The Bitter Rifleman

I tried to take the .308 out again yesterday afternoon and I ended the day in seething bitterness. To those who know me personally that wouldn't be surprising. Bitterness is a hallmark of my character.

I have built the most high performance rifle I can financially muster, and I didn't do it to be imprisoned by one hundred yards. To me, one hundred yards is for sighting in, muzzle loaders, and for people who only hunt with the 'thuty thuty.'

I want more.

There was a time when I could take my rifle to any one of numerous fields and power lines and shoot as far as the eye can see, but those days have long past. Those fields and such have been leveled to make way for subdivisions to house all of Virginia's illegals and to make room for the hippies that can no longer find a place to live in Fairfax. Out of those on my side of the family, I'm the only one with a yard the size of a snowflake and the only one with the motivation and initiative to make a long straight line with which to direct high velocity pieces of copper. It burns me to have the will but not the space.

You would think that with the passion for shooting that everyone in my family possesses, that we would have our shit together and have kick ass facilities. You would think.

These days I get about two hours a month to do what I want to do, and I hate to piss away the first hour soaked in sweat while swinging a machete or pulling trees with my truck and a chain. I want to be able to shoot.

Such is how things went yesterday. I'm using the Optimal Charge Weight technique to find the ideal load for my .308, and I blew it because things went Tango Uniform during my shoot. I had to pack it up early.

I was standing in the mud in the middle of the woods; my chrono was not taking readings like it's supposed to; my groups sucked; and when one of my rounds clipped one of the chrono stakes because it was slowly turning during the shoot, I threw in the towel. Really it didn't matter; I didn't have the time to finish anyways.

I think it's time to find a pay-to-shoot range that offers some distance. At least until I can sell my house and move the hell out of Virginia. That's not likely to be any time soon; I bought my house about eight months before the housing market took a shit on us all, so I lost quite a bit on it. Now is the time to start looking though, and my requirements are to be able to walk outside on my back porch and shoot a thousand yards or better without pansy ass rich people from the state's most ritzy neighborhood calling the Sheriff's Department on me. Oh, and I don't want to pay a quarter of a million dollars for an acre like here in Virginia, and it has to be a gun friendly state.

Any ideas?

When you can't ban them with law. . .

. . . why not use a treaty?

Bolton spoke at the U.N., declaring that the United States would never join a treaty that violated the Second Amendment rights of American citizens. That treaty never died, however. Anti-gun forces at the U.N. continue to push for adoption of this global gun ban treaty and for the U.S. to join it.

A Federal Bill has to go to the House floor for a vote, but a treaty only goes to the Senate. And again, the government doesn't need to ban guns to ban guns. There are so many other ways.

The gun rights community is really at its strongest right now, but I'm afraid that most folks are only paying attention to run-of-the-mill legislation that would threaten their rights, and not every angle of approach.

You have to protect your flanks too.

And once a Marine, always a Marine

Semper Fi sir!

Last summer, Frank DeAngelis, a New Jersey resident and World War II veteran constructed a simple but elegant shadow box for the family of Marine Sgt. Joshua Frazier. The box, given to Frazier's mother, Shelia Cutshall of Spotsylvania County, contained the medals, patches and shooting awards the 24-year-old Marine earned before he died in Iraq in 2007.

DeAngelis, 83, is making one for every Marine killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as long as he is able.

This story is definitely worth your time. Men like this a few and far between these days.

My Bambi slayer

I've been able to get out and shoot my .308 some since I finished building it, and I'm getting pretty close to finding the load that I'm going to use on Bambi this year. Some might find it interesting that I built that rifle specifically to hunt with, and threw in some long range performance stuff for good measure.

I know some consider it taboo to even own such a deadly beast. I've already been told by naysayers that "people don't use those rifles to hunt with." I do; and I even sold my Winchester Model 70 - the rifleman's rifle - in .300 Winchester Magnum to help finance the .308. I've been told that "what do you need forty rounds for to kill a deer?" Well boy genius, Virginia, like most states, limits rifle capacity for hunting to five in the gun. Fortunately I was able to purchase four round magazines for that purpose.

Load development can be a tedious task, and my quest for accuracy for the hunting load is almost over. I've been posting over at Practical Riflery Forums about the last two shoots. For a complete rundown go on over there and check it out.

So screwed

Troxler, who is scheduled to be in Spotsylvania General District Court Monday on another driving without a license charge, was placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond.

The other suspect was identified as 25-year-old Randall Allen Lane of Stafford.

He is charged with the same offenses except for the driving charge.

Lane was free on bond as the result of a June 4 arrest in Spotsylvania on a burglary charge, court records show. He was supposed to appear in court next month to name an attorney.

One would think that in light of pending charges, these two would have postponed the armed robbery of Papa John's pizza for another day. Fortunately they went ahead with their plan and got caught, and I suspect that Spotsylvania residents won't have to worry about them for fifteen or twenty years.

I have to laugh at their use of a BB gun for the robbery. If they didn't have charges pending, their sentence would likely be less. I don't think the judge is going to have much sympathy though.

Civilians with machine guns!!!!!!

Defending their homes from the Taliban in Pakistan.

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

I notice that even Pakistani youth are packing AKs. And I can't help but smile seeing a pistol that was built in the 19th century, with every square inch of bluing worn off, still being used to fend off the bad guys.

Good stuff!

Marksmanship

Thank the Lord that this gunman didn't have any.

No mention of whether the gun was registered with the Maryland State Police (sarcasm people).

Wow. I'm at a loss for words.

MOBILE, Ala. — Police in Mobile, Ala., used pepper spray and a Taser on a deaf, mentally disabled who they said wouldn't leave a store's bathroom.

I still can't understand why the Taser is considered a compliance tool. I thought it was designed to be used in incidences where deadly force would be justified, but the Taser just may save the day without bloodshed. And to think that now Taser offers a repeater.

And what possible harm could come from someone taking too much time in the bathroom?

Wait, don't answer that. Dumb question.

Down with the sickness: The Reckoning

So yesterday I woke up and didn't feel 100%, but I didn't feel like I needed to call into work or anything. As I was leaving the house, I felt that familiar feeling in the right side of my back where my kidney is and knew that I had another kidney stone to pass.

No big deal to me; I pass them fairly frequently, but they're small ones. I got hung up on one a few years back that put me in the hospital in a level of pain that I just can't describe, and I dreaded the day that I had to go through that again.

A few miles into my commute to work I realized that that day had come, and that the pain was coming on faster than last time. I was too far from the hospital to drive myself, so I had to make it home. By the time I turned around I was having trouble driving my truck.

I made it home, and my wife took me to the local hospital. The pain was beyond agonizing; it was more like crippling. That's the only way I can describe it. Sweat mixed with tears, snot, and spit as I writhed in pain on a freaking hospital bed waiting for pain meds that don't work. I could never be an addict because prescribed pain medication, even the strong IV types, have zero effect on me. It's my curse.

Sometimes some obscure medicine will work on me, which is what happened when they gave me some type of IV anti-inflammatory. The pain finally went away. Now my filtration system is all jacked up, and the worst part of it is that the stone has only made it to my bladder; it still has one final journey to go!

Yeah, ow!

There's no telling when that will go down. Last time it took two weeks. Good times.

Wish me luck!

Bloodless self defense in Stafford, VA

An 89 year old man ran off four home intruders without firing a shot, even after they knocked him to the ground.

Major David Decatur of the Stafford County Sheriff's Department noted that the man would have been acting lawfully if he had shot them all dead; and one neighbor said that she would have shot him. I found it funny that she started to say that she had a concealed carry permit - at least it sounded like it to me - and had no remorse for those guys.

I wonder why the scumbags didn't just simply take that man's weapon away and use it against him. They had to have been thoroughly trained in victim weapon takeaway when they attended scumbag school.

Closing the mental health loophole

Remember that executive order that VA Governor Tim Kaine signed that would make it freakin impossible for those who have been deemed mentally ill from buying a firearm, supposedly to stop scumbags like Cho?

Well, how is it supposed to work when the mental health records have been missing for over two years because they've been sitting on someone's desk in their home?

Missing mental health records for the Virginia Tech gunman have been discovered in the home of the former director of the university's counseling center, according to the Associated Press.

Keep making us safe!

Scumbag NBC4 writer unglued over GOP candidate

Crabill recently attended one of those "Tea Parties," where conservatives like to meet up and complain about Barack Obama for an afternoon. In an address to fellow rally-mates, Crabill stressed the importance of this November's state elections in stopping Marxism. But hey, if it doesn't work, she suggested, we can always have a violent revolution to overthrow the government -- it's what the Founding Fathers wanted all along!

Just so you know, writer Jim Newell is a delusional moonbat that gets overwhelming criticism in comments on just about every single childish post that he writes. He should be embarrassed, but yet he keeps on. This post is no different.

He links to a video of Catherine Crabill talking in the sort of strong language that was the standard when this country was founded, and tries to paint her as a kook - which she may well be for all I know. I didn't see anything to write home to mamma about; the left has been known to use tough talk to whip up a frenzy too, like over their hatred for the last president. Let's not forget.

People attend rallies to talk shit and get excited; it's the whole purpose. Newell apparently thinks that the Tea Parties are places for folks to sit around and talk quietly amongst themselves while they paint each others faces, get high, have sex, and talk about the peaceful type of revolution.

He then goes on to say something about the 2nd Amendment being about lobsters, grizzly bears, and the French. I'm a little confused there. I posted a comment to hopefully set him straight on the matter; and if you bother to click on the piece I suggest that you leave him a loving note as well. Oh, and no need to be gentle with him, here are some examples of the comments that he's used to receiving:

Hey Newell, does Mommy still tuck you in everynight? Got the nightlight on so the monsters can't get you? You are a putz !! - JB

Jim Newell is a friggin' idiot. What a piece of garbage. - John Boy

I have to agree with her, our forefathers were not talking about hunting game with the 2nd amendment. I hope your the first one she shoots jimmy. - thats right

You prove yourself much more ignorant in this article than anything she says....Your piece is more propagandic than anything this woman said. - Jason

It only gets worse from there.

They're getting younger these days

Scumbags, I mean.

A 12-year-old boy was charged with abducting a 20-year-old woman waiting for an elevator at a Woodbridge office building.

Yes, a 12-year-old boy.

He may be man sized, but he is just a kid. Too bad he will find out how small he actually is in a juvenile detention center. I'm sure we will be hearing about him again in the future.

Hoppes has lost me as a customer until further notice

Hey Hoppes, would it kill ya to maybe put your product (#9) in a freakin bottle that doesn't leak all over my range bag every time I go out, making me high when I get into my truck after leaving the bag in the back overnight?

We have technology to send a man to the moon and give a human a new heart; why the hell can't you guys spend the extra nickel and use a leak proof bottle?!?! The technology is there people!

Right now my house stinks because I left my range bag on the counter last night.

Lite blogging

I'll be wrapped up in some stuff for the next couple of days. Blogging will be lite.

Justice with a dose of stupidity

A 16 year old (at the time) wannabe thug who shot five classmates on a bus killing one of them was sentenced to 100 years in prison.

Good.

The victim's dad, a former Chicago cop, commented that Michael Pace should serve every day of the sentence.

Good.

The dad has also become a gun control advocate since Pace went on his shooting spree.

Wait, what?

To give you an idea of what happened, this all went down in Chicago in 2007 when a 15 year old (at the time) boy illegally sold Pace an illegally owned handgun, and Pace illegally took possession of it and set out to illegally kill another gang member, but instead illegally shot up a bus and five people, murdering one (illegally). All of this in a city that has banned handgun ownership, and in a state that has made it illegal to carry a handgun, as well as the whole minor in possession thing.

So rightfully aggrieved dad wants to make handgun ownership more illegal. Awesome. Like throwing a bucket of water on a ship fire.

I don't understand people sometimes.

Oh, if we could only ban ban the guns!

Then convicted murderers couldn't buy a handgun after they're paroled and illegally sell it to someone under age who would then use it to murder someone and then commit suicide.

It's cool how common sense is so. . . . common!

I didn't really get into the weeds on the murder of Steve McNair because it wasn't all that interesting, but I find it odd that a man convicted of second degree murder for killing someone during an armed robbery - one of three I might add - would be walking the streets in the first place. Um. . . why don't we put murderers away for ever?

Adrian Gilliam was convicted in 1993, and he looks not much older than me. Is ten years all some innocent life is worth? It looks as though "He may face up to 10 years in prison for selling Kazemi the gun."

What a joke.

Rev. Michael Pfleger "very sad by this reality"

The nasty Reverend, with tears in his eyes, had to face the cameras last night regarding the shooting of two teens at an anti-violence event at his "Gun Free" "Place of Safety."

Well, it's not a very effective anti-violence event if people get shot there, now is it? Feeling a little violated? I bet it doesn't occur to him about how violated thousands of Chicagoans feel when they're sacred places are invaded and shot up, and they have no way to resist because of silly do-nothing measures that the Reverend himself has helped push.

Boo-friggin-hoo. Own it sir!

Funny how he gets his face on CNN to harp about banning those blasted assault thingies, even though it appears that handguns were used; although he says he's not against the second amendment.

Right.

So you're not against ownership of firearms, but you want to use this shooting as a tool to take away an entire genre of firearms owned by millions of Americans that are rarely used in crimes, and not at all used in this crime? What kind of logic to priests get to smoke these days?

Maybe he should instead ask Washington to push a law banning the shooting of teens within five miles of churches or schools. Common sense, no? But don't worry, the good father has put out a reward for the capture of the gunman, and that cop outside the church sending text messages is going to catch him any minute now.

I wonder if Rev. Pfleger will call on the community to "snuff him out?"

Marine vs. Mountain Lion

CODY, Wyoming — A man says he used his chainsaw to fight off a starving mountain lion that attacked him while he was camping in the Shoshone National Forest.

Now that's hard core!!

Teen kills home intruder

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police have converged on home in northwest Houston where a teenager reportedly shot and killed a burglar. Police were called to that home on Kerrwood Lane near Peppermill around 7:30am. When they got there, they found the suspect dead.

How it should be. The boy is sixteen; and his dad, who is a former "Coast Guard weapons specialist," taught his son gun safety, and some responsibility.

Good stuff.

"Gun Free" Chicago

The Chicago police superintendent says so far there has been an officer-involved shooting every day this month.

My emphasis.

Maybe there should be a law? Make it not only illegal for criminals to own firearms in the city, but make it illegal to point them at cops! Then the criminals would stop! Everybody wins!

Yaaaay Win!!

But wait, there's more:

"The level of violence being shown toward police officers is extraordinarily disturbing. People are trying to murder police officers left and right. And if you think about it, if they will do that to a uniformed officer, what will they do to innocent civilians on the street> And that's why we need the community to work with us," said Supt. Jody Weis, Chicago Police.

And therein lies an answer to the unasked question. What is the real problem? Chicago has a scumbag problem, not a gun problem. You have scumbags who have no consideration for human life. How many innocent Chicagoans have been shot and/or killed this year? Probably more than cops. And if I lived in that violent city, for whatever reason, and the cops there enforced illegal laws that disarmed me and put my family in danger, you can bet that I would not work with the police.

Why should I? So the scumbag that I snitch on, that gets arrested and jailed for nine months, can get paroled early and gun down my entire family? Not likely.

Fix the scumbag problem, and quit disarming the good guys.

Preventable death

Officers responding to a report of elder abuse around 11 p.m. Wednesday forced their way into a home at 10587 Greenford Drive, near Hillery Drive, when they heard screaming inside and found Gianine "Gia" Desiderio holding a knife to the neck of her mother, Helen Desiderio, in a rear bedroom, said San Diego police homicide Capt. Jim Collins.

The cops killed the knife weilding woman, as they should have with the situation given.

So what's the problem? How about this:

One officer told 10News that police have been called to the residence for over 20 different incidents involving Gia Desiderio, with one incident involving a TV being thrown by the daughter out of a window.

Gia Desiderio was sentenced to 6 months in custody after a guilty plea to elder abuse last year, 10News learned.

Stop. Letting. These. People. Out. Of. Jail.

Simple, no?

If the cops are called on me for drunkenly punching my mother in the face twice a year, don't you think that on about the third time they ought to put me away for good? The irresponsibility of this woman was apparent, and it was only a matter of time before she escalated her violence to something deadly.

Upstanding Maryland citizen shoots armed scumbag

And by upstanding, I actually mean an off duty US Capitol Police officer:

The altercation involved an off-duty military police officer and his roommate, Baxter said. The roommate managed to get the MP's handgun and began firing it in a parking lot as the off-duty Capitol officer was driving into the area, Baxter said.

The Capitol officer and the man exchanged gunfire. Both were wounded, as well as the off-duty military police officer, Baxter said.

Good on the cop for doing his duty as a human being by protecting another citizen. I only reflect criticism on the fact that Maryland infringes on the rights of its residents to carry a firearm to protect themselves from similar situations.

Warlike man hunting shotguns on sale in NJ!!!

"This individual came fully ready to go to war with us. This is not a normal shotgun. . .this is not a street weapon. . .this is one that's meant to hunt nothing other than man, and he decided to put these cops under fire."

Jersey City, NJ Police Chief Thomas Comey sure knows his shit!

Please tell me Chief, was the man hunting shotgun a "tactical" model? Was it painted black with airbrushed images of ninjas on the stock or something? Did he load it with 'twenty-ought' Manshot sprayed with Teflon?

What a jackass.

I've heard cops say the most ridiculous things in reference to firearms. Just because their job includes carrying a handgun does not mean that they are any more qualified than anyone else on firearms in general.

Now to look at the bright side, all five officers survived, and they managed to kill both scumbags. One of the officers even took not one, but TWO rounds of Manshot to the face. Yikes!

Update: The officer that was shot twice is not expected to live. Pray for his family.

Your daily dose of stupid

The study recommends requiring new officers and enlisted personnel to be tobacco-free, eliminating tobacco use on military installations, ships and aircraft, expanding treatment programs and eliminating the sale of tobacco on military property."

Any tobacco use while in uniform should be prohibited," the study said.

Now that's an all new level of brilliant! We have our nations youth volunteering to fight and kill people, and we arm them to that end with the most deadly things imaginable, and these retards think that it would be cool to stop smokers from relieving their stress in order to save health care costs.

Slow down there skippy. Think about what you're saying. Like, a third of the military smokes, and probably close to another third dips, and those numbers climb when they get shot at day in and day out, and now you douchebags who have never been shot at want to tell the Pentagon that they should take these things away from these men and women? During wartime? While they're driving jets, tanks, carrying machine guns, killing people every day?

As a former smoker who has been in a war zone, I can say that taking away cigarettes would cause an almost instant mutiny. That someone would actually suggest it is amazing.

Fortunately that idea got scrapped.

Welcome to your nation's capitol!

"There were so many gunshots being fired, my family got down," said Robert Drumm of Oklahoma, who was touring the nation's capital with his family.

Sounds like it was a pretty nasty firefight at the U.S. Capitol. I wonder if his weapon was properly registered.

Other tourists were taking cover as well. They're lucky they didn't go for a scenic tour of beautiful South East DC.

Negligence

On Sunday morning, the brother loaded a Remington 20-gauge shotgun with a round used for trap shooting, troopers said.

"When they got there they discovered that a 9-year-old had shot a 6-year-old with a shotgun," said Lt. Gib Morrissey.

A little bit of common sense would have gone a long ways. Fortunately the girl will live.

Passing some law about safety locks won't stop incidents like this, and would more than likely put many more people in danger than it would theoretically protect.

Black Bear crime

Again, in VA.

This begs the question of what to do if you're in a grocery store and you are attacked by a bear? Maybe I'll post a comment at Michael Bane's blog asking him if that's something he could cover on The Best Defense!!

Tazer crime

In Prince William County, VA.

Well, it is a safer way to get people to comply. Safer than just outright shooting them to death, anyways. But that's just me being the optimist.

A new piece in my life

Sometime in all of my traveling fury, I found time to pick up my new premier carry gun:


I have long been on the lookout for a railed 5" 1911, and had high hopes to catch either a Springfield Operator or Kimber TLE/RL II on a shelf somewhere. The Kimber won the day.

A week or so earlier, I had looked at a Springfield Mil-Spec at my local Ganderous Mountainous and offered up my Nuclear (SA Ultra Compact V-10) 1911 to offset the cost, but those crooks basically told me to just give them my gun in return for paying $50 above everyone else's price on the Mil-Spec. I loath Gander Mountain, so I not-so-tactfully declined their counter offer.

I've put an initial 150 rounds or so through the Kimber so far, and I am happy with my switch back to a 1911. My first carry gun was the Nuclear 1911, and I discovered that I shoot 1911s well. Later on I switched to Glocks for awhile; with my first Glock being a model 20 in 10mm. What a pistol. I regretfully had to sell that one when the company I worked for went Tango Uniform and left me without a couple months pay. Next I bought a Glock 17, and not too long after bought a model 26. I still have both. The 17 stays at home, and the 26 is currently TAD while protecting a family member from two and four legged predators, as well as no legged predators (Snakes. Don't ask).

I have now gone full circle and come back to the weapon that I shoot so well. Though I am a Glock advocate, I am not a fanboy, as I understand the pros and cons of any firearm. I tend to shoot Glocks a tad high from the draw; something that I correct with the 1911. This gun is definitely a shooter, and I need to start gearing up to reload so that I can afford to feed it. 45 ACP is hard to find these days.

When I get a day to do a full shoot with several types of ammo, I'll post a range report.

Stretching the truth

So police officer deaths are pretty much at the lowest point since 1965 - something to applaud - but Kevin Johnson of USA Today really tries his hardest to make it seem like the sky is falling.

When we get right down to it, there are way more cops on the street than at anytime in the last four decades, and less cops are getting killed while doing their jobs. That's good. Report that.

Stop manipulating people by telling them that more cops are getting shot to death when they're not. You might as well tell the public that there is an alarming amount of white, male, 10 year veteran cops that are 5' 11" getting killed with their own weapons. Just because it's true doesn't mean you need to wave it around in an effort to scare people.

Genius

A careful word to would be robbers: when using a toy gun to rob a store, at least take off the orange tip.

Maybe Mayor Bloomberg was on to something? (I kid, I kid)

Hi there!

I was off the grid last week; more than I had anticipated. In case you were wondering, I travel a lot. I'm gone more these days than I am home. On top of that, my tribe of little people is getting bigger, so they demand a lot of attention.

This week looks like it should be calm, so perhaps I can get in some blogging time.

Stand back citizen!!! Captain Security is here!!!

In a videotape obtained by CNN, a covert GAO inspector places a bag containing bomb components on an X-ray machine conveyor belt and then walks through a magnetometer at an unidentified federal building. Unlike some covert tests that use simulated explosives, the GAO used actual bomb components in the test and publicly available information "to identify a type of device that a terrorist could use" to damage a building.

Whooooohooooo! Aren't you glad that security is so friggin tight at federal buildings and airports?

In case you can't really grasp what is going on here: the thuggish fondling that you get by underpaid federal goons while at the security counter is all for show. The douchebags with badges but no authority that are busy scanning breast milk and confiscating hoop earrings and Medals of Honor at your airport? They're wasting your time. All of that metal detecting and frisking does nothing to "make you safe," so stop saying that it does when someone asks why you put up with it.

"We knew that the FPS was a troubled agency, but that GAO could penetrate security at these buildings and make bombs without detection is truly shocking," he said.

The security lapses "show a disturbing pattern by the Federal Protective Service of poor training, lapsed documentation, lax management, inconsistent enforcement of security standards and little rigor," added Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the committee's ranking member.

They go on to rag on the security contractors, but the federal security isn't great either.

So let me ask my several readers an honest question: what is the point in disarming everyone that enters federal property if the .0001% of the population that actually wants to commit a murderous act will still be able to easily smuggle bombs, guns, knives, and other weapons inside?

How to stop violent crime

Put dangerous people in prison and keep them there. That's it. Simple, right?

Apparently, not so much.

Burris had a long rap sheet filled with charges such as larceny, forgery and breaking and entering from states across the Southeast, including Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. He had been paroled from a North Carolina prison in April after serving nearly eight years.

"Look at this," Lloyd said, waiving a stapled copy of Burris' criminal record. "This is like 25 pages. At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street.

And there you have it folks. He was a perpetual criminal who was locked up and released. Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland all had there chance to stop him, but they all failed.

How did this killer get a gun? Who cares. There is no way that you can make a habit out of letting an animal like this guy out of prison and expect to stop him from getting a gun with some law. You will only manage to stop the wrong people.

For every violent criminal, there are thousands of good people. You will not stop the killers at the gun counter, but you will stop the good people.

My solution is simple: stop letting them out of prison. The average time served for a violent crime is 5 years, and the average time for murder is just over 12 years. Why is that? Why does a murderer get a second chance? Why is it when a murderer is paroled after serving little more than half of a pathetically short prison sentence that people are so shocked that they kill again?

Stop letting them out.

Some info on the F22 Raptor

You might have heard that the Obama administration won't sign off on any more F22s, and you may have read an article or two from some yahoo about how the F22 sucks.

Well, Ace has come across some insider information that sheds some light on how bad ass the F22 really is.

Nothing like having both perspectives.

M1A/M-14 Porn

Starting from the end and working back, ten pages of modified and old school M14 goodness for your viewing pleasure.

Courtesy of MilitaryPhotos.net.

A bloody Independence Day weekend in DC

Of course, from the headlines you would have no idea that seven people were shot in several incidents in DC this weekend; the news is too busy buzzing about Marion Barry's 875th arrest this year.

Perhaps if the DC police spent less time looking to arrest kids for fireworks violations they would have more time to look for the gang bangers who were using real fireworks.

"Kids are getting hurt, it's not just loud noises," Hernandez said.

No shit? Well, with a whopping two fireworks injuries this year I say it's awesome that DC police spent the weekend saving kids from 2nd degree burns, instead of scouring the city looking for killers. Time well spent!

But have no fear citizens, Councilman Jim Graham is going to completely stop rare incidents like these from ever occurring again with well thought out legislation that will ensure that even more precious police resources are out saving people from themselves:

D.C. Councilman Jim Graham again proposed legislation this year to ban anyone under the age of 16 from buying fireworks in the city. The bill has not yet been voted on.

Steve Hernandez, Graham's legislative director, said the councilman wanted to get a conversation going concerning youths and firework injuries.

Hernandez said Graham's office would continue to work with the D.C. fire department to create legislation curtailing firework use.

How pathetic.

I say that there is no hope in stopping America's decline until DC finally implodes from the weight of its own stupidity.

Independence Day!!

This country may no longer look like what the brave individuals who fought in that war envisioned, but it still lives on. I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the world right now.

Have a great weekend, and be safe out there.

DC officials celebrate their low homicides

As we approach the halfway point in 2009, there have been 66 homicides by D.C. Police's count. If the current pace continues, the city would finish the year with 134 homicides, which, according to the Washington Post, would be a 45-year low.

Fantastic! That means the murder rate in the district would only be over four times the national average, instead of over five times!

Great work.

Keep in mind that murders increase during the summer - and the short article mentions that. So what they're really trying to say is that if hell does in fact freeze over and murderers stay indoors this summer, than DC can expect their city to have only four and a half times as many murders as neighboring Virginia! Yaaay!

I think I'll pass on taking my family sight seeing in the district this summer.

Lawful shooting in Tulsa, OK

The man being chased began pounding on a neighbor's door for help. That's when police officers say the neighbor came out shooting.

"That man, who had the concealed carry permit, drew his 9-mm semi-automatic pistol, firing several shots, striking the man with the hatchet more than one time," said Tulsa Police Sgt. Clay Ballenger.

Officers say the shooter was hit in the head with the
hatchet, but is expected to be okay.

That he had a CHP is irrelevant if he was on his own property. Either way, it looks like the good guy with a gun made the difference.

CNN still flogging the Mexican Gun Farce

The agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will result in a more effective fight against the flood of U.S. weapons that provide Mexican drug cartels with more than 90 percent of their firearms.

I thought the NINETY PERCENT OF GUNS garbage was widely known to be debunked.

That only leaves two reasons why CNN Justice Producer Terry Frieden - the author of this piece - would include it in his article: either he doesn't know, which makes him incompetent, or he is lying, which makes him a scumbag.

With the track record the news has nowadays, take your pick.

National Parks are not always safe

I found this article on CNN's website about two campers who were murdered four years ago in a National Forest.

The article interested me because I believe that National Parks are not as safe as people may think; and despite what critics say, I don't think that disarming the populace before they enter a public place is smart policy.

With this article, I point out that carrying a gun on this land was legal. The son of the victims opines that the killer could have been a hunter:

"Whoever did this to my mom and Steven knew these woods well," said Gary Bauman, Jeanette Bauman's son. "Obviously, there are people in the woods with guns, maybe hunters, but I believe my mom and Steven were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

I think that's a stretch. There is always the small likelihood that a hunter could negligently shoot someone thinking that they're a critter, but a hunter wouldn't kill two people and their dog.

Here is more from the son:

He is not certain whether Bauman and Haugen were armed but said his mother does not own a gun.

"It's possible Steven may have a handgun, as often campers do for protection from bears," he noted.

If Steven owned a handgun, why would he leave it at home? I know there's a visceral reaction amongst those who have never shot a gun that would make them scratch their heads at my question, but I'm asking from the simple point of view that it makes no sense to have the ability to repel two and four legged creatures and leave that ability behind. Humans are at the top of the food chain because we're smarter than the beasts in the field. There is nothing malicious or evil about having the means to keep critters that would kill you at arms distance.

There could be other reasons, like that maybe he owned a .22 pistol and knew it wouldn't be of much help. Who knows for sure now. The take away from this is that vast lands are full of savage things that can kill or maim you, and being prepared is not a bad thing.

Sour grapes and injustice in the Old Dominion

A disgusting scumbag will get to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of a young man in my home town.

Jermaine L. Montgomery will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing food delivery driver Yong Zhang last summer after luring him to a vacant building.

Montgomery, 35, was sentenced yesterday to three life sentences after pleading guilty to capital murder, robbery and abduction.

This is just awful. I understand the logic that dragging the family back from China to relive their son's horrific murder is not in their best interest, but spare me the "we want to save taxpayer money" line. Those two should be hauled out to the side of Courthouse road and shot this afternoon.

I'll provide the ammo.

This guy and his morally bankrupt girlfriend were caught dead to rights in blatant first degree murder, and they do not deserve to breath the same air as the rest of us. That scumbag went into a grocery store and, with the victims own money, purchased the knife that he used to stab the severely beaten and bound man to death with.

I have listened to and read the arguments from death penalty opponents, and I agree with them in most ways, but this is one of the rare cases where it would be warranted and outright lawful justice.

There were no forced confessions, and the evidence leaves nothing to doubt. Somehow in all of this, it comes out that folks who live in my county don't have the stones to put down disgusting animals, and this was taken into account on why the death penalty was not pursued.

Shame on us all.

I know!! Put a label on the bottle!!!

The Food and Drug Administration has assembled more than 35 experts to discuss ways to prevent overdose with acetaminophen – the pain-relieving, fever-reducing ingredient in Tylenol and dozens of other prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Please FDA!!! Save us from acetaminophen!!

What a joke. When the FDA starts screwing with stuff it's bound to be retarded. Just look at how they expertly handled that whole NyQuil/Pseudo Ephedrine/Meth lab crisis.

No more meth labs!!! Yaaaaay!! Wait, whuuut?

So. What kind of likely solutions are these 35 experts considering?

The agency today asked its experts to consider a range of options: adding a "black box" warning label to the products, lowering the drug dosage in some products, or pulling certain types of medications off the market.

Umm, common sense tells me that if you ban the most widely available and used over-the-counter pain relief drug that you're going to have a much greater quantity of pissed off and hurting people flooding ERs across the country. Or, instead of farmer Earl eating two more Advil a day than .gov thinks he needs to stop his migraines, he may just decide to eat a magnum instead. Well, at least his liver will be safe.

And just what do you think will happen when the dose of this wonderful drug is reduced? I can guarantee you that folks are going to eat however many pills it takes to get relief. So instead of taking four of the "leading brand" or three of the "wonder brand that's so much better than the 'leading brand'" people will eat handfuls of the stuff until their noggin stops throbbing. Way to save the world there, geniuses.

Hundreds of millions of Americans use acetaminophen, and these guys want to take it away because a tiny amount of people take too much. Meanwhile, millions of Americans take too many McDonald's cheeseburgers, and the risks from that are massively higher than anything that we have in our medicine cabinet.

Stop trying to meddle in everything!

Only you can prevent sword violence

Or, a Sheriff's deputy in this case.

When you outlaw decorative swords. . . .

Nice gun collection

Too bad the ATF took them all away.

The reporter called an AMD-65 a "AK-47;" and I saw a StG44, a bunch of shotguns, what looks like a 1913 GPMG, and a whole host of other things.

The guy is accused of converting semi auto rifles to fire full auto, and had some weapons with destroyed serial numbers. Not good. Since criminals rarely use rifles to begin with, to say nothing of auto weapons and belt fed machine guns, one can only imagine what type of customers were paying for this man's services.

That makes me wonder.

Give them what they want and no one will get hurt

Yeah, not such a good tactic.

Leave the opossum tactics to the opossums.

Bitter irony

I just read the first line in this article, and I just can't get past it to read the rest:

WASHINGTON -- Kenny Barnes's son was shot in the face and killed during a 2001 robbery, and he's upset that some in Congress want to eliminate Washington's strict gun control laws.

As much as it sucks that his son got killed, I just can't side with him. I may get struck down by the Lord for this, but this is the first thing that comes to mind.

More clever ways to ban guns

I often hear "No one wants to take your gun," but the reality is that there is always someone of influence who is willing to give it a try, and "taking the gun" is not the only way that they can do it.

AP fumbles CCW in bars bill

Of course the Associated Press has to ignore the text of the bill and just run with a story about the Wild West, saloons, and how alcohol and guns don't mix.

Predictable and not very classy.

I wonder why journalists can't read. Seriously. Just read the damn bill, and quit making assumptions about a period in history over one hundred and fifty years ago. This is the reason why many Virginians have such a skewed opinion of such bills.

In Virginia, like many states, you can carry a gun openly without a permit once you're eighteen, and can carry in any establishment that serves alcohol (read: restaurant; VA doesn't have regular bars) as long as that gun is visible. Oh, and you can drink too. While armed. Today. That is completely legal in Virginia. Got a concealed handgun permit? You can't carry your gun concealed in the same restaurants unless you reveal your gun and open carry. Then you are legal to be carrying and you can drink alcohol as long as you aren't intoxicated.

The last "Guns in Bars!!" bill that was squashed in Virginia by that scumbag Tim Kaine made it legal to carry your gun concealed in places that serve alcohol, like Olive Garden or Tony's Pizza, but the law specifically made it illegal to drink. That's right, guns and alcohol can legally be mixed right now, but Kaine stopped the bill that would have made it illegal because "guns and alcohol don't mix." Not that he really believes that; he signed a bill into law that lets Commonwealth Attorneys to carry concealed handguns in bars - and schools too!

Why can't the press give accurate coverage of something? Maybe they, like Tim Kaine, can't read to save their life, or perhaps they just don't care. Either way, it's wrong to make such erroneous assumptions to the public, especially when your sole purpose is to bring the public together with current events.

Crazy people

Well, it looks like the world isn't so scared of us any more. Russia is going to be flexing its muscles at the same time Obama is going to be visiting Moscow; Obama's loves and kisses diplomacy hasn't won over Iran, and North Korea is acting like they're some sort of badass now that they have succeeded in building a nuke as powerful as Tim McVeigh's poop bomb.

The Ruskies are pretty hardcore, but the North Koreans remind me of the overly drunk uncle who thinks he can kick any ones ass despite falling repeatedly out of his chair. But this time the uncle is drunk on power. Iran is kind of like the side of the family that you think you would probably get along with if it weren't for the nasty step dad always causing a shouting match.

Don't get me wrong; Kim Jong Il scheduling a missile launch across our country and threatening nuclear war is something to pay serious attention to, but he's really just too big for his britches when it all comes down to it. I only expect an apology and a poorly thought out gift from our dear leader to Kim for all of this. Iran: whatever; it's not like we're going to be friends any time in the near future.

My only point is that stuff like this didn't seem to happen as much when we didn't have a bunch of hippie pacifists running the show.

Back in the saddle

I've been out of town, so that's the reason for lack of posting. I travel a lot. Here one week, gone the next.

I'll never, ever fly American Airlines again. What a goat rope. That company is so jacked up I can't believe they're still in business. There's nothing like having your flight cancelled minutes after getting fondled by TSA, and then having to get a car and drive hours to another airport only to find out that AA sucks there too. And that's just the beginning.

I'm glad to be home, but it won't last.

I have to break the news to you that Movie Guns is on a temporary hiatus until I can get my home PC back into fighting shape. I simply do not possess the technology right now to make it happen. It's not going away; I just have to get a new monitor.

Hopefully I will have my shit straight by this weekend. Those of you who travel know how hard it is to get the gears of the family machine oiled and running again after an absence.

When seconds count

Sources close to the investigation said that at about 3:30 a.m. police patrolling the Kings Farm neighborhood saw a suspicious car enter the community. Soon after, three men entered an apartment at Elmcroft Boulevard and Marsh Hollow Place and multiple shots were fired.

Two people were bound, shot, and stabbed not long after the police saw the suspicious vehicle. Whether the car contained the three scumbags or not is not relevant to me. What I think is relevant is that the police were already close by when the scumbags entered the community and took the time to tie the victims up, and then shoot and stab them.

Unless the police are sitting right next to you, and sometimes not even then, then the responsibility for your personal safety is your own. Maryland doesn't get that yet.

Gun Free Boston

This is supposed to be a warning about the dangers of guns and gangs in Boston schools. All it is to me is an indication of what a "Gun Free Zone" really looks like.

Gunshots rang out - at least six rounds in rapid fire - as girls played softball last month at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, just blocks from Boston police headquarters. Only a few girls flinched at the gunfire, and none ducked for cover as a pack of youths sprinted from the shooting site amid the scream of sirens and screech of tires from approaching police vehicles.

So gunfights happen so often, despite there being "Gun Free" signs about and in close proximity to a local police station, that school students and staff don't really even notice it any more?

Is that supposed to be the Clarion call for more gun control?

Is anyone surprised?

California churches have an awakening

As more shootings at houses of worship make headlines, churches around the country are stepping up security, training their staff on how to detect and confront violent assailants, and asking congregants with licenses to carry guns during services.

Well I never thought I'd see the day. Good for them.

This entire article is worth quoting, every word, and it's exactly what the gun rights folk have been saying for some time now. The meat of the article comes from a security consultant who lays out the obvious for churchgoers:

Traditional security measures, like metal detectors or pat-downs, might compromise that sense of sanctuary, Baker said. So he proposed other, subtler methods. He suggested that churches organize undercover security teams -- and recommended that some members come armed with concealed weapons.

Now we're getting somewhere folks. If this is what's being done in churches in California, and written in the LA Times no less, then we're definitely at a turning point no matter how bad things may seem.

No matter the shooter's motivation, churches are easy targets, experts say.

"During a church service, you've got a large number of people in a very confined and close space, and an armed gunman can put a lot of lead down the range in a very short amount of time," said Greg Crane, who owns a security consultant firm called Response Options.

"If the devil comes to visit someday," he asked, "how ready are you going to be?"

Well said sir. Go read this article. The whole thing is good to go. This is the sort of message that needs to be spread far and wide.

The press turns up another weird caliber

She said TSA inspectors found 136 rounds of .762-caliber ammunition; seven .50-caliber rounds; three .233-caliber rifle bullets; and one 40 mm training grenade.

That's pretty scary. I wonder if it's some sort of experimental ammunition to penetrate body armor.

Don't believe everything you read in the news.

Clean out your refridgerator

Ft. Detrick, MD did, and what they found was arguably more icky than anything found in the fridge under your cubicle.

The 13 percent overage mainly reflects stocks left behind in freezers by researchers who retired or left Fort Detrick since the biological warfare defense program was established there in 1943, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

He said the found material included Korean War-era serum samples from patients with Korean hemorrhagic fever, a disease still of interest to researchers pursuing a vaccine. Other vials contained viruses and microbes responsible for Ebola, plague, anthrax, botulism and host of other ailments, Kortepeter said in a teleconference with reporters.

Holy smokes!! These guys are saying that it's, like, super easy to overlook vials of deadliness because of all the ice chunks in the freezer and stuff! "Look, it's not our fault!! There's CLUTTER in there for pete's sake!!" Maybe you should not wait sixty six years to clean the things out; not to mention conducting a "spot check" every, like, decade or so to see if, oh I dunno, any of the worlds most deadly toxins are missing? Did you ever think of that!!??!!

And these guys are supposed to be our best and brightest. No wonder they still live at mom's so she can do their laundry.

You don't reckon anybody took some of this stuff home with them at some point in time, do ya?

More scary stuff:

Kortepeter said the inventory found nothing missing from about 70,000 items the institute began cataloging in 2005. He said Army criminal investigators have concluded that three vials of Venezuelan equine encephalitis that were discovered missing last year "were likely used up but for some reason were never recorded with the database."

Yeah. "Except for the 3 vials of VEE, every thing's accounted for!!" So what about the sixty two years of time between when the VEE was "likely" used up and when the Biological Program started? Was anything from the inventory found missing then?

Keep in mind that there are several more facilities like this throughout the country. Are you telling me that nobody in the DoD chain of command, or anyone who work(s)(ed) at the facility during all this time thought to maybe keep a ledger of what went in and out of these freezers?

This is why I think that instead of throwing open the doors to thousands more personnel that have access to these materials, access should instead be cut waaaay back. This is not the field of work to have a mishap where some absent minded professor has a moment of question: "Damn! Where did I place that Igloo cooler of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever? I must have left it on the bus."

Intruder shot by 70 year old man

In Houston.

Seems reasonable to me. There may be more to the story, but as of now it looks like the teen was caught in the yard stealing by the home owner, and then was shot after he threatened the man.

Read the comments for some interesting discussion. It seems that the overwhelming opinion of Texans is that getting shot to death for not respecting someone's property is perfectly acceptable.

I mention to the dissenters who suggest that the old man should have just casually summoned the police to deal with the trespassing thief, that the trespassing thief, if he was really innocent of stealing, could have just casually summoned the police to get his things back instead of heading towards the homeowner on his own property in a menacing manner. Especially in Texas.

Cougar attacks on the rise

In British Columbia.

One lucky mother uses her bare hands to fight one off of her daughter.

As I understand it, Canadians are pretty much prohibited from carrying firearms. Doesn't matter much for the cougars considering armed men with badges get to shoot them after the attacks.

North Korea to launch missile

Towards Hawaii.

I swear that country reminds me of the type of kids in elementary school who would wave their hands really close to your face and say "I'm not touching you I'm not touching you I'm not touching you!!!"

President Obama has not issued a response to this threat to our 57th state, but is rumored to be in a high level meeting with his thesaurus this morning to come up with a term stronger than "provocative."

DC Police have a point

And I side with them on their determination that gun cameras, while well intentioned, are actually pretty useless.

Council member Harry Thomas Jr. on Tuesday introduced a bill requiring Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to come up with a "plan for the installation of video and audio recording devices on service firearms of all police and special police officers."

The police argue that the video/audio will only tell part of the story:

Kristopher Baumann, the head of the D.C. police union, said the cameras would come with high costs and no benefits.

The lack of footage showing a confrontation before an officer draws a gun makes the captured evidence useless, he said, and every officer would have to be retrained because
the camera alters the balance of the weapon.

Yup. My thoughts as well. Thomas says that he intends to reintroduce the law basically until something better comes down the road. Who really cares that the legislation sucks. We have to do something damnit!

Legislation that speaks volumes

But does nothing to stop violent criminals, and sounds like it kicks dust on the otherwise dead corpse of the right to bear arms in DC. Hey, at least they're doing something, right?

The D.C. Council on Tuesday adopted an emergency anti-crime bill that further tightens the city’s gun laws, raises mandatory minimum sentences for certain felonies and criminalizes riding in a vehicle where there is an illegal firearm.

And by illegal firearm, DC Examiner Staff Writer Michael Neibauer actually meant to say, but didn't, is that it includes every firearm; because carrying one in your car is illegal as far as I have heard.

So what about Americans who are on a peaceable journey with their firearm while on their way to states who still give a damn about the rights of their citizens; like New Hampshire? Oh, I'm sure there will be some exception for those folks. Sure, sure. There's no way that innocent people get ensnared in carefully calculated laws such as this. It's only for the criminals, you see.

Not all of the council members voted for the law. Apparently, they are acutely aware of the constitutional disaster that the anti-gang part of the legislation would have brought: allowing arrests of groups of people for assembling is a tough nut to crack indeed, but the same council members could care less about the constitutional right to bear arms; even after the smackdown they received last year in the Heller case.

Mendelson dismissed the argument that law enforcement lacks crime-fighting tools to battle the summer crime spike. There needs to be a legislative focus on “more effective strategies,” he said, not constitutionally suspect proposals that may not work.“

Between the police and the prosecutors, we have two volumes of the D.C. Code,” he said. “There are plenty of tools.”The emergency bill sets harsher penalties for using a stolen vehicle to commit a violent crime, creates a gun offender registry and eases the way for prosecutors to detain an allegedly violent criminal pretrial.

So now we see the two faces of the beast.

On one hand, DC has plenty of words written down on paper for their half hearted attempts to stop crime; in essence, there's no need to pass the part of the bill that's "constitutionally suspect." On the other hand, the council passes the bill with a "constitutionally suspect" part of the law because making something more illegal will surely stop crime this time.

It reminds me of what Kevin at The Smallest Minority always says: "Do it again, only HARDER!!"

I'm not imagining things here folks. The council members have selective hearing when it comes to rights, and it's almost like they have no idea of this phenomenon. Almost:

Critics argued that civil injunctions threaten civil liberties — innocent bystanders may be swept up by police and tagged as gang members by the courts, they said. The proposal, said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, was “gimmickry” and would lead to racial profiling.

“Once a young person is labeled as a gang member, whether they are or not, that is a tag that can never be removed,” said Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.

You don't say?

So there's no way that gun owners will be swept into this and be "tagged as gang members" by "gimmickry" gun legislation? And once they end up convicted of transporting their scary looking STI MatchMaster across the utopia of DC, you can count on them earning a "tag that can never be removed."

How does that not threaten civil liberties?

Dumbassery: What could go wrong edition

John Hinckley Jr. will be given a drivers licence!

Hell, we give them to people who aren't even citizens of this country, right? Who cares if we give one to a murderous nutbag.

But don't worry folks. He's been court ordered to carry a taxpayer funded cellphone! Maybe the judge will tell him under the strongest possible terms that he is NOT allowed to text while driving. And since it has GPS, there's no way he can ditch the phone in order to avoid being tracked!

Isn't justice fun!!

And just to be absolutely sure that any more nutcases don't shoot sitting presidents or their aids, we should go ahead and take guns away from all the sane citizens that we can. That will help.

Cutting edge crimefighting tools to stop suicidal spree shooters!

WASHINGTON – Citing recent killings in Arkansas, Kansas and the nation's capital, Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday said new hate crimes law were needed to stop what he called "violence masquerading as political activism."

Yes, because we all know that psychopaths who strike a notion to kill Jews at a museum or Soldiers at a recruiting station, and who are not concerned whether they survive the deed, will be deterred by hate crime laws.

What a freaking diabolically genious plan you have there AG!

Oh, please sir! Save us all from the evils of crazy men with toughly written words! And act fast, because there's bound to be another scumbag neo-National Socialist (that will be called "right wing" by ABC News and other propaganda outlets because he is a veteran) planning an attack right now.

Idiot.

New footage doesn't look good

The Oklahoma Highway Patrolman that clashed with an EMT almost a month ago says his dashcam vindicates his actions.

I can't agree from what I see.

Any disputes about a traffic violation, failure to yield to a police cruiser with flashing lights, or whatever, should have been dealt with at the hospital. The moment the EMT said he had a patient in the car is the moment all arguing should have stopped. Both the cop and the EMT have a sworn duty to protect the public, and the woman in the back of the ambulance is "the public."

If it were my ass in the back of that ambulance, you can bet that I wouldn't be happy waiting on the side of the road for two professionals who serve the public to finish their dick measuring contest. Take me to the hospital already.

Now I'm confused

PITTSBURGH -- In June, Pittsburgh police arrested one of their own after discovering a man on the city's South Side was grazed by a bullet from an off-duty police officer's gun.

The off duty cop had a BAC of .11, but was found "not guilty of aggravated assault, drunken driving and reckless endangerment" by the judge. I find that odd since a citizen would surely have been found guilty under the same circumstances, and there would probably be another charge for carrying a firearm while intoxicated.

The part where it gets really confusing is here:

"In this particular case, we had testimony that Mr. Abel was assaulted, there were witnesses that saw Mr. Abel assaulted, and it's his responsibility as a citizen and as a police officer to pursue that person who assaulted him," Hanlon said.

So he had a duty as a citizen to pursue an antagonist with a firearm while intoxicated? Good to know. Somehow I don't think the same rules apply to those without a badge.

Gun turned against scumbag

But. . .but. . .I thought only criminals know the secret judo gun grab.

Sucks for him.

Violence in LA

LOS ANGELES -- Celebration turned to near riots in Los Angeles after the Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic to win the NBA finals Sunday.

The Los Angeles Police Department says about 25 people were arrested after some threw rocks and bottles, damaged police cruisers and set several small fires in the streets outside Staples Center.

This is because they were celebrating. I guess all of the non-rioting citizens are lucky the Lakers didn't lose.

I'm pretty tough on California, but it stands to be known that only coastal California is crazy. I point out this article to show that there is something more to the violence in LA, and in other metropolitan cities, than guns or gangs.

When you have a populace that finds it perfectly acceptable to torch businesses and turn over police cars because they're happy, then you have a populace that will never be civil no matter what the situation, and you're not going to keep the peace with stupid laws.

Unfortunately, those arrested in the rioting will more than likely get a slap on the wrist and be turned loose; no doubt they will be at the next major game for some more mayhem.

Movie Guns updates

I have updated Movie Guns VIII - Miami Vice, as well as Movie Guns XI - Blood Diamond as part of my effort to fix my screwups.

I also would like to point out that I just saw the movie trailer for Public Enemies staring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale that is based on the story of John Dillinger. To really get your pulse racing, the film is directed by Michael Mann, so you can bet on the gun slinging to be top shelf.

Massive technical difficulties

So, my home PC is no longer on the rocks (it's at least running under it's own power) but the big ass 22" screen is TU. While I was on travel, I was going to do a Movie Guns on my work laptop since I didn't have the kids around to otherwise direct my attention.

Sadly, my new work PC has the same problems as my old one, in that it can't capture images from a movie. Pasting a picture into MS Paint, or any other program doesn't work, so no Movie Guns yet. To top that off, coming home from travel took way longer than I had anticipated, so that is where I've been.

O'Hare Airport sucks.

Now, the time has come in my home renovation to do my man cave, so the home PC is unplugged and buried under stuff in a back room, but my wife's new computer is available. Also, my mother kindly gave me a laptop to use in the meantime, but both of these lack the big ass screen that I believe gives me such nice screen caps.

I have an idea though, but I don't want to give it away just yet in case I'm really just an idiot. Brilliancy or bust!

I'll keep you posted.

This is my rifle, this is my gUUUUUUUn!!

Where art thou, CTone?

Sorry about the lack of posting lately, I've been running at full tilt. I've got some goodies for you to show for it though.

I've been on travel to Rock Island Arsenal, Il: a beautiful island in the middle of the Mississippi River that has been building weapons to slay our enemies for almost one hundred and thirty years. And let me tell you, they've got stuff here that I've never seen before, and some of it is flat out amazing.

The island was built in the early 1800s as a Fort, but was converted into an arsenal to house the US' war machine. The terrain is very flat, and most of the buildings are massive structures built with what looks like huge stone block dredged from the depths of the Mississippi. One has the feeling that this installation was built to withstand years of bombardment and siege warfare. All around the arsenal are guns of every sort that bristle out towards the surrounding Illinois and Iowa.

Now, we gunnies always talk about guns, but in reality we are talking about firearms, or small arms. The two terms are nowadays generally considered interchangeable, but there are major differences that military folk are quick to point out. Firearms are weapons that are carried by the individual. Guns are big crew served weapon systems that fire special purpose projectiles.

I got the chance today to go to the Rock Island Arsenal Museum, and I have some gun porn to show you that might shed some light on what I'm talking about. Here we have an example of a firearm:


That is a gorgeous example of a Nambu pistol, if you don't mind me using 'gorgeous' and 'Nambu' in the same sentence.

Here is a gun, taken outside the museum:


See what I mean?

Some more guns:






Here are some mortars:


There was about a hundred feet of wall in the museum that was covered with firearms of every imaginable type. I suspect that even the most knowledgeable gunnies would scratch their heads at some of the stuff I saw there. Keep in mind that these weapons are behind six inches of glass, and so the picture quality might not be the best:





Obviously I'm not going to try to identify them as there are so many, and there are plenty that I've never seen before. The good thing is that there are numbered tags on all of them, and there are binders every ten feet or so for you to find out the type of weapon and history behid them. I'm not going to post all of the pictures that I took - you'll have to go to the museum yourself and check it out, but her are some of the more strange looking weapons:





You don't want to be hit with those last ones!

Think you can ID any of em'? I've got news for you, that's only the begining! What do you think about this:


Or this death ray looking thing:


Confused yet? So am I. It reminds me of the movie Demolition Man, when Wesley Snipes says "wait a minute. . .this is the future. . . where are all the phazer guns?"

I have no idea what these are:


I did look some of them up, like this M16 looking pellet gun manufactured by Daisy as part of the "Quick Kill Project," whatever the hell that was:


Or how about number 5895:


Would you have ever guessed that it's a High Standard Model 10 Police modified in a bullpup configuration with a flashlight built into the handle? Nope, me neither.

How about these Gwinn Firearms Bushmaster pistols:


That's just a taste though. There are walls and walls and walls of Broomhandle Mausers, M1911s, Sigs, Berettas, Brownings, revolvers of every shape and form, machine guns, submachine guns, rocket launchers, muskets, trade guns, wall guns, howitzers, sabers, you name it.

Keep in mind that all of these deadly things were at one point designed by some intrepid and thoughtful individual who believed that somewhere, someplace, a Soldier or Marine might perhaps be interested in hunting down and killing someone with one. I love America!!

If you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. And the best part is that it's free!!

My Gateway is busted

My two year old Gateway is all jacked up, but it's running. Unfortunately, I'm not on it because the monitor is dead. The warranty is two years from what I can gather, and it's been right at two years. A quick Google search shows that my monitor is known for dying a quick death.

I remember a time when people took pride in building shit that lasted for awhile. Those days are over.

My computer is not the only thing that's screwed up. I got a HTC Fuse for Christmas, and when I have time I'm sending it back because it's so jacked up it barely works. I have two pages of stuff I've wrote down that doesn't work, and that's not counting the stuff that's just part of the design. That it answers calls in my pocket is a design problem; that it forgets every phone number in my speed dial is a defect. I have to hard reset sometimes several times a day because it locks up and won't work.

Junk.

When will people start making quality products again? Electronics these days are especially unreliable, and I don't trust my lively hood to them.

I will have lots of time next week, and I will be using a laptop to do the Movie Guns post. I wanted it done this weekend but that's impossible right now. Stay tuned.

Have no fear citizen! Crime camera is here!

DC officials are going to stop crime in Adams Morgan by. . . . .putting up a "crime camera."

I thought those didn't stop crime?

This piece of breathtaking ingenuity comes after council member Jim Graham proposed banning late night pizza joints in the area because of "Behaving the way they do in terms of music, in terms of letting people hang out and also in terms of tolerating a certain level of violence."

See?

If you're a business owner, tourist, or otherwise good person enjoying the night life in DC, then you're enabling scumbags to cause crime. Maybe someone should propose a curfew, since the only reason to be out at night, besides going to a club or a pizza joint, is to rob said people and shoot one another. It's for your own good folks.

I can't get over the fact that those elected to office in DC insist that you should leave your safety to the police, but then turn around and blame business owners for putting up with violence; like they should do something about it. You can bet that when the first citizen walks outside his or her store and tells the thugs to stop fighting, and they pull guns and shoot them dead, that Graham, Fenty, and Lanier will come out and say that they shouldn't have gotten involved.

Maybe it's time for another "All Hands on Deck," because DC is kinda hard up for money these days, and you know that ticketing drivers and barricading neighborhoods is great for the vibe.

Sheesh. DC residents: you voted these morons in office, so you get all the government you deserve. Enjoy it.

Late start this morning

Blogging will be light today and tomorrow. Actually, I wouldn't count on any blogging tomorrow as I will be otherwise engaged in something else.

As a side note, my computer went tango uniform this week, but my mom managed to bring it back from the edge of its demise. I have to get a new monitor cord before I can fire it back up, and when I do I will be working on my next Movie Guns post, which will surely be a Mega Post.

I have been putting off this particular film for a long time, as I know that I will be way over my head. I realized though that I do not have any more time this week than I did the last, so I'm going to grit my teeth and get to work. This is one of my first requests by the way, and I take such requests seriously.

If I haven't responded to your request, it's because I sometimes lose track of comments from older posts, so send me another comment or shoot me an email.

Assault rifle crime

Well, the rifle didn't assault, but the man holding it did. Either way, the 30.06 used is closer to the term than, say, the rifle used here.

Crime down last year

According to the FBI.

Can anyone tell me what's up with that Walther P99 in the picture? It looks like the slide is broken.

Update: As pointed out in comments, the Walther is actually a pellet gun.

Thanks much!

On the recruiting station shooting

Well, it looks as if the scumbag responsible converted to Islam and decided to go out and kill Soldiers. Too bad he didn't give them the chance to a fair fight by meeting them on the battlefield. I guess his faith and desire for martyrdom wasn't as strong as his desire to be famous; now he will get a wrist slap from our justice system and spend like thirty years in prison.

It's so weird that the shooter didn't turn out to be a veteran with a Ron Paul bumper sticker.

There's also some dispute about the "small arsenal" that whats-his-face had:

At the time of the shooting, the subject had approximately 200 rounds of ammunition available, police said.

A couple lines later we find out what constitutes an arsenal:

But the car was loaded with a small arsenal. Officers who searched the car found more than 100 rounds of ammunition, an SKS assault rifle, two pistols, and two military books.

Wow. Not to be picky or anything, but a one hundred percent increase in ammunition for an arsenal makes for pretty terrible reporting. I guess that mathematics is passed up in journalism training for more useful skills like sensationalism.

Also, an SKS is not, nor was it ever, an assault rifle.

On California's budgeting nightmare

SailorCurt has a hilarious post of a letter to The Governator on tightening that fiscal belt.

A must read!

Strong legislation needed

Witnesses told 7NEWS that a fight between gang members precipitated the shooting. Geneva, who didn't want her last name used said that she saw gang members flashing signs and fighting with each other just before the shooting.

Obviously we need to outlaw gangs and ban gang signs, that's just common sense, but the first thing that crossed my mind was that they have violent gangs in Colorado.

Colorado? Really?!?!

Anyways, it's pretty horrible that an innocent person was killed. I don't have much sympathy for gangbangers that kill each other, but bystanders are a different matter.

One more condemnation should just about do it

Or maybe a strongly worded letter. From the UN.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has transported its most advanced missile, believed to be capable of reaching Alaska, to a launch site on its west coast near China, news reports said Monday.

The reclusive communist country was also reportedly bolstering it defenses and conducting amphibious assault exercises along its western shore, near disputed waters where deadly naval clashes with the South have occurred in the past.

OK, so North Korea stopped rattling their saber and has now started swinging it around wildly above their head.

CAPTAIN DIPLOMACY, DO SOMETHING!!! HURRY!!!!

North Korea is bitching about US and South Korean spy planes, but correct me if I'm wrong in that spy planes are pretty much obsolete. I mean, we have satellites, so why would we bother with putting a pilot's life at risk by sending him into harms way when we can just get the intel we need from Google?

On another note, I always get a case of the giggles when the news shows something as phallic as a ballistic missile being raised with a name that looks like it says "Tapadong."