Category Archives: Guns

Shooting Irons!

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Housekeeping notes: A week from today we’ll be flying to Iowa, leaving our house-sitters in place here, where we will spend a week with the entire Animal family at our annual Thanksgiving/Christmas family reunion.  Posts will be scheduled for the balance of next week, and the week of the 27th will be taken up with some placeholder totty.  Regular posts will resume Monday, Dec 4th.

Now then…

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Animal’s Daily Shoulder Brace News

Guns Not for Sale.

Before we start, check out the final installment of Riding the String over at Glibertarians!

Now then: The Biden(‘s handlers) Administration has been handed a loss over its nonsensical shoulder-brace ban. My RedState colleague Bonchie brought us the news.

In a major win for Second Amendment rights, the Biden administration’s pistol brace ban has been struck down nationwide. A previous ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had given the plaintiffs relief but left everyone still risking a felony by holding onto their pistol braces. 

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmarky of Texas delivered the nationwide injunction, a decision that saves millions from having to destroy their pistol braces or guns altogether.

Millions of law-abiding gun owners who were turned into criminals overnight under the Biden administration’s new pistol brace ban have temporary relief after a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from enforcing it.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled on Wednesday that the unelected bureaucrats’ attempts to legislate by regulation instead of enforcing the gun laws already on the books were unlawful and, in the case of pistol braces, must cease immediately.

The ATF’s rule, enacted earlier this year, sought to jail and fine any of the estimated 40 million U.S. pistol brace owners who refused to reclassify their weapons as short barrel rifles, which require registration with the government and a $200 tax stamp, or destroy the pistol brace. Gun owners in the 21 states with SBR bans were forced to choose between relinquishing their weapons or destroying their pistol brace-equipped firearms to avoid penalty and punishment.

Full disclosure; as any of you who have read these virtual pages knows, I am not and never have been a Tacticool aficionado, and don’t give two hoots about pistol braces in and of themselves. But from the Second Amendment standpoint, and from the standpoint of the Constitution itself, I care a great deal about massive overstepping by an Imperial agency that, if you care about the Tenth Amendment, shouldn’t even exist.

Armed and Sexy.

That being the case, this is a pretty significant win.  The entire hooplah over these things was based on the assertion that a pistol brace somehow made a short weapon (most of these things are used on AR-15 “pistols,” a device for which I can’t really see much use, but every cat its own rat) more deadly.  How that worked was never clear; the cartridge fired remains the same, the operation of the weapon doesn’t change; the brace doesn’t make the weapon more or less accurate in and of itself.  What these braces were designed to do, and what they actually do, is to allow a disabled shooter to handle the weapon with greater ease and improved functionality.

That’s all.

This is a win. But the war for the Second Amendment continues.

 

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Note:  Since I have two weeks worth of my RedState posts here, this will be lengthy, but you can see it all beneath the cut. And I will also say this: It’s great to be home. I still love the Colorado mountains and had a great time, but we also spent a few days in the Denver area visiting friends and family, and boy have three years in the Great Land changed my perspectives on Denver.  Big cities are noisy, and they stink.

We’re really glad to be home, in Alaska.

Now then:

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Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

I’ve written before about the possibility of small, modular nuclear reactors and their possible use in providing clean, reliable electricity to remote communities – like, say, much of Alaska.  Here’s another interesting piece on that topic.

SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, equivalent to around one-third the generating capacity of a traditional nuclear reactor. SMRs are much smaller than traditional reactors and are modular, making it simpler for them to be assembled in factories and transported to site. Because of their smaller size, it is possible to install an SMR on sites that are not suitable for bigger reactors.

If these live up to expectations, they could be game-changers for small rural communities.  But that’s a pretty big ‘if’ – and don’t underestimate the odds of the government regulating them out of existence.

Now then…

Continue reading Animal’s Hump Day News

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Housekeeping note:  Since my Wednesday links posts have always been long, and are getting longer, I’m going to try sticking the actual links below a “Click to Read More” tag.  This will help me to keep my already crowded front page a tad less cluttered while I consider how to go about a more involved revamp of the site. I’m still using the 2014 theme for WordPress, and while I like the looks of it, it may be time to update.  It’s been almost ten years since the last major site revamp, so we’ll see.  And, of course, please do let me know in the comments if you like/dislike and changes or have any other comments.

And so…

Continue reading Animal’s Hump Day News

Goodbye, Blue Monday

Goodbye, 450th Blue Monday!

Thanks as always to The Other McCain, Pirate’s Cove, Bacon Time, Flappr and The Daley Gator for the Rule Five links!  And welcome to this, our 450th Blue Monday post.  Almost nine years of Blue Mondays!

Have a look at this:

Bear in mind that the executive order of one President can be undone by the next President.  This, however, is an action that would rightly be strangled in the crib.  The BATFE has no authority to simply pass a rule disallowing the private sale of private property, and at some level someone in the Biden(‘s handlers) Administration has to know this.

As a tactic, though, this kind of rule-making is becoming all too common. Pass a rule that will certainly be overturned, and make your political opponents spend years and millions fighting it; when it’s overturned, find another window and repeat the process.

Do you need any more evidence that our government is out of control, that Constitutional principles are daily ignored, and that we are governed by the very worst people the country has thus produced?

Stay tuned. I suspect you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

I’m going to do something I haven’t yet done, and that’s feature one of my own RedState pieces here:  2 US Navy Sailors Arrested for Selling Intel to China (also linked in my RedState section below). Give it a quick read.  I’ll wait right here.

Back?  OK, then, now that you see what I’m talking about, I’ll just say something that RedState’s editorial standards don’t allow:  Fuck those shitheads, both of them. I hope that if we can’t get them executed, that they at least rot in damp, shitty jail cells for the rest of their natural lives.

In better news, grouse season opens here in the Great Land tomorrow. With a bit of luck and cooperation from the weather I’ll get out to shoot some toothsome sprucies this weekend.

There.  I feel better.  Now then…

On To the Links!

It might not be a bad bet.

Don’t bet on this one, unless you’re betting on the GOP to deliver another Strongly Worded Letter.

That’s nothing new.

Is America Headed for Civil War?

Welcome Back, Ron DeSantis

Countdown to war in Africa.

Would you get bored?  I’d never get bored.

The longest-ranged sniper rifles in the world. Not sure I agree with all of these, but interesting all the same.

National Treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson:  Two Sets of Laws for Two Americas

Welcome to six months ago.

We’re not locked in here with you.  You’re locked in here with us.

What if Trump Stops Playing Along?

I love a happy ending.

Some specifics would be nice.

National Treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson reveals the remaking of America.

This is known as belaboring the obvious.

My RedState stuff:

Biden’s BATFE Gets Dealt Major Blow in Pistol Brace Case

Canada PM Trudeau and Wife Announce Separation – on Instagram

SNAP Benefits, Incentives, and Reform

Hunter Biden, Class(less) Act

Stopping Looters: We Ain’t Gonna Take It, Any More

2 US Navy Sailors Arrested for Selling Intel to China

Which Side Would Win a Second American Civil War?

Trump Campaign Pulls Strings to Ensure Primary Delegate Counts

Sweden’s Vigilantes Deal With Street Crime

Amending the Constitution: A Proposal

Maine Residents Alarmed by Mysterious Purple Haze

Driving, the Younger Generation, and the Glorious Freedom of Mobility

BREAKING: Unconfirmed Reports of Wagner Group Personnel Aiding Coup in Niger

Sunday Gun Day II – Curios and Relics

Oregon Drivers Now Allowed to Pump Their Own Gas

Spain’s Supreme Court Rules: Gender Theory in Schools Now A-OK.

National Purple Heart Day – Some Personal Reflections

Japan Releases ‘Defense of Japan 2023’ White Paper, And It’s An Interesting Read

Supreme Court Ruling Allows ‘Ghost Gun’ (For the Time Being)

This Week’s Idiots:

Vox’s Ian Millhiser (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

The New York TimesRachel Laser is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

The New Republic’s Matt Ford is an idiot.

Washington Monthy’s Robert Shapiro is an idiot.

No shit, Sherlock.

The Nation’s Charlie Heller is an idiot.

The Hill’s Bill Press is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Not only was Frank Zappa a dozen different kinds of musical genius – he carved his own initials deep into rock & roll, he endlessly parodied other artists, his own music was never played the same way in any two concerts, and oh, by the way, he wrote and conducted his own symphonies – but he also did some amazing covers.

Now, everybody who’s anybody in music has covered the 1971 Led Zeppelin hit Stairway to Heaven. It’s one of the greatest rock & roll songs ever produced, and it’s been covered endlessly.  But Zappa, in his 1991 live album The Best Band You’ve Never Heard In Your Life, did the best cover of Stairway ever done, anywhere, ever.  Here it is – enjoy.

Rule Five Lousy Mass Shooting Study Friday

Last week, City Journal’s Ian Kingsbury presented us with an example of a lousy “mass shooting and structural racism” study, and told us why it was a lousy study.  This is an essential read if you’re on the Second Amendment side.  Some highlights, with my thoughts:

Is there any limit to the degree to which “researchers” will discredit themselves to prove their woke bona fides? A new study published in JAMA Surgery suggests not.

The study, “Association Between Markers of Structural Racism and Mass Shooting Events in Major US Cities,” purportedly seeks to understand whether evidence exists that “structural racism” plays a role in mass-shooting events.

To test their theory, the researchers quantitatively examine the correlation between mass shootings and “structural racism.” They define mass shootings as any incident in which four or more people are shot, and they define “structural racism” according to various factors, including the percentage of black population in a major metropolitan area, the proportion of children living in a single-parent household, the violent crime rate, and measures of segregation and income inequality.

The definition of mass shootings looks a lot like the one the FBI uses, but the definitions of “structural racism?” Some of those might be racial, others economic, others cultural.  So their initial, operating assumptions are crap.

Worse, it apparently assumes that people can’t or don’t migrate out of those areas.

The assertion that metro-area demographics are a measure of structural racism is especially problematic. It ignores the fact that the Great Migration featured millions of blacks moving from the rural South to the industrialized North in search of greater tolerance and opportunity. In other words, freedom of movement has existed for generations, and the escape from structural racism largely defines black migration in the twentieth century.

But the authors of this study don’t let the lousy definitions and ignoring of historical trends color their conclusions.

A reasonable person would conclude that this analysis fails to find a link between structural racism and mass shootings. Instead, the authors claim that demographics themselves (that is, the metro areas that black people choose to reside in) are an “imperfect” indicator for structural racism. They conclude that “structural racism appears to be associated with MSE (mass shooting event) incidence.”

In other words, “the study data didn’t support the hypothesis, so we bullshitted our way into the conclusion we wanted.”  This isn’t science, this is naked, partisan propagandizing.

And, of course, the legacy media snapped it up.

The researchers’ sloppiness didn’t get in the way of media coverage for the study. CNN plugged a story on it within hours of its publication. It’s only a matter of time, no doubt, before judges cite the study in their rulings or policymakers use it to craft the “science-based” policies that progressive activists purportedly favor. This study’s proper function, however, is to serve as a prime example of the medicalization of social issues and public health’s growing penchant for policy-based evidence-making.

Read the whole article.  Bookmark it.  Make notes.  It’s a good counter to a bad study.

Too much of the social sciences and medical worlds no longer have even a nodding acquaintance with actual, evidence-driving-the-conclusion science.  The study, by the way, was carried out by these supposed medical professionals:

Michael Ghio, MD; John Tyler Simpson, MD; Ayman Ali, MD; Julia M. Fleckman, PhD, MPH; Katherine P. Theall, PhD, MPH; Joseph I. Constans, PhD; Danielle Tatum, PhD; Patrick R. McGrew, MD; Juan Duchesne, MD; and Sharven Taghavi, MD, MPH, MS.

This isn’t science, and it certainly isn’t medicine.  This is naked propagandizing, it’s unworthy of anyone purporting to be a medical professional, and it’s sure as hell unworthy of anyone professing to be a scientist.  But just watch, True Believers, and be aware and ready to respond, because this “study” will end up in the quivers of the would-be gun-grabbers, and the Second Amendment community should stand ready to refute it.

Fortunately Ian Kingsbury has given us some ammo (hah) of our own to counter this crap.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

In this, our third summer in the Great Land, we’re still getting used to how short the warm season is. Here we are on August 2nd, where most of the country is sweltering (and it’s supposed to hit 77 here, which is pretty damn warm for the Susitna Valley) and we’re going to be moving into cooler, wetter weather soon. The swallows are gone, the trees are turning from the bright, vibrant green of late spring and early summer to the darker, dustier green of late summer.  We may see snow as early as six weeks or so from now.

That’s Alaska, and we love it here more every day, long, cold winters and all.

Now then…

On To the Links!

Is the WaPo collapsing?

This is probably a safe assumption for China to make.

Oh, yeah, that’s sure to end well.

Yeah, it’s time for the Murder Turtle to hang it up.

Ten Senate seats mostly likely to flip.  We’ll see.

Judge to Hunter Biden:  “Get a job, stay sober.”  Hah!

EVs piling up at dealerships.

I love a happy ending.

We can hope.

National Treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson.

No shit, Sherlock.

Did China get their money’s worth?

RIP, PeeWee Herman.

The question isn’t “how big a problem is Biden’s age,” it’s “how big a problem is Biden’s dementia, and his family’s shocking corruption?”

Ford losing $4.5 billion on electric vehicles this year.  That’s “billion” with a “B.”  Or:  $4,500,000,000.

Yellow Freight shuts down.

China’s coal use hits new record.

Animals – delicious, delicious animals.

My RedState stuff:

Is China Resurgent? Or Is the House of Cards Collapsing?

Commander, the Wonder (Bite) Dog

Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, and Their Endless Chutzpah

The Facebook Files: How the Biden Administration Cracked Down on Free Speech

China Abandons the Paris Climate Agreements; America Should Be so Lucky

Of Pendulums and Politics

Politics: You Can’t Always Get What You Want.

California’s Marxist Math: The Once-Golden State Is Past the Point of No Return

China, Biology, Illegal Labs and the Coming Conflict With the US

Anchorage Mayor Proposes Sending Homeless to California

Sunday Gun Day I – Great Reading for Shooters

Grown-Up Children and Permanent Minors

Great Migrations: The Grapes of Wrath, Book Two

There May Be Many More Gun Owners Than We Thought.

This Week’s Idiots:

The Guardian’s Margaret Sullivan is an idiot.

Washington Monthly’s David Atkins is an idiot.

The Hill’s Eugene Fidell is an idiot.

Salon’s Heather Parton is an idiot.  And again.

MSNBC’s Jessica Levinson is an idiot.

The LA Times Robin Abcarian (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Sidney Blumenthal is an idiot.

The Nation’s Luis Feliz Leon is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem is an idiot.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

I should have put this up before now.  I’ve written on the topic of Jason Aldean’s tune over at RedState, and so has my friend and colleague Brandon Morse.  Read both articles.

Jason Aldean makes a great point in this song.  This shit may fly in the big cities.  It won’t fly out here in the hinterlands.  We won’t put up with that shit, and we have the gear and the determination to stop anyone who tries it.

And, in case you’ve forgotten, old Bocephus had much the same message forty years ago.