S&W 500: BOOM!!
"The universe neither cares about you nor recognizes any obligation to you. It is fixed and blind, a mad robot programmed to kill. You are free and seeing; you must outwit it at every poor turn." -- Romana Machado
"Consider urinals and the Army. They were never a problem, because men regard the entire earth as a urinal in waiting. The side of the road, the middle of the road, a tree, the ocean -- they don't discriminate. The way feminists see oppression everywhere, men see urinals. It's a design feature." -- Fred Reed
# Tom Toles via The Militant Libertarian - Fodder... - cartoon commentary on the dwindling supply of men and women willing to die for Bushnev's empire. No wonder he wants more Mexican immigrants. Hehe. [militant]
# My boss bought a Smith & Wesson 500 4" Revolver to use as bear medicine on the canoeing trip he plans next summer in Alaska. He'll carry a slug-loaded shotgun as his primary weapon, but always have the .500 on his hip for backup. He took possession on Monday, and took the day off to play. Bought reloading equipment on Wednesday. I witnessed him shooting it yesterday. There's a meeting room just behind the outdoor pistol range where we went. A group of prison guards were taking a seminar. They lined the (likely rattling) windows to watch. A huge fireball emerged from the barrel when he fired it. And the pressure wave was great. Yowza!
# Google - Tsunami Relief - links to news about the disaster and places to make donations. [google]
# Kathryn A. Graham at Armed Females of America - Felons and Guns Revisited - why felons' civil rights, including the right to keep and bear arms, should be restored, completely, when they are released from prison. Well said, Kate! [lrtdiscuss]
The simple truth is that we are creating an artificial underclass of people in this country. Felons often cannot get a decent job. They cannot vote. They cannot defend their own lives or the lives of their loved ones. They have problems renting a place to live -- even most apartments these days do a background check before renting to anyone, and even trying to get a mortgage with a felony in your past is not to be contemplated. In the eyes of the law, felons have forfeited their civil rights forever, even after they have paid their debt to society and tried to go straight. As a result, they are angry, bitter and desperate people, often homeless, and the outcome is all but inevitable. According to Department of Justice statistics, the rate of recidivism nationwide in 1994 approached seventy percent! And that study only covers those persons arrested again for a serious crime within a paltry three years! What about within five or ten years? I could not find studies covering longer periods, but would not be surprised to see data approaching 100 percent. As desperation grows, so does the incentive for crime.
The even sadder truth is that the situation was not always as it is today. In the 1800s, if you were convicted of a serious crime, you received a much shorter sentence than you would today. In actual fact, time served today is about the same, but the total sentences are much longer because of parole rules. In any event, you got out of prison in about the same length of time, give or take a bit. However, in the 1800s, when you were discharged from prison, your belongings (including your weapons!) were returned to you, and there was a real incentive to move elsewhere and put it all behind you, because an employer in another town need never know that you had once made a terrible mistake. Even if you chose to tell him the whole truth, the extreme prejudice you find today against giving you another chance simply did not exist. You had a genuine opportunity to make a new life. As a result, recidivism was very low, roughly in single digit percentages. Why would anyone with a real chance to make a good life ever choose to go back to the slammer? That's just common sense!
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Let's apply a little common sense. Assuming that you are like me, (i.e., no good at martial arts, aging, fat and slow), what gives you a better chance when facing a violent criminal? If both of you are unarmed, the chances are that said violent criminal is going to clean your clock, because you are deeply reluctant to do various vicious and bloody things that he finds no problem at all, even if you were physically evenly matched to begin with. On the other hand, if you both have guns, your chances are at least even. Your chances are better than even, really, although there is no way to measure them, because a criminal is nearly always motivated by self-interest, meaning that he is usually a physical coward. If he even thinks you might have a gun, chances are very good that most such problems will never even happen. You, on the other hand, didn't choose to become embroiled in a life or death situation, but if it happens, you will fight like an enraged tiger.
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If you choose not to defend your life with force, you have that absolute right, and the rest of us will attend your funeral. Whether you reap an eternal reward for your non-violent choice is entirely between you and your God. You do not have the right to make the rest of the world pay for your choice.
# World Net Daily - Gun control doesn't reduce crime, violence, say studies - two new U.S. studies, from The National Academy of Sciences and The National Research Council, conclude that gun control laws don't work. You knew that. Now our legislators know that. I predict it will have exactly zero affect on their behavior. Fear and wishful thinking, not rationality, motivate the Brady Bunch. [trt-ny]
