Call me Ahab

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 May 1

Washington is an Open-Carry state:

Open carrying of firearms is not prohibited by law although trouble with some law enforcement agencies has been encountered while open carrying in the past, most notably in a case in Ellensburg, Washington.

With that being said, I don’t think I’ll be bringing my Beretta next time I go to Seattle to visit my family, as I’m relatively certain that being openly armed in downtown Hippyville Seattle is a surefire way to attracted undesirable attention from the local 5-Oh.

posted by Caleb on Apr 24

Eric Thompson, the owner of TopGlock.com who we have had on the podcast before was the subject of what amounts to a smear article by ABC News. Eric is someone who is dedicated to preserving our right to keep and bear arms, and due to his unfortunate connection to the VA Tech shooting has really taken the cause of students who wish to be able to defend themselves to heart. With that in mind, he’s running a promotion offer to sell firearms at a discounted rate to college students - I think that’s an excellent gesture and a show of his sincerity and dedication.

ABC News on the other hand thinks it’s a horrible thing, and starts the article right off by referring to him as the “Virginia Tech Gun Dealer”. I guess they figure if they can establish a bias in the minds of their readers with the title of the article, it will make it smearing his character that much easier. Of course, the very next thing they do is make sure that if there was any doubt, the hammer home the unfortunate link between the VA Tech shooter and Eric. Sadly, it only gets worse from there, as ABC News decided to give Petey Hamm from the Brady Campaign and Josh Sugarmann from VPC an inordinate amount of inkspace to really smear Eric. First up, Petey says the following:

“He’s arming the criminals and then telling the rest of us to buy guns so we can protect ourselves from the criminals he’s armed,” said Peter Hamm, communications director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Really, Petey? He’s arming criminals? Got any proof for that baseless accusation, or are you just flinging poo at the character of an honest businessman who has broken no laws? If Eric really was selling guns to criminals, that’s something that should be reported to the ATF, which I’m sure you would have done if you had any proof. Instead, you’re just making wild accusations in the public media about an honest businessman. This just reinforces my new, unofficial motto for the Brady Campaign: Snatching crassness from the jaws of decency.

Of course, not to be outdone, Josh Sugarmann has to get his two cents in:

“What this shows is that to the gun industry, gun violence is at best an abstract concept and at worst a business opportunity,” said Josh Sugarmann, the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center.

“No matter how these products are used against citizens, the answer is always more guns when in fact these problems stem from the fact that there are too many guns out there already,” Sugarmann told ABCNews.com.

Yes, Josh, it’s a business opportunity. Which is why Eric’s selling the guns at cost and not making any profit of them. You know, with business acumen like yours, it’s no wonder that VPC is hemorrhaging funds. But that’s okay, because you got your rhetoric in place about how all the guns “on the streets” are the problem; nevermind that the goal is to allow people who have already gone through the rigorous background check necessary to get a CCW to be able to defend themselves where they go to school.

You know, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. ABC News lately has demonstrated absolutely zero interest in running factual news stories, and just seems interested in pumping more biased hoplophobic hyperbole into the newsfeed, and hope that by repeating the anti-gun mantra even louder and trashing the good name of a good guy that they can get some traction for their agenda.

posted by Caleb on Apr 24

This is a boycott that will hit me where it hurts the most, in my food consuming area. Mrs. Ahab loves Pizza Hut, but a little pissed of that they waited until the media furor surrounding the driver who shot the man who was trying to murder him died down - and then they canned the guy.

This is a boycott that will actually be difficult for me - unlike my Wal-Mart boycott, because I never go to Wal-Mart anyway there are times when the Mrs. just gets a craving for the average pizza and garlic cheese bread they have at Pizza Hut.

Put I’m not going to spend my dollars at a place that waits until they think no one is paying attention, and then fires and employee for defending his life against a violent assault. Not cool, Pizza Hut.

Update: In the comments, Unix-Jedi gives a good reason to never go to Pizza Hut again anyway:

Dough:
3 cups King Arthur (or other hard wheat)
8 oz warm water
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp essential gluten

Sauce:
1 can tomato sauce
(Optional) 1 tsp sugar)
handful each: Oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder.
(Or crush garlic cloves if you like them rather than the powder.)

Cheese:
25% Whole milk mozzarella
40% Part-skim mozzarella
25% Provolone
10% Asiago & Parmesan

Put the can of tomato sauce on, bring to a hard simmer, toss in spices, lower heat and allow to low simmer until reduced in volume about 50%. (slightly runnier than paste). Min 1 hr. Spice to personal preference.

Heat the water to ~100F, add the sugar, and 2 pkts yeast.
Wait 10 minutes for the yeast to bloom, almost doubling the volume with foam, and then add to the other ingredients in a mixing bowl. (I use a kitchenaid. I suppose you could do this by hand, but, get a kitchenaid.)

Mix for 12-15 minutes, until the gluten has formed well.

Divide into 2 pieces, shape into balls and place in oiled bowls 3x the size of the doughballs, oil the surface (spray works fine) and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Place in a cool spot for 1-4 hours. When the dough is 2x the prior volume, turn it out on a floured board and stretch it. Tossing in the air is fine, but working it out by stretching and pulling on the floured board works fine as well.

Add ladle of sauce, just enough to cover the pizza. Add cheese. Other toppings as desired.

(For pepperoni and salami - cook them for about 3 minutes in a skillet over medium-high heat to get out a lot of the fat. For hamburger and sausage, brown thoroughly and let drain prior to adding. For anchovies, see a therapist.)

Preheat oven to 500, preferably with pizza stone in middle. Put either directly on pizza stone if you’ve got a peel, if not, a cheap AL pizza pan will work.

Bake for 6-10 minutes.

Great, now I’m really hungry.

posted by Caleb on Apr 24

For deer hunting in Charles City County.

The county Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 last night to prohibit deer hunting with high-powered rifles, drawing anger and raised voices from some in the audience.

One of the members of the county who attended the meeting had the right idea on how to deal with legislators who enact stupid rules - he told them that they would “get them out” next election. The move to ban hunting rifles for deer hunting was driven primarily by hyperbole and bogus concerns of safety.

Opponents of rifle hunting expressed concerns about stray bullets. One suggested that some hunters would be unable to resist shooting a deer even if they were on the ground and not in a tree stand.

Elbert Parker held a piece of inch-thick wood above his head to demonstrate the ease with which a bullet could go through someone’s wall.

“Your children can be shot dead looking at TV in your house,” he said, prompting an argument among him and members of the crowd until board chairman Gilbert A. Smith tapped on a table to quiet them.

Going back to that old standard myth of gun owners being trigger happy, which we know isn’t true. Tossing in a bit of PSH to round out the equation, because nothing says “evil” like a rifle that can shoot through walls.

Normally I wouldn’t berate a county commission for decided that people can’t use rifles to hunt deer - while I think it’s a stupid decision it’s usually not a big deal. However, the kind of tactics that were used to get those rifles banned are the exact same kind of tactics that you see used against “assault weapons” and high capacity magazines. If a rifle is “too dangerous” to hunt deer with, surely it’s too dangerous to have in your house. It establishes a bad precedent, because they’re banning rifles for hunting based purely on emotion and not any legitimate safety concerns.

In situations like this, people often say things to me like “it’s only rifles, they can still hunt with shotguns and muzzleloaders” or other stuff like that. Sure, it’s only rifles now, but next year it might be shotguns, because those big slugs are scawwy, and then who is to say where it stops after that?

Bill Johnson, one of the residents of Charles City County, has it exactly right: “We’re going to get you out next term”. Like I said above, that is exactly what you do in this situation - some county commission thinks they know what’s best, you toss ‘em out on their ear.

posted by Caleb on Apr 23

The Lafayette Journal and Courier has an article about the empty holster protest that was conducted at the local community college and Purdue University.  Additionally, on their front page they have a poll up about whether you favor relaxing concealed weapons prohibitions on college campuses.  Right now, the “No CCW for students” are winning about 66% to 34%, so go over there and vote.

The actual article on the student protest is pretty much par for the course, the J&C does a half decent job of reporting the protest, presenting both pro-gun and anti-gun sides in a relatively balanced light.  My biggest issue is that they and other MSM outlets keep repeating this line:

If anyone could carry a firearm on campus, Mishler said, how would police separate legally licensed students from an assailant?

Uh, generally speaking, the guy running around murdering people is probably the assailant.  You won’t know who the law-abiding armed citizen is until his or her life is threatened and they have no other option than to resort to force.  Color me crazy, but people who go through the hoops and long, long, long, waiting period to get a carry permit in Indiana aren’t going to be the ones committing mass murder, they’re going to be the ones who go to class, socialize with their friends, and you never know they’re armed unless that person’s life is imminent danger of death or grievous bodily harm.

Thanks to reader Rob K. for the heads up.

posted by Caleb on Apr 11

Has anyone else actually watched this show on Spike and found it as disturbing as I do?  I thought that the DEA often acted like a bunch of cowboys when I was in the Coast Guard, and this show has done nothing to dispel that perception of them.

Now, part of that may be the “Spike Factor”, which is that any show that screams in your face about how hardcore it is must be awesome; but I honestly found the actions of the agents in the couple of episodes I’ve watched to be quite disturbing.

posted by Caleb on Apr 2

When speaking at Western Michigan University, Ted had the following to say:

“The real curse in Michigan isn’t the jihad of the left, it’s the apathy of the right,” Nugent said. “Communicate with your elected officials. You hired them. Ask them questions and demand answers.”

You hired them. He’s absolutely right. People forget that the government works for us, and not the other way around. He’s also right that the best way for us to lose the fight for individual liberty is to do nothing; for the radical left to win all we have to do is nothing.

Get involved; a great way to do that is sign up to attend the grassroots seminar at the NRA Annual Meetings.

posted by Caleb on Mar 20

Copied in its entirety from subguns.com is a post by Alan Gura on why he said the things he said about machine guns during oral arguments.  If you don’t recall, people had been complaining that he threw NFA stuff under the bus, etc.  As a side note, I would like to have seen any of the people complaining do better, but that’s neither here nor there.

Below, you’ll find Alan’s entire post, no edits or changes have been made.

Thanks for your support.

The solution to 922(o) will have to be political in the end. The fact is,
outside the gun community, the concept of privately owned machine guns is
intolerable to American society and 100% of all federal judges. If I had
suggested in any way — including, by being evasive and indirect and fudging
the answer — that machine guns are the next case and this is the path to
dumping 922(o) — I’d have instantly lost all 9 justices. Even Scalia.
There wasn’t any question of that, at all, going in, and it was confirmed in
unmistakable fashion when I stood there a few feet from the justices and
heard and saw how they related to machine guns. It was not just my opinion,
but one uniformly held by ALL the attorneys with whom we bounced ideas off,
some of them exceedingly bright people. Ditto for the people who wanted me
to declare an absolute right, like I’m there to waive some sort of GOA
bumper sticker. That’s a good way to lose, too, and look like a moron in
the process.

I didn’t make the last 219 years of constitutional law and I am not
responsible for the way that people out there — and on the court– feel
about machine guns. Some people in our gun rights community have very….
interesting…. ways of looking at the constitution and the federal courts.
I don’t need to pass judgment on it other than to say, it’s not the reality
in which we practice law. When we started this over five years ago, the
collective rights theory was the controlling law in 47 out of 50 states.
Hopefully, on next year’s MBE, aspiring lawyers will have to bubble in the
individual rights answer to pass the test. I know you and many others out
there can appreciate that difference and I thank you for it, even if we
can’t get EVERYTHING that EVERYONE wants. Honestly some people just want to
stay angry. I’m glad you’re not among them.

You want to change 922(o)? Take a new person shooting. Work for “climate
change.”

Thanks,
Alan

He is absolutely, unequivocally correct in this matter.  If you want to lose a gun rights case, tell the judges that your next goal is unban machine guns.  Even conservative justices would not be on board with that.

What it comes down to is that Alan Gura is dealing with the political reality of the situation, of how law is actually practiced in this country.  If we win, and we get an individual right decision from the Supreme Court, then we’ve established a solid foothold in winning this fight, but like so many other people have said this is just the first step.  We’re not going to get Machine Guns for the People, and we’re not going to get some absolute right declaration from the Supreme Court; if Alan had gone in and asked for that he would have been laughed out of DC.

posted by Caleb on Mar 20

In the comments from Bitter’s blog, Bob Ricker, the head honcho of American Hunters and Shooters Association said the following:

I do not describe the regulars who read a blog named the “The Bitch Girls” to be the AHSA target market. I think it should be clear from my comments here and on other “whacko” blogs that AHSA is reaching out to a more educated, sophisticated and straight thinking hunter and shooter demographic. Unfortunately, a “bitter” female with a gun and a chip on her shoulder probably would not find AHSA’s message of civic responsibility much to her liking.

Emphasis mine, because that’s the part I especially want to pick on.  A more “educated and sophisticated” demographic?  So, who would that be exactly?  I can only speak for myself, but I’m pretty sure I’m what Bob would imagine his target demographic to be, except for the part that I don’t agree with a word that comes out of his mouth.  I’m kind of surprised that Bob has been reduced to internet trolling and tossing insults around now, I would have figured that he’d at least have been smarter than Peter Hamm in that regard.

But then again, I suppose he would take cues from Petey Hamm, since Paul Helmke himself has said that AHSA and Brady Campaign’s goals are pretty much the same..