
Go to YouTube...prepare to assault little bitty Germans...
Author and host of the hit OUTDOOR CHANNEL show SHOOTING GALLERY spouts off...
Simply put, the police culture in our country has changed. An emphasis on "officer safety" and paramilitary training pervades today's policing, in contrast to the older culture, which held that cops didn't shoot until they were about to be shot or stabbed. Police in large cities formerly carried revolvers holding six .38-caliber rounds. Nowadays, police carry semi-automatic pistols with 16 high-caliber rounds, shotguns and military assault rifles, weapons once relegated to SWAT teams facing extraordinary circumstances. Concern about such firepower in densely populated areas hitting innocent citizens has given way to an attitude that the police are fighting a war against drugs and crime and must be heavily armed.I certainly don't unconditionally agree with the piece (especially lumping "officer safety" into that first sentence!!!), but as you've read here before, the militarization of what were previously community police forces is a serious issue.
1) The born-again pump shotgun, with current ammo a far superior weapon than most police administrators understand.Again, I'm not a cop, nor have I been one. But I've worked an awful lot with police trainers and in training — police, military and civilian. I often think police adminstrators than (yeah yeah, when they think at all!) think it's "one size fits all." See if we can't hustle up some Homeland Security bucks for M-4s all around. Yet one size never fits all...a rural Sheriff's Department in Wyoming has different risk, and consequently different firearms needs, than an urban police department in the South...and forget about the big cities!
2) The pistol caliber carbine (and, yes, I was the "crazy man" who suggested in a law enforcement magazine back in the mid-1980s that departments might reconsider all those moldering Thompson .45s in police vaults...heavy with a low cyclic rate, making it one of the easiest full-autos to shoot ever made; the .45 ACP cartridge is a proven stopper at urban, sub-50 yard distances and the Thompson has one of the most recognizable firearms sihouettes in the world...put an Aimpoint on one and you're got a fiercely efficient urban police weapon.
3) "Alternative" 5.56 guns like the Remington pump, which takes AR magazines yet can piggyback on decades of police shotgun training.
It is known in police parlance as “contagious shooting” — gunfire that spreads among officers who believe that they, or their colleagues, are facing a threat. It spreads like germs, like laughter, or fear. An officer fires, so his colleagues do, too.There's a commnet on this article in today's Slate. The bulk of the commentary is the usual anti-cop/anti-gun slop:
[...]
“We can teach as much as we can,” said John C. Cerar, a retired commander of the Police Department’s firearms training section. “The fog of the moment happens. Different things happen that people don’t understand. Most people really believe what it’s like in television, that a police officer can take a gun and shoot someone out of the saddle.”
[...]
Eugene O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at John Jay College, said a high number of shots fired underscores the threat the officers felt.
“The only reason to be shooting in New York City is that you or someone else is going to be killed and it’s going to be imminent,” he said. “It’s highly unlikely you fire a shot or two shots. You fire as many shots as you have to, to extinguish the threat. You don’t fire one round and say: ‘Did I hit him? Is he hit?’ ”
Mr. Cerar said, “Until we have some substitute for a firearm, there will always be a situation where more rounds are fired than in other situations.”
How can you control a contagion of police overreaction? By controlling the crucial mechanism: guns. The key number in the Diallo case wasn't 41; it was 16. Two of the four officers accounted for 32 of the 41 bullets, because each of them emptied his weapon. NYPD rules "require that the officers carry nine millimeter semi-automatic pistols with 16 shots in the magazine and the first trigger pull being a conventional trigger pull and all subsequent trigger pulls being a hair trigger pull," one defense lawyer told the jury. That's why the officers fired so many shots so fast: Their guns, loaded with 64 rounds, "were all capable of being emptied in less than four seconds."But the author's conclusion is, IMO, a valid one:
It's the same argument the National Rifle Association makes for the freedom to use firearms: Guns don't kill people; people kill people.I happen to believe pretty strongly in the NRA's argument, for "civilians" and LEOs. From my standpoint, we need to use whatever information we can to constantly evaluate our own training. Training is fluid, changing...or it's a death-trap.
Contagious shooting blows that argument away. If cops fire reflexively, there's no moral difference between people and guns. They're both machines, and based on recent shootings, we should limit clips or firing speed to control their damage. No responsibility, no freedom.
Alternatively, we could reassert that police are free agents, to be trusted with weapons and held responsible—not excused with mechanical metaphors—when they abuse them. You can't have it both ways.
Man accused of spray-painting three goatsMeanwhile, reports are coming in from the biggest CSI-style crime scene investigation in the world, to wit, who capped the dinosaurs. This from Red Orbit News:
MAHOPAC, N.Y. - A man broke into a barn on Thanksgiving morning, spray-painted three pet goats and scattered pages of pornographic magazines on the floor, apparently to harass the property owner, police said Tuesday.
Drew Gagnon, 37, of Mahopac, was arrested the next day and was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and animal cruelty, said Lt. Brian Karst, of the Carmel police force, which covers Mahopac. The man who drove Gagnon to the barn, Douglas Bisio, 34, of Mahopac, was charged with criminal facilitation, police said.
"Obviously it's not an occurrence you see every day," Karst said.
The dinosaurs, along with the majority of all other animal species on Earth, went extinct approximately 65 million years ago. Some scientists have said that the impact of a large meteorite in the Yucatan Peninsula, in what is today Mexico, caused the mass extinction, while others argue that there must have been additional meteorite impacts or other stresses around the same time.Now we're sure of the weapon, but what of the hand who delivered the weapon? I'm thinking proto-Dems, but it's all in the evidence. Well, anyway, I've always kept my eyes peeled for big rocks falling out of the sky! With the Dems in control, I absolutely wouldn't be surprised if we sustained a major meteorite strike — not counting Rosie O'Donnell, who certainy qualifies as an extinction-level chunk of inanimate rock — in the next two years.
A new study provides compelling evidence that "one and only one impact" caused the mass extinction, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - An ABBA museum dedicated to the music, clothing and history of the legendary Swedish pop group and its four members will open in Stockholm in 2008, organizers said Tuesday."Youuuuuuuuuuu can dance
The interactive museum will feature original outfits and instruments used by the group, handwritten song lyrics, a display of different awards, and "all other things we can think of and find," said Ulf Westman, an event consultant who is spearheading the project with his wife Ewa Wigenheim-Westman.
The museum will also feature a studio where visitors can record their own ABBA songs, and an interactive experience that "will recreate the feeling of being at Wembley stadium and seeing ABBA live with 50,000 others," Westman said.
The AK has pierced through popular culture, too. In 2004, Playboy magazine dubbed it one of the "50 Products That Changed the World," ranking it behind the Apple Macintosh desktop, the birth-control pill and the Sony Betamax video machine. Rappers Ice Cube and Eminem mention AKs in their lyrics. And in the movie "Jackie Brown," actor Samuel L. Jackson captures the weapon's global cachet: "AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every [expletive] in the room."I talked to Kalashnikov last time he was in the country...it was fascinating (and for the record, he told me he wished he'd have invented a tractor).
Hunting in America has entered a long twilight. The number of license holders—roughly 15 million through 2004—has actually shrunk by about 2 million people since 1982, when the population was 230 million (versus 300 million today). Since 1990, the number of license holders in Massachusetts has dropped by 50,000, or 40 percent; in California since 1980 the number has fallen by almost half, from 540,000 to 300,000. In Michigan, there were 1.2 million licensed hunters in 1992—but fewer than 850,000 in 2004. Hunters are aging: about seven in 10 are older than 35 (in 1980, only four in 10 were over 35). The reasons for hunting's decline are pretty basic: fewer fields and streams and hills full of game to hunt (Census data show that urban America more than doubled in acreage from 1960 to 1990); more restrictions and lawsuits; more videogames and diversions to keep junior (and his dad) on the couch.You all already know what I'm going to say next...I was raised a hunter; walked the fields with my father, various uncles, grandfather; schooled in the joys, the trials, the ethics of the hunt. I have fought long and hard against the hypocrites — including those in my own family — who rail about the "inhumanity" of hunting while "enjoying" a double patty Big Mac with bacon.
[...]
...I have a son and daughter of my own now, and I would like the chance to pass on some of what my father taught me. It's hard to write this without sounding a little mawkish, but what I learned from hunting is that things in life aren't always black and white, and that they're not always easy, but the effort put in has a direct correlation to your success. You have to do it right. You respect the gun, you respect the animal and you respect the rules, and that translates to real life. It's hard to kill something, but you develop deep appreciation of animals and the outdoors when you do it regularly. I know nonhunters think that's absurd logic, and I understand why. But if it's part of your culture and part of the road to being a man, you find a way to face up to the hard parts and the raw emotions of it and you do it honorably. Shooting an animal is often a gut-wrenching act, and not one that's taken lightly by anyone I know. You respect it, you honor it and you never waste it. Most of all, you just give thanks for it.
The challenge now is for our elected officials to realize that supporting things like Brady background checks to keep criminals and terrorists from buying guns from legitimate sources, and enforcing the laws applicable to gun dealers to make sure they don't contribute to the market in illegal guns by allowing straw purchases, makes good sense from a political as well a policy perspective.Hmmmmm...so what does Mr. Helmke have to say to USA Today?
Advocates expect Democrats to avoid culture warsBut wait! Let's go to the New York Times:
•Gun control: Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, says he has seen a list of the top 100 Democratic priorities; reinstating the now-expired ban on military-style assault weapons is "in the 90s." At least, he says, conservatives can't weaken gun control laws.
America’s confusion about the Second Amendment is now nearly total. An amendment that ensures a collective right to bear arms has been misread in one legislature after another — often in the face of strong public disapproval — as a law guaranteeing an individual’s right to carry a weapon in public. And, in a perversion of monumental proportions, the battle to extend that right has largely succeeded in co-opting the language of the Civil Rights movement, so that depriving an American of the right to carry a gun in public sounds, to some, as offensive as stripping him of the right to vote.Just keeping tabs!
• Tenderloin of turkey rubbed with spices and grilledYeah, well...we do what we can. And no, you can't come over! I mean it...
• Cornbread sage dressing with oysters (an old family recipe, both on the dressing and cornbread)
• Homemade dumplings in chicken broth
• Asparagus with ginger seasoning
• Jack Daniels baked cranberry sauce (this stuff is to die for, trust me)
• Home-baked rosemary/garlic bread
• Framboise chocolate mousse
GUN PORN: The Michael Bane Blog
TEEN GOES NUCLEAR: He creates fusion in his Oakland Township homeStand by your phone...Iran and North Korea will be calling! Next up...cold fusion!
On the surface, Thiago Olson is like any typical teenager.
He's on the cross country and track teams at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. He's a good-looking, clean-cut 17-year-old with a 3.75 grade point average, and he has his eyes fixed on the next big step: college.
But to his friends, Thiago is known as "the mad scientist."
In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion -- when atoms are combined to create energy -- is "kind of like the holy grail of physics," he said.
Sausages affected by draconian trade lawsDoes the sausage still use ground up Welsh peoples in it?
A SPICY sausage known as the Welsh Dragon will have to be renamed after trading standards’ officers warned the manufacturers that they could face prosecution because it does not contain dragon.
The sausages will now have to be labelled Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages to avoid any confusion among customers,,.
Lawyer argues sex with dead deer not crimeHmmmmm...I've thought a lot of things about dead deer over the years, but never once teh idle thought, "Man, that chunk of meat is hot!" I suppose this whole issue wasn't covered under the numerous anti-gay marriage issues passed last week, so...note to the Republican National Committee..."anti-carcass sex/marriage" is an issue we can all rally behind! This could be bigger than Terry Schiavo!
Prosecution of a Douglas County case involving alleged sexual contact with a dead deer may hinge on the legal definition of the word “animal.”
Bryan James Hathaway, 20, of Superior faces a misdemeanor charge of sexual gratification with an animal. He is accused of having sex with a dead deer he saw beside Stinson Avenue on Oct. 11.
A motion filed last week by his attorney, public defender Fredric Anderson, argued that because the deer was dead, it was not considered an animal and the charge should be dismissed.
“The statute does not prohibit one from having sex with a carcass,” Anderson wrote.
Rogue Sea Lion Bites at Least 14 People in San FranciscoFORGET the "toxic algae" theory! I think somebody tried to jump him and whisper sweet nothings into his little sea lion ears and he got pissed off! I TOLD you all this would happen if the Dems got elected!
SAN FRANCISCO — The city closed its Aquatic Park Lagoon to swimmers on Wednesday after a California sea lion bit at least 14 people and chased 10 others out of the water this week.
[...]
Experts say the rogue sea lion could be protecting his harem of mates or might have brain damage from toxic algae.
Even More Bad News for Anti-Gun Lobby:Read the whole thing!
1. Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has endorsed John Murtha for Majority Leader, according to The Hill. Murtha is a a southwestern Pennsylvania Democrat with a long-standing A rating from the National Rifle Association. Hoyer is a Maryland Democrat, with a long-standing and well-deserved F rating, although he has sometimes worked to procure federal military contracts for Beretta USA, a firearms manufacturer in his district.
[...]
Nevertheless, it the odds have increased that the Senate (with usually pro-gun Harry Reid) and the House (with inflexibly pro-gun John Murtha) will both have Majority Leaders who will be receptive to the argument that the gun control issue is a loser for the Democratic party.
Mid-flight sexual play lands US couple afoul of anti-terrorism lawThe overheated couple are charged with "obstructing a flight attendant and with criminal association." Criminal association...I'm wondering exactly what that applies to...the association between the He and She or the association between Them and the flight attendant or the association between He and Her Crotch.
A couple's ill-concealed sexual play aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles got them charged with violating the Patriot Act, intended for terrorist acts, and could land them in jail for 20 years.
According to their indictment, Carl Persing and Dawn Sewell were allegedly snuggling and kissing inappropriately, "making other passengers uncomfortable," when a flight attendant asked them to stop.
"Persing was observed nuzzling or kissing Sewell on the neck, and ... with his face pressed against Sewell's vaginal area. During these actions, Sewell was observed smiling," reads the indictment filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The host has an EAR RING! not one of those stupid studs from the 80's, but a cartlige hoop at the top of his left ear. I dont mean to call into question a mans.... well manliness... but Comeon! Take it out for TV man!I immediately forwarded the thread to some SEAL friends of mine who routinely wear earrings, because I don't want them embarrassed by any sexual ambiguities. They're very sensitive, doncha know...
Liberal groups expect postelection resultsHelmke, you idiot...guns are radioactive! The Dems raise the issue, and we raise the roof!
Activists who helped Democrats secure Congress make clear they intend to get their reward.
[...]
Some of the very activists who helped propel the Democrats to a majority in the House and Senate last week are claiming credit for the victories and demanding what they consider their due: a set of ambitious — and politically provocative — actions on gun control, abortion, national security and other issues that party leaders fear could alienate moderate voters and leave Democrats vulnerable to GOP attacks as big spenders or soft on terrorism.
[...]
At the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the leading gun-control advocacy group, President Paul Helmke has high hopes for the assault weapons ban — and he can list races where candidates backed by his group defeated those supported by the National Rifle Assn.
But Helmke, a former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., acknowledged that his challenge was to convince Democrats that his cause was not "radioactive." Many Democratic strategists have come to believe that supporting gun-control laws alienates rural voters and many independents.
"Guns are a tricky issue," Helmke said. "But the elections show there's nothing to be afraid of."
Still, the issues of abortion and guns underscore the tough decisions facing Reid and Pelosi as they try to please the party's core supporters while appealing to centrist voters.
Bullet found in doorwayWell, needless to say, I am immediately checking all my .22 Shorts to see if any of the little bastards have gotten loose and are terrifying the neighborhood! Seriously, isn't it hard to imagine that the same people who wet themselves over a .22 Short once resisted the Blitz and, before that, ruled the world? This is the world the Democrats lust for, a world where people have heart palpitations over a single cartridge and call in the government, who, of course, knows best.
LIVE ammunition has been found lying in the doorway of a busy high street shop.
The .22 calibre short round bullet was found at the entrance of the 99p Stores in Walthamstow High Street on Wednesday morning, November 1.
Haroon Khan, who has a firearms licence and is a member of a local gun club, was alarmed to discover live ammunition in a Walthamstow doorway.
The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.
Enter your name and email address to sign up for.....
![]() |