The Case for more Guns (and more Gun Control)

The Atlantic posts a reasonably balanced look at guns in America.  The author's bias shines like a lighthouse beacon.

 Many gun-control advocates, and particularly advocates of a total gun ban, would like to see the United States become more like Canada, where there are far fewer guns per capita and where most guns must be registered with the federal government. The Canadian approach to firearms ownership has many attractions—the country’s firearm homicide rate is one-sixth that of the U.S. 

However, he does go shooting with Dave Kopel while in Boulder, CO. and even comes to a remarkable conclusion

But I am sympathetic to the idea of armed self-defense, because it does often work, because encouraging learned helplessness is morally corrupt, and because, however much I might wish it, the United States is not going to become Canada. Guns are with us, whether we like it or not. Maybe this is tragic, but it is also reality. So Americans who are qualified to possess firearms shouldn’t be denied the right to participate in their own defense. And it is empirically true that the great majority of America’s tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners have not created chaos in society.

I think on the whole, it's a well-balanced article.  Go read it.

TGIF

It's been a long week, we're picking up speed at the high school.  Both basketball and soccer seasons are in full swing, and PawPaw finds himself coming around corners.  Next week I'll be at the school three nights.  However, this night is mine as is the entire weekend.  Milady and I are probably going to slip off later and have a little fun.  I fully intend to be on my deer stand at daylight.

Did y'all see where they think they found ice on Mercury?  Yeah, the closest planet to the sun, what I've always understood to be a baked rock.  It seems to have polar ice in places where the sun don't shine.

You might have thought there was a snowball's chance in hell of finding ice on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. Now measurements by NASA's Messenger spacecraft suggest there is about 100 cubic kilometres of frozen water at the planet's poles – roughly enough to fill the Dead Sea.

I grew up transfixed at the space race and sat enthralled as we learned more about this solar system. We're still learning things we couldn't imagine forty years ago.

And, even today, the only footprints on the moon are American.

Eleven Most Important Guns in History

Popular Mechanics published a photo gallery of what they consider the eleven most important guns in history.  They include the first hand-cannon, the Uzi, the AK47 and the Garand.  They talk about Maxim machine guns, and they talk about the much loved M2 (Ma Deuce).  Regarding handfuns, they talk about the Colt Peacemaker and the 1911 pistol.  All worthy, historical, significant designs. Then, they come up with this monstrosity.

Perhaps the most innovative small arm of recent years is the XM-25 "Punisher" 25-mm grenade launcher. A laser measures the range to the target, so the grenade can be set to explode midair at the exact point it passes over a foxhole or a wall to target enemies behind cover. Five weapons were issued in Afghanistan on a trial basis in 2010 and they have had good reports. However, the XM25's estimated cost of over $30,000 may prove to be something of a limitation for now.

I've got to scream Bullshit! That thing isn't important. While nice, while interesting, it certainly doesn't have the cachet, the history, the excellence of the Colt Peacemaker, or the 1911 as designed by the sainted John Moses Browning (PBUH).  It certainly doesn't show design excellence, or elegance like a Maxim or innovative design like the AK47.

Popular Mechanics is a great magazine, but they're off the mark including this prototype in their list.

Sec State

Hillary Clinton has told her boss that she's leaving and she's made no secret of it.  She wants to go home and rest, and as much as I disagree with the woman, I think that she's earned the right to do just that.  Who, oh who, will relieve her?

One of the two front runners right now are UN Ambassador Susan Rice, who is being pilloried over her lying to the American public about the Benghazi debacle.  I doubt that she could be confirmed if nominated, but stranger things have happened.  The other front runner is that asshole, lying traitor, John Kerry, the senior senator from Massachusetts.  We might do well to recall what his war buddies said about him just eight years ago.

"During Lt.(jg) Kerry's tour, he was under my command for two or three specific operations, before his rapid exit. Trust, loyalty and judgment are the key, operative words. His turncoat performance in 1971 in his grubby shirt and his medal-tossing escapade, coupled with his slanderous lines in the recent book portraying us that served, including all POWs and MIAs, as murderous war criminals, I believe, will have a lasting effect on all military veterans and their families. Kerry would be described as devious, self-absorbing, manipulative, disdain for authority, disruptive, but the most common phrase that you'd hear is 'requires constant supervision.'" -- Captain Charles Plum, USN (retired)

Unfortunately, I know of no law that prevents a lying, traitorous, sack-of-shit to be a US Senator. If there were such a law, we'd certainly have a better class of people in the Senate.

 In John Kerry's case, I believe that he has repeatedly lied to the American people, mischaracterized the service of a half-million Americans for political gain, and has cast discredit upon himself. The only thing that John Kerry deserves is the lasting enmity of the American people.

 Oh, and while we're at it, why hasn't someone hanged Jane Fonda for treason yet?

Cease Fire!

While shooting handguns at the annual Thanksgiving Family Shoot, we were running through some reloaded .38 Special.  I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds of .38 special during my lifetime, and we saw something during that shoot that I've never seen.  Somehow, one box of ammo was faulty, with three squib loads.  As a handloader, we want to make sure our ammo is safe and effective, we check and double-check, and obsess about quality control.  Still, stuff happens.

There was a time almost a decade ago when I was playing with reduced loads in some calibers, trying to get the bullet to stop, hanging out the muzzle.  I was never actually able to accomplish that feat.  The bullet would  either leave the barrel and drop just a few feet downrange, or it would stick in the barrel.  I finally abandoned that experiment as unworkable.  Then, Thursday afternoon, we saw it happen.

That's a 158 grain semi wadcutter stuck at the muzzle of a 4" Smith and Wesson 66.  Of course, I was confounded at the happenstance, and we took a minute to review safety processes and to educate the assembled crowd on how something like this might happen and why when you encounter a squib load you immediately cease fire.  The handgun was placed back into service by the simple expedient of grabbing the nose of the bullet with a pair of needlenose pliers and plucking the bullet from the muzzle.  A good safety lesson for all of us.

We experienced another malfunction that I've never seen, a legitimate hang-fire.  This happened shooting shotguns during the skeet portion of the festivities.  My son called for a target, swung on it, and the gun clicked.  He took the shotgun off his shoulder, looked at the action, and the shell fired, a full two seconds after the trigger was pulled.  This with factory shotgun ammunition, bought expressly for this activity.  Good gun handling skills, years of training and experience, and no one was injured, the shot charge went downrange into the trees, hurting no one.  In over 40 years of messing with shotguns I've never seen a true hang-fire until last Thursday.

Enjoy the shooting season, but by all means, be careful.

Sunday Morning Dawg

This is the first for a Sunday Morning Dawg.  Here, I've got two dogs in my easy chair, giving them a good scratching.  We've got Beau-dog, who you all know, and Trickie dog, who you met last week.  I was watching television and giving the dogs their due, when the picture was snapped.  Yeah, I've got my mouth open.  I was probably talking to someone.

That's Beau with my left hand and Trickie on my right.  It's as good a dawg picture as any.

Black Friday Shopping

I see from the reports that black Friday shopping is as chaotic as ever.  Y'all have fun with that.  For myself, more of my shopping is online and the big ticket items are bought.  One thing I give away is cash, and that always fits, the color is right, and it's easy to store.

I did make it down to the Ace Hardware this morning.  I needed some little one-pound propane bottles and I knew they'd have them in stock.  Some of the grandkids and I are going hunting tomorrow morning and I needed that propane to run the deer stand heaters.

Speaking of deer stand heaters, I'm fond of the Mr. Heater Buddy heaters.  When you're in a box blind like I am, it's nice to take the chill off of the air.  I know that there are purists who don't think that using a wooden box blind is really hunting, and that's okay. I'm realistic enough to understand ambuscade and that's really how most whitetail deer are killed these days. I still like a stalk hunt, and I'm really fond of being in the squirrel woods with a .22 rifle and easing through the oaks.  However, when you've got fidgety grandkids with you, it sure is nice to be in a box blind where the movement of the kids doesn't spook game.  When the kids are warm, they're not as apt to be whining, making noise, snuffling, or otherwise being loud.

Lindsey Stone Fired

It seems that last week, a young woman named Lindsey Stone took a trip to Arlington National Cemetary, sponsored by her employer.  She took a picture, a "verbal pun" near a sign near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, pretending to yell, while extending her middle finger.  She posted it on her Facebook Page.

Thousands have called for her firing over the blatant disrespect she showed for the honored dead.  When she took the picture, she was within sight of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a place where respect, dignity, courtesy, and silence are required.  Her employer has a statement concerning the firing.

Her defenders have said, rightly, that she was simply exercising her First Amendment rights, that it was a childish prank, and that she should not suffer the loss of her job over it.  Some of that is true.  The First Amendment guarantees that Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech.  This was a childish prank and I'm sure that she regrets the frivolous moment.  However, Congress isn't doing anything to her, she is not under threat of prosecution, nor will she be officially punished for a playground prank.  That's the limit of the First Amendment.

It's one thing to criticize the military  God Himself knows that I've criticized them There is no military member living that can't use a little useful criticism, either individually or as a service.  Criticizing the military is okay. Those folks at Arlington are above reproach and deserve no criticism.  They have given their last full measure of devotion to our country .Especially the Unknowns, who have given their lives anonymously in the service of the nation.  I will brook no criticism, no disrespect toward our honored dead.

No, in Lindsey's case, a nation has risen in full-throated indignation to defend those who gave their lives defending us.  They did not seek government assistance in their indignation, they simply denounced a lout who got herself in trouble over a moment of juvenile foolishness.  Lindsey had a perfect right to do what she did, and thousands of people were perfectly right to call for her dismissal.  That's the way a free nation works.

I do note, from reading the article, that Lindsey is of proper age for military service.  She is also without a job.  She might consider trotting down to the recruiter's office and signing up.  Maybe some good NCO in either of the services will teach her the respect that comes with maturity.

Thanksgiving Gunny Shoot

We do a little shooting every Thanksgiving, after lunch.  Some pictures from today's festivities.

Grandson Jeffrey on the shotgun, grandson Michael on the trap.

Son Barrett cleaning a clay pigeon.  If you look closely at the upper left corner you can see pieces of the orange flyer.

Sister Patricia on a .38 Special.  She hasn't shot in years, yet fell right back into the routine

Nephew Adam on a 9mm pistol.  Adam has a PhD in some esoteric field and works for the Army at the facility near Huntsville.  He told me over lunch that he's working with aluminum as it relates to solid rocket fuel.  He's trying to reduce the smoke in the exhaust plume that a rocket makes when it fires.  Very important work.

A view of the firing line.  You'll notice that one shooter is up at a time, normally with a coach.  The other folks waiting to fire stand behind the equipment table.  Safety first on PawPaw's range.

Grandson Elyas helping to police spent brass.  Notice the hearing protection.  Everybody wears hearing protection on PawPaw's firing line.  We had a great time and folks are napping now, or snacking across the dessert line.  Another Thanksgiving family shoot is in the books.

Thanksgiving

Time for reflection on a beautiful Thanksgiving morning for all my blessings.  I am probably the luckiest, happiest man on the planet.  Not only for having won, but for having lost.  Not only for the triumph, but for the struggle.  For my family, for my church, for the benefits of living in the greatest country in the world.  For the love of a good woman, for laughter and sorrow, I am thankful.



More later, after the meal.  We'll have shooting pictures, which is something to be especially thankful for.

Prepping

It's already been a busy day at PawPaw's House prepping for Thanksgiving.  All the chairs are up on tables, the kitchen/dining area is swept and mopped.  The carcass of a turkey is boiling for broth.  When the floor is dry I'll start cutting up sausage for Pastalaya.  It's a recipe that has many variations, and PawPaw will make his own variety.

We have the family over here for the Wednesday night meal.  It keeps Momma from having to serve a meal the night before Thanksgiving.  She does the big feast at her place on Thursday, a traditional sit-down Thanksgiving.

Jambalaya is a cajun specialty, cooked normally in big pots to feed lots of people.  Like most cajun dishes, it's rice based and easily prepared to feed a bunch of people.  This other version uses pasta instead of rice and covers it all with a milk sauce, heavy on the cream and cheese.  I'll be using most of a turkey and a big box of sausage for the meat, along with the cajun trinity of onions, bell peppers, and celery.

Oh, hell, I may as well tell you the recipe.

Pastalaya

One turkey carcass, boiled for broth
Four pounds of sausage
4 cans rotel tomatoes
4 cans cream of mushroom soup
32 oz velveeta cheese
Quart of half & half.
4 cups onion, chopped
4 cups bell pepper, chopped.
some chopped celery, for flavor
3 lbs pasta.  I'm using penne noodles

Peel the remaining meat off that turkey carcass, set it aside.  Save the broth for later.  That's too much flavor to throw away.  Chop your sausage.  In a big pot, sautee your vegetables in a little oil.  When they're done the onion will be translucent and sweet.  Add cream of mushroom soup, rotel tomatoes.  slice the velveeta and add it to the mix.  Stir frequently so it doesn't stick.

Boil your pasta to the al-dente stage and drain it.  Fry your sausage.  I like to put sausage in a big black pot, and cook it all together until it starts to brown.  Sausage is already cooked, but this takes some of the grease out of it.   Drain your sausage.

About this time, add that quart of half to your sauce mixture.

Put your pasta in a big roaster pan. (I use steam-table trays) Add turkey and sausage.  Pour the sauce mixture over the whole shebang, give it a quick stir, and run it into a 350 oven for about 20 minutes, until everything firms up.  You want it a little wet, but not runny.

Tonight we're serving it with a big salad and yeast rolls, but garlic bread would go with it as well.    That recipe ought to serve about 30 people.  It's easy enough to halve, or quarter, but this is not a recipe you want to cook for two people.  You'll eat it for a week.  However, this is a good recipe to take to a church social.

Football

I see that Rutgers and Maryland are joining something called the Big Ten, which is purportedly a football conference. I see that there is another purported conference called the Big East? Whatever the hell that is.

Rutgers is joining the Big Ten, leaving the Big East behind and cashing in on the school’s investment in a football program that only 10 years ago seemed incapable of competing at the highest level…Rutgers has been competing in the Big East since 1991. But the league has been picked apart by conference realignment, and the Scarlet Knights were looking for a way out…The move follows Maryland’s announcement Monday that it was joining the Big Ten in 2014.

Okay, so by my count that makes fourteen teams in an ersatz conference called the Big Ten. Can't those bastards even count? I mean, c'mon, if it is named the Big Ten, how can you have fourteen teams? The mind boggles.

Yes, there are other colleges and universities that have football teams, but you can't expect anyone to take them seriously?  Even here in Louisiana we have teams in something called the Southland Conference, but those are teams that are second-tier at best.  Now, you're telling me that there are actual conferences called Big Ten (with 14 teams) and Big East?

There is only one conference worth following in college football.  The SEC.  Really, y'all should know that by now.  If it isn't SEC, it isn't actually football.  Here in the Deep South, the SEC conference championship is more important that the BCS championship, because we know where real football is played, and that's the SEC.

On Rice and Racism

I'm following this whole Benghazi thing, from the Petraeus debacle to the Ambassador Rice telling everyone it was a problem with a bad video. Turns out the Director of National Security, James Clapper or his office was the one who put out the bad talking points. I'm also watching folks jump on the racism bandwagon because we simply cannot criticize a black woman who does what the administration tells her to do.

But, I'm thinking about the middle-aged white man whose office gave her those bad talking points for her to parrot on the morning talk shows. Is it racist to set up a black woman to look like she's lying to the nation? Clapper is an Obama appointee, isn't he? Looks like he might be a closet racist.

And, we haven't heard any more about Harry Reid's penchant for pederasty either. What is going on with the Democrats?

Wing Shooting

We hunters understand wing shooting.  Many of us suck at it, but we like to practice, either at skeet on our ranges and pastures, or at clubs set up to take our money and give us a chance for fellowship and competition.  There are some shooters who shoot at live pigeons.  There are other folks who want to shut down live pigeon shoots that have begun using little aircraft fitted with cameras to record the events at live pigeon shoots.  Predictably, those little airborne devices flown over places where people shoot targets from the air, receive attention that is detrimental to the device.

The drone, nicknamed “Angel,” was recording a live pigeon shoot on Sunday around 3 p.m. when investigators say it was suddenly struck by gunfire.

Imagine that! You're flying a device over private property, an area known for shooting things out of the sky, and your device is hit by gunfire! The mind reels at such a possibility.

State Police are investigating the incident. SHARK claims this is the fourth time the drone has been shot at while trying to spy on what they claim are inhumane pigeon shoots.

You've lost four of those things over the shooting line? Incredible! I can't imagine what would be causing that.

Monday Morning

PawPaw's watching the Boy-o this morning.  We just finished helping a friend cut up firewood, now we're at home getting a snack before we get into the next project.  At noon I need to leave here to go work a basketball tourney at the high school, and won't be home until about 9:00 tonight.  Not much time for blogging today, we're happy, busy and fully engaged.

Sunday Song

Sundeay Morning Dawg

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, pre-Thanksgiving, and visitors are starting to arrive for the festivities on Thursday.  The dog is enjoying the sun, playing on the back deck where it's warm.

He has a visitor too, a sweet little dog named Trickie.  She lives with the daughter-in-law and loves taking naps in the kitchen.

It's just another Sunday, in the South.

On the Trail Camera

I went down to the trail camera today while I was in the woods and swapped SD cards.  The logging activity  on the lease has screwed the deer patterns, but I enjoy looking at pictures on the trail camera.

This big ole fox squirrel is a constant visitor.  Of course, my camera is near my feeder and sits in an oak flat that is full of acorns.  Perfect squirrel habitat.

Another shot of that goofy squirrel.  He seems to like that particular tree.

Two pretty little yearling does cam out about noon-time.  I don't think I'd have pulled the trigger on these.  Give them another couple of years and they'll start producing.  I am thankful that I got no pictures of hogs this time.  Maybe they've moved on.

Bulletproof Research

The quest for better ballistic protection is ever on-going and promising results are coming out of laboratories.

Bulletproofing for soldiers and law enforcement officers has lightened up considerably in recent years, but it promises to get insanely thin with new nanotechnology coming out of MIT and Rice University.

I was a veteran cop when Kevlar was first built into ballistic vests and I've worn Kevlar ever since. It's great stuff, but it's heavy and it doesn't breathe well. Wearing a Kevlar vest on a summertime Louisiana day is akin to dehydration and heat exhaustion.  I don't know how our fighters in the desert regions carry all the ballistic armor that they carry every day, walking in that heat and environment.  Anything lighter and thinner that still provides good protection would have uses in both personal protection and vehicle protection applications.

As Instapundit might say, Faster, please.

California Rising!

California begins a great new experiment in green economy this week by auctioning greenhouse gas emission credits. There are two possible outcomes, mutually exclusive.

Mary Nichols, who chairs the Air Resources Board, and other advocates of cap and trade contend that in the long run, the business costs will be mitigated by savings from greater operational efficiencies, and that an entirely new green economy base will be created to the ultimate benefit of the state.

Uh, yeah, that's pie in the sky. The state of California is basically auctioning unicorn farts. This following an election where California became the most taxed state in the nation. The other possible outcome?

an equally valid theory is that the state, which is already suffering from a stagnant economy and very high unemployment, will hamstring itself in the global competition for investment capital.

That's probably closer to the truth. It'll be interesting to see which scenario is more valid as this plays out.

This, from the state that gave us Ronald Reagan.