Conservative UAW guy is displaying a fantastic poster by Oleg Volk that I think is one of the best ways I’ve seen to help explain to hunters the importance of this fight.  I hadn’t seen this one before.
Author: Sebastian
Girly Men
This is hilarious:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkt1vAX0MRM[/youtube]
Apparently this is a reality TV show called “Gay Army“. If I were gay, I’d be offended. Maybe European gay folks are a little more wimpy than the gay guys I know.
In the Name of Reasoned Discourse
Thirdpower gets his comment deleted over at Bryan’s blog because it was an attack on a CeaseFire PA board member that he says isn’t germane to his post.
Well, folks, it’s Bryan’s sandbox, so you play by his rules. But I note it’s always the anti-gunners that like to delete comments. I won’t generally do that here, except for threats or truly vile statements. I can count on one hand the number of comments I’ve deleted. You’ll note I didn’t delete any of Jadegold’s musings, even when he attacked NRA leaders like Harlan Carter or Jeff Cooper. Anyone is free to disagree with me, or make outlandish accusations, but on blogs, we ferret out the truth. The anti-gunners ferret out the comments because the truth isn’t, and has never been on their side.
The Notorious Triangle of Death
Looks like the American Red Cross is the most recognized organization, but look at this:
Consumer Reports was the next most-familiar organization, followed by the AARP and then the National Rifle Association.
Take that Brady Campaign!
The most-powerful group was the labor union AFL-CIO, netting 84 percent, narrowly topping the National Rifle Association, which garnered 83 percent of respondents who said they believed the group had at least a fair amount power.
That’s sure to make Peter Hamm choke on his Christmas ham.
Airline Policies on Preteens
Often commenter Ian Argent has an interesting post on how our society treats children:
I certainly wasn’t an adult at 12-13. But I certainly wasn’t helpless, defenseless, or hapless. I no longer needed the kind of close supervision a young child might need – I was allowed to operate within fairly loose guidelines (in some ways, looser guidelines than I was when I was in my later teens, because I did have somewhat less responsibility). Nonetheless, I’m quite sure that had the need arisen for me to fly unaccompanied, my parents would have made sure the people at the other end knew my flight info, and then dropped me off at the airport (accompanying me to the gate if possible under time constraints), and expected me to make my way onto the plane, into my seats, and off the other end to the people I was going to without expecting much, if any, official support form the airline.
I flew to see my grandparents in Florida when I was pretty young, in so far as I can recall, I was in this age group. It had to have been a while ago, because Eastern Airlines ceased flying in 1991. You have to wonder about an airline who’s logo is a seatbelt. What’s that supposed to mean?  “Hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!” or maybe “Eastern, wear your seatbelt or you’ll die.”
I seem to recall the grandparents dropping me off at the gate, and my parents picking me up. Of course, now you can’t do that because we’re all more worried about terrorists than perverts or kidnappers, but that was also in the days before cell phones, when all had to be pre-arranged, and it was just hoped everything would go off without a hitch. Nonetheless, Ian has a good point that kids today are no doubt not any less safe than they were twenty years ago. That’s certainly true, even with all the terrorists.
Taking South
Since we’re going to have a mini informal blogger shooting event in Knoxville, I have to decide on a few rifles to take South. Coal Creek is an indoor range, so I’m limited to pistol calibers. I don’t have much that shoots that, so it’s narrowed down. Here’s what I’m taking:
- Hi-Point 995 Carbine w/ optics & laser sight
- Glock 19. This is my American Express gun. I don’t leave home without it.
- Ruger Mk.III Hunter 22/45 w/ holographic sight
- Ruger 10/22. I’ve un-EBR’d it because it’s actually not too conducive to shooting silhouette in that configuration.
- AR-15 Carbine. I can’t shoot this at Coal Creek, but here at Snowflakes in Hell, we don’t believe in traveling without a proper rifle.
The only other firearm I’m pondering is the S&W 629 Classic. It’s an awful lot of fun to shoot .44 magnum, but it’s an awful lot of expensive too.
Say No To Gift Cards
The Geek doesn’t like them. I can’t say I disagree with his logic, yet I have received and purchased a gift card in the past. What is the allure of these things?
In one sense, you could say the person is sending the message “I gave you this gift card, because I know if I give you cash, you’ll just use it to buy crack.” In some cases, that may be true. In others, perhaps it’s a way of saying “I know you well, because I knew a gift card to this establishment would be something you would use and appreciate.” I would have to say the latter is true in most cases. Gift cards have value because they signal familiarity between the gift giver, and the gift recipient.
More on New Jersey Bills
Looks like we’ve managed to make a these bills a bit less onerous, but it’s still critical to defeat them. One thing I’d like to point out:
S2470, sponsored by State Senator Shirley Turner (D-15), as originally written, would have criminalized the transfer of any ammunition to anyone who does not have a valid firearms purchaser identification card, a copy of a permit to purchase a handgun or a valid permit to carry a handgun. While intended to prevent criminals from obtaining ammunition, the legislation would only impact honest gun owners, since criminals are unlikely to purchase ammunition in New Jersey because of the mandatory reporting of all ammunition sales as required by state law.Â
Emphasis mine. Whoever drafted this has my thanks for helping feed the “Pennsylvania is to blame for our gun crime” monster that folks like Bryan Miller like to push. I doubt there’s a study that shows criminals are buying ammo out of state, so let’s just leave it at “criminals buy much of their ammo on the black market, and New Jersey already has this reporting requirement.”  Those of us in Pennsylvania would appreciate it.
Now Begins the Holiday Season
I’m done with work for a week, and all is well.  Over the Christmas Holiday, I will be visiting with Bitter’s family. We also plan to stop in Knoxville, TN on the 29th for a shooty fun time at Coal Creek, then some holiday festivities with some of the K-ville clan at the Uncle Residence. Countertop is stopping by K-ville that day too.
From this point on, blogging will be more sporadic than usual. But I will be putting things up, so stay tuned.
Brady Campaign Originally Fought NICS
One interesting thing about the Brady’s being so happy about improving the NICS system is that at one time, they hated it, and fought it fiercely, because it supplanted their preferred method of gun control, which was to make you wait. Take a look at this press release from 1998, back when they were still called Handgun Control Inc:
The original Brady Law, which mandated a waiting period and background check for all handgun purchasers, was altered in the legislative process to sunset in favor of NICS, which relies on computerized federal data to immediately check prospective firearms purchasers for felony convictions and other barriers to purchase. Without a mandatory waiting period, local police departments will not have time to participate in the background check, and gun purchasers considering crimes of passion or impulse suicides will no longer have a “cooling-off” period to protect themselves or their victims.
Brady’s presumed that police officers were willing to conduct some imaginary, more thorough background check, that would take time. The fact is, the local police had access to what was in the systems, and probably not much more than that. Not to mention the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government couldn’t force the local police to conduct background checks, so most of those folks that ended up on their desks didn’t even get cursory glance.
After a 7-year battle in Congress, President Clinton signed the Brady Law on November 30, 1993, with the support of more than 90 percent of Americans. Unable to block passage of the legislation in the face of this tidal wave of public support, the gun lobby’s allies in Congress amended the legislation to require a mandatory “sunset” of the waiting period in five years, to be replaced by a computerized national instant check system. At the time, the Brady Law affected 32 states which had not developed their own background check system; now, five years later, 24 states will be making the transition from a waiting period to an instant check.
The horror! But now they seem to think NICS is the greatest thing since sliced bread. My how times have changed.