P47 Thunderbolt

Teddy Roosevelt

I was at the Smithsonian National Art Museum today and was suprised to see a rifle on display in the Portrait Gallery.

I should have known. I look to the left and there is the Portrait of President Roosevelt.

This was Teddy's Springfield. 

This was one of three firearms he purchased for his hunting trip to British East Africa.

--It was a beautiful day.

Got an Email From My Wife

My wife saw this image somewhere and had to email me. Her major comment was, "Hey, this has your favorite Thermos!"

It turns out I actually have about 32 of these items...

--How many do you have?

Evolution of the Handgun

Wikipedia and Guns

I was discussing guns and computers and their intersection at work this week. One guy was telling me that there was a small war going on within Wikipedia regarding the depiction of firearms, their history and politics.

The Anti-gun crowd is apparently trying to delete, deface, re-write and bullshit the world via Wikipedia.

"The neutrality of this article is disputed." appears again and again when it comes to the topic of firearms and Gun Control. Positive depictions of firearms and their use as a tool for peace and negative depictions of anti-gun efforts are under constant revision by the anti's.

Revisionist history is a very popular past time of the anti-gun crowd. Even with the articles that describe their own organizations. Looking at the discussion sections of pages cracks me up. Even the Brady Campaign page has a Discuss section that is a hoot.

--There are massive gun resources in there. I should spend more time there.

The Magazine

The Magazine

The wife and I are planning a romantic weekend in colonial Williamsburg sometime this spring.

The place really drips in history and is one of the few tourist attractions that have not gone all the way to plastic, made in China, cheesy tourism.

They have a ton of gun history there. Huge collections of firearms on display. They have a real working gunsmith shop that makes revolutionary war era guns from scratch with classic methods.

The picture on the right is of The Magazine. This very historic building is where weapons and ammo were stored. It became of critical importance in the revolution. Go visit and/or Google up the story.

• Built in 1715 by Governor Spotswood
• Stored equipment necessary for protection against Indians, slave revolts, riots, and pirate raids
• Dunmore ordered emptying of arsenal and disabling of the muskets
• Spark of revolution ignited here
• Events at Magazine in 1775 mirrored events of revolution in Massachusetts
• Magazine used for multiple purposes after government moved to Richmond
• Association for Preservation of Virginia Antiquities formed as a result of effort to restore Magazine

It's interesting to imagine the factors that led up to the writing of the second amendment. This building helped shape the rights we enjoy.

--It's a must stop for and gunny that enjoys history. (or romantic weekends with beautiful wives...)