Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
Happy Birthday, Us!
The Declaration of Independence:
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
41/Cop/Classroom
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| Chris Hansen is against predators, not adulterers. |
ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP) - Randolph County deputies say they arrested a man who contacted an officer and asked for sex online while the she was posing as a 14-year-old girl for an Internet safety class for middle school students.One more time for the dense would-be ephebophiles out there: there are no 14 year old girls on the internet. On the internet, the men are men, the women are men, and the young girls are the FBI. And if there were 14 year old girls on the internet, they certainly wouldn't want anything to do with you, ya perv.
Authorities say Michael Hager was arrested several hours later Friday when he tried to meet who he thought was the teen.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Historic Newnan, Georgia Courthouse
in
Photographs
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| Originally built in 1903; restoration finished last year. Walking into the actual courtroom made me feel that Atticus Finch was waiting just outside the doors, putting the finishing touches on his case. |
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Beautifully Creepy
in
Miscellanea
I really need to get into urban blight photography; I always like the style when I stumble upon it online. The pictures of the New Orleans Six flags, inundated by Katrina and abandoned for 6 years now, are wonderfully post apocalyptic. Granted, the photographers who took these photos risked arrest to get these photos, but the results are pretty cool: Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans
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| Photo #48 by © lostlosangeles facebook.com/lostlosangeles |
Friday, July 01, 2011
Quote Of The Month
From the Coyote Blog:
As an outsider to the political process, it has been absolutely hilarious watching a White House full of children of the 1960′s retroactively justifying Nixon’s Christmas bombings of Cambodia. It’s not a war, they claim, as long as our soldiers are safe and we are mostly just killing citizens of other nations from the air. Of course, by this definition, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not an act of war.Indeed. See also: Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia. Leaving out whether or not there are valid targets in these countries, and there are, we're told that our country is not at WAR with these sovereign nations, we're just attacking them! The disingenuous politics of all these remote air strike, kinetic action, no fly zone, non-war battles are all rather amusing in a depressing, bang-my-head-against-my-desk kind of way. Just call it what it is; pandering to the doves, most of whom are on the left politically. By playing with language you just make yourself look worse than if you'd just tell us the truth from the start. But I don't expect any politician, right or left, to start doing THAT.
h/t: Tam
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Man(dalorian)'s Got To Eat
in
Geekdom
Hey, Boba Fett has to make money too; the Slave 1 won't pay for itself, you know. Besides, he's got Vette payments.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Oh, Well OK Then
 |
| A Marten. Not a Weasel. |
Man carrying dead weasel accused of assault | KOMO News
HOQUIAM, Wash. (AP) - Police say a man was carrying a dead weasel when he burst into an apartment and assaulted a man in Washington state.
The victim asked, "Why are you carrying a weasel?" Police said the attacker answered, "It's not a weasel, it's a marten," then punched him in the nose and fled.Comedy Gold, Jerry! I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that drugs and/or alcohol were somehow involved. I really want to know the rest of this story. Also, the last line of the article cracked me up:
The attacker was apparently looking for his girlfriend and had gone to her former boyfriend's apartment Monday where the victim was a guest.
KXRO reports he left the carcass behind.
A marten is a member of the weasel family.Who says journalism is dead?
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Quote of the Day
Charles Krauthammer on Palin:
When it comes to policy, she had two-and-a-half years to school herself and she hasn't and that's a problem. It's not only the lack of schooling, it's the lack of effort to school herself and the lack of insight to see that she needs it.Yup. Granted, Krauthammer's never been Palin's biggest fan, but she seems more swept up by basking in the Jonestown-size cult of personality that surrounds her than analyzing exactly how she could avoid the questions that dogged her during the '08 campaign and why she's not getting the support of some of the old-line GOP. Her modus operandi thus far has been to preach to no one but the Tea Party/Fox News choir, which will not get her into the White House. Of course, we don't know if that's actually her goal; maybe she just wants to ride around in her bus getting paid to say the same things over and over to people that have heard every word already and believe every bit of it.*
If she really wants to run, her cultists will not be enough to win; she'll eventually have to talk to the "lamestream media" and describe to all the other registered voters exactly what a "common sense conservative solution" actually is, among other buzzwords and platitudes.
*American Dream, baby!
Headlines That Shouldn't Be News
Seriously, this is the position that the oft self-proclaimed party of small government should have taken a long time ago, on this subject and many, many, others:
Bonus related quote:
Ex-GOP senator to announce pro-gay marriage group
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Republican state senator plans to announce a new advocacy group to build conservative support for gay marriage in Iowa.
[. . . ]
According to a media release, the group will "give voice to Iowans who believe that conservative values of smaller government should keep government out of the private lives of all Iowans."*
Angelo served in the Senate, but did not run for re-election in 2008. His position puts him at odds with many Republicans, who have sought to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage in 2009.""Small Government" means getting the heck out of my house and my bedroom. It's not the government's business one way or another as long as everyone involved is a consenting, mentally capable adult. It'd be nice to see more elected officials at all levels in both parties, but especially among the "small government conservatives," take this position, both on the gay marriage issue and other issues of government overreach into our personal lives.
Bonus related quote:
The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they're gay. You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay.-Barry Goldwater, 1994. Yes, THAT Barry Goldwater.
*Emphasis added. -Ed
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Gettin' My Edjamacation On
in
Gun Stuff
Forgotten Weapons is a new-to-me site that I've been looking at today and have added to my feedreader/blogroll. From their "About" page:
They also manufacture their own replicas of many of the firearms they research, which is just awesome. I particularly liked reading about the Garand Carbine (pictured right), which I knew existed, but have never read much about or seen more than a thumbnail photo. Cool stuff!
We believe that one of the best things that can be done to improve the community of technical firearms enthusiasts is to make information as freely available as possible. Most information about firearms development remains on paper and microfilm in inaccessible collections. We want to publish as much as we can, to prevent this information from being lost forever. So, we created this site to be a repository for everything we can unearth – trials reports, details photographs, original manuals, and more. It is all available completely free of charge, and will always remain that way.
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| Photo courtesy ForgottenWeapons.com |
So if you're interested in the technical, often obscure, and sometimes weird branches of firearms history, you should check these guys out. If you are someone or know someone who can contribute to their project, you should get in touch with them; spreading knowledge will benefit us all.
h/t to Les Jones
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
What The Internet Was Made For*
in
Gun Stuff
Ever need to check the owner's manual to find out how to do something to the old discontinued Marlin or pristine Colt Woodsman you just picked up in a loophole sale at a gunshow? Or that used, recently overpriced Sig you just bought because OMG!Team Six! maybe/definitely/probably uses them? Or that Jennings .22 you picked up? OK, not the Jennings. Nobody who buys those ever feels the need to look at a manual. Forget I said that. That was stupid.
Anyway, if you do need to look something up for your firearm, there's a good chance that this website has you covered. They have hundreds of manuals as PDF's; even airguns. I discovered this site while on some hunt for information about some esoteric, rare, extinct firearm or another, and though I can't remember what kind of brain food I was stalking or why I was stalking it, I thought someone else might be able to use it.** The guy who created it really did the gun owners of the 'net a good service. Good luck!
NOTE: The HK owner's manuals contain nothing but "You suck and we hate you" typed over and over again in various languages. Weird, but that's the way they came from the factory.
*Well, other than porn.
**OK, I was just looking for a rather prosaic GLOCK Armorer's Manual, but whatever.
Never Got Out Of The 6th Grade
in
Miscellanea
I can't help it, I laughed. Actual headline:Horse herpes outbreak forces rodeo queens to ride stick poniesMmmm. . . That's good euphemism!
Bonus:
Mark Zuckerberg Kills His Own Meat*chucklesnort*
Friday, May 27, 2011
Hilarious
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| "You just said that, didn't you Joe?" "Yeah, I did. Sorry Barry." |
Joe Biden and Bud Light presents: teh bestest president EVAR!Also, the only reason they let Joe Biden out to speak unsupervised is because people would notice if they locked him in the basement of the West Wing and fed him a steady diet of Valium.
Why Tornadoes Scare Me
in
Miscellanea
NPR has a great bird's-eye before and after view of the destruction in Joplin, MO. They also have a page up showing before and after street views, which is just as sad and chilling. Freaky stuff. Have a reaction plan and post-disaster plan people!
If something as bad as what happened to Joplin happens to you, well. . . your life will still suck, but with plans and forethought, you can mitigate the amount of suck. Don't wait for the bad to happen and then wait for someone else to alleviate the bad. Be proactive, be prepared.
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| Yes, the tornado in Joplin did that. |
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Good News, Convenience
in
Gun Stuff
From the local fish wrap:
Indoor shooting range approved by county
A proposed indoor shooting range has received the blessing of Coweta County.
The Coweta County Board of Zoning Appeals and the Coweta County Board of Commissioners have approved a conditional use permit for an indoor shooting range and retail space on 4.4 acres on Amlajack Way, in the Shenandoah Industrial Park.
This is the first permit requested under the county's ordinance regulating gun ranges, which was approved in December 2009. The ordinance includes extensive requirements for safety and lead abatement, including compliance with all recommendations of the National Rifle Association. The property is currently zoned M-Industrial, as are all surrounding properties.
Gary DeGeorge plans to build a 20,625-square-foot building, with a 5,000-square-foot retail space and a 15,625-square-foot shooting range.
DeGeorge said plans are for 24 shooting lanes that "we may open with 16 and go to 24."
There will be guns available for patrons to rent, or they can bring their own.
"Good luck with it," said Chairman Rodney Brooks. "Maybe we can put pictures of commissioners' faces" on the targets," Brooks joked.As the location in question is about 5 miles from my house, I'm pretty hopeful they can get this venture off the ground. It would be nice to have an indoor range close by for rainy days and casual practice; the range to which I usually go is about 25 miles away. It's close enough to be convenient for a "formal" range day, but a little inconvenient for a quick trip to pop off some .22's. Same goes for outdoor ranges around here and another indoor range a little south. Having an indoor range so close by would probably increase the amount of time I practice, which is never a bad thing. Heck, I might even be able to find the time to join a league.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Thinking things through
Well, this is just a horrible overreaction and these vigilantes should have simply called the authorities and awaited the swift response of the. . . Nah, I can't do it.
FayObserver.com - Police say two men beaten, stabbed and shot in botched robbery attemptYou idiots! Going into a Salvadoran neighborhood where your intended victim's entire family both lives and is angry about the crime problem, as a self-identified member of the Bloods, does not exactly get you into the gangsta hall of fame. It will however get you a little swift karmic justice:
Two men who police said tried to steal a woman's purse early Monday got more than they bargained for when as many as 15 of the victim's family members and friends rushed to her aid and then severely beat, shot and stabbed the suspects.
Fayetteville police officers arrived at the scene of the melee in the Cambridge Arms apartments about 12:45 a.m. and found two men lying on the pavement of the parking lot with multiple stab and gunshot wounds. Police found a group of the woman's relatives walking in the parking lot covered in blood.
Guevara's family members then ran after the two, caught them and disarmed them during a struggle, Davis said.The best part? The loyalty of their compatriot:
"Both suspects were shot during the initial struggle, with the suspect's gun, and then the family severely beat, stabbed and cut both suspects," Davis said
The third man had the car doors open and was yelling for the men to get back inside, but he drove off after realizing his accomplices were outnumbered, Flores said. Police identified that vehicle as a silver Buick.Maybe a little critical analysis of their plan would have prevented their ass-kicking. Maybe I'm too optimistic of the general intelligence and humanity of humans.
Expect a retaliatory drive-by at some point.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Things That Aren't Supposed To Happen, But Do
in
Gun Stuff
My father and I were at the range last Friday for our normal practice and stress relief session, just plinking away with .22's. I was shooting Remington 36 gr. Golden Bullets, and had shot about 75 or 80 rounds when, during a string of rapid fire noticed the bolt had, for lack of a better term, a stutter at the end of it's cycle on the second or third round of five in the magazine. Golden Bullets aren't the cleanest or most reliable cartridges in the world, plus I'd put approximately 400 of them downrange the week before and hadn't cleaned the gun since. So my brain sees the slide move into battery a little slower than usual, chalks it up to DIRTY GUN, LAZY SHOOTER, gets a good sight picture on the target, and decides to pull the
Then my brain says "What the HELL was that!?!" as smoke explodes, FAST, out the sides of the gun where the barrel/upper receiver meets the frame, and WAY more smoke than usual explodes out of the chamber. My second thought, after the initial shock, was that a Kaboom just occured. My left thumb, which was held alongside the upper receiver in a high grip, right on the loaded chamber indicator, immediately begins throbbing, which I took to be a good sign. After all, if the loaded chamber indicator had blown off/out of the gun, I might have lost a chunk out of my second favorite thumb. Which would suck. I immediately safed the gun, put it down on the table pointed in a safe direction, and inspected my hands. Other than quite a bit of carbon fowling all over both hands and a quickly appearing, oddly loaded chamber indicator-shaped, reddish bruise on my thumb, all was well.
Next I checked the gun. I am not a gunsmith, engineer, etc., so this is my laymen's take on the situation. After the Kaboom, the bolt appeared to have cycled almost properly. It picked up a cartridge out of the magazine and moved it forward, but failed to load it into the breech. I dropped the magazine and cleared the unchambered round. I quickly looked at the chamber, mostly just to confirm that there was no live ammo in the pistol. Locking the slide back, and telling my dad what I was about to do, I looked down the barrel and saw this:
"OK, so I won't be shooting this particular firearm anymore today." I kinda expected that to have happened, so didn't look at the gun any further and stowed it away. I knew I could probably run a cleaning rod down the barrel to clear it, but honestly, I didn't want to mess with it. We had other guns with which we could keep shooting and I didn't know if there was any other damage to the firearm. Best to take it home and give it a thorough inspection in the armory, aka, the garage.
Later, I took the bolt out and, under a much brighter light than those at the indoor range, saw this:
I was NOT expecting that. My inspection at the range mostly consisted of clearing live rounds out of the gun and checking the barrel. My initial diagnoses at the range was that a squib round (Rd. #1) failed to exit the barrel, causing Rd. #2 to cause the Kaboom. I was wrong. What I think might have happened is that the case on Rd. #1 failed and ruptured on detonation, sending the bullet downrange, but weakening the case enough to allow the extractor to rip the rim off the case. This is borne out by the fact that there was a keyholed bullet impact extremely low on the target, very far (24" +) from any other holes. Rd. #2 then, when the bolt picked it up from the magazine, partially pushed it's way into the case of Rd. #1. which explains the slow cycling I noticed, and seated just enough to allow me to complete a trigger pull, send the firing pin forward, and blowing most of the propellant gases out the sides of the gun and into the barely opened chamber. The bullet on Rd. #2 did not have enough energy to exit the barrel and thus ended up 1/2" from the end.
I sprayed some oil into the barrel, let it set for a bit, then gently tapped the bullet back down the barrel toward the chamber with a cleaning rod and mallet, only encountering resistance when the bullet met the chambered case. A sharp rap of the mallet popped both out of the breech and onto the work table. I continued field stripping the gun, cleaning and inspecting each part: no damage that I could see. Frame looked fine, as did the chamber area and barrel. After a thorough cleaning, reassembling and hand cycling the pistol revealed no loss of function.
I guess I'll find out soon, as today the big white FedEx truck of love brought this to me:
Again, the gun looks fine and I'll take precautions when shooting for the first time, but I can't wait to get back to the range.
BAM!
Then my brain says "What the HELL was that!?!" as smoke explodes, FAST, out the sides of the gun where the barrel/upper receiver meets the frame, and WAY more smoke than usual explodes out of the chamber. My second thought, after the initial shock, was that a Kaboom just occured. My left thumb, which was held alongside the upper receiver in a high grip, right on the loaded chamber indicator, immediately begins throbbing, which I took to be a good sign. After all, if the loaded chamber indicator had blown off/out of the gun, I might have lost a chunk out of my second favorite thumb. Which would suck. I immediately safed the gun, put it down on the table pointed in a safe direction, and inspected my hands. Other than quite a bit of carbon fowling all over both hands and a quickly appearing, oddly loaded chamber indicator-shaped, reddish bruise on my thumb, all was well.
Next I checked the gun. I am not a gunsmith, engineer, etc., so this is my laymen's take on the situation. After the Kaboom, the bolt appeared to have cycled almost properly. It picked up a cartridge out of the magazine and moved it forward, but failed to load it into the breech. I dropped the magazine and cleared the unchambered round. I quickly looked at the chamber, mostly just to confirm that there was no live ammo in the pistol. Locking the slide back, and telling my dad what I was about to do, I looked down the barrel and saw this:
You don't want to see this when looking down a barrel.
"OK, so I won't be shooting this particular firearm anymore today." I kinda expected that to have happened, so didn't look at the gun any further and stowed it away. I knew I could probably run a cleaning rod down the barrel to clear it, but honestly, I didn't want to mess with it. We had other guns with which we could keep shooting and I didn't know if there was any other damage to the firearm. Best to take it home and give it a thorough inspection in the armory, aka, the garage.
Later, I took the bolt out and, under a much brighter light than those at the indoor range, saw this:
Yes, I know how dirty the chamber is. It's quite clean now.
I was NOT expecting that. My inspection at the range mostly consisted of clearing live rounds out of the gun and checking the barrel. My initial diagnoses at the range was that a squib round (Rd. #1) failed to exit the barrel, causing Rd. #2 to cause the Kaboom. I was wrong. What I think might have happened is that the case on Rd. #1 failed and ruptured on detonation, sending the bullet downrange, but weakening the case enough to allow the extractor to rip the rim off the case. This is borne out by the fact that there was a keyholed bullet impact extremely low on the target, very far (24" +) from any other holes. Rd. #2 then, when the bolt picked it up from the magazine, partially pushed it's way into the case of Rd. #1. which explains the slow cycling I noticed, and seated just enough to allow me to complete a trigger pull, send the firing pin forward, and blowing most of the propellant gases out the sides of the gun and into the barely opened chamber. The bullet on Rd. #2 did not have enough energy to exit the barrel and thus ended up 1/2" from the end.
I sprayed some oil into the barrel, let it set for a bit, then gently tapped the bullet back down the barrel toward the chamber with a cleaning rod and mallet, only encountering resistance when the bullet met the chambered case. A sharp rap of the mallet popped both out of the breech and onto the work table. I continued field stripping the gun, cleaning and inspecting each part: no damage that I could see. Frame looked fine, as did the chamber area and barrel. After a thorough cleaning, reassembling and hand cycling the pistol revealed no loss of function.
I guess I'll find out soon, as today the big white FedEx truck of love brought this to me:
 |
| Yeaahhhhh |
Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
I didn't know it ever left...
Opium cultivation returns to parts of Afghanistan
Opium poppies are being grown this year in parts of Afghanistan where last year there were none, but overall cultivation of the drug will decrease slightly, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.It's as if there's a worldwide demand! Bonus:
Aside from leading the world in opium output, Afghanistan has become the biggest producer of hashish, or cannabis resin, turning out between 1,500 and 3,500 tones a year.How pragmatic the ultra-conservative, anti-West, anti-intoxicant Taliban is when it comes to monetizing the rest of the world's desire to get high.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Russian comedians soon to have new material
Hey, guys, we already tried this and it didn't work all that well:
Russia's parliament on Friday gave preliminary approval to a law creating color-coded terrorist threat alerts, a measure rushed forward in the wake of the Moscow airport bombing that left 35 dead and raised questions about the country's ability to handle attacks.In fact, we're dropping it:
The proposed law is modeled on the U.S. system instituted after 9/11, which Washington announced Thursday it would be abandoned by the end of April and replaced with a new plan to notify specific people about specific threats. Critics had complained the general color alerts were unhelpful.Learn from our mistakes. After all, we're the United States; we screw up often, especially when it comes to security theater.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Gun Snobbery
in
Gun Stuff
Oh, god. Why S&W? WHY? OK, I get the "Hey, the Taurus Judge is a runaway bestseller and we want to get a piece of that action" why, but ugh, that is an ugly revolver. I wish Smith & Wesson would avoid such modern travesties, at least within their revolver lineup.
Maybe I'm just getting even more old-fogie-ish than I usually am.
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