That this post from Publicola hasn’t generated a lot more hate mail. See, he basically kicks around one of the sacred cows of handgunning, the venerable and venerated 1911A1.
Honestly, I agree with him, especially the stuff about the grip safety. The grip safety makes sense on a pocket pistol like the 1903 Colt; but not on the full sized holster baby that is the 1911.
I’ve only owned one 1911, and I sold it for a (shudder) Ruger GP100.
Easily one of my favorite blogs is Ambulance Driver. His combination of humor, style, and quality of writing combine to make him the first blog I hit every morning.
Recently, he stirred the pot a little bit when talking about (another) medical condition that I had never heard of, fibromyalgia. Some stupid well meaning people mistook what he was saying as a criticism of people suffering from pain, when in fact (at least to me) it was a criticism of people who fake pain to get drugs, and people who use the ER as their primary care system. That reminded me of a story from my college days, which I thought he would appreciate. This one is for you, AD. Thanks for the laughs!
The spring that I, my wife, and our friends were scheduled to graduate from our college “adventure”, I was taking out the trash from the Future-Mrs. Ahab’s apartment. On my way to the dumpster, I happened across our friend, whom we’ll call Bob so as to save his dignity.
Hey Bob, what’s up?
Hey Ahab. I cut my hand, I think I need to go to the ED.
Bob was from West Virginia, and his dad is an ER doctor down there; apparently they don’t call them “Emergency Rooms”, those folks call them “Emergency Departments”, hence why he was constantly talking about ED.
Okay, I can drive you no problem. Let me finish taking out the trash, and I’ll get FMA (Future Mrs. Ahab…that takes too long to type). It would occur to me later that I possibly should have been more concerned about the significant amount of blood coming from his hand.
Sure thing, Ahab. I’ll just wait here. Now, Bob is a pretty calm guy – I’ve very rarely seen him get rattled about anything.
Once we had the whole caravan together, we proceeded to The City of Lafayette’s fine Emergency Facility. On the way, I asked Dan a question that lead to a running gag in our friendship that lasts to this day.
Hey,how exactly did you cut your hand like that?
Well…I dropped a knife. As it was falling, for some reason I tried to catch it, which I did. Pointy end first.
I started to laugh almost uncontrollably – these days whenever we see Bob, there is certainly going to be a reference to his skill at knife-catching.
So, we finally arrived at the ER, whereupon Bob, FMA, and I proceeded to sit in the waiting room and watch the most frightening and at the same time compelling group of humans parade through. Bear in mind that it’s about 1:30 in the AM; and yet the waiting room was never without some poor unwashed heathen awaiting treatment.
Counting waiting time, the whole process took about 2.5 hours. We waiting, they treated Bob (also, to whomever put those stitches in: consider a career change), he waited around for them to process his insurance, we waited some more, then we left. During the periods of waiting, we encountered (as best as I can recall) the following parade.
First up was the family, their daughter was somewhere in the 13-16 range…and rather noticeably preggers. In his infinite wisdom, her father had decided to forgo regular pre-natal care; instead choosing to visit the ER now because “She says she hurts down there”. After them, we had a fellow that arrived courtesy of the Lafayete Police Department; not really sure what his deal was since he was unconscious.
After a few nondescript folks (and one or two actual emergencies) came the cream of the crop, and also the fellow that provided the mental trigger for me to link this to AD’s blog. See, this guy was in pain, and he would gleefully expand on the horrible nature of his pain to anyone within earshot. Or, just to waiting room in general. FMA and I had a split decision, I was leaning towards scamming for a fix, she was leaning towards “basket case”. It never occurred to us that we could have both been right.
Mr. Pain proceeded to declare quite loudly that his “ass” hurt, it hurt too bad to sit on, so he would periodically get up and walk around the room, yelping about his ass. Imagine how a 6 year old acts after a good paddling, but make it a mid 40’s man smelling of Mad Dog and you’ve got the mental picture. His behavior continued for a while, until finally one of the nurses led him off somewhere, howling the whole way.
Shortly thereafter, Bob returned to us whole, albeit with the jankiest set of stitches I’ve ever laid eyes on. I never did find out what happened to Mr. Pain; however that night stuck with me sense.
That probably has more to do with the fact that my good friend tried to catch a falling knife (idiot) than the ER experience, but either way it was funny as hell.
This morning as I checked my Gmail account, I was greeted by an email from our beloved NRA which invited me to join (I’m not kidding) the NRA Wine Club.
Now, I’m a big fan of the NRA, and I’m a big fan of wine – it just seems to me that this sort of flies in the face of “Guns & Booze don’t mix”.
But it’s definitely funny. Hell, I might join.
By way of Sebastian (from whom I find many things) I find Dr. Helen’s recent piece on the guilt/emotional reaction had by LEO’s when they are involved in a shooting, good or otherwise. She goes on to ask if Law Enforcement officers are made to feel guilty by society for killing, how much more so are armed civilians that are involved in shoots?
A while back LawDog looked at the decision making process involved in taking another human being’s life; at the time I didn’t have the temerity to comment on his blog, nevermind that my comment likely would have consisted of “Yeah, that’s about right”.
It seems to me that Dr. Helen’s entry and LawDog’s entry make stellar companion pieces for one another: Helen looks at how society views the action of lethal force and LawDog looked at the decision one makes and how it affects the person making the decision.
You might recall the recent incident in Ohio where a CCW holder justifiably drilled some young fellow who was in the process of attempting to rob him at gunpoint. The media played the incident as though a precious young life had been snuffed out, despite the fact that the “precious young life” was committing several felonies against another person.
Just three days ago, a citizen fatally shot a scumbag after that scumbag (who happens to be related to someone famous) had shot a cop in the back and then run said cop over with his car. The scumbag-in-question then refused to drop his gun, and was then shot by the citizen, who had picked up the officer’s gun. I’m certain that the media will play this to make the scumbag out like a poor, misdirected choirboy or some nonsense; and they’re turn the cop’s memory into that of a jackbooted thug.
In both cases, regular citizens with no special powers were placed in extraordinary situations, and did something that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. I found this quote, again from LawDog about the emotional response to even a justified shoot.
Whichever, you have just breached the most sacred of Man’s taboos. You have done something that cannot be taken back, and you have done the single most powerful, awful thing one human being may do to another.
That really is the issue with deadly force – most people have serious moral issues about killing their fellow man, badguy or otherwise. No matter how justified the shooting is, most people end up carrying that moment with them for the rest of their lives.
That’s where a person moves into the long term ramifications of killing. The emotional impact has a different effect on different people; I know people who have regular nightmares because of it, I’ve read of people who have never picked up a gun again.
If there is one thing that I would add to LawDog and Dr. Helen’s articles, it would be this. If you are ever involved in a shooting as a civilian, cop, or whatever; seek counseling. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pastor, a therapist, or anyone else – what is important is that it has to be someone who understands precisely what you’re going through. Your wife or husband may not be able to help you work through it; I feel as though it is of the utmost importance to spend some time with someone who can. While you may never understand the “how & why”; time spent in counseling can help you come to terms with your emotional burden.
Miami was rated Number 1 in road-rage this year by an independent study. Now, I know that Florida has had concealed carry for years, but shouldn’t the streets be running red with blood by now?
I mean, all those legally concealed weapons, all that road rage – it must be like Dodge City out there!
Which I shamelessly stole from Mr. Freemarket.
Speaking of which, I’ve added Mr. Freemarket to my list of blogs, as he’s the only Euroblog I read every day.
According to their critics, LAPD “clings to a warrior culture“. I have (as my subject line says) mixed feelings about this piece, on the one hand if you read the article the bias of the author at the AP is so apparently anti-LAPD that it’s almost silly. At the same time, there are important points that the author makes in the article.
I want to go over the article with a fine toothed comb, if you will, and extract not only the bias, but the important (and correct) points that are made. First off, a little background on myself may be necessary.
I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in the LA/Metro area, and that my father was an LA County Sheriff’s Deputy. I’ve also had my share of experience of law enforcement at the federal level, all of which has led me to be generally “pro-police” in my opinions. That leads to the very heart of my mixed feelings towards a lot of the current state of law enforcement, with LAPD actually serving as an excellent example.
On to the article, then.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s violent response at the end of an immigrant demonstration is the latest incident highlighting what critics describe as the force’s “warrior culture.”
It’s an ethos that’s been on display before — the use of clubs and tear gas to disperse 15,000 peaceful anti-war protesters in Century City in 1967, the Rodney King beating in 1991, the harsh crackdown on demonstrators at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
You’ll notice it doesn’t say anything about the riots that followed the acquittal of the officers involved in the King beating, however. I can’t say that I remember the ’67 violence, seeing as I wasn’t born, but I remember the King case, and I remember the riots that followed. I thought then (and I do now) that the officers involved in the King incident used reasonable force, as they didn’t have certain non-lethal options like the taser to use. The technology available in non-lethal formats has advanced significantly since ’91.
In reference to the “warrior ethos” within LAPD itself, Joe Domanick, a senior fellow of criminal justice at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism said the following:
He said the culture originated during the reign of William H. Parker, hired as chief in 1950, who imagined the city’s police force as an urban army.
Domanick said Parker’s view was: “We’re the only thing standing between chaos and anarchy. We are the professionals. We know better. No one tells us better.”
This is the source of my personal issues with LAPD – not so much the warrior ethos but the paramilitary nature of the department itself. The attitude referenced above is still trained into new recruits, it is definitely part of the culture of the department. It’s a double-edged sword; because LA isn’t exactly a nice place all the time and often swift force is needed, but then the sword swings back and excessive violence is used on people that don’t deserve it.
LAPD is doing a difficult job, made worse by the simple fact that most people don’t trust them. Further trust isn’t fostered by articles like the one I linked to, however it’s also not fostered by pummeling handcuffed suspects with flashlights.
“As Chief Bratton says, ‘Sometimes policing isn’t pretty and there is little if any time for reflection and discussion before action,’ “
This is also true, but it doesn’t help anyone either.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, my personal conflicts on this issue can be readily seen in the entry above. As I said, I’m generally supportive of law enforcement, but the modern trend towards turning police departments into paramilitary organizations is extremely concerning. I’ve always held the opinion (and still do) that for police departments to be as effective as possible, they must have the trust of the community that they’re policing. At the same time, they need to be able to react with violent and appropriate force dangerous threats, such as the North Hollywood gunfight.
A balance has to be struck. I don’t particularly find fault with a warrior ethos within the ranks of LAPD, where I come from “warrior ethos” is another word for “pride”. The deepest root of the issues with LAPD isn’t how they perceive themselves, it’s how the public perceives them.
I know that I have some pro-choice readers, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to garner enough attention to this post to answer a question I’ve had rolling around in the back of my head for some time.
I’m “pro-life” or “anti-abortion”, or whatever you want to call it. I’ve been at various levels of the pro-life movement my whole life, from active protesting and participation in The Walk for Life when I was younger, to today where I’m still opposed to abortion – I just don’t go yelling about it anymore.
I’ve debated abortion proponents at different levels, from high school to college and I still occasionally tussle with people today, although again without the frequency and passion that I used to.
So, here’s my issue that I’m hoping someone can coherently explain to me. I support a woman’s right to control what goes on with her body; this is why I’m all for birth control and proper sexual education, condom use, etc. My problem is that I don’t feel that the lifeform that’s growing inside a pregnant woman falls under the domain of “controlling your body”. That’s the basis for my inherent disagreement – from an idealogical standpoint independent of any religious beliefs, that “fetus” is a person. It’s DNA is not the same as the mother’s, although it shares some parts.
What I am clumsily trying to say is that I do not understand how a woman’s right to control her own body (which is fine) extends to termination of a body, or mass of cells that aren’t a part of her body, although they exist inside her body.
Logically, I can’t really see a difference between aborting a baby, and waiting until it’s born and then killing it. In both circumstances, the person being killed had no chance to defend themselves, and no opportunity to offer their opinion or consent.
The only way I could justify that sort of behavior is if I believed that while inside the mother, a baby was not a person, and in fact nothing more than a lump of tissue with different DNA that magically becomes a person after birth. I find that belief to be slightly intellectually dishonest, but that’s just me.
So, to restate – how exactly can a pro-choice person justify the termination of a “mass of cells” that does not belong to the mother?
Thanks in part to your recent rate increase, and the fact that I conduct my personal correspondence entirely by email, it is now officially more economical for me to use my personal FedEx account for any shipping purposes.
I understand that you’ve been losing money on the parcel shipping business to UPS, FedEx, and DHL for some time now. However, I sincerely doubt that further muddying the waters of the shipping industry is going to magically attract new customers.
In conclusion, I’m rather tired of your shenanigans, and have officially decided to give the you the business equivalent of the finger and take my business elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Ahab
Back in March I started on a durability test of my Walther P22; I haven’t offered regular updates because there hasn’t really been anything interesting to update you on. Since I started the test, I’ve already fired 450 rounds through the Walther, the ammo being a mix of CCI Mini-mags and Aguila Sniper Sub Sonic. I’ve yet to have a failure of any type, each round has gone bang when I pressed the trigger, and the bullets have gone where I wanted them to go.
It’s almost boring, frankly. It might get interesting coming up, as I have noticed that the groups are starting to loosen up slightly when I shoot five from a rest – the internal parts are also starting to get kind of dirty from fouling. I believe that culprit of the fouling is mostly the Aguila rounds, as they run a bit dirtier than the CCI ammo.
I just ran it this weekend on a trip to the range, 150 rounds went through like crap through a goose.