Month: April 2011

How about no

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Improved Guns, Inc. is marketing a device aimed at making guns “safer”.

Port St. Lucie, Florida April 13, 2011 — Improved Guns Inc., a not for profit company, is founded to promote the US Pat 7,036,258, which is aimed at eliminating accidental shooting. The passive device is a pin that must be broken before the gun can be shot. Any firearm can be adapted by drilling a small hole in which to insert the appropriate pin. These pins are made with incremental breaking thresholds having a range of 11.5-15.5 lbs. Improved Guns, Inc. can easily retrofit all guns at our cost, although donations are appreciated. Hopefully, new guns will soon include this device.

The Firearm Blog has some more pictures of the device, as installed on some handguns.

Now on the one hand, this sort of solution is better than things like the so-called “Safety Bullet“. This pin-device strives to make it harder for the trigger to be pressed, but not impossible, and the gun is ultimately still operable. So I’ll give the inventor some credit towards trying to find a solution that attempts to address an issue but doesn’t negate the usefulness of the tool.

But I still have problems with it.

What’s the most important shot? The first shot. You’ve now made your first shot exponentially difficult to make reasonably and accurately. Heavy triggers like that are not an aid for fast, accurate shooting. As well, you’ve now taken a gun that likely has one very consistent trigger press (e.g. the 1911 showcased in TFB’s pictures) and now you’ve given it 2 vastly different presses… so now you’ve made a good gun into a crappy gun with the equivalent of a DA/SA action. Bad bad bad. If your life is on the line and every second matters, why do this to yourself?

And let’s not forget, if this is all in the name of safety and preserving innocent life well… 1. best to ensure that first hit is a good hit on the intended target (e.g. the bad guy) as that betters your chances of preserving your innocent life, 2. if that first shot misses because of that trigger press, where did that bullet go? could it hit an innocent person? How does that make this a better solution?

The inventor, Lanny Lee says, “The only thing that makes this invention seem like a safety is that curious little children can’t shoot themselves or their buddies when they find the gun.” Mr. Lee added, “What the world needs least is another gun lock; what it needs are safer guns, and this device has surpassed all expectations in field trials.”

Oh yes they still can shoot themselves. Kids are amazingly strong, and with some kids if you give them a challenge they’re more apt to do ugly things to overcome that challenge. The wording presented throughout the website makes it as if children can’t shoot themselves with this device. So what happens when the first child does? Should make for an interesting lawsuit.

But the real question is: why are they finding the guns in the first place? If guns aren’t being stored properly well, how are you going to overcome that? Someone that’s going to be irresponsible with their storage and you expect them to be responsible by installing this device? Yes, we don’t need another gun lock, but we don’t need safer guns: we need safer people, we need responsible people. Guns are what they are and you can’t change that, so the impetus is on us to behave better. People should be storing their guns in a proper manner, as well as teaching their children proper handling and respect for firearms.

There is a rapidly growing problem of accidental shootings due to the growing purchase of automatic firearms. New owners are unlikely to store their guns safely, leading to guns falling into the wrong hands. The passive pin device prevents accidental discharge; in a stressful situation, the inexperienced will discharge the gun out of control if the trigger has too light pressure.”

Hrm… “automatic firearms”. You’d hope if the inventor “has handled and shot guns throughout his life” that he’d know that’s not the correct term. As well, yes, inexperienced shooters can yank/slap the trigger under stress, but the solution isn’t an administrative one (as was the whole reason for why DA/SA guns and Glock “New York II” triggers were invented), but one of education, instruction, and training. I also find a problem with his assumption that gun owners default to unsafe storage. But again, if they’re going to be irresponsible in storage, what makes you think they’d be so responsible to start using this device?

He gives us a clue!

“Despite owner’s demands, and overwhelming studies, Detroit refused to provide seat belts until the late 60’s, except as an expensive option. This continued to 1978 when the gov’t required them to be installed. One has only to look at the old 50’s cars to see how the industry spent vast amounts on useless things like padded dashboards. Only liability suits changed their attitude. Gun maker’s reception to this life saving device has ranged from contempt to cold indifference, while their attitude seems to convey they can stand in the rain and won’t get wet.”

I see. It sounds like he’s hoping to get his device adopted by use of governmental force. Hrm… I’m not really sure I like this. Assumption that people are irresponsible and must be cared for by someone who knows better. Wishes to use the power of government to force things upon us, which of course lead to a lot of revenue for him.

You know… you can argue the merits of the device all you want. But the mentality behind it? I think it stinks.

Updated: I just had Daughter and Youngest try the trigger press on a new, factory stock Smith & Wesson 640-3. I don’t have a trigger pull-weight gauge so I don’t know the exact amount, but I can tell you it’s heavy… probably in that 12-15 lbs. range. With one finger, neither could make the trigger budge even a millimeter. Using 2 fingers (both index fingers), no problem.

So you know… where there’s a will, there’s a way. This sort of device isn’t going to prevent irresponsible gun handling and storage, which is really the root problem. Let’s work to address the real root problem, not symptoms.

Termites – we got ’em

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

Last week we looked in the backyard and noticed this quivering mass of something on the ground. Upon closer inspection, termites. Swarming. Didn’t last long tho… the birds came and picked them off.

Of course, I called our exterminator. They scheduled their termite guy to come out today.

Meantime yesterday, Oldest reported he saw them again in the same area yesterday.

There’s no question, we have termites. In fact, just about everyone in Texas does… they’re everywhere, you can’t escape them. The trick is tho, we don’t appear to have any structural damage to the house. There are no dirt tunnels up the side of the house. We have a slab foundation and it’s fairly high off the ground, so it’d be obvious if we did. We do get monthly exterminator exterior spray to mind for things like scorpions or other bugs, so that helps.

The question at this point tho is… should we get a preventative, like in-ground baits or Termidor.

It’s expensive.

Repairing your house is more expensive.

As I read up on Termidor, it seems amazingly effective. But that same effectiveness is also a source of concern. Toxicity. I read that it is highly toxic to bees, to aquatic life. Upland game birds too, tho oddly not waterfowl. I even read one thing that specifically said it’s non-toxic to mallards… but what about muscovy? Doubt I’ll get any direct info there. Still, I’d hate if any of the ducks died because of this treatment. Plus think about it… it sits in the ground for 10-12 years churning out its effective poison. While that sounds great from a termite control perspective, that also means this potent poison is in the ground… and what sort of impact will that have on our groundwater and aquifers? I don’t know, but I wonder.

It seems like it’s almost one of those “too good to be true” sorts of solutions, which means it probably is….

So the bait system. It seems less ideal in a way, because some studies I read on the Termidor is that it can’t be detected so the termites don’t avoid it, thus colony destruction is pretty quick therefore making the window between treatment and destruction rather narrow. With a bait system, they have to find the bait then take it, and who knows how long that could be. So you potentially have a larger window of opportunity for destruction to still happen. In mentioning this to Karl, he said he’s used baits and likes the added benefit that someone comes around every 3 months to inspect things, instead of 10+ years and hoping it’s still working. There’s a good point to that.

Then there’s money. Termidor is a huge expense up front. Baits are a lesser expense, but constant treatment. Over the lifetime of things it’ll probably add up to about the same amount of money spent, but I think bait ends up being cheaper if you expect to not live in the house for the next 10-20 years. And hopefully, cost of bait doesn’t skyrocket.

Really tho, I think at this point it’s more about what’s going to be effective yet safe. I don’t want to bring harm to anything, really… it’s just wanting to keep my house safe. If that means termites go bye-bye, then it does, but if it’s not hurting my house, I don’t want to see it harmed.

Any input?

Updated: We do have an exterminator that comes out once a month and sprays the exterior perimeter of the house. We do this mainly for scorpions, but of course it keeps a host of other things out too. Looking at the sheet, they put down birenthrin and cyfluthrin, which Google tells me are both barrier repellants that work against termites.

So you know…. I may just stick with that and save my money.

It’s a gamble, I know.

2011-04-25 workout

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Today’s workout routine was steady, but the intensity was increased.

More weight. More reps. Pushing closer to failure. Stricter form. Overall, things went up. Sure, a few things went down (e.g. biceps curls was same weight as last workout but I did a couple reps less), but usually the overall intensity was up because form was stricter or another exercise worked things even harder so overall muscles were more exhausted.

It was so good, by the end I was feeling a little nauseous… pushed it hard. 🙂  I walked home…. couldn’t jog it.

I can tell I’m gaining some muscle. I can see my body changing already. I have wondered about fat loss, and I figure I must be because if I’m gaining muscle and my weight is staying the same well… gotta be losing some fat too. Good deal. I’m probably going to start supplementation soon (e.g. whey protein, creatine) to help things along. I already take a multivitamin, and with the whey and creatine that should be good enough to start.

Oh wow. Just saw amazon.com sells the stuff pretty cheap. Plus it looks like there’s a “subscription” service you can get where they’ll auto-send it to you periodically at an interval you specify. And if you do that, the cost drops significantly. e.g. 10lbs. of Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard is $82.04 (double chocolate) one time, or $69.73 subscription. Plus it’ll ship free with their Super Saver shipping, and no tax. Whereas bodybuilding.com lists it at $84.99 plus shipping. Interesting. But, the joy of the Internet is that with a little shopping around, I’m sure I can still find good deals elsewhere.

Anyways, onwards!

No fires, people…. seriously!

/ hsoi

Those fires that broke out a few miles from my house? They were having a fundraiser yesterday to help people affected by the fire.  Even the firefighters showed up…. and then had to leave to fight a fire.

Their chance to relax was short-lived, however, as a callout to a nearby brush fire had the firefighters rushing to get to their trucks.

Investigators said the fire was started when embers from an unattended grill touched the dry vegetation surrounding it. An AFD spokesman said firefighters were able to get it under control quickly and that other responding units were canceled.

Look folks. I know we all think it can’t happen to us, that it can’t happen because of us. That we’re all responsible with fire and our grills and smokers.

But it can happen, and we all slip up.

Even “contained” fires, like in a grill or smoker, are still risky. We’re having some seriously high winds, and all it takes is one ember to go flying. I know from my years of working with wood and charcoal grills and smokers that embers can and do escape. I was wanting to smoke some bacon-wrapped venison and hog backstraps for my Easter supper today, but because of conditions I will not. Yeah it sucks, but more wildfires, more loss of homes — especially my own — is not an appealing thought.

Please folks. Show restraint. It can happen. It does happen. I love BBQ, but I’d hate to lose my house or for you to lose yours. Don’t risk being the one responsible for another fire, for someone’s loss of their home.

Happy Birthday, Dad

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

My Dad turns 70 years old today.

Normally I try to refrain from posting too much personally identifiable information here, but Dad’s been a public figure for most of his life so it’s not hard to figure his birthday and age. Anyways….

Thinking about my Dad turning 70 is difficult for me to accept. Something about that number signifies that you’re truly old. Sure, you turn 40 and joke about being old, but you’re not really that old yet. But 70? Sure, 100 is older, but you can’t find any way to finagle 70 into being celebrating your 29th birthday for the 42nd time. And so with that comes having to admit that Dad’s time with me remains limited.

Am I the best son in the world? I don’t know. Is he the best Dad in the world? I don’t know. I do know that he’s the only Dad I have, and I’m the only son he has. So for better or for worse, we all we’ve got.

But really, it hasn’t been all that bad. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty good. I am who I am today because of him, and so I’m grateful and thankful.

It’s always a hard thing that catches you by surprise — that first day something flies out of your mouth and then you realize, “Shit! I sound just like my father!” You hate it, you hate to admit it. But then you find those moments happening more often. When you start to look at them collectively, you realize it’s really a good thing — at least, if your father raised you right and well. I figure my Dad did just that.

He installed a strong work-ethic in me. I remember there was a time while growing up that he’d always come home and say to me “Son, what did you do today that was productive?”  Now, still to this day I relish the notion of having a day without any productivity because sometimes being one with the couch and idiot box is a nice thought. But I’ve come to find that it’s only that — a nice thought. If I wasn’t truly productive today, I feel like I wasted my day. I no longer appreciate days full of sloth, lethargy, and slack. If I didn’t get something done, I’m pissed! In fact, I find that accomplishing milestones every day towards greater goals brings me a great deal of joy.

All from Dad’s nagging in my youthful years. 🙂

One odd thing is how Dad influenced my parenting style. Because of Dad’s job, he wasn’t around all that much. I used to hate him for that, because all the gifts and money and whatever in the world still deprived me of the thing I wanted most: him. I have one memory of a time in grade school. Parents were to come to have lunch with their children. Older Sister’s day was prior to mine, and I recall when they came for her day, before they left they came over to my class’s table to say hello to me. All my friends were shouting out “Hey, Mr. Daub!” and gosh if I didn’t feel like the coolest kid with the coolest Dad. I couldn’t wait for them to come eat with me on my day. Then on my day, I reserved a seat on either side of me, the placemats I had spent hours making were ready…. and, my parents never came. I was crushed. And obviously it made quite and impression on me, because I can still feel that crushing emotion today. That, along with other things about my growing-up years well… on the one hand, that my folks weren’t around afforded me a lot of freedom which was cool. But on the other, I longed for doing things with them and the lack of them hurt. So I resolved when I was a parent, I’d be around.

I’d say that between my working from home, Wife and I homeschooling the Kiddos… that yeah, my kids have probably already been around their parents more in their short lives than most people are around their folks in a lifetime. 🙂  If you saw our family, you’d see how tight we are. I’m happy of what I’ve been able to cultivate here.

All because of my Dad.

Now granted, that seems like a bad thing… that Dad did bad. Well, yeah… it wasn’t what I wanted, but it worked out alright because it helped me become a better person. And when I look at it, I consider what my Dad did. He worked hard because of his Dad, his work ethic… but also because his Dad didn’t provide him with much, so my Dad strove to be better than his own father. That’s just how it is: we always want to be better than our folks. Of course, I’m sure in some way I’m screwing up with my kids and there’ll be something they think I sucked at and will resolve to improve upon. So the cycle goes.

One more thing. My Dad’s been a politician for most of his life. For the most part, I hate politicians, because the field tends to attract a lot of scumbags and assholes. But I’ve always felt my Dad was different, and not just because I’m biased as his son. I’ve tried to look objectively at my Dad and what he’s done. He went from being a Federal politician to being a local one. Folks, that’s not how most politicians work: they all want to climb the ladder of power (and corruption). I believe my Dad understands the notion of being a public servant and working to truly serve the people, even if they didn’t agree with him. It’s funny… throughout my life I’d be out with my Dad and he’d be politicking and I’d be standing off to the side waiting for him. Lots of people would come up and talk to me. One thing I often heard from folks? That they didn’t like or agree with my Dad — but they respected him. Why? Because he stood up for his principles. He wasn’t some typical wishy-washy, spineless, substance-lacking, two-faced stereotypical politician that pandered to everyone and served no one but themselves. He had his convictions, they were always well thought out, well-reasoned, well-researched, principled, sound. Even if you didn’t agree with him, you couldn’t help but respect him  (and remember, respect is something earned… he was that compelling). To that, it’s an ideal I only hope I can live up to. I strive to be a man of integrity, of conviction like my Father’s. You can hate me if you wish, but that’s good… because it means I stood up for something. Winston Churchill may have said that, but my Dad taught me that.

All in all, Dad… it’s been good. I know it’s taken years — probably more years than you planned on — for some lessons to sink through my thick skull, but I hope they finally have. I hope I’ve done you proud. I know I’m proud to call you Dad. I love you.

To buy, or not to buy

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

I’ve got an itch to buy a new gun.

Why?

Because.

The question is… what?

Shotgun? No. What I have suits me fine. If I wanted anything in this realm, I’d want something with a short barrel, but that means a lot of tax stamps and paperwork, which I’m not in the mood for right now. Tho of course, that could be somewhat mitigated by a Kel-Tec KSG. But good luck getting one any time soon.

Rifle? No. I mean sure… building an AR would be fun. Yeah, tweaking my 6.8 AR would be useful. I’ve been tossing around some ideas for new optics but then I pull back because while yes there are better optics out there than what I have, for what I do the optics are more than sufficient. Yes the other days I started my yen again for that Savage 10FCM Scout, but I’m not dying for it. Of course, I’ve also always had a yen for the Kel-Tec RFB.

Handgun? Yes… this is where I’m really feeling it. But then, I’m not surprised as I’m mostly a handgun guy. That Kel-Tec PMR-30 is interesting to me… not sure if I’d want to buy one, but they’re not too expensive. I’m sure they’re a lot of fun, and I can’t help but be curious about them as a self-defense gun for some people (especially now that Speer is making Gold Dot .22 WMR). I did want to buy a 1911 this year; it’s one gun I don’t have but should have just because of what it is. If I bought, I’m pretty sure as a first I’d buy an STI Spartan. But I’m having second thoughts because I really only want one because I feel I should have one in my collection — it’s a 1911, and that’s all the reason why. But I’m not feeling that’s good enough a reason because it would be a total safe queen for me, or at best a teaching aid. Not a bad reason, but it gives me pause. Ever since the Chiappa Rhino was introduced, it intrigued me. A way to have a carry snub, that could perhaps make .357 Mag in a carry snub a viable option?? And talk about a teaching aid… I know that would be a huge hit at KR Training Basic Pistol 1 classes and probably any other class I brought it to. If it panned out to be solid and reliable, I certainly could see carrying it… and that nudges it up the “good waste of money” ladder.

Some of the local guys are toying around with the Smith & Wesson M&P more. Back when I was choosing a carry gun it came down to the Springfield XD or the Smith & Wesson M&P. The only reason I didn’t go with the M&P was because at the time it was brand new and who knew if it’d be solid or another S&W Sigma stinker. Well, turns out it’s one hell of a gun. I shoot well with it, there are a lot of good things about it… and so perhaps if I did buy something new, this would be the way to go. The thing to consider here is the cost isn’t just for a gun, but Apex trigger parts, a couple of IWB holsters, mag holster, lots of magazines (which apparently are pretty scarce right now), sending the slide to Dawson for sights… that jacks up the cost substantially.

Then there’s a part of me that says to be responsible and use that money on other things… like maybe putting Dawson Precision Charger sights on my carry guns, buying lots of springs and replacing every spring I have in guns and magazines. Or just not spending the money at all. But there’s no fun in that. 🙂

Wife is probably reading this… and probably thinking the “not spending it at all” is the right option. 😉

Are you thinking about any sort of purchase?

Oh yeah… it’s their fault.

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Mexico wants to sue US gun manufacturers for all the guns flowing into Mexico.

You know… if you really want someone to sue over letting guns flow into Mexico, how about suing BAFTE? Apparently they just sat around and let it happen. I don’t think Ruger or Remington was quite so involved….

Richard Feldman, President of the Independent Firearms Association and former gun industry association executive said: “Maybe we should be suing the Mexican government for their failure to prevent drugs from coming into our country.”

Indeed. Or perhaps better, why don’t we end this “war on drugs” because if there was ever a time to label something “EPIC FAIL”, THIS.