It’ll save you money, and confuse hippies.
Quote of the Day
[…] Palin is the only candidate in either ticket that seems even mildly conscious of her own ignorance. When foundering in ignorance, Obama reverts to platitudes, Biden makes stuff up, McCain suspends his campaign, and Palin asks for clarification.
Hat tip to The VC. I think I’d much prefer Governor Palin on the top rather than the Bottom of the ticket, but hey, it’s what we got this election.
Getting in Their Faces
I’m not sure this is what Obama meant by getting in their faces, but a couple of protesters apparently narrowly avoided being run down by the Straight Talk Express:
Smith said officers saved the protesters from injury because “the motorcade likely would not have stopped†for them. He said “we don’t know what their intentions were†in trying to block Palin’s motorcade.
Even if they had stopped, they would likely have been swarmed by Secret Service agents with submachine guns. It would have been ugly. And they better damn well hope that Governor Sarah left the moose rifle back home.
Astroturf for Obama
Apparently Obama is astroturfing some redneck support. More here too. Clearly Obama needed to defer the damage done by the coveted Foxworthy endorsement.
Hunting Not Hurting
Looks like hunting sales are holding steady. Actually, I would expect hunting to do fine in a weak economy. It’s meat you don’t have to pay supermarket prices for, and with gas prices dropping, it won’t cost as much to go afield. Plus, with Obama endorsed by the rabidly anti-hunting Humane Society of the US, who knows how much longer it’s going to be a widespread past time.
Carve for Obama
This halloween, won’t you carve a pumpkin for Obama? He is the Lightworker, after all.
UPDATE: Rumor has it those pumpkins don’t actually have candles in them. They are power by pure and loving Hope. He is The One who will bring us to the light! Change we can believe in.
How Not to Earn an Endorsement
Of the entire Bucks County delegation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I have only two endorsed candidates: Paul Clymer of District 145 and Gene DiGirolamo of District 18. Scott Petri of District 178 is a B+ rated candidate, and we can see what issues he’s weak on:
Petri, who has been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, said he wants a Pennsylvania State Police-maintained database and an enforceable, constitutional provision that requires people to report lost or stolen handguns. He said he will introduce legislation that would make straw purchasing a second-degree felony, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He also wants any gun dealer who sells a weapon to a straw purchaser to lose his or her license forever.
The third party opponent seems to be pretty good on guns, and Petri does not carry an endorsement. Nonetheless, I would say he’s the lesser of the two evils for people who the gun issue is important to. It’s not a good idea to tell gun voters that your vote against a gun control provision is because it did not go far enough, and you’d be happy to vote for one that did. Also, while I agree with prosecuting straw purchasers, how is the dealer to know that the person he is selling to is a straw purchaser? The whole idea of the strawman is to put someone forward who will appear to not be a criminal, and who will pass the mandated background check. The moral culpability for the crime lies with the straw purchaser, who unlawfully buys the firearm, then unlawfully passes it to someone with a criminal record. Dealers do not have ESP. They can’t read people’s minds. If a dealer knowingly makes an illegal sale, that’s already a crime, both under state and federal law. They don’t just risk losing their license, they risk going to prison.
This is how politicians lose NRA endorsements, and why Scott Petri isn’t getting any of my volunteers this election. I appreciate he’s a B+, and his opponent is likely worse, but he needs to talk to some gun people in the area, and get an idea for how to speak about our issue in a way that gets tough with criminals, but signals to us that you understand our concerns, and will respect our rights. Petri is failing at that this election.
New Gun Blog
Looks like NRA Publications is getting into blogging. Tell me Why is run by Ed Friedman. Looks like some other people at Guns and Hunting are also getting in on the action too. The more the merrier.
Gun Review: Marlin 917VS-CF
I managed to get the Marlin rifle I won at a Friends of the NRA dinner out to the range. It’s a 917VS-CF in .17HMR. This is the first rifle I have ever shot in .17HMR, and I have to say, I’m impressed with the round. I threw a halfway decent Bushnell rimfire scope on it before I left, and once I got zeroed, I was able to punch out the X ring at 50 yards off the bench. If I had used a sandbag to prop up the rifle instead of a wobbly piece of wood, I think the rifle would have punched a single hole in the A23 target. Report was louder than I would have expected for something that shoots like a pellet gun. Of course, no pellet gun could send a round downrange at 2500fps. I tried shooting a bit offhand, and managed to get everything inside the black on the A23 target at 50 yards. Not too bad. Trigger pull is six pounds, but it’s a nice single stage trigger. Marlin’s T-900 trigger is a lot better out of the box than a Ruger 10/22.
Three drawbacks to the rifle, all of which are my problem, not Marlin’s. One is that I won a gun that’s a different variant of the 917 than I would have bought. It’s meant to be a scoped gun and I shoot iron sights pretty much exclusively. Second drawback is the .17HMR is expensive compared to the .22LR. At about a quarter per trigger pull, it’s still cheaper than most center fire rounds, and it shoots very flat. Third drawback is I can’t shoot it indoors, because our indoor range backstops can’t handle magnum rounds. Not useful for silhouette either, because the .17HMR would destroy the animals. I’ll admit, it’s not a rifle I would have bought if I hadn’t won, because I just don’t have too much use for .17HMR, but if needed something for varminting, or an accurate scoped rimfire rifle for target shooting, it’s a great gun for the price. My main use for this gun will be for new shooters.