Yes, we have a good case to present; yes, we have probably the best Court we're going to get, but still, there is a staggering downside threat. Of course, there's an equally tremendous upside on a win, especially if the Supremes weigh in just before the election in 2008.
We'll see...regardless of how the SCOTUS goes, one thing is certain...the war never ends.
Got two of the well-reviewed Stag Arms AR-style carbines yesterday. One is going to be set up with my Leupold Mark 4 CQ/T; the other with an Aimpoint CompM4, the current issue Army sight, and the 3X magnifier. I'll take the rifle to the range on Monday, then use them in SHOOTING GALLERY episodes filmed at the U.S. Shooting Academy in Tulsa next week.
And speaking of sharp things, I got one of the Cold Steel authentic Scottish Dirks, more of a short sword, really. I figure it will be the ideal companion to the claymore I don't yet have. There's actually some controversy over whether the word "claymore" refers solely to the 2-hand great sword a la Wallace in Braveheart or both the great sword and the more common "back sword," the basket-hilted double-edged sword a la the Cold Steel Scottish Back Sword. I've discussed this with a couple of sword experts, and they confirm that opinions are mixed. For useage, I refer you to my very distant relative Donald McBane's The Expert Sword-Man's Companion, Or the True Art of SELF-DEFENCE from 1728, almost two decades before the Disarming Act after the loss of the great Battle of Culloden Moor.
Before the Disarming, Highlanders were among the most heavily armed people in the world. According to historian Paul Wagner, a roll taken by the Earl of Atholl in 1638 records that 523 men between then owned 448 swords, 3 two-handed great swords, 112 guns, 11 pistols, 149 bows, 125 targes, 9 lochaber axes, 2 halberds, 11 breastplates, 8 "headpieces," 2 "steel bonnets," a pair of plate sleeves and a coat of mail.
...when that doctor asked me
Son how did you get in this condition
I said hey sawbones I'm just carryin on
an old family tradition!"
Son how did you get in this condition
I said hey sawbones I'm just carryin on
an old family tradition!"
— Hank Williams Jr.
Family Tradition
Family Tradition
en I first ran across claymore used to describe the basket-hilt, I was mildly unnerved, trained as I had been by my prior reading to assume it was only the two-handed broadsword.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, though, generally, he basket hilt was the claymore as the weapon of choice of Highlanders in the 16th and 17th centuries.