So yesterday Ry emailed me another incident from Seattle PD.  I didn’t get around to blogging it and forgot about it until today.

There was at least a reprimand from this incident, though there are some serious questions this brings up.

Now we’ve found a chilling case that started as a simple traffic stop that could happen to any one of us. Only this time the dash cam video of the incident was shown to a man’s boss, jeopardizing his very livelihood.

Now why is that so significant, they showed the video to his boss and then did the following.

KOMO 4 News is suing the Seattle Police Department after the department denied our requests for other videos similar to Miller’s stop. Citing privacy laws, the department has denied us copies of any videos less than three years old. Yet the officer who stopped Miller didn’t hesitate to show damaging video to Miller’s boss at school, jeopardizing his job.

Think about that for a second, they’re more than willing to attempt to use that evidence in their favor to ruin your life, but the second they might be held accountable they will refuse citing privacy.

Go read the story, my only real comment is this:

Never, get you of your car during a traffic stop unless you are instructed to do so.  That said, the reaction by the officers was a bit over the top, especially given the number of them on scene.  Overall this was just a bad incident, though this statement right here is telling about the attitude from Seattle PD.

Seattle Police Department Spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said officers respond to over 1,000 calls a day and get 99.99 percent of them right.

And the law exists Mr. Whitcomb to protect the innocent and when you screw up it’s a big freaking deal because you have violated the rights of someone.  As such you should have a boot put up your ass.  If you can’t take the time or be bothered to strive for 100% accuracy you’re in the wrong damn line of work.

Over the weekend my blog turned four.  This was my fifth Boomershoot which means I’ve been blogging for 4 years now.  I kicked this blog off after my first Boomershoot because I needed a place to put up pictures.

At the time I was still in school and had a total of 3 classes left.  I actually had a final the next morning at 0800 and a paper due at the same exact time.  As you can tell by my attendance of Boomershoot, I had my priorities right!

Regular content was touch and go for a very long time.  For a while in 2010 I started blogging more, then my computer died.  Once I got it fixed again New Years was rolling around.  I decided my goal was a post a day.  I didn’t fully meet that goal, however my average over the year met the goal and was almost double.

Readership increased, I started getting better at this, though for the most part I haven’t figured out the exact recipe for hit pieces. My goal for this year was 2 posts a day.  I was maintaining that goal quite well until the end of last month.  I was 5 short for the month of April but I’m still on course for the year and am working on making up some extras to cover the difference.

Starting this year I started becoming a bit more well known.  With Ladd Everritt expressing his displeasure at Joe’s video I edited and participated in. 

Writing more has made it easier and I’m certainly not quitting any time soon, even with incidents like this.  Hell, it just allows me to laugh for hours when crap like that happens.

I’ve started shooting USPSA (again) so I get to chronicle that journey.  As always I chronicle Boomershoot.  There is no reason for me to shut down this blog.  The people who hate just mean that I stood for something in my life.

It’s growing, it’s fun, and the people are awesome.  I’m quite happy here.

So happy birthday to the blog!

So I saw yesterday that MCA of the Beastie Boy’s has passed away.  I will say there are a number of songs that can’t help but bring back memories from my high school years.

Good bye MCA. Go find some girls in heaven and if you have to fight for your right to party.

Yeah, here’s your laugh for the day.

Police, however, say the 18-year-old walked into the Wilmer Police
Department Saturday evening with a white towel covering his hands.

Police Chief Victor Kemp described the incident saying, “Yeah well, a
young man walked into the lobby and approached the dispatch window
there and told our Communications Officer ‘give me all your money.’”

Son, you just tried to rob a police station.  Where in your mind did you think that was a “good idea”.  You then turned around and said it was a joke.  In what world did that seem like a “good idea” as a joke, which I don’t believe you by the way.

Thankfully no one was hurt, though I do feel like Darwin was prevented from properly cleaning the gene pool.

On a more serious note folks your average criminal isn’t that bright.  Now this one I certainly would think ranks below average, but if they were smarter the would have a job and not be stealing stuff.  The risk reward matrix on a job is considerably better than being a criminal.  Frankly I prefer to continue to tilt the scales on making crime more risky.  Sadly though our government has decided to take these high school drop outs and make them TSA agents to legitimize their criminal behavior.

There’s just no winning for us is there?

I just stumbled across the perfect example of what government does, exemplified in a single quote:

Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the
state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the
stand, said armed Environmental Police officers showed up at stand on
Friday evening and stood guard throughout the weekend, turning away
customers craving delectable sundaes and frappes.

He’s been improving the farm every day for the past 26 years, and all the sudden it’s a problem.  It reminds me of an incident some friends had after “remodeling” their restaurant.  See, there was this crappy ugly board put up in the middle to separate the dining area and kitchen.  Instead of leaving it, they ripped it out and actually put in a nice finished wall.

There were no structural or electrical changes involved in the change to the wall.  The owner of the property was actually happy with the changes.  The state however declared that their inspector must come in for you to have customers.  Thou shalt pay us our kick back to do business.  They have since got everything straitened out and business is good.

Going back to the original story, I find it telling they sent armed jack booted thugs to do “code enforcement”.  Have to justify that funding somehow right?  No one though for the state is actually saying exactly what codes were violated and what improvements were a problem.

Looking on the bright side though, some kids have gotten an awakening to exactly what government is:

There are 13 high-school and college students who
work at the stand who are now without jobs, said Duffy. While there are
140 milk-producing cows at the farm, the ice cream is shipped in from
Bliss Bros. Dairy, an ice-cream manufacturer and distributor in
Attleboro.

They lost their summer employment because some petty jackbooted tyrant wanted to get his rocks off.  On the upshot those young kids who worked there have now received a strong lesson in how government thuggery works.  Hopefully it’s a lesson they will take to heart and understand the answer to problems is never “more government”.  Government is nothing more than a necessary evil that should be restrained and shackled as much as possible.

Just remember as well, just because you own the property doesn’t mean you can do with it as you please.  I had some buddies who while building their place had to play games because they were living there as they built it.  You see the state won’t allow you to do that.  [sarcasm]Your property so what?  It’s their property and the sooner you figure that out the better.  [/sarcasm]

Robb asks the following question:

What is the most fun firearm you own and why? Which boomstick puts a smile on your face every time you take it to the range? If you have another gunnie coming over, which piece from your armory to you ensure you pack in the bag to show off?

You know, I have a lot of fun toys.  All of them put a smile on my face in one way or another.  However there is only one I refer to as my baby.  There is only one that I lovingly look after like a protective father.  Others do experience the bliss that is my baby, but for them it is no where near what I feel settling in behind that stock.

The Very Beginning

Let me tell the story from the beginning.  You see, when I was about three and a half years old my dad took me to the range with him.  I do not have the luxury of actually remembering this experience.  However my father did.  My father told me numerous times years later of sitting on his lap and lining up the sights to squeeze that trigger.  After which I was grinning from ear to ear.  Which that story does strike me as interesting given when I was little me and loud noises didn’t exactly get along.  I actually cried at the beginning of Top Gun the first time I saw it… At least so I’ve been told.

I was hooked and as time went on, I would shoot small-bore rifle, shooting was in my blood and life was good.  As I began to close towards graduation my dad for a while had been talking about getting me a tack driver as a gift.  When my Uncle came to visit for my Eagle Court of Honor we went to the range. 

Shopping Around

This range also had the added benefit of being a gun shop.  My dad and I both had an idea of what we were looking for as the start of the rifle.  After we were done shooting for the day we went out to do some browsing for the rifle that would become my gift.

There was a Savage in .308, don’t much remember the exact model, up in the rack, I handled it and said, “It’s O.K.”.  My uncle (no relation to this uncle) and father just shook their head and said, we can get a much better tool than that.  I was raised in a family who never skipped when it came to tools.  Buy the best you can afford and don’t go cheap.

The guy behind the counter asks, “so what exactly are you looking for?”

My reply, “Something like a Remington Model 700, VS.”

He cracks open the catalog, starts thumbing through it and then asks, “What caliber, .22-250?”

At which point I reply, “.308 Winchester”.

His reply, “Good lord, what are you going to shoot with that.”

This next bit put a smile on my dads face, without missing a beat I said, “Two legged varmints at 500 yards.”

The guy behind the counter kind of chuckled and he delivered to us the cost for the base rifle.  We were now working on a plan and how it would be done.

The Gun Smith

Two weeks later we go to the WAC gun show in Puyallup.  We meet a local gunsmith who specializes in custom rifles.  A man by the name of Brett Evans of Northwest Armswerkes.  My dad gets his card and we meet up with him later in March.

We walk through the list of requirements and he begins to spec out a rifle.  A rifle that is not like any other.  A rifle that will be most assuredly mine and one of a kind.  It will be a Remington 700 action, but under the hood it would be anything but stock.  Due to popular demand though my rifle wouldn’t be finished for a while.  For you see there was a long line of people in front of me.  Good things however come to those who wait.

I met up with him mid-summer once he had all the parts in and did a few final selections on things that were choices.  After that he was off to the races.  At this point though I was off to college.

No Plan Survives First Contact With The Enemy

Originally, my destination was Huston, Texas.  That however like most plans, did not survive first contact with the enemy.  In this case the dean of admissions at Rice, University.  That is a different story for another time, suffice it to say I will never send my kid there and with the attitude I got from the admissions dean and her office staff informed me that was a school I wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

You know, they say most things happen for a reason though and I’m reasonably sure someone had a hand in that.  For you see when everything fell apart I defaulted to the University of Washington.  It was close to home but whatever I was in college. Come about 4 weeks into the first quarter though my dad was on his way into surgery.  Where?  The UW Medical Center.  It made traveling to see him much easier than if I had been in Texas.  The bad news was the cancer had attached itself to things that couldn’t be removed by the time they got there.  They had to remove a decent amount of the pancreas, but not all of it could go, some of it was attached to the descending aorta.  He began chemotherapy immediately.

Two moths later it was Christmas time, which also means it was in the same time frame as my birthday.  On the morning of my birthday my dad said we were heading out to Brett’s.

Delivery

We arrive at Brett’s and it’s like I’m 6 and it’s Christmas morning all over again.

I know, it’s amazing, I still had hair on the top of my head and I was so much thinner! Brett gives me a run down on the rifle. Maintenance issues I need to do. Properly breaking it out of the case to use it, there’s a reason there’s a torque wrench with it. Using the 1907 sling and properly snugging it up.

Four day’s later I’m gifted a pile of ammunition to match the rifle.

In the box was a combination of Federal Gold Medal Match, 168 and 175 grain.  As well as Blackhills 168, 175, both regular and moly coated. 

The Ending

Sadly my father would never see his last gift to me fire.  That summer he was still undergoing chemo and we never made it to the range.  I was able to make it to the range once with a friend just before he passed away.  I brought home the 5 shot group that was about an inch and a half in size from 200 yards.

He grinned from ear to ear.

I have a few things on the rifle that have changed from it’s a original configuration.  I have since put a Mark IV scope with a TMR reticle.  Last year I had intended to have the stock changed too, but alas finances stopped that plan.  Hopefully come this winter I can take it to Brett to have that work done.  If my dad had known what HS-Precision would eventually do, there is no way that stock would have gone on that rifle.  The heart will always remain.

I still shoot my baby, the first year I went to Boomershoot that was all I really had.  It performed well and I was taking the small bastards at 700 yards.  I still do.

For me though, especially with that rifle, shooting is quite Zen.  Noise fades away, all I hear is my own breathing and pulse.  My attention is focused on those cross hairs, and every time a shot breaks I hear my dad telling me to call it.

Yeah it holds a very special place in my heart and I love that rifle more than any other in my safe.  It also gives me a connection back to my roots that the only other rifle could begin to do is my first rifle a Marlin 915Y .22.

Thanks’ again dad.  It’s the best gift you could have ever given me.

*It came to my attention as I was writing this my dad never had his picture taken with me and the rifle.  I am reasonably sure I know why he never handed the camera to Brett.  It never occurred to me at the time to do it.  My dad’s invincible right, nothing will stop him… Yeah fuck you cancer…

I got tied up at work and in a meeting yesterday.  I meant to do some blogging when I got home but just couldn’t find the strength to push out some free ice cream.  I’m pretty exhausted still from the long meetings I had the past couple days so I may not get around to writing any posts tonight.

In the meantime here’s some videos that are well worth your time.  The first of which is explains in detail why I felt “Fake It” was fitting for Wednesday’s ear worm.

CATO nails it as they oh so often do. (via RNS)

The second I found initially via Joe.

I have nothing to add to that video.  It was short, quick, concise, and nails the truth on the head.

I’ll try and throw up an SSCC tonight when I get home, I do have a stack in my notes currently, but I’m not sure I’m going to want to sit in front of my computer.