The Wrong it Hurts

As is normal after a mass shooting, there are articles up from every news mouth that can get camera time. Something connected in any esoteric way.

One such article was done by KVUE reporter Jennie Huerta.

There is just so much wrong here. Other than the sensationalism that "The Gunman was carrying an AK-47"

We'll start here;

The AK-47 has a distinct look, with a curved magazine and a fixed metal stock. The AK-47 is a semi-automatic rifle, meaning that the user must pull the trigger for each shot. It does not spray bullets continuously with one trigger pull, unlike a fully automatic weapon. The AK-47 can fire up to 600 rounds per minute.

Um, the AK-47 is actually a fully automatic capable select fire long arm. Bonus points for stating that this one does not fire fully automatically but then saying it fires 600 rounds a minute is just wrong?

Another wonderful one;

The name stands for “Assault Kalashnikov,” and the year it was introduced, 1947.

BZZZZZZT, try again, it stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova 47 because it is an Automatic weapon accepted for use by the Russian military in 1947 that was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov.

So now let's throw out another one;

The AK-47’s $600 price tag makes it one of the most popular assault rifles in the world. It is manufactured in at least 24 countries outside where it originated, Russia. It is officially used by nearly 70 military forces in the world. The United States Armed Forces do not officially use the AK-47. It is readily available in Texas.

$600 dollars for an AK clone? Really? As for the mishmash of factoids there, the US military doesn't use it but it is readily available in Texas. The Springfield XD is not officially used by the US military but it is readily available in Texas. As are SKS's, Mosin Nagants, Tarus Revolvers and semi autos, and a host of other firearms. This is just a bunch of hooey.

Basically, the entire staff of KVUE was evidently tasked with writing something no matter how inane about this incident for publication today. Most of it not worthy of your time.

More Unpossible

It seems there was a shooting this morning on the University of Texas at Austin campus. That is UNPOSSIBLE, everyone knows that it is illegal to carry a firearm on campus much less into a university building. So, obviously someone in the news got it wrong because this could not have happened. I mean, there is a law against it already so we need to make more laws against it since it couldn't happen. We need to further restrict the rights of law abiding citizens to protect them form people who ignore the law.

Support Campus Carry Reform!

UPDATE: Word is the shooter is a 19yo Sophomore math major. APD identified gun as AK47. I doubt it. More likely an AK clone but if it is even an actual semi auto AK Clone. I'll give it to them. I wouldn't be surprised for it to be a Marlin .22. Kid lived at home with parents and they have sealed off the culdesac where the house is. Cops carrying bags of "evidence" out of the house.

Welcome World

Not really sure what happened but in the last two days I have gotten hits from;


Madras India
Oslo Norway
Brandon Canada
Austin Texas
Sapporo Japan
Manila Philippines
New Delhi India
Doorn Netherlands
Koganei Japan
Jamahiriya Libya
Hyderabad India
Ottawa Canada
AOL in the United Kingdom
Denpasar Indonesia
Alcorcn Spain
Moncton Canada
Mississauga Canada
and
Brooklyn New York

Welcome one and all to my humble little corner of the internet. Please stick around a while and read some of my old stuff. I have been a bit sporadic as of late but on rare occasions I actually write something worth reading if I do say so myself. Please do feel free to comment. I would like a little feedback as to whether you do or do not like or agree with my ramblings. Only way for me to get better is to hear what others think about it and listen to others opinions.

And most of all THANK YOU for stopping by and sharing a little bit of your time with me.

That's Unpossible!

So int he news this morning there are a couple stories about shootings at parties.

First, from New Jersey we have a report about a party goer who was asked to leave when he wouldn't pay the cover charge. He returned with a gun and started shooting. Not sure how this can happen as NJ is a Brady paradise that required police permission to own or carry a gun and the state has much discretion about who has a need for that permission.

Second, from California, LA actually, is a report that 10 people where shot at a birthday party. Again, isn't CA one of those Brady paradises that requires state permission and is rather selective about who it lets own and carry guns? This must have been some fancy party full of really politically connected folks since the report states that "several people pulled out knives and guns" when the fight erupted.

I just can't see how either of these shootings are possible since both of these states are held up as the ideals of "reasonable" gun control laws. It must be all those cheap and easily available assault weapons sold by private gun dealers without background checks at gun shows along the US - Mexico border.

NEVER FORGET

Those who were murdered or those who did it.
Never rest, never give up the fight till the enemy is defeated.

IT IS ALIVE! MUWAHAHAHAHAHA

Did you know, you can walk into the local Case/IH dealer and get factory off the shelf parts for a 1947 FarmAll Model H?

I'll have to dig out some pictures or just hop my happy little butt outside with the camera and take a couple fresh ones.

This is our daily driver as it were. We use the tractor as our main worker around Casa deGeek.

I had been running it pretty hard lately. Had a friend buy rural property that does not have a tractor of his own at this time so I went out and shredded his pasture then came back home and continued the shredding around here. Two weeks ago, while shredding the west pasture (weed control) the tractor started missing something awful. Over the last week I dug into the engine to discover that one of the intake valve spring retainers had let go and dropped a valve so that cylinder was firing back into the intake manifold. Called the dealer and talked to the guys at the parts counter and they had the right stuff ordered for me in a matter of minutes. Two days later (yesterday) the parts were in. It took me till today (insane work schedule) to get by and pick up the parts. Worked late and finally got home to install the parts. misbeHaven even came out and helped work on the tractor. Got the new retainer and locks installed and rocker arms and shaft along with various other parts and cranked the engine. It lived and breathed. We are back in business.

Which is good, we came home to three cows and two calves the other day. We have 7 cows and 4 calves! They had bulldozed through the fence line to the north that leads to the hay pasture of our neighbor. We got them back in and closed off the cross fence to the north pasture so they couldn't get to that area. I called our neighbor and let him know what happened and that we would be working on it this weekend. Came home today to find that he had gotten out of work during the day and fixed the hole. Problem is, our plan to fix the problem is the tear the entire fence line out and clear the area and put up a new fence from scratch. Telephone poles for corner poles and wood posts every 100 feet with T posts in between. 6 strands of barbed wire 9" apart. Basically what we have been using around the property as we have replaced fence. So. in between work we are clearing and fencing. Chimera even came out for the weekend to help. Just have to see if we get called into work tomorrow to setup another test for running before our next regularly scheduled customer gets in Monday. (Remember that insane work schedule I mentioned earlier?)

Entitlement Generation

I guess I am just getting old and crotchety.

StarFire Satellite (sat internet resellers) has been running a radio ad that features a whiny teenage sounding female.
Are you listening to me? I said, I want high speed internet, I NEED high speed internet, I DESERVE high speed internet and I need it NOW!

What's wrong with this picture? OK so there is no picture really it is radio. However, the whole entitlement generation that feels they deserve something just for their ability to process air into highly carbon dioxided air just bugs me. Every time the commercial comes on it makes me glad I don't have internet by satellite.

Sorrow

Our heifer gave birth to her first calf (and ours) sometime in the past 24 hours. Bull calf. Full-term. Beautiful black & white patterned hide. Also dead.

Not sure how or why. The cow is fine; doesn't look to have suffered any physical trauma, and she completed the birth, so I don't think it was a malpresentation. We didn't find the placenta/umbilical cord, but the cow doesn't look like she was nursed, either, so we don't know if the calf was born dead or died shortly after.

This sucks.

Edited to add: What I meant to say when I started this post is that sorrow is watching a mother who won't come and eat because she's too busy standing guard over the body of her dead offspring. Species is irrelevant.

Letter to the Editor

So, I zipped off a letter to the opinion desk of the student newspaper here at Texas A&M University. The Battalion. I dare them to publish it. If they do, I am expecting a flood of hate mail.

BACKGROUND, HS Senior is pledged to come to A&M and on a scholarship to play roundball. Post sr prom, he is intoxicated and decides to get behind the wheel and drive home or where ever. On the way, he loses control and kills a critical care nurse on her way to work as well as kills himself. Big fuss made over him and his family and the fact that he was pledged to come here and be a promising basketball star. Fundraisers held for his family, talk of a scholarship in his name, etc.

A&M also has a tradition called Silver Taps where fallen Aggies are remembered. Now, since he was not an Aggie yet, he is not included in the ceremony. There was an opinion piece in the paper that he should be included to show how much the Aggie community cares and that he really was a part of it.

Add to that, The Aggie Code of Honor, "An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do. " Since there is nothing in there about underage drinking, DWI, Vehicular Homicide or Intoxication Manslaughter, I guess those things don't matter.

UPDATED EDIT: So, looking back over news articles from the original crash, it happened at 06:15 and he had been at an all night post prom party at Dave & Busters that was school sponsored. No mention of Alcohol but speculation he might have fallen asleep. I'll have to keep digging for the article I read where the idea was floated about alcohol involvement. Still, he was impaired and still there was no fundraiser or big memorial service for the woman he killed. She got a line in the articles I've found so far. "The driver of the Jeep, a 50 year old woman, was dead at the scene."

UPDATED PARTIAL RETRACTION: So, now I found a later article that flat out said, no drugs or alcohol are believed to have been involved in the accident.

Well, that takes out the DWI thing but still, the speculation that he fell asleep. Ya Think? after being up all night at a party after the prom that is a likely event. However, none of that changes the fact that all the attention is on him dieing and not the fact that he killed someone else doing it. All the attention and outpouring of emotion has been over his loss. I understand it is a loss for someone so young to die but for what has me all worked up and always has since this first happens remains, where is the outpouring of emotion for the woman he killed?

Quote of the Day

Ambulance Driver in comments at MArooned:

I think I'd be better off if my rig had twin Ma Deuces and a snowplow bumper instead of lights and siren.

I concur... and I don't even drive an ambulance.


BACKSTORY from TXGunGeek:
While misbeHaven doesn't drive an Ambulance, she did drive a Fire Truck. We got toned out to a grass fire in our end of district and by the time we got to the South Station, we had not heard a peep out of anyone else on the radio. She geared up and launched in the brush truck and I loaded the Engine to follow to give us another 500 Gallons of water on hand. As I started catching up to her on the FM road through the center of our district, I could see her up ahead, lights and siren going, with an SUV in front of her going well below the speed limit with its left turn signal on. Wisely she did not attempt to pass. A couple miles down the road, the SUV finally turned left into their driveway!!!! I could see the steam coming out of the brush truck as she was fuming over this idiot. The fact I was able to catch the brush truck in the engine was a testament to how slow she was having to go behind this goober. Unfortunately, in our county, the Sheriff is more interested in harassing VFD's for following too close than he is in writing up potential voters for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. I will say misbeHaven wouldn't have gotten a ticket anyway as she was giving said goober plenty of room to do something stooooopid to prove how inbred they were.

Sometimes there are no words

I always knew Shithook drivers were a bit odd but this guy takes the cake.



It is never a good thing to be looking DOWN at the rotating blades of a helicopter but when you have to get out and the pilot is just that good, things like this happen. I'm just really glad someone had a camera on the helmet to capture it.

HT to BLACKFIVE for this gem.

The Newest Threat

As LawDawg would say, "This just tips over my giggle box."

http://www.thebredafallacy.com/2010/09/new-menace.html

Non-Criminals?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Over?

Travis County Texas leads the nation in deporting non violent criminals who are also illegal aliens.

That's all fine and good but immigration rights activists have their panties in a wad over this and are complaining.

Some advocacy groups are upset, however, because non-criminal illegal immigrants without a violent background are also identified under the program and being sent back to their home countries.

This brings up an interesting phrase, non-criminal illegal aliens. So they define just what that is.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, non-criminals are people who failed to show up for deportation hearings, who recently crossed the border illegally, or who have returned to the country after deportation.

So, what they are saying is that people who break the law repeatedly, fail to respect the authority of the court hearing their case of them breaking that law and or return illegally after being deported for having come here illegally are non-criminals?

So breaking the law repeatedly does not make them a criminal? What the hell is wrong with the justice system and these bleeding hearts that refuse to accept that breaking and or ignoring the law makes them criminals no matter how hard they want to deny it?

Someone is/was wrong on the internet!

SO, in a compilation of advice given on various gun boards, at gun stores, ranges and stuff I hear at class, I decided to collect my favorites and put them together in a post. This started with my prior rantings about teaching women to shoot and what's the right first gun for a woman.

So, let's wade in shall we?

There is no better home defense gun than the shotgun. You don't have to aim, just point and they don't jam and just racking the slide will cause the bad actor to poop or pass out or leave or something.

Where to start? It is obvious this person has never really shot a shotgun in a stressful environment or confronted a motivated attacker with one or even patterned one for real or tried to make plausible defensive shots with one in training. They most certainly do jam if not operated properly. The point, not aim thing is just stupid and I won't even bother with the ancient racking the pump garbage.
Yes, the shotgun is a decent choice for the ensconced defender. Take a protected position behind cover and be ready to shoot anything that invades your safe space. Gotta make sure the bad actor knows that is what is going to happen and you have to have everyone you care about behind you by that point. Ever tried moving through a house with one to get to another room to get to a child or other person? Not so easy, especially if you have to open a door or move anything out of the way to get there or use a flashlight to see along the way.


The classic, get a revolver because they don't jam and you just point and click. Especially if you can't work the slide on a semi auto.

I already covered this one but the high point is, if someone doesn't have the strength to operate the slide on a semiauto once, what makes you think they have the strength to do repeated 12 pound curls with one finger smoothly enough to operate a DA revolver?
A corollary to this is, if the person cannot (supposedly) operate the slide on a semiauto due to grip strength, what makes you think they can hang onto a snub revolver or even better an Airweight snub?
Technique is more important than brute strength in working the action of a semiauto.

One of my favorites along this line;
The new Ruger LCR 38 revolver. The most user friendly and finest carry firearm ever made for a novice woman shooter............period.

WOW, the stoopid, it burns. As has been discussed here and elsewhere, to make a blanket statement about all women like that and to base it on this particular choice of platform is just beyond me.

A gunstore favorite is, you need this here little gun to fit your tiny hands line.

Well, there are a few very high quality tiny handguns. The smaller the gun is, the more felt recoil is going to be transferred to the shooter. The smaller it is, the shorter the sight radius is so the harder to aim. Likewise, most of the smaller guns also sacrifice sight quality along with sight radius. Smaller guns usually mean smaller calibers. Smaller calibers mean less power / penetration / damage. I know you can get subcompact Glock in .40 but, REALLY?, you want to refute more recoil, less sights and do that with a .40S&W sub compact? REALLY?
Besides, if this is a persons first gun, learning to shoot well on a subcompact is just the flat out wrong way to go about it. Especially if it is chambered in a major caliber. Learning to deal with blink and flinch is hard enough, no need to exacerbate the issue like this.

Being old and crotchety I can relate to this one. If it doesn't start with a .4, it's crap or at least the .45 is God's caliber and shooting anything less is a waste.

Well, these folks have been listening to too many DI's from WWII. Get some real and updated information such as facts. Check out the IWBA, International Wound Ballistics Association, a group of forensics and pathologists that specifically look at real shooting by real people against real people with real guns on real streets and the real results of those real events. Not goat tests or gelatin or some other "stopping power" measurement. Or mythical one shot stop capabilities. Get real information about premium hollow points in pretty much any caliber over 9mm and what the IWBA and even the FBI Defensive Systems Unit Ballistic Research Facility FBI Academy. Shot placement is key to stopping a fight. A determined attacker can continue to fight for a long time with wounds that cause pain but do not interrupt the attackers ability to fight. Even if those wounds are eventually mortal wounds.

Shoot them with a .22 because if you shoot them a bunch of times fast with a .22 they'll stop the attack.

The corollary to this is the old; I carry Uber Mega ManStopper Frangible rounds designed to deliver shocking fight stopping terminal power to the bad guy that will instantly make him stop and or die.

Well, let's look at those, Not saying I'd want to be shot with a .22 but nothing aggravates an attacker like being shot with a .22 or .25. Saying I'd like to rip off for this is, "You shoot me with a .25 and I find out about it, I'm gonna be pissed." While the .22 has a statistical reputation as being the deadliest caliber, that has more to do with the commonality of small guns that can be hidden deeply and made cheaply than with any amount of actual performance of the round. However, dead is dead.

As for the super duper rounds, FIRST, I have first hand knowledge of a righteous CHL shoot in Houston where the CHL emptied his .38 snub loaded with super special but factory ammo made by someone nationally known and marketed into the bad guy through the open drivers window of his van all center mass hits. The bad guy turned, ran off and walked into court for his arraignment a couple days later when he was caught. Needless to say, the CHL now carries name brand normal JHP's instead of this super ammo.


So, what is your favorite "gun advice"?

In the beginning

There was the bbs, geeks dialed in and said, "Hey this is cool!"

The along came Al Gore and his invention, the Interwebs.
Soon the Interwebs became more like their inventor, Fat, Bloated and lazy.

And the chosen one sent us Saint Oleg who brought forth The High Road.
And Yea the Signal:Noise Ratio went up and gungeeks the world over rejoiced.



Originally this was going to be the start of a much larger post. That one is coming but I thought this really deserved its own place. Am I dating myself to say I used a 1200 baud modem hard wired into the phone line that was the same size as my computer to dial into the bbs's back in the day? Or that my first connection was a teletype terminal with rubber cups to place the phone handset into to call into a DEC10? Or that I was working for a Tandy Corp when the Trash-80 came out and already had a few years of programming under my belt by that time?