Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to my readers and fellow bloggers! May 2011 be a great year!

2010 was both good and bad for me. I moved into a new place this year, started really kicking my ass in the gym, got a raise.

I also got in a car accident resulting in constant neck pain, dealt with panic attacks / anxiety issues, an unexpected death in the family, and hit the range very infrequently.

2011 will be a better year for me, full of more shooty goodness. I hope the same is true for all of you.

Enjoy your favorite libations, have fun and be safe! See you in 2011 !


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This one's for Robb

I think Robb Allen needs this shirt.



That is all.

Corn & Cheese

Breda's mom asked me to review this, so I figured I'd share it here on the blog as well.

My roommate's mom brought some Filipino "corn & cheese" ice cream over Christmas. It sounds gross, but he insisted otherwise and bugged me about trying it. He also got me to try pomegranates, which are great, just a pain in the butt to eat.

Truth be told it's actually pretty tasty. It's not overly sweet nor does it taste artificially flavored. It quite literally tastes like sweet corn and even has little bits of corn mixed in. It isn't my favorite ice cream, but it is good. Worth a try at least.

BB & Guns - Coming Clean

Don't miss BB & guns tonight with Breda and Jay G. Tonight's topic is about "coming out" as a gunnie. That's a topic I know a bit about, since I "came out" to my dad about my gunnie status nearly a year after I bought my first gun. Should be an awesome show! Make sure you listen tonight at 8PM!

Hey, I'm actually going to be able to catch this one for a change! It's been a while since I've been able to listen to the show live.

On Vacation

I'm on vacation this week, hence the lack of substantive posting.

Here's a pic of the big blockhead. It's been fun playing with him in the snow. Afterwards he likes to do this. Maybe he got into some booze?





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Quote of the day - Attitude

"I wasn't having a good race: every step was more demanding than the one before. I was on the course feeling sorry for myself, just wanting the pain to be over.

Suddenly, this young boy came jogging up on my right and said with a big grin on his face "Beautiful day for a run huh?"

I looked down and saw that he had no legs. He was running on prosthetics made from carbon fiber. It was, indeed, a beautiful day for a run."

- John W. Quinn - author of Someone Like Me

No matter how bad things may seem at the moment, life is all a matter of perspective and attitude. Sometimes all we need is a little reminder, a pick me up if you will. Keep that in mind as we roll into 2011.*

*if you're a gun control advocate things are only going to get worse. :)

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Gunnie Gifts

I don't get much in the way of gunnie gifts on holidays. I've got a few virulent anti's in the family and only one fellow gunnie. My brother.

Last year he gave me ammo (357SIG) This year I got this shirt. It has their web address printed on the back. You'll have to excuse the poofy hair.



I also have three rather awesome announcements to make.

First, my uncle proposed to his girlfriend last night and is getting married.

Second, it looks like another little rugrat will be added to the Dubya clan. My brother and his wife are hoping it's a girl but I'd be fine with another rough & tumble nephew.

Third, I got a big Christmas present. My grandparents promised to pay for me to get Lasik this year. My sisters are sad since they think I look good in glasses. I'll be excited to get rid of the damn things.

Also, I got scolded by my 3 year old nephew for saying "butt". That's a "bad word" in his house and he let me know it ;)

How was everyone's Christmas?


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Merry Christmas To All!

Merry Christmas* to all of my readers and fellow bloggers!

*you'll get none of that PC "happy holidays BS here."


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That's A Nice Booty

What is it with lady gunbloggers, nice butts, and bacon?*

Mupedalpusher shows us her butt. If you're Muslim look away!

*get your minds out of the gutter people....

Holiday Drink Protection

Another Michael certainly has the right idea. Check out his holiday drink ideas.

Whiskey is the way to go. If you've got some Drambuie then a Rusty Nail is a great holiday drink.

Can You Ka-Bar?

I have quite a few pocket knives, but what I've always been short on are good fixed blades. After seeing Breda's knife post I decided to go ahead and pick up a few.

The big one is a 3/4 size black tanto Kabar fighting knife with a 5.25 inch blade. The smaller one next to it is a Kabar Becker Necker neck knife with a 3 3/16th inch blade.



Then, we get even smaller. A Kabar Becker Necker Remora with a 2.25 inch blade


And to round things out, a Cold Steel Scottish Spike neck knife from Cold Steel's Spike series. Cold Steel makes some beautiful knives.



The truly sad thing is that the government assault on tools over the last century means that a citizen in supposedly free America needs a permission slip to carry any of these under their pants or under a shirt. In many ways knife laws are just as bad as gun laws (not to mention confusing) Of course if you believe that inanimate objects literally cause crime, then it's no stretch to restrict carrying of knives. One need only look at the UK to see how well that works...

As Breda says, "I think I need more knives."

Here in the north

Chili has beans.

Yes, I cooked chili, cleaned & did wash on my day off. It's all very exciting...



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Quote of The Day - Bananas!

"With a stop light, green means "go" and yellow means "slow down". With a banana, however, it is quite the opposite. Yellow means "go", green means "whoa, slow down", and red means "where the fuck did you get that banana at?"

- Mitch Hedberg

This QOTD is brought to you by your humble host Serious Beard, who has not been living up to that moniker lately and instead listening to comedy on his morning commute. You'll be getting Mitch Hedberg jokes all this week as QOTD's. Deal with it.

TSA Santa

I would pay money to watch a guy in a Santa outfit and this shirt trying to get through TSA. Bonus points if he has a prosthesis that makes him extra "dangerous"

Heh, the shirt condition is listed as "fondled."

Speaking of Santa. I saw a guy in a full santa outfit driving a Vette with the top down the other day. It's in the 20's here. I guess he got sick of all the reindeer poop and wanted to deliver presents in style.

I Will Not Register

Linoge has an excellent post up detailing major instances of registration of arms leading to government confiscation.

People are quick to label gun owners who stand steadfast against registration as "paranoid" or fearmongering." This is simply not the case. It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. If history is any indication (and what better indicator is there?) it is a concern firmly grounded in truth. The ultimate goal of anti-gunners has always been the removal of firearms from the hands of free citizens.

Registration is the one key step government need take to help facilitate the rounding up of something or someones they deem undesirable. They registered both Jews AND their firearms, making it significantly easier to round the former up and send them to the gas chambers. If you truly believe in the phrase "never again" then opposition to firearms registration is a moral imperative.

I will not register! Given what we know it'd be unbelievably foolish to go along with any registration scheme. Massive civil disobedience is the only acceptable response to such a scheme. If the day ever comes in the U.S. where registration is a reality then I and my fellow liberty-minded Americans will become instant "criminals". I'd be honored to be in such great company with the rest of you "criminals."

Knife huh?

So I just reached into my pocket and pulled out a spare Gerber Mini Paraframe. Apparently I have two of them. Who knew?

Another stabby thing to add to my always growing collection. It's a good knife for around $10.

Expect a more substantial knife post and a quick ammo review here next week.

Also, now that I have these two Gerber Mini Paraframe's I have new appreciation for just how tiny Breda is. This is a tiny little knife. It disappears in the small coin pocket of my jeans, yet in Breda's little hands it looks like a full-sized pocket knife. She truly is pocket-sized.

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Let's change the target

The following is an excerpt from the Court's decision in Peruta v. County of San Diego.

Defendant has an important and substantial interest in public safety
and in reducing the rate of violent crime. In particular, the government has
an important interest in reducing the number of young black men in public in
order to reduce the risks to other members of the public who use the streets and
go to public accommodations. See Zimring Decl. The government also has an
important interest in reducing the number of young black men in public
because of their disproportionate involvement in life-threatening crimes of
violence, particularly in streets and other public places. Id.

Defendant’s policy need not be perfect, only reasonably related to a “significant,” “substantial,” or “important” governmental interest. Defendant’s
policy relates reasonably to those interests.

Please note that the bolded portions were NOT written by Judge Gonzalez. I added them. What's interesting is that there's more truth to Judge Gonzalezs' statement after my word substitution than there was when she discussed CCW permit holders. Peruta applied for a CCW permit. CCW holders are not, by any objective measure, "disproportionately involved in life threatening crimes of violence" so to use that rationale as sufficient reason to deny Peruta's rights is at best intellectually dishonest not to mention outright discriminatory.



H/T to No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money

Weekend WTF?

I saw this website and laughed. Possibly not work safe due to the website name.


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Must reads

These two books couldn't be more different, but they're both must reads.



A Zombie survival guide? C'mon! That should be required reading for any gunnie or aspiring gunnie.

You really should read "Someone Like Me" even if you don't know anyone with CP except your humble host.

The intro states "I wanted to tell what it was like to have cerebral palsy as an adult." I'm only 40 pages in and so far it's excellent. Brings back many memories, both good & bad.

Light posting

Omi & Opa are coming in from out west and ill be in Philly tomorrow so there might not be anything here this weekend.

Who knows? Maybe I'll post something light and easy from my phone if the mood strikes me.

Random TSA Thought

I'm really glad the TSA didn't exist back when I was a kid and wearing leg braces. Somehow I see both of my parents being the kind of people who would have a serious problem with their kid being treated like a terrorist because he had braces on his legs.*

Also, I can't seem to find the video of the screaming 3 year old who was molested by the TSA anywhere. It appears it's been removed for copyright reasons.

When mom saw that video her words to my sister and I were something to the effect of

"If that'd been one of you guys I'd have forcibly removed that man's hands from you and left. Go ahead and arrest me ."

When folks like my mom are as pissed off as she was upon seeing that video you know just how seriously the government has overstepped its bounds. It's one thing to have libertarians like myself pissed off. It's quite another to have made grandma's and soccer mom's angry.

*My braces weren't quite like his. They were molded plastic, went up a few inches below my knee, and were neon green with black velcro. Apparently I thought having neon green leg braces made me super cool!

Never trust the liberal media

Anytime a shooting happens that receives nationwide attention, the shooter morphs into a "right-winger" who only went on his rampage because Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin & Fox News sprinkled magic, racist, fairy dust on him right before he went nuts.

I wish I were joking, but liberals and our own government tend to morph these shooters into crazy right wingers despite the facts. That fits their narrative, and so they'll spread it as truth regardless of reality.

Of course since the Florida shooter looks to have been a leftist we won't have the liberal talking heads ranting for days on end about "right wing hate speech" and how the "irresponsible rhetoric" of the Right is the cause of such violence.

Think we will ever hear MSNBC, CNN, or anyone else in the liberal MSM attack Media Matters, Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann because of what the Florida shooter did? Yeah, that'll happen when hell freezes over.

Considering these shootings always somehow become Glenn Beck's fault I'm glad to see him fighting back. The fact is when some pissed off nutcase goes on a shooting spree it's not the media's fault, left or right. Responsibility lies on the criminal with the gun.

Barbaric

There's really not much else to say about this. Watch the video.



Religion of peace.

Via Hotair

Quote Of The Day - Mass Shootings

"In the countless instances of mass shootings, they all have one thing in common: had someone present been carrying a gun, countless lives would have been saved. Gun control advocates like to ignore that little nugget of logic, but keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens does nothing but ensure that they are defenseless when confronted with a gun-wielding criminal."

Cassy Fiano - writing at Hotair.com


It's nice to see someone in the media state that which is painfully obvious and which pro-gun folks have known for years. Also, anti-gunners don't just ignore "nuggets of logic" they are completely impervious to it.

Read her whole article. I could've taken a couple different passages for my QOTD.

H/T to Alphecca

BB & Guns - Marketing

Breda and co-host? will be on the air again tonight at 8PM for BB & Guns. They'll be continuing some of the discussion started here about marketing pink guns to women.* I wonder if Caleb will call-in to talk about his rails fetish?

*personally I generally hate how guns are marketed to women, particularly the "just get an airweight J-frame" push. I suppose that's a topic all its own. I'm obviously not a woman, but I do have experience with running into some of the same issues that smaller women might have when buying a first gun.

I'll be missing the show again this week due to the annual Christmas party for The Firm. Free beer, free food! Sweet! If you're reading this you really shouldn't miss Breda (and Bonnie's) show. It looks like it'll be a good one as usual. Perhaps I'll see some of you in IRC.

Well That's Weer'd

I've gotten a little lazy this winter. As a result I'm looking a little Weer'd. If I start drinking gin I'm really screwed.

Picard To Engineering....

The forcefields are malfunctioning. The "Gun Free Zone" forcefield that is.

Here's a first hand account of the Florida School Board shooting from board member Ginger Littleton.

I was concerned about my guys. They were lined up like ducks in a row. He was already basically standing on the same level as them. I knew something bad was going to happen. That was my only option. ... My guys had three-ring binders and pencils for protection, and that's all."

Once again we see the fallacy of "Gun Free Zones." They simply aren't. Laws and signs prohibiting guns didn't keep a man from walking in armed and threatening the lives of everyone in that room. Littleton paints an all too familiar picture. Helpless, disarmed victims at the mercy of their assailant. Littleton jumped into action with the only "weapon" she had. Her purse. She failed, and the only reason she didn't die is because the shooter didn't intend to kill her.

Make no mistake about it. This is the world anti-gunners want for all Americans, as described by Bill Husfelt,

"The only thing we had, the only thing we could possibly do, was buy time. ... He had us. He could have sat there and picked us off."

Let that last sentence sink in. "He could have sat there and picked us off." Gun control provided them with absolutely NO real security, only the illusion of security, which was shattered the moment Duke walked in.

There are only two reasons everyone in that room isn't dead right now. One, Duke didn't walk in and execute them all. Two, a man with a gun shot him, stopping the assault and forcing Duke to end his own life.

H/T to WizardPC, who succinctly notes how this played out. If it sounds familiar that's because this is the basic progression of every "gun free zone" shooting. Those who create these victim-rich environments should be held responsible.

Guess I'm "Unnatural"

"It’s just natural to want to shoot someone when you don’t agree with them or have a beef or you’re drunk and can’t quite think straight. It’s just natural to allow 30,000 victims of gun violence to occur every year in the U.S. We should just accept the natural order of things then." *

-Joan Peterson - Brady Campaign Board Member and anti-gun bigot

I will not link to Joan's blog, however I will link you to Weer'd's post.

Perhaps anti-gunners would want to shoot someone over a disagreement or because they've had a few drinks. I on the other hand prefer to act like a reasonable adult who can control his emotions. Thankfully most people aren't wired like that. If you are then I'm glad you're anti-gun and I hope you don't ever decide to own one. I honestly do believe that some people lack the mental and emotional self-control to own a gun, but that's another post entirely.

I mentioned on Twitter the other day that my roomie and I sometimes get into heated political discussion while I'm armed, yet somehow my gun doesn't jump from the holster and start firing. If I'm home and not drinking it's a safe bet I'm armed. I've gotten into disagreements while armed. Hell, I once had a very angry, very emotionally unhinged man get up in my face while I was armed. Was I angry to have some guy much bigger than me chin to chin screaming in my face for no good reason? Sure, but that's not a reason to want to shoot someone.

We already have a group of people who think it's perfectly natural and acceptable to use deadly force to kill those who they disagree with or who "disrespect" them. They're called violent criminals. That's a cultural problem not a gun problem.

Sigh. As Uncle routinely asks, why are anti-gunners so violent?

Dumb Gun Laws & Four Legged Predators

Apparently there were some cougar citings in Pike Creek last month, and not the good kind. ;)

Delaware of course, in its infinite wisdom, has listed all State Parks as prohibited places. So these state parks are "gun-free zones" despite the fact that I could walk around for hours in some parts without seeing another person.

I routinely walk Zack in this area in middle run park near Pike Creek. I'm not particularly worried about cougars since they generally attack children, small women & small dogs. That said, it is a concern, especially if you have small children. Police response times out on hiking trails are likely to be next to useless, and if you get into trouble you're entirely on your own.

Middle Run borders and connects to White Clay Creek State Park. Basically, the trails within White Clay and Middle Run are interconnected. If one was unfamiliar with the area I could see them ending up on State Park land without realizing it. Middle run is a New Castle County park so OC and CCW are OK. The same is not true of White Clay, since it's a State Park. I can think of a few areas in Newark as well where if you went walking you could easily end up in White Clay.

This article also reminds me of something you'll see if you got to Fair Hill park in Maryland. At the entrance to the park there's a sign warning people about cougars and describing what to do if you encounter one. So the State sees fit to warn you about potential danger from cougars and then disarms you while you're walking around in the woods. Genius!

Quote of The Day - Sobriety

"The harsh, useful things of the world, from pulling teeth to digging potatoes, are best done by men who are as starkly sober as so many convicts in the death-house, but the lovely and useless things, the charming and exhilarating things, are best done by men with, as the phrase is, a few sheets in the wind."

-H.L. Mencken

Clearly Mencken was a happy, silly drunk. Those are the only good kind.

Sad Trolls

In the 3 years I've written this blog I've occasionally gotten trolls that were so downright nasty it was actually a bit amusing. Some trolls however are just pathetic. This guy is one such troll

Just once I'd like to see an anti-gun blogger who is capable of intelligently debating the issue. It would certainly make things a bit more sporting. As it is it's more like shooting fish in a barrel. That said, if they were capable of rational thought and intelligent debate on this issue they wouldn't be anti-gun, now would they?

*To be sure, there are intelligent people who are anti-gun advocates but when it comes to the gun issue even they cannot rationally and intelligently discuss it.

Justice Breyer

Let me just say for the record that Justice Breyer is a hack. Not only did his dissent in Heller contain glaring factual errors, but he seems to cling to such falsehoods even now.

He appears to be claiming that James Madison did not believe in any individual right to keep & bear arms and that Madison only included the 2nd Amendment so that the Constitution could be ratified. Has he never read the Federalist Papers? Federalist #46?

There are several major problems with his argument. The United States Constitution was ratified June 21, 1788. The 2nd Amendment was ratified December 15, 1791. (along with the rest of the original BOR) For those of you who can count that's 3 and a half years after the Constitution had already been ratified.

Here's the money quote from Breyer which really shows how little respect he has for the rights of American citizens.

"Are you a sportsman? Do you like to shoot pistols at targets? Well, get on the subway and go to Maryland. There is no problem, I don't think, for anyone who really wants to have a gun."

No problem? Tell that to someone who tries to legally buy a gun in DC, or Chicago, or Massachusetts etc. If I have to go through an onerous, expensive process just to buy the gun and then drive to another state and/or city to shoot it, that is a problem. You're telling me that going through this process and then having to go to another state to shoot isn't a problem? Bullshit. Of course you also can't just go to Maryland, because their rules for transporting firearms are insane.

Imagine if I had to jump through hoops and spend hundreds to get a library card, then had to drive 20 or even 50 miles out of my way to go to a library because they were illegal where I lived. I think Justice Breyer would have a problem with that. I suspect Breyer's intelligent rebuttal to that would be "but guns are different..."

Would Breyer have said such a thing to black men in the south who were being denied the ability to vote because of poll taxes and literacy tests? If Delaware banned Jehovah's Witnesses I suppose Justice Breyer would tell them "tough luck, drive to Maryland if you want to have religious freedom." He's saying that if you're Constitutional rights don't exist in one state you should suck it up and to exercize them somewhere else. I don't know what country Breyer lives in, but I live in the United States of America.

Ignoring the fact that Breyer is wrong about Madison's reasons for including the 2nd Amendment, what difference does that make? It was included in the Bill of Rights and ratified. That remains true no matter how badly Breyer tries to read it out of the Constitution.

Breyer's essentially saying that Madison didn't really believe in the 2nd Amendment, nor did he really intend for it to be a right of citizens, he just stuck it in so the Constitution could be ratified. If that's his argument for claiming that the 2nd Amendment doesn't really count he's setting a dangerous precedent. After all, using Breyer's "logic" you could say the same about the entirety of the original Bill of Rights.

"Oh, Amendment _____, founder X didn't really believe in that right, they just stuck it in the Constitution extraneously to help move along the ratification process, so we're not going to recognize it."

The words I've bolded and italicized above summarize Breyer's argument. I'm sorry, but Breyer's position has to be one of the most moronic and intellectually vapid arguments I've ever seen. The Amendments contained in the Bill of Rights were written to be limits on Federal power. That was their primary purpose. For a sitting Supreme Court justice to say that this was not the case, that one of our rights was just thrown in for ratification purposes shows an alarming level of contempt for the rights of American citizens.

Personally, I think Justice Breyer is a liberal statist who is simply pissed off that he wasn't able to read a fundamental protection in the Bill of Rights out of the Constitution. You lost Justice Breyer. Your attempts to curtail my rights were unsuccessful. Deal with it. Also, should you try again to read the 2nd Amendment out of the Constitution, I would remind you that We The People have guns.

Yes, I am a dirty capitalist

There is now a "Donate" button on the right hand side of this blog. Why is it there? Well why not? This is America, land of capitalism. (at least for now) If you like what you read here enough to drop a nickel in the tip jar then by all means go for it!

Quote of The Day X2 - Brain Space

"have you seen the latest? I swear, if I am ever homeless, I'll be able to live rent-free in her head for the rest of her life. "

- Sean Sorrentino - In comments at Robb Allen's

Sure, it's a bit of a jab at the bigoted, intolerant, and hilariously sad Joan Peterson, but hey, it was funny.

I mean hell, at least the empty space in Mrs. Weer'd's head isn't her fault and hasn't impaired her cognitive ability. I'm not sure we can say the same about Joan Peterson.


- Yeah I know, two QOTD's in one day. It's my blog and I'm making up for not posting them. Deal with it.

Quote of The Day - Old Fat Guys

"The old fat guys have had enough, and with the internet, they have communication with all the other fat old guys who’ve had enough. They’ve realized that they are not alone, and that the system is rotten. They aren’t photogenic, but they’ve got numbers, and increasingly, nothing left to lose."

- Sean D. Sorrentino of NC Guns.

I happen to agree with Sean. You can take the most mild-mannered, even tempered person imaginable and if you push them hard enough and for long enough they will push back. If you continue to trample their rights and treat them with contempt they'll eventually get fed up to the point where their best recourse is to fight back. That's basic human nature when you're backed into a corner. When the government starts pressing boots to people's necks you'll get to the point where some brave souls will try and cut off feet.

Until this kind of government overreach and abuse of power stops we're going to see more and more honest, hard-working American's having their "line in the sand" breached.

If you don't know about Joel Rosenberg's story read this. Also see Skidmark's story here and donate to his legal defense fund if you're able. I threw him a few bucks and got a response from his lawyer. I wish both these men the best of luck. Both men stood up for their rights and had the power of the State come down on them hard. Rosenberg's case in particular was one of outright retaliation by the police.

I know that Kevin Baker wrote a great piece on "lines in the sand" but I can't find it for the life of me.

H/T to Sean Sorrentino

Lazy Sunday

I'm chillin watching the game and drinking a Dogfish.

I'm as relaxed as this big guy was yesterday. Miss you Zack!

On Blogging

First Sayuncle wrote a post about the current state of gunblogging and then Breda ran with it for her most recent BB & Guns podcast. I really wanted to call into Breda's show to talk about this topic but it seems I'm always doing something on Thursday nights that makes me miss the show. Breda keeps joking with me that she's going to push the time back again so I can make it.  No, No, No.

Anyway, I thought I'd start this post by talking about how I got started in the gunblogging community. I originally started writing a livejournal back in 2003 or 2004. These days I like to call that my repository of mental vomit. There was a lot of me complaining about school, my father, surgeries, and basically venting my frustrations and being emo. Much of what was written in there was crap, including a roughly year long stint as an opiate addicted zombie that ended with scaring myself straight. I also pulled above a 3.0 GPA that year, which I'll never understand. Damnit, now I'm rambling. As those of you who follow this blog already know, I love to argue and I love sarcasm, so at some point I started writing about politics, stupid shit in the news, and gun related things.

So, onto the gun stuff. At that point I only had maybe 5 or so regular readers of my livejournal. An old childhood friend, Laura, who I'd known since I was 16 or 17, back before she was "Falnfenix," Breda, and at some point Weer'd Beard. To be honest I'm not sure how Breda & Weer'd found my livejournal, or if it was I who found them first, but these 3 folks were my only regular readers/commenters for quite a while aside from my Canadian friend. I'm lucky, I was in great company, even back then. I bought my first gun sometime between my birthday and Christmas in 2007, hit the range for the 1st time ever, wrote a post, and as they say, the rest was history.

At first I was hesitant to jump to Blogger. I didn't feel like learning a new format, was worried I'd have no readers, and was just plain lazy. There was also the little issue of having no damn clue what to call the blog, which is why you got suck with the horribly unoriginal "Another Gun Blog." That said, the fine people mentioned above had been prodding me to make the jump, so I did. "Breda did it, if she can do it so can I" was definitely part of the impetus for starting on blogger, as corny as that sounds. Breda may have linked to my inaugural range post LJ entry, though I honesty don't remember. Weer'd, I don't know what the hell took you so long to switch over from Livejournal.

Now, aside from "how did you get started?" a few of the central themes brought up by Breda, Jay & Uncle centered around whether it's harder to be a gunblogger these days and about what it takes to be a successful blogger. This blog has been around 3 years now, but I don't think I've got one damn clue what being a "successful blogger" means. Is this blog successful? Who the fuck knows? I If you look at my sitemeter probably not, but that's irrelevant. I've enjoyed blogging and have met a ton of great people who I can honestly say have enriched my life. That's success in my book.

I'm laid back and honestly don't fret about what I'm going to write here. I don't agonize over each post before I hit "submit" (though I would do well to proofread more) Hell, I don't have a blogging routine nor a theme as far as what I write about. I write here in a very "ad-hoc" manner. I rarely schedule posts, have a low bar for what's "postworthy" and there's really little sense of rhyme or reason to my posting.

I can honestly say I really just write about whatever pops into my head on a given day that I find interesting and that I think readers might enjoy as well. That's why you see an eclectic, random mix of sometimes nonsensical posts here at Another Gun Blog. In many ways I think this blog mirrors how I am in real life. Narf! (if you've met me and disagree, don't be shy) This is why I don't necessarily think it's harder to be a gunblogger these days. To be sure, we're winning, so there's less in the news for a fledgling blogger to write about. In that respect it's harder, but I subscribe to the "If you build it they will come" blogging philosophy. Blogging is an outlet for me and if others like my rambling that's just icing on the cake. I think I remember Jay G. saying it was "Therapy." Jay, if that's true then I'd hate to see what you're like when not on your daily blogging meds. ;)

I think it really comes down to it my advice would be to write about things you enjoy and have fun with it. If you need to garner an audience at the start, try pimping your blog through other social media. Just remember not to be an ass about it.

The Wrong End

If you're looking at this end of either of these tools that means things have gone very, very badly.



Pictured are my 97' Sig P6 and my full sized USMC Kabar

Some Days

You just want to enjoy a good beer.



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Feliz Cumpleanos! - Blogiversary

I almost forgot my own blogiversary! That's right, 3 years ago today, after some prodding from a couple of lady bloggers, I made the jump from Livejournal and started Another Gun Blog.

In dog years this blog is officially of age, so I raise a beer and say cheers to my readers and fellow bloggers!

Thank you all for reading my ramblings and for commenting these past 3 years. I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed blogging here.

Tis' The Season

Tis' the season, so I'm writing a semi-cheesy post reiterating what I said here. I'll also recommend that that you give back to everyone's favorite gunblogger radio show* as well as hit up the United Cerebral Palsy donation link right here at Another Gun Blog. I'm not telling you readers what to do of course, just offering a helpful nudge ;)

*I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention VC, which is on at 8PM tonight.

Quote of the Day - Free Men

"No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at discretion.”

-James Burgh - Political Disquisitions

Burgh makes a compelling point about the gun being essential to basic individual freedom. The idea that life, liberty and property of are little meaning unless they can be defended by force is one that comes up consistently throughout history, particularly among the founders and their contemporaries. I think Burgh's quote gets to the heart of why guns are more than simple tools to us. They are symbols of what it means to be a free man as well as tools procured so that we may remain so.

Been Busy

Things have been crazy, so crazy in fact that I haven't posted any "Quotes of The Day," I missed BB& Guns tonight and I forgot to put up a post pimping the show.

Damn. I can't wait to use up the 5 days of paid vacation time I've got left. I sure as hell could use the time off.

Stupidity Illustrated - Stabby Things

Laws restricting the carrying of basic tools have progressed to the point where carrying this tiny tool would be a felony in my state without an expensive permission slip from the nanny state.

If I actually gave it to a hobo he'd be committing a felony by carrying it.

By the way, if you're looking for a Ka-Bar I highly recommend Tomars Kabars.

As yet another example of the idiocy of focusing on items rather than crimes, the black Cold Steel knife in the top right of Breda's photo is classified as an "undetectable knife" and is illegal in this state.

Personal Attacks

Personal attacks are the modus opperandi of the anti-gunner. Case in point, Josh Horwitz attempted character assassination of 18 year old James D'Cruz. Gun control groups are desperate, broke, and on the defensive. They've been getting thoroughly beaten down the past few years and they're lashing out. Ultimately it's something all anti-gunners do, and the Brady's, CSGV etc. are no exception.

All of this is over something as simple and non-controversial as allowing adults to exercise their Constitutional rights as adults. If I'm legally an adult then all of the rights protected by the Constitution apply, not just some of them. It's not an either/or proposition. If we are going to say that an 18 year old is an adult then we should treat him as an adult, not a child.

This is the face of the anti-gun movement, and I quote,

"The best case scenario here is that D'Cruz is strikingly immature and incapable of handling the serious responsibilities that come with gun ownership. The worst case scenario is that he's a ticking time bomb in need of psychiatric care. In either case, he's a poster boy for why we should prevent handgun sales to those under 21 years of age."

How does Horwitz come to this conclusion about Mr. D'Cruz? From movie quotes D'Cruz posted to his Facebook. I'm sure you could pull quotes off of this blog in order to do the same thing to me, probably with no more than referencing my "quotes of the day." Josh also uses these quotes to compare D'Cruz to the Columbine shooters and infer that he might do the same thing. That is despicable, even for the anti's.

These are the kinds of personal attacks I'd expect from the folks at Delaware Liberal or from any number of other vile anti-gun bloggers. One would think the CSGV, Brady's, etc. would be smarter than stooping to blatant personal attacks on teenagers. Sure they're pathetic, but they are the national face of the gun control movement.

I hope Josh & his ilk keep this up. The more our enemies engage in such hateful rhetoric the more it helps us. If this is the best they can come up with as to why 18-20 year olds should be denied their Constitutional rights then I'm optimistic about our chances.

Keep spewing your bigotry against young people Josh Horwitz. You'll be relegated to the 3rd rail soon enough. I hope Oleg Volk sues you for copyright infringement.

Quote of The Day - Be In Control

”I have a very strict gun control policy: if there’s a gun around, I want to be in control of it.”

-Clint Eastwood

-Yup. The safest place for my gun is under my immediate control.

Random Tuesday Fun fact

Did you know that 4200 rounds of bulk .22lr packed in plastic ammo cans weighs approximately 37 pounds?

Now you know.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A date which will live in infamy

"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt - December 8, 1941

My grandpa hates the Japanese to this day.

*photo taken from here.

C'Mon Delaware!

There are only a handful of "may issue" CCW states left. Iowa has fallen in line. Delaware needs to get with the times and go shall issue.*

And get rid of our moronic newspaper reporting requirement for CCW applications.

H/T to JP.

40 is the new 60

Christina got her first AARP mailing......at age 40. Her response is classic. Is that when you become a geriatric these days. If so I guess quite a few gunbloggers are going to start getting AARP junk mailings soon. Luckily I've got two decades or so to decide what to do when I get mine. Personally I liked Brigid's response.

Hell my roommate was complaining yesterday about getting a few grey hairs in his beard. I wonder if he'll be getting crap from them soon?

Rock Out With Your Glock Out

Sure, you could do that. The problem is that despite what the description says this is not fine Austrian tupperwear.

A Holiday Reminder

As Americans we so often get immersed in the materialistic aspect of the Christmas holiday. The shopping, wondering what gifts we'll get, decorating the tree, or getting into a decoration contest are all integral parts of the season.

All of those things, as wonderful as they are, really overshadow what's great about the Christmas season and what it should be all about. Giving.

Many of us are pinching our budgets in these uncertain times, yet some of our fellow Americans are far worse off. Please remember to keep those folks in mind this and every Christmas.

I'm not a particularly religious person. That said, I do believe that if you genuinely live your life trying to do good things for people then everything will work out in the end.

If you have the means, do something nice for someone this holiday season. Send a gift to a blog reader, friend, or complete stranger. Don't do it because you read this or you're expecting something in return. Do it because it'll bring a smile to someone's face this Christmas and hell, it's the right thing to do.

I'm far from being affluent, however I'm grateful to have a job, car, a roof over my head, and enough money to meet basic needs. Being in such a position means I've got enough to give at least something back, no matter how small.

So have fun & enjoy Christmas this year, but don't forget to give what you can. Donate blankets and old winter clothes or spend $20 on gloves & hats so someone else can stay warm this winter.

On Open Carry

A quick observation on open carry from the weekend.

Most people don't even notice. Those who do notice tend to fall into one of 3 categories.

1. Notice but don't seem to care

2. Notice and keep looking at the gun

3. Notice and are looking at you like you're carrying around dead kittens in your arms.

Surprisingly no one comes up to me and asks if I'm carrying because I have a small trouser monkey.

I'm not the scariest looking dude in the world though. Your mileage may vary.

Seriously Obama?

"Small businesses and families are tightening their belts. Their government should too."

- Barack Obama's Twitter feed - 11-29-2010

Yes folks, the man who has presided over the largest expansion of the Federal government since FDR and higher government spending than any time in U.S. history is talking about the need for fiscal responsibility. I'd say it's surreal, but then we all know President Obama is lying. He has absolutely no intention of reducing the size or scope of the Feds or of cutting government spending. The words "cut spending" aren't even in his vocabulary.

*yes, I follow Obama on Twitter.

Checks And Balances - Obamacare

The judiciary is supposed to act as a check on legislative and executive power, not as a rubber stamp for whatever a bunch of statists want to force upon the citizenry. A Federal judge in Virginia has upheld the individual mandate forcing us to purchase health insurance under Obamacare.

What was judge Moon's reasoning? Oh yes, one of my personal favorites, the Commerce Clause. All thanks to Wickard

“I hold that there is a rational basis for Congress to conclude that individuals’ decisions about how and when to pay for health care are activities that in the aggregate substantially affect the interstate health care market."

So the court is using the a rational-basis test in this case, the lowest level of judicial scrutiny. That tells you immediately that the law is almost certain to be upheld. This should be obvious, but you could replace the words "health care" with a whole host of commodities without changing the nature of this holding.

"Far from ‘inactivity,’ by choosing to forgo insurance, Plaintiffs are making an economic decision to try to pay for health care services later, out of pocket, rather than now, through the purchase of insurance."

Why, we can't have people making individual choices about their own health and their own pocketbooks. That level of personal freedom is dangerous!

So the Court's reasoning basically boils down to this. Choosing not to engage in interstate commerce is an action (more literally an "inaction") that substantially impacts interstate commerce, therefore the government can compel you to engage in interstate commerce.

Think about that for a second. If I go to the store and decide to buy turkey sausage instead of bacon, I'm making a decision in which I purchase one product and forgo the purchase of another. If lots of other people make that same decision it would negatively impact the interstate market for turkey sausage. The Court is saying the government could use the aggregate impact of the choice not to purchase turkey sausage as reason to force us to purchase turkey sausage.

Hell, if I choose to stay at home and blog instead of going to the store to buy food I'm still making an economic decision impacting interstate commerce according to Judge Moon. Per Moon's reasoning my decision not to shop can be regulated under the Commerce Clause.

Even more hilarious is the fact that Judge Moon upheld Obamacare under the Commerce Clause even though most states prohibit individuals from purchasing insurance across states lines and thus actually engaging in interstate commerce in the healthcare market. That's right folks. I'm legally prohibited from purchasing insurance across state lines, so there isn't even any interstate commerce taking place. (not that such a fact stopped the Court from ruling against the plaintiff's in Raich or Wickard.)

Judge Moon engages in some masterful legal reasoning with this statement as well,

"Nearly everyone will require health care services at some point in their lifetimes, and it is not always possible to predict when one will be afflicted by illness or injury and require care.…"

Everyone requires food to live, and the aggregate purchase of food certainly impacts interstate commerce under a rational basis test. Is it then Constitutional for Congress to mandate the purchase of certain foods? Nearly everyone requires transportation in their lifetime, so can Congress require us to purchase cars?

This kind of legal "reasoning" gives the government carte blanche to do whatever it wants. (of course the same could be said of the holdings in Wickard or Raich. If they can force us to buy insurance......well it's a long way down that rabbit hole.

Somehow I think many Liberals who support Obamacare would cry foul if this same reasoning were used to force people to buy guns.

H/T HotAir

A good synopsis here

Weight Reduction!

It works for cars, not so much for guns. Things like this are why I'm not a fan of guns with zinc mim(ZAMAK) slides. My .22 Bersa has a steel slide and is cheaper than a Mosquito with a potmetal slide.

Also, I laughed out loud at Para's comment, "So, the front fell off."