Bitter – Page 18 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Making Guns Pretty

I don’t shy away from the fact that most of my gun purchases have started out with the phrase, “It’s so pretty!” There aren’t common features or qualities about these guns that make them attractive to me, but they always manage to jump out at me. Lately, whether it’s at a gun show or a bigger event like the NRA convention, no new guns have made me want to grab one and take it home lately. But something landed in my inbox this morning that changed my tune.

I got a press release from Cryptic Coatings, and I accidentally hit open instead of the trash like I do with most releases that just don’t interest me with their titles. When it opened, I did a double take because something made me, “It’s so pretty!” for the first time in ages. What is it? Their “mystic bronze” coating.

I adore the color brown, and especially anything that has a little shine and qualifies more as bronze. I love rose gold, too. This is like mixing everything I love in being girly with guns. Pink has never done it for me, but this, this definitely does. I don’t know anything about the quality of product or service here, but man, I do love the shiny bronze color.

NYT Declares New “Weapon of War” – Coffee

The New York Times has a piece talking about what some people consider another “weapon of war,” and it is coffee. Of course, in the context of the Civil War, they are probably right about that designation. From the article on the history of coffee in the War Between the States:

For Union soldiers, and the lucky Confederates who could scrounge some, coffee fueled the war. Soldiers drank it before marches, after marches, on patrol, during combat. In their diaries, â€œcoffeeâ€ appears more frequently than the words â€œrifle,â€ â€œcannonâ€ or â€œbullet.â€ Ragged veterans and tired nurses agreed with one diarist: â€œNobody can â€˜soldierâ€™ without coffee.â€

The piece even mentions “The Coffee Mill Sharps,” though the author apparently hasn’t kept up with the research on this front since it seems that there’s more consensus now that it was never designed to grind coffee, but likely grain.

Regardless of that minor error on the coffee grinding Sharps, the piece was a really interesting read when it comes to the history and value of coffee in this country.

Hickenlooper Ally: You Toothless Rednecks Don’t Even Have Roads

The post title is only a slight exaggeration of what Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s ally, Mike Bloomberg, actually said about Colorado voters who supported last year’s recalls.

The NRA went after two or three state Senators in a part of Colorado where I donâ€™t think thereâ€™s roads. Itâ€™s as far rural as you can get. And, yes, they lost recall elections. Iâ€™m sorry for that. We tried to help â€˜em.

Yes, Mike, keep helping the Colorado Democratic Party by talking about what hicks they all are. Maybe you’ll even remember that it was a Democratic district that was responsible for one of those recall losses, a fact that I’m sure makes the statewide Democratic candidates jump for joy that you’re generating these insulting headlines in their state during the election year.

Gun Clubs & Elections

Gun clubs can be organized under any number of tax statuses, but many will put them in a category where they may not be able to engaging in outright electioneering. However, one New York gun club sends a pretty clear message about the issue they want to see resolved without naming any candidates on a giant billboard.

I hate that the only place I ever witnessed really well organized gun clubs willing to get involved in the political fights to the degree that they were legally allowed to was in Massachusetts. It really was a case of too little too late there, and other states don’t have to follow that model if their clubs and organized shooters would get together and engage in just a little bit of activism.

Politics of Personal Destruction

I think the thing that both Sebastian and I hate the most about politics at the moment is that it seems like everyone is so hateful toward everyone else to the point of wanting to see the individuals themselves destroyed. I get that there’s a certain “us vs. them” quality to building political opposition, but in the past, you could still go to the bar and have a drink with someone with whom you disagreed. Now, that seems like something from the past for many folks.

One of the things that brought on my recent frustration with the issue is the Facebook scandal involving Kendall Jones, a young female hunter. She posted pictures from lawful hunts, and Facebook took them down for violating community standards. However, the “Kill Kendall Jones” page is allowed to remain because Facebook says that doesn’t violate any community standards. Now, a Democratic former Congressional candidate is offering $100,000 to anyone who will publish naked pictures of Kendall Jones simply because he doesn’t like that she hunts and wants to see her personally destroyed.

I don’t even know if the political discourse on display can be improved. When someone considers it a reasonable and good idea to start a page calling for the death of someone who simply disagrees with you, I’m not sure there’s much that can be done to bring people like that back to some form of reasonable discussion, even if it still results in disagreement.

Creating Child Porn to “Prove” Child Porn

My outrage meter was off the charts yesterday with something that wasn’t gun-related, but it is related to the issue of freedom and the out-of-control state.

In Northern Virginia, a teen boy’s girlfriend sent sexy pictures of herself and he sent one back. Now they want to charge the kid with felonies for child pornography and are trying to “prove” it’s him by creating their own collection of child pornography to compare it against. When the response by the prosecutor and the cops is to think, “hey, we should haul a 17-year-old boy to a hospital and give him a shot to force an erection so that we can take nudie pictures of him all hot and bothered,” it’s time they need to reconsider their choices in life.

I’d also like to point out that the fact that they aren’t bringing the same charges against the 15-year-old girlfriend appears to be a little sexist.

I’m just curious though why there isn’t someone in the life of DA Claiborne Richardson – a friend or family member – who hasn’t sat down with him and said, “Really? Really? Giving a teen boy a forced erection and taking naked pictures is how you want to be remembered for all of history? Making a kid a felon for showing his girlfriend a video of his d*** that she’s probably already seen in real life many times if she’s sending dirty pictures of herself is what you consider an effective use of the justice system? Don’t you think it’s time to reconsider your life and how out of touch you are with reality if you think this is a perfectly reasonable course of action?”

10 Years for the Bloomberg Model Gun Control Mayor

It’s possible that former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was Mike Bloomberg’s model Mayor Against Guns. Nagin organized a gun confiscation plan that he actually got away with for a little while until they city was taken to court.

Now, underscoring the need that Bloomberg had to get away from keeping his gun control brand associate with mayors, Ray Nagin has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for bribery and money laundering.

Responding to Parking Lot Law Critics

Pennsylvania is pushing a parking lot law to protect employees who carry and lock their firearms in their cars while at work, and at least one newspaper editorial writer isn’t too happy with it. Rather than ignoring it, the primary sponsor, Sen. Rich Alloway, is responding directly to the criticism.

Currently, many of our friends and neighbors risk losing their jobs by carrying their firearm with them in their vehicle on their way to work. Twenty-three states have already enacted laws to protect their citizens from losing their jobs, and Pennsylvania should join them.

Today, daily commutes are punctuated by short errands.

Whether at the dry cleaners or at the grocery store, headlines remind us that crime can, and does happen anywhere. Furthermore, many work shifts are during non-traditional hours, when crimes are potentially more likely to occur.

Mr. Major dismisses these concerns as “What if factors” that needlessly frighten people. The irony is that his newspaper is regularly reporting violent crimes, that clearly demonstrate that sometimes the â€œWhat ifâ€™sâ€ do occur.

The Problem with General Gun Bans

Another store is under fire for their gun policy, but this time because they ban firearms and an employee assumed that IKEA meant it. So, when a guy showed up with a firearm strapped to his hip where everyone could see it, the customer was told to leave. That customer happens to be a police chief who was in uniform. Now, corporate is saying that their gun bans, even though they have no written exemption, were never meant to apply to any cop. The employee was simply enforcing their ban, and now he’s in trouble for it.

This is one reason why stores would be better not to post against lawful carry because they either have to make a list of exemptions that will eventually confuse their staff or they’ll have to ban police officers and others from their stores if they won’t create exemptions.

Standing Up to The Attacks

As cynical as I feel sometimes about the direction things are headed in with the Second Amendment issue, I do have to give a little credit where it is due to some of the other citizens stepping up to speak out. I’ve noticed several letters to the editor standing up for the NRA and gun rights recently, and even though I don’t agree with every conclusion in every letter, I’m happy to see people speaking out publicly. We need a few more people to stand up to the really absurd accusations about gun owners in the media because it helps inspire others to step up.