A Personal Discovery

Those that know me and spend time around me know that I carry anywhere I am legally allowed.  This isn’t a joke and it isn’t an exaggeration.  Going to the store, grab the gun.  Going to visit a friend, grab the gun.  Heading out on the boat, grab the gun.  Getting dressed in the morning to do work around the house, grab the gun.  To me carrying a firearm is as common as carrying a wallet or watch.  As it should be.

I do this for a couple different reasons.

  1. The burden on my belt is much lighter than the burden of regret.
  2. Because I can.
  3. Because there is no advantage to myself by not carrying.
  4. Because it’s my right.
  5. Because being prepared should not be frowned upon

So last night at the ham radio meeting it was business as usual. I was sitting rubbing my forehead because of a sinus headache while two members to my right were having a conversation.  I was openly carrying my 1911 on a OWB holster so it was quite visible.  Since I was in Idaho my give a crap meter was at about -20, even in Washington it registers only about a 1 until I get to the West side.

All of the sudden I head one of the men go, “Sir are you wearing a side arm?”  I look up at him with a half cocked smile and say, “Yes sir, I am.”  Usually that is about the end of a conversation but he was a little more persistent than most and responded with, “Why are you carrying a side arm?”  It currently was a polite question and certainly reasonable.  I just politely responded, “Because I can.”  At this point he was shocked that I would carry a weapon and his voice showed it because he repeated the same question with a tone of disdain in his voice.

At this point I had a personal revelation.  That type of behavior will place me in threeper mode at a speed otherwise only known to photons.  Because I didn’t think, I didn’t blink, my face just went stern and I looked right at him and calmly but without any hesitation said, “Because it’s my god given right.”

That was the end of the conversation.  He no longer pressed me, he no longer talked to me with disdain in his voice.  I don’t know if he was just inquisitive and it came off wrong it’s hard to say.  Considering he halted his current conversation to focus on my sidearm it’s hard for me to think he was really just generally inquisitive.

That is the first time I’ve ever climbed the “threeper hill” and used the it’s my right argument.  I will say in this case it was quite effective and given my headache at the moment I liked it’s nuke the site from orbit effect.  That said I prefer a much more tactical approach to sway people, but it has now been established that if you treat me as a substandard person for carrying a gun, I will go threeper on your ass.

Doubly entertaining was about 5 minutes later another buddy of mine showed up to the meeting and was open carrying as well.  The icing on the cake was we were both sitting next to each other.  I’m not sure if the guy noticed or not, I really don’t care.  But I wasn’t the only one in the room any more and it made it all the better.  Sadly the wife was busy so she wasn’t with me, otherwise she would have been open carrying her’s as well.

Quote of the Day – DaddyBear (10/27/2011)

Yeah, the rich are getting richer faster than the poor are.  Anyone want
to admit that it’s not because of their race, or their family tree, or
their political connections that they got that way?  My guess is that
most of them got that way because they got up every day, worked
themselves to death, and got to bed late after putting everything they
had into their job or their business.

Blood is BoilingDaddyBear

[Seriously go read the whole thing.  There were numerous parts that I wanted to use as the quote of the day, I felt this one worked the best.  The bottom line is he’s right, these spoiled children think they’re poor and disadvantaged, yet they have iPhones, laptops, food, and water.  These people think they’re poor when in reality relative to the rest of the world they have life easy. 

My wife is working her ass off right now, and so am I.  When we’re not working on our day jobs that have a solid steady pay, we’re working on side work for extra income.  I am sleeping about like I did in college right now.  The reason being is I’m spending the rest of that time working on the blog or other web/software ventures, or working on products to tie to those ventures.

I haven’t had a chance to work on t-shirt ideas lately since I’m working on getting the shop back up and running.  My goal is to find a way to mass produce a couple things I have designed and built for my own personal use.  I don’t want anyone to hand me anything.  What I do want is for people to leave me to the results of my labor.  Saying someone should share the wealth when they are working 10 hour days, plus another 4 hours on pet projects at home is bull crap.  Why should someone who doesn’t work be paid for doing nothing by the person who does?

Leave me to profit from my labors and ideas.  Stop trying to redistribute my wealth! -B]

SSCC #155 – Chicago PD

Guess this guy and Officer Roid Rage share a few chromosomes.  

In the video, Flint Farmer was lying on the grass between the curb and the sidewalk. It was shortly before 2 a.m. on a June morning in the West Englewood neighborhood, and Farmer had been shot by a Chicago police officer. Then, according to the video, the veteran officer, Gildardo Sierra, stepped onto the parkway and walked a semicircle about the prone Farmer as three bright flashes went off.

The flashes, captured by a police car video camera, were fatal shots fired into Farmer’s back, officials say.

Don’t worry though folks because he can sleep like a baby.  You know why?

Sierra told investigators he feared for his life because he believed Farmer had a gun.

In fact, Farmer was only holding a cellphone.

Ends up the victim only had a cellphone, but no worries for the officer because the department still ruled the use as justified. Never mind the fact that this is the third shooting this officer was involved in within a year. The second which resulted in a fatality.

If a man prone on the ground with a cellphone makes you in fear for your life, you’re in the wrong job field moron. Even if he had a gun on his person that doesn’t make that a justified shoot. There was nothing about the victim that stated he was a threat to the officer, doubly so considering he was shot in the back. The feds are investigating this now as the officer has been involved in multiple shootings over a short period of time.

Sierra claims the video only shows part of the incident, frankly I don’t give a shit. You’re career as an officer should be over. You shot an unarmed man who was prone on the ground in the back.

State Sponsored Criminal Count 155: Gildardo Sierra

Because being on the Chicago PD means you can kill someone prone on the ground that is unarmed and the department will justify it. Chicago PD is it’s own execution squad.

via Mad Rocket Scientist

On those NUBs Occupying Space

I pretty much have written them off as nothing more than another reason to invest in metals such as Lead, Copper, and Brass.  At least this movement has the benefit of gathering all those NUBs* together into one common location to make them more easily identifiable.

Surfing through my news blotters today I stumbled across an article in the Huffpost that made me start laughing uncontrollably.

There’s no shortage of talking, and you never know who will take hold
of the People’s Mic. Persuasive speakers on all sides can give General
Assembly meetings a roller-coaster feel. Someone always seems to oppose a
budget proposal, or have a strong dissenting opinion on something that
seems on its way to sure passage. Just one voice joining the debate at
the last minute has the power to sway the entire discussion.

With every proposal, there are questions and there are concerns, and
the process continues and continues. The facilitators say numerous times
the group has strayed off process. Questions are sometimes ignored for
being “off-topic” even when they aren’t, time constraints are cited and
frustrations boil over. Occupiers curse, speak out of turn and sometimes
they just keep on talking, despite “Mic Check” calls over them. Those
on all sides alienate each other.

It is often said that Democracy is nothing more than two wolves and a sheep getting together to decide what’s for dinner.  It appears that the Occupy movement is finally getting a solid lesson in what Democracy is, mob rule, where to win a debate you just need to sway the ignorant.

Earlier last week it came out that the leadership and operation of the movement was doing many of the very things they were protesting against Wallstreet for.  Including having a tax man taking from part of the group.  The group that was taxed was ignored by the remaining part of the Occupy group and is not given the support they require.

The drummers claim that the finance working group even levied a percussion tax of sorts, taking up to half of the $150-300 a day that the drum circle was receiving in tips. “Now they have over $500,000 from all sorts of places,” said Engelerdt. “We’re like, what’s going on here? They’re like the banks we’re protesting.”

Not to mention that a bunch of the protesters learned what it was like to have people come and claim their personal property as belonging to the public [commune].

Another argument broke out next to the pile of appropriated belongings, growing taller by the minute. A man named Sage Roberts desperately rifled through the pile, looking for a sleeping bag. “They’ve taken my stuff,” he muttered. Lauren Digion, the sanitation group leader, broke in: “This isn’t your stuff. You got all this stuff from comfort [the working group]. It belongs to comfort.”

The article then goes on to point out how they have people freeloading within their borders and there’s nothing they can do about it other than just deal with it.  That all sounds really freaking familiar you know that?  The only support they get from me is that I support their right to speak and peaceably assemble.  That said, I have serious problems with the property damage and costs these individuals are inflicting on those who do not support them or their cause.  It is not the job of the public to pay for their protest.  It is for those latter reasons I do not consider it a peaceably assembly and while it is certainly possible that the police have used excessive force I’m disappointed it’s taken them this long to start throwing the bums out.

So when I saw this at the end of the first article:

They’re planning to “Occupy Central Park” next month — on 11-11-11 — and hope the move will bring the protesters together again and unite them with their counterparts across the world.

I immediately started wondering what could be done as a response this time around.  Last year for the 10/10/10 green BS we went and made Mother Gaia our bitch.  Some of you might not be in the area, feel free to come up with your own methods of flipping the bird to the Occupy whatever movement.  Looks like I need to email some people to see what we can come up with.

*For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s Non Usable Body.  It’s also used in video games for players that just can’t seem to learn, but I’m channeling Disgruntled Sailor here.

SSCC #154 – Portland PD

We have another one.

A former Portland police officer who resigned in the face of being fired in August 2006 after he made his own “Girls Gone Wild” video, filming Madison High female students at a school dance, has pleaded guilty to seven felony sex offenses in Washington state.

Like the previous three examples, we have yet another predator among the sheep.  It is wonderful that these individuals got caught, but what is even more disturbing is the state paid all these predators to be there.

Portland police had discovered his misconduct when Graichen’s sergeant asked to see what he thought was Graichen’s copy of a professional “Girls Gone Wild” video, which typically shows women removing clothing or acting in a sexual nature. Graichen acidentally handed over his knockoff version, filmed at the school where Graichen was assigned, which included zoom-in shots of girls’ “breasts and crotch areas.”

Such a wonderful person to have placed around children in a position of authority.  A position who’s authority is often unquestioned and considered to be the most trustworthy individual in the school.  In reality he is a predator using his power to find and manipulate his prey.

State Sponsored Criminal Count 154: Ryan Graichen

Because when a teenager thinks you’re infallible, they’ll do anything for you.  Especially when you give them drugs and alcohol in return.

h/t Timothy Callahan 

SSCC #149-153 – NYPD

Looks like Bloomberg has another loophole to close, called the NYPD loophole.

Five New York Police Department officers smuggled firearms and slot machines they thought were stolen and some even used bolt cutters to pilfer hundreds of boxes of cigarettes from tractor-trailer trucks as part of a 12-person theft ring that was under federal surveillance the entire time, authorities said Tuesday.

Since these officers were caught in a sting operation should I really count them.  The answer is an unequivocal yes.

Arresting fellow law enforcers in a corruption case “is a heartbreaking thing,” Bharara added.

It should be the opposite of heartbreaking.  The reason being is that law enforcement should be leading by example and that anyone willing to violate the law should be held equally accountable.  If Officer Joe Bob, and Plumber Joe Bob should receive the exact same treatment under the law and the prosecutor should feel no pain whatsoever about holding them accountable.  If there’s so many laws that officers are regularly breaking them, maybe the should be pulled off the books if they’re not really there for the public good.

State Sponsored Criminal Count 149: William Masso

150:  John Doe #1

151:  John Doe #2

152:  John Doe #3

153:  John Doe #4

Because smuggling guns is only legal if you’re the ATF or get their permission first.  In that case the guns need to be going to Mexican drug cartels too.

h/t Uncle.

A Facepalmable Moment

So yesterday I got an email about an emergency exercise this weekend asking for help.  Local coordinator needs some help at Whitman County dispatch.

Unsurprisingly they wanted my information in advance to clear me into the building.  I just got an email from the coordinator.  Included in it was the response to him from the dispatch center. 

Subject: RE: ARES Quarterly Exercise 10/29
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:26:49 +0000

Ok but I want to emphasize, there is absolutely no weapons allowed in or near the
dispatch center. That being said, I will make sure the dispatch center knows you will
be allowed into the building.

Now I know someone probably noted that I have a CPL on my background check.  Now for those of you from outside the area, here’s why this is a facepalmable moment.

Police said the gunman started shooting from a parking lot across from the Latah County Courthouse shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday. A hail of more than 30 bullets ripped through the county’s emergency dispatch center, Duke said. Dispatchers were moved to a room in the jail area of the courthouse. Officers rushed out of the building.

This incident occurred in May 2007, and the whole incident took place less just over 10 miles by road from where the dispatch is.  In this incident officer Lee Newbill was killed as well as a civilian who responded to aid the officer.  During the incident Whitcom actually took over emergency communications for Latah county.

There is first hand experience for the area, even this dispatch center, that the disarmament does nothing to actually make anyone safer.  Yet instead of learning from that lesson and how ineffective it was at protecting people they continue the illusion.  Not only do they continue the illusion, but ignore the fact that the person they’re admitting is statistically more likely to be law abiding than the general population.

So I will bite my tongue and leave it locked up.  I will have the most important tool still with me, I just hate leaving the most effective accessory for use with the most important tool.

*As a random thought, I doubt they saw my ATF paperwork for explosives.  I don’t see why the state records would indicate it, but I can’t help but laugh at what the response would have been if they had.

They Say it as if That’s a Bad Thing

Mr. Schneider, you say the following like it’s a bad thing.

Andrew Schneider of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union thinks this is a bad policy because, among other reasons, “Young people will learn not to trust the police.”

The Police are representatives of the government and most certainly the government should not be trusted.  It is a necessary evil.  Police are there to investigate crimes after they have been committed and as we can see by my count, they are not all angels with halos*.

Ultimately a cop is not your friend.  Most definitely he is not if he’s investigating a crime.  If you learn to not trust someone by the observation of them doing their job, that should be considered a clue. 

*As I’ve said before, not all cops are bad, look at the nice conversation I had in June.  A cop though is not your friend and if you provide information indicating you’ve possibly committed a crime, he can nail you for it.  That’s why you don’t talk to the police.  If I have a conversation with an officer I make sure it’s on my terms and I ease into it to get a feeling for the officer.  That conversation I had above, was started by me in the open in a manner that left me free to leave at any time.  Cops can be friendly, they can be nice, but what they do for a living can interfere with your ability to trust them.  It’s a fact of life.

h/t Say Uncle.