I Have Heard It Said: A District Attorney Could Get A Grand Jury...

...to indict a ham sandwich. I think that maybe a DA in New York City has taken it a step further by charging an allegedly mentally disturbed with assault after New York City Police officers shot two bystanders while in an altercation with said man. The DA reportedly charged him with assault on the premise that the man was responsible because if not for his actions, the police would not have drawn their weapons and fired at him, albeit missing and hitting the bystanders.  (Source.)

Note, there was no reported physical contact between him and the officers as they shot - they shot and missed and hit innocent people on a crowded NYC street. I do not see this charge having a chance should the man take it to trial. The person responsible for the shot fired is usually the person who pulled the trigger. There are very few exceptions to that although one could be if a gun were discharged at a bad guy by an officer and the bad guy hit or grabbed the gun, just as it went off, redirecting the shot. In this case though, that apparently did not happen.

Now please note, I am not saying the man was an innocent nor am I faulting the officers. I am saying I think the DA is pushing for a what seems to be a very strange prosecution. Yes, the man was acting like he was emotionally disturbed, was putting his life and possibly those of others at risk. Then he placed his hand into his pocket, evidently like he was about to draw a weapon and the police fired on him but the man did not fire on anyone or grab the officers' guns causing the shots to go astray.

There have been lot of questions as to whether or not the officers should have discharged their weapons with such a large crowd in the area. Sometimes they have to weigh all the potentialities and do whatever they decide in a split second, and physical changes to their senses - such as tunnel vision - come into play during such stressful situations and he was quite possibly all they saw. I will not second guess them - at least I will not without a lot more information indicating that they were wrong.

Regardless of what comes of that, I find it fairly amazing that the man was charged with assault on the reported theory that he was responsible for the shots being fired. I would be even more amazed if the DA actually expects to successfully prosecute that charge at trial. I was always taught that I was responsible for the rounds I fired out of my issued weapons and I taught other shooters likewise. To say that the defendant was responsible for those shots seems to be a stretch, a big one. As I said, a DA could get a Grand Jury to indict a ham sandwich.

All the best,
Glenn B

One of My Favorite Christmas Songs Sung By A Heavenly Voice

All the best,
Glenn B

What Took The Courts 30 Years?

I will never quite understand why it is that Justice is not only blind but also as slow as molasses trying to flow uphill on a bitter cold day in January. It seems there must have been a good amount of evidence, over those years, so that Stanly Wrice - convicted of a 1982 rape and sentenced 30 years ago - should have had his case reexamined by the courts. Wrice alleged that police beat a confession out of him. That may be with or without merit; however, others have been freed who made the same allegations against the same cops who worked under the Lt. John Burge. Now he is free and it will be up to the prosecutor to determine if they will attempt to retry him.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/11/after-30-years-man-who-says-chicago-police-tortured-him-into-false-confession/

If Wrice remains free, and is not retried and convicted again, one has to wonder how he will adjust to life on the outside after having missed the developments of the past three decades. A lot has changed sine he went inside. Of course, he could have to face a new trial and could still be convicted all over again if the prosecutor's and police have a lot of physical evidence pointing to him as the rapist but it is difficult for me to fathom why police allegedly would have bothered trying to beat a confession out of him if such had been the case. If he ultimately remains free, let us hope it is because he actually did not do the crime as opposed to because of two police officers beating a confession out of a guilty guy to get him convicted; thus not only leaving Justice blind and slow but with dirty hands as well.

All the best,
Glenn  B

Illegal Immigrant Working As AZ State Police Detective

An illegal alien reportedly managed to get jobs in the federal court system and then later as a state trooper and then detective with the Arizona State Police. See: http://news.msn.com/us/arizona-detective-resigns-over-illegal-immigrant-status.

She supposedly was unaware of the fact that she was here illegally, always having believed what her mother had told her, that she had been born in the USA. That reportedly came unglued during an argument during which her mother told her the truth. The detective has since resigned. I feel bad for her if she truthfully did not know she was an illegal alien but that is as far as I will go with sympathy for her - feeling bad.

While officials are saying this will not have an impact on any cases she worked, I can only think that would be the case if at least one of two things happened. Either she never worked any investigative cases resulting in arrests and convictions or seizures or all of the ones she worked were dismissed with the defendants found not guilty. Otherwise, I would say that any defendants prosecuted as a result of her case work have a darned good chance of having their cases reviewed and possibly dismissed. After all, at least as I see it, she was in no way shape or form legally qualified to enforce the laws of this country or one of its states and every person she ever arrested can make such a case in court. As her being a law enforcement officer was not legal, then it should follow that none of the arrests or seizures she ever made, testimony she ever gave, or anything else she did to enforce the law, has any legal standing.

Only in America folks, only in America! How did the song go:

I like to be in America
Okay by me in America
Everything free in America...

Heavens help us otherwise, the next thing you know, we will vote an illegal immigrant into political office. Hey, wait a minute...

All the best,
Glenn B

Rampaging Reindeer Batman - Christmas Is Only Two Weeks Away

I had best get my butt in gear and so too had you if you, like me, have not gotten even half of your Christmas shopping done yet! I have made only a few forays out into the wilds of my local shopping centers and somehow have managed to avoid the malls - so far. Sadly, one of my shopping adventures has had to include Walmart. Well, I guess saying had to is a bit of overstatement but I did go there to buy a few gifts. The first time, I was looking for some ammo and did not find any but happened to notice some really terrible Duck Dynasty T-shirts for sale - so I got a couple of them. They are for two very special folks who will either love them or hate them (and maybe hate me too). The next time was just yesterday when I picked up a certain model of coffee maker that was less expensive than anywhere else by a good margin. I like a deal as well as the next guy so I ordered one online for store pick-up. That was a mistake, I waited about 30 minutes to get I and they had them on the shelves. I figured I ordered it for store pick-up so I was responsible to wait for it. Next time, I will just go and pluck it off of the shelf. Walmart was interesting, as it usually is when I visit there. There are certainly a bunch of weirdos who both shop and work there. Nothing special this trip, just your run of the mill people of Walmart.

I have also been to the place where I buy some of the best Christmas gifts that I give each year. No, I did not purchase money orders at the bank. I have twice been to local liquor stores to pick up what I am sure will be some of the most appreciated gifts I give this season. I wonder, why is it that way when it comes to booze - LOL.

Anyway, I got enough so far to make several people rather merry. One of the items I picked up was a Crystal Head Vodka set. Not only should it make someone feel seasonally merry but it is a nice curiosity with the crystal skull and two skull shot glasses. I have seen pics of the empty bottles used as oil lamps to candle holders and likewise with the glasses although I would keep them to drink from if they were mine.

Anyway, much more shopping to go and I think tomorrow I may have to hit the malls.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ammo Alert - Federal Classic 12 Gauge Slugs

As I type, Sportsmansguide .com is offering 50 rounds (in 5 round boxes) of Federal Classic, 12 Gauge, 2 3/4", 1 Ounce, Rifled Slugs for $34.99 (non-club member) or $33.24 (club members). The non club member price works out to about $3.50 per 5 round box and the member price to about $3.32 per box. They are also offering FREE shipping if you use code: SH1495 at checkout. Considering the current ammo situation, that is a pretty good deal. Heck, those prices are almost back to the prices of a few years ago. If you need 2 3/4" 12 gauge slugs, I suggest hurrying in making an order as neither that price on the ammo nor the free shipping are likely to last long. See:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=1104727

Did I buy any? Does the bear shit in the woods (or the buckwheat), does the sun rise in the east, does a lie fall out of Obama's mouth just about every time he promises us something - sure to all of them and sure I did.

All the best,
Glenn B

5 - 6 Inches of Snow on The Way

It's going to be an unusually early snow fall for the greater NYC area and Long Island tomorrow. Early December is very early for us to get any accumulations but they are calling for 5-6 inches tomorrow. That could mean anywhere from nothing to two feet with how unreliable the weather forecasters can be at times. As for how I feel about it, even though I will have to shovel it, I refer you to the below:



All the best,
Glenn B

Women

A hat tip to Rich M for that one. Not only was he a good firearms range master, he knows lots of important stuff, like the above.

All the best,
Glenn B

Danger Will Robinson - Danger

I just left a comment on a post at another bloggers site and had to enter a CAPTCHA phrase to show I was a human. It showed as: "lawmen search". With all the government spying going on lately, of just about everything, by just about any government agency, I had to wonder if my computer was giving me a hint.



All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History - The Sneak Attack On Pearl Harbor

At 7:48 Hawaiian time,  on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor commenced. It was the worst single attack on U.S. soil prior to the attack on 9/11, specifically the attack on the World Trade Center in which 2,606 people perished (not including those on the plane). At Pearl Harbor, there were 2,402 Americans killed and 1,282 wounded, many ships of the Pacific fleet were sunk and otherwise damaged, hundreds of aircraft were destroyed and many ground installations likewise. The attack brought President Franklin D. Roosevelt to call on Congress for a declaration of war on Japan, on December 8, 1941, the very next day.

It was a quick and almost unanimous decision on the part of the president and Congress to declare war. At 12:30 in the afternoon, on December 8, 1941, Roosevelt commenced a brief speech, of  7 minutes, to a joint session of Congress in which he made the eternal statement that December 7, 1941 was a date that would live in infamy.



Immediately after the speech, the issue was brought to a vote, first in the Senate and then in the House. The vote in the Senate was unanimous, 82-0, the vote in the House was 388 to 1 (the first woman elected to Congress, an avowed pacifist, was the sole no vote). The votes were lightning quick and a declaration of war achieved by 1:10 PM. It took only 33 minutes, from the conclusion of Roosevelt addressing Congress, to the completion of the vote and for war to be declared on Japan! The president signed it within three hours. The speech and declaration of war brought applause from our elected representatives. Only Great Britain declared war on Japan faster than did the U.S. after the attacks of December 7th. (British territory in the Pacific has also been attacked simultaneously.) Winston Churchill essentially lived up to his promise to declare war on Japan within an hour of any attack by Japan on the United States.

The attack on Pearl Harbor brought about instant and dramatic change to the spirit of Americans - a nation that had been very politically divided at the time.

"It was a most dramatic spectacle there in the chamber of the House of Representatives. On most of the President's personal appearances before Congress, we found applause coming largely from one side—the Democratic side. But this day was different. The applause, the spirit of cooperation, came equally from both sides. ... The new feeling of unity which suddenly welled up in the chamber on December 8, the common purpose behind the leadership of the President, the joint determination to see things through, were typical of what was taking place throughout the country." (source)

What was taking place throughout the country was national unity! The speech by Roosevelt was broadcast on the radio and was the most listened to radio broadcast in U.S. history. The peace and isolationist movements crumbled. Charles Lindberg (remember him, first to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean from the USA to Europe), a leading anti-war proponent and critic of President
Roosevelt said:

 "Now [war] has come and we must meet it as united Americans regardless of our attitude in the past toward the policy our Government has followed. ... Our country has been attacked by force of arms, and by force of arms we must retaliate. We must now turn every effort to building the greatest and most efficient Army, Navy and Air Force in the world." (source)

Recruitment for the U.S. military was at an all time pace.  Never before, not even after the U.S. got involved in WWI, had it been so high, recruiting stations were kept open round the clock. Civilians agreed to rationing to support the war effort and worked toward that end causing U.S. manufacturing of military ordnance to boom. The national spirit had risen to heights never before seen and never seen since and it lasted until the war's end in 1945. It was a different world, most certainly a different country, populated by a different class of people - United Americans.

All the best,
Glenn B

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infamy_speech

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

Carrying At Home - Are You Wise To Do So Or Crazy Not To

With the amount of crime that takes place inside of homes - such as burglaries, robberies, rapes, kidnappings, home invasions, assaults, killings and more, I think that if you carry at all, you may have to be crazy not to do so at home. I don't always do it myself (I just may be a bit crazy - lol) but I have started to do so much more frequently as of late (I must be getting better). The reason I have been doing so - all the home invasions I keep hearing and reading about and all the violent crimes associated with them. Apparently I am not alone, as I discovered in the forums at NY Firearms tonight. In fact, there was a thread there about just that topic. It contained a link, to a blog-post, in which the author explains why you should consider carrying while home. He makes some very valid points.

Source: http://lakelandgunclass.com/home-safety.html

Who would be safer during a home invasion - the person with his or her guns locked up in a safe, or put in some other out of the way and not readily accessible place, OR the person who has the firearm on his or her person or within arms reach (or at least within the same room) at all times while home? I am fairly certain it would be the latter and that is one of the excellent points made in the Concealed Nation piece.

Source: http://brinkoffreedom.net/tactical-and-firearms/home-invasion-defense-tactics/

 



If you don't think so, then just look at the two photos and tell me, do you think if you had your gun where the first gal has them that you would be safer than the second one pictured. During a home invasion, a gun in the hand is worth a hundred of them locked in your difficult to access secure gun-safe down in the basement (or wherever). I would safely bet that if your front door got knocked in while you were watching television, or up in your bedroom, you would never be able defend yourself, like the gal with the one in her hand, if you had your guns locked in your safe as pictured above.

Of course, there are other considerations, especially I you have young children or anyone with a mental handicap (like someone with dementia or other mental illness) in your home. You certainly do not want to leave guns around in unsecured drawers or on shelves, or on tabletops for them to have ready access to your firearms. Yet, you do want to have ready access to them in the event that thugs break in and try to do harm to you or your loved ones. You can manage that by keeping the gun on you at all times or by keeping your gun within ready reach at all times but secured in a quick open lock-box. There are many types of quick access lock boxes that essentially open at the touch of your fingertips. Some use biometrics and others use fingertip combination locks. Others use keys. Some hold handguns only, others can hold long guns, handguns or both and some only rifles or shotguns.

Source: http://nyagv.org/child-gun-deaths-and-injuries-aap-report/

They can be fairly expensive but if you have little curious minds, attached to wandering hands, you may want to strongly consider getting one to secure your guns while leaving them almost instantly accessible to you to protect your precious loved ones. Models of box type, quick open, gun vaults are numerous and come in many different sizes and of many different security grades (such as steel thickness and locking device). Some have spring, piston or drop open doors, others have doors that require you to manually open them. As for the locking/unlocking mechanisms, some of the types out there are: Biometric Lock, Digital Combination Lock, Push Button Combination Lock, Key-lock. Those just mentioned were for handguns but there are similar box vaults for long arms too. In addition, some manufacturers make what are in essence sleeve like vaults, that fit over the action, for rifles and shotguns.

All of these come in a wide price range from under $75 to well into the mid to high hundreds of dollars. The bottom line is that you want them to secure the gun from unauthorized household access but be easy and fast to open should you need your gun in an emergency. Bear in mind, most of these are not really meant as very serious security to prevent theft of your firearms. They are meant for easy access by you during an emergency while at the same time offering security from unauthorized household members or guests. Albeit, depending on type and model, they also offer various levels of security against theft from almost nil to fairly secure, in my opinion but for security from burglaries or theft, I would prefer a large, heavy, stand-up, fire-safe, type gun vault.

If you don't carry in your home but keep your gun in a lock box at all times, or even just keep it in a lock box some of the time, you may want to consider more than one lock box in the home with a gun in each at all times. If you have only one gun, you may want a lock box that you can move around with you. Or you could keep several lock boxes, one in each room, so you can rotate your sole gun as you move from area to area in your home.

If you are also going to carry while in the home, you will want to make sure you have a very comfortable and secure holster. Making sure you pistol is secure, such as having a holster with multiple retention methods, will also help avoid accidents by way of children (or others) easily getting hold of it. For example, if you should fall asleep watching television or not be paying attention when being playful with your kids and the holster is not secure, it could end up tragically. A secure holster also will help keep your handgun it more secure in the event of an attempted gun takeaway by a criminal and his accomplices (yes they usually are more than one in number).

Carrying in your home, or having a gun at the ready within arms reach (or at least always near you in the same room you are in) will give you an edge. Using a secure holster or quick open secure gun vault, will help keep you and your loved ones safer from accidents but also will help keep you ready to assure you and your loved ones are safer from violent criminals. You will have to make up your own minds: Carrying At Home - Are You Wise To Do So Or Crazy Not To!

All the best,
Glenn B

The Lunacy of Bloomberg And The Destruction of the 2nd Amendment

New York City officials are commencing enforcement of a 2010 law that bars anyone in NYC from possessing a rifle or shotgun that has an ammunition feeding device that can contain more than 5 rounds of ammunition (source). That is not only bizarre, it also is the most extreme anti-gun law on the books as far as I am aware, more restrictive than even NY State's SAFE Act. It is abject lunacy on behalf of a rabidly anti-gun proponent, one of the last official acts of a man about to leave political office.

The city is sending out notices to rifle and shotgun owners telling them that they have few options - they can immediately surrender their rifles and shotguns (that can hold more than 5 rounds) to the city and, and only after surrender, can sell them (apparently to someone outside of NYC) or can permanently move them outside of NYC, OR they can permanently remove such firearms from the city and provide the city with three types of specified documentation as to where the arms will be stored outside of the city limits OR they can call to discuss the matter if the firearms are already in compliance OR they "may request the option" to bring such firearm(s) to a gunsmith for permanent modification and if granted the option of permanent modification then must provide proof to the city that the gun(s) were left with a gunsmith, to that end, in a timely manner (source). I wonder if I will receive one, I have at least one firearm that was registered in NYC when I bought it many years ago - back when they said registration will never lead to confiscation. A law like this current one is every reason to oppose gun registration in your state or locality, as pointed out in the Truth About Guns piece linked above. 

Even the most libtard of libtards must realize that criminals will not surrender, sell or modify their guns. This action is aimed directly at law abiding gun owners and at the destruction of their right to keep and bear arms - what will be next - only single shot rifles and shotguns allowed! My guess would be that many, if not most, gun owning NYC residents will surrender their right to keep and bear arms and modify or get rid of their guns. Some lucky ones will have a place to store them outside of the city (my house would be okay for any of my friends needing such storage if legal). A few others may not abide by this Draconian piece of legislation and will instantly become criminals in the eyes of the lawmakers and enforcers of NYC. I don't think it will trigger a revolution; although, I think one should have been started years ago to have had a chance. We are so far gone in regard to the government emasculating us that I cannot see it happening now; and even if it does, those of us who join in are likely to be defeated almost overnight. Of course, those are not reasons not to start one, the first time around, the conditions were much the same.

All the best,
Glenn B

New NYPD Policy - Stop & Kiss

Source: Bloomberg Defends NYPD’s Controversial Stop And Kiss Program

All the best,
Glenn B

Time For A New Hard Gun Case

I have had a Plano aluminum rifle case since about October 2001. In all that time, it has given me a lot of good service. I have used it to bring rifles and shotguns back and forth to the range probably hundreds of times, have traveled with it on airlines as checked luggage a score or two of times, have taken it on hunting trips, have had it bouncing around in the trunk of my car more times than I care to count and it held up pretty well for a lower end model. It sure took a beating over the years, all of its dings and dents can attest to that. Recently though, one of the hasps broke off so, I figure it is time for a new case. I have almost no clue where to start. Let me clarify that last sentence. I started at Plano, searching for a new aluminum case but all I could find were plastic ones, like this:

http://www.planomolding.com/product.php?BCCID=118&PID=865

I have seen some aluminum cases on other sites but they seem very expensive. Anyone out there know if there is a company that makes moderately priced aluminum rifle cases that hold up well. Thanks for any help you can give.

All the best,
Glenn B

It's Not Like It's Going To Turn Into A Police State...

...but the police in Iceland have created quite the sensation, they have done something they have never done before and that is shoot someone and kill him. It's also not like the guy did not deserve what he got. The deceased, of course while still alive, reportedly started threatening neighbors with a firearm. When the officers arrived, he reportedly started firing out a window at them and they returned fire. They later lobbed a smoke grenade or similar into the apartment and made entry. When they entered his apartment - they exchanged shots with him and he was shot dead. There supposedly has never before been an instance of the police fatally shooting anyone in Iceland.

There were not many more facts in the brief source article. I feel for the officer(s) who fired the shot(s) that killed the guy. It will probably be pretty difficult to psychologically cope not only with killing someone but with being the first police officer throughout the history of an entire nation to have killed one of that country's citizens by gunfire. Add to that, there are no others, with similar experiences, to offer him counseling or other support. My condolences also go out to the family of the deceased.

One has to wonder, why is there so little violent crime in Iceland especially when the ratio of guns to people is 1 gun for every 30 people living there. Iceland ranks 15th out of 178 countries for the ratio of privately owned firearms per 100 of the population (source).

All the best,
Glenn B

Some Slips Of Paper Spur My Forgotten Memories Back To Life

For years now, I have been thinking that my second handgun purchase (my first was an RG pocket pistol in 25 caliber in Las Vegas in about 1977), a purchase made by me while I was in the Border Patrol, was a Beretta 70S in .22LR. I remembered wrong. The first pistol I bought for myself while I was in the Border Patrol, and thus my second [pistol purchase ever, was a Beretta Jetfire, aka: Beretta model 950BS. Buying that pistol led to me purchasing at least another two, although I seem to remember having at least 4 and maybe 5 of them over the years. You might think that repeatedly buying them must have been due to problems with each pistol but I can assure you, while some developed problems they were due to user screw ups, me being the user. Only one had a problem that was caused by the manufacturer and that was the first Jetfire that I bought.

I would not have remembered most of that, in fact did not remember, until I went through a few boxes of documents and other memorabilia; two I brought home from my office when I retired back in 2011 and one that I had put into my garage shortly before 9/11 (what a blessing as it contained virtually all of my award and training certificates up to that date). Another of the boxes contained some more recent memorabilia since 9/11 and some other training and award certificates, the third contained mostly documents like payroll sheets, official travel records (I think listing most of my government travel) a copy of my personnel folder, work memos concerning me, and other things like that. It also contained tax records from the early eighties through the early nineties. I had meant to go through it all soon after retirement but I was ill at the time (cancer) and could not get it done, then I simply forgot all about the three boxes after my son put them up in the loft of our garage. Add to that me being the great procrastinator and it might never have gotten done except that I was reminded of them recently in a roundabout way and decided to go through them and sort out what I would need or want to keep and what I would trash.

The most interesting box for me was the one with mostly documents because it contained several surprise finds of hidden treasure. Oddly enough, those treasured find were old receipts for thing I had purchased back in the 1980's - mostly things I bought while a Border Patrol Agent. Old paper may be mere ephemera to some but to me, what I found,  was more valuable than gold because of the memories that the stirred up from my past. Memories that had been long since forgotten were awakened again and remembering them brought a fair amount of happiness to me.

One of those old pieces of paper was a copy of a letter I had written to Bolsa Gunsmiths about a Beretta (950BS Jetfire that I was sending to them for warranty repair. The trigger pins would work its way loose each time I fired 40-50 rounds through it. I had contacted Beretta and they told me that Bolsa Gunsmiths was their west coast repair facility. Where I had thought that the 70S was the first pistol I had bought once I had commenced my federal career, I was dead wrong. It was that little Beretta that I bought on August 20, 1981. They fixed it and sent it back to me. I recall now that what they did was peened the trigger pin so the problem would not recur. They must have done excellent work over the years since then because it appears they are still in business today, see:

http://www.bolsagunsmithing.com/index.html.

I also found two receipts for Beretta Jetfires but both of those receipts were dated in 1982 and thus were not for that first one. That got me to reminiscing and I remembered that because of the pin having to be peened to remain in place, I had decided to sell that first Jetfire. I don't remember to whom I sold it though.

Right after I sold it, I bought another. That second one was not long to be mine either. I owned for just over a month and sold it. I am not 100% certain but am pretty sure that second one is the one I had in my pocket over the course of a few days, while working in the area of a bunch of Salt Cedars. I was in and out of the brush several times while pretty sweaty, in fact while soaked from perspiration. That was in April and May 1982 - average temperatures for Calexico, CA in those months is in the high 80's to high 90s. I had oiled up the little blaster pretty well and thought nothing of it, was cleaning it once a week or so. After a few days of being in those salt cedars though, the last day being particularly hot and me soaked by sweat, I pulled the Jetfire out of my pocket at the end of the day to find rust frosted on all the exterior steel parts.

It cleaned up fair to middling and it remained serviceable but I wanted none of it so I listed it for sale in a local paper. I bought yet my third Jetfire in May1982 before I had even sold the second one. That second one was sold, the following month, to a gal from Calipatria, CA. Sometime before October 1983, when I left the Border Patrol, I had two police officers visit me to ask me about that sale. If I remember right (and don't quote this as gospel) the gals husband had shot someone with it or she shot him or something along those lines. Legal shooting, as I remember, but rather unsettling to have the police come to my home telling me someone was shot with a gun I had sold and they wanted to interview me about it. They were professionals and nice guys, took a look at my receipt, asked a few questions, and left. Never heard more about it. I have had that sales receipt all these years, not in those three boxes, but among my firearms records. I had figured I should hold onto it, put it in with other firearms papers, and forgot all about it until I saw the letter about the repair of the Jetfire. Went through my firearms folder and there it was!

As for my third Jetfire, it accompanied me back to NY as best I can get out of the muddled, middle aged, little gray cells in my noggin. It went on a temporary work detail with me to Florida and one day I had to trudge through mangrove swamps in brackish water over the course of a couple of hours. Forgot all about that pistol in my pocket until I got back to my motel and was going to do the my laundry the next day. Well, I pulled it out of the still damp pants pocket to see the steel parts covered by rust. It is amazing how fast steel can rust when subjected to salty water, it was much worse than the one I had worn while in the salt cedars in Calexico. I cleaned it up an sold it to a buddy of mine who did not mind the fact it had been rusted and cleaned up since I gave it to him for a good price. I am pretty sure I picked up a fourth after that but not positive. I later bought a Beretta Model 21A in .22LR because the ammo was much less expensive than the .25 caliber ammunition that the Jetfires had used (I could be mistaking the fourth Jetfire for the 21A).

Getting back to the receipts that I found, in those boxes from work, I also came up with several others that really got the little gray cells to start firing off memories. I won't bore you with all the details like I probably just did above but will mention what some of them were for. There were at least 10 receipts from Yellow Mart Stores, I did a lot of business at their store in El Centro. Most of them show another address in a nearby town, cannot remember why that is but remember they were from the El Centro store. They had a darling of a gal working there, Lupe (short for Guadalupe) and she was a sweetheart. Too bad she was engaged at the time. I cannot recall one other person's name except maybe that the guy I dealt with mostly may have been named Bill or George or anything but Sue. There also several other receipts from other gun and sporting goods stores and some receipts for my cross country trip from Calexico to new York when I transferred to Customs in October of 1983.

As for the guns I purchased listed on those receipts, they were:

S&W Model 66, 4" barrel listed on a receipt from January 1982 (apparently the third handgun I ever purchased)

A Gerber Command One boot knife purchased in February 1982

Beretta Model 70S, bought only five days after the Gerber knife

Two Beretta Jetfires, the one bought in April and the other in May of 1982

My first Beretta 92SB, bought in June 1982 and soon sent in for a repair during which Beretta replaced the barrel and slide. Shortly after that, since a problem persisted with the safety, they replaced the entire pistol and I still have that one today in somewhat beat up condition.

Remington 870 Wingmaster, my first shotgun, bought in August 1983 sold it after I got married and have regretted it ever since)

Here are a few pics of those receipts:

There were other receipts for things like Border Patrol uniform shirts from Albert's Uniforms in San Diego (owned by a little old Jewish guy from NYC, imagine an atypical, mean and nasty, Louie Dumbrowski), Break Free and gun patches (I am guessing it was the same kind of Break Free I still use today), a Bianchi Askins Avenger holster for my 92-SB (the holster was lost in the WTC on 9/11 but replaced by my insurance company - exact same model all those years later), a receipt for a Beretta 92-SB magazine, several receipts for ammunition, one for a water jug, one for a Mag-Light, several for my trip back to NY when I changed agencies, one for a Customs badge wallet (my first) and a receipt for a money order for my 1984 NRA dues (yes, I have been an NRA member for a long time). One of the ammo receipts I found was from Albany NY in 1984, reminding me of a temporary assignment up that way to open a new investigations office for Customs. I threw out a lot of other receipts I found, some of them were travel receipts for that same cross country drive when I moved back east, from back when Motel 6 was $15.95 per night. Those receipts reminded me that I spent my first night of that trip, in a rest area, in my new sleeping bag, not far passed Green River, UT on Interstate 70. Despite having a quality sleeping bag rated for the 20s or teens, I froze my behind off. To think, when I left Calexico, on that same early October day, it was at in the 90s maybe even the low 100s. When I got to that rest area the temp was in the 30s and fell much lower than that overnight. It was all motel stays after that. By the way, I still have the sleeping bag.

There also were plane tickets for details to Secret Service assignments and there was a file full of many, many, tickets from when I flew as an Air Marshal after 9/11 (destroyed SS and FAM receipts by shredding them). There were some other receipts but none that stirred any more memories as had the ones already mentioned. It is amazing, at least to me, how those receipts, long forgotten, have turned into a treasure trove of sorts for me. For whatever reason I saved them, tax write-offs, firearms records, or whatever, I am the happier for having done so.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Little Personal Nostalgia

I finally got to sorting through two boxes filled with documents that I took home from my office when I retired on November 2nd, two years ago and to sorting through another box that contained almost all of my award and training certificates. That third box was actually the first one in my garage, I put it in my government car, back in June 2001, when I was transferred from JFK airport to the Custom House in the WTC. I wound up taking all my work stuff out of the car and putting it into my new office, back then, except for that one. Then, maybe about a month later, I had to have my vehicles two way radio inventoried, which meant crawling into the trunk to access it. I took the box out of the car and left it in my garage and forgot about it. Many months, maybe even more than a year, after 9/11, and the partial collapse of 6 WTC (the Custom House), I was quite happily surprised to find that box in my garage.  Almost al my other belongings had been destroyed in the rubble of 6 WTC. Well, I had always meant to go through all that stuff right after I retired, that was until the cancer I had back in 2011 became a nasty inconvenience.

While I can be the great procrastinator, I have to say in my defense that going through them was not a priority while cancer was raging inside of me back in the fall of 2011 and while I as recuperating from the cancer and the chemo and radiation therapies over about the next year. By then, when I was finally feeling somewhat better, my thyroid went belly-up, a result of the radiation therapy or so my radiation oncologist told me, and I was miserable again for several more months. While all that was ongoing, someone took the three boxes and put them in a loft storage area in my garage, probably my son doing me a favor. I forgot all about them. Then, just recently, I had a few folks sort of remind me all about them in a round about way. So, yesterday, I climbed up the ladder to the loft, got the boxes, and brought them down into my basement. I have been going through them since last night and pretty much have finished up. Some of the things I found inside of them were expected, others were not and sadly one thing I expected to find was missing and it is going to be sorely lost. A lot of what I found brought back some good memories.

One of the sets of things I had in those boxes were my awards and training certificates. For instance I found about 32-33 awards, commendations and letters of appreciation that I received in my career as a federal agent and LEO. It was fun for me to look them all over as they most definitely evoked a lot of good memories about the cases I worked to earn them. I won't bore you with the details of them, let me just say it was a good feeling to look them over and have them spur my memories of bygone days. I found my Customs Patrol Officer Academy graduation certificate and the graduation cert for when I became a criminal investigator with Customs. The big disappointment of last night, that lingers today, though is that my graduation certificate from the Border Patrol Academy is missing. I have all of the other documents I kept from the BP academy, just not the diploma. That has me pretty crest fallen, to me it is an important piece of my lifetime. In addition, I found all of my firearms instructor certifications, including the initial one I got from the NRA back in 1987. There were also a few marksmanship awards mixed in with them; I only wish I still could shoot as well as I did when I received them. And, there were a few pictures mixed in. Not many though, most of my work related photographs were in another box, one that I brought into my office at the WTC when I transferred there. They are gone forever but at least I have enough of my little gray cells remaining to remember some of them. There are also a few trinkets too and they too held good memories for me.

Today was a different story. I went through a different box, the last of the three. It contained a lot of work related personal records like travel documents for work assignments, work related injury reports, other work related stuff and also my tax returns for a few years in the 1980's and 90's. It was pretty amusing to see that in 1984 I had earned a total of $26,541 and that by 1986, the year I got married, I was up to a whopping $26,622 gross income - an $81 increase in two years. In addition there were cancelled checks and such showing how much rent and utilities cost me back in 1986 - don't ask, it might make you cry to find out compared to what we pay today.

I also found a number of receipts for different things. There were 6 receipts for firearms (not sure they were all claimed as deductions) but they were in the mix. There were other receipts for magazine and yet others for ammo. Surprisingly, for me, I found the receipt for my first Beretta 9mm pistol, a Beretta 92SB. That pistol cost me more back then than did one of my Beretta 92FS pistols maybe 10 years ago. I am going to save writing about the rest of receipts I found for another blog post. I think some of you may get a kick out of what I bought and how much they cost about 30 years ago.

So, I have kind of an interesting night and morning full of reminiscing about the good old days of my career  when life for me was in the fast lane. It sure is nice to have things like hose I found to jog the memories.

All the best,
Glenn B

Bear With Me Through Another Steak Dinner

Wow, I can only imagine what this hunter must have felt when he spotted this 772 pound behemoth of a black bear and realized he could get off a shot at it. It took two shots to bring it down, from his deceased father's rifle chambered in .30-06. I can hardly guess at the number of steaks he is going to get from that or the amount of the taxidermist's bill for skinning it and turning its hide into a nice rug.



I figure that the largest black bear I have ever seen afield may have weighed in at about 300 - 350 pounds (and that is a conservative estimate) and it had me pretty concerned even though I was holding a 12 gauge loaded with slugs. It was only 30 - 35 feet from me and showing signs of nervous aggression before I fired a shot to scare it off; that was in an area that did not allow bear hunting at the time, otherwise I would have been eating bear steaks and roasts for a long time. I think seeing a 772 pounder though, that close, may have made me drop my shotgun and beg for mercy.

As for the hunter who bagged this brute, I hope he enjoys every mouthful (bear meat is excellent) and that his bear winds up breaking former records. It seems he may have bagged the world record black bear. The Boone and Crocket Club is currently making that determination based on the bear's skull dimensions.

Sources:

http://wnep.com/2013/11/26/hunter-bags-772-pound-black-bear-in-lackawanna-county/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/30/pennsylvania-man-reportedly-bags-772-pound-black-bear/?intcmp=trending

All the best,
Glenn B

Gin and Cracked Corn...

...placed in a baking tray, with the gin allowed to soak into the corn for awhile, left outside for the turkeys to eat would be a very tempting end to the so called problem of too many turkeys in the neighborhood. I have heard said that such a  mixture, when eaten by turkeys, makes them pass out and thus easy to collect, dispatch and eventually to get into the oven.  Note, I said it would be tempting although I must point out I would not do it nor advocate anyone else doing it if illegal - which almost certainly must be the case within the boundaries of NY City let alone the rest of the state of NY.

See the video at this link:

http://msnvideo.msn.com/?src=v5:share:sharepermalink:&from=sharepermalink#/video/0fa0abf0-594a-db27-c70e-61f4891faf35

All the best,
Glenn B

Maybe The Judge Should Serve The Rapist's Sentence

I studied Constitutional Law in college and later again in a few academy courses in both the Border Patrol and Customs academies and thus learned about a person having a right not to be subjected to double jeopardy for the same crime. In it's simplest form double jeopardy would be a case in which a defendant was found not guilty and then arrested and prosecuted again, for the same charge, if new evidence was found that indicated his guilt. The state simply cannot do it and I agree, it should not be done because it would result in persecutions of too many innocent people against whom the state decided to hold a crusading vendetta, for whatever reasons - such a political considerations, against the accused.

I think there is a case now in which the claim might be raised by the defense that the state is subjecting the accused, in my opinion a heinous criminal, to double jeopardy. Although I certainly am no expert on this aspect of the law, I would think that if someone is convicted of a crime and sentenced, then once he has completed the sentence, it might possibly be seen as double jeopardy to sentence him to a longer term for the same crime. I hope it is not the case though - at least in this particular instance.

This case is more something like someone being convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail, then getting out early for good behavior but having to abide by parole regulations which if violated would send him right back to jail to complete the original sentence except that the man has apparently not violated his parole and yet the state is seeking to sentence him to the longer term. What they are saying is that the sentence given was illegal on the part of the sentencing judge.

Is it double jeopardy if it was the judge who erred illegally in arriving at the length of time served relative to the sentencing? I hope not because in this case, a vile disgusting pedophile of a rapist raped, repeatedly, a 14 year old girl (made even more disgusting by the fact he was a teacher, reportedly her teacher). It may not be double jeopardy because the actual sentence he received was 15 years and upon sentencing the judge suspended all but 31 days of his sentence. Why the suspension of most of the sentence? The judge thought that it was fitting, proper and legally lenient. That was apparently, in part, based on the judge's belief that the victim was 'older than her chronological age'. I find it difficult to believe tat the judge was lenient to the defendant because the girl looked more mature than her years, especially when the rapist knew the girl and was reportedly her teacher.

My guess would be that the defense will say that any such imposition of a further sentence, without a parole violation, would be double jeopardy although right now, the defense is not saying anything publically. I really truly hope that the court does not decide such, as the actual sentence was to 15 years imprisonment as I understand and it is going to be argued that the judge's leniency was illegal.  I especially there will not be a finding of double jeopardy and that the criminal will have to endure the complete 15 years behind bars if only in as much as the state should honor the memory of the 14 year old girl, the victim who was evidently forgotten or ignored by the sentencing judge. I say in her memory because she committed suicide before the trial.

Of course, there was a public outcry and the judge tried to resentence the man; however, the prosecutors went to Montana's supreme court to stop the judge from resentencing the man and I would guess because it may have been a double jeopardy issue had he done so or because it would have otherwise been illegal for him to change the sentence.  The state is appealing the original sentencing saying it was illegal and I hope they win and that the rapist is sentenced to at least the 10 years they are trying to get him to serve. If the state loses its appeal, but somehow the judge is determined to have acted and found guilty of a crime related to the sentencing, I think it might be fitting to have the judge serve the full sentence that could have been given to the rapist. If the judge is found to have acted within the law, then I think he should resign because there is no way that I can see it as him having carried out his duties morally, ethically and within the spirit of the law.

All the best,
GB

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/30/montana-appeals-teacher-30-day-rape-sentence/

So True and Today Was One Of Those Sometimes

 



 

All the best,

Glenn B

Alice's Restaurant (thanks to Jay G for reminding me)

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah

My wish to all is for a Happy Thanksgiving and my wish to my Jewish friends is that they also celebrate a Happy Hanukkah. It is a rare bird indeed when Hanukkah and Thanksgiving coincide and today is the last such alignment of both for the next 80,000 years, give or take a few millennia!

Walmart Is Good For Some Things...

...and I do mean besides all those People of Walmart photos that make the rounds on the Internet now and then (I am overdue to receive an email with new ones). Yesterday, on my trip home from hunting, I decided to take a break from driving in the storm at an average speed of  about 50mph (in a 65 zone). I figured that Middletown, NY would be a good place to stop because I could visit Gander Mountain to see if they had any 22LR ammo. I have a pretty good supply of it, but about half of mine if from the 1970s or 80s, so my supply could use freshening up. As it turned out, I got off the highway heading west instead of east (the direction of gander Mountain) because my stomach was talking to me. I made a quick stop at Mickey D's for two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, onions on a sesame seed bun and some fries.  I did takeout because the clientele inide looked like a group of hoodlums. Then I took my food and headed to the other side of the road, into Walmart's parking lot, where I gobbled it down. While there I had the rather infrequent, for me, thought of going into Walmart to check for 22LR ammo. While walking back to sporting goods, I came across a bin of CDs for $5.00 each. I gave a cursory glance and was very surprised to almost immediately find a Roy Orbison CD I liked, something along the lines of greatest hits. That go me to digging and I came up with a dozen of them from Alice Cooper's first album to Waylon Jennings with some Lynyrd Skynyrd in the middle.

After that, I headed over to the ammo case, not really expecting to find anything worth buying. As I approached from afar, it looked as if I had been right since the shelves were about 75% - 85% depleted of a full load. I walked over to it and as I got closer, with some squinting since I left my reading glasses in the car, I noticed Winchester 22LR ammo! There were two boxes of Winchester M*22, 22 Long Rifle,40 grain, black copper plated, round nose ammo. I asked how much and the Walmart guy told me $50.87. It was a bit difficult to impossible for me to read all of what was on the box, so I asked how many rounds were in each of the rather large looking bricks. The clerk opened the outside box and took out one of two inside boxes and started to open them saying that the outside of the box did not say how many rounds were inside. I squinted again and gave a good once over to one of the boxes and there in the middle of the box, it said 1,000 rounds. I told him not to bother opening them and to ring em up. Another 2,000 rounds in the ammo supply and I was a happy camper.

I don't know anything about this ammo other than what it says on he box. I rarely used Winchester 22 ammo in the past. I am hoping this is a step up from their low end 22 ammo about which I have heard bad things - mostly that it was known for lots of misfires and firing very dirty. If this stuff goes bang every time and is fairly accurate I will be very satisfied considering the price at just a tiny bit over .05 cents per round. If you are like a lot of other folks, myself included, who have been looking for 22LR ammo, you may want to give a Walmart that sells ammo a try. (My local Walmart does not sell ammo, I don't think any in my county sell ammo). While there, if you are short of cash, just avoid the CD bin.

I did not bother heading over to Gander Mountain after that since I already had spent more than I needed to or should have spent on hunting and ammo over the past two weeks. What the heck, you only live twice and I am going to enjoy this second round of life as best I can. Anyway that's why God invented plastic and debtors courts.

All the best,
Glenn B

Just Back From Hunting

Went hunting again today, up near Windsor, NY. Once again, the deer laughed at me. It was a lot colder than last week, 27 degrees most of the day on the mountain, but I loved it even though I did not see hide nor hair of a beast. Saw tracks, evidently I pushed two or three out of the beds (all of them were together) and must have come close because one of them startled a chipmunk that made a racket but never saw them. About 2 - 6 inches of snow on the ground, depending on time of day. A five hour drive home including a 45 minute to one hour stop in Middletown. It was slow due to it storming out, mostly sleet and rain for the duration of the trip. More blogging tomorrow.

All the best,
GB