Call me Ahab

posted by Caleb on Sep 25

Who thinks that progressives should “get out there” on the internet or something.

Well Laura, they are.  The problem is, they’re on our side.

posted by Caleb on Sep 25

It’s about time; apparently they seem to be resolving their infighting and actually making progress on this bill.

 The inner-party dispute, which has dismayed the leadership, was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article last Friday. And Mr. Leahy appears to have now agreed to allow Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) to take a different approach.

I am still comfortable with this bill.  As I mentioned last week, the bulk of the provisions added on by Sen. Leahy revolve around expanding concealed carry for retired cops; which again I think is a good thing.

Now, as long as this bill can survive without having some horrible riders tacked on to it, I believe that it will pass, and be a net gain for us as gun-owners.

posted by Caleb on Sep 25

Uncle directs me to (another) editorial written by Laura Washington about gun control.  You might recall Ms. Washington from previous entries, where she was complaining that the “gun-lobby” was kicking tail six ways from Sunday.  Her new editorial really isn’t much different from the old one, except this time she is entreating the “progressives” to get out there and take over the internet or something.

The national news polls suggest that the majority of Americans support more gun control.

I guess you’re not reading the same polls that I’m reading.  Saying that the majority of Americans “support more gun control” is misleading; especially when you look at the kind of questions that are often asked on these sorts of polls.

Through organizing, the Internet, and plunking down plenty of cold hard cash, the gun lobby has proven it is ready for primetime. Meanwhile, its opponents are languishing in the wee-hours of late-night local cable.

Who exactly is this “gun lobby”?  Because like Uncle, no one has offered to pay me for doing this yet - which is one of the key things that sets the pro-gun community apart from the Brady’s etc.  People like Uncle, Sebastian,  the Other Sebastian, and myself aren’t doing this for the money; we’re in it for our own personal reasons.

Marches may generate publicity, but they don’t influence decision makers. If we are going to keep pistols and assault rifles away from the playlots, family shopping malls and our colleges and universities, progressives must “bare” our arms.

You guys have tried.  Robyn Ringler, the Brady Blog, et al tried and ultimately couldn’t handle it.  The problem is that the entire anti-gun argument is based on emotion, and it doesn’t stand up.  It took nothing more than three or four dedicated posters on the Brady blog to get them to disable comments, because they were tired of the blog being used to disseminate progun information.  That’s not an “army”, it’s four guys with some free time.

The NRA has built a juggernaut of a website that networks gun advocates from hither to yon. A modest investment and some digital ingenuity could pave the way for digital networks in black churches, sororities and other civic groups in black urban America to fight back.

You know, that’s the funny thing.  The NRA didn’t build this “juggernaut”.  We built it ourselves; and contrary to popular belief, do not take our marching orders from the NRA.  While I am an NRA member, and often champion their cause, the pro-gun blog network sustains itself without some dark cabal of NRA leaders pulling our strings.  Shocking, I know.

Women and the African-American church—get them behind the keyboard, and you’ll unleash a thunderous counterpunch to the gun lovers’ old one-two.

African Americans have plenty of motivation. According to a recent report by the U.S. Justice Department, nearly half the people murdered in the United States in 2005 were black. Most lived in cities and were felled by guns. While blacks make up about 13 percent of the nation’s population, they comprised 49 percent of all murder victims.

I have a better idea - instead of targeting the implements that were used in these murders, why not target the actual cause of the crime?  Why not have those women typing letters about reducing poverty, increasing educational opportunities, and rejuvenating the inner city?  How many of those 49% of murder victims were involved in criminal or gang related activity?  Why not call your senator about the deplorable inner-city conditions in some of America’s major cities?

The anti-gun crowd has tried to embrace new media, but they did it wrong.  The new media forum thrives on discussion and open exchange, and when you create echo chambers that essentially amount to the shouting of your own ideals to no audience, you’re doing it wrong.  Like a lot of the other pro-gun community, I would welcome honest, open debate; of course I don’t think I’ll get it any time soon.

posted by Caleb on Sep 25

I am testing to see if I can post from my pda.

Seems to have worked.

posted by Caleb on Sep 24

I can’t say this in an email to the person who sent me the offending forward, so instead I’ll say it here on the intertrons.

I hate getting forwards from people.  I hate the ones that have a dire warning of some negative crap that will happen to me if I don’t send them, and I hate the ones that tell me that I will receive blessings and ponies if I do send them.  I really hate the religious chain forwards as well; somehow I sincerely doubt that hitting the “forward” button on my email will really improve my walk with God.

But I have a special kind of hatred for the chain forward that combines all three of those categories.  When you combine the “Religious” forward with the “dire warnings” forward, you get the “Dire Religious Warning”.  Throw in some blessings, and you get the Dire Blessings of Warning Religion”, which if you forward it to me automatically makes me think you’re a retard.  The following text is from a forward that some idiot at work sent me this morning.

The President of Argentina received this letter and called it “junk mail”, 8 days later his son died A man received this letter and immediately sent out copies…his surprise was winning the lottery.
Alberto Martinez received this letter, gave it to his secretary to make copies but they forgot to distribute: she lost her job and he lost his family.
This letter is miraculous and sacred, don’t forget to forward this within 13 days to at least 20 people. Do Not Forget to forward and you will receive ! a huge surprise!!

This particular piece of junk was attached to a picture of the Virgin Mary; which makes it really retarded.  Basically, this piece of email is telling you that if you don’t hit the forward button and send this crap to a bunch of people, the God Himself will cause bad things to happen to you.  How idiotic is that?

The moral of this story is that if you happen to be one of the people in possession of my email address; and you send me one of these forwards I will mock you incessantly.  Not only that, but it will lower my opinion of your relative IQ by quite a bit.

posted by Caleb on Sep 24

The Green Bay Packers are undefeated and looking sharp, The Smashing Pumpkins and Matchbox 20 both have new albums out, and there is a Clinton running for the White House.

Did I miss a memo and it’s suddenly 1996 again?

posted by Caleb on Sep 24

So I can trade a cheap $80 H&R .32 for a $100 gift card.

The Peoria Association of Pastors for Community and Spiritual Renewal offered $100 gift cards in exchange for working guns.

Just look at the guns in that picture.  It’s almost sad; I would say that nearly 90% of the “dangerous” guns collected by the authorities were 100 year old break top revolvers, turned in by little gray haired ladies who found it in their deceased husband’s sock drawer.

Which of course means that the police are going to gleefully destroy a bit more of America’s history.

I hate gun buybacks.  There is no single method that is more based on silly emotions and absolutely no logic than a gun buyback.

posted by Caleb on Sep 24

In the comments at this thread at Bitter’s, I mentioned that I support expanding nationwide reciprocity for retired police officers to carry concealed.  A couple of people seem to think that I’m taking an “Only Ones” mentality, because I’m not championing nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry holders as well.

In fact, it’s just the opposite of that.  I would love to have nationwide reciprocity for the X million CCW holders throughout the country.  But it’s not going to happen overnight; and it’s really not going to happen if we can’t get certain jurisdictions (like New York) to even allow retired cops to carry there.

Here’s how I see it - I agree that a retired cop is no different from me from a legal standpoint.  Now, when Suzy Soccermom is being told about a law that would allow retired cops to carry concealed in any jurisdiction, she’s much more amenable to that bill than she would to one that allows nationwide reciprocity for any CCW holder.  The reason she’s more open to retired cops than she is to you or me is specifically an issue of perception.

The average Joe Blow perceives that cops are responsible individuals, and because they’ve had “training” with their firearms, it somehow makes them more able to not shoot themselves in the foot or something.  So Suzy Soccermom thinks “Oh, well those retired cops have training, they’ll be fine carrying guns anywhere in the country.”

That’s step one - get the public acclimated to the basic concept of nationwide carry.  Step two is a little more complicated, because it involves demonstrating that CCW holders are just as qualified to carry guns as retired police officers, and in some cases more so.  However, the problem again is a problem of perception.  Most people don’t realize that the average CCW holder has undergone a thorough background check, and probably shoots more with his carry gun than most cops do.

In the comments of that thread at Bitter’s, it was pointed out that not a lot of traction has been made since nationwide reciprocity for cops was originally passed.  Well, who exactly do we have to blame for that?  Who out there is pointing out that in those three years, that there have been no “wrong people shot” by off-duty cops, and in fact, off duty cops carrying concealed have actual assisted in stopping crime; such as the case of the Utah mall shooter.

These are issues that need to be brought up - once the public is aware that this is working, then we can ease into nationwide CCW for the rest of us.  It’s not that the cops are the “Only Ones”, it’s that the public isn’t aware of the reality.

posted by Caleb on Sep 22

As Jay G. aptly noted in the comments on the post just below this, any thread about a new gun is “worthless without pics” and I wholeheartedly agree. So here you go.

Of course, I realized something as I was going through my guns - I have a lot of guns made my Taurus. Not a whole lot, but three of my guns are Taurus handguns. So, I also have a Taurus Tracker in .357 Magnum, which is easily my favorite magnum revolver.

Also, for Buy A Gun Day this year, I had picked up a Taurus Pt-92 9mm, along with 5 17 round magazines for it. I’m not a big fan of 9mm pistols, but I like this one. It reminds me of the Beretta I once carried, and it has a light rail - just in case I need to feel tacticool.

For comparison, here are the Two Brothers - both of my Tracker series revolvers.

And finally, all three of my Taurus handguns.

I suppose if you wanted to count all my guns that have Brazilian heritage, I should count my ‘37 Brazilian Contract S&W. But I forgot to bring it downstairs.

posted by Caleb on Sep 21

I am a happy Ahab right now.  The other day, while shopping for a carry gun for Mrs. Ahab, I happened upon a used Taurus Tracker, .45 ACP with 2 inch barrel and fixed sights.  This has sort of been my “holy grail” of CCW revolvers, a five shot .45 ACP based on the Tracker frame.  I have the 7 shot .357 Magnum Tracker, and it’s easily one of the best out of the box revolvers I’ve ever played with.

Needless to say, I picked up the .45 Tracker as fast as I could.  Came with the original box and papers,  and five star clips for loading the rounds.  I cannot wait to get this thing out to the range.