Starting not-this-Tuesday-but-rather-next-Tuesday-the-24th, Squeaky and I will be launching our co-hosted podcast, “Gun Nuts: The Next Generation”. More details to follow as we hammer them out.
I honestly have to say thanks to Cam for the idea, as he said at the NRA meetings that he’d like to have Squeaks and I on the show – we were rambling about something and the sarcasm level was off the chain.
MORE DETAILS TO COME!
In a letter to the Times Union, I discover a really fun piece of faulty logic in support of gun control:
It’s about time we get real about gun control in our cities. If we can have sobriety checkpoints and now motorcycle checkpoints, why don’t we have cops creating gun checkpoints? Have them create checkpoints in the city where the gun violence is running rampant.
Give the cops metal detectors and make people stop and get checked for guns. They are illegal and they are a lot worse than drunken drivers…
I reckon that Mark Arras, the author of the letter missed the part where drunk drivers kill a hell of a lot more people in the United States than gun crime. How many? Well, the CDC’s stats don’t allow me to factor in drunk drivers, but in 2005, over 45,000 people were killed by motor vehicles in one way or another. In that same year, about 12,000 people were killed in homicides by firearms.
So, uh, Mr. Arras, it appears that you’re wrong. The actual facts don’t support a statement that guns are more dangerous than cars/drunk drivers, in fact it’s quite the opposite.
But hey, it’s not like we expect gun control advocates to use logic these days.
“Feelings, whoa whoa feelings”…
Clearly, I should be your number one choice for Blackwater training, as I’m prepared to fully fight off the zombie menace.
Fight the Zombie Menace – send me to Blackwater to shoot with Todd Jarrett! By voting, you also enter yourself to win the 11th slot, so you to can become a soldier for zombie eradication!
I’ve seen the light at end the of our Tunnel of National Suffering, and that Light IS Barack Obama. As a result of my conversion to Obama, yesterday I went and re-wrote the words to John Lennon’s hit song “Imagine”, as a tribute to Barack Obama. The tune remains the same, it goes first verse, second verse, chorus, third verse, 2nd chorus just like the original by John Lennon.
When I get back from vacation, I’ll record my Imagine Obama ’08 Tribute and post it on Youtube – but now, here are the lyrics for “Imagine: Obama ’08”:
Imagine hopey-changey
it’s easy if you try
The people all around us
Redistribute your pie
Imagine all the hippies
Living off the stateImagine all our buddies
From Syria and Iran
We all get together
To sing and all hold hands
Imagine all the people
Forced to live in “peace”You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m filled with hope for change
I hope someday you’ll join me
and there will be hopey-changeImagine no possessions
No more SUVs
No need to use the AC
Free pie for you and me
Imagine all the people
saving polar bearsYou may say I’m a commie
But I know what’s best for you
I know someday you’ll join us
Because we’ll just force you to
Seeing the light has been a wonderful, enlightening experience for me. Having unquestionable moral authority is an awesome feeling.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today signed the National Rifle Association (NRA)-backed “Castle Doctrine” legislation into law to expand the self-defense rights of law-abiding citizens. SB 184, sponsored by State Senator Steve Buehrer (R-1), protects the rights of innocent victims to defend themselves from criminal attack while expanding the rights of concealed-carry permit holders.
Good for him – it’s nice that my next door neighbor in Ohio (full of good peoples like Breda) have had their right to self-defense further protected by law.
It seems that Cafepress has selectively decided to yank some of Tam’s products down.
I’d say I’m surprised, but I’m not. The Disciples get really upset when you mock their Savior.
Breda wants a .22 caliber rifle, after her shooting experience the other day with one. Being a woman of good taste, she wants a bolt action rifle, as she’s come to enjoy the aesthetic feeling of manually operating the bolt.
I love bolt action. There is just something so neat about working that thing back and forth and making the cartridge pop out. Is that weird?
No, it’s actually perfectly normal. For people that “get it”, there is a simple elegance to bolt action rifles that can’t be found in semi-automatic rifles; something (for me anyway) about a bolt action that just feels “correct”.
In terms of actually getting a .22 bolt action rifle, both Marlin and Savage make excellent products for that market; I have a Marlin 25M, my very first gun, a bolt action .22 Magnum rifle and I love it. You can find a brand spanking new Marlin 980 for less than $300 in most places, and I promise that you’ll get endless hours of enjoyment from it.
Shooting .22 is probably the purest form of “fun” in the shooting sports, and for a lot of us it takes us back to when our parents first taught us how to shoot.
Recently, my beloved state of Indiana has experienced some pretty dramatic flooding, as well as mass power outages and a loss of emergency services in several areas. Thankfully, despite me repeatedly tempting fate with my giant trees in the backyard, my house has so far been spared any damage (knock on wood).
Oddly enough, during all the catastrophe, a co-worker and I were talking about (of course) why I own firearms. The recent flooding, power outages and accompanying loss of emergency services in some areas serve as a stark example of why I choose to own firearms, as well as keep a decent supply of food on hand. Yesterday, the word was that Indianapolis Metro PD was having to patrol some areas in Hummvees, because the water was so high that they couldn’t reach the affected areas in their regular patrol cars.
Now, to the credit of Hoosiers, we haven’t descended into looting and pillaging areas where the power is out and services are down; in fact there has been a very strong and concerted effort amongst residents to work together to make sure that everyone is cared for. But imagine for a second that you’re in a bad neighborhood, the power’s out and flooding has made your area inaccessible to the police and fire departments. You’re fine, you have food, fuel and a generator enough to last for a week or so, but some other people aren’t. In this situation, you’re on your own. If someone decides they want to take your food or your fuel, the police can’t get to you to do anything about it – is it any wonder that I’d want to have a firearm to defend myself and my family?
You’d probably argue that the above is a hypothetical scenario, and you’d be right. But it’s not a far-fetched scenario either for a lot of people; it doesn’t take much for flooding to get to a point where cars “just don’t go” any more, and it’s certainly not a hypothetical situation for people who lived through the looting in the aftermath of Katrina.
My bottom line remains where it has always been, I keep firearms because I believe that I am personally responsible for my safety and the safety of my family – despite my LE/Military background, I don’t believe that it’s the police, military, or anyone’s job to help me when I’m up the creek.
The details for the rumored ParaUSA Blogger shoot have been published! The contest to see who gets the 10 spots is going to be a fight to the death vote-off, where the bloggers who receive the 10 highest vote totals get to go shoot guns with Todd Jarrett at Blackwater. Vote for Ahab here!
This is an awesome thing that Para is putting on, and it only gets better. By going and voting for your favorite blogger *coughCallmeAhabcough* you can also enter to win the 11th spot – the last point on the range. You get the chance to meet 10 other bloggers, shoot with Todd Jarrett, and be filmed for Michael Bane’s TV show.
ParaUSA has clearly demonstrated that they want to be on the cutting edge of new media, and now it’s your chance to get to join the fun!
So go to the following URL, and Vote for Ahab!
Update: Don’t listen to either of these guys I promise as your blackwater selectee that I will only bring the highest, most refined levels of awesome.
Today’s vidcast is on my 1935 Beretta; one of many sub-caliber pistols to see service during World War II.
On a side note, I apologize for the feet – my usual vidcasting table was hijacked for nefarious purposes (read: cat on my table).
You can view all of my vidcasts at the Call me Ahab Youtube channel, which seems to have fixed the crazy audio problems I used to have! Next week I’ll be in California, so a vidcast might be a little difficult, but I’ll see what I can do.