Category Archives: Guns

Shooting Irons!

Animal’s Daily Liberty Doll News

Before we begin, check out the latest in my new fiction series over at Glibertarians!

Now then:  The other day, I stumbled across a YouTube channel by a young woman calling herself “Liberty Doll.”  Her videos are fun, entertaining and informative, even if she can be a bit… distracting.  Here’s her recent video on the whole Utica, NY gun “buyback” silliness; check it out.

This approach wouldn’t work for everyone (it sure as hell wouldn’t work for me!) but one takes advantage of one’s personal assets, and Liberty Doll has great assets.  But she’s also smart, engaging, charming and well-informed, so don’t think her channel is all cheesecake.

Not that there’s anything wrong with cheesecake.

Her take on the Utica gun “buyback” was a good example.  The whole debacle was eminently ridicule-worthy, especially the fellow “Kem” who sold them $21,000 of 3-D printed junk.  That, to my thinking, is a great way to illustrate the absurdity of this kind of program, and to make some serious cash on the side.  I’d give it a go myself, as I’m pretty sure I have enough pipe and scrap wood in the garage to cobble up some convincing-looking “zip guns,” but Alaska is an unusually sane state where guns are concerned.  There aren’t likely to be any “gun buybacks” here in the Great Land.

Go take a look at Liberty Doll’s channel.  Toss her a subscribe if you’re so inclined.  Anyone to the right of Leon Trotsky is having a hard time on YouTube these days, so it’s worth supporting those folks who are toughing it out.

Rule Five Protection, Life and Property Friday

Issues & Insights has become one of my regular reads.  This article is one of the reasons why.  A week or so back, one “Winston Reilly” (a pseudonym) wrote a great piece on self-defense, life and property.  Excerpts, with my comments, follow:

The philosophical evolution from allowing the protection of one’s personal property as well as the right to life into a sole focus on threats of physical harm is a far more profound change than it first appears. If one cannot protect one’s property, is it really owned at all? If a stranger can lay claim to my property and be immune from consequences solely by avoiding deadly threats, and I must somehow prove that I was, in fact, in grave danger in order to protect that property, how is the property mine? And if the notion of private property is so vulnerable, have we not evolved into a communist society in the true sense of the word?

I do not mean this to advocate vigilante justice. Once the owner and property are separated and any threat removed, it becomes the job of police to investigate and prosecute the criminal(s). But at the time that a piece of property is being stolen in the presence of an owner, there is no reasonable doubt of the criminal’s intention or culpability. I submit that if the perpetrator is menacing in any way, refuses to relinquish the property, or there are two or more perpetrators involved, that by definition there is a threat to life that justifies the use of deadly force.

I have a little problem with this statement:  Once the owner and property are separated and any threat removed, it becomes the job of police to investigate and prosecute the criminal(s).  In too many cases, in too many of our major cities, the police are overwhelmed, if not flatly indifferent – or ordered to stand down.  Now I get the “any threat removed” statement, but in our increasingly anarchic cities, there’s always the chance that a criminal may be fleeing with life-sustaining property – food, or transport, or (most of all) medicines.

But this:  I submit that if the perpetrator is menacing in any way, refuses to relinquish the property, or there are two or more perpetrators involved, that by definition there is a threat to life that justifies the use of deadly force.  Yes – and the shooter in this case should never lose a moment’s sleep over the event.

Mr. “Reilly” continues:

The idea of private property is essential to a society that values the rights of the individual. The public officials who enact laws to restrict the concept of self-defense or use existing statutes to intimidate people into allowing property to be taken are contributing to the anarchy that is increasingly making living in and doing business in many cities untenable. A relatively simple (though highly consequential) change in the codes related to self-defense and how it applies to property will go a long way toward restoring the orderly society that seems to be disappearing by the day.

As I’ve said so often that it’s become my mantra:  Liberty and property.

Too many of our major cities are, as Mr. “Reilly” advises, intimidating people to allow theft of their property by ever-more-bold criminals.  In places like Los Angeles, criminals have gone from bold to arrogant, and the problem has expanded to include the mentally-ill, substance-abusing “homeless” population.  It’s come to the point where small businesses – the lifeblood of any economy – are shutting down and fleeing.

And in those same jurisdictions, the common citizenry is legally denied their right to self-defense and defense of property.  Indeed, their property is not really theirs any more.  Not when the municipality holds to policies that favor the criminal over the law-abiding, and force business owners to tolerate drug-dealing in their neighborhoods and feces on their doorsteps.

Mr. “Reilly” writes about the right to armed self-defense, and does so well.  But the issue is much larger.  It’s not only that the law-abiding and small business owners are denied the right to defense of themselves and their properties; it’s that they are denied even the basic decencies recognized in civilized societies since the times of the Romans.

That’s not tenable.  It can’t last.  The question is, what comes next?

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

The political season is (thankfully) in the home stretch, but I have noted one person whose career is going to be worth watching:  Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

Watch the video embedded in the linked story, in which the Republican Lake trounces a reporter asking a loaded question.  She’s good at this:  Smart, informed, articulate and fearless.  I expect she won’t stop in Arizona.

Imagine a DeSantis/Lake ticket for the Imperial Mansion!  What I would love to see is a VP debate between Kari Lake and Heels-Up Harris.  It would be a bloodbath – although some prominent Dems are already calling for Harris to drop out.  Frankly they’d do better if Joe Biden dropped out, too.

With that said…

On To the Links!

Hispanics are turning to the GOP.

Bill Maher:  It’s time for Heels-Up Harris to step away.

Newt Gingrich thinks CO Senate candidate Joe O’Dea will beat incumbent Dem Michael Bennett.  I’d like to see this happen, but color me skeptical – Colorado is a pretty blue state now.  That’s one of the reasons we left.

Graveyard of dead stars.  No, it’s not in Beverly Hills.

Cheaters are everywhere.

Yes, weak rural turnout could hurt the GOP on Election Day – but I doubt we’ll see weak turnout.

Chicago is still a shooting gallery.

Embarrassing is something of an understatement.

Because they are growing monstrously rich on insider trading.  See:  Pelosi, Nancy.

Probably not.

I love a happy ending.

Ancient Scots reconstructed.  Cool!

This Week’s Idiots:

The Nation’s Chris Lehmann is an idiot.

NY Mag’s Jonathan Chait is an idiot.

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

The New York Times’ Jeff Shesol is an idiot.

The New York Times’ Ezra Klein (Repeat Offender Alert) is also an idiot.  Why is the Left’s answer to every problem always “OMG more taxes”?

Gavin Newsom is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan is an idiot.

He who represents himself at trial has an idiot for a client.

The Philly Inquirer’s Will Bunch is an idiot.

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) is still a sawed-off runt, and an idiot.

Vox’s Emily St. James is an idiot.

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

Salon’s Heather Parton is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Paul Simon has had quite a career, beginning with his partnership with Art Garfunkel and continuing on to a great solo career.  He’s produced some serious tunes and some more light-hearted stuff.  I like the light-hearted stuff better, and my favorite in that vein is his 1986 tune You Can Call Me Al, from the album Graceland.

What makes the video for this song fun is the coordination between 6’4″ Chevy Chase, lip-syncing Simon’s lyrics, and the 5’3″ Simon, who mimes playing various instruments.  Every time I watch the video it prompts a chuckle.

Here it is, then.  Enjoy.

Goodbye, Blue Monday

Goodbye, Blue Monday!

Thanks as always to The Daley Gator, The Other McCain, Pirate’s Cove, Whores and Ale and Bacon Time for the Rule Five links!

It was a great weekend here in the Great Land.  Yesterday (Sunday) was a bit rainy, but Saturday dawned fair, so I loaded the truck and went forthwith about seventy miles north to Denali State Park to look for some toothsome game birds.  I only found one, but that one bird fell to the first shot I have fired at game with the hand-made Henry Tolley side-by-side I bought a couple of years back.  The Tolley is a joy to carry; at a tad over six pounds it’s like carrying a toothbrush.  But even restricted as it is to low-pressure 2 1/2″ 12 gauge shells, it swatted this grouse right out of the air.

Sprucies are good eating.  With a bit of luck I’ll stuff some more in the freezer before winter settles in for good.

When winter does come in, I may get into the state land behind the house to look for some snowshoe hares.  Not only are they likewise good eating, Mrs. Animal expects some winter-white hare pelts for crafting purposes.

The longer we live in Alaska, the more we love it.

Animal’s Daily Hunter’s Illegal Gun News

If this doesn’t raise a “oh, for crying out loud” out of you today, I don’t know what will:  Court nixes public release of info about investigation of Hunter Biden’s “lost” gun.  Excerpt:

The case of Hunter Biden’s missing handgun and the ATF investigation that followed has been a curiosity for many in the Second Amendment community since we first learned of the 2018 incident in which a pistol belonging to Biden was allegedly thrown into a trashcan by his late brother’s widow… only to turn up missing when she reported it to police. The gun was recovered a couple of days later, but as POLITICO reported last year, not before the Secret Service apparently intervened in the investigation.

But a curious thing happened at the time: Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale, according to two people, one of whom has firsthand knowledge of the episode and the other was briefed by a Secret Service agent after the fact.

The gun store owner refused to supply the paperwork, suspecting that the Secret Service officers wanted to hide Hunter’s ownership of the missing gun in case it were to be involved in a crime, the two people said. The owner, Ron Palmieri, later turned over the papers to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, which oversees federal gun laws.

The Secret Service says it has no record of its agents investigating the incident, and Joe Biden, who was not under protection at the time, said through a spokesperson he has no knowledge of any Secret Service involvement.

Days later, the gun was returned by an older man who regularly rummages through the grocery’s store’s trash to collect recyclable items, according to people familiar with the situation.

The incident did not result in charges or arrests.

“The incident did not result in charges or arrests.”  No shit.

In case you’re still mulling it over, here’s the thumbnail:  Hunter Biden lied on a 4473, later “misplaced” a firearm, both incidents that would result in the arrest and prosecution of normal folks.  But Hunter gets a pass, even gets the Secret Service running interference for him, because he’s a Biden.

We could do away with a lot of this flouting of equal treatment under the law and the influence-peddling that spawns it by doing away with the pols having the influence to peddle.  And there’s a simple, step-by-step guide to doing that, if the Imperial government ever rediscovers it and, unlikely as that is, adheres to it.

I don’t see that happening, though – nor do I see Hunter Biden ever being called to account on his many and varied crimes.  That would set a precedent, a precedent that who you are related to doesn’t entitle you to special treatment, and let’s be honest, nobody in either party wants that precedent set.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

First, a housekeeping note:  This evening, I’ll be traveling the Friendly Skies to Colorado, and thence to an area near the New Mexico border.  There loyal sidekick Rat and I will indulge in a fall turkey hunt.  We’ve spent a fair amount of time in the area, and every time we’ve been there the turkeys have been abundant.

783 Marlin

Colorado allows rifles in the fall season.  Rat doesn’t have a suitable piece, but fortunately I’ve got two:  The Savage .22WMR/20 gauge combo I bought recently, and an old Marlin .22 WMR bolt gun I’ve had since I was fourteen.  So, prospects are good.  Watch this space for placeholder totty posts while I’m out, and then for a hunt report on my return.  I have posts scheduled for tomorrow and Friday, along with the usual Saturday Gingermageddon.  Regular posts will resume Monday, September 12th.

And so…

On To the Links!

The GOP needs to get their shit together.

Yes, good riddance.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

This just in:  People are assholes.

So much for “sanctuary” cities, eh?

Meanwhile, Biden(‘s handlers) Administration officials insist “the border is under control.”

I love a happy ending.

Virginia made a winning pick with this guy.

More on Alaska politics.

What a day for a daydream.

I’ll believe there’s a climate crisis when the people who keep telling me there’s a climate crisis start acting like there’s a climate crisis.

NYC banks are closing their ATM vestibules at night to stop bums from shitting in them.

This Week’s Idiots:

Atlantic’s Joseph Stiglitz is an idiot.

California is run by idiots.

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

The Nation’s Elie Mystal (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is an idiot.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is an idiot.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

CNN’s Julian Zelizer is an idiot.

The Atlantic’s Jedediah Britton-Purdy is an idiot.

Charlie Crist is an idiot.

The Nation’s Jeet Heer is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

I’ve long been a fan of Frank Zappa.

Zappa, because of the compound weirdness of his musical style, is often misjudged as a mere showman, when in fact he was one of the most brilliant and innovative musicians of the modern era, as well as a great songwriter, composer and a brilliant technical guitarist.  He wrote symphonies – and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording his first symphony album, simply titled London Symphony Orchestra – Zappa.  In concert, Zappa would show up with a 12- to 16-piece band and a bunch of different musical genres in his pockets like playing cards, which he would mix, match and play like a poker hand.  Brilliantly.

One of his standard concert pieces was Florentine Pogen, an… interesting piece.  Zappa never performed the same song in the same way twice, but one of my favorite versions of this tune can be found on the 1991 live album The Best Band You’ve Never Heard In Your Life.  This cut really shows off what Zappa could do on a stage, in large part because he always chose to work with very talented people.  The entire album rates a listen, as it also includes some great covers, including Ravel’s Bolero, Stairway to Heaven, and what was rumored to have been Johnny Cash’s favorite cover of Ring of Fire.

But for today, I had to pick one song.  So here is Zappa’s own Florentine Pogen.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!
Ruffed Grouse

Note:  We’ll talk more about the Mar-A-Lago raid in tomorrow’s post.  I’ve been reading about the incident and its implications, and I have some thoughts.

Now then:   Alaska grouse season, at least here in our game management unit, opens today.  I probably won’t get out until the weekend, but boy howdy am I ever ready to get after them.

Willow Ptarmigan.

We have several kinds of grouse.  Hereabouts we have Spruce Grouse and Ruffed Grouse.  The limit is fifteen birds per day (!) of which no more than two may be ruffies.  Up north there are Sharptail Grouse, and down on the panhandle we have Dusky Grouse, the same toothsome birds I hunted back in Colorado.  At higher elevations and farther north we have three kinds of ptarmigan:  Willow, Rock and White-Tailed.

If I never hunted anything but birds up here, I’d never get bored.  And I have no notion of limiting myself to birds.

And so…

On To the Links!

Oh please please please pretty please.

Show me in the Constitution where the Imperial government is allowed to do this.

The best whiskeys to drink this August.  Kind of partial to Pendleton, myself.

Fuck Around and Find Out II, Electric Boogaloo.

It’s open season on gun laws.  Good.

Shots fired in Mall of the Americas – outside the Nike store?  Hmm.

We can hope. 

I’m a big fan of the DeSantis 2024 idea.  Every day, more and more.

But, yeah, Trump’s running again.

This kid has a bright future.

As jokes go, this was the wurst.

This is some banana republic shit right here.

What could possibly go wrong?

This Week’s Idiots:

The Hill’s Michael Starr Hopkins is an idiot.

She seems nice.

Hypocrites and idiots.

MSNBC’s Jessica Levinson is an idiot.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.  Related:  The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols is an idiot.  To clarify:  Brittney Griner is not a “political prisoner.”  She is an idiot, who brought an illegal substance into a sovereign nation.  We lock up people who do that here, too.

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

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) is still a sawed-off little runt, and an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

I’ve always kind of liked Miranda Lambert.  While later in her career she cultivated kind of a “outlaw country” vibe, earlier on her songs were a little more peppy and upbeat, but still with an authentic country feel.

One of my favorites is New Strings, from her 2005 album Kerosene.  It’s a lively tune, enjoyable and optimistic, and one senses, maybe a little autobiographical.  Here, then, is the official video for that song.  Enjoy.

Rule Five Relative Power Levels Friday

Some time back, I stumbled across a column about the gun issue by a scribe I read regularly and always enjoy.  But in a comment regarding the relative power of rifle rounds, he described the venerable .30-06 as “one of the most powerful rounds in existence.”

Now, I’m not going to name the columnist nor link to the column here; that’s not my purpose.  He has, though, fallen afoul of something that a lot of Tacticool aficianados trip up on, and that’s focusing solely on the AR and AK platforms, the M-1A and M1 rifles, and sometimes the various military bolt guns like the Springfield, Mosin-Nagant, SMLE and the various Mausers.  In other words, current and recent military-style and military-inspired, or as I’m fond of describing them, “Tacticool.”  That’s all great, if that’s what you’re into, and I can see why having that as your primary experience would lead to one thinking that the wonderful, versatile .30-06 is “one of the most powerful (rifle) rounds in existence,” when it probably isn’t even in the top 50%.  There are plenty of sporting rifle rounds that are far, far more powerful than the .30-06; I have a couple in my own safe.  So, in today’s post, let’s look at some of these rounds, and compare relative power levels.

Disclaimer:  I have a .30-06 in the safe now, and have owned several more.  I dearly love this round; it’s versatile, easy to shoot well, easy (as anything is nowadays) to find ammo for, and properly loaded and handled, is adequate for any critter on the North American continent.

First, let’s look at the basic stats for the AR-15 platform’s usual load, the 5.56mm round, and compare it to the AK’s 7.62x39mm and the venerable .30-06.  Note:  MV = Muzzle Velocity, ME = Muzzle Energy.

Cartridge MV ME
5.56mm 55 grain M193 3240 1282
7.62×39 123 gr spitzer 2300 1445
.30-06 150 gr spitzer 2910 2820

Looking at that, if the first two rounds are your primary basis of comparison, I can see how you might think that the .30-06 rolls out some pretty impressive power levels, and in this perspective, it does; the standard mil-spec loads for the venerable old Cartridge, Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1906 are pretty tough stuff put up against a typical AR or AK-platform round.  And, yes, most standard police/military vests are weaksauce when taking on an ’06 round.  But how does the ’06 stack up against some sporting cartridges that are in wide use?  And bear in mind I’m not comparing the latest, hottest Eargesplitten Loudenboomer Ultra Magnums that the gun magazines seem to monthly tout; these are rounds that have been in wide use in the game fields for decades.

Let’s compare that to a couple rounds that I shoot and load for regularly:  The .338 Winchester Magnum and the .45-70 Government.

Cartridge MV ME
.338 Win Mag 265 Grain LRX 2800 4200
.45-70 Government 405gr FN 1680 2274

Note that the .45-70 load I cite here is the standard, original black-powder spec load, and so the velocity and energy are low, lower than the .30-06, although I can tell you from personal experience that those big, flat-nose bullets pack a pretty good wallop inside of 150 yards or so and will put down a big, corn-fed Midwestern whitetail right the hell  now.  But look at the .338 load, this being the load I’m running through my own Thunder Speaker right at the moment; that one comes pretty close to matching the .30-06 on velocity but, due to the heavier slug, produces almost a ton more muzzle energy, almost quadruple the 5.56 round.

To finish up, let’s really turn up the pressure:  Here are the stats for the grand old .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum.

Cartridge MV ME
.375 H&H 270-grain solid 2690 4340
.458 Win Mag 500 gr solid 2090 4850

While the .375 H&H is a rung or two up the ladder from my .338 handloads, it’s in the same ball park.  But the .458 Win Mag?  That’s an elephant-stopper, made as a dangerous game round, turning in almost two and a half tons of energy at the muzzle.

Sporting rifle cartridges, as you can see, routinely turn in some pretty impressive ballistics, compared to the 5.56mm and 7.62x39mm rounds, and if you consult the benchmark work on such things – that being W. Todd Woodward’s annual Cartridges of the World –you’ll see that there are many, many such cartridges in standard production, and even more in the obsolete, proprietary and wildcat realms.

There’s a good reason for this.  Mil-spec rifle cartridges aren’t necessarily designed to kill, RHEEEEing by would-be gun-grabbers notwithstanding.  They are primarily designed to allow the individual soldier to carry a good supply (I wouldn’t prefer to carry around seven thirty-round mags full of .45-70 loads) and, when applied as intended, to take an enemy soldier out of action.

Sporting rounds, on the other hand, are designed to kill – animals that are, quite often, bigger and tougher than humans.  And those kills are often made at some distance; shots out to 300 yards are not all that unusual.  (My personal record is a 280-yard shot on a Colorado mulie, and yes, that was with Thunder Speaker.)  More to the point, sporting rounds are designed to deliver a quick, clean, humane kill, which means one must, as Robert Ruark so famously put it, “use enough gun.”

Modern military cartridges are not in the same ball park as anything much past mid-range when it comes to sporting rifle cartridges.  It’s very nearly a difference of kind, rather than a difference of degree; the difference when you’re comparing some of the tougher loads is in orders of magnitude.

Let’s hope the current crop of nitwits in the Democrat Party don’t figure that out, because next they’ll be RHEEEEEing about “sniper rifles” and “armor-piercing ammo.”

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

I’m thinking of bear hunting.

Specifically, I’m thinking of hunting a certain area about sixty miles north of here, where a walk-in-only trail system leads down to the brushy banks of the Chulitna River.  The problem is, it’s really brushy.  The few people I’ve talked to familiar with this particular area have said that both blacks and griz are abundant in the area, and that you may well smell them before you hear them.  So, I’m thinking the BullWhacker (Marlin 1895G, .45-70) is in order.  The BullWhacker has been customized with a large lever loop, ghost ring sights and a forward-mounted IER scope – colloquially known as a “Scout Scope.”  Seems like the appropriate piece for sneaking through dense brush after big, tough, toothy critters at short range.  Thoughts?

Now that I’ve placed that before you all…

On To the Links!

“We’ve really got him this time!”

City of Broken Windows.

Yes, nuclear is the key to our future.  I’ve been saying this for years.

What would you do?  Granted state lotteries are essentially a tax on stupidity for the most part, but there’s probably no  harm in spending a couple of bucks for the chance to fantasize about what you’d do if you got a few hundred million bucks dropped in your lap.

What could possibly go wrong?

“Please, B’rer Fox, don’t throw me in that there briar patch!”

They’ll want to tighten security on this find.  Contact Chief Inspector Clouseau immediately!

“Heterosexual men seeking to introduce themselves to women should be direct and maybe even a tad vulnerable, while heterosexual women approaching men can essentially say anything they want. “  No shit, Sherlock.

Nothing can fix Twitter.

DeBlasio already did that job for you, you Bronze Age assholes.

Tulsi Gabbard is a sane Democrat, which is like finding a unicorn these days.

When seconds count, the cops are only hours away.

Watch your taxes go up.

GEICO bails on California.

I love a  happy ending.

This Week’s Idiots:

NY Magazine’s Jonathan Chait (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Yes, you idiot, that means we’re in a recession.

USAToday‘s Jill Lawrence is an idiot.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Joy Reid (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Michael Cohen is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem (I’m sensing a pattern here) is an idiot.

Robert Reich is still a sawed-off runt, and an idiot.

California is run by idiots.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Mrs. Animal and I have seen the Blue Man Group twice, once at their regular venue in Las Vegas, and once at their traveling show in Denver.  On that latter show they shared the stage with VenusHum, a ‘synth-pop’ band that saw some success in the early Aughts.

We saw this song on the traveling show; it was later released on the Blue Man Group’s 2003 album The Complex, and it’s probably the best cover of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love ever done; to tell the truth, I prefer it to the original.  Anyway, here; make up your own mind, and feel free to let us know in the comments.

Goodbye, Blue Monday

Goodbye, Blue Monday!

Thanks as always to The Other McCain, Bacon Time, Pirate’s Cove,  and Whores and Ale for the Rule Five links!

Now then, go and read this:  Eleven fewer dead people.  Excerpt:

On Sunday July 17, 2022, some dork with two rifles and a handgun attempted to shoot up the Greenwood Park Mall food court in Greenwood Indiana. In the span of only fifteen seconds he was shot eight times by private citizen Elisjsha Dicken, an 80% hit rate from forty yards with a double stack nine millimeter handgun, whereupon the dork decided to flee to the bathroom and do us all the favor of dying there. We have much to unpack about this instance, but five key points with mathematical backing show a clear path to saving hundreds of future lives, and further show why the media doesn’t want to save them.

You have a greater chance of being killed by a shark than by a ‘mass shooter,’ despite what the pearl-clutchers in the legacy media and Congress would have us believe – they jack up the number of ‘mass shootings’ by including gang-related turf shootouts along with incidents like Uvalde or the Greenwood Park Mall incidents, and there are completely different root causes between the two.  And there’s the copycat factor, which the medial largely ignores and in which they are partly complicit, as the press invariably makes these goblins famous.

Here’s the interesting  bit:

Rampage killings are only stopped by two things, the police or private citizens. Three people died in this shooting. When we perform a true analysis of “rampage killing” statistics, we find that rampage killings stopped by police carry an average of 14.29 casualties, whereas rampage killings stopped by citizen responders carry an average of 2.33 casualties. The average police response time to a 911 call is eleven minutes. Mr. Dicken responded to this shooting forty four times faster than the average police response time, saving (by averages) 11.29 lives in the process. These are facts.

This entire engagement transpired in a gun free zone. If Mr. Dicken had followed the rules on the sign, then 11.29 additional people (by averages) would be dead. The gun free zone sign did not deter the shooter, and eleven people in that food court owe their lives to the fact that Dicken also ignored the sign. This is indisputable.

I’ve ignored those signs myself.  I won’t say when or where, but I have.  I’ll almost certainly continue to do so.  I won’t advise anyone else on what to do, but I’m pretty certain regular readers of these virtual pages are capable of working that out for themselves.