Range time

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I have been meaning to zero my iron sighted AR for years.It was good enough to hit 7 inch targets at 20 yards or less most of the time but not good enough for anything close to precision work—even for something with iron sights. This was the reason I asked Barron to shoot the opening fireball at Boomershoot 2010.

I finally took it to the range today and got it zeroed and I tested several old magazines that had been laying around in my gun case, on my reloading bench or other random places. I threw two 20 round magazines with bad feed lips away (will that appease the Brady Campaign for a day or two?).

After I got it zeroed I did a little offhand practice. I need to practice that more because my arms got tired too quickly. But my hits were good enough considering the circumstances.

These were fired offhand from 24 yards (laser rangefinder) away at a rate of about one round every two seconds:

WP_000133Web2011

These were fired offhand from 24 yards away at a rate of about one round every second:

WP_000134Web2011

I had a tendency to jerk the trigger on that gun a little bit. I think it is because my arms would get tired and I would try to get the shot off when the sights would wander over the correct aiming point.

Quote of the day—rfkolbe

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Handguns are a menace to society and whenever sanity returns to our courts, we will ban them.

rfkolbe
March 6, 2011
Comment to Gun rights groups to test political strength–Concealed carry debate picks up steam with testimony before Illinois House committee this week
[Do not think for a second that our opponents merely want “reasonable regulation”. For them “common sense” is a code phrase with a very clear meaning.—Joe]

Not total, just 90%

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Ry says he is not a total bastard. This is true. But I sometimes have to scowl at some of his ideas. You have no idea what his mind is capable of. Ice cubes and water hoses are just hints of some of the things he has suggested for Boomershoot “improvements”.

I’m surprised

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I would have thought the only reasons the school district thought they could get away with this is they either never heard of the First Amendment or thought it did not apply to them. If it were a private school I would agree they have the power to make and enforce such rules. But they should not have the power if they are a public school:

So when Webber was told to surrender the Confederate flag that flies from the CB antenna on his pickup truck – or be suspended from his job driving a school bus in Talent – the choice was easy.

Webber chose his flag.

The article goes on to say:

Courts have upheld the right of schools to limit display of the Confederate flag on their property. Last November, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of a Tennessee school district to suspend a student for wearing a T-shirt and belt buckle bearing the image of the Confederate battle flag.

How about bans on the wearing of the U.S. flag? Or the burning of the U.S. flag?

Can they also ban the wearing of symbols of torture (aka Christian cross)? Keep in mind burning crosses were also used for racist activities.

That is a very slippery slope the courts are stepping onto.

I’m surprised the courts took this path. I hope they get this straightened out with a more freedom of expression tolerant ruling.

[Off topic a little bit but the first website I saw which had a post on this topic failed the test with my Black Listed News Sites utility. This was the first time I had actually got a hit on something I was going to post about. I did a search for more articles on the topic and found this one which was a much better article anyway.]

Quote of the day—Melissa Me

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The “gun nuts” don’t think anything is going to happen really. They haven’t thought about anything. They are just wackos and conspiracy theorists who need a cause to latch onto. They need a justification for their paranoia. It’s like a religion to them.

Melissa Me
March 5, 2011
Comment to What do American gun nuts think will happen if the government takes the guns away?
[I think the more correct answer to the question is that there would soon be a new government in town.

But getting back to Melissa Me’s answer. I think I’m okay with her position. Religion is protected under the First Amendment. So that means she thinks the specific enumerated right to keep and bear gun is doubly protected by the Bill of Rights. I think I can live with that regardless of what her personal opinion of me is.—Joe]

Interesting question

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I love exploring questions like this. “Common sense” laws that nearly everyone agrees with end up being in conflict with each other:

The Oregon Supreme Court Thursday debated whether a state statute is at odds with federal law in a case involving a Medford marijuana patient who was denied a concealed weapons permit.

Appearing before nearly 200 law school students, the seven justices convened at Willamette University College of Law in Salem and focused on whether the statute conflicts with the intent of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.

Quote of the day—Elbert Hubbard

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So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.

Elbert Hubbard
[This is an appealing notion. And I’m pretty sure it is subscribed to by a large number of people. However I think it is exceedingly naïve. Examples are not the sole guide to future behavior.—Joe]

Guarding against Reasoned Discourse

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I ran across a blog post advocating for the banning of normal capacity magazines today. I left a comment. It immediately showed up but I fear he might engage in some “Reasoned Discourse” so I’m posting my comment here as well:

It’s called a Bill of Rights. Not a Bill of Needs.

There are probably 100 million or more of these normal capacity magazines of greater than 10 round capacity in private hands in the U.S. Because they are “in common use” these magazines are protected by the Heller Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Repealing the common use test would require a new ruling from the Supreme court.

Brain scans detect predisposition for criminal behavior

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The pointer to this article came via email from Chris M. who says, “I recommend that this be tested first on government employees who carry guns and on those who give them orders.”

Several areas of the brain have been shown to be implicated with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), commonly known as psychopathy or sociopathy. The frontal cortex is the large part of your brain that is responsible for higher reasoning and behavioral traits, and is one of the areas that has been looked at. It’s smaller than normal in individuals with ASPD. Although there is a difference in crime rates between men and women, 77 percent of that difference goes away once you control for frontal cortex volume.

Dysfunction or abnormalities in other brain regions have also been associated with higher rates of crime and ASPD. The septum pellucidum is a region of brain tissue that separates the brain’s fluid-filled spaces, called ventricles. During fetal development, there is an opening inside this tissue that usually closes up within the first few months after birth. Individuals for whom this doesn’t happen have higher rates of arrest and conviction, and score higher for ASPD.

A key center of emotion activity in the brain, the amygdala, is another important region, and a study comparing ASPD and normal brains found deformations and a significant reduction in volume in the ASPD cohort. These were centered on the basolateral nucleus, which is responsible for fear conditioning. This suggests that one possible source of differences (or one of several interweaving mechanisms) is that ASPD-affected individuals don’t form the same sort of response to fear as normal people.

Campus carry on the move in Idaho

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Via email from Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance (I’m on the Board of Directors):

From: Michael C. Brown
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 1:44 PM
Subject: Alert: Campus Carry Reform on the move!

Shooters:
 
The Idaho House State Affairs committee voted 16-3 to print H222 which will clarify that the colleges and universities can only regulate firearms in dorms. Currently the U of I and other state colleges and universities have policies that ban all firearms from campus, even ones stored in a private automobile. Some colleges even restrict off-duty and retired law enforcement officers from carrying on their campuses. This much needed legislation was drafted by Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance in conjunction with Idaho Students for Concealed Carry. This will probably come up for a full hearing next week– we’ll keep you informed!
 
Mike
 
Michael C. “Mike” Brown
Executive Director/General Counsel
Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance
208 835-3737
208 835-3744 Fax
www.idahossa.org

This is particular important to me because I have a daughter (with a concealed weapons license) attending the University of Idaho and frequently walks to and from classes from our home a mile or so off campus.

Quote of the day—SUNIL DHAKAR

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dear fraind i want make a bomb plese give me a rule of make bomb plese give me a ans

SUNIL DHAKAR
February 23, 2011
Via email to my Boomershoot address.
[I was unable to come up with anything snarky to say in reply. I could not find words that I thought he would understand beyond a simple “No.”—Joe]

That horse left the barn nearly a century ago

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I received an email with a link to this page. I found the title quite amusing:

A CONFLICT WITH THE 1911 – AND WITH DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR A 1911 USER

“Dire consequences” are just now being discovered with the most long lived handgun design ever? I think the time for discovering “dire consequences” was about 99 years ago.

Quote of the day—Lyle @ UltiMAK

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As the communists have been saying; never let a good crisis go to waste. It follows logically then that they should never waste the opportunity to manufacture a good crisis. It’s just good policy. It’s what you do if you want to keep the funding coming in.

Lyle @ UltiMAK
March 2, 2011
In a comment here.
[The manufacturing of crises not limited to communists. The “War on Drugs” was created by a conservative hero. History is filled with them by Fascists, the Green Party and probably nearly every political party.

I always marvel at the number of people that seem to think all solutions involve “doing something”. I suspect it is in our genetic code. The witch doctor has to dance before it will rain and a virgin has to be sacrificed to prevent the volcano from exploding, right?

I think Libertarians could legitimately claim any number of crises exist but nearly everyone ignores them even if it is true. Probably because the solutions are to defund action rather than to fund action. Solutions that involve not “doing something” instead of more “doing something” don’t resonate with the majority of people. At some level our politicians/witch-doctors know this and always continue dancing and sacrificing virgins.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Los Angles Times

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Giving federal agents a tool to trace guns isn’t going to solve the problem of violence at the border, but it may help identify those who are supplying brutal drug gangs like the one that killed a U.S. immigration agent and injured another one this month in Mexico. As modest as the ATF’s plan is, it’s far better than what Congress is offering: the continued flow of instruments of death across a dangerous border.

Los Angles Time
February 28, 2011
Editorial: Tracking the gun-runners
[The “layers of editorial oversight” in this paragraph is a vacuous as deep space and the irony packed into this approaches the density of a neutron star.

If Congress wanted to do something about those that continue the “flow of instruments of death” which ended up being used to kill the U.S. immigrations agent I would be all for it. Congress disbanding the ATF and turning the agents responsible for this over to prosecutors would suit me just fine.—Joe]

Why does she need permission to protect herself?

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My niece Lisa will be 23 years old in a few months and is getting her Masters degree in Atlanta. She recently posted this on her blog:

Atlanta is a scary place and I would appreciate being able to carry on campus.  One night I could not avoid walking across campus in the dark by myself and let me tell you, I had my switchblade in one hand and my keys in the other.  Luckily for ME, nothing happened, but there are plenty others who haven’t been so lucky, even in broad daylight. 

Would carrying a firearm have made me feel safer?  Yes, indeed, it would have.  I’m pretty sure a girl pulling out a handgun would make a “bad guy” run faster than seeing her with a knife, which is really only effective for self-defense in extremely close proximity.

I know there are a lot of people who are scared of guns and think that making carry legal on school campuses would increase crime, but let’s be honest: the ones who are going to commit a crime aren’t scared to break another few laws.  At least give me a fighting chance against them.

She can carry her handgun essentially everyplace else in Georgia (or Idaho) why does the state think she should not be allowed to protect herself while on campus? When, where, and how do they think they were granted the power to demand she ask for them for permission? And who made them god(s) and allowed them to deny her that permission?

Random thought of the day

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Various news outlets have been repeating what Virginia Tech shooting survivor and Brady Campaign staffer Colin Goddard says:

But Colin Goddard, who was wounded in the Virginia Tech shooting and now works with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, says that allowing guns on campus won’t provide a defense to students in emergency situations.

You have no idea what a situation like this is like. There was never a time that I thought I could have saved the day or defended myself. I didn’t know what was going on until I got shot.

It occurs to me that the Brady Campaign is promoting Goddard as an expert and the media is accepting that. But does he have any training or expertise as a shooter? I’ll grant that he is an expert at getting shot. But I don’t think that takes a whole lot of practice or that his experience is something that we can use a guide for how to handle the situation he experienced.

Quote of the day—Diane Dimond

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Truth be told, I’d like to see all guns — from small handguns and Glocks to rifles and semi-automatic types — melted down and used for scrap.

Tra-la-lah! Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world that found no need for guns at all?

Diane Dimond
February 27, 2011
Will guns make college campuses safer?
[Truth be told, when she puts her feelings put aside she appears to be reluctantly on our side. She realizes that her feelings are not realistic. She appears to be very conflicted about it but realizes that the utopian ideal of no need for guns isn’t achievable.

I found myself spending quite a bit of time pondering her last sentence I quoted above. It’s a big leap to imagine that type of world where there was “no need for guns at all”. But yeah. I think she is right. If there was no need for guns at all the world would be a better place. No violent crime to be defended against, no wars to fight, you could hunt wild game with bow and arrow or easily trap them. I wonder if we were to admit to the vehement anti-gunners their utopian world sounds nice to us too but utopia isn’t an option. We are realists and if they had a plan by which their utopia was achievable we would work towards that goal with them and then when we reach utopia we would give up our guns. Would they accept the deal, put the gun restrictions aside and work on their utopia? Or do they believe the guns have to go first before their utopia can be achieved? I’m betting it is the latter but I think it would be an interesting conversation.—Joe]

Winter storm warning

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I was going to go to the Steel Challenge match today but I have to drive 300 miles back to my hidden underground bunker today and this little issue came up:

Winter Storm Warning
(Expires: Monday February 28 4:00PM PST)

the national weather service in spokane has issued a winter storm
warning for heavy snow and blowing snow which is in effect from 4
am this morning to 4 pm pst monday.

snow accumulations: total snow accumulations of 8 to 10 inches
are expected from this morning through monday afternoon.

elevation: all elevations.

timing: snow will begin this morning, increase through the
afternoon, taper off tonight, then ioncrease again monday.

locations include: moscow, plummer, potlatch, genesee

winds: winds will increase and become gusty late today through
monday, producing areas of blowing or drifting snow. gusts to
35 mph will be possible.

impacts: difficult driving conditions will be a certainty,
with visibilities dropping significantly in wind prone
locations due to blowing snow.

Similar warnings exist for nearly the entire route back to my bunker. It could be a long drive and I need to get started early and make as much of the trip as I can in daylight.

Quote of the day—Rep. Hal Wick

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Do I or the other co-sponsors believe that the state of South Dakota can require citizens to buy firearms? Of course not. But at the same time, we do not believe the federal government can order every citizen to buy health insurance.

Rep. Hal Wick
State Representative in South Dakota
Arizona shooting has little effect on national gun debate
[I’m not familiar with the constitution or laws of South Dakota but if they require you to have liability insurance before you can drive your car on their roads then it would seem to me they could require you to have road flares, a fire extinguisher, and a gun in your car before you can use their roads. That does not necessarily expand to all South Dakota citizens but it sure would cover a lot of them. And it would amuse me greatly that before Joan Peterson, Brady Campaign board member living next door in Minnesota, could visit she would have to have a gun in the vehicle.

The health care requirement the Feds are attempting would appear to be something completely different. Driving on public roads is a privilege granted by the state, mere existence is not.—Joe]

Honoring our soldiers

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Via an email list I am on.

Three head shot hits in a row at 1000 yards by an 84 year-old WWII sniper. It brings tears to my eyes: