The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
Well, it looks like today is the day I convert my comment software from HaloScan to Echo.
Be still, my beating heart.
I guess we’ll see if six and a half years of comments – at present a hair under 40,000 – transfers over. I’m not holding my breath on that one.
AZ Blogmeet & Range Trip – Update
OK, Saturday December 12 is the agreed-upon date by the majority of respondents. I’ve had one (1) recommendation for the after-range gathering, Ochoa’s in Casa Grande on Cottonwood lane, between Pinal Ave and Trekell Rd. Since the range is just off Trekell, finding it shouldn’t be hard. The description was as follows:
Family owned and family recipies. They have been a Casa Grande institution for decades. The hot sauce is hot, the enchilada sauce is smooth and the Green Chile is the best! They have tables in the back room for large groups.
Next question is: how large? How many people are planning to attend the range trip and noshing? Here’s a new poll:
The poll only allows one vote per computer, so if you’re bringing family/friends, please let me know in the comments.
Again, the range opens at 07:00, and I figure we’ll shoot until about 1:00PM, then go eat, drink, and be merry for a couple of hours at least.
So who’s in?
No Blog For You!
I had plans for an Überpost weekend, but alas, that didn’t happen. Sorry about that. Normal blogging resumes Monday.
Well, I’m Honored I Guess
I’m more a small-“L” libertarian than a Conservative, but the blog Bombs and Dollars has named TSM to its Top 133 Conservative Blogs list. We’re #102.
I don’t know by what criteria the rankings were made, but I see a lot of blogs further down the list that I would say are more conservative than I am.
I Love Blogging
Chris The Anarchangel Byrne emailed me last week and invited me along to a dinner with Monster Hunter International author Larry Correia and Servant of a Dark God author John Brown. Of course, I leaped at the chance. A total of ten of us (at first) met up at the Famous Dave’s BBQ in Mesa, next to the Bass Pro at 7:00 PM, and had an entertaining evening listening to (and telling) stories. Two more joined us a bit later on. John Brown’s not a gunnie, but Larry has promised to give him a thorough introduction. (I would like to point out, John, that it is not a prerequisite to be an obese early-middle-aged white male to get a CCW! – But it apparently helps, at least in Arizona.)
A pleasant time was had by all, I got to meet two pretty damned interesting authors and several more interesting people, and Larry gave me an M.H.I. patch.
The evening was made of WIN!
Two imperfect and wildly incompatible world views have been on collision course for decades, and it’s going to stay that way until we, as a society, remember why we intentionally made a government that is powerless in areas in which people will never agree, because at the heart of the matter is using the naked power of government to enforce ones preferences on the other.
Part of that process is realizing that you’re going to have to give up the club your own team would use to enforce its preferences. For the Left, the list of offenses against Liberty is endless. For the Right, amongst other things, that means getting over antipathy towards homosexuality, and it also means recognizing and accepting that the definition of abortion as murder hinges on the ensoulment of the fetus, because until that happens, there is no party whose life is deprived. Since this is a question that cannot be answered without appealing to the unprovable propositions of religion, it is therefore a private matter, and not fit for public policy.
The only other alternative is that those who insist on their right to decide on these things for others wipes out those who disagree, which is the precedent that the bulk of human history offers us.
The Geek is at least a half-magnitude brighter than I am, and I am constantly humbled by his ability to say, and say more precisely, in ten words what it takes me 50 to attempt.
Blog more, Geek.
In fact-checking a recent comment, I found a review of Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story which contained this fascinating bit:
Early on, Moore admits that he, too, fell in love with post-war capitalism as a child, and that the system used to work pretty well for the average middle-class American — even if it was made possible by a lack of global competition made possible by the United States’ military dominance. The problem is that there is no middle class anymore –– there is only, as one subject of the film puts it, “the people who got nothing and the people who have it all”
Boy, that sounded familiar. Where had I heard that before?
Oh! Here:
At one time, there were wealthy people in this country who enjoyed comfortable lives, a middle class that never really had to worry about money, and poor people. Now we have wealthy people who have rigged the system and have seized more money (see:power) than this world has ever seen, no middle class, many who are one illness away from losing our homes, and an underclass that resembles Third World countries.
Now, I haven’t seen Moore’s latest “masterpiece,” but I’m willing to bet that Moore uses those exact words, verbatim in it: “NO MIDDLE CLASS.”
And my dauntless crusader for Truth, Justice, and the “GOOD Capitalist” way (that of redistribution of wealth) Markadelphia repeated it because it fits his worldview perfectly – even though I doubt seriously that he is neither of the “got nothings” or the “have it alls,” which pretty much disproves the assertion from the word “go.”
Projection, thy name is “Markadelphia.”
AZ Blogmeet & Range Trip – Update
OK, according to the poll, 11 people can make the Dec. 12 date, one (1) can make Dec. 5, and six can’t make either. (Sorry, y’all!)
We’re going with the 12th. Now I need to verify from the City of Casa Grande that the range is not reserved on the 12th for Cowboy Action shooters or such. It would be a bummer to show up there and not be able to shoot!
Assuming there’s no conflict, here’s how I see it happening: I and at least a couple of other people need to be at the range when it opens at 7:00AM in order to secure good shooting positions. I’ll be bringing my AR500 plate steel targets, and I’ll need a hand setting them up – they weigh about 35lbs each, and they have to be hand-carried downrange, since there is no longer vehicle access. We’ll shoot until about 1:00PM, then pack it in and go to a restaurant still to be determined. I’ll be contacting other, non-gun-oriented Arizona bloggers to invite them to shoot and/or eat, too. At least this gives me about a month to get this organized.
A word or twelve about the Elsy Pearson Public Rifle Range:
1) It is an unsupervised range – there are no Range Officers, so we have to do that ourselves. I expect everyone to be familiar with the Four Rules. I also expect everyone to be familiar with firing range etiquette.
2) There is no potable water at the range. Bring fluids. (But no alcohol.)
3) There is, at least, a Porta-Potty on site now. There didn’t used to be. I suggest that someone bring some toilet paper, just in case. And hand-sanitizer, too.
4) Even though it’s late fall, and the firing line is covered, Mr. Sun is nasty. Bring sunscreen.
5) There are no targets nor target stands at this range. You can bring anything you’re willing to clean up as a target (exceptions being glass and explosive targets – that’s posted). As I said, I’ll be bringing my steel targets, and everyone is welcome to shoot them. I’ll also be bringing a target stand for paper targets. If you go out to pick something up, don’t get the “stick in the ground” type target stands. The ground out there is caliche, and about as hard as cement.
6) There are three ranges to shoot from, a 100 yard range with covered shooting benches, a 300 yard range with covered benches, and a 25 yard range with no benches, but the firing line is covered too. I figure we’ll take up one end of the 300 yard range. In addition, the backstop is a range of mountains. About 600 yards downrange on the side of the mountain someone has put some steel targets, so if you bring something with some reach, you have something to shoot at.
7) Sorry, but they don’t allow .50BMG at this range. I suppose it’s just slightly possible to loft a 750 grain .50 caliber projectile over the mountain range backstop and drop it onto Interstate 8, so they’re verboten.
We still need a place to go after the shoot. I’m open to suggestions. I’d prefer it if it wasn’t posted “No Guns,” obviously. Anyone familiar with Casa Grande?
BUMPED AND POLL ADDED.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. For one thing, I desperately need to update my blogroll and get a LOT of AZ bloggers on the sidebar. Second, I’ve attended blogger get-togethers in Louisville, Reno, Phoenix, and Moyockistan, but the last time I met up with local AZ bloggers, we didn’t do any shooting.
So, I’m thinking we invade the Casa Grande public shooting range one Saturday, hurl a ton of lead downrange, then caravan off to dinner somewhere not too far off to eat, drink, and tell lies for a few hours.
Who’s interested? Can we set this up?
UPDATE: How about Saturday, Dec. 5? UPDATE III: I’m informed that there’s a gun show in Phoenix that weekend. How about the 12th?
UPDATE II: If you’re a blogger and you’re up for it, please spread the news. Not everybody who reads you reads me. Again, blog readers are more than welcome! And if you happen to live in Casa Grande or are familiar with it, some suggestions on where to go eat, drink, and be merry afterwards would be appreciated.
From Across the Pond
I received an interesting email this morning from across the pond (full name redacted):
I believe in the right of the individual to keep and bear arms in defence of themselves. This makes me a significant rarity, given that I am as British as Cornish pasties.
I heard the standard arguments of the pro-banning-guns community while growing up, but I had an analytical enough mind to know that I wouldn’t be able to conscionably form an opinion without investigating the statistical nature of taking guns away from a community in comparison to communities where guns are not taken away. This missing piece was provided by a friend I gained via IRC who runs a gun shop in Pennsylvania, who linked me to gunfacts.info, and I saw the proverbial light. Beyond that, firearms have never played a central part of my life – I’ve never lived in the areas of the country where gang warfare and violent crime are greatest, and nobody in my family had much to do with firearms in a sporting context or hunting.
As such, I have a question which is likely not quite what you normally get. You’ve characterised the sweep of gun control through the legislation of the UK as a slippery slope, which I don’t disagree with; what can I do to try and reverse the process?
Thomas
Here’s what I sent him in reply:
Thank you for your missive. I wish I had a simple answer for your question, or even some words of encouragement, but with regard to that slippery slope I’m personally afraid that the UK has proceeded too far down it to ever climb back out. “Reversing the process,” in my opinion, requires “renormalization” – that is, making guns and gun ownership if not common, at least not uncommon again. One of my favorite quotes regarding the “normalization” of gun ownership comes from Teresa Nielson Hayden: “Basically, I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them.” Unfortunately, the disarmament of your nation has proceeded well past the point where that can occur – thus guns and gun ownership will remain (in the eyes of the majority of your fellow subjects) abnormal, anti-social and frightening. It’s a cultural change that took over eighty years to accomplish, and the inertia of that effort will preclude the necessary reversal of your gun control laws that will allow renormalization. The British psyche no longer recognizes two “gun cultures” – one of sportsmen and protectors and one of criminals – it only recognizes one – the criminal. Note that many in your culture still object to the arming of police forces even in the face of skyrocketing violent crime. As you yourself noted, your belief in the right of armed self-defense makes you a “significant rarity” in your own culture.
The only way to “reverse the process” is to convince the voting public that guns are not the cause of crime, that gun owners are not violent psychopaths or petty criminals just waiting for the opportunity to criminally misuse their guns, and that they themselves are responsible enough to own one and use it in defense of themselves, their families, and their property. That option has been stripped from you in death-by-a-thousand-cuts legislation dating back to 1920. I think the final step over the brink was the 1996/97 handgun ban.
In Scotland in 2007 there were 26,056 firearm certificates on issue to a total population of 5,062,000. In other words, about 0.5% of the population is licensed to own a centerfire rifle or a shotgun that can hold more than two shells. In England and Wales there were 128,528 firearm certificates on issue to a population of about 54 million, or less than 0.25% of the population there. That’s nowhere near enough to make firearms ownership anything approaching “normal,” and the laws make it extremely unlikely that firearm ownership levels in UK will ever again approach even 5%.
It’s cold of me, I know, but the UK for me now serves as an example of what can happen here if we don’t fight tooth and nail to prevent it.
I wish you luck in your endeavors, though. I’d love to be proven wrong.
Actually, I repeat my entreaty: Get out. Get out NOW.