A disarmed population is a population of sitting ducks just waiting for criminals to go duck hunting. And out of all the legislators and soccer moms and pastors and businesses that want to demonize and take the guns away, none of them are going to protect you and your family. It’s up to you. But if the criminal has a gun and you don’t, it’s up to them. And I don’t think they are going to do what is in your best interest.
Trevo Craw
May 18, 2023
Gun Control: MORE GUNS, Not Less.
The First Amendment contains the freedom-of-speech guarantee that the people ratified, which included exceptions for obscenity, libel, and disclosure of state secrets, but not for the expression of extremely unpopular and wrong-headed views. The Second Amendment is no different. Like the First, it is the very product of an interest-balancing by the people—which JUSTICE BREYER would now conduct for them anew. And whatever else it leaves to future evaluation, it surely elevates above all other interests the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.
Justice Antonin Scalia
U.S. Supreme Court
June 26, 2008
District of Columbia v. Heller
Emphasis added.
The essence of this quote was repeated in the Bruen decision. This is very important.
The gun grabbers get attention by claiming the sky is falling because “gun violence” is increasing and yet the states must “let” people get concealed carry licenses and carry guns in public. Never mind that the people with licenses to carry are not committing the violent crimes and the gun grabbers include the legal shootings of violence criminals in their statistics. They claim justification in banning the most common rifle in the country because, well, some sort of “reason”.
They claim there must be a balancing between the literal words of the Second Amendment and public safety hence they can impose whatever restriction eases the torment in their twisted and/or evil minds. But, as stated in Heller, and repeated in Bruen, the balancing was done at the time of the writing of the Second Amendment. The highest court in the land has now repeatedly stated, in essence, “There will be no more means-end balancing act to make an end run around the literal words of the Second Amendment.”
Our opponents apparently cannot comprehend this and/or think if they keep repeating themselves and whining the court will change its mind. Surely, they claim, another school shooting (in a “gun free zone”) will be sufficient justification to ban more guns and from more locations.
No, the court has spoken, there is no crime which can justify an infringement. Scary black rifles will not be legally removed from public access to ease your troubled mind. All that balancing was over long before you were born.
What part of “shall not be infringed” don’t you understand?
This evening I was first on the scene of this accident:


The driver was a 16 year old boy who had his drivers license for only a few days. He turned to avoid hitting a deer that jumped into the road ahead of him. He avoided the deer but lost control and rolled the car.
He sat in my car while talking to the 911 dispatcher. He claimed he had just skinned his knee, but the dispatcher sent an ambulance anyway. I’m not surprised. He was not talking clearly. He was obvious very shaken up.
His grandmother (I knew her when I was going to grade school even though she is about seven years younger than me) showed up a few minutes later and is shown in the picture above. She comforted him for a while. Then his mother and sister showed up. A bunch of hugging occurred and grandma explained the deputy would ask some questions and that it didn’t matter about the car as long as he was okay.
The deputy showed up. Grandma said, “It’s Jeremey, good.” Jeremey talked to the family for while and after the ambulance and fire truck arrived he took some pictures.
The medics evaluated the boy, put him in a neck brace, put him on a stretcher and hauled him away. I don’t know his diagnosis but I expect he will be fine. But I’m not surprised they wanted him to get some in depth attention.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Avoiding the deer certainly caused more physical injury than if he had hit it. And, almost certainly, it caused more damage to the car. Hit the brakes and reduce the impact velocity, but if you worry about avoiding the impact, you almost certainly put yourself and vehicle at greater risk. I hit a deer at 65 MPH and car and driver were in much better shape then this kid and his car going probably 35 MPH or less and avoiding the deer.
Deer are dangerous.
So, in summary, AI will lead to 300 million in job losses according to Goldman… and then it will wipe out all of humanity.
Tyler Durden
May 12, 2023
There’s A Greater-Than-50% Chance AI Wipes Out All Of Humanity By 2050, One Advisory Fin (also available here)
I’m not convinced. I don’t think anyone could convince me AI definitely will not do something like this either. I think things are far too complex to make an accurate prediction.
It is definitely worthy of serious thought and being careful with the giving AI access to certain types of power. But that leads to questions like, “What is power?” And, “It could leverage what we believe to be innocuous power into deadly power. For example, “What if it makes deliberately makes a vaccine that does what is expected short term but long term is deadly?” It could unleash a virus that destroys all plant life as well as animal life. We do not test products intended for use on most plants to the same level as we do for humans. We just might not notice until it was too late.
AI and robotics could also create a virtual utopia for human life. There could be a surplus of all essentials available for free (except for the labor of the robots).
We live in interesting times. Prepare appropriately.
In modern intellectual life, honesty is punished and dishonesty is rewarded; honest brain pathways decay, dishonest brain pathways enlarge.
After years and years of conditioning in dishonesty, the typical modern intellectual (whether journalist, scientist, lawyer, teacher, doctor or whatever) becomes physically unable to think straight.
Bruce Charlton
July 19, 2013
Dishonesty reduces applied intelligence: re-wires the brain
Emphasis in the original.
If true, this would explain the stupidity of so many politicians. For quite some time I’ve known liars will frequently lie without any possible motive and, in fact, it is against their best interests. How strange, I thought. They seem to be unable to help themselves. This could explain why that happens.
Via email from Rolf.
If the Supreme Court eventually says that states or the Congress can’t pass universal background checks or can’t take these assault weapons off the streets, I think there’s going to be a popular revolt over that policy.
Chris Murphy
U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut)
May 14, 2023
Possibility of ‘popular revolt’ about gun control, Sen. Chris Murphy says
Perhaps it would not be quite a popular as the Senator claims to believe:
Yes. We can have both.
We can have sensible gun laws & a law enforcement that’s not corrupted with racist cops.
It takes COMPROMISE & legitimate debate … not one side screaming & crying because the good ol boy racist days are ending & their tiny little penises can’t take it.
Mike_32 @JojoPapa32
Tweeted on January 20, 2023
It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!
Via Reticulating_Splines @ReticulatingSp1.
We only need one sensible gun law, and we already have it. It is known as the 2nd Amendment.
If you have a fire extinguisher in your home get rid of it. You’re nothing but a firefighter larper. Go join the local fire brigade if you want to fight fires!
Lucas Botkin (@LucasBotkin)
Tweeted on May 12, 2023
In case you didn’t already guess, this is sarcasm in response to anti-gun assertions individuals should not own firearms.
I loaned a rifle and case to a Boomershoot Staff member who doesn’t own any guns. His were all stolen out of a moving trailer shortly after he got out of the Navy and he hasn’t replaced them yet. This was his first Boomershoot, and I figured he had to do some shooting. Loaned him a suppressed AR with a suppressor. After the first High Intensity event, I cautioned him to wait until the suppressor had cooled off before putting it back in the case.
After the second High Intensity event, he didn’t wait a sufficiently long time, and it melted a hole through the lining of the soft case. He felt terrible about it and wanted to buy me a new case. I decided I would talk to Barb and maybe we could repair it rather than replace it. It wasn’t catastrophic damage:

Barb thought a patch probably would work. But she didn’t have any. I went looking on Amazon for patches. Then I thought, I really should look for something that can tolerate high temperatures.
TA-DA!!! Meet FLASLD Aluminized Heat Shield Thermal Barrier Adhesive Backed Heat Sleeve Up To 2000 Degrees Fahrenheit:

For $20, I got enough adhesive backed shielding to line multiple cases.
Here is the finished product:

It is better than new.
The Second Amendment accords protection of “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,” by providing that the right “shall not be infringed.” U.S. Const. Amend. II (emphasis added). The Second Amendment is unique in its use of “infringed” for the word does not appear anywhere else in the Constitution. Despite its uniqueness, the term “infringed” has received little attention by scholars or courts. However, Heller took the view that “infringed” “implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right.” 554 U.S. at 592 . As articulated in Heller, the Second Amendment does not serve to grant a right but rather preserves a right that the people already possessed. Therefore, to “keep and bear” serves to identify the right protected, not to define the right in the first instance.
The definition of “infringe” further supports the conclusion that the pre-existing right includes a right to purchase. “Infringe” is defined in modern dictionaries as “to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another.” “Infringe,” Merriam-Webster.com. “Encroach,” in turn, has two definitions: “to enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another” and “to advance beyond the usual or proper limits.” “Encroach,” Merriam-Webster.com. Those words have possessed the same meaning since the sixteenth century and the Founders would have understood them in the same way. Not simply protecting the heartland of the preserved right, the Second Amendment protects the environs surrounding it to prevent any encroachment on the core protections. Thus, by virtue of the word “infringed,” the Second Amendment ‘s protective textual embrace includes the conduct necessary to exercise the right (“to keep and bear”) and that, as explained above, includes the right to purchase arms so that one can keep and bear them.
Robert E. Payne
Senior United States District Judge
Richmond, Virginia
May 10, 2023
JOHN COREY FRASER, et al., on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated as a Class, Plaintiff, v. BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES, et al., Defendants.
This is from the summary judgement saying that prohibiting 18 to 20 year old people from purchasing firearms is unconstitutional.
I am not a lawyer but the court finally defining “infringe” in such an inclusive manner seems like a big deal to me. I am all in for inclusive rights.
Machine gun sporting events in high schools by 2032 (a decade after Bruen)!
Going after the guns and the lawful owners is the wrong approach; it emboldens criminals, leading to an increase in violent crime. Repeal the gun laws, empower the lawful citizens, and go after criminals, and the problem goes back to reasonable levels. It will never get to zero no matter how many laws they pass or repeal, but if the goal is to reduce crime, empowering criminals and hamstringing peaceable citizens will NOT do it.
Archer
May 10, 2023
Comment to Lies and Deliberate Deception
But it is clear the goal is not to reduce crime. At least not crime as most people define it.
As cities and blue states become more confiscatory and hostile to property rights, they drive out wealthier people and wealth creators. And as prosperous people leave, the politics become more confiscatory and hostile to property rights. And the cycle continues.
Jon Miltimore
May 8, 2023
America’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Moment Arrived, New IRS Data Show
Interesting observation. It is possible that all positive feedback loops in the social order are bad news for the participants. The only thing I know for certain is this feedback loop is not an exception.
I would like to have a good model for the state of things a decade or so after “Atlas Shrugged”. Somehow, I don’t think it will bear much resemblance to Gault’s Gulch in Colorado as envisioned by AI:
The far right’s response to the murders of children and law-abiding citizens is somewhere between sociopathy and psychopathy. Republicans in Washington are wearing miniature AR-15s on their lapels. This week, one day after a shooter used an AR-15 to kill five people, including a 9-year-old in Texas, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) posed smiling with a T-shirt showing an AR-15 and a caption that called it a “cordless hole puncher.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s response to school shootings is to put more guns in schools, which is akin to believing the way to end fatal car crashes is to repeal all road rules and put more cars on the road. Instead, Congress’s next steps should be to renew the ban on assault weapons for anyone below age 21 and hold parents accountable for the misuse of firearms by their minor children.
William S. Becker
May 5, 2023
America the terrorized: The death grip of gun rights in the United States
Representative Boebert did not pose smiling with an AR-15 T-Shirt in response to the murder of the five people. But Becker wants you to believe that. This is deliberate deception.
He claims that if people are allowed to defend themselves and other innocent life it is
akin to believing the way to end fatal car crashes is to repeal all road rules and put more cars on the road.
Really? I don’t believe he really thinks that. I believe he is deliberately telling a huge lie in attempt to further his evil goals.
Those aren’t the only blatant lies and deliberate deceptions. Here is another from the same opinion piece:
A Gallup poll in February showed 63 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with current gun laws, the highest in 23 years of tracking. Most Americans have favored stricter laws since the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012.
Yeah, I can believe 63 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with current gun laws. I am EXTREMLY dissatisfied with them. Notice how he implies those 63 percent are in favor of stricter laws without saying it. He changes from 63 percent to “most Americans” when it comes to support for stricter laws. If you look at the actual data in 2019 it did hit a peak of 63 percent who support stricter gun laws. It is currently about 57 percent and was just 52 percent last year. And in 2011, it was 43 percent. And, what he hid by cherry picking the data is that in 1990 it was 78 percent that wanted stricter gun laws. In the big picture this guy is losing and he knows it.
These are deliberate lies and active deception. These are some of your best indicators of evil intent. Prepare and respond appropriately.
We are from California.
You could not do anything like this there. This is amazing.
Cindy
May 7, 2023
I was walking from my car toward the Boomershoot shooting line when a couple drove up and asked me how much it cost to enter. I explained the pricing and the woman said that was too pricey for them. I said it was too late to enter anyway. She said they just wanted to watch. “Oh!, you don’t need to pay to watch. Stay behind the line and don’t get in people’s way and you can watch all you want.”
She then asked how this got started and the conversation went on for quite a while. I finally started asked them questions. I asked where they live. She described the location and said they just moved there. I asked where they moved from, and that elicited todays quote of the day.
What they were seeing was something like this, only with clear blue skies:
There is a reason you can’t do something like this in California. It scares the crap out of the tyrants in control of the state.
Well you still need a gun to make up for that small dick energy you’re throwing out pussy
ben royals @benroyals
Tweeted on January 24, 2023
It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!
Another Monday. Another anti-gunner demonstrates the best case he can make for his side is a middle school insult.
Frustratingly, the same judge who issued the foolish opinion which was overturned by the Supreme Court in McDonald v. Chicago has once again stepped in to enforce unconstitutional gun control. This is not the last laugh, and we are fully invested in ensuring this law is defeated. GOA will continue to fight until lower courts, executives, and lawmakers at all levels fall in line with the Bruen precedent.
Erich Pratt
GOA Senior Vice President
May 5, 2023
Illinois assault weapons ban back in effect as courts play ping pong with gun control
It is extremely frustrating. But it is not foolish until they have to pay a price. It going to continue until the law is enforced and we see some trials.
WMDs including AR15 do not belong in civilian hands. There has been enough people slaughtered. Gun reform will pass. The future will hopefully be bright and not with blood.
Chihuahua Files @nursebetty88
Tweeted on May 1, 2023
I love In Chains @InChainsInJail response:
Imagine being so stupid as to think AR-15s are WMDs.
Also, no, honey, violently violating peaceful people’s human rights – like you want to do – always ends in blood.
It is difficult to imagine. I would have never imagined it but there it is in real life. As many others have said, genius has limits but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
We are walking down a very well taken path. And this board will be the ones leading us.
Tammy Morales
April 28, 2023Democratic Socialist of America Councilmember Tammy Morales introduced the board that will be overseeing Seattle’s Social Housing program, made up of people who are/were homeless, socialists & others who have presided over the city’s “homeless” disaster
Watch through the end pic.twitter.com/PjKeMtCWn9
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) May 3, 2023
To be fair, there are others on the board as well. See this announcement for more information. There is damning material it is as well. I especially “like” the part about “social housing” where the rental price is according to what people can afford to pay. This slogan echoes from 150 years ago:
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
This is indeed a well taken path.
The political left will not and cannot tolerate dissent. Read The Gulag Archipelago for just one of millions of horror stories demonstrating this. The Second Amendment Foundation Second Amendment Foundation and its founder have been a victim of this and are fighting back:
According to the complaint, “Over the last two years, the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s Office (“CPD”) has carried out an expansive, highly intrusive probe into the private affairs of SAF, CCRKBA, CDFE, SBA, LPP, MMM, Mr. Gottlieb, and his family. It has served Civil Investigative Demands (“CIDs”) on each of the plaintiffs, including two on Mr. Gottlieb, citing the same consumer protection laws Mr. Ferguson was recently found to have abused.” The complaint refers to a recent Washington Supreme Court ruling which “held unanimously that Mr. Ferguson’s office improperly used Washington Consumer Protection and Charitable Solicitations Acts to suppress constitutionally protected speech with which he disagreed.”
This is the complaint filed in court.
I hope Mr. Ferguson enjoys his trial and those to come.
These new findings offer detailed estimates of death rates by cause, year, and sex among the county’s nearly 400 census tracts. Residents in census tracts on Mercer Island and in Bellevue have the highest life expectancy, while those in Auburn and other areas of southeast King County have the lowest. In 2014, the top causes of premature death were: ischemic heart disease, lung cancer, self-harm, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, drug use disorders, cerebrovascular disease, cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes, and colon and rectum cancer.
Nationally, the average life expectancy in King County is in the 95th percentile among all US counties. With a population of more than 2 million, King County ranks among the top 5% of counties in household income and life expectancy.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (University of Washington)
September 5, 2017
Life expectancy varies by up to 18 years in King County
Interesting. Barb and I probably mention the “Bellevue Bubble” to each other once a month or more.
And example: A couple weeks ago I got a chip in my car windshield fixed near a strip mall in Renton. While waiting I walked past a few shops on my way to Wal-Mart. When I got home I started to tell her about my adventure with, “The chip repair place was across the street from Wal-Mart…” And she interrupted me, “Oh no! The Renton Wal-Mart! What happened?” I told her of the three people, I saw as I walked to 200 yards to Wal-Mart, either openly using drugs or standing and swaying like they were about to fall. On the way back I saw a fourth person sitting on a bench bent over looking as if he were about to vomit being told by a cop that he could not loiter there and had to leave. And there was a homeless looking (filthy clothes and body, carrying a tattered bag) guy wandering up and down the aisles of the Dollar Store.
We shook our heads and told each other how glad we were to live in the Bellevue Bubble. We just don’t see that sort of thing in our neighborhood or where we shop.
I expect the life expectancy differences are probably due to better attention to health, ability to afford health care, less tobacco, probably less alcohol use, more exercise in the later years, lower violent crime rate, etc.. Another thing we notice is the people in south King County are much more likely to be overweight.
I still want my underground bunker in Idaho for when the Bellevue Bubble pops.
