shooting

Nice Shooting

Posted on by Caleb

Sebastian got himself a pin for silhouette.

but by the time I was on the tenth ram, my pulse rate was so high I could see my heart beat moving the rifle, and I missed.

I’m not too familiar with silhouette shooting, but I don’t think I’m mistaken in thinking that it’s not really a timed event.  My recommendation in that case is to put the rifle down and take like three or four deep breaths, then start the shot up again.  Unless of course you’re on a timer and you took too long on your previous shots.

Uncategorized

Hypocrisy in action

Posted on by Caleb

Sylvester Stallone endorses John McCain.  There is so much hypocrisy in that one endorsement that it’s going to make my computer explode.

Example 1: McCain is constantly grandstanding about steroids in baseball.  Stallone has admitted to using Human Growth Hormone.

Example 2: Stallone, who has a record as being anti-gun but also has a CCW permit endorses McCain, whose positions on the 2nd Amendment are anyone’s guess.

Like the Rolling Stone editorial that I linked to, maybe McCain just wanted something to counter the power of the Chuck Norris’ endorsement of Mike Huckabee; which when you think about it, is pretty sad.  I mean, if you make your voting decision based on which idiot celebrity has endorsed a candidate, you probably aren’t smart enough to be voting anyway.

Hoosier

Proud to be a Hoosier

Posted on by Caleb

I don’t say this very often, but I am often proud to be a Hoosier; and it’s things like this that make me even more proud of my adopted state.

“Live free or die” is New Hampshire’s state motto.

It could just as well apply to Indiana, lawmakers and others say, based on the resistance here to passing bills that critics view as attempts to restrict people’s freedoms.

The article is talking about how two recent attempts to ban silly shit (smoking in “enclosed spaces” and talking on cell-phones while driving) dropped dead in the Indiana House.  What caught my attention are a few of the quotes that I’m cherry picking from the article now.

 

“It’s Indiana’s M.O., our mode of operation,” he [Matthew Whetstone, a former Republican lawmaker] said. “We like to keep our privacy, and our rights, and our property and, in general, if we can leave it to ourselves, we like to do that, and not force mandates on folks.”

 

But Summers and Rep. Charlie Brown, the Gary Democrat who sponsored the anti-smoking bill, say these issues are about saving lives.

Wednesday, after other legislators peppered her with questions she couldn’t answer about the number of accidents caused by cell phones and whether eating or putting on makeup behind the wheel isn’t just as big of a distraction, Summers was frustrated.

“It amazes me that you guys don’t get it,” she said.

 

Robert Dion, a professor of American politics at the University of Evansville, agreed, noting that Indiana stands out from neighbors Illinois, Ohio and Michigan.

“Indiana is not the most innovative state. We’re not at the front lines,” he said. (of reducing liberty, apparently – ed)

 

They keep saying that like it’s a bad thing.  It most certainly isn’t, especially to me.  Sure, there’s a bit of a double standard in Indiana, because on some issues like gay marriage we’re more than happy to remove personal liberty, but for the most part we’re very protective of our freedoms, even if it’s our freedom to be a dumbass.  It does make me happy to see that one lawmaker actually gets it:

 

“Is that government’s responsibility? To protect people from themselves? I’m not sure it is,” said Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel.

handguns

Taurus vs. Beretta

Posted on by Caleb

I have a predilection for Taurus handguns, as you may have noticed from previous posts.  I like their revolvers, and I especially like their PT92 series of pistols.

I qualified and trained with a Beretta in the Coast Guard, and never developed the dislike of the pistol that some people have.  When I was shopping for a good pistol for home defense that I could grab in the middle of the night be intimately familiar with the operating system, I gravitated towards the M9 and the PT92 pistols.  Ultimately I went with a PT92, for one big reason.

The safety.  I hate/loathe the safety on the M9.  I was taught to carry the M9 “revolver style”, with the safety off and the hammer down on a live round, and I never liked the safety.  It’s in an odd place, and it’s hard for me to swing my right thumb from its proper position up to the safety to take it off and then back down to the grip without turning the pistol in my hands.  That safety drove me nuts.

The Taurus PT92 on the other hand has a 1911 type safety.  I’m not a big fan of 1911s (Well, there go half my readers – ed), but I did like the safety.  If you’re going to have manual safety devices on a pistol, put them in a place where they’re user friendly for 99.9% of the population.  The location of the safety on the Taurus, and the fact that because of said safety it can be carried “cocked and locked” were my primary factors in choosing Taurus over an M9 Beretta.

Actually, I’m looking for another PT92 right now, the one I have has the integral accessory rail milled into the frame, which is fine for a home defense gun, but I want one with the “clean” frame for carrying.  It’s probably what I’ll end up putting the money from my GP100 sale towards.

blogs

A sad question

Posted on by Caleb

Kim asks a truly sad question, a question to which I don’t think he’ll like the answer.

are we conservatives actually in the minority in this country?

I mentioned this in the comments to his blog, but I wanted to elaborate here.  The answer that you seek is yes, yes conservatives are in the minority in this country.  When I use the term “conservative”, I mean people who believe in actual conservative ideals, smaller government, less taxation, and individual liberty.

I can’t speak for older generations, and I can’t speak for the experiences of other people.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m a young man; my 26th birthday is in July.  I live in a “conservative” community, and have friends who label themselves as “conservative”.  I had a sad realization the other day in that save for the people I’ve met through writing and my wife, I don’t know any true conservatives.

All of my friends who call themselves conservative would be happy to throw any number of true conservative ideals right under the bus if it served their interest.  They would support a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, or support an increase in taxes as long as it’s justified using the right language, some of them even support gun control “for the children”.

It is quite depressing for me, when I try to discuss my political views with my friends – my “liberal” friends don’t get me, but then neither do my “conservative” friends.  At the same time, I know that I can’t actually afford to give up.  I may indeed be in the minority in my embracing conservatism, but I can’t just let it go.  So I blog, I volunteer, I talk to people.  Once I’m done traveling back and forth to Vegas for work, I plan on getting involved with the local Republican party.  I realize that nothing is going to change if I just sit around and blog about it, so I need to do something about it.

I don’t think the Empire is falling; but I do think that if you really do care, then you should do something about it.  Anyone can go on blogspot and complain about how my generation is full of big government nanny-staters on both sides of the aisle (which it is), but it’s something else entirely to do something about it.  You want to make a difference?  Teach an 18 year old what liberty really means.

news

England’s gun laws still not working

Posted on by Caleb

As reported by the British Crime Survey, overall crime in England has fallen off slightly, but “gun crime” has increased by 4% this year.

There really isn’t any more commentary that I can offer on this that I haven’t already brought up several times; we all know England’s gun ban isn’t working and that it’s not going to work.  If you couple the relative defenselessness of the English people with the massive welfare state they’ve created, it’s no wonder that gun crime continues to increase.

Additionally, another source mentions that drug crime has increased 21% in the UK, likely because the UK is escalating their own “war on drugs” to before unheard of levels.  The 21% “increase” is actually an increase in reported drug arrests by police.

So, you have welfare state+stronger drug laws+defenseless population.  We’ve seen the results of that equation here in the States before, and more than likely will see it repeated in England sooner rather than later.

humor/news

Security Theatre

Posted on by Caleb

I stole the title, but it’s the only thing that applies to this story:

Traveler clears checkpoint at Reagan Airport with handgun

A man with a gun apparently passed through a security checkpoint at Reagan National Airport over the weekend without being detected, authorities said last night.

Before the passenger boarded his flight about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, he realized that he had the gun and returned voluntarily to the checkpoint, which serves gates 23 to 34, said Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates the airport.

Note that last part.  He realized that the TSA had screwed up, and he voluntarily returned to the checkpoint and surrendered his firearm, knowing full well that he could risk felony prosecution for having a gun in the airport.  He did the lawful, right thing to do in that situation.

He was issued a summons to appear before a Virginia court on the misdemeanor charge of  possessing or transporting a firearm into an airline terminal; which since he could have been charged with a felony isn’t such a bad thing.  I do wish he hadn’t been charged with anything, but “guns and airports” is really a hot button issue, so the TSA/whomever has to send a message to people with this.

Unfortunately, the message is “do the right thing, still get charged with a crime”.  I’m not defending bringing a gun into the airport, you should be more situationally aware than that; but charging people with crimes for doing the right thing when they make a mistake isn’t going to encourage good behavior.

Hoosier

Indiana Legislation Reminder

Posted on by Caleb

The Senate Local Government and Elections hearing is today at 1pm; they’ll be voting on Senate Bill 29, which would strengthen Indiana’s preemption laws and help protect lawful shooting ranges across the state.

It will be head at the Senate Chamber of the State Capitol, and is open to the public.  Even if you can’t attend the hearing, I encourage you to contact the senators listed below at (317) 232-9400:

Senator Connie Lawson (Chairwoman)

Senator Sue Landske

Senator Phil Boots

Senator Mike Delph

Senator Gary “Doc” Dillon

Senator Thomas Wyss

Senator Michael Young

Senator Bob Deig

Senator John Broden

Senator Timothy Lanane

Senator Samuel Smith Jr.

Express your support for Senate Bill 29.

Uncategorized

Metro-tactical

Posted on by Caleb

You guys might have noticed from the few pictures that I’ve posted that I’m a pretty little guy.  To be exact, I’m 5 foot 6 inches tall, and weigh about 150 pounds, which means I’m small (visual evidence here).  Combined with that, I like to dress well.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself metrosexual, more like metrotactical.

One of the problems that I encounter with my daily carry rigs is a combination of those two factors, one I’m small and two I like to dress well.  The problem is that “well dressed” usually entails “clothes that fit well”, which is another way of saying “clothes that you can’t conceal a damn thing under”.  When that gets coupled with me being little, concealing a respectable firearm in a decent caliber can become something of a challenge.

So, say you’re like me; you’re a young, upwardly mobile professional who likes to look good, but also likes to carry, what kind of options do you have?  Well, since I’ve been dealing with this problem for several years now, I’ve got a good list of things that work and things that don’t work.

The first thing I take into account is jackets; in spring/winter/fall practical concealment is a lot easier because I can wear one of many of my lighter jackets which will cover anything up to a full size Beretta 92FS.  But I still have to take into account concealing said firearm if/when I take my jacket off, which is essentially why I build my carry strategy around what I can conceal in summer time.

Rule numero uno for little guy concealment is that you have to pick your clothes around the gun, not the gun around your clothes.  For example, most of the time I carry the aforementioned 92 series gun – a fullsize 9mm.  It’s big but light, but too big to just drop into pocket.  So it’s got to be in a holster, either an IWB holster or a belt holster.

I generally carry with inside the waistband holsters, because it allows me to still wear a motorcycle or bomber jacket without worrying about the bottom of my holster poking out under the jacket if I move.  Knowing that I’ll be carrying IWB, I honestly buy most of my trousers at least 1 or 2 inches larger than my actual waist size.  That allows me to get the firearm into the holster with my belt securely fastened without feeling like I’m going to bust out of my jeans.  So like I said, rule number is dress around the gun.

But pants are the easy part; a good pair of Dockers khakis or Levis combined with a proper leather belt has more than enough tensile strength to support even a fully loaded 16 round 9mm.  What about shirts?  Personally, I can’t stand feeling the gun pressing into my skin, so I always wear and undershirt, which has the added benefit of protecting any exposed parts of the firearm from the harmful oils in my skin.  So, undershirt, jeans, and IWB holster; so far so good.  But what goes over the undershirt?

The answer to that depends on the season.  In summer, I wear a lot of untucked polo shirts, or long sleeved button-downs with the sleeves rolled up, a lot like the shirts here.  I generally prefer darker colors, because in the event that I am printing with the butt of my firearm, it’s less likely to be obvious with a brown shirt than it is with a white or light blue shirt.  If you go with a polo, make sure that it’s not too tight in the waist area, because then you’ll end up printing your firearm right through the shirt.

In the colder seasons, a good sweater can work wonders.  Again, with a good IWB holster, a well fitted sweater can and often does conceal a 4 inch revolver quite handily.  You can also keep the long sleeved button down, and just roll the sleeves down for a bit of extra warmth.

Now, you’re mileage on this may vary, because what works for me might not work for you.  But if you’re like me, and you want to dress well while carrying your concealed firearm, it is possible.  To summarize my methods:

  1. IWB holsters are the way to go
  2. Buy your pants one or two inches too big to accommodate your carry gun and holster
  3. Wear a good belt
  4. Undershirt
  5. Untucked polos/long sleeve button downs of a dark color.

Follow that advice, match your holster to your shoes, and then you’ll be metro-tactical like me.

blogs

Way to go, VCDL

Posted on by Caleb

3 gun control measures were defeated in the Virginia Senate yesterday, thanks in no small part to the tireless efforts of the Virginia Citizen’s Defense League.  It’s important to note that the VCDL was on site as a counter protest to the “lie-in” held by Protest Easy Guns.

Curt, a fellow blogger, was actually there for the lie-in (that name cracks me right up) protest, as well as the counter-protest organized by the VCDL.  He has pictures and an excellent summary of the event here.

Now, I understand that anecdotal evidence is just that, but it’s interesting that his experience with the anti-gun crowd neatly mirrors the majority of the experience I’ve had with anti-gun protesters as well.

The overall attitude of the Anti-gunners the whole time. Every time I saw one or more, whether just walking together, talking together or at their “protest” event…the underlying tone was an unmistakable simmering anger.

He goes on to make the point that he kind of understands now why they don’t want us to have guns; it’s a projection issue.  They’re mad, rude, and angry; and apparently can’t control themselves, so they just assume that we’re mad, rude and angry as well.

Which doesn’t even begin to hold water, since the anti-gun crowd was outnumbered 2-1 by the VCDL members, most of whom were carrying firearms, and yet no one was shot.  It’s almost like responsible gun owners, are, well, responsible.