Uncategorized

KRISS Vector CRB/SO

Posted on by Caleb

The semi-automatic version of the KRISS Super V SMG.  I know the announcement is a month old, so this is definitely old news for some; and while I was sort of peripherally aware that they were offering a civilian legal version, it didn’t really sink in until I noticed an add in G&A this month.

I have never made a secret of the fact that I love pistol caliber carbines, especially for close range defensive work as a civilian.  They’re more accurate than handguns, but without all that pesky recoil that you get from full on rifle calibers.  The new KRISS Vector also takes hi-capacity Glock 21 magazines, which are rather easy to find.

There’s no information on price yet, but it’s probably not going to be cheap.  I will say that if you’re looking at getting a civilian FN PS90 (the civilian 5.7mm carbine), get this and a Glock instead.  You’ll be able to swap magazines and ammo back and forth, and your “tacticool” factor will be absolutely off the charts.

sports

Hey Colts Fans

Posted on by Caleb

I have a question for you, my loyal Indianapolis Metro area readers.

For whom are you going to root in the AFC Championship game?  Would like to see the Chargers lose as revenge for beating the Colts, or does your hatred of Tom Brady and the Patriots run so deep as to hope that the Chargers beat the Pats, only to be defeated by whomever the NFC throws into the Super Bowl?

So, who’s it gonna be, Chargers or Patriots?

Uncategorized

McCain in Michigan

Posted on by Caleb

Bitter and Sebastian are both saying that pro-gun Michigan voters should get on the McCain train, specifically because a victory in Michigan for McCain would do some serious damage to Mitt’s campaign.

I’m not a big fan of McCain, the McCain-Feingold bill that he was behind still certainly sits in a raw spot for me; but at the same time I would much rather see McCain run that Mitt Romney.

Fred is polling poorly in Michigan, Ron Paul is <i>still</i> crazy, so if you want to vote for your gun rights in an effective way, vote for McCain in Michigan.  His campaign slogan can be: McCain – Hey, at least I’m not that other guy.

I do want to add the disclaimer that I feel like primaries are one of the few times where you can really vote your heart, which is exactly what I plan on doing in Indiana’s eventually primary – so Michigan voters, if you’re not going to vote against Mitt (which let’s be honest, that’s what we’re doing here) then vote your heart.  Maybe enough of you will vote your heart for Fred that Mitt will lose anyway.

gun control

Your rifle is a monster.

Posted on by Caleb

I found a letter to the editor of The Hoya.com, which apparently is the student paper of Georgetown.  Anyway, the letter itself is fine, it’s pro-gun and not poorly written for a college student.  The PSH is found in the first comment to the letter, which is so absurdly emotional to be actually hilarious.

I live in Florida. In Broward county and in Orlando the homicide rates have doubled in the past 5 years alone (Broward is actually 70%increased). Last week in Orlando an 8 year old boy brought a semi automatic gun to school. Do you know how many police officers were gunned down in South Florida just this year alone? All from assault weapons that Bush gave an ok to when he failed to renew the ban on those monsters (emphasis mine).

You can say whatever lie you want, but those of us who have had family killed, paralyzed by bullets know differently. Guns kill, and they kill children, women, grandparents.

Before Florida let every fool carry a gun, we did not have these tragedies, but now it is part of our lives. So if guns are preventing so much crime we would certainly see it in our state. And you can bet, we don’t.

So stop lying. You are destroying our children (emphasis mine).

You can just feel the raw, strangled emotion coming through the internets as the author furiously pounds her keyboard, as her heart sings “FOR THE CHILDREN”.  I don’t even need to debunk it, because others already took her to task for the glaring inaccuracies in her letter.

But really, my favorite part is where she calls semi-automatic rifles “monsters”.  That’s so good I don’t even know what to do with, other than buy a semi-automatic rifle and paint “Monster” on the side of the side of the thing.  I mean, that’s raw emotional appeals at its finest – no logic, no evidence or reason or any of that fun “proof” stuff.  Just the usual misinformation, the usual “for the children”, and of course the assertion that an inanimate object with no will of its own is a monster.

Uncategorized

The NRA responds to the DOJ

Posted on by Caleb

As you know, the DOJ filed and amicus brief on behalf of DC in DC vs. Heller.  The NRA has issued a response to the DOJ; which I have copied in its entirety here.

Statement of the National Rifle Association by Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox on the pending U.S. Supreme Court case:

In the coming months, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.’s ban on handgun ownership and self-defense in law-abiding residents’ homes. The Court will first address the question of whether the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as embodied in the Bill of Rights, protects the rights of individuals or a right of the government. If the Court agrees that this is an individual right, they will then determine if D.C.’s self-defense and handgun bans are constitutional.

The position of the National Rifle Association is clear. The Second Amendment protects the fundamental, individual right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms for any lawful purpose. Further, any law infringing this freedom, including a ban on self-defense and handgun ownership, is unconstitutional and provides no benefit to curbing crime. Rather, these types of restrictions only leave the law-abiding more susceptible to criminal attack.

The U.S. Government, through its Solicitor General, has filed an amicus brief in this case. We applaud the government’s recognition that the Second Amendment protects a fundamental, individual right that is “central to the preservation of liberty.” The brief also correctly recognizes that the D.C. statutes ban “a commonly-used and commonly-possessed firearm in a way that has no grounding in Framing-era practice,” the Second Amendment applies to the District of Columbia, is not restricted to service in a militia and secures the natural right of self-defense.

However, the  government’s position is also that a “heightened” level of judicial scrutiny should be applied to these questions. The National Rifle Association believes that the Court should use the highest level of scrutiny in reviewing the D.C. gun ban. We further believe a complete ban on handgun ownership and self-defense in one’s own home does not pass ANY level of judicial scrutiny. Even the government agrees that “the greater the scope of the prohibition and its impact on private firearm possession, the more difficult it will be to defend under the Second Amendment.” A complete ban is the kind of infringement that is the greatest in scope. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit correctly ruled that D.C.’s statutes are unconstitutional. We strongly believe the ruling should be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The National Rifle Association will be filing an amicus brief in this case and will provide additional information to our members as this case moves through the legal process.

gun control

The dumbest thing I’ve heard this year

Posted on by Caleb

Yeah, so the year isn’t that old; but this really is the dumbest thing I’ve heard all year, and probably for a good part of 2007 I hadn’t heard anything dumber than this.  From Uncle’s place I find the link to a “story” (and I use the term loosely) about the bill proposed in VA to allow CCW holders to carry on campus.  The story is basically a Brady Campaign press release and contains the gem which inspired the title of this blog entry:

“Had Mr. Gilbert’s law gone through [in 2006] and [the Virginia Tech shooter] had gone out and applied for a concealed carry license in order to bring guns legally onto campus, the state of Virginia would have given him a license,”(Brian) Siebel [attorney for the Brady Campaign] said.

Wait, what?  He said what?  There is so much ignorance in that one sentence that I actually don’t know how to respond.  When I first read it this morning, I literally stared, dumbfounded, at my monitor for a solid five minutes while my beleaguered  brain attempted to process the content of that quote, and ultimately failed.

The belief of the Brady Campaign, and what they wanted you to believe, is that the VA Tech killer would have applied for a concealed weapons permit to carry his guns onto campus so he could murder people with them.  Aside from the mind boggling stretch of imagination that it takes to imagine that someone who was bent on murder would have gone through the rather exhaustive CCW process in Virginia just so he could murder some people he was planning on murdering anyway; the VA Tech shooter couldn’t have gotten a VA carry permit anyway.  From the Virginia State Police I have a list of all of the steps that must be taken before someone is granted a VA resident CCW.

Now, if you look around on that page, it doesn’t take long to find out that the VA Tech shooter never would have been granted a Virginia CCW permit, for any number of reasons.  Remember, he was able to purchase his guns because Virginia didn’t report his mental problems to the NICS system (an issue which should have been solved by HR 2640); but those same mental problems would have been readily available to the VA State Police, who conduct the background investigations for CCW permits.  They would have seen his involuntary mental care, and denied him a permit.

18.  An individual who has received mental health treatment or substance abuse treatment in a residential setting within five years prior to the date of his application for a concealed handgun permit.

Basically, what I’m saying is that the Brady Campaign needs to get their facts straight.  Lying in the press is common, but if you’re going to lie at least lie in such a manner that I can’t uncover it in less than 10 seconds with a Google Search.

Uncategorized

Divisional Playoff Round predictions

Posted on by Caleb

It’s time to predict the big winners and big losers of the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs.  First, let us revisit my picks from the Wild Card round.

In the Wild Card round, I picked the Bucs (wrong), the Redskins (wrong), the Jaguars (right), and the Chargers (right).

I really didn’t think that the Giants would come to play like they did, and frankly after the first quarter I was really thinking that my pick would be justified.  Oh well.  Since some of the match ups have changed from my original picks, now it’s on to the picks!

NFC

Seahawks at Packers: Bucking the experts here, I’m picking the Seahawks.  They’ve been playing well, and if their defense can get to Favre, they’ll cause big problems for the Packers.  I think that the Shawn Alexander/Morris combo at RB is going to have a great day; and the Seahawks will avenge that OT playoff loss with a 24-20 win.

Giants at Cowboys: A lot of people are picking the Giants to win this one, in part because the last time the Giants lost a road game was…at Dallas in week 1.  I will admit that the Giants have been playing well the last few weeks, and that Eli has looked pretty good.  That being said, they’re not going to beat the thrice-damned Cowboys.  Tony Romo gets his business together and the (spit) Cowboys win handily, 30-10.

AFC

Jags at Pats: I’m not changing my pick.  I think the Pats win this one, but I think it’s a close game.  The Jags are hungry, and will make the Patriots work for this win.

Chargers at Colts: Do you think I’d pick against the Colts here?  No way.  Without Antonio Gates, the Chargers get as one-dimensional as you can call a team with LT.  I think that Bob Sanders spends a lot of personal time knocking the crap out of LT, and the Colts win.  28-17.

Last week I went 50/50 on a split, so we’ll see how I do this week.

humor

Cripple fight!

Posted on by Caleb

If any of you guys have watched South Park, I really hope that you’ve seen the episode where the two handicapped kids fight with each other, Timmy and Jimmy (I couldn’t find any clips of it on Youtube without all the crappy music, sorry – ed).

Anyway, the point of this rather immature and gloating entry is that for some reason, when I hear the commentary from the VPC about HR 2640, which amounts to “The Brady Campaign sold you out lololol Brady Campaign sux”; then I go read Paul Helmke’s comments which amount to “The Brady Campaign rox ur sox”, for some reason all I can hear in my head is Cartman yelling “CRIPPLE FIGHT”.

Like I said, I know it’s immature, but it’s fun to watch them go at it for the title of “most awesome gun control group”.  We really ought to have a three way cage match, with Josh Sugarman, Josh Horwitz, and Paul Helmke.  Put them in the steel cage, and then toss in all manner of axes and rusty chainsaws; no guns of course, we wouldn’t want anyone to get offended.

sports

Joe Tiller’s replacement

Posted on by Caleb

According to ESPN.com, Purdue will announce today that Joe Tiller will be replaced by Danny Hope (of Eastern Kentucky) following the 2008 college football season.

Hope went 9-3 with EKU last year, and won the Ohio Valley Conference with his team, going undefeated in conference play.  He’s 35-22 in his five seasons with EKU and has never had a losing season.

From what I gather, he’ll spend this next season under the tutelage of Joe Tiller, who will step down after that.  Purdue is essentially repeating what they did with Gene Keady’s replacement by having him work for the outgoing coach for a year in the hope of ensuring continuity.

I like fresh blood; I like this move.  I hope that Danny Hope (ha) comes in with a sense of urgency, and a desire to make Purdue competitive in the Big 10 again.  There is no reason that Purdue should not be able to at least compete with Michigan and Ohio State.  I realize that we’ll never be a football factory like either of those schools, but we should be good enough to play with them, instead of getting housed by them all the time.

So, Regime Change at Purdue is going to happen, I just have to wait out another year of Tiller.