The Minuteman

This morning Sebastian posted a link to something the CSGV posted on their Facebook page bashing pro-gun bloggers including one who is a personal friend.  Upon reading it when I got home they had updated to have a response to Sebastian’s response.

The thought that Joan’s “religion” might be acting to prevent others from experiencing the same tragedy she experienced apparently didn’t cross his mind.

The Peterson-Syndrome is showing through.  If we are going to take her argument at face value we must then ask, what about the opinions of people like Suzanna Hupp who had the tools and skills to end the violence brought before them but were disarmed.

Every argument they make is premised with the belief that every permit carrier is going to snap and go on a shooting rampage.  They are often projecting their own feelings and emotions forgetting that a potentiality is not an actuality.  They seem to think our goal is to see people shot and injured while ignoring the fact we are merely supporting the inalienable right of self-defense.

Joan Peterson shot herself in the foot and proved her mental defect when she stated the equivalent of the following:

It is better to have a higher overall crime rate for fewer crimes committed with a gun.

Joan Peterson wants more victims at the hands of criminals as long as they aren’t committed with a gun.  On our side of the fence want people to not be forced by law to be victims. 

• We want women to be able to defend themselves from rapists who would violate them.
• We want the elderly to be able to defend themselves from young thugs who would beat them to death to impress a girl.
• We want people to be able to defend themselves from criminals who would take their lives.
• We want people to have access to the most effective tools of self-defense. 

Often this last point is portrayed as if we want to force everyone to carry a gun.  The fact is though that couldn’t be further from the truth.  We want people to be able to make the choice if they wish to be able to defend themselves.

If we allow Joan’s logic of being a victim of violence to be correct, like Sebastian I am a victim of cancer.  My father passed away from pancreatic cancer when I was 19. 

Just the same though I am also a victim of violence.  My mother stopped the abuse of an elderly couple and arrested the situation when the thugs tried to threaten and intimidate her.  How did she do this?  She used a firearm, not a single shot was fired.  The group of kids were arrested minutes later while trying to steal a car when the police arrived.  People like Joan and the CSGV would prefer my mom had left the couple at the mercy of those thugs and been at their mercy herself. 

My father and mother went to the movies when I was a baby.   A group of four proceeded to be extremely rude, intimidated the staff, and were generally discourteous.  My father went to talk to the manager about the men who were still causing problems after the movie was over.  The men noticing what my father was doing proceeded to start harassing him.  They were warned to move on and to leave.  They continued to harass and physically intimidate my father until they placed themselves between my father and mother.  At this time my dad withdrew his firearm holding it at his side, at no time was it pointed at anyone, he then directed the men to remove themselves from between him and my mother immediately.  They complied and the police, who had already been called, arrived shortly thereafter.  The city of Kent charged my father with “assault with a deadly weapon.”  The jury found him not guilty with less than thirty minutes deliberation.  As jurors were leaving, two jurors approached my father and his attorney and informed them that prior to this trial they disliked firearms and supported gun control.  They then expressed that had they been in my fathers position they would have wanted a firearm, and due to the trial they were expanding their horizons.  In this case the CSGV would prefer a father be outnumbered and possibly permanently injured to not return home to support and protect his children.

The bottom line is that ultimately each side of this debate supposedly wants the same thing, less violence.  The problem is the anti-gun lobby only cares about “gun violence”.  If rape, murder, and other violent crimes increased but a gun wasn’t used, they would still consider that a win.  In our book crime is crime, no matter the tool used.  It ends up that the firearm is the most effective tool for self-defense, anyone can learn to use a firearm and physical ability is not the deciding factor in use.  God created men, Samuel Colt made them equal.  People have even more right to make themselves NOT a victim than to be forced by law to be disarmed and become prey for predators. 

This morning, around 0845, the hubby texted me about a rolled semi just as you enter our little town.  I found out some more information from him and then around 1000 ventured out with the camera to check and see if the truck was still there.  Sure enough, there it was.

Shortly after my arrival, a wrecker came to the scene and parked.  I decided to stay and see the proceedings of removing the truck.  I snapped some more pictures and waited.

And waited some more, periodically snapping pictures as a couple men walked around the truck examining it and deciding what to do while they waited for more help.

Eventually some additional crews arrived, this time with a fork lift.  They were unloading the rest of the rig’s payload.

While waiting for something more interesting to happen, a fellow ham operator and town local came by to see the progress.  We got to talking and he informed me that the accident occurred around 0600 and luckily there were no injuries.  The cause of the wreck, however is unknown.  Also, there was a semi parked alongside the highway over night and the accident occurred just behind it.  Good thing the wrecked semi didn’t collide with the parked one.

At around 1245 a WSP arrived on scene and I noticed down the road a bit, and slightly obscured by a hill, was another wrecker of sorts waiting for instructions.

As 1315 approached more crews started to arrive, such as flaggers and a third, smaller wrecker.  the larger wreckers were getting turned around so they could soon get into position to pull the rig up and out.

Finally the moment arrived, about 1330, and traffic was stopped.  Some vehicles decided to turn around and head down the road paralleling the highway to get around the wreck, while others just patiently waited.

The wreckers moved into place and then out came the cables to be attached to the truck.  The first order of business was getting the truck up on its wheels.  While the big red wrecker helped stabilize the rig, the other two repositioned to start the process of pulling the rig onto the highway.

After slowly moving the truck, the cables needed to be repositioned as the truck came up the small embankment it rolled down.  Inch by inch, foot by foot the truck was position on the highway and the cables, save one, was removed.  the original wrecker stayed attached and slowly pulled the semi down the highway into town.  At this point, I decided to head home

.

On the way, I noticed the wrecker and semi were parked on the side of the road in front of the high school.  I took that as an opportunity to head over to take pictures of the damaged side of the truck since I didn’t risk crossing the highway earlier to take pictures of the top side of the truck where it laid.  I arrived back home at about 1430 quite hungry and thirsty as I stupidly hadn’t eaten anything before hand. 

Each one of those little white squares is a box of magic smoke just waiting to be released.  This was the first magic box to go poof in 2010.  Congrats to whoever shot it.

When one fight ends another one is surely to follow.  HB 1016, the suppressor bill, was finally signed into law yesterday.  Under the table however within the past couple days, one of only 4 people who didn’t support the bill has introduced new legislation.

Representative Ross Hunter, who amazingly enough is the chair of the Ways and Means committee, has introduced legislation to repeal one of the most beneficial self-defense laws Washington State has.  He want’s to repeal RCW 9A.16.110, which allows for reimbursement of legal defense costs when a person is acquitted of a crime on the basis of self-defense.

Why he is attacking this law specifically is unclear, however it most likely pertains to attempting to balance the budget.  This however is not how one goes about balancing the budget.  One does not throw law abiding citizens who have been wrongly brought before the bar because of an act of self defense to be bankrupted by the state.  They were a victim in the crime committed against them or their family and then they are further victimized by overzealous prosecutors who then give bonuses for convictions. 

The prosecutor has discretion regarding whether to bring a case before the bar, as such if you want to save the state money, make him responsible for the reimbursement of legal costs.  If someone is found not guilty by reason of self-defense, the prosecutors office is then responsible for paying the legal fees.  Employees in the office are not paid until the reimbursement is settled.  If the office is no longer able to prosecute cases so be it.  Prosecuting someone for defending themselves, family, or another innocent should seriously hurt.  Making the prosecutor liable for the costs would certainly help.  This will actually cut costs doubly since prosecutors wont be paying for court fees either in cases that should never appear before the bar.

Please contact the members of the House Ways and Means Committee and make your voice heard.  This is completely unacceptable and does nothing more than allow our law abiding citizens to be victimized twice.  Once by the criminal and again by the state.

Update: It appears that it may have been already pulled from the agenda for tomorrow. I’m going with trust but verify. I am writing an email to my rep who’s on the committee to verify. I will keep you all posted.

Update 2:I just got an email from Joe Schmick:

The bill has been pulled from the agenda. We will have to wait and see if it indeed stays off the agenda for the remainder of the week.

I have received numerous calls and emails on this topic over the last few days. Not one person has contacted me in support of the bill. I am hearing loud and clear to oppose the bill.

Due to the concern of it appearing on the agenda again, contact your reps if you have not already.

Here at Boomershoot, we believe in helping the environment as much as possible.  That’s why do our best to make sure that every detonation provides a suitable amount of CO2 to help offset the losses created by hybrid cars everywhere.

This afternoon Governor Gregoire signed HB 1016, the suppressor bill into law. It passed the senate overwhelmingly as well as the house.

What this means:

• 90 days from now the end of session this law will go into effect. At that time you will be legally able to discharge any suppressor you legally own under the NFA. You’re good as of July, 23rd.
• No longer must you go out of state to protect your ears and use a common safety device, we finally won this skirmish here in Washington.

Next on the docket from the people who did more of the leg work is a change to allow SBRs. As that moves forward I will keep you all up to date.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in and contacted their legislators to help make this happen.

The fireball last year was considerably better than the year before. Notice the flying plastic in the upper left from the jug of gasoline.

  The year before one of the explosives didn’t detonate, the result and what it should have looked like can be seen here:

2009 Boomershoot video footage, skip to 1:00 for the fireball

The wife informed me last night that steak was on the menu but neither of us were sure exactly what kind of steak we wanted.  To the freezer we went, where I promptly grabbed a package of T-Bones and I then began the process of cleaning the grill  from it’s winter slumber.

After some scrubbing, cleaning, and a new coat of seasoning onto the cast iron we were ready.  Here’s the result:

The steak was a wonderful medium rare, the asparagus and carrots were excellent.  It helps they were pan fried using bacon fat instead of butter along with a couple fresh cloves of garlic.  The dry rub combined with a mix BBQ sauce basting towards the end kept it juicy.  You can definitely tell the cow was grass fed instead of grain fed when you bite in.  The Spumante was great, sadly the sulfites started to get the wife at the end because she liked it as well.

It was a great way to kick off the beginning of the grilling season again.  Sadly the weather switched back to cold and overcast.  I’ve decided to risk it and am now taking the snow blower off the tractor and putting the mower deck back on.