...as reported by NBC: "Eight bystanders were grazed or shot -- all of them, apparently, by police bullets, sources said.", see: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/24/13455394-2-killed-8-injured-in-shooting-near-empire-state-building?lite/.
In addition, according to a radio report I heard on a local radio station, 1010 WINS (CBS News) this morning at about 1130 or so, the reporter claimed Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, while answering the questions of a mob of reporters, said his officers had no other option. He reportedly said, in sum and substance, that his officers had been fired upon and had to shoot back and something to the effect that things like this just happen! If, I heard that right and if the reporter got it right, and that is in essence what Commissioner Kelly blurted out, it is an outrage and Kelly should be walking the streets looking for a new job as a peanut salesman or similar work for the brain dead. Of course, he will not be fired because his mouth is firmly planted on Mayor Bloomberg's ass when he is not making such statements that show his apparent disregard for the public safety. Guns in the hands of law enforcement only is the policy Ray Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg would like to see - and now Kelly apparently has said it is somehow okay or to be expected for the police to mow down innocent bystanders to protect themselves!
I was a law enforcement firearms instructor for 14 years. I was a law enforcement officer for 32 years. I was taught, and taught others, time and time again, that as LEOs, we are responsible for every bullet that comes out of our guns. I distinctly got the idea that if it was an overwhelming danger, to the public, for me to be shooting at a bad guy, I should either yell for people to take cover and get down, take cover myself, and shoot only when it was unlikely I would hit innocents. I was also well trained to shoot and hit my target. As far as misses go during such confrontations, I can understand it because of such things like adrenalin, being very scared and the pucker factor all contributing to misses. All the more reason not to shoot toward a crowd of innocents and the officers should have known it. It is a touch call to make and I am not about to condemn them, I was not in their shows. I do, however, condemn the alleged statements of Kelly. Folks, if Kelly's supposed statement is not a wake up call about the leftist side's view of the value of the lives of We The People, then nothing is such.
A hat tip to the construction worker who followed the bad guy, and reported him to police. It is now reported that the bad guy shot his ex-coworker on 33rd Street due to a dispute probably associated with him having been fired last year. The construction worker witnessed that shooting, then followed the bad guy, saw the police near the Empire State Building and reported the bad guy to the cops. According to mayor Bloomberg, the construction worker was not a hero, he did what he was supposed to have done, reported the shooter to the professionals and that was that. Un fucking believable, Bloomberg is a royal asshole in my opinion. No one else did what that construction worker did, only he was brave enough to follow the guy until he found police officer to whom he could report the initial shooting. If not for him, the guy might have gone on to kill others. The construction had brass balls and all I can say about what he did is that we owe him thanks, not the pooh-poohing of Mayor Bloomberg. Listen to the mayor at 6m 27sec of this video http://video.msnbc.msn.com/jansing-and-co/48779578#48779578. Bloomberg, once again, has proven himself a pompous ass in my opinion.
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, August 24, 2012
Shootings At Empire State Building
I was just about to start typing up this post, while watching Fox News on the tube (yes it is an old TV) as Fox was interviewing an eye witness to the shootings at the Empire State Building, when the witness described the shooter (at least whom she thought was the shooter). She said: "A young boy, a white boy, uh, uh, and he was dead".
Fox has reported that anywhere from 5 to 8 people were indiscriminately shot outside of the Empire State Building, at 34th Street and 5th Avenue, in the heart of NY City, at 9AM this work day morning. They think it was a possible robbery attempt (seems unlikely to me that this would have been a robbery but that is just a guess on my part). They also reported that the same shooter apparently also had shot someone on 33rd Street. The facts beings reported on have been pretty sketchy and keep changing. They have not said who shot the gunman.
They are now saying, at this moment, that the shooter was an employee who had worked in the Empire State Building until he was fired yesterday (also have said he was fired today, left work and returned with gun). So, they believe it a retaliatory shooting because he had been fired.
In addition, Fox has reported that two NYPD police officers from the 42nd Precinct, who were on an anti-terrorism detail, shot the bad guy.
The NYPD is now confirming 10 people injured (not certain how many shot). Fox is reporting at least3 dead 2 dead (now they are saying maybe only the shooter is dead, keeps changing).
The Empire State Building reportedly has already been reopened to employees of it and the businesses located within. It has not been reopened to tourists yet. Manhattan must be a madhouse as far as traffic goes.
This is all breaking news that keeps changing by the moment.
All the best,
Glenn B
Fox has reported that anywhere from 5 to 8 people were indiscriminately shot outside of the Empire State Building, at 34th Street and 5th Avenue, in the heart of NY City, at 9AM this work day morning. They think it was a possible robbery attempt (seems unlikely to me that this would have been a robbery but that is just a guess on my part). They also reported that the same shooter apparently also had shot someone on 33rd Street. The facts beings reported on have been pretty sketchy and keep changing. They have not said who shot the gunman.
They are now saying, at this moment, that the shooter was an employee who had worked in the Empire State Building until he was fired yesterday (also have said he was fired today, left work and returned with gun). So, they believe it a retaliatory shooting because he had been fired.
In addition, Fox has reported that two NYPD police officers from the 42nd Precinct, who were on an anti-terrorism detail, shot the bad guy.
The NYPD is now confirming 10 people injured (not certain how many shot). Fox is reporting at least
The Empire State Building reportedly has already been reopened to employees of it and the businesses located within. It has not been reopened to tourists yet. Manhattan must be a madhouse as far as traffic goes.
This is all breaking news that keeps changing by the moment.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, August 23, 2012
If You're Brown Bagging It Around The Political Conventions Don't Pack Any Hard Boiled Eggs
If you attend either the Republican or Democrat political conventions, or even if you will be in the area when either is held, and you brown bag it - don't bring along any hard boiled eggs or you may wind up detained for investigation. I jest you not. It seems that the latest news flash, from what probably are paranoid cautious government law enforcement agencies, is that anarchists may try to disrupt the conventions by tossing acid filled eggs (among other things).
I can just imagine some poor slob, sitting down in a public area near the convention, who pulls a couple of hard boiled ones out of his day pack only to be swarmed by SWAT. Even worse would be the outcome for anyone found to be entering one of the conventions with a couple or few eggs in their bag. I can just imagine him or her being pounced upon, detained, questioned, and embarrassed. I can also see the eggs being seized and examined, x-rayed, sniffed by bomb sniffing dogs, and finally wolfed down by some blob from event security. Perhaps this will transfer to TSA as well and hard boiled eggs will become verboten on airline flights (if not so already).
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/22/feds-warn-anarchists-could-blockade-roads-use-acid-filled-eggs-to-protest/
All the best,
Glenn B
I can just imagine some poor slob, sitting down in a public area near the convention, who pulls a couple of hard boiled ones out of his day pack only to be swarmed by SWAT. Even worse would be the outcome for anyone found to be entering one of the conventions with a couple or few eggs in their bag. I can just imagine him or her being pounced upon, detained, questioned, and embarrassed. I can also see the eggs being seized and examined, x-rayed, sniffed by bomb sniffing dogs, and finally wolfed down by some blob from event security. Perhaps this will transfer to TSA as well and hard boiled eggs will become verboten on airline flights (if not so already).
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/22/feds-warn-anarchists-could-blockade-roads-use-acid-filled-eggs-to-protest/
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Our President Not Forgetting Wounded Warriors
Well, really it was our previous president.Would you expect President Obama to ever do something like this?
All the best,
GB
All the best,
GB
THE FACE OF OUR NATION ('s LEADER)
His face hidden behind a teleprompter so he does not screw up once again while making a speech on the campaign trail. His sleeves rolled up to make believe that he built up America. Folks, if you think we need this guy again for the next 4 years of the presidency, then go ahead and vote for him but remember, once you are standing in a soup line, that you voted for him. Then again, how you voted for him the first time was almost understandable, though made no sense, to me. How you could even consider voting for him a second time truly befuddles me. If you do consider voting for him, please bear in mind that, it was not George W. Bush who was responsible for the worst deficit in the history of our once great nation.
Me, I am looking forward with some real hope that we will get truly meaningful change for the betterment of the United States of America. In other words, I foresee a nation without Barack H. Obama as president and with President Mitt Romney leading us to recovery.
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
They Say "A Man Works From Sun To Sun But...
...A Woman's Work Is Never Done." Well, if that is true then just start calling me Mrs. instead of Mister. Man, have I been busy with dishes, laundry, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning up toilets, letting the dogs out (thus more cleaning up toilets) mowing the lawn, tending the vegetable garden, vacuuming, prepping and gun cleaning. Now really, while I do all those things, I have not been all that busy. I tend to be the lazy type but I have been cleaning guns a lot lately. With me having to work three days this week, I guess it is making gun cleaning seem like more of a chore than usual because it is harder to fit it in.
For instance, I cleaned my Ruger Mark II and my Romanian WASR AK-47 today. The Ruger took all of 8 to 10 minutes. I actually remembered how to take it down and put it back together without looking at the manual, probably for the first time ever. Perhaps me having made a couple of videos, in the past couple of days, on how to disassemble and reassemble it finally had it sink into my little gray cells. Te AK probably took me about 45 minutes. I gave it a thorough cleaning except for the trigger group which I do not always remove for cleaning. When I got the AK reassembled, I did a function check, rested it on my lap a second and what seemed like a flow of puppy pee came out of it. I actually took it apart to see if somehow I had left a cleaning patch soaked in Gunziilla inside the gas tube or not. nope, nothing in there, I must have just soaked it too much, did not think I had done so, but got wet enough to convince me that is just what I had done.
Just my luck, that meant more cleaning. I had to throw those pants and my shirt into the washer, need the pants tomnorrow for work, so I grabbed whatever other colored wash was lying around in the hamper, and on the floor in my son's room, and threw it all in the washer. Seems the wash day is never done and if I figured it out right I have been working more than sun to sun. Did I happen to mention, you can just start calling me Mrs. instead of Mister! Gotta go, I have to feed the puppy and then let the dogs out before I head to work.
All the best,
Glenn B
For instance, I cleaned my Ruger Mark II and my Romanian WASR AK-47 today. The Ruger took all of 8 to 10 minutes. I actually remembered how to take it down and put it back together without looking at the manual, probably for the first time ever. Perhaps me having made a couple of videos, in the past couple of days, on how to disassemble and reassemble it finally had it sink into my little gray cells. Te AK probably took me about 45 minutes. I gave it a thorough cleaning except for the trigger group which I do not always remove for cleaning. When I got the AK reassembled, I did a function check, rested it on my lap a second and what seemed like a flow of puppy pee came out of it. I actually took it apart to see if somehow I had left a cleaning patch soaked in Gunziilla inside the gas tube or not. nope, nothing in there, I must have just soaked it too much, did not think I had done so, but got wet enough to convince me that is just what I had done.
Just my luck, that meant more cleaning. I had to throw those pants and my shirt into the washer, need the pants tomnorrow for work, so I grabbed whatever other colored wash was lying around in the hamper, and on the floor in my son's room, and threw it all in the washer. Seems the wash day is never done and if I figured it out right I have been working more than sun to sun. Did I happen to mention, you can just start calling me Mrs. instead of Mister! Gotta go, I have to feed the puppy and then let the dogs out before I head to work.
All the best,
Glenn B
Why Does The Media Insist On Ruining Good Video?
For the life of me I do not understand why the media, at least major media news reporting, insists on ruing great video by placing banners across the bottom of the screen?
For example, watch the accompanying video, supposedly of a shark feeding frenzy. Most, or at least much, of which takes place on the lower part of the shot, the same part the view of which is obstructed by a media implanted banner.
Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29
If you watch closely though, you will see at least one shark that leaps completely out of the water chasing what I expect are bluefish.
All the best,
Glenn B
For example, watch the accompanying video, supposedly of a shark feeding frenzy. Most, or at least much, of which takes place on the lower part of the shot, the same part the view of which is obstructed by a media implanted banner.
Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29
If you watch closely though, you will see at least one shark that leaps completely out of the water chasing what I expect are bluefish.
All the best,
Glenn B
Hey Politicians - Want To Stay Out Of Trouble - Just Answer The Question
We have all heard it. A politician is asked a question, maybe in a debate by another politician, maybe a question from a constituent, maybe one from a reporter - then he or she goes off on a tangent an gives an answer that covers everything but the question that was asked. I am sick of it, I hate it when they do it, it is a product of bureaucracy and society and I suppose we have to live with it. So it is nice, at least for me, to see politicians, who repeatedly resort to both doubletalk and doublespeak, wind up with egg on their faces when they do it. This goes across all political lines for me. For instance, I have been rather gleeful watching the latest mouthpiece as he struggles to overcome the mistake he made when he decided to go off on a bit of a tangent and not give a direct answer to a question asked of him on the subject of abortion. I am, of course, referring to Missouri Republican Senatorial candidate Todd Akin.
He was being interviewed by a news show host, about his stand on abortion. Apparently, he opposes it, and he was asked a pretty simple and straightforward question, in essence what did he think about using abortion to end pregnancies caused by rape. Instead of having integrity and courage relative to his convictions, instead of giving a direct and truthful answer and saying something like: 'I don't believe that abortion should be used to terminate any pregnancy because I believe that life is sacred and believe that a fetus is a life', he starts blabbing about what he says doctors say. That was something along the lines that a woman's body can sort of shut down to prevent a pregnancy during cases of "legitimate rape". Not only did he not answer the question directly - by not immediately giving his stance outright but instead he told us what doctors supposedly say. In his answer, he also wound up using a totally inappropriate word to describe a rape when he said the words "legitimate rape". Tell me, when in Hades did rape ever become legitimized? I am pretty sure he meant in real cases of rape, as opposed to a woman falsely claiming rape but why bring any of that up when it had absolutely nothing to do with giving a direct answer to the question that was asked.
All the had to do to stay out of trouble was to actually stand up for and express what he truly believed about abortion being wrong (I think that is his belief but it is kind of hard to tell listening to him explain it). Had he done so, he probably would have remained in the lead in his election race. Now, other politicians in his own party are asking him to step down and get out of the race. I think the only person who wants him to remain in the race is his opponent. Who can blame her, she is running against a dimwit and is bound to win if he opens his mouth again about how he feels on the issues.
Guys like this loose lipped linguist (you saw/heard that first here) could easily stay out of trouble by answering the question asked instead of trying to sidestep it with doubletalk and doublespeak and I really wish they would just start using straight talk and give direct clear and concise answers to the questions asked of them. Then again, politics would be nowhere nearly as entertaining if not for twits like him.
All the best,
Glenn B
He was being interviewed by a news show host, about his stand on abortion. Apparently, he opposes it, and he was asked a pretty simple and straightforward question, in essence what did he think about using abortion to end pregnancies caused by rape. Instead of having integrity and courage relative to his convictions, instead of giving a direct and truthful answer and saying something like: 'I don't believe that abortion should be used to terminate any pregnancy because I believe that life is sacred and believe that a fetus is a life', he starts blabbing about what he says doctors say. That was something along the lines that a woman's body can sort of shut down to prevent a pregnancy during cases of "legitimate rape". Not only did he not answer the question directly - by not immediately giving his stance outright but instead he told us what doctors supposedly say. In his answer, he also wound up using a totally inappropriate word to describe a rape when he said the words "legitimate rape". Tell me, when in Hades did rape ever become legitimized? I am pretty sure he meant in real cases of rape, as opposed to a woman falsely claiming rape but why bring any of that up when it had absolutely nothing to do with giving a direct answer to the question that was asked.
All the had to do to stay out of trouble was to actually stand up for and express what he truly believed about abortion being wrong (I think that is his belief but it is kind of hard to tell listening to him explain it). Had he done so, he probably would have remained in the lead in his election race. Now, other politicians in his own party are asking him to step down and get out of the race. I think the only person who wants him to remain in the race is his opponent. Who can blame her, she is running against a dimwit and is bound to win if he opens his mouth again about how he feels on the issues.
Guys like this loose lipped linguist (you saw/heard that first here) could easily stay out of trouble by answering the question asked instead of trying to sidestep it with doubletalk and doublespeak and I really wish they would just start using straight talk and give direct clear and concise answers to the questions asked of them. Then again, politics would be nowhere nearly as entertaining if not for twits like him.
All the best,
Glenn B
SHE WAS AS FUNNY AS FUNNY GETS
Phyllis Diller (pictured with Bob Hope probably in Vietnam circa 1966), gone at age 95. Heck, I always thought she was old, probably because when I started watching her on television, I was about 7 or 8 and she was in her mid 40s (the forties are ancient to kids that young). She was a comedy icon. She really was the funniest woman I have ever seen and she will be missed. I grew up with her. I don't remember all the shows I saw her in but there were many, including: The Phyllis Diller Show, The Red Skelton Hour, The Merv Griffin Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show (with Jack Parr), The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson), The Jackie Gleason Show, I've Got A Secret, The Art Linkletter Show, What's My Line, The Mark Douglas Show, The Dean Martin Comedy Hour, Hollywood Squares, The Bob Hope Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, The David Frost Show, Love American Style, The Flip Wilson Show, and one and on and on. Those were just in the 1960's through the early 70's and include the many more shows referred to when I said "and on and on" all also in that time frame. Her film credits are humongous, they go from the 1950s through the current decade, in fact up until 2011. Her television series/show filmography can be seen here. She also starred in some movies such as Boy Did I Get A Wrong Number and Eight On The Lam, both with Bob Hope. She made me laugh many, many, many times and for that I will always be grateful to her.http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/08/20/comedian-phyllis-diller-dies-in-los-angeles-at-5/
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, August 20, 2012
Six Years Of Crawling Along At Blogging
What do they call it - a blogiversary? Well, I guess that means today is mine. I have been at it for 6 years. Apparently, I am not very good at it, or at least not that popular, judging by the scant visits and pages views I have gotten in all that time. (Edited to add: Scant only as compared to others, I am still surprised that so many people have read my blog.) Maybe there is a trick in getting a blog more widespread and thus better viewed than mine but I do not know it. I always sort of thought my content was as good as some other blogs that have at least as many visits and page views in one year as my blog has had in all six years but that is just my opinion.
To date, according to SiteMeter.com, I have about 193,516 visitors (or 192,230 depending on where I look on SiteMeter for the info). I also have somewhat more than 288,000 page views. Those stats are for all six years. I wonder if that is right though because Blogger shows me as having 211,825 page views since only May 2008; I think that is when they started taking stats. It also says I had 9,530 page views last month but a chart they have shows me as having 10,902 page views last month! Go figure because I can't.
None of that matters very much. What matters are my readers. I hope those of you who do read my stuff find it informative and useful when it is meant to be such and just enjoy whatever else I write the rest of the time. Any respectful and reasonable suggestions on things you might like to see me write about, in my blog, would be appreciated.
All the best,
Glenn B
To date, according to SiteMeter.com, I have about 193,516 visitors (or 192,230 depending on where I look on SiteMeter for the info). I also have somewhat more than 288,000 page views. Those stats are for all six years. I wonder if that is right though because Blogger shows me as having 211,825 page views since only May 2008; I think that is when they started taking stats. It also says I had 9,530 page views last month but a chart they have shows me as having 10,902 page views last month! Go figure because I can't.
None of that matters very much. What matters are my readers. I hope those of you who do read my stuff find it informative and useful when it is meant to be such and just enjoy whatever else I write the rest of the time. Any respectful and reasonable suggestions on things you might like to see me write about, in my blog, would be appreciated.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, August 19, 2012
RUGER MARK II SEMIAUTOMATIC PISTOL - DISASSEMBLY AND REASSEMBLY VIDEOS
Here are parts 1 and 2 of a two part video series on Dissasembly and Reassembly of the Ruger Mark II, semi-automatic, target pistol. Part one is a video showing how I disassemble it and part two shows reassembly. Both the disassembly and reassembly are somewhat complex, not anything like taking down, and putting back together, a Glock 19 or Beretta 92FS. Yet, truth be told, if you know the steps to follow, it is not as terrible as some people make it out to be. I know the steps only by way of the manual. I strongly recommend getting yourself a Ruger Mark II manual before trying this. My guess would be that Ruger may still have them and if not you probably could find a copy for sale at GunBroker.com or a similar website oir maybe even for free on the Internet.
Note, I pretty much read the appropriate parts of the gun's manual each time I take my Ruger Mark II apart and each time I put it back together again. I do that even though I have owned said pistol for 20 to 25 years now. In recent years, I probably only have shot it about 4 to 5 times a year. Over its lifetime, probably on average only 10 times per year at most. I disassemble it maybe 2 or 3 to 4 times a year for a good cleaning; ar other times, it gets a quick cleaning without disassembly. While I can disassemble and reassemble other firearms that I shoot as seldom as I do the Ruger MK II, such as my Beretta 70S, without assistance of a manual, I would never get it right until about the 4th or 5th try, with the Mark II, if I was not using the manual. Some people still find it difficult even when assisted by the manual but it really is not too difficult to get right for anyone who can follow instructions well, at least not with a fairly well fired gun. Newer, less fired and less broken in, Ruger Mark IIs can be difficult but still not too bad.
The first video is pretty brief, well at least for a video that I have made. It lasts somewhat over 6 minutes. I also made the second one this evening but it came out much longer, well over 15 minutes. I redid it several times and the shortest I could get it, and get it right, was just under 13 minutes. It may be a long video on how to reassemble this pistol but please bear in mind that reassembly is usually the more problematic of the two operations. I think some folks will benefit from the detail I go into. I may try to shorten it, that is to redo making the video but this time to to have it come out a couple to few minutes shorter in duration without losing any of the details of the proper reassembly. For now though, you are stuck with the almost 13 minute longer version of the reassembly video.
For those of you who may think the video one is too long, at almost 13 minutes, all I can say in my defense is that this video will be helpful to others who maybe have more patience than you. They would be those who have had a hard time fiddling with their Ruger Mark II's in their attempts to take 'em down for cleaning and then struggle even more trying to get 'em slapped back together. I don't think 12 minutes and 52 seconds will be too long for them on the reassembly side.
Why on earth Sturm - Ruger ever manufactured a pistol that was and remains so much fun to shoot but can be such a pain in the butt, for some folks to maintain, is beyond me!
All the best,
Glenn B
Note, I pretty much read the appropriate parts of the gun's manual each time I take my Ruger Mark II apart and each time I put it back together again. I do that even though I have owned said pistol for 20 to 25 years now. In recent years, I probably only have shot it about 4 to 5 times a year. Over its lifetime, probably on average only 10 times per year at most. I disassemble it maybe 2 or 3 to 4 times a year for a good cleaning; ar other times, it gets a quick cleaning without disassembly. While I can disassemble and reassemble other firearms that I shoot as seldom as I do the Ruger MK II, such as my Beretta 70S, without assistance of a manual, I would never get it right until about the 4th or 5th try, with the Mark II, if I was not using the manual. Some people still find it difficult even when assisted by the manual but it really is not too difficult to get right for anyone who can follow instructions well, at least not with a fairly well fired gun. Newer, less fired and less broken in, Ruger Mark IIs can be difficult but still not too bad.
The first video is pretty brief, well at least for a video that I have made. It lasts somewhat over 6 minutes. I also made the second one this evening but it came out much longer, well over 15 minutes. I redid it several times and the shortest I could get it, and get it right, was just under 13 minutes. It may be a long video on how to reassemble this pistol but please bear in mind that reassembly is usually the more problematic of the two operations. I think some folks will benefit from the detail I go into. I may try to shorten it, that is to redo making the video but this time to to have it come out a couple to few minutes shorter in duration without losing any of the details of the proper reassembly. For now though, you are stuck with the almost 13 minute longer version of the reassembly video.
For those of you who may think the video one is too long, at almost 13 minutes, all I can say in my defense is that this video will be helpful to others who maybe have more patience than you. They would be those who have had a hard time fiddling with their Ruger Mark II's in their attempts to take 'em down for cleaning and then struggle even more trying to get 'em slapped back together. I don't think 12 minutes and 52 seconds will be too long for them on the reassembly side.
Why on earth Sturm - Ruger ever manufactured a pistol that was and remains so much fun to shoot but can be such a pain in the butt, for some folks to maintain, is beyond me!
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, August 17, 2012
23 YEARS SINCE I HAD A SMOKE...
...AND LAST YEAR, I GOT TONSILAR AND LYMPH NODE CANCER ANYWAY. GO FUCKING FIGURE!
LIFE IS SWEET WHILE YOU CAN ENJOY IT OR ARE EVEN WELL ENOUGH TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. JUST BELIEVE ME ON THAT, AND START ENJOYING IT MORE NOW BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS IN STORE FOR YOU.
(I found out I had cancer on August 10th, 2011, if I remember right, but the date really does not matter, believe me on that too.)
All the best,
Glenn B
LIFE IS SWEET WHILE YOU CAN ENJOY IT OR ARE EVEN WELL ENOUGH TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. JUST BELIEVE ME ON THAT, AND START ENJOYING IT MORE NOW BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS IN STORE FOR YOU.
(I found out I had cancer on August 10th, 2011, if I remember right, but the date really does not matter, believe me on that too.)
All the best,
Glenn B
New Additions To The Blog List
This young lady, Cher, and her husband (unbeknownst to me at the time that they were a couple) were both at the Fifth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot. She took some awesome video and photos and shot guns pretty damned good too. Besides that, as can be seen from her two (2) blogs, she enjoys beers and ales among other things! If only I could get my frau to do likewise!
Her blogs can be seen at the following links and are now on my blog roll (or will be once I am not overly imbibed):
http://cher-homespun.blogspot.com/
http://stuffbycher.blogspot.com/
All the best,
Glenn B
Her blogs can be seen at the following links and are now on my blog roll (or will be once I am not overly imbibed):
http://cher-homespun.blogspot.com/
http://stuffbycher.blogspot.com/
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, August 16, 2012
THE ONLY ONES
Every time I hear it out loud, or read printed words, calling a law enforcement officer (LEO) one of THE ONLY ONES if he or she has an accidental discharge, whether or not due to negligence, I get a little fired up. You see, to compare every LEO to the DEA agent who shot himself after saying in essence 'I am the only one, I know of, qualified in this room to handle a firearm' is ludicrous. As a matter of fact, they way the whole ONLY ONES thing is often stated, it makes it appear as if that DEA agent, and every other law enforcement officer in the United States of America, made the statement that only LEOs are qualified to carry firearms. That was not the meaning of the DEA agent's statement at all, listen to the video, you have to be a raving anti-law enforcement person to arrive at such a conclusion. The DEA agent was in effect just telling the children in the class that they should not handle firearms if not in some way qualified or instructed in how to do so, his meaning was pretty obvious or should have been even to a moron. All that aside, yeah, he did something very stupid in how he shot himself, I would bet he never does it again because pain can make you smarter.
All that I just said though does not explain why it gets me miffed when I hear references to THE ONLY ONES in that sarcastic or outright friggin nasty manner in which term is usually conveyed. Nope, it is not even that anyone says it with sarcasm or with anger or nastiness that gets me fired up. What gets me fired up is that the same disrespectful shitheads who group all LEOs together as some anti-gun rights group of ONLY ONES, never for a moment even consider that those same officers are truly, just about (and I said just about because there are some rare folks who are not LEOS that would do this) face the danger every day of being run over, attacked by animals (both two legged and 4 legged), beaten, tabbed, gunned down just because they are law enforcement officers in protecting you and yours. No this is not a debate so please do not start one and don't tell me how you should be free to own guns to protect yourself. If you know me at all, you know I think we should be free to own Abrams tanks to overthrow a tyrannical government if need be; I truly believe that was the intent of the inclusion of the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights - to assure the people kept the power over the government and not the other way around as it almost seems now.
No, this is about something else. It is about a class of people, not the bad apples, but the 90% or more who are truly good guys in law enforcement. A class of people who rush to shooting, stabbings, muggings, 9/11 catastrophes, to help those in need and possibly to face life threatening situations. And it is about they to whom it seemingly does not matter that they indiscriminately use the term the ONLY ONES to insult and demean LEOs who quite frankly may not, for even a second, deserve that term applied to them, in a negative manner, no matter what the incident in which they are involved. To those name callers, it does not matter if the LEOs are liberals, conservatives, libertarians, gun haters, gun lovers, lifetime NRA members, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters - they just know that if a cop, or other LEO, fucks up with a gun - he must be an ONLY ONE. How immature and how sad that such a view point exists in light of incidents like this:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/16/13315235-two-louisiana-deputies-killed-in-ambush-shootings?lite
You know, when I think of these apparent ambush style cop shootings, and when I think of officers who died in events like the destruction at the World Trade center on 9/11/2001, and when I think of cops delivering babies, or pulling people out of car wrecks, or federal agents risking their lives to try to stem the flow of illegal aliens and narcotics at our borders, or an undercover federal agent setting up terrorists for the fall, or a cop climbing a tree to rescue a darned cat, or any other number of things that most other folks would not do in a million years, because they think it is an LEOs job to put themselves in Harm's Way, well then that is when I think that yes indeed - law enforcement officers do deserve the title of THE ONLY ONES. Yeah sure, cops enforce the law but nowhere in any job description I have ever seen for an LEO does it say they have to put themselves in danger to save any one's sorry butt. Yet they do it all the time, and while some gun bloggers acknowledge this, I never have heard certain so called hard core pro-gun bloggers give these cops a nod of approval. They sure do slam them if ever they have a chance and an accidental discharge of a firearms seems all they need whether they know the facts surrounding it or not. All without knowing the officers stance on gun control at that.
As a matter of fact, the person from whose mouth I most recently heard the words THE ONLY ONES used in a somewhat negative manner against LEOs also had recently mentioned that he, in essence, quite possibly would not act like a cop in a situation where others (besides himself or his family) were being harmed by an evil doer. He would protect his family and himself and leave the rest to the cops. I am not saying I blame him, it takes a certain type of individual to guard the flock beyond your own immediate family. (By the way, no names, this is no attack on the person who said that, it is just a reiteration of something to give an example of what I am saying from real life. Please, no one take any offense to me using that example.) Nope, most people, even those who are 100% pro right to keep and bear arms, those who carry every day, those who consider themselves ready for action against bad guys, quite possibly would not help other citizens in dire need in such cases. Yet, LEOs are expected to go out of their way to do so each and every day. In fact, LEOs do that each and every day. Still, they are only considered THE ONLY ONES if they screw up. What a joke but not a funny one.
Yep, they truly are THE ONLY ONES but in a very different context than what most folks mean by it when they say it. When I say it I mean it in a very positive light.
Sure, there are LEOs whose heads are so far up their asses they are truly beyond hope - probably should not be cops just because of bad attitude but my bet is that copy is not going to ask you if you are pro-gun or anti-gun if he is saving your life from drowning, pulling you out of wreck, giving you a ride to the hospital, getting an attacker off of you, helping your wife have a baby, or whatever.Try to remember, please, they are citizens too and they do have the right to their political opinions and their own convictions, and they certainly do not have to be the same as yours or mine. There are also bad LEOs. Let's face it, some could probably have done quite well as members of any hate group of which you can think and some are outright criminals.
The truth is though that the great majority of LEOs are good guys and gals and they do not deserve being slammed in a discriminatory manner without knowing anything about them other than maybe one had an accidental and maybe even a negligent firearms discharge. Why not also give them their due and honor those who serve so well, to protect us, to help us, to uphold the law (remember we vote in the jerks that legislate those laws, the LEOs just enforce them) and who face serious an sometimes even life threatening danger on an all too frequent basis. Why not stop using such a derogatory term as THE ONLY ONES in reference to any LEO whom you pretty much know nothing about. If he is a rabid anti-gun person and truly believes that only cops are qualified to own guns, fine - fire away. But again, why is it I so rarely hear praise for the good things LEOs do from the same folks the likes of whom so frequently slam the police at every chance they get.
All the best,
Glenn B
All that I just said though does not explain why it gets me miffed when I hear references to THE ONLY ONES in that sarcastic or outright friggin nasty manner in which term is usually conveyed. Nope, it is not even that anyone says it with sarcasm or with anger or nastiness that gets me fired up. What gets me fired up is that the same disrespectful shitheads who group all LEOs together as some anti-gun rights group of ONLY ONES, never for a moment even consider that those same officers are truly, just about (and I said just about because there are some rare folks who are not LEOS that would do this) face the danger every day of being run over, attacked by animals (both two legged and 4 legged), beaten, tabbed, gunned down just because they are law enforcement officers in protecting you and yours. No this is not a debate so please do not start one and don't tell me how you should be free to own guns to protect yourself. If you know me at all, you know I think we should be free to own Abrams tanks to overthrow a tyrannical government if need be; I truly believe that was the intent of the inclusion of the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights - to assure the people kept the power over the government and not the other way around as it almost seems now.
No, this is about something else. It is about a class of people, not the bad apples, but the 90% or more who are truly good guys in law enforcement. A class of people who rush to shooting, stabbings, muggings, 9/11 catastrophes, to help those in need and possibly to face life threatening situations. And it is about they to whom it seemingly does not matter that they indiscriminately use the term the ONLY ONES to insult and demean LEOs who quite frankly may not, for even a second, deserve that term applied to them, in a negative manner, no matter what the incident in which they are involved. To those name callers, it does not matter if the LEOs are liberals, conservatives, libertarians, gun haters, gun lovers, lifetime NRA members, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters - they just know that if a cop, or other LEO, fucks up with a gun - he must be an ONLY ONE. How immature and how sad that such a view point exists in light of incidents like this:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/16/13315235-two-louisiana-deputies-killed-in-ambush-shootings?lite
You know, when I think of these apparent ambush style cop shootings, and when I think of officers who died in events like the destruction at the World Trade center on 9/11/2001, and when I think of cops delivering babies, or pulling people out of car wrecks, or federal agents risking their lives to try to stem the flow of illegal aliens and narcotics at our borders, or an undercover federal agent setting up terrorists for the fall, or a cop climbing a tree to rescue a darned cat, or any other number of things that most other folks would not do in a million years, because they think it is an LEOs job to put themselves in Harm's Way, well then that is when I think that yes indeed - law enforcement officers do deserve the title of THE ONLY ONES. Yeah sure, cops enforce the law but nowhere in any job description I have ever seen for an LEO does it say they have to put themselves in danger to save any one's sorry butt. Yet they do it all the time, and while some gun bloggers acknowledge this, I never have heard certain so called hard core pro-gun bloggers give these cops a nod of approval. They sure do slam them if ever they have a chance and an accidental discharge of a firearms seems all they need whether they know the facts surrounding it or not. All without knowing the officers stance on gun control at that.
As a matter of fact, the person from whose mouth I most recently heard the words THE ONLY ONES used in a somewhat negative manner against LEOs also had recently mentioned that he, in essence, quite possibly would not act like a cop in a situation where others (besides himself or his family) were being harmed by an evil doer. He would protect his family and himself and leave the rest to the cops. I am not saying I blame him, it takes a certain type of individual to guard the flock beyond your own immediate family. (By the way, no names, this is no attack on the person who said that, it is just a reiteration of something to give an example of what I am saying from real life. Please, no one take any offense to me using that example.) Nope, most people, even those who are 100% pro right to keep and bear arms, those who carry every day, those who consider themselves ready for action against bad guys, quite possibly would not help other citizens in dire need in such cases. Yet, LEOs are expected to go out of their way to do so each and every day. In fact, LEOs do that each and every day. Still, they are only considered THE ONLY ONES if they screw up. What a joke but not a funny one.
Yep, they truly are THE ONLY ONES but in a very different context than what most folks mean by it when they say it. When I say it I mean it in a very positive light.
Sure, there are LEOs whose heads are so far up their asses they are truly beyond hope - probably should not be cops just because of bad attitude but my bet is that copy is not going to ask you if you are pro-gun or anti-gun if he is saving your life from drowning, pulling you out of wreck, giving you a ride to the hospital, getting an attacker off of you, helping your wife have a baby, or whatever.Try to remember, please, they are citizens too and they do have the right to their political opinions and their own convictions, and they certainly do not have to be the same as yours or mine. There are also bad LEOs. Let's face it, some could probably have done quite well as members of any hate group of which you can think and some are outright criminals.
The truth is though that the great majority of LEOs are good guys and gals and they do not deserve being slammed in a discriminatory manner without knowing anything about them other than maybe one had an accidental and maybe even a negligent firearms discharge. Why not also give them their due and honor those who serve so well, to protect us, to help us, to uphold the law (remember we vote in the jerks that legislate those laws, the LEOs just enforce them) and who face serious an sometimes even life threatening danger on an all too frequent basis. Why not stop using such a derogatory term as THE ONLY ONES in reference to any LEO whom you pretty much know nothing about. If he is a rabid anti-gun person and truly believes that only cops are qualified to own guns, fine - fire away. But again, why is it I so rarely hear praise for the good things LEOs do from the same folks the likes of whom so frequently slam the police at every chance they get.
All the best,
Glenn B
The New Dogs In The The House...
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| Abby and Chloe |
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| Chloe goes exploring. |
They are sisters and are both long haired Chihuahuas (we think they are long hairs, I suppose time will tell). Abby was a gift to my wife from our daughter's fiance. He knows whom to smooze or so it seems but he is taking chances on whom to oppose - as in me - who absolutely did not want a fifth
As things would have it, we get to watch Chloe and Gizmo, the really hairy one in the pics, which is daughter's and future son-in-law's first dog. Man it was crazy enough around here with 4 dogs, now we have 5 and when the other two visit we have
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| Abby greets Roxie. |
In the meantime, regardless of vet bills, paying no or little attention to madness and mayhem doggy style and probably some pee and poop on the floors, there will be a lot of puppy love going on around here in the immediate future.
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| Lucy the fearful, barks at everything. |
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| Pepe sleeps through it all. |
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| Gizmo, looks more Spitz than Chihuahua. |
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| Roxie the gorilla. |
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| Mimi, leader of the pack. |
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| Time for a nap. |
All the best,
Glenn B
Making Up For Spent Ammo
Wow, I am gunna guess and say that Brendan and I shot up about 1,500 rounds of ammo at the Fifth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot this past weekend. That may not seem like an awful lot of ammo to some people but I think it was more than a mere shot in the dark. When you consider that Brendan probably shot at least 75% of it, probably 90% of the pistol ammo we shot, well you can figure that he got some shooting done!
My son and I attended the Fifth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot (our first) and all I can say is I wish I had attended the first four of them also. It was a great day of shooting. I figure we went through about 300 rounds of 5.56x45mm, 350-400 rounds of 7.62x39mm, 450 rounds of 9mm, 200-300 rounds of .45 ACP, 100 rounds of .22 WMR, 150 rounds of .22 LR and lastly - about 10 rounds of .35 Remington. My son truly enjoyed shooting 4 of my pistols, the: Beretta 70S (.22 LR), Beretta 92SB, Beretta 92SF, and Remington R1-1911. He liked the 9mms and the .45 so much, that after shooting the Beretta 70S, (.22LR), he declined shooting my Ruger MKII and went back to the 9mms and .45 for the rest of the afternoon. All that does not include the canon shot, since he also got to fire off a canon for which someone else was nice enough to supply powder. The figures above are my best guesstimation at this point, we may have shot as few as about 1,300 rounds or as many as about 1,700. To get an accurate count, I will have to tally what ammo I have left in the ammo cans that we took to the bloggershoot.
Shooting that ammo up does not badly deplete what I have stored away but it does lessen the amount by about 1,500 rounds and at least some of it should be replaced. I am in no great hurry to replace it, except maybe for the .45 ammo and the 9mm ammo. I already placed an order for 500 rounds of 9mm. I placed an order for 10 boxes (500 rounds) of Aguila 9mm, 124 gr., FMJ, ammo from Sportsmansguide. Even when sold by the box, they beat everyone else on price when I used a $10 off coupon code along with my club membership discount. It was a bargain $113.19 shipped.
Now that I think of it, I should have ordered .45 ACP before ordering 9mm as the need is more critical for that caliber. I'll probably order some .45 ACP next month. I think I will let my son save up some of his money for some 7.62x39mm and some 5.56x45mm. Then again, I recently bought some of both, anticipating the bloggershoot, and did not shoot as much as I bought so, we actually now have a little more than I had before I ordered those. No need for me to get any more right now.
Being that I just wrote a blog-post about keeping guns happy (aka: keeping them clean), I am going to have to get down to some serious gun scrubbing this evening or tomorrow. These are not my carry guns, the carry gun - my Glock 26 was cleaned as soon as I could get it done within reason (which wound up being the morning after we got home from the bloggershoot - no facilities to get it done safely at the shoot and time had run out for our stay). That late cleaning, along with the television show I mentioned here, were what got me to thinking I need to clean my guns, at least my carry gun, right after I shoot it and while still at the range whenever possible.
All the best,
Glenn B
My son and I attended the Fifth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot (our first) and all I can say is I wish I had attended the first four of them also. It was a great day of shooting. I figure we went through about 300 rounds of 5.56x45mm, 350-400 rounds of 7.62x39mm, 450 rounds of 9mm, 200-300 rounds of .45 ACP, 100 rounds of .22 WMR, 150 rounds of .22 LR and lastly - about 10 rounds of .35 Remington. My son truly enjoyed shooting 4 of my pistols, the: Beretta 70S (.22 LR), Beretta 92SB, Beretta 92SF, and Remington R1-1911. He liked the 9mms and the .45 so much, that after shooting the Beretta 70S, (.22LR), he declined shooting my Ruger MKII and went back to the 9mms and .45 for the rest of the afternoon. All that does not include the canon shot, since he also got to fire off a canon for which someone else was nice enough to supply powder. The figures above are my best guesstimation at this point, we may have shot as few as about 1,300 rounds or as many as about 1,700. To get an accurate count, I will have to tally what ammo I have left in the ammo cans that we took to the bloggershoot.
Shooting that ammo up does not badly deplete what I have stored away but it does lessen the amount by about 1,500 rounds and at least some of it should be replaced. I am in no great hurry to replace it, except maybe for the .45 ammo and the 9mm ammo. I already placed an order for 500 rounds of 9mm. I placed an order for 10 boxes (500 rounds) of Aguila 9mm, 124 gr., FMJ, ammo from Sportsmansguide. Even when sold by the box, they beat everyone else on price when I used a $10 off coupon code along with my club membership discount. It was a bargain $113.19 shipped.
Now that I think of it, I should have ordered .45 ACP before ordering 9mm as the need is more critical for that caliber. I'll probably order some .45 ACP next month. I think I will let my son save up some of his money for some 7.62x39mm and some 5.56x45mm. Then again, I recently bought some of both, anticipating the bloggershoot, and did not shoot as much as I bought so, we actually now have a little more than I had before I ordered those. No need for me to get any more right now.
Being that I just wrote a blog-post about keeping guns happy (aka: keeping them clean), I am going to have to get down to some serious gun scrubbing this evening or tomorrow. These are not my carry guns, the carry gun - my Glock 26 was cleaned as soon as I could get it done within reason (which wound up being the morning after we got home from the bloggershoot - no facilities to get it done safely at the shoot and time had run out for our stay). That late cleaning, along with the television show I mentioned here, were what got me to thinking I need to clean my guns, at least my carry gun, right after I shoot it and while still at the range whenever possible.
All the best,
Glenn B
Another Reason To Keep Your Guns Happy
Quarterly firearms qualifications were over for the day for my agency. It was a hot one, most of the shooters were miserable, covered with sweat and probably with their fair share of lead dust and powder residue and they just wanted to go home but they still had some work to do policing up the spent brass shell casings. As they were doing so, one of the other firearms instructors, Pete G, got on the loud speaker and reminded them, in a loud, booming but very gleeful voice that: "A clean gun is a happy gun" (one of his favorite sayings) and then reminded all of them that cleaning equipment was available for them to clean their guns before leaving the range. Less than half of them did so. Heck, I was one of the instructors and I have to admit, I did not always clean my guns before leaving the range. I often did it at home the following day - shame on me because I knew better than to go back out on the street with a dirty gun.
There are varying reasons that you should keep your gun happy, or in other words keep it clean. The first and foremost is so that it operates properly. When we shot for pistol qualifications, we also always shot a good amount of rounds for tactical training. I am going to guess that each of us fired at least 300 to 500 rounds on any given qualification day, that all through one pistol. If someone had a secondary handgun, then they may have fired from 50 to 100 rounds though it too. One of the best ways to assure that Murphy will butt in when you need your gun to be in 100 percent working capability is when you have not taken the time to properly maintain your firearm with a good cleaning including any called for lubrication. Carbon deposits, brass shavings, copper fouling, unburnt gunpowder particles, lead buildup, oil residue can all go a long way to prevent a firearm from functioning properly. All it takes is one malfunction, at a critical time, and you could wind up the loser in a gunfight.
While maintaining proper functioning of a defensive firearms is the primary reason to clean your guns, you also want to clean them even if you only use them while target shooting or hunting and you want them to stay clean even if you never shoot them such as could be the case with a firearms collector. Cleaning and properly lubricating them keeps them not only in good working order but in good cosmetic order too and thus keeps their value up.
I was recently watching a new crime drama called Longmire. It reminded me of a reason, not often thought about, to keep your guns clean. Sheriff Longmire and one of his deputies were working on a murder investigation and he picks up a gun, then rubs his finger over the bore with a twisting motion, then looks at and I think sniffed his fingertip. The deputy is looking at him quizzically. He explains to the deputy, if it comes off smelling like oil, it has not been fired recently but if it comes off covered in powder residue and smelling like burnt gunpowder then it has been fired (at least since the last time it was cleaned). Now, while the sheriff's methods are mostly balderdash, stuff for television audiences put into the show by moronic imbeciles who make movies, there is some truth in what was depicted and having cleaned your guns, right after shooting them at the range, could potentially save you some trouble with the law.
Let me give a brief example, nothing as heinous as a murder. Say that have a nasty verbal altercation with someone. It could be a neighbor, relative or even a spouse with whom you do not get along, or maybe just a stranger in a public place. Let's use the stranger for our purposes. For some reason, you get in an argument with a peckerwood in the parking lot of your local Wally World. Maybe you inadvertently cut him off or he you, or whatever. It gets heated, a lot of yelling and screaming is done but you both finally get in your cars and drive away out of the parking lot - coincidentally or not - going in the same direction. Then you turn different ways and you cool; down and forget about it. All the while, during the confrontation, you were armed, carrying a pistol; in a strong side hip holster under your jacket. You never even thought of using it, the guy was just a blowhard. You drive home and have a beer.
Sometime, later that same day, after the altercation, when you are at home, the front doorbell rings, then there is a loud banging on the front door as if someone is knocking with all his might. Then your skin crawls as you hear someone yell loudly "POLICE, OPEN THE DOOR". You walk to the door and open it and there are 4 or 5 officers outside. They are not very friendly looking either, they mean business. They ask if they can come in. Maybe you let them in and maybe not. You ask what is going on and they explain that a citizen has made a complaint against you, saying the two of you had an altercation in the parking lot, then he said that after you both drove away, you pulled out your pistol and fired a couple of rounds in his direction on the road. You are in shock. You deny it. You tell the officers yeah you had a verbal altercation with a peckerwoodLongmire did for his television audience. His finger comes away with carbon on it, the gun has not been cleaned since you fired it at the range last week. It appears to have been fired recently.
If they were not going to arrest you before, they are probably at least strongly considering it now. You will be, at the very least, going to the station for questioning. My guess though it that you are about to be shackled. Why? Little did you realize it, but as you were motioning with your arms while discussing matters with Mr. Peckerwood, you gun was exposed for a split second and he saw it. As he drove out of the parking lot, he saw something else too, your license plate number and he wrote it down. Being the antagonistic type that he is, he decided to call the police and make a false claim against you. Maybe he was drunk, maybe he was a psycho, maybe just an asshole but the truth is that people, for whatever reasons, make false allegations against others pretty frequently.
You may be able to explain it all away and good investigative work should show your gun had not been fired that day - but do you want to depend on someone else to be doing good investigative work to get you off the hook. Then again, maybe it will not all be so easy to explain away. Maybe you went shooting out in the sticks, not at a commercial range, maybe you have no witnesses, maybe it was just the day before and the fouling and powder residue are all pretty fresh. You are going to have a serious problem. While you are facing a problem caused by a false allegation, it would be much less serious a problem if you had cleaned your gun right after shooting it. I would also point out it would be less of a problem if you had kept your mouth shut, did not hand them the pistol and called a lawyer but as I said, they may have come with a warrant and found the gun anyway. A clean gun would only have meant one of two things, you cleaned it once you got home after taking a shot at the guy or it was already clean and had not been fired since last cleaned.
Now while I set this up so it could go either way, and so you could mull this and that and maybe even try to debate the issue with me by saying the guy should have just not let the police inside or not given them the gun and not said anything - how about something a little more exigent. How about a situation in which the guy calls the police, 2 minutes after have the altercation, from his cell phone while in his car. They pull you over, a few minutes later, while you are still driving home. They approach guns drawn, this is a felony car stop. They ask if you are armed and you say yes and that you have a pistol permit but they pull you out of the car and pat you down. They take the pistol, they do the Longmire School of Investigations 'has the gun been fired recently test' and you wind up getting arrested on the spot. Had it been a clean gun, the outcome may have been very different, such as them asking if you would not mind coming down to the station instead of you getting a new set of bracelets or even letting you go. If you have to go in, going in voluntarily is much less stressful than going in shackled. Thus you would have some time to think straight about what to do (such as CALLING A LAWYER) before you get to the police station.
You decide which evidence you would want to present then decide on whether or not you want to keep your gun happy!
All the best,
Glenn B
There are varying reasons that you should keep your gun happy, or in other words keep it clean. The first and foremost is so that it operates properly. When we shot for pistol qualifications, we also always shot a good amount of rounds for tactical training. I am going to guess that each of us fired at least 300 to 500 rounds on any given qualification day, that all through one pistol. If someone had a secondary handgun, then they may have fired from 50 to 100 rounds though it too. One of the best ways to assure that Murphy will butt in when you need your gun to be in 100 percent working capability is when you have not taken the time to properly maintain your firearm with a good cleaning including any called for lubrication. Carbon deposits, brass shavings, copper fouling, unburnt gunpowder particles, lead buildup, oil residue can all go a long way to prevent a firearm from functioning properly. All it takes is one malfunction, at a critical time, and you could wind up the loser in a gunfight.
While maintaining proper functioning of a defensive firearms is the primary reason to clean your guns, you also want to clean them even if you only use them while target shooting or hunting and you want them to stay clean even if you never shoot them such as could be the case with a firearms collector. Cleaning and properly lubricating them keeps them not only in good working order but in good cosmetic order too and thus keeps their value up.
I was recently watching a new crime drama called Longmire. It reminded me of a reason, not often thought about, to keep your guns clean. Sheriff Longmire and one of his deputies were working on a murder investigation and he picks up a gun, then rubs his finger over the bore with a twisting motion, then looks at and I think sniffed his fingertip. The deputy is looking at him quizzically. He explains to the deputy, if it comes off smelling like oil, it has not been fired recently but if it comes off covered in powder residue and smelling like burnt gunpowder then it has been fired (at least since the last time it was cleaned). Now, while the sheriff's methods are mostly balderdash, stuff for television audiences put into the show by moronic imbeciles who make movies, there is some truth in what was depicted and having cleaned your guns, right after shooting them at the range, could potentially save you some trouble with the law.
Let me give a brief example, nothing as heinous as a murder. Say that have a nasty verbal altercation with someone. It could be a neighbor, relative or even a spouse with whom you do not get along, or maybe just a stranger in a public place. Let's use the stranger for our purposes. For some reason, you get in an argument with a peckerwood in the parking lot of your local Wally World. Maybe you inadvertently cut him off or he you, or whatever. It gets heated, a lot of yelling and screaming is done but you both finally get in your cars and drive away out of the parking lot - coincidentally or not - going in the same direction. Then you turn different ways and you cool; down and forget about it. All the while, during the confrontation, you were armed, carrying a pistol; in a strong side hip holster under your jacket. You never even thought of using it, the guy was just a blowhard. You drive home and have a beer.
Sometime, later that same day, after the altercation, when you are at home, the front doorbell rings, then there is a loud banging on the front door as if someone is knocking with all his might. Then your skin crawls as you hear someone yell loudly "POLICE, OPEN THE DOOR". You walk to the door and open it and there are 4 or 5 officers outside. They are not very friendly looking either, they mean business. They ask if they can come in. Maybe you let them in and maybe not. You ask what is going on and they explain that a citizen has made a complaint against you, saying the two of you had an altercation in the parking lot, then he said that after you both drove away, you pulled out your pistol and fired a couple of rounds in his direction on the road. You are in shock. You deny it. You tell the officers yeah you had a verbal altercation with a peckerwoodLongmire did for his television audience. His finger comes away with carbon on it, the gun has not been cleaned since you fired it at the range last week. It appears to have been fired recently.
If they were not going to arrest you before, they are probably at least strongly considering it now. You will be, at the very least, going to the station for questioning. My guess though it that you are about to be shackled. Why? Little did you realize it, but as you were motioning with your arms while discussing matters with Mr. Peckerwood, you gun was exposed for a split second and he saw it. As he drove out of the parking lot, he saw something else too, your license plate number and he wrote it down. Being the antagonistic type that he is, he decided to call the police and make a false claim against you. Maybe he was drunk, maybe he was a psycho, maybe just an asshole but the truth is that people, for whatever reasons, make false allegations against others pretty frequently.
You may be able to explain it all away and good investigative work should show your gun had not been fired that day - but do you want to depend on someone else to be doing good investigative work to get you off the hook. Then again, maybe it will not all be so easy to explain away. Maybe you went shooting out in the sticks, not at a commercial range, maybe you have no witnesses, maybe it was just the day before and the fouling and powder residue are all pretty fresh. You are going to have a serious problem. While you are facing a problem caused by a false allegation, it would be much less serious a problem if you had cleaned your gun right after shooting it. I would also point out it would be less of a problem if you had kept your mouth shut, did not hand them the pistol and called a lawyer but as I said, they may have come with a warrant and found the gun anyway. A clean gun would only have meant one of two things, you cleaned it once you got home after taking a shot at the guy or it was already clean and had not been fired since last cleaned.
Now while I set this up so it could go either way, and so you could mull this and that and maybe even try to debate the issue with me by saying the guy should have just not let the police inside or not given them the gun and not said anything - how about something a little more exigent. How about a situation in which the guy calls the police, 2 minutes after have the altercation, from his cell phone while in his car. They pull you over, a few minutes later, while you are still driving home. They approach guns drawn, this is a felony car stop. They ask if you are armed and you say yes and that you have a pistol permit but they pull you out of the car and pat you down. They take the pistol, they do the Longmire School of Investigations 'has the gun been fired recently test' and you wind up getting arrested on the spot. Had it been a clean gun, the outcome may have been very different, such as them asking if you would not mind coming down to the station instead of you getting a new set of bracelets or even letting you go. If you have to go in, going in voluntarily is much less stressful than going in shackled. Thus you would have some time to think straight about what to do (such as CALLING A LAWYER) before you get to the police station.
You decide which evidence you would want to present then decide on whether or not you want to keep your gun happy!
All the best,
Glenn B
Blow Hard To Fill Those Blimps...
...instead of blowing hard to make it sound as if the government is doing something new to combat illegal immigration and other smuggling across our borders and you just might accomplish something worthwhile using a government employee's hot air. It seems that Customs and Border protection and the Department of Defense are blowing their horns talking about the great new tool for law enforcement that the military is giving or lending to CBP and that they are about to deploy along our southern border. The thing is, while the particular Aerostats may be newer than what CBP already had in use, the use of blimps and aerostats to surveil our borders is nothing new. The aerostat has been in use for at least 15-20 years along the soutern border, the now defunct U.S. Customs Service had at least a few of them.
So why would the military giving them to CBP just happen to be big news now. Think about it, it is an election year. I would bet my bottom dollar that politics and nothing else drove the Defense Department to make this seem like something new so the Obama Administration can claim some sort of credit for thinking up the idea. Pay attention to see if Obama, or blabbermouth Biden, bring it up in any speeches or news conferences before the election.
All the best,
Glenn B
So why would the military giving them to CBP just happen to be big news now. Think about it, it is an election year. I would bet my bottom dollar that politics and nothing else drove the Defense Department to make this seem like something new so the Obama Administration can claim some sort of credit for thinking up the idea. Pay attention to see if Obama, or blabbermouth Biden, bring it up in any speeches or news conferences before the election.
All the best,
Glenn B
Finally Ordered A New Computer
Now that my pension checks are coming in the full(?) amount, I went ahead an shopped around for a new computer. I had been debating a laptop or a desktop and decided on the laptop because I like the portability of them and that far outweighed the power capabilities of a larger desktop for what I will mostly be doing with the laptop. Still, I did not by a wimp laptop but got one of mid range power for a laptop. It is an HP dv7t Quad Ed. It is equipped with:
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
• 12GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750GB 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• Microsoft Office Home Student 2010 + Adobe Acrobat X Standard
• 6 cell + 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
Since HP offered a one year interest free payment plan, I opted for that way to pay. That will make it somewhat easier on the retirement finances.
I figure this laptop will have enough power to do some gaming, I hope so anyway. I have not played games on a PC for a long time but would like to get some sci-fi action/shooter type games for it. Something along the lines of Doom (a dead giveaway clue that I have not played PC games in a long while). Maybe Crysis, if the system can handle it. If not, then just blogging, doing photo editing for the blog, web surfing, and maybe some milder games.
All the best,
Glenn B
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
• 12GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750GB 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• Microsoft Office Home Student 2010 + Adobe Acrobat X Standard
• 6 cell + 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
Since HP offered a one year interest free payment plan, I opted for that way to pay. That will make it somewhat easier on the retirement finances.
I figure this laptop will have enough power to do some gaming, I hope so anyway. I have not played games on a PC for a long time but would like to get some sci-fi action/shooter type games for it. Something along the lines of Doom (a dead giveaway clue that I have not played PC games in a long while). Maybe Crysis, if the system can handle it. If not, then just blogging, doing photo editing for the blog, web surfing, and maybe some milder games.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, August 13, 2012
THE FIFTH ANNUAL NORTHEAST BLOGSHOOT IN PICTURES
Except for these few words and the captions, this blog post is full of pictures and just about nothing else.
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| Two nice folks enjoying all the gun nuts! |
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| Hmm, I wonder if the targets we used are too small? |
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| Guns to the left of us. |
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| Guns to the right of us. |
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| Guns in front of us. |
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| Guns behind us. |
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| A Shooter eager to start shooting. |
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| Oh yeah, who says you were on line in front of me! |
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| Man In Skirt Driving Stake Into Evil Doer, next thing you know men like him will be carrying and shooting pink and yellow guns! |
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| Women loading for her life because man in skirt walks up next to her and starts shooting pink and yellow rifle. |
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| Man responsible for bringing the pink and yellow rifle. At least he as not wearing a skirt. |
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| Man in skirt admiring real guns. (Yes, the pink and yellow one was real too, very-very real.) |
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| Old Man With Guns. |
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| How could he not notice the guy next to him with THAT gun! |
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| Real Man With Guns. |
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| Happy gal shooting. |
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| He-man shooting an American gun, a 1911. |
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| Some wimp shooting an imported gun. |
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| I had better shut up, he shot that imported gun pretty well! |
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| Scary Black Guns! |
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| Talk about scary, heck man, there were even cannons. |
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| "One more wise crack about me and that colorful gun and I'll give you one guess where I am going to put this hand cannon!" |
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| What was left of the most shot at target. (Or how they should have dumped OBL!) Should have worn a raincoat! |
Brendan shooting the 1911.
Speed Shooting the 1911
Man, he learned fast.
Man, he learned fast.
Running out of ammo can be fun!
Undercover PETA activist threatens to expose gun owner
who is filming himself torturing a cute cuddly animal.
THE BIG BANG THAT ENDED IT ALL
All the best,
Glenn B
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