Snowflakes in Hell

I wonder whether the Obama transition team would consider this a productive way to deal with urban violence.  Or perhaps they would have preferred the Barber be the one to get shot for not having enough money in his till.

One thing is for sure, that guy won’t be robbing any more businesses.  Mr. Cross did what he had to do.

In Arizona, they are trying to ban hunting for kids under 18:

“Teaching children to see others as nothing more than living targets has deadly consequences that can extend into the human population. We urge you to support legislation to ban children under the age of 18 from hunting.”

PETA is the GOA of the animal rights movement.  Under the new Obama Administration, it’ll be group like HSUS, which use much more clever marketing and fundraising schemes, and who set realistic and achievable goals, that we’ll really have to worry about.  Nontheless, PETA is instructive as to how radical animal rights people think.

Snarkybytes reminds me that I really need to get myself a decent match grade centerfire bolt rifle.

I have to admit a bit of a dirty old man moment after seeing this picture, and only reading the caption after.  But I can’t think of a better birthday present, personally.

Caleb talks about the various guns that James Bond has used in both film and fiction.

It would appear that the anti-gun crap on Obama’s transition website has returned.

In the middle of shooting an air pistol match. 45 degrees out with high winds. Can’t even get the animals to stay on the rails. On top of that, I’m way under-dressed for cold. But, hey, you can’t learn to be a good shooter if you only shoot in good weather.

UPDATE: Well, that’s over with.  Had to take a few alibi shots with the wind.  Shot a 20/40, which is a AA score.  Second match I shot 24/40, which is a AAA.  That’s my third AAA score this year, so it puts me in that classification.  I hope I can keep shooting AAA scores, or it’s going to be a while before I ever win a trophy or plaque.

UPDATE: Tam also opines on the virtues of shooting in poor conditions.

Scott Bach opines on New Jersey’s A2116, .50 caliber firearms ban:

Many hunting and historical firearms fall into this category, so A2116 would ironically ban Revolutionary and Civil War flintlocks and muskets that won the very freedom that the legislation seeks to take away, not to mention popular hunting rifles. It could also ban a truly evil scourge of society that shoots 100+ caliber projectiles: marshmallow guns.

Read the whole thing.

Somehow I managed to shoot 33/40 tonight on indoor pistol silhouette. Basically the only thing I changed was to swap out the Millet red dot scope on my Mk.III with a BSA red dot scope that I bought from SayUncle. I don’t know if it’s because it’s heavier, or just better quality optics, or I was just lucky tonight. We’ll see after next week.

I continue to struggle with my Kimber Govt. Model 82. I can shoot into the mid 30s with Bitter’s CZ 452 on a good night, but I have a hard time breaking the 30 point mark with the Kimber. It’s an 11lb rifle, and while it does tend to mute minor muscle movements, when I try to hold steady with it I’m swaying like a skyscraper in a hurricane. I think part of it is that the shooting position that’s comfortable with the CZ has an entirely different natural point of aim with a heavier rifle. It’s probably boils down to needing to practice with the Kimber more, and the CZ less. But I have to admit I love Bitter’s CZ 452. I think by this point I’ve probably shot 100x more rounds through it than she has.

Want to work for the Obama Administration?  Here’s one of a long list of personal things they want to know about each of their employees:

Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun?  If so, provide complete ownership and registration information.  Has the registration ever lapsed?  Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.

I guess they don’t know that in 99% of the country there is no registration of firearms.  Unless, of course, they only intend to hire people from Chicago.  Either way, if I had an employer put this before me as a condition of employment, I’d be out the door so fast I’d leave a vapor trail behind me.  The New York Times has more.

UPDATE: You know, it says a lot about people who would subject themselves to this kind of rubber glove treatment.  How are we expected to build a competent government when this is what it takes to vet someone?  Who would do this except to wield power?  Who does not have some skeletons in their closets, or family secrets they don’t wish revealed.  Who has not said too much?  Either we’re going to have to develop a sense of perspective as a society, or we’re doomed only to have Barack Obamas, Hillary Clintons and Rahm Emanuels in the cooridors of power.

Add John Patrick Williams, former Congressman from Montana, to the list of Democrats who are pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes:

The bad news? Groups such as the NRA have been hoodwinking you about that very issue — wastefully spending your hard-earned dues money on politics, and useless protesting by having people like Charlton Heston give that phony “pry it from my cold dead fingers” speech. A case in point is the recently publicized rush by some gun owners to “stock up” on assault weapons before they are banned by the NRA’s latest boogey man, Barack Obama.

The urge to blame President-elect Obama is a transparent example of how utterly partisan the gun groups and far too many of their adherents have become.

Pat, you might want to ask Barack Obama why renewing the assault weapons ban is still part of his platform before you start accusing NRA members of being paranoid of the boogey man.  We’re going to remember all these Democrats who falsely assured us that Obama is a man of the Second Amendment when 2010 rolls around.

Two stories today which affect the continuing narrative of lead in bullets being a real problem.  Lake City brags of producting 600,000 rounds of green ammunition for the military.  600,000 is a fraction of their daily production.  It’s made from a bismuth alloy.  The only problem with bismuth is that it’s only about twice as abundant as gold, and is only mined as an ancillary to other ores.  In other words, you can’t scale bismuth production to the levels needed to replace lead at any reasonable cost.  With its scarcity, prices would quickly go through the roof.  The devil is in the details, and if we’re attacked along this route, it’ll be tough to speak to the public about the problems of using other metals.  You can bet our opponents will be saying there are substitutes for lead — much like a helicopter can be a substitute for an automobile.

The other is a new study out of Jackson that suggest grizzly bears are being posioned by lead.

JACKSON - Preliminary results of a study by a University of Montana graduate student suggest that lead bullets may be poisoning grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Tom Rogers sampled blood from 13 grizzlies during hunting season and found nearly half had elevated levels of lead, possibly because the bears had eaten lead bullet fragments in big-game carcasses left behind by hunters.

Here’s a question.  How is the Yellowstone Ecosystem being poisoned by hunters when hunting isn’t allowed within the Yellowstone Ecosystem, and guns aren’t allowed either?

UPDATE: Some folks have corrected that the Ecosystem is a vast area that ecompasses more than just the National Park.  Either way, here’s an idea — aren’t bears busy gaining a lot of fat for hibernation during hunting season?   Wouldn’t that tend to drive the levels of a lot of ecological contaminants higher, including lead?

Apparently City Council is once again headed to court to try to prove the Pennsylvania Constitutional actually says:

The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall be questioned by Philadelphia City Council.

Rather than what it actually says.  One thing from the article:

The NRA is challenging all five ordinances, although attorneys focused on the proposed assault-weapons ban in court Tuesday.

“Most of my clients have machine guns,” Shields said. “They are absolutely lawful.”

Police already have the authority to seize weapons if they are being used unlawfully, he said.

Way to go doing Josh Sugarmann’s legwork in helping confuse the public that the assault weapons issue has anything to do with machine guns.  Your clients may have them, and they may be legal, but that’s not what’s at issue here.

From ANJRPC:

On Monday, November 17, the New Jersey Assembly is scheduled to vote on A2116 — legislation banning most firearms over .50 caliber.  Though previously amended in an attempt to address gun owner concerns, the legislation still bans many popular hunting guns, historical firearms, and large bore target firearms, based on alleged public safety concerns.  Ironically, the legislation bans many of the guns that won the very freedoms the bill seeks to destroy, including some Revolutionary War and Civil War guns and their replicas.

A2116 makes the fundamental mistake of banning guns based on the size of the hole in the barrel rather than punishing criminal behavior.  It treats law abiding citizens who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights like potential criminals.

Please immediately email, call, and/or fax your Assembly Members and urge them to oppose A2116!  Their contact information is available here.

While the rest of us are worried that gun control is back, it never really left in New Jersey.  The relentless hammer pounds on in The Garden State.

Kurt Hoffman tells us about a news story in the Chicago Tribune that suggests that the reason we’re buying up assault weapons is because we’re afraid of a black man as commander-in-chief.

I am afraid of Obama, not because he’s black, but because he proposes to ban assault weapons.  They will never give us the courtesy of admitting that our actions might be rational.  Nope.  We’re just f**king nuts, and that’s about all there is to it.  Just those crazy, cousin humping, racist rednecks acting up against.  Tsk tsk.

Looks like the woman who open carried to the kids soccer game is going head to head with Bryan Miller.  My advice to her is to be prepared.  Bryan is a ruthless debater, and he will corral you, then go in for the kill if you’re not prepared.  Get your talking points together, and stick to them.  Bryan will try to change the debate to grounds that are more favorable to him.  Play the nice soccer mom who just wants to protect her kids.  Let Bryan’s overly aggressive tendencies work against him in the public eye.

This is the big time.  When you talk to the media you represent all gun owners, and will be judged accordingly.

Thirdpower compares AHSA and Brady on the election.  It’s almost as if they have the same goals or something.  I’m still waiting for AHSA to come out and condemn the HSUS lead ammunition ban proposal.

Just in time for Congress and Obama to ban them!

50,000 signed the petition:

The petition, calling for a total ban on private ownership of guns with barrels shorter than 600 millimeters (23.6 inches), was handed over to Interior Minister Anne Holmlund.

Finnish defense minister Elisabeth Rehn was among those who signed the petition.

Pardon me, but wouldn’t that ban most rifles too?  I own only a handful of rifles that have barrels that long, including my .22LR Kimber target rifle.  It’s good to see we’re not the only country plauged with anti-gun activists that like to tell the public they are banning one thing, when they are really banning another.

From the Washington Times.

Fred Lebrun asks the question again:

Well, if it’s true, why in the world would you go out and buy something the government is going to take away from you anyway? Of course, the idea of confiscating our legally owned and permitted handguns is totally insane and flies in the face of where we’re at nationally.

Confiscation is not the real fear driving this.  The fear is that Obama will reenact a broad based manufacturing or sales ban on a large number of commonly used firearms.  His transition team has already called for it.  At this point it’s not paranoia.

And I for one say amen to that. I’m a handgun owner, and rifle and shotgun owner, and an avid hunter.

Avid hunter?  How do you feel about this?  Of course, he goes on to call for more gun control.

UPDATE: Joe Huffman has more.

I know that Bryan Miller would prefer just to stick his hands over his ears and shout “I can’t hear you.” but the proliferation of articles in news outlets around the country should serve as a warning to the incoming administration.  They’ve been flowing into my inbox all week:

• Firearms Sales Soar
• Gun Dealers Report Big Business after Obama Election
• Armed and Nervous in Alaska
• County Gun Sales up After Election
• Gun Sales Boom
• Fear of Democratic Crackdown Leads Tri-Citians to Join in Boom of Gun Sales
• Obama Win Triggers Run on Guns in Many US Stores
• Second Amendment Hysteria
• Gun Sales Up After Election

I could sit here all day and do this, and get articles from every corner of the country.  Google alerts have been absolutely wild with stories like this.  How many millions of purchasers does it take to drive a sales boom of this magnitude?  How many millions more people would like to buy now, but can’t afford it?  Is an organized and motivated group of people like this one that is politically wise to cross?  These are things the Obama transition team needs to be thinking about.  The unfortunate thing is, I doubt they are.

The Humane Society of the United States, which endorsed Barack Obama this election, is calling for a nationwide ban on lead ammunition:

“If there was any doubt about the urgent need to rid our country of lead ammunition, here is proof positive,” said Andrew Page, senior director of the Wildlife Abuse Campaign for The HSUS.

This could be one way they come at us folks.  Get ready.  The CDC has already debunked the need for this, but HSUS is coming off a stunning electoral victory, and they will want to make the most of us.  Do you think Ray Schoenke is going to speak out against this?  Don’t hold your breath.  ASHA accomplished their goal — they got Obama and the Democrats elected.  For the next four years, fighting this stuff is going to fall on us.  Hunters need to wake up.

Apparently the folks at BioDefense Corporation think citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights are terrorists waiting to happen:

“A disturbing increase in reports that gun sales are dramatically increasing now that the presidential election is over indicates that other forms of intentional mayhem such as bio-chemical assaults might also increase,” said BioDefense Corporation ( http://www.biod.com), producers of the new MAIL DEFENDER complete mailroom security solution.

Pretty clearly it’s a short path from buying firearms to launching an elaborate bio-terrorist attack!  Sounds like they are using any excuse to drum up business to me. Either that or it’s an indication of how far out of touch with the rest of America Bostonians have become.

From a UCLA Professor of Anthropology:

I don’t know where to begin on the current state of insanity in the U.S. Let’s see, maybe guns is a good place to start. Gun sales are reported to have risen noticeably since Obama was elected. Some of this was probably just the usual paranoid insanity of the NRA gun nuts. Some are convinced that Obama means to take their guns away. If that were true, what would be the point of buying more? But of course these new guns, along with all the others they possess, could be hidden for use when the government tries to take over their guns. When you suggest to these nuts that their rifles, pistols, and even AK 47’s wouldn’t be much use against the weapons the government could employ they either look blank or argue they should be allowed 50 caliber machine guns and even howitzers and tanks. As one of them put it the other day, “if you can tow it behind your pickup it ought to be legal.” Who can argue against such logic (insanity). As near as I can determine Obama has a perfectly sensible approach to the problem of guns, recognizing the difference between the needs of rural dwellers and inner city gangs and etc. He has never suggested taking away everyone’s guns. But nothing is sensible when it comes to the NRA.

I’m always amazed at the total lack of respect of people of the left have for our beliefs and arguments.  Just crass dismissal, without even an attempt to intellectually refute us.  You’re just “nuts” and “paranoid.”  Especially when it’s pretty clear this university professor has never bothered to investigate Obama’s record on guns, which includes a lengthy career of trying to destroy the Second Amendment.

And finally, there is the tired notion of an armed population being obsolete.  I’ve said in the past, you can’t stop your government from killing you, but the use of political violence, which is one of the evils that the Second Amendment is meant to protect against, is not about killing for the sake of killing, it’s about coercion.  It’s about forcing people to submit to the will of others who wish to rule over them.

These are radical ideas, and not something I think most people sitting in the ivory towers of academia really wish to think about.  I can’t say I blame them.  They are unpleasant ideas, representing circumstances very different than we currently face. But societies looking to avoid such unpleasantness have often found it, and been unprepared.  Our good professor would like to dismiss us because we choose to engage in the intellectual exercise.  It’s part of the Bill of Rights, and something our founders, having just emerged from a successful revolution, thought about a great deal.  I think we do them a disservice if we don’t keep their ideas alive and relevant, regardless of how sound our political system is at the moment.