Monthly Archives: January 2012

Perhaps most offensive, however, was a video
posted by pro-gun bloggers TMM of Washington and Joe Huffman
of North Central Idaho. The video shows pro-gun activists holding
candles, saying “candles don’t stop violence” and then drawing their
handguns and firing at paper targets that are supposed to “simulate the
January 8th 2011 shooting in Tucson.”

This was a post by CSGV regarding their Too Many Victims vigil.  The started off by hitting Weer’d, DoOT, Bitter, Miguel, Kurt Hoffman, and Lingoe.  Many of whom they “outed”.  The title of their post implies that we “found humor” in the vigil.  Really, I don’t know of anyone who finds the topic of violence funny.  I don’t know of anyone who really laughed about the subject.  What I did see though is a bunch of people get upset about others participating in the vigil in their own way.

At least two people in that video are “victims of violence” by the same rating as Joan, myself and Joe.  Neither one of us were laughing at the thoughts of the injuries that came to loved ones.  No instead we were focused on two things.  One, remembering what happened, that is done through the candle.  Two, illustrating the tool that can stop violence.  A gun is a tool and has the ability to stop a violent confrontation in its tracks without even a shot fired.  That’s why the gun is in the picture.  It is a statement that I refuse to be a victim and will triumph if someone brings violence to my door.

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to understand how pro-gun activists
believe such comments were appropriate on a day when gun violence
survivors and others were remembering those they have lost.

This coming from a group of individuals who circle around like vultures and are faster on the draw than a personal injury lawyer to dance in blood.  When ever there is a shooting the gun grabbers waste no time to attempt to levy the situation for their political gain.  See Virginia Tech and the recent Mount Rainier shooting for examples.  They do not care about the people, they care about their political ends.  Don’t believe me, look at the blood dancing they did in Tuscon while the family that lost their daughter was saying the exact opposite.

Here they are telling me my comments about how a firearm protected my mother and my father in two separate incidents was inappropriate.  While the blood hadn’t even cooled with a ranger lying on the side of the road and they were blaming the National Parks concealed carry legislation, which did not aid the shooter and would have done nothing to prevent it.  Here they are telling me to not think about those I could have lost.

The point of a vigil is to remember those lost and in this case, show how you will not be a victim. You don’t have to be a victim.  Being a victim is a choice, however CSGV and the Brady Campaign would prefer that being a victim becomes a requirement.

I’m being insensitive!?  What about all the victims who are dead or were violated because of gun control policies?  Just the same I light those candles for them.  I light a candle for those victims you would ignore because it wasn’t “gun violence.”  You’re calling for further disarmament when you’re misguided “common sense” has been racking up a notable victim count since the 90’s.  If you’re pissed off about it, good, because that means I’m doing my job.

I think the real reason you’re pissed is because without any serious organization we hijacked your whole campaign.  We have shown just how irrelevant you guys really are.  Your statement that it was offensive I will wear as a badge of honor consider the type of behavior and company you keep.

I am a gunnie.  I’m your friend, your neighbor, your teacher, your
pastor, your doctor, your mechanic, your customer.  Look to your left
and to your right.  I’m one of you.

Newbie Shooter – I am a Gunnie

[This was in response to a stereotypical quote from an anti-gunner which was also covered elsewhere.  I discussed it last night as well.

That sentence above says it perfectly.  They continue to attempt to dehumanize us because they can not bear the thought that we are just like them.  The can no comprehend that someone would want to defend themselves.  The do not understand there are those of us who refuse to be a victim.  There are those of us who feel our self worth is more than that of a criminal that would do us harm.

These people have to live in a fantasy world because the truth destroys that which they believe. The cannot believe that someone could go about their daily business while carrying a weapon and not shoot someone.  They project their self-control issues on everyone.  Ignoring the fact that their projections are not necessarily true.

I am a law abiding citizen.  I am an engineer, a wood worker, a blogger, a web designer, ham radio operator, ARES member, husband and I am a gunnie. -B]

So Joe and I spent a bunch of time doing a video on Sunday.  Our goal was to spread the benefits of carrying a concealed weapon.  The gun grabbers immediately decried us as mocking victims, laughing, and otherwise disrespecting those who have been died or injured in violence.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Joe’s family, as well as my own, have both been affected by violent acts.  Sadly as seen in the video, those family members did not have the tools with them at the time to effectively defend themselves.  My parents however did have a firearm when violence came to their door.  Our goal is to decrease the number of victims of violence.  We don’t care what tool is used in the violence, we just want fewer victims.

Well the real reason they are so upset is because they’re seeing the final nails being drilled into their coffin.  One by one.

In just over 36 hours our video has over 3 times as many views as the Brady Campaign video.  We have three times as many views as what they could get in 2 weeks.  The video of their speakers in San Fransisco have only 12 views.  (Note I clicked into the videos to verify the view count.  At the time of this writing that first video has 1154 views.)  Just search YouTube for “Too Many Victims“.  Even their video to start this viral campaign only has 1572 views.  None of their videos has any “Likes”, heck they don’t even enable the feature on their videos.  For comparison, our video has 99 likes and 7 dislikes.

When a bunch of unfunded bloggers, who on their own free time, can take your own viral marketing campaign, turn it on its head and surpass your efforts you have to ask yourself, “Am I still relevant?”  When the efforts of 4 people derail an entire political campaign can you still say, “People will listen to us.”

The wonderful thing about the internet is it makes it really hard to hide how irrelevant you are.  It also makes it even easier to collect the numbers and prove how irrelevant you are.

This is why.  I can think of nothing else to add.

OMG

Joan Peterson – A response to this video.

[My immediate thought was, “Staying up finishing that last night and all the murphy problems were totally worth it.”  Overall the thread where this quote is found is filled with some of the idiocy that is the anti-rights movement.

Let’s go through these shall we!?  First up is the two comments from Heidy Waddell.

You’re calling us dumb when you don’t even seem to be able to understand the statement.  Let me break it down so that even a 5 year old could understand it.  A vigil remembers the victims, nothing more.  A vigil does nothing to stop violence.  A candle will not stop violence.  However the Brady Campaign and CSGV are using the remembrance of the victims as a political tool to disarm the law abiding that they would be rendered defenseless. 

As for extremely low or non existent defensive gun uses by citizens, you don’t search for the same things on the net as I do.  See here in  the real world we see defensive gun uses regularly, JayG even has a running count.  My parents both had defensive gun uses, but since a single shot wasn’t fired you probably won’t count those.  The instances such as the woman who defended herself from two thugs looking for drugs after her husband died.  There are also plenty of instances of how depending on the police doesn’t work.  Just because you’re willing to die while waiting for someone else to arrive with their gun doesn’t mean the rest of us are as willing.  You have no right to tell someone to be a victim.  I cannot force you to carry, however you have no business forcing someone to be disarmed.

Next Up, Jami Regs.

Really, uneducated hillbillies?  Joe, the last shooter has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering.  I have a BS in Electrical Engineering. The man in the still frame has at least a BS in Mechanical Engineering.  There was absolutely no alcohol on the range.  I rarely drink and when I do it’s on a special occasion and even then in a very limited amount.  As for the 2nd Amendment being ridiculous, obviously you don’t think that any of those above should have been able to defend themselves.  Again, being a victim is your choice, a choice you do not have the right to force upon others.  I don’t care if everyone else in the country went nuts tomorrow with their guns and shot up different places.  I didn’t so stop trying to tell me I can’t carry or defend myself.

CSGV’s first comment. 

How does what we’re doing not relate to the 2nd Amendment?  We were partaking in a nationally recognized shooting sport.  What part of the language of the 2nd Amendment do you not understand?  We have the right to keep and bear arms.  We were using those arms lawfully and safely.  No one was shot, no one was injured, but according to the CSGV that must mean our arms are defective.

Jane Thorne-Gutierrez, first comment.

Militia has not taken on a new meaning.  See US Code, Title 10, Subtitle A, Part 1, Chapter 13, Section 311.

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

Now that we have that little statement out of the way lets nail your high violent crime rate comment to the wall.  Oh wait, you wanted just the straight crime rate, so in other words you’re inflating your statistics to argue against guns by including crimes where guns weren’t involved?  I have a better idea.  Lets look at the murder rate internationally.  What’s that, the US has a murder rate less than the world average? Less than Mexico which has very strict gun control.  Including “crimes” in which there is no victim to boost your statistics doesn’t really count.  Besides, correlation does not equal causation.  I’ve proven the Brady scores have 0 correlation with violent crime and Linoge has shown that crime rates are not affected by gun ownership either.  Please provide me solid facts on how law abiding gun owners increase violent crime, because all I see is feelings and “if you have a toaster you’re more likely to be attacked by a toaster” arguments.

CSGV’s second comment.

Thank you for admitting the truth.  CSGV doesn’t care about violent crime, they just care about “gun deaths.”  If all gun deaths were destroyed but the overall crime rate increased, CSGV would be pleased with the outcome.  Joan even admitted that she would prefer a higher crime rate for 0 gun deaths.  In this world 20 murders per 100k is ok if they’re done with a knife, but 5 murders per 100k is bad if one involves a gun.  The dumb is strong with this one.  Besides, the “gun death” statistic is stupid and pointless as it pretends that other forms of death and murder are some how less relevant.

Jane Thorne second comment.

So gun control would have stopped all of these deaths and murders?  Gun control would have protected the woman who shot her attacker who had a knife?  Gun control would have protected the woman who attempted to strangle her?  That comment is 100% fail.

CSGV Round Three.

Guns in the civilian market are extremely efficient at armed defense.  The arms available are quite efficient and provide a force multiplier that allows a small petite woman to defend herself from a line backer.

John Donnaruma

See the response to CSGV’s second comment.  Gun Violence is a BULL SHIT metric.  Why is someone who’s raped at knife point different from someone who was raped at gun point?

Jamie Gronko

Quick Draw Match.  WTF!?  Also I went through the video and pulled the stats and scores.  Incase you missed the stage description:

An explanation of the stage design is important. The brown target in the distance represents a “bad guy”. The white targets represent innocent people. When scored only hits on the bad guy counted and hits on the innocent were heavily penalized. When the scores have been reported I’ll make anther post. I think I might have won this stage. I had a good time with five A-zone hits, one C-zone hit and no hits on the no-shoot targets.

The instructions to the shooter were:

Start position: Facing up-range holding a candle with both hands. Gun is in a concealed carry state.
Course of fire: Upon signal drop candle, turn, draw, and engage T1 with six rounds. Comstock scoring.

This stage design was to simulate the January 8th 2011 shooting in Tucson. It was this event which the Brady Campaign wanted to bring attention to. This was to stimulate political interest in more gun laws.

Credit for the stage design goes to Bob N. (shown in the video preview above).

So we had a single “bad guy” surrounded by “good guys”.  We had to turn 180 degrees, draw, engage with 6 shots, and not hit any of the friendly targets.  No shooter took beyond 10 seconds from the buzzer to the last shot.  Every shooter scored at least 1 hit in a critical zone.

Joe engaged the whole stage in 4.18 seconds, scoring 5 A hits (critical zone), and 1 Charlie hit to the minor zone.  Joe practices regularly and competes regularly.  He qualifies under your “trained” statement.

I have not been able to shoot pistol however as often as I would like.  The last time I was really able to practice was over a year ago.  I am not proud of that statement, but it is what my finances have allowed.  I had never shot USPSA before and overall my formal defensive pistol training is minimal.  My score for that stage was 6.44 seconds from buzzer to last shot fired.  I put five rounds through the A zone (critical hit) and one shot through the D zone (minor hit).  Where I struck the D ring I glanced the edge of a no shoot, when I say glanced we’re talking less than an 1/8th  went in the white.  It still counted as me hitting a no shoot, however that person would live to see another day had it been real.  All of those no shoots were potential victims had that been a mass shooter.  To put it in further perspective there is a LEO that shot that stage.  He shot it in 7.57 seconds, scored 1 A, 1 C, and 2 to the D zone, there were some unhappy victims too.  I don’t know what you were judging our performances next to, but no one in that stage was really pathetic. The bottom line is, it shows we have the means and capability of stopping a mass shooter. 

Extra perspective, the Tuscon shooter fired 33 rounds in approximately 15 seconds.  Add 2 seconds to our times for being completely flat footed.  I have 6 shots on target just after he’s half way through.  Would you rather he continue his murder spree unabated?  Even with an injured civilian, injured is better than dead.  Well in you’re book that’s not true, but frankly I’d rather survive to see my wife again.

The thing about firearms training is it doesn’t take a lot to be good with a firearm, extra practice doesn’t hurt and you’ll improve, but anyone can do it.  You call it pathetic because you are envious of our independence and freedom.

Lastly we have Joan:

I’m glad I could contribute to your pants shitting hysteria.  Again totally worth it!

Also if the video is so horrible, why have 87 people liked it, but only 5 disliked it?

-B]

Daddy Bear has immortalized me, along with a bunch of other gun bloggers in a poem.

That’s just freaking awesome!  Go check it out.

And it was in the middle of a field in the middle of no where.

There is a long list of different people who did something over at Weer’d’s place.

Spent most of the day with Joe again working on a project.  I’m finishing it up now and beginning the uploading process.  Pay attention here in the future and his place or mine.

I’m probably not going to get any other free ice cream out tonight.