2009 – Page 101 – Shall Not Be Questioned

IHMSA Blues

Bitter and I spent the weekend dog watching for my aunt, which is about an hour away.Â Got up early this morning to head to the IHMSA match, normally 15 minutes away from me, but from my aunt’s, an hour.Â Weather was awful.Â I managed to shoot one round of air pistol before the storm from hell came in and swamped us.

Needless to say, the match was canceled after that, and considering I had to fish for the animals through a few inches of water that had collected into puddles on the range, that was probably a good thing. I didn’t get to shoot smallbore before the rain out.

The storm that passed through seems to have caused some flooding in the area. There was some pretty impressive street flooding. The National Weather Service even had a tornado warning, but I haven’t heard whether anything touched down. Fun times.

More on the Pepper Spray Issue

This has been a long running blog conversation, but it’s been a good one.Â Brillianter.com follows up with one more post about the importance of pepper spray, and how it fills a role in potential self-defense scenarios.

There isnâ€™t a â€œnon-deadly force nicheâ€, there are several. Pepper spray fills the niche right before we start striking people because if we can solve the problem at that level we will not have any need to escalate further. […]

Keeping in mind that pepper spray is basically a step above strong language, it is not a suitable handgun replacement. Pepper spray fills an entirely different role than firearms do. The perfect role for pepper spray is reinforcing a verbal command. We can pepper spray belligerents for continuing to approach when told to stop, it would be very hard to justify shooting them.

This makes sense to me, because there’s an entire realm of confrontation up until we have to start thinking about deadly force where pepper spray could come in handy.Â Think, for instance, about the proverbial asshole who won’t let it go that you took his parking spot.Â He may be aggressive, he may be beligerent, he may not leave you alone despite repeated demands that you do not wish to engage in this conversation.Â Even if it comes to blows, if you pull out a deadly weapon, and threaten him with it, and God forbid, use it on him, you’re going to find yourself in a police station explaining to them why your use or threat of deadly force was justified, in which case, you better be able to claim a force disparity.

I don’t think Brillianter is claiming you ought to pepper spray someone who is actually presenting a credible threat to life and limb.Â Pepper spray isn’t reliable enough for that.Â But there’s plenty of room between force and deadly force, that it could come in handy under many situations you might be able to think up.

Sotomayor Still a Lock

Mark Warner has joined some of his fellow Democrats in supporting Sotomayor.Â But I don’t particularly appreciate the quote seen here:

â€œIâ€™m very disappointed. [NRA seems] to be going beyond their Second Amendment issues, particularly when I think the judgeâ€™s positions on those issues are still fairly open,â€ Warner said. â€œI trust in her judgment and temperament. I think the NRA at some point has gone beyond its mission, and are perhaps allowing themselves to get hijacked by those who are in the extreme.â€

Fairly open because she didn’t answer any questions, even on vague constitutional principles which she ought to be able to answer.Â If there’s one thing I’ve disliked about guys like Tester, and now apparently Warner, is that they’ve been entirely willing to carry water for virulently anti-gun people for the sake of their party.Â Most Democrats seem to be lining up with the party on this one, which is what I expected.Â Like I said, we aren’t doing too badly with this Senate, but there are obviously limits to how far we can push. Scuttling a nomination is difficult.

Headline of the Day

Step Two for Underpants Gnomes Finally Revealed

Switcheroo Coming?

Corzine’s prospects are looking increasingly dim.Â Smart politics for the Dems would be the old switcheroo, but I don’t think Corzine’s ego will let it happen.Â We’ll see.Â In a battle between the Democratic Party machine in New Jersey and Corzine’s ego, I’m not honestly sure which one wins.

More Facts in Schuylkyll River Trail Shooting Case

Looks like more details are emerging in the Schuylkyll River Trail shooting, and the Montgomery County DA is dropping the most serious charges:

As DePaul tried to get onto the bike trail in Conshohocken around 8:30 p.m., two juveniles on bikes reportedly blocked his path, officials said. Though DePaul was able to get around them, both juveniles followed him, according to the district attorney’s office.

After the teens passed the 27-year-old cyclist, the juveniles collided with each other, and as DePaul rode by them, they â€œexchanged wordsâ€ with him.

Soon after, the 17-year-old got back on his BMX bike and chased DePaul, police said. After catching up to him, the teen kicked DePaul, causing him to nearly lose control of his bike and hit a fence, police said.

DePaul admitted that he drew his Keltec .380-caliber handgun and fired six shots in the direction of the teen who had kicked him. One bullet struck and flattened the rear tire of the fleeing bicycle.

The juvenile was about 200 to 250 feet away at the time, authorities said. At the time of the incident, DePaul had a legal permit to carry the weapon.

So, the facts would appear to be that the kids were in the process of trying to rob DePaul of his bicycle, he attempted to flee, and they continued chase, then assaulted him.Â He drew a pistol, and they fled.Â Still not a clean shoot, but considerably more justifiable than the previous narrative.Â In essence, given multiple attackers, he was justified up until the point he fired.Â Had they not fled, I would argue the jury should walk him if the DA were bold enough to press charges.

I think this incident has cemented for me the utility of pepper spray, as this incident would be a really good example of a situation that it was useful.Â Had he sprayed them instead of fired, he would have been home that night drinking a beer on his patio, thinking about how good it felt to send the punks home crying to mommy, rather than trying to explain to police and DA why the shooting was justified.

Domestic Abuse

Call Frank Lautenberg, because tonight, Bitter beat me.Â Twice.Â Last week she attended our Thursday silhouette league, and did pretty well.Â This week she shot a AAA score of 24 air pistol, open sights.Â I did not even manage to shoot a AAA score with Mata Gallina.Â If you start shooting competitively, you’ll start getting very good at making excuses for shooting badly.Â For tonight, here are the excuses I thought up.

I let her win, because I like to encourage new shooters, you know.
I gave her the gun that I did a trigger job on, whereas mine is still shooting right from the factory, and Crosman triggers right from the factory are pretty appalling.
I wasn’t wearing my favorite shoes.Â The shoes I was wearing have a springy air cushion in the heel, which pushes me forward onto my toes, and I don’t get a good stable balance.Â Â Bitter was wearing platform shoes, so this excuse is particularly lame, which is why I’m proud to have thought of it.
Red dot sights on Mata Gallina I got yesterday still aren’t quite where I would like them to be, whereas the sight settings on my open sight gun are about as good as I can get them.
It was very hot and humid out, and Bitter being from Oklahoma has an unfair advantage.

I could probably think of a few more if I had enough time.Â But the fact is she beat me, fair and square.Â Naturally this means I need to transfer my pellet trap to the car so she can’t practice while I’m at work.

Business Climate Fail

Pennsylvania ranks the 17th worst state in the United States to do business in.Â Before there was hope and change, there was Fast Eddie, who rode into office promising to do something about this, but proceeded to do nothing of the sort, and instead went about raising our tax burden by 49%.Â You can see the whole ranking here.Â Even California beat us!

Not Good Enough

Republicans had better watch it, because considering I’ve seen more action out of Harry Reid’s overwhelmingly Democratic Senate, than I ever saw in 12 years of Republican control, I’m not pleased to see this:

The Brady Campaign, the anti-gun group that had experienced a rather tough run during the Bush administration, is pointing out that three Republican senators who were endorsed by the National Rifle Association in their last campaigns have committed to supporting Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) have all come out for Sotomayor, as has Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who ran for re-election in 2004 as a Republican.

Considering some of Alexander’s other votes, maybe it’s time for the people of Tennessee to send him packing.

Research Much?

Article lamenting NRA’s political power:

The NRA won that fight. My candidate lost. And it’s hard to think of a fight the NRA hasn’t lost over the past 30 or so years. Because of the NRA, it’s okay for people in the U.S. to buy automatic assault weapons, to circumvent permit laws, to carry concealed weapons, to be armed at bars, schools and churches, and essentially to buy, sell, do or use any weapon. The purchaser’s mental health doesn’t seem to matter. Neither does past criminal activity. Nor does the opinion of law enforcement officers who face the real threat of being outgunned by law breakers.

Automatic assault weapons?Â Circumvent permit laws?Â Armed at schools?Â Buy sell or use any weapon?Â No mental health or background check?Â This isn’t the gun laws I live under.

No one should fear these days that their right to own guns is in jeopardy. Rather, the big fear should be that people are carrying guns everywhere, and that many people have serious arsenals of weapons, including grenades and other explosive weapons, legally purchased.

I don’t think we’re afraid of that anymore, although we know some will still try for it.Â No, now the goal is to make the Second Amendment mean something, and yes, that means I can “bear arms” for personal protection, without undue interference by government.