shooting

Breaking news!

Posted on by Caleb

Apparently, the stereotypes about gun owners don’t apply in Australia either.  Despite the hysterical title of “Nice guy or Gun Nut”, the Aussie article does a pretty decent job of treating gun owners like regular folk.

The gender balance, on the other hand, has shifted and although there are still more males than females, Abbott reckons about 25 per cent of members are women these days.

The same thing appears to be happening here in the States: more and more women are taking part in the shooting sports.

Go and read the entire article, it’s a good treatment of Aussie shooters, and gives a bit of insight into their gun culture as well.

“I started shooting a .22 because it was the smallest gun I could shoot without shooting air-pistols,” she said.

“I’ve moved up to .38 super as we’ve just bought a new gun and it’s not to heavy and it not too light.”

I have it on good authority that once you start shooting the .38 Super, most other pistol calibers are dead to you.

Uncategorized

Gun free zones and schools shootings

Posted on by Caleb

Larry Elder has an op-ed up on Yahoo! News where he asks the question, “do gun free zones encourage school shootings”?  He does an excellent job of highlighting several instances in the US where firearms have been used to stop or prevent school shootings, including the oft-cited Appalachian Law School incident, as well as several others.  Additionally, he points out that Israeli policy is for school teachers to arm themselves; and although it was likely intended as a deterrent for Palestinian terrorists, it has had the added affect of deterring any sort of school shootings.

Unfortunately, Larry doesn’t explicitly state whether or not he believes that gun free zones “encourage” school shootings.  It’s easy to say that someone knew a location would be unarmed, and chose it specifically, but in reality it’s almost impossible to determine a person’s motives.  I don’t think that “gun free zones” encourage shootings; but I do think that they make them easier.  Someone who has their mind bent on murder isn’t going to be encouraged one way or the other by a gun free zone – their mind is set to evil.

So, I don’t believe that a gun free zone is going to encourage anyone to start a killing spree – but I imagine that knowing that your victims are going to be unarmed probably makes you feel better.

Guns in schools is a complicated topic, specifically because there is so much emotion tied to the issue.  Unfortunately, a lot of that emotion isn’t logical.  Most parents would be fine with a police officer in their child’s school, but balk at the concept of arming teachers.  I’ve said before that I would support a program similar to the Federal Flight Deck Officer program if it were enacted for teachers.  I say similar because the FFDO program has some serious, glaring flaws.

But prohibiting teachers from carrying if they have a valid CCW seems a little silly – in all likelihood, no one but the teacher would ever know the gun was there.

handguns

Ruger SR9

Posted on by Caleb

You know, of the 10 Commandments, I have the most trouble with that 10th one, the old “Thou shalt not covet”.  I shouldn’t feel too bad though, because it does run in the family.  If you ever meet my dad, you should ask him about an incident involving a custom Dodge and a signpost – but that’s another story.

Today’s “coveting” is the new Plastic Fantastic Ruger.  The guys at The Gun Shots are ga-ga over this thing, and I must say, the pictures on the website display a pretty sharp looking pistol.

Anyone who has ever read my blog knows that I prefer revolvers to semi-autos any day of the week; but shockingly enough, I’m not a big fan of “classic” autochuckers like the 1911.  If I’m buying a gun for aesthetics, I’m going to buy a revolver and leave the 1911s and Browning Hi-Powers on the shelf.  If I’m buying a semi-auto pistol, I’m buying a working gun.  I have some hard miles guns that are revolvers, but I also have some very pretty wheelguns that I wouldn’t carry.  Every semi-auto I’ve ever owned has been a hard knock gun, a gun that I don’t worry about messing up the finish.  That’s why when I buy semi-automatic handguns, I usually trend towards polymer pistols and wondernines – my Taurus Pt92 is a great example, actually.  The gun is beat up – the exterior is scratched and worn, which makes it perfect.

That’s why I like polymer pistols.  My number one “Gun I wish I hadn’t sold” was a 10mm Glock 29, it shot like a dream.  I’ve shot the Springfield XDs a bit, and despite the fact that I hate grip safeties, they got okay marks from me.  I enjoy the Taurus 24/7 lineup, and the Walther P99 is money.  So, needless to say, I’m pretty excited for Ruger’s entry into the world of polymer guns.  I’m definitely going to be looking to get my hands on one, at least for the purposes of running it through its paces.

Of course, if someone from Ruger were to read this entry and send of those things my way, strictly for evaluation purposes, I certainly wouldn’t object.  😉

Uncategorized

Sovereignty

Posted on by Caleb

Or, “The EU wants to run your country”, with “your country” in this case being Malta.  It seems that the EU told Malta to cease and desist their spring hunting season for quail and turtle doves.  There is no response from the Maltese government as of yet, but I fervently hope that they tell the EU exactly where they can shove their ideas.

Unfortunately, I doubt that will be the case.  It seems that the concept of sovereignty is rapidly fading in Europe; Malta has every right as a nation to tell the EU exactly where they can stick their warning.

People wonder why I’m opposed to the UN having any actual power?  Stuff like this is why – I don’t want an organization that does not have the best interests of my nation at heart to have any say on the internal policies of my nation.

hoplophobia

More college foolishness

Posted on by Caleb

While cruising my Google Alerts this morning, I found (another) editorial written by a college kid that was full of PSH, misinformation, and just plain silliness.  I was going to write a post today which conducted a thorough fisking of said editorial, but I’ve since changed my mind.  In some ways, I’m tired of tearing apart the exact same argument over, and over, and over again.  It gets rather repetitive when the other side hasn’t come up with any new rhetoric in the last 15 years.

However, I did want to single out one silly statement in the editorial so I could address it.  Despite the fact that the author takes the required anti-gun shots at the NRA, “gun culture” and even tosses in some “Europe is better than us”; I’m going to mostly ignore that stuff and address this quote:

And if you only need a gun for protection, there is no need for purchasing bullets all the time, since the gun would just be sitting underneath your bed, waiting for a possible intruder to enter your home.

This was her rational for enacting “Chris Rock Gun Control”.  If you’re not familiar, the comedian once humorously advocated pricing ammo at $5,000 a bullet – the author thinks this sort of thing is a good idea, after all, it’s not like anyone buys a lot of bullets since they only need guns for protection.

That’s what I want to address.  You see, Ms. Aleksandra Wojtalewicz (if you’re going to email her, be nice) has no idea why people would own guns.  She thinks that the only reason that people own guns is for hunting, which she doesn’t like, and for “protection”, which she doesn’t really like either.

It never occurs to her that a lot of gun owners own guns because they like them.  Just a guy who loves cars buys a ’67 Mustang, there are people who (gasp) collect guns.  Sort of like baseball cards, but heavier and more expensive.

The concept of recreational target shooting doesn’t really enter her sphere of thought, despite the fact that the shooting sports enjoy more participants in North America than baseball, football, and basketball.  No, Ms. Wojtalewicz doesn’t understand that – but that’s not really a surprise, as her bias was displayed quite openly in the beginning of the article.

A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend told me something that nearly brought me to tears.

“I bought a gun,” he said.

I suppose that I should have just read that, and skipped on to the next article.

Uncategorized

Cap is back!

Posted on by Caleb

And he’s packing a rod!  Thanks to Unc for pointing out the article in the Washington Times.

Apparently, it’s a new Captain, and not Steve Rodgers in the suit; I’m actually quite okay with that.  I also like the gun, I think it’s true to the spirit of the character, especially if you read the old WWII.

And, for you devotees of John Moses Browning, it appears that Captain America’s handgun is a 1911A1; so rejoice fanboys, your anointed pistol is in the hands of America’s Greatest Hero.

Uncategorized

Do you live in Peoria, IL?

Posted on by Caleb

And more importantly, do you have some junky but still functional H&R .32 S&W top break revolvers you’d like to get rid of?

Then get on down to the Peoria Pastors Perpetuating Preposterousness 3rd ever No-Questions-Asked-Gun-Buyback!  That’s right, this Saturday, you’ll be able to turn in your cheap pot-metal revolvers, or guns used in the commission of a felony that you want to get rid of, and receive a $100 gift card for your trouble!

This great deal is only this Saturday, so you don’t have long to act!  If you’re a resident of Peoria, you can come own down to the church and watch your tax dollars being put to use giving money out for a program that does nothing to reduce crime!  Everyone Wins!

—

Honestly – gun buybacks don’t work.  It’s a completely foolish idea that is predicated on the misguided notion that by taking a dozen 80 year old revolvers of “t3h streetz”, you’ve somehow done something to reduce crime.  It bothers me yet further that this scam is being pushed by men of the cloth, who really ought to know better.  A religion that teaches that man is sinful by his nature should have been able to figure out that a sinful man is going to sin whether or not you take some guns away from him.

hoplophobia

PSH Alert

Posted on by Caleb

And this time, we’re keeping it local – Franklin, Indiana is a small town about an hour’s drive south of me, and apparently the residents are all up in arms (ha!) about a planned gun shop in the community.

Some Johnson County residents are up in arms over a plan to put a gun shop in the middle of their neighborhood.  Dozens of residents along Main Street said they will fight the plan to protect a neighborhood they call quiet and quaint, 6News’ Renee Jameson reported.

Wow – “Dozens” of residents.  It’s too bad that they couldn’t manufacture their outrage a little more efficiently and get “scores”, or even “hundreds” of people.  Of course, it probably helps that the people that are opposed to the gun shop are kind of stupid.

Some neighbors who didn’t want to be identified said they are worried about the clientele a gun store would attract. A school bus stop sits almost directly across the street from the planned gun shop.

…see what I mean?  What kind of clientèle are you people worried about?  Are you worried about the law-abiding citizens that are going to visit a gun shop?  Or are you worried about the evil gun-owing boogeyman?

I know I’m being pretty sarcastic here – but the whole reason I’m being condescending is because their concerns don’t warrant serious consideration.  Gun owners are among the most law abiding citizens you’ll find anywhere in the country; being worried about the kind of “people” that frequent a gun store is as foolish as worrying about a bank being put in across from the bus stop.

I suppose if the “dozens” of residents in a town of 20,000 can come up with any legitimate concerns, then I’ll address them in a serious fashion.  Until then, all their worry and fear is nothing more than an unhealthy dose of pants-shitting-hysterics.

Uncategorized

NICS Improvement Bill

Posted on by Caleb

I am usually opposed to weepy press conferences where the families of victims gather round to implore “our leaders” to “do something” about The Tragedy of the Moment. As such, I wish that the WSJ article did not have this headline:

Parents of Virginia Tech Victims Urge Senate to Pass Gun Laws

That being said, the Senate needs to get their crap together and pass this bill.  Sen. Coburn from Oklahoma needs to stop getting his information from Larry Pratt, and realize that this bill is a good thing for gun owners.  I can’t tell you how many countless articles, from Military.com to the NRA have been written explaining in painstaking detail why this bill is a benefit to us.

My favorite objection that people raise to this bill is that any veteran diagnosed with PTSD could/will have their right to own firearms removed; which only makes sense if you’ve never actually read the bill, or if you don’t understand the legal definition of “adjudicated mentally incompetent.”  I have PTSD, diagnosed by a real doctor and everything, and you don’t see me quaking in my Nikes over this bill.  Another blow to the “Veteran’s Disarmament” line is that as of Oct. 4th, the American Legion has pledged to support the bill, believing that it is in the best interest of American veterans.

The draft of this is that the longer the NICS bill stalls in the Senate, the more likely it becomes that someone will attach a horrible amendment to the bill, and force the NRA to withdraw their support.  If that happens, we lose, and we lose a lot.  If this bill passes it means that the NRA gains even more political clout – and by extension so do gun owners.