People at the Range

I shoot at Ommelanden in New Castle, which is a public range run by the State of Delaware. As you can imagine this means we get all kinds of people shootings. I've seen people of all ages, races etc. I usually try to go on weekends right when they open so I'm up and out for the day and so the range won't be full.

This morning I got there around 11AM and the pistol side was almost full. I walked in with hearing & glasses on, put down a box of ammo and both pistols, action open, facing downrange in the stall. I then waited for a cold range.

As I was waiting a shooter came in with a full duty belt, holstered pistol, no eye or ear protection and setup next to me. As you can imagine he was holding his hands over his ears. (hell, my 1st range trip I had a set of badly fitting plugs and my ears hurt for a few days) I had to wait maybe 10 minutes for cold range to be called and the entire time this guy was holding his ears and wandering around aimlessly. I would have offered him plugs if I'd brought spares. The RSO was on the rifle side and did not see any of this. When he finally did come over he asked mall ninja / security guard guy to put on his eye protection, but curiously didn't mention his lack of ears. Once the range was cold I mentioned to the guy that he could get free plugs from the cashier down the road. He didn't leave and get plugs, likely because he couldn't hear me, but luckily someone overheard our conversation and gave him a spare set.

I honestly have no idea how he stayed on the range that long with no hearing protection. Common sense and pain should tell you to get the hell off of a hot range if you don't have ears on.

The guy on the other side of me was oblivious too. During a cold range and with people downrange he was fidgeting around in his stall doing I'm not sure what. I couldn't tell if he was handling a weapon or not. The RSO came over and asked him to step out of the booth & behind the cold range line. He ignored the RSO and had to be asked 3 times. Even with plugs & muffs I can hear the RSO talking to me, so he clearly just ignored him.

Interestingly, both of these guys shot at 10 yards at targets bigger than mine and couldn't hit much of anything. I'm not a good shot by any means, but it seems like common sense to improve your shooting at shorter distances before moving back.

I guess my question is, do people not read the range rules when they come in for the 1st time? How do you not see the huge sign that says "Do Not Enter With Loaded Firearms?"

Ouote of the Day....

From Barack Obama via Kevin Baker's newest post "The Nuclear Option"

"Because federal judges receive lifetime appointments, and often serve through the terms of multiple Presidents, it behooves the President and benefits our Democracy to find moderate nominees who can find some measure of bipartisan support."

The Constitution either has meaning or it doesn't. If judges interpret it "moderately" in order to "benefit our Democracy" they will have stripped it of all meaning. "Moderate" interpretation means picking and choosing which rights are important. It allows justices to read certain areas of the Constitution so narrowly that they lack all practical meaning, and they can base themselves on the reasoning that such an interpretation "benefits Democracy." If you abide by the doctrine of a "living Constitution" and ignore the text and it's accompanying historical context you may as well just kiss the Bill of Rights goodbye.

I have some blunt words for that during Tourette's Awareness Month. FUCK DEMOCRACY! This is a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC, where the Constitution reigns supreme rather than the "will of the people."

My god, if we could get rid of the Commerce Clause and all the resulting bullshit "powers" of the Federal government this country could make some real progress. The New Deal programs were never Constitutional, but they got rammed down the country's throat. This country was never the same after FDR, and now we've got a guy in Obama who has the same insane concept of "rights" and the role of government.

And I Wonder Why Young People Vote Liberal...

My sister was studying for a high school civics exam the other night and had to ask me what rights were protected under the 1st Amendment. She got "speech" and "press" but not freedom of religion, assembly, and right to petition.

Apparently they (very briefly) studied the 15th, 19th, and 26th (voting rights) amendments and a handful of others but didn't even focus on the 1st ten in the BOR. She had no idea what the 3rd, 9th, or 10th were (although most schools generally ignore those as much as they do the 2nd) What was probably even more astounding is she couldn't even name a single sitting Supreme Court Justice. I even gave her hints, I.E. "name the black guy" or "Name a woman" but she didn't have a clue. Then again, in my Con Law Commerce Clause class we were asked to name the sitting justices on the final and a good portion of the class couldn't do it. That's disgusting considering we studied Con Law the entire semester.

This is in an Honors Level Junior year Civics class and my sister is a bright girl. Apparently they now combine Civics and Econ into one class and Civics gets the shaft most of the year. When the Constitution and the principles and fundamentals surrounding it are never taught or merely glossed over it's not surprising that people eagerly vote for hope, change, and socialism.

Oh, and she uses the same textbook I used in high school. Those books were quite a few years old when I took the class.

Yet more proof that arming the good guys works

Dustin's Gun Blog: NV: Mass Shooting Stopped by CCW Permit Holder

Interestingly this story is nowhere to be found on the front pages MSN.com or CNN.com and I've heard nothing about it on the news. It seems whenever an armed gunman is stopped by someone who's not an authorized "only one" the mainstream media stays silent.

Made it to the range

Now that school is over my work schedule allows for Wednesday range trips, since Ommelanden is open till 8PM. Today it was just me, the older of the two Sigs, and three Delaware correctional officers. They were all "on paper" at 30 feet but without any real grouping to speak of. Not great, but still better than I could have done at that distance.

I did my usual, shooting at ~6-7 yards and rushed my shots too much. After the first target I slowed down, put two shots in the X ring, and then everything spread out again as I tried to duplicate those shots. I really should have brought the other Sig, since it has the better trigger and grips, not to mention actual sights. The rubber Pachmayr's on the newer gun make an incredible difference once my hands are oily & sweaty. Oh well. My shooting was passable until I started getting tired. I have to admit this is a bit frustrating because I leave the range thinking " I know I can shoot better than this." I suppose that just means I need to practice more.

Small Caliber FMJ Rounds Ineffective?....

Sebastian has a post up discussing the use of the 5.56 round by the U.S. military, specifically the M855 Steel Tipped penetrator round. Here's the article.

It should be of no surprise that a varmint caliber rifle round that doesn't expand or fragment is going to perform poorly in combat situations. From what I understand, M855 is good for punching through barriers (I.E. mild steel) which makes it terrible as an anti-personnel round. M193 is much better since it will fragment given adequate velocity.

As stated in the article,

The Hague Convention of 1899 bars hollow point bullets that expand in the body and cause injuries that someone is less likely to survive. The United States was not a party to that agreement. Yet, as most countries do, it adheres to the treaty, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

I've discussed this before, and I still think it's ridiculous. Regardless of whether military issued 5.56 is fragmenting or not there is no doubt that there are many 5.56 loads which are more effective than what our soldiers are currently using. If we're going to hamper them with small caliber weapons those weapons need to inflict maximum damage on the enemy. At the very least they should be allowed to use hollowpoints in the M9. You're in a heap of shit if you need to draw your sidearm in a war zone conflict, yet troops are armed with 9mm ball ammo. There's a reason no one uses 9mm ball ammo, or any FMJ ammo for carry / self-defense. The military should jump on the bandwagon and use the best rounds available, particularly since our enemies aren't abiding by the "rules of war."

Quote of the Day Pt. 2

"The exercise of rights always upsets people who would deny those rights. I submit that protecting the sensibilities of those who would deny others their rights should be rather low on anyone's list of priorities."

- Kurt Hofmann of Armed & Safe


Damn right! What are our rights worth if we refrain from exercising them because they "offend" certain people? Hell, I'm of the opinion that most things worth saying are offensive to someone. None of us would publish our blogs if we were worried about our 1st Amendment rights offending people who don't like free speech. I write in this blog because I want to and am free to do so. If people don't like what I have to say they don't have to read my ramblings. If they stumble upon my blog and are offended that's not my problem. Likewise, if they're offended by the lawful and constitutionally protected carrying of arms that's not my problem nor should it restrict the free exercise of my rights.

Quote of the Day

Obama "without doubt is, from the social and human point, the most advanced candidate" running for the U.S. presidency.

- Fidel Castro

Wow, Castro is extolling the humanitarian and social policies of Barack Obama. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fussy about the "hope" and "change" the Obamessiah plans to bring to America?

This needs to be a bumper sticker

So far, what I consider the best statement about Obama is "A 3rd Bush term is better than a 2nd Carter term."

- Commenter "grumpyoldfart" over at Kevin's (read his post by the way)

It Took long enough

But I am finally a college graduate!

American Political Thought A-
The Law & You - P

It's a shame I had to wait an entire year just to take these last 4 credits, but hey, at least I'm done.

Oh, and as Kevin says in his newest post, I don't want everyone to go to college. My degree is of no value if any idiot with half a brain can get one. Lord knows I've seen plenty of people at UD that can't even germinate an intelligent thought. Anyone who says, "there are no stupid questions" has never been in a lecture hall with hundreds of liberal college students.

In order for some to succeed others must fail. That is a simple fact of life, and it's true of all species.

I'm late on this

I need to do a "bloggers I've met" section of my blogroll. Maybe later. Right now I'm finishing up a take-home final (and posting at the same time)

Obama the 2nd Coming of Jimmy Carter?

I've thought so for a while now. Turns out I'm not alone.

More on that later.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, it seems politicians (the Democrats in Congress) refuse to learn. They still want to punish the big bad oil companies. Hey morons! We tried that before under Carter. We imposed "windfall profit taxes" Do you remember what happened? Also, how in the hell do you propose we tell OPEC what to do? We'll just have Obamessiah ask nicely and he'll send down 72 virgins to whisper sweet nothings in the ears of the Saudi's till they do what we want.

Fucking morons, all of them!

It's a Tamalanche

Tam linked to me, and I'm getting more hits per hour than I usually get in a day.

Come on in and stay a while. I hope you enjoy my crazy ramblings.

Why we need high caps

Alternately titled "Why I need a double-stack pistol..."

Take a gander at this post from Ride N' Shoot

If I'm ever being chased by an angry mob I want my AR, but a double stack 9 would work in a pinch. I really do want a P228, but I just can't afford to pull the trigger right now. Not to mention I already have two 9mm Sigs. Isn't that enough....

On another note, the drug dealers are out in full force down where I park. They seem to come out of hiding once the weather is nice. That and a bunch of fuckers are parking there illegally.

Instead of a Substantial Post....

I offer you some random tidbits

I fondled a Sig P229 Platinum Elite at the Convention and loved it! It also reminded me once again how heavy the DA pull is on both of my P6's. Too bad the Platinum Elite is the most expensive P229 Sig offers.

On the drive home from the blog bash I pulled into a rest stop for a bit and parked next to a lady with NY tags and a big "Hillary Clinton 08'" banner in her window. I was reading the Walther brochure I had, so I stuck it and a Kahr Arms brochure to the window. She immediately parked on the far side of the lot. I think the gun stuff scared her.

Squeaky posted pics of her new knife. Here's a pic of my EDC knife. It's a few years old now but has served me well.

And for Ctone, pics of my other refinished P6. You can't tell from the pictures, but I've already put a few light scratches in the brand new finish. I'm stupid and just threw the gun in my range bag along with a bunch of steel mags.

Rule Violations at the Convention

I have to agree with Roberta (Whom I didn't get the chance to meet) and Uncle on the rule 3 violations. The folks who put out the display guns are humans after all, so although highly unlikely, it's not impossible for a round to find its way into one of the thousands of guns on the floor. Just because it's on the display floor doesn't mean you shouldn't verify that it's unloaded before dry firing, the same as you would with your personal weapon. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong since this was my 1st time at one of these.

And honestly, the Para rep freaked me out when he was showing off their new piston AR's. He picked it up and pointed it directly at my chest. Rule 2 damnit! (yes, I know it's virtually impossible to handle a gun and not violate said rule at the convention, but I still don't like staring down the muzzle end of a rifle from a foot away)

Another Rev. Wright?

The Black Methodist Church here in Newark is having sermons conducted by a Reverend Wright. At least thats what their sign says.

And that's all I have. I'm going to sleep.

Oh yeah, and I can't do a blog bash post right now. I have finals to work on.

home sweet home

Made it home in one piece and had just enough time to play with Zack and cook lunch. Now I'm off to Newark for class. Yet more driving and sitting still........ god I could use a couple DFH's and a nap.

TD explains why he doesn't have a post-bash recap up yet. I probably won't have anything up for a few days either. I don't know how most of you have such detailed & coherent posts up already. Posting in general is going to have to be a bit light for a while, with finals, catching up at work etc. etc.

Off to Louisville......sorta

I'm off to class in about an hour and then I'll be on my way to Louisville. I'm staying at the Super 8 on Central Ave. across from the Expo Center. I would have skipped class, but unfortunately I have to be there.

I should be in Louisville sometime between 1-3 AM Saturday morning. If any of you see a lanky kid with glasses, light jeans & a short-sleeved polo, livestrong bracelet and a badly faded blue University of Delaware hat come over and say hi.

Obama and Faith

Remember the uproar surrounding Mike Huckabee's commercial which had a cross in the background?

Check out Obamessiah's appeal to Christians in Kentucky. The liberal mainstream media was all over Huckabee because of religion. I predict we'll hear little about this ad from Barack Obama, and if we do it'll be to the tune of the media pundits explaining it away in Obama's favor. The media has been all over his nuts for months, so I expect they'll softball this and consider it a "non-issue."

This from the same man who calls people "bitter" because they cling to religion....

Oh that is so cool!

I took Friday and Monday off of work to go to the Blog Bash..... and I get paid time off!

This is my 1st semi-serious / semi-professional job, so the whole concept of getting paid while not working is really weird. I didn't even know I got PTO because I haven't taken a day off since the end of the summer, before I got transferred to the main office.

On another note, I'm looking forward to enjoying a Dogfish Head Raison De Etre when I get done work tonight. God that is good beer, but it's expensive.

Oh, and it appears that monkeying around with Obama is "racist"...... Boy if he loses you know it's going to be because all of us white folks are evil racists. It'll never be because we reject nanny-statist, gun-grabbing socialists.

Quote of the Day

"He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Just saw Obama's Interview on CNN

*barf*... terms like "shared sacrifice," "shared prosperity" and the idea that the betterment of the country works from the bottom up.

Yeah, he's not a socialist. Really. This man is so full of shit.

Look, the government can only give to some what it takes from others. There's no way to prop up the bottom without cutting the legs out from under those at the top. Most of the great atrocities of the last century have been perpetrated by governments who's goal was to create a great society by making people equal. Under every such government the goals and "rights" of society are paramount and the rights of individuals are, necessarily, thrown under the bus.

There is simply no other mindset that could be more destructive to society We've seen it before, and it inevitably tends to lead to destruction and death. Despite the lessons of history we still see it in the ideals of contemporary liberalism. You'd think by now we'd be wary of a persuasive, charismatic orator coming in and promising the world to a country dissatisfied with the current ruler.

Morning at the Range

.... I still suck. I met up with Rob & Jim from Delaware Open Carry

Today was my 1st time shooting since 2-17, so almost 3 months. I'll probably go again tomorrow morning. Looking at my targets I have diagonal strings across the entire body of the target and then a few more diagonal, but completely linear "groups." That would be perfectly acceptable (to me) if they were in the middle of the target rather than 3" up and 3" left.

Among other things, I'm rushing and jerking the trigger trying to "catch" when I'm centered on the target. I need to SLOW DOWN and CONCENTRATE. I've also learned it's hard to see holes in a black silhouette target. It's also not good to have a black target and blacked out sights. Oh, and my god does the DA pull suck.

M1's for Veterans

I'd like to ask my readers to give a little something back to our troops if they can. They do so much for us and yet receive so little praise. MDshooters.com is running a program to give M1 Garands to wounded Iraq / Afghanistan vets.

Donate to M1-s for Vets

Maryland & "Assault Weapons"

Here's MD's list of banned "assault weapons" from the State Police website.

Maybe I'm totally wrong on this, but take a look at #15. They ban all the Colt AR-15, CAR-15 and all imitations except the Colt Sporter H-Bar. Since an AR lower is the only part designated as a "firearm" couldn't a Maryland resident just buy an H-Bar lower and then buy an upper of whatever brand / configuration they please?

Pepto Bismol Sig P6

Take a look if you dare!

In other news, I got my stainless slide back from CCR. It looks good. I just hope my hand heals enough for a Saturday morning range session.

The Left is really starting to piss me off....

I'm not kidding when I say I'm scared of the damage Barack Obama could do to this country in 4 years. The man isn't just a naive idealist, I'm thoroughly convinced that he's either intentionally deceitful or a complete idiot. I say Obama because I think Clinton is finished. She'll stay in the race of course, but she's done. What scares me most is that this man could have the opportunity to appoint several uber-liberal Supreme Court Justices. That alone could fuck over this country (and all 2A gains we've made) far more than anything Obama could accomplish in 4 years in the Oval Office.

Clinton and other lefties are just as bad as Obamarama, although with Clinton we know that everything she does and says is a result of her insatiable lust for power. Why else would she spend $6.4 MILLION of her own money when she's already statistically lost? She spouts a populist message, talks of helping people and taking from the rich. If her intentions were altruistic why not concede defeat and give that $6.4 million to charity? Oh, you mean all that bullshit is supposed to apply to other people?

Barack Obama's entire platform of hope, change, honesty, and "doing away with the politics of old" is a sham. It's complete and utter bullshit. He says he doesn't take money from lobbyists, yet he served on the board of directors of the Joyce Foundation (anti-gun group) for years. Hypocritical don't ya think? When asked about the D.C. gun ban he says he "doesn't issue opinions on pending cases," yet he issued a written amicus brief regarding the recent voting ID case that came to the SCOTUS. Sure seems like he issues opinions on such cases doesn't it?

Here's his statement

“Voting is our most basic right and one of our most important responsibilities as Americans,” said Senator Obama. “Any law that creates discriminatory barriers to the exercise of this fundamental right should be immediately revoked....we must continue to ensure that all Americans, including our country’s most vulnerable citizens, have equal, unfettered access to the polls in every state.”

Replace the word "voting" with "guns" and Obama supports exactly that which he's bitching and whining about above. The gun control laws he supports create "discriminatory barriers to exercise" and they most certainly impact the country's most vulnerable citizens. Gun control is blatantly discriminatory against those who most need a means of self-defense. Requiring ID to vote is NOT unconstitutional. It is absolutely a narrowly tailored, legitimate State interest to be able to verify the identity of those who come out to vote. Think about it, if I'm voting in State elections shouldn't the government verify that I'm actually a resident of the state? The only large group that's likely to have no form of State ID are illegal immigrants who shouldn't be voting anyway. (of course illegals are a major Democratic voting block, so Obama's stance on this issue should be no surprise.) Why else do you think Obama supports giving them Driver's Licenses and helping pay their tuition?

There are plenty of other examples of Clinton / Obama idiocy of course. In one of the earlier debates both said they wouldn't raise taxes on those making under a certain amount ($200K I think) yet when pressed both said they'd consider raising the Capital Gains tax. They essentially said "we won't raise taxes...... but we will," in the span of a few sentences. Even when pressed with data showing that raising capital gains stifles investment and reduces overall tax revenue Obama wouldn't yield. He basically said "to hell with your pesky facts, I'll raise taxes if I want to." Typical of a liberal. If faced with facts, ignore them.

Obama not a month ago said he could "no sooner disown Rev. Wright than he could his own grandmother or the black community." Now? Now he's done exactly that because it's politically expedient. He also now downplays his relationship, saying that he never considered Wright as a spiritual advisor or father figure when he said exactly that earlier in his campaign.

The man who claims to be all for bringing about "Change we can believe in" and says he's a unifier then alienates rural gun-owners and church-goers. He also makes remarks about "typical white people." Quite the unifier eh?

Oh, did I mention he wants to raise taxes on oil companies in an attempt to lower gas prices? When has raising taxes on a particular product ever lowered its price? Hello basic economics? Hello basic common sense?

Obama can go to hell. He epitomizes everything that is wrong with this country. He's racist, condescending, blindly idealistic, collectivist, arrogant and just flat out stupid. I think I pissed a few liberals off the other day when I said I'd vote for GWB again if it meant keeping Obama out of office.

There are a million other policy issues I could discuss on which I think Obama is dead wrong (such as the UN) but I think it's safe to say I despise the man and his bat-shit insane wife.

Quote of the Day

"It’s like watching two Klansmen argue over which one likes minorities more."

-Sebastian of PGP on Clinton & Obama vying for the gun vote.

NRA

I renewed my membership online a few weeks ago. I wonder how long it takes to send me a new card?

Pictures

I have quite a few posts sitting in draft form at the moment. I'll get to them later. For now, I was screwing around with my new camera (actually I got it months ago and never used it much) Well I stumbled upon this livejournal in comments at Breda's which inspired me to mess around a bit. That and insomnia last night.

This camera can do things far beyond my knowledge level, so it may help to actually do some reading. It's a Canon Elph SD800IS. I also have no picture taking skills.

Anyway, #1, #2, #3, #4

and a few pics of the newly refinished P6. Yes, I know I need new grip screws.