also mentioned the M&P. I figure Joe will mention STI, and Tam might point to another quality 1911. Some will also say that a .22 is a good idea. I’m steering them away from a sub compact, toward a full sized pistol of some sort. They don’t want to spend over a thousand. Preferably much less.
I usually answer; “Buy the one you like” but when you’re first starting out, it’s hard to know what you’ll like. I did tell them they could rent at one of the logal gun store/ranges in their city and try a few.
I want to know about pistols you’ve really given some hard use. I haven’t been able to wear out my old G20, for example, after much trying. I looks like hell, it has the ergonomics of a cinder block (to quote J. Cooper) and the trigger feels like it was designed by gun owner haters, but it just keeps working.
What say you all?
Seems he got drunk and took someone else’s vehicle out for a joyride, “looking for The Promised Land”. That would be an unsuccessful joyride, I’d expect. I guess if he’d driven his own vehicle into, say, a river and killed his date, he’d be OK. As it is, he’ll probably be fired. I wonder if he keeps his pension after this.
The culvert I put in a few years ago needed some fill on both sides to make it more level rather than just a mound over the culvert with increasingly deep holes on either side.
But if we finish the new production facility this culvert won’t get nearly as much use as it has in the past so it might not really matter.
A couple weeks ago Barron and Janelle got their pickup stuck when they showed up to help at a private party:
All the traffic during Boomershoot left some big ruts but the stuck pickup made them even worse:
So I smoothed those out a little bit:
The first Boomershoot explosives storage magazine hasn’t been used in many years and even though I should have taken it out a long time ago I had some sort of attachment to it. When the ATF visited last month the inspector seemed to be taking more interest in it that I was really comfortable with. It hadn’t been “up to snuff” for quite some time but I didn’t think it mattered since I wasn’t using it anyway. But she was making notes even though I told her I would take it out this summer sometime. Rather than risk some sort of requirement that I repair it I decided to take it out today while I had the cat there to break up the concrete blocks.
Before:
After:
Later this summer after the hay has been taken off the field I’ll salvage what I can from the remnants and haul off the rest of the pieces.
As I mentioned yesterday I did some work on a site for a new reactive target production facility for Boomershoot.
Progress continues and I declared it “good enough for now” this afternoon:
This looking to the north and a little bit east at about 5o.
This is looking to the northwest at about 315o.
This is looking a little more to the west at about 290o.
This is from the opposite end of the location looking back at the position the picture above was taken from.
You might notice in the first and last picture that there is section of disturbed earth that extends into the field in the southeast. This is where (I hope) the truck and trailer can enter the site with the shipping container. I expect we will have the dozer there when the shipping container is brought in so that changes can be made in the landscape should they be necessary so the trailer doesn’t get high centered or something. And if nothing else the can get it fairly close and then I can push or drag it into the final position with the cat.
Final leveling will probably be done with a hydraulic jack, gravel, railroad ties, and boards.
Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.
Unknown
Via email from Karen.
[I looked around some for the author of this but didn’t find much except that it has been around since at least 2008.
However amusing this is I’m not convinced it’s entirely true. I gave Barb a Windows Phone 7 and a Jeep for Christmas and I would expect I should have received a new computer and a truck in return but Valentines Day and Father’s Day have come and gone without any sign of her multiplying and enlarging either one.
And another thing—being a physical therapist means she has to maintain her credentials as a poor lover by using ice to take the swelling down. So that is another case where she doesn’t “multiple and enlarge” what is given to her.
But I won’t be surprised if I receive a ton of crap tomorrow morning when she reads this.—Joe]
I started work on a new Boomershoot building site today:
This will be for manufacturing of the targets. In years past we have built the targets on the tailgate of my pickup, folding tables in the middle of an open field, and under a folding canopy.
We have sometimes made a few targets in the Taj Mahal but it just isn’t big enough for large scale production. This year we made a firm decision to move the manufacturing location to a location further from the storage location and improve the working conditions. We plan to put in a shipping container with lights, tables, and ventilation.
Daughter Kim “had” to be back in Moscow by 2:00 PM for the Zombie Carnival (I was sort of interested in going until Kim said head shots from 300 yards away would be frowned upon) so I didn’t get the dozer work completed. We will go back out tomorrow to finish up.
This (pages 2 and 3) would make an interesting starting point for an alternate history:
As Joyce Malcolm has extensively documented, the English perception of an individual right to arms arose out of a 17th century reversal of policy course. Prior to the Stuart dynasty, English governments actively forced their subjects to own and use arms. All healthy male subjects were required to own arms appropriate to the time and their wealth, towns were required to construct shooting ranges, and all games other than marksmanship were outlawed in order to ensure that Englishmen would have but one legal sport.
Imagine if that were the case in the United States. No football, basketball, or baseball. Just hundreds of games involving shooting.
It would be totally unconstitutional (freedom of association would probably nix the idea) but it could make an interesting story.
Via Dave Hardy.
I often wonder how the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations can be so ignorant about guns.
Then I find myself thankful that they are because it makes their arguments so much easier to refute.
cloneboy
June 17, 2011
[Well… most of the time they don’t really have an argument. They just demand that “something be done”. But their ignorance of the subject matter does make the task of slapping them down easier. I think their ignorance is willful. They literally don’t think it matters. They just “know”. They believe things and claim their opinions are just as valid as anyone else’s. This is not true but many of them are lacking the ability to determine truth from falsity so they don’t really understand when we attempt to correct their process errors. Furthermore they don’t care that they don’t know how to determine truth from falsity. This results in us having to live on the same planet but in essentially different universes.—Joe]
Does anybody not know that the most dangerous place in the world is a gun-free zone?
Ted Nugent
May 2, 2011
We must turn up the heat against ‘America hating’ Obama and the gun control lobby, says Ted Nugent
[I will admit there are some places that could be considered “gun-free zones” that are safe compared to some places where guns are allowed. But if you are talking statistical means rather than overlapping tails of particular bell curves then Nugent’s presumption is correct. And the answer is most people, including most anti-gun politicians know this. The reason the politicians continue to be anti-gun vary but none of the answers are acceptable in a free society.—Joe]
The more I see on this scandal with the BATFE, the more it stinks. Here are several issues I have, in no particular order. To me they’re obvious quirks in the story that aren’t being discussed. If someone knows of these being brought up and addressed, please do share;
The Old Media are actually covering this to some extent. They don’t cover anything unless it in some way promotes the leftist cause. They’re actually being critical of the BATFE, but wait. The “problem” is being spun as one of too few restrictions. BATFE is bad, not because they’re idiots or self-serving thugs looking for more funding, or outright criminals or tyrants, but because they didn’t stop gun purchases. Keep an eye on this.
Very large purchases of guns were supposedly “allowed” to take place. We’re being asked to believe that Mexican criminals purchased up to dozens of guns at a time, on several occasions. First; if these were real straw purchases wherein there was a genuine worry about secrecy, they’d take place in dibs and dabs, so as not to attract attention. Second; why would powerful Mexican cartels with international influence be interested in paying hundreds of dollars more, per gun, in the U.S. compared to getting them at global street prices? Even the cartels would know about our background check system at gun stores, yet these purchases supposedly took place at gun dealerships, where they would know that such large purchases would attract immediate attention. But they did it anyway? Too many stinky points. I say the purchases were engineered, either by, or in close cooperation with, BATFE, and not simply “allowed”, as we’re being asked to believe.
We’re told that hundreds of these guns were found at crime scenes (I think I heard the number 800 dropped the other night). What? Really? Hundreds? That’s an awful lot of clumsy, absent-minded, criminals, isn’t it? Leaving their guns, so painstakingly straw-purchased at inflated prices at U.S. retail dealerships, behind at crime scenes to be found in very short order by our super heroes? Stinky, stinky, stinky.
A big government operation, not to shut down Mexican cartels, not to investigate corruption in Mexico that’s threatening people in the U.S., not to revisit the effects of our War On Drugs, but instead to draw attention to how our evil gun rights in the U.S. lead to death and destruction in other countries.
These issues aren’t being brought up in the press or by the Congressional “investigations”. Nope. Instead it’s all about; “You bastards! Why didn’t you guys stop gun sales?” All this after Obama promised anti gun rights groups he’d be doing something for them “…under the radar“.
I think the indignation we’re hearing from the press and from Congress is all feigned. Good Cop, Bad Cop.
My younger brother and I put together a list of socialist tenets many years ago. It’s been lost to computer upgrades and internet evolution, but one of those tenets was; “When restrictions on freedom produce disastrous results, freedom is to blame and the solution is more restrictions.” Look for it in this case. It’ll happen, I guarantee. It’s in the DNA of it.
I ask the acceptance, by your son, of a keep-sake from me. It is an article of the tackle of a gun-man, offering the convenience of carrying the powder & shot together. I presume he is a gun-man, as I am sure he ought to be, and every American who wishes to protect his farm from the ravages of quadrupeds & his country from those of biped invaders.
Thomas Jefferson
August 15, 1816
Letter to Payne Todd.
[Every American ought to be a gun-man.
Update that to include women and it’s “case closed”.—Joe]