Friday, March 31, 2006

I didn't anticipate this...

... but there are WAY more fun things to do in Vegas than gamble. For example: renting a belt-fed machinegun.

You heard me right.

Belt. Fed. Machinegun.

I had the opportunity to rent an FN M249 Minimi Squad Automatic Weapon. I got 40 rounds of frangible 5.56mm NATO. It lasted all of 15 seconds. It was worth every cent.


And just in case you thought I just sprayed and giggled -- I got every round in the center-mass at 15 yards (from a bipod, FWIW).

Now, my first reaction at paying nearly $50 for 15 seconds of total glee was, "geez ... that's kinda steep". That is, until they pointed out the fact that an M249 - should you actually be able to find one on the market - will cost you somewhere between $50.000 to $75,000 and up, depending on the condition of the weapon.

That's actually a pretty good lesson on gun control and economics. The 1986 gun law which forbids people like you and me owning a fully automatic weapon manufactured after that year didn't ban the ownership of machineguns. It just made it a big hassle to get one .... and it drove the prices into the stratosphere, since it limited the pool of guns available to the citizenry. The average moonbat's interpretation of the term "regulate" makes me want to vomit.

But I digress.

When you think about it, what would it cost you to rent a $50,000 car? I bet it'd be a heck of alot more than $50. And there'd be more paperwork, too.

You can hardly see the weapon in the picture, thanks to my bald head and the very attentive range safety officer (which I don't say to be a turd ... he was a super nice guy. Heck, if I owned an M249, nobody else would be allowed to breathe on it, much less rent it!) Check out a video of this and other toys here: http://www.thegunstorelasvegas.com/tourvideo.htm

More Vegas pictures & spew to come....

Monday, March 27, 2006

Posting will be sparse...

... since I was out of town for a trade show all last week. This week will be no better, with testing tomorrow, a committee meeting Wednesday and an on-line presentation Thursday. I've got more catching-up to do today than I'd prefer to think about. Pity, because I've got sooooo much to say about last week's trip ... to Vegas...

In the meantime, here are some thoughts from Samuel Adams for 'ya to chew on until I can get more keyboard time:

The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!

http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/samuel_adams/

Monday, March 20, 2006

Good times....

Some pictures from a couple of weekends ago. Shooting with the in-laws.
















Friday, March 17, 2006

Somehow I'm not surprised...

... that I can't seem to find this reported anywhere else:

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200603\CUL20060316b.html

What? You mean the powers-that-be in New Orleans illegally confiscated guns .... and then lied about it?!?!? Surely not! New Orleans is run by a Democratic mayor, and Louisiana is run by a Democratic governor ..... but aren't we being indoctrinated to distrust those greeeeeedy Republicans? I thought Democrats represented government we could trust...

Oopsie!

In searching for this story on-line, I came across several "news" sources which had originally "reported" on the gun-confiscations. In reading the comments on those "stories", I took note of how quickly "Liberals" will defend what they refer to as "civil rights" and constitutional freedoms, but they steadfastly refuse to support the Second Amendment. They'll defend the powers that confiscated the guns, making strained arguments about the definition of the word "regulate".

Those same blissninnies will realize - too late - that they should have defended our rights once their rights (to protest the Iraq war, to kill unborn children, etc.) are taken away.

You don't have to like our freedoms, you moonbats, but you'd better learn to defend them, lest you lose your own.

But I digress...

Kim du Toit has some valuable insight into what should be done when the gubmint breaks the law and then lies about it:

http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/single/9167/

Funny how the blissninnies are screaming at the top of their little lungs about how the Bush administration runs roughshod over their rights, but when Democrats do the same thing, they ignore it.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

I was going to ask...

.... "why didn't somebody just shoot him?"

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/15/dennys.shooting.ap/index.html

Oh, that's right ..... it's Kalifornia. Land of the sheeple.

A shooting many years ago very similar to this (though with far more killed) in a Luby's cafeteria in TX was one of the things that drove the CCW movement there. Texans understood that people will flip out -- they just want to be able to shoot back. Somehow I suspect the reaction in Kalifornia will be a tad different.

Kalifornia's draconian gun restrictions didn't prevent this tragedy, folks .... but it probably kept somebody from shooting back.

I pray for the families of the people who were killed, but I swear ..... that cesspool of a state just can't slide off into the Pacific soon enough.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Shut up, Russ...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/13/feingold.censure/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A prominent Democratic senator introduced a resolution Monday calling for President Bush to be censured over his domestic wiretapping program.

"When the president of the United States breaks the law, he must be held accountable," Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold told the Senate.
____________________

I detest the fact that the "media" dutifully reports the Dem's repetitious accusations that Bush has "broken the law".

And Presiden't Bush's guilt has been proven in which court of law, exactly?

Say you don't agree with domestic wiretaping (a policy I find abhorrent, actually), but Bush hasn't been proven guilty of anything.

I'm not sure who makes me more nauseous -- the Dems for shamelessly parading around using misleading language, or the "news" media for it's convenient failure to make the distinction between something that's disliked and something that's illegal.

Feingold should be censured for being a grandstanding turd. Hillary's gonna crush you in the primaries, pal. You're making a loudmouthed jerk of yourself for nothing.

Semantics

One way the "news" media manipulates public opinion is through their use of language. NPR is probably the shining example of this sly little tactic -- and they're very, very good at it. The "media" influences the way people perceive issues simply by the words they use to tell you their "stories".

Let's take 2 examples. These are terms I've heard today: "abortion rights" and "gun control".

Let's try: Gun Rights and Abortion Control.

Much better.

This is what happens...

.... when you take society's guns away.

http://wheelgun.blogspot.com/2006/03/epidemic-of-muslims-raping-women.html

You'll note this isn't happening here in America. That's because these turds would (hopefully) get shot by some woman. Or by some woman's man. Or by some by-stander who isn't going to put up with that kind of crap.

Tamara's reaction was particularly appropriate:
http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2006/03/churl-cant-help-it.html

The fact that so many moonbats go ballistic over the problems in American society, but will turn a blind eye to this kind of thing in other societies makes me want to vomit. Let's put Michael Moore in a dress and stick him in Pakistan with no veil and THEN see how preoccupied he is with the America he claims to loathe.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

IDPA


My good friend HODAR paid me a visit last weekend, and on Saturday morning we headed up to the Adair County Sportsman's Club for the first local IDPA match of 2006. Considering how recently he started shooting, he did remarkably well. Personally, I placed first in my class (Novice Custom Defense Pistol), though that gravy train will probably get to the end of its track next month. The April match will be the IDPA Classifier. I made Sharpshooter last year in a different classification (with the pistol I sold HODAR, BTW). When I shot the classifier with my Kimber, I had a malfunction during one of the stages and had trouble clearing a stovepipe jam -- I ended up ranked Novice by something like a half-second. I hope I'll rank Sharpshooter next month .... though that means the competition will be much, much tougher. That's OK, though ... I'm just out there to have a good time and hang out with other people and their eeeeeevil handguns.

After the match, we came back to the homestead and loaded up more pistol ammo and our shotguns for ....... you guessed it -- more shooting!!! We shot a bit with some of my homemade IDPA-style targets & barricade and shot some clays.

Good times.




















Tuesday, March 07, 2006

I've gotta see this

... and not just 'cause Natalie Portman is in it. (Hair. No hair. Don't care. Natalie --- alpineman liiiike....)

V For Vendetta, at least according to what I've seen, looks like a thinly-veiled 1984 screenplay. Anyone who knows anything about me knows how important a book I think 1984 is. If you haven't read it -- go thou and do so immediately. You'll never look at a "security" camera the same way again.

The fact that 1984 isn't taught in schools anymore is part of the reason our society can't tell the difference between a "security" camera and the so-called "Patriot Act". We're left to rely on the "news", which has no interest in the similarities. "Security" cameras just don't make for good "stories".

Actually, 1984 was far more relevant to me as an adult living in a post-9/11 world than it would have been had I read it in high school. That and the 9/11 Commission Report totally altered my worldview. Both should be required reading as Civics 101 for the real world.

But I digress...

With a slogan like, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." ... how can I resist this film?

It's also going to be shown in IMAX theatres. I may have to pay my good friend HODAR a visit when it's released so we can see it at the Discovery Place planetarium. (There's nowhere else to see an IMAX film, frankly -- projecting a movie of that size in the planetarium wraps the screen around you -- there's no other movie-viewing experience like it, anywhere - hands down.)

Oh, and did I mention Natalie Portman is in it?

http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/

Monday, March 06, 2006

Read and learn...

Check out the "Jim March's Tour De Force" posting, courtesy of the Geek With a .45 ... and take notes:

http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/2006_03_05_geekwitha45_archive.html#114158556975106975

Hear, hear!

If I may quote a line from Tool: "Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay. "

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Here's one BIG reason...

Stating the obvious...

... well, for anyone who's paying attention, anyway.

I've made it quite clear that I have an enduring, white-hot hatred for the media/mainstream media/"news". I'd feel that way a bit less if "news" organizations were more forthcoming about the fact that they're more about providing entertainment for profit. As long as it'll keep you watching, they'll "report" on it -- whether it's actual news or not.

One thing they're getting plenty of mileage out of is the overall public's dislike of Dubya. Unfortunately, too many people run away with that sentiment, and are willing to ignore the truth in order to continue to indulge themselves in their dislike for the current administration. The "news" is willing to play up poll numbers and "report" on Cheney's hunting accident in order to capitalize on such dislike rather than to report that Bush was most likely in the right (no pun intended) when he ordered the invasion of Iraq.

I won't blame anyone for disliking Bush and/or Cheney and/or Rummy. But to continue to belive that Saddam didn't have it coming?!?!? Wake up.

Saddam had chemical weapons, and had, at the minimum, plans for biological and nuclear weapons programs. It's on tape. (The fact that he managed to get rid of the evidence before we invaded does not make me lose sleep.) I want to see the "news" "reporting" on these tapes half as much as they "reported" and "analyzed" Cheney's hunting accident. Instead, I'm hearing about Jon Stewart and the Oscars. Figures.

Kim du Toit states the obvious:

http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/9121/