Bitter – Page 110 – Shall Not Be Questioned

An Interview with David Keene, NRA President

This is his segment from Washington Journal last week. The first questions may seem a little odd, but they are a bit of a bridge from the host’s previous topic about candidates and their personal lives.

He emphasizes the role of women in the organization and he discusses how NRA members vote on the Second Amendment so they don’t have to spend as much as in elections. He is accused by the second caller of buying Democratic votes instead of actually having the support of Democrats. Keene, even though he is associated with the right, is great at outlining how the Second Amendment spans party. I could outline everything, but I won’t. He flat out tells a gun owner who supports banning magazines that he’s wrong. I love it. Just listen for yourself.

At the 2A Blog Bash in Pittsburgh, participants had a chance to sit down with Keene at our breakfast with Tom King. I don’t just mean that he came by and shook hands with a friendly hello. He actually sat down with the group for quite a while to discuss a whole range of issues at NRA – technology, outreach, you name it. He’s a serious guy with a serious outlook on the issues from the political to the programming.

Flashbang Bra Holster Review

After posting my initial thoughts on the Flashbang holster based on photos & a video, Looper Brand contacted me about reviewing one in person. I figured I would give it a try.

The First Trial – Solids & Retention
The night I found it on our doorstep, I didn’t have the energy or time for a full trial, but I wanted to try it out. We quickly found out that I needed to move up to the longest suede strap for the bras I normally buy. It’s not the end of the world, but it suddenly made me feel like the restrictions on carrying this piece would mean sacrificing the kind of bras a woman prefers to wear. (It is worth noting that Looper announced in the accompanying press release that they will make & sell you custom lengths for your bras should you need them.) The strap is reasonably easy to change, so that’s a plus for any woman who does choose this method and owns more than one style of bra.

I was wearing a ladies t-shirt in a solid color, and Sebastian said he could tell from some angles that something was there, but he could not tell that it was a gun. We also experimented with drawing it, and it was easier than I thought it would be. They describe the holster portion as “thermo-plastic molded clamshell designed to snap in place over the barrel/slide and trigger guard of many small .380 pistols and j-frame revolvers.” Snap indeed. It’s different than anything else I’ve drawn from, so I would suggest that any woman who buys it practices some dry runs.

On the note of the holster, we did have a bit of concern when our first several attempts to put the gun in the clamshell actually moved the slide. That’s just not a sound you really want to hear when you’re talking about a holster under your breasts. However, as I was told by the company, it’s not advised that you holster the gun while you’re wearing it on your bra. Put the gun in first, then attach the strap to your bra. So it’s not really a concern after all, but just something that initially caught our attention.
Continue reading “Flashbang Bra Holster Review”

Infantry Weapons of 1954

I’ve been poking around archive.org for some public domain video, and I found this “film bulletin” on infantry firepower from 1954. I don’t know why, but I’m amused by these types of videos. I especially love how you can see the instructor is speaking, and it in no way matches what the narrator is saying. Because clearly showing a video is a great substitute for actually sitting out on the range for this kind of exposure to shooting.

Skeeball is a Skill, Damnit

Tort reform now, damnit.

A San Diego mom has filed a potential class action against Chuck E. Cheeseâ€™s that claims its games are illegal gambling devices.

The federal suit by real-estate agent Denise Keller claims the games are similar to slot machines, the San Diego Union Tribune reports. Children play with tokens that cost 25 cents each, and the machines dispense tickets that can be redeemed for prizes.

California generally bans gambling, but it makes an exception for games of skill. The suit claims the games at Chuck E. Cheeseâ€™s are based mostly on chance and they â€œcreate the same highs and lows experienced by adults who gamble their paychecks or the mortgage payment.â€

This woman apparently missed out on my madly competitive air hockey sessions at Showbiz when I was growing up. What? You think I went easy on my opponent just because she was my grandmother? Puh-lease. And those skeeballs don’t make it up the ramp themselves. Video games are just that – video games. Their versions just dispense tickets. Skillz, witch.

Apparently, the woman dropped the case in federal court late yesterday, but she refiled in California courts. Because apparently she hates fun.

Is it wrong that writing this post makes me think that Friends of NRA needs to introduce a skeeball game into their rotation? It could dispense raffle tickets based on your score. Then it would be a game of chance where your chances are significantly improved by your skill. And I would never leave that game all night long.

Mississippi Flooding

A reporter I follow on Twitter seemed a bit in awe of these photos from Mississippi River flooding. (Go take a look at them all, I’ll wait…)

When I think of floods, I just remember the 1993 floods. I happened to be spending some time with my aunt that summer just outside of St. Louis, right near the Missouri River. Her place was never in any danger, but it wasn’t pleasant being in that area at the time. I have memories of being in the car and looking out the windows down the side roads to see neighborhoods displaced because of water up to the eaves.

Not too far west, there’s significant drought conditions. Family members in Oklahoma are saying it’s some of the worst they have ever seen. A guy who rents some property from my grandmother was only slightly exaggerating when he said the cracks in the ground are big enough to swallow his cattle. When there’s even a few minutes worth of rain in that area, I can tell because Facebook lights up with videos & pictures from friends back there. It’s actually rather depressing when I see that rain is such huge news that it’s not only worth sharing on social media, but that it should be documented.

Unarmed Teens vs. Unarmed Adults

I love when the desire to editorialize against guns is so strong that they actually contradict themselves. It makes me wonder if newspapers actually have anyone edit their editorials for content.

HB 1652 lets people who hold concealed-carry permits keep firearms locked in their vehicles while on a CareerTech campus. That includes people 21 or older who have completed a training course and undergone a cursory background check.

The problem is that most CareerTech students are teenagers and thus not eligible to carry concealed weapons. HB 1652 will mean that unarmed teens will rub shoulders on campus with armed adults, a potentially dangerous mix.

In Oklahoma, the Tulsa World is arguing against a bill that will force adults to lock legally carried firearms in their cars – therefore leaving them unarmed while on campus – by saying it’s too dangerous to have unarmed teens near these now unarmed adults. I didn’t realize that concealed carry holders who don’t even have guns on their person were so dangerous in society. It would be nice if they had some facts to back that up. Oh, but wait, they don’t like when facts don’t match their view:

Advocates of concealed carry and other laws aimed at arming more Oklahomans are quick to point out that those laws have not resulted in bloodbaths, as critics predicted they might. That might be true, but, on the other hand, there is no evidence that they have prevented public violence or made the citizenry more safe.

So it doesn’t matter that these laws haven’t caused any problems. It doesn’t matter that concealed carry license holders are likely more law-abiding than their teenage counterparts on these campuses. Reason and Logic have clearly left the building there in Tulsa.

Violating Election Laws in Philly

When one party has complete control over government, little things like “laws” don’t really apply to them – especially if it’s an election law and the violation helps keep them in power.

It reminds me of what PAFOA’s Dan Pehrson warned about back in 2008 in regards to the lawlessness that exists in all corners of Philadelphia.

Yet, what baffles me the most is that these leaders wonder where criminals get the idea that laws don’t apply to them! Don’t they see the example they set so publicly? The willful defiance has made headlines for weeks, reminding residents that the Council, mayor and police commissioner consider themselves to be above state law. Why shouldn’t average citizens be as well?

Who Owns Rifles

Should the Brady Campaign ever wonder just who owns all of those evil rifles they keep trying to ban, NSSF has put together some interesting survey numbers.

The average owner has 2.6 ~~EBRs~~ MSRs. Isn’t that about the same number of children American families tend to have? I guess it’s one for each kid – or fraction thereof.

The overwhelming majority of you bought your first scary-looking rifles before the Great Obama Gun Rush, but 30% waited until the guy who wanted to ban them entered the White House & gun prices went through the roof.

Only 1% bought an ~~EBR~~ MSR as their first gun.

The top two reasons you guys aren’t shooting your guns as much as you’d like is because of time and cost of ammunition. Of course, just barely half of the rifle owners even have a regular place to shoot, at least in the form of a shooting range membership.

Gun Buybacks as Political Statements

I already made fun of a New York group that was giving out flowers in exchange for guns when they sent out a release that butchered most rules of the English language on 4/20, making me think it could be a joke. It turns out that it’s not a joke – at least in terms of being an intentionally funny event. But, it would seem that their attempt to make a political statement through the guns for flowers program was an even bigger failure than their previous event which was a guns for nothing program. They both did significantly worse than their first attempt at a guns for gift certificates event.

In 2009, the group gave out gift certificates in exchange for weapons and collected 53 firearms. Last year, the group did not have money for gift certificates, and turn-ins dropped to 18 hand guns and long guns, Gilroy said.

On Saturday, the group collected four handguns, four long guns and 15 loads of ammunition, he said.

They have to count the ammunition in order to make it into the double digits.

The peace and justice committee hopes to get funding again next year to spur more turn-ins, Gilroy said.

“If we don’t get the funding, we may look for a different way to express our views through debates or discussions,” he said.

If his goal is to make a statement on his ideas, then perhaps he can start an anti-gun blog. He’ll no doubt garner quite a bit of traffic – from gun owners.

When Commenting on Hunting is Just a Comment on Hunting

This was originally going to be a comment over at No Lawyers, but I really hate having to register with new accounts to comment. John posted about the annual Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation Congressional Shoot-Out, and he noted some of the press release quotes that caught his attention:

It is good to see both Democrats and Republicans supporting the shooting sports. However, judging from some of the comments by the co-chairs, many of these legislators still confuse supporting duck hunting with supporting the Second Amendment.

I don’t think it’s fair to criticize them for making hunting-related comments in a press release from an organization focused on hunting & fishing policy representing a caucus dedicated to hunting & fishing legislative topics.

Considering that Rep. Mike Ross is leading the “Second Amendment Task Force” in Congress and has a consistent A+ NRA rating, I don’t think it’s fair to say that he truly believes the Second Amendment is just about hunting. The same goes for Rep. Jeff Miller who has been a member of the Second Amendment Caucus and has an A rating from NRA.

It’s a shooting event to support a caucus that focuses on hunting policy. A press release quote on that very topic doesn’t show any kind of bias against their understanding of gun rights.

Since I’m making this a full post, I’ll also address one of his other suggestions with a dose of DC-practicality.

Next year I’d propose a little different shooting competition. Instead of trap, skeet, and sporting clays, why not make it a 3-gun competition? You’d still have the shotgun involved but would add both rifle and pistol to the mix. Now that would be interesting! It would also show the ATF Shotgun Study team that 3-gun competition is a sporting use.

As an alternative since so many Members of Congress announced after the shooting of Gabby Giffords that they had a concealed carry permit and planned to use it, make it an IDPA pistol competition. That would let us see how serious they are about self-protection and what level of real training they have.

My standard response to this is similar to what I say to people who think that the NRA meeting should be in their backyard: Where would you propose doing all of this? The PG County Trap & Skeet Center only has shotgun ranges. It is chosen as one of the closest ranges to Capitol Hill. The reason why? It’s tough to line up to two dozen members of Congress at the same time to shoot three-different shotgun events that can all happen on the same range. If you waste hours fighting traffic to get members out to a facility that could host any of those events, they won’t come. And then you don’t have any members of Congress participating in any shooting sport.

The other reason is that sporting clays, trap, and skeet are closely related to hunting, one focus of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. Instead of lamenting that the hunting caucus is doing hunting-related shooting, perhaps these suggestions might go to the Second Amendment Caucus instead.