Contingency Planning

I was browsing around a bit, in a place I hadn't ventured recently, and came across a recounting of one man's recollection of the Rodney King riots in LA.

This strikes a chord because we are, once again, preparing to relocate YPS Manor.  This time, we're headed in the opposite direction.  We have decided to abandon my cultural heritage of white boy from the 'burbs and move into the city proper.  I doubt we'll see widespread looting and burning in the wake of court cases, but this is the Gulf Coast.  We get hurricanes with disturbing frequency around here. The odds of a Cat 4 spilling over into some level of disturbance as happened in  Katrina aren't real high, but they are appreciably non-zero.

Here's an enduring truth about guns: you never need one until you need one badly.  At that point, it's usually a bit late to try to go get one.  Keeping guns around the house means that should something similar occur in our fair city, we have options other than hide in a corner and hope nothing bad happens.  It's always better to have more options than less, even if you decide not to avail yourself of those options.

Letting someone who lives 1,400 miles away limit your options when they won't have to face your problems never struck me as a real good idea.

 

You Ain't Special

So, I read from my twitter feed that state Senator Dan Patrick proposed a bill exempting himself and other legislators from certain onerous provisions of Title 10, section 46.035 of the Texas Penal Code. What's more impressive is that he managed to get it passed in the Texas Senate. I can only hope the Texas House isn't so foolish.

For those of you not in the know, this section of the code governs where I, as a fine citizen and CHL holder, cannot lawfully carry a concealed weapon. Sen. Patrick feels that his exalted status as a legislator in the state of Texas means he's superior to us lesser mortals and should be exempt from most of these annoying rules.

Well, fuck that. He ain't special, and neither are his 180 colleagues up there in Austin doing their level best to screw things up. You want to pack heat in a bar just because you're a state legislator? Screw you, Dan. You're just a radio announcer who won an election, and all of sudden you think the rules shouldn't apply to you? What kind of nonsense is this? You possess no special wisdom or experience beyond that of winning elections. How that gives you any more need or qualification to carry a gun in a bar, sporting event, hospital, amusement park, church or state meeting is beyond me.

I have this funny theory: legislators aren't special. They are simply the citizen patsies we delegated to go off to Austin or DC and handle things so the rest of us can lead our lives. Therefore, legislators should be subject to all the same rules the rest of us are since they are fundamentally no different. Additionally, since we have reposed a significant amount of trust in our legislators, when they screw up in a criminal fashion, they get to go away for longer and get treated worse. SB 905 flies in the face of these beliefs.

The bill as written has one other fatal flaw: it is contrary to reality. The bill presumes state legislators have better judgement than the rest of us CHL holders. I can knock that theory dead with one simple thought: if Dan Patrick had 'better judgement', he wouldn't have gone into politics.

Owie

Via the always informative Tam I came across this lovely story. In no particular order, I draw three lessons from this tale:

Don't carry a Glock.
Unreinforced leather is bad, mmkay?
Fix what's broken, instead of working around it.

That last one there? That, to me, is the critical one that (literally) bit this gentleman in the ass. The other two are, while sub-optimal in my opinion, perfectly survivable without injury for many people.

I work in industrial plants, and have ever since I graduated from college. Before college was 6 years in the Army on full-track combat vehicles. I have spent the entirety of my adult life around equipment which will fold, spindle, and multilate your tender self if you are not careful. A lot of accidents happen because something breaks and the operators find a work-around for the malfunction. That's okay, if they notify somebody and it gets fixed reasonably promptly. When your work-around becomes an accepted fact of life and never gets fixed, sooner or later it'll bite somebody. If you're lucky, it just affects equipment and nobody gets hurt. If you're not lucky? Well, somebody gets to make an unpleasant phone call to the next of kin.

Briefcase Guns

.308 that fits in a briefcase? I'm not impressed. All of my .308s fit into a briefcase.

Admittedly, I have an expansive view of what a briefcase is.

More seriously, that box looks awfully thick to qualify as a briefcase. My legitimate briefcase is one of these in gunmetal gray. Good luck fitting a .308 worth a damn in that envelope.

New Year, Old Problems

So, in our first entry for SSDY, here's a lovely article on the only legal gun store in Mexico. I'm sure the WaPo would love for me too draw a different conclusion about the whole mess, but they spoiled it at the end with the following:

Alberto Islas, a security expert based in Mexico, said it is common knowledge that the easiest way for the average citizen to buy a gun is to ask a friendly local police officer.

"The cop will bring it to your house and show you how to load it," Islas said. "Of course, it is technically illegal."

One legal gun store, but the cops are dealing guns illegally? Yeah, those US gun laws are really the problem, guys.

Tool-less

Did you know you can take apart a 1911 with no tools besides a .45 ACP cartridge?

I actually knew this, because it was imparted wisdom back when I was a young cavalry trooper. Admittedly, I never bothered to try it. In case you feel motivated, have at. I suspect at this late date, I'll be faster with my punches simply because of practice.

H/T to Uncle.

Random Monday Thoughts

Afghanistan is a failure of the Westphalian system. Not in the usual sense of a failed nation state, but a failure in trying to impose an alien paradigm on a populace which is having none of it. Much of Africa has the same issue.

Walmart is starting to have ammo back in stock sporadically. Even with tax, I can get .45 ACP cheaper at Walmart than I can buying in bulk.

I found out today I need a tux by Friday. I hate it when that happens. But I'm still better off than J, who has to figure out what to wear. Formal wear is so much simpler for guys.

Facebook got a lot more pleasant once I figured out how to block applications. I don't give a shit about Mafia Wars, Farmville, or any of the rest of the nonsense.

Joe Klein is a dipshit who wouldn't know sedition if someone slapped him in the jaw with the definition.

As long as we're on sedition, how does the Smith Act square up with a document that says throwing off a despotic government is not only a right but a duty?

I realize it'll happen when hell freezes over, but I'd like it if either Microsoft or Apple started including FLAC support in their products.

WANT.

On that note, I'm out and home for a drink, some dinner, and tux shopping.

Mystery Revealed

So, I now know why the shotguns. The Office of the Inspector General needs to replace their existing shotguns. Futher explanation and commentary can be found over here.

I have but two final thoughts. First off, the OIG uses their shotguns enough to wear them out? I think back to the clapped out Winchesters they gave us when I was a young lad in the military. The rattletrap boomsticks the Army had were wore the fuck out, and still considered usable. Education OIG must have some seriously thrashed shotties. This implies the guns are either older than dirt, like the Army ones. Or else they do a metric assload of training with them. In general, folks, guns are a durable good. You have to do some serious shooting to wear out a receiver. Yeah, you may need to swap out piece parts, but they last a long time.

Secondly, the Inspector General function of federal agencies is concerned with policing themselves. I'd much rather the feds spend their time pointing guns at each other than at the rest of us.

Morning Moments of WTF

First off, I have one question in regards to a story about a man who got stabbed in the neck during an altercation at a movie theatre. Who brings a meat thermometer to the movies? What, are you going to check and make sure the internal temperature of your hot dog is up to code?

Next, I know all the children these days are unruly little bastards who have no respect for authority and all that good jazz. That's not news or anything. But still, I think sawed off 12 gauges for dealing with the urchins is a bit extreme.

Indeed.

A Morning Down the Rabbit Hole, Ballistics Edition

So, I’m going through my morning links as I drink coffee. Uncle posts a link up to an article sort of explaining ballistic coefficient. Being afflicted with a technical education, the explanation raised more questions than it answered. So I went looking for answers. That might have been a mistake. Several links and a fair amount of time later, I found all kinds of answers. In turn, I have way more questions. Isn’t that just always the way?

I’ll give you the short answer: Ballistic coefficient is an agreed upon lie. It fudges the real world into a single number that we’ve all agreed to use because it’s usually good enough for what we’re doing. Strangely, I’m reminded of API pressure calcs.

Of course, the caveat here is usually. The longer the range gets, the less useful BC becomes. And once you hit the transonic boundary, it becomes even less useful. What’s the most useful answer? Surprising absolutely no one, actual real world test data is the gold standard. Got a Doppler radar to measure bullet velocities in flight? No? Hmm. Neither do I. No wonder everybody uses BC, especially for cross-platform comparisons.

Anyhow, more on ballistic coefficient can be found on Wikipedia. You can also find a Marksmanship book on Wikibooks.

Not All That Customary

I can honestly say I don't do this. Of course, I usually buy ammo at Wally World, where they keep it in a locked case just to prevent shrinkage of various kinds. Or I buy in bulk off the internets.

Hmm. Maybe I should start.

Overprepared

So J and I are finally getting around to taking the CHL class on Saturday. The instructor is a personal friend, so that made it easy to finally get off our ass and do it. Last night I was going through the range bags to make sure we had everything we might need. Our instructor recommended 50 rounds of ammo each. Let's see, loaded .45 magazines. 21 7-round, 5 8-round for a total of 194 rounds in magazines. I think that should do nicely. I'll throw a box in the bag just in case.

In other firearm related news, I'm still dithering over what to do with the Norinco I acquired. I'm thinking either a Mech Tech carbine conversion unit, just for giggles, or a .460 Rowland set up. The only problem with .460 Rowland is ammo availability. Of course, if I got off my ass and got the reloading equipment out of storage, that wouldn't be a problem either. Decisions, decisions.

Question Of The Week

I remain, as always, confused by the visceral and completely unfounded reaction certain people have to guns. As I've been contemplating the somewhat absurd reaction to the gentleman openly carrying his pistol last week in New Hampshire, I have a question.

New Hampshire issues concealed carry permits to residents and non-residents alike. There is a decent chance someone else who showed up, outside of the innumerable law enforcement types, had a concealed handgun on their person. Is the mere fact of a citizen carrying a weapon such an issue? Or does the concern stem from the fact the weapon was visible? If the answer to the first question is yes, I just can't fathom the mindset, so I'll quit now. If the answer to the first question is no, and the answer to the second is yes, what the hell is wrong with you people?

Half!

Hey, did you know the license fee for a Texas CHL is halved if you're a veteran? Woo-hoo! Instead of 140 dollars, it's only $70. I will do y'all a favor and skip my rant about how I shouldn't have to pay a fee to exercise a Constitutionally guaranteed right. Technically, it's more a time, place and manner restriction since I am free to wander about Texas with a long gun anytime I so desire. The state just gets grumpy about handguns.

Anyhow, I sent my monies off to the DPS and hopefully my application packet will be here by the time class rolls around. If not, I can wait.

Impracticality

So the subject today is impractical but cool guns. Odd question, easy answer.

Any manually operated Gatling gun. Bonus points are given for examples in a historically accurate caliber like .45-70 or a scale model in .22 LR. Unless you really are one of the extremist wackos we've been warned about and have set up one to cover the entrance to your bunker, they just aren't all that useful for anything. They are, however, exceedingly cool and I want one.

Royal Service

I recently ordered a rifle scope from formerly Great Britain. As I'm sure is customary, it was given to the Royal Mail for delivery. I was even provided with a tracking number. However, the tracking appears to end once it is handed off for overseas delivery to the US. This is a tad bit frustrating for an information junkie with web access at all times.

Basically, it disturbs me that daily updates of my item's progress are unavailable to me. Technology and UPS have spoiled me. Since no US dealers had any in stock, I guess I'm still ahead of the game if the US distributors had back-ordered and then shipped to me.

Of course, at this point, I'm wondering if it was passed off to carrier sloth. I got an SSR shipped from Hong Kong (for free, I might add) quicker than it's taken this to get to me. Certainly it's quicker to ship things from the UK to Texas than from China? Maybe not.

Officer Safety

So, if anybody ever wants to know why it might be a good idea to carry your own firearm, I've got a ready answer.

One receptionist was killed, while the other, shot in the abdomen, pretended to be dead and then crawled under a desk and called 911, he said.

Police said they arrived within two minutes.

Not bad response time, right? Okay so far.

Police heard no gunfire after they arrived but waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers.

Hmm. And all the people inside the building? Well, fuck them, I guess. Officer safety for the FAIL. People often wonder why some of us hold the opinion cops are there to fill out paperwork and clean up the mess. Gee, I dunno. Wherever might we have gotten that idea?

Hell And All That

So, one of the other people in Dallas had a great idea: show up to a gun buy back and offer more money, in cash, than the city was offering. He also posted follow-up video here. Nicely played, sir. If Houston ever gets dumb like that, I'll certainly consider doing the same.

Strange Affliction

One might, if one were paranoid about the possibility of further gun control legislation being enacted, have gone shopping recently for some things liable to fall under any new bans. In such an instance, one might have left work because the power went out and gone to pick up the 3 DPMS LR-308 lowers one had ordered. One might then be shopping for magazines, LPKs, and uppers online to see how much it'll cost to finish these builds out. In which case, one should get in a long damned line, because everybody else is panic buying, too. One might have also picked up a couple of 5.56 PMAGs while getting the transfer done.

Of course, we all know there's no reason to be paranoid about further gun control legislation, right? No reason at all. Hell, nobody has any interest in making gun owners get a license to own any handgun or semi-automatic weapon with a detachable magazine. Certainly nobody would think of making it a felony to continue to own the guns you already have if you didn't get such a license. So any fears you may have about upcoming legislation are just signs of your paranoia, which means you're crazy and unfit to own a gun.

So if one did all those things I mentioned above, take comfort in knowing there are others who share your strange mental affliction. In fact, there's a support group. It meets at the range every weekend. Look for the guys and gals with black rifles. You'll be among friends.

Also, contact your congresscritter and tell him to beat HR 45 to death with a stick. If said congresscritter accidentally gets in a few licks on Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Hoplophobe) in the process, that'd be just too bad.

Still Flabbergasted

Well, our frenemies over at H-S Precision have made a statement on their poor choice in testimonials. As I read it, my impression is "We're sorry you got offended."

Not quite the response of someone who understands the issue and is actually contrite. I guess I know what stock won't be going on my Savage rifle when I get ready to finish it out.