Snowflakes in Hell

The other Sebastian says some very interesting things about the hearing for the MD Assault Weapons Ban. For one, the anti-gunners mentioned the Zumbo statements. For two, he says in the comments about 210 people turned out. That’s a good turnout for a committee meeting! State legislature committee meetings usually don’t attract any attention. That’s likely to get the politicians nervous, and that will work in our favor. I anxiously await PGP’s full report, and will link when it goes up. Good job Marylanders!

High powered lasers have the potential to completely change the nature of the battlefield.  A few years ago I read about the MTHEL - Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser, and later Northrop-Grumman’s SkyGuard.  This is a system meant to shoot down rockets and artillery shells on the battlefield before they have a chance to reach their targets.  The problem with the current systems is that they are powered by a chemical reaction, and are difficult and expensive to operate in the field.  They can also not maintain a very high rate of fire.

That’s why it was very interesting to read a few days ago that they’ve developed a 67kW solid state laser at Lawrence Livermore.  Solid state lasers would have the potential for more rapid and sustained fire, and would be vastly more practical to use on the battlefield.

This kind of thing is a transformational technology though.  If you can deploy it in sufficient numbers, it has the power to make conventional ballistic ordnance obsolete on the battlefield.

Of Arms an the Law has some thoughts about “false flag” operations:

The problem here is that folks who like the first may assume (as traditionalists) that traditional values apply. People may be taken at their word. The other side is not obsessive, but has rational limits. If they say they only dislike AR-15s and certain handguns, they must mean it. There are no “false flag” operations. A group with shooters and hunters in their name is a group of shooters and hunters, and a blog named “The Gun Guys” must be run by gunnies.

That’s an interesting observaton I hadn’t thought about before.  It’s my hope with “Gun Control and Hunting Day”, I’ll be able to unmask some of this.  It’s not my intention to drag out the whole Zumbo thing.  As far as I’m concerned that’s water under the bridge now.  But I would like to get a collection of writing out there that associates gun control with its effects on hunters.  Hopefully this will turn out.  I’ll be working on it a bit more tonight.

Back when I got the blog started, I decided to do an all day feature called Full Auto Day.  The entire Jim Zumbo affair, and the shooting and hunting communities response to it, has prompted me to start work on another all day feature called “Gun Control and Hunting Day”, where it’s my intention to highlight how gun control laws, both on the books and proposed, in the jurisdictions the anti-gun folks uphold as their models, has harmed the hunting communities in those states by making firearms difficult, or very risky to own.

I’m hoping that the feature will be seen by hunters, and help them understand that the same culture of urban sophisticates that wants to take away our black rifles, doesn’t really care what it does to hunting.  It’s all part of a lifestyle, way of thinking, and philosophy, that’s utterly repugnant to these types of folks.  None will be spared in the end.

Posting might be a bit light, as working out all the posts, along with the research, will take some time.  By all means, if you think you have something I should cover here, let me know via comment or e-mail.