A sniper rifle, a M16 and an automatic hand gun are only designed to kill people, it cant cut your steak or make a nice stew. There is NO legitimate use for them PERIOD.
Asguard
November 10, 2008
Comment to 8 year old murders father and friend…
[Nice proof by vigorous assertion.–Joe]
I’ve been seeing ads for the new NRA on-line national firearms museum, and I’ve also been working on building a period rifle. I therefore thought it would be great to go and see if I could find some original examples of said period rifle at this new-fangled on-line museum, rather than having to, say, drive to Wyoming and visit the Cody Museum or pay 5 to 10 thousand dollars for an original rifle. I tried it from home using my Mac G4 to no avail. OK, I can forgive that. The old G4 still has an old version of OS-X and Safari, and I sometimes have problems using other web sites. Here at work I use XP Pro, IE 8, and a 700+ KBps ADSL connection. I patiently try nationalfirearmsmuseum.org a few times from work and I’m redirected to nramuseum.org which displays a black screen, this tiny little sentence in the middle, and a heap big helping of nothing else;
The full NRA experience requires a broadband connection. Click here to go directly to the standard NRA.org website.
From the standard NRA.org website you can eventually find a link to the museum, which then gives you said black screen. Repeat as needed to become convinced beyond reasonable doubt that you’re not going to see any museum, no matter what, in spite of the fact that said non-viewable museum is currently being advertized all over the NRA publications. Denied. I then tried “compatibility view” in IE 8, which made quite a difference– it put that sentence at the bottom of the black screen instead of the middle. Double denied.
If my setup can’t work, who’s does? I thought DSL was about as broad as broadband gets, while the only clue to the denial is a note telling me my connection speed is too low, with no indication of what they consider to be “broadband”. Have I missed some new and wonderful breakthrough in IT that everyone else knows about and uses already? Do I need a cable ISP? Do I need to get Win 7 or what? In any case I think that if your web site doesn’t work with the vast majority of existing computer setups, you’re doing something wrong. That is, if you want the majority of people to see it, and you’re not just interested in being cutting-edge for the sake of it, being satisfied with catering to an exclusive audience.
Then again, maybe I’m doing something wrong that makes it impossible to see this web site, though all the others I visit seem to work OK.
Dear NRA; I’d write you directly about this, but a black screen with nothing on it includes, as an accompanying feature, the non existence of a “if you can’t view this page, please notify our web designer by clicking here” or anything like that.
Update Jan. 10; Without my having contected them directly, NRA Tech Support wrote me this morning and fixed my problem. Wow. That’s service. More in comments.
Voter frustration has a way of becoming voter fury when lawmakers stick one hand in their wallet and the other hand in their gun cabinet.
Dave Workman
January 13, 2009
Bill introduced to ban so-called ‘assault weapons’ in Washington State
[This bill defines certain pump action rifles and shotguns as “assault weapons” as well as ordinary semi-autos.
Vote the bums out!–Joe]
The only thing a gun is good for is killing and maiming people and animals. It is especially bizarre that several people professing to be Christians are keen to get their hands on the means to kill and maim. Would Jesus have packed an assault rifle?
…
You should also consider that a lot of this weaponry stuff is not about rights or owning arms, but SELLING arms, and making money out of it. Always follow the money.
mikecope
March 3, 2009
[First off, apparently he forgot that Jesus said:
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Matthew 10:34
But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Luke 19:27
Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Luke 22:36
Second, it is spoken like a true communist. It’s the greedy capitalist that is responsible for everything they think of as evil in the world. It’s that unchallenged assumption–“Money is the root of all evil.”
I prefer Ayn Rand’s claim “Money is the root of all good.”–Joe]
I find that people who are so enamored with guns are people who feel powerless in some way and have to prove something to world about how big, important and special they are.
…
Guns are a hideous necessity for law enforcement, but should never be in the hands of anyone else.
Marie
Oct 29, 2009
[Just so you know what some people thing of you and your specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms.–Joe]
I’m upgrading this blog to a newer version. There will be some disruption. In general there should not be any loss of content but if you are in the middle of leaving a comment that could be lost.
I expect the upgrade to start at about 16:30 PST (about 15 minutes from now).
Update: All done.
So, what is there for them to do? Forget “growth,” forget “jobs,” forget “financial stability.” What should their realistic new objectives be? Well, here they are: food, shelter, transportation, and security. Their task is to find a way to provide all of these necessities on an emergency basis, in absence of a functioning economy, with commerce at a standstill, with little or no access to imports, and to make them available to a population that is largely penniless. If successful, society will remain largely intact, and will be able to begin a slow and painful process of cultural transition, and eventually develop a new economy, a gradually de-industrializing economy, at a much lower level of resource expenditure, characterized by a quite a lot of austerity and even poverty, but in conditions that are safe, decent, and dignified. If unsuccessful, society will be gradually destroyed in a series of convulsions that will leave a defunct nation composed of many wretched little fiefdoms. Given its largely depleted resource base, a dysfunctional, collapsing infrastructure, and its history of unresolved social conflicts, the territory of the Former United States will undergo a process of steady degeneration punctuated by natural and man-made cataclysms.
Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
Social Collapse Best Practices
[I was reminded of this after reading Roberta post The Greater Depression. I snorted in laughter when I read the last line of her post but then it took me several minutes for me to give Barb the context so she could get the joke. She claims it was worth it.–Joe]
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
[This was going to be a response to some gun fearing wussy who had objections to my statement here. But no one took the bait and someone else brought up what Jefferson said in the comments before I did.–Joe]
Just one more time. Then I’ll go home.
Haitao Jiang
January 8, 2010
This was said many, many times in the last three or four hours as he tried to get his code working. Hiep, Pawan, and I hovered over his shoulder and others lurked on-line to await the results. He finally agreed to go home at 23:33 PM.
[I’ve been working since 5:00 AM after going to bed last night at 23:30 and I really don’t feel like finding a better QOTD for you. I went to bed after Barb had gone to sleep and I was up and working before she woke up.
My stuff is done for now and the testers writing the automated test code have to be convinced the test code is broken and not my stuff. We start at it again tomorrow morning.–Joe]
I guess I’ll call them “PRRs” or “RRPs” (Rifle Receiver Pistols). A few of us made comments over at at Say Uncle about the use of such pistols. There was the assertion that Blackwater personnel have been using AK pistols out of vehicles. I don’t get it. Here’s my last comment;
A cut down, folding stock carbine I can see (AKS-74U et al) but I have yet to understand the allure of the “pistol” version (no shoulder stock at all).
“They became very common with Blackwater in Iraq.”
You’re not referring to a folder rather than a pistol?
Stateside, I see the rifle receiver pistol as a political creation (if it has a shoulder stock it falls under the NFA [as a short barreled rifle, or SBR]) rather than something that arose for a particular application. Otherwise we’d be seeing handguns more along the lines of an Automag with 30 round mags, and/or the Tech 9 or some iteration thereof would be popular, which it isn’t.
There must be something I don’t understand. Is it all about suppressive fire? But in that case what’s wrong with having a folding stock on there just in case you want to, you know, aim, or something?
Can anyone fill me in on the particulars? Why an AK pistol, AR pistol, etc., other than the fact that the stocked version comes with the NFA hassles and tax for civilians? I mean; why are such pistols desired for defense and/or in combat? Or are they?
I put in about 15 hours at work yesterday and I have been up since about 5:00 AM this morning working too.
We have a major deadline tonight and I expect I’ll be very busy until late tonight and then crashing after that.
My blog and email may get some attention tomorrow or the next day.
How could he be in charge of Seattle’s gun-prevention programs?
Peter Masundire
January 5, 2009
A Democratic activist in South Seattle.
Gun guy packs heat in message
Referring to Seattle mayor’s gun adviser, Mark Pursley.
[It’s nice for them to admit that is what the position is intended for. And it’s also nice to know the guy in that position has at least some sympathy for our position.
Some anti-gun people get upset and start whining about pro-gun people being “afraid of our government”. They try to portray citizens exercising their right to keep and bear arms as paranoid. In the general case this is certainly wrong.
It is not a fear of government that motivates us to acquire arms and training. It is the public servants that do not fear their citizens.
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
Ben Franklin
[I was inspired to choose this quote because of Kevin’s QOTD yesterday.
Assuming this is true then it would follow that those who wish to be masters might purposefully set about to encourage corruption and destroy virture.
Although I don’t care to take the time to do this I believe a good case could be made that it has already happened.–Joe]
More than ninety percent of Americans agree that a waiting period to purchase firearms is sane, sensible policy, and the success of the Brady Law over the last five years proves them right. Why are we fixing what isn’t broken? And why will we again be losing innocent people to an enraged spouse, a disturbed employee, or a would-be criminal needing a fast and easy firearm?
Sarah Brady
Press Release from Handgun Control Inc.
November 30, 1998
From http://www.handguncontrol.org/press/nov30-98.htm (as of February 18, 1999) it is still available at http://www.handguncontrol.org/media/press/view/147 which is an alias for http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/press/view/147.
[Two things.
First, Brady/HCI measures success in terms of number of people blocked from purchasing a gun. They ignore studies that are unable to show their pet laws are effective. They ignore the people who died who might have lived had they been able to purchase a gun to defend themselves from a serious and immediate threat. This is like being pleased your unmarried teenage daughter wasn’t able to purchase contraceptives at the local drug store and ignoring that she is pregnant.
Second, the domain handguncontrol.org is a valid alias for bradycampaign.org. This is true both technically and politically. “Brady Campaign” was an attempt to hide what they really are. Just as they attempted to hide the meaning of the Second Amendment prior to the Heller decision they continue their deceptive ways now and probably will continue to do so as long as they exist.
For the geeks, I have saved you the effort to do the WhoIs query:
Domain ID:D3642098-LROR
Domain Name:HANDGUNCONTROL.ORG
Created On:03-Jun-1997 04:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:06-Feb-2009 15:09:45 UTC
Expiration Date:02-Jun-2011 04:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Register.com Inc. (R71-LROR)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:7529249ef51fd237
Registrant Name:Keith Hall
Registrant Organization:Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Registrant Street1:1225 Eye Street, NW Suite 1100
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Washington
Registrant State/Province:DC
Registrant Postal Code:20005
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.2022895784
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:webmaster@bradynetwork.org
Admin ID:84510988aa81f856
Admin Name:Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Admin Organization:Brady Campaign
Admin Street1:1225 Eye Street, NW Suite 1100
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Washington
Admin State/Province:DC
Admin Postal Code:20005
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.2022895784
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:webmaster@bradynetwork.org
Tech ID:C1-RCOM
Tech Name:Domain Registrar
Tech Organization:Register.Com
Tech Street1:575 8th Avenue
Tech Street2:11th Floor
Tech Street3:
Tech City:New York
Tech State/Province:NY
Tech Postal Code:10018
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.9027492701
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:+1.9027495429
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:domain-registrar@register.com
–Joe]
On Saturday I ran across a question:
Gun control why don’t you believe in it?.?
If there were a gun control many kids and older people would still be alive, I think i know the reason why there is such a fight against controlling the who has guns, It all falls on macho men or men who think it makes them tough, It starts very early in a boys life playing with toy guns and computer war games or hunting games, They learn very young at how to kill, and they call it fun. Boys don’t know how to play a non killing game. Now there older but not smarter they join the services so they can kill real people and get away with it with a pat on the back for great job soldier! if the survive men come home injured They expect a great home coming and that the Veterans or any hospital will treat them free, Well some come home with a missing leg or arm, some come home with a messed up mind and cant fit in with the rest of society, The killing continues Some G I ‘s kill strangers some kill there family’s and some kill themselves either way they were trained to kill. Where are the Peace Makers Why cant young boys be taught a different way of life? Like learning about our world and how to make it more Energy wise Or how to build instead of blowing things up, Or how to love and not hate? How to share not be greedy . I do feel sad for all the young boys, But once they come home from the killing fields i have no feeling for them just disgust they were trained to kill and want to continue killing even if it cost them their lives, I cannot feel sorry for the wounded soldier he or she Asked for it, For the love of the GUN & love of the KILL This is a sick world filled with sick men, Take the guns away what is left? Little men with little minds .For all you out there that say the killing is to keep America safe , That’s a joke Other country’s say the same thing . I love my country but i love my sons more so i teach them to share and to feel an others pain early in their childhood I did my part for the good of my country and my sons know that a life is to be lived not killed.
I responded:
Your very first sentence presumes facts not in evidence. The fact is there is no evidence that says gun control has ever made society safer. Anyplace, anytime, anywhere–EVER!
The rest of the rant is equally lacking in facts. To be taken seriously opinions and beliefs must be based on facts. Nothing in this “question” is factual based and therefore is only worthy of scorn.
Source(s):
https://blog.joehuffman.org/2004/12/14/just-one-question
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm
And got this email in response:
It is a fact that guns kill, It is another fact that kids are getting the Guns from home , It is also a fact that the killing of kids in this good old USA is done by the kids that get GUNS from home, You Joe are the example of what i’m talking about, The very firearms you hold dear, will someday kill maybe you’ll be the one who will be shot with your own dear firearm, You men cant see past your macho ways. there must be a better world after this life, If not i dont want to be a part of the human race, Even animals dont kill their own, unless he or she is brain damaged.
I responded with this:
People kill. Sometimes they use guns. Sometimes the killings are illegal. Sometimes the killings are justified. Sometimes the killings are praiseworthy.
Sometimes accidental deaths happen when people use guns.
There are two questions at issue.
1) Does restricting firearms make society a safer place? The answer is no. There is no evidence of this.
2) Is it legal for a government to ban firearms? The answer is no. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the right to Keep and Bear Arms is an individual right that may not be infringed.
Just as freedom of speech and religion can be used for evil so can firearms. The only acceptable mitigations to this is to punish the individual people that abuse their freedoms. To infringe the freedoms of people that have done no wrong is immoral and illegal.
And if you think I’m macho then you haven’t spent any time around me, talked to my wife, children, friends, or even read my blog.
Facts. It’s what reality is made of. I suggest you check it out.
If you have a Yahoo! ID you can also answer her “question” by going here.
Update: She responded again.
Guns dont kill by themselfs Joe. But i get your drift, it will take God himself to make gun owners see that he gave life and he did not ask “man” to end life. We can disagree all day long, But guns kill, Man needs to become humble and value other lives as he does his own.
She is incoherent enough at this point that I think I will just let it drop at this point.
Update: The question has been deleted. I wonder why… 🙂
Joe Huffman is one of the best reasoned, most reasonable gunnie voices out there. This essay is required reading.
George @ http://www.newbieshooter.com/
January 1, 2010
Necessary reading
Referring to https://blog.joehuffman.org/2009/12/31/talking-past-each-other/
[It’s nice to see others agreeing with and feeding my inflated sense of self-worth.–Joe]
Via David Hardy.
Court upholds police pointing gun at lawful carrier:
The case stems from a lawyer who sued a police officer after he was detained for lawfully carrying a concealed weapon while in possession of a license to carry concealed. According to the case opinion, the lawyer, Greg Schubert, had a pistol concealed under his suit coat, and Mr. Schubert was walking in what the court described as a “high crime area.” At some point a police officer, J.B. Stern, who lived up to his last name, caught a glimpse of the attorney’s pistol, and he leapt out of his patrol car “in a dynamic and explosive manner” with his gun drawn, pointing it at the attorney’s face.
Officer Stern “executed a pat-frisk,” and Mr. Schubert produced his license to carry a concealed weapon. He was disarmed and ordered to stand in front of the patrol car in the hot sun. At some point, the officer locked him in the back seat of the police car and delivered a lecture. Officer Stern “partially Mirandized Schubert, mentioned the possibility of a criminal charge, and told Schubert that he (Stern) was the only person allowed to carry a weapon on his beat.”
For most people, this would be enough to conclude that they were being harassed for the exercise of a constitutional right, but the officer went further, seizing the attorney’s pistol and leaving with it. Officer Stern reasoned that because he could not confirm the “facially valid” license to carry, he would not permit the attorney to carry. Officer Stern drove away with the license and the firearm, leaving the attorney unarmed, dressed in a suit, and alone in what the officer himself argued was a high crime area.
The attorney sued in federal court, but the District Court threw out his suit, ruling that Officer Stern’s behavior is the proper way to treat people who lawfully carry concealed pistols. Mr. Schubert appealed, and the First Circuit upheld the District Court’s ruling. The court held that the stop was lawful and that Officer Stern “was permitted to take actions to ensure his own safety.”
What if this had been a minority of some sort, or someone exercising their right to free speech, or someone exercising their right to have a lawyer present while being questioned? Is this in any way respecting our rights? Or is the right to keep and bear arms special such that the police can ignore it if they want?
Even though I haven’t gotten out of bed yet (aren’t laptops great!) and have already made a couple of blog posts I have a very busy day ahead of me. In addition to the usual things like attending to hygiene, food, and clothing I need to make up a couple hundred rounds of .40 S&W and head out to the range for a USPSA action pistol match. After that I have to return to Redmond to help The Borg conquer the galaxy.
I turned off Captcha on the comments to help some people that were having problems with it. If you see a bunch of spam comments start showing up don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of them by tomorrow morning.
Update: The pistol match went fairly well. I messed up a reload on one stage or else I might have actually won. I came in second instead:
| Place | Name | USPSA | Class | Division | PF | Age | Points | Stg % |
| 1 | H., KW | L2847 | B | Limited 10 | Major | Senior | 313.6755 | 100.00% |
| 2 | H., JOE | TY29386 | B | Limited | Major | 288.3225 | 91.92% | |
| 3 | P., TY | A56401 | B | Limited | Major | 278.8331 | 88.89% | |
| 4 | M., ADAM | A42720 | M | Limited | Major | 275.2926 | 87.76% | |
| 5 | B., MIKE | A39993 | A | Limited 10 | Major | 262.8004 | 83.78% | |
| 6 | I., KEVIN | L2544 | B | Limited | Major | 235.1292 | 74.96% | |
| 7 | W., DON | TY25213 | A | Limited | Major | Senior | 211.9319 | 67.56% |
| 8 | W., ROGER | U | Limited 10 | Major | Senior | 196.7338 | 62.72% | |
| 9 | Revo, Roger | U | Revolver | Major | Senior | 187.4962 | 59.77% | |
| 10 | R., NICHOLAS | A57321 | D | Production | Minor | Junior | 169.0668 | 53.90% |
| 11 | Gr., John | A65903 | U | Limited | Major | 147.6443 | 47.07% | |
| 12 | D., Jerry | U | Limited 10 | Major | Senior | 99.7761 | 31.81% | |
| 13 | M., Bill | U | Limited | Major | 87.8599 | 28.01% |
We started sitting in the chair and had to stay within the box. There is a Pepper Popper on the left in the shadow of a no shoot which activates a swinging target coming out from behind the stack of barrels on the right (simulates a hijacker come out of the bathroom).
I got 50 points (out of 55 possible–an 11 round stage) in 8.31 seconds for a hit factor of 6.0168. Pretty good, I figure, for almost all head shots except for the mover. Especially with all the hostages to avoid.
That white stuff on the ground? That is snow. SOME wimps stop shooting outdoors in the winter–but not at our range in North Central Idaho.
If you remember I talked to a co-worker who grew up in East Germany. One of the things I wrote about that was:
His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “You tell them I lived that. You tell them to go visit this town. Yah!”, and he showed me a town on a map of Germany. “Not one bomb was dropped on that town during the entire war”, he said. “There was no fighting in that town. But if you go there that town looks like it was all bombed out. When people don’t own their property they don’t care. The roofs, they are all falling down. Yah! You tell him to go there and look for himself.”
It turns out you don’t have to go to Germany to validate that condemnation of leftists, their central planning, and their hatred of capitalism. You could just go to Detroit. Or check out this video I found at Kevin’s place: