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Monthly Archives: August 2012

Now That’s Awesome

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This can best be summarized as, “Because you CAN!”

Here’s his whole run from Pikes Peak in 2011.

That man has serious balls, especially when there are incidents like this have happened on the same course:

h/t to Ry on that last video.

Some Testing from the Laptop

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Well, it appears my laptop is up and running.  The one thing I love about Linux is that I don’t have to waste time setting up all the little crap.

This post actually is me giving one of the built in blog writers a spin.  It’s no Windows Live Writer, but it so far appears to meet the minimum requirement of functional.
Not quite as clean on the picture entry though.

A Compare and Contrast Exercise

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Lets look at exhibit A:

The results?  15 rounds, 9 innocent bystanders wounded.

Exhibit B:

Result, no innocent bystanders shot, 2 perps wounded and found in the hospital.

So can someone please explain to me again why concealed carriers are so dangerous?  Especially given the following information:

–You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist

I really should spend some time aggregating the stats for the number of innocent people shot by officers during an engagement versus the number of innocents shot by a concealed carrier while defending themselves.  I hate spending my time doing that because I already know the answer and I know there was a study on it, my Google fu just can’t find it again.  I have a feeling though it may be buried and I will probably end up doing it.

Intrepid readers, if you find it, please let me know!

It’s Time

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I’m spending this morning backing up stuff off my laptop for a complete reinstall.  Back in April I had some issues while at the jet boat races.  Well Windows Live Writer has taken a trip south now as well so I figured it’s time to reinstall.

Especially given in a week Joe’s going to be here and I must say, next Sunday looks like it’s going to be fun.  I have to agree that the timing for this worked out decently well.  It’s doubly interesting because at the last match, there was a pile of new shooters, many who had never shot USPSA before, and even very little outside of that.

There shall be numerous data points, my classification from USPSA just came in and I am not enthused with remaining there.  Upshot of that though is whether or not I make the “gold standard”.

Now why do I need my laptop though if Joe’s going to be here, I have my nice desktop at home.  Well after the match we’ve got a few other things before we depart my place headed to Reno for GBR-VII.  I think my laptop should probably be functional for that.

ESS And Boomershoot 2012…

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It went up without me even noticing it! 

Guns and explosives, not to mention Shelly and Anette.  Why haven’t you hit play yet!?

I mentioned how much I liked ESS Eyewear back here.  The video title makes me wonder where volumes 1-4 are though.

SSCC #395 – Baton Rouge

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An 18-year-old was shot and killed by a deputy. That teen’s family has now filed a federal suit claiming it was a wrongful death. Could the deputy’s past have foretold the future?

What did this young man do to deserve such a reaction from the officer?

“He was approaching the police to help them. He was telling them you’ve got the wrong person. You’ve got the wrong person. He had his hands in the air when the officer turned and shot him point blank, and he fell. When he hit the ground, he still had his hands above his head,” said attorney Donna Grodner.

This isn’t even an issue of he said she said.  The Sheriff supported the statement and continue on further to add the following:

“We have no reason at this time to believe that this 18-year-old did anything wrong and certainly, I want to make that clear. He was unarmed. I’m not saying he violated any laws what so ever,” said Sheriff Edwards.

So given the Sheriff is supporting the family, why would this be a SSCC?  It’s a prime example of why I do this and why I want officers fired immediately upon misconduct.

“Chief Nelson was the police chief at that time, and he recommended the city council terminate his employment because of numerous complaints against him,” said Chief Ambeau.

Complaints like verbal and written warning notices regarding his unauthorized absence, failure to follow the law and leaving well before his shift was over.

The minutes from that August 2001 council meeting showed the chief and council members frustrated with all the complaints against the officer. It only got worse when it came to then-St. Gabriel Mayor George Grace.

That’s right folks, this officer had a history and now someone finally ended up dead because of this officer.  Worst thing about this is I have no doubt that officer went home and slept like a baby.

The fact is officers don’t normally jump into the deep end off the bat. They slowly work their way up and administrators and public officials need to pay attention to the warning signs and have the balls to say, “Son you’re not going to work here.”

State Sponsored Criminal #395:  William Phebus

Because really what you see when an officer has been fired numerous times is a cheap employee, don’t worry about why he was fired, he won’t want to do it again.

Quote of the Day – @JeremyAllan (8/24/2012)

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@barronbarnett @linoge_wotc I want her disarmed, yep. I don’t want her to be prey.

@JeremyAllan – Tweet
August 24, 2012

[Those two statements are mutually exclusive and I tried multiple analogies.  He also couldn’t understand how group punishment wouldn’t serve any purpose and is unfair.

That “conversation” on twitter was long and drawn out in the end three things were blatantly obvious.

First he suffers from Peterson Syndrome.  He would gladly have a higher overall crime rate for fewer “gun deaths”.

Second he cannot comprehend that disarming the law-abiding public makes them prey.  To most illustrate this point here was his final tweets:

@GunFreeZone @barronbarnett @linoge_wotc I truly hope you’re never in a position where you would feel the need to use your guns for defense.

@GunFreeZone @barronbarnett @linoge_wotc Because I don’t wish you or any of your loved ones harm. The opposite. Rather, prosperity.

Yet he admits he would prefer my wife who has a physical disability to be disarmed unable to effectively defend herself.  How can you be prosperous when you’re dead because you weren’t able to effectively defend yourself?

This also completely ignores the analogy I made for group punishment for alcohol and holding everyone who drinks responsible for the actions of others.  He dodged the question at first.  Then when he came back around, he said he would give it up if the law told him to.  Except history says that prohibition doesn’t work and any attempts to outlaw “insert noun here” always fail.  His solution was to say that didn’t matter and my argument was invalid.

Lastly he lives in a world of complete denial.  How warped is his denial, I linked to the Harvard study I talked about yesterday.  This was his response:

@barronbarnett @linoge_wotc @dthurstonHarvard is not infallible. This is propaganda.

When presented with facts and evidence, that has been peer-reviewed mind you, his response is to dismiss it as propaganda.  When someone is so ready and willing to dismiss any facts brought before them without a second thought what else is there?

I will add that throughout that entire debate, Linoge, Miguel, and I were the only ones backing our statements with examples and evidence.

All they offered was that guns should be banned and that would solve the problem.  What they don’t realize is that option has been examined, and the conclusions have been proven false, and the adults in the room have moved on in the conversation.  Their solution is to bring new people to the debate to scream for the same old thing as if some how doing it again, this time only harder will work.

I have some bad news to our opponents though.  No matter how badly you outlaw guns, people will have them.  Especially when it’s as easy as pressing the print button.  The debate is over, we’re merely still here because you’re currently grieving. -B]

SSCC #394–Spring Valley

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This one is a good one:

An investigation was under way Monday into a deputy-involved shooting in which a Spring Valley woman was shot by a deputy who was checking her backyard for a masked man. 

The reasoning behind the shooting:

Gore said the deputies thought Orey’s open gate looked suspicious, so they went into her backyard. The deputies ran into Orey, and one of them had a "spontaneous reaction."

Where I’m from, that’s called a Negligent Discharge.  When it strikes another person, you or I would be held criminally liable for negligence.  This man obviously violated 2 of the 4 rules and shot an innocent woman in the chest, who was unarmed, and had nothing in her hands.

Have no fear though:

Morgan said he believes the sheriff’s department is downplaying the shooting.

Of course they would, heaven forbid they admit that the anointed were criminally negligent.  Surely they will not fire that officer either, instead he will receive “extra training”.  Probably in some Panama City sailor want to hump hump bar.

Here’s the thing folks.  Yes people are human, yes people make mistakes.  But there is no calling a bullet back, there is no undoing shooting someone.  So if you screw up like that, you damn well deserve to go home permanently at a minimum.

Negligent discharges can and doe happen.  I am guilty of just such an offense.  The thing is it requires two rules to be violated to plug a person.  That is unacceptable and non-negotiable.  Go work at McDonalds sir because frankly you have no business being a cop.

State Sponsored Criminal #394: Officer John Doe

Because when a woman identifies her as a home owner as you are prowling her property without informing her you are doing so, you method of informing her should be a rapid deployment of hot lead into her body.