Saturday, July 9, 2011

Don't Monkey (Ape) Around With Guns

Here is yet another negligent accidental discharge of a firearm (or was it). Whatever, this video is pretty hilarious regardless of the level of stupidity that had to be involved in handing an automatic rifle to a chimp. Then again, there was a certain level of intelligence too, at least on the part of the chimp: He never shot himself, only applied his finger to the trigger when ready to shoot, was sure of his targets and what was beyond, always kept the firearm pointed in a safe direction as far as he was concerned, stopped firing once the threats were gone, did a scan for additional threats with weapon at the ready, and seemingly decided to beat feet and seek cover (and probably more ammo) just after a little victory dance but before more bad guys arrived. Great stuff from the mind of an ape (maybe they will take over some day); not so great stuff from the bunch of apparent drunks or morons (or both) that had been with the chimp before the shooting started.



A hat tip to Patrick S. who emailed me the video.

All the best,
Glenn B

His Holster Apaprently Confused Him...

...and the result was that he shot himself. I have to hand it to Mr. Tex Grebner for posting his accidental, albeit negligent, discharge video on YouTube. It is a good warning for the rest of us. Is it a better warning than the blog post that I put up last August called "Don't Let Your Holster Confuse You"? Maybe it is better for shock value but if you had read my piece and taken its advice you maybe would have been less likely to have been confused by your holster and maybe more likely to have avoided an accidental (albeit negligent) discharge like the one he experienced. I will admit, the video below is much shorter than my blog post (the post is pretty long). The video also has value. Yet, I still think my  blog post on the subject  is worth the read, especially if you use holsters that differ from one another with regard to retention devices.





Watch the video, then when you have some spare time, sit back and read Don't Let Your Holster Confuse You. While it does not discuss the same holsters used by Mr. Grebner, it discusses problems that can arise when you use different types of holsters from one day to the next or even on the same day as did he) and why I do not mix and match holsters with different retention devices if possible.

On a side note, I have to say a couple or few more things. An accident like that could have happened to anyone who used holsters with differing retention systems, especially during the same shooting session. Yes it was an ACCIDENT even if he was negligent (anyone who leaves a comment arguing that will have there comment dumped). I do believe he was negligent but also believe the holster he was using may have been designed negligently and may have in part caused the accident seen in his video. I do not believe all the fault for the accident is his but I do believe him most at fault - that is my personal opinion. I also have to hand it to Mr. Grebner for keeping cool after having shot himself. I can almost guarantee that most people would not have handled themselves as well as did he in that situation. The very first thing he did was to place his trigger finger along the slide, then he put the safety on the weapon and grounded it. Then he apparently took a look at the wound, called for help, and treated himself by applying first aid. He was pretty darned calm about it all even though for the first moment or two he seemed to be in disbelief but then as the initial shock of what he had done had passed he was cooler than I think most people would be and he not only was cool but took proper action. Then, with apparent nerves of steel, he took the video and placed it on YouTube for the whole world to see and to ridicule and many have done just that in a nasty obnoxious manner.

I do not know him but admire his pluck for having published that video in the face of what would certainly be a lot of ridicule. I will have none of that here. Leave comments that are decent regardless of what you think of him and his accident. Comments that are critical of him in a civil manner are okay - just do not leave nasty or impolite comments that rag on him; comments like that will not be allowed.
All the best,
Glenn B

Lazy Days Of Summer - Too Hot & Humid To Shoot (not really)...

...but it was certainly too hot to go to the range this afternoon to shoot, then wind up there without an icy cold beverage of my choosing to make it bearable, so I decided to do some work in the garden today where icy cold biers would be close by.

I have less, than in years past, growing in my vegetable garden this year. A few to several pepper plants, a few tomato plants, a couple of cucumber vines, a  few string bean vines, a few vines of unremembered type (maybe squash or melons), and that is about it besides my wife's herbs. The cucumbers are starting to take off and so are the tomatoes. One of the pepper plants is starting to bush up and produce a lot of flowers, one has given me a few Jalapenos already and another has given me two small bell peppers. I may replant the ones in the ground into pots but need to get a few larger pots at Home Depot first. As for the bean plants, they have given me a few bunches of string beans. Not bad for a small garden though I suppose it could be better. All of my pepper plants in the ground look stunted while the ones in pots look great. no more planting in the ground for them, they all go into pots next year.

I took care of the garden today, picked some vegetables, weeded, watered, cut back some vines growing like weeds, tended to the compost pile and then watered the flowers in back of the house. Then I let the tortoises out for their romp in the sun. After letting them out, I grabbed a couple of cold ones, Hefe Weizen, and had a relaxing half hour or so of sips between snips. I sat at the patio table and snipped up twigs that I had pulled out of the compost pile or had found around the yard, including a large pile from previous days spent trimming bushes and a tree or two. I also swept the patio down. Then I gave a really good soaking watering to the trees and shrubberies in my backyard.
That done, I put the musk turtle out in the yard in a large basin with half land area and half water. He can use a good sun bath like the torts although he does not need it as much as do they.

After that I headed down into the basement and checked on my tortoise and snake eggs in the incubator. Looks as if only one, out of 8, tortoise eggs was fertile. The thing is, it may not ever hatch, for some reason the egg has a long crack in it. I may tape over it to help prevent it from cracking more. It is still alive and shows no sign of mold, fungus or other infection in spite of the crack. The snakes eggs look pretty good for the most part. One looks as if it may have gone bad but all the others seem okay. Soon it will be time to work on the fish tanks. Soon after that the dinner bell will ring. The wife is making pasta and Italian sausages tonight in a mostly homemade sauce. It has filled the house with an absolutely wonderful aroma and I am almost salivating just thinking about chowing down on it.

All the best,
Glenn B