She says: As a girl who has shot 50 calibers more often than most folks who read this blog, I would like to say that I don’t flinch.

Well, I didn’t know what to expect. I doubt I’d flinch the second time. Ammo was low so I didn’t take a follow up shot.

Via NinthStage, comes this:

Firearms remain a distinctly American obsession.

Ok, you’ve started off badly already. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Swiss, French, Australians, New Zealanders, Fins, and others with high rates of firearms ownership? Well, we’ll let your opener go. Surely, you have something factual to say.

While the rest of the civilized world has abandoned such instruments of technological feat and individual dignity, we have survived this strange, globally endemic wave of demasculinization by preserving our right — constitutional right, that is — to bear arms.

Err, nope. Guess not. Ok, let’s just skip to the end:

In short, our society must be willing to gamble on mutual trust and mutual peace.

Now, I’m a gambler. And that is what we gamblers would call a bet with a negative expectation. You see, you make your bets when your expectation is positive over time. In other words, if I can repeatedly make the bet a large number of times and, in the long run, profit then it is a good bet. This is not. I, instead, don’t gamble and take steps to ensure my own safety. And all the hippie, tree-hugging mutual trust bologna in the world isn’t worth a hill of beans the very second someone breaks that mutual trust your gambling on.

As NinthStage notes: First, there is no peace but mutual peace, unilateral peace just means you are not willing to admit you’re already at war.

Update: Ahab has more.

So, let’s suspend him:

Hamline University has suspended a student after he sent an e-mail suggesting that the Virginia Tech massacre might have been stopped if students had been allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. Student Troy Scheffler is now required to undergo a mandatory “mental health evaluation” before being allowed to return to school.

Nice.

SM discusses hunting coverage in the press.

At Kevin’s.

I had somehow missed this:

To be quite honest, the majority of the response I got to my first blog on gun control was negative and angry, and it got me down quite a bit. But, the majority of the arguments I saw were also better, more thought out, and much more educated than the ones that I had previously come in contact with. It certainly was enough to change my mind.

[…]

Yes, I have changed my mind on the gun control issue. I really want to note, though, that it was only because of the responses that were written kindly which convinced me.

Look what happens when there is actual reasoned discourse.

Via reader Clint.

Send some Aunt B.’s way.

Mike Kelly, director of the Shooters Alliance for Firearms Rights in the state of Michigan, emails:

I am a director of the Shooters Alliance for Firearms Rights here in the state of Michigan. There is a bill in our legislature that is going to get a hearing. If it gets enough support from the public, it can get a vote on the floor.
We don’t know whether or not it will get passed when it hits the floor, but we’d like to try. I’m an avid reader of your website and I would appreciate it if you could post the information below on your blog. It’s a copy of the email I have been sending out to everyone in my address book.

I know that lot’s of gunnies visit you. I’m hoping to reach as many Michigan voters as I can.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you need clarification.

Thanks in advance.

—————————-

Below is a copy and paste job of an NRA alert regarding HB 4490. HB 4490 would get rid of the so-called safety inspection requirement for the purchase of new handguns.

Right now, there is no uniform method for ‘safety inspections’. My favorite firearms rights organization, SAFR, ( www.firearmsalliance.org) collected reports from gun purchasers across Michigan and learned what has been going on.

In one city, the gun buyer brought a valuable collectors piece into the local PD for the safety inspection. He was told to leave it over night. He came back the next day to discover that someone had fired his gun and scratched the finish on a couple of places. Aside from the fact this was unauthorized use of his personal property, it was a collectors item valued in the thousands of dollars. Imagine someone writing a phone number on the back of your Honus Wagner baseball card.

Another city had the gun owner hold the pistol up to the bullet proof glass and show it to the cop doing the inspection. The cop never looked at or touched the gun and merely recorded the serial number.

Other cities have made it hard for people to bring their guns in. They will only accept guns for safety inspections during certain hours making it difficult for people to get the inspections done. It’s claimed that manpower is the reason. However, you can go to the same police departments and get accident reports all day long. The Michigan Attorney General issued a ruling that said police departments have to provide safety inspections during business hours the same as any other service. Quite a few police departments have thumbed their noses at this ruling and continue to do business that way.

The Safety Inspections the the police are supposed to conduct on your newly purchased handgun are not really safety inspections. None of the police officers involved are qualified to decide if a gun is safe or not.
Everyone has to pass a background check before purchasing a gun. If you cannot pass the check at the point of sale, you cannot buy the gun.
What’s really going on is that these inspections are rooted in the past when the KKK controlled Michigan politics. The only thing the police wanted to see was that a “safe” person, i.e. WASP was buying the gun. True, they aren’t really “inspecting” guns for these reasons now, but since they are not actually determining if the pistol is safe, then why should we have to bother putting up with this?

Please contact your local representative and urge them to vote to pass this bill.

The text of this bill can be found here. http://tinyurl.com/2dwp8y
Please go read it.

—————————————

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=3256

Important Michigan Pro-Gun Bill to be Heard Soon!

Friday, October 12, 2007

State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-93) has introduced legislation that seeks to repeal the required “safety inspection” for newly obtained handguns. House Bill 4490 would also require law enforcement agencies to destroy safety inspection records on file. Current Michigan law requires anyone who comes into possession of a pistol to take it to the police or sheriff’s department for a safety inspection. The requirement of a safety inspection is a burdensome waste of time for law-abiding gun owners and HB4490 will end that inconvenience.

HB4490 is expected to receive a hearing in the House Committee on Tourism, Outdoor Recreation, and Natural Resources soon. Please contact the members of the Committee and respectfully urge them to support passage of HB4490.

State Representative Joel Sheltrown (D-103), Committee Chair
(517) 373-3817
joelsheltrown@house.mi.gov

State Representative Kate Ebli (D-56), Majority Vice-Chair
(517) 373-2617
KateEbli@house.mi.gov

State Representative Tom Casperson (R-108), Minority Vice-Chair
(517) 373-0156
tomcasperson@house.mi.gov

State Representative Terry Brown (D-84)
(517) 373-0476
terrybrown@house.mi.gov

State Representative Ted Hammon (D-50)
(517) 373-3906
tedhammon@house.mi.gov

State Representative Kenneth Horn (R-94)
(517) 373-0837
kennethhorn@house.mi.gov

State Representative Kathleen Law (D-23)
(517) 373-0855
kathleenlaw@house.mi.gov

State Representative Steven Lindberg (D-109)
(517) 373-0498
stevenlindberg@house.mi.gov

State Representative Mike Simpson (D-65)
(517) 373-1775
mikesimpson@house.mi.gov

State Representative John Stakoe (R-44)
(517) 373-2616
johnstakoe@house.mi.gov

State Representative Howard Walker (R-104)
(517) 373-1766
howardwalker@house.mi.gov

How far is 1,000 yards? Go look and see.

Cooking the numbers.

Here.

Blocking anti-moveon.org ads.

Neat. But how do they know that?

Seems an Aerosmith fan board linked to where I met Steven Tyler. It was odd at Reno to see Tyler. First, the TSA guy asks me if I’m a fan of Steven Tyler. I said From Aerosmith? He said Yeah, he’s standing right there. And he was. He was standing their putting his clothes on after the TSA searched him. And, in hindsight, I really take issue with the TSA guy pointing that out. I mean, seems Tyler is entitled to some sort of privacy. And at least the privacy involved in TSA folks not pointing him out to random people going through security. People were asking him for pics and stuff while he was still trying to get his stuff together. Kinda lame.

And, hats off to Tyler. He smiled and took photos with anyone who’d ask. And was a nice guy. I didn’t ask for a photo because I figured he was tired of it.

And, by the way, Tyler is about five feet tall and weighs about 90 pounds soaking wet with his pockets full of quarters.

Today’s PSH brought to you by the Cornell Daily Sun’s Tony Manfred:

I can go to a store right now and buy an AK-47; is there not something incredibly disturbing about that?

First of all, no you can’t. Second, no.

And my fave:

The delusional Neanderthals at the National Rifle Association should be charged as accomplices in every gun-related murder since 1871.

Update: Seems folks can’t comment there.

Update 2: Turns out the comments there are just moderated. I received an email from Mike Wacker the web editor at the Cornell Daily Sun:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Through Google Analytics, I have determined that your website has generated a substantial amount of traffic to Tony Manfred’s blog about guns. I do not have much to say on the issue of the Second Amendment, but I would like to clarify our comment policy, since you claim we are not letting people comment on our website.

We are allowing comments for this blog like any other content on our website, but all anonymous comments must be approved (especially to protect against comments promoting Viagra, porn, etc.). Specifically, the comment that one person claimed would not get through was approved by me today.

Sometimes there can be a substantial delay until someone who has permission to approve comments logs on to the website and approves the comment. As much as we would love to check the website every minute for comments, the staff at The Cornell Daily Sun does sleep, do homework, and attend classes, so we apologize if our response may be slow at times to approve comments.

I hope that clarifies any misunderstandings you may have. Please feel free to reply if you would like to know anything more.

Hats off to the guy for letting me know. I’ve corrected my errors. I wonder if Manfred will correct his?

I apparently can’t step away without some thing bad happening. Seems The Governator signed the gradual ten year ban on semi-automatic handguns err microstamping bill. But it’s California. Should I have expected anything else? Doubtful.

Pics courtesy of Joe Huffman.

The Range:

Ko-tonics upper and flyer.

Cool shot of the Silver State Armory 6.8SPC round:

Me about to shoot US Citizen’s 50 caliber AR-15 upper:

Another shot of the ko-tonics upper:

Me shooting the ko-tonics upper:

The Kalashnikov challenge in progress:

JimmyB was glad to be there.

US Citizen likes the ko-tonics.

Kewee has the day by day play by play.

Gun Bloggers travel in environment raping style.

Ride fast has some pics.

Sebastian reviews the ko-tonics. He really like it since he bought it.

Sebastian has his range report.

Gun bloggers is smart.

It is up.

So, how’d the Gun Blogger Rendezvous go? I’ll tell you. It was a great time and those of you who did not come missed a good time. On the event, here’s a summary:

Thursday: We had a meet and greet and social time. A good time. Sebastian and I snuck out to meet with the NRA reps to, err, prepare them (and us) for what we thought the focus of the conversation would be. We told them they’d have a tough crowd. They did not deliver the wheelbarrows full of cash like Laura Washington said they would. I mean, I know she’s wrong a lot but could she have at least gotten this one right? The NRA folks were interested in blogging and their questions started very generally. Things such as wondering how many folks the various gun blogs reached; our various methodologies for getting material to blog about; and other shop talk. It was, I felt, informative for them. They then asked specific things such as how to get things done. We discussed various ways bloggers could help the NRA and vice versa.

Friday: Met for some breakfast and folks generally went their own way until the sooper seekrit meeting with our fellow Triangle Of Death members and the NRA. We met with the NRA folks and everyone introduced themselves. Glen from the NRA told us about NRA’s grassroots division and other interesting things. He also gave us an idea how information and activism could be perpetuated through the blogs. He seemed very knowledgeable and he was open to frequent questions.

Then, it was our turn. And the gun bloggers let them have it. And I don’t mean they let them have it in a generally angry or condescending way. I mean they asked tough, intelligent questions about policy and perception. The consensus, in very general terms, seemed to be that the NRA had an image problem and that image problem was that we saw them doing things we did not like or, often, there were things we just didn’t see them doing. Now, obviously, things happen that we do not see and we were open to that. The NRA folks flat out asked how they could change that. So, we let them have it with various suggestions about future avenues to appeal to the shooter demographic. And they were very interested and asked us a lot of questions. They took lots of notes and were receptive of the feedback we gave them. I see good things happening from this in the future.

The particular issue that seemed to have most of us blogger folks a bit concerned was the NRA and the Parker/Heller case. And that one seemed to be most damaging to them, from the average gun blogger’s perspective.

We also had a little show and tell. I gave a little talk about the ko-tonics. Larry from Brownell’s also gave us a bit of a presentation on the company. He gave us some sampler products (dude, free gun oil!). And he also told us how Brownell’s was active in not only selling shooting supplies but advocating our second amendment rights. I’ve spent lots of money at Brownell’s over the years and will probably start spending more their just due to their support of the second amendment. That level of support is not found in many retailers.

Saturday: Range time! It was a blast. Everyone got to demo the Ko-tonics upper receiver. I liked it a lot. With an EOTech red dot sight, I was pinging 12 inch steel plates out at 400 to 600 yards. Many others were doing the same thing with it. The upper is awesome and worked well. After about 100 rounds, there was one failure to feed. Then we realized that nobody had lubed it up. After that, it ran flawlessly. A special thanks to Tim from Ko-tonics. He shipped the upper receiver to me to take to the GBR to review. He also arranged, with the help of Silver State Armory, to have sent to the hotel 400 rounds of 6.8SPC ammunition for use with the upper.

I shot a 50 caliber rifle for the first time. And I flinched like a girl, therefore putting my shot about 20 feet short at a thousand yards. I didn’t know what to expect, hence the flinch. It was mostly painless and felt rather like firing a 12 gauge.

I also shot Joe Huffman’s long range rifle. I hit a steel plate with it three out of four times at 1,000 yards.

Then there was the Kalashnikov challenge. Sebastian decided he wanted to shoot his AK-74 at 400 yards. I laughed because it’s an AK. I mumbled something about how you couldn’t hit the side of a barn from inside the damn barn with an AK. Then, since we were in a gambling town, I told him that if he could hit the steel target before exhausting one magazine, I’d buy him a beer. He hit it four times, though some say he hit it five.

The range was great because I shot all day and, with the exception of the ko-tonics and Jimmy B’s tricked out 22 pistol, I never shot the same weapon twice.

The big winner of the Gun Blogger Rendezvous day at the range: EOTech. Last year, after shooting mine, Jimmy B decided he had to have one. And he put it on his 22 pistol. I was shooting golf balls with it at about 20 yards. This year, US Citizen and Sebastian also decided they had to have one.

Sebastian, by the way, bought the Ko-tonics upper after we shot it.

After the range was dinner and prizes. Some of the prizes included a Hi-Point handgun, gift certificates to Natchez, copies of David Hardy’s In Search of the Second Amendment, a Brownell’s range bag, and Boomershoot merchandise.

The high point of the dinner was the speech by Chuck from Project ValourIT. ValourIT purchases voice activated laptops for injured troops so that they can, well, do what we all do every day: chat, blog, check email, balance their checkbook, and surf the web. Chuck was injured by an IED and lost the use of his hands. He knew of some voice activated software and a lady with Soldiers Angels got him a laptop and the software. They decided that this was something that more injured troops needed and ValourIT was born. Chuck told us that these guys just having the ability to once again do what they used to do every day is often a real help to getting them through their injuries. Definitely a worthy cause and one worth sending a few bucks to. The GBR raises some money for these folks.

Sunday: Travel day. But I met Steven Tyler.

A guy we gun bloggers met in Reno from California who struck up a conversation about guns after seeing our gun cases:

People ask me how I can live in California being a gun owner and a conservative and I tell them that I’m just an earthquake away from beach front property and living in a red state

Because he’s behind me right now blogging, I’m pretty sure Sebastian will have some more stuff on the Rondy in a minute. Pre-emptive linking, w00t!

US Citizen and Joe Huffman discuss our chat with the NRA.

Pics from the range trip. Tons of gun porn.

Random quotes from GBR:

This thing is a piece of sex.

Me describing the Ko-tonics 6.8 SPC upper.

It’s impressive to see an NRA guy who knows how to clear a weapon

Me, having a little fun at Glen’s expense. Glen was the speaker from NRA.

Update: I’ll have more updates on it tomorrow or Monday. In between activities and poker, I’ve not had much time to blog.

About to head to breakfast and then the range.

The movement to amend Knox County’s Charter to include a recall provision is growing rapidly.

Recall Amendment leader Brian Paone of Knox County’s 4th District said, “The people aren’t going away on this one, if they won’t deal with it we will.”

That is leadership. That is what Knox County needs right now.

Mr. Paone’s group has contacted all of the Knox County Commissioners, County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Law Director John Owings, and the Knox County Election Commission.

The message is very clear. The people demand leadership. If County Commission and the County Mayor cannot provide that leadership then the people will.

Yet sadly, or should I say typically, the response has been underwhelming; of the remaining 11 County Commissions only two have said they will support the request that Knox County Commission vote to approve the Recall Amendment. One Commissioner, Paul Pinkston, is opposed to the amendment and the other Commissioners are “undecided”.

Some of the excuses are quite pitiful. Commissioner R. Larry Smith said he, “has misgivings about how recall might be used in close elections.” Smith doesn’t even understand the amendment. Craig Leuthold says he will not discuss the Recall Amendment outside of a public meeting. Is he confused about the Sunshine Law or just afraid to confront the question? Commissioner Mike Hammond, who some think will run for County Mayor in 2010, is concerned about other districts having say in recall of district representatives. So will Commissioner Hammond now be recusing himself from all votes not in his District?

That is pitiful. The exact opposite of leadership. I agree with Brian Paone, lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Sailorcourt at PGP’s:

The liberal answer to drugs: Education
The liberal answer to teen pregnancy: Education
The liberal answer to Aids/STDs: Education
The liberal answer to gun safety: “Oh my GAWD…get that THING away from me!!!”

Remington 870.

In Reno. Things are good. Been busy, so no bloggy.

Had dinner with some NRA folks last night and they’re a great bunch. Sadly, neither Glen, Ashley nor Ryan showed up with wheelbarrows full of cash to plunk down at my feet. I thought they would, since Laura Washington said they do that. But they did buy me a nice dinner so maybe that counts.

So, packed for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. In my bags:

1 AR-15 in 6.8SPC
1 AR-15 in 9mm
1 Kel-Tec 380
400 rounds of ammo
Four copies of In Search of The Second Amendment
Hat that says ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ.

I’m totally getting searched.

So, that idiot that Bonaduce slammed is now suing.