Buy an Assault Weapon!

Op-Ed Contributor - What Happened to the Ban on Assault Weapons? - NYTimes.com

If Jimmy Carter is against it, then I'm for it, and it must be important for America -- I'm not going to be a slave to that rule like the Statist's were against W, but it isn't a bad starting position. The best use of his writing is to see how a Statist argues:

But none of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives. That’s why the White House and Congress must not give up on trying to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, even if it may be politically difficult.

This is a CLASSIC Statist argument. The ONLY people who would want an Assault Weapon are people that:
1). want to kill policemen
2). what to go to a school or workplace and stack up victims / commit suicide

A conservative person looking at a point wants to understand BOTH sides. So here is the other side. No real need to run off there. EVERY major hunting gun is rooted in a military gun -- it is simply much easier to take whatever the current military platform is and adapt it to civilian hunting use. NONE of the guns banned by the "assault weapons ban" are in fact "assault weapons", because none of them have the selector switch to shoot full auto. That was made illegal in the '30s. If Carter is referring to anything at all, he is referring to a STYLE of gun -- black, collapsible stock, shrouded barrel and large magazines. They are often referred to as "black guns" -- unsurprisingly, because they are almost always painted black.

What are the results of this profligate ownership and use of guns designed to kill people? In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 30,000 people died from firearms, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all injury deaths. In 2005, every nine hours a child or teenager in the United States was killed in a firearm-related accident or suicide.

Across our border, Mexican drug cartels are being armed with advanced weaponry imported from the United States — a reality only the N.R.A. seems to dispute.

The gun lobby and the firearms industry should reassess their policies concerning safety and accountability — at least on assault weapons — and ease their pressure on acquiescent politicians who fear N.R.A. disapproval at election time. We can’t let the N.R.A.’s political blackmail prevent the banning of assault weapons — designed only to kill police officers and the people they defend.

Let's similarly look at these "arguments"; Those numbers of deaths. How many of those were due to assault weapons? Apparently Jimmuh wants us to believe a large number, but we all know that is not true -- as does Jimmuh! See above, the ONLY people that buy Assault Weapons are those that want to kill cops or mass murder. His stats are of course COMPLETELY idiotic, because they INCLUDED murder and suicide, which are ALREADY ILLEGAL. Assault Weapons are used in < 1% of all crime. Crime went DOWN when the Assault Weapon ban went off. Banning Assault Weapons is has no purpose relative to crime or consumer safety.

I've covered the "Mexican Issue" elsewhere -- classic Statist argument to claim "ONLY" some group supports it. So what? That has no effect on truth or falsehood. Truth isn't determined by poll numbers. If Jimmuh thinks it is, then he ought to clearly be very quiet since Reagan completely trashed him in '80, so the definition of "truth" is "poll says", then Jimmuh is a loser. The guns used in Mexico drug wars are FULL AUTO -- those are ALREADY ILLEGAL HERE !!!! Everyone is entitled to their opionion, but not to their own facts.

WOW, a class of firearm DESIGNED to only kill ONLY policemen and civilians??? But wait! Why would cops carry them??? Do they want to just kill each other and civilians??? Like what happens? You point the Assault Weapon at a "criminal" and the bullets go seek out cops or innocent bystranders??? I've shot a few thousand rounds at paper targets with my Assault Weapon, and so far no bystanders or police killed -- does that mean that all the folks at the gun range when I was shooting were criminals, and thus saved??? I mean Jimmuh is a Nobel Prize winner -- just like Al Gore and Yassir Arafat, so he MUST know what he was talking about.

90% of Guns

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Common sense would tell you that the statement "90% of the guns used in crime in Mexico come from the US" is a lie. Virtually all of those guns are fully automatic, and fully auto guns are ALREADY illegal here, and have been since the '30s.

This article shows that the number comes from "Of those guns that have serial numbers indicating that they MIGHT come from the US and are sent here for tracing, 90% of them actually are from here"!

That is like saying that "90% of the crime committed in WI is committed by Minnesotans" when what you "meant" was that of the criminals that you found to have MN IDs, 90% of them actually turned out to be from MN".

Doesn't seem like a "mistake" does it? That is because it isn't -- it is an overt attempt to set the sheep up to support an "assault weapons" ban because "of all the harm our guns are causing in Mexico". This is how the lefty's and the MSM get the herd bleating in unison!

Gun Rights Under Attack

American Thinker Blog: More Gun Control Introduced in Congress

Remember all the howling in the MSM about how your rights were being trampled by the evil Bush Administration? "Looking in bedroom windows", "listening to your phone calls", "People afraid to speak" -- although there seemed to be no shortage of lefties speaking all sorts of things that were negative and had no connection to any reality.

Well, Bush is gone. How worried is the MSM about "rights" now? Well, they are worried about the GOVERNMENT'S rights to take every last dollar from current and future Americans and to take the guns from the citizens to make sure that nobody responds!

Oh, didn't BO say he was "strongly in favor of the 2nd amendment"? Was that like "I don't hire lobbyists?" ... prior to bringing in Mr "I make 2.5 million a year lobbying, and I don't bother to pay my taxes" Daschle?

Get a LICENSE from the Attorney General of the US to have guns -- with him having a nice list of where to come to collect them anytime they want. They don't even have to let you know they are coming! Since you want to make use of your 2nd amendment right, you forfeit your right to privacy! Isn't THAT a nice way to go!

BO = Fascism!

.223 Customization

My Bushmaster and Kel Tec .223 guns are getting close to the level of customization that I had envisioned. Starting on the left, I've got the foregrip with picatinny rails on top and bottom on the PLR-16, the muzzle brake, and a red dot on it. I may want to add a laser/tactical light to that as well, but want to do some shooting with it before anything else.

The Bushmaster has an NcSTAR Mark III Tactical scope that is 1.25-4x32, has drop adjustments for 100-500 yards, and lighted reticule in either green or red. I also put a 4-rail compsite handgard on and added a cheap AIM laser/tactical light. Am thinking of adding rail mounted folding grip so I can mount the pressure switches for the laser and tac light there.

Both of them use standard .225 AR15 magazines. I have a couple 45 rounders, a number of 30s and a few 20's.

It will be interesting to see what BO and the Democrats do relative to a new "Assault Rifle Ban" -- last time around, the companies were able to sell out the inventory they had, but they weren't allowed to manufacture or import any new rifles or magazines over 10 rounds for the US. Naturally, prices rose because folks felt it was "now or never", and many folks went out and purchased higher capacity magazines than they ever had before and guns that were banned. This time around, supplies of the "black guns" are limited, and prices are rising rapidly already.

So why would I want such a weapon, when we all know that such "reasonable gun control" prevents crime? You remember that big burst in gun crime after the assault weapon ban expired in '04? Uh, well, neither do I, because there was a DROP in gun crime -- in fact, just the continuation of a drop in gun crime that most likely resulted from stiffer sentences on gun offenders. Here is a little article on that, in case you don't believe me -- from the LA Times, that bastion of conservative pro-gun thought!

Oh, I want such a weapon for two basic reasons:
1). They are really fun -- low recoil, accurate, fairly cheap ammo and magazines that let you shoot, not spend your time filling up another magazine.
2). They are EXACTLY the type of arms that our founders protected in the constitution. The idea of the "militia" was NOT some "government approved militia", it was the "final check" on government tyranny. They had just finished a revolution and they understood the temptations of power -- an armed populace is intended to be something to remind the government that "there are limits".

Do I think I will ever have to use them for anything other than punching holes in paper or plinking? I sure hope not -- just like I never want to use either my fire, health, or car collision insurance -- let alone rely on the air bags and seat belts working. I'm not about to cancel any insurance or pull any safety gear 0ut of the car though.

What about the risk? Certainly there is a risk in having guns -- or driving, or walking, or riding a bike. Our founders didn't think of putting a "right to drive" or "right to walk" in the constitution, because they didn't see those rights as having any prospects for protecting liberty, which they cherished. There is a risk in NOT having guns as well -- we are (still) a free people that can select which risks we consider worth taking.

Range Toys

There was a gun show early in November and I decided that if I ever wanted to get the little Kel Tec PLR-16 .223 "Assault Pistol", it was very likely now or never. This is what it looks like right out of the box, I've got the picatinny foregrip for it on order and have put the screw-on muzzle brake on the front of the barrel already. In my opinion, those items are critical to the looks of the weapon, and for not burning your fingers while holding on to the front for accuracy, they are needed for function as well. I took it out to the range once and put 50+ rounds through it. Very accurate at 20 yards even in current config with sights that were hard for me to use given my older eyes. (focus on the back sight sort of precludes a lot of focus on the front sight).

I've put a cheap AIM red dot on it already and am waiting for the foregrip on back order -- it seems like everything to do with guns, and especially "assault weapons" is on backorder! My intent is to mount a laser and a light on the front end--mostly because I think it will look cool, but in some theory, one could at least imagine it as a pretty nasty looking home defense weapon.

We also upgraded our Beretta Tomcat .32 to a Glock 26 9mm with VERY happy results. First time in my hand I can shoot better groups with it than I can with my XD and my wife is ecstatic over how well she did with it right away as well. The next gun I get will certainly be a 1911 .45 ACP, but I have to admit that I got a chance to shoot the Glock 30 and 3 different 1911s one day at the range, and my groups with the Glock at 20' were better than any of the 1911s. I guess that means that the 1911 mystique has a hold on me-- the Glock was cheaper than any of them and holds more rounds, but I want the 1911 anyway. So much for my claims to rationality!

Tolerance, Cooper Firearms

Politics prompted her assault, Augsburg student says

Cooper Ousts CEO for Obama Support

One of the members of the Board Of Directors of Cooper Firearms happened to be at the same Deer Camp that I was at this past weekend, so I learned of the Cooper situation. I shared the fact that a Cooper Board Member happened to be at camp and immediately heard of the "horror" of the "infringement on free speech" that the Cooper story entails from a Democrat.

To make a slightly longer story simple, the Founder and President of Cooper Firearms decided to donate $3K+ to BO and did an interview indicating that he was going to vote for him. Cooper employees, customers and stores that carry their products started to indicate their displeasure, up to and including canceling orders and not wanting to do business with Cooper. The Board of Directors asked for and received the Presidents resignation. Democrats and Media types were immediately apocolyptic about "McCarthyism" and "infringement on free speech". Here is an example from the USA Today Article, they make sure to "tell us how to think" about the Cooper incident -- nobody is quoted as explaining why one may want to remove a gun company executive that is poking his customers in the eye.

"It's a really McCarthyism at its worst," said Bob Ricker, executive
director of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, which has
endorsed Obama. "That's really why our organization was formed, was to
deal with this craziness. If you're a gun owner, but you have a
contrary view to some of these wackos, they will go out and try to
destroy you."

Now, in the top article, a young woman at Augsburg is assaulted by 4 other women, receives a concussion, and we get relatively straight up reporting until close to the end we get:

"She was surprised by how politically active the campus was," Annie's mother said. "She got a lesson right off the bat." 

In October, a 20-year-old McCain campaign volunteer in Pennsylvania
made up a story of being robbed and having the backwards letter "B"
scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack. 

Police and Augsburg University say they have no reason to suspect Grossmann was not assaulted.

Seems VERY important to point out that a month ago a McCain campaign volunteer made up an attack, right? I mean, Tawana Brawly famously made up a rape charge, so I'm sure that every article about a young black woman claiming rape properly includes a reference to that famous hoax. Right?

Not a lot of concern about the young woman beat up for wearing a McCain button, but lots of crocodile tears for a CEO whose constituency disagrees with his politics. Let's take a look at this a bit closer.

First of all, remember the important quote from Ronald Reagan; "A Liberal will defend your right to agree with them to their dying breath"! The "liberal" idea of "free speech" is that people can say anything that they want that is agreement with the standard liberal position, and NOBODY ought be able to respond in any negative way.

Conversely, if anyone is making speech that is out of step with the liberal opinion, their speech ought to be muzzled (EG "Fairness doctrine") or with either actual or implied violence (Union Card Check). Liberals are unconcerned with someone being beat up for showing support for McCain. It is something that they can at least "understand"--how could a "decent person" be a supporter of McCain?

Think about Joe Lieberman. How much do Democrats enjoy HIS "right to free speech"? Not so very much I think. How well do Democrats tolerate Clarence Thomas as a black man not holding the views that "blacks ought to have"? Is their animosity for him even stronger than say a Scalia or a Roberts? I think it is pretty clear. How do you think Democrats and abortion supporters would react to an official of Planned Parenthood sending money to and saying they were going to vote for a Pro-Life Republican??? I think we don't need to think very long on that one.

"Free Speech" means that EVERYONE is free to respond LEGALLY to your speech!!! If a gun CEO decides to support Obama and enough of his "constituency" wants him removed, then that is a LEGAL result of his "speech decision". We don't have freedom at all if those hearing your speech aren't allowed to respond LEGALLY to your speech. But note the difference -- there is little concern, and even the suggestion of "untruth" to a young woman being beaten for her rather paltry wearing of a button as speech. Democrats LOVE to boo down Republican speakers (they were doing it at the convention), for some reason Republicans rarely boo or protest even though those actions can be legal. They are often "tacky" and in many cases downright boorish.

Republicans tend to do things like write letters to the board or company, indicate that they would rather not do business with someone that they see as likely aiding and abbedding the destruction of their constitutional rights. This however is seen by the MSM and the left as "McCarthyism". We seem to be entering a new phase of Democrat dominance where their natural tendency to suppress the speech of those they disagree with as "hate speech", "racist", "religious" (to get it removed from the public square) or simply "biased" (as in "fairness doctrine"). Bias is of course a view that isn't "liberal".

Hugging and Guns

It was a weekend when there wasn't a ton of "must do" items, so some fun was had. Friday evening we had a nice steak dinner with another couple and then went to the John Hassler Theater in Plainview to see "Don't Hug Me". Lots of fun poked at Scandinavians, cold winters, little towns in MN, marriage and romance and a few other topics. Lots of corny little songs like "I'm A Walleye Woman in a Crappie Town" and "I Want to go to The Mall of America".

Saturday AM it was up to Froyum's Sports just West of Zumbrota to look over some firearms with an eye toward picking up potentially the "last of an era" with potential gun bans likely if the outcome of the election is as expected. Froyum's is just "a bit" off the beaten path so to speak, and the organizational structure of the store is "eclectic" shall we say, but Eric and his wife are folks for whom guns and shooting are a passion and not just a business. Besides, their "shop cat" is very friendly!

Gander Mountain got my Remington 870 20GA drilled and I mounted my Bushnell Red Dot and headed out to the range. I keep forgetting how much shotguns kick ... I put a lot of slugs through the Remington and my single shot rifled 20 GA backup open sight backup gun, but by the end of the day I was feeling confident and did a little "recreational shooting".

I took the Bushmaster .223 out with some 2 new 20 round and a 30 round Brownells magazine that I had picked up in the AM. Was shooting Wolf steel jacket rounds that are nice and cheap and everything fed through the gun with no problems. I got into the 30 round mag, had an "orange peel" target out at 50 yds and started working on my rapid fire. It is clear why they worry about "assault weapons" ... very little kick, lots of sound, but with the slotted muzzle brake keeping it on target as fast as one can pull the trigger is relatively easy. It tore the bull out of the target and it looked like 25+ of the rounds made it through inside the rings--maybe more, some of the holes were clearly multiple rounds. As I set it down with a nice warm barrell I got a round of whoops and cheers from folks at adjoining benches. In at least that crowd, the "Assault Rifle" is a cool toy.

Finished off the day finally watching "Office Space" after so many folks have told me that I just had to see it. It was a funny film, although I think I found it much more humorous now that I don't live in a cube any more!

Shatner On Guns

Simple, direct, gets the point across. Nice drama, poor defensive technique. Center of mass, keep firing.

Lady in CA that had been attacked and killed assailant: "Why did you fire 7 rounds into the perpetrator?"

Answer: "That was all that was in the gun".

The Case for Large Magazines

Power Line: Argument for Armed Citizenry


Lots of lefty victims in waiting like to argue that "nobody needs magazines over 10 rounds" (or even less). Sometimes there are no shortage of worthy targets and even a couple 16 round mags might be "shy" with say 9mm.

When you have 8 of the very flower of humanity that think that stomping a father trying to protect his 12 year old daughter is a great idea, it is a shame that any get to leave the scene "unbagged". How many fathers out there MIGHT be willing to try to protect their 12 year old daughter? Seems like it would be rare. Shows a lot of "courage" to call your "homes" into action when you are taking on one unarmed guy and a couple of women. Attacking a family leaving an amusement park on the 4th of July. This really DOES seem to be the beginning of some sort of "change" in America.

Why does one need an assault weapon? Because if they get your name, they might want to hunt you down to avoid your testifying against them (at least that is what the police are worried about, but I'm sure they are just paranoid). Saying "welcome to my house" with a 45 round AR magazine makes certain that even a nice size group of very limited discernment will "feel the love". The .223 in large quantity has that certain degree of unrelenting snap crackle and pop that sends the sort of pointed message that may provide a couple seconds of near comprehension of "bad idea" even to such limited minds. What a shame that full-auto isn't a legal option. We live in a day when folks have short attention spans and they may get bored waiting for all that manual trigger work to erase all their worries about being testified against.

This is off PowerLine, but the Strib FINALLY minimally covered it. They don't like to cover this kind of thing, folks may "generalize". So, if 8 whites had executed a similar attack on a black family, would that pretty much be a local news story with delayed and limited coverage (this happened on the 4th!!!)? I think the only real question would be how many "shakedown blacks" we had in town. Just the Jesse "cut the N**s nuts off" Jackson posse or Al Sharpton and the whole NAACP road show? I think it would be the complete circus -- these days you can get that group out for a doll hanging in a tree.

Author of Cathedral and Bazaar on Guns

Eric Raymond, Author or title book which is one of the seminal works of the Open Source software movement has some interesting opinions on gun ownership.

The S&W .22S

By popular demand, a picture.

A Gun Vault to "Shoot For"

Supposedly the late Charlton Heston's gun vault. Not everyone really "needs" a flamethrower, but if you can't trust Moses with one, who could you trust?

S&W .22S

I picked up my first used gun over the weekend, a S&W 5" barrel stainless (matte finish) .22 with a NcSTAR tactical "red dot" that allows me to have 4 projected sight options. Very large composite target wood grip that I REALLY liked the feel of was a major selling point, along with the full length weaver sight mounts.

Took it out to the range today and shot some of the nicest groups I've ever shot at 10 and 20 yards. The above was from 10 yards on sandbags ... just trying to see how well the GUN could do. I just forgot to put 3 in the middle and upper right I put 2 through essentially the same hole.

I'm enjoying a lot of this whole handgun experience, but I can only stand so many loud bangs with recoil. The old .22 is hard to beat for fun. I would have definitely went with the Ruger MK III hunter in SS with the fluted bull barrel if I didn't have two buddies that have that exact gun. Ruger makes one of those with a bigger grip I think that I might like just as well or better, but part of the fun of shooting is to have some different things to shoot, and it doesn't seem likely that I can really have ALL of the potentials in my own stable. Therefore, I felt a bit of a "group responsibility", coupled with the desire to add a Smith and Wesson to my stable. I already have the SP 100 Ruger .357.

I suspect there will be a lot of fun rounds put through this little gem.

Range Time SP100 First Outing

It hit 50 yesterday so I went out to the range mostly to test out the new Ruger SP100 pistol. The pics above are of my personally customized little 35 year old Ruger 10/22 however. I mounted a Nikon 2-7x scope that I was thinking of using for deer last fall on it and a custom folding pistol grip stock from Midway. I spent a little time dialing it in and then did a 25 yard fairly rapid fire at the bulls eye with 25 rounds in a magazine. Not a lot of center left, really fun little gun. Sort of a "mini assault rifle".

I don't have any targets that impressive with the SP100, but I throughly enjoyed putting 150 rounds of mixed .38, .38+P and .357 Mag through it. I feel as confident as the .9mm XD right out of the box with it, and I'm having the same "low side of target" shooting problem with the SP100 as I do with the XD, so it seems certain that we are talking "operator error". I'm anticipating the shot. Both .38 and +P are a joy to shoot with the heft of the gun and the grip size, and while .357 isn't a "joy", it certainly can be done without much pain, although I suspect that it will be more of a novelty unless I decide to pack it along on a hike in black bear / mountain lion country. It seems like .38+p is one heck of a solid self defense round.

No buyers remorse whatsoever, one simply MUST have at least one revolver, and .357 mag with all the versatility of rounds available seems the obvious choice. Having shot the GP100 with a 6" barrel vs my 2" barrel, it is clear that for accuracy on targets the 6" is a big advantage, but the ability to easily carry concealed with the SP100 seems worth the trade-off to me. Great little gun.

Bitterly Clinging

Slightly in honor of BO (but mostly in honor of the $100 off a $500 purchase to Cabella's credit card holders), I journeyed to Cabella's this evening and purchased a new Ruger SP 101 .357 Mag, stainless 5 shot revolver with a 2" barrel. I have a fairly wide hand, so a lot of the smaller pistols don't fit my hand, and I can't "bitterly cling" as securely as I would like. This little number lets me get a good hold so that BO will have to work some to pry my cold dead fingers off the 2nd amendment. Hopefully I'll be reporting on how it shoots this weekend.



While I'm at my reporting, I picked up a folding composite stock for my 35+ year old Ruger 10/22 that has 1000s of rounds fired through it, and at least in my youth, not always the BEST of care. I pulled the Nikon 2-7X scope off a slug gun, picked up a few 30-round mags, and wala, a pretty cool little plinking gun. My wife has already laughed at it, but a few folks have walked over at the range to indicate appreciation and questions of "what is that"?

The guy that sold the pistol to me at Cabella's was a 2-tour to Iraq Marine. He didn't seem all that bitter about the Iraq war, but I'm sure he was just hiding it well! BO, Hillary and the whole MSM can't possibly be wrong that it is a hopeless waste of lives based on lies -- because we know that they would CERTAINLY be taking the views of ex-Marines that served as a very high indicator of the truth. Right? I mean, to even question Kerry the war hero of Vietnam in '04 was the HEIGHT of "unpatriotic", so we know that a guy that has been back less than a year (as opposed to 30+) would have pretty good recollections of anything "seared into his brain".

Facists On Guns

The Supreme Court heard arguments today in the "Heller Case" about the handgun ban in DC. One realizes very quickly that the gun issue isn't very rational -- the crime rate in DC very high and rising. Does that lead one to believe that a ban on citizens owning guns works? I guess it does if you are a criminal or a liberal (sometimes the difference can be hard to discern).

Here is a nice little Op Ed in USA today on the subject.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The fact that ALL American's don't inherently know what that means is beyond idiocy to me:

1. How can ANYONE believe that our founding fathers thought there needed to be something in the Constitution so the MILITIA could have guns? The idea was to FORM the militia from private citizens with guns. That is how they raised their armies in those days.
   
2. Has ANYONE read Jefferson? "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." The right to bear arms is EXPLICITLY in there to allow the PEOPLE to put together militias to ATTACK the Government! Those guys just fought a revolution against oppressive government. They understood the truth that power corrupts very well. They built a government full of checks and balances -- an armed populace was seen by them as just one more check. They well understood that liberty was something that was likely to require citizens to die to protect from time to time. They also understood that an armed populace just might deter some of the tyrants.
   
3. The Constitution was ratified in 1789, does ANYONE believe it would have been ratified if people thought that their guns could be taken away legally by the Federal government under that document?
   

Those are the painfully obvious points. People are constantly getting "right and left" mixed up in this country because the media insists that "right is bad, left is good". Actually, left means big government and little liberty, right means little government and big liberty. The only "liberty" that you get on the left is "liberty" from individual responsibility, morality beyond what the state decrees, and religion. Nazi Germany was LEFT, not RIGHT ... it was the National SOCIALIST Party. The left likes to call it "right" because it was supposedly "patriotic" (and of course evil)-only, really it was only "pro-Nazi" and white supremacist. Sort of like Obama is Black Supremacist. Folks like to claim that it was "the RIGHT" that was racist and Jim Crow. Actually it was DEMOCRATS. Roosevelt held power by supporting Jim Crow! Yes, yes, Eleanor gave a few speeches, but FDR did nothing to do away with Jim Crow, and the people that made threats on her life were ALL DEMOCRATS. Being a Republican in the South for a long time was about as popular as being Jewish, Catholic or Black.

There are plenty of racist lefties -- Hitler, Obama, Mao, Stalin, etc. Being racist has NOTHING to do with being "right wing".

What do Nazi's have to do with guns? Well, just like other lefties -- USSR, China, etc, one of the first things they like to do is round up the guns. The idea of an armed populace doing a little refreshment of the tree of liberty with their tyrant blood isn't all that appealing to them.

So, back to USA today:

"Banning civilian ownership of all automatic weapons and all semiautomatic weapons that hold more than six rounds of ammunition. Six rounds is enough for any serious hunter, let alone a gangbanger."

"A ban with no loopholes or grandfather clauses on any gun that doesn't meet these standards or isn't brought into compliance within two years, with the penalty thereafter of a hefty prison term for anyone found with such weapons."

"An improvised explosive device is a weapon of terror; so is a military-style assault rifle in a civilian's hands. It's time we treated them the same, and the Supreme Court is not going to be of much help on that."

So, I have a 10/22 that is semi-automatic and intrinsically holds 10 rounds in it's magazine. It ought to be banned and I ought to go to prison if I don't give it up? I'm not even sure an IED is a "weapon of terror" -- is C4? is a grenade? Any CAN be, but I see nothing intrinsic in either the IED or an assault rifle. How about a semi loaded with liquid natural gas? How about an airplane?

One can tell a facist because they see "civilians". We are CITIZENS, we are the PEOPLE from which what government we have is to receive it's power. The government is to have it's power at our pleasure, not the other way around. Weapons in the hands of the wrong government have FAR more terror potential than weapons in the hands of CITIZENS.

Concealed Carry

Over the weekend my wife and I completed the MN Concealed Carry and Utah Supplement Classes from MN Pistol Class their schedule fit ours and I think the material was covered well and relatively efficiently. The shooting portion of the class was taken at the Circle Pines location of Bill's Gunshop and Range which was a nice indoor range and included the ability to rent and shoot a fairly broad range of pistols to see if those were the gun for you.

The classes consist of basic pistol safety, minimal tactics for self defense and a lot of information on the laws and questions of if you really want to carry a pistol at all. The "chain of requirements" for use of deadly force in self defense is drilled extensively:

1. You are a reluctant participant - you in NO WAY instigated the situation, and as soon as it is possible to disengage, you do. No "chasing an assailant".
2. Imminent threat of Death or "great bodily harm" - and it better pretty much be death, rape doesn't count as "great bodily harm".
3. No lesser force will do - Don't carry pepper spray and a gun. If you shoot somebody and didn't try the pepper spray first, you will fail this one.
   
4. Escape is not possible - If you can get away, you HAVE to, at least in MN. In some other states you are allowed to stand your ground.
   

In your home, the restrictions are relaxed A LITTLE, but not much. You are NOT allowed to "protect your property". The use of deadly force is to protect your life, and you had better consider that you will have to defend that choice in front of a jury of cud-chewers that probably don't like you having the ability to defend yourself at all and would likely have more sympathy with the dead criminal than you--no doubt he would vote Democrat if he were not a dead felon with 9mm slugs in place of a heart, but might be able to vote in the future in either Chicago (under "rights of the dead") or be raised from the dead if Obama is elected.

We passed, so the permit applications will be going to to both MN and Utah for one of us and Utah for the other. The reason for getting the MN permit is that it also acts as a permit to buy a pistol for 5 years. The reason for getting a Utah permit is that there is no re-take on the class required in 5 years, it renews for $10 where MN requires you to re-take the course PLUS yet another $100 fee

My major impressions from the class:

• Other than my wife and I, the other 4 people in class were current or ex military, and the instructor was ex-military and ex-police. Apparently military folks feel comfortable being able to carry.
  
• The instructor made the comment that there are 3 kinds of people; sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. He clearly left out Mooses, but I'd say the comparison is similar with the sheep dogs. The sheep are as expected. Their odds of being a victim are low so they choose to believe they are zero. They assume that someone else (police) will protect them. They decide to believe that they are incapable or that it is unwise to try to protect themselves. The wolves are as expected. They understand sheep well, and look for opportunity for a tasty lunch. Sheep dogs would just as soon there were no problems, but they are the kind of folks that have to look at reality as it is and tend to be responsible for themselves, and even others if required.
  
• Police are there to SERVE the state, and "protect" if they have time, there are enough officers, they are an especially good cop, or other considerations. They are a "Law Enforcement Officer", and often forget that the law abiding public is made up of citizens that are their employer, not "civilians". At least in a CC state, there is an alternative to being a sheep. In MN there are around 100K permit holders, but only 2K police. The criminals odds of being confronted with an armed adversary are something like 50x higher in a CC MN rather than in a mostly sheep MN.
  
• The whole "movie gun use", plus lack of exposure to hunting and even war leads most of the sheep to have a poor understanding of what guns can and can't do. They don't repeal the laws of physics-if they had the power to stop, turn around and throw through the air a 200lb man, they would break your arm when you fired them. Every action still has an equal reaction. I blew half the heart away on the deer that I shot last fall and it jumped and ran 30 yards or so. An assailant that is shooting at you is very likely to keep shooting as you put rounds in him, it is a good idea to have a reasonable caliber (.38 or better) and a decent number of rounds.

The horrible news here is that the .32 Tomcat was likely not the best CC gun purchase, so now we have to trek to Cabelas, Gander and other gun locations in search of a small light .38 Special +p or better revolver. Darn. I really hate looking for guns, and I suppose I'll have to shoot it some too! Life is hard.

Bushmaster

Went with a buddy to pick up his Bushmaster "Patrollman" today, but it turned out that it had not arrived at the gun shop yet. Big disappointment. We managed to spend some time punching holes in paper with our array of handguns (mostly his, but who is counting!;-) ) . I got the opportunity to shoot his .44 Mag, formerly "the most powerful handgun in the world". It has been exceeded now, but it is still PLENTY powerful, with a good deal of kick for me. It would take a lot of rounds before I became comfortable with that gun. It is a VERY cool Ruger revolver model, it is just that I'm not man enough to shoot it well yet.

For some odd reason, I also seemed to have developed a "pull to the right flinch" with my 9mm. Oh well, guess I'll just have to practice more. We were shooting an honest 25 yards today, and whatever I said about our first foray out, it was MUCH shorter than we were shooting today. I suspect that we were only shooting 10 yds before, BIG difference.

I also got a chance to shoot his Taurus 1911 frame .45. BIG hole, plenty of recoil, but nothing like the .44 Mag. Very much a style of gun in the running for "sometime" in my collection.

We took a target out to 75yds and got out my Remington 742 30-06 and each shot a 4 shot group. Hadn't fired that gun in over 20 years, but I'd kept it cleaned and oiled over the years and gave it a little TLC last night in prep for today. It shot very accurate, it seemed to want to jam on the final shot in the clip -- I'd guess that I need some new clips, the gun is 32 years old, that could have something to do with it.

Anyway, I couldn't resist picking up a new Bushmaster "shorty". They move their model numbers around quite a bit, but mine is an XM15-E2S, which looks an awful lot like this current model. In fact, it looks identical.

So why "an assault weapon"? The reasons are:

• Mostly because I've wanted to shoot one since I was a little kid and they look extremely "military". I can't afford a Hummer, F-16, or a tank, so this will have to cover my little boy immature army fantasies.
  
• It shoots .223 and NATO 5.56mm rounds. I picked up Wolf .223 at 20/$7 and some off-brand 5.56mm for 20/$10. I have hopes that in bulk I can be running at 20/$6 or less. In contrast, the cheapest I could get 30-06 for was 20/$22.
  
• It has a 30-shot clip. When punching holes in paper, there isn't any advantage in having to switch clips more.
  
• It is very light -- something like 6lbs.
  
• It is SUPPOSED to be very accurate and have very little recoil.
  
• Did I say it "has that look"?
  
• It may be the last chance I have to ever get one. I know, I know, Democrats are HUGE supporters of ALL the rights found in the Constitution-like the right to Abortion, the right to a completely private call a terrorist of your choice, and of course the COMPLETE right to not have any kind of government spying WO a warrant, as in they would NEVER support having your company send a W2 form of your pay unless they could obtain "probable cause" that you were cheating on your taxes! They are SO trustworthy that I'm SURE that they would never try to infringe on a right that is directly listed in the constitution!
  

Now I have another reason to be very anxious for some warmer weather!

Ballistics

Ballistic and price comparisons of some common pistol rounds.

Some conclusions to date:

• 9mm Price/Performance can't be beat for a "real gun".
• The good old .22 is AMAZING on price, velocity and even energy.
• A Glock 32 or Sig Sauer 250 shooting the .357 Sig seems like a "must have"! The current ammo price listed is Cabela's bulk (so I bet I find it cheaper), it is easy to see why CIA, SS, Seals, FBI, etc have almost all gone .357 Sig
• The .38 Special / .357 Mag setup in a revolver is still an excellent option

Caliber	Wt(gr)	Speed(fps)	Energy(ft-lb)	Cost/100
.22Rem	36	1280	131	$2
.32Auto	71	900	128	$38
.38Spc+P	125	945	248	$25
.380Auto	95	955	190	$26
.40	165	1060	412	$22
9mm	115	1190	362	$16
.357Mag	125	1450	583	$56
.357Sig	115	1564	624	$38
.44Mag	180	1610	1036	$58
.45ACP	230	835	356	$58

Prey?

Imagine how long this would take if you were listening to an assilant work their way up to your bedroom. Imagine how long it would take if you were unarmed.