COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
My vote for best in its class.
ReplyDeleteI never look at any of my guns except with silent respect and almost a slight fear. I know what they are for and what they can do. I am sure it is a feeling shared by most who own them, have practiced with them, and used them.
ReplyDeleteResponsible gun owners have nothing in common with gang-bangers. You may as well say that classical music enthusiasts and rappers are both music lovers: technically true but not a useful metaphor.
AMEN on both points. One of the few things that I never mix with alcohol - guns.
Ashley, as Rufus points out, only naive people believe you can draw a careful distinction between who should and who shouldn't own guns. Once you start down that path, you're on a slope, which will inevitably turn slippery, just as surely as power corrupts.
As noted before, it matters not what you think or want. Supremes have ruled. And even if they had not, no one would EVER take my guns from me.
As a citizen, a business owner, almost 50 years old, I an not a felon...
ReplyDeleteI bought my Glock 40 cal today.
I still like the wood and steel jobs the best. Have a Springfield M1903A3 that I love to shoot more than anything else. Great old gun that does a fine job at distance with nothing but peep sites.
ReplyDeleteLove the Marlin 1895G in .45-70 too. Now that's a gun and a round.
I still have my original Remington .22 dad bought me at age 10. Has a nick on the stock is all. Downstairs I have a Remington .270, made of that black composite material, that was in the Plymouth Reliant when it caught fire. Melted. Anyway, I'm thinking of having it framed, for a conversation piece. Put over the fireplace.
ReplyDeleteYou don't do overnight camping in Israel without at least one of the fellows carrying a hand gun. I never owned a gun, as I never could be bother with the paper work.
ReplyDeletebothered
ReplyDeleteMayor Nichols of Seattle wants to ban even concealed weapons from public places like the Seattle Center, which is one of the places you don't go at night up here. This despite the ruling from SCOTUS recently. Nothing like making a park or city square into a free fire zone for the bad guys with a lot of unarmed targets walking around. I was SHOCKED, SHOCKED I tell you to learn there was a guy got shot to death and another put into the hospital from some gangbangers going at it at Southcenter Mall (the biggest mall in the tri-state area) just a couple days before Thanksgiving. Why was I shocked? There's signs posted ALL OVER the mall that says you're not supposed to bring guns in there!
ReplyDeleteWhere is that Seattle Center, Ruby T? Downtown, out by the Space Needle?
ReplyDeleteI walked into my local gun store in Ohio, gave them my driver's license, filled out a brief form, they called it in, 16 minutes later I walked out with my Glock...
ReplyDeleteThe work now begins...
I will take a Concealed Carry Permit class
I will take a firearm safety class
I will take firearm shooting lessons at the local range...
How many names does ruby go by?
ReplyDeleteBobal, the Seattle Center is the site of the 1962 World's Fair, Space Needle on the southeast corner, monorail terminal, Paul Allen's rock museum, IMAX, basketball arena, lots of nice fountains, food court, and an amusement park with roller coasters and stuff that's about to be torn out of there.
ReplyDeleteMany names. Lost count.
ReplyDeleteMy wife startled me the other day, saying, I'd like to get a concealed carry permit.
So, we're both going to.
All you have to do here is have a background check, and state a reason, which everyone fills out as "self defense." They can't turn you down.
I've got a Llama .38 pistol.
WiO, my wife's neighbor back there in Ohio grows tomatos. The deer are always causing trouble, no end of trouble, he has electric fences,etc, which don't do much good, and as he lives a ways away, he offered to get me a special year round deer permit, so I could blast away at them for him:) His farm is right next door, he lives away.
That's what I thought. Is the old Farmers/Fishers market still there off Pike Street?
ReplyDeleteA Federal Marshall I know told me the traffic was so bad downtown, he sat through, I think it was, 39 light changes before getting across some intersection, downtown.
ReplyDelete"Choose Your Weapon"
ReplyDeleteWhy the pen of course!
I grew up with guns. My father was a hunter not that he ever caught anything but that's beside the point. I was the boy he never had. I had my own gun at an early age of maybe 6 or 7. He use to take me to the firing range all the time. I can remember watching my dad in the gun room at night after dinner making his own ammunition, or what ever you call it. It was fascinating and I so enjoyed it. He use to let me help once in a while. I never knew what happened to that trusty friend of mine.
ReplyDeleteToday, I hate guns.
Ash chooses the pen...
ReplyDeletedeep...
Just think what one bullet in hitler's brain could have saved the world in 1933?
Nope the time for pens are put aside...
It's time for pig skins and entrails to be used as coffins for islamic terrorists...
If that doesnt work..
nuke the black rock....
if that doesnt work, turn their cities to glass.
then you can use the pen to write how bad we become to get rid of evil
Sources said tests on Kamal’s blood and urine showed he was under the influence of drugs to help keep him alert during the long battles with Indian security forces.
ReplyDelete'I have done right,’ he told investigators. ‘I have no regrets'
Well, Ash, you'll just have to write these folks a letter for us.
Dear Terrorist Pen Pal,
ReplyDeleteI am writing to you today, to respectfully request....
His guns were never locked up and the ammunition was always in the same place. We knew not to touch. It's not like that today. Kids are different no matter what the discipline.
ReplyDeleteSure thing Bobal, while you and your wife huddle in fear clutching your nice warm spanking new guns.
ReplyDeleteI know bobal, you are a man of action who has no time for the world of ideas.
ReplyDeleteThat's me, Ash, thoughtless, obsessed.
ReplyDeleteActually, my wife walks alone a lot on the levee, and for some reason she's gotten a little squemish about it, being alone, which is where her carry idea came from. She doesn't have a gun at this point, doesn't really know how to shoot, except the little I've told her. I'm no marksman myself. Except on grouse, used to be.
There used to be a bumper sticker seen around here----
ReplyDelete"They'll take my gun when they they pry my cold dead fingers from it"
I think that was it, or close.
I know two people one applied for a hunting rifle a couple of years ago and after answering one of the questions with half truth which was an honest mistake about an incident that happened when he was 16, he was charge with lying on the application. He had a trial and a very large fine and probation not to mention he can never get a gun.
ReplyDeleteThis past summer I know someone who has a suspended drivers license no income and only a photo ID walked into a gun shop and had a gun within a week.
Hmmm...sounds fishy to me.
What is she squemish about? How is a packin' heat going to make life easier for her? Is she worried some nefarious dudes will amble along and take her money? Or are there nasty muslims lurking about itching to do some jihadi beheading?
ReplyDeleteYes bobal, Pike Place Market is there, it never changes, it's one of the places the locals have to take you when you visit. A Ruby Tour would include the secret elevator from the waterfront to the Market, no hill climb or stairs for bobal. In fact, I could take you all over downtown Seattle without breaking a sweat because I know all the secret elevators and escaltors. The tour would continue with a bag with a dozen of the plain or sugared little donuts this guy makes with a machine before we walked down under the market to the Gum Wall, which is one side of a brick alley covered in chewed wads of bubble gum, some of which are formed into letters or hearts or you name it. Then we'd see them toss the big trouts and you'd throw down $25 for a fresh crab.
ReplyDeleteBob there's plenty other ways of self defense. And if she's walking down the street alone with her gun tucked away in her purse do you really think she's gonna have enough time to dig through it in time to defend herself?
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'
Depends upon the locale, seems to me. There are numerous gun store and gun shows were a firearm can be purchased. There are many private citizens that buy and sell firearms, as well. Used to be a big part of the classifieds, in the AZ Republic.
ReplyDeleteStill is, it seems
Guns are in the closet, right where they always are, unless they're in the truck.
Or saddle scabbard.
MLD, you get her a shiny little .22, she carries it in her inside coat pocket. That way when some asshole that's following her asks for the time, she can use the muzzle of the .22 to push the coat sleeve back from her left wrist and say, "Sure, it's 7:45"
ReplyDeleteAnd what would the title of that movie be called?
ReplyDeleteas long as the kid doesn't say "boo" all will be fine.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHere you go, bob
ReplyDeleteGet one of these for your wife, have the barrel shorten and the stock trimed, to fit her.
Then sling it so she can carry it like a purse, strap over the shoulder, muzzle down, balanced and ready to swing up into the ready position.
The weapon itself, visable for all to see would be deterrent enough, that it's a 20 gauge, light wieght, especially after the gunsmith work is done.
Semi auto, it'll fire util its' empty, she just has to keep her whits about her, carrying loaded, locked and cocked, safety on.
What is she squemish about?
ReplyDeleteThe products of the local public education system, one of whom raped my daughter, if you'd like to know, you prick.
Ash said...
ReplyDeleteOr are there nasty muslims lurking about itching to do some jihadi beheading?
Dear Ash...
Fuck you....
Do you even KNOW who Rabbi Holtzberg was?
Do you even care?
Do you even KNOW how many threats our Rabbi GETS?
Do you know that we have ARMED GUARDS at our day cares, schools and temples?
Do you know that we have had attacks on us for centuries?
So really ash, cram your "better than thou" attitude up your puckered asshole...
I CHOOSE to get a gun to BE PREPARED and yes there are Jihadists in America and I do not plan on going like a sheep to the slaughter waiting for a cop to rescue me..
70 years ago and a few days, it was the night of the broken glass...
If the jews of Germany had been able to KILL a few hundred rioting, raping & killing Germans WW2 might have been avoided...
so again I say How dare you judge those of use that do have fear of Jihadists...
Yesterday a nice Jewish kid lost his leg to a Jihadist's attack..
It's real ash... but when they take your sorry ass, throw you in a pit for 2 years, like Gilad Shalit then you have the right to judge til then? shut the fuck up
There's only one thing wrong with that DR, the strap over the shoulder purse is not in style she would definitely be out of place and cause more attention to herself. She would be better off wearing a sign that read, I have a license to carry.
ReplyDeleteFor lone walks upon the levee, an exposed semi-auto short barreled shotgun is the premier deterrent.
ReplyDeleteWhich is the point of the matter, deterrence not use. But 20 gauge loaded with #8 or #9 shot gives a shot dispersment that is likely to hit the perp, at a distance of twenty yards. Shortening the barrel will increase the spread, which is the objective.
Besides, I'd almost guarentee that you can open carry a shotgun anywhere in Idaho, outside of airports, court houses and the Federal building.
ReplyDeletebobal,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your daughter and it certainly is an event that would strike fear into any persons heart. Will packing a gun lessen the fear? Will it substantially lessen the threat? It certainly won't right the past wrong.
WiO, yes sir there are loads of nasty folk out there and some have more need for protection then others but it would seem to heighten as opposed to lessen the need to try to get weapons, especially the BIG automatic kind, out of the hands of the miscreants as opposed to making it as easy as possible for them to obtain them.
Besides, I'd almost guarentee that you can open carry a shotgun anywhere in Idaho
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that's right. Carry it right down mainstreet, if you want.
Here is an even better example of #8 shot over 20, 30, and 40 yrds, from a 20 gauge.
ReplyDeleteIn a prely defenseive scenario, she'd be firing at 10 to 15 yards.
With her whits about her, incapacitate them by taking out their legs, if they breach the 10 yard dafety zone. Or panic and take off their heads.
Best advise, fire center mass, to stop their threatening advance.
Even a .410 single shot would work, both to relieve her anxiety about the snakes in the grass, but also being very light wieght, while still providing a deterrent to the miscreants.
ReplyDeleteGreat selection, DR.
ReplyDeleteIt was what was in today's paper, j willie.
ReplyDeleteThere was a 16 gauge pump gun and an over /under 12 gauge, a tad pricey to "chop and channel". Though the charecter Arnold played in "Eraser" used one.
Of the three, an easy choice.
Buy it today, gunsmith for few days, problem solved. Take it out and fire at paper Osamas and Hussiens, at the safety zone distances. 10 to 15 yards.
Learn to bring it level at the hip and fire from there, and from port arms to the shoulder.
Couple hundred rounds.
She'd either carry it on her walks, or not.
:) Well, I can't imagine her doing that, though I think it's a good idea. I'll mention it to her, and see what she says. Problem solved, peacefully.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of hard to imagine that only 10 guys could have done all that in India, and held out for so long, but 10 is the number of what I'm reading.
DR: With her whits about her, incapacitate them by taking out their legs
ReplyDeleteWhit, are you a member of triplets? Can a person really have their whits about them?
DR, in the military they never teach you to fire at legs or warning shots or any of that bull crap.
THREE DISABLING ROUNDS, CENTER OF MASS
I know what they teach, Ms Ruby, taught it.
ReplyDeleteBut the fact of the matter is that most folk miss. Especially with hand guns. Full stock shotguns, they're something else, all together.
The Navy not loading #8 shot, either. The object, that they will tell you at any Concealed Carry Course is to "stop" the miscreant.
As soon as the advance stops, there is no reason to fire, again.
A military trained marksman that puts three 9mm rounds center mass, is more likely to be prosecuted that a farmer lady that shot the antagonists with snake shot.
THAN a farmer lady that shot the antagonists with snake shot
ReplyDeleteDR: A military trained marksman that puts three 9mm rounds center mass, is more likely to be prosecuted that a farmer lady that shot the antagonists with snake shot.
ReplyDeleteBecause...(wait for it, wait for it)...you can't prosecute a farmer lady who has passed on. But you can prosecute a marksman who survived the encounter.
Neat-O. We're going to power Whit's Fl with the Gulf Stream, yet. VIVACE - Vortex-Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy
ReplyDeleteWorks in a 1.5 knot current. The Cheapest, Cleanest, Greenest, most Reliable thing I've seen anywhere. I'm Jazzed!
This could not be more on topic or illustrative of the pacifist, gun-contolling mentality!
ReplyDeleteMumbai photographer: I wish I'd had a gun, not a camera. Armed police would not fire back
"controlling"
ReplyDeleteYes, yes. A pen would have been SO USEFUL in Mumbai.
ReplyDeleteNo guns allowed in Singapore, unless you can prove that you are really threatened and that the police can't provide you with sufficient protection. I have a friend who told me of an acquaintance of his who did get a carry permit.
Still, I make sure to keep my skills honed, since I haven't gotten my reservist call-up for years now. Every now and then, a bunch of us would go out to the local range and practice our shooting.
If in actual combat, obviously I prefer the rifle for its range above all other weapons. Otherwise, a pistol or revolver would do. Not too shabby at either weapon types. Just missed my army rifle marksmanship badge by one freaking shot!!!
Oh, and for Ashley's sake, because he might be thinking we're a good model to follow: how does Singapore deal with prospective gangbangers and other unsavory types who wish to hold guns and take advantage of the defenseless populace?
ReplyDeleteUnlicensed possession of gun = death sentence
Whaddya know, no gun incidents here!
So Ash, either you allow normal, law-abiding people to have guns, or you put in the most draconian law possible to protect the unarmed from the criminal armed who won't give a shit unless their necks are on the line. Everything else in the middle is ineffective.
But I guess your leftist, softy-softy, 'let's use a pen!' mindset cannot abide the death penalty for any crime.
River Power and Dam Replacement
ReplyDeletefrom a sub article from Rufus's article
Yeah, Rufus, you could have a whole series of those up and down a river, no dam, still have the fish runs, and it wouldn't be so intrusive as a dam. Couldn't float the wheat down to Portland, though. But you could build a good railway, and power electric trains.
Well said Wobbly.
ReplyDeleteWretchard finally writes a good post again - http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2008/11/29/a-marine-officer-on-the-mumbai-tactics/
Interesting find for the day, illustrating why Americans should look to British history in particular, as well as their own.
ReplyDeleteFrom The Long Retreat by C.J. Bartlett (1972)
"From 1965 Britain's strategic role East of Suez became the subject of fierce debate. It had been questioned before, as we have already seen, but only from 1965 was a sustained attack launched by many Labour back-benchers, the Liberal party, some Conservatives, and by some political and military commentators. The sorry finale to British rule in Aden, teh end of the [Indonesian] 'confrontation', the relative - though possibly temporary - calm around most of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf [scratch that one perhaps], and the apparent inability of Britain to influence events in Rhodesia, Vietnam and the Middle East, were all cited in support of a policy of retreat. Enthusiasm for the Commonwealth was waning; Britain's internal problems seemed to be mountaing on all sides; doubts were growing as to teh actual degree of national progress and strength enjoyed int he 1950s; and, in so far as Britain coudl afford to be outward-looking, Europe appeared to be the most relevant focus of her attention. The nation was becoming more introspective, more selective, more convinced that her resources were limited, and that her fields of action must be chosen with greater care and discrimination than in the past.
Certainly there remained a strong body of opinion taht there were things that Britain could not afford not to do. Yet since Churchill had begun to review the Korean rearmament programme in 1951 hardly a year had been passed without some major weapon being cancelled or some overseas commitment reduced or given up. IN this longer perspective the decisions that were to be taken in 1967-8 were less dramatic than they appeared at teh time. Repeated even sophisticated arguments - and not all were sophisticated - had succumbed to the belief that the cost was exorbitant. Considerations of cost were to prove a powerful ally for the East of Suez critics after 1966.
the two most dramatic events in teh debate were a speech in October 1965 by teh Conservative Shadow Defence Minister, Enoch Powell, and the resignation of Christopher Mayhew from teh government in February 1966. Powell, addressing the Party COnference in Brighton on 14 October 1965, questioned the long-term value of Britain's eastern bases, and argued that the states of Asia must in time establish their own local balances. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, with genreal responsibility for the party's overseas policies, hastily added that no eastern political vacuum could be allowed to develop that might be used against the West, though he gave his personal opinion that future British forces in the region should be mainly drawn from the RAF and navy, especially the latter. The Economist took a similar line, while expecting Japan, Indonesia and India to be strong enough to fill any vacuum by teh 1980s. Powell was not withotus upporters in teh Conservative party, who seemingly favoured a more precipitate retreat, and Labour critics steadily became more vociferous...
The debate also raged in the press and some serious predicals... the critics argued that a British presence coudl act as an irritant to local nationalists and revolutionaries rather than as a stabilising force. It might discourage existing governments from implementing necessary poltiical and military policies for their own stability and security. A large British presence might be out of all proportion to the interests to be protected, yet still inadequate or ineffectual against serious indigenous opposition. A small presence would still be a commitment which, once honoured, coudl grow through force of circumstances into a major one. Economic self-interest in the various regions would be the best guarantee that their doors would remain open to British, supplying crucial raw materials and buying her goods in return. Both Powell and Mayhew made much of the commercial success of West Germany and Japan although they maintained no foreign military presences. And over all hung the shadow of the American experience in Vietnam, and their failure to impose their will despite all the power at their disposal.
In contrast teh East of Suez champions emphasised the danger that a precipitate British withdrawal might cause power vacuums into which enemies of Britain - and here they had Nassar, Arab revolutionaries as well as Communists much in mind - would rush, overthrowning friendly regimes. Much was made of the Indonesian defeat in the 'confrontation', and the scale of British investments and trading interests in the politically vulnerable areas East of Suez. Thus Britain still drew about 60 per cent of her oil from teh Middle East, especially from the Persian Gulf. It was argued that nationalist xenophobia might prevail over economic self-interest. More than 1000 million pounds of foreign investment could easily be put at risk by a policy of too hasty retreat. At the very least, it was argued, if such interests could not be directly protected by miltiary force, a presence woudl contribute to the general political stability of certain areas, and thereby afford indirect protection. The mere hint of weakness or retreat would, in contrast, encourage the enemies of Britain and antagonise her friends, and cause the situation to deteriorate, as was occuring in the mid-1960s in and around Aden, with Nasser and Arab revolutiaonries exploiting to the utmost the announced intention of the British to leave by 1968. A retreat from the Persian Gulf would also let loose a variety of local and traditional rivalries which had long been inhibited by the British presence, nto least the differences between the local Arab rulers themselves, and the long-standing disputes between Iran and the Arab states. Communists in and around Malaysia would be encouraged; dissension between Chinese adn Malays might increase; there might be further trouble with Indonesia. Soviet ambitions in the Indian Ocean would undoubtedly grow. In short, it could be argued that a British prsence was a massive stabilising and mollifying force throughout the region."
I'll get a gun, as soon as I find a suitable 6 shot revolver.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, the bow and arrow, and baseball bat will do. Definitely needed in this area, and not for fucking snakes - of the naturish kind at least.
re deuces's an armed Texas bar is a polite safe Texas bar---
ReplyDeletefrom BC, wretchard says, concerning terrorist small cell tactics---
There are only two long term defenses I can imagine, as a layman. The first is subsidiarity. The second is intelligence. Subsidiarity will mean the existence of enough armament at the grassroots level to create uncertainty for the terrorist buddy pairs. This is the concept upon which the air marshal idea relies. The possibility you may encounter an armed man in the first minutes when you are supposed to enjoy surprise could ruin everything. Instead of losing one terrorist per hundred casualties, the terrorist might be killed after only shooting two or three. Intelligence is the other defense. The Mumbai attackers had support cells. They had to train somewhere, be transported somehow, set up their resupply points in some fashion. All of these activities have signatures.
Subsidiarity, Wretchard's fancy way of saying, More Guns, Less Crime, or, an armed bar is a safe, polite bar.
Why a revolver?
ReplyDelete