Why we fight
From Straight Forward in a Crooked World, I found a link to VBS.tv. There, I found a three part series on North Korea.
Video like this makes me physically sick. This is why we fight socialism.
Quote of the day
I’ve been trying to decide what to say about the Scott Brown/Martha Coakley affair. I’ve decided to steal a quote from Marko.
I think that the Democrats’ loss of “Kennedy’s seat” to the Republicans has done is to chip away at the sense of inevitability that comes with elections in areas heavily dominated by one party. If Massachusetts can vote a Republican into Teddy’s well-worn Senate chair, then nothing’s a sure thing anymore.
As my mom, who is still trapped behind the lines in New York, said: “If they can get rid of the Kennedy seat, that means we can get rid of Schumer!”
Or as Dod said:
What the American people really said: “Mr. President, welcome to the first day of the rest of your presidency. We look forward to its conclusion.”
Feedback Bleg
Help me out, gunnies. I’m going to be flying with my guns for the first time. I’ve read the TSA regs and know the rules and all of that. I’m transporting my M&P and a J-Frame. I’d like to make sure that they don’t get stolen. I’ve got two competing strategies:
1) Get a small case like this and go incognito. Nothing screaming “gun” or even “something valuable.” Can be placed in regular checked luggage. Downside: easier to conceal if you wanted to walk off with it.
2) Go with a larger locking Pelican case, checked by itself as a standalone “bag”. Bigger, difficult to hide, better security. Downside: Advertises “something valuable” if nothing else.
What do you think, Internet? If you travel with your guns, I’d love to get some feedback.
Good for you!
Kaveman explains why he’s a member of the NRA.
I believe that EVERY gun owner should be a member of the NRA, for whatever reason. The other groups are good too….join them all. But NRA is the 500 pound gorilla.
Panic room prevents assasination…Idiot survives
Panic room saved artist Kurt Westergaard from Islamist assassin
He did not have time to collect the child from the living room before locking himself into a “panic room”, a specially fortified bathroom. He said the assailant had shouted “swear words, really crude words” and shrieked about “blood” and “revenge”, as he smashed the axe in vain against the bathroom door.
“I feared for my grandchild,” he told Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that had commissioned the cartoon. “But she did great. I knew that he wouldn’t do anything to her.” He went on: “It was close, really close. But we did it.”
Really, Kurt? No time to collect your 5 year old granddaugher before locking yourself in the bathroom? And you knew that the axe wielding maniac wasn’t going to hurt her? Good for you.
I hate to say this, but I think that the kind of person who would lock themselves safely away while leaving their young granddaughter defenseless is the worst kind of scum.
Necessary reading
Joe Huffman is one of the best reasoned, most reasonable gunnie voices out there. This essay is required reading.
What a happy little song!
Happy New Year to everyone! Tam posted a link to this happy little song. I think I have a new ringtone. 
MAIG’s secret plans
Sebastian at Snowflakes in Hell has obtained a copy of New York mayor Micheal Bloomberg’s recommendations to the Obama administration on how to restrict gun ownership. It’s worth a read.
Kudos to Sebastinan. He is doing some great work out there.
Another Newbie
Robb Allen brings another newbie into the fold. Well done, Robb!
Uncomfortable realizations
My journey in becoming a gun owner and a gun rights activist has been punctuated by a series of uncomfortable realizations. I think that this is the journey that lots of new gun owners face. Each step is a revelation of the reality of the world around you.
I discovered the first uncomfortable realization in reading Mas Ayoob’s excellent book “The Truth About Self Protection“. The lesson was simple: there are Bad Guys* out there, and they don’t think the way you and I do. They are not deterred at all by the thought of visiting violence on another human being. They are at best agnostic toward violence…it is just another part of their job. At worst, they welcome violence and the power that it gives them over other people. But either way, you are not an individual to these Bad Guys. You are a resource.
The second uncomfortable realization is that you are on your own. Simply put, you may be called on to defend yourself someday from a Bad Guy. The lawless looting in the wake of hurricane Katrina is a classic example. The police couldn’t protect anyone. It doesn’t take a Katrina. Bad Guys are out there, looking for victims every day. And, as the saying goes, when seconds count…the police are only minutes away.
The third uncomfortable realization is that if you are going to have to defend yourself, you should use the best tool for the job. This is where a lot of people, I believe, break down and compromise. The tremendous number of goofy self-defense gadgets on the market are a testament to that. Even worse are articles like this one that Don Gwinn found, in which the city of Oak Park is giving whistles to its citizens, presumably so that the would be attacker will crap their pants and run away when confronted with the deadly whistle. Or this page, in which the Illinois State Police recommend that you vomit on yourself if you are a victim of sexual assault in order to discourage the attacker. I’m a 5′10″, 170 pound skinny computer geek. There is no way in hell that I am going to be able to fight off an attacker with a nail file. A firearm gives me the ability to defend myself…it brings me to parity with those who want to do me harm.
Which brings me to today’s uncomfortable realization, which I had in reading the linked Oak Park article. The chain of thoughts went like this:
- Certainly the government of Oak Park knows that there is the possibility that their citizens will need to protect themselves. Why else would they issue whistles to the populace?
- The ISP must know that their advice in defense of sexual assault is ludicrous. I mean, they deal with criminals every day, right? They know that there is no way that an average citizen can fight off 250 pounds of yard-hardened criminal.
- If there is one thing that we have learned in the 20-odd years of the restoration of concealed carry rights, it is that it doesn’t make things worse. I happen to believe, based on Dr. Lott’s work, that it in fact REDUCES crime, but you don’t even have to go there. It certainly doesn’t make it worse. If it even saves one life, it is worth it, right?
- Although I’ve been picking on Illinois, since Don made the links easy, examples are rife throughout the country of governments trying to chip away at citizen’s gun rights.
- Cognitive dissonance. One the one hand, governments know that citizens need access to firearms to protect themselves, and yet they seem hell bent on preventing access.
Uncomfortable realization: Your government doesn’t think you are worth saving. It is more important to them preserve their power then it is for you to be safe. You are nothing to them. A cog. Replaceable. Not worth protecting.
Uncomfortable realization number five: Number four looks an awful lot like number one….
Do your part!
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