Category: Military Stuff

In the same interview where he advised people to randomly shoot guns in the air and violate discharge ordinances, Joe Biden told everyone that citizens aren’t allowed have tanks under the law. We already know that’s not accurate, but the Wall Street Journal decided to have some fun with this topic and actually profile tank owners.

Tank brokers—yes, there is such a thing—estimate there are several hundred to 1,000 private tank owners in the U.S.

Not only is it legal to own tanks, there’s an entire market for them with brokers. Awesome. Why would anyone want a tank?

When their insurance agent inquired about their plans for the tank, the Neal brothers emailed back, “We are going to use it to take over the world.”

Says Ken Neal, 45: “A tank is cool.”

For anyone who think these two tank owners are an insurrectionist threat, their efforts toward world domination have only managed to extend to driving their 1966 British Chieftain over a rusty car in the desert. Another tank owner talks about the lifestyle challenges:

He says he has put about $280,000 into his Sherman so far and expects to spend as much as $75,000 more. “You get a tank, you end up with an ex-wife,” warns Mr. Miller, who has one of each.

If Sebastian bought a tank, I would never, ever leave him. I’d probably jump up and down and hug him at the news. The WSJ also highlights their value as investment pieces:

In 1993, a top-notch Sherman went for $75,000, according to the Illustrated Tank & AFV [Armored Fighting Vehicle] Buyer’s Guide. Now Dave Uhrig, a Chillicothe, Ohio, tank broker, is offering one for $387,000.

The good news is that they report that prices have recently dropped or flattened. So if you can’t find an AR at your local gun shop, you may be able to find a slightly discounted tank. They note that while tanks aren’t street legal, owners often get flexibility from authorities to take it to the gas station or drive it in parades.

I think the best part of the story is at the end. One of the tank owners reported that he took it out for a drive in his warehouse parking lot to play with a special propane setup he has to generate just the noise and muzzle flash for the machine gun on top. Needless to say, someone called the cops. The first officer asked if the owner knew why they were there. The second – well:

The second policeman, Jeremy Marshall, got out of his car and eyeballed Mr. Bauer’s tank. “Awesome,” he said.

And this is why we win. Because it is awesome. Go read the entire article because I didn’t cover nearly all of the good stuff. Plus, there’s a slideshow and video.

Apparently there’s an honor guard in South Dakota so strapped for cash that they are putting their honored dead to rest with the sound of SKS fire. The Governor of South Dakota can do something about this, and should.

Wounded Warrior apparently finally appeared on Tom Greshman’s Gun Talk radio show. Apparently it was full of FAIL. I’ve been a little reluctant to really pile on with blasting a charity, but for those gun folks who want to support our troops, I would recommend Soldier’s Angels.

I’ve always been amazed by what the Coast Guard is willing to put themselves in. A hurricane? Let’s get some boats and helicopters out, because there are fools out there who need some rescuing. Swimming in storm surge? No problem.

And then you have this. Mother nature is a pretty relentless enemy, and no amount of military technology can overcome her. If it is rough men who stand ready to do violence on our behalf that let us sleep at night, it’s crazy and fearless men who stand by to rescue on our behalf that allow us to behave recklessly without consequence. God bless them.

Awesome video of the Lockheed U-2:

First flew in 1955, and entered service in 1957. Probably the most famous incident involving the plane was when Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 by an SA-2 Surface-to-Air missile. Lesser known is a shootdown by the same missile over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The CIA no longer operates the U-2, but the Air Force still does. They were intended to be largely replaced by the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, but there’s talk of canceling that program due to costs. It seems it may be cheaper to extend the life of the U-2 another 20 years to 2023, at which point the U-2 program is pushing 70. It’ll be up there with the B-52 Stratofortress, which entered service about the same time, and could quite possibly end up seeing 100 years of service.

Gun news today is a bit slow, so I’ll open up a speculative discussion. Last night I was looking at Netflix recommendations, and caught this long forgotten movie that has long been overshadowed by its much better predecessor. Up against the British Army, there was never really any question about who was going to win in the end, especially after the British sent two artillery battalions to Natal as reinforcements after the first invasion of the Zulu Kingdom had failed. But what about more evenly matched opponents? Ignoring the logistical impossibility of the Romans keeping an army supplied in South Africa, if you had put the Roman Legionaries up against the Zulu Impis, who would have come out on top? Let’s assume that the Zulu Army consists of about 20,000 Impis, about the same as the Anglo-Zulu War, and armed, organized and disciplined along traditional lines. Assume that the Romans deploy 3 legions, or about 15,000 men, and equipped, organized, and disciplined as a Roman army normally would be about the time of the Gallic Wars. Discuss.

Steve from the Firearm Blog notes that the military is killing its program to replace the 50 caliber M2 machine gun, designed by John M. Browning in 1918. Think about how much more sophisticated our engineering tools are today, and our knowledge of materials. Yet all the king’s men can’t beat a gun designed by Browning in 1918.