Guns, Roses, and Armor-Piercing Ammunition

by Peter W. Wickham, Jr.
AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;..." Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

While doing research for a recent column I had occasion to visit a page at the Violence Policy Center (VPC) where I found this little tidbit:

"Military surplus armor-piercing (AP)...ammunition for .50 sniper rifles is widely and readily available. Although Congress has banned the manufacture of some armor-piercing ammunition, those restrictions apply only to handgun ammunition. The existing ban on armor-piercing ammunition should be updated and expanded to cover all AP...ammunition. This would most effectively be accomplished through the promulgation of a performance standard in which ammunition is tested for its ability to penetrate bullet-resistant vests, ballistic glass, and armor, as opposed to the existing standard based on the bullet's content." Emphasis in original

This new "performance standard" that the VPC advocates turns the history of modern ammunition on its head. Man invented the bullet to penetrate flesh and bone. The "Other Man" invented armor to stop the bullet from penetrating his flesh and bone. The first Man then adjusted the metallurgical make-up of his bullet and increased its velocity in order to penetrate the armor created by the Other Man and then penetrate flesh and bone and the AP round was invented. The VPC calls for banning AP rounds not because of the efforts of the manufacturers of ammunition but on the lack of effort on the part of the makers of armor.

Bullet-resistant vests, for instance, come in several levels of protection. When I graduated from the Police Academy, my wife and mother got together and bought me a modular concealable vest system that consisted of a carrier that was made like a mesh-material athletic shirt (read tank top) and two panels made of 9-layers of Kevlar wrapped in a flexible rubber to keep them water resistant. This vest was rated at Level 1+ which is hardly used anymore but at the time was the most we could afford and was best suited for hot Texas summers. Level 1+ provided me protection from those rounds fired from the most easily concealable of handguns: The .22LR, .25ACP, .380ACP, and the time-honored .38 Special.

The manufacturer of the vest also listed that it would defeat shots of 12 gauge Birdshot and the .44 S&W Special round I carried in my S&W Model 29revolver and the .45ACP round I carried in my S&W Model 645 auto-pistol.

Now the manufacturer did not list all the rounds that could defeat this vest since it is safe to assume anything more powerful than the rounds already listed could and would penetrate this level of armor. That would include just about any rifle cartridge, including popular hunting rounds like the venerable .30-06 Springfield and .30-30 Winchester, and shotgun rounds like 12 gauge Buckshot and Rifled Slugs.

This would also include just about any handgun round that has the word "magnum" in its name such as the .22, the .357, the .41, and the .44 (and any new cartridge known to generate more ballistic energy than these).

Strangely enough this also includes the diminutive 9mm Luger cartridge. I'm sure many people who have ever entered the 9mm vs. .45 debate wouldn't even begin to consider the 9mm Luger as an AP round but due to its higher velocity it is capable of defeating a Level 1+ bullet-resistant vest. And if a round is capable of defeating a vest, then by the definition the VPC recommends, that round would be considered Armor-Piercing and they want it banned.

When the VPC, and those benevolent government officials who listen to them, call for a ban on something we know they are only speaking a half-truth. As I have pointed out before any ban they call for does not apply to government employees. Even the ban on AP handgun ammunition mentioned in the VPC article allows for the government to use such rounds if it feels they are necessary. When they call for a ban, they are only talking about a ban on private ownership by "We the People" and with the ban they call for in this instance, they are talking about disarming the American people by just changing "what's in a name." We cannot and shall not allow that to happen..."

* all photographs of ammunition are borrowed from the Winchester.com website

For further reading I would like to recommend Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, which is just as much a treatise on political intrigue and human psychology as it is a "love story."

A Gift

The other evening I received a call from a gentleman who mentioned that he read about this blog in the Star Telegram and liked what he found when he got here. He said that he had an old plastic plaque in his garage that he thought I might enjoy and asked if he could stop by some time and give it to me.

Well, Jerry showed up this afternoon with this plaque.


This is a Marlin Firearms centennial commemorative from 1970 and I very much appreciate it.

Thank you Sir, you have made my week. This is going up here in the office where I spend a good amount of time working on the blog and taking care of business.

Link of The Day

RideFast does a good fisking of a column written by Bill Schneider, a pragmatic gun owner who has a thing or two to say about "gun nuts".

Why they call you a traitor, Bill Schneider

Why do you insist on sacrificing someone or thing or right? Why not protect all lawful uses of a firearm, and for that matter, all firearms? This is why people think you are a traitor. You're selling us out, at least some of us. The Second Amendment is about combat arms. Not hunting guns, not collecting, not shooting sports. Those protections all flow from having and bearing combat arms...

As they say, RTWT.

Day at the Gun Show

This weekends North Texas gun show is in Fort Worth. It is The Original Fort Worth Gun Show, and it one of my favorite local shows. I knew it was going to be packed when I exited I30 on to Montgomery, the exit was backed up more than usual for a Saturday morning. Parking was scarce at the Amon G. Carter Exhibit Hall. Even the sooper Sekret underground parking lot was full to the brim. It is a good thing there is plenty of alternate parking surrounding the venue.

I made it into the show at about 10:10 and the place was hopping. One of the larger vendors had 13 chairs set up to do paperwork, all the chairs were full and there was a nice line of folks waiting to complete the transactions for firearms they had chosen.

The prices for AR's were through the roof. Some dealers had decent prices on magazines, and others were outrageous. I ended up with 5 new 30 round AR magazines and a new Surefire G2 flashlight. The G2 seems to have a larger and brighter beam than my Cyclops XCF, but the XCF has a thinner aluminum body and a pocket clip. I think the G2 will become my nightstand light and the XCF will continue to be my carry light.

All in all it looked like a good gun show. Everyone was making money and folks seemed to be in a good mood. Prices on a lot of the stuff was high so, as with any gun show, know what you want and what it is worth before going. There are deals to be had, but in this atmosphere you have to keep a sharp eye out for them.

Local Gun Store Robbery

From the Star Telegram:

By Andrew Chavez

3 armed men rob Fort Worth gun store, exchange gunfire with clerk

Parker County authorities are looking for three armed men who exchanged gunfire with a clerk during a gun store robbery near Reno on Thursday.

The men, who investigators said were armed with handguns, entered the Fort Worth Arms gun store in northeast Parker County and held the clerk at gunpoint while they snatched guns from a display case, according to Capt. Mike Morgan , a police spokesman.

Sheriff Larry Fowler said they made off with six handguns and a small amount of cash...

I guess these goblins just wanted to do a little Pre-Obama shopping also.

Officer Involved Shooting

This is the raw dash cam video of a goblin being shot by a police officer.

From KWXT 10 News:

By Eli Ross

Caught On Tape: Suspect Shot, Killed By Police

It all started the afternoon of Oct. 8, when sheriff’s deputies in Bosque County were following up leads in the report of a sexual assault.

After spotting a car that matched the description of a vehicle used in the sexual assault, Deputy Jeff Hightower attempted to identify the driver.

What happened next was caught on Hightower's dashboard camera; News 10 obtained the graphic footage from the Bosque County Sheriff’s Office...

When you blow the video up to about 5" square, you can see the goblin reach into his right pocket early on in the confrontation. This officer showed great restraint in not shooting any earlier than he did.

Hockey Night

V and I are off to the Hockey game. The Stars are hosting the Kings (who they lost to just the other day in Los Angeles) and we looking forward to a great game. Our seats are five rows back from the ice on the defensive end goal line, and I am ready to go.

This will be our first game at American Airlines Arena this season and the tickets are a gift from our eldest daughter.

So no more posts tonight. We are gone!

Multitools have always...

...been cool. Today there are multitools to fit pretty much any budget. Multitool.org is a good place to find general information on many of the tools currently on the market. But how about "Back in the day"?

Take a look at this super cool tool from the 1700's:

It is a combination flintlock knife/pistol. I found this great tool in the latest auction catalog from Greg Martin Auctions.

Here is a look with the knife open:

If you want more information on this "Exquisite 18th Century German-Made Combination Flintlock Knife-Pistol, Finely and Handsomely Executed in Blued Steel and Gilt Bronze, Signed "BRE" and "CHI"", just click on one of the pictures.

If you want to spend a few hours browsing through the over 1300 items up for auction in the "Fine and Collectible Arms, Sporting Guns and Knives" auction, click here.

Fifty Caliber Institute Alert

NJ ASSEMBLY TO VOTE ON .50 CALIBER GUN BAN -

MONDAY!

The New Jersey Legislature has decided to immediately move the bill that would effectively ban the .50 BMG in that state. The fifty caliber community has to join other law abiding gun owners in that state to prevent the passage of this bill. Please support the effort to stop this bill.

Please Contact Your Assembly Members Today!

On Monday, November 17, the New Jersey Assembly is scheduled to vote on A2116 -- legislation banning most firearms over .50 caliber. Though previously amended in an attempt to address gun owner concerns, the legislation still bans many popular hunting guns, historical firearms, and large bore target firearms, based on alleged public safety concerns. Ironically, the legislation bans many of the guns that won the very freedoms the bill seeks to destroy, including some Revolutionary War and Civil War guns and their replicas. A2116 makes the fundamental mistake of banning guns based on the size of the hole in the barrel rather than punishing criminal behavior. It treats law abiding citizens who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights like potential criminals. Please immediately email, call, and/or fax your Assembly Members and urge them to oppose A2116! Their contact information is available here.

One Bailout, Two Bailout, Three..

You get the drift. We are in the middle of bailout mania. It seems everyone is rushing to get some of that bailout sugar from the tax payer. Maybe I should overextend my ability to repay and pick up a few items on my wish list. I would really like a KRIS Super V 16” CRB/SO, a Barrett Model 82A1 with the BORS integrated electronic ballistic computer mounted on a Leupold Mark IV Tactical Scope, and while I am at it I might as well throw in a Nighthawk Custom Heinie Tactical Carry Pistol. Yeah, that's the ticket. If I let my mortgage go, I could purchase all this stuff then ask the .gov to bail me out.

That is not going to happen. Companies and individuals are getting a bit more than they bargained for with these bailouts.

Take Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for example. The .gov owns all the mortgages held by Fannie and Freddie. Let that little tid bit settle in for a moment. The .gov owns 80% or so of the mortgage market. If the .gov holds your mortgage, do you have any private property rights? If the .gov holds your mortgage, and you get behind, can the government relocate you to a property that you might be better able to afford, maybe a multi-level government run housing project?

The $700 Billion (+++) banking industry bailout is not going to work out quite as we were told when Congress gave Paulson the keys to the Treasury.

From npr:

But Paulson said the financial industry's situation has worsened since the bill was passed, prompting him to spent nearly $250 billion to buy equity stakes in banks.

"Although the financial system has stabilized, both banks and nonbanks may well need more capital...

Our government now owns an equity stake in the banking industry, and is planning on purchasing an even larger stake.

So the .gov owns a large portion of the mortgage, banking, and via AIG, the insurance industries in the United States. Does this fact not give you pause? We were all up in arms when Maxine Waters let it slip that the Dems want to socialize the oil industry, but it seems we are being complacent when it comes to the fact that our financial industry is now basically controlled by the .gov.

The Big Three American auto manufacturers sought to find a position at the hog trough filled with our bailout money. I guess the money we gave them earlier this year to upgrade their manufacturing facilities was just not enough. I think the news from today may have caught them by surprise, they may want to rethink their request for our tax dollars, the cost to them may be to high.

From the Star Telegram:

Democrat proposes federal stake in Big Three

A key House Democrat is writing legislation that would send $25 billion in emergency loans to the beleaguered auto industry in exchange for a government ownership stake in the Big Three car companies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are pressing for quick passage of an auto bailout during a postelection session of Congress that begins Tuesday...

Do they even teach the failures of Socialism and Marxism in school any more?

Texas legislator wants license for tasers

From KEYE TV 42

Texas legislator wants license for tasers

State Senator Leticia Van de Putte...

She's a Dem, 'nuff said.

Veteran's Day

I would like to take a quick moment to thank all of our veterans who have served this country in our military. Drafted, volunteered, enlisted or officer, thank you so very much for your service. You have defeated our greatest enemies on the battle field and off. Your mere presence and professionalism defeated the Russian Bear without firing a shot (well, not one that ended up in the papers anyway). You have held the line between communism and freedom, you have kept our country safe and our children sleep well at night because of your service and hard work.

Thank You.

WBAP's Bob Leonard takes a look at just what a Veteran is. Click here to listen to the podcast.

You Have Purchased...

...your first firearm, studied the owners manual, educated yourself on firearm safety, learned how to field strip your weapon and maybe even spent some time at the range. Now what? What do you use to clean the now dirty firearm, and what else should you have on hand?

A friend asked about this today, if he had these kind of questions, maybe you do also.

I will start with cleaning and lubricating. A clean and properly lubricated firearm is a happy firearm. A dirty and dry firearm is one that will be prone to malfunction. corrosion and potential safety issues. So clean your guns.

The market is chock full of gun cleaning supplies. Any sporting goods store you walk into will have a large array of solvents, oils, patches, kits and brushes. I pretty much stick with the basics. For most of my guns, I pretty much stick with good 'ol Hoppe's #9 Powder Solvent and Lubricating Oil. On occasion I use the Hoppe's #9 Benchrest Copper Cleaner to remove copper deposits. For my EBR's (Evil Black Rifles) I use Break Free CLP for just about everything. These two families of products work and I see no reason to change my ways. There are other products out there that are recommended by folks I respect, but if you want a product that you can purchase in any sporting goods store, and that I will guarantee will keep your guns running, go with the Hoppe's or the Break Free CLP depending on your application.

Now that you have an idea of what solvent and lubricant you want to use, it is time to decide on a cleaning kit. A good cleaning kit includes properly sized brushes and patches, and rods or other means to use those brushes and patches to clean the bore of your firearm. A kit might also include carbon scrapers and other brushes specifically tailored to a particular firearm. Over the past few decades I have used quite a few different gun cleaning kits from just about every manufacturer out there and I have settled in on two that I depend on for maintaining my firearms.

In the field I will use a Bore Snake while the barrel is still warm to initially clean the bore of my firearm.

A BoreSnake is one of those innovations that I should have invented, it just makes sense. A couple drops of solvent ahead of the brush, pull the BoreSnake from breech to muzzle a couple of times, and your bore is fairly clean. This saves me a lot of cleaning when I get back to the house. It does not clean the bore 100%, but it does get a good start on the job.

For actual firearm cleaning kits, I don't think you can beat Otis Technology. I purchased one of their pistol cleaning kits four or five years ago, and have been hooked ever since.

This was followed by the Otis M-4/M-16 Gun Cleaning System and any other pieces parts necessary to be able to clean all of my firearms with these products. Otis cleaning kits are the only ones I use any more. The kits themselves are compact and easily fit in a range bag. The flexible rod allows for the proper cleaning of the bore from breech to muzzle and the patches are designed to allow for up to 6 passes through the bore before disposal. This is one outstanding system.

Old tee shirts and the like get cut up into 4" squares for scrubbing and wiping. I also purchase clean room swabs by the thousand to get into any nooks and crannies. A thousand swabs lasts a good while. Brass O-Ring Tools make great, inexpensive carbon scrapers and old tooth brushes find a second life cleaning my guns.

If all you want is a basic starter cleaning kit, the KleenBore Universal Cleaning Kit, or the Hoppe's Deluxe Universal Accessory 76 Piece Cleaning Kit will get you going with a minimal investment and are available pretty much anywhere.

Sniper Rifles and Silly String

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.

I would like to expound on some comments I made to a recent posting JR made here on his blog. I was shopping with the family the other day at America's favorite discount retailer and while walking through the Sporting Goods department I overheard a conversation between one of the salesclerks and a customer who was complaining that this particular store no longer carried the brand of riflescopes he liked. The salesclerk announced it didn't really matter since the government was planning to ban high-powered riflescopes anyway. I stopped walking abruptly and both gentlemen noticed me standing there with one of those "Whaaat?!?" looks on my face and the salesclerk explained that one of his merchandisers had told him they were no longer buying certain riflescopes since they might be outlawed in the next few months. I said I hadn't heard anything about that but we were in rush and I didn't have much time for more conversation.

I used to work in retail back in my college days specifically in a Sporting Goods department where we sold firearms and I know any good businessman will continue to sell something if it turns a profit right up to the second before (and maybe a few afterwards) any ban by government officials becomes effective, so I suspect the decision to drop this particular brand of riflescopes was more along the line of poor sales figures than anything else but since I have a vested interest in this I decided to do some research on the matter.

We have enough "Assault Weapons" around the homestead so I have been looking for something a little more conventional that packs a whole lot more wallop at long range over my 5.56 mm Main Battle Rifle (MBR). When I was a member of my police department's SWAT team, I was trained as a long-range marksman (not sniper; different jobs that use similar tools) and during my training I developed an affinity for bolt-action target rifles. The model I owned at the time was a Ruger 77 VR in .308 Winchester but of late I have been studying the Remington 700 VTR in the same caliber as a future purchase.

As you can see from the accompanying photograph it looks a lot like any other deer rifle except maybe for the O.D. green stock with black handgrips. It has a specially designed barrel with an integral muzzle brake and vents in the forward portion of the stock that allows for quicker heat dissipation. It has no sights so I was looking to attach a Tasco (I know there are better brands but Tasco has always worked for me at a price I can afford) Varmint/Target 10X-40X 50mm riflescope to it. Again, we're talking basic stuff that any varmint hunter would use to take out prairie dogs, coyotes, and armadillos at 400+ yards.

Now the first place I looked for information was at Google and I found no current news about any plans to ban riflescopes but under a search for a "Sniper Rifle Ban" I found this information at the NRA-ILA website which was mostly about the old whine on banning .50 caliber rifles. I did learn that the Remington I was thinking of buying was considered an "Intermediate Sniper Rifle." I guess that means it's for targets at ranges less than a mile. This led me to visit the Violence Policy Center website (I wiped my shoes before I left) where I found a page titled, "Voting From The Rooftops" which had this little jewel on it:

"Therefore, a useful strategy for effective control may lie in civil litigation, a strategy that would be enhanced if states passed legislation clearly establishing strict liability for damages resulting from the use or misuse of such weapons. Such litigation could impose tort liability, including punitive damages, for manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, importers, retailers, and any others who participate in bringing to the civilian market any sniper rifle (in any caliber) or associated gear (such as ammunition or optics) that is used to kill or injure a human being or to damage property." Emphasis mine

So what these fine people want to do is sue any and everybody involved in the firearms and firearms accessory market if a criminal decides to use a product in the commission of a crime. It is easy to see that if they get tired of paying attorney fees they might want to use their influence to cause the government to ban, outlaw, or heavily regulate everything they list here. One should note that all this information is from around the last turn of the century so since it's old news one might ask why should we be concerned?

In case you weren't paying attention, there was an election last week and the most liberal Senator in Congress was elected President of these United States. And he will be working with a Democrat-controlled Congress with its most liberal members in charge. All this stuff that has been simmering on the back-burners for the last eight years are probably going to be moved to the front of the stove and some of us are going to get burned. A lot of gunowners and hunters are complacent when it comes to bans on certain types of firearms because since they don't own those types they think they have nothing to worry about. Our benevolent government officials have a lot of plans for "We the People" over the next few years and to get them to work, they need to take our guns; all of our guns.

As Benjamin Franklin said, "We must hang together, gentlemen (and ladies)...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately." One has to wonder if a criminal ever used it in a crime, would these people want to ban Silly String? Oops, I spoke too soon...

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.
AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost

For further reading the Violence Policy Center would like to recommend Stalk and Kill: The Thrill and Danger of the Sniper Experience by Adrian Gilbert and Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson.

You're Not Going to Shoot Your Eye Out

David's latest column for The Gun Rights Examiner is out.

You're Not Going to Shoot Your Eye Out

Anybody who thinks you can make kids safer by treating guns as forbidden fruits is sorely mistaken. Knowledge and familiarity, not ignorance and avoidance, are always the keys for achieving best outcomes, and you should see the way my feral pups would suddenly get focused when I took off my Dad hat and put on my listen up Range Master cap.

If you teach them proper safety, they're not going to put anyone's eye out. The biggest danger will be to your ego, when you find out how quickly their young eyes and coordination combine to create a challenge for those of us on the other side of that slope...

This regular pro-rights column is gaining in popularity and is worth your while. Head on over and give it a read.

For New Gun Owners

Firearms are flying off the shelves all over the country. If you have just purchased your first firearm, I have a couple of links for you. With firearm ownership comes a great responsibility. You are responsible to be a safe firearm owner. You are responsible for learning how to safely and efficiently handle your firearm. Your first step is the owners manual, read it and get comfortable with the basic operation of your new firearm. Follow all safety rules in the manual as you learn. If you purchased a used firearm, odds are good you can find a .pdf of the manual online.

For your next step, I recommend these two links:

The Importance of Firearm Safety

and

Kids and Firearm Safety

Finally, if you do not understand a procedure or operation, ask. Make sure you fully understand how your firearm operates before taking it to the range.

Congratulations on your new purchase, looking forward to seeing you at the range.

Negligent Discharge

SayUncle reports on his Negligent Discharge from this past weekend.

It, along with all the comments to the post, is well worth the read.

More Gun Sales

Over the past couple of months a friend at work has been trying to decide upon a defensive firearm. I pointed out the advantages of a simple pump action shot gun for the home and when we started taking about potential carry guns we talked about the reliability of a good revolver and then about some of the advantages of a nice semi auto like the Smith & Wesson M&P.

Well, he and his wife went shopping this weekend:


Seems they made up their minds.

A Clean Match

Today I shot my very first clean action pistol match. I neutralized all threats, did not put any holes in no-shoot targets, and suffered zero procedural penalties. I'm a happy camper.

The match was the Lone Star IDSA Club Match, an annual trophy match. We shot 12 stages that ranged from the very basic to the fairly competitive.



This was one of the longer stages. The shooter starts seated at the four targets to the left (behind the score keeper). At the buzzer, engage the four targets from the seated position. When the targets are neutralized, the shooter proceeds to the middle barrels and engages two more targets from cover. The target with the two hands is a no-shoot target. The shooter then moves to the barrels on the right and engages two targets from a kneeling or squatting position. The center target was also a no-shoot target. This was a 16 round stage so there was only one mag change


This image was from the last portion of the last stage, engaging three targets from the prone position.

You will notice that I did not wear my street clothes in this match. I must be getting more competitive.

How did I do? I came in second in the Single Stack Division. More importantly, I shot the match clean.

Anarchism 101

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.

Anarchism - the theory that all forms of government interfere unjustly with individual liberty and should be replaced by the voluntary association of cooperative groups (Webster's New World Dictionary).

Recently at this site some persons that shall remain nameless (though you know who you are) poked some good-natured fun at my preference for Anarchy. They used the term anarchy as a synonym for violent chaos which as one can see from further exploration in Webster's that this is a popular connotation for the word but the word anarchy at its root merely means the absence of government and law and not necessarily the absence of good social order. The world can "suffer" peace without having any interference from benevolent government officials and at times can become even the more violent because of government intervention into simple neighborly disputes that could have otherwise been worked out by the individuals involved.

Most of us live our everyday lives in a state of anarchy. Those of us who "carry to live" walk amongst an unsuspecting population with the capability of causing the death of a large number of people. That we do not go berserk and shoot up some rude salesclerk has more to do with our personal moral code (or the fact that the target might also be armed) than it does that it is against the law to do so. Most recent mass murders by lone crazed gunmen have such a high number of victims because the government decreed that the victims should be disarmed and incapable of defending themselves. The laws against murder never stopped anyone bent on committing it.

The first question that people ask of proponents of anarchism is if there is no government, who will take care of [insert "essential" government-provided service here]? This is one of those questions that is best answered by asking another question. Who is in charge of making sure that your local grocery store has the products that you want on hand when you show up to shop there? Who is in charge of making sure that some young person wants to go to medical school so that years later there is a doctor in the Emergency Room when you have need of one? Who was in charge of making sure the house you live in was built in the first place?

All these services are provided by private individuals who have decided to serve you in order to make their living. If they fail at providing the service you want at the quality you demand, then you fire them by no longer doing business with them until they improve. You can't expect this much from any service the government provides since you generally have no power to fire them and the government always gets its fee from you in the form of taxes. The government can also pass laws that gives it the monopoly over some industries and businesses, including the business of passing laws, with no concern for keeping you, the customer, satisfied. Just compare at how things work at Fed-Ex and UPS over the quality of service provided by the U.S. Postal Service, which has a monopoly over handling the mail because the Federal government says so.

In the last few years, people who believe as I do have been given a bad reputation mostly from a group of individuals who are self-described and also labeled by the government as anarchists. Now these folks do want to overthrow a government by violent means but then they want to replace it with one of their own that abolishes private property rights and is usually of Marxist leaning. It would be more correct to call these people, "Communist Revolutionaries." It is ironic that when their homes are raided by police officers holding search warrants, they complain of their property-rights not being respected.

As George Washington said, "Government is force; like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." As some people would strive to eliminate all weapons so that man, supposedly, could not harm himself or his fellow man, I strive to eliminate government which has proven itself to be the most deadly weapon ever devised. But I'm an easily contented man (some might call me lazy but that's only because they are not as easily contented as I am) and I accept just about any degree of shrinkage when it comes to Leviathan. If you work with me in this endeavor, even if you believe in limited government, then we have more to unite us than to separate us...

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.
AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost

For further reading, I would like to recommend Market Anarchy Explained: ''But Who Will Build The Roads?'' by Francois Tremblay.

Me and my 30'06

H/T to LeadChucker

Quote of the Day

The Cowtown Cop...

...would like to Thank You for Panic Buying...

I agree, the more pre-ban magazines in our hands now, the better the availability post ban.

That is, of course, assuming that we can still buy and sell pre-ban magazines post ban.

It Begins

The first shot has been fired by the Obama/Biden administration in their war against gun owners.

From their transition platform:

Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn’t have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.

It did not take them long to initiate the battle, the next move is ours.

H/T to Sebastian.

Also commenting are David, SayUncle, and most likely many others off the sidebar who I just have not gotten to yet.

Stores say gun-control fears spur sales

From the Star Telegram:

By Angela K. Brown

Stores say gun-control fears spur sales

FORT WORTH, Texas -- While watching Republican presidential candidate John McCain's concession speech, gun owner AJ Sullivan had a sinking feeling.

"Liberals like to ban guns. That's what it comes down to," said Sullivan, 25, a Texas Christian University student.

Sullivan was among hundreds scrambling to buy a weapon Thursday at the gun store Cheaper Than Dirt! - which sold $101,000 in merchandise the day after the election, shattering its single-day sales record, said store owner DeWayne Irwin.

Like I mentioned earlier, Obama is good for gun sales.

Fort Worth's Cheaper Than Dirt! reported about $480,000 in sales in October 2007 but $890,000 last month, jumping to $1 million including the first four days of November, Irwin said. About half of the sales are guns, mostly assault rifles and other weapons that would be subject to the assault-weapons ban if it is reinstated, he said.

A million dollars worth of firearms and firearm related products from one N. Texas store. Now that is good news. Now if we can get these folks to get active in helping to protect our right to keep and bear arms, they'll be able to use those guns long into the future.

The Big Town gun show is going to be packed this weekend, I think I'll pass.

Quote of The Day

This quote from Xavier goes well with my previous post:

So I challenge each gun owner reading this. Take an Obama supporter to the range. Teach them to shoot. Teach them about the second amendment. Take away the political left's power to destroy our rights through the ambivalence of others. If we fail, our enslavement is inevitable.

Taken from "Looking at Conquest"

What Should Gun Owners Do Right Now?

A reporter from the Star Telegram emailed a few questions concerning my opinion on the recent spike in firearm sales. One of her questions was "What should gun owners do right now?"

Here is my answer:

What should gun owners do right now?

Aside from purchasing those extra magazines, or that black rifle they have always had on their "to buy" list but never got around to purchasing, gun owners should become much more pro-active in supporting our right to keep and bear arms.

Gun owners in general should join the National Rifle Association. The NRA is the largest and most effective rights organization in the country. The larger the membership, the more pressure can be put on legislators to resist passing anti-gun legislation.

Along with the NRA, Texas gun owners should join the Texas State Rifle Association. The TSRA has been very effective in supporting our right to keep and bear arms here in Texas. The Texas "Shall Issue" CHL law, the Castle Doctrine law, the ability for law abiding Texans to carry a handgun in their vehicles are all fruits of TSRA labor.

Speaking of CHL laws, all Texas gun owners should get their Concealed Handgun License. Folks who go through the time and effort to get a CHL also go through the time and effort to vote. Our representatives in Austin know this. The more people who have a CHL, the less likely our legislators will want to support legislation that we will actively oppose.

Gun owners need to stay vigilant. We need to keep an eye on Congress and the Texas Legislature. If a representative introduces anti-gun legislation, we need to react quickly by writing and calling our legislators to let them know we oppose any further restrictions upon our rights. We need to write letters to the editor and we need to keep our friends informed of what is going on in either Washington D.C. or in Austin.

Finally, we need to take our non-shooting friends out to the range. Introducing new people to the shooting sports is the best way to overcome the misinformation that is pushed by the anti gunners.

Any other ideas on what we should "do right now"?

Mid Day Funny

H/T to Kevin

Day-Um

Obama is good for gun sales.

From one of my dealers:

To all the guys who have been trying to reach me by phone, I'm sorry but we are getting 50 calls an hour from all over the US. This has been the largest run I have ever seen. Bigger than in '93. One distributor sold 20,000,000 rounds of 223 in one week, and all distributors have absolutely no AR style rifles or lowers or mags in stock. Another distributor sold 6300 30 round mags in 2 days. We have done the best we can rounding up as much as we can afford and trying to keep the prices the same but we are buying from some non regular sources and we can only do what we can do. I buy directly from the factories and when they are out of stock, they are out of stock.

O.K., Y'all just need to slow the heck down and leave some for me.

If you are having problems finding ammo, Ammunition to Go still has good stock with only a one week delay in shipping.

Hero of 1993 church attack appearing in Texas

From World Net Daily

'Shooting Back' author to describe response to terrorism

Author Charl Van Wyk, who shot back at terrorists attacking a church meeting, is speaking tonight in Willow Park, Texas, on the issue of self-defense.

Van Wyk's story of shooting back on July 25, 1993, when terrorists attacked and killed 11 people and injured another five dozen at a South African church, has been chronicled in "Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defense."

But police later told him the terrorists confessed their plan was to kill everyone in the church, possibly 1,000 people or more, and his armed response is credited with saving many lives that day.

I'm sorry to have missed this. Mr. Van Wyk will be speaking throughout the country over the next couple of weeks, click here for more information.

Our Local Election Results

There is good and bad news in the local election results.

The good news is that Senator John Cornyn and Representative Joe Barton retained their seats. The Texas Railroad Commissioner is arguably the second most powerful elected official in the state, and Commissioner Williams also retains his seat. The down ticket races pretty much went straight GOP. The Libertarians had a small but noticeable impact on the elections.

Now for the bad news. Kim Brimer, State Senator for SD 10 lost. This is unsettling. SD 10 is in Tarrant County. Tarrant County is the second most Republican county in the country, and Brimer lost. Wendy Davis said that she will support our RKBA, we will soon see.

Also losing was my favorite local candidate, Representative Bill Zedler. Bill lost to a Harris County ADA who had one heck of a lot of out of town and out of state money backing him. The ground game just could not compete with the high dollar ad campaign that was full of minor deceits and outright lies. A good man was defeated and Texas is the worse for it.

Crazy Angels

Syd over at Front Sight, Press has penned an excellent commentary on yesterday's election.

Crazy Angels

Give it a read.

President Elect Obama

I can understand how Obama took the big cities and the leftist coastal states. I can understand why young voters came out for Obama, and why he received the majority of the Black vote. What I can not, for the life of me understand, is how he garnered the Hispanic/Latino vote?

McCain was the force behind immigration reform that would have granted amnesty and citizenship to illegals. McCain was the Pro-Life candidate. How does a constituency that are primarily Catholic vote for a candidate who not only supports abortion on demand at any time, but also supports killing infants who happen to survive botched abortions? In Dallas they were busing Hispanics directly from Catholic Churches to vote for Obama, this I do not understand.

I guess the answer to that really does not matter at the moment, but it might be a lesson for future Republican candidates.

Obama won. The Democrats gained in both the House and the Senate. This is the reality that we have to deal with. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth is not going to change this reality. Over at SayUncle's place there is A Word From The Token Liberal that sugarcoats this reality just a bit, but maybe he is right. Maybe things are not going to turn out as bad as many of us think they will. We do still have a few good representatives on Capitol Hill, and we still have our combined voice. When we oppose policy and legislation, we need to use that combined voice as best we can.

You can count me amongst the loyal opposition. Loyal to the ideals that have made this country the beacon of liberty throughout the world, loyal to the principles that keep the American Dream alive and within reach, and loyal to the constitutional principles of these United States. I will stand opposed to legislation and policies that do not support our free Republic.

A loyal and united opposition can influence the .gov

Tam Has...

...a few post-election Investment tips.

A New Hope

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.

"Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert Einstein

When I was in the sixth grade, I had a friend who had been caught by her mother smoking one of her father's cigarettes and she had to endure that interminable period of time known as "wait till your father gets home." Her mother told her father about the situation and after supper, her father supervised my friend in a session of chain-smoking a whole pack of cigarettes that left her as sick as a dog. To say the least, my friend thought long and hard about wanting to ever try smoking again.

Yesterday, the majority of registered voters who decided to venture to the polls and formally express a choice for President of these United States elected their new Fuhrer. Now I don't use that term lightly or for dramatic or comedic effect (though I will take what I can get). As Jonah Goldberg points out in his book, Liberal Fascism, the biggest success over time for the Left is to paint the Nazis (and the Fascists of Italy) as a Right-wing Conservative movement. The Nationalsozialistische Deutshe Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party) began as a movement from the Left of the political spectrum. The Nazi's were the party that worked to ensure the fairness on the distribution of wealth for the workers of Germany and strong advocates of large government intervention in the life of the average citizen.

The Nazis were strong proponents of protecting the environment which included trampling over private property rights. They were also strongly behind the popular science of their day in decreeing what people could and could not eat and what kind and how much exercise everyone should do. And they were also behind a push for mandatory national service all in preserving and protecting the Fatherland. The Nazis were responsible for a large number of atrocities in history but at the time they came into power they had overwhelming support from the adoring masses and the American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They certainly didn't advertise that they intended to commit any act that the voting populace would have considered evil.

Now I am not saying that Barack Obama is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler (that requires a religious faith that I do not have) and the modern Nazi party would not allow Obama into their ranks but these two gentlemen have remarkable similarities in their lives and their political philosophies. Both men had strained relationships with their fathers. Hitler was a powerful orator and persuasive speaker before large supportive crowds much as Obama is today. Hitler had his Youth Groups and his Brown -shirts and Obama has a Junior Regiment and supporters in SWAT uniforms . Hitler was an advocate of gun control to keep power over the "subject races" which he sold to his fellow countrymen as a crime prevention measure and Obama and his party are proposing "reasonable" gun control measures for the same purpose though he and his party reserve the authority to define what is "reasonable." Adolf Hitler was self-described and by all meanings associated with the term, a socialist, and so is Barack Obama.

When a man discusses Santa Claus, flying reindeer, and trimming a tree then it can be safe to assume that he is talking about Christmas. When a man speaks in an inspiring fashion with phrases and terms direct from the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx it can be safer than not to assume he is at least a socialist if not a communist. But like Hitler, Obama plays his cards close to his chest when it comes to discussing all his future plans with the press and with the people. As labels and their definitions go, socialist fits Obama like a good, broken-in pair of loafers.

There are members of academia resting high in their ivory towers that tell us that true socialism has never been tried and they are partly correct but for a reason that seems to escape them. Socialism cannot work because it depends on central planners who are omniscient, able to perform millions of calculations a thousand times a second in order to make a best guess about the next minute into the future, and omnipotent, able to control all factors of production including the output of the sun and other energy sources from off the planet Earth. Socialism also depends on a population so subservient to the central planners that each and every individual is ready and willing to self-terminate their very lives if called upon to do so in the name of preserving the social organism.

Because socialism is implemented by and inflicted on self-centered, fallible human beings, all planning is skewed towards ultimate failure. Socialism denigrates into a system where the governing engage in "lawful plunder" (Frederic Bastiat) of the governed so as to obtain and preserve a life of luxury for themselves, their families, their friends, and to a lesser degree, other members of their tribe, clan, or ethnic group. The early Christian church practiced a form of socialism known as communalism and even it had its failings (Acts 4:32-5:11).

So with all that an Obama presidency might entail for America, where is the hope? The economic law of Supply and Demand teaches that people have a tendency to treat cheaply a commodity that is quite plentiful and this is true for intangibles like good health and liberty. My friend in the story above took her good health for granted and acted as if she was the one person in history who could look cool by smoking and suffer no consequences for her choices. Her father gave her a good idea of what was in store for her if she continued along that course of action.

People in America have been taking their liberty for granted for some time now and have been quite willing to give up their's and the liberty of others in the name of being protected from terrorists even though they are more likely to be killed by a lightning strike. Now people have chosen a leader who promises to protect them from economic failures like unemployment, inflation, and recessions/depressions and again they are willing to give up liberty, and the wealth of others, in the name of security. Hopefully as liberty becomes more and more scarce and people are sickened by an overexposure to socialism, people will begin to treat liberty as more precious and will change their behavior. It will become a time for those of us who have dedicated our lives to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" to lead through education and example by explaining why things are going wrong and how they can be made better.

I did not take the title for this column from a trite campaign slogan but instead from the secondary title of a popular war movie that came out in the late 70's. The story in this film was about a group of rebels who fought back against their own oppressive government and through a series of minor victories they came to finally triumph over an evil empire. History teaches that many resistance groups are successful in overthrowing despotic governments and dictators but not always within the lifetime of the founding members. It can be a long struggle and hopefully for the young amongst us it can be a bloodless revolution through the democratic process.

So "Vive le Resistance" and "may the Force be with you." Life does go on and all we have to do is live it...

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.
AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost

For further reading I would like to recommend Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and also Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysisby Ludwig von Mises.

Voting

I arrived at my polling place (Lake Arlington Baptist Church) at around 3:30 and found the parking lot basically empty. Being the law abiding gun owner that I am, I disarmed in the truck before going into the polling place. Once inside I found more poll workers than voters. There were three or four folks voting and no one in line. I voted and got to chat for a bit with the precinct chair before heading back out to the truck. Re-holstering my Kimber was easy as I was wearing my Milt Sparks Versa Max II that is set up with tuckable clips. This is my formal holster that I use in situations where I need to tuck in a shirt and may not keep a jacket on.

I drove around and visited a couple more local polling places and found pretty much the same situation, relatively empty parking lots.

From this small snapshot of election day, it appears that many of the early voters were folks who normally vote on election day.

I was supposed to work a polling place for Bill Zedler, meeting and greeting voters as they came to vote. The funeral took precedence over campaigning. Representative Zedler ran a strong ground campaign, I am confident that he will do well today.

V and I have invitations to both John Cornyn's victory party in Austin and Bill Zedler's party here in Arlington. I really appreciate the invitations, but I think we will stay home and watch the evening unfold from our living room couch.

I Had a Few Moments..

...before heading out to the funeral so I was bouncing around, following links, and seeing what folks had to say.

I found myself on the The Whited Sepulchre, one of the blogs that was highlighted by The Star Telegram yesterday.

He has the quote of the day in this post:

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends - Bloggers Selected For The Star-Telegram Edition

...There's only one other site mentioned on the Star-Telegram blog - A Keyboard and a .45

I like guns. I think we have a right to keep and bear arms. But this blogger makes me look like Nancy Pelosi. I mean, damn.

That is going to have to end up on my sidebar somewhere.

Well This is it...

...the last time you will have to put up with my asking you to vote.

Tomorrow is election day. If you are registered to vote, get out there and do so. Don't let the long lines or the change in your daily routine deter you from voting. I am going to be a pallbearer at a friends funeral tomorrow, I will also be working half a day, and voting after.

As John McCain mentioned in an email today:

...Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.

With liberty comes responsibility, it is your responsibility as a free citizen of these United States to educate yourself on the candidates and issues, and then vote.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram...

...has a couple of articles this morning that include yours truly.

First, from the Star-Telegram blog "PoliTex", is the post:

As the big day nears, local bloggers share their favorite election posts

Then the print edition of the paper headlines the local news section with:

Local bloggers start a global conversation

I was not sure how this was going to turn out, but Aman Batheja did a pretty good job covering several of the local bloggers.

Night Lights

I enjoy auctions. I enjoy attending auctions, and I enjoy reading auction catalogs. There is a lot that can be learned in the auction catalogs. Art, antiques, fine wine or firearms, a good auction can give us a glimpse of items we may never have known about if it were not for the auction.

Case in point. I was reading the James D. Julia "Outstanding Fall Firearms Auction" catalog (registration required), when I came across this outstanding example of craftsmanship and world history.

Rare and Important DWM Hitler Guard "Night Pistol" Luger With Flashlight Attachment & Holster

I am not a big fan of Lugers, no particular reason for that, they just never really interested me. Same thing with Nazi paraphernalia. I find it somewhat interesting, but nothing I would spend money on. But this Luger, this is something special.

Accompanied by a unique & very unusual, precisely machined, anodized brass flashlight made to slip over the end of the bbl with about 3/4" ears that fit over each side of receiver & rest on receiver rails. This flashlight has its lens directly below and aligned with the axis of the bore with battery pack in a rectangular base at rear with a clip attachment for a wire to plug into a brass socket that is connected to a brass plate at top front of right grip. There is another brass plate riveted in place at bottom of right grip, all of which are connected with brass plates fitted into milled recesses inside grip so that when a person grips the pistol the skin conductivity makes a connection & illuminates the flashlight. It is believed that the flashlight & battery pack were carried separate from the pistol, probably in its own leather pouch. In Peter Hoffman's book Hitler's Personal Security he mentions the existence of these 30 cal night pistols with tracer ammunition & flashlight used by an RSD officer in constant patrol around the Fuehrer's bunker. Consignor states that the only other known of these rare flashlight pistols is on display in a military museum in Germany.

That is just plain neat. Click the images for larger versions. There are more images and details in the auction catalog.

From the Fifty Caliber Institute

A Fifty Caliber Institute email alert:

Vote McCain/Palin

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard something about a presidential election coming up this Tuesday. The very future of the fifty caliber shooting community rides on this election.

As the election nears, the "impartial press" has been demonizing the McCain/Palin ticket. But when was the last time you heard the main-stream press air a criticism of the Obama/Biden ticket?

The staff at the Fifty Caliber Institute urge you to get out and vote this Tuesday and we are urging you to vote for McCain/Palin.

Several key states are still too close to call, despite the efforts of the "impartial press." Some press reports are even claiming that the Obama ticket has already clinched the election, a week before it happens. With so many swing states still too close to call, this means a few votes in any state, either way, can make a big difference in the electoral college, which has the final say on who will occupy the presidency. The prospect of several thousand gun owners going to the polls instead of saying "it's a waste of time," might have historic significance.

It is absolutely imperative that all law abiding gun owners get out and vote on Tuesday. Make your voices heard!!

Get out and vote. Take your neighbor and shooting buddies with you.

Don't let the press scare you away from the polls!

Real Numbers

H/T to DirtCrasher and thanks to the Americans for Tax Reform for this widget.

Some Thoughts on Voting

Here are a few thoughts on voting in this presidential election from some of the more Libertarian points of view. I have just snipped portions out of each essay, you will want to click on the title links to read each one in its entirety.

Todd Zywicki in a column on Libertarian Voters:

...One reason I speculate that this is what I "think is going on here" among libertarians is that until fairly recently this is exactly what I was thinking, even until relatively recently, and I was genuinely on the fence between McCain and Barr (acknowledging that Barr is both a bit of a nut and has some statist tendencies himself). But one reason why I linked Pete duPont's sobering WSJ column the other day is that I have slowly come to the conclusion that as bad as McCain is, Obama really is much, much worse than I realized for a long time. Maybe I'm just slower at this than others, but it really took a long for it to sink in to me exactly how far left Obama really is. On every single issue that I am aware of, he seems to be at the far left end of the Democratic Party spectrum. I mean really out there.

I think that my slowness to really pick up on this was due to several factors. First, Obama's demeanor is essentially moderate--he doesn't come across as a Howard Dean crazy type. I think this leads one to assume his policies are moderate. Second, my resistance to McCain was really quite strong--I've criticized him here before, especially for the way it seems that he approaches problems. Third, until recently McCain has really run a terrible campaign in terms of explaining the differences between himself and Obama in terms of illustrating exactly how far left Obama is. Fourth, because of media bias, the media has tended to reinforce the idea that Obama is a moderate and not to highlight the embarrassing parts of his message.

Perhaps most fundamentally, given the history of the world over the past 25 years I think I just had assumed that no serious politician or thinker would in this day and age hold the sorts of views that Obama seems to hold. Raising taxes in a recession, protectionism, abolition of the secret ballot for union elections, big spending increases, nationalized health care, and most appallingly (to my mind) the potential reimposition of the "Fairness Doctrine"--I mean this is pretty serious stuff. And when combined with a Democratic Congress, I think we may be talking about (to use Thomas Sowell's recent phrase) a "point of no return." I guess I just assumed that Obama would be sort of Bill Clintonish--"the era of big government is over" and all that stuff. That he would have absorbed the basic insights of recent decades on taxes, trade, regulation, etc...

David Bernstein - The Libertarian Vote:

In past election cycles, I really haven't had a strong preference among the candidates. I voted for the Bernstein/Bernstein ticket in 2004, and can't really remember who I voted for, or for that matter whether I voted, from 1988 to 2000. But I'm much more of a Republican partisan this time, for a few reasons:

(1) Libertarians have been heavily involved in some of the most important constitutional Supreme Court litigation of the last two decades, either in terms of bringing the case, being among the most important advocates of one side's constitutional theory, or both. Among the cases in this category are Lopez, Morrison, Boy Scouts v. Dale, U.S. Term Limits, Grutter, Gratz, Kelo, Raich, Heller, and probably a few more that I'm not thinking of offhand. With the minor exception of Justice Breyers' vote in Gratz, in each of these cases, the ONLY votes the libertarian side received were from Republican appointees, and all of the Democrat appointees, plus the more liberal Republican appointees, ALWAYS voted against the libertarian side. The latter did so even in cases in which their political preferences were either irrelevant (Term Limits), or should have led them to sympathize with the plaintiff (Lopez, Kelo, Raich)...

Ilya Somin explains Why I Won't Abstain or Vote for the Libertarian Party:

Two possible alternatives to voting for McCain or Obama are abstaining from voting and supporting Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr. Many people believe that voting is irrational because the chance that your vote will influence the outcome is infinitesmally small. I think this logic is incorrect, for reasons I discuss in detail in the first part of this article. To briefly summarize my argument, I contend that voting is rational so long as 1) the cost of voting is low, 2) you care at least slightly about your fellow citizens as well as yourself, and 3) you believe that there is a significant difference between the rival candidates. The low probability of your vote being decisive is balanced by the enormous benefits that will accrue if it is. I'm no paragon of civic virtue; but I do care about the future of the country as well as my own. And I also believe that the cost of voting is low and that there is a substantial difference between Obama and McCain, even though I have serious reservations about both. Thus, it will be rational for me to vote in the 2008 election.

And more from Ilya Somin with A Vote for Divided Government.

If you are still wavering in your decision to vote, or in who to vote for, read what these folks have to say. They all contribute to the Volokh Conspiracy and seem to be pretty sharp cookies.

No Matter How...

...bad things seem, stay calm, fight through it, and find the solution.



This video proves that pretty much any problem has a solution, it is just up to you to find it any idjit with some time on his hands and a video editor can create a believable piece of fiction.

When you slow down the video and watch it closely, there are several "enhancements". The vid is a fake, the ability to persevere in the face of certain failure is not.

H/T to Joe

We Lost a Good Man

My lead mechanic at work, and friend outside of work, died last night. If you are the praying sort, please hold Vicki (his wife), their children, grandchildren and the family in your prayers.

A Parable: The Good Mother

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.

A long time ago in a faraway land there was a good mother who always complained about her station in life. She had a good husband who provided for her and their two children and they were never in want, but she would tell all those who would listen that she wanted more. She worked at a stand in the town market selling the crops her husband raised on their farm but she would often complain about the hard work this entailed and she had to keep up their house, too. Their two children were strong, healthy, and very smart learning the lessons well that their father was teaching them but the good mother wanted more for them. And most of all, she wanted cake.

When she was a little girl her grandmother would always bake a cake for dessert at Sunday dinner. Her grandmother had passed on and now that she was all grown with a family of her own to take care of she only got to have some cake on special occasions like weddings or at a Yuletide party. It would always make her mouth water when she thought back to those days.

One day in the market when she was griping in her customary fashion to the woman running the fruit stand next to hers a handsome young man who had been listening commented that her life appeared to be atrocious by what she was saying. The other woman quickly curtsied towards the young man and saying under her breath, "It's the king's son."

"Well, it's...it's not all that bad, good prince," said the good mother as she also quickly bowed her head.

"Nonsense! It sounds to me that your husband should be flogged for not providing better for such a lovely woman as yourself," said the prince as he took a bite from an apple he had taken from the fruit stand. "Where is the scoundrel and I shall see that he gets the punishment he so rightly deserves."

"No, my lord, please don't," pleaded the good mother. "My husband is a good man. It's just I always thought I deserved better than he seems to be able to provide."

"Maybe I can solve that problem for you," replied the prince. "I have a room in our castle that you can live in that everything you ever desire will be brought to you and you need never lift a finger as there will always be servants to handle any task you desire them to do. My best scholars and tutors will educate your children and they will have their own special rooms to live in, too. All this and all you have to do is leave your husband and your home and bring your children to live in the castle. Well?"

"Everything I ever desire?" asked the good mother.

"Everything," replied the prince. "You need only to hop in my carriage and we will retrieve your children and you can go live in the castle. What say you?"

"Yes!" and with that the good mother abandoned her stand and rode on the prince's carriage to her home. She gathered up her son and her daughter and without a single word to her husband, she and her children went to live at the castle.

At the castle the prince showed her to her room and the first thing she noticed were that the doors were a bit narrow. She could walk through them without any adjustment to her gait but just barely. She commented to herself that a larger person would certainly have a problem getting through there.

"Here is your room," said the prince with a wave of his hand. There was fine four poster bed with the thickest mattress upon it the good mother had never seen before in her life. There were windows looking out over the entire kingdom. There was a fireplace near the bed to keep the place cozy during the cold winter. And on the nightstand was a beautiful crystal bell. "All you need do is ring that bell and a servant will appear to fulfill your every desire."

"Let's see the children's rooms," said the good mother as she headed back toward the door.

"No, the servants will take your children and show them to their rooms," said the prince blocking her path. "You need not ever lift a finger again in regards to your children. They shall always be well taken care of."

"Oh," said the good mother, "well, then good night children and let's get settled into our new home."

"Yes mother," replied the children in unison as the servant dutifully led them off to their rooms down the hall.

"Remember, anything you want, you just ring the bell," said the prince as he stepped out the door.

The good mother picked up the bell and rang it and a servant appeared in the doorway. She decided to test to see how well she would be provided for so she placed a rather large order for a big meal to be delivered to her in her room but in less time she would expect, her order was filled. And for dessert she had cake. A moist delicious cake. She was going to enjoy her new life.

She no longer had to rise to help someone with the chores on the farm and could sleep in as late as she wanted. Anything she could think of to eat would be prepared for her faster than she could have ever made it for herself and delivered right to her room so she didn't have to wander the castle to find the kitchen. And she didn't have to wash the dishes. She gained a little weight (a little?!?) from the good food and the lack of activity, but she merely had to ring the bell and a seamstress would let out her clothes and, when it became necessary, sew her a new set of clothes to cover her expanding mass. And she had cake. Lots of cakes.

She would ring the bell on occasion and the servant would bring her children to her room for a visit. They would tell her about their lessons and she realized her children were becoming fine students of all there was to learn. She considered it a little disconcerting that the songs and poetry her children would sing or recite were all in regards to praising the strength of the king's army, but they were learning to read and write and could calculate the proper angle to fire an arrow into the air so as to strike an enemy soldier outside the castle walls. And she had her cake.

Then one day she rang the bell and told the servant to bring her children to visit with her. The servant told her that her children were with the prince but he would go and ask the prince if he would bring the children by the good mother's room. In a little over an hour the prince appeared but the good mother's children were not with him.

"Where are my children, kind prince?" she asked a little anxiously.

"Our kingdom is at war with the kings to the east and your children are now serving in the king's army," the prince replied. "Your son is a brave soldier in the infantry and your daughter works in the mess tents preparing the meals. She has turned out to be a fine cook."

"I never gave permission for my children to serve in the army! Bring them to me, now!" demanded the good mother.

"They have the education we provided them and they chose to serve as they were taught." the prince answered with a stern voice the good mother had never heard him use. "Your permission was not necessary as our kingdom is in need of their service. All good mothers are prepared to sacrifice their children to protect the kingdom."

"I will not stand for this!" said the good mother quite angrily. She walked past the prince and tried to go out the door but she had grown too large to fit through it. "I can't get out!"

"And why should you?" asked the prince. "I promised you that everything you ever desire will be delivered to you in this room and it shall, except for your children as we now have need of them. You have no reason to ever leave this room again."

"Wait till my husband hears what you have done with his children," threatened the good mother.

"Your husband has become a drunkard," snarled the prince. "After you left him and took his children, he had nothing to live for so he has spent all of his time and his money at the local tavern. He is useless now to anyone who would try to depend on him."

"You can't do this!!!" the good mother shouted desperately.

"We can and we have," responded the prince as he began to walk away down the hall. "If you need anything, good mother, just ring the bell," he shouted over his shoulder.

The good mother returned to the bed and sat on the edge. She thought long and hard about her predicament and then she reached for the bell and rang it. Shortly a servant appeared and asked what could he get her.

"I'll have some cake," said the good mother...

"Brute force is not the only way to enslave Man...or Woman."

Peter W. Wickham, Jr.
AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost

For further reading I recommend The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek)
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Fifty Caliber Institute Raffle

Are you Jonesing for a big bore rifle, but just don't have the cash to make one your own? Are you worried about future legislation from a Democrat controlled Congress that would ban .50 caliber rifles and want the opportunity to own one before that ban goes into effect?

Here is your chance. The Fifty Caliber Institute is raffling off an E.D.M. Arms Windrunner Semi-automatic .50 Cal.

Blazing new territory again, FCI is always in the forefront and our next fundraiser isn't any exception.

We've always enjoyed strong support from the manufacturers in the fifty caliber community and once again they have stepped up to the plate to support us in our next fundraising event. We're bringing you the opportunity to own a rifle no one else has. The new semi-auto, .50 caliber, Model 05 from EDM Arms. Well over $9,000 worth of rifle. A California legal variant will be available for a CA winner. EDM Arms has been one of the most reliable supporters of the FCI in previous years, because they believe not just in making a buck, but in protecting our constitutional rights too.

EDM Arms is under production with its new Model 05, gas-operated, semi-auto, .50 BMG rifle. First deliveries of the new semi-auto will commence in 2008. The rifle is available with either 5 or 10 round magazines, and comes in a California-Compliant variant, minus a pistol grip and in the .50 DTC caliber.

The Model 05 doesn’t require any tools to be disassembled; it features a gas piston operation, and has an adjustable buttstock and cheekpiece. The internal components can be removed through the back of the receiver for ease of cleaning. It comes standard with a 28 inch, Lilja, match-grade, 4140 chrome-moly steel barrel, an integral Picatinny rail, weighs 40 pounds empty, and has an overall length of 57 inches.

E.D.M. Arms calls the Windrunner "The most accurate .50 Cal. semi-auto in the market today! EDM ARMS guaranties 1 1/2 MOA at 1000 yards with match grade ammo."

For more information on the Fifty Caliber Institute, E.D.M. Arms, the Windrunner rifle and to purchase tickets, go here.

One last image to wet your whistle:

That was taken at the NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits in Louisville earlier this year.

World Record Set at James Julia Auction House

All I can say to this is "Wow!"

From Forbes:

By Nina P. West

Top Gun

A global economic meltdown and a $300,000 starting bid weren't enough to keep an anonymous bidder in Maine from hitting his or her target--an antique Colt Walker pistol. The $920,000 winning bid set a world record for any single firearm sold at auction.

The .44-caliber revolver was made for use by the Texas Rangers during the Mexican-American War in the mid-19th century and is one of the most exciting discoveries in the field of military collectibles in many years...

The Colt Walker pistol made its first appearance in 1847 as the result of collaboration between Capt. Samuel H. Walker and firearms designer Samuel Colt. So happy was the U.S. army with the gun's design that Eli Whitney's factory in New York was immediately commissioned to make 1,000 of them.

Walker wrote that the gun is "as effective as a common rifle at 100 yards and superior to a musket at 200." The gun remained the most powerful handgun in the world for more than a century, until the introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935...

...The Colt sold at James Julia was in perfect corrosion-free condition, the ultimate reason for the gun's stunning price. It was issued to Pvt. Samuel Wilson, who died, presumably in battle, at the age of 33. The gun was obtained by another soldier, Brevet Maj. Gen. John Reese Kenly, and it remained in his family until the recent auction.

That was an amazing sale, I doubt many modern firearms could ever bring that kind of price, but there are a few. Some of the firearms put out by the custom houses may become that collectible in the next century, we will just have to wait and see which ones stand the test of time.