Month: February 2009

Stop the violence

/ hsoi

So we keep hearing about the violence in Mexico due to drug cartels. Do we not learn from history? Do we not learn from past mistakes? Do we not realize that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

We tried treating alcohol as a crime and that caused more problems than it solved (read: alcohol prohibition was a failure). Now we treat alcohol as a health issue and we don’t have the violence and criminal activity. Treating drugs as a criminal problem is well… what’s keeping it as a criminal problem and frankly causing this crime to exist. “Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself.” (Tao Te Ching #60). Treat the drugs as the health issue that they are.

Guns in your car vs. employer property rights

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

In a 3-0 decision, the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in support of allowing employees to store legally owned firearms in locked, private motor vehicles while parked in employer parking lots. I wonder how this will affect efforts here in Texas, such as HB 1301 and SB 730. 

I’m torn on this issue, because it’s a mix of personal rights to self-protection and property rights.  Here’s some debate on the matter:

And if you spend a little time with Google, you can find a lot more on the debate.

To seek to obtain

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

It bugs me when people see a “No Soliciting” sign and take it to mean “no selling”. Sorry. Go learn what “solicit” means. If you want my money for your product, my signature for your petition, my soul for your church, or even my time for your troubles, sorry… you’re soliciting.

Go away.

Nancy Pelosi and The Pope

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

So I read by way of Robbie that Nancy Pelosi and The Pope had a meeting. I’m glad to hear this happened.

My wife is a devout Catholic so abortion topics, including Pelosi’s take on it, are a topic of conversation from time-to-time around our household. I don’t want to talk about abortion here so much as I want to talk about integrity and consistency. If you believe in abortion and have all of your other beliefs, ideology, philosophy, outlook on life, behavior, etc. all in line with each other, that’s one thing. But along comes Nancy Pelosi saying she’s “an ardent practicing Catholic”, but then supports abortion. Folks, that doesn’t jive. She goes on to say that the Catholic Church doesn’t even know when life begins! Watch her say this and read the transcript yourself.

Frankly, I don’t see why The Pope doesn’t deny Holy Communion to her or any other Catholic that behaves in this manner. It’s simple. If you’re a Catholic, you adhere to a certain set of beliefs. If you don’t adhere to those beliefs, you’re not a Catholic… especially not an “ardent practicing” one. This is a matter of integrity.

I think Robbie said it best tho:

Ms. Pelosi says she’s a Catholic. But she also supports abortion. Which makes her a pretty shitty Catholic. Kind of like every single professed Catholic who voted for Obama (who in turn voted to allow the murder of babies born alive that were supposed to be “terminated” before birth).

Ruger 10/22 – now with extended magazine release

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I received a 2009 Ruger catalog in the mail a couple days ago. Was flipping through it today and came to the pages on the 10/22. What are they touting?

Easy-To-Use Extended Magazine Release

Provides smooth, no-fuss removal of the unique flush mounted magazine — with no exposed magazine to dent and no uncomfortable protrusions at the rifle’s balance point.

And you see the pictures, and there’s a little lever sticking off the bottom of the rifle.

Here’s the basic 10/22 carbine model off Ruger’s website:

Finally!

The old magazine release was one of the biggest problems with the 10/22, thus a nice sized aftermarket exists. It’s nice to see Ruger improving the factory design.

My case against 3-dot sights

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

My Springfield Armory XD’s all came with “traditional” notch-and-post 3-dot sights. They certainly work, but I wanted to try something else. I ended up putting a set of XS 24/7 Express Big Dot sights on one of them, but it hasn’t worked out for me. I was able to try a couple handguns with a red fiber optic front sight and an all-black rear sight, and that seemed to work well for me, so I’m currently in process of getting the XD with the XS Sights changed to use some Dawson Precision sights (red fiber front, fixed all-black rear). We’ll see how it works out.

What made the Dawson’s, at least when I tried them, work so well for me was the red fiber optic was like a bright beacon and my eyes couldn’t help but focus on that front sight. That’s exactly what you want in your sight picture. You generally have 3 things in your path of view: rear sight, front sight, target. Your eyes can only focus on one of those things, so they need to focus on the front sight (Kathy Jackson over at Cornered Cat has a nice write-up on this). One additional thing is that you don’t want other things in your sight path to distract you. Thus the plain and simple all-black rear sight. When you have 3-dot sights, now you have 3 dots to have to sort out in your head. It may be easier if your front dot and rear dots are of different colors (some do this), or some people paint the front post a bright color. Whatever works, the key is distinctive contrast so your eyes find that front sight.

One additional thing about 3-dot sights is there may be confusion about what to line up. Do you line up the top edge of the front post with the top edge of the rear post? Or do you line up the 3 dots? Depending upon your particular sights, when you line up one, the other may be slightly misaligned. Allowing for a simple sight setup means there’s less to juggle — let the front sight draw your eye, let the rear sight just be passively in your sight picture, one thing to line up (top edges), off you go.

So a couple days ago I took a Sharpie to the rear dots of my other XD’s and blackened them out. Yeah it’s not perfect, the black’s aren’t quite the same black, and your depth perception can still pick up the recess of the dots, but they are far less distracting now. My eye goes right for the white dot on the front post, and there’s a lot less clutting the sight picture up. I like this.

I should have done that a long time ago. Well, better late than never.

Updated: As I write this update, I’ve had the Dawson sights on for quite some time. For me, they work great. The notch size and post size are good in relation to each other to give you a clear amount of airspace when lining up the sights. The sights are also very crisp and sharp, so again the sight picture looks very crisp and sharp. The rear sight, being plain black, stays out of your way… it’s there in your field of vision, but it doesn’t draw your eye nor distract you, but it’s around for as much as it needs to be for a rear sight. The red fiber in the front sight is, as I said, a bright beacon. Your eye can’t help but get pulled to it. It helps you find the front sight quickly so you can get on target faster. It’s just a clean sight picture and it does the right things for your eyes to allow you to shoot faster and more accurately. I’m quite sold on this setup.

Lawmakers defend the right to bear arms at work

/ hsoi

News 8 Austin (Time-Warner Cable’s 24-hour Austin news channel) has a piece about how the Texas State Lawmakers are allowed to carry concealed weapons on the Capitol grounds and onto the House and Senate floors, but your average citizen doesn’t have that same ability.

“A citizen carrying a concealed weapon with a permit can come in to the Capitol and walk around and visit legislators at their offices,” Sen. Juan Hinojosa (D-McAllen) said.

Citizens may be allowed to carry guns on to Capitol grounds, but their privileges are not the same as legislators. Members can and do carry guns on to the House and Senate floors, without restrictions. Citizens who visit those areas by way of the gallery have to pass through a metal detector and cannot enter with a gun.

“I don’t think that people who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon should be restricted from bringing a gun in to the gallery,” Hinojosa said.

Note: a Democrat legislator said that. 

What confuses me tho is a later comment by another lawmaker. Actually, let me splice this with her former comments:

It’s a known fact among state lawmakers that some of their colleagues carry guns at the Capitol.

Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) supports the concept and also supports an open-carry law.

“It’s a matter of safety for the members of the House,” Riddle said.

… [insert above comments from Sen. Hinojosa] …

Riddle disagrees and said it’s because the Department of Public Safety guards know the lawmakers but typically don’t know the public.

“The difference is pretty elementary…we are well known,” Riddle said.

I’m a little confused. First, I thought Rep. Riddle was in process of drafting open carry legislation. Maybe it’s just a rumor because until we see it, it’s vaporware.  But it does seem to conflict with her above statements.

But what I really don’t get is the reasoning that “we’re known” so that’s ok. Remember in 2006 when US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney wasn’t recognized by US Capitol Police? The guards may not always know you, and just because you might be a lawmaker doesn’t somehow automatically make you a person that won’t do something stupid or act in a rash manner.

Maybe the DPS guards and lawmakers don’t know all of the public, but I can tell you something they can know: what a Concealed Handgun License tells you about a person. If a Texas citizen holds a Texas Concealed Handgun license that means:

  • You have a clean criminal history, including military service and recent juvenile records
  • Not be under a protective order
  • Not be chemically dependent
  • Not be of unsound mind
  • Not be delinquent in paying fines, fees, child support, student loans, etc.
  • Have 2 sets of fingerprints taken, one sent to the FBI for checking
  • Multiple background checks, including with the FBI
  • Complete required training
  • Must be able to possess and/or purchase a firearm, which on the BAFTE 4473 form states
    • You cannot be under indictment in or convicted of any court for a felony or any crime where you could be imprisoned for more than one year
    • Cannot be a fugitive from justice
    • Cannot be an unlawful user of or addicted to any sort of controlled substance
    • Cannot be adjudicated mentally defective
    • Cannot have been dishonorably discharged from the US Armed Forces
    • Cannot be subject to a restraining order
    • Cannot have been convicted of domestic violence
    • Cannot have renounced your US Citizenship, and must be a US Citizen
    • Then of course go through yet another background check before you can purchase the firearm

So as you can see, if you hold a Texas CHL, you’ve got to live a pretty clean life: not just a clean life up until now to get the license, but if you want to keep it you have to continue to live a clean life. So if someone possesses a Texas CHL, you may not know much about them but the police don’t refer to them as the “I’m a Good Guy” card for nothing. A CHL holder has been vetted by the system as a good citizen, and they have to remain a good citizen to retain that CHL. This doesn’t mean CHL-holders are angels — they’re human and make mistakes like anyone else can. But take a look at the crime statistics of Texas CHL holders vs. the general public: here, here, and directly from TxDPS. Nothing is perfect, but the crime rates by CHL holders are vastly lower than the general populace.

To me, this difference is pretty elementary: you’re a Texas resident CHL holder, you’re one of the good guys.

Tao Te Ching #61

/ hsoi

When a country obtains great power,
it becomes like the sea:
all streams run downward into it.
The more powerful it grows,
the greater the need for humility.
Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.

A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts.

If a nation is centered in the Tao,
if it nourishes its own people
and doesn’t meddle in the affairs of others,
it will be a light to all nations in the world.

Translation by Stephen Mitchel.

Wisdom from Dale Gribble

/ hsoi

From Dale Gribble:

I’ve taken two oaths in my life: one to the NRA, and the other to Nancy Hicks Gribble, née Nancy Hicks. I stood in front of God and all my friends vowing to be an honorable and truthful man. So I’m not going to lie to you [Sheila]; I have felt a small, insect-like attraction for you. But my wife is the greatest woman there ever was!

Love you, Sug.