The first principle is that you must not fool yourself.
Dr. Richard Feynman
Category: Guns
I Guess I’ll Stay With My Current Provider
I’ve been hearing ads for Simplisafe home security systems and thinking about switching to them when my current contract is up. Then this:
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!
So, we’re going to ignore the mountain of successful defensive gun uses (and other weapons) to spout worthless advice probably written by corporate lawyers afraid of being sued.
Do you know what my current company’s salesperson said when he saw my gun safe? “That’s cool! I’ve been thinking about getting my permit.” Plus, they had a booth at the NRAAM. They at least recognize who is buying their system and aren’t likely to insult us with such worthless advice.
So, Simplisafe, you have lost my business. End of story.
H/t to Miguel
You Are On Your Own. Please Plan Accordingly.
In the past two months, we have had three high profile mass killings. Charleston, Chattanooga, and now Lafayette. It’s still early on Lafayette to have any real facts other than some people are dead, some are injured, and the news media is ecstatic with another bloody story to sell to the public. Yeah, I guess I’m getting a bit cynical. Expect the same byplay on the gun control stage with Bloomberg’s minions telling us that restricting guns in some way would have prevented this and our side saying if someone in the theater had been armed, it would have been over sooner. Facts tend to support the latter, but we’ll still have to play that dance out once again.
What do these incidents tell me? No where is safe. Have a plan. Expect to have to put that plan into effect in the worst possible conditions. Carry your damn guns. Carry your damn flashlights.
My girlfriend showed me a prank video where people were in an elevator car. The lights would go out and this kid would climb out of a secret panel and act like a horror movie ghost. None of those people had even a pen light on them for when the lights went out. None of them had a plan for reacting when fecal matter impacts turbine. You could see the sheer panic in their reactions.
We live in a dangerous world. An infinitely better world than that of our ancestors, but still a dangerous world. Not just from crime, but disease, injury, and failures in the complex systems that work in our lives.
Please plan accordingly.
Edit: My brother has informed me that this post caused him to pick up a pocket flashlight. My work here is done.
Want To Buy Some Guns Cheap?
Tampa Mayor Buckhorn (who tried to get concealed carriers banned from downtown during the GOP Convention) and Tampa Police (who harassed an open carrier during one of Florida Carry’s fishing events) have announced a gun buy-back on June 27. Because the entirety of the gun control proponents is doing the same failed actions over and over again.
You can anonymously exchange shotguns, assault rifles and handguns for $50 cash per gun at River Tower Park, located at 401 East Bird Street.
I hope that my fellow weapon aficionados do their best to turn it into an impromptu gun show. I won’t be able to attend due to a previous commitment.
Oh, and this is being funded by a half-million dollar donation from the Lightning. Remember that when deciding how to spend your entertainment dollars.
Florida Carry Fisher Trespassed in Tampa
I didn’t go to last Saturday’s Open Carry Fishing meeting in Tampa, but according to Sean Caranna one of the participants got trespassed by Tampa Police. I don’t have any details other than that as of now.
Florida Carry has been doing those events for almost five years without incident. In the times I’ve been to them, I’ve seen TPD question our people once and hold a mini-safety briefing once.
Sean says there’s a lawsuit coming over the incident.
Colt Defense Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Colt Defense, LLC, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
I’ll let more experienced minds talk about the ramifications and causes. What I will say is that this isn’t the gut punch for me than some of the other gunnies.
I came into guns well after Colt had decided that it was better for the bottom line to feed at the government trough. I never felt the need to own a gun just because it had the prancing pony. By the time I came into guns, there were dozens of companies that made better products.
Do I respect Colt’s contributions to firearms technology? Yes, but I also respect a bunch of other now-defunct firms.
Did they make some very pretty guns? Yes, but I’m not a collector. I’m just as happy with the pics on my iPhone.
In short, I’m kind of meh. I do hope someone strong buys the Colt name. My instincts tell me the stalking horse they have will not revitalize Colt and bring it back into the gunny world. I absolutely loved Grant Cunningham’s idea of FN purchasing Colt, but that’s pretty much a pipe dream at this point.
At Least Some Justice in Biker Attack on Family
Do you remember this from a couple of years ago?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=c4yTAeGxbsc
It was later found out that a couple of NYPD undercovers were part of the gang attacking the SUV.
From this story in the Wall Street Journal, both officers have been found guilty.
Justice Maxwell Wiley found both defendants guilty of lesser charges of second-degree assault, coercion, and riot. Mr. Sims was additionally found guilty of attempted gang assault and attempted first-degree assault.
Both defendants had faced up to 25 years in prison had they been found guilty of the gang assault charge.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 5 for Mr. Braszczok and Aug. 6 for Mr. Sims. Mr. Sims now faces 3-1/2 to 15 years, while Mr. Braszczok faces 2 to 7 years, prosecutors said.
What To Do When Gun And Ammo Bans Fail
There is a proposed rule change to the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) regulation that would ban technical decisions on the Internet about guns and ammunition unless the website gets the okay from the federal government. An okay that costs a couple grand a year and probably would require some heavy modification to a website.
Which means me talking about changing parts on my M&P and the differences in ammunition performance on this blog gets categorized as an “export”. An export that without the State Department’s authorization could land me in jail for 20 years and a cool million in fines.
Better analysis from Sebastian.
Perception Is A Funny Thing
So, I’m at the gas station for my weekly fill-up. As usual, I’m doing my normal pan-and-scan of my surroundings.
Then, I see motion and my mind says “OSTRICH!” It wasn’t. Just some lady who was picking her gas cap off the top of the pump.
It’s a funny story, but what if my mind had screamed “ATTACK!” instead of a zoo animal? I don’t know if I have the perfect answer, but it’s something I’m going to be working on.
Paris and Texas
Two bad guys roll up on a Mohammed drawing contest and open fire. Both of them are now room temperature. (Edit: I have been advised that it should be ambient temperature, not room temperature since the baddies were left outside to wait for EOD.) Unlike the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the police guarding the event were armed. It also looks like our baddies didn’t have the explosives and automatic weapons that the Paris shooters had. Which is odd when you compare Texas weapons laws and France’s.
And CNN is doing it’s hand-wringing that the group sponsoring the event, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is considered an anti-Muslim group by the SPLC. Because holding a “Draw Mohammed” contest is so much worse than attempted murder. I’m almost surprised the CNN article’s headline isn’t that the AFDI deserved to have their members shot.