So the big buzz on the gun blogs today is about Sebastian’s pondering on loading his own carry/self-defense ammo.
A few of my own thoughts on the matter. But first, I’m not a lawyer. This is my own opinion on the matter, and as I discuss it more with folks, read more on the topic, I may well change my mind down the line. But for now, here’s what’s rolling around in my head.
Marko points out a thought-provoking article.
Three militants stormed into Rukhsana Kauser’s home in a remote village in Jammu region on Monday and started beating her parents in front of her.
Ms Kauser, 18, and her brother turned on the gunmen, killing one and injuring two more. Police praised their courage.
Here in the US there would be little praise for those actions, and likely followed by recommendations that people not fight back and take that course of action, and probably saying such things should call the police or just say “NO!” in a loud voice, run away, or other such fairly useless actions.
“Without saying anything they [the militants] started beating my parents and my uncle. They beat them so badly that my parents fell on the ground. I could not see that and pounced on one of the militants while my brother hit him with an axe,” she said.
“I thought I should try the bold act of encountering militants before dying.”
Ms Kauser said she grabbed one of the militants by the hair and banged his head against the wall. When he fell down she hit him with an axe, before snatching his rifle.
“I fired endlessly. The militant commander got 12 shots on his body.”
Her brother, Eijaz, 19, grabbed one of the other militants’ guns and also began shooting.
Ms Kauser said the exchanges of gunfire with the militants had gone on for four hours.
“I had never touched a rifle before this, let alone fired one. But I had seen heroes firing in films on TV and I tried the same way. Somehow I gathered courage – I fired and fought till dead tired.”
So to those that wish to ban guns, to those that feel women and elderly are better left at the mercy of predators, that feel violence is never the answer… tell me, how would you have handled this situation?
The whole “two party” thing causes problems if both parties pass the laws they think are necessary when they are in power, yet nobody ever repeals the laws that they know in what passes for their hearts are wrong.
This is how we’ll wind up in a country with both the PATRIOT Act and National Health Care. The way things are going, there’ll be a six month waiting list to get wiretapped, and you’ll only be able to be waterboarded by a government-provided doctor. Folks will be sneaking off to Mexico for gray-market torture.
Brigid had a failure with her SERPA holster.
Blackhawk! SERPA holsters are all the tacti-cool rage.
I’ve never used one, and I won’t use one.
It’s too complicated. Or at least, it’s more complicated than a holster has to be.
Jason Snell @ Macworld has an article reacting to Jonathan “Wolf” Rentzsch‘s declaration that AppleScript is dead.
Hrm… get this. That previous link to AppleScript takes you to the developer web pages for AppleScript. I originally wanted to link to Apple’s user/commercial page for AppleScript: www.apple.com/applescript. But if you click on that, notice what it takes you to: Automator. That tells you what Apple thinks about AppleScript as a technology.
It’s scripting for the rest of us.
Bear sightings are on the rise in Aspen, Colorado.
If you see a bear, what advice do authorities give on dealing with them?
They are now actively telling residents to be, literally, mean to the bears. Yell at them, throw rocks and if they charge you, stand up to them.
Be a big meanie.
Well, I would agree you shouldn’t invite them in for tea, but that advice doesn’t seem to sit with me. I mean, are they expecting people to keep a pile of rocks in their home and throw them when the bear attempts to invade? Or how about if they’re walking down the street, hauling a sack full of rocks? Kinda cumbersome, and you can’t throw them that well anyway.
I know something that’s easier to carry, to keep handy, and can throw things a lot faster and more effectively at a bear. But let Greg Hamilton of InSights Training Center sum it up better.
The US forest service has done extensive study on bear behavior, OC for bears, and guns against bears. I have been involved in all aspects of that from the beginning.
Almost everything you hear or read is personal opinion based on either no or very limited data points.
Looking at all the data for 100 years presents a very different story.
For bear defense it cannot be shown that the type or caliber matters, people that shoot back with anything win, people that don’t shoot back many times lose. All calibers and action types have been used. Handguns are almost always used at mauling distance. Longarms at 25 yards to dead at your feet.
There is no evidence to support 44 over 357, revolvers are more reliable at contact distance but people have won with semi-autos (but the data pool is very small, as it grows we would at some point start to see malfunctions)
A good revolver in 357 or 44 with powerful solids made to go deep and not deflect is probably the best answer for carry. The pump shotgun still has more kills of grizzly than anything in defense, believe it or not with OO buck, though common wisdom nowadays is use brenneke slugs. Pre WWII 90%+ of the kills were OO.
Joe Perry, guitarist for Aerosmith:
I’m an advocate for gun rights.
I guess it’s time for a round-table with Uncle Ted.
“If we could start all over again, it would be great if there were no guns in the world,” he continued. “It would be great if there was no war in the world. It would be great if evil people didn’t do evil things to other people — but that’s not the kind of world we live in, and history bears that out. Unfortunately, that’s the way it is.
“It’s nice to sit there and go, ‘Let’s take all the guns away.’ Well, if you take the guns away, all the criminals will have guns because they’re not going to turn them in. There are so many firearms in this country right now, and there are a lot of things that I think need to be adjusted as far as gun rights go, but the bottom line is it’s a fact of life and it’s something that we have to deal with.”
It would be great if there was no war, no evil people doing evil things. But we don’t live in such a world and frankly, such a world is impossible. Thus, good men need to ensure they are not left at the mercy of bad men.
I am curious what he thinks needs to be adjusted as far as gun rights go. Perhaps future interviews with Mr. Perry will allow him to elaborate on that topic. Again, let’s have a roundtable with Uncle Ted. 🙂
I remember going to “horse camp” a few summers as a kid, and I did some one-off horse rides at other times in my youth. It was fun to ride horses, but I never developed a passion or developed much interest in them. Heck, as a young child somehow I got to be part of a National Geographic book on pets (me and 2 of my cats were photographed for it). One thing I recall from that book was a chart discussing each type of pet in the book. The chart contained things like the food they would eat, care required, activity level, housing needs, etc.. There’s one row in the chart that always stuck out in my mind: cost. I will also never forget that of all the animals listed in the chart, only one was listed as high cost.
Horses.
Michael Bane has a blog posting in which he dispels some myths gun folks have about guns and carrying.
I agree with most of his posting. Most of it.
I always loved White Zombie because it was larger than just “straight music.” Rob Zombie created artwork, added sound clips and interludes that made for a total immersive experience. It was like watching a classic “B” movie.
I’ve seen White Zombie live a few times. The first time I think it was on tour with Pantera, I can’t recall exactly when… but I do recall 2 things from the show. First, Sean Yseult (bassist) walked by me and I was amazed at how tiny she was. Second, I picked up a favorite concert t-shirt, with a La Sexorcisto devil artwork on the front and on the back “I went to Hell and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” A fun play on the clichĂ©. 🙂
