self defense

Home security and salesmen

Posted on by Caleb

Some tips on home security and the nuisance that is door to door salesmen.

  1. Do not under any circumstances let door to door salesmen into your house. While their product may be legitimate, you don’t know this person, and by letting him or her into your house, they are seeing everything that you have to steal, whether or not you have an alarm, dogs, or a moat. Letting strangers into your house compromises your security at the most fundamental level.
  2. There are no free lunches. If someone from the Kirby Company comes to your front door and offers to clean your carpet “for free”, it is not free, and you will have to suffer through a 3 hour sales pitch to get you to buy a 2,000 dollar vacuum.  Same goes for Cutco knives, or any of those shysters.  Ask questions.  Nothing is free.  Keep asking questions until you find the hook, and if they don’t tell you the hook, tell them to scram.
  3. Additionally, companies like those above are the driving force behind why you never let a stranger into your house – I almost worked for Kirby when I was in college, and let me tell you, some of the people they hired were not exactly “cream of the crop”.
  4. If you’re talking to a salesman and they’re on your porch, keep a buffer between them and you.  For example, at my house, our front door has an exterior glass door – it’s actually storm glass so it’s pretty shatter resistant.  If there is anyone on my porch, salesmen or otherwise, the storm door stays closed and locked between us so that I have that barrier of protection.
  5. Don’t forget that it’s your property.  If you ask someone to leave, kindly or not, they are legally required to leave.  If they don’t, then they’re trespassing, and you should call the Five-Oh.  If you make the mistake of letting a salesman into your house, then they will do everything in their power to not leave your house until they’ve made a sale.  Your most powerful weapon is “If you’re not out of here in 10 minutes, I’m calling the cops.”

Door to door salesmen are thankfully a dying breed, but they’re still pretty damn annoying.  Homeowners will constantly be pestered by people coming by to sell them the latest knives/vacuums/poodle restraint devices/cocaine/whatever, and a lot of the time, homeowners just give in.  You don’t have to do that – it’s your house, and you have every right to be safe and secure in your house.  If that means you have to tell some poor slob to “f*ck off”, then that is what you have to do.

Being master of your own property, your home is one of the most fundamental rights that exists.

humor

What caliber for weird game?

Posted on by Caleb

Pennsylvania is in the  midst of a Bigfoot Hysteria.  So, because it is Monday and a slow news day, I’m going to ask what caliber of firearm to use for some of the denizens of the cryptozoology world.  If you don’t feel like clicking on that link, cryptozoology is the study of pretend, made-up, or otherwise fictional animals.

Let’s start with Sasquatch, or Bigfoot.  I would personally treat Bigfoot hunting about the same as I would hunting for Elk, Bear, or other large, tough, North American game.  An H&R Handi-Rifle chambered in .500 S&W Magnum would be an excellent pill for Bigfoot; and I imagine that if someone actually brought a hide back, we could end all this nonsense.

Next up is the fabled Chupacabra, or “Goat Sucker”.  Much smaller than a Bigfoot, I’m thinking that a rifle set up for close range coyote hunting would be a good choice here, something that shoots flat and fast.  .223, .22-250, or .204 Ruger would all likely get the job done.  I wouldn’t step down to anything in a rimfire, as the .22 Magnum and .17 HMR are marginal for big coyotes.

Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the lethal Australian Drop Bears.  Due to their small size and preferred method of attack, I’d have to recommend a magnum caliber handgun with a 4 or 6 inch barrel and iron sights.  Personally, I’d use .357, but a .45 Colt, .44 Magnum, or .41 Magnum should all be equally effective.

The final pretend animal is the oft speculated on Loch Ness Monster.  Due to the hypothetical size of this beast, I cannot in good conscience recommend anything less than a .50 BMG if you decide to undertake hunting this mammoth sea-beast.  Of course, even the Big Fifty falls behind my personal choice for hunting huge sea-life: the 57mm Mk 110 Naval Gun System.  A fused, high explosive round would be exactly what the doctor ordered to put an end to this Loch Ness nonsense.  Yes, there is nothing like the smell of sea-guts in the morning.  It smells like breakfast.

blogs/gun control

A Bold Proposal

Posted on by Caleb

Or at least that’s what Stanley Crouch calls it when he repeats the same anti-gun/NRA shtick that we’ve all heard so many times before. Of course, with the way this particular editorial starts off, I initially thought it was going to at least be a little humorous and different.

When Jonathan Swift wrote his bitterly satirical essay, “A Modest Proposal,” in the 18th century, he suggested that the problem of the poor could be solved by simply eating the impoverished…Were Swift an American today, he might suggest that some of the meat be gathered from crime scenes and cooked before the bodies cooled off. Spoilage must be avoided. A good deal of dark meat would be available but there would be plenty of white meat as well.

When I read that at 7:30, I thought to myself “hahahahaha…oh wow”. I hadn’t had any coffee at the time, but I honestly thought this was a funny and unique way to start to address the gun control issue. It really did disappoint me when the author descended into the usual tripe.

Some of us are probably still reeling about the mother who bought her 14-year-old son an automatic weapon to add to an already dangerous stockpile of guns and explosives. Don’t forget that street gangs have murdered thousands upon thousands since 9/11. Far too many believe that power comes from the barrel of a gun. An inconvenient number are members of the National Rifle Association…

First off, the mother did not buy an “automatic weapon” for her son, she bought him a semi-automatic 9mm carbine; hardly the evil black assault rifle that the media portrays it as. And his “dangerous stockpile of guns and explosives” consisted of some black powder bombs and a bunch of BB guns. Factual inaccuracies are bad enough, but of course he then gets into how “the NRA is enabling murder” or something silly.

But the power of the NRA lobby has buckled the knees of most in Washington and has zipped the lips of the presidential candidates, all of whom dread being targeted by those who sometimes seem to want to send the country back to those good old days of gunfights like the one at the O.K. Corral. There, might and right seemed to become one as the ground was covered with dead bodies and the air was filled with gun smoke.

You know, if you actually talked to an NRA member, you’d find out that they are as opposed or if not more opposed to gun crime than you are. The characterization of wanting to go back to the “OK Corral days” is patently false – we do not want shootouts, nor do we go around looking to kill folk. It is also worthwhile to note that the “Wild Wild West” was not nearly as wild as most people would have you believe, but that is a post for another time.

The NRA always couches its argument as a defense of our American rights as opposed to governmental control. But it is a reason why highways are engineered as well as they can be. The driver has the right to travel as safely as possible. Citizens of America should have as much of a right to safety from gun violence as possible.

Yes, they do – but how exactly do you propose to provide for that safety? The young gang members that you mentioned as having killed “thousands” since 9/11 will surely not abide by restrictions against violence or illegal firearms ownership; can you promise 24/7 police protection for all citizens?

I know that I’m asking a rhetorical question; however I have quite simply grown weary of the same tired assertions being made without any sort of research or factual backing. It is the same argument, the same lies over, and over, and over again. The only difference is that it appears to be reaching an almost hysterical level – as if the advocates of gun control realize that they are losing, and can only screech the same lines repeatedly in the hopes that someone, anyone, will be duped by it.

It’s almost sad.

Uncategorized

Championship

Posted on by Caleb

Despite how overused this song has become for these moments, I’ll let Freddie Mercury do the talking for me.

On some more Sox related commentary, there really wasn’t a better way for to the series to end than with Pap striking out the last hitter he faced.  Mike Lowell is a perfect choice for series MVP; especially with his performance in Game 4.

Unrelated Sox commentary – I swear to Buddha that if the Sox sign A-Rod, I will burn my favorite hat.

Uncategorized

Bills I don’t like

Posted on by Caleb

Via Tamarama, I find this delightful piece of legislation that has passed the House, HR 1955.  Uncle rightly notes that due to one of the bill’s findings, it would be pretty easy to label anyone who has a blog as a “potential terrorist”.

This bill is chock-full of things that I don’t like just in the findings section.  The goal of the bill is to create some sort of domestic terrorism prevention council, or somesuch silliness, which of course your tax dollars are going to fund.  But it’s the “definitions” and “findings” section that really tweaks my nose, with statements like these:

 (3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.

Do you write a blog?  Have you ever jokingly said that we should kill our elected officials?  Congratulations, you’re a homegrown terrorist.

What amazes me is the absolute flexibility of this bill.  Since the definition of “Homegrown terrorist” is likely deliberately  left vague, future administrations will be able to interpret it pretty much exactly as they please.

Uncategorized

Jodie Foster and guns

Posted on by Caleb

I was going to call this post “Jodie Foster is an idiot”, but my therapist says I should be less confrontational.

Anyway, in a recent interview with the Japanese press regarding her (awful) film “The Brave One”, Jodie had to opine on “the power of guns”.

“When you put a gun in your pocket, it changes everything. It changes how you walk, it changes how you see, it changes your confidence, it changes the experiences that you allow yourself to have. In some ways, that can be quite beautiful because it gives you this false sense of power…And then of course the flip side is the monstrous side, because when you depend on the power of the gun…the consequences of that is that someone has to die.”

It betrays the ignorance, prejudice, and even the motives of the anti-gun crowd.  Just reading that, you can tell that a gun is a mysterious object of power, that endows its owner with feelings of unrivaled power and strength.   The last line of the quote shows the ignorance inherent in the position as it’s predicated on the belief that carrying a gun is about “killing people”.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to rationally address this sort of belief.  When you believe that a gun possesses power like some sort of magic talisman, you’ve passed out of the realm of rational belief and into the area of faith.   Just like a religious fanatic, someone with this mindset is going to be almost impossible to sway.

blogs

Travesty

Posted on by Caleb

The Other Sebastian, at PGP is/was trying to get his Maryland LTC.  Go read his blog entry on the absolutely repugnant abuse of power by the Maryland State Troopers.  This really gets under my skin, especially the part where the Trooper basically accuses a member of Baltimore PD of committing perjury for Sebastian’s benefit.

He’s going to be on Cam and Company tonight to give some more details about this whole situation.  Tune on nranews.com.

Uncategorized

It is a wonder to me

Posted on by Caleb

That the nation is not awash in a perpetual bloodbath of CCW holders blasting it out with one another, if editorials like this are to be believed.

Utah’s concealed-weapon permits are like fast food for gun junkies. They’re inexpensive, easy to obtain and very, very unhealthy – to Utahns, and the nation as a whole. 

Actually, I kind of like that opening sentence from a writing standpoint – it’s punchy and creative, and gets your attention.  Too bad it’s also stupid, but I guess that you can’t win them all.

The general point of the article is that because Utah’s CCW is easily obtainable in other states, it’s somehow bad for the country, and Utah as well.  And while the author never comes out and states it; he not so subtly implies that CCW holders are committing crimes with their permits.

Out-of-state permits are rarely revoked in the interim because, as BCI attorney Rick Wyss told the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee this week, “we have no information on (permit holders’) activities.” 

See, and that’s the thing – an out of state permit would be revoked if the holder was arrested and convicted of a felony.

I guess if you think that citizens passing a safety course, background check, and then carrying a concealed weapon is a bad thing, I can understand why you might be worried about Utah’s CCW permit.  But if that scares you, then how scared are you of the Indiana LTC?  I have one – it’s recognized in 20 states, and for $75 bucks you can get a Lifetime Duration permit.  As long as I don’t commit any of the “crash landing” crimes, this permit will be valid until the day I die, which you have to admit is pretty cool.