Gun Free Zone

Today we had our Veteran’s day match. Not very crowded and with great weather in the 70s it made for a fun and quick day. All the stages were “based” on some actual incident such as Sergent York’s trench clearing from far to near instead of the standard IDPA of Near to Far, two WWII Pacific Front stages and one called the Tunnel Rat honoring Vietnam Vets.

This Pacific Theater stage was simple: String one was moving from right to left and shooting at the targets with your right hand only. String Two was shooting on the move from left to right with your left hand, but the first target would move up and down. The stage was two shots per target per string in Limited Vickers (Only can shoot the assigned amount of shots.) And oh yes, the palm fronds on a windy day blocking the view added a surprising distraction on both strings. A shooter from the “I am Tommy Tactical” club popooed the simplicity of the stage and shot it with a deprecating attitude. He managed to have to Mikes (misses) per target thus validating the old axiom of If You Don’t Take Shooting Seriously, You Pay Dearly.

The winner of the day was Tunnel Rat. The idea behind it was that you were coming up in a vertical shaft to a horizontal tunnel and faced three VCs. You initial position was as follows: one hand had a gun and the other a vintage GI Anglehead flashlight with your head under the plane of the horizontal tunnel. On String One the gun is in your strong hand and the flashlight on your weak hand, at the beep you “pop up” and shoot three targets with two head shots each. String Two is the same, but now you switch hands: Flashlight on your strong hand and gun in the weak hand placing 2 body shots to each target.

Although it is a poor simulation inside a wooden box during daytime on a sunny day, it gave me a new-found appreciation for the testicular fortitude of the Tunnel Rats. Your range of movement is pretty much nil and dictated by the tunnel, it gets claustrophobic fast and it is incredibly loud even with doubled up ear protection. Tunnel Rats were confined in real crappy narrow tunnels in the dark but for whatever poor cone of light the flashlight could provide, no ear protection and targets that would shoot back. Damn!

Here is the video of that stage. The shooter is an unkown blogger from South Florida who shall remain nameless 🙂

All and all we had fun and honored in a very small way our Veterans. I cannot think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

My mother lives with us since Dad passed away. Old School Spanish farmer who will be 80 years old next spring and is finally learning to take it easy and do what old Spanish ladies are supposed to do: Watch Latin TV equivalent of Jerry Springer/People’s Court and argue with the cat instead of cleaning the house top to bottom and do the laundry every frigging day. We gave up on cooking; you do not tell a Spanish mom not to cook or she will make your life miserable with guilt. Jewish mothers are mere amateurs compared to my Mom.

However, she is not naive when it comes to security. Living almost 40 years in a country with a murder rate of 60 per 100 K will make anybody an expert. She will not open the door to anybody but fully uniformed cops, Firemen or people she knows have been vetted by me or my wife. Where she fails is that she sometimes forgets to warn me that somebody has come in and that may lead to awkward moments.

About an hour ago, I am out on the porch enjoying the 72 degree weather while answering some email when the corner of my eye detects movement and a silouette that does not fit with the pre-programmed shapes that are supposed to be in the house at that moment. Next to the laptop lays my .357 Mag Rossi snubbie and I grab it. One very surprised landscaper froze on his green tracks, his eyes bouncing between me and my gun. I said an embarrassed hi and clumsily deposited the snubbie in my short’s pocket as the landscaper finally remembered the mechanics of breathing. The poor guy did his thing faster than usual and I actually had to chase after him to pay for his services. In retrospect that might have not been the most sensitive thing to do. I have a feeling that I might need to find another landscaper.

Mom is taking a nap right now and the contents of my ashtray just caught on fire. I’ll talk to her about early warnings later.

Some asshole by the name of Peter Thottam is organizing Occupy Rose Parade. His reason?

J.R. Martinez is not only an Iraq War soldier, he is a wounded Veteran, former infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division who suffered burns over 40 percent of his body when he was driving a Humvee in Karbala and hit a land mine. He is a motivational speaker and participating in Dancing with the Stars right now.

How much of a Westboro Baptist Church/Fucked up Junkie Hippie do you have to be to target the Rose Bowl because you hate a wounded Veteran?

And the sad part is that the Occupiers will probably succeed because local government in California have been rewarding their bad behavior with inaction . Their screwed up notion of the First Amendment does not include anybody else’s right to it: only theirs is valuable and you should shut up..

Folk music legend Joan Baez to perform at Occupy Wall Street rally  – NY Daily News.

Last I heard of Joan was during the Bosnian War when she wanted to sing in Sniper Alley to “bring  peace.”  She was not allowed.

These “heroes” from the sixties remind me 30+ year old guys going to Cancun to relive their college Spring Break.

Like many, I hate Big Goverment and lousy service. So it is with great pleasure that I have to report that the Division of Licensing of Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is just top frigging notch.

About a couple of weeks ago I was reading this hit piece in the Philadelphia Enquirer against Florida’s Out of State Concealed Weapons Licenses. It is your usual crap about how our shall issue licenses are helping the criminal element up there, but what caught my attention was this:

Seventy Florida permit-holders list addresses in West Philadelphia’s zip code 19143, which includes the Cobbs Creek and Kingsessing neighborhoods. In 2005, there were three Florida permits in that zip code.

I was dumbfounded at the fact that Zip Code info was being released in a newspaper knowing that Florida Law is pretty strict about releasing personal info on who has a CWL. I wrote a letter to the Division of Licensing requesting to know if the Philly Enquirer asked for licensing info and what kind of was given plus the same for any Philly LEO, expecting a reply sometime next year. To my surprise, about a week later I got a very explicative letter from Whitney Shiver who took her time and patience explain that Zip Codes are not considered personal information and can be released as information (We might have to look into that at Legislature level, I am not even comfortable with that but that is not the Division’s fault) and assuring me that they take the privacy of Licensees very seriously and answering all the questions I had.

Silly me I had misplaced the envelope and found it again some 15 minutes ago. I gave Ms. Shiver a call and thanked her for all her attentions and apologizing for giving her extra work. She was again very helpful and thankful for me taking the time to contact her which was the least I could do.

My wife also had a great interaction with the Division of Licensing. She went to the Regional Office of Division of Licensing in downtown Miami and applied in person (you just have to take your certificate and the checkbook since they do the rest electronically) and came out singing the praises of the ladies working the office for their utmost professionalism and politeness.

And cherry on top, I just renewed my CWL via mail and it was back in less than two weeks. Now that is service!

Can we make this type of behavior contagious with the rest of the State & local services?