Snowflakes in Hell

I made it down to Bitter’s in three hours, which generally isn’t possible on a Friday evening.  I guess most people were already on holiday.  Last time it took me five hours.

I can remember a while ago reading Ann’s post on Jessica Valenti’s picture appearing with Bill Clinton before it became the controversy it is today.  For the record, I thought it was a legitimate challenge to that group of bloggers.  Ann’s latest post is a good reminder of what was being asked:

And I still maintain that it was absolutely justified to mock that photograph. Distort what I was really saying there all you want, but the fact remains: Cozying up to Bill Clinton is not something a feminist should be doing…

I don’t see why that’s not a legitimate assertion.  I can see why some people would be upset by this, but does it really warrant a witch hunt?  Can reasonable people no longer disagree?

According to Paul Helmke my penchant for assault rifles could lead me to become violent:

A new 21-page Federal indictment charging the shooter’s father describes a house where there were at least “20 guns, including assault rifles, a semiautomatic shotgun, two semiautomatic rifles, bolt-action shotguns and semiautomatic pistols” along with “more than 2,500 round of ammunition.”

Ignoring for a second the fact that real AK-47s are effectively illegal, this sounds a lot like the contents of my safe.  I have a lot more than 2500 rounds. I don’t quite have 20 guns yet, but it’s good to have goals. I’m very much in favor of getting guns off our streets (and into my safe). Just for this, Brady Campaign Folks, I’m going to buy another so called “assault weapon” with my tax refund check. It’s a little “screw you” from me to you ;) I’m thinking maybe a Robinson Arms XCR in 7.62×39mm.

John Stossel writes about the media concentrating on stories that scare people. It’s really good stuff, and worth reading the whole thing. The part relevant for us is:

Here’s another example. What do you think is more dangerous, a house with a pool or a house with a gun? When, for “20/20,” I asked some kids, all said the house with the gun is more dangerous. I’m sure their parents would agree. Yet a child is 100 times more likely to die in a swimming pool than in a gun accident.

Parents don’t know that partly because the media hate guns and gun accidents make bigger headlines. Ask yourself which incident would be more likely to be covered on TV.

Media exposure clouds our judgment about real-life odds. Of course, it doesn’t help that viewers are as ignorant about probability as reporters are.

I’m glad to see media figures finally talking about this issue. I it’s never been so much a bias, though I will concede that’s an issue, but more the fact that reporters don’t tend to be well educated on a broad variety of subjects. Thus, they gravitate towards stories that will get them notoriety, and lack the knowledge to keep their bullshit detectors well maintained and in good working order.

Hat Tip: Michael Bane

Whether we in the United State like it or not, some regime of very strict international control on small arms is probably coming down the pike sometime soon.   Kim du Toit talks about the drying up of South African surplus ammo.  I got a few bags of the stuff, and it was good.  I’m sorry to see it dry up.  Kim tells us:

Of course, maybe the reporter just got the thing wrong—yeah I know, reporters never get gun facts wrong—but it’s still clear that Armscor’s fine 7.62×51mm, even though not specifically mentioned in the report, will soon disappear, because the ANC government of South Africa are turning into a bunch of quivering gun-fearing wussies. The move to end “small-arms proliferation” is no doubt inspired by a desire to forestall the day when some embittered group might be angry enough to rise up against them.

We may be winning here at home on the gun issue, but the rest of the world has a consensus that ordinary people are not to be trusted with arms. Most of the cheap surplus ammo that’s available to shooters on the US market comes from overseas sources.  These sources are all vulnerable to pressure from international gun control organizations like IASNA.  It’s a strong possibility we could lose them.  Imagine trying to shoot Kalashnikov, SKS, or your Saiga hunting rifle without a cheap source of ammunition from Wolf.  Russia has fought these treaties so far, but there’s no guarantee that things will stay that way.

Consider this too, C&R collectors, where are most of the interesting pieces coming from these days?  Century and a number of other importers that cater to the C&R market would be out of business in a heartbeat if overseas sources of surplus rifles were to dry up because the international consensus is that surplus small arms be cut up and melted down.

But it gets even better.   All the candidates that the military has been considering to replace the M16/M4 system have been European companies, namely Heckler & Koch and FN Herstal.  As it stands right now, H&K doesn’t seem to want to sell anything that looks politically incorrect to civilians.  Try getting a semi-auto G36.  They stated if the XM8 were adopted, there would be no civilian sales.   Same for the 416.  H&K, a German company, already doesn’t care about your gun rights.   FN has been very kind to the domestic shooter market, and has introduced the PS90 and is working on a semi-automatic version of the SCAR.  They definitely aren’t concerned too much about political correctness.  But FN is a Belgian company, and they will be subject to pressure from their government and subject to the treaties it signs.

Even consider the Glock that I own is produced by an Austrian company, and you’ll see why I think, as shooters, collectors, and people interested in lawful self-defense, we probably have it better today than we will in the future.   Eventually I expect an international arms treaty to shut down the export of these items into the United States for civilian consumption.  We can win all we want at home, but I don’t see us winning internationally.  Spend just 5 minutes talking about the gun issue to a European, and you’ll see what I mean.  Guns are evil to most of the rest of the world, and certainly that’s the prevailing attitude among the European political elite.

That’s why at the NRA convention next week, I’m going to be taking a serious look at Smith & Wesson’s new offerings.  Their M&P line of pistols looks good to me on paper, and I’d like to handle one.   I’ve seen a few of their ARs at gun shows, and while I’ve never shot one, what I have heard from others is they are making a solid product.  Smith & Wesson is American owned, and we don’t have to worry as much about people like Rebecca Peters lobbying them to shut down civilian sales.  In this country, at least for now, we can tell people like her to go to hell.