Treated guilty until proven innocent

So, I'd spent my hard-earned money on a gun.

Then I waited 10 days to claim my legally purchased property.

It was like pre-ordering a book on Amazon.com; I send them my real money NOW, then they think about sending me the book sometime in the remote FUTURE.

Part of the 10 days includes a background check, which I don't think I'm against. I don't think (recently) convicted felons of violent crimes should have guns, nor do I think people on probation for violent crimes should have guns. I DO think that the whole point of the criminal justice system is to rehabilitate (though I'm not so naive to think that EVERYONE can be rehabilitated), and to let a convict out of jail because he is "rehabilitated" and not let him buy a gun, is silly. If he's dangerous, leave him locked up.

So I wasn't too upset about that. What I WAS upset about, was that part of that 10 day waiting period was a "cooling off" period... Because anyone purchasing a firearm is doing it to murder someone in anger! Really instils a lot of faith in law abiding gun owners.
Your Seanator: "Well, you're buying a gun, and guns are used to kill people in cold blood, so you must be planning on killing someone in cold blood! So, we'll give you a bit to cool off. Oh, and don't think that we're treating you as if you are guilty of a crime you've never commited, nor that we have any proof or probable cause to believe you WILL commit! You know... It's just in case... Besides, wouldn't you rather we err on the side of treating you like a criminal?"
Me: NO.

This is the problem with the whole "If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear!" crowd. That isn't the chant of concerned honest citizens. It's the chant of a government trying to extend its power just a little bit more. Don't believe me? Take that phrase, and put it on one of those communist propaganda posters. I'll pause a moment while you do this... Don't mind me, I'll be here when you get back.
..
....
!

So, you see then. If you still don't believe me, try putting some other phrases on that same communist poster...

A people that values its people above its privelages soon loses both
Yeah. Doesn't quite work does it?

How about this old favorite?
Anyone who gives up freedom for the sake of safety, deserves neither freedom nor safety!
Somehow this one doesn't fit either... (btw I believe use of this quote consitutes 256 instant diggs =P)

Here's a new one I picked up recently;
One sword often keeps another in the scabbard.
That definately doesn't promote any communist ideals...

And yet...


Eeerie, isn't it?

The government will not take away our rights with a backhoe! They'll slowly chip away at them. Before we know it our broad base of freedoms will be a slender pole we balance on to try to keep from falling off into prison.

First firearm purchase

I had decided. After months of shooting different guns, and different calibers, I'd decided. Mostly.

Before I say what I decided on, I want you to know my initial thoughts on what firearm I'd choose. They were simple; No 9mm. No Glocks. After one month, I'd decided on (say it with me) a 9mm Glock. A G19 to be exact. I didn't much like the way it fit my hand, but I could shoot it well, and the 9mm recoil was manageable. I was decided.

Or so I thought. I kept reading about the Springfield XD "out glock-ing the glock," so I decided it was worth checking out. (just another excuse to go to the range!) When I tried it out, I found a gun with sig-like internals, glock-like polymer frame and trigger safety, and 1911-like grip safety. It had a loaded chamber indicator, and it fit my hand much better than the glock! I though I had instantly changed my mind. I wasn't as good at shooting it, but I knew that would come with time and grip and trigger skill development.

Over the following month I researched the hell out of the two guns, and carefully balanced the reliability issues, safety issues, and control issues. I decided on the G19. The XD9 was highly favored, but the Glock had many more years of development and active duty on the XD, and that was what it really came down to. Sure the glock was a bit more expensive, but I knew better than to hinge my decision on price.

My mind was made up, and I was planning on buying it from Turners in a few days when I visited my uncle and dad and talked to them about my decision. They were a little concerned about a firing pin issue (one I'd never read about) that caused LAPD and LBPD to no longer approve of usage of glocks. Apparently both departments had a number of issues with the firing pins failing to strike the primer hard enough. They could take the misfired cartridge from the glock, and fire it with no problems in a different gun. My faith waivered a bit. I convinced myself that (as many glock-o-philes have stated) glocks take up a large percentage of the market (especially in LE), and we hear about more failures simply due to market volume. In the back of my mind I realized that I was making excuses.

When the time came I went to Turners, and saw the G19 waiting for me behind the glass. While I was waiting (3 other people were buying guns at the same time) I noted that the XD9 and 40 were on sale for $459. My eye twitched involuntarily A clerk asked me if I needed help, I told him I'd like to buy the G19, and he told me we'd have to wait just a bit for one of the other clerks to finish up. So I talked to the clerk for a bit, it turns out that he picked up an XD9 (over a glock) over a year ago and has been enjoying it, and since they put it on sale they've been selling much more than usual. I waivered a bit more, worried about my decision, I redirected the conversation toward the Glock. After talking a bit more, I realized I didn't have my HSC card (stupid), and would need to pick it up; I excused myself.

Longest car ride home ever. It was only a few miles there and back, but in those few miles I changed my mind no fewer than 6 times. I reentered the store not knowing what I was going to buy. When the other clerk asked me If he could help, I said, (without knowing how I'd finish the sentence, or if I'd just chicken out to think about it more) "I'd like to buy an XD9."

Now we play the waiting game.

CountyComm a little-known place for cool shit.

Stumbled across this place a bit ago, they've got all kinds of militaria, tools, odd stuff, and all of it is kick-ass and fairly priced.

Picked a couple hundred feet of Paracord 550, a German Military issue Victorinox "Travler" type knife (quality), signal mirror (may save my life!), and on and on and on...

Check it out!
http://www.countycomm.com

Arizona Peach Tea is the shit

Man! And I thought I loved Arizona Green Tea...

*DRINK*

Firefox Tamperdata

When I'm not doing a full-blown penetration test or web app security test, I'm reluctant to take the time to set up the webscarab proxy if I want to do simple POSTs. I found the Firefox extension "Tamperdata" a bit ago, and after figuring it out, found that it allows me to fuxor with POSTs all I want with only a few clicks.

You can even leave it on without tampering and it will gather all the GETs and POSTs for later review, and even lets you export to XML! Great for doing a quick run-through of a site you were using to see if you find any "interesting" POSTs you might want to play with later...

It's quality, and it's certainly free. Get it if you're into security. (and you know what you're doing...)

Working out works

Holy crap.

Since we've returned from Cancun, we've been talking about working out. Though that's pretty much all we've been doing. In the past few weeks I've been using the excuse of feeling crappy for not going; nothing particular, just upset stomach, sluggishness, general malaise...

Well, yesterday I was thinking about the times when I did work out, and how well I felt for the rest of the day when I did. I decided that I would just have to drag my ass to the gym today.

I ate way too much pizza last night, so I was thoroughly crappy around 9:45 when I woke up. Work was at 11, so I had a little time. Time I spent trying to sleep a little more, and thinking about whether or not I really want to go to the gym... Around 10:10 I got up and started looking for my workout clothes; I caught myself taking my time so I wouldn't be able to go, so I picked up the pace and was dressed and ready to go at 10:35(ish). Hit the gym for about 40 mins, did some time on the eliptical to get the blood pumping, then some very light weight training (to not get sore, so I could go back sooner).

Now that I'm at work, I feel so much better than I would have had I not gone to the gym.

That was kind of a pointless story...