This is the latest meme.

It comes from a 2013 article by Markos Moulitsas, founder of the daily Kos in which he, with some seriously twisted mental curlicues figures that the NRA somehow was  losing on the 2013 Gun Rights battle.

That is, until Sandy Hook reshaped the picture. Given the opportunity to be an honest partner in search of solutions to the gun violence epidemic, the NRA and its allies instead dug in their heels. Their obstruction was so absolute they even opposed a tepid, watered-down and nearly irrelevant expansion of the background checks system.

But opposing a bill supported by about 90 percent of the American public in poll after poll has proven costly to the gun lobby’s most loyal lackeys.

He goes on to mention how bad  Rep. Kelly Ayotte (R) is doing in New Hampshire (Deep blue state), but fails to say that those numbers are the ones polled immediately after her vote against Expanded Background checks about a year ago and that she is not up for re-election till 2016. He also mentions Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona and again he is not up for re-election till 2018. So why mention two politicians that have no effect on the immediate future? Where are those evil ones that can be voted out of office this year? Maybe the answer is also in the article:

But the gun debate is no longer one-sided. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns responded with a massive $650,000 barrage of its own, making a joke of the NRA’s pitiful contribution. In their ad, the mayors group noted that “89 percent of New Hampshire residents support comprehensive background checks, but Ayotte votes no.

Bloomberg’s name has become toxic. The Colorado Recalls demonstrated that even outspending Pro-Gun initiatives 3-1, you may very well face the losing end of things. And it was so bad that Governor Hickelooper asked Bloomberg in a roundabout way to avoid any more contact with Colorado Politics.

So why is Moms Demand still pushing this line of political garbage? One reason might be that they need to cheer the troops and bring them up a bit after such a shellacking as the 2013 war was. But also there is the old principle:

“But the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success.”
Adolf Hitler. “War Propaganda”, in volume 1, chapter 6 of Mein Kampf (1925)

Or the vernacular:
“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.”
But we are on to them. And We Will Win.

UPDATE: As soon as I published this post and returned to Facebook, I was greeted by the following:

So nice to see all Gun Control Groups goose-stepping in unison.

“Don’t go swimming after you just ate a meal”, “You’ll get sick if you go outside with wet hair” and of course, “shooting competition will get you killed!” (from the Tactical Bible..)Axioms to live by..or maybe we need to use critical thinking to get past what easily could be described as sacred mumbo jumbo.  Why?  In this four part series I’m going to present an argument on why competition is good for the tactical soul.

via Competition vs. the Tactical World | Modern Service Weapons.

I ranted enough and plenty against those that keep badmouthing competition. I’ll let somebody else take the torch for a while.

Hat Tip to Rob S.

Starting with a very good foot this year.

HB 255: Insurance/Discriminatory Practices Relating to Firearm Ownership or Possession: Provides additional unfair methods of competition & unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to business of insurance, to which penalties apply. (12 Yeas-1 Nay)

According to this bill, an insurance company cannot “Refuse to issue, reissue, or renew a policy; cancel or otherwise terminate a policy; or charge an unfairly discriminatory rate in this state based on the lawful use, possession, or ownership of a firearm by the insurance applicant, insured, or a household member of the applicant or insured.”

Eliminating more “Back of the Bus” misconceptions.

SB 544 Licensure to Carry a Concealed Weapon or Firearm: Authorizing an applicant for a license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm to submit the application to an appointed tax collector; authorizing the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to appoint tax collectors to accept applications for new or renewal licenses to carry a concealed weapon or firearm on behalf of the Division of Licensing of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, etc. (Votes: Yeas 6   Nays 0)

As you well know, in Florida you either apply for your permit by mail or go to one of the eight regional offices to start your process.  This bill would enable Florida Tax Collection Offices to accept the payment, proof of training & do the initial processing (electronic fingerprinting, digital photo and electronic forms) to be sent to Tallahassee for final processing and issuing of the permit.  This way we jump from 8 locations to 75 places where people can personally start their application for a CWP.  As with everything related to CWP, this will not be a burden on the taxpayer as it would be paid via the reserves we already have from applications and renewal fees that can only be used for CWP purposes.

However, there are already Antis complaining about this bill and spreading the bullcrap that these will be locations where anybody can go in and get a CWP on the spot. That is 100% false and we have to get medieval on anybody spreading the misinformation. Again, these places will be only offices where the person can apply and the application will be sent electronically to Tallahassee for background check and issuance of permit.

More good bills are in the pipeline. I’ll advise as I get more info.

Hat Tip to Timothy Z. for the reminder.

So instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing today, I went ahead and tackled the wax bullet cartridges.  I more or less followed the instruction from the America Rifleman that I posted before  but not quite.

The materials are quite cheap. Got the pan and the cup from Walmart under $5, the wax was about $7 for one pound , the cases I already had (range pick ups) and primers bought before the craze.

Started with melting the paraffin wax doing the double boil thing.
I did half a pound of wax on low medium as I did not know and did not want to know what would happen if paraffin suddenly boiled and touched water. Having the experience of knowing what happens when water touches molten lead has left me very wary and careful.

Next, I poured the wax in an 8 x 8 pan:
Those are .38 special HP bullets that I used to determine the thickness required. The article said that about half an inch was good and those bullets are just a wee over that.

The wax starting to harden. That was the brand I bought and it was very clear when molten. By the reviews, apparently it is one of the best in the market.

While waiting for the paraffin to harden, I went ahead and expanded the flash holes of the .38 special cases I was going to use. Again, on the article it says to use a 3/32 drill bit and amazingly I had one available! I selected 16 cases that got resized and de-capped.
The one in the middle is expanded and the other three are factory size so you can compare.

Next came the seating of the “waxcutter” bullet.
And no, just driving the case with your thumb ain’t gonna do it. I had to use a small plastic mallet and tapped gently till it reached the bottom. Twist the case and the “waxcutter” will release the pan without issue.

Next,  primer installation.
Nothing fancy, just seat the primer with your choice of tool and you are set.

Next was the test. The noise is about half to 1/3 of those cheap firecrakers sold on the Fourth July (Black Cat?) I put four out of five rounds in a cardboard box at 10 feet and here are the results:
The bottom one was the first test inside the house with the box placed against a safe at about 4 feet. The other four were outside at 10 feet.

As you can see, the babies remained inside the box. That is one…two…three and….

Four….

The “waxcutters” were shot out of a Rossy Snub Nose revolver but I will upgrade to my 4 inch S&W 65 tomorrow.

Now, are they dangerous? Anything coming out of the barrel of a firearm is implicitly dangerous. Of course the level of damage cannot be compared to a real lead bullet, but embedding itself in cardboard is not a gentle caress. So, if you are planning on duplicating this recipe, no butt-shooting your roommate as it will probably leave a very nasty bruise and probably skin breaking.

Summary: Wax bullets (waxcutters) are easy to make (From saying “Let’s do this” to last shot fire, it took me less than an hour,) fun to shoot and probably an easy continuation to the dry-fire exercises.

You may want to think about it.

….This is silly. But really makes sense.

Kinda crass, but accurate.

So the last words the Libertarian said were : “Don’t remove metal bar”? Nobody tells me what to do!”

And no matter what you say, it will be taken the wrong way.

Sorry, but my brain is on the fritz today…. Maybe something somewhat intellectual will show up later but I doubt it.

ZOMG! Guns in the Post Office? NOoooooo!

I really don’t see the problem with allowing people to carry in Post Offices. Let us remember that the term “Going Postal” came about because it was postal workers the ones that went bonkers.

That regular folks did no go nuts themselves dealing with the crappy & lazy postal workers on an every day basis is more than enough  evidence that they can pretty much withstand any crap.

But it is fun to see Moms losing their minds….

Sometimes you find the strangest thing in Miami and cars are not the exception. Some months ago, I saw an original Charger Super Bee also being transported, but the poor thing was painted in Mint Green…. I shed a tear or two.
Some nights ago, I bumped into a carrier loaded with four 1978 Plymouth Fury (AKA Dodge Monaco,) three in police car configuration and one in civilian:

That is Rogers County, Oklahoma. A darn long way from Miami!

The other two came from East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office, Louisiana.

They were in pretty good shape on the outside and the age did show, nothing that a bit of buffing could not help to make them look good.
No idea on the condition of the inner works.

I used to own (handed down from Dad, the original buyer) a 1976 Dodge Monaco Diplomat (400 cc) so these guys did bring some nice memories… very comfy back seat, lemme tell ya.