Twitter User Name Change

I just changed my Twitter user name to MoreThanABitOff.

What Is The Hottest Gunnie Gift This Season?

I don't know, but if I had to guess it would be Gunvault's new Nano 300. I saw it advertised at multiple small Internet outfits for about $25, but they all ran out. So I attempted to order it from Amazon, but they ended up canceling the order. Now Amazon shows the Nano 300 going for $50. It would appear that Gunvault has minor hit on their hands.

Why Are Anti-Gunners So Violent?

A question to be asked again because a man in Ohio writing a pro-gun letter to the editor has had his life and the lives of his family threatened. According to the Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA):

A letter to the editor of The Columbus Dispatch, written in response to that newspaper's negative take on Ohio's restaurant carry legislation (SB239) has earned the man who wrote it a death threat.

Read the whole thing.

So why are anti-gun activists so violent? Its not like it is an isolated case: see here, here, here, here, here... I could be here all morning... you get the idea.

The Goddards Are Getting It But Good

Colin Goddard, one of the survivors of the Virginia Tech mass shooting, and his father are blogging over at the Huffington Post. I'm gonna guess that they staked out space at the Huffington Post thinking that progressives and Democrats would make sympathetic readers. Looking at the comments, they may want to reconsider their plan of attack.

Anyway, I don't really plan on reading anything Colin Goddard or his father have to say because I don't believe he is attempting an honest debate on gun control. While I am sorry Colin Goddard was subjected to the horror of a mass shooting, he has since used that incident and publicity to close the "gun-show loophole". Its bit dishonest, given that the Virginia Tech shooter didn't buy his guns at a gun show but did undergo two separate background checks, those checks being the central issue with gun-shows that the Goddards have been clamoring about.

About that Pilot and the TSA

By now you have probably learned that a pilot from Sacramento has been suspended from the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program for exposing airport security gaps via YouTube. Does the "investigation" constitute harassment under the Whistleblower Protection Act?

One argument against this is that he blew the whistle to the Internet via YouTube and not to the powers that be in the TSA or DHS. I don't think this holds. With over 50,000 TSA agents and likely double that number of pilots and ground crew across the country, this information is probably very well known to TSA Chief John Pistole and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Even if they didn't know about the lack of screening for ground support crews, they'd never admit it because such an admission would be highly embarrassing.

The other thing is that the Whistleblower Protect Act protects those who work for the federal government, and this pilot works for an airline. However, he was a lawfully sworn agent of the federal government as a Federal Flight Deck Officer, authorized to use deadly force by the United States of America. The vast majority of federal workers aren't given that type of power by Uncle Sam. To become an FFDO, he had to attend special training and was issued a special government holster and firearm (more on the holster below). So though he may have never received a paycheck from the federal government nor was listed on the federal employee rosters, he certainly worked for and carried out a law enforcement function for the federal government.

So it makes me wonder if the pilot can pursue action under the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Regarding the FFDO program, check out this YouTube video of the TSA issued holster. It is outright dangerous. Whoever designed this should be fired. You never ever stick an object into the trigger guard of firearm. The reason man invented holsters was to guard against the trigger being accidentally manipulated. This is just monumentally stupid and has already led to one accidental, inflight discharge.

What Do You Get the Man Who Has Everything?

Santa, my wife, and my mother got me another 500 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag .22LR HP, a nice kydex reinforced belt from Comp-Tac, and some pistol caliber metal targets. After all the presents were unwrapped and I had started cleaning up the wrapping paper, my wife kissed me on the cheek and said, "I'm glad you have this gun hobby, because there will always be something for me to get you." True that!

100 Years of Kicking Ass

I have to admit, I've been giving some thought to getting a 1911 pistol in honor of next year's 100th anniversary of John M. Browning's 1911 pistol. (If you don't know what one is, click the link above... its the iconic semi-auto pistol known around the world).

So, there's always the Wilson Combat Contemporary Classic Centennial 1911... for just a cool $3,995. If that wasn't enough to cause you to spit out your morning coffee, get ready to choke because you could be the lucky one to get the one of a kind Colt Ultimate 100th Anniversary 1911... for only $25,000. What a bargain!

Seriously, this 100th anniversary of the M1911 has people in a tizzy. Since I am more of a plastic gun guy, I'm gonna aim just a wee bit lower. My interest is really in just having one to shoot, not to carry. Accuracy would be nice. I'm thinking a Government model in stainless with wood grips and a little more traditional. New Jovian Thunderbolt has been doing some noodling on this too and arrived a Colt Commander XSE. I'm thinking a Colt Government Model Series 70.

We Committed the Auto-Sin

Alright, I'm secure enough in my masculinity to let people know that we bought a mini-van, and that I am exceedingly pleased. Actually, I knew ahead of time that I would like it. Quite simply, these modern day marvels are the best dollar-for-dollar, feature-laden utility vehicle you can buy.... hands down!

You can get away with one small child in almost any run-of-the-mill four door car. But with a second child the trouble goes up exponentially. It is not that there is just more crap to haul around, its that there is more crap and two children to corral and buckle and keep quite and feed and wipe, etc, etc.... Seriously, I don't know how parents with three or more small children do it. I guess eventually one of them just wonders into the street or a buzz-saw or something and the problem takes care of itself.

But our mini-van works much better than the VW Passat station-wagon we traded in for it. With that car, which wasn't small by the way, we could only get the two of us plus our children and our double stroller. Should a third adult want to come along, somebody got stuck wedging themselves between the car seats and getting their ribs poked for the duration of the car ride. NOW... well, now we can take the family plus three adults, the double stroller, other cargo and contraband... NO PROBLEMO!

I BLAME THE NANNIES! And by that, I mean all the leftist nannies that have regulated modern families to the point where a mini-van is a necessity. Everybody keeps saying, "In my day we put the family of six plus luggage in the station-wagon and drove across country." Yeah, I remember those days from my childhood. And then the nanny state busy-bodies got involved and banned putting passengers in the cargo areas of station-wagons, pickup trucks, and SUVs. There went the sleeping compartment. And then they required all children be in a child restraint booster seat. And there went getting four kids sitting shoulder-to-shoulder across the rear bench seat.

Yes, it is the nanny-state leftist to blame for the modern scourge that is the mini-van that they now denounce for producing copious quantities of carbon and ruining our environment. They brought it on themselves, the jackwads!

But that doesn't stop me from marveling at these modern monuments to Lee Iacocca, because pound for pound, dollar for dollar mini-vans are the best deal going. It is simply not possible to get as many features packed into another type of vehicle for nearly the same price point. Quite simply, this is because most car buyers don't set out to purposefully buy a mini-van. Nobody wakes up and says, "I want to cruise around in a bitchin' mini-van." Nope, they are purpose bought and have no spur-of-the-moment price structure to prop up the margins.

And that's what smart consumers like me understand. Yeah, I might not be catching the mouth-gaping stare as the pop brigade rolls up next to me at the light, but that was unlikely to happen anyway once they spied whatever that crap is rolling out of my sons nose or smelled the foul diaper disaster lurking in the backseat.

It Is Easy Punishing the Citizenry

On Friday, Dec. 17, a group of citizens observed a deer stranded in the icy water of the Patapsco River in Maryland. Though they were complete strangers, they banded together and gathered a boat and rope and, under the watchful eye of a Maryland natural resources officer, rescued the deer from certain death. For their heroic actions, they were ticketed for not wearing life vests. Not only did the officer stand idly by while the rescuers saved the deer, he didn't once warn them of the offense or encourage them to wear the vests for safety reasons. It was simply easier for him to wait out the event and then write a ticket. On top of all that, it is likely the charges will be thrown out in court because the law regarding life vests only applies to minors.

This story seems indicative of how our government and many on the left approach running our lives. Instead of doing the real work of fighting root causes of problems or making hard decisions, they would rather opt for a non-solution that is tantamount to harassing the citizenry. The TSA could seriously invest in behavioral profiling and other advanced techniques used by other nations, but it is easier for them to train their staff to harass every flier with their sexual pat downs and nudoscopes. Congress could seriously address out-of-control spending, but it is easier for them to raise taxes or borrow money.

I hate to quote a lobbyist, but Chris Cox of the NRA-ILA nailed it when talking about the ATFs proposed new long gun registry to help stem the tide of violence in Mexico: "This administration does not have the guts to build a wall, but they do have the audacity to blame and register gun owners for Mexico's problems." He certainly has a point. If the violence in Mexico is a result of the drug cartels easy access to the United States, then wouldn't beefing up border security be a better solution. It would stem the tide of illegal drugs into this country, drug money flowing back to the cartels, and whatever guns the cartels get from the U.S. But no... because doing something about border security is actually hard work. So the government would rather just find a non-solution, one that harasses the citizenry, because that is easier to do. And, of course, never-mind the fact that this non-solution hasn't worked in Canada, Germany or New Zealand. This issue really does speak to the mindset of our government and the left, as they have not only proposed a non-solution to harass our citizens, it is a non-problem as the issue being solved is in another country!

Maybe this is one of the best arguments for limited government. If the suits in Washington knew that they only had so much money to implement their plans and that they could only go so far with regulations imposed on the general public, perhaps they would be smarter about the things they did. But as it stands now,  they have no problem being lazy in their problem solving as they believe they can simply grab more money when needed and impose any regulation as they see fit. To pull the drowning deer from the icy river, they would need a year long study, RFPs for the acquisition of new ice-breaking river boats, special personnel training, and of course new taxes to pay for it all. So its easier just to fine the people doing the real work.

Hey You Nutty Freaks, Why Can't You Be Civil?

Check out this anti-gun, progressive blogger (note, not all progressives are anti-gun):

Some comments to The Dunning Letter posts on the subject are based on facts—no doubt delivered daily by the NRA to its members—but most are purely emotional and vindictive, attacking the writer who is genuinely interested in finding a way to keep killer weapons out of the hands of criminals.

Of course, only one of the pro-gun commenters actually said anything offense ("Can you not do math because you are stupid, or are you stupid and just can't do math?")... and by Internet standards, it was fairly tame. But Mr. Dunning wastes no time calling them "nuts" and "freaks".

And then he devotes three blog posts to the coming Tea Party armed revolution. Yeah, we're the ones who are nuts!

What the Brady Campaign Doesn't Know About States of Emergency

I'm guessing that none of them have ever been in a real State of Emergency. What they fail to realize is that often in a State of Emergency, there is No State. Seeing as they don't know what I am talking about, they should read the most popular post of all time of this blog: Lesson #2 From Katrina: Run from the Police. The amount of lawlessness in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina really is shocking, made ever more so when you consider it was The State doing a lot of it.

Busy, Can't Talk

Things have been fairly busy at work lately, and I've got my seasonal, week-long head cold. So there hasn't been much to post about blogging wise.

However, there is always my Twitter feed (also on the sidebar of this blog).

Contempt of Security Contractor and Brandishing a Pointy Finger

A well-known gun rights activist in Virginia has been arrested for pissing off a security contractor because he asserted his rights under the law.

In essence, Paul Henick was confronted by a security contractor at the Surry ferry crossing of the James River. When ordered out of his car, he refused because he knew it to be an unlawful command. And when Henick complained to the contractor's supervisor, the supervisor called the police and filed a complaint for brandishing a finger.

Henick also knew the law better than the Sheriff's Deputy who responded to the scene. The deputy demanded paperwork on Henick's firearm, except in the Commonwealth of Virginia there is no such thing as title or registration paperwork on firearms.

Let's all hope that Paul Henick extracts many thousands of dollars from these badge-wearing thugs.

The Frying Pan to the Noggin Loophole is Next

From The Truth About Guns: Canada Closing the Crossbow Loophole

The BBC reports that out neighbors in the Great White North may soon be moving to close a ‘crossbow loophole’ in their arms control laws after a man was shot to death on a busy Toronto street. With a crossbow, of all things.

This is just stupid. I guess the Canadians are taking after their British sovereign. Once those dangerous drive-by crossbow killings of children in the schoolyards are solved, I'm sure they'll move along to the Shoved-in-front-of-a-Bus loophole.

Even though I am not a hunter (yet!), I've always wanted a crossbow. In fact, since I have a membership at the Alexandria IWLA, I've often thought about buying one so I could go practice. Of course, I have not done so for fear of becoming a crazed crossbow serial killer, which is what happens when mortals pick up enchanted objects as has been widely preached by liberal atheists for decades.