Today our office is closing at 1:00, so there is little time for blogging. This Sunday I have an IHMSA match, where I’m hoping to shoot smallbore and field pistol. Field pistol means reloading some .44 special rounds. I’m trying a new load, so sometime before dark I want to get out and crony it. Getting some small bore practice in is also called for, I think. I’m also compiling the results of the E-Postal match, which will be up later today.
Month: July 2008
Breaking Down Stereotypes
Inquirer reporter Natalie Pompilio has written an article on the book Armed America by Kyle Cassidy. The reporter interviewed me for the article, but it doesn’t look like I made it into the final cut. But that’s just as well, since it turned out just fine without me. I also helped put her in touch with Dan, who I think made much better print than anything I had to say:
Daniel Pehrson, 26, bought his first gun for target shooting but began carrying one for personal protection. Recently, he was glad he did.
The Spring Garden resident was walking near Front Street and Girard Avenue when three teenagers surrounded him. One pulled a stun gun, zapped it a few times, and said, “Hey, check this out.”
“I drew my gun and they ran like hell,” Pehrson said, noting that the small pistol barely left the side of his leg. “It was a difficult and an easy choice. . . . The last thing on earth I want to do is think about hurting someone.”
What if, he wonders, it had been his girlfriend walking alone unarmed when the men circled? What if he’d been listening to his iPod and someone decided the $250 device was worth more than his life?
Pehrson runs a nonprofit organization – the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association – that aims to provide information about the state’s nearly 500 pages of gun laws. In Cassidy’s book, Pehrson looks barely out of his teens, a pile of pizza boxes in a corner.
My congratulations to Ms. Pompilio on a very good article.
Clayton Cramer on Reno
I’m guessing we won’t be seeing Clayton at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous any time soon. Say what you will about Reno, but Washoe County has a hell of a shooting range. I’m not much of a gambler either, so that aspect of the city is no attraction to me. I did find the automobile museum to be worthwhile, as I’m assuming Clayton did as well.
More Heller Aftershocks
I’m hoping this means we can finally start having a serious discussion about violence in Philadelphia. It’s long overdue.
Hat Tip to Dave Hardy
Heller, The Next Generation
Dale Carpenter takes on a rather odd notion that technology will make Heller obsolete. I think it is correct to note that the second amendment isn’t limited merely to firearms technology, but to many things as well. In fact, I think the door is open for a Second Amendment challenge to many state and local laws that regulate or prohibit the carrying or possession of less-than-lethal weapons.
I am also doubtful that less-than-lethal weapons will supplant firearms, rather than merely supplementing them, which is how they are used in modern police work. Anything that’s effective at disrupting a person’s physiology or central nervous system enough to stop them in their tracks is probably going to be very likely to kill that person. Most critters, including humans, are tough to stop quickly without bringing them very close to death.
You Got Served
Apparently DeCosta and Franklin were both served papers, during a press conference, for the federal lawsuit surrounding the Atlanta Airport showdown. Excellent!
New York Times: Shills for the Gun Lobby
Chicken Little
Anti-gun folks continue to pronounce that the sky is falling because of Heller. I have to admit, it’s fun to watch.
Al-Qaeda Plan C
Richard Fernandez links to an interesting article in The New York Post, describing Al-Qaeda’s Plan C:
In a notable departure from past al Qaeda strategy, Naji recommends “countless small operations†that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11: The “infidel,†leaving his home every morning, should be unsure whether he’ll return in the evening. Naji recommends kidnappings, the holding of hostages, the use of women and children as human shields, exhibition killings to terrorize the enemy, suicide bombings and countless gestures that make normal life impossible for the “infidel†and Muslim collaborators.
Try this crap here, and we’ll get the 72 Virgins Dating Service doing a brisk business faster than you can say Allah Akbar.
30 Days
I have to agree with Countertop about the episode of 30 days that Bitter and I watched last night, where they sent a Brady Campaign member to live with a gun nut for a month. I thought it was presented very fairly, and factually, without a whole lot of distortion. The pro-gun guy was normal and reasonable, had a teenage son, and was generally presented as a fine upstanding citizen. I give the Brady chick a lot of credit for having an open mind, and I agree with Bitter that the members of CeaseFire from Toledo were the only real bitter ones in the whole episode. While I don’t think the Brady chick will be joining the NRA any time soon, I have little doubt she’ll never be able to look at the gun issue quite the same way again.