I’ve covered before the fact that guns are flying off the shelves in Israel gun stores as a result of the wave of stabbings by Palestinians going on in Israel.

As is turns out, the same thing is going on in Austria.  Handgun laws in Austria, and Europe in general, are more restrictive than in Israel, so the gun buy is mostly shotguns and hunting rifles which are easier to obtain… but still.

The European presses are pushing that this is in response to fear of Syrian refugees, and that that fear is unfounded.

Well… what we are learning is that the refugee camps are a hotbed of rape and child abuse.  That particular brand of violence has been on the rise in Europe for some time, with Sweden’s rate of rape having gone through the roof.  There have been reports of Christian refugees being murdered in the refugee camps by Islamic refugees.  Crime in Europe has shot up dramatically, and in some if not many cases, the local governments have played it down or covered it up as to not be perceived as racist or Islamophobic for targeting the minority population responsible.

This is how (I believe) Europe as we know it will end.  European Democratic Socialism is sustained by the belief that if the European people hand over (nearly) half their income in taxes and much of the control they have over their lives to the government, the government will take care of them.  Of course this is unreasonable on it’s face, but the European people have a cultural history of being subjects not free citizens and a strong sense of risk aversion.  These two cultural traits make it easier for Europe to embrace Democratic Socialism.  But now the veil is coming down.  The governments of Europe can’t and/or won’t protect their citizens from Islamic immigrant crime, rape, child molestation, and violence.  The Welfare State that Europeans pride themselves on is being strained to the breaking point as immigrants and refugees collect benefits from a system they never paid into.  Immigrants and refugees, who are usually young and able bodied, are collecting more than retired Europeans who paid into the system their whole lives.

The people of Austria are figuring out they can’t trust their government to protect them any more.  They are buying guns to protect themselves.  As the violence increases, the European governments won’t be able to keep a lid on the crisis.  When enough Europeans catch on to the fact that they have been abandoned by the socialist government they trusted, the system will collapse.

I caught this on the Book of Face.

I love this idea.  I really do.  Nothing irritates people like than when somebody takes a perfectly fun holiday and ruins it with politics.

Nobody likes the cousin who goes on and on about the plight of industrialized farm turkeys and why he/she’s a vegan at Thanksgiving.

Halloween is about two things, scaring kids and CANDY.  This just shows everybody that Shannon Watts and her crew are a bunch of joyless scolds who want to ruin everybody else’s fun.

This is more of a downer than Trick or Treating for UNICEF.

The NRA should respond by handing out full bars.

I can’t wait until Shannon figures out how to ruin Christmas.

I spotted this gem of wisdom posted on the Book of Face.

I just can’t take the CSGV (or the Liberals who are proud of it) seriously.  See, it’s not just gun rights they feel there is too high a price on, it’s all rights.

They love to claim the NRA is a terrorist organization.  These people wouldn’t recognize a terrorist organisation if it ran up to them yelling “Allah Akbar” and shot them in the face with an AK.  I mean that with complete honesty and sincerity.

Earlier this year, some people who run the French equivalent of Mad Magazine printed some cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad.  French political cartoons make about as much sense to me as French Art House films…. so not at all.  But it was enough to get 12 people killed.  The sound of the gunfire had died down when Liberals who are proud of it rushed to their computers to explain why free speech had gone TOO FAR!!!  Freedom of expression had crosse
d the line.  Even Garry Turdeau, a man who made his career in political comics, and maybe the most widely read political cartoonist in the US, bravely took a stance AGAINST the First Amendment.

Then, some “knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathers” decided to prove they weren’t afraid and drew some more cartoons of Muhammad.  That ended in a more typical Texas fashion, good guy with a gun and all.  But the same stalwart Liberals made sure that we all understood that free speech was no excuse to shoot up a bunch of artists offend people.

Why?  Because they are cowards.  All of them.  Yellow bellied, chicken-s**t, gutless, spineless, cowards.

So they bend over backwards, distort every ounce of logic they have, to explain why Americans who believe in unfettered free speech are the bad guys and terrorists who shoot up artists really aren’t terrorists.

These same people just LOVE the idea of doing away with freedom of association and due process and the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 8th Amendments to the US Constitution, as long as the victims are people they disagree with.  How many times has Miguel posted comments comments from the CSGV where they openly state they want the government to arrest, imprison, torture, murder, and genocide gun owners simply because they are gun owners?  Of course they don’t want to do the rousting of gun owners themselves, but they are happy to cheerlead turning American Law Enforcement into Brownshirts… as long as they are not on the receiving end of the thuggery.

It’s not just the 2nd Amendemnt, these totalitarian milquetoast ninnyhammers believe that the price for every liberty enshrined in the Constitution is too high.  To them, you can only have as much freedom as their weak and delicate sensibilities can handle.  The 2nd Amendment maybe the main focus of their rage, but it not the only Amendment that they have in their sights.

And to address what they think the founders believed when it came to the limitations of freedom, I’ll let our Founding Father, Patrick Henry have the last word: “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”

4 Lbs Boston Butt

1.5 cups Orange Juice (no pulp)
0.25 Cup Key Lime Juice
0.25 Cup EV Olive Oil
0.25 Cup Rum (not spiced)
4 TBSP Dark Brown Sugar
2 TBSP Minced Garlic
1 TBSP Kosher Salt
Greens from one bunch Cilantro (chopped)

In the Crock Pot low heat for 8 hours

Enjoy

I finally got around to seeing the Jurassic World last night.  I know, I know, it came out 4 months ago, but I have a baby so the only way I get to enjoy a movie with the wife when it gets to On Demand.

It was enjoyable, not as good as the Jurassic Park, better than Jurassic Park III, on par with The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Having seen all four movies now, and knowing that the studio had consulted with paleontologists and biologists, I wish they had consulted with a couple of gun guys and maybe a professional safari guide too.

I get that having a bunch of bad ass, ex-military, Blackwater types for security is really cool looking but I don’t think that hunting terrorists (which I haven’t done) employees the same techniques as hunting dangerous game (which I have done).  It’s not like lion or Nyati (Cape Buffalo) use IED’s.  Also, when what you are hunting is 50 feet long and weights 6 tons, I don’t think belt fed 5.56 has enough stopping power.  The Raptor-Whisperer (Chris Pratt) did have something big bore, but I just don’t think .45-70 really cuts it.

They did this in every movie.  Muldoon, the game warden in Jurassic Park, was packing a SPAS-12 shotgun, and the dinosaur capture crew from The Lost World was carrying a mix of HK G3’s, M-16’s, etc.  The ONLY character who brings enough gun was Roland the professional hunter from The Lost World who was packing a double gun in 600 NE.  And he never gets to torch it off.

I can see the advantage of a .308 semi auto against Velociraptor.  Of course, when hunting something that can hunt you back, there is no such thing as “too much knockdown power.”  Since Velociraptor are pack hunters and human size, I think a semi auto .308 with a 20-25 round mag would make up in volume of fire for what it lacks in single hit knockdown.

Anything bigger than that though – which is most of the non-human population of the park – it’s time to break out the big guns.  Nothing less than .375 H&H at and ABSOLUTE MINIMUM.  I’m partial to the .500 Jeffery since ammo and brass are relatively easy to find.  Other calibers in the family of Dino-stoppers that come to mind as being available in factory bolt guns: .460 Weatherby, .505 Gibbs, .458 Lott.  Then there are the other proprietary cartridges for stopping a charging elephant.  The .500 A-Square, .600 Overkill, .585 Nyati, and .577 T-Rex.

The later three I’d steer clear of.  Too much recoil to be controllable by all but the most experienced shooters and they lack penetration.  The British discovered that smaller diameter, faster bullets penetrated better on dangerous game.  The 4 bore and 8 bore gave way to the .700 and .600 Nitro, which were eclipsed by the .500 NE 3 inch and .470 NE.

If I had to bring something into play that required more than the 6,800 ft-lbs of energy that the Jeffery had, I’m going full bore 50 BMG.  Some of the lighter ones are pushing 20-21 lbs, which is heavy but doable (you’re not humping it around in the filed all day).  Also a 647 Barnes Triple Shock loaded to 2,900 FPS will carry 12,000 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle.  That should stop a T-Rex.

Maybe I’m over analyzing this.  But how many people need to get eaten over 2 years on two Islands and the city of San Diego before they get their act together.  Seriously?  For a lot less than the cost of some Blackwater-esque mercenary company, I bed they can get a couple of redneck hunters who would mop up a rampaging dinosaur problem for nothing more than the cost of the guns, ammo, and taxidermy rights, and they would fare a whole lot better.

I am a huge fan of Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs and Somebody’s Got To Do It.  I love his TED talk, it is 20 minutes of your life well spent.  I am a supporter of the MikeRoweWORKS Foundation and his advocacy for vocational and craftsmanship education.  Recently he did an episode of Somebody’s Got To Do It at Demolition Ranch, which was pretty cool.  But this post is not about that.

I have made reference to the pathetic opinion piece 27 Ways to Be a Modern Man from the NYT before.  Well Mike Rowe did a fisking of it that was, needless to say, beautiful.  There were two, inarguable points he made that stuck out at me:

A Man’s Man prefers his gas tank full, his weapon loaded, his pantry stocked, and his checkbook balanced.

and

A Man’s Man owns at least one firearm. He knows how to use it, clean it, and store it properly. He understands it’s importance, and sees it for what it is – a tool that can protect him and his family.

Mike Rowe gets it.

On the Book of Face, some NYT Modern Man took umbrage with Mr. Rowe’s assertions.

“I recently viewed a poster for the NRA on Facebook with your image with a statement I can only assume you made. “A man’s man owns a firearm.” Why you would say something so boldly sexist, and bigoted? Implying that a man who chooses NOT to own a weapon is what? Less than a man, a WOMAN, a neuter?

I am a U.S. ARMY VETERAN who has trained on various weapons, knows how to maintain, store and use multiple firearms. Now as a civilian, I CHOOSE NOT TO OWN A WEAPON. Can you clarify what you meant in that “man’s man” statement and explain what a man such a myself is, if not a man’s man?

E.K. Billie
Veteran, conscientious citizen, and a man who chooses not to own a firearm.”

I’m going to take a little diversion here.  There is something I need to get off my chest, an opinion, that is … controversial.  Perhaps to the point of heresy.  I am tired of the post 9/11/Iraq/Afghanistan veteran hero worship.  I will be the first to admit that my military service never got past ROTC and some National Guard Training.  I was never deployed.  I am not a veteran.  As a civilian, however, I was a part time instructor in math for airmen at Ellsworth.  I also did research for DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and worked with soldiers and airmen on these projects.

There are many people who enlisted because of a sense of duty or patriotism.  There are also a lot of people who enlisted because they were stuck in Podunk, USA or didn’t/couldn’t get into college and their lives were going no where and thought that a 4 year term of service and some job training would be the way to do something other than flip burgers for the rest of their life.  They saw the military as just another job, be it counting bombs in the arsenal or maintaining aircraft flight records or doing whatever.  Their 9 to 5 was done in a blouse that said ARMY or USAF instead of one with the Golden Arches on it.  These people may technically be veterans, but they are not heroes, and I really don’t give their opinions much value, especially when it is used as an appeal to authority to take away my gun rights.

I don’t know anything about Mr. E.K. Billie’s service record.  He could have been a bad ass door kicker.  But since he doesn’t mention that, there is an equally likely chance that “I am a U.S. ARMY VETERAN who has trained on various weapons, knows how to maintain, store and use multiple firearms” means that he spend 4 years at a base NOT in an active combat zone signing weapons in and out of the arsenal.  Either way, the implication that Mr. E.K. Billie asserts is that he is a manly man, He-man, alpha wolf, weapons expert who chooses to be disarmed as a civilian.  Then he busts out with the “Why you would say something so boldly sexist, and bigoted?” which really sounds a lot more like some SJW type whining than manly man, alpha wolf type behavior.  

Mike Rowe’s response to Mr. E.K. Billie was that that his (Rowe’s) comment was tongue in cheek.  No.  It wasn’t.  It was spot on.  Mr. E.K. Billie is the who doesn’t get it.  He supposedly had the intestinal fortitude to, presumably, stand armed at a wall to defend his nation, but can’t muster up the same resolve at home with his family.  That is not what a man’s man does.  A man’s man protects his own.

And no, Mr. E.K. Billie, not owning a gun doesn’t make you a woman.  There a are plenty. of. women who get it more than you do.  But if you wan’t a label to describe your position, I’ll give you one: emotional eunuch.

I commented in one of Miguel’s previous posts, CSGV: Fantasy vs. Reality regarding the similarity between having a gun and a fire extinguisher.  

Miguel made the comment:

“Example of that, my house. Mom had a grease fire and she used the small fire extinguisher we had in the kitchen. She was equally upset about the fire and the powder messing the stove.”

I was tempted to respond to his comment, but I decided to turn it into a post.

A few years ago I was living in Rapid City, SD, going to school there.  I lived in a terrible little community on the east end of town, right near campus.  The community was a collection of duplexes that were old military housing from when Ellsworth AFB was a SAC base.  The housing was sold off by the USAF to a developer who turned it into apartments.

What you need to understand about renting in Rapid City, is that most of the property managers who owned “affordable” rented the maximum units allowable to government subsidized tenants.  It was low hanging fruit.  Why did I live there?  I was a grad student married to another grad student and there weren’t many options for a place to rent near campus that was pet friendly and affordable.

The neighborhood was rough.  The police were out regularly, one of my neighbors was arrested at least once a week.

It was the middle of winter, in my last year in Rapid, and an overnight blizzard was underway.  Snow was coming in sideways, double digits below zero with the wind chill, final snow fall was in excess of 20 inches.  It was early am, maybe 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning when my dog starts going nuts.  I get out of bed at the prodding of my wife and I hear it.  Someone was pounding on my door.  I yell through the door something along the lines of “who’s there, what do you want?”

What I get back is “LET ME IN.”

“NO”

“C’MON MAN, IT’S COLD.”

“NO, I DON’T KNOW YOU”

“IT’S COLD. I GOT NO POWER MAN.  LET ME IN.”

I looked out the window and see that some of the houses in the neighborhood are dark.  A transformer had gone out in the storm (not uncommon) down the block and rendered about the community without power.  I still had electricity and have the habit of leaving the kitchen light on 24/7.

“NO, GO AWAY, I HAVE A DOG.”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR DOG MAN, LET ME IN.”

“I’LL CALL THE COPS.”

What’s important to understand at this juncture, is that during a blizzard, there are no cops.  Emergency response is non existent.  Your house could be on fire and there is no way of getting to you.  When you live in blizzard country, especially in rural blizzard country, it’s a fact you must accept.  Viability is zero and the cops or fire department can’t plow their way through more than a foot of snow to get to you.

“F*CK YOU.  F*CK YOUR DOG.  F*CK THE COPS.  YOU HAVE POWER.  I’M COMING IN.”

The guy then starts punching the glass pane in my front door.

“HEY, STOP THAT.”

“F*CK YOU.  I’M COMING IN.”

Punching continues.

So I go hurry back to the bedroom and grab my shotgun.  At this point my wife is freaking out, on hold with 911, and the dog is barking her head off.

I go back into the front room, shoulder the shotgun at the front door and yell

“IF THAT GLASS BREAKS I’M GOING TO BLOW YOUR F*CKING HEAD OFF!!!”

Lo and behold, he stopped punching my window.  He went from aggressive to sheepish right quick.

“C’MON MAN, I’M SORRY, IT’S COLD, LET ME IN.”

“GO THE F*CK AWAY.”

And he trudged off into the dark and the snow and the cold.

So yes, I have pulled a gun on somebody.  I didn’t fire a shot.  I didn’t have to.  He found himself eye level to the muzzle of a Mossberg 500 just on the other side of a single pane of glass and decided that he didn’t need into my house as badly as he thought he did.   I don’t know what he would of have done had he gotten into my house.  I don’t know if he was sober.  I can’t imagine a completely sober person venturing out into a blizzard just because his power went out.

Problem solved.  No SWAT team necessary.  Cops couldn’t have made it up the hill I lived on in a blizzard anyway, had my wife managed to get through to them.

The antis can tell you that no property is worth your life, just give the bad guy what he wants.  The Newspaper of Record can tell you that “The modern man has no need for a gun.”  Bloomberg and the CSGV can tell you that you are more likey to kill your whole family and then yourself with your gun in a ham-fisted comedy of errors than defend yourself with it.

At that moment I needed a gun.  I had a gun.  I USED my gun, and everybody came away alive.

And I’ve also put out a fire with a fire extinguisher and didn’t end up in a burn ward afterward either.

When some pearl-clutcher tells you, you don’t need something, and you will just hurt yourself with it and just leave your self reliance to the professionals.  Go out and buy what they tell you not to have.  Go out and buy two of them.