Is Charles Rangel Out of His Mind?

I just woke up and turned on Fox News. Granted, I was still groggy and was in no condition to be greeted by them doing an interview of Congressman Charles Rangel but then when is one ever prepared for such balderdash as what he spews forth. Well, there he was on Fox News moments ago, and if I understood his babbling style of speech correctly, he was saying that if we cannot tell him under what flag was Al Qaeda, or tell him who they are, then we cannot argue against his point that we do not belong in Afghanistan. He also seemingly argued that we have not achieved anything in Afghanistan in tracking down Al Qaeda. He also, in essence, said that intelligence obtained by torture is invalid and therefor not apparently responsible for accomplishing anything.

Tell me, where were the people captured who we have in custody in Gitmo, captured? What type of technique was use on them, by our CIA, before they got to Gitmo? What information did they give us that led to the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden? Is Charlie Rangel of of his friggin mind! I think so.

How he can be so flipping ignorant and still be reelected time after time simply amazes me.

Later 4 U,

GB

The Last of the Last - Claude Choules Has Set Sail For His Final Sunset

The last surviving combat veteran of WWI, also a veteran of WWII, passed away yesterday, peacefully, in his sleep., he was 110. Claude Choules joined the British Navy at the age of 15 and did his first bit of service aboard a training ship. By the next year he was assigned to serve on a battleship. He survived WWI, moved to Australia and joined the Australian Navy in which he served during WWII. More info here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/claude-choules-last-world-war-one-veteran-dies

More on his life here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Choules

There is only one other known surviving veteran of WWI - Florence Green. She was in the British Woman's Royal Air Force; however, she was not a combatant. It is the end of an era of fighting men, who believed that their war was - The War To End all Wars.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Dog-goned Surprise Awaited Me At Home This Evening

So, I walk in the side door to our house this evening, as usual. I head downstairs to strip off my pistol, holster, magazines and mag pouch, and other accoutrement's of my job. As I am doing so, I hear a voice, not of my house, say: "Is that Glenn?". I say nothing but take off my jacket and put it away. I wash up quickly at the sink in the back of the basement. I hear a lot of hemming, hawing and hooting upstairs. I hear children, girls. I surmise our neighbor, Trish and her daughters are here. go upstairs to say hello but not before having a fairly large vodka - neat. It has been a day for me and I actually need it.

I get upstairs and see my wife, Linda. I also see Trish and her two daughters. There are our four dogs: Pepe, Mimi, Lucy and Roxie. I also see Trish is holding what looks like a long haired kitten. I say hi, we start the small talk and someone says something about the puppy Trish is holding and how many dogs she and Gary (her husband) have and how many we have and Trish says: "But it's okay, I'll take care of it at my place". I am not quite sure why that was said but am a trained investigator, it immediately tells me one thing - Linda, my wife is responsible for the puppy being here. It seems our number has grown by one. Thank goodness for Potato Vodka and the fact I have had a stiff belt already.

I try to get a straight answer. No luck even though a few minutes pass. Suddenly the doorbell rings. I head to the side door then realize that two tones meant it was the front door - new doorbell and I am used to folks coming round to the side door but I turn toward the front. I was fooled but not for long. Two ladies come in the front door. One of them takes the puppy, which I now know is a Chihuahua, a very fluffy and furry one only weeks old. It is a mom and daughter, people my wife knows from her job at the dentist's office. Customers of the dentist who were looking for a home for the puppy for Heaven knows what reason (I know too but will not divulge).

The daughter cries and holds the puppy. Trish and my wife talk to them about it. The side door opens and my son comes in cursing merrily and being goofy about something, not knowing the situation. He sees the puppy and almost immediately figures what has happened and tells my wife, his mom, she is crazy. The puppy belongs to the daughter of the two ladies who just came in the front door. They are already taking care of two dogs and do not need a third. My wife volunteered as a rescue. Our neighbor Trish was here as support for the whole rescue thing, she got Linda into it awhile back. I am at my wits end but am nice to everyone and ask the girl, a lady in her young 20's, what is the puppy's story. Trish, holding an almost empty glass of wine, is shushing me. Brendan is silent mostly, he is a good kid. Trish’s two daughters are taking it all in. Linda is looking guilty because, she knows, I know, she was taking the puppy into our house and I think we do not need five dogs. It is a Chihuahua, did I mention that? Did I mention we already have two of those, plus two mutts.

The ladies leave the puppy with us. Linda and Trish talk about medicine it needs for Kennel Cough. I ask why do we have that dog here if it could get our four dogs sick. There is a brief conversation between myself, Brendan, Linda and Trish - a funny one at that but one I will not divulge - except to say I think someone threatened me and it was not Brendan or my wife. We all laugh. The front bell rings again. The ladies are back. They want the puppy back. They take it despite the best efforts of Trish, with no argument from my wife, to get them to leave it in my our house! Thank goodness they took it. Thank goodness Trish and her daughters leave despite my best efforts to keep Trish here so I can lambaste her, but the girls have got to hit the hay and I am sure Gary would like them all home, and I sure don't want her convincing Linda to try to get the puppy back. I am also sure, I would only get in trouble even if I was only jokingly butting heads with Trish over the puppy, Linda would take it wrong - or maybe not - but it did not happen so I will never know. I go back downstairs for a drink, yes I needed another. Brendan comes down for some vodka and I tell him where it is even though I am sure he knew but was only asking to be nice.

I go upstairs and try to engage my love, Linda, in a conversation about the puppy and its situation and as usual I fail. I do get enough out of her so that she admits it was better the ladies came back to retrieve the puppy. I can only hope they do not change their minds and bring it back because I told the love of my life it sort of would be okay for her to keep it if they did and that is what she really wanted. I laugh from the belly. Am I an asshole or what. Please do not answer that as I know the answer already. After all, about 25 years ago, I said: “I do”. Well, anyway, for now, we still have only 4 dogs, 5 tortoises, 1 turtle, 3 salamanders, 7 newts (or more), and a whole lot of fish. Hopefully we can keep it to that for a bit.

As for our neighbors, maybe we can have them over more often, that was fun.

All the best,
Glenn B

Dog Treats, Gun Stuff and Forgotten Treasures I Found Around The House Tonight

If you have a decent sized collection of guns, then chances are you also have a good sized collection of ammo and firearms accessories too. I know that I do. Now, I keep my guns secure and while I don't misplace guns, I try my best not too anyhow, it seems I often do put other gun related things aside. Then, may I loose track of some of them. It's not like I leave these things laying all around the house; I put them in boxes to protect them, or in drawers and closets for safekeeping, or stash them away in dark corners or up on shelves for storage. It seems though that once they have been out of sight for awhile it is also very easy for them to go out of their minds fall out of mind and I pretty much don't think about them or simply forget all about them. So it is that now and then, with some astonishment, I come across something I had no idea was lurking in the shadows.

Imagine, if you will: a frumpy middle aged overweight but dieting slob firearms enthusiast, with ever so slightly failing eyesight, rummaging through a basement drawer looking for a snack to ease his diet ravaged and gurgling gut a bag of dog treats for his pooches. He opens the drawer, moves this and that and finds a sealed in the box, brand spanking new, can of silicone desiccant. "Hmm..." he thinks, "...that could come in useful for the gun locker" but not needing it now, he just shoves it aside and rummages a bit more. After moving a bunch of books and magazines, there is the bag of dog treats - buried under some other junk. When he lifts the bag, he spies something under it and immediately and happily thinks: "What have we here - buried treasure!". Under those books and other not often thought about drawer junk was another type of foodstuff - not for pets but the kind he feeds to rifles and pistols - ammo. This was ammo with a twist though, it came in a sealed factory collector's tin. The tin was adorned with a picture of a man guiding a boy in how to shoot a rifle. According to what it says on the box, what he found was not only a tin but a 'Collector's Tin' containing 400 rounds of ammunition and a collector's deck of playing cards. The brand name on the tin is Remington.

Imagine, this could happen to you, really it could you know. I mean, after all, it just happened to me about an hour ago. No, I was not about to go bust on my diet and yes, I really was looking for a bag of dogs treats I had stashed away in that dresser draw in my basement.

Now finding that collector's tin got me to thinking: "Didn't I have another collectible ammo set around here somewhere?". I looked high, I looked low, I looked left, I looked right, then realized there, among one of two piles of books atop the dresser, was a somewhat odd looking thing staring right at me from among the book bindings. It sort of blended in with them enough to look like just another binding of just another dusty old tome but, now that I was looking and paying attention, I spotted it as something else right away. I must have seen it every day for Lord knows how long it had been sitting there much like Poe's The Purloined Letter. I took it from the pile, blew off the bit of dust that had settled on it, and I sneezed a couple of times because the dust on all the other books came up in a small but malevolent whirlwind that seemed eager to get at me. After I stopped sneezing, I pulled it out of the improvised cardboard sleeve/dust jacket in which had laid there protected and hidden, in plain sight, for probably a year or two. So, what was it? Much to my surprise there it was the other 'collectible', a Remington knife & ammo set.

This was starting to get me all sorts of excited, thinking that maybe there was cached treasure all about the place just waiting to be discovered or should I say rediscovered. I started to look, ever more so in earnest, in the hope would find something truly valuable that I had put away and forgotten all about. Those things just mentioned were found atop the dresser and in the top drawer of it so, I decided to look lower down. I opened the 3 other drawers of the dresser and and I found, there among some sheets and towels, a bottle of Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey labelled 1995. Before you get to thinking: "Hey, how lucky" well, that was no surprise to me. I knew or at least should have remembered that was in there. Had I been looking for it, it would have come right to mind, or should have, since only put it in there about a month ago or less. What I did not expect to find was a Gerber machete in its scabbard - virtually right next to the bottle. Perhaps not a bad place to have it, that is if someone tries to burgle my golden nectar and I need to protect it.

Okay, enough for the dresser. I took a look at the hide-way bed next to it. There was some stuff piled on it, as usual, but not much because I had recently cleaned the basement pretty good. I moved my laptop case and some papers and a throw pillow and heck if there wasn't something I had not expected. It was a small but dirty manila envelope. I picked it up thinking it was garbage then realized there was something in it. I took a peek and found something I had forgotten all about. Maybe 6 months to a year ago, I ordered several 'Unorganized Militia Gear' in the form of stickers/decals and patches. When I had received that stuff, I gave some to my son, I meant to have the some of the patches sewn onto a jacket or three, put the stickers on my cars, give some to friends but then (you guessed it) I forgot all about them. I am pretty sure they were in my living room, on the desk, kind of a catch all place for what my wife thinks is my junk mail. My guess is that when my wife gave the LR a good clean-up for a party she was holding a couple of weeks ago, the envelope was rerouted and delivered, so to speak, to the basement. Lucky for me it was not rerouted to the trash can.

You know, after finding that, I took another look at those piles of books. Was there more missing treasure to be found there? I had been reading Stephen King's Full Dark - No Stars and it sort of went missing awhile back. I don't know how it got to where it got but there it was in one of the piles of books near the bottom of that pile. You would think, or at least I (in my limited capacity having a muddled middle aged mind) would think, since I had been reading it nightly about a month or two ago, that if it was anywhere in the pile it would be near the top. That, especially since I had not been reading any of the others. Either there had to be gnomes, grinches, elves or a wife involved. Excuse, me for a minute she must have sensed me writing about her: "Yes dear, I'll do the dishes before I hit the hay tonight". Okay, where was I, yes that was it - back in that pile of books.

Another look and I spied yet another volume of lore that I had forgotten all about while in mid-read - ' Roughing It ' by Mark Twain. I definitely have to get back to that one right after the King book. I used to be a big SK fan and while I still like his writing - am no longer a fan. Very recently, with his yammering about taxes and how high they should go, he has in essence taken his leftist creed and tried to shove it down one too many throats. I do not like the taste of it. I think this will be the last of his books that have I spend a dime upon. Still though a good collection of short stories, that is if my having read the first one and half of the second one make me a qualified judge of it.

As you can see from the pic, I have quite a good little collection of books just in those two piles and I would say I have not read about the 1/2 of them if not more. I really need to watch less TV, surf the web less and start reading more. Those books are treasures that can only be enjoyed by becoming closely bonded with them, as if in fellowship, with the authors and characters, and that does not happen by way of mere proximity nor by the process of osmosis. Where I had pretty much seen them every day and ignored them, for how long I do not know, it is different now. I suddenly feel a compelling call to develop a strong camaraderie with the authors and their characters and to nurture and understanding of their themes. About the only way for me to accomplish that kind of intimate bond with them requires my reading a book from cover to cover - maybe more than once.

I guess I found something other than I had been looking for when I went in search of those dog treats and then was spurred on to search for more goodies after I rediscovered those collectible ammo packs. Much like C. Auguste Dupin, I uncovered a treasure that had been hidden in plain sight, so well, as to have become totally overlooked in the every day course of my affairs. Unlike that first detective, I had not been searching for something thought to have been purloined but was merely looking for something to help me bond with some characters other than those in books, our family's 4 dogs. By the way, now that I found the treats, maybe it is best I reward man's best friends with some of them. You see, had it not been because of those 4 legged characters, I never would have started the search that led me to rediscover the treasures I found tonight. Later for you - and may I be so bold as to suggest that while you are waiting to hear from me again, you click on the pics to get a better view of my treasure to see if you can spot the best of them all. Then, why not head off to search out any overlooked treasures of your own. You may be surprised at what you find hidden in plain sight.

All the best,
Glenn B

2010/11 Assigned Soldier (My Adopted Soldier via Soldier's Angels) Is Coming Home

Good news. The soldier, Mike _________, for whom I collected donations toward care packages over the 2010 holiday season, is coming home. I received an email from Soldiers' Angels telling me the news and telling me to hold off sending him additional packages. I was lax in getting out packages after Christmas and got the first one after Christmas or January out in March. I was working on getting a new one out this past weekend but I received the email from Soldiers' Angels on Saturday and that was that.

Here is what they sent me:

Dear Angel,

You are receiving this email from Soldiers' Angels because your adoptive soldier SPC Michael _

(last name redacted by me)__ is due home. Here are the specifics: (they did not give any specifics - go figure). I wouldn't send anything more! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Remember even if you never heard from your soldier your effort was appreciated!

If you would like a new adoptee just use the angel login at http://approvedangels.com with your email: (redacted by me) and your password: (redacted by me) (you may have to copy and paste the link)

Thanks for supporting the troops!

Elaine Baker
Soldiers Angels

p.s.if the link gives you problems just dp a line to angels@soldiersangels.org we could definitely use your help again we have a ton of soldiers waiting for angels

Soldiers' Angels
http://soldiersangels.org

So, I guess i will be asking them to assign me a new soldier and I can use the items I already bought for he next package I was making for Mike _______ on the next guy. I am hoping Mike _______ will contact me. I received several emails thanking me for the packages and then lost the email he was using, which was not the same one that Soldiers' Angels had on file. They had a military email address for him but he contacted me using a personal email address. So Mike, if you are reading this, drop me a line. ope you make it home safe and secure.

As for the rest of you, thanks again for your help with donations toward the packages. You are good Americans!

All the best,
Glenn B

Osama bin Laden - Buried At Sea - WTF!!!

"Officials said bin Laden’s body, which was in U.S. custody, was given a sea burial."(A few lines from the bottom of the article.)

Are they kidding? They claim they have killed the most wanted man in the Universe and they do not publically display the body for the whole world to see! If something does not stink terribly about that then it sure is simply fishy. So what proof is there that bin Laden is really dead? This is or could be worse than the birth certificate, school records, college records, medical history and travel records fiasco. How dare they did not put his body on public display at Ground Zero for all to piss upon view. Once the mania ceases, there will be questions as to the veracity of the claims that he is dead even if they kept DNA samples and videos of his last moments. Someone either was not thinking straight on this one or Heaven forbid that maybe someone is simply not being straight at all on the claim he is dead! You can bet there will be those who claim he is still alive. I just cannnot fathom why they got rid of his body without a public display first.

All the best,
Glenn B

Imagine The Wealth Of Intelligence...

...that was likely found in Osama bin Laden's compound. This is the place in which he thought it was safe enough for himself and his son to stay (his son was reportedly also killed). It almost certainly then was also a place wherein he believed it safe enough to store many of his documents and operational plans. We may yet here of similar operations before the dawn is upon us if our Intelligence people and our troops can act and coordinate quickly enough on what is found. If not today, then in the near future. You can bet that his cohorts are scurrying like roaches when the lights come on, so I hope we act fast on whatever we find.

President Obama, you apparently have finally done something right in a very big way - please don't drop the ball now.

All the best,
Glenn B

My Thanks To The Troops...

...you guys and gals have done a bang up job and deserve the thanks of all Americans. I hope the events of yesterday, the demise of bin Laden, means you will be coming home sooner than later.

To the U.S. Military personnel involved in the operation that took him out, I wish I could shake the hand of each and every one of you, then take you all out for steak dinner and get you all drunk. You deserve a lot more than that though, you deserve the best you can get, the best our country can give. I salute you all.

To the military unit (Seals or Special Forces Soldiers) who brought him down, especially the one specific person or the people, who fired the shots that got him, you are my hero(es); I mean that too. You truly did something heroic.

All the best,
Glenn B

May Those Innocents Who Died...

...on 9/11, and because of its aftermath, find a little more peace in their eternal sleep.

With respect,
Glenn B

I Hope Osama bin Laden Saw It Coming...

...long enough before the shot to realize what was happening. I hope it was a gut shot and he died slowly and miserably. Does that make me a bad guy, I hope not but that is how I feel about him and his death at the hands of U.S. Troops.

As I said in my earlier post, about a half hour ago, HALLELUJA!

All the best for the USA,
Glenn B

Now The Bad News...

...this may carry Pres. Obama to a victory in 2012. Lord help us.

All the best,
GB

HALLELUJA, HALLELUJA, Usama, Usama, Usama bin Laden Is Dead

My son just gave me the news in our kitchen. It is likely a moment I will not forget for a long - long time.

All I can say is, HALLELUJA once again and Oh Happy Days! It was a matter of time thanks to the search started by George W. Bush and to the fact that President Obama did not slam the door in the face of our intelligence services and just closed it on their foot. Good shooting, I would love to know who fired the shot that got him and who gave the coordinates for the hit.

I would also love to know, if even one tiny bit of intelligence that led to this was the result of prisoner interogation at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay or if even the tiniest iota was due to information gleaned through the use of water boarding. Not that it really matters, what matters is we got the bastard.

I am about to watch the prez announce it. (Edited to add: He said it was a ground assualt in Pakistan by U.S. Troops.)

Good riddance.

That is all,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Gun Shots 134: AK-47 - Does The AK Stand For...

...A Keeper? I took the Romanian WASR AK-47 to the range tonight for my first shoot with it since I got it 2 weeks and a day ago. It is only a 25 yard range (maybe 30 from what I heard tonight but I'll have to check further on that). Whatever the distance, that is what I had to settle for that is close to my house. That was okay with me, I don't plan on shooting much beyond 50 yards, maybe 100 at the most, with it and shooting at 25 still gave me a good feel for how it will do at further distances. I shot from standing, resting elbows on the bench.

My first 15 rounds were using Wolf 158 Gr. Soft Point, steel cased, polymer coated ammo. With the rear sight set all the way back, where I would imagine it should be for 50 yards, I shot a few to several inches low but pretty much centered from left to right. I then took 20 shots with Wolf 122 gr. Hollow Point steel cased, polymer coated ammo. Those shots were all to the left and a bit higher than were the shots with the soft point ammo. Funny how different weight ammo shoots so dissimilarly, same point of aim, same gun. See the pic.

I adjusted the rear sight to midway on the sight ramp. I shot another 40 shots with the SP ammo. The target fell off when bringing it back on the pulley. From what I could tell, the shots were all pretty much centered in a smaller than the palm of my hand group. Not great but probably sufficient for an AK. My final 5 shots were at a clean target. Pretty much dancing around the center of the paper. See the second picture.

I must say, I am pretty happy with this rifle out of the box. I may have to do dicker around with the front sight a bit, see if I can lower it some. I am none to familiar with AKs so I will ask my son for his advice and help. I may also do some checking online if he does not have time for the old man! One thing about the AK, I was really amazed by the low power of the recoil. My Yugo SKS kicks a lot more using the same ammo, and the Yugo SKS is a much heavier rifle so that is surprising. I can say right out, I got myself a good AK-47 that should prove to be a very good shooter. I am very pleased.

Besides shooting the AK, I also shot my issued SIG 229. I only shot at 10 and 15 yards but managed to fire about 110 rounds. I noticed that I am shooting a little to the left. I have to work on that to see if it is me or if the sights need to be adjusted. I am thinking I may need to adjust the sights but want to be sure. At 10 yards, I fired 50 shots, 2 hand hold, unsupported. I also fired 2 rounds, 1 hand hold, right handed, unsupported. Then 12 rounds, 1 hand hold, left handed, unsupported. At 15 yards, I fired everything 2 hand hold, unsupported. I did fairly well for an old fart whose eyes are not what they were even 3 or 4 years ago.

I suppose I really ought to clean the SIG tonight, before I go to work with it. A clean gun is a happy gun, as my buddy Pete G. used to say. It also tends to be more reliable if the SHTF.

All the best,
Glenn B

Dog Humor: Please Stop Asking Me That Question About My Dog

GENERAL PUBLIC NOTICE:

Please be advised, I am sick to death of receiving questions about my dog, who recently has mauled:

3 Muslims sitting on a rug thinking about virgins

6 illegals wearing Obama t-shirts

4 liberal middle class Democrats wearing Pelosi t-shirts

11 wanna be atheists who refused to say the Pledge

2 badass gangsta rappers

5 phone operators who asked me to press #1 for English

8 customer service desk people speaking in broken English

7 farmers who decided to sell corn to make ethanol instead of food

9 teenagers with their pants hanging down past their cracks

10 American flag burners

1 Chinese delivery guy who got my order wrong

12 politicians who want to raise taxes

FOR THE LAST TIME.......

MY DOG IS NOT FOR SALE !!!

First time I remember seeing this was when my brother sent it to me tonight in an email. I thought it was funny, I hope you enjoyed it too, even if I changed it just a bit.

All the best,
Glenn B

More Time In Our Garden (not quite Eden but it will do)

Well, it's just over 2 hours spent in the garden since I went out after cleaning my AK. I got several pepper plants, an eggplant and a tomato plant in some pots. Before doing that though, I hit up the compost pile. There was some rich looking soil midway down to the bottom of the pile. I sifted it through 1/4 or 1/2 inch screen. Then, I mixed that with garden soil, peat moss and sand in about 3/4 of the pots, the other 1/4 of the pots got everything except the sand. Wish I had thought of the sand sooner but then I would not have had enough for all the pots. I watered each pot right after getting the plant into it and noticed the water was not draining as quickly as it should. So, I found the play sand I used to use for my Bearded Dragons and dumped some into the third pot. From then on they all got sand and I had enough left over for one of the pots my wife was using for her flowers. Adding the sand sure made a difference as far as drainage went and I think I added just the right amount to all but one pot. The first one probably got somewhat too little, live and learn.

Since yesterday, I have planted about 6 different varieties of tomato: Beefsteak, Early Girl Bush, Roma, Cherry, Patio hybrid and Yellow Plum Tomatoes. I am not sure I actually bought the patio Hybrid but think it is out there. I also planted a few varieties of peppers: Yellow Bell, Habanero, World's Hottest Habanero, Jalapeno, Giant Jalapeno, Cayenne, and maybe one or two others. Along with them all, also planted two types of eggplant, one Black Beauty and two Ichiban Japanese Eggplants. I still have cucumbers and string beans to go. I am thinking of getting some butternut or other variety of summer squash, and maybe plant some pumpkin and radish seeds.

With those vegetable planted and with all the flowers my wife has already planted, it is starting to look like a garden out there once again. It is just about 2 or 3 weeks later than usual for us to be planting. That's because of the very cold weather we had this April.

I am done with the garden work, probably until next weekend. I already washed up some but now it's time to quit blogging and go take a long hot shower before dinner. May your thumb be green, your cucumbers be firm, long and tasty and your tomatoes perfect to squeeze and ever so juicy and delectable. Happy gardening and enjoy what you produce.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Gun Shots 133: AK-47 Disassembly & Reassembly

Well, after 2 weeks of owning it, I finally took the AK-47 in hand and disassembled it for a good cleaning. Not before searching out a video on how to take it down and then reassemble it. I checked YouTube at random, typing AK-47 Disassembly into the YouTube search bar. The first video link that I clicked on led me to an excellent video by Iraqveteran8888. He has both
disassembly and reassembly videos. If you watch these videos, give each a few seconds to play and they will come out clear; for some reason the first few seconds of each are distorted.





Just in case the videos do not play here, I am posting the links below:

The disassembly video's link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZigSux30iL8&feature=fvst

The reassembly video's link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIrIv1DLEb8&feature=relmfu

They are both quite useful videos. In watching them, I discovered that since my AK has a Tapco trigger group, it already has the spring that he recommends installing. I did not take my AK all the way down, I left the trigger group intact, that is for another day. Otherwise I took it down as he described and gave it a good cleaning and got it back together quite easily. It is all fairly simple to accomplish.

My wife just got home from work, which means I now have a car to go to the range. I need to cut this one short, because I need to get some other chores done, more gardening, then clean up, then head to the range. Hopefully, I got it back together right and it will fire away as it should.

All the best,
Glenn B

Real Man's Workstation...

...well, that is what my friend, who sent the pic to me in an email, called it (click it to big it). I don't care if it is a workstation, a Man Cave, a Woman's Lair, an Executive's office, a Geek Retreat, the Bat Cave or whatever you want to call it, it is plain out and out wrong! Why? Because it is not mine. I am jealous. I don't know where the pic came from, it was not credited, but if the guy or gal who owns it ever reads this post, please tell me all the names and models of the rifles, and explain the computer set-up too.

I am not poor by a long shot, but doubt I could afford a room like that with all the accessories let alone the AC costs just for keeping the one room cool enough. It must be nice to have lots of cash to spend, that is why I play the lottery! Nice set-up.

All the best,

Glenn B

Revisiting Knappogue Castle 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey and Wishing for the 1995 Labeled Batch

I am now on my 2nd bottle of Knappogue castle 12 Year Old irish Whiskey. I wrote a review of my first bottle not too long ago. As for this 2nd bottle, there I was sititng in the basement a week or two ago and was talking about it with my son. He either asked for a taste or I asked him if he wanted one. He took it, grimaced, said it tasted like burnt wood and recommended something else to me. I have to agree. I don't know why but this bottle of the same whiskey tastes awful. It tastes just like peated Scotch. That is a taste I can stand sometimes but when want it I buy an excellent Scotch. I buy Irish Whiskey, especially single malt Irish whiskey, triple distilled, when I am not in the mood for the peaty, over oaky, taste of Scotch. I am hopeful this bottle is a fluke because the first bottle was somewhat mellower and more like that labelled 1995. Then again, neither of these bottles of the 12 year old have been the same or as good as was Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey dated 1995.

That by far was my favorite of any whiskey I have ever enjoyed. It was crisp and as clean as a a young lad's whistle when he spies a pretty lass on a Spring morn. I miss it, I canot find it on the shelves at liquor stores, I am guessing it has run out of stock. I wish now I would have bought more of it than the one bottle I did buy and now have stashed away for whenever temptation wins out over patient anticipation. Then again it was the last bottle I ever saw for sale. If anyone knows where I might find myself a bottle or three of the Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey dated 1995, still for sale in a liquor store, in the greater NY metropolitan area, I would appreciate the tip.

Thanks,
Glenn B

REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Personal Opinion On The Change We Need:

I am sick of inept politicians and government officials and ordinary citizens who want to create a nanny state. That goes for those from every political party you can mention. I think, we need to start to revolt now before it is too late. We need to throw out the bums and put in folks who will realize they are the servants of the people. We need to make certain that our Constitution is the law of the land instead of having our presidents, congress people and judges disregard what was meant to be The Supreme Law of the Land! We need to make sure we secure our borders and throw out illegal aliens and alien overstays so that our nation remains the United States of America. We need to encourage legal immigration only and give rewards to those who legally immigrate here while we severely punish those who continue to come here illegally. We need to make sure that 'Made In America' is seen on most products sold in this country once again and that United States Citizens and Legal Immigrants are the ones who made them! We need to see government waste curtailed and cut back so far as to allow us to balance the nation's budget and pay off what we owe as soon as possible. We need to have a single tax rate on all for income, no more than 15%. We need to eliminate Social Security and medicare but first let's get rid of the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, The Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Homeland Security (especially the TSA and ICE) and other federal departments and agencies that are little more than a drain on the tax payer. We need to bring back the United States Customs Service (not settle for Customs & Border Protection because it is nowhere nearly as effective) as a protector of the revenue and as a collector of Customs Duties and we need to reinstate Customs Duties on everything imported into the country and all technology exported out of the country - no exceptions. We need to create not only tax incentives for American businesses but other incentives as well such as less regulation on industry. We need to remember that we, as The People, have rights under our constitution and that those rights have been perverted and whittled away and we need to get them back in order. We need a well armed People to assure a polite society and a safe and secure nation and to secure all of our other rights. We and our politicians need to remember that our nation was born of violent revolution in response to tyranny and we need to try to avoid that but remember it is always a possibility in the face of tyrannts whether they come at us with force or from behind the veil of progress, or security, needing to reign in our rights a bit here and a bit there.

We need a lot more than all of that but those surely would be a start in the right direction. The thing is, we cannot wait for this to happen, we need it to happen now - right away. So, I think, we also need to get rid of those who give every excuse as to why it is not possible right away. It is possible, just as Bush created Homeland Security and did away with the Immigration Service by act of Congress all in the blink of an eye with overwhelming support from Congress. Government officials can act very fast when they want to, the thing is we have to make them want to do it and do it now. I think that the only way to accomplish that, short of shooting every damned politician in this country (and no I do not think that is the way to go) and starting from scratch, would be to hold a nonviolent revolution to overthrow the establishment within the borders of legality (yes I think that is the way to go) by way of the vote. That means getting rid of all of them or almost all of them in the next elections as far as I see it.

The elections are over a year away but I believe we need to start to plan for the change now. We need to start working on it now. We need to get our acts together as one strong force, an overwhelming force, so that we can retake America and return it to being a nation of We The People. Many say it is too late and have given in to the politicians we have had in government now and in recent years. I firmly believe what we have now are inept managers, what we need are strong leaders. If you do not wake up to the reality of it now, it may come down to guns & ammo and revolutionaries later, or worse yet to all of us speaking Chinese or Arabic. I hope not, I hope that America being the best and strongest nation on the face of the earth is something that my children and grand children will enjoy for their lifetimes.

Would it take a revolution of sorts to accomplish all that - you can bet it will - a revolution in how the American Citizen as voter thinks and votes. I cannot tell you for whom to vote or how to vote but I can tell you what I think and for what type of candidates I will vote in upcoming elections. It will be those who remember they are servants of the people, not those who think they are masters of them and it will be for those who remember that it is America who got them to where they are and they owe everything to this nation. I used to be an independent, then registered as a Republican but now and pretty sure I will go back to being an Independent once again. About the only parties I would seriously think of registering for now would be as a Libertarian or, if they were an actual political party, The Tea Party. No, I am not campaiging for them or telling you to join them, I am just saying that they are who I might join. I think, we need to get back to what made this country great, as far as I am concerned we can let countries like China, North Korea, Syria, and Russia keep the change.

All the best,
Glenn B

Blue Skies, Yellow Columbine & Very Dirty Hands

I just picked up a load of flowers for the garden yesterday at Home Despot. One of them was a nice potted Yellow Columbine (click the pic). The Yellow variety, that I bought, has a lot less contrast to it than the Pink (that Cap'n Bob & The Damsel have up on their site) but is a beautiful flower nonetheless. Both are very nice though I think the Pink wins out by just a bit. Had I seen pink ones, would have gotten at least one pot full of them too.

Today was a great day for garden work. A cool, clear, blue skied late morning and early afternoon. It clouded up a bit but not much and I think the sun is back out again now. My wife planted some flowers and other plants today but held off on the Columbine waiting to find the perfect spot for it. Today she worked with Impatiens, Petunias and Geraniums mostly and maybe the one Dahlia I got for her. She still has the Columbine, more Petunias and Geraniums, some herbs and others waiting.

I planted a Rhododendron (lost one last year when a neighbor apparently sprayed defoliant). I also planted some of the vegetable garden, only: eggplants, peppers and tomatoes but better than nothing. Man did I get get dirty. I plan to plant some radishes, green beans, cucumbers, squash and more tomatoes and peppers. I wonder if it is too late for lettuce?

Plants are more expensive than last year and Home Despot was not selling small sized veggies in the flats of 8 or so that they usually have on sale. They only had individually potted vegetables which wind up being much more expensive. Oh well, with gas as high as it is, I saw regular for $4.599 yesterday (sky high even around here), I figured it would balance out if bought them at HD instead of wasting gas to find another place. Next year I may try some from seeds. I tried some this year but was too early with them and they all died. Better luck next time.

Now that I got some planting done, I think I may clean my new AK-47. If get that done, it could mean a range trip tomorrow. None of that before ordering out for Chinese. I offered to fire up the BBQ but the wife and kids have a hankering for some cuisine of the Asian persuasion. When I think about it, some Moo Shoo Pork General Tso's Chicken (extra spicy, no broccoli), Wonton Soup and some other delectables like fried dumplings are on the menu and don't sound bad at all.

Later for you, I have to go make my selections on the menu. (By the way, one week and one day have passed and I have stuck to my snack free diet. I don't know if any pounds have been shed but have been sleeping somewhat better and feeling better.)

All the best,
Glenn B

Milton Wolf, The Wolf Files - A Must Read Blog...

...written by Milton R. Wolf, cousin of President Barack Hussein Obama and also a Tea Party member. He has an excellent piece on Newt Gingrich and Gingrichcare versus Obamacare here.

His blog also contains many other interesting articles. The main blog page can be found here: http://wolffiles.blogspot.com/.

I think this one may become a frequent read for me, maybe even a daily one.

All the best,
GB

Pansy Planting or Going To The Gun Show at Middletown, NY Tomorrow & Sunday...

...and sadly, or is it gladly, the choice is I will not be there. Nor will I be at the NRA's annual meeting in Pittsburgh. Instead, I will be out in the garden, crawling around in the dirt, getting the undersides of my fingernails dirty, in fact probably getting most of me pretty filthy, as I plant tomato plants, pepper plants, string beans, cucumbers, eggplants, a few different herbs, a bunch of annuals including geraniums, petunias, columbine, pansies, dahlias, some vines and a few others. When I think about the choice I have made to stay home this weekend and get this done, it really is not all all that bad, in fact it is pretty good. Even though I would prefer being at the gun show, it will probably be a lot of fun as long as I remember to take an aspirin or two before I start to keep the back from getting sore and tight. I mean, I don't mind digging holes in the dirt, finding worms for my turtle, tortoises, fish, salamanders & newts. I also don't mind planting the garden and getting about as dirty as any 9 year old who decides to explore the backyard. Yep, I am looking forward to a day of downright dirty fun - for what more could I ask!

All the best,
Glenn B

NRA Annual Meeting

Regardless of my last post, I am still a Life member of the NRA. I still think that they are doing a great job overall. All that considered, I would love to hop in my car tomorrow afternoon and drive the 7 or 8 hours to Pittsburgh, PA to attend the NRA Annual Meeting this weekend (it actually commenced this evening). I would only be able to stay for Saturday but that would be enough. I have never been to one of these before. It would be, I think, very enjoyable. While I am envious of those who can and will attend, I truly hope they have a wonderful time there.

All the best,
Glenn B

Is The NRA Is Way Out Of Line When It Comes To The Sexes?

I think the idea of a national organization that supports our right to keep & bear firearms is a good thing. I think the work that the NRA has been doing to support our 2nd Amendment right has been excellent overall. I have been a member of the NRA for a long time. I used to pay my dues annually but because I thought they were doing a good job of protecting and promoting our rights, I became a Life Member of the NRA. I thought it was the best organization to join in order to support our right to keep & bear arms, so much so that I also paid for my son's life membership in the NRA.

In the years that I have been a member, I have taken a couple of NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor Training Courses. With what I learned at those courses, I trained many other people to shoot. I did so without regard to gender, race, creed, (and so on). I repeatedly have encouraged others to join the NRA and to utilize NRA programs such as firearms training courses and instructor training courses, I think they offer excellent training.

Sometimes though, I think the NRA is out of line, that they seemingly begin to, or even completely, forget the best interests of their overall membership. A case in point is, what I believe to be, their practice of discriminating between the sexes when it comes to some of their programs. In all the years that I have been an NRA Member, I do not recall ever seeing them offer programs geared specifically toward men. Yet, they offer courses and programs that are geared specifically toward women and some, in fact, exclude men. Here is how they describe the course they are offering at the annual NRA meeting this year: "It is a 17-hour NRA Pistol Instructor Training Course offered by Women - For Women Only!" (It is an exact quote and yes they capitalized the words for women only. It can be seen at this web address, it is the first seminar shown on the page:

http://www.nraam.org/events/seminars.html.

I think that is outlandish. Correct me if I am wrong, but women in the shooting world often complain about how shooters and non-shooters alike, all too regularly, see women as different when it comes to firearms ownership, possession, carry and use. I most certainly have seen articles both in print and online, and have heard many a discussion that women resent such treatment, that they want to be treated as equals instead. Is that all just so much exaggerated nonsense? I ask this last because it seems when some women are actually treated that way, as different, they flock toward such treatment. They actually seem to promote what they have rallied against by attending seminars and courses such as the these offered by the NRA. Me, I have absolutely no problem with treating women as equal to men when it comes to firearms training. I have trained both men and women alike. I have treated each and every shooter whom I have ever trained with the respect that is due to them regardless of their natural state of gender. Can each shooter have special needs in training? Sure they can but, as it seems to me, not based upon gender. So I trained students of both sexes the same. It seems to me that it would, or should, be an insult to women or to men if I had done otherwise and it should be an insult to every one of the NRA membership when the NRA does otherwise.

Don't know what Women's Only Programs I am talking about. Click on the link and you can see which they are: http://www.nrahq.org/women/2011-am.asp

Want to see the respective Men's Programs offered by the NRA. Just do what I did and run a search of their site for Men's Program's. Or if you trust me, I can save you the trouble by posting the search results here:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEARCH NRAHQ

Search Results
Request: men's programs
(0 document(s) retrieved)

Your search did not match any documents.

Search again
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you do not trust me, go ahead, search away on the NRA's site for the ever elusive NRA men's programs.

Now, don't get me wrong. If women want to get together with themselves to enjoy shooting events, that is all well and fine. Same goes for men. If the NRA wants to give women's shooting courses just for women, again - fine by me. The thing is though, there really ought to be equal treatment when it comes to this, so why not offer men's only programs too! Or is it that the NRA is saying that women have special needs when it comes to firearms, that they are not equal to men in the shooting world? Along the lines of what I have heard from women, they want to be treated equally with men in the world of firearms. If that is true, and I believe that is true when it comes to all things firearms, then why on earth would the NRA apparently discriminate against men by having programs set up exclusively for women? Are they saying that women are so vastly different than men in their abilities and training needs, when it comes to shooting or to self defense, that they need to be sequestered from men for the training purposes? Apparently, the NRA doesn't want to come right out and make a public statement to that effect, yet they have these women's programs and are pushing a totally exclusive of men gender biased seminar at their annual meeting this year.

Why aren't men receiving the same attention for their gender group from the NRA? Why doesn't the NRA offer men's programs exclusive of women? Why would the NRA offer shooting programs exclusively geared toward women and not toward men? I think it comes down to one thing and one thing only, the almighty dollar. I think they found a way to make a buck by catering to one gender over the other. If that is correct, they ought to be ashamed of themselves. Women and men should be treated equally when it comes to firearms and shooting and the NRA should not exploit one group over another using gender based stereotypes to make a buck. The 2nd Amendment, of our Constitution, within our Bill of Rights, does not say one gender has more or less of a right than the other to keep and bear firearms. I'd like to keep it that way.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Gun Shots 132: Trusting Someone Is Safe With Firearms, The Trust Should Be Earned Not Blind

I was working the 4x12 shift on a hot muggy night, back in my Border Patrol days, and thankfully I had just been relieved by another agent so I could take a break. I threw the Ramcharger in gear and headed into downtown Calexico to get myself something icy cold to drink. It was just about all I could think of, I mean it was hot, muggy,and I was sweaty and thirsty - Calexico summer nights can be like that. I had just pulled up to 7-Eleven and was opening the door when I heard the brief whoop of a siren from behind me. I turned around to see a sheriff's deputy pulling up. He waved me over and when I got to him he told me he had one in the back for me. He insisted take the guy before I could buy my icy cold beverage because he had just gotten another more important call. I reluctantly said okay and he escorted the guy around to the back of my vehicle. The illegal was handcuffed, and when I asked the officer why he told me because the guy had been a jerk and sort of resisted but was being okay now. I through my set of cuffs onto him and took off the deputy's. Then I started to pat the guy down. The deputy got all sort of huffy and asked why I was doing that because he had already done it. I kept at it. Then he said the magic words: "Don't you trust me?" Almost at the exact moment that the last word left his lips, I pulled a pair of about 8" to 10" scissors out of the illegal immigrunt's groin area. He had had them hidden where most men are a bit squeamish about searching. The deputy stood there with his mouth hanging open - dumbfounded. I learned that night, trust is something that you should not give freely relative to some things, it should be earned by the person to whom you give it. So when it comes to things that could be the difference between life and death and I can exert control over them, I make sure to err on the safe side. If it hurts some one's feelings - too bad. That attitude may just have saved my life that night - you see the illegal alien who had those shears down his draws had not been headed to a sewing class and he was not a tailor, so why do you think he had them?

When it comes to firearms and ammunition, I have much the same mindset. I had a guy hand me a semi-automatic pistol when I was a firearms instructor. I was inspecting the pistols before qualifications as we always do. I asked him if it was unloaded and he explained that because he was late, he had taken it upon himself to go to the range where we clear weapons, before each inspection, to clear it himself. I asked him to hand me the weapon, action closed, as is our set procedure in the classroom (the range officer opens it to check it, we don‘t want anyone but an instructor operating a gun in the classroom). He handed it to me and I opened it and out flew the cartridge that was in the chamber. He swore he had unloaded it but the proof was there in that shell casing that he had not. I went over his actions with him. He then realized what he did was to open the action and remove the round from the chamber, let the action go forward, then took out the magazine. So he actually had just reloaded one into the chamber because he did things sort of backwards. Normally, after taking the pistol we run it through an operational check that includes dry firing it. Should I have trusted him enough that the weapon was empty. Maybe you would say that based upon my trust for other agents who have received the same training as I, then yes I should have. The truth is, yes I did trust he was being truthful and accurate about having reloaded but that does not mean that I should not, for safety’s sake, have verified it. So I followed procedure and did just that and avoided an accidental discharge. Had I not done what I did, then it could well have been to late for someone had I sent a round down the barrel. I know of a firearms instructor, in fact a primary firearms instructor, who put a round through a wall in the classroom, in a situation almost identical to the one I just described, essentially because he trusted and did not verify. Luckily nothing but his pride was hurt.

As Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes used to say: "Trust no one". It is good advice up to a point but let me change that just a little bit for firearms safety purposes. When it comes to firearms and ammunition, trust only those who have earned your trust and only to the degree to which they have earned it. In all cases, even with folks you trust to the greatest extent, you can take another step. There is an old saying: Trust but verify. It is a good one indeed, especially as related to firearms safety and it comes to play or should come to play often when handling firearms and ammunition. It is a mindset I choose to live by when around firearms. Will a mindset like that prevent all accidents or incidents caused by negligence with firearms or ammo? No it will not but what it will do is reduce the chances for something to go wrong. So how do you do this? How do you achieve trust or how does someone else earn it from you, and how do you verify that your trust was well founded without you seeming like totally anal wanna be dictator? Pretty much the same way you do anything else wherein you do not appear to be an arrogant tyrant. You do it with a cool head and with respect toward those with whom you are dealing and you do things by example in as much as if you require it of others you also require it of yourself. Will that prevent every person, with whom you have interactions while handling firearms, from becoming offended if you point out a safety issue to them or if you double check something? No it will not, but being polite and respectful, even if being direct and to the point will go a long way to keep people from taking offense - especially if what you are saying is correct. It will also go a long way toward building up trust on both ends.

The thing is though, developing trust between firearms folks it is not just a pointing out safety infractions issue. In fact, that is not even the most important issue. The more important issue is that you trust yourself first. So, to start, learn how to safely handle firearms before judging anyone else to determine if they are trustworthy with them. You learn, not only by reading rules, but by practicing safe firearms handling each time you use firearms. When others see you handling firearms safely, or hear you talking about them in a knowledgeable manner, they will develop a sense of trust toward you. It works the same with you developing trust for them. What you are doing, is taking in information given off by others, comparing it to information you already have stored in memory and determining, by using judgment and verification, whether or not the other guy is trustworthy. If you are a good judge of yourself, when it comes to firearms safety issues, then you will be more likely to be good judge of others. So what does this mean in the real world of firearms and ammunition handling? I will give some more real examples to answer that question.

I have several firearms. They are only infrequently unsecured; sometimes loaded, sometimes not. I live with my wife and 2 children. Well, they are not really children an longer, they are both young adults. When it comes to my son, he is allowed to handle all of my rifles and shotgun but not my pistols, unless absolutely necessary. As for my wife and daughter, I trust them not to pick up and handle any of my firearms without my express permission except unless absolutely necessary. I then trust them all to handle the firearms in a safe manner if they do need, for some reason, to handle one. Maybe they need to move it because a plumber is coming over on an emergency call and they want to make sure it has been secured, or something like that. Why do I trust them all? Well, over the years that I have been married with children, I have taught all three of them about basic firearms safety and my son shoots (my daughter used to shoot and my wife went once). The most important thing I taught them was never to mess around with them but if they are curious about them, then to ask me to show them. I started that with my wife probably before we were married, and with my kids almost from as soon as they could understand - probably around age 3 or 4. I have kept at it all these years and still give them a reminder now and again. In all that time, I have never seen my wife, daughter or son do anything really unsafe with one of my firearms in the home. They have earned my trust but as I said, I still give them reminders now and then.

As for my son, he has earned the most trust from me because he also handles and shoots firearms with fair regularity. He handles them safely, and is very safety conscious while doing so. I trust him so much I allow him to handle my rifles at his own discretion and I have allowed him to bring his own rifles and ammunition into our home. That trust though did not come freely, it was earned by him sticking to the rules, by him exhibiting responsibility with firearms and ammunition, and by him being safe with them over the course of several years. That trust is not taken fro granted either. He must keep on earning it from me. One way to check on that is by observation, just seeing how he does things when I am with him and he is handling firearms. While you can often verify trust through observation, sometimes what you are hoping to observe just does not take place. So what to do then? The answer is easy - give a test. Remember trust is earned, it is not blind faith.

When he was first learning to shoot, I used to go over the firearms safety, each time, before we handled guns or started shooting. I would start by asking him to tell me the rules I had taught him. If he forgot something, I just reminded him, then I supervised his shooting within easy arms reach. As he developed into a safe and responsible shooter, I started to drop off on the supervision thing and started to leave of the testing of the rules thing. He would shoot at his point and me at mine. Every now and then I would check on him though with a subtle test of one sort or another. I would take a rifle out and place it on the bench, from which he would be shooting, with the action closed (after I checked it first to make sure it was not loaded). Then I would see what he would do. Invariably when he picked it up, he would keep it pointed downrange, then open the action (usually he would first remove the source of ammo, such as taking out the magazine). If he did that, he passed. If not, then he was reminded to check first. What he would be checking for was not only to see if it was loaded, but if it had been loaded then to check to see if it had the right ammo in it.

I don't just check on my family regarding firearms safety, I make sure to verify others exhibit it before I fully trust them around me with firearms. Now, I am not saying I will not allow someone wearing a holstered firearm to get in my car, or that every time a cased gun is in my car it has to be in a locked case or have a safety lock on the gun itself. Nor am I saying, I will not allow someone to show me a gun, or me to show them a gun, at the range or at a gun show unless I first interrogate them about firearms safety rules or have them demonstrate proper firearms handling techniques. What I am saying is that I will not give them unearned full trust. If I get into a car with a coworker, I trust them not to pull out a firearm and start fiddling with it in my car. Why do I give that person such trust. Only because I know that he or she has gotten a lot of the same training as have I and that they have passed an awful lot of firearms testing before being trusted with the firearm by my agency.

If, on the other hand, I have someone who is fairly new to shooting getting into my car while wearing a holstered handgun, or while carrying a cased rifle or shotgun, and who is eager to go shooting, you can bet I will have checked them first to make sure they are trustworthy. If I get into my car with someone about whom have little or no knowledge about their gun safety mindset, you can bet I will try to figure it out first, or that the guns will go into the trunk or that I will remind them "no gun handling in the car". It does not have to be that blatant, there are subtle ways of doing it but if subtlety does not work then coming right out and saying something is just fine. I am not about to let someone like that into my home, my vehicle, come with me to the range or just handle firearms around me unless they have earned my trust to some extent. Why not? Because of the fatality factor. I'd have to be bonkers to allow someone I did not trust at all to have unrestrained access to firearms and ammunition around me and my loved ones unless I could keep them under supervision. Did you catch that - unless they were supervised? So yeah, I will let a new shooter hop into my car for a trip to the range with his brand new Remington 870 and several boxes of slugs. I'll even let him ride with the cased gun across his lap if he wants once I verify it isn't loaded and once I make sure to tell him that he is absolutely not to handle the firearm or ammo in my car. If he reacts like a jerk, guess what - no ride from me. If he seems to be responsible, well he is already beginning to earn my trust but not enough to allow him to be unsupervised yet. The supervision thing does not mean I am watching over him like a prison guard, just that I made sure to remind him not to handle the guns or ammo while in the car (remember he is new to all this) and then keeping an eye on him now and then, or having someone else do it, during he drive. Of course, it could be a bit more than that, I could insist that the case be locked and the ammo be kept in a separate locked container or better yet just put it all into the trunk. Heck, my guns and ammo are almost always in separate containers when I travel with them and the guns are most often locked with gun-locks. I trust myself, so why do I do that? is it paranoia? Is it nonsense? No, it is neither, it is simply following the firearms safety rules that I learned long ago.

Same thing applies at the shooting range. When I go shooting, there are often other shooters at points next to me at the range. Do I trust them to be safe with firearms? Yes, up to a point. Why trust them. Well, first of all, they are not at home shooting out of their windows down toward a crowded street with reckless abandon. They have come to the proper place, in my area a range is the only proper place available, to shoot. Is that enough, nope not really. When I enter the range area, I observe the other shooters. As I set up my gear, I continue to do so. I am looking for shooters who are not being safe. One day, while I was at the range with my son, having a nice day shooting, another guy showed up with his two young sons. I am guessing the dad was about 35 and his sons about 9 to 12 years old, only about a year between their ages. They were shooting a Marlin 22 rifle, one with a tubular magazine. I don't know what it was that made me turn around and look over my left shoulder, I guess because every now and then I just look around me to be aware of what is going on, but when I did, there was the dad standing behind the firing line by a few feet. He was shaking the rifle violently, apparently it had malfunctioned, and it was pointed right at my son. He got it working again and before I could say anything a range officer had gone over to set him straight and did so politely. The dad seemed to get it, even though it was kind of obvious that he was not all that into shooting, and went back to one of his sons who had stayed at the firing bench and they started shooting again.

Now, you may have trusted him after that, because he was an adult and had just been told by the range officer how to do it right and do it safely but I follow that little rule, trust but verify. I trusted him enough not to do it again or would have left the range. I did not trust him enough not to keep checking on him. Several minutes later, I took another look around. Once again, the guy was behind the line fiddling with the rifle while it was pointed at another shooter, this time at me! It was only for a second or two but it was very unsafe. I went over to a range officer and politely told him about the guy being unsafe again. The range officer did his thing and very politely but sternly told the guy the rules once again. The dad seemed very embarrassed and apologetic. He went back to the bench and the firing line. All seemed well but guess what, my son and I took a break. I did not tell my son why right at that moment but it was because I did not trust the guy. We went and got some sodas at the other end of the range. When we got back, it was not 5 or 10 minutes later, I saw him at it again - dangerously pointing the gun in the direction of other shooters, this time if I remember right, at his own son. I was about to explode and tell him off myself this time but luckily the range officer saw him first and reamed him out big-time. They threw him off of the range. Then we ended our break and went back to shooting. I really hope that did not ruin shooting for that guy and his kids; I hope he went to a hunter safety course or went back to the range by himself to seek out instructions on how to do it right. Something tells me though that was the last day he ever went shooting with his sons.

So sure, I give a certain amount of trust to people at the range but not blind or complete trust. I can say, without a doubt, that the range officer who caught the guy unsafely handling the rifle earned some trust from me that day, I just wish he had made him leave the second time he saw him doing it. On the other hand, others lose my trust, what little I may have had in them before knowing them well enough to develop more of it. If I see someone screwing up, I'll either get a range officer or tell them myself. If the guy is an ass about it, I can always leave the range but you can bet I will let a range officer know about it then. I am not about to get in to a pissing match with a stranger, who has exhibited bad gun etiquette at a range if only because he is armed. If the guy seems to accept what I have pointed out, then I will trust him enough for me to stay but I will keep an eye him just like I did on that dad. Mind you, when I speak to someone about a safety violation at the range, or anywhere, I am not talking about a guy who picks up his obviously unloaded weapon from the bench, momentarily covers another person with it, apparently realizes his mistake and corrects. I am talking about people who exhibit piss poor and unsafe firearms handling by blatantly violating a safety rule or rules and/or by repeatedly violating them.

I do the same with new shooters I take to the range and even with experienced shooters. I trust to an extent but verify. Just because you shoot a lot or handle firearms and ammunition often, and have never had an accident with a firearm or ammo, does not necessarily mean you are safe with guns and ammo so with experienced shooters, I trust but verify. With new shooters, I tell them the rules before they even see a gun. Then I go over firearms nomenclature with them while showing them the gun they will be shooting that day. I never assume that someone even knows what is something as basic as a trigger. To assume things when it comes to firearms and handling them safely, to blindly trust that someone will handle guns or ammo in a safe manner, is simply asking begging for trouble of the kind where there are no do-overs. To build up earned trust and respect is something all together different and it goes a long way to assure safety. Remember, just because someone has earned your trust, or you their's, it is not going to guarantee that an accident or tragic incident will not take place. While it does go a long way to make things a lot safer, that is only so if you base your trust on a good foundation. That foundation needs to be set on the bedrock of the rules of firearms safety and how well you follow them yourself. That is why I expect other shooters to correct me if I am caught violating the safety rules and I take it and learn from it. That earned trust thing works both ways and to earn it we have to realize we are or should be responsible for one another, to a reasonable extent, when it comes to firearms safety.

Safe shooting,
Glenn B