Call me Ahab

posted by Caleb on Jul 23

You’re not very bright, are you? You seem intent on shooting off your big mouth to whomever you can, and since you’re saying stupid things like “let’s start a civil war” all you’re doing is helping the anti-gun faction ban our guns.

I know that’s a difficult concept to grasp, but you see, there are these people out there in the country, and most of them aren’t educated on the gun issue at all. That means when Suzy opens her daily paper and sees you say that gun owners are ready to start shooting cops, she thinks that all gun owners are as crazy as you are, when in fact we’re not.

The problem here is that we’re winning the fight to keep and bear arms, so instead of being smart about things and playing it cool, you’re making it sound like we want to start shooting cops and civil servants, which is a pretty dumb thing to say.

I get really tired of crap like this - because all it takes is one Mike Vanderboegh to undo all the good, hard work that people have been doing. Negative impressions “take” with much certainty and are much harder to dislodge from the minds of the public than a positive impression. That means that the aforementioned Suzy could have had dozens of positive experiences with gun owners and be warming to the issue, but then she could read what ol’ Mikey writes and start to think that maybe we’re all bunch of crazy nutbags.

Thanks for nothing, buddy.

posted by Caleb on Jul 23

In case you had to get the memo, Squeaky is, to use the vernacular, my homeboy.  Since we’ve started doing the show together, in addition to working on that we’ve had some time to compare notes on other items of interest - which is why when she put her post up on what amounted to gross sexism from KdT, I decided to have her back 100%.

What kills me about the original post that started all this ruckus is that I, as a man who is also not a pig was offended by the implication that I’m standing around waiting to leer uncontrollably at women who are apparently running around ripping off their tops.  So based on that alone, I would have backed up Squeaks - but then she sends me IM telling me that someone called her a “stupid Nazi cunt” in an email because she had the temerity to disagree with KdT.

UPDATE #2:  To the guy who created one of those temporary email addresses JUST to send me an email calling me a “stupid Nazi cunt”:  you know, if your point was to make me feel badly for linking to KdT because he just happened to be the one using the phrase I found offensive, you’d do better to, you know, post a blog about it and link to me so that others can share in your oh-so-sophistocated opinion on the subject.  That’ll show me, right?  Yeah, I’m going to pronounce your efforts as EPIC FAIL.

That pretty much put me over the edge on this one, and though while being a fantastic example of epic fail  it also completely proved the point we were both trying to make.  I mean, aside from the fact that whomever sent her that email is essentially a completely balls-less coward, the fact that he had that kind of knuckle-dragging neanderthal reaction to Squeaks pointing out the obvious sexism would have been funny if it hadn’t been directed at my friend.

The point of all of this isn’t actually to call anyone out - well, except for the chickenshit who emailed Squeaks - but rather to illustrate a point that just because a certain amount of boorishness is often tolerated in the shooting sports, it’s still a pretty fucking stupid thing to tolerate.  You want to alienate women from the shooting sports?  Make the insinuation that women who shoot are a bunch of trollops, and see how many new shooters you bring in to the sport.

posted by Caleb on Jul 22

From Tamara her own bad self:

Some bright spark in the Letters to the Editor section of today’s cat box liner was opining that when the Messiah leads us to glory come November, a rational energy policy could be passed that would…

…are you ready for this?

…”[end] the use of fossil fuels in 10 years“.

May I suggest that you, sir, are a bleedin’ idiot and should keep your piehole respectfully shut when grownups are talking?

Are you seriously suggesting that in the space of a decade we could replace every moped and chainsaw, every combine and bulldozer with their equivalents from the Segway catalog? That the coal-fired powerplant that provides the juice to run the refrigerators in the organic produce section of your local Tofu-Mart be supplanted by some solar cells? That the big diesel generator that provides the emergency backup power for your Aunt Millie’s respirator down at Sisters of Mercy General be replaced by pink unicorns farting moonbeams through the blades of wind turbines?

And she wonders why she has a huge internet following.

On the topic of Obama supporters, I have never seen such a bunch of deluded idiots in my entire life.  When I talk to people who are planning on voting for him, it’s like talking to a bunch of cultists - I’m not kidding.  Of the dozen or so people I know that are planning (or say they’re planning) on voting for Barack, exactly 1 has been able to present a case for Barack that didn’t hinge on how “different” things will be when he’s elected.  One person.  Sadly, I suspect that this person is the exception, rather than the rule.

posted by Caleb on Jul 11

I was at The Breda’s blog and found her post with a picture of two people holding 1911’s with their fingers in what is generally considered to be a “naughty place” - inside the triggerguard.  I sort of vaguely recognized them as some kind of pseudo-celebrity from watching the guy on The Soup mock them, but couldn’t quite place them.

So what did I do?  I followed the rabbit hole to the video of them shooting at some range in Beverly Hills.  It was at the end of the rabbit hole that I found the godawful video of these two low-watt bulbs actually shooting firearms, and at that moment I died a little inside.

You see, my search for KNOWLEDGE had led me to discover just who these idiots are: the “stars” of the fake-reality show The Hills, who have apparently decided that in an effort to keep their faces in the limelight, are staging “appearances” all over LA.  Their names are Spencer and Heidi (of course), and although their actions are marginally disturbing on their own, it’s even more off-putting that they decided to stage their most recent appearance at a gun shop and in so doing violate uh…all four rules of firearms safety is really messed up.  My favorite moment in the whole thing is when the male idiot points the AR right at the cameraman, and right next to him the female idiot can’t figure out the slide release on the 1911, which when I think about it is probably a good thing.

Now, I am all about celebrities and all kinds of people getting educated and involved in the shooting sports and gun safety education - people like Tom Selleck and Charlton Heston have done a lot to help the cause and further advance the shooting sports.  The problem I have with these pseudo-celebs is that they’re not getting involved in the shooting sports, they just wanted to play with loud toys and get their picture taken, and not only that they were irresponsible and unsafe about it.  That really bakes my crust.

posted by Caleb on Jul 7

With my estimable co-host on the issue of the Army using Spanish recruiting stickers - I also imagine that I’ll end up disagreeing with a lot of conservative bloggers on this issue.

See, here’s the thing - to me, it’s a smart recruiting idea to use Spanish language recruiting tools.  Like it not, this country has a large group of individuals that speak Spanish as their first language, and English as their second.  Since you can’t join the Army if you’re an illegal alien, then I don’t care what language is your first when you make the choice to defend your country.

The other reason that this is a total non-issue is because all of the military’s testing material is in English anyway, so it’s not like you could actually pass the exams or anything without a functional understanding of English.

Honestly, I don’t understand why people would care if the Army was recruiting in Spanish.  Personally, I think it’s a great idea.  The military has a proud history of giving opportunities to immigrants and their children, why should the modern generation be any different?  The important thing to see when a young kid who speaks Spanish as his first language signs up for the Army isn’t a Hispanic kid, but rather a young American making the choice to serve his country, regardless of where his parents were born.  I’d much rather be proud of that man for his decision to serve than get all upset because he doesn’t speak perfect English.

posted by Caleb on Jul 2

My neighborhood sounds like downtown Baghdad this time of year.  Every night for a week before the 4th of July, from 10 minutes before sundown until about 11pm, there is a constant succession of “pop-pop-pop-BLAM” followed (sometimes) by children shrieking.

It just drives me crazy, plus I worry about all the amateur ballisticians out there setting my damn house on fire.

posted by Caleb on Jun 21

Because I’m going to be complaining about the TSA.

Now, I fly a lot for work, and as a result of that I’m a pretty savvy traveler, by the time I get to security I’m practically naked and ready to submit myself to the tender ministrations of the Security Theatre. Now, I understand that not everyone is an efficient traveler - in fact most people are pretty damn stupid about flying, and just aren’t organized at all. I expect that, especially at a big tourist airport like LAX.

And that is what makes the security situation at LAX so completely ridiculous. Unlike the Seattle and Las Vegas TSA set-ups which prepare and assume that people will have lots of bags and be stupid, the LAX TSA does the exact opposite and assumes that everyone is seasoned and skilled; unfortunately that’s never true, and even less so for an airport like LAX, which gets about 10 hoji passengers through its gates.

You would think that a place like LAX would be better at this whole “security” thing. Of course, that would be logical, and LA is anything but that.

posted by Caleb on Jun 6

Comments like this one really, really piss me off - in fact they piss me off so bad that the only comments I’ve ever deleted other than obvious spam were along the same lines of “let’s shoot some cops”.  The comment below was made in reference to a fellow who was arrested for legally openly carrying and then made some poor choices after the fact - but at least he was smarter than this guy:

Why? Because I believe that submitting to this sort of infringement and then trying to seek redress in the courts is a de facto surrender of my 2A rights. I would shoot the bastards [the police] on the spot without a second thought [emphasis mine]. As it is, I frequently carry concealed without a CCW because I refuse to submit to an unconstitutional permitting process.

Talking about shooting police in a public forum, website, or anything like that is always a dumb idea.  If some guy is getting arrested for carrying legally and decided to shoot it out with the cops, I will be the very first person to throw his ass to the legal wolves, because murdering police officers is never, ever going to make our case.

Whether or not I personally have a line that I won’t allow the government to cross isn’t even the issue, because like everyone else, I do - but I certainly won’t be bragging on the internet about how I’d “shoot the bastards”.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m usually “pro-law enforcement” on here; in part because both my dad and I work/worked in law enforcement.  I believe that as a movement, it only helps gun owners to have the police on our side, and as many of us know a lot of rank and file cops are already on our side.  But all this crap about shooting cops because they’re “infringing” on your rights is stupid.  If one CCW holder decides to get blasty-blasty with the police, it screws over every single other law abiding gun owner in the country, because don’t think for a minute that the media wouldn’t blare that incident all over the news night and day.

On the other hand, if a CCW holder is wrongfully arrested and detained, and fights the battle through the legal system and wins, instead of ending up a dead idiot, he becomes a legal precedent.

I guess I should thank my lucky stars that most people who talk about shooting cops on the internet are armchair commandos, and would never actually go through with it in real life - of course, that doesn’t lessen the stupidity of saying things like that.  Alienating law enforcement will never help us expand our right to keep and bear arms, and will only increase the current divide in public perception between “us and them”.

posted by Caleb on Jun 5

You have got to be kidding me, someone tell me this is just a stupid joke.  By way of LawDog, I learn that the DC Staatspolizei are planning on blocking off neighborhoods by designating them “Safety Zones”, and then stopping all vehicles entering the neighborhoods and getting ID from the drivers, or finding out if they have a “legitimate” reason to be in that neighborhood.  I wish I was making this up:

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate “Neighborhood Safety Zones.” At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.

I am absolutely stupefied by this, and while I can’t match LawDog’s poetic levels of outrage, mine is just as high as his.  Exactly where did Mayor Fenty and his lapdog Chief Lanier get the idea that it would be okay to tell citizens when and where they can and cannot travel in their own country?  Have we actually reached the point where armed police are going to demands the “papers” of US citizens to allow those citizens to travel to their own homes?

And how exactly do they plan on enforcing this crap?  Who’s to say that what one cop considers a legitimate reason will be considered legitimate by the next cop on a different shift?

The more I think about this, the more depressed I get - DC is supposed to a symbol of our liberty and what makes America such a great nation.  Instead, it’s a hole, a pit, where people are deprived of their liberties, their arms, and now their ability to travel without saying “by your leave”; all because some bureaurats (not a typo) have decided that they, the anointed, are in the right to deprive their subjects of said liberty in the name of “safety”.  It’s a disgusting display.

posted by Caleb on May 27

Bane talks about the general silliness of the current NFA rules as applied to suppressors, short barreled rifles, and short barreled shotguns.  I am in 100% agreement with him on this one - if anyone remembers my stalled 10/22 PDW project, one of the big reasons why it hasn’t gone anywhere is the massive amount of trepidation that I have when it comes to navigating the spaghetti maze of NFA regulations surrounding short barreled rifles.

What would happen if the Federal “controls” on barrel length of rifles and shotguns were lifted tomorrow? NOTHING AT ALL, except we’d all have access to a whole new generation of handy rifles and shotguns. Would such guns be “more concealable” than their long-barreled counterparts? Depends on whether you live in the Real World or not…for a fact, no such short-barreled rifles or shotguns would be nearly as “concealable” as a 1911, much less a Bond Derringer in .410 (with a rifled barrel!).

It’s classic Michael, and he’s really right about it.  I can kind of understand wanting to regulate machine guns, but the restrictions on barrel length in shotguns and rifles are completely arbitrary and nonsensical.