The Final Year - 6 Months Down, 6 Months To Go Until...

...the end of the world as I know it. In other words, until I retire on December 31, 2011. Almost there, I can almost see the end of the trail.

All the best,
Glenn B

Monsters Among Us - How Friggin Sick Can We Become...

...before we start ripping out and destroying the truly malignant members of our society. If the suspect, in the article at this link (be aware this link describes an alleged horrific crime against an infant), is convicted of sexually abusing his alleged 1 year old victim and causing the alleged injuries then, I think, 5,000 lashes followed by a slow and torturous death would be too good for him.

But you know, as well as do I, that some ultra douche-bag of a whining mealy mouthed leftist liberal apologist will try to make him out as a socially tormented and victimized youth who needs our love, guidance and understanding to try to turn him into a sensitive and useful member of our currently sick society. If up to me, he would get a very swift trial, and then, if found guilty, a swifter running through of appeals and a none too swift and very public execution. Maybe first, if found guilty, he should be left in the general population of a major prison for about a week with minimal supervision but I suppose that would be illegal or unethical or immoral. Yep, I wouldn't mind that at all but I would settle for doing it legally and frying him as soon as possible if he was to be found guilty and the death penalty was an option. As per the article, i looks as if the death penalty is not an option in this particular case and the most he can face, if convicted, is life in prison with maybe some additional years tagged on.

Now think about this all for a minute, isn't it about time we started killing off all the weeds at every opportunity. I mean legally too, but I also mean isn't it about time we changed our attitudes, our ethics, our morality not to tolerate the monsters among us and to weed them out whenever we could do so legally. We aren't doing it now, but I think we should be, because if we were doing it there probably would literally be tens of thousands of criminals less in our jails and on our streets, heck maybe hundreds of thousands less.

All the best,
Glenn B

My House's Value Has Dropped...

...over $15,000 in the past 30 days as per Zillow.com! Ouch. It is down in value about $110,000 since 2007. Ouch again. Still though, to think it dropped 15 grand in a month is humbling and scary. So much for being out of the recession, well that is what they (our fearless & clueless leaders) have been saying in DC for quite some time now. Funny it sure does not seem like we are out of it.

All the best,
GB

Oh That Aching Back of Mine...

...has not ached me like it is now for quite some time. In fact, it has been hurting me enough to have made me call in to work sick for the past 2 days. Add the back pain to the insomnia of the past couple of nights and you can safely bet that I have been pretty miserable. More miserable still when you consider how things have been going for me in my...nah, I will keep the lid on that one - it is personal not physical, so I'll quit while I am ahead. Time for me to go take an Aleve or two.

Later 4 U,
Glenn B

Pistol Shooting: Grip, Grip, Grip - That's What It's All About...

...well, almost what it is all about. It certainly was what it was all about for me at the NRA instructor's training course I just completed as far as my shooting went. When the class began on Monday, one of the instructors (an old coot like me, maybe even older than me) asked if anyone in the class had a grip that included wrapping the index finger of the support hand around the front of the trigger guard. No one raised their hand, including me. Later on the range, my coach/instructor and I got a yelling at, a jovial good natured one at that, for me having my left index finger wrapped just that way. That my coach/instructor had not caught it was no surprise, that I had not realized that I held my pistol that way was a surprise. Imagine being that out iof touch with how you do something not to realize how you do it. Chances are that I have been doing it for years and it had become part of my natural grip - so much so that I did not even think about it when asked. I got caught doing it several times over the next 3 days, I think I was broke of it by day 4. Sometimes my coach/instructors saw me doing it; other times one of the instructors for the class would catch me. They frowned on it as a poor grip, they insisted we not use and harped on our us when we were acting as coach/instructors to catch our shooter when he or she was doing it. Each day we were split up into teams of 2, each taking turns, throughout the day, as shooter or as coach/instructor.

Okay, so I stopped doing it. What was the result? Truth be told, the result was that I was shooting better. I had been shooting a bit to the left with each of the handguns I carry on the job - my Glock 26 and my issued SIG 229. How would changing that grip with my index finger around the trigger guard to one with all 4 fingers around the grip change my point of aim? I am guessing that the index finger around the trigger guard was pulling slightly to the left and with it up high around the trigger guard it had enough purchase to twist the grip ever so slightly to the left. I was not using too much trigger finger, I did not change how I applied the old booger picker on the right side, so it seems that had to be it.

I mention the trigger finger because other folks in class obviously had a lot of problems with how they applied pressure to the trigger, almost all of those problems based upon how their trigger fingers connected with the trigger. The important thing for me about both of these points, other than I improved my shooting by improving my grip, is that I was reminded of a couple of very basic things to pay attention to when teaching others the basics, or when trying to correct for deficiencies (aka acquired bad habits) even when it is an experienced shooter who I am overseeing at the range. While the finger being wrapped around the front of the trigger guard is an obvious thing to look for, improper finger/trigger connection is not quite as easy to spot. One tip we were given is to look at how the trigger finger aligns along the frame of the pistol. A bit of space between it and the frame is an indication that just enough finger is on the trigger. On the other hand, if the finger is right up against the frame, chances are there is too much finger on the trigger. This is not a definite for each shooter if only because peoples fingers and hands differ in size as do various pistols. It is simply something by which one can begin to judge whether or not the shooter is getting it right and is one of the first things to look at after the grip when watching a shooter to see if he or she is getting it right.

I have to say, when folks listened to what needed to be corrected, and then did what needed to be done, with regard to their grip and or with regard to trigger push (that is what they are calling it now), their shooting improved markedly. In addition my instructing skills got a well needed reminder.

All the best,
Glenn B

Insomnia, That Old Friend Of Mine...

...has paid me a visit once again. I am hopeful that soon after July 7, the date of my next sleep study, the visits will cease. Time will tell, perhaps.

Back under the covers for me, I need to try to catch some Z's.

All the best,
Glenn B

Not Yet An NRA Certified Law Enforcement Instructor For Handgun & Shotgun...

...but it should be a matter of time and nothing more until I receive my certification. I successfully completed the NRA Law Enforcement Handgun & Shotgun Instructor Development School, in Allentown, PA, yesterday. I am quite happy to say I shot 100% on both the pistol and shotgun qualification courses even though I thought it was a pretty easy course of fire. Still, all it would have taken to fail would have been 2 fliers on the pistol course and 1 on the shotgun course to flunk. (Heaven knows I am all too familiar with fliers.) That was what it took for several of my classmates who had to shoot over again on one course or the other or on both of them. By the way, me saying that I thought it was easy is not braggadocio; I really thought it was pretty easy. I am a pretty good shot and am very comfortable on the range. So, I do not usually get too stressed out over tests - especially firearms quals. Yes, I do feel a bit nervous each time I fire for qualification but I can control or channel it. Most, if not all of my classmates seemed to be pretty decent shots and were able to cope with the anxiety of having to qualify but some got a case of the jitters during the quals and did not shoot a qualifying score.

One of the nicest guys in the class did not pass the pistol qual and I am certain it was all due to being nervous about the test in his case. I am sure of it because I was his coach/student partner on the last day of class prior to his final chance at the qualification course on the same day. He was shooting dead on accurately and doing it reliably the whole morning. He had told me he was nervous about qualifying and I tried to convince him not to be but it seems that his nervousness got to him regardless of my attempt to help. He did not qualify on that his third and final attempt. I think, at least one other shooter did not pass the final attempt at the shotgun qualification. She had a difficult time with her gun; my guess was it may have been new and she was not quite as familiar with it as she could have been. That unfamiliarity, or maybe it was also simply nervousness or both, made her fumble with getting the first round in the chamber at the 25 yard line. The first sequence of fire was 2 slugs from the 25 in 15 seconds. She had plenty of time but because she had fumbled loading that first round, then brought up the gun really fast and yanked off a shot, it missed the paper altogether. The second shot was in there on the scoring silhouette but one miss was all it took. Alas I said, I think she did not qualify, but maybe the instructor did not catch it since some of the wad holes could have been confused for a slug hole. If she did fail the course, she and the pistol shooter both now have a chance to make it up with a qualification in the near future without having to repeat the whole class since they passed everything else.

As far as I know, all of the 28 other students passed the qualifications by their third attempt. Most passed the first time around but it was a bit of a surprise, to me, at how many did not. I say surprising because I would think if you were going to attend a firearms instructor school you would be a fairly good shot to begin with and that includes being able to get over the anxiety of the testing. This was, after all, a course about becoming an instructor so you could teach other people to shoot and was not a basic marksmanship course so that should have been pretty much mastered already. Even though a score of 90% or higher was necessary for a passing score, the part of the silhouette that gave you that score was pretty big. The target pictured, if not the same one, is pretty darned close to the ones we used, with the area inside the gray inner ring counting as perfect hits. If all your shots were inside that ring, it meant a perfect score, head shots included. Shots in the gray area outside the inner ring counted but you could only get a couple in there and still qualify. Although I will readily admit that I have had my off days at the range, as I said, it was not that difficult a course to shoot well especially since during the pistol course the furthest distance from which we shot was (if I remember right) 15 yards. We certainly did not shoot for pistol qual from the 25 yard line. So it came as a bit of a surprise to me at how many did not qualify the first time around and even more of a surprise that instructor candidates did not all do so by the third and final chance. Thankfully though, almost everyone passed by the last day of the course. Hopefully, those who did not qualify will soon be able to meet the qualification requirement and thus pass the course.

As far as the written test went, everyone passed it. I was pretty flummoxed by one of the questions because the choices given as possible answers (the test was T/F and multiple choice) seemed almost to simple or perfect or basic or whatever. I chose what I thought was the best of the given choices and moved on. When I thought about it some more, I went back and changed my answer to the choice that was more inclusive. I usually do not change my answers on M/C tests. When I finished the test, I went back and reviewed each answer that I had made and decided I would stay with the change. I am happy I stuck with it because when the tests were scored I got 100% correct on mine.

After the test was over and scored, the instructors handed out the completion certificates. Note, I did not say they handed out firearms instructor certifications. In order to get one of those, a successful instructor course student would have to apply for one from the NRA. To be eligible for the certification you have to be an NRA member or would have to join at the time you applied. If you did so within 30 days of the course completion, the certification would be free. If you waited until after 30 days, the certification would cost $30. Hmm, isn’t that the cost of a one year NRA membership? Better to apply right away and join up if not already an NRA member and just pay $30 instead of 2x$30. I was already a Life Member of the NRA, so my application for certification was handed in directly to one of the course instructors who should be forwarding it to NRA HQ. I am supposed to receive my certification within 2 weeks of course completion, I guess that means by about July 8th. In other words, even though I successfully completed the course, I am not yet a certified instructor but I should be one soon.

Next up for me, along the line of firearms instructor training, probably will be the regular NRA firearms instructor courses as follow: NRA Instructor Personal Protection In The Home Course, NRA Home Firearm Safety Instructor Course, NRA Instructor Pistol Shooting Course and the NRA Instructor Shotgun Shooting Course. I may also take the Refuse To Be A Victim Instructor course and the basic reloading course. These are all non-law enforcement courses. Yes, I am retiring at the end of this year if all goes as planned so I am hoping that becoming certified in some of these areas will give me a way to supplement my retirement pay, including the LE Instructor course I just completed. Who knows, I may find a job as a firearms instructor with a private company or with a LE department somewhere in my area or may be able to freelance.

So far, I have been to 2 NRA training courses, and was trained by NRA certified instructors during other courses in addition to similar courses I took with my agencies over the many years of my career. Both times I attended NRA courses, the instructors were: knowledgeable, open to suggestions, very professional and personable folks. The 4 instructors we had for the course I took this week were truly all gentlemen and all knew their stuff when it came to firearms instructing. I would be happy to be in a class with all or any of them again. In addition to the instructors, the course material was very good and to the point. There maybe was a little room for improvement as far as course content went but not much at all. These NRA courses have something else going for them besides good instructors and good content. As can be seen from what I mentioned above, just because you paid to attend the course does not mean you are going to pass it. It gives much more credibility to any certification gained when the course grade is not just a gimme based upon who paid the tuition. I have got to hand it to the NRA, they have got their act together pretty well when it comes to firearms training. I highly recommend NRA training for anyone wanting to become a certified firearms instructor.

All the best,
Glenn B

That Remington 870 & Me - We Still Do That Same Old Magic...

... but oh how my shoulder hurts ever so much more from it now than it ever did when I and the 870 were younger. It hurts because, at the NRA training to day, in Allentown, we fired a lot of shotgun rounds. Mostly it was bird shot and about 20 rounds of buck shot and another 20 slugs in the mix. The first go round that we fired slugs, we fired from 5 from 15 yards and 5 from 25 yards. I had a single hole about the size of the knuckle side of my fist (not including holes from the wads). I looked up and down the line and saw only 2 other shooters out of 30 had even come close to that. Granted, I was shooting slow-fire but so was everyone else and I finished before mos of them. Next time we fired slugs, I had 9 of 10 shots in about a 6" group with one flier about 2" further out. That was for qualification and I fired as fast as I could fire while most of the other shooters fired fairly slowly. My coach for the day told me to slow down but I kept up the pace. That is how I shoot for shotgun quals, as if my life depended on it in a firefight. My group was not as good was my earlier one but my score was perfect 10 out of 10.

Surprisingly 8 of 30 shooters (I am pretty sure of that number) did not qualify on the first go round! At the NRA training to day, in Allentown, we fired a lot of shotgun rounds. Mostly it was bird shot and about 20 rounds of buck shot and another 20 slugs in the mix. The first go round that we fired slugs, we fired from 5 from 15 yards and 5 from 25 yards. I had a single hole about the size of the knuckle side of my fist (not including holes from the wads). I looked up and down the line and saw only 2 other shooters out of 30 had even come close to that. Granted, I was shooting slow-fire but so was everyone else and I finished before mos of them. Next time we fired slugs, I had 9 of 10 shots in about a 6" group with one flier about 2" further out. That was for qualification and I fired as fast as I could fire while most of the other shooters fired fairly slowly. My coach for the day told me to slow down but I kept up the pace. That is how I shoot for shotgun quals, as if my life depended on it in a firefight. My group was not as good was my earlier one but my score was perfect 10 out of 10. As for my pistol qual, it was pretty good but nowhere nearly as good as a couple to a few of the other guys in this class. Still though, when I looked up and down the line at targets, I am guessing I would have been ranked about 4th or 5th out of 30 shooters if they assigned a numeric score.

Surprisingly 8 of 30 shotgun shooters did not qualify today on the first go round for shotgun. I do not know how they did on their 2nd attempts. In addition to that, I heard that 10 of my classmates did not qualify with pistol yesterday on the first go round. A few of them must have qualified on their second chance but there were at least a half dozen of them who stayed after class today to practice for their last chance to qualify tomorrow with pistol.

We all are afforded 3 chances to qualify, to pass the instructor training course, and I am betting everyone will have qualified by tomorrow. It would really stink to attend this class for 5 days and then to be flunked out because of not shooting a high enough score while passing everything else. While the course is an instructor course, and not really about shooting ability, I think the NRA looks at it as: If you cannot maintain a high enough proficiency with firearms and with shooting them then how can you be expected to give instruction in the same. As I said though, I think all will make it. I am pretty sure those who did not yet qualify only messed up because of the jitters and nothing more. That has been a common occurrence in other classes I have taken over the years, it seems a lot of folks get nervous when taking a class like this. Most everyone usually gets over it at crunch time and pulls through. I am hoping it will be likewise for this class because all of the folks in the class are really nice people. As for me, I am done, I qualified with both pistol and shotgun on the first attempt and do not have to try again.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Side Trip To Cabela's

My hotel is about 31 or 32 miles from Cabela's, so how could anyone blame me for driving there last night! Of course, once I was there, how could I not buy at least something. Well, really it would have been easy not to buy a thing but I bought some stuff anyway. I picked up 3 shirts for myself. I think they are called golf shirts or are they polo shirts? Whatever hey are called, I got three of them, all long tailed (good to cover the pistol when carrying), and they were only $11.00 each. A good deal. I also picked up a magazine for my Ruger MKII, got a t-shirt for my son and picked a container of candied nuts for my wife (to placate her just in case she winds up being the one person to blame me for going to Cabela's last night). Since i did not see anything I thought my daughter would like, I  had better get something for her somewhere else or I will really be in the doghouse when I get home.

As for today, we started the NRA training at 0800 and got finished up around 2200. It was a long day so no ore blogging for me tonight. I have got to crawl under the sheets to get some sleep because I have to be back in the classroom tomorrow at 0800.

All the best,
Glenn B

NRA LE Handgun/Shotgun Instructor Course - Day 1

I awakened from an uneasy sleep this morning at 0545. Man I was not ready to pull my butt out from under the sheets but I managed to get up and get myself going by about 0555. A quick shower and out to the reception area for a free full breakfast. I like this hotel, Homewood Suites (Hilton Hotels). I got a nice quiet room as I requested, they have great service, and they give a free breakfast and free dinner each day. Add to that the rooms are big, clean and have free HBO (all the HBO channels) and free wi-fi and I must say it is a great deal, especially for my Hilton Honors points which makes it free.

After breakfast of bacon, eggs, a bagel, OJ and coffee, it was off to the range at the super secret location in Allentown, PA (whoops - did I just mention the location). I was there by 0715, about 15 minutes early. I am guessing that a little under half of the students, and all of the instructors, were there ahead of me and the rest of my classmates arrived shortly. The morning was spent in the classroom and it went by quickly. The mount of material that was covered was fairly impressive but not overwhelming. The instructors for this class all seem on the ball and seem to know the material very well.

Lunch time arrived at about 1230, lasted till 1345, and ran about as fast as sand through your fingers for me. I decided to head back to my hotel to eat my lunch there - just some things I had gotten at the supermarket last night. Well, it took most of my time driving there and back to the range so I had about all of 15 minutes to makes and wolf down a sandwich. Tomorrow, I'll either bring lunch with me or it local to the range.

In the afternoon portion of the course we had a bit more of classroom work, then out to the range for live fire exercises with pistol. We shot close too 150 rounds. The class is made up of 30 students and today we paired off into teams of 2 students each. As one shot the other would coach/instruct and we alternated who was shooting and who was coaching. After all, this is not a shooting course but an instructor course. We covered a variety of different shooting techniques paying attention to stance, grip, sight alignment, quick draw, scanning for threats, reholstering and on and on. We also ran through a good number of drills such as speed (or combat) reloading, tactical reloads (magazine exchanges), malfunction drills, and other shooting drills during which the coach would observe the shooter to make sure he or she was doing it right and if not then would offer instructive suggestions and corrections as well as offering positive feedback when things were done right. While everything is geared not so much toward making the shooters better marksmen but toward the students into instructors there was still a lot of attention paid to each shooter by their partner coaches and by the instructors who were teaching the class. I was corrected several times on my grip. The one I often use no being what they are teaching in this course and it is taking a bit of getting used to changing something I have done differently for years. My stance was also corrected once or twice, they don't like a partial Weaver stance and I understand the reasoning. I usually try to change my stance at least a few times during any given course of fire I am shooting because I think that is the most realistic way to change because there is just no way you can always assume just one given stance in a real life shooting. For example, maybe in one situation the isosceles stance will work, maybe in another the Weaver would be more appropriate, maybe in another there would be a better choice than either of those. The thing is though, I am in training and will go with the flow of what they are teaching and use the stance they showed me, it will just take a bit of getting used to for now.

Regardless of using a slightly different grip and a somewhat different stance, than I usually do, I did not notice much of an effect if any on my shooting except that maybe there was a bit of improvement laterally in shot placement. There is always room for improvement and I welcomed it, I would think it due to the different grip if anything but it is not that much of an improvement so I am not sure of what caused it. I will se if it is consistent when I shoot tomorrow. If so, then I will have that much more incentive to continue using the new grip. not just. Besides room for improvement, there is always something new you can learn in classes like this one. I learned a couple of new things today; nothing earth shattering and probably stuff that many of you already know but it was new to me. Learning new stuff that is helpful is a good thing. I am looking forward to the next few days of the training, especially to the shotgun portion of the training on Thursday and Friday although maybe my right shoulder is not in any hurry to participate in that part of the course.

We broke for the day at about 1730. Tomorrow we start at 0800 instead of 0730 like today. I think we get out at 1730 tomorrow too. If so, and if I am feeling up to it, I may drive to Cabella's. I called them earlier tonight and found out they are open until 9 on weekdays, so that would give me plenty of time to stop there and, if nothing else, at least do a little window shopping. For now I have to call it quits and crawl under the covers. it is later than I thought and I need to be up by about 0600.

All the best,
Glenn B

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there (at least to the good ones).

A special Happy Father's Day wish to my Uncle Ken, he has been more of a father to me than was my own father.

All the best,
GB

Insomnia Leaves Me Packing For The Trip To The NRA LE Development School

I have been busy getting things ready and packing, for my trip later today, for about the last 2 hours and I have not packed any clothes yet! What has kept me that busy has been making sure I have all the gear I will need for the course. That includes:

Glock 26, 9mm pistol
Holster for pistol
10 magazines
Extra double mag pouch
Ammo can with 900 rounds of 9mm ammo

Remington 870 Shotgun
Sling for shotgun
Case for shotgun
Gun sock for shotgun
Ammo can with 20 rounds buckshot,
50 rounds of slugs and 100 rounds of #9 shot

250 rounds of .40S&W (in case I decide
to have some fun with the SIG 229)

Shooting glasses
Shooting ear muffs
Ear plugs
Range box
Range bag
Firearms cleaning kit
Cleaning solvent
Breakfree CLP
Screwdriver set
Glock armorer's tool
Brimmed cap (a boonie hat)
Rain gear (a poncho)
Boots
Camera & batteries
USB cord for camera
High blood pressure medication
Survival pack

Later today, I will pack clothing and toiletries for the trip, throw everything into the Toyota Corolla, go to the ATM at my bank for some cash, then hit the road. Before doing any of that, I will go see my mom for a nice father's day visit. (On Saturday my family took me out for dinner. My son gave me a bottle of Tequila and my daughter paid for half of the dinner, my wife paid for the other half. Not bad presents at all and a very nice father's Day for me albeit a day early.)

Now that I am done with my packing my gear, I guess I should get done with the blogging and hit the hay. The rest of today promises to be a long one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Cynops cyanurus (Blue Tailed Newts) Mating

Here is a brief video of my Blue Tailed Newts courting/mating. If they laid eggs, then chances are the eggs were eaten by their tank mates consisting of at least 1/2 dozen ghost shrimp, a few other blue tailed newts, 2 Paradise Fish and several Green Aeneus Catfish. If they are still in mating mode, when I get home after my trip for the NRA Instructor class that I am taking next week, then I'll have to segregate them in their own tank and see if the female lays eggs. If so, I imagine I'll have a regular nursery on my hands in no time with the Corn Snake eggs and Hermann's Tortoise eggs I already have in the incubator.




All the best,
Glenn B

Tunneling Tortoises - She Did It Again!

This morning was a bit hectic for me. A friend from work was picking me up and I had to get going , it was close to the time he should be there and I don't like to keep him waiting.  I grabbed a few more things, shoved my pistol into the holster and boom I let off a round grabbed something else and I was just about to run out the door when I heard a scraping noise. It was coming from the tortoise enclosure. There was the female Hermann's Tortoise, angled tail down, head up, digging with her back feet in the substrate and scraping on he bottom of the enclosure as if trying to dig a tunnel backwards. That could only mean one thing - eggs! My buddy called right then and said he was outside my door! I told him I'd be about another 5 minutes. I ran out into the yard and looked for the Cypress Mulch. of course, the bag of it was gone from where I normally kept it. I looked here and there then in the garage then in the shed then saw it under a bush up against the side fence. I grabbed it, took it down to the basement, cut it open, spilled a handful of the mulch on the carpet, poured about 1/3 the bag of it into the tortoise enclosure (the female would not lay eggs unless deep enough) dumped the bag next to the wall and ran out the door to my waiting co-worker. We headed off to work.

All would not remain hectic though, and the rest of the day was calmer. We headed to Queens and then to Brooklyn and did some checking here and there on case work. After a couple hours of that, we headed to our office's annual picnic at Ft. Hamilton in Brooklyn. I did say the day was to become less hectic, didn't I! In fact it became relaxing, that is once I got over realizing that I had forgotten my credentials at home, guess my little rush had me being forgetful. No problem, the guard at the front gate of this U.S. Army military installation did not ask me for ID. My pal who, was driving, had shown his own and that seemed enough. It sure was better than not being able to get into the base because I had forgotten my wallet. It wound up we had a very nice time at the picnic.

After the picnic, my buddy drove me home and I was happy to find two things after getting there. First I found my wallet. I had left it in my work car last night. Shame on me. Then I went into the house, down to the basement, and dug up the cypress mulch in the bottom of the tortoise enclosure. I found 4 eggs. Hopefully it was warm enough in there for them to survive the several hours since they had been laid. I promptly removed them and put them into an incubator.

You may recall, that on May 30th, the same female Hermann's Tortoise laid her first clutch ever, also consisting of 4 eggs. I am still not sure if they are fertile or not but saw something when I candled them, just last night, that makes me think it is possible. I am keeping my fingers crossed for them, and for these 4 news ones, as being fertile. I will be quite the happy camper if the 8 eggs all hatch out. As I mentioned in my earlier blog about the first batch of eggs, laying to hatching can be a long wait, probably at least 70 days.Time will tell if they were fertile or not.

I figure I must have been doing something right since the female laid these eggs only 2 weeks and a few days after the first clutch. Who knows, maybe she will lay another. If so, I may have to set up a second incubator. You know, the thing about not keeping all of your eggs in the same basket, well it applies to incubators too. If one overheats or fails to heat properly, chances are you will still hatch the eggs in the other one. Heck, I may not wait to see if she lays any more eggs, I may use 2 incubators now.

As for the tortoises, I put the male and female out in the back yard just before I searched their enclosure for the eggs. They got some needed exercise and had a regular smorgasbord of goodies to munch on out there. Our Mulberry Tree is dropping fruit like there is no tomorrow and the female stopped awhile to gorge on them. The male, showing little interest in the female for a change, headed to another part of the yard. I saw the female eating at least 3 or 4 other types of plants while she was out there and then she was back at the berries. The male had a couple of strawberries to satisfy his sweet tooth (yes, I know, they don't have teeth) and after that it was back inside for both of them. I really need to make them a new outdoor enclosure so they can spend the next 3 months or so outside. I think I will get to that once I am back from my NRA Instructor training trip at the end of next week.

Right now, I need to go out to get the Redfoot Tortoises. I have them outside soaking in a large plastic concrete mixing basin ( I use it just for that sole purpose). Once they are back in their enclosure I am going to feed them a veritable berry delight.

All the best,
Glenn B

Where Has The Spring Gone?

I know, summer does not begin for another 6 days but it sure seems to me like Spring has just sped right on by me. Wow, where did it go and what did I accomplish this spring. I don't know where it went and I sure did not accomplish much. I did get the vegetable garden planted and Linda got the flowers in shape. Other than that, to me it seems like I got little done, I cannot talk for Linda on how she feels about what she got done.

I did enjoy some things, a trip to a gun show or two with my son. A trip to the outdoor range with him. Increasing the herp collection. Maybe losing a pound or two. Yet, not one fishing trip in there at all - I will have to rectify that soon. Heck, now that I think of it, where did the 20th century go?



Man life sure zooms right on by - doesn't it!

All the best,
Glenn B

No Other Blogging Tonight - I Have To Work On The Blog Roll...

...the one that disappeared for no apparent reason. I am going to have one heck of a time trying to remember all the bloggers I had listed therein, it was a fairly long list. I will do my best. Once I am done recomposing it from my muddled middle aged memory, if you realize something is still missing that was there before, please let me know.

All the best,
GB

NRA Law Enforcement Handgun & Shotgun Instructor Development School - 1 Week & Counting

In just under a week, I will be leaving for the NRA Law Enforcement Handgun & Shotgun Instructor Development School in Allentown, PA. I am really looking forward to it and to becoming a certified firearms instructor once again. It should be a fun class; the others I have taken in the past certainly were so. Besides being fun, it should also be quite informative since there must be new techniques being taught, or at least some I have forgotten, since I last took an instructors course - probably back in around 2000 or so. I hope so since the course is setting me back over $500 just for the cost of the NRA school. Add a good deal to that for my ammo, my gas and my food.

As for my upcoming stay, I'll be staying at a nice hotel sort of nearby to the school site. It is about a 12 mile drive from what I can tell,  figure 20 minutes drive time at most, so I'll give myself a half hour or so to get there each day, a bit more on the first day to allow for the getting lost and still showing up early factors. The hotel consist of suites and the room promises to be a nice one from what I read up on it. It has a full kitchen with stove, microwave, dishwasher and full fridge. That kitchen will save me big bucks because I can cook in house. The room also has free wi-fi. In addition they offer a free breakfast. The hotel will also save me big bucks. My rate is FREE. Yep, as in nada, zilch, no charge - at least as far as cash goes. I am using almost all of my points with the hotel chain that owns the place and am getting a great rate at that. At another of this chain's hotels, if using points, I would have had to have at least another 25,000 points built up, prior to my stay, at a minimum. Some of this chain's hotels charge more than double the points I am using. If I had been paying cash, the room would have been $139 plus tax per day or just over $764 in total. I am getting a great deal. I hope it is a nice, well kept hotel.

I will almost be certain to visit Cabela's in Hamburg, PA. It is about 35 miles or so from my hotel, closer to where the class will be held. I may not have any money to buy anything there but I'll probably just go to window shop anyhow. I may also stop in Pennsylvania Dutch Country or at least take a drive through it. I don't know how much time I will have; the daily classes may be a bit longer than usual ones as the handgun and shotgun courses are combined into a single course. Hopefully though, I will have some time to enjoy the local area.

More on it once it commences.

All the best,
GB

Anyone Seen My Blog Roll...

...seems I misplaced about 1/3 of it! I had three sections, over on the right side of my blog, dedicated to my Blog Rolls. I just went to use it to visit a blog or three and noticed it was gone. The middle one seems to have vanished. If you find it let me know, I want it back.

I hope this is a minor glitch and that I do not have to try to remember everyone whose blog I had linked to in the missing section. I downloaded and saved my entire blog as recently as a couple of weeks ago, hopefully all the links will be in that save if I cannot otherwise get that section to reappear.

Later 4 U,
Glenn B

Banking, House Cleaning, Shopping, Reptile & Amphibian Society Auction...

...it has been a long day since yesterday. In other words, to me it seemed like yesterday and today were all rolled into one long day. Yesterday, I cleaned the basement including putting stuff away, dusting, polishing the woodwork and  vacuuming. I needed to make everything look ship shape to satisfy she who must be obeyed adored because this afternoon we were to be hosting the parents of our daughter's boyfriend for a BBQ. I also did the laundry just to make it easier for the frau. I managed to get in some time to do online banking an bill paying too. After dinner, I headed out to Home Depot to buy a stand for our patio umbrella. We were planning our BBQ for outside today and I just bought a patio umbrella for our table. Homer did not have any stands so I got a concrete deck support with a hole dead center and will use that (as it turned out it was cloudy and we did not need the umbrella at all). After Home Despot I hit up 3 different pet shops yesterday spread out far and wide. I was looking for just the right thing to bring to the Long Island Herpetological Society's 3rd annual auction. I figured a nice tank set-up or something similar would be the thing.


As it turned out, I did not get anything at the pet shops last night except food for my critters. So, this morning, after driving my wife to work, I left the house well ahead of time and headed to another pet shop still searching for something to donate for the auction. I already had a lot of used stuff to donate, including a barely used tank with light, background and substrate, a load of reptile & amphibian care book, tank accessories, a small plastic fish tank with accessories, and so on.I would also be donating a Redfoot Tortoise as well,  but figured something new would be nice. I could not settle on anything and left it at what I already had on hand. It wound up being more than enough. I figured would be donating over $150 worth of items.


I was at the auction site at 1230, about a 1/2 hour early, and passed the time talking to some other early bird LIHS members. The door was opened right around 1PM and I had my donations set up on the tables inside in a few minutes. After about an hour or so the auction got underway. Every item I brought along sold during the bidding except for the tortoise. Not to worry though, he wound up selling to when the auction was over, to someone who had bid on it earlier but not met the minimum bid I had set for it. Let's face it, at the $50 he paid for it he got one heck of a steal.


There were lots of other great things being auctioned off. Most herp related but some not. Someone had a chemical/biological suit up for auction, there was a flat screen computer monitor, desk lamps, a fist or two fists sized piece of amethyst but most everything was related to reptile & amphibian care. A lot of it was new too, such as a Neodesha tank, a turtle aquarium filter, an incubator, and tank accessories. Of course, there were other animals up for auction too, those all being snakes. One member donated at least a dozen snakes, some high end corn snakes and a couple of Hognose Snakes, another donated a beautiful Boa Constrictor.


We were told to bring cash and that is just what I had done. I was going to use most of it to buy a new item to donate but since I did not buy that, I decided to use the money bidding. I had the high bid on a pair of Corn Snakes at only $25 the pair, and the high bids on two Hognose Snakes - one at $25 and one at $35. I also had the high bid on the Hova-bator Incubator made for birds eggs but also commonly used for reptile eggs). Being that it came with an automatic bird egg turner, I may have to buy some quail eggs just for the heck of it. I also won the bid on The Field Guide to the Mammals of North America, only $2.00! Wow, in no time I spent a tidy sum and now had 4 snakes I did not need but that I can turn to my advantage or keep as I desire. I may later sell them all or trade them or donate them to the LIHS or sell them on behalf of the LIHS and give the proceeds all to the LIHS. For now though, I will enjoy caring for them while I have them. I may well keep one of the Hognose Snakes, which are both males, and try to trade the other along with a bit of cash for a female (with an eye toward a breeding project for next year). Could be I may do the same with the corn snakes, they are a sexed pair. For now though, I am a bit critter heavy, especially with other recent acquisitions, and I have got to put a stop to any more acquisitions. It's not that I have too many to care for, just that I don't want it to wind up being a pain in the butt and big expense to take care of them all, and I know my limitations. So enough is enough even though snakes are relatively low cost to maintain and easy to care for critters.


I have got to hand it to the membership for donating the items that they brought to the auction. The gentleman who brought the snakes I bid on also brought several others. A sizable amount of money had to be generated by their being auctioned off today and a sizable loss of revenue for him was had because he could have sold them at shows for much more than they went at auction and he donated all proceeds to the LIHS as far as I am aware even though he could have done it as a 50/50, half for him half for the society). In addition to members who donated items, it was also the membership who were buying items. So a hat tip to them also. The LIHS executive board has to get not only a hat tip but a bow for setting up the whole thing and making it possible. They did one heck of a good job at it. All in all it was a fun 2 1/2 to 3 or so hours at the auction.

Once it was over, I stayed around an chatted a bit. Then I headed home to get there on time for dinner. I was pretty early and helped getting things ready. Company was about 10 minutes early and by about 5:00 I was setting up the grill. Burgers and dogs were sizzling by 5:15 and we were probably eating by 5:30. Linda had prepared her own always delicious German Potato Salad, and her wonderful Bean Salad. I cooked 10 burgers and 14 dogs, and toasted buns for all, for 6 people (and for Brendan who would eat when he got home from work, so make it 7 people). When I looked for a second hot dog and for one or two to put aside for Brendan, I saw, much to my surprise, that all 14 had disappeared. Since the not one of the four 4 legged dogs ever once climbed up on the table, I have to guess that somebody sure loved those hot dogs! Brendan had a couple of burgers and the salads when he got home. After dinner, we sat around and talked, then Linda brought out some freshly brewed coffee and Phil's dad (Phil is Celina's boyfriend) brought out three plates of cookies he had baked. One of plain butter cookies, one of little fried ball of dough with sprinkles on em, and another of sesame seed covered cookies. All were out of this world delicious. The party broke up at about 9PM. I have to say, it was really nice meeting Phil's parents. They were great company and made for a great time.

After company left, I went downstairs and took care of the new critters. Now that that is out of the way, and now that I have blogged for the day, I am going to sit back and enjoy something on television. With a little luck there will be a good Sci-Fi show I can watch. Hope your day was at least half as nice as was ours.

All the best,
Glenn B

African Clawed Frog (female)

Just a pic of the African Clawed Frog I got last month from the young lass who had to give her up. Hopefully she will visit my blog and see that the frog is doing quite well. Her and the male, that I already had, are living together in marital froggy bliss. I need to do a bit more research to see what triggers breeding, it would be a fun project to raise the tadpoles. I know that them being well fed is necessary, and that a good temperature drop, about 15 degrees F is required to trigger them but am not sure if there are other necessary triggers. I am also not certain she is old enough or large enough to breed just quite yet. While my guess is that she can certainly grow some before I try to breed them, I am also guessing she probably can breed already. I am in no hurry though, so I may just let her grow another inch or two before trying to get them to mate.
All the best,
Glenn B

It's A Remington Model 81 Not A Model 8...

...but it is a sweet looking one ad it is the one on which I am currently bidding. I kind of doubt I am going to be the winner with as much time left in the auction as there is remaining and with the price as high as it is already but one can dream. I have taken my best shot on it, now time and other potential biddrs will tell if I am the high bidder.

All the best,
Glenn

Remington & A Cup-O-Joe

I don't drink coffee often. Sometimes I go on a binge for a month or so where I drink a cup a day, other times I drink maybe 2 or 3 cups a week at most. Sometimes, on the weekends, when I almost always have at least a cup on both Saturday and Sunday, I may go overboard and drink 2 or 3 cups in a day (hopefully the early part of my day). Today may be one of those days; I seem to enjoy it more on the weekends.



The one I am enjoying right now is made from French (roast) Sumatra Mandehling beans. It was ground yesterday. This particular coffee is an eye opener especially when you use as much of it as me when brewing it. I used 5 heaping tablespoons (using a measuring spoon but I do mean heaping) for 10 cups of coffee brewed in an electronic drip coffee maker. It comes out nice and strong that way, which is just the way I like it. Drinking it out of one of my favorite coffee mugs also goes a long way toward making it more enjoyable.

All the best,
Glenn B

Glock 26 Cleaning Tips

Before you view the video, allow me to apologize for the poor video quality. I will be remaking this video in the near future and hope to achieve better quality. The quality stinks pretty much because it was shot in too low light. I will do it when the room is filled with daylight or after  have found the light I usually use for my late night videos such as was this one. About the only reason I am actually posting a video of this poor a quality is to show you what not to do when it comes to posting how-to firearms videos. While you could probably figure out what I mean by both watching this video and listening to the audio, it would be a much better and clearer presentation if the video was higher quality. This is pretty much a foul-up in the video quality department. I am no cinematographer but I know I can do better and promise to do so this weekend if time allows. Regardless of the poor video quality you probably can still get something worthwhile out of it. For now though, just consider it a work in progress and this a preview of something better to come.



All the best,
Glenn B

Emails I Get - Political / Obama Lawn Sign, well sort of an Obama sign...

A friend of mine sent me a copy of the below pic in an email this evening. I am not going to tell you for whom I think you should vote in 2012. By law, while I can voice my opinion on candidates and tell you for whom I will vote, I cannot campaign for a candidate and I do not want to come even close to that line. The reason is because I am working in the executive branch of the federal government and laws prohibit me from such activity. 

Yet, I can share things like this with you. I am merely reporting on something someone sent me in an email. I will also tell you this, I think it is, as my friend told me, the greatest lawn sign ever!

Now, after I retire at the end of this year, you very likely will see what may amount to some campaigning here on this blog.

All the best,

Glenn B



Ballseye's Gun Shots 139: Trying to Choose A Favorite Ammo Dealer - It's Not That Easy

I don't remember if I ever mentioned it in any of my blog posts but I used to have a definite favorite ammo dealer. That was SportsmansGuide.com (SG). They are, in my estimation, still a great source for ammo but I am not so sure they are my favorite. Granted, they offer a lot of ammo brands in almost every imaginable modern caliber but things have changed with their standing somewhat. First and foremost, their prices do not seem to me as competitive as they were as recently as about 6 months to a year ago. As of late, it seems to me that their prices for some ammo, mind you not all of it, are what I consider to be pretty darned high when comparing them to those of other online dealers.


It used to be that their prices were quite competitive and usually beat other ammo sellers such as CheaperThanDirt.com. Then I started to find better prices, on ammo I needed or wanted to buy, at Cheaper Than Dirt. They were not only beating SG's regular prices but also SG's Buyer's Club prices. (The SG Buyer's Club is basically a fee for price reduction deal. You pay a yearly fee, then they sell you most items at a 10% discount and ammo at a 5% discount on virtually every sale.) CTD had about the same availability of brands and calibers as did SG or so it seemed. The thing where there seemed a really big departure was that they usually did not offer ammo in bulk as often as does SG. As I said though, their prices appeared to be better. Well, I was about to proclaim them as top dog and start buying most of my ammo from them until I realized hey wait a minute, their prices were again being beat by SG in many instances depending on what ammo I was looking at. This had me flummoxed. I guess it is just the nature of competition on the free market, each company always trying to outdo the other whenever they can. I am okay with that but bear in mind - I am also better than okay with me getting the best prices. So I started shopping around more.


As you can see by the link list on the right side of my blog page, I list several ammo dealers in the Blue Zone section headed: BUY FIREARMS, AMMO, ACCESSORIES & PARTS. With the possible exception of one or two at most (an I don't really think there are any exceptions), I have made purchases at one time or another from all of them. I don't get any sort of pay, fees, discounts, or kickbacks from any of them for giving them a link on my blog page.  do it not so much to help them out but to help out folks who may be looking for a decent place to make a firearm's related purchase. Since i have had decent results when buying from them, I give them the courtesy of a link here. I used to have some others listed but removed the links when they, in my opinion, turned out to be less than reputable or had piss poor customer service or sold crap.


Yes, every now and then I shop around for new dealers I have not tried before. If I find one that has a betterprice (including shipping) on something most of them have in stock, then may try the new place just because of price. Other times, I may be looking for something that no one seems to have, then I find one place that does and I go with them. Each time I try a new place, I am looking for the one that may become my favorite. As you can see from above, I have been sort of see-sawing between two of the bigger companies that deal in ammo online. Most of the time, the best deals I have found have been with the bigger dealers like CTD and SG. Big companies though do not always offer the best deals and I sometimes found better deals, now and again, at smaller companies - sort of mom & pop online dealers. That has usually been the exception though, the big guys almost always beat the small guy's prices. The big guys usually also offer a much wider selection of ammo.


Still though, I have found a small company or two that, over the past several months, have consistently beat out those two giants, well I think they are small companies anyhow, when it comes to certain types of ammo I buy and one of those smaller companies virtually always has the best price for those ammo types whenever I have looked to them for it. That company is MilitaryShooters.com. They have had the best prices I could find on Fiocchi 9mm, Russian Surplus 7.62x54R, and on Silver Bear 7.62x39 ammo and they have had it available when I wanted it. My hat goes off to them as my favorite small ammo dealer, mostly due to price, availability and customer service relative to the types of ammo I have purchased from them. Albeit, they are a dealer that does not usually stock every brand, caliber or type of ammo I want but when they have what I want it has been at the best prices I have found. They, as do SG and CTD also offer a bunch of products other than Ammo, I think all of them related to outdoors pursuits (yes, I know shooting can be an indoor thing).


You may have noticed that I did not just call Military Shooters (MS) my favorite ammo dealer; I said they are now my favorite small ammo dealer and there is a big difference in that little distinction between my favorite ammo dealer and my favorite small ammo dealer. As you can tell from above, one of the main things I take into consideration when choosing my favorite ammo dealer is price but that surely is not the only thing nor necessarily the most important thing. While I like a good deal price wise, a deal can often be made sweeter or soured due to other considerations. Things like poor customer service, lack of availability, bait and switch, taking forever to mail out an order - can make price one of the least of my considerations - well,  within reason anyway. For a company to become one of my favorites I expect them to have products I am seeking available on a regular basis (if possible, it is just not possible sometimes), to have what they advertise for sale as actually in stock or otherwise prominently note it is not in stock, to have an easy to navigate website, to take credit cards, to get my orders right, to send out my orders within a reasonable amount of time, to give me a way to track my order, to have respectful customer service reps if something went wrong or I simply make an inquiry, to promptly correct anything they got wrong at no additional expense to me and have no doubt - to have good competitive prices. There are a couple of other things that go a long way toward making a favorite and those are the little personal touches such as an email from the company reps saying how they appreciate my business, or they apologize for something that went wrong, or that let me know they actually read and appreciated an email I sent to them complimenting them on their good business practices. Sometimes, I have even gotten service like that from the big companies, well one of them.


So, I guess if I had to pick my favorite larger online ammo dealer, out of the ones I have over in the links on the right side of the blog, I would still have to stick with the Sportsman'sGuide. They routinely have the ammo I want, often have it in bulk, usually have competitive prices at least on hunting ammo and rimfire ammo, they - if not always - sometimes have very competive prices on things like self defense ammo, they have a good return policy (most dealers will not accept returns on ammo but SG has done it when they really messed up an order), have customer service that may sometimes screw-up but always makes better and does so cheerfully, and has at least 2 customer service reps of whom I can think that went out of their way to assure I was satisfied with how foul ups got resolved. I would rather a company did not screw up in the first place but let's be realistic - doody happens. When it does they have always made it right for me at SG.


Still though, I have not nailed down who is my all time favorite online ammo dealer among both the big and little guys. Man, that is a tough decision and one I do not think  am going to decide upon for awhile. It is just too tough choosing between Sportsman's Guide and Military Shooters and who knows, tomorrow there could be Brand X that just knocks both of them out of contention. For now, let me just say, these two online ammo dealers (and as I said above, they also offer lots of other stuff) are hard to beat. Places like Cheaper Than Dirt, Ammunition To Go, SG Ammo, Natchez Shooters' Supplies and Midway USA are giving them a run for the money but for now those two are at the top of my list. Oh, if you are wondering why I give them the links and why I give them a write-up like this, when I don't get anything from them in return, it is just very old fashioned common courtesy based upon mutual respect and it is also so my readers can readily find recommended dealers of shooting supplies. (Again a common courtesy since you are nice enough to read my blog.)


All the best,
Glenn B

New AK-47 On The Market?

I took my first look, in a long time, at some gun dealers' sites tonight. Over at Classic Arms,  I saw them advertising an AK-47 manufactured by Saiga. This is not the typical Saiga rifle that did not accept AK mags, this one does accept them. Pretty nice looking rifle and from what I have heard of Saiga, I am guessing that the quality should be more than acceptable. It is selling for $499.95. I have to see if these are legal in NY State. I would like to have one of these and maybe would sell my Romanian WASR to be able to afford one. Funny thing about it though, I only found it on the Classic Arms site and not on the Saiga site. Don't know if they are something new in the gun world but certainly the first time I have seen one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Weiner Lets It all Hang Out - Confesses He Sent Pics, Covered It Up Wth Lies

Representative Anthony Weiner is a bit like President Clinton. When faced with allegations that he did something improper of a somewhat sexual nature, he, like Clinton, vehemently denied it. Same as the republican who got caught in the stall tapping his foot as a form of sexual advance. At least President Clinton apparently was not a pervert seeking sex in a men's room and did not send out pictures of his bulging barely clad private parts over the Internet; Clinton kept it restricted to extramarital affairs which while not the best of things to do were not sexual perversions. I can understand a guy like Pres. Clinton even though I cannot accept his lying to the American People about his sexual exploits - he should have just fessed up. I mean, people have extra marital affairs all the time. Maybe not a good thing but usually not a perversion.

Well, Weiner has confessed, finally. The talk is that there were other pics, of him, about to be released - maybe that spurred him on, who knows. Here is a link to a video of the confession: http://www.breitbart.tv/weiner-i-lied-i-did-it/.

What Weiner did, in my opinion, was a bit perverted. My guess is that he got some sort of a thrill, not from having sex with several young women with whom he became acquainted over the Internet, but by sending out pictures of himself that were either sexually suggestive or risqué. I think it is kind of like a flasher using modern technology to flash himself. What galls me with Weiner is that he says he will not step down from his political office and that he will probably receive support from the left. My bet is that some on the left will make him out to be a martyr while others will make him out to be a hero for finally fessing up and yet others will see he gets reelected. What a shame if that happens. Not a shame because he committed what I think was a minor act of perversion, that could be easily forgiven had he admitted it and then sought out therapy. It is a shame, I think, because he apparently created a fantastic prevarication about how someone else was responsible for sending out the picture, the one he could not say with certitude was or was not of his underpants covered bulging crotch. In other words he tried to steer the blame away from himself, even if it would have been proved that the picture was indeed of him, to someone else for sending out the photo. All I can say is thank goodness there was no ready dupe on which he could lay the blame. While I don’t think it was right, I can understand him doing it, can understand him at first denying it, but have a really difficult time with him trying to blame it on a nonexistent third party. No wonder he did not call in the police, he could have been charged with making a false statement to the police had he told them his fabrication during an official investigation. I have to wonder, do we really need someone like that in Congress, I think not.

All the best,
Glenn B

Al Qaeda Reportedly Urges Muslims To Kill Americans And I Again Urge You To Buy Arms and Ammunition...

 ...for possible use in self defense. I suppose some of you may be getting sick of me telling you to do so but the battle may soon be brought closer to home than ever before. So, I am urging you to take these actions to be ready to defend against
those Muslims (or anyone) who would heed the call of Al Qaeda to purchase arms with which to kill Americans. In case you are not aware of that to which I am referring, click on the link below:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/04/al-qaeda-urges-american-muslims-to-buy-guns-for-terror-attacks/

In essence, the link is to an article that has breaking news that: "Al Qaeda has released a video urging Muslims who live in the U.S. to take advantage of the easy access to firearms and buy guns to kill Americans."

If you think I am being prejudicial or otherwise biased against Muslims, I am not. You see, Al Qaeda is not reportedly calling upon Buddhists, Christians, Druids, Hindus, Jainists, Jews, Shintoists (hope that is correct), Sikhs, Taoists, Wiccan, Atheists, Agnostics or anyone else to stock up on guns to kill Americans - they reportedly are calling only Muslims to do so and they reportedly are calling upon them to wage Holy War against us. I am willing to bet, that if there was a way to keep tabs, we would soon see an increase in sales of firearms to Muslims in the USA and I would bet it would not be because most of them, who were buying weapons, would be buying them for self defense. Now, don't get me wrong, I do not think most American Muslims will heed the call, but I do believe there potentially are enough who could make this a truly fair to large scale threat to our safety and security.

There is a way to minimize such sales, to those who may follow up on Al Qaeda's call, without restricting sales to we law abiding citizens and legally immigrated aliens whether we be Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, those of any other religion, or even atheists. The thing would be for us, us as in law abiding American citizens and legal resident aliens, of any faith or belief system, to start buying firearms and ammunition to protect ourselves and our loved ones and our neighbors. It would also be a good idea, I think, for us to let it be known that we will protect ourselves with our firearms as justified under the law - as in self defense - from any imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm (laws may vary in different states) coming from groups that are sympathetic to or conspiring with Al Qaeda to kill Americans. We should speak up about this by way of blogs, interviews with the press, letters to the editors of local newspapers, letter to politicians and such. We should make as loud an outcry as is humanly possible, a sort of shout back at Al Qaeda and to the part of the Muslim community that is sympathetic to or conspiring with Al Qaeda's evil intentions to kill Americans.

In other words, we should let them know, now, that where legal: Not only is there a gun behind every blade of grass, there is one pointing out of every window, one over every boulder, one in every store one holstered on every hip, one behind every door. We need to make them understand there is a gun, or more than one, for every law abiding U.S. Citizen and legal resident alien who are all sick and tired of all this Islamic extremism and the terrorism that it spawns. I kind of think it might be a pretty good deterrent, heck it stopped the Japanese from invading the mainland USA in WWII. If not, then at least we would be ready to defend ourselves and our neighbors (well at least the neighbors who also have guns and ammo and who are willing to defend us likewise).

You will note, I am not calling for anyone to do anything illegal. I am not telling you to harass or in any way discriminate against law abiding Muslims. I am not calling upon anyone to go out with the intention of killing anyone or even harming anyone. I am saying we should make ourselves ready to legally and ethically defend ourselves against those who would heed Al Qaeda's call to harm us or kill us. If you do buy firearms and ammunition do it legally. If you decide to carry firearms make sure you are doing so legally. Also make sure you know how to operate any firearms you own or otherwise possess and know how to handle them safely at all times. Take courses in safe firearms handling and self defense use of firearms if at all possible. In addition, know the law(s) about self defense in any area where you possess a firearm or other weapon. Then take on the mindset that you are willing to defend yourself and your loved ones and maybe even other innocents from those, whoever they are, who would seek to seriously harm or kill them.

Why am I stressing this so much? Because if it happens that enough Islamic extremists, in the USA, heed Al Qaeda's call to kill Americans with firearms, on a large scale or even a fair sized scale, law enforcement will likely be overwhelmed or just not there at the moment when your lives are at risk. In that case you may be the only one prepared to act in your own defense or in the defense of loved ones, neighbors or other innocents. Think this is not a possibility? Then just look to Israel for an example, or look to Pakistan, or to Afghanistan, or to India, or to Denmark, or to France. Still think it will never happen here? You are absolutely wrong because it already has happened here, just do some research on Ari Halberstam.

All the best,
Glenn B

Like Father, Like Son

Tomorrow, I and the son are off to take a civil service test - together. I am taking it with an idea that I might want to take the job when I retire, sort of a second career. He is taking it with the idea of it being a possible beginning of a career. The test is for NY State Investigator. Truthfully though, once I retire later this year, I am none to sure that I will want any continued contact with the world of law enforcement other than to be retired from it then again it is good to have options. As for my son, well, it is nice to see him sort of wanting to follow in my footsteps. It is even better to know that I must have done something right as for my part in bringing him up because I usually have to give his mom, my wife, most of the credit for that. This time though, I can definitely take some of it and smile about it too. My only hope about the test is that he does as well or better than me on it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Fred Flintlock - On Comfortable Range Attire

Some Range Tips To Help Make Your Shooting Day A Nicer One - Maybe or Maybe Not!

If you shoot and do so regularly, you know there are a bunch of little things that can make for a less than great day at the range. I am not talking about your aim being off or some idiots who are disrupting things by acting rudely or unsafely. Sometimes you just have bad days when it comes to your shooting skills or when it comes to the luck of the draw as to who else will be at the range. The other annoying things, potential range day ruining things, that I am thinking about are things that are easily avoidable if you just use a little foresight. Most of these may seem like they should be no-brainers to the experienced shooter who spends a lot of time at the range. Truth be told though, not all shooters who go to the range always take the time out to think about what they are about to do before doing it. Not giving it just a few moments’ thought is where the problems can begin.

Now, since I don’t want to look like a moron, I am not going to admit that I was ever, in my shooting lifetime, guilty of one or two of the following transgressions, let alone several of them all in one day. So, the rest of this article will cover the shooting antics of a shooter named Fred, and the whole name is Fred Flintlock at that! Why Fred and not Bob or Carroll or Ted or Alice? I like the name Fred, anyway the name is reminiscent of Fred Flintstone who often had miserable days because he did not think before doing, or because he thought of a better way, even though the right way was within his grasp all along.

So, our intrepid shooter Fred is about to set out for a day of shooting at his local rifle & pistol range. Fred has been shooting now for about 30 years. He is no novice and thinks he knows what he is doing. Well, he should know by now but as you will see he has some of his own ideas on how to get lead downrange. He is the atypical shooter in the US of A. A male (not that gender has much to do with anything in the shooting world but most shooters are men as am I so I can better relate with Fred than Fredericka), middle aged to a bit older (yes age does have something to do with it because by his age he should no better), fairly set in his ways (LOL), fairly to very familiar with range etiquette and with the firearms he shoots, knowledgeable of firearms safety of sorts (or so he thinks) and thinks himself a stickler for it, and enjoys a good day of shooting over almost any other pastime he can enjoy. He owns several guns, would love to own a bazooka or twin Browning 30 cal. machine guns, has a good supply of ammo, and while not particularly impressed by gadgets - he does have some of them. He is sure to tell you that he has more than the average amount of the necessary know-how for helping you to get as much enjoyment out of the shooting sports as he can.

Now remember one thing: You can choose to take his advice or not. My advice would be this: Do not take Fred too seriously; in fact, you should take what he says with a grain of gunpowder salt as that is about all it is worth. Of course, you may get a laugh or two out of it - I hope so. Then again, if you listen to Fred closely, sort of between the shots, maybe you can figure what it is among what he says that is really worth learning in order to have a fun day shooting.

Without further ado, here is Shootist Extraordinaire - Fred Flintlock...




All the best,
Glenn B