Meanwhile, Back at the Top of the Food Chain

Admit it...given a choice, we'd all be rooting for the poor South Dakota cougar that got killed b a Connecticut SUV last week. The cat walked 1500 miles only to get whacked by a truck. Better than choking to death on a liberal, I guess. Here's an interesting column in the NYT by David Baron, a Boulderite who wrote the great book, THE BEAST IN THE GARDEN, about our "domestic" wildlife out here in the West:

Still, living with big cats takes some adjustment. As a former New Englander who now lives among Colorado cougars, I no longer hike alone. When I walk my dog in the early morning, I watch the bushes. I have educated myself on what to do if I encounter a cougar. Yell. Throw rocks. Fight back.

Yet in a decade of living here, I have not seen a cougar in the wild. The cats are masters at hiding and generally leave people alone, which means the biggest adjustment to living with cougars is psychological. It is knowing that a creature far more powerful than you could be crouched behind the trash can, around the next tree, under the porch.

Thanks to the South Dakota cat and its incredible journey, residents of the Eastern United States can now experience the fear and thrill that come with living below the top of the food chain. America has grown a bit less tame.

The Secret Hidden Bunker is a ways away from suburban Boulder, both in distance and wildness. The cats are part of the way of life up here. Like Baron, I've never seen one. My favorite stry is from a couple of years ago when I mentioned to my Sweetie to be extra special careful walking Alf the Wonder Beagle because a big cat was in the neighborhood. There were tracks all over the place, including up and down the driveway. Sweetie was skeptical at best, but around midnight that night the cat screamed. If you've never heard a cougar scream, it is a grab a bone and climb a tree primeval experience. My Sweetie sat straight up in bed and said, Oh my God WHAT IS THAT?" I said that would be the top of the food chain. "The top of the food chain is in there front yard!"

I agree with the "Yell. Throw rocks. Fight back" theory of lion protection, My rocks, however, are relatively small and go really really fast.

Yeech

I'm doing tax stuff over the next few days...I'd rather feed Mr. Weasel into a blender, but there you are.

I'm trying to run down the other mini-9s I don't have. I talked to a friend at Kahr at the Shooting Industry Masters, so hopefully that'll be in the works. I'm going to get a Kel-Tec and one of the new Diamondbacks, which I keep hearing so much about. I do need to run down a Sig 290... Handled one at the gunstore yesterday and had a good gunsmith take me through it.

I need to get to the range this weekend and run a bunch of .22s through my RRC guns...then I suppose it's conceivable I gotta clean the darn things. SG producer John Carter told me he's running a Nordic Components 10/22 as his rifle...I was bummed. I had a Ruger SR22 for evaluation, pretty much a Nordic Component gun, and it shot like a house afire. Light, fast and crazy accurate, but I returned it because I've got a bunch of 10/22s. I'd love to be running that gun with a good set of AR-15 irons! I am going to build a new pistol for next year's matches, though.

This weekend we're going to do a road bike ride from Breckenridge through Copper Mountain over Vail Pass...it's a wonderful ride and an honest-to-goodness lung buster! I'm looking forward to it. Then it's the Backcountry Brewery!

BTW, I've pretty much decided to get a Browning BSS SxS for sporting clays. I love the way the BSS I got from cowboy gunsmith "Johnny Meadows" handles!

More Norway Thoughts

Marshal Halloway produced this timeline of events in Norway:

All times PM
3:26: The bomb went off in downtown Oslo
5.27: First 911 call about the shooting on Utoya
5.30: Second 911 call about the shooting on Utoya
5.38: Oslo Politi District receives a request for assistance/backup from Buskerud Police Distrikt.
5.52: First police unit arrives to closest point on the mainland and are waiting for what is called a suitable boat.
6.03: The police are notified that a boat is under way.
6.09: A SWAT team from Oslo arrived to closest point on the mainland.
6.25: The SWAT team lands on the island.
6.27: Coward Breivik is apprehended without resistance.
The coward had over an hour to operate. Extended Gun Free Zone, what a paradise the so called modern western civilization is for a predator.

There are already questions being raised in Europe whether the Norway shooter could have killed as many people if he didn't have a semiauto rifle (a Ruger Mini-14). Based on this timeline, he could have accomplished the same number of deaths with anything, including a hammer or a machete.

And yet we have the apparently endless meme of, "well, they couldn't have done anything anyway and would have probably made things worse." Here's one of the many rehasings of the meme, this one from E. D. Kain at Forbes:

First of all, it is very unlikely in a situation like this that a vigilante will stop a shooter. In fact, it’s quite likely that more people shooting guns in such a scenario would lead to more confusion and possibly more deaths, some of which might be accidental. Police also have a harder time identifying who the shooter is and who the vigilantes are. Besides this, the killer is much more likely to kill the surprised gun owner since they are already prepared.

Let's get past his misuse of the word "vigilante" [vigilantes are civilians who punish after the fact; there is a huge difference between a vigilante and a civilian who chooses to protect him- or herself. Vigilante, of course, has a negative connotation, which is why he used the word here]. The rest of his comments are breathtaking nonsense. "Lead to more confusion?" Damn, I pretty much think a crazed killer running loose pegs the old "confusion" meter.

Secondly, let's look at an armed society at war — Israel — where armed civilians have routinely stopped terrorist attacks on civilians. Seems the Israeli police have no trouble figuring out the good guys from the bad guys...the bad guy is one lying dead on the ground with the good guys pointing guns at him.

There is also the mindset of the armed civilian. When armed civilians choose to carry guns, it is in acknowledgement that such events as Norway are possible. One of the main thrusts of training is to minimize the duration of the "startle" response and allow us to quickly respond. People like Mr. Kain, who apparently gains all his insights on firearms from Hollywood, has a vision of armed civilians trying to "quick draw" an armed terrorist, which is pretty much a guaranteed lose. This is based on their premise that anyone who wants to take responsibility for his or her own safety must be some kind of moron, so of course they're going to stand out in the open and try to Hollywood out-draw the bad guys!

I think that one of the things driving this meme some element of projection. Folks such as Mr. Kain imagines himself in that situation — frozen in place with urine running down his leg, begging some madman not to kill him — and imagines that everyone caught in that situation must respond the same way. Hmmmm...doesn't seem to happen that way in Israel. Maybe it's something in the water there.

But it doesn't even happen that way in the United States. Go back to the 2005 Tyler, TX, shootings, where a madman in body armor with an AK-47 decided to teach his ex-wife and anyone else he could find a permanent lesson. He killed his ex-wife and a bystander who tried to intervene and was looking for his next victim, their son. But instead he ran into an armed civilian, Mark Alan Wilson, a competition shooter and CCW carrier, who instead of freezing in place, begging for mercy and peeing down his leg, grabbed his handgun and engaged the shooter. Wilson scored repeated hits, but the bullets were all stopped by the flak jacket. Mark Alan Wilson died for his efforts, but police credited him with saving the life of the son and giving police time to arrive.

Mark Alan Wilson was a shooter. I believe that knew exactly what he was facing; he knew he was outgunned and I believe he knew the likely outcome. But he engaged anyway. That must seem like sheer insanity in E.D. Kain's world, where people wallow in their helplessness and wait to die, as if the bullet or knife or bludgeon were preordained by some malevolent god.

You might also note, Mr. Kain, that there are some things worse then death. Ask Colin Goddard, who's now "Living for 32" and "making a difference," because on the one day of his life when he could have made a difference, he didn't...all the speakers' fees and Oprah appearances in the world will never change that fact. I would not want to be Colin Goddard when he turns off the lights at night.

Finally, let's say that there was an armed civilian on that island, and in the ensuing melee 2 or 3 innocents were "accidentally" killed before the crazy man died or threw down his gun out of cowardice. Even in your sad sad world, Mr. Kain, would not 2 or 3 killed be better than 68 killed?

Just some thoughts...

"Between Norway and Hell"

Here's a must read article from Walter Russell Mead at the American Interest blog on Norway:

The tragedy in Norway is among many other things an important reminder that much of we want to believe about history is plain wrong. In particular, it reminds us that the most cherished American illusion, the form of historically determinist optimism often called “whig history,” is a delusion and a snare.

There is no principle so deeply engrained in American social science as the idea that moral and economic progress go hand in hand. 

...

The inescapable reality is that the very forces creating our affluent, modern and democratic world also generate violent antagonism. Breivik, like Al-Qaeda and like Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber, is the shadow of progress. When conditions are right, the lone psychopath becomes a cult leader; in a perfect storm when everything breaks his way, the psychopath becomes Fuehrer.

Obviously, read the whole thing. He does a much better job than I do in explaining the inescapable fact that much of our world view is tainted by a philosophy of wishful thinking (you'll hear much more about this on tomorrow's DOWN RANGE Radio podcast).

I would take issue with Mr. Mead on a couple of points. The first is that I think it's a conceit to assume that it is only since the beginning of the Industrial Age that the rapid pace of societal change has driven a certain percentage of the population to "violent antagonism." I tend to look through a more Darwinian set of blood-colored glasses. I believe that violent, psychotic, sociopath, lunatic, serial killer, religious fanatic — pick a word, any word — has always been with us...as I said in a previous post, since the veldt.

It is the legacy of our evolution from killer ape to whatever we are today, the fragments of DNA left over from our forefather and foremothers who bequeathed us not only their successful genes, but the violence that placed them at the top of the food chain and ultimately as the unquestioned owners of Planet Earth. In short, there have always been monsters among us, but until the concentrating of populations in urban centers that  was part and parcel of the Industrial Revolution, those monsters were less visible, hidden in the widely scattered, largely autonomous human settlements. How many "knights in shining armor" were the John Wayne Gacys of their time; how many rulers with hands as bloody as Hitler?

This Just In From Taurus...

This presser just came in...Bob Morrison is one of my closest friends in the industry, and Mark Kresser is a great, great guy...should be interesting:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mark Kresser Named President and CEO of Taurus International

MIAMI—Taurus International Manufacturing is excited to announce the appointment of Mark Kresser as President and CEO. He will succeed long-time President and CEO, Bob Morrison. The move will become effective September 1, 2011.

“With Kresser’s vast experience in the firearms industry, he possesses all the qualities and strengths you look for in a leader,” said Bob Morrison. “Mark has demonstrated time and again that he understands this industry and what it takes to succeed. I am confident that customers can look forward to continued quality firearms from Taurus in the future.”

 

Kresser has worked in executive management positions for the past 15 years and has gained valuable experience with Traditions Performance Firearms, O.F Mossberg & Sons, Inc., Sigarms, Inc. and Beretta USA Corporation.

Bob Morrison is excited to continue on as a Senior Advisor with Forjas Taurus and looks forward to the new and intriguing challenges the position is certain to offer.

With a rich history that began in Porto Alegre, Brazil more than sixty years ago, Forjas Taurus, S.A. has become a diversified, international company celebrating its resounding success as one of the world’s leading small arms manufacturers. In 1941 the company produced its first revolver and posting record growth every year since. Taurus brand firearms manufactured by Forjas Taurus are imported into the U.S. and serviced by Taurus International Manufacturing, Inc. For additional information about Taurus, visit www.taurususa.com. High-resolution images are available at www.taurusdownloads.com. 

Emotionally Exhausted

Just finished Wednesday's podcast, most of which dealt with Norway. I am emotionally drained, saddened and so very frustrated. And I don't envy Marshal Halloway, who's been on the phone all day to Norway. I can't get that line from Vachel Lindsay's poem "The Leadened-Eyed" out of my head:

"Not that they died, but that they died like sheep..."

If you don't have a CCW, get one today. If you do have one, get trained. If you're trained, carry your gun every single day. There is evil in the world.

I'll be perkier tomorrow...

Back in the World!

Am back in Onllne World after the Shooting Industry Masters, sponsored by FMG Publications, at the spectacular Rockcastle Shooting Center north of Bowling Green, KY. We'll have DRTV coverage of the event, which also includes the Academy of Excellence Awards, coming up soon. I mostly worked, but did take enough time out yesterday to shoot the handgun stages as a part of Team Glock — Glock execs, not the Randi, Dave and Tori show!

Rockcastle is amazing, a 2000 acre golf and shooting resort...admit it, you always wanted to see a golf course converted into a sporting clays course. Would that this become a major national trend! One of the reasons I went to the event was to scout Rockcastle for some upcoming SHOOTING GALLERY filming, and we'll definitely be placing a couple of shows there.

Sadly, a friend showed me a really spectacular gun that I can't tell you a thing about. Gun designers are an interesting breed, and in a world of CNC machines, their work is just short of magic. If/when the veil of secrecy gets lifted, you'll see it here first.

I did want to say a couple of words on the horrible events in Norway. Last night Marshal Halloway, who is from Norway and was active in gun rights there before he moved to America, was on the phone last night to Norway media addressing, once again, the "gun issue." What I see is, as others have seen, is a catastrophic failure of gun control. An unarmed people are sheep, with all that implies.

In a larger sense, we want very badly to believe that we have evolved beyond the implacable rules of the veldt, the iron law of tooth and claw. But in reality, the veldt is always with us, along with the knowledge that some in our pack, our extended family, are irrevocably broken. Rather than listen to his message, or endlessly ponder what series of events or severed synapses led to his rampage, or agonize over greater meanings, the Norway shooters should be put down like the rabid animal he is and let the human beings get on with mourning their dead.

Unfortunately, that will not happen.

Unusual Shooting Venue

-- Post From The Road

"Stopping Power"

This article on an alternative look at stopping power is really interesting and deserves a full read:

The average number of rounds until incapacitation was also remarkably similar between calibers. All the common defensive calibers required around 2 rounds on average to incapacitate. Something else to look at here is the question of how fast can the rounds be fired out of each gun. The .38 SPL probably has the slowest rate of fire (long double action revolver trigger pulls and stout recoil in small revolvers) and the fewest rounds fired to get an incapacitation (1.87). Conversely the 9mm can probably be fired fastest of the common calibers and it had the most rounds fired to get an incapacitation (2.45). The .40 (2.36) and the .45 (2.08) split the difference. It is my personal belief that there really isn't much difference between each of these calibers. It is only the fact that some guns can be fired faster than others that causes the perceived difference in stopping power. If a person takes an average of 5 seconds to stop after being hit, the defender who shoots a lighter recoiling gun can get more hits in that time period. It could be that fewer rounds would have stopped the attacker (given enough time) but the ability to fire more quickly resulted in more hits being put onto the attacker. It may not have anything to do with the stopping power of the round.

By all means read the whole thing, and read it with an open mind. The charts are fascinating. You guys now where I come down on this...I carry a 9mm precisely because I subscribe to the multiple hits theory, and the faster I can deliver those shots the better.

BTW, if you send me an email through any of our sights, please include you email address so I can answer you!

Michael Gets Domestic!

Good grief! I spent most of the whole freakin' day assembling grill! How can this happen? I was going to the range today and do a little shooting. I was going to write a chapter on SURVIVAL GUNS. Instead, it's me, a Brinkman grill and a screwdriver. I lost control and bought this monster, with a charcoal side and a propane side, because nothing beats charcoal for searing fish, but I like to finish the fish in the oven. So my idea was to replace my ancient Weber (10+ years) with something that wasn't composting itself. In a staggering moment of weakness, I decided to assemble it myself...what was I thinking? Clearly, I wasn't.

Anyway, I got the damn thing done in time to grill some mahi on it. I made a pineapple/red onion relish I wasn't crazy about, but my Sweetie liked it. That's what mattered. When I wasn't trapped in some hellish episode of HOME IMPROVEMENT, I ordered a .223 suppressor from Surefire. I'm waiting for paper to clear on 2 .22 suppressors.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Shooting Industry Masters at the Rockcastle Shooting Center north of Nashville. I'm not signed up to shoot, but I'm hopeful to get in the side matches. Also hoping for some fried okra and Kentucky bourbon, but I'll play it as it lays.

Got my new cowboy shotgun today, a pristine Browning BSS side-by-side now cut down for CAS shooting by "Johnny Meadows," one of the living masters of the cowboy shotgun. Be a few weeks before I get it into a match, though. Time for me to go to work.

Darn It's Hot...

...but not as hot as Florida, where I used to live! This from the National Review Online:

Looks like the spreading general consensus on "Fast and Furious" is that it indeed was a purely political operation designed to legitimize new antigun regulations, such as the ones being proposed by the Democratic shills in Congress and the DOJ, or even a new AWB. As the NRA ILA has noted, all these proposed new reporting regulations are nothing but a step toward the antigun thugs' Holy Grail, gun registration. Now repeat after me, kiddies: gun registration always and inevitably leads to gun confiscation! You register them to make it easier to come get them. Same song, same singers, same B-S...

As one of the original conspiracy theorist on F&F, I'm glad to see the scales lifted from so many people's eyes. F&F never made any sense as anything but a political operation. And as yet we don't know how big this operation actually was — F&F is out of Arizona, but there now appear to be similar operations across the border states. Here's an excellent summation in The Weekly Standard:

For once, the NRA might be understating things. “Gross incompetence” doesn’t adequately describe what has transpired here. The investigation is far from complete, but the facts so far suggest that the Justice Department and White House are implicated in the needless deaths of two U.S. law enforcement agents. And the level of political collusion suggests they were motivated not by law enforcement concerns, but by a desire to gain traction in implementing a liberal gun control agenda.

Absolutely amazing...this is Watergate Squared.

Headline of the Week

From the U.K. Sun:

History made as nipple is found on foot

A YOUNG woman has made medical history after being discovered with a third nipple on her FOOT. Startled researchers believe the 22-year-old's case is the first of its kind.

Now that's new you can use! I'm going to have to think about this for awhile. There are implication for humanity in these grim times. I can't help but wonder whether this has anything to do with Casey Anthony's aquittal...

Sunday morning my Sweetie and I watched Mogambo, the 1953 Clark Gable/Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly safari potboiler.

I have decided that I would now like to retire to Africa in 1953...maybe I'll see Robert Ruark there...

Meet Ruben Navarrette!

In his tortured commentary for CNN this AM, commentator Ruben Navarrette tries desperately to tie immigration reform to gun control while mentioning — and excusing — ATF's "Fast & Furious." Here's how this foremost voice of Hispanic America,  author of A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON: ODYSSEY OF A HARVARD CHICANO, excuses the killings of (according to the Mexican government) 150 Mexican nationals and 2 American agents:

The ATF, the same agency that is pushing the reporting requirement, is embroiled in a scandal because of an ill-conceived operation that let guns go into Mexico. Operation "Fast and Furious" was supposed to lead U.S. authorities to weapons smugglers by allowing more than 2,000 guns to flow into Mexico. The effort was a disaster, and nearly three-fourths of those weapons are still accounted for.

The administration's foul-ups aside, here's what the political end of this border battle is about: money and votes.

"Foul-up aside"...I mean, what's a few bodies among friends? What are the deaths of Mexicans worth? Well, certainly not as much as Harvard men, eh? 


It was just a "foul-up," you know, like when you forget to carry enough change in your Mercedes ashtray to pay a toll? Or, silly you, your wallet's in the other Armani jacket, and you have to ask Bootsie to pick up the check? Could happen to anyone. But you know, I can't help wondering how high a stack of 150 bodies would make, Mr. Naverrette...high enough to be seen from the windows of your San Diego home?

Oh, and I also want to mention your brilliant reporting:

Do you remember the part of the Constitution where it says that people have the right to buy two or more automatic weapons within five days without law enforcement knowing anything about it? Me neither.

Hey Ruben! Me neither! As a matter of fact, you haven't been able to walk into a gun store and buy an automatic weapon since 1934, which you would have learned with 30 seconds of Google research...but I guess you Harvard types don't do your own research. You just print the talking points your Administration handlers tell you to print, right? Lots easier that way — no foul-ups!

(Art is a theatrical poster for a production of Uncle Tom's Cabin, circa 1880s)

9mm "Mini-Nines..."

Worked all day yesterday filming a DRTV special on the current crop of Mini-9mm pistols, specifically the Kimber Solo, the Taurus Slim and the Ruger LC9. I'm going out to the range this AM before the daily thunderstorms ramp up to do the shooting part.

Unlike some on the Internet, I think the mini-9s are just nifty — if you can shoot 'em.

I would have liked to do a comprehensive overview and included the Kahrs (of which I've shot many), the Kel-Tec P11/PF9, the Walther PPS and the Rohrbaugh R9, but for some reason I wasn't able to lay my hands on them. The top-end Kahrs I've shot have been just super shooters, and they've been around a long time (mid-1990s). Sometimes companies get weird about T&E guns...I repeatedly wrote to one company asking to BUY one of their little 9mms, and I never got a reply. Strange. Sort of like Ithaca Shotguns...I've been trying to buy one of the new Ithaca pumps for 3 years, and either they don't have any for sale or there's some decoder ring that I apparently don't have. LOL!

More later...

Death in the Tall Grass!

Alf the Wonder Beagle roams the high veldt in search of the legendary "bacon."

So we're walking Alf on a really nice trail...I'm huffing along uphill when I place my foot down next to a stick...with a triangular head and a nice pattern of diamonds along its 2-foot length.

"Oh crap," I whisper, instantly achieving a Zen level of stillness while s...l...o...o...o...w...l...y reaching for the gun. Then I notice that Mr. Snake isn't buzzing, in fact, hasn't even gone to coil. I look along his length and don't see rattles — and, yes, I know there's the occasional rattler without them — so I do a little twosey-step to get clear, grab a stick, poke him in the butt and away he goes. Alf never notices, as the Stick That Moves wasn't "bacon."

BTW, here's a crummy picture of a really "cute" gun, a Ruger Single Six .22 cut to 3-inches and fitted with a birdshead gripframe:

I picked it up yesterday from a local operation, The Mountain Gunsmith, and Paul did an excellent job turning out a nice little packin' pistol. This weekend I'm putting together a crossdraw holster for it.

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

I let my Mexican drug lord license expire. Am I still eligible for the free machine gun program?
Iowahawk Blog

In all probability, as has been reported by Snowflakes in Hell and No Lawyers, Only Guns & Money, the new DOJ rules requiring gun stores along the souther border to report certain multiple long gun sales will not survive legal scrutiny. The amazing thing to me is that the administration is sticking to its narrative, e.g. the "Iron River" of guns flowing into into Mexico, even though the "Fast and Furious" Congressional investigation and subsequent revelations have proven conclusively that they only Iron River flowing into Mexico is the one being run by the U.S. government.

It is, I think, part and parcel of the Left's love of the Big Lie...if they just keep saying it over and over and over, eventually it becomes accepted as, if not truth, at least gospel (and remember, the antigun "movement" was never actuality a "movement" in the accepted sense of the word, but rather an issue of gospel, an accepted shibboleth of the liberal religion..."I don't care about the fact; I know what I believe"...pretty much on par with saying that regardless of the facts, that pesky sun does in fact orbit the earth). Think of that line about a gun in the home being 43 times more likely blah blah. That fake statistic has been debunked for years, yet it is still routinely cited by the MSM as the "gospel" truth.

This is the first salvo of the Administration's antigun initiative, to be carried out entirely by fiat with no legislative approval necessary. If you go back through the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Michael Bloomberg's pet pack of liars, white paper (linked in the comment section of my previous post), many of the recommended actions involve hugely increasing the "mission" of and funding for the ATF...I fully expect to see these recommendations on the table in future weeks. I suspect the big pushes will come against gun shows and the non-existent "loophole" and the importability of certain weapons (ATF has been sniffing around magazine-fed shotguns for months).

Meanwhile, I've shifted my shooting training from cowboy to rimfire in anticipation of the Ruger Rimfire Challenge World Championships in New Mexico next month. We're going to be filming it for the new SHOOTING GALLERY and I will be shooting it as well. I shot last year's World in Morro Bay, CA, where I can assure you the food was a lot better than it will be in rural New Mexico! Last year I shot in Open, with a Tasco ProPort red dot on my Target 10/22. I replaced the red dot with Tech Sights AR-style open sights and will shoot this year in Limited. Part of that is due to my new improved left eye lens, which was replaced last year (my right lens was replaced the year before). The right eye remains permanently partially fogged from the shingles attack a few years back (jeeeeeeez, get vaccinated while you can!), but I have good enough vision for iron sights, more or less.

I did replace the AR front sight with a green fiber optic to match the green fiber optic on my Tactical Solutions Ruger 22/45 Mark 3.

Today's a pistol day; I'm also picking up the rifle stocks for my Sweetie's and my rifles. We had both of them cut down a bit to accommodate a more squared-on stance as advocated by GUNSITE. My .22 now has the same length of pull as my Ruger Scout .308, which I'm very pleased with.

Interesting commentary today over at the Weer'ed World blog referencing one of my podcast on using force (or not) to protect stuff:

I will not kill somebody over my property, but somebody willing to threaten me FOR my property is willing to kill me no matter what I do. I WILL kill over that.

I think that's a good summation actually. It comes back to the reasonable man doctrine...what would a reasonable man (or woman) do in that situation? There is a fine line between "theft." "armed robbery" and "aggravated assault," a line the armed civilian must be critically aware of. In my own personal experience, a person who wanted my wallet launched his assault by "making a motion consistent with drawing a firearm," and the situation went from zero to the gravest extreme in less than a second.

Once we are in the soup, we need to be aware of how the situation is flowing around us. As I have written before, ALL fights, all violent encounters, are potentially lethal to you. Yet you can only respond with lethal force when, in your opinion as a reasonable man or woman, that potentiality has been realized. And that is the scariest line of all...

Back in the Saddle Again..

Whew...been a busy week! Next week things will revert to normal blogging-wise. In the meanwhile the sign above is from the My Gun Culture blog, and yes, you can get the t-shirt!

Stories all over about Obama's new gun laws coming through executive order any day now...this from USA TODAY:

Spokesman Jay Carney said that the new steps would be made public "in the near future." He didn't offer details, but people involved in talks at the Justice Department to craft the new measures said they expected to see something in the next several weeks. Whatever is proposed is not expected to involve legislation or take on major issues like banning assault weapons but could include executive action to strengthen the background check system or other steps.

Here's a hint on how we'll respond...unless the ONLY administration recommendation is the abolition of the rouge agency BATFE, we are unconditionally, irrevocably and absolutely against the administration "suggestions." Republicans, pay close attention...NO COMPROMISES ON SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS! The BATFE is the problem...so fix it!

My Casey Anthony Exclusive!

Sources say Casey Anthony, following her not guilty verdicts, will be joining the cast of TWO AND A HALF MEN, replacing the controversial Charlie Sheen. The show will accordingly change its name to ONE AND A HALF MEN AND ONE LYING TROLLOP. In the first episode, "Where's Berta?," the show's beloved housekeeper, Berta, goes missing, and hijinks ensue!

Independence Day 2011

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world...

I remember being absolutely thrilled by those words when I was just a little kid. "Those brave brave men," I thought. "They must have been so afraid, facing the greatest military power on earth." Young boys always see themselves as brave, but I remember wondering what I would have done. Could I have found the courage to walk away from a warm hearth and loving family into the bitter cold of a Revolutionary winter?

America faces a dark hour this Independence Day. To be sure, we have faced darker hours before — the bloody ground of 150 years ago; the trenches of Europe in the War to End All Wars; the Great Depression; the Second World War. We are an incredibly resilient people. And yet today we are dispirited, exhausted...and yes, even scared. Those who hold power have made a decision to fundamentally change this country, to alter the compact between America and her people.

I think what we need on this Independence Day is some of the courage of the Founders, the courage to hold freedom in our hearts every day of the year. In her most recent book, THE BAD ATTITUDE GUIDE TO GOOD CITIZENSHIP, Claire Wolfe concludes thusly:

If we can't succeed in "doing something" about problems, the default position for a lot of us is to sit and bitch. Or keep trying the same unsuccessful methods over and over again — and that way lies madness.

Rather than banging our heads, we need to change our minds. Having changed our minds, we will see more clearly how to change our methods.

That's the key: Attitude is everything. To wit: A bad attitude toward would-be rulers and their flappers, enforcers, and sycophants, but an inner attitude of independence.

Then it's up to us to express that independent spirit in action — action that shifts our focus from the negative ("what those bastards are doing to us and how to stop them") to the positive ("What can I do?" "What can I be?" How can I make a difference to people right here?").

...

No matter what happens, they don't own us — if we don't let them.

Enjoy your Independence Day, remember our military who have bought this freedom with their lives and remember that you ARE free!

U.S. Forest Service Redux

I note in the previous comments a thread on ARF.com on Colorado (and the entire Front Range) issues regarding shooting on public land. The posts are built around stories in the local papers on the "destructiveness" of shooters, and I agree that irresponsible shooters make me and everyone else look bad.

HOWEVER — and this is a big big HOWEVER — before we go haring off about this issue, there are some very important points to be remembered (and Darrell, if you would please repost this on ARF.com, where I am BANNED FOR LIFE, I would appreciate it):

1) These are U.S. Forest Service "plants." USFS in the west is a violently antigun organization, who goal is to end all shooting on public land. There have been rumors of a USFS "summer offensive" for months now, and this is obviously the opening salvo. This was how they opened their last antigun initiative.

2) USFS seeks to create the problem that their "solution," ending shooting, would solve. By closing shooting-intense areas, USFS has sought to intentionally push shooters into less appropriate areas.

3) USFS routinely accommodates far more destructive uses of public land, e.g. off road motorcycling and 4-wheeling, mountain biking and equestrian sports. Let's be honest here...I despise slob shooters as much as anyone, but the total acreage of public land damaged by shooting is minuscule when compared to other destructive usage...and I am speaking here from EXPERIENCE. USFS is perfectly willing to accommodate all uses of public land EXCEPT shooting.

4) USFS has said in public testimony that they did not now have the resources to enforce the anti-dumping laws on the books. Under my questioning USFS revealed that they had NEVER fined ANYONE for illegal dumping on public lands, even though I was able to find more than 100 non-permitted dumpers in the area. USFS' contention that shooters are doing all the dumping is nonsense. And if USFS is unwilling or unable to enforce the stringent laws against illegal dumping, why do they want shooting bans so fervently?

5) Much is made of the single negligent discharge death at Ramparts, in which the range played no part whatsoever and that resulted in the closing of the range,, yet USFS routinely supports outdoor activities that result in annual deaths — skiing, kayaking, rafting, climbing, "extreme" hiking,even equestrian sports and mountain biking.

6) USFS has no data to support any of their antishooting agenda. In public testimony USFS representatives have been less than truthful to the Colorado Legislature, the Colorado Legislative delegation and the media. USFS has actually posted signs at shooting areas that misstate the law,, even though USFS Washington HQ issued a letter of clarification. Secondly, in our most recent battle with USFS antigun forces, no one who allegedly had "heard" bullets hit their home, trees, etc. were able to produce a single bullet hole, a photo or video of a bullet hole or any evidence whatsoever. The current article in the Colorado Springs paper was apparently driven by a "reporter" who allegedly had a bullet hit a tree while he was hiking.. Except, that he based it all on what he heard...he never even looked for a bullet hole.

Make no mistake about this...part of USFS' antigun agenda is to endlessly hammer the "destructive" meme and to turn us against each other.. Let's not play into their hands!