Sword violence

In Maryand.

Shoplifting not grounds for deadly force

In the "Gunshine State" no less.

Store owner shoots at a shoplifter as he's walking out of the store. Store owner is arrested for aggravated assault and discharging a firearm in public. So much for "Castle Doctrine" allowing gunowners to gun down anyone when they're threatened.

I have mixed feelings about this, but over all I think it's a good call. The shoplifting teen in question was caught by the cops and charged with theft. That's how it's supposed to turn out. Someone walking out of a store with property is not a deadly threat, however, if the same store was owned and operated by Theodore Roosevelt than I would imagine that there would be two dead thieving teens when the police showed up, and I doubt anyone would question his actions.

Just a thought.

These tactics need to be addressed

Tasers may be helpful tools, but they are used more and more for things they shouldn't be used for.

There is a class of weapons that law enforcement and military used to refer to as "non-lethal," but it was discovered that this was not always the case, so now they are called "less than lethal" devices. In my understanding, they are used as a last resort before a firearm is introduced in an effort to stop a threat before he or she can harm themselves or others. I've watched Tasers being used and they are, no doubt, effective. The problem that I see with them is that police are more commonly using them as a compliance tool, instead of that whole last resort thing. This may just be how the officers are trained, but not all of the cases that hit the news are products of training. See the above linked case if you don't believe me, or read this piece from it and save yourself some time:

A coroner's report found that Pikes was handcuffed and on the ground when first stunned with a Taser and might have been dead before the last two 50,000-volt shocks were delivered.

This would be a case of stupidity. How a dead man could confuse a police officer into thinking that he was still a living threat can not be corrected with training. So where is the bottom line? Radley says it best in one of his many posts about Tasers:

"As for (b), witness the glut of videos of Taser-ees who don’t seem to pose much of an actual threat to police, themselves, or anyone else, who get the shock treatment for little more than mouthing off, being uncooperative, or otherwise not showing due deference and respect to a police officer. I think you should, in most cases, show due deference and respect to a police officer. But people who don’t oughtn’t be subjected to a paralyzing jolt of electricity. Not unless they pose a threat. There are better ways of dealing with people than assaulting them. Even if you do think not immediately obeying a police officer’s orders warrants a stun, there have been plenty of incidents in the news over the last few months showing how such a policy can go wrong–see the stories about Taserings of people in insulin shock, people who don’t speak English and can’t understand officer commands, or, like the story above, people who simply can’t hear, for example."

No one sheds a tear for the thug who wrestles with police while biting and spitting as these things are a dangerous hazard to everyone in the area. It's the poor guy who gets zapped for protesting a traffic violation, or for being a punk that make everyone pissed. I'm all for the cops having the tools they need, but I'm not into buying said tools with my tax money if they're going to be used to shock some mouthy kid.

Odd

Arkansas Chairman Bill Gwatney was killed by a scumbag while in his office. There are a few details, but I'm sure we will see much more very soon. While my heart goes out to his family, I see little difference between him getting killed and some other individual who was killed leaving behind a grieving family. I'm waiting on the details as I suspect that they may have an impact on everyone.

Grammatically correct

I updated my blog header again to add the apostrophe. For some reason I couldn't get it to appear with the font that I had chosen, but now it works. Strange.

I'm pretty terrible with punctuation considering my last writing class was over a decade ago, and my career doesn't really demand that I'm grammatically correct. I'm planning on going back to school before I die, so maybe I'll brush up on my skills some.

Today's dose of stupid

You may or may not have heard about what is going on in Helena West, Arkansas, but here's the gist: police have set up a 24 hour curfew for the past week, are patrolling the town with "military rifles," and stopping people and asking their business in an effort to stop the rampant crime.

The police chief said the officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns.

So much for these rifles only being suited for killing people by spray firing from the hip.

Many dealing crack cocaine and marijuana in the city carry pistols and AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

Uh huh. AK's, sure sure. I have no doubt there are murderous scumbags in the town, but I highly doubt criminals are dealing drugs while carrying one of these. I call BS.

This is what I was referring to in the title of this post:

"The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution."

Is that tricky speak or what? Who in their right mind can say something like that with a straight face? Did this man not learn in elementary school that Constitutional rights are enumerated in the Constitution? I suppose that he thinks that since he's not physically pissing on the actual document that there is a few degrees of separation between his illegal actions and the people that elected his uneducated ass. Here is more if that doesn't make you sick:

"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."

This is in America folks! That's right. You have no business being out at 3 in the morning because this councilman says so. If I lived in the town and had to go out at night I would probably be carrying a military weapon too, to protect myself from both the uniformed and non-uniformed threats. I go where I please, thank you very much.

How is it that this sort of behaviour is happening in our country and we're not doing anything to stop it? This country is falling apart because we don't lock up criminals; we elect them.

Sticks and Stones

An 8 year old boy was attacked by a bear in a Tennessee National Park. Dad and older brother fight the bear with stuff to stop the attack, which worked. . . .eventually.

John Pala, a 43-year-old health insurance salesman with no backwoods experience, twice pulled the bear off his son before he and Evan's 10-year-old brother, Alex, pummeled it with rocks and sticks, then ran for safety.

It is just absurd that this man was allowed no other option of protection from hungry critters on land that is supposed to be public. National parks are not bastions of safety; you go there to see wild animals. Sometimes wild people are there too which are just as dangerous. I'm not saying to hand out guns to park visitors, but the small amount of individuals who would carry arms for their safety should not be denied those tools that make them safe. And just in case you're wondering what happens to a fluffy bear that attacks a person:

Park officials track down bear suspected in attack and shoot it to death.

That's right. Armed men found the bear and killed it. If the park was so damn safe then why didn't the two Rangers go in with pepper spray and a net? Maybe because animals are dangerous, and as mentally superior beings we should have more sense then to go about sightseeing in the woods with nothing more than rocks and sticks to protect ourselves. Unarmed, we might as well fling poo at the beasts. From the story highlights:

Bear, for no apparent reason, pounces on boy playing in creek, park official says

Does a bear need a reason? - Bear pounces on boy playing in creek. It is known that the bear had a rough childhood and a nasty vicodin habit, park official says. Stupid, no? The reason the bear attacked is because it's a freakin bear! A person wonders into its habitat and it did what its primitive little mind tells it to. Because it's a bear.

Park Rangers need to stop meddling with our rights, and let the public protect themselves with modern defensive tools, because anything else is just primitive.

Inside the victim zone

I still consider DC a "Gun Free Zone" despite the new registration system that doesn't let DC residents own firearms, and I mean that in the most non-respectful way possible. The question begs to be asked of why there are so many shootings in a city that is supposed to be "gun free."

Congress is finally trying to do something about it after, like, thirty years. Shame on them for not addressing this sooner.

There's no word on whether the shooters were NRA members or had concealed carry permits, nor was there any mention of whether the guns were even registered to begin with, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Porno store owners are not naive

Fake cop tries to steal porn under color of authority. Store owner declines his gracious offer, and finally calls real cops when the man persists. Good on him for not giving in.

We all know how I feel about being scammed by fake cops. Be a strong citizen and stand up for yourself.

Anti-gunners are so clever

I found this hateful and nasty anti-gun opinion piece by Bill Cope from Boise Weekly on a thread at The High Road. What a load of BS. Here's a taste:

It's just that these 'open carry' clowns got me to thinking about it. You heard about them ... those simpletons who put on that big show by going to the zoo with their rods hanging out?

Nice, huh?

"'Scuse me for interrupting, but pass me another stuffed pepper there, would ya'? And then explain how this has anything to do with those dumb turd 'open carry' gun crackers.

And this:

"Yes, Billy. You're right. And anyone with the sense God gave a cucumber knows it. But you know how it'll play out as well as I do. The dumb turd gun crackers will claim that having pistols everywhere you turn cuts down on crime. They maintain two million crimes are prevented a year 'cause so many ambulatory dildos like them had gats in their pants. And pass those cucumbers over, if you would."

To be fair, this guy bashes more than just gun owners. SUV drivers and those who don't believe in global warming are also treated to this mess. Stuff like this needs to be spread far and wide to show the kind of mentality that exists in the anti-gun crowd.

Why do you carry a handgun if the first place?

There has been some gnashing of teeth over the circumstances, or rather the outcome, of this article on .380 ACP effectiveness that I originally heard about through Uncle's site. There's a piece at Too Lazy to Fail that addresses some of the concerns and it has merit. Give it a read.

I wanted to expand further and say that there are many reason why some people don't carry large handguns, so you have to think of why you carry a handgun in the first place. Because it's convenient, handy personal protection.

Remember the first rule of gunfighting: Have a gun. I ridicule the generic arguments over what calibers are effective because it's all macho posturing. Caliber effectiveness goes beyond the size of your threat, the depth of its chest cavity, the layers of denim, or the distance to the target. Your personal circumstances play the largest role in determining what works best, and if you can't afford to practice with .45 ACP, or your mom would freak if she discovered your concealed .454 Casull, then downsizing is a typical option. It's hard to argue that a .22 Long Rifle is inadequate if that's all you have with you.

I have heard of similar outcomes as the one above with just about every cartridge. I read an article in a gun magazine recently, perhaps from Mas Ayoob, where a home intruder was shot in the face with a .44 Magnum from a Ruger SuperBlackhawk. The bullet impacted just below the left eye socket, but the intruder lived to tell the tale. I have heard about a home intruder hit in the face with another .44 Magnum, this one from a Marlin lever action rifle, and that scumbag lived as well. I know an individual who survived a .38 Special round through the brain from muzzle contact. None of these rounds are considered inadequate. We hear stories all the time from Iraq where multiple rounds from a rifle failed to end the fight.

You have to carry what is realistic for your environment, and be as proficient as possible. That is one reason why I'm such an advocate of 9mm, because I can afford to practice much more than I can with .45 ACP.

The size of the weapon is a big concern. I can't carry at work because none of the guns that I own are small enough to conceal with my attire. In a post below you will see my compact .45 ACP 1911 that is way too big for me to carry at work. The same goes with the Glock 26 and Kahr PM9. I would be better off carrying a tiny .380 or .32 ACP than nothing at all, and that is something that I will have to think about.

My point is to not get discouraged over your choice of caliber because of the outcome of one shooting. Carry what works for you all the time.

Movie Guns XVIII - Super-Post!

I decided to do this week's Movie Guns post by recommendation of Liberty. Some day in the near future I will cover his other request, but when he suggested this week's film I just had to act. Usually before I do a post I watch the movie from start to finish while I take notes. As I was watching this movie I knew it was going to be a super-post. The amount of guns in this movie is unreal; like the director's armorer just said "take everything I've got and load it!"

The movie that Liberty suggested is the film Commando. Released in 1985, it is the quintessential huge-guy-makes-war-with-everyone flick in which a ridiculous amount of guns and ammo are poured onto your screen in an effort to win your attention by attrition by firepower. It works. Commando encompasses every gun cliche' that is in film today, and in fact pioneered most Hollywood firearm inaccuracies, but do not let that take away from this film. Unlike many blockbusters of today, Commando gets right down to the point, and leaves much for the imagination of the viewer.

What's not to like? We have unlimited ammo, bottomless magazines, cheesy one liners, Arnold Schwartzenegger in Speedos doing an amphibious beach landing in hostile territory, an out of shape leather pants clad villain wearing a chain mail vest made out of lavender yarn, black tigerstripe facepaint. . . . the list goes on! There are, of course, severe errors with some of the tactics and gun handling, but that is common in all shoot em' up movies, but I still have to point them out. It's my job. I am a huge fan of this movie so please take my ruthless mocking as tough love.

Let's go.

The opening has two bad guys (BGs) hopping off a garbage truck and gunning down a man with two MAC 10's:



Next, a Major General visits the home of John Matrix (Arnold Schwartzenegger), only to have his Colt Series 70 Combat Commander snatched out of the UM84 type nylon holster and pointed in his face. Notice Matrix's grin and finger on trigger. The hammer is down BTW:




Rule number three, Arnie!!

The General has to tell his two Special Forces guys to "secure the area," despite these two men being "good," and both of them flag the General with their muzzles. Both of them have a XM177 carbine that appears to be some sort of hybrid:


As soon as the General leaves - and I mean he's not even out of sight yet - a BG pops out of the scrub like a jack-in-the-box with a M16A1 and hoses the place down. He kills one of the "good" Soldiers and wounds the other:


There is another BG with a M16 that actually uses the sights:


Matrix decides to go get his guns to fight back, but he doesn't keep them in the house. Instead, he keeps them in a shed secured with a keypad. You would think that he would at least have a pistol handy indoors:

Look close and you can see a SPAS 12, a 1911 government size, a revolver of some sort, and what looks like a Detonics Combat Master hanging at the top of the wall.

I don't know why, but Matrix passes on the 1911 and instead stuffs a Beretta Model 86 in his waistband before charging a round in what I presume to be a H&K 91:



The only reason I believe it to be a H&K 91 and not a H&K G3 is that the G3 is select fire, and judging by the shear number of rounds fired in this movie, and considering Matrix only fired a single round out of the gun, then it is more likely a 91.

When Matrix gets his hand-to-hand combat on, about half a dozen BGs take him down, and one of them puts the muzzle of a M16 to his chest to make him stop resisting. You can clearly see that it's a rubber rifle, at one point the camera pans away and then back and one rifle changes flash hiders. And imagine if you were the guy behind Matrix holding him down!


The BGs manage to kidnap Matrix and his daughter, and the leather pants guy with the yarn-mail vest named Bennett (Vernon Wells) shoots Matrix in the guts with a tranquilizer gun:


So Matrix wakes up and the BGs basically blackmail him using his daughter because a former South American president/ex-patriot blah blah blah blah. You gotta love this movie. The script is very thin because shooting is the plot, so we can skip all of the other stuff. Matrix escapes from a plane to South America and checks his Uber Tactical watch:

Yup! That watch probably coined the term "Tactical" because it makes a digital ping sound with each passing second. Jack Bauer would be jealous.

So Matrix recruits the help of Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong) to help track a BG named Sully (David Patrick Kelly) who goes into a busy shopping mall where a melee ensues. Legions of police officers and mall ninjas try to take Matrix down, and one BG uses an unknown type revolver to gun down a cop:

That would be a worst case situation to be in.

Another cop with a S&W Model 27 gets knocked down the stairs by Cindy:


Sully takes a few shots with this weeks mystery gun, and manages to slay a cop in the process. This is the best shot I could get:


Moving on, Matrix and Cindy go into Sully's hotel room right before a BG named Cooke (Bill Duke) comes in and tries to kill them with this nickel plated S&W Model 27 that he pulls from a leather crossdraw holster:


Then the cheesiest exchange of tough-guy dialog in film history goes down between Matrix and Cooke:

Cooke: "You scared, mother fucker? Well, you should be, cos' this Green Beret is gonna kick your big ass!"

Matrix: "I eat Green Berets for breakfast, and right now I am very hungry!"

There's sparky bullets all over this scene, and after killing Cooke our hero neglects to pick up the revolver or check Cooke's pockets for reloads. Afterwords Matrix and Cindy go to a warehouse where I spotted what looks like a US M3 105mm howitzer:


Next, they break into a military surplus and gun store to pick up some supplies. After grabbing a ballistic vest and some binoculars, Matrix finds the "secret" button to the arms room hidden underneath the cash register. Why anyone would secure this many guns in a room with corrugated aluminum walls with access controlled by a freakin button is beyond me. The beauty is that in this movie it's not really important.




There's a couple of water cooled Browning M1917A1's on one wall, a M60 and a M1A1 Bazooka on another, a IMI Galil, RPK, H&K G3, Uzis in all sizes, a suppressed M16. Matrix grabs a Steyr AUG, some M67 fragmentation grenades, spare AR magazines, a shotgun, and all sorts of other stuff. Keep in mind that all of this ordnance is stored half-assed in a surplus store in 1980's California!

Two cops bust up his party by loudly racking unloaded Remington 870's:


It's a good thing the police didn't handcuff Matrix. He has no problems escaping the police truck with the help of Cindy's steady aim and this M202A1 rocket launcher that visually has no rockets:


The duo get away from the cops and then steal a plane docked at a marina. Two yahoo's in a Jeep trade fire with Matrix by gunning wildly with a Ruger Mini14 with collapsing stock, and a H&K MP5. Notice both have their eyes shut:


When they land in hostile territory, Matrix decides to strip down to his Speedos and paddle a rubber boat to the beach. There he gears up for an assault on the former South American president, Arius' (Dan Hedaya) compound. Why Hollywood thinks that black tigerstrip facepaint actually works is the question of the day. Here Matrix is seen loading a Desert Eagle with magazine baseplate falling off, and then he ties the M67 grenades to his vest by the pin. Those that have carried real grenades know this is a very bad idea:




He then loads his Valmet M78 rifle and casts the view of how anti-gunners picture Virginian NRA members:


Matrix is loaded with entirely too much stuff, and one has to wonder how he can move quietly with all of that gear. As he scans the area with his Uber tactical Steiner binoculars sporting a crazy viewfinder you can see that the shotgun on his back is made of rubber:



Then Matrix sneaks up on the compound and takes out some sentries by stabbing one in the gut, cutting one's throat in an unusually slow manner, and by blasting one with this ballistic knife (best pic I could get):


He stealthily plants some M18 Claymore mines, but he places them with the kablooey end facing the wrong way.


Why would he do that, you may ask? Why, to blow buildings to kingdom come! No exaggerating!


In case you were wondering, ANPERS stands for Anti-Personnel, not anti-building.

Bennett, being the smooth operator that he is, takes off in his lavender yarn-mail with knife in hand to confront Matrix. You can see his holstered 1911 and IMI Micro Uzi, with reloads hanging in his chest rig, and when he busts through the wall of the house you can see that the Uzi rips out of the holster before appearing again in this shot:


Believe it or not, all hell has not yet broken loose. Matrix gets things heated up nicely with the M202A1 rocket launcher:


Then he gets some work done with the M78:


When that runs dry he goes to his trusty Uzi which he uses by firing nice controlled bursts:


And finally his Remington 870:


Notice he doesn't have the gun in his shoulder, nor is he using sights! The shotgun is so devastating that Matrix hits two guys with one shot, one with AK47 and the other with holstered pistol/rubber M16, which knocks them 8 feet back:


Our esteemed hero then gets cornered in a shed where a group of BGs fire machineguns blindly into it in a futile effort to kill him. Despite the awesome firepower wielded by his buddies, one of the men empties his 1911 into the shed as well:


Matrix comes out wielding tactical sawblades with deadly effect:


This is when things start to get out of hand. Matrix picks up a M60E3 machine gun and blasts so many bad guys that they start drowning in their own blood! Here's a shot that may ruin it for you where you can clearly see the blanks and blank firing equipped muzzle:


That's not a DC roadmap! That's the bulging veins in Arnold's arm! Thus, people now believe that only professional body builders make it into Special Forces. Here's a better shot:


Amongst the melee comes this guy who shows that he knows how to handle a rifle, using the sights and all:


There are a bunch of full auto Ruger Mini14's firing in vain at our hero:


At one point, while Matrix is on the roof, you can see that the small belt of rounds is just tied onto the M60 with string. Also during the fight you can see the gun run almost dry before a new belt magically reappears! Good stuff!

Now Arius gets into the fray by shooting at Matrix with a Steyr AUG from the hip:


Matrix keeps his head down with some one handed fire from a M16A1:


The last shots I have is of Bennett aiming a LAR Grizzly Win Mag at Matrix with his big-ass knife:



I don't even need to tell you who wins this one. Whew! What a post! If you haven't noticed already you can click on the pictures to make them bigger. I tried to get at least one shot of every type of gun that I saw, but sometimes you can't tell what they are. I think I got them all this time. Much thanks to the Modern Firearms and Ammunition Site. It's a great resource for figuring out military weapons.

That's all I got folks, I'm going to bed!

Night!