Category: Uncategorized

Well, the Ratio is About the Same.

By now everyone’s heard about the LA Sheriff’s deputies who fired something on the order of 120 rounds at a suspect. Four rounds actually hit the suspect (none life-threatening). One round hit one of the ten deputies. Thats a ratio of 30:1 for hits on the intended target.

It’s nice to know that police accuracy is consistent. I was reminded of this post from Sept. 19, 2003 where Thomas Martin McGouey attempted to commit suicide-by-cop in Tennessee. At 30 yards, Mr. McGouey (with a target helpfully drawn on his bare chest) pointed an empty air pistol at six officers.

Twenty-eight rounds fired, one hit.

In the shoulder.

Way to go, guys!

Maybe these deputies should take some pointers from Tucson Police officer Richard Silva, or New Mexico State Police Leutenant Don Day.

OK, I’m in Houston.

Arrived this afternoon at George Bush International a little late because of the weather. The trip to the hotel took damned near an hour (haven’t you Texans seen rain before?) Checked in to the hotel and finally got something to eat, and now I’m blogging on the Holiday Inn wireless internet access from my laptop. Very convenient!

But I’m tired, so I’m going to surf some sites, read a little from one of the books I brought, and call it a night.

Sorry, Ft. Worth, But Thanks for the B-36!.

The Pima Air and Space Museum here in Tucson will be receiving a new addition soon, one of the last B-36 bombers still in existence. It seems that the aircraft has been lovingly restored, but the museum that it was to be the centerpiece of just couldn’t get built, so the Air Force has decided to relocate it from Texas to Tucson.

Now, without question the group of Texans that busted their hind-ends on the restoration are pissed, but at least they can know that their bird is going to a damned nice facility that will display it properly. Then, if they can ever get their museum built, they might stand a chance of getting it back.

When my father was in the Air Force based out of Kadena, they had B-36’s on the base. I’ve seen a lot of the slides (remember those?) that he took of the flightline. This should be interesting. The B-36 is a BIG aircraft, with six turning and four burning (six piston engines and four jet engines). I’ll have to make another trip to the museum when she’s assembled and on display.

New Members of the Blogroll.

I just added Michael Yon and SFAlphageek’s Nothing to See Here, Move Along… to the blogroll. As you’re aware, this blog is primarily oriented towards individual rights. I leave the milblogging to those who do that so well, but I’ve been reading these two guys with increasing frequency lately, and their stuff is excellent. SF Alphageek is a National Guard Special Forces member now back from the Sandbox. Michael Yon is an embedded blogging reporter currently in Iraq, who is ex-SF.

If you want a feel for what’s really going on over there, spend some time perusing their archives.

Via Joe Huffman from The View from North Central Idaho (the Boomershoot guy.) It’s a five-parter, starting off with a piece by Abigale Kohn (author of Shooters: Myths and Realities of America’s Gun Cultures), with replies by Don Kates, journalist Wendy Kaminer (who I was unfamiliar with) and Professor Michael Krauss. Then Kohn comments on her commenters. It’s entitled Straight Shooting on Gun Control. The opening essay by Ms. Kohn somewhat echoes my observations from last month in Perhaps the Momentum Really Has Shifted, in that things appear to be going our way for a change, but I think her conclusions drawn from that are erroneous.

Spoiler alert: I agree completely with Don Kates. Wendy Kaminer has a burr under her saddle about the NRA, but I tend to agree with her regarding the NRA’s support for the War on (some) Drugs™ (if not on anything else). I was also unfamiliar with Prof. Krauss, but I like him! Check this quote:

Abigail Kohn clearly has come to a nuanced understanding of gun owners. That would be unremarkable for the majority of Americans who already understand gun owners (because they are, or are closely related to, gun owners). The fact that Kohn finds her understanding noteworthy is an indication of the ignorance that prevails among those who have a negative attitude toward guns, among whom I assume Kohn once counted herself. In that sense, her essay reads much like an article urging people not to fear the Jews because they don’t really drink the blood of Christian babies: Reading it makes one sad that it’s needed, but perhaps it will do some good. So two cheers for this essay.

Yowsa! You tell ’em Professor!

He gets better from there.

I recently read Kohn’s book, and I enjoyed seeing the gun-rights world through the eyes of a former gun-phobe, but Kohn still hasn’t gotten a grip on the realities of guns and gun owners in this country, nor apparently, on the efficacy of “gun control” on crime. But read the piece. It’s very interesting. Thanks, Joe!

Travel Alert!.

I’m going to be out of town all next week. (Goblin warning: The missus will have that Model 60 I bought for BAG day easy-to-hand.)

I’m travelling to Houston, Texas to a seven-day technical school (Monday through Sunday) but I will have my evenings free, so I’m hoping to run into at least one or two of you Houston bloggers. The hotel I’m staying at is supposed to have wireless internet access, so I should be able to check my email, and maybe even post some stuff.

Maybe.

The Latest Edition of the Carnival of Cordite is Up.

Over at Pajama Pundits.

No entry from me this week, though. But don’t let that stop you!

“If the law disarms attackers…

“…then it can make self defence possible where it would have been impossible if the attacker was armed.”

Here’s another example of the falsity of that idea:

83-Year-Old Vendor May Have Sold Food To Attacker

Washington (AP) – A vendor outside the Foggy Bottom Metro station believes he’s seen the man wanted for beating an elderly woman who also worked as a vendor.

The 83-year-old victim was attacked on 24th Street, Northwest, Tuesday afternoon. The incident was caught on videotape, which has been shown repeatedly on local TV. Vendor Billy Smith saw it – and believes the suspect bought food from him on Tuesday.

D.C. police have sent the grainy video to a lab at the Quantico Marine Base, in the hopes of having the quality improved. But they say they’re still getting a number of calls from people with information who want to help.

Police Chief Charles Ramsey says they’re looking at whether the victim and the suspect had argued earlier in the day. Ramsey says in the video, it appears the man is chastising the woman.

A disgusted Ramsey says were it up to him, he’d give the attacker a life sentence.

Watch the video. Good thing nobody had a weapon. Someone might’ve gotten hurt. And those surveillance cameras do a helluva job of crime prevention, don’t they?

(The victim is in George Washington Hospital in stable condition, suffering from a broken cheek and nose, and other contusions. She was robbed of about $300.)

Only $12K? And What About the 2004 Election?.

Say Uncle points to this AP report:

Gun-Control Group, PAC Pay $12K FEC Fine

Thu May 5, 4:00 PM ET

WASHINGTON – A gun-control group and its political action committee have paid a $12,000 fine to settle a campaign finance case from the 2000 election.

At issue were ads and endorsements by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its Brady Voter Education Fund involving various Democratic candidates in 2000.

The American Conservative Union, in a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accused the Brady organizations of making illegal corporate contributions to the Democrats’ campaigns.

The FEC disclosed the outcome of the case Thursday.

The Brady Campaign is named after Jim Brady and his wife Sarah. Jim Brady, press secretary to President Reagan, was shot during a 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan. The Bradys later became gun-control activists.

I hope that $12K hurt, Sarah.

¡El Banco de Mexico!.

Remember that radio station in LA with the billboard that caused such a ruckus?

And you do realize that Arizona is where the Minuteman Project ran through the month of April?

So you can understand my surprise when I went to my bank yesterday and saw this:

A bit of a close-up on the banners:

Well! You can send up to $3,000 a day to Mexico for just $8! Imagine that! (You can send it to India, too, but I thought the problem with India was that we were outsourcing good jobs there? Like Dell tech support.)

I wonder what job an expatriate Mexican can hold that would generate $3,000 a day.

Don’t you?