These colors don't run.

Not even on the moon.

They'll steal the fillings from your teeth...

...And the grates from your streets.

The Blaze: Thieves Steal 15 Metal Storm Grates in Calif. City

Looters don't care what it is. If it isn't bolted down, they'll take it and try to sell it, because they think they deserve it.

This kind of thing will only get worse in California.

Balls

These women have them.

How do you stop flashmob theft?

The Blaze: Mob of Teens Reportedly Steals $3,000 Worth of ‘Nudie’ Jeans From Chicago Store

What I found interesting about this story was that the store owner knew something was happening when he saw the flashmob enter.

He locked the doors to stop the flow of thieves, but this is obviously not the right course of action, as locking someone in a place and preventing them from leaving is a form of kidnapping.

Only thing I can think is you hop on a counter and yell, "This store is now closed! You are all trespassing, leave now, or [insert appropriate threat for your locale here]."

Sadly, being in Chicago, the appropriate threat for that locale is, "I'll stamp my feet and gnash my teeth." Perhaps he could have yelled "Fire!" or something equally distressing, but there's probably a law against distressing thieves in Chicago.

Were this free America, he could hop on the counter with an empty shotgun, announce the store closure, and start corralling them out the door by walking through the aisles from back to front racking the empty shotgun (pointed at the ceiling, of course).

Seeing as the mob is borne of groupthink, maybe there's a trick to dispelling them. Perhaps whispering, "The guy's got a gun! Get out! Pass it on!" would cause the little lemmings to do as you say. Or the opposite route, walk around with handcuffs and single out each one, saying, "I don't care if I can't catch you all, I'm going to arrest YOU!"

If he knew they were going for those jeans in particular, he could have ran to the display, grabbed them all in bundles, and started tossing them behind the counter. Don't let the mob hide behind, "I was just wandering around looking at clothes, I wasn't providing cover for anyone stealing."

Either way, you need to do something that upsets their plan. You need to stop reacting, and do something to cause them to reevaluate their plan. Get inside their OODA loop. He did do something to disrupt their plan, but he didn't announce it to them to make them know their previous plan wasn't going to work. Because they're all groupthinkers, they wouldn't have the ability to adjust their plan without consulting twitter or whatever planning group they used, and would likely abort immediately.

Thinking about police crowd control, there should be a way to scare them with the threat of pain without actually delivering it. Maybe shouting that they're all trespassing, and saying you'll pepper spray anyone who is in the store in 5 seconds, then running around with a can of Fabreze painted black, spraying near people. I don't suppose you need a cloud of spray, maybe just the spraying sound will work. Just something to break the mob mentality. Paintball guns are a little much, and would leave evidence to clean up, but sweeping their feet with a scary looking airsoft gun would give them a visual indicator, an audible indicator (they probably don't know what a gun really sounds like, or have a fake suppressor on it), and give them impact on their legs (or would whizzing over their head be better?). If we want to get more overt, but definitely more effective, load some homemade blanks into a Big Scary Revolver™, don your hearing protection, and start shooting it into the air. Bet they scatter like cockroaches, and you have no BBs to sweep up, leaving no evidence of your method of crowd dispersal aside from the smell of cordite (Fabreze saves the day again!), though you might have to clean up some urine.

PS: You might have to lose the surveillance tape after some of these ideas.

Aurora shooting taxpayer funded?

It sure wouldn't be the first mass shooting funded by the feds, but it might be the first executed by a private citizen!



CBS News: James Holmes received thousands from grad-school grants ahead of deadly Aurora shooting

James Holmes was the recipient of a $21,600 grant from the National Institutes of Health, a research agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to agency records. The grant lasted from July 2011 through June. Holmes also received a $5,000 stipend from the University of Colorado-Denver, where he was a first-year Ph.D. student in its neuroscience program.

Again, everything points to him being a model student with a bright future, which makes this even more disturbing.

Previously, CBS News reported that Holmes spent $15,000 to stockpile a massive arsenal, which included bullets and ballistic gear bought online and four guns from brick-and-mortar stores...

I was honestly curious how he afforded all the kit he had. All that stuff is far from impossible to buy, but it would certainly be quite difficult to buy on a student's finances. Having a glut of money offered him the opportunity to do something he might have otherwise dismissed as monetarily impossible, though there are still many gaps in his reasoning.

I can't help but wonder at the fact that this money is simply given to him with no or few strings attached. I kept reading the article expecting to find that the money couldn't have been spent in gun shops because there would have been a claims process that required approval or something, but it appears they just handed him cash money to spend on whatever he chose.

Foodstamps may only be spent on approved items, yet we see them being misused constantly. Are there checks in place that were circumvented, or were there no checks at all?

"This was his only known income, so this brings up -- you know, in the most unintended consequence possible -- what you have here is the specter of a federally funded shooting because this appears to be the money he had access to during the time he was planning this," senior correspondent John Miller, a former FBI assistant director, said.

Because I'm not a liberal, I'm not calling for a new Bureau of How People Spend Federal Grant Money, but because I'm not full retard I will ask why the hell this isn't something that we already do. The idea of simply handing students tens of thousands of dollars to spend however they wish seems about as smart giving congress tens of billions of dollars to spend however they wish.

Adding auditors to federal programs is like shining sunlight on a vampire.

Luckily, simple, common sense, "wtf we're not doing this already?!" ideas like auditing grants rings very true with we the people. People on both sides of the aisle want to make sure their tax dollars aren't being spent on either guns, knives, and tactical carbine classes or past life regressions, yoga classes, and free trade gluten free cruelty free soy free ipad cases.

This is a prime opportunity to call for some sunlight to be shined on these grants.

Open carried to walmart

On a busy Saturday afternoon to the super walmart inside Lexington, not a small nearby town.

I got one second glance from a nice old lady who smiled at me. That is all.

This was pretty much the final test of public reaction. It's pretty obvious that almost no one cares, which means I'll open carry without apprehension wherever legal for two reasons: firstly, because I can't legally apply for a concealed carry permit until I've lived here for 6 months; and secondly, because I'd love to make it socially normal.

Because of the second reason, I imagine I will still open carry at times after I get my permit. I haven't seen anyone else open carrying who wasn't working at a gun shop, and I think that's a shame.

If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always got.

Read more about my experiences open carrying here!

Books, Games, and Knives

I've been re-reading Atlas Shrugged, and have been enjoying it much more this time. Now that I know what's going to happen, I can actually enjoy the first third of the book, instead of spend years trudging through part one 20 pages at a time whenever I feel masochistic. I'm enjoying myself so much that I regularly check the Kindle's percentage complete bar and think, "Oh boy! I'm only 21% of the way through!"

Psychonauts is a wonderful game released for PC and original xbox (original xbox games are now playable on the 360 thanks to system updates) that breaks a lot of style, artistic, and gameplay molds for video games. It's a beautifully unique game, that is a joy to play (instead of a race to the finish line), and I've yet to see anything remotely close to it. I played it a few years back, and it had been hanging on my mind for a while, so I popped it back in and tried to keep my smile from hurting my cheeks. I should note that it's exactly the same game every time, there's no open-world aspect or random events, but the characters, the story, and the locales are genuinely engaging and interesting, which is near impossible to say about any other game. If you play one game in your entire life, make it Portal. But if you play two, play Psychonauts.

If you're too lazy to play, or not much of a gamer, or more of a voyeur gamer, there's a guy on youtube who has a 41 video series of him playing the entire freakin' game.

I really want an OTF blade. There's something about it that just screams Free America. Of course, being a knife-o-phile trapped in California for 28 years helps too. I want a butterfly knife too, but that doesn't have as much allure as the OTF. I'll get one as soon as we have, you know, income. The wait will have the added bonus of my wife not stabbing me with it for opening and closing it incessantly. Maybe I should start with the balisong so the accidental strikes on my knuckles will discourage excessive flailing about. Yeah right.

Obama FINALLY talks gun control

... and it feels sooo gooood.

Mediaite Video: Obama Talks Gun Control: ‘AK-47s Belong In The Hands Of Soldiers, Not In The Hands Of Criminals’

ZOMG OBAMA WILL BAN TEH AK-47S!!!111ONE

Not so much.

Here's the gun-related quote at the end of the video (starting at 4:07). Everything before that is mealymouthed political ass covering.

I, like most Americans, believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. 'K? We recognize the traditions of gun ownership passed on from generation to generation. That hunting and shooting are part of a- a-a-a-cherished national heritage, but I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers not in the hands of criminals, that they belong on the battlefield of war not on the streets of our cities.

I believe the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons. That we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun seller. That a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on guns so easily. These steps shouldn't be controversial, they should be common sense. So I'm going to continue to work with members of both parties, and with religious groups, and with civic organizations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction. Not just-- uh-- of-- gun violence but violence at every level at every step looking at everything we can do to reduce violence and keep our children safe, from improving mental health services for troubled youth, to instituting more effective community policing strategies, we should leave no stone unturned and recognize that we have no greater mission, as a country, than keeping our young people safe.

Looks pretty meaty right? Not as meaty as you'd think. Lets give this a good hard fisking.

I, like most Americans, believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms.

Woo! Finally! Something we can agree on! Hold on to that feeling, because it's the only one you're going to get.

'K?

Boy, he his REALLY obvious with his verbal tics. It's like clockwork. Make him say something he doesn't believe, and he starts stuttering like a liberal trying to explain where the power for his electric car comes from.

We recognize the traditions of gun ownership passed on from generation to generation.

"See? I totally understand why you want guns! It's because you cousin humpin' rednecks had a 'pappy' who shot a 'varmit' on his farm!"

That hunting and shooting are part of a- a-a-a-cherished national heritage,

Wow. Can't even get believe that hunting and shooting are part of our heritage? Or was it the "cherished" part that threw you?

but I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree

Off to a bad start.

that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers not in the hands of criminals,

Good qualifier! "Should guns be in the hands of A:Soldiers or B:Criminals? Please select one." Why are you trying so hard not to make a simple declarative statement? Why are you still pulling your punches? Don't tell me-- No-- It can't be-- You can't even attack guns directly RIGHT AFTER a national tragedy including guns? Boy that must eat y-y-y-you up inside. I recognize the tradition of dancing in the blood of innocents that liberals have passed on from generation to generation. Is nothing sacred anymore?

I think most of us can agree that they belong on the battlefield of war not on the streets of our cities.

WOW! Can't even say "AK-47s belong on a battlefield." At least the qualifier got a little weaker. What legal use of AK-47s would put them "on the streets of our cities?" Well, I can think of at least one. I sure would have preferred to see those Koreans protecting their stores with big, scary AK-47s with giant banana split clips (the split ones are even more deadly) instead of grandpa's duck gun.

I believe the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons.

BZZZZZ! WRONG! I don't think you can get anyone to agree to do "everything possible" to do ANYTHING. I think we can all agree that we should to everything possible to prevent cancer. Including sealing every American in a bubble, and feeding them intravenously so never have to encounter any dangerous carcinogens. I think we can all agree that we should do everything possible to stop smoking. Including shooting everyone in the head who buys a pack of smokes. I think we can all agree that we should do everything possible to save the planet. Including forced living in a pre-agriculture society in caves.

That we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun seller.

So it would be illegal to look at guns if you have a criminal record? Is that like pre-crime? What about drawing guns, or imagining guns? Is that illegal too? Where does the bureau of thought police fit into all this?

That a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on guns so easily.

Well you're obviously not referring to the process in place that already checks for mental health issues, so perhaps you're thinking more of a psychological evaluation when purchasing a gun?
"What does this inkblot look like to you?"
"Uhh... A butterfly?"
"Did you say 'a butterfly' or 'bloodied children fleeing the scene of the mass shooting I am planning on executing with the gun I'm buying'?"
"Uh... The first one."

These steps shouldn't be controversial, they should be common sense.

No, what should be common sense is that gun control doesn't work. It doesn't even work a little bit. In fact, where stronger gun control is instigated, the murder rates increase. Gun control murders people. Argue for common sense murders instead.

So I'm going to continue to work with

Oh boy, here comes the meat an potatoes, here's his action plan, he's going to detail exactly what he'll do to resolve this horrible problem of AK-47s being on the streets instead of on the battlefield, except when in the hands of other people who are regular citizens, who can also have them, but not that they should, but they can now, not that I'm implying they can't later- but just that it's happening now as the current state of our politics. Not that I'm going to change that-- er-- but I might-- if I get consensus, which I won't. Please stop asking me about this. No further question. I am Iron Man.

members of both parties, and with religious groups, and with civic organizations

Oooo! I'll bet gun advocates are shaking in their boots now! He's going to work with members! And not just regular members, members of both parties! And then, he's gonna work with religious groups! And then after that, civic organization! Look out, guns! There's a new sheriff in town! And he's gonna do exactly what the old sheriff did. Nothing.

to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction.

WHOA! He's nailing the NRA to the wall! He won't stop short of a consensus around violence reduction! It's so great he's fighting for that consensus, because I know tons of people who are always talking about how we need more violence, and we need to reconcile those views with those who want less violence. Maybe we can meet half way at a little violence. Not a lot, just enough to, y'know, spice things up.

Not just-- uh-- of-- gun violence

No clue why you stumbled over "gun violence." Maybe you were thinking about ladder violence or mailbox voilence.

but violence at every level at every step looking at everything we can do to reduce violence and keep our children safe, from improving mental health services for troubled youth, to instituting more effective community policing strategies, we should leave no stone unturned and recognize that we have no greater mission, as a country, than keeping our young people safe.

"Blah blah blah, I can't do a damn thing to stop Americans from buying guns, because when I do, the poll numbers I obsessively check go down, and you cousin humpin' rednecks just buy more of the damn things."

abadee-abadee-abadee-that's all folks!

Absolutely toothless.

I love it.

I hope gun owners only read the headlines on this one, and then run out and by more AK-47 clones. I want Obama screaming, "I can even name guns without them buying more!" I want a reporter hold up a picture of an AK, and ask Obama what it is, and then read the frenzied headlines where Obama said, "...AK-47..." (full context on page ZZ99), and then read about the increased sales. We're not quite there yet, but we sure seem close to it.

In other news Obama is really feeling the pinch. It comes through in everything he does lately. Don't worry Barry, we don't have that shoot-you-in-the-head policy on buying a pack of smokes just yet. Just make sure you don't exhale. I hear that gives off carbon emissions.

Eye opening results from eye protection tests

Paul and Andrew at Lucky Gunner labs did some serious testing on various forms of eye protection. Nothing more complicated than a price range of eye pro (or improvised eye pro), styrofoam heads, and two guns.

If you value your vision, these tests are worth your time.

It really has me rethinking my eye protection.


Paul emailed me with the link to their testing, and I found it of significant value, which is why I posted it.

See ya, Kenny.

Kenny "Wirecutter" over at Knuckledraggin' my life away has hung up his spurs.

I have it on good authority (Sal) that blogging just was becoming a chore for him and he was busy with stuff in Meatspace.

It's a shame to see him go, though I suspect he'll be back. That kind of talent never really disappears. He was an "angry" blogger, but there was always something undefinable in his posts that kept you coming back after you left all the other "Fuck Obama" bloggers.

Hell, I had about a year of hiatus before coming back.

Benchmade fixed Griptilian sheath problem

The fixed Griptilian, being my favorite carry fixed blade, went on a few hikes and scouting trips in California. Southern California "wilderness" is pretty much 8 foot tall scrub with small game trails throughout, so hikes off trail aren't so much hikes as they are you swimming through bushes.

It seems that this was what damaged the sheath strap.



The edge of the nylon strappings has pulled out as the edge of the strap clearly ends at the edge of the sheath, instead of wrapping around to be sewn twice or being a continuous band.

I don't know of a simple way of repairing this to previous functionality, so I'll be looking for something more radical. I'd prefer not to get a new sheath made, but will certainly consider it.

This is not the quality I've expected from Benchmade.

Hooray for Google searches!

Looks like a possible armed robbery averted! With a bonus on the outclick!

Yes, my downtrodden and disaffected victim of society, robbing someone with a gun loaded or unloaded, seen or unseen, will get you an armed robbery charge. In fact, you don't even need a gun to get an armed robbery charge! You just have to say or imply you have a gun! Never thought a pointing finger in your coat pocket would get you an additional charge did you?

Now that you know that laws are, in fact, meant to put you in jail for a long time, how about not breaking them?

PS: I hope you finished that article from the Daily Kos, it has been a bewilderment to us on the right why liberals aren't interested in arming themselves. Well, not technically, I mean, we know WHY you don't arm yourselves, because that would require you to take responsibility for something other than the topping on your bagel. Feel free to continue. We're not complaining.

Who's a sad panda who got shot during armed robbery?

Elderly internet surfer shoots armed robbers.

I love these stories. Good guys, bad guys, no moral ambiguity, or perpetrator apology. It's the kind of story you can't get from Hollywood.

Two guys wearing masks busted into an internet cafe in Florida, and demanded money from the registers and patrons. "But who would rob an internet cafe?" The imaginary liberal immediately responds. The threat of someone doing something is not lessened by your confusion at their actions.

The article, which is... strange... goes into some detail and actually has some quotes from the robbers-turned-victims.

Dawkins had a superficial wound in his left arm, but Henderson was shot in two places: his left buttock and his right hip.

They're lucky they didn't get hit anywhere vital or with anything bigger or faster than a 380 mousegun.

"I feel horrible. It doesn't feel good. It makes you think about life's decisions, and how you should live your life," Henderson said in an interview with the Star-Banner at the jail on Saturday afternoon.

Wow. That's really great to hear, I'm glad he survived to have that thought, but this revelation would have better served them both BEFORE they robbed a place at gunpoint.

Hours after his release from the hospital, Henderson, who talked about the pain he feels in his buttock and hip, said the plan was to "barge in, get the money and leave." He said "he [sic] never expected anyone to be armed."

"The gun was broken and rusty and wasn't loaded. Nobody was going to get hurt," he said, standing with crutches.

Well that makes you a pretty shitty robber. First, you bring a gun, which adds years to your charges, then you pick a gun that is dangerous to use, THEN you leave it unloaded!

Congratulations, you picked all of the risk and NONE of the benefit!



I guess it should have been ok because "Nobody was going to get hurt."

Retrieving the customers' phones was what he said was their "main priority." That way, he said, the customers could not call law enforcement officials.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Can't have the people in the cafe calling the cops! That'd ruin the whole ruse, you know, the one where you show up with an unloaded gun, and you're all like, "Alright guys, so you're getting 'robbed' *wink wink* with this 'loaded gun' *nudge nudge* anyway, y'all be chill and I'll be out of your hair ASAP."

Henderson theorizes the reason why he was caught off guard is because, when Dawkins entered the business, he busted a computer monitor with the baseball bat and "glass got into his face."

"He couldn't warn me," Henderson said.

Are...? Are you going for the sympathy? I mean, I know you're not, but pointing out how circumstances didn't go in your favor during your ARMED ROBBERY is an interesting tactic. Please, do continue...

Henderson noticed two women were behind the counter and he thought that was "fishy." Turning around to see what the women were doing, Henderson said he was shot.

Yup, there he was, minding his own business, just doing a routine armed robbery when these counter ladies started acting suspicious, and then someone shot me in the back!

"I turned around to run and my leg gave out. That was when I got shot. I hit the ground, and he was still shooting. I thought I was going to die," Henderson said.

Holy crap! You thought you were going to die? That's horrible! How would you rank the fear as compared to you sitting in an internet cafe, when two guys with masks come in and point a gun in your face? More or less? Better or worse? One or two? A or B? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Henderson said he and Dawkins drove to a house to see a woman he said "is like a second mother" to him.

Well that's great, I sounds like she's had a very positive impact on your life. I mean, some people wouldn't want to let down their mother, but you let down BOTH your mothers! Malt liquor all around!

"I couldn't breathe. I had lost so much blood. I don't know what she did, but she revived me," he said, likening the experience to coming back from the dead.

Whew! Your thrilling tale of ARMED ROBBERY had me on the edge of my seat! I sure am glad you pulled through! What an amazing experience it must have been.

Officials said Dawkins previously had worked for the cafe but had been fired.

Oh, so THAT'S why you rob an internet cafe!

Because Dawkins used to work at the cafe, Henderson said Dawkins told him there was "a lot of money there." Both of them, he said, gathered the gun and bat for the robbery attempt.

A lot of money? Honestly, how much? Enough to get dead over? Enough to risk an armed robbery charge? How much is that?

Their actions frightened the customers at the Internet cafe.

Wow. Artfully noted, Austin Miller, Staff Writer for Ocala.com. I'm glad you took time out of your busy schedule playing with blocks and coloring inside the lines to write this article. Now all the other weirdness in this article makes sense.

Lets hear from a pair of would-be-victims.

The robber with the bat smashed one of the computers, the couple said. Then the robbers ordered everybody to get down on the ground and take out their wallets and whatever valuables they had.

Whoa, I think they skipped the part where the Dawkins said, "Hey guys, this is a robbery, but don't worry, this gun isn't loaded, and we're not going to hurt anyone." Telling it like that just makes it sound like a boring regular old armed robbery.

Though Henderson said he doesn't blame Williams for shooting, he takes exception with Williams shooting at him while he was down.

"I was down, and I'm not going to continue to shoot you," he said.

Oh! Did the bad man shoot you wrong during your attempted armed robbery? Lets see what I can do about that...

There we go!



It's the world's smallest violin, playing the world's saddest tune, just for you.


THIS STORY PLEASES THE SNUBSTER

ROMNEY HITS THE TEE-BALL OUT OF THE PARK!

Romney team counters felon charge with reminder that Obama has publicly admitted to doing drugs.

That's right folks, stuffed cat just leaped onto the mouse! Or maybe the wind blew it over and it fell onto the mouse. Whatever.

The .380 gets snubbed

When I first saw the S&W Bodyguard 380, I liked it. I liked the lines, the idea of an integrated laser, the second strike ability, and I just plain liked it. At the time I resigned myself to not having one because there was little chance of S&W making a California compliant model.



Now that I'm in Kentucky though, and have access to an expanded market for firearms, I've been keeping an eye out.

I recently found someone looking to trade his Bodyguard 380 for a pocket revolver, and I had been neglecting the S&W 442, so I made the offer.



He was fielding some other offers so it took him some time to respond.



Don't look at me like that...

Did I do something wrong?

No...
Then why?
It's just that...
Am I not sexy enough? We can't all look like those polymer guns in the gun rags with doublestacked magazines!
I'm not comparing you to--
Those doublestacks aren't even real! Those fat grips are all plastic!
I know, I know, I just... It's not you, it's me.
Oh sure!
No, really, I just... My tastes have changed.
Your tastes? Like your taste for perfect reliability, 200 ft/lbs of energy, all steel construction, a firing grip inside the pocket, those are all gone?
Well, no, it's just that autos have more capacity and more firepower. They're much more reliable now.
HA! You can only call them reliable because you have a standard to compare them against. I AM that standard!
*sigh*
It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for a first generation release of a 380 auto! AND with a laser that doesn't even turn on from the grip? I'm embarrassed for you. At least have some taste and leave me for a P238.
What? 380s have been out for a long time and are pretty darn reliable!
Well I'm glad "pretty darn reliable" is good enough for the gun you carry to protect your life and the lives of your loved ones.
I can have 7 rounds in the gun and two more mags for 19 rounds available AND have a quick reload!
Oh! I thought you were looking for a pocket gun, not a G26 with a 33 round magazine in it! How many shots are usually fired to end a potentially violent confrontation again? I really can't remember, how much was it?
... Zero.
OH YEAH! ZERO! Well it's ok, you can still enjoy your 19 round tacticool go-to-war mall ninja mousegun. And with all the extra rounds, you don't have to worry as much about missing! Just think suppressive fire.
That's not fair. I already carry because I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Exactly, and when you absolutely need it, you absolutely need it to put hits on a target's vitals and precipitate loss of consciousness to stop further aggression.
Exactly.
So what good is it if it doesn't shoot?
How many times do I have to say it? They are very reliable.
I'm the standard.
*sigh*
Well, I suppose it's good you'll have extra rounds then, because you'll have to make up those extra foot pounds somehow.
Look, I get it, you're powerful, you're reliable, you're small, but the 380 is smaller.
I didn't realize I was too fat for your pocket. I guess with that 380 you can drop your keys in there, and your change, and your--
Ok, I know, I'm not going to put lots of stuff in that pocket.
But what will you do with all that extra pocket space? Maybe you can cram another 380 in there for a New York reload in case of a jam! Or shoot 'em both at once John Woo style! Or maybe... Just maybe... you can carry a gun that's a little bigger, more powerful, and much more reliable.
*sigh*
Let me know when you get a .25. I'll bet you can carry hundreds of rounds of ammo with that thing!
I'm not getting a .25, the .380 is a reliable, powerful pocket auto cartridge.
Right. Of all the pocket auto cartridges, it's the best. Is that like being the tallest midget?
Are you done yet?
Nope. I have three more words.
Fine. What are they?
Five.
For.
Sure.

Man. These guns are vicious.

He dropped the offer. He decided that he wanted to stick with a semi. Which is fine, because I decided I wanted to keep this old wheelgun around.

A benefit of Free America

Apparently, in Free America, citizens may barter, buy, or trade lawfully purchased property without the Federal Government's express approval on the transaction!

INCONCEIVABLE! Everyone knows you can't let the proles exchange goods freely just as everyone knows to never get involved in a land war in Asia! It's a wonder this backward state isn't in a state of anarchy with all this free trade going on! Won't someone think of the regulators?!

Not having to pay DROS and wait 10 days for a private party transfer really opens up the options to firearm owners. After a bit of time on Armslist, which is like a Craigslist for guns, I found there are plenty of folks who have grown tired of their personal flavor of shootie goodness and are looking for something your taste buds might be growing bored with.

I enjoy the notion of bartering because the value of the item does not have to be transfered into dollars, and both parties can essentially trade at cost.

Of course, it should be noted that in any bartering where a profit (as described by the Internal Revenue Service) is gained must be reported on your income ta--BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh wow, I really thought I was going to get through that whole thing without laughing. Of course no one would dare make a profit without reporting it to their local arm of the Federal Government! That'd be mala prohibita, and no one wants that.

To prove my point, here's a hypothetical: Lets say I found a nice gentleman interested in the AK parts kit I bought in '06 for $99. But the price for Romy G kits has increased as the supply has reduced in the past 6 years, so he was willing to trade something worth $300 for it, like, oh I don't know, a Benchmade Infidel. What is a good little citizen to do?

Well, I would take the trade and request his Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) to put on the form 1099-B I file with the IRS and possibly send an inquiry to the International Reciprocal Trade Association to see if my trade incurs any other taxes or trade tariffs.

It's not like I could just hand him a few pieces of metal and receive some other pieces of metal! That would just be... uncivilized...

Open carried to Staples and Kroger

At first everything was going fine until an employee came up behind me and said, "Sir? Excuse me, sir...." My pulse quickened, my chest tightened, and I knew what was about the happen... After a tense moment, he continued, "Here are the rest of your business cards." DUN DUN DUUUNNNNN!

There were a lot of people at Staples and I had expected at least one would react in some way, but not even a second glance. Checking out at the register, the manager happened to be the one helping me. No issue, not a word about it.

I did find myself being mindful of my right side, and was more apt to look behind me, or turn in such a way that my right side was blocked by a display or my cart, but it wasn't like I was backing along walls or anything.

Kroger was just as uneventful as before.

Read more about my experiences open carrying here!

Open carried to Kroger

Didn't hear the sound of anyone fainting, speaking in hushed tones to 911, or pearls being clutched.

No one even seemed to acknowledge it. Honestly wonder if anyone even saw it...

Wherein I should have just let it be...

This morning, while I was half reading, half looking out the window to catch the squirrel on its morning laps across the backyard, I looked down at the painted black G22 I was going to use to dispatch aforementioned rodent, and began the thought that I wished it was camouflaged.

Which made me laugh out loud because I realized that I had come full circle.

What I've referred to as the git-r-done paint job on the G22 was actually what made me buy it. Technically. The Git-r-done model was discontinued, which caused my local dealer to knock $100 off of it. Without that redneck reduction, I wouldn't have bought it, and I wouldn't have had the chance to grow to love my stupid space gun so much that I want another. But that came later. At first, I was a little embarrassed of my woodland wabbit whacker.

I tolerated it for a long time, but eventually the siren's song of the rattle can won out. Having started my Gunnyship a bit more tacticool than I might care to admit, it got a flat black spray job. Except I was too cool to wait, so one half is done properly to a matte finish, and the other half was done too fast and is glossy. It was fine like this, because it only saw the range, but in Kentucky, it can, and has been, pushed into the more official duty of critter cranium cavitator, and in that task, a broken pattern is easier to hide than a big black block.

I'll look for a way to remove the paint and see if I can return it to its former underappreciated skin (maybe profuse apology will work), but if I can't make that happen, I just may get more serious about that ol' razzle dazzle...

Well that didn't take long...

I figured it'd be a while before I looked at a news story about California and thought, "Those idiot Californians."

NOPE.

Nuts to sugar coating (and the readership shouts, agape, "You were sugar coating before?!") now that I feel psychologically free of California, I don't even have to pull punches to keep myself from jumping off one of California's beautiful, majestic, and brilliantly preserved cliffs.

High Speed Rail doesn't exist.

It's a fleece, a flim-flam, a fraud, a hoax, a shake-down, and lots of other words from the thesaurus.

It isn't legislation, it isn't badly planned, there aren't a few bad apples, there isn't someone "skimming off the top."

This is a long con. Ever see The Sting?

Everyone is in on it except the public. The hundreds of Sacramento lamprey eels from the highest appointees to the Board of Important Stuff, down to Joe Blow dirt shoveler union member #6724 of the International Brotherhood of Dirt Relocation Specialists.

They set up the con, telling you what it's going to be. How amazing it will look, how it'll grow hair on the bald, cure AIDS, clean your room, and walk your dog. They actually DO work on this part. They spend money and time building an impeccable presentation with 3D models, artists renditions, and pies in the sky, all backed up with reams and reams AND REAMS of paperwork from people who are in on the scam, telling you that you can't live without this, and you'd be an idiot to pass on this opportunity. This is all backed up expert "plants" who step out of the audience and say, "I'm an expert, and everything this man says is completely true!" Followed my murmurs of ascent (murmured by more plants in on the scam).

"Well," thinks you, "Everyone seems to agree with these people. I suppose I must just be stupid for questioning this. I'd better agree too, lest my peers think me thick."

Then everyone clamors for the snake oil. Except, snake oil would have been too kind to the dupes. One big hit of cash isn't enough. They get to slow bleed the mark for years if not decades, because they're not selling a thing, they're selling an idea. And that idea needs multiple installments of money, and constant improvement, and maintenance.

After the vote, the public's part in the scam has ended, and the bloodletting begins.

Committees are formed, and directorships, and organizations, and boards, and teams, and groups, and lots of other words from the thesaurus. And all these groups need office workers, and marketing, and public relations, and lawyers, and office space, and lunches, and computers, and HVAC work, and desks, and conferences, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and all these things are bought through contractors and political contributors who are also in on the scam (though lower on the totem pole).

Then when any of this work is actually done, it suffers delays, and comes in over budget, and racks up contractual penalties, and spawns lawsuits, and usually never gets done. Which means the next firm must come in to do the work, and do the same thing to gather their percentage of the scam winnings.

So it is that the legislator writes an extra sentence into the bill with a wink and a nod, and the lobbyists tell their client contractors how to exploit the sentence with a wink and a nod, and the contractors plan the job to get the additional payout with a wink and a nod, and the dirt relocation specialist moves half a shovel of dirt and signals to his boss that he's taking his 4 hour lunch with a wink and a nod.

All the way down.

Every single one of them.

Playing their parts in The Sting.

Gorging themselves on the scam's winnings.

Circling wagons and promising empty when questions arise.

And eventually, when the host withers and dies, the parasites detach, pick a new target, and with a wink and a nod formulate their next presentation.

The high speed rail does not exist any more than the beachfront timeshare in Arizona you just bought. You haven't used it in the years since you bought it, but you're sure that one day you'll visit.

My foray into bath salts

I enjoy cooking, and because our stuff is not yet here, I've had to cook using my Mother in law's kitchen and supplies.

While cooking, I noticed an open tray of small white crystals. They're fans of Alton Brown's excellent show, Good Eats, and he advocates having Kosher Salt around in an open container because it's so easy to grab a pinch and toss it in your dish. "Ahh, just like true Alton Brown fans" thinks I, as I drop a pinch into the spaghetti sauce. Everyone has some, and enjoys it.

Two days later, I'm explaining something to my littler brother, and use the kosher salt as an example. "Oh, that's not salt, those are bath salts." "Bath salts in the kitchen in an open dish? Yeah right, little bro" thinks I.

Still, he's pretty sharp, and thinking back, I remember the consistency of the crystals being just slightly off from what I expected. I had attributed it to the salt being a different brand, but I realized that I never taste-tested any of it.

When my Mother in law got up, I asked her if the tray was kosher salt, "Oh no, those are bath salts. We put them there to keep the ants away, but they're old. I guess I should throw them out."



"Ok.

So.

First of all, we're not dead..."

I explained the situation and after the initial shock, everyone realized that were were, in fact, still alive, so we had a bit of a laugh about it.

There are a variety of household items that are unnecessarily non-toxic "just in case," but I really didn't know how something as obtuse as bath salts would hold against that "just in case" presumption.

I immediately started looking up the toxicity of bath salts, which was near impossible, since every search result was about zombies and face eating. Luckily I was able to find some common bath salt ingredients, but that only scared me more. After some searching, my Mother in law was able to find the brand of the salts, and a quick visit to their website showed all the ingredients were natural and quite edible (particularly in the small amount I used).

So that was fun.

But I live in a good neighborhood Part 10

We're living with my Mother-in-law in Kentucky right now, in a fancy gated community full of fancy houses with a fancy HOA (bleh). We're not in the city, and not even in the 'burbs. In fact, we'd have to drive for 10 minutes to get to the 'burbs.

By any measure of the words, we live in a good neighborhood.

Because I haven't done one of these in a while, let me remind you of what this means to some people...

In a "good neighborhood" there is no crime.
In a "good neighborhood" people look out for bad guys.
In a "good neighborhood" you don't need to lock your door.
In a "good neighborhood" you invite strangers into your home (if they have a good excuse).

Basically, when you argue that you live in a "good neighborhood" you argue that you have no cause to worry about any-damn-thing.

Now that we've established that...

There was a string of car break-ins in our "good neighborhood." Sometime after 1 AM, someone went around either smashing windows or simply checking for unlocked car doors. They made off with a collection of wallets, a few iPODs, and a friggin' GUN.

Good job on the gun buy the way, I bet you'll feel like you really saved time not bothering to bring it into the house when the Kentucky PD returns it to you after the murder investigation is concluded.

I KNOW some (many?) people here don't lock their house doors, so I hope those people feel, in order, lucky, wary, then armed.

Just imagine it; posh house in a posh neighborhood, with a fancy gate to keep the riff-raff out, it's friggin' semi-rural Kentucky. Hell, after just describing it, I'm still not expecting it.

It's only natural to expect what has happened in the past. If everything is always fine when you suspect the worst, you begin to ignore the suspicious things. Do that long enough, and you even begin to make excuses for them.

It's terrible that we have to think like this, but the alternative leaves us at the mercy of the worst in our society.

Pay attention to your surroundings, remember that an ounce of caution beats a pound of "Oh my God, I never thought that would happen", and if you want to make our society better... Retire predators.

Quote of the Rose Colored Glasses

This country doesn't have a problem with rose colored glasses. It has a problem with the people who DON'T wear them.
-Me

More like "Google-meriKKKa"

I can't believe Google caved in to jingoistic pressure and made a graphic for something as riotous as the massive slaughter of tens of thousands simply because some religious zealots didn't want to pay a tax that the king levied for their own good.

I wish I lived in France, they sure know how to smoke, drink, and complain while the whole country goes to shit around them. Everyone here just clings to their guns and religion.

Le scoff.

Low profile plinker

zomg I'm going to post about guns!

My mother in law has complained that some varmits of the furry persuasion are causing problems with her small garden, and preventing her from planting a larger one.

The only method for vermin extermination which is 99% free of collateral damage (there are some very beautiful birds in the same area) is a manually applied high velocity lead lobotomy. Lead-on! Apply directly to the forehead!

A pellet gun was the first choice, and after some research I found the Crosman Phantom was the best choice for sub-$100 high velocity air guns. If anything, it was a little overpowered for what I was going to use it, but I figured it would get use in more official small game capacities. It was inexpensive, but not super necessary, so I wasn't totally convinced that it was the right way to go. Then I happened upon a post about Aguila Colibris.

After some memory refreshing research on subsonic .22 rounds, I rekindled my interest in these interesting options for a .22. Obviously, the underpowered cartridges wouldn't cycle the actions of semi-auto .22s, but there were other options. Like lever .22s and .22 revolvers.

I've always liked the idea of kit guns. Carrying around a small revolver in .22 for minor pest extermination, and being able to open it up and swap in a .22 shotshell, aforementioned Colibri, CB short, or whatever else. The ability to quickly switch ammo is gone on the lever gun, so that was a count against it, but a boltie or a break-action would be easy enough.

Actually, since we're talking about .22 revolvers, didn't I want a Ruger Single Six type gun? (You can see how quickly this got out of hand.) Being unemployed, there are a few low-cost but functional alternatives (Still being unemployed, these low cost options are still more than the Crossman Phantom.) Plus the single cartridge feed system (feed gate) might be a little fiddly to swap out a single round or keep track of what flavor of .22 is in what spot in the cylinder.

But...

After reading some more reviews and comparisons of the Super Colibris, I found many people saying the Super Colibris were quieter out of rifles than their 1000 fps airguns. If this holds up, I could have most of the things I want for the cost of one box of Super Colibris ($5).

Aguila advises for both the Colibris and the Super Colibris that they not be fired from a rifle for fear of the bullet not making it out of the barrel (ostensibly, the reason for the release of the Super Colibris which came later). Many people reported no problem with the Super Colibris through rifles, so I'm willing to give it a cautious try.

But this means I'll be using one of my existing .22 rifles, which is less than optimal, because both are semi-auto, and there can be some inconsistencies in velocity depending on when the pressure drops during the recoil operation. To be honest, this problem only seems to lead to problems at longer distances (which I don't need yet), but it didn't stop me from rekindling an old idea I had for a slide lock like on the old suppressed spy guns.

A slide lock prevents the recoil operation from taking place, and turns a semi-auto into a single shot in order to prevent gas (and noise) from escaping through the chamber when it opens to load the next round, while eliminating the mechanical noise of the reciprocation of the bolt/slide.

At this point, I'm pretty far off the beaten path, but the challenge of being unemployed seems to be fueling this thought process. If I was still well paid, I would have just bought the Phantom immediately and missed this whole tangent! BOOO-RING!

There are some options for slide locks on 10/22s, but that gun doesn't have much character. Plus, who wants to pay for someone else's product when you can make a something custom yer damn self! I've got a soft spot for that stupid space gun anyway. And while I'm in a fabricating mood, I should figure out a simple way to make a solid trigger bar.

Speaking of the G22, that sucker is SO getting a suppressor. The only question is; will I chop the barrel down to keep the end of the suppressor where the current barrel ends? Hmm... Thinking about it now, that would mean I couldn't keep the front sight on it, and I don't have nearly as much fun shooting with a red dot or scope. But it does look even more spacey with the front sight off... Oh the possibilities...

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, gardens... Did I mention there's a Savage .22/410 at the local gun shop? Didn't think I'd ever get to see one of those up close. That thing tickles the neat-o part of my brain.

Hahaha! I started this post with the title "Low profile plinker" and by the end of the post I had a tricked out space gun!

Hey Roberts,

Play stupid games...

Win stupid prizes.