Archive for the ‘Guns’ Category

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After action report: Tucson, AZ.

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

My regular readers (and my irregular readers, too; come to think of it, “Whipped Cream Irregulars” would be a good name for a band) may have figured out by now that I’ve spent much of the past week on the road. Specifically, I was in Tucson for the annual convention of the Smith and Wesson Collectors Association. (You might have been able to guess that I also made a brief trip to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area so I could visit Taliesin West.)

I’m not going to talk much about what went on at that convention here, since it is a closed private convention, and I’m not comfortable discussing the organization’s affairs on a public blog. (Jay G. and the rest of the Vicious Circle gang might be amused to know that there was an actual S&W police bike, manufactured in Springfield, MA and complete with lights and siren, on display at the convention. I didn’t get a chance to take a photo.) I will say I had a great time at the convention, and in Tucson in general. Sadly, I didn’t have time to hit any used bookstores or gun stores in the area, but maybe next time.

This is the first extended road trip I’ve taken since last year’s DEFCON, so I thought it might be interesting to do some notes about what worked and didn’t work on this trip.

(more…)

Posted in Apple, asus_eee, Endorsements, Food, Geek, Guns, linux, Museums, netbook, Photography, Planes, project_e, Travel | 2 Comments »

A little slow, a little late.

Friday, July 9th, 2010

I saw this post over at Borepatch’s earlier in the week, but I didn’t get curious until I saw this one over at Crider’s place about the Christie’s auction of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans art collection.

One Google search later, and I found out that the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Musuem is closed.

Seriously, that’s a shame. Roy, Trigger, and Dale were really more of my father’s time than my own, but I have a certain amount of respect for Roy and his legacy. I’m kind of sad the museum couldn’t stay open; according to Roadside America, they got an estimated 200,000 visitors a year, but that wasn’t enough to keep the lights on.

Of course, you know I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t ask: are they going to sell Trigger? I actually expected that Trigger would stay in the family, since Roy Jr. is still performing in Branson. Then I found this AP article, and after much searching of the auction lots…here’s Trigger. Here’s the link for Buttermilk. If you have an estimated $200-$300 to spare, you can buy horseshit from Christie’s. Here’s Bullet. And here’s Trigger, Jr.

Posted in Art, Geek, Guns, Horses, Museums | 1 Comment »

Random notes: July 8, 2010.

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Speaking of LA, the LAT has a long and somewhat sad feature story on the Polaroid photographers of MacArthur Park and their dying way of life. These are older men who spend their days trying to make a few bucks by taking photos of folks in the park. For a long time, they were able to make a good living at this; many immigrants would purchase photos and send them home to show how well they were doing in America. Disposable and digital cameras have mostly killed off this business (“These days, on a good day, they earn $10, $30.”) but they’re still out there, still hustling.

Meanwhile, the NYT would like for you to know that “The Constitution Trumps Arizona“. I, personally, am delighted at The Paper of Record’s new-found respect for the Constitution of the United States, and the applicability of same to state and local governments.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Photography, TV | Comments Closed

Random notes: July 1, 2010.

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Happy Canada Day, everyone. I hope you’re able to celebrate in the traditional way, with beer and back bacon.

The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has overturned the death sentence for Ronell Wilson. Mr. Wilson was convicted of shooting two NYPD detectives, James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews, who were engaged in a gun purchase sting. According to the NYT, Mr. Wilson was the only defendant sentenced to death by a jury between “1988 through March 2008” (?), though prosecutors asked for the death sentence 19 times during that period.

In this case, the court just overturned the sentence, not the conviction:

The Court of Appeals’ ruling centered on two arguments that prosecutors made to the jury about Mr. Wilson’s remorse and acceptance of responsibility for the killings during the penalty phase of his trial. The judges noted that prosecutors used Mr. Wilson’s demand for a trial and his failure to plead guilty as evidence that he lacked remorse and refused to accept responsibility. The judges said prosecutors had argued to the jury that Mr. Wilson’s statement of remorse should be discredited because he failed to testify.

The WP is reporting that serious consideration is being given to awarding the Medal of Honor to a living person. That person is not named in the WP article, and the nomination is still being reviewed by the White House. This is significant because every Medal of Honor awarded since Vietnam has been posthumous.

Edited to add: Florida has banned ownership of “Burmese pythons and six other large, exotic reptile species” effective today. As noted in this space previously, the state has a bit of a python problem:

Many of the creatures have escaped or been set loose by pet owners and that’s upsetting Florida’s ecology as they prey almost unchecked on native birds and animals.

Apparently, existing owners will be able to keep their snakes. This is amusing:

The ban applies as well to reticulated, northern African, southern African and Amethystine pythons, green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards, but the main focus is on Burmese pythons.

Estimates of their presence in the wild have ranged as high as 100,000, but the state’s first python hunting season ended in April without a single snake reported caught. Conservation officials said unseasonably cold weather, instead, may have killed up to half the pythons.

No snakes caught? Darn. (I was actually discussing the possibility of getting together a python hunting expedition with some of my co-workers, but none of us owns the proper weapon.)

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Law, Snakes | 1 Comment »

Miscellaneous crap.

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

The City of Austin has flushed the low-flow toilet rebate program. However, you can still get a free low-flow toilet: you just have to fill out an application and, if you’re approved, pick up your toilet from an approved toilet vendor.

The 2010 Bulwer-Lytton contest results are out.

Edited to add 1: Oh, what the heck. By way of Ace of Spades, a WP review of the greatest concert ever. Where “greatest concert ever” is defined as “complete disaster”.

Edited to add 2: Derek Lowe has a new post up in the “How Not To Do It” series. It appears that a lab at the University of Missouri underwent explosive renovations after some hydrogen and oxygen got together for a hot date. Photos of the aftermath at the link.

Edited to add 3: The HouChron has interrupted their “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” watch to let us know that Dr. Demento is ending his radio show. Why, yes, this is the same story that Slashdot and Lawrence brought you almost a month ago.

Edited to add 4: As I’ve noted in the past, my newspaper reading during the weekends can be spotty. So I missed this Ben Wear article in the Statesman about the MetroRail ridership figures. (Hattip: Blue Dot Blues, by way of Battleswarm.)

Edited to add 5: Headline from the HouChron: “Dear Abby says what to do when grandma spoils the kids”. Somehow, I suspect Dear Abby’s answer does not involve a Taser.

Speaking of Popehat, I think this is a great post by Patrick, but I’m a very bad person; whenever I read the phrase “Res Ipsa Loquitur”, all I can think of is “Ipsa this, you p—y little b—h!“

Posted in Clippings, Explosives, Geek, Guns, Law, Music, Politics, Radio, TV, Writing | Comments Closed

Old McDonald had a right, E-I-E-I-O.

Monday, June 28th, 2010

The news is still coming in. I’ll try to link to good commentary as it comes in, and I’ll have some thoughts of my own up later, probably tonight.

I have my own concerns about the decision and What It All Means, but for right now: There. Will. Be. Cake.

Edited to add 1: For right now, I think the best source of information I can point folks to is Sebastian’s live blog over at Snowflakes in Hell. Also noteworthy: Jacob Sullum over at Reason’s “Hit and Run”.

Edited to add 2: SayUncle is in his usual short but pithy commentary mode. Some good stuff there, too.

Edited to add 3: As promised, some thoughts of my own. With these and $2, I think you can get a large cup of coffee in most places.

  • When the decision in Heller came down, I was at my very first Smith and Wesson Collector’s Association convention. When the decision in McDonald came down, I was…at work. I feel slightly cheated.

  • Like Heller, this should not have been a 5-4 decision. This should have been a 9-0 decision. It is a sad and awful thing that four justices of the United States Supreme Court do not understand basic written English. Especially appalling is Justice Stevens’ dissent. Damon Root has a good post over at the Reason blog, but let me single out this section of the dissent:

    • …even apart from the States’ long history of firearms regulation and its location at the core of their
    police powers, this is a quintessential area in which federalism ought to be allowed to flourish without this Court’s meddling. Whether or not we can assert a plausible constitutional basis for intervening, there are powerful reasons why we should not do so.

    Echoing Root’s point, Stevens apparently believes that the Second Amendment is somehow special and different from the others, in a way that allows experimentation and tinkering. Is there anyone who thinks Stevens would endorse experimenting with the First Amendment?  (Sebastian has another solid post up about Scalia’s shredding of Stevens’ “reasoning”.)

  • With the decision being this close, could it be reversed if the makeup of the court changes substantially? Kagan’s replacing Stevens, so that won’t change anything. But what if we lose Thomas or Scalia? I was talking this over with my good friend James at work; my point was that the court generally sets a pretty high bar before they overturn established precedent (the word I was looking for was “stare decisis“). But it isn’t unheard of: the Supreme Court ruled in 1940 (Minersville School District v. Gobitis) that it was perfectly okay to force Jehovah’s Witnesses to salute the flag. (In a 8-1 decision, no less.) Somebody came to their senses, because they reversed that decision in 1943. (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, and that was 6-3.) (I’m not really happy about linking to Wikipedia for summaries of these cases, but I’m just trying to make a quick and dirty point.)

  • What worries me the most is that we’re going to let our guard down. Heller and McDonald did serious damage to the anti-Second Amendment crowd. But they were not death blows. The most dangerous time in a fight is when you have your enemy pinned; if you’re not well trained, you let your guard down, and your enemy has nothing to lose.

    What does the right to keep and bear arms mean if there’s no one making guns and gun parts because there’s no market? Or all the gun makers are driven out of business by lawsuits? (Yes, I know the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was supposed to stop that. Good luck.) I can easily imagine Daley, or some other politician: “Sure, you have the right to bear arms. Hope you enjoy that 1,000% tax on ammunition and components. Oh, did I say 1,000%? Let’s try 10,000%.” (Don’t accuse me of giving these people ideas; Schumer’s proposed this before.)

    We are not out of the woods. We will not be out of the woods until we establish (or re-establish) a pro-gun culture, until the pro-gun control organizations close due to lack of funds, and until Daley the Younger is where he really belongs; in a prison cell.

    I signed up for the Second Amendment Foundation today; I encourage you to do the same. (I really should have done that sooner.) I’ve already joined the Texas State Rifle Association; actually, I joined a couple of weeks ago after hearing Alice Tripp speak to the Austin Rifle Club. (If you have a chance to hear her speak, don’t pass it up; she’s great.) Recent problems aside, I still believe the NRA is an organization worthy of your support.

    We can take a day to enjoy our cake (or pie, if that’s how you roll; Whipped Cream Difficulties is ecumenical on the cake/pie question) and celebrate, but we can’t let our guard down now.

Posted in Guns, Law | 1 Comment »

Rules of the Gunfight.

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Rule #1: Have a gun.

Rule #1a: Not a caulk gun.

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Delicious tears.

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Apparently, I have been out of the loop, as I was unaware until today that Smith & Wesson has introduced a pistol version of the M&P15-22 which uses the standard M&P15-22 magazines. I guess they’re trying to compete with things like the GSG-5.

After handling one, I really can’t see the point; the gun is too big and heavy to shoot like a handgun, and can’t really be fired effectively like a rifle. It looks like it’d be a fun gun for plinking and other putzing around, except for size and bulk considerations.

Other than that, the only purpose I can see is making Sarah Brady and her ilk scream and cry and wet their pants. That’s a pretty good purpose, but I’m not sure that it would be worth $400+ to me.

(I will add that Austin Gun Liquidators is a very nice store. They don’t have quite the used selection Tex-Guns has, but they’re about five minutes from work and open until 6 PM Tuesday-Saturday. Their price on M&P15-22 magazines was pretty reasonable as well.)

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

I heartily endorse this event or product. (#6 in a series)

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Pro Ears.

When I first started shooting, I needed ear protection. So I bought a $20 pair of no-name passive ear muffs, and have been using those for the better part of the past nine years.

There were two problems with the passive muffs:

  1. They were less than comfortable. I found myself slipping them off (sometimes at very bad moments) to adjust the fit or give my ears some relief.
  2. I had problems hearing things, like range officer instructions, when I was on the line. I sometimes found myself slipping off the passive muffs so I could hear the range officer, then slipping them back on and trying to get them adjusted and get my head back in the game before I shot.

After I shot the USPSA match in April, I decided it was time for a change. Karl recommended the Pro Ears line to me, so I ordered a pair. I didn’t actually get a chance to use them until I took Karl’s “Competition Pistol” course at the end of May. Now that I have…

Wow. The difference between the Pro Ears and the $20 passive muffs is like night and day. I had no trouble hearing range instructions; at the same time, the active muffs actually seemed (and this may just be a subjective perception on my part) to do a better job of muffling gunshots. I probably wore the Pro Ears for close to four and half hours without ever feeling the need to remove them.

I won’t say the Pro Ears are perfect. They are not cheap. (The set I purchased was the Predator Gold: link goes to Amazon, and yes, I do get a kickback if you purchase through that link. Yes, I did purchase mine; they were not a blog freebie, and I am not getting anything in return for writing this post. I have no connection with the company except as a satisfied customer.) The only other problem I have with the Pro Ears is that they use “N” batteries, which I’ve had a difficult time finding around town. (Fry’s Electronics didn’t have “N” batteries last time I was in. Odd. Worst case, you can order those from Amazon, too.) I had no problems with battery life over the length of the course, but Murphy’s Law would dictate that you keep one or two spare pairs of batteries in your range bag.

If you’re serious about shooting and haven’t tried active hearing protection, like the Pro Ears, I strongly recommend that you do so. If you’ve had good experiences with brands of active hearing protection other than Pro Ears, you’re welcome to post recommendations for those brands in the comments.

Posted in Endorsements, Guns | Comments Closed

Things that make you go “Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…”

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

According to the Statesman, yesterday’s gun buyback brought in 343 “guns”:

166 handguns, 96 rifles, two assault rifles and 79 shotguns.

I put “guns” in quotes because it is unclear if this figure includes any BB or replica guns collected.

One of the interesting aspects of this, as you may recall, is that the gun buyback supposedly had a $10,000 budget. However, they actually spent $30,000 yesterday, according to the article; somehow, it appears that the Greater Austin Crime Commission was able to pull an additional $20,000 out of their neither regions in a matter of hours. I would very much like to know where that money came from.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Politics | Comments Closed

Morans.

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Identification won’t be required to turn in a weapon through Guns 4 Groceries, a program sponsored by the Austin Police Department and the Greater Austin Crime Commission that will allow police to buy guns in exchange for grocery store gift cards.

“Identification won’t be required”? That’s interesting. Whenever someone goes to sell books or CDs at Half-Price Books, they’re required to show a photo ID before the clerk will even start processing the sale. My understanding was that this was a legal requirement; does this program get a pass?

There is no limit to how many guns a person can bring in, and Acevedo assures that no questions will be asked, unless it is obvious that a weapon is stolen. He said all guns would be tested to see whether they are linked to criminal activity, and if they are, officers would investigate the case.

I assume when he says “tested” he means ballistic tests. Will they also be checking serial numbers against a list of guns reported stolen, and returning any recovered guns to the rightful owners?

A $100 gift card will be given for each handgun or rifle, and a $200 gift card will be given for each assault rifle. Even air guns, BB guns or replica guns can net $10 apiece.

How much for zip guns?

Acevedo said if the gun buyback is successful, the Police Department will look into having two a year.

Not with my tax money, you clueless bag of crap.

(In this case, I should point out, it looks like the money is coming from private donations raised by the “Greater Austin Crime Commission“, an organization I was previously unaware of, and with a web site that is less than informative. I do like this, from their “Programs” page:

“Supplying equipment to create the nation’s first K-9 chembio and radiation detection programs”.

Yeah, here’s your K-9 chembio and radiation detection programs: you send the dog in and wait five minutes. If it keels over, you don’t go in after it. This is much like AD‘s recommended procedure for dealing with chemical spills, except the K-9s don’t go through as many doughnuts.)

I’m halfway tempted to pull some money out of the bank, go down there, and offer cash money for old S&W revolvers. The only thing that’s stopping me is that other people seem to have had the same idea.

(Subject line hattip, just so people don’t accuse me of being unable to spell.)

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Politics | 2 Comments »

Random notes: May 20, 2010.

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

For various reasons, I haven’t been able to work up a lot of excitement about “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day.” If that’s your cup of tea, let me point you over to Lawrence’s coverage at the Battleswarm blog.

I did want to link back to this thread over at Alan’s blog. Not so much because I posted in it, but because:

  • the photos are pretty neat.
  • Jim Supica debunks a common myth that I’ve heard (and read) elsewhere about the Dirty Harry .44 Magnums.

Posted in Art, Guns, Politics | Comments Closed

Dear New York Times…

Friday, May 7th, 2010

This is James Robinson.


He used to be a brigadier general in the National Guard. He’s a commercial airline pilot who is certified by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit. He was also on the terrorist watch list.

This is Michael Hicks.

He’s eight years old. He’s also on the terrorist watch list.

This was Ted Kennedy.

He was a United States Senator from Massachusetts. He was also, at one time, on the terrorist watch list.

Are you seriously suggesting that the rights of American citizens should be revoked, merely because their names have been added to a notoriously inaccurate list? Without due process of law?

What country do you people live in, anyway?

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Random notes: May 6, 2010.

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

OMG! Faisal Shahzad had a Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 in his car!

…all along he possessed a weapon that could have easily done extreme damage, one rapidly fired round at a time.

Later:

It is, in effect, a low-powered rifle. Unlike those of some rifles, its bullets probably would not penetrate a police officer’s bullet-resistant vest, a law enforcement official said.

And:

Unlike the Tec-9, it is not frequently used by criminals, the official said.

Meanwhile, Dana Milbank in the WP asks the musical question:

Is the NRA a terrorist organization?

What prompts this? The NRA’s opposition to barring people on the notoriously unreliable terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

In other news: Houston rapper that nobody’s ever heard of files lawsuit against local radio station for not playing his “music”.

Trae is suing for general damages to his reputation, character, standing in the community, mental suffering, loss of professional opportunities, performance revenue and record royalties.

I’m looking forward to seeing what legal precedent his lawyer sites that requires a radio station to play someone’s music. Could I sue KGSR for not playing Jonathan Coulton? Even better, could I sue KGSR for playing Kasey Chambers?

Edited to add: “Washington Post puts Newsweek up for sale. Do I hear $1? Anyone?”

Provider 1 bids 300 quatloos on the newcomers.

Edited to add 2: I have been in the practice of noting Roger Ebert’s better negative reviews, especially the one-star and zero-star reviews. A zero-star review from Ebert is pretty rare; he’s stated in the past that for a film to get no stars, it not only has to be bad, but morally reprehensible in some way.

Accordingly, I am going to link to this zero-star Ebert review. I am not going to name the film. I do not encourage you to click on the link. I had heard about this film previously on FARK, and wish I had not.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Hysteria, Law, Media, Movies, Music, Stupid, Thanks | 4 Comments »

“The Klan did not like being shot at.”

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

I have not seen this noted elsewhere yet, but Robert Hicks passed away on April 13th.

Mr. Hicks was one of the last surviving members of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, and founded the Bogalusa, Louisana chapter of the organization.

The Deacons, who grew to have chapters in more than two dozen Southern communities, veered sharply from the nonviolence preached by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They carried guns, with the mission to protect against white aggression, citing the Second Amendment.
And they used them. A Bogalusa Deacon pulled a pistol in broad daylight during a protest march in 1965 and put two bullets into a white man who had attacked him with his fists. The man survived. A month earlier, the first black deputy sheriff in the county had been assassinated by whites.
When James Farmer, national director of the human rights group the Congress of Racial Equality, joined protests in Bogalusa, one of the most virulent Klan redoubts, armed Deacons provided security.

This is a surprising obituary to see in the NYT, as it comes close to acknowledging the racial aspects of gun control laws, and the role played by legally armed individuals in fighting the Klan during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. If you’re interested in the subject, David Kopel did an excellent two-part article for Reason on the racial roots of gun control; the second part goes into more detail on the civil rights era struggles. Part one is here; part two is here.

Posted in Guns, Obits | Comments Closed

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