Attended a Discussion on Guns

Last night I attended a discussion on "Gun Safety" at the church I attend.

This was a moderated discussion with about 12 people there. It was an interesting demographic spread. I learned a lot about the thought processes of some people.

Unrelated but interesting

 

It had a couple people that were of the "Guns are Evil" camp. They were operating on a pure emotional level. Facts were slim with them. I came to this meeting with a pile of data from the FBI and CDC and media sources. One believed that "Assault Weapons" were all full auto and murdered over 30,000 innocent people in the US every year. When I showed her that in 2011 only 323 people were murdered by rifles of all kinds she vapor locked. As topic after topic was presented with facts she actually said to me at one point, "Stop with your facts, it will not change how I feel.".

The moderator was great, described the concept of talking past each other. She was talking about feelings, I was talking about stats.

Two women that were there had been raped in the past. One of them became a gun owner and is now a concealed carry supporter. One was in the "Guns are Evil" emotional camp, a talisman that make otherwise normal people become evil.

It was mentioned that to avoid the 2nd Amendment issue the Fed "Should tax guns and ammo. make it cost $100 per bullet. I replied. "So you just want wealthy elitists to be only people armed?".

"Only police and military should have guns." was said. My reply was, "I just saw a movie where only the police and military had guns: Schindler's List".

I cleared up several myths like, "Silencers are Illegal" and "Assault Weapons are machine guns". 

The moderator brought it back to gun safety very well. We talked about how to keep kids safe. I was surprised how productive this conversation was. The consensus was that ignorance is not the solution. We keep our children safe by teaching them to swim and be safe around pools. We give them drivers education to make safe drivers. Early education would help them be able to tell a real gun from a toy. It would tell them what to do if they encountered an unsecured firearm.

We cleared up the that 2nd Amendment was not about hunting or written about muskets.

The willful ignorance was amazing. Head buried in the sand.

--There was more. Got to head to work now!

Infographic

--Seen on Pinterest.

Hidden Compartment Furniture

It's the middle of the night and you hear irate pounding on your door, followed by a crash and footsteps coming up the stairs...

That is when you will want a bed side table like this.

I saw this one on a website called Secret Compartment Furniture.

As always, keep in mind that stashes like this are not safes. I still like the fact that a burglar in a hurry is way less likely to do a search well enough to find a stash like this.

This side table has compartments on each end.

Check out the rest of their furniture. Lots of interesting options.

--I like the simple style of the furniture as well.

Woman Calls 911

Washington has really bad 911 emergency. They are constantly in the news with screw ups that cost lives. Emergency services are constantly going to the wrong address. Ambulances often take too long, sometimes with lethal results. It's an old joke in DC. Finger-Point-O-Rama.

When will people understand that it is better to have a gun and not need one than to need a gun and not have one? 

"When seconds count, the cops are minutes away or...they put you hold. A Washington DC woman was recently the victim of a home invasion and when she called the police for help, the 911 operator made her wait. As a reminder, the average crime happens in one minute."

The liberal media is having a fit about discussing gun safes in your kids room. I believe a small gun safe in your kids closet is an excellent idea. In the bathrooms too. It's insurance. You hope you never need it but are damn glad you have it when you call 911 and get put on hold.

--Be the first line of security in your own life.

Pile on this Poll

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/06/nra-speaker-advocates-keeping-guns-in-kids-bedrooms/

--Vote

3D Printed Guns

Saw this article yesterday in Forbes. I smell legislation...

--Click on the image for the full article.

Quotes of the Week

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest."

- Mahatma Gandhi,


"Do you care about freedom? Dreams may have inspired it, and wishes promoted it, but only war and weapons have made it yours."

- Robert Ardrey,


"Gun control is a solution conceived in hysteria, born in ignorance, intended to foster complacency, and destined to futility."

- Sen. Warren Magnusson


"Gun control is the sweetest gravy train of free publicity ever invented."

- Sen. Thomas Dodd (D-CT), author of GCA 68 (much of which he copied almost verbatim from Hitler’s Nazi gun control law of 1938)


"Gun control? It’s the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I’m a bad guy, I’m always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You pull the trigger with a lock on, and I’ll pull the trigger. We’ll see who wins."

- Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Mafia turncoat, when asked about gun control in a 1999 issue of Vanity Fair magazine.


"We owe it to our ancestors to preserve entire the rights they have transmitted to our care. We owe it to our posterity not to suffer their dearest inheritance to be destroyed."

- Junius, letter in London Publick Advertiser, 1769


"A ‘right’ cannot be regulated. It is part of the power the people refuse to give a government."

- FCC Chairman Newton Minow


"A right is not what some one gives you; it's what no one can take from you.

- Ramsey Clark, US Atty Gen (NYTimes, 2 Oct 77)

Need an AR-15 Day

The Axe

Looks like T-bolt and I will be heading to the range soon for some AR-15 fun.

I am looking forward to firing his rig. It is set up the way my next AR-15 will be.

His is built to be light and easy to carry. My first AR-15 has a bull barrel and is set up for distance shooting but it weighs a ton. My second AR-15 is an SBR currently in a pistol configuration until the paperwork is done.

My next AR-15 rig be set up to be light weight. Iron sights only.

--Fun stuff these AR-15s.

Guns and Science Fiction

I am in the process of writing a Scfi novel. It takes place about 300 years in the future.

I plan on having a few main characters that are very well armed. I am trying to figure out the the features that my guns will have.

I may describe caseless ammo. Rounds that are solid and all propellent or projectile. No casings to eject.

I will also have them suppressed. Suppressors preserve the hearing when you need your hearing most. They also suppress flashes very will.

Sights on small arms would work like the HUDs in attack helicopters. Cross hairs in your vision.

They would be made from light polymer materials and simple. As few parts as possible.

--What other ideas?

Part 3: How to Register a Short Barrel Rifle (SBR)

Current Status of my SBR, "The Axe"

I heard back from the ATF.

They returned my forms and wanted the following corrections:

• Remove the term "AR-15" from the firearm description
• The two page Form 1 must be on a single page, front and back.

I had printed the PDF from the Internet one sided.  Luckily I was able to put the first page through my printer and print the second page on it's back. Signed, again. Right back out in the mail again.

Here is the series of events so far:

• Purchased the AR-15 to be converted to an SBR (10/1/12)
• Purchased the short barrel and upper
• DO NOT ASSEMBLE IT!
• Download and fill out the ATF Form 1 (print 2 sided)
• Go to CVS for two passport photos
• Go to the County Courthouse and get two fingerprint cards ($10)
• Certification of Compliance with 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(5)(B)
• Submit copies for the County Sheriff to sign
• Received signed forms in the mail (about 10 days) (11/1/12)
• Wrote a check for $200 
• Sent it all to the ATF (2 copies of Form 1, Compliance Cert, $200 check)
• Waited.
• Received the ATF forms back for corrections (5/1/13)
• Corrected the forms and sent them back in the mail (5/2/13)
• Wait...

It is worth noting that they cashed the check long ago. They also had a different address and suite to send the corrected forms and they had case numbers included.

The silly thing is, all this paperwork, is all to just add a shoulder stock!


--Hopefully not too much longer...

Firearm Attribrution

As gun control advocates focus on universal firearm registration there is a few things you should do now.

I know several people that are selling their firearms and buying exactly the same firearm off book via legal private sales.

Example: I have a Glock 17 9mm. I have a pile of mags, holsters, ammo and other accessories. I am now looking for exactly the same gun to purchase in a private sale and then sell mine to someone else in a FFL sale.

Cash remains even and I am now off book.

Lather, rinse and repeat.

Now I can't/won't do that with any of my class III items. And I won't with modest items like shotguns. It's easy to just get more 10/22s and Mossberg 500s.

It's also a good idea to have a quantity of guns to turn in when it comes to that.

It could take some time, but if you don't have at least a basic quantity of guns
off books this will allow you to do it without it costing a ton of extra money,
only time.

--Rule Number Two: Be Prepared

Now is not the Time to do Nothing

Great video of former secret service agent Dan Bongino:



--Vote. That is all.

Hidden Gun Stash Ideas

I saw a list over at It's Tactical and loved the idea.

I love lists. I loves hidden compartments. I love guns. So I will follow their lead and make me some lists!

There is a vast array of commercial solutions you can buy to hide your guns:

• Hidden safes under your mattress, in the walls
• Behind working clocks
• Small safes under desks, 
• Paintings and framed photos
• Safes that look like hot water heaters
• Furniture with built in compartments
• Fake gas cans

Lots a great Do It Yourself (DIY) Stashes:

• Hollowed out books
• Modified furniture
• Hinged paintings or mirrors
• Hidden rooms
• Converted items like computer cases, freezers, grandfather clocks, scanners, 
• Velcro'd holsters in furniture, fake plants, old boots, behind places
• Inside fake outlets, switches and vents
• Behind kick plates in furniture or kitchen or bathroom cabinets
• Fake stair risers
• Fake electrical boxes outside

 --What else would you add?

Quotes of the Week

"If you could take supporters of gun control into the future - a future in which they had won - and show them the violent dystopian wasteland they had created, they wouldn't care. Oh, wait...never mind. No need. Chicago already exists."

- Breda Fallacy

"Declining violent crime is the death-knell for gun control, and its supporters know it.  Worse, the authoritarians in government know it, too.  Add to that the spreading public realization that gun control doesn't make society safer, and another nail is hammered into the coffin."

--The Smallest Minority 
 

• When they came for the Fourth Amendment, I said nothing - for I had nothing to hide.
• When they came for the Second Amendment, I said nothing - for I did not own a gun. 
•  When they came for the Fifth and Sixth amendments, I said nothing - for I had committed no crimes. 
•  When they came for the first Amendment - I could say nothing.

--Variation on Niemoeller

"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."

--Ayn Rand 

Cleaning Day

Good Clean Fun

I keep my guns pretty clean. I do the regular clean after I take them to to range like everyone else.

Every now and then I haul the guns out that I have not shot in a while and give them a once over.

I use to keep a spreadsheet that had all my guns, serial numbers, dates fired and notes about the session. It also had the full disassemble and a deep clean date.

The problem is that I have been a slacker and my gun log has gone out of date.

Mostly it got out of date because it was not handy, being on a computer in another room. So today I move back to a paper log that I will keep in its own pocket on the door of my safe.

--It reminds me that I need an interior light for my safe.