Cool. tgace finally got all of his excellent Tactical Preschool series set with categories and tags. Makes it easier to link to the whole series, and pick up future ones.
Month: September 2009
What it feels like to be a Libertarian
Via John Stossel, an article from John Hasnas (Assoc. Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University) on What It Feels Like To Be A Libertarian.
Libertarians spend their lives accurately predicting the future effects of government policy. Their predictions are accurate because they are derived from Hayek’s insights into the limitations of human knowledge, from the recognition that the people who comprise the government respond to incentives just like anyone else and are not magically transformed to selfless agents of the good merely by accepting government employment, from the awareness that for government to provide a benefit to some, it must first take it from others, and from the knowledge that politicians cannot repeal the laws of economics. For the same reason, their predictions are usually negative and utterly inconsistent with the utopian wishful-thinking that lies at the heart of virtually all contemporary political advocacy. And because no one likes to hear that he cannot have his cake and eat it too or be told that his good intentions cannot be translated into reality either by waving a magic wand or by passing legislation, these predictions are greeted not merely with disbelief, but with derision.
It is human nature to want to shoot the messenger bearing unwelcome tidings. And so, for the sin of continually pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, libertarians are attacked as heartless bastards devoid of compassion for the less fortunate, despicable flacks for the rich or for business interests, unthinking dogmatists who place blind faith in the free market, or, at best, members of the lunatic fringe.
Call me a heartless bastard devoid of compassion, a despicable flack, an unthinking dogmatist, and perhaps even a member of the lunatic fringe. Call me a Libertarian. What is a Libertarian?
The core idea is simply stated, but profound and far-reaching in its implications. Libertarians believe that each person owns his own life and property, and has the right to make his own choices as to how he lives his life – as long as he simply respects the same right of others to do the same.
[…]
Libertarianism is thus the combination of liberty (the freedom to live your life in any peaceful way you choose), responsibility (the prohibition against the use of force against others, except in defense), and tolerance (honoring and respecting the peaceful choices of others).
Live and let live. The Golden Rule. The non-initiation of force.
Call us crazy….
Search term grab bag
Let’s delve into the search terms and see what people are searching for now that wind them up here at my blog.
apple os x “snow leopard” gcc version
Technically, 4.2. However, there’s new stuff coming from Apple in terms of complier technology. Check out LLVM and Clang. This Ars Technica article on Snow Leopard has a good discussion of the compiler situation. Heck, the whole article is a good read regarding the real nuts and bolts of Snow Leopard.
contrast sights vs 3 dot sights
I believe contrast is good. Good shooting technique has you focusing on the front sight. Thus, things to help your eyes pick up the front sight are good. Furthermore eliminating things that can distract your eyes are also good. Thus, increasing the contrast between your front sight and the rear sight, between your front sight and your surroundings, IMHO these things are good.
That’s one reason I don’t like 3-dot sights. When you’re trying to quickly get a sight picture, now you have 3 dots to choose from, which is the front sight? If you’re moving fast it doesn’t take much to have the gun pointed slightly askew and actually having the front sight appear to the right or left. Or maybe the front sight doesn’t appear at all and you mentally ask yourself “is that the front sight?” You don’t need to waste time trying to determine “is that the front sight.” It should be definitive.
My current setup is using a set of Dawson Precision sights. The rear is just flat black, but very crisp, sharp, and no-glare. The front is a simple post, but has a red fiber optic insert to help draw my eye. The fiber isn’t used for aiming, just to make the front sight stand out so your eyes come to it. Otherwise, the sights act like any other notch-and-post type sights in terms of aiming.
a 9mm round is equal to what caliber
A 9mm Parabellum bullet is about a .36 caliber. Or maybe .35, depending how you round (.355″).
what does lswchp mean
Lead Semi Wad Cutter Hollow Point. A type of bullet.
is prvi partizan ammo safe in m1a?
I’ve used their .308 Winchester 168 grain match ammo in mine, and it’s been fine.
There’s nothing on the list that seems to say otherwise. My experiences with Prvi ammo have been good, and the reviews and comments I’ve read online have been generally positive about Prvi ammo in general. IMHO it’s not the best ammo in the world, but it’s good stuff and I have no aversion to shooting it in my guns.
where to store pistol home defense
I would say, where it’s handy to serve it’s purpose. I keep the dishwasher near the kitchen sink, because that’s where it’s most handy for its purpose. I keep the TV remote control by my La-Z-Boy recliner because that’s where it’s most handy for its purpose. I keep the toilet paper next to the toilet because that’s where it’s most handy for its purpose. Think about these examples. If the useful tool was not where you wanted it when you wanted it, what good would that be? Why do people store their remote controls up by the TV? If I wanted to get off my butt to change the channel, I wouldn’t have a remote control in the first place. 😉
But of course, you may have additional issues to consider, such as children in the home. I always liked Kathy Jackson’s take on things. Go read her stuff. No point in me duplicating it here.
Another possible issue is appearances. Depending who you are and/or where you live, to have a rack of guns openly about in the house may be no big deal, or it may be impermissible. You may have to consider other options.
When I think about where to store, my main concerns are access and safety. To ensure those who should get to it can get to it promptly when needed, and those you shouldn’t get to it can’t. And to be safe about it to ensure no one, save the one deserving it, gets hurt. But I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
will a 9mm stop a person
A 9mm what? Oh, I’m sure they mean bullet.
If it’s placed correctly, yes it can.
.45 vs 9mm handgun difference
One shoots a .45 caliber bullet, the other a 9mm caliber bullet. Duh! 😉
3 dots on my nuts
I don’t want to know what that’s all about.
fingers hurts when typing
“Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”
“Don’t do that.”
best offensive gun
Now I admit, that’s a search term twist. Most people are always searching for the best defensive gun or other defense-related terms.
I would say that it doesn’t really matter. To be offensive or defensive depends more upon your mental state, your skills, your situation; that is, you. The gun, it’s just a lump of steel. It’s not the gun, it’s what you do with it.
Or maybe they don’t mean offensive as in “going on the attack.” Maybe they mean the best gun to offend someone with. I guess again it would depend. Paul Helmke, any gun. Carolyn McCarthy, any gun with a shoulder thing that goes up. For Xavier, he’s got a whole collection of ugly guns and shows them off every Sunday. For Charlton Heston, the one taken from his cold dead hands. For Ted Nugent, the one that caused him to miss that white-tailed deer. 🙂
Genetics in antler development
From Texas Park and Wildlife, the role of genetics in antler development (of white-tailed deer).
There are 3 equally important factors that control antler development in white-tailed deer: nutrition, genetics, and age. Antler development is genetically based, environmentally influenced, and reaches its peak at maturity. The key to quality deer management is to remove those bucks which have the least desirable antler characteristics at an early age. Kerr WMA studies show that yearling antlers predict a buck’s antler quality at maturity. Kerr genetic studies indicate bucks with the best antlers will produce more progeny with exceptional antlers than will poorer bucks. The does influence antler production as well. Harvest of older does is important to insure younger does are products of better bucks. Habitat should be managed so that deer can achieve their greatest antler potential. There are no methods to “jump-start” a quality deer program.
Updated: Related article on nutrition (bottom line: want big antlers? feed ’em good, high protein). And on age.
Range time
Slipped out to the local indoor gun range this morning.
First thing I noticed was all the new benchrests they had! All the old worn out crappy rests were gone and replaced by new ones. I figure they know hunting season is coming and they’ll have a lot of business from people zeroing rifles and needing rests. This was welcome, especially because that’s why I went today.
My goal was to get my Savage 11 set with a “zero” to be 1″ high at 100 yards. Looking at all the data, that should allow me to be within “minute of dead deer” from 0 to 200 yards without any problem. Zero at 100 yards would risk me being too low at 200 yards, and zero at 200 yards I think would have put me a little too high at 100 yards or less. So at least on paper, this should work for me. Thing is, I really wanted to go to a range with longer rifle ranges today but it just didn’t happen for various reasons. My hope then was if I got it 1″ high at 100 yards I could refine and ensure 200 yards at a later date.
I started using my Prvi Partizan .308 168 grain BTHP match ammo. I have tons of it and it’s far less expensive per round than my hunting load (the Federal Vital-Shok .308 165 grain Barnes TSX stuff, P308H). Use that to get me in the ballpark, then finalize it with the Prvi. I believed the rifle was set to 0 at 100 yards, so I knew I’d need to adjust a bit. Shot a few rounds, got things adjusted, and thought it was good enough to switch over to the Federal.
Loaded one round of Federal, shooting at the lower-left little target thing on the sighting-in target. Look through the spotting scope and I don’t see anything on the paper. Huh?!?! I look around at the center of the target and counted 6 holes. But I only shot 5 Prvi on that target at the center. Is that saying my Federal was off that much? Loaded another round and shot at the center of the target. Sure enough, that one went way high and right. Wow. I know that loads can be different, but I did not expect that drastic of a difference. I only had 8 rounds of my hunting load left so I had to get things dialed in quickly. I managed to do so and think she’s there, but I’m not totally sure. It could have been the gun, it could have been the cheap scope, it could be the rounds, maybe the barrel was warm enough that it was throwing things off. I don’t know for sure.
So, I packed up and opted to head home. I’ll try again in the near future and only use the hunting load. See where that first cold-barrel shot lands and go from there.
Ultimately I really need to get going with reloading. One box (20 rounds) of the P308H is $45. Now that I’ve got a lot of good .308 brass and I’ve got a box of 50 .30 caliber Barnes TSX, man, it’ll be far cheaper to load it all myself (probably half the cost).
Anyway, it’ll be nice to get the rifle sighted in before the rush of everyone in the area cramming up the ranges trying to get sighted in. Plus we saw a bunch of hogs on the game cameras at the deer lease. Mmm… pork.
New laws in effect
Being September 1, a bunch of new laws go into effect here in Texas.
Here’s the press release straight from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Some highlights:
HB 55 makes it illegal to use a wireless communication device in a school zone unless the vehicle is stopped or a hands-free device is used. Cities or counties wanting to enforce this law must post a sign at the beginning of each school zone to inform drivers that using a wireless communications device is prohibited and the operator is subject to a fine. It is a defense to prosecution if the operator was making an emergency call.
Why? Because talking (or texting) on the phone can be very distracting and render you a more dangerous driver, less aware of your surroundings? distracted from your primary task at hand? If it’s bad enough to avoid doing this in school zones, why isn’t it bad enough to avoid doing this everywhere?
SB 129 goes into effect. I never heard of “neighborhood electric vehicle” before.
Relating to concealed handguns:
HB 2730 amends numerous provisions regarding concealed handgun licenses (CHLs), including eliminating student loan defaults as a disqualifier, to clarify that DPS must suspend or revoke a license when the licensee becomes ineligible and mandating that a magistrate suspend a CHL held by the subject of an emergency protective order.
There’s actually a lot of stuff in HB 2730.
HB 2664 provides a defense to prosecution if a concealed handgun license holder carries a concealed handgun into an establishment that gets 51 percent or more of its income from the sale of alcoholic beverages, but has failed to post the statutorily required notice that it derives 51 percent or more of its income from the sale of alcoholic beverages. (Under current law, a concealed handgun licensee can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor for doing this.)
This is welcome. I’ve been in a few places where I was surprised to discover a 51% sign was posted, but because it was posted improperly I didn’t learn about it until I was technically in violation of the law.
HB 2730 removes DPS authority to suspend a concealed handgun license (CHL) for the holder’s failure to display the CHL to a peace officer on demand. It removes associated penalties and suspensions for the failure to display.
I still think it’s generally sound advice that, if you’re carrying and a DPS officer requests identification (e.g. drivers license) that you include your CHL too. But the law is improved.
SB 1188 went into effect, bringing Texas out of the dark ages.
Drivers license related laws went into effect. HB 339 increases the number of hours a teenage student must have behind the wheel. I’m not so thrilled about state requirements, but to drive is a privilege. Frankly, I think the more the hours the better anyway… driving is something you need a lot of practical experience with.
SB 1967 changes things for motorcyclists. Now to obtain a “class M” certification on your drivers license you must show successful completion of a motorcycle rider safety course. I think those courses are very good things to have and data has demonstrated that riders that have taken those courses, as opposed to learning to ride by themselves or via family/friends, are safer riders. To arive alive and in one piece is a good thing. Again, driving is a privilege. The helmet law was improved; if I am reading this right, you don’t need to prove the extra health insurance and have the proof sticker any more to ride without a helmet. I think that’s reasonable, just don’t expect anyone else to pay to put your brains back in your skull if you choose to ride without a helmet.
The Bill of Rights – Amendment 10
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Source: The National Archives and Records Administration, “The Charters of Freedom” exhibit.
Stuff From Hsoi 