Whipped Cream Difficulties

Tam has a post up at her site that leaves me with a small sadness. I’m not entirely sure I can, but I’ll see if I can explain it.

When I was in high school, I bought every gun magazine I could find on the newsstands (note to my younger readers: “newsstands” were places where you could buy magazines and newspapers), at the bookstores, and in the grocery stores. Grocery stores, in particular, had large magazine sections, and many of those magazines were gun magazines. (Also, people were shorter, and lived near the water. But I digress.)

I grew up reading Elmer Keith (in Guns and Ammo, towards the end of his career) and Skeeter Skelton. I remember visiting my Uncle Dick in Pennsylvania, and him letting me read his just purchased copy of Hell, I Was There. I liked Cooper a lot, but I don’t recall him writing with great regularity for any of the gun magazines I could find.

These days? I read American Handgunner. I get a kick out of John Connor, I like Ayoob’s work and Clint Smith a whole lot, and Venturino and Taffin are usually good for a smile. Also, the editor of AH at one point did me a great personal favor, so I have pretty strong feelings about the magazine.

I also pick up SWAT when I can find it. And that’s pretty much it.

What are the gun-crazy kids of America doing for reading material these days? Do they know how good we had it back then? Did we? At least Keith has been collected (though those books are pricey). Has anyone collected Skeeter’s writings? (Answer: yes, and if you thought Elmer Keith books were pricy…wow.) When those kids go to read Pale Horse Coming, are they going to get the meta-joke?

I don’t know where I’m going with this, and I’m not sure I have answers. It just seems like a shame to me.

I saw the stories about a Texas state legislator allegedly pulling a knife on her husband, but I didn’t think this was blog fodder. Domestic disputes among our legislators are nothing new; heck, we even had a former Speaker of the House capped by his wife (who walked away scott-free).

Then I discovered by way of Say Uncle that the legislator in question, Barbara Caraway, voted against the concealed carry on campus bill. And it appears from the linked Pajamas Media article that there’s been more than a little covering up going on in Dallas. Seems that Ms. Caraway’s husband is the Dallas mayor, and is a little embarrassed by the whole affair. I can understand that: but I’m not married, and my non-existent wife who didn’t pull a knife on me isn’t a member of the “Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee” of the Ledge.

Another story that I was kind of watching was the saga of Miss San Antonio, Domonique Ramirez (who I will concede is reasonably attractive, though too young for me). Miss Ramirez won the Miss San Antonio contest last year. It appears that since she won the title, there’s been a change of management, and the new contest management was not, shall we say, completely happy with Miss Ramirez. There were claims that she didn’t write thank-you notes, was late (or didn’t show up) to events, and apparently there were some unfortunate comments made about Miss Ramirez needing to “get off the tacos”.

By the way, one of the members of the new management team for the contest did time in a Federal prison for tax evasion and Medicaid fraud.

Anyway, things got ugly, the contest stripped Miss Ramirez of the Miss San Antonio crown and awarded it to the first runner-up, and Miss Ramirez promptly sued.

Yesterday, Miss Ramirez won her case, and has been reinstated as Miss San Antonio. Of course, there are questions about how much support Miss Ramirez will get from a group of people who appear to be actively hostile to her.  I think there’s also legitimate questions to be asked about the value of organized beauty contests in contemporary society; frankly, the whole Miss San Antonio dispute looks like a bunch of people fighting over small stakes.

Edited to add: Ah. Found the AP version of the story on the Statesman site, which contains this quote:

…a top pageant official says she will do nothing to help Ramirez advance to the Miss Texas and Miss America crowns.

“I’m sorry, there’s no way I would represent her as talent. She’s trouble,” pageant director Linda Woods said.

Ms. Woods, it should be noted, is not the person who did time. (Can you call a Federal prison for women a “pound me in the A– prison“?) Here’s some more background on the executive director who did.

Despite emotional pleas from victims of Charles Whitman’s bloody 1966 shooting rampage on the University of Texas campus not to approve a bill allowing concealed handguns on college campuses, a Senate committee appeared poised Tuesday to approve the measure.

Because, of course, banning guns on campus served as a deterrent to Whitman killing 16 people (counting his wife and mother, who he stabbed to death).

Not to mention this guy.

Apparently, it went well for the Greater Austin Crime Commission and the Jastrow Family Foundation.

By 11 a.m. Saturday, police had collected about 400 guns and expected to give away $40,000 worth of gift cards, said Richard Hill, president of the Greater Austin Crime Commission .

It looks like it went well for some other people, too:

Pro-gun activists with Texans for Accountable Government protested the program by advertising a counter Guns for Cash program to people who showed up to trade their guns. Outside the church parking lot, they offered 10 percent more than the value of the gift cards.

The Statesman doesn’t tell us (or perhaps TAG didn’t want to discuss with the Statesman) exactly how many guns were bought for cash. Robb Allen also has a post up on the subject: based on his summary and the linked article, it appears TAG was only purchasing functional guns, so the APD ended up with lots of non-functional clunkers. This fits in with what  I saw on the local news last night; it looks like there were a lot of old .22 rifles, some muzzleloaders (!), and not a whole lot of really good stuff.

Keith Bradley is a local gun collector. He and a few others were looking to buy guns Saturday but say in situations where people are giving away their guns voluntarily, the quality of guns isn’t good.

“You’re going to find 80 percent of the weapons being turned in today are non functional. They’re rusted out, they’re garbage,” said Bradley.

Oh, look:

The popular “Guns 4 Groceries” program that debuted in Central Texas last year to overwhelming interest will return Saturday, officials announced today.

Yes, once again, the Greater Austin Crime Commission is “co-sponsoring” the event. Oddly, there is no mention of this “co-sponsorship” on their website or in their Twitter feed at the moment. (Edited to add 2: Since I originally posted this at 8 AM, the GACC has updated their website to mention the buyback program.)

Participants can collect $200 for each assault rifle, $100 each for handguns and rifles and $10 apiece for air guns, BB guns or replicas, sponsors said. There is a two gun limit per participant.

Yeah, wouldn’t want anyone hurting themselves by carrying more than two guns. (By the way, they gave out gift cards, not cash, last year. I’m uncertain from the Statesman article if this year’s program is gift cards or cash.)

This year, the program is allotting $25,000 to $30,000, shorter hours and plans for multiple lines rather than just one, [Cary] Robert[s (sic), of the GACC] said.

And where is this money coming from? The GACC is a 501 (c)(3). Might be interesting to get a copy of their tax filings.

Donations have been underwritten by the Jastrow Family Foundation, Roberts said. Former Temple-Inland Inc. Chairman and CEO Kenneth M. Jastrow II is a board member for the commission.

I can’t find a website for the “Jastrow Family Foundation”. I sense a need for more research on this topic.

Although it’s a “no questions asked” program, weapons are still checked to see if they have been used to commit a documented crime, Roberts said. Last year, none of the weapons turned in were connected to any crimes, he said.

Do they check to see if the weapons were reported stolen as well? The Statesman doesn’t say.

Once again, I’d be tempted to go down and offer $125 cash for each Smith and Wesson, but it looks like I’m going to be tied up all weekend.

Edited to add: Neither the “Greater Austin Crime Commission” or the “Jastrow Family Foundation” show up in Charity Navigator.

Two stories from the NYT that make for an interesting contrast.

Story #1 involves Anthony Spinelli, who owns a jewelry store on Arthur Avenue in NYC, and is the neighborhood hero of the moment. Why?

On Wednesday, Mr. Spinelli pulled one of two licensed guns in the store, and shot one of the three people suspected of trying to rob his Arthur Avenue jewelry store at gunpoint.

Yes, in NYC. Yes, a licensed gun.

However, Mr. Spinelli was given a summons on an administrative code violation related to the gun he fired; it was licensed in Westchester County, not in New York City.

Story number 2:

A Tucson firefighter refused to respond to the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords because of political differences with his crew, delaying his unit’s arrival at the scene, according to internal department records.

To be clear about this: the gentleman’s unit wasn’t part of the first response, his unit was called out after all the victims had been transported, and the gentleman in question “retired after the rampage as department officials considered disciplinary action”. Here’s a better article from the Arizona Daily Star.

Edited to add: I was kind of hoping for this, so I’ve got to link it: a take on the Arizona story from the guy what drives the ‘bolance.