I am not sure what the hell it is about freeways but its like every tardling out there just seems to get in the damned way.
There are two lanes or more going one way on a freeway. They are to pass other people, then move the hell back over in to the right most lane of traffic. If you are making people pass you on the right because your too stupid, fat, lazy, or just that damned big of a jackass, please just drive your car in to a tree. Get the hell over or get the hell out of the way.
Also, pick a damned speed. Set the cruise control and stop speeding up and slowing down at random times. If your car does not have a cruise control and you can not maintain your speed with in one to two miles an hour, please, pull the car off the road, get out of it, and light it on fire and never ever get behind the wheel again. (I know if your towing something or other factors can make that difficult)
Also for the jackasses on two lane roads.
You know who you are, you hammerheads that speed up in a passing zone so that I can not reasonably pass you, but then drop to say 45 in a 55 in a no passing zone. Get off the damned road then jackwipes.
Signals are on a car for a reason. Try using them when your shifting lanes. Or if your turning off of a road period.
On to more pleasant things, the Lady had arrived and the trip wasn't too bad, though O'hare is full of rude people as always.
Tomorrow we will be headed to Milwaukee so that she can do her work tomorrow evening in the various gaming stores and such on Tuesday night anyway.
Tomorrow night we shall meet up with one of my old army buddys from teh first deployment if all goes well.
Wednesday we will hit the MADtown area, hopefully find some Sushi or the like, and continue letting her work, on in to Wednesday where we will wrap up the working portions of things, or Thursday maybe. Friday for sure however we will get out to go shooting, I'm looking forward to it as is she. Curious to see how she handles the AR15, and the Sig 229.
Regardless I know she will expend a large amount of my .45ACP inventory and a good portion of my .22 LR inventory out of the 1911, and I'm sure we both will have a great time.
Currently I'm feeling somewhat relaxed, with some zucchini and tomatoes steamed together, fresh steamed green beans and some apple wood smoked thick sliced bacon wrapped beef tenderloins for dinner, the tenderloins topped with mushrooms, onions and artichokes. Not a bad meal at all for 12 total dollars.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Imma snagging this idea from Jay G... Top ten list.
So I had a thought today of what perhaps the top ten ionic fire arms are today for Americans for one reason or another, that everyone should have the chance to fire, even if its just for one day, now while I'm sure everyone will have a slightly modified list here and even on a different given day my list will perhaps change but these I feel are a good solid shoe in on any given day. These weapons will be from the last century, at least actively employed in warfare by us or against us, or in plain civilian life.
Here goes, oh and the one exempting factor. Since Class 3 Firearms are only available to those of us that have done military service or some sorts of police work those fire arms are off of the list, at least if they only come in a Class 3 Variant. Belt fed semi autos Ill include with that as the price range of those systems takes them out of the average shooters availability.
In no particular order...
1. AK 47, or at least the civilian clones there of. It is the weapon nearly everyone pictures from Vietnam forward that defines armed conflict, and the sheer millions of these weapons out there assure that we will continue to see them for some time to come. They define movies and every single bad stereotype out there for Assault Weapons, but the civilian legal versions... (Well at least in -some- states) are quite a bit of fun to shoot, and ammunition is easy to get and cheap.
2. M16/AR15/AR 10, Again the civilian legal variants of these. Soft, easy shooting, reliable now days, and they define the tinker and personalize your rifle like no other. Also the bit of infamy they have as a relic of the Vietnam fielding days adds to the interest or hatred of these weapons. Now days you can have them in nearly any caliber size for any role.
3. .38 special snub nose revolver. What police movie or PI movie made before the 1980's doesn't have one of these in it? Either Bad guy or good guy? These in the Colt, or Smith and Wesson flavor defined concealed carry or back up guns or stereotypically "ladies" guns for decades. Tricky to fire well and master they still should at least be tried by everyone once.
4. Beretta 92/M9. No other pistol has caused so much controversy in the armed services as this weapon. (God did I hate fixing them too) But these seemed to be the weapons that the police took to in the change over from revolvers, and the movies followed suit. Easy shooting and high capacity defining love or hate they heralded a change over in American Military thinking for side arms and the police as well, followed up by...
5. Glock 17. The polymer framed pistol. Initially offered it created a media panic. "OMG plastic gunz with no metal, you cant detect them!!!!11111" it soon found a to this day loyal following with many many police departments. It took a few years but the rest of the public soon took to polymer and the revolution started by Glock continues to this day.
6 1911A1 .45. The Yankee fist as it took to being called, it fought in every conflict for the United States to this day, at least with some special forces, it was brought in to play in the M1911 form for WW1, Modified slightly in time for WW2 where so many were made that they stopped all production after that war, and continued using rebuilt and rebuilt again pistols all the way in to the 90's in some National Guard units, and Still the basic design remains with some Special Forces units in Iraq, and Afghanistan. It is considered the pistol which all other combat designs are still measured against.
7 M1 Garand. The partner to the M1911A1 this was the first seriously fielded successful Semi Automatic Battle rifle. It fought in two wars in general issue, and a limited extent in Vietnam.
These next three are more a basic operating system than anything but they still are iconic in the success of the basic principals of how these work.
8. Pump action Shotgun. There are many many good makers of these shotguns in many different gages. Find one, shoot it.
9. Bolt Action hunting rifles by Browning, Winchester, or Remington. These things still sell tens of thousands a year. These basic actions are the building blocks for custom rifles, super accurate sniper rifle systems and have killed hundreds of thousands of deer every year. Most of these are based off some WW1 or 2 Weapon, Mauser generally but the basic principals of how they work are the same. Every single caliber that you can think of has a Bolt Action chambered for it somewhere.
10. This next one is going to get a dual credit. The Double Action Revolver, made most famous for the .38 Special and .357 Magnum Cambering it is also in damn near every police movie out there till the 80's.
Ill give two honorable mentions.
The Lever action rifle. Its more of a relic of the Western movies, it still lives on, in various forms, by various makes today in the hunting camps around the country.
Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum AKA Dirty Harry Fame. Someone mentions a magnum and that still tends to be what they think of because of the "most powerful hand gun in the world"
Here goes, oh and the one exempting factor. Since Class 3 Firearms are only available to those of us that have done military service or some sorts of police work those fire arms are off of the list, at least if they only come in a Class 3 Variant. Belt fed semi autos Ill include with that as the price range of those systems takes them out of the average shooters availability.
In no particular order...
1. AK 47, or at least the civilian clones there of. It is the weapon nearly everyone pictures from Vietnam forward that defines armed conflict, and the sheer millions of these weapons out there assure that we will continue to see them for some time to come. They define movies and every single bad stereotype out there for Assault Weapons, but the civilian legal versions... (Well at least in -some- states) are quite a bit of fun to shoot, and ammunition is easy to get and cheap.
2. M16/AR15/AR 10, Again the civilian legal variants of these. Soft, easy shooting, reliable now days, and they define the tinker and personalize your rifle like no other. Also the bit of infamy they have as a relic of the Vietnam fielding days adds to the interest or hatred of these weapons. Now days you can have them in nearly any caliber size for any role.
3. .38 special snub nose revolver. What police movie or PI movie made before the 1980's doesn't have one of these in it? Either Bad guy or good guy? These in the Colt, or Smith and Wesson flavor defined concealed carry or back up guns or stereotypically "ladies" guns for decades. Tricky to fire well and master they still should at least be tried by everyone once.
4. Beretta 92/M9. No other pistol has caused so much controversy in the armed services as this weapon. (God did I hate fixing them too) But these seemed to be the weapons that the police took to in the change over from revolvers, and the movies followed suit. Easy shooting and high capacity defining love or hate they heralded a change over in American Military thinking for side arms and the police as well, followed up by...
5. Glock 17. The polymer framed pistol. Initially offered it created a media panic. "OMG plastic gunz with no metal, you cant detect them!!!!11111" it soon found a to this day loyal following with many many police departments. It took a few years but the rest of the public soon took to polymer and the revolution started by Glock continues to this day.
6 1911A1 .45. The Yankee fist as it took to being called, it fought in every conflict for the United States to this day, at least with some special forces, it was brought in to play in the M1911 form for WW1, Modified slightly in time for WW2 where so many were made that they stopped all production after that war, and continued using rebuilt and rebuilt again pistols all the way in to the 90's in some National Guard units, and Still the basic design remains with some Special Forces units in Iraq, and Afghanistan. It is considered the pistol which all other combat designs are still measured against.
7 M1 Garand. The partner to the M1911A1 this was the first seriously fielded successful Semi Automatic Battle rifle. It fought in two wars in general issue, and a limited extent in Vietnam.
These next three are more a basic operating system than anything but they still are iconic in the success of the basic principals of how these work.
8. Pump action Shotgun. There are many many good makers of these shotguns in many different gages. Find one, shoot it.
9. Bolt Action hunting rifles by Browning, Winchester, or Remington. These things still sell tens of thousands a year. These basic actions are the building blocks for custom rifles, super accurate sniper rifle systems and have killed hundreds of thousands of deer every year. Most of these are based off some WW1 or 2 Weapon, Mauser generally but the basic principals of how they work are the same. Every single caliber that you can think of has a Bolt Action chambered for it somewhere.
10. This next one is going to get a dual credit. The Double Action Revolver, made most famous for the .38 Special and .357 Magnum Cambering it is also in damn near every police movie out there till the 80's.
Ill give two honorable mentions.
The Lever action rifle. Its more of a relic of the Western movies, it still lives on, in various forms, by various makes today in the hunting camps around the country.
Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum AKA Dirty Harry Fame. Someone mentions a magnum and that still tends to be what they think of because of the "most powerful hand gun in the world"
And I'm claimed.
Jay G, over at MArooned has claimed me as one of the blog children. Though I may question his judgement in that;) Seriously though, its a good read, bit of everything over there and enough rage and spite at political idiocy and gun laws that if that energy was able to be harnessed, it would solve the nations energy needs for decades to come.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Hurricanes and such..
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-charlotte/north-carolina-governor-suspends-gun-rights
Seems that in a state of emergency here the second amendment can be suspended at will.
This is a troubling thing, no matter if its the state legislature that enacts these laws or really who ever puts them in to play and acts upon them.
So... you can stand your ground at least upon your own property but god damn if your neighbors need help in a dire situation you can be turned in to a criminal for helping or carrying anything off your own property, or outside your home.
This is troubling sort of situation in regards that in any state of emergency your constitutional rights are suspended.
Now I can understand that you don't want roving gangs pillaging a wasted countryside. You want to be able to say its against the law to loot or...,... wait a second. Is it not already illegal to do these things? I'm pretty sure that its easy to identify a group or an individual robbing an electronic store. That however is already illegal. So in theory here if you for some reason were getting ready to vacate an area and decided upon protecting yourself your now a criminal for having weapons with you? Really?
Oddly enough for some reason I'm reminded of when Katrina hit No. I was in Camp Navistar Kuwait at the time, we had just hit ground and were assuming our mission of convoy security for missions on all points in Iraq. I sat in the dining hall watching the media coverage of the disaster and it was CNN, and the female reporter was commenting on much of the pillaging and looting. "Oh these people are with out supplies and basic needs, yet as she did that the camera panned out to show a couple individuals making off with a big flat screen TV. Did appear that much of the looting going on was for basic needs at that point, just seemed to be a number of people were taking advantage of the absence of law to take what they wanted.
My observations in events such as this breaks firearm possession down in to two distinct groups.
One the group that was using them to further their own means by robbery, pillaging or general trouble. The other group is people either defending what they have a right to defend, or at times banding together to defend neighborhoods and the like.
There are very few people that I know that want to kill or cause harm, but they have no trouble defending what they have a right to.
And this goes beyond situations of a natural disaster. I would be greatly happy if I never once had to fire a shot at anyone, no matter how deserving of it in the totality of my life. I was fortunate enough that though two Army deployments that I did not have to do that. But if I had no other choice to defend either myself or a anyone around me, Either in my own home or someone in the general public? God yes. I wouldn't think twice of doing so.
General terms police do a hell of a job, but when called to a scene they are a reactionary sort of thing, or whom ever it may be that is able to answer your call. In a natural disaster sort of thing when you are either disarmed in the situation for many people in the aftermath of Katrina or have no means of defense, your relying on the ability first off to call for the police, and the ability that they can get to you in time.
There was a case, and for the life of me I can not remember the details but it broke down that someone brought a lawsuit against a police department for not responding in time to stop a crime. (If memory serves me it was a violent crime) Basically the judgement was right in the fact that the police could not be held responsible for not getting there in time to prevent the crime. Now while I understand that, in some situations, police can be several minutes to a half an hour away. That isn't their fault so long as they upon receiving the call have done all they can to get there. And they do just that. Time and time again and its a thankless job. But you are the first line of defense in your home, and often times the last. In no way am I advocating vigilante justice. Let the police and criminal system do their job. But I know for a fact that if something happened in my home I would love any and all help neighbors could give to me in the time that it may take for a police officer to arrive. Or who ever it may be.
Stripping us of a basic right because of an "emergency situation" is a very dangerous thing. What else can they suspend in a disaster? That is a very broad thing. Could that not be attributed to a drought or something that goes beyond a quick happening storm? Perhaps I am not reading this right. However its a dangerous sort of situation where when it is not convenient you can have rights stripped away. Any of them.
All of them.
Seems that in a state of emergency here the second amendment can be suspended at will.
This is a troubling thing, no matter if its the state legislature that enacts these laws or really who ever puts them in to play and acts upon them.
So... you can stand your ground at least upon your own property but god damn if your neighbors need help in a dire situation you can be turned in to a criminal for helping or carrying anything off your own property, or outside your home.
This is troubling sort of situation in regards that in any state of emergency your constitutional rights are suspended.
Now I can understand that you don't want roving gangs pillaging a wasted countryside. You want to be able to say its against the law to loot or...,... wait a second. Is it not already illegal to do these things? I'm pretty sure that its easy to identify a group or an individual robbing an electronic store. That however is already illegal. So in theory here if you for some reason were getting ready to vacate an area and decided upon protecting yourself your now a criminal for having weapons with you? Really?
Oddly enough for some reason I'm reminded of when Katrina hit No. I was in Camp Navistar Kuwait at the time, we had just hit ground and were assuming our mission of convoy security for missions on all points in Iraq. I sat in the dining hall watching the media coverage of the disaster and it was CNN, and the female reporter was commenting on much of the pillaging and looting. "Oh these people are with out supplies and basic needs, yet as she did that the camera panned out to show a couple individuals making off with a big flat screen TV. Did appear that much of the looting going on was for basic needs at that point, just seemed to be a number of people were taking advantage of the absence of law to take what they wanted.
My observations in events such as this breaks firearm possession down in to two distinct groups.
One the group that was using them to further their own means by robbery, pillaging or general trouble. The other group is people either defending what they have a right to defend, or at times banding together to defend neighborhoods and the like.
There are very few people that I know that want to kill or cause harm, but they have no trouble defending what they have a right to.
And this goes beyond situations of a natural disaster. I would be greatly happy if I never once had to fire a shot at anyone, no matter how deserving of it in the totality of my life. I was fortunate enough that though two Army deployments that I did not have to do that. But if I had no other choice to defend either myself or a anyone around me, Either in my own home or someone in the general public? God yes. I wouldn't think twice of doing so.
General terms police do a hell of a job, but when called to a scene they are a reactionary sort of thing, or whom ever it may be that is able to answer your call. In a natural disaster sort of thing when you are either disarmed in the situation for many people in the aftermath of Katrina or have no means of defense, your relying on the ability first off to call for the police, and the ability that they can get to you in time.
There was a case, and for the life of me I can not remember the details but it broke down that someone brought a lawsuit against a police department for not responding in time to stop a crime. (If memory serves me it was a violent crime) Basically the judgement was right in the fact that the police could not be held responsible for not getting there in time to prevent the crime. Now while I understand that, in some situations, police can be several minutes to a half an hour away. That isn't their fault so long as they upon receiving the call have done all they can to get there. And they do just that. Time and time again and its a thankless job. But you are the first line of defense in your home, and often times the last. In no way am I advocating vigilante justice. Let the police and criminal system do their job. But I know for a fact that if something happened in my home I would love any and all help neighbors could give to me in the time that it may take for a police officer to arrive. Or who ever it may be.
Stripping us of a basic right because of an "emergency situation" is a very dangerous thing. What else can they suspend in a disaster? That is a very broad thing. Could that not be attributed to a drought or something that goes beyond a quick happening storm? Perhaps I am not reading this right. However its a dangerous sort of situation where when it is not convenient you can have rights stripped away. Any of them.
All of them.
The Firearms community.
One of my observations over the past few years has been the affect that the Internet has had on the gun community as a whole.
It has done a lot to tie us all together, and bring out the general good nature of those out there. Yes there are a few of those that will persist in giving all of us a bad name, Thank you Main Stream Media, or perhaps Urine Stream Media is a better name for a good portion of them.
However over all I feel that the Internet has been an incredible thing to the shooting sports as a whole. It has illustrated the fact that how many of us are helpful, always sharing advice from troubleshooting, Handloading, Casting, training, and so much more. Its brought us as a community much closer together and shown that there are those of us from all walks of life, from the gaming geeks, to the Vets, those of us that are sitting on a large collection of firearms to those that just may have one or two. Everyone is out there now and we are communicating. The old stereotype of the illiterate booze swilling redneck is slowly being eroded away. Indeed much like the alternative media movement taking the world by storm, so too is the Shooting Sports movement. We are able to share information, both in ownership related activity's to the political realm, to get that information out there on bad bills that would further restrict every ones rights. Where as even 15 years ago where many of these bills were flying under the radar and getting passed with little information out there, today they are posted and blogged about almost instantaneously.
The amount of information out there though the millions of firearm owners, in both the United States, and the world at large is staggering. And its getting put out there. There are so many owners willing to help each other with nearly anything that at times it can be overwhelming. And Its by and large a very good thing.
It has done a lot to tie us all together, and bring out the general good nature of those out there. Yes there are a few of those that will persist in giving all of us a bad name, Thank you Main Stream Media, or perhaps Urine Stream Media is a better name for a good portion of them.
However over all I feel that the Internet has been an incredible thing to the shooting sports as a whole. It has illustrated the fact that how many of us are helpful, always sharing advice from troubleshooting, Handloading, Casting, training, and so much more. Its brought us as a community much closer together and shown that there are those of us from all walks of life, from the gaming geeks, to the Vets, those of us that are sitting on a large collection of firearms to those that just may have one or two. Everyone is out there now and we are communicating. The old stereotype of the illiterate booze swilling redneck is slowly being eroded away. Indeed much like the alternative media movement taking the world by storm, so too is the Shooting Sports movement. We are able to share information, both in ownership related activity's to the political realm, to get that information out there on bad bills that would further restrict every ones rights. Where as even 15 years ago where many of these bills were flying under the radar and getting passed with little information out there, today they are posted and blogged about almost instantaneously.
The amount of information out there though the millions of firearm owners, in both the United States, and the world at large is staggering. And its getting put out there. There are so many owners willing to help each other with nearly anything that at times it can be overwhelming. And Its by and large a very good thing.
More on the nuts..
The nutjob that took hostages yesterday at Discovery Channels HQ's and another one from this year, Amy Bishop that shot three people on a collage campus brings out a point that does not seem to get fairly addressed.
While these two individuals were violent and homicidal manics, the fact of them getting called crazed gunmen, by the MSM is rather irksome. A nutjob is a nutjob no matter what sort of affiliation they have with anything. But say these two individuals were a white male? Why they would be called redneck throwback NRA loving uncle screwing caveman just waiting to to burn a few crosses and wave a Nazi flag about. Never mind that Amy Bishop apparently murdered her own brother and got away with it till she murdered three more people. So much for gun control working in THAT case. Point being is that there was not a large national attention or push to ban, restrict or otherwise add more gun control laws to the books after the Amy Bishop incident. In fact, how often do you hear of the Amy Bishop incident these days? There was a shooting spree where a black man went after his employers after they asked him to resign for theft. They had it on camera that he was stealing and they still gave him a chance at a fresh slate elsewhere. Their thanks? He shot 8 of them if memory serves me. No national out cry there either.
There seems to be a large disconnect with reporting, if its a white man its all over the news, anyone else, not so much, or there are cries of racism, sexism, hejustwasentlovedenoughisms..
Its a horrible event that any single one of these situations unfolds. But making apologies for it, or covering up the race. (Here is a history quiz folks, The Beltway "Sniper" Pair that inflicted so much terror. How long did it take to come out that the suspects were black?) does nothing to stop these acts. Using these as a platform to create more hysteria about firearms, a non existent race war does sell papers though I suppose to the masses that will read that sort of drivel.
While these two individuals were violent and homicidal manics, the fact of them getting called crazed gunmen, by the MSM is rather irksome. A nutjob is a nutjob no matter what sort of affiliation they have with anything. But say these two individuals were a white male? Why they would be called redneck throwback NRA loving uncle screwing caveman just waiting to to burn a few crosses and wave a Nazi flag about. Never mind that Amy Bishop apparently murdered her own brother and got away with it till she murdered three more people. So much for gun control working in THAT case. Point being is that there was not a large national attention or push to ban, restrict or otherwise add more gun control laws to the books after the Amy Bishop incident. In fact, how often do you hear of the Amy Bishop incident these days? There was a shooting spree where a black man went after his employers after they asked him to resign for theft. They had it on camera that he was stealing and they still gave him a chance at a fresh slate elsewhere. Their thanks? He shot 8 of them if memory serves me. No national out cry there either.
There seems to be a large disconnect with reporting, if its a white man its all over the news, anyone else, not so much, or there are cries of racism, sexism, hejustwasentlovedenoughisms..
Its a horrible event that any single one of these situations unfolds. But making apologies for it, or covering up the race. (Here is a history quiz folks, The Beltway "Sniper" Pair that inflicted so much terror. How long did it take to come out that the suspects were black?) does nothing to stop these acts. Using these as a platform to create more hysteria about firearms, a non existent race war does sell papers though I suppose to the masses that will read that sort of drivel.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Eco nuts strike again..
Well it seems that some freak tried to take the Discovery channels headquarters hostage.
Seemed he was quite pissed that the Discovery Channel was not implementing his thoughts on how to cure the planet, promote Al Gore's idiocy and such.
Why if this guy was however or a conservative fashion this would be unending. Calls for blame would be passed out to anyone that this guy claimed to have been influenced by.
But since he was coming from the other side of that fence how quickly will this be swept away and said its an isolated incident.
Thankfully no one was hurt other than the man that committed the hostage taking himself.
Seemed he was quite pissed that the Discovery Channel was not implementing his thoughts on how to cure the planet, promote Al Gore's idiocy and such.
Why if this guy was however or a conservative fashion this would be unending. Calls for blame would be passed out to anyone that this guy claimed to have been influenced by.
But since he was coming from the other side of that fence how quickly will this be swept away and said its an isolated incident.
Thankfully no one was hurt other than the man that committed the hostage taking himself.
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