Category: Guns

Felons and Guns

September 23, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Time for another unpopular opinion –

Felons who have done their time should have all their rights restored once they have completed their sentence. This includes Second Amendment rights. There are a few reasons:

  1. In this day and age, about the only people who haven’t committed a felony are infants. Between “tough on crime” initiatives and administrative law, Americans commit at least two or three felonies a day. Why should someone lose their rights because some prosecutor decided to selectively enforce a law against someone?
  2. “But what about violent felons?” A person with a propensity for both violence and crime are dangerous whether or not they have rights restored. This subset of our population would be dangerous even if they only had access to weapons that could be bought from a hardware or general store. Or fabricated from items bought at a store. Or hell, just buying gasoline.
  3. Kinda related to above is the assumption that a violent person with criminal intent would suddenly decide to get his/her weapons through legal means instead of stealing it or buying it off another criminal.

Here’s what it boils down to IMHO. Currently, we are over-criminalized AND that over-criminalization is selectively enforced. Hence, it is very easy for the state to deprive people of their civil rights, but very difficult for a person to get his/her civil rights restored. Furthermore, because the state is inefficient, other people are having their rights delayed because we do not restore people’s rights when their sentence is completed.

What Can I Bring on a Plane, Again?

September 15, 2017 / / 0 Comments

My boss has decided to take another position, and today is her last day. That’s a shame, because I just got her trained on how to deal with me. Oh well, change happens – and more frequently than I’d like.

Her departure means I get to go to a conference in Vegas this spring. That’s a bit too far for me to drive without taking leave, which means I have to fly. That’s something I haven’t done in eight years or so. This will require a close examination of my EDC.

Time to go look up rules again.

Going To Do My Civic Duty

August 27, 2017 / / 0 Comments

I got something that I haven’t gotten for about fifteen years – a jury summons. It’s been even longer than that since I sat at the courthouse waiting to be called. That got me to thinking of what has changed in my thinking since the last time I sat in the pool.

1. I started carrying a gun on a regular basis. That alone has radically shifted my worldview, but then I attended trainings and started learning about the legalities of self defense – and the intricacies of the legal system.

2. I don’t have the automatic deference to police that my younger self had. Because of the powers that a police officer are granted, I’m more likely to hold them to a higher standard.

3. I don’t trust forensics as much as I used to. Some forensic tools, such as DNA testing, were developed through rigorous processes, and are generally reliable. Others, such as handwriting and hair analysis, were developed in crime labs, and are less reliable. Then there’s the small item of the numerous lab scandals.

4. I no longer expect the heroic prosecutors and scumbag defense attorneys. If anything, I don’t trust either side. Probably about as much as I trust MSNBC and Fox to present their cases.

And now I have to go through my EDC and start yanking out stuff that is not allowed at the courthouse. That may take a bit.

Why Is The NRA Promoting a Company That Doesn’t Believe In Self-Defense?

April 28, 2017 / / 0 Comments

On the same weekend as the NRA Annual Meeting, I get a mailer from the NRA. Usually I toss them into the shredder, but I opened this one. It’s an offer for NRA members for the SimpliSafe security system. Now, that tickles the back of my memory. Wait, this is the company that tells people on its blog not to use weapons to protect themselves.

3. Unless you are a trained professional, don’t grab a weapon. This includes firearms, baseball bats and pepper spray. They all sound like a good idea, but again, we don’t know how the burglar will react to seeing an armed person. If they do have a weapon, they may be more likely to use it when they see you have one too. If you use pepper spray in an enclosed space, you and your family will also be affected by the pepper spray. If you use another weapon, such as a firearm and are not a trained professional, you run the risk of hurting yourself or a family member. And when a weapon is in your hand, you also run the risk of arriving police officers mistaking you for the intruder!

http://simplisafe.com/blog/what-to-do-if-youre-home-during-a-break-in

ReallY? Even though thousands of people protect their home from invaders every year using firearms?

Granted, the blog post is a couple of years old, but I’m not seeing anything on their blog that contradicts the above advice.

I’m not about to cancel my NRA membership, but would someone up in Atlanta ask the leadership why they decided to partner with SimpliSafe?

When Anti-Gunners Speak, I Hear Something Completely Different

September 21, 2016 / / 0 Comments

There’s a scene in the movie The Ghost and the Darkness where Val Kilmer’s character is receiving his instructions. The official says that the reason the bridge must be built is to help “save Africa from the Africans, and to spread Christianity.”

This is kind of what I hear when anti-gunners (and most Progressive) leaders talk. “We must save America from the Americans, and spread our worldview that state is responsible for the subjects’ defense.”

Active Shooter Training Video

September 4, 2016 / / 0 Comments

I really wish my work had LU’s weapon policy. If wishes were horses…

This is excellent because it covers the key points of “Run, Hide, Fight.” It emphasizes that cops can’t be everywhere and YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN when the fecal matter impacts the turbine. 

The instructions to the concealed carrier were good, including emphasizing that you will be put into handcuffs and to comply with officers. 

H/t Sean Sorrentino

Either They Are Stupid or Murderous

September 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Miguel is nice enough to troll the gun control pages for us without enough duct tape to keep our heads from exploding.

Today’s offering is the doubling down by the CSGV after Fox News discovered they were advocating swatting of open carriers.

This reinforces my opinion about most of our opposition. They feel happy about putting people into dangerous and possibly lethal situations because they have never really considered what it means to take human life. Most gun owners, particularly those of us who choose to carry, have wrangled with that decision and its ramifications. It’s easy to wish death on someone when you’ve never thought of the cost.