Quote of the day–Alan Korwin

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Under the new carry provisions, the feds are forced to comply with state laws in the 493 individual parks and “federal islands” spread throughout the 50 states. Rather than states bowing to the feds in an unholy expansion of power, the feds must bow to the states and their local gun laws. State gun laws apply in those territorial islands, and changes to state law will apply there as well. The dog is finally wagging the tail.


We could use more laws like this. This is the 10th Amendment in action.


Alan Korwin
April 5, 2010
Reverse Tenth Amendment
[Unfortunately the feds didn’t have this imposed on them by the states, they imposed it upon themselves. It seems to me that in a more utopian world the state legislatures could have voted, with a simple majority, to overthrow any federal law. Sort of like an initiative process that occurs in many states when the citizens enact or repeal laws the state legislatures and/or governor refuse to do. The feds could only override the states on issues of rights that are infringed by the states.


My utopia is far from realized and I fear I will have to find my own planet to implement it.–Joe]

Cold Call

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I just got off the phone with a rep who called us from one of the big optics companies.  He started the conversation by asking if we sold gun accessories.


Need I say more?


OK; any half-baked salesman would spend at least one whole minute researching the company he’s calling, you know, before making the call.  I point out this failure because it’s rare, but it keeps happening.  Along with failure “a” usually comes failure “b”; salesman wants to do all the talking and no listening.  He’s going down a list of phone numbers and reading a canned presentation.  That might result in some sales, but that’s not a salesman.


We knew a musical instrument salesman from the American affiliate of Big International Music, Inc. and he was the best in the business.  Here in the Northwest, the sales reps were generally given larger commissions due to the vast expanses they had to cover to make the same sales volume one of the big city reps could make within 20 square miles.  This guy did so well that he started to make “too much money” at the higher, Northwest commission rates.  Big International Music didn’t like that, so they cut his commission.  Mind you; no one had ever sold so much in the Northwest as this guy in all the history of the company.  THAT was the “problem” that was eating away at them, and they solved it alright.  When they cut his commission the guy quit and went to work for the competition, who suddenly started doing quite well for themselves.


That’s a salesman.  He knew about your business before he contacted you, for one thing.  This was before the internet, when it took more than a minute or two.  He’d talk to local professors and musicians– people most likely to know about you.  He’d go in with actual knowledge, and he’d talk WITH you rather than AT you.  Always looking for a deal, he’d also check all the local classified ad papers.  On one visit he left with a ’50s Oldsmobile he found here in town, figuring he could turn a profit on it.  I believe they’re more born (or bred) than trained in a month.  It’s a personality type.

Typical

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Some incompetent religious fanatic tries to blow up the infidels and the would be tyrant politicians want to infringe the rights of everyone:



New York desperately needs more anti-terror funding and tighter gun control laws to guard against the next attempted attack on the city, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly told Congress Wednesday.


Bloomberg cited the handgun found in the van of Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahraz. He noted new federal stats showing that suspects on terrorism watchlists tried to buy weapons more than 1,200 times in the last six years and were successful 90% of the time.


…


Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) backed Bloomberg’s plea for more Homeland anti-terror funding while breaking with the Obama administration on how the arrest of Shahraz was handled.


“I don’t believe somebody like Shahraz should receive Miranda rights,” Lieberman said. Terrorism suspects “ought to be turned over to the military justice system” Lieberman said.


Until a suspect is clearly associated with a foreign organization they are common criminals not enemy combatants.

Canadian snow job

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If you like to follow what is happening in Canada with their firearms registry you should read this.


The main points to remember from this are:



The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) has come out swinging in support of keeping the costly and ineffective long-gun registry despite absolutely no evidence it has prevented or solved a single crime.


…


The “9,400 hits” figure for the Canadian Firearms Registry On-Line (CFRO) is deliberately misleading. Whenever police officers access the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) for any reason, such as for a simple address check, an automatic hit is generated with CFRO whether the information is desired or not. This is the case, for example, with the Toronto Police Service (5,000 officers), the Vancouver Police (1,400 officers), Ottawa Police Service (1,050 officers) and the BC RCMP (5,000 officers). Additionally, every legal purchase of a firearm generates three administrative hits to the registry; for the buyer, for the seller and for the firearm. Clearly, a hit on the Registry does not denote legitimate investigative use.


The gun controllers tout how many times a day the registry is “used” by police. But as seen above, the gun controllers in Canada just like in the U.S., have to use half-truths to make their case.

2707 yard shot in Afghanistan by the numbers

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I think I first saw it at Ry’s place. But others have mentioned it too. People at work have been asking about it too. It’s time I made a blog post about it.

According to the news reports a British sniper made three consecutive shots which were measured, via GPS, to be at a range 8120 feet. This is about 2707 yards which is the number I used with Modern Ballistics. I have uploaded the data file here if you want to tweak a few numbers and see what happens for yourself.

I used a high end 300 grain bullet with a BC of 0.785, a muzzle velocity of 2750 ft/sec, a muzzle velocity standard deviation of 10 fps and the inherent accuracy of the cartridge, gun, and shooter was 0.25 MOA. I assumed zero wind at 10,000 feet above sea level, and a temperature of 59 F. All are a bit on the optimistic, but plausible, side of “excellent” conditions.

The first thing that struck me about the situation was that with a 32-power, mil-dot reticle, scope the target was quite visible (the rectangle target is 18″ x 24″):

Even a 16-power scope gives a usable sight picture:

The sight angle to not require hold-over is 122 MOA. For best results a no hold-over shot is required.

Long range Leopold scopes give 70 MOA of adjustment so a shim of 52 MOA would be required for a no hold-over shot. This is not likely.

Some Nightforce scopes have 110 MOA of adjustment which would require a shim of 12 MOA. This would result in the closest range the rifle could be zeroed at under standard conditions to be about 460 yards. This seems plausible.

The articles claim a three second time to target but I come up with 4.9 seconds. My guess is whoever did the calculation assumed the bullet did not lose any velocity on it’s way to the target. Working backward we come up with about 2700 fps for a muzzle velocity.

The velocity of the bullet at the target is about 1043 fps. With a 300 grain bullet this corresponds to an IPSC “Power Factor” of 313. A 124 grain 9mm bullet at the muzzle is in the neighborhood of a PF of 135 so the sniper still had a lot of “stopping power” at this range.

On the average you would have to shoot 83 (the correct number is 4.9, apparently something hadn’t been updated properly in my simulation when I pulled the 83 off) three-shot groups to get one which was less than or equal to 1 MOA (about 30 inches). Only about 30% of the shots will hit a 18″ x 24″ target (1000 shot simulation):

My conclusion is there was some luck involved but it is plausible the event took place essentially as reported.

Update: I have rerun some of the simulations with what is believed to be the cartridge used by the British.

Quote of the day–Say Uncle

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This would be catastrophic for a few reasons. First, a good portion of funds invested in the market are now government property. Second, if you tried to take money from folks’ plans, they’d just take their money out of the plans. And third, they’d probably kill you for trying.


Say Uncle
May 5, 2010
401(k) and union retirement
[I’m not sure about the first point. I’ll take his word for that.


I have some questions on the second point–money and most hard assets such as your home and vehicles are far too easy to trace.


On the third point I suspect he is spot on.–Joe]

They are singing my song!

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Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman write Is the Brady Campaign a closet klavern of the Klan?



They opposed a landmark court ruling that struck down the handgun ban in District of Columbia, a city with a predominantly black population.


They later opposed legislation that would grant the District full voting rights in Congress, because the measure contained a provision expanding gun rights for those same citizens.


They filed a court brief opposing a lawsuit filed against the City of Chicago’s handgun ban by Otis McDonald, an African-American whose life story would make inspiring material for a movie.


“They” are the leaders of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and one is left to wonder how this bunch would have reacted to the plight of Robert Hicks, a black man who rose to civil rights prominence in the mid-1960s. The 81-year-old Mr. Hicks passed away April 13, and is remembered for being, among other things, the last known surviving member of the Deacons for Defense and Justice.


As I have said many times before, they are the 21st Century equivalents of the KKK and to completely defeat them we must make supporting them as socially viable as a membership in the KKK.

NRA Annual Meetings

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Just a FYI.


I will be attending the NRA Annual Meetings next week.


I hope to see a bunch of readers and fellow bloggers there.

Quote of the day–Glenn Beck

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To quote the president, he didn’t want to take over GM, but he had to. The auto industry was in a crisis. He didn’t want to take over the banks, but he had to. The financial industry was in a crisis. It was corrupt and on the verge of trouble. I don’t want global regulation but we have to. Remember the pitch for TARP? The global economy would collapse if it’s not passed. They’re saying it now again.


The stimulus, America wouldn’t survive if we don’t pass it. Health care, how many times did we hear that the health care system is in crisis? Cap-and-trade, energy crisis, environmental crisis, climate crisis. Oceans will flood if we don’t act now.


Each one of these crisis, there is only one benefactor. One. Who is it? Big government.


Mark my words, the pattern will continue.


Glenn Beck
May 3, 2010
Big Government vs. Small Government
[Barb sometimes complains that I depress her. Sometimes I depress myself too.–Joe]

International Association of Chiefs of Police

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While browsing through the grants made by the Joyce Foundation I found they routinely make donations to the International Association of Chiefs of Police:



$250K on April 16, 2009 “To continue implementation efforts around the recommendations contained in the report of the Great Lakes States Summit on Gun Violence.”


When someone says the police are for more gun control be sure to check up on which police organization and who butters their bread for them.


Update: The link to the Joyce Foundation may not work. From some IP addresses it does and from others it doesn’t. Try my save of the grant page (the year selection doesn’t work, go to “Page 2” instead).

Special interests

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I don’t think organizations representing just a few people are any less legitimate than those representing millions. I fully believe in minority rights and the smallest minority is the individual. But the situation changes when just a few people (or an individual) attempt to infringe upon the rights of the many. Hence the right of an innocent individual with dark skin to be left alone trumps the interests of 10,000 KKK members who wish to lynch him or her.


That said there are those that effectively use the phrase “special interests” to denigrate organizations and people who attempt to affect legislation through campaign donations or lobbying efforts. I don’t really understand the power this phrase on the population at large but it does seem to be effective in swaying public opinion. Why don’t people think in terms of the merits of the points made by each side rather than vague catch phrases like “special interests”? I don’t get it, but if those are the rules for this game then I would like to try my hand at playing the game for a few minutes.


I find it “interesting” that the VPC uses the phrase “special interests”* to describe pro-gun organizations. The NRA has several million dues paying members and hence their money comes from millions of members and they represent those millions of members and to a somewhat lesser extent 80 or 100 million gun owners who are not NRA members.


How many members does the VPC have? They don’t tell us. We do know a little about their gross income and income sources though. In 2006 they had an income of $700k. Would anyone like to take a guess on how many donors they had 2006? If it was a grass roots organization like the NRA they might receive an average of perhaps $50 per member. This would translate into 14,000 members. Compared to the multiple millions of NRA members who are they to call the NRA a “special interest”? Isn’t an organization with only 14,000 members much more of a “special interest” than an organization with nearly 300 times as many members?


Even handicapped with the assumption above I think I could successfully defend the position that the VPC is the actual “special interest” group in this debate. But that assumption of the VPC being a grass roots organization with 14,000 donating members is wrong. What if they only had 1000 donors? What then? Or what if they had 100 or just 10 donors? Now we are talking about a really special interest group attempting to influence laws and policies that affect many millions of people for each of one of the donors. If they had that few of donors the Westboro Baptist Church is a better representation of the citizens of the United States.


But in 2006 the VPC didn’t have just 10 donors. It had one donor. Yes! ONE donor.


The Joyce Foundation gave them a grant of $700K for 18 months on July 20, 2006.


Another game of “Special Interests” anyone?


Update: The link to the Joyce Foundation may not work. From some IP addresses it does and from others it doesn’t. Try my save of the grant page (the year selection doesn’t work, go to “Page 5” instead).


Update 2: See also Howard Nemerov’s post on the same topic.

Soliders’ Angels donation

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Patti from Solider’s Angels left a comment on one of my blog posts:



Thank you very much from my heart.
It is things like this, people like you that make me want to be a better person.
Please if you have a chance email me the addresses of everyone involved, I would love to send a thank you.
Love
patti


I just got around to responding via private email:



I can’t give you the email addresses of everyone but I can forward your email to all the people who participated in Boomershoot 2010.


I have just sent the money raised by the raffle. Here are the details:


Payee                Send On       Expected Delivery    Amount
Soliders’ Angels 05/03/2010   05/10/2010             $1,300.00

Quote of the day–The Charleston Gazette

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Since America is infested with millions of murder instruments, we don’t know whether control laws ever can reduce the death toll. But conscientious leaders should keep trying. Closing the gun show loophole would be a plausible step.


The Charleston Gazette
May 2, 2010
Pistols: Gun show sales
[H/T to Say Uncle.


One persons “murder instruments” are another persons life saving self-defense tools–which we all have a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear.


America is also “infested” with millions of homosexuals, Jews, Muslims, and people with non-white skin but that doesn’t mean their rights should be infringed no matter how plausible it is to some bigots.–Joe]

Illegal Immigration – a Primer

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You can speculate over the notion that so many legislators over the decades proposed and passed immigration laws that they never intended to see enforced.  You can speculate over the intentions of said legislators, whether or not they’re evil or just retarded, or some combination of both, or whether they should be tarred and feathered or simply stripped of their citizenship and deported to Cuba.  There are some things regarding illegal immigration however, that I believe are not arguable (though I know well that most readers will argue passionately all the same.  You shouldn’t bother on my behalf, as I’ve heard it all before, more times than I can count).


One assertion at a time;


“They’re takin’ our jobs, Man.”  Uh,.. no.  First, you don’t own your job.  Your employer, and to some extent your employer’s customers, own your job.  Illegals are coming here, some of them, to work for below minimum wage.  They wouldn’t do it if they didn’t consider it an improvement over their previous situation.  American citizens also work for below minimum wage, under the table so to speak.  Immigration status is not the issue in this case.  Minimum wage and income deduction laws are the issue.  Government has no business getting between a worker and a prospective employer.  Peaceable, voluntary exchange is not a crime, since no one’s rights are being violated.  Repeal minimum wage laws and the sixteenth amendment, eliminate 95% of the IRS, and that government-manufactured problem goes away overnight.  Instate a fixed 5 to 8% national sales tax and all the legitimate functions of government will be more than paid for, given the massive increase in GDP that will soon follow, plus we’ll save billions of dollars, and countless productivity hours, on tax preparation.


“They’re using up government services, breaking the bank of local governments, Man…”  That’s a case of socialist services being used as a magnet to attract freeloaders and deadbeats (more socialists).  American citizens take advantage of the same goodies– more slowly perhaps, but with the same results eventually.  Immigration status is not the issue in this case.  The socialist goodie spigot racket is the issue.  If people are not being attracted by the socialists’ confiscated goodies, they’ll only come here for the right reasons, and in that case the more immigration the better.  More people equals more productivity, not less resources.  Turn off the spigot completely, remove the pump, dig up the plumbing, dynamite the well, and that problem goes away literally overnight.


“They’re comin’ here to sell drugs, Man, and that results in violence, Dude…”  (sigh) Did we learn absolutely nothing from alcohol Prohibition?  Seriously?  Prohibition’s primary legacy is the empowerment and enrichment of international organized crime.  Its secondary legacy is the encroachment and entrenchment of official government corruption.  Together, those two inevitable results are vastly worse than the actual drugs’ effects on society.  Government has no business telling any emancipated adult what they may or may not put into their bodies on their own property.  No rights violation, no crime.  That’s the proper test.  Eliminate all vice laws and that whole set of problems goes away almost overnight, plus we save billions and billions on drug enforcement and the corrupt sons-a-bitches in government will have to resort to more conventional crime.


Immigration is tedious and takes a long time, so it’s much easier to jump the border.  Simplify the process, which will be easy after the above steps are taken, and that problem goes away overnight.


Take those simple steps, and we can all get on with howling over some other man-made/government-created problems we’re unwilling to face honestly or with courage, or compassion, or tolerance.


Is all that too “extreme” for you?  Can’t handle the nation’s founding principles?  OK then, this manufactured problem will persist and grow and become far more expensive, which is of course the intention, and it is just one of countless examples of how, as I put it some fifteen years ago; every little bit of socialism requires just a little bit more.  Just a little.  Hope you like crap.

Quote of the day–Laurel

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Just got back into town from Boomershoot.

OH GOD SO FUN.

I have a feeling this next year is going to be a spendy one for us. Yeeeeah.

Laurel
Aprile 25, 2010
*dies of awesome*
[My evil plan is working.–Joe]

Hear Ye!

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I can’t call it the Quote Of The Day, because that’s Joe’s gig.  Instead I’ll just post it;



“I think public service should be an honorable profession, with high standards of integrity.  I don’t know about you, but I’m done waiting for these people [the current crop of politicians and their sycophants in media] to supply that which they do not have.  I’ve come to the conclusion that if we want it, we’re gonna have to bring it.”  —  Scott Ott of PJTV, referring to his recent decision to enter local politics.


Yup.  That’s about the size of it.  If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.  After all; you can’t expect a pig to write a sonata, no matter how hard you might wish for it.


Afterthought; We hear a lot of talk about integrity.  “This is a man of great integrity..” and so on.  OK, but how about principles?  Integrity doesn’t really tell the whole story, does it?  Cannot one have integrity and still be wrong?  Alright then, I want to see integrity and principles.  Alright; integrity and American principles (of liberty).  It’s all I ask.

Quote of the day–Beekeeper’s Apprentice

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How DARE the NRA CHARGE for a program to teach children to never touch a firearm, when they have lobbied hard and long and pushed and prodded and screeched “constitution” and tossed money around to lawmakers incapable to turning down a freaking dollar to save their own putrefied souls and the NRA is a huge part of the problem of children dying in firearm accidents in the first place?


Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Apr 21, 2010
Question of the Week: How do Republicans Think?
[I think there is some sort of disconnect with reality here. Does he think teachers should teach for free? And where is the evidence that the NRA is “a huge part of the problem of children dying in firearm accidents”? And if you know anything about the NRA’s Eddy Eagle program and you read the whole thing you will discover he doesn’t know anything about the Eddy Eagle program. What he thinks he knows about it he learned from the Violence Policy Center. This is like learning about homosexuality from Fred Phelps.–Joe]

Quote of the day–L. Neil Smith

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They hate it because it’s an X-ray machine. It’s a Vulcan mind-meld. It’s the ultimate test to which any politician — or political philosophy — can be put.


If a politician isn’t perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash — for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything — without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn’t your friend no matter what he tells you.


L. Neil Smith
Why Did it Have to be … Guns
[I have tried to put it a little more succinctly but I suspect I will lose a lot of people with that. Smith spells it out concisely in a manner that everyone can understand. RTWT.–Joe]

Recovery is nearly complete

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Boomershoot is very stressful for me. I usually only sleep four or five hours a night and loose about 10 pounds in the week around Boomershoot. This year’s event was the least stressful of any. I had several people comment on how low key I was compared to usual. I actually enjoyed strolling up and down the line watching for safety violations holding hands with Barb. Usually I’m too keyed up for either of us to enjoy holding hands much.

I think sleeping on-site helped lower the stress. I could work late and get up early to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the crew. Even though I slept in a tent next to the Taj Mahal that got down to 29 F just before dawn one morning I got more sleep than usual. It was interesting to me that I put a small jug of milk on some ice in a small cooler Wednesday noon and the ice still hadn’t all melted as of Saturday noon.

Barb seemed pleased that my appetite returned on Tuesday and I started eating normally on Monday.

I also have to give a lot of credit for the (relatively) low stress Boomershoot to our staff:

  • Scott K. makes an amazing contributions by showing up early Thursday morning each year and leaving long after nearly everyone else is gone on Sunday evening. This year he drove all the way from Virginia.
  • Brian and Cody worked until very late on Sunday as well. This is when I most appreciate the help. The anticipation and fun is over. It’s cleaning up after the party when you are dead tired. Thanks guys.
  • Mark Y. showed up Thursday morning as well and worked four solid days. He “only” had to drive an hour each way from Moscow.
  • Barron and Janelle B. drove about 1:15 each way from Uniontown and were there all four days.
  • Ry drove 340 miles from Seattle and was there all four days.
  • Ry’s daughters Anna and Arden folded boxes, stamped the ATF required markings on empty boxes, and did numerous other grunt work.
  • David S. came from Seattle and worked all day Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday.
  • Rolf N. came from Seattle and helped make explosives and entertained us all with his puns.
  • Phil put in some time at the Taj doing some grunt work too.
  • Tim S. helped not only on the day of Boomershoot but with experiments last fall.
  • Daughter Kim worked long days Saturday and Sunday. She left the range at 19:22 on Sunday and looked like death warmed over. She had put away nearly everything at the Taj Mahal and even took down my tent, rolled up my sleeping bags, and stuffed them in my car. She had been up since at least 6:45 that morning. She usually makes nearly all of the Boomerite but this year Scott K. made the explosives on Friday while Kim was attending classes. Saturday she made all of it and cleaned up the production area while I and most of the others ran the High Intensity event.
  • Peter V. and John S. are nurses. They bring their medical kits and shoot in the Sunday event. They seem a bit disappointed they don’t get to treat and gunshot wounds or explosives injuries but they say they have a good time each year. This year John helped measure chemicals and fold target boxes on Saturday.
  • Boomershoot photographer (and daughter) Xenia Joy was there on Sunday and I’ll eventually go through her pictures and post some of them.
  • Bruce (Squirrel Hunter), Fred, and their crew did the raffle which netted $1300 for Soldiers’ Angels and distributed badges Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning.
  • Chris T. watched the road Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and radioed back to the shooting line about approaching cars.
  • Eugene Econ, Shawn W., Bill and Rob W., and Monte M. put on the Precision Rifle Clinic. In addition to all the expert shooting ability and coaching skills prep for this starts Thursday afternoon and involves moving large quantities of steel up a steep hill.
  • Wife Barbara Scott put up with me being gone (physically for three nights and mentally for at least a week) and then helped so much with numerous errands, providing transportation for the cameraman, and taking care of my mom while Dad came over to do an interview with Michael Bane. And most of all she hasn’t yet hit me for telling her over the megaphone that there were 150 people waiting on her to arrive so we could do the fireball. That doesn’t count all the tolerance she shows all year long as I prepare for the next Boomershoot. Some of her coworkers tell her she is a celebrity because of the attention Boomershoot sometimes gets. But, as she tells them, she isn’t a celebrity, she just sleeps with one. I think she means me.

Also, I would like to again thank Bruce for the matching Boomershoot jackets that he gave to Barbara and me at the Saturday night dinner. Those were awesome.

A contrast

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In most states in the U.S. if you want to shoot clay pigeons you can go to Wal-Mart or any number of other stores, pick out a gun, fill out a form, wait a few minutes then pay for the gun and walk out with it and as much ammo as you can afford and/or carry. I considered the form and the wait an infringement. What would the courts say if there were to be a law requiring you to fill out a form and get permission from the government before joining a church (another constitutionally protected right)?


Even as oppressive as I consider our current laws it doesn’t compare to the U.K. when you want to go clay pigeon shooting.