2012 – Page 47 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Ignorance As Expressed by the Denver Post

I always love it when the media gets all high and mighty on subjects they know nothing about. Such is an example here in the Denver Post:

Oh, please. The president doesn’t enact anything. Congress does. And therewouldbe a political downside for members of Congress if they were to go too far on gun control â€” a huge downside, as it happens, given existing public opinion supporting the right to own guns.

The President is empowered by the Gun Control Act to do a lot of things, and in their ignorance, the Denver Post seriously underestimates what could be accomplished. For one, the legality of importation of firearms into this country is entirely dependent on it being suitable for “sporting purposes.” Currently, importation guidelines are a matter of ATF policy, and not even regulation (the not-so-well known point system). This could be changed on a whim, banning an extremely large array of popular firearms overnight.

Hell, the Post even ignores, or is ignorant of the fact that Bloomberg presented a gift wrapped blueprint for ways to screw gun owners. Some of these changes, if enacted, could turn many gun owners into instant felons overnight, without them being aware.

So I suggest to the Denver Post that they relieve their ignorance, or at least check with an expert, before laughing at the quaintness and ignorance of gun owners and the NRA. In this case we know exactly what we’re worried about, and it’s actually you who are the ignoramuses.

Shooters v. Shooters: Our Own Worst Enemies

Gun ownership has been expanding in Australia as well as here. Enough that there’s starting to be movement to loosen their gun laws. This has gun control groups in Australia concerned. But that’s not all who’s concerned. Michelle Sandstrom represents Pistol Shooting Queensland, which has Olympic shooters as members:

MICHELLE SANDSTROM, PISTOL SHOOTING QUEENSLAND: I was concerned when I saw the panel. We don’t really see that there’s a great need to make it easier to own a firearm in our discipline and in our sport category.

PETER McCUTCHEON: Michelle Sandstrom is the President of Pistol Shooting Queensland, a competition focussed sporting group which has Olympians as members. While some in the firearm community complain about undergoing a policeman checks before even joining a club like this, Michelle Sandstrom isn’t fussed.

(PETER McCUTCHEON SPEAKS WITH MICHELLE SANDSTROM)

PETER McCUTCHEON: So red tape isn’t always necessarily bad?

MICHELLE SANDSTROM: No it’s not always bad at all; it can actually work in your favour to be honest.

Just like it worked in favor of Olympic shooters in Britain, who now can’t legally train in their own country? Is Ms. Sandstrom sure she’s not another mass shooting away from having to train in New Zealand? This group sounds to me like it’s filled with people who want to feel like a privileged elite, and view the regulations as a means to keep undesirable riffraff out of their sport. You’ll find the same attitude here too, but in general, one of the keys to our success here in the US has come about by enforcing a strict orthodoxy on those who claim to be part of the community.

Most of these organizations are dependent on people joining and donating money to support them. If this had been USA Shooting, you’d see calls for boycotts. You’d see people refusing to give them money or support. They’d be ostracized from the greater shooting community. We’d also, no doubt, have many Olympic shooters condemning the organization for that position, and who would apply pressure within. In short, we’d circle the wagons and eradicate the cancer, not all the dissimilar to what we did with Smith & Wesson back when they cut a deal with the Clinton Administration, or more recently with Recoil Magazine. If Aussies really want this to keep going forward, the first thing you need to do is put pressure on organizations like Pistol Shooting Queensland to get in line.

Not Something You See These Days

Given that we’re losing World War II vets at a prodigious rate, I’m surprised to see a local story about an SS fugitive here in Philadelphia. If they want to see this guy brought to justice, the system better move faster than it normally does, because this guy isn’t going to be far behind. Of course, I don’t know what all the hoopla is about. If you listen to our opponents in the gun control movement, since the Nazi government was duly elected, all good citizens were required to abide by its edicts. Did they really expect this guy to join an insurrection? It’s a well known fact that insurrection is, like, the worst thing in the world.

Ooops

A flight attendant at Philadelphia International left a .38 Airweight in her purse, and was caught at the security checkpoint. The firearm was confiscated, and promptly discharged negligently by a Philadelphia Police Officer when he attempted to unload the gun. You have to work pretty hard to ND a revolver. I’d really like to know how that happened.

But it does go to show, there is no magic gun handling ability cops possess, which is what our opponents want to claim. Cops, just like any other group of people, have some people who are sharp and competent, and some people who are morons. You can try to train them, but often times you just end up with a trained moron, which isn’t that much more useful than one you haven’t trained. This woman will likely lose her License to Carry, and probably won’t get her gun back. I’m fairly sure the officer in question is still carrying firearms on the streets.

Article on Gun Culture 2.0

From Human events:

Unlike the reserved approach to politics that the traditional firearms lobby has taken, the new generation is outspoken, unashamed and willing to fight for what they believe.Â They are educated on the origins of the Second Amendment and the fundamental right to be free.Â They do not advocate for the Second Amendment as a right to hunt, rather they perceive it as a guaranteed ability to resist an oppressive government.

I generally agree that there’s a Gun Culture 1.0 and a Gun Culture 2.0, but there’s a lot of minor revisions in the middle. In terms of people who are “outspoken, unashamed and willing to fight for what they believe,” I’ve found that to be more true of retirees than young people. Young people are far less likely to get involved, in my experience, than older folks. They are less likely to join pro-gun organizations, and less likely to participate in other civic aspects of gun ownership, like joining clubs, or moving in political circles to try to advocate their point of view on the Second Amendment.

I think for many in Gun Culture 2.0, guns are a lifestyle product that money can buy. If there’s troves young people who are really interested in the civic aspects of gun ownership, I haven’t seen it. Any time I’ve ever been to rallies, or had people volunteer, they’ve usually not been people we would classify as Gun Culture 2.0. In fact, I think how to get Gun Culture 2.0 folks involved in the civic aspects of gun ownership is going to be one of our biggest challenges going forward. GC 2.0 was built on top of the foundation laid by folks who were 1.0 shooters, and it’s not very hard to start going backwards if people don’t get involved.

Burgundy

I consider the ability to make alcohol an important skill. Like guns, ammunition, and gold, you’ll probably always be able to trade it for something. Now it’s the time of year when you can get fresh grape juice and grapes out of California. I ordered what’s called “bucket juice,” because it comes in large buckets. You know, the kind that kill kids in drowning accidents more often than guns.

When the season arrives, the local home brew stores put out alerts that you can put in orders for juice or grapes. After the orders are all taken, the stores put in orders to have the juice shipped from Golden State vintners to the store. Obviously this takes a few days from order to delivery, and who knows how long the stuff has been sitting in refrigeration out West. As soon as I got mine in the car, I heard hissing.

“What’s that hissing? I think that juice is already fermenting,” I told Bitter.

So I get the juice back home, and sure enough, it’s fizzing away. Apparently it’s not unusual for bucket juice to arrive fermenting. I’ve even read of cases where people have gotten bucket juice where fermentation has completely finished. We thieved a sample of the juice, and both agreed it tasted excellent. I added a bit of extra sugar, since the specific gravity wasn’t all that high. I could taste no alcohol on the juice, so I’m not sure fermentation had gone that far, but sugar also is very very effective at hiding alcohol. If I added too much, we’ll get a sweeter Burgundy. Wine yeast tends to commit environmental suicide at around 14% alcohol by volume, so if you add too much you will have some residual sweetness. I much prefer dry wines, so hopefully I did not overdo it.

I’ve generally not gotten burned in home brewing or winemaking just going with whatever happens. I’ve never had to toss a batch for being so foul it couldn’t be drunk. The juice tasted good, so even if wild yeast are going at the juice, they seem to be working well so far. I pitched my starter in, so hopefully that will be the dominant strain in a few days. We’ll see how this goes.

The one thing about winemaking vs. home brewing is you put a lot more time into a wine than you do a beer. An all-grain batch of beer might take a whole day to produce, but one racking a week later, then two weeks in secondary, and you’e ready for kegging and drinking. Winemaking never will take a whole day of your time at once, but over time it will take more of your time. It takes more care and you have more invested emotionally in its outcome. On the upside, if you screw up beer, you’re generally screwed, and it’s time to make like Elliot Ness and just dump it in the storm drain. Wine is easier to fix and doctor if you make mistakes. If you’re goal is adult beverage goodness, I can’t really say one path is superior to the other.

LAPD Combat Qualification

Joe Huffman discusses the LAPD combat qualification course he set up for a local gun club in Idaho. Barron Barnett worked up this this excellent video:

I suspect the reaction of our opponents to this will be not remarkably different from the strategy ostriches employ. Ordinary citizens can never shoot better than the police. This is just not possible. They don’t have the training!

What’s On Your Desktop?

Since gun news is slow, there’s a meme going around the gun blogosphere, here, here, here and here, of what’s been on your iPod the last month. I don’t have much to say there. My iPod looks more like Mitt Romney’s than Paul Ryan’s. I haven’t been listening to music much these past few months. I will recommend this album, which I recently got off iTunes, if you want some easy listening, and like the movie music of John Williams. I feel like changing up the meme a bit though, and suggest people reveal, “What’s your desktop?”

I have a dual-head display, so I get two pictures, depending on what monitor I look at. Both of these I took myself when we were out in Hawaii a few years ago. The main display is of Rabbit Island, just off Oahu’s eastern shore. The other display is the beach of Oahu’s North Shore, and isn’t far from where the Lost beach scenes were filmed. In fact, the “Others” village was walking distance behind me in this picture.

UPDATE: Not boring, fantastic.

UPDATE: This Desktop has gone to the dogs.

Data Center Bleg

I’m wondering if anyone out there might live in Bucks or Montgomery County, and have a data center or server room they want to rent, of less than 1000 square feet, or know someone wanting to sublease such space. I’d even take space in an active server room under a sublease. Initially I’d only need room for about two racks of equipment, but the ability to expand to four would be great. I’d prefer not to enter into a traditional co-lo arrangement, because I’d prefer that it be a space not everyone and their mother has access to physically.Â This is for a new business venture I’m trying to help launch.

DOJ & MMFA Collaboration: The Nature of Media Has Changed

I’ve read the Daily Caller story about the e-mails between DOJ and Media Matters for ~~A Socialist~~ America. I haven’t blogged about it until now because I just don’t think it’s the big deal a lot on the right think it is. You can read through all the e-mails here. In the past this might have been a big story, because the media operated on the pretense that it was objective. Does MMFA even make such a pretense? I don’t believe it does. They are partisan hacks, and fully admit to being as much. It’s not like they go through any great length to hide their biases, under the pretense of being objective.

So why is this a story? I would expect any Administration of either party to work with its relevant partisan media to spin stories. With the death of “objective” media, this is how things are going to be. What’s going to be the reaction when a Republican Administration is in the White House, and the left FOIAs documents that show the Administration working closely with the Daily Caller?

This would have been a story if they were seen in a cozy collaborative relationship with the Washington Post, or CNN, or any other outlet that still likes to pretend it’s an objective news outlet. That a partisan hack of a media outfit is helping out Administration flunkies is not shocking, it’s expected.