Pellet gun fun in slow-motion

I love YouTube!



Also, if firing makeshift projectiles at random stuff is your idea of fun, take a look at this slow-mo video of an air cannon firing 4 foot long flourescent light bulbs at mannequin heads!


The internets rule!

Help us lock up felons and anyone else

That's what I'm getting from this proposal from Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

"Baltimore can be a safer city, and with the help of the Maryland General Assembly, we can pass tougher penalties on illegal gun possession and we can continue to reducing gun violence to historic lows," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

And who wouldn't want to reduce illegal gun possession, right? Wait though, what exactly is her definition of illegal gun possession?

She doesn't enlighten us on that, but her proposal gives you an indication:

The bills the mayor will push are for up to 15 years in prison for felons in possession of a gun and a mandatory 18 months in prison for anyone carrying an illegal and loaded weapon.

Let's break it down: Felons in possession of a gun. The Mayor starts off right out of the gate about repeat gun offenders who are dangerous bad guys, and that is what she would lead you to believe she is after, but she is not suggesting 15 years for a violent gun offense; she is saying that possession of a gun contrary to written code is grounds for 15 years off your life, regardless of intent. If an individual served a two year sentence forty years ago for possession of marijuana, that individual can get a 15 year sentence if they live in a residence with someone who owns a Marlin .22 rifle. Same individual in a car pool van that gets pulled over, and one of the passengers has a legal .25 auto in their pocket: does that count as a "felon in possession of a gun?" I would bet that it does.

Now, to the issue of anyone carrying an illegal and loaded weapon: carrying an unloaded weapon is useless unless you are carrying it to the range, and again, I've never seen that qualified. Usually laws are written in an attempt to cover the person who sticks their unloaded gun in the trunk of the car and goes to the shooting range, but even that gets hemmed up as in the case of Brian Aitken. And if you make guns as illegal as possible for anyone to own, you end up with a handy tool to make anyone a criminal. So really the law is aimed at anyone who has a gun and ammunition on or about their person, and there's a lot of grey in their for the legal minions to work with.

But what about the dangerous criminals who repeatedly get caught using a gun in the commission of a violent felony? How do we ensure that they go to prison for a long long time? If you have to ask that question to somebody, you're a retard. I mean that.

Fisking this tired mantra about strengthening gun laws as a means to put criminals behind bars is getting old. It has nothing at all to do with the criminals and everything to do with control of the general population, as they are the ones who are most likely to get hung up in this mess, and there are money making ventures in that.

If a violent scumbag repeatedly gets caught hurting people, then you already have the Nature and Cause to lock them up for eternity. A gun law is an inappropriate and unnecessary tool to that end. If there are gangbangers who won't stop shooting up the streets of Baltimore, than the next time you catch them committing a violent act, that is your chance to keep them out of society by using the laws against hurting people that have existed since Exodus. It ain't any harder than that.

So this whole "we can't stop them unless you pass this law" is a bunch of bullshit that needs to be called out.

Stun gun violence

If you believe hollywood, a stun gun will knock you unconscious so that your attacker can conveniently rob you of your goodies. In the really real world, using a stun gun on your victim will probably just piss off your attacker, who may then be inclined to use a more proven weapon platform to ventilate your abdomen and send you running away with piss soaked pants.

One of the men opened the driver’s side door and hit the victim with a stun gun several times while demanding money, Perok said.

The victim, a Woodbridge man, then pulled out a handgun and fired towards the men, he told police.

The clerk, a concealed weapons permit holder, said the men were no more than a foot away from him when he shot at them.

“I’m sure I hit one with at least one shot,” he said a few days later.

He did better than that! I am glad that he survived the attack with minimal injury, and that he doesn't have the burden of killing someone on his conscience or reputation. A win win in my book.

December in Afghanistan

A photo essay from Boston.com of some pictures of Afghanistan. There's some heart wrenching photos in there, so be forewarned.

Also, pic number fourteen shows a Taliban fighter with a loaded FN M240B machine gun. I would love to hear the backstory on how he got that.

Found at MilitaryPhotos.net.

DC murders down

According to the Washington Times, there were 131 homicides in the District in 2010, down nine percent from last year. It’s the lowest number of slayings since 1963.

While I'm reluctant to give quarter to DC's Police Chief or her insane crime lowering ideas, her reasoning on the tip line and community intel seem logical. Until there's some bona fide evidence that gunshot detectors do anything but cost a fortune, I'll dismiss the technology part on its face, and note that Chief Lanier made no mention of the hard work and long hours that DC cops put in to lower that homicide number. Shame on her.

The Times reports that it is the second straight year that homicides have declined in the city and the seventh time in 10 years that the nation’s capital has recorded fewer than 200 homicides.

Hold the phones!! Did that just say the second straight year? As if homicides have declined in two years instead of jumping up? I could have sworn I heard predictions about all the shootings, blood in the streets, and mass chaos that would surely stem from the Heller decision.

Who would have known that ordinary human beings could behave themselves?

Well, maybe not these guys; but it seems that the general population doesn't strike the notion to go out on a killing spree that day just because they have a Mossberg in the closet.

Musketeers and carrying a big stick

Two bizarre robberies of note caught on video.

The first one has a lunatic swinging a tree trunk at a store owner in a successful robbery attempt. The store owner tried to get the bandit hammered unsuccessfully. What would you do if you were armed with a firearm and this guy came in and tried to rob you? The cops consider it armed robbery, but I might have tried to take that stick away from the guy if it happened to me.

The second one happened in Canada where some wonderfully misunderstood youths were trying to get charity money from a motel using a musket. They didn't get the funds. In this particular incident, I would see good cause to justify deadly force, as a musket is still up to the task of killing someone as any other firearm. What would you do?

Model gun control

"To gain entry to the store, which is on a secure military base, customers must present valid identification, pass through a metal detector, yield to the security wand and surrender cellphones and cameras.

To buy a gun, clients must submit references and prove that their income is honestly earned, that their record is free of criminal charges and that their military obligations, if any, have been fulfilled with honor. They are fingerprinted and photographed. Finally, if judged worthy of owning a small-caliber weapon to protect home and hearth, they are allowed to buy just one. And a box of bullets."

This is to get into the only gun store in Mexico and buy a gun.

There are lots of things to be critical about in this article, the first of which is the claim by the author William Booth that Mexico's ridiculous gun laws are "a matter of pride" for Mexican citizens. How the hell does he know that? Did he do a survey? How can he say that with any authority when he claims later that legal gun sales are declining, but the black market is booming? Sounds to me like the proud Mexican citizens are doing an end run around the shenanigans and getting guns however they want.

The very last paragraph says that if you want a gun, just ask a Mexican police officer to provide you with an illegal one, the easiest way:

"The cop will bring it to your house and show you how to load it," Islas said. "Of course, it is technically illegal."

Well, no shit! There's about the only truth you will find in this whole article. Do notice the use of the word "technically," as in it's not really illegal despite being, you know, illegal. Kinda like 'rape-rape:' the police officer is friendly and providing you with a weapon that's not on Mexico's only gun store's precise list, so it's "technically" totally OK and stuff, and not at all a bad thing; and if you have sex with a girl that's under the age of consent, who's too drugged up to consent even if she legally could, and it like happened a long time ago and stuff, and you're popular, than it's OK too.

I'm starting to get the hang of the leftist ideology that breaking the law is cool as long as it's done properly.

As an afterthought, I wonder how many of those weapons handled in "strict military fashion" are handed to the ordinary citizens by friendly police officers -- who are only breaking the law out of the sheer goodness of their hearts -- and don't make it onto the list of extreme precision. You know the ones I'm talking about:

"Police Sales Only," is filled with weapons that ordinary citizens cannot legally buy - the heavy stuff, such as Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifles and Israeli Galil machine guns, plus gas and concussion grenades, as well as bulletproof vests and helmets.

Rest assured that those friendly police officers do not sell them illegally to the bad men who are flooding the US with narcotics. Nooosirrrreeeebob! It's odd though that I've actually seen pictures somewhere of weapons taken from Mexican drug cartel members' cold dead hands. Come to think of it, I've seen all of that stuff exactly as Booth has stated here, taken from criminals, and a lot of those weapons look just like the hardware that the Mexican military and police forces use.

Hmmmm. I'm thinkin that this gun store may keep precise records of firearms sold over the counter, but isn't keeping the most meticulous count of what gets sold under it. Must be easy to keep track when you're running the only store in an entire nation.

Strange foreplay

"Sedille told investigators that, during sex play the night of Dec. 21, he took a handgun he thought was unloaded from a shelf beside the bed and racked the slide back, cocking the weapon. According to the affidavit, he told police he placed the gun to her head and it fired."

Uh-huh. "It fired" all on its own. Savagely violating the first three rules of gun safety had nothing at all to do with it.

Bringing sexy back

When I was a kid, raising the question in school of what was the most awesome fighter plane ever would have brought about heated discussion between the powerful F-14 Tomcat, the nimble F-16 Falcon, or the fast F-15 Eagle, with perhaps the delusional foreign exchange student from Krasnoyarsk whimpering something about a 'Megg thayerty whon' before being told to shut his commie face. Mentioning the Supermarine Spitfire at the time would have probably invited a punch to the nuts, unless one of the beasty boys had ever layed eyes on one of these British beauties.

If you throw sexy into the criteria of awesomeness, the Spitfire would rise to the top of the stack. Damn, that plane is gorgeous.

Clicky the linky here to see an audio slideshow about some wonderful British folk who restore the Spitfire so that rich yahoos can either fly them, or pay someone else to. The price tag on a restored plane will set you back $2 - $3 Million big ones, which is a drop in the bucket next to the going rate of a F-18 Hornet these days.

If I were a wealthy entrepreneur, I would buy one of these in a heartbeat and learn to fly. I might even pick up eight Browning 1919 machine guns for like $30 bucks from my local gun show to bring the plane up to its full authenticity, which would serve to keep the icky guns out of the hands of the local Mexican drug cartels who buy them up with impunity.

Flying sexy fighters and saving the children is what it's all about!

Sheer mental tenacity

You may have seen the bright orange hand written letter that a US Navy SEAL posted outside his hospital door advising all who enter that they better go elsewhere if they feel sorry for him.

Whether you've seen it or not, here is the letter as well as a little insight on that SEAL, and an indication of the level of tenacity he was talking about.

That's the spirit!

Some Christmas weekend photos

Gettin' some on Christmas morning! Is that wrong of me to say? Do note the removal of the trigger guard on the M249 SAW, as well as the one Soldier yelling while not using his sights. Also, Magpul magazines are pretty standard now.

Hamas choses Colt. Looks like a CAR-15 with 4X Colt optic. Those yahoos seem to have good trigger discipline, which is well enough cos' we wouldn't want violent terroristic militias running around without the proper level of gun safety.

More violence in Israel. Third pic down shows an Israeli cop using a tactical throat restraint. I hear chicken wire gives the same effect.

Fun with words

"Armed man at Mormon temple killed in Utah shootout"

That's how the title reads, and from what little information there is in the story, it sounds like a good shoot by the police. The problem here is the use of the word "shootout."

Let's consult Dictionary.com:
shoot-out
[shoot-out]
–noun
1. a gunfight that must end in defeat for one side or the other, as between gunfighters in the Old West, criminal groups, or law-enforcement officers and criminals.

Discarding the rest about military skirmishes, hockey, and soccer, I note the requisite word "gunfight." Let's look at that:
gun-fight
[guhn-fahyt]
–noun
a battle between two or more people or groups armed with guns, esp. a confrontation between two gunfighters using revolvers in the frontier days of the American West.

So there has to be more than one person, and the parties involved battle with one another using arms of some sort, especially revolvers, and there has to be defeat by at least one party.

Reading through the story, I find no battle between two or more parties using firearms. Everybody involved were armed, one guy got shot by another guy, so I guess that constitutes defeat, but there was no shootout. I guess "somebody got shot" isn't an exciting enough headline for a worthless article. For your edification, this tragic story is about a real gunfight.

There's not really a lot going on out there in the news world, so I thought I would hammer on some no-name journalist at a small time news page over something petty. Good morning to you too.

Nice package

This is pretty good advice: don't leave your empty big screen TV and entertainment system boxes by the trash can where the heathens can see it and get ideas; but then again, perhaps leaving your OD green Mossberg JIC tube leaning against the wall outside of your door may give potential thieves an understanding of how your Christmas went, and they may pick another door to kick in.

XM25 in Afghannystan

Check out the brass in the air! I hope it does everything it was hyped up to do.

Internet Survival Commandos

Sadly, this is probably closer to the mark for 99% of so called survivalists. I laughed my ass off to this one, and there's more here. ****NSFW - Severe language warning**** Also, do not have a mouth full of liquid when you watch it:

Parenting success

Some creepy older man in a red truck pulled up next to my 12 year old nephew at the bus stop yesterday morning and explained to him that there was a two-hour school delay, and that my nephew should get into his truck where it was warm. This was in a remote location on a far out of town country road, not in a subdivision, and there was no such school delay. There was no other conversation, no monologuing about strangers and such, no questions asked; my nephew just turned on his heels and ran back into the house.

That's how to do it.

Turns out that a creepy older man in a red truck pulled the same type of stunt in an adjacent county the week before with similar results. Maybe there is hope for the next generation after all.

Still, my family is fresh out of emotion these days with all the hospital drama, so something like this tends to attract raw anger. My sister's advice to me this morning as we were watching for nephew's bus to come from the big bay window was that I could shoot through that window if I had to if creepy guy pulled up and tried to steal our flesh and blood. She had mentioned that it was getting close to the time when nephew had to walk outside and that she had to retrieve her pistol while we waited by the window. I told her not to bother as I had one for each of us at that moment in time.

Gotta love my family.

How to not rob a jewelry store

Turns out that the store owner is a Marine and Vietnam veteran. Before you impulsively try to shoot a man with a Bryco and steal his shit, you may want to find out if the guy had previously made the choice of hunting down and killing people as a means to earn an income, and later wrote a book about it that features a front page picture of him holding a real human skull. That information would come in handy.

Also, it's best to assume that a buisiness man/woman whos wares are valuable and durable goods will probably be armed. Just a thought.

Worst weekend ever

The sickness attacked my household with full furious force this weekend, and I didn't get anything done. My wife took the most of it and was basically totally incapacitated. As I have a fantastic immune system, I was in the best shape, and had to keep the kids from burning the joint down for three days; they've been stuck inside for quite some time and are anxious to do something fun.

Feeling like you've been punched in the guts and beaten across the back with a bat makes you not want to take two toddlers and a baby for a stroll in the mall, which come to think of it is probably where we picked up this sickness to begin with. Pretty much happens every time we go there.

I did finally slip out of the house for an hour during nap time to test fire a few loads that I made up for the 308. Without that hour, I was going to detonate from stress.

It was cold, and the wind was very gusty. I tried to pin down exactly where an accuracy node was for a load using RL-15 that I've been playing with for awhile, but it didn't work out. I did however get wonderful results from my attempts to clone Federal Gold Medal Match; still with 42.5 grains of RL-15 under a 175 grain Sierra Match King in a FGMM case, but this time loaded .010" shorter. It made all the difference, with one group putting five into just over an inch with the wind spreading it horizontally, and the other five shot group going into .700" when I fired it during a lull in the wind.

It took me a few shots to get the Super Sniper scope sighted in, with one of my sighters maliciously aimed at small animated wildlife that ended up missing its mark, but perforating a pitchfork handle an inch to the right. I like being able to adjust the parallax. Good stuff.

Right now I am still suffering from the sickness, and will probably not be very prolific with blogging. Time will tell.

Morons

There was one in every ditch on every curve yesterday in the two and a half hours it took me to drive the 20 miles home. In years past, snow was quite common in Virginia, and my fellow Virginians could be counted on to keep their bumpers to themselves while maintaining an orderly fashion on their way home. Not so anymore, as there are so many dipshits that freak out with the first dusting of snow, careening around corners and smashing into shit that it makes my head spin.

I literally pulled every get-home trick from my native backroad knowhow book, and at every turn had to turn around as there was a moron in the ditch in two-wheel-spinning-four-wheel-drive. There were also a great deal of Civics and Frontiers tore up too.

It amazes me these days the false confidence that some morons get in the snow just because they're driving a massive 4X4 SUV. I have it on good authority that most SUVs of this generation are built from bona fide suck-ass, and can't climb their way out of a frost covered field, so the idea that they would help incompetent drivers make their way down a slippery road while texting on their cellphones is a stretch.

My parents used to purposly take me out in the snow just to teach me how to drive in it, so that one day I wouldn't be one of the afore meantioned dipshits stuck on the side of the highway.

It worked.

I guess there is something to be said about the huge influx of people to my area, as the general population went up a genuine five fold over twenty years. I did not fail to notice yesterday the amount of out of state license plates from the likes of Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, and such, which brings back horror stories of every time driving on Maryland roads. Sorry Marylanders, but I have to call y'all out as being, by far, the worst drivers in the union. It's not even a contest. Missouri drivers I would say come in second, although they did alright earlier this week in the winter wonderland which was St. Louis. And before you say it, I obviously don't rank Virginians as being very high on the list anymore.

Since I had the kids in the car this morning, I gave an extra three quarters of an hour for the jackassery and mayhem to die down before venturing about on the highways. Worked like a charm. I can't wait for the next snow, as the XTerra is pretty fun to drive in the mess.

Rifle Pr0n for today

At Sniper's Hide, eighteen pages of beautiful black boomsticks. There's some money in some of those rifles, like the Knight's with night vision and suppressor that probably crests $8,000 or more.

There's also some M14 goodness over there as well, if that's your fancy. Makes me want to run out and smoke my debit card at the gun store!