Category: Guns

Monday Links

January 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Today’s Reason links are going to be heavily dominated by the continuing fires in the Los Angeles area.

In defense of private firefighting firms. Because they’re doing the job that government doesn’t or isn’t capable of doing.

Looting is bad, so are curfews. This one I’m not so sure I agree, but it makes valid points. I can see both sides, but I tend to lean more to control of the area. Limiting chaos factors while dealing with a situation makes sense.

If California can relax permitting for rebuilding, then it can abolish the same rules. This is a good time to take a hard look at all those rules – including the ones that allow building in fire-prone areas.

But using price controls isn’t going to help with rebuilding.

More Reason articles.

SCOTUS upheld the TikTok ban in a narrow decision as leaders realized this might not be the best idea. The Supremes’ decision sounded very much “it’s okay in this case due to the facts, but probably not in others.” I’m also annoyed/amused by the leadership class running around like headless chickens because the law they were so happy to pass would actually go into effect.

No, Biden can’t unilaterally declare the ERA as part of the Constitution – and especially not by social media. This reeks of some underling getting control of the Twix account and pushing something out. It sounds like something that would happen in the waning days of the Biden administration.

The FDA is trying to ban cigarettes by making the nicotine content close to zero. Brought to you by the same folks who banned flavored vapes because it might harm children and fueled an increase in cigarette smoking in children. I swear, it’s like they think that people react exactly like they think they should just by passing a rule.

New Jersey raised its minimum wage and surprise, surprise, prices rose.

The SEC is trying to regulate NFT’s as securities instead of art.

With SHOT around the corner, here’s some TFB articles on some new guns.

S&W’s lever gun now comes in .357 Magnum. Well, that has my attention.

They also came out with a “Stealth Hunter” version. Or as I like to call it – “matte tacticool.”

Mossberg is “AR’ing” it’s 590 pump shotguns.

Now on to other stories.

From Reuters, a running log of events surrounding the Israel / Hamas ceasefire and hostage return. One hopes that this would be the beginning of rebuilding Gaza into a peaceful neighbor of Israel. One also is aware of history.

From the Colorado Sun, the Colorado legislature is looking to ban the sale and manufacture of any semi-auto that uses a detachable magazine. Also known as banning any modern firearm used by the general populace. (h/t The Reload).

An article on Apple pushing its transparency and noise cancellation modes on its AirPods. Honestly, I use these so much, that I didn’t even consider that they didn’t only have these modes.

From a local TV station, Big Cat Rescue has moved their animals to Arkansas and is selling their property. Honestly, this is probably a good move all around. BCR was in the middle of an highly developed area of Hillsborough that is growing even more.

From the Observer, former Manatee County commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge – who got thrown out by the voters for being in the pocket of developers – is suing people who exposed that he was in the pocket of developers.

From Military.com, the battle songs that defined the GWOT.

Forbes continues its Macross reporting with a piece on now that Macross is widely available, it could threaten Gundam’s popularity. I’ve already got Macross Zero slotted into my anime rotation.

Via The Brother, Arc Technica has a review of Civ 7. Knowing me, I’ll be uncomfortable with the changes for the first couple of months until I figure out the gameplay and then will just go to town on it.

A Stark Reminder – You Are On Your Own

January 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Probably the most devastating fires in terms of property losses is raging through the Los Angeles area. I’m not going to discuss what caused the fire, the impact of local politics on the response, or other discourses the chattering class is currently indulging in. First, it’s too damn early to start drawing conclusions. Second, I don’t trust those who are making confident assertions this early. Kind of like the 72 hour rule around mass shootings. The people talking first are usually the least informed.

The size and speed of the fires are terrifying. I can only sympathize with the families of the dead and those who have lost their homes and possessions. I have no such sympathy for those who are taking advantage of the chaos to loot and rob. I can only hope karma and justice finds such despicable people.

It is a stark reminder that even if the government wants to help you, it may not be able. You are responsible for your own safety. You are responsible for your own preparations.

Did you make your home ready for likely natural disasters? Did you clear hazards?

Do you have an evacuation plan? For you? For your family? For your pets? Do you know where to go?

Do you have enough supplies to last your household if it’s cut off?

Do you have protection from looters?

These kinds of events are opportune times to have those hard discussions with your loved ones.

Ward Manor Happenings

December 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

In most respects, it’s been a run-of-the-mill week. There was a decision made, which I’m keeping vague for OPSEC reasons. However, it required a lot of quick buying of things. Fortunately, there were still some Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales going.

Some items of note:

  1. The Japanese restaurant that recently opened near us is pretty decent. At least food-wise. The chairs, on the other hand, leave much to be desired for a dinner.
  2. I’m really not trying to get a new laptop right now. Although my current one is really trying to force the issue. We had a morning of me trying to get Civ to run without crashing. Ended up having to re-install Civ, which seemed to fix most of the issues. Most.
  3. On a related note, since I had to go to Steam to download Civ, I checked my hours. I’m up to a bit over 8,500 hours on Civ 6. Yeah, I’ve gotten my money out of that.
  4. On a related note, it’s really hard not to want to buy a new laptop when one of my top candidates is on sale. And maybe if we didn’t have to shell out a bunch of cash for the vague item in the intro, I could better justify it.
  5. I did splurge and pick up a Tokyo Marui HK45 airsoft. No, I don’t play airsoft. They’re props, trainers, fidget spinners, and toys. I have noticed that over the years, my tastes have become more expensive. Not the pay real gun money for the airsoft version. But the idea of dropping a couple hundred or so on one is not unreasonable.
  6. Speaking of gun-tangential topics, I’ve decided it was time to start carrying IWB again. I wish it meant I’d lost enough weight that I could do so with my current jeans, but I’m not that lucky. At any rate, I went to go find my previous IWB set-up. In the holster bin? Nope. Hrm. Look in the normal spots. Nope. Look in the abnormal spots. Nope. Where the hell? I know I didn’t give those away. But it was like they grew legs and went walkabout. The Wife suggested I should just get a new setup. After going back and forth, I decided to give We The People holsters a try and ordered. Then found my setup a few hours later in the place I put them in “because here I won’t forget them.” Eh, I’ll give the new ones a try when they show up.

Monday Links – Clearing the Tab

November 18, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a long one. Build up from last week, and a busy news week over all.

A slew of Reason first.

One good thing about the return of Trump to the White House – Lina Kahn will be removed.

If DOGE wants to successfully cut government spending, it must take on entitlements. Of course, it could also start with energy subsidies. Personally, they should cut all subsidies. Of course this is all predicated on Trump wanting to act financially responsible, which he hasn’t demonstrated any desire.

There are good reasons to oppose Gaetz’s nomination. I’m kinda leaning to the whole admitting to taking drugs and sleeping with underage girls. And the whole being the vanguard of treating Congress as a place to build the brand instead of doing, you know, actual work.

The FDA ordered Costco to recall and destroy 80,000 lbs of butter because the packaging failed to list it was made of dairy. Because rules must be followed – even when they make no fucking sense.

Apple quietly included an inactive phone reboot in the latest iOS update. It looks like if the phone has been locked and inactive for several days, the phone returns to a factory state. Of course, law enforcement is all pissed off because they can’t “get to evidence. “

A first amendment fight where Texas authorities are using whatever laws they can to shut down a citizen journalist.

A bi-partisan group of Congressfolk and Senate are asking for the courts to step in to allow a family to sue after the FBI raided the wrong house.

That concludes the Reason portion of our blogcast. Now on to other news stories.

From Reuters, it seems that Amsterdam had some trouble with antisemitic bands were attacking Israeli soccer fans. This did not come across my normal newsfeeds. I had to go searching for it after a friend on FB posted about an Arab man who escorted a group of Israelis to safety. I’m sorry, but why did I have to go searching for a story about pogroms in Europe?

Also from Reuters, the CFPB wants to put Google under “federal supervision.” Um, what? Oh, you want access to their records? Fuck you. That’s what discovery is for.

From CNBC, FEMA fires employee who told relief workers to skip anyone with a Trump sign in their yard. I’m using CNBC, because honestly, this is the kind of story I would be skeptical about. Any story that fits too neatly into one or the other camp’s narratives, I get sketchy about without confirmation. Also, I’m surprised someone got fired.

From Tech Crunch, Mozilla Foundation lays off almost a third of its workforce and is shuttering its advocacy branch.

I got this one from Military.com just for the headline – Commander of Navy Leadership and Ethics Center Fired over Personal Conduct. This seems so indicative of the current state of military leadership.

Borepatch discusses some recent security issues with using AI in healthcare. Having recently completed my annual required HIPAA training, it astounds me that this wasn’t taken into account when deploying AI tools into the healthcare setting. But as Borepatch routinely reminds us, security isn’t usually among the top considerations when deploying new tech.

From Tynan Motors, a focus group of Hyundai owners told the motor company that they want physical controls back. I don’t mind the touchscreen in the Ward Wagon, but it also has physical knobs/buttons for all the major controls. And I won’t buy another car where that isn’t the case.

A couple of articles by Tam. One on what keeps the 1911 so popular. A second on the “Wheelgun U-Turn.” You really need to read it.

Now for some light items.

Take a look at this Spaceship Size Comparison. It’s floated around the internet for years. A copy of it will soon grace my office walls.

Heard about Ammosquared on the ACP podcast. Interesting way to buy ammo. Will have to investigate further.

Apparently, there is a local company that takes you out on boats and lets you shoot machineguns. That sounds like it needs further investigation.

Monday Links

November 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Reason links first.

Worried about the vengeance of a president? Maybe you should look to shrink their powers.

Increasing tariffs could trigger economic decline.

Doctor fights Certificate of Need in North Carolina.

A family from Germany who came to the US so they could homeschool are allowed to stay another year.

Boeing charged 8,000% mark up on a soap dispenser. DOD procurement is one of those areas that needs to be burned to ground and rebuilt on more efficient principles.

What is Open Fields Doctrine? Read this – and find out why it needs to die.

A government program with a laudable goal turns wrong? Who could have seen that coming?

From Ground News, Florida court blocks the state from threatening television stations over abortion ads.

From one of the local stations, homeowners are selling their gutted houses instead of rebuilding after the hurricanes.

John Richardson reports on the recent hearing between the NRA and the New York AG.

The Trace (not a friend of gun rights) reports on the record number of FFL revocations. Including revocations for minor infractions.

Monday Links

October 28, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Starting off with Reason links.

Javier Milei continues his radical reforms in Argentina by shuttering the tax collection agency and creating a new one. There comes a time when you need to burn it down and start fresh. Argentina is going to be an interesting case study if Milei can see his reforms through before his opponents bring him down.

An examination of geothermal power generation. It’s an interesting concept, but we’re running into the same problem with wind and solar. How do we get the power from where it’s being generated to where it’s needed? Cracking that problem will open a lot of doors.

Examining the charges against the father of the Georgia shooter. I’m leery of this trend because there’s not a strict formula of how a person becomes a murderer. By the same token, there are some parents who have such reckless disregard for their children…

Illinois scholarship excludes white applicants. Here’s the issue. They want to recruit teachers to go into minority-dominant schools. Okay, I can understand that because you want the students to identify with their teachers and provide them good examples of success. And if it was a private scholarship, I would be all for it. When the state does it? I’m very leery.

Iowa Supreme Court have a case on whether the state can charge acquitted defendants for their public defendants. Wait? What? Iowa is charging people to use public defendants? How is this just?

New Zealand is revoking gun licenses for political beliefs. This is why we hate registration. Why we hate licenses. Because there are too many politicians and bureaucrats who will deny them because we disagree politically. Look, I think radical environmentalists, radical leftists, radical rightists, and anti-Zionists all have abominable political views that are detrimental to society. I think someone who supports Hezbollah and Hamas are supporting despicable terrorist groups. Guess what? If they haven’t committed a crime, you shouldn’t be able to deny them their rights.

And now on to other stories.

The Verge takes a look at Apple AirPods being used for hearing aids and hearing protection. I’m very interested in this. I don’t think my AirPods Pro will be able to substitute for my range ear-pro, but for concerts?

Local station talks about how people are finding out that insurance may not cover a lot of the damages of first floor in a multi-story dwelling. This is a caution to make find out what your insurance will and will not cover.

NYT article on grocery stores looking into electronic price tags. Of course, they immediately go to the most drastic worse use of the technology.

BleepingComputer examines how bad the Change healthcare hack was.

ProPublica reports that gun makers were sending warranty cards to NSSF for lobbying purposes. Okay,

Monday Links

October 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Reason links first.

Tariffs could increase console prices by $250.

U of M spent a quarter of a billion on DEI and made students unhappier. While I’m glad we’re getting empirical data on how bad these programs are, the damage is going to be far worse than wasting that much money.

Secondhand smoke dangers are getting a second look.

And another attempt at buying off voters – I mean, student loan forgiveness.

A thinkpiece on reforming Social Security.

Time for Ground News aggregations.

Lufthansa had to pay a fine for mistreating Jewish passengers. There’s something very wrong about this.

FTC institutes rule for click to cancel. Okay, there are something I would like to see, but I don’t like the FTC just making a regulation. It sounds like if this was a real issue, then Congress should do its damn job.

Amazon is going nuclear to power its future data center needs.

On to other stories!

WSJ article about Google joining Microsoft and Amazon in jumpstarting the nuclear power race. Better yet, both Google and Amazon are looking into current and future generation reactors that aren’t focused on creating nuclear warhead material.

Reuters article on the pager bombs Israel slipped Hezbollah.

ArsTechnica on the death of Ward Chrstenssen who created BBS’s.

Business Insider on China getting into the tilt-rotor game. Hope they have as much fun getting it to work as our military has had.

Cats beating babies at word association. (h/t Tam)

A couple of RKBA stories.

The Reload reports on the current NRA EVP finding himself in a scandal due to an animal cruelty charge from his college days.

John Richardson is on the ballot for NRA Board of Directors.

A couple of hurricane-related stories.

From Tampa Bay Times, an explainer on why some neighborhoods got the power back faster than others.

In true Tampa fashion, some local businesses are thanking linemen for their hard work by providing free/discounted services. Namely, the strip clubs. Welll, heck, why not lean into the rep?

Monday Links On Wednesday

October 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Reason links first.

The government subsidizing flood insurance caused worse destruction during Helene.

The IRS wants to collect back taxes while people were being held hostage. Because of course they do.

Arizona’s school choice program under fire.

If there’s one thing the averted dockworker strike showed was how much American ports need automation.

A review of bullet vending machine. Hoping to see these around my parts soon.

A couple of California stories.

Ground News reports that California is banning legacy admissions at private universities. While I don’t particularly like the idea of legacy admissions, I also dislike the heavy hand of government being used to ban it.

From WSJ, Newsome vetoed their AI safety bill. Stopped clocks and all that.

Some other stories.

From The Verge, the US Patent and Trademark Office cancelled DC’s and Marvel’s joint trademark on the term “super hero”. Which honestly, should have been done a long while. It was kind of like if they gave IBM and Apple a trademark on the term “computer”.

The Intelligencer has an article on a practical flying car. It also may be slightly illegal. Or at least in a legal gray area.

Rounding out with a couple of articles on guns that caught my interest.

From TFB, HK is resurrecting the P7. I hope they come out with a classic line.

From Guns.com, the Henry Arms Supreme, a lever action that feeds from AR magazines.

Monday Links

September 30, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Yeah, it’s been a couple of weeks. Some of these may be dated. Please see customer service for your refund.

Reason articles first.

Should Fauci be blamed for the pandemic? He certainly didn’t help with his actions. But I dislike mono-causal explanations for complex issues. Fauci was one part. So was political tribalism. So was an advocate media. So were many other things that we won’t fully understand for a generation.

California is going to try to regulate AI. I can see that going well.

No Trump, crime is not on the rise. It’s regressing back to where it was pre-pandemic. There is some evidence that some areas are seeing an unreported increase due to folks just not calling the cops. However, it looks like the trend is going back to where it was before 2020. And we’re still nowhere near the insanity of 1992 when violent crime peaked.

The NYT thinks DIY guns cause libertarianism. Eh, it’s probably more a case of correlation than causation.

Argentina ends rent control. Millions homeless? No. Falling rents and increased supply? Yes.

Now onto a hodgepodge of other items.

New technology keeps storm surge from flooding Tampa General Hospital. There has always been criticism of having Tampa’s main hospital on an island and surrounded by water. AquaFence did an amazing job during Helene. A reporter quipped that the company will now sell a bunch of them. Well, that’s what happens when your product performs that amazingly well.

Bloomberg reports on a new paper asserting online dating causing a rise in income inequality. An interesting thesis, but I’m not sure that it caused as much as accelerated a trend that was already happening.

From TechCrunch, the FDA granted approval for Apple AirPods Pro to act as hearing aid devices. I can see this as the start of lower cost hearing aids coming to market based on earbuds.

The Atlantic has an article on the demise of the minivan. Well, not quite demise, but definitely the dwindling of the market.

CNN article on how kiosks in McDonalds increased sales and need for workers. Again, technology didn’t change the need for workers, but changed what kind of work is needed.

The Verge reports YouTube is pulling songs due to its dispute with SESAC. This is impacting some older Metal Tuesday entries.

Monday Links

September 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Sweet FSM. I miss a week and the articles stack up. This is going to be a long links post. A lot of gun/RKBA related stories this week.

Let’s start with our normal collection of Reason articles. And talking about RKBA-related stories…

How courts are evading the Bruen decision. Color me surprised that lawyers and judges (but I repeat myself) are trying to push the guardrails of new legal theory.

Eighth Circuit strikes down Missouri’s 2A Sanctuary law. These kinds of laws are why I think we need an amendment that allows at least a majority of states to nullify onerous federal laws.

Another parent being charged with murder because their offspring decided to murder schoolmates and teachers. I am highly skeptical of this trend, particularly since it feels like we’re burning the parents in effigy (legally speaking).

A historical look back on arms bans prior to the 20th century.

The Biden administration is trying to go ahead with its plan to cancel student debt. Even though it’s illegal and the Supreme Court has struck down pretty much all attempts. Oh yeah, that will help keep the cost of college down. If it didn’t cost so much, I’d almost be in favor of it to help burst the college bubble.

A thinkpiece on what the .gov could do to help with the housing crisis. In the same vein, here’s an analysis on what happened when the Dutch recent tried national rent control. Spoiler alert: it ended up hurting the people it was supposed to help. Cue surprised Pikachu.

A recent survey of college students find almost a third think violence is an acceptable form of protest. I’m a little leery since I didn’t see how they worded the questions, but someone needs to explain to these young adults that the means you think are fully justified for your cause are going to be adopted by your opposition because they now think they have permission. Come to think of it, that describes a lot of what’s gone wrong in this century.

Have we reached peak public schooling? This rolls into one of my soapboxes that the nation needs to have a serious discussion about what it wants out of public schools. Everyone will say they want to make “responsible and educated citizens.” But let’s face it. It’s also state-sponsored daycare for a lot of folks.

Idaho’s Child Care Program expanded benefits and now is facing a $16 million deficit. Either there were a lot more needy families or there were a lot folks just lining up to the trough. These days, it’s probably both.

And now for some Ground News aggregations.

Trump is concerned how expensive IVF is and wants insurance to pay for it. Proving once again that Trump is fine with handing out goodies if he thinks it will get him elected, and he still has no concept of economics.

Okay, yes, the WHO beclowned itself with its obsequience to China during the pandemic. Still, it’s nice to have another study showing that there’s no link between brain cancer and cell phones.

NVIDIA is getting a hard look by the DOJ for trying to lock customers into its products. Companies being asses tends to open up the market for competitors, but DOJ is going to DOJ.

The US, UK, and EU sign an AI treaty. Yeah, that has beneficial to the growth of the technology written all over it.

Now for some more RKBA and gun related content.

John Richardson is reporting that one of the NRA directors is advocating for firing the Brewer firm. Jettisoning that firm would be a strong sign that the NRA is healing.

Speaking of John, guess who’s going to be on the ballot to become part of the NRA Board? Honestly, if I could immediately vote in the election, this might get me to join back. I’m still in my wait and see period.

TTAG article on Polymer80 closing up shop after years of fighting “ghost gun” legislation. It’s sad to see Pyrrhic victories in the gun world.

I’ve got a slew of tech-related/adjacent articles.

From The Verge, an article about how new AI-powered photo editing tools will make it harder to believe what you see.

Also from The Verge, Ecoflow launching a new series of batteries/powerstations. Honestly, I’m loving the innovation and expansion in this segment. I think advances in battery tech are crucial to improving the overall health of the power grid.

From The New Yorker, an essay on why AI isn’t going to be making art. While I think AI will make art creation more accessible to more people, it’s not going to replace the spark of creativity in humans.

From Bloomberg, Intel’s problems is endangering the promise of the CHIPS Act. Damn, it’s like industrial policy can’t overrule business / economic rules. Or that maybe the government has a bad track record of choosing winning corporations.

Via Wired, the Internet Archive got slapped down for lending out copyrighted books willy-nilly on its platform.

From MacStories, Reeder is launching a revamped product. I use the current Reeder (soon to be known as Reeder Classic) to gather the various stories that tend to end up here. (h/t The Brother)

Not tech, but of local interest, the local news station has an article on Tervis filing Chapter 11 reorganization. The Ward household has many of their products and hope they come out stronger.

Geek Culture reports on Transformers new line combining TF characters with other IP forms. Of particular interest to me is the Macross collaboration. Although I doubt it’s going to be a re-issue of the G1 Jetfire toy.