I am an unrepentant Book Junkie. Although I try to pace myself, I usually end up re-reading my favorite or important books. As a matter of fact I just finished once more with April 1865, The Month That Saved America. Honor founded this Country and Honor saved it.

I’ll be licking my chops with these two books. I’ll let you know later how they fare.

Really quick about why Horse Soldiers interested me: I find fascinating that the first great war of the 21st Century and perhaps the most technological ever fought started by soldiers on horseback and practically living off the land.

It was supposed to be perfect and gun free, but reality bites back and hard.

SYDNEY woke up Tuesday morning to the news of five more shootings overnight. In one incident, bullets sprayed upstairs bedroom windows near where five small children and two adults were sleeping.

That was the eighth shooting in four days and the 19th this month. This is intolerable

Apparently, both Gun Control and Border security a joke is not quite working so well in Australia. And if the Government Officials are in on it, the whole thing is nothing but a bad joke.

I have an Aussie I follow on Twitter that goes under the name of @ShooterGuru. If he is a faithful representation of Australian Shooters, they are as dedicated and loyal as their counterparts in this side of the puddle. But they are fighting a nasty battle trying to recoup the basic right of self-defense against both criminals and the government.

I’ve been listening to the speeches from the last NRA Annual Meeting and I am glad that our efforts now will start including spreading the God Given Right of Keep and Bear Arms to outside our borders. In this era of instant global communications, we can lend our expertise to brother and sisters worldwide. We are winning the battle at home, it bis time to expand our battlefront all over the world. We are an oasis right now but we must aim to recede the desert and cover the world with freedom once again.

Power to the people is not the image of a fashionable hippie lifting his left hand in a fist but of a citizen safe and secure in his life because he has the tools to confront and overcome the evil that attacks him.

The Nuevo Herald (Spanish version of the Miami Herald) reports today about why really the Chavez Government closed down its consulate in Miami. I’ll leave out most of the political crap, but the gist has to do with the application of Persona Non Grata status to Consul Livia Acosta who allegedly was doing some espionage work for Venezuela and Cuba. One of the cables among the Venezuelan intelligence honchos recommended to have her removed quietly before the S*** hit the Fan, afraid of what they call the ” Cuban-American mafia” might take a potshot at her.

“Vale la pena recordar que Miami no es como cualquier otra jurisdicción consular en Estados Unidos. Como usted bien sabe, las mafias terroristas mayameras están activas, incluyendo las venezolanas que han encontrado refugio en esa ciudad”, señaló Rivero.

“Miami, a diferencia de otras ciudades que tienen leyes estrictas para el porte de armas, es una ciudad con altos índices de armas en manos de civiles. La historia de la relación de los hermanos cubanos con esa ciudad podría servir de ejemplo de que en Miami las cosas son distintas a otras ciudades”,

“It is worth remembering that Miami is not like any other consular jurisdiction in the United States. As you know, the terrorist mafias “mayameras” are active, including the Venezuelans who have found refuge in that city, “said Rivero.

“Miami, unlike other cities that have strict laws for the carrying of weapons, is a city with high rates of weapons in civilian hands. The history of the Cuban brothers relationship with that city could be an example of that in Miami, things are different to other cities,”

Damn skippy we are packing. It is funny to see that even the intelligence services of Venezuela have bought the BS of the Antis. And sure as hell do not like the idea of civilians being armed…..like the Antis. So are we safe in assuming that the Antis are Chavistas? 😉

Armed robbers attack pregnant clerk. And the robbers ignored the signs and the surveillance cameras and “somehow” defeated the cage.

Clerk Murshada Khondaker, who is four months pregnant, said she had stepped out from behind protective glass encasing the cashier’s counter at the store so she could change a hot food tray when two gun-wielding men attacked her…..Khondaker’s husband owns the convenience store where the men carried out the crime, despite posted warnings of a stiff penalty and despite surveillance cameras capturing video of every move. …

Now they are going for something with a somewhat bigger bite:

“This morning, me and my husband decided we are going to buy a gun.”

And get some training while you are it. Be safe.

And the expected reaction from the Ron Paul Cult members is already happening:

In between fits and snot drips, they are denouncing treason and the end of the Second Amendment. They are also threatening to hold their breath until such time Ron Paul is elected President for Life and free ammo is available and delivered by Oompa Loompas singing “My Heart Will Go On.

OK people, your guy lost. Hell, my guy withdrew and even though I am not particularly fond of the choices, I understand that keeping the actual resident in the White House because my guy didn’t win is like asking a battered woman to stay with her husband because I could not procure her Brad Pitt as new mate.

Find your testicles, man up and join the fight. Or go watch Oprah while the adults work.

Walt in PA has a great post regarding a DQ that happened as an IPSC match he attended. I saw the video and what struck me as unsafe is the way a shooter had to manipulate the gun to keep it safe as he moved. The more I watched the video, the more I got angry at the stage designer. I am not an IPSC shooter, my “expertise” is IDPA so I might be totally off on this one, but I doubt it.

Here are a couple of captures from the video.
I understand that a gun should be pointed downrange to keep the game safe, but if you force the body to go uprange at the same time, you are forcing the shooter to handle the gun in an unsafe manner. That gun is not being gripped properly no matter what anybody says so now you have a shooter running with a somewhat loose gun in his hand.

This part made me think that probably Walt and/or some other shooters managed to sweep themselves as they ran upstage. This again is a design fault. I am all for the coolness factor but making the shooter do stupid crap will result in a DQ in the best of cases or a ballistic piercing in the worst.

There is a principle in design I apply to IPDA stages: No Course of Fire survives set up. No matter how great a stage may appear on paper, you will invariably have to change it once you start setting props up and probably again after everything is “ready” when an enterprising soul points out a major safety error you failed to see at home.

I understand we get married and defend our little creations to the point of fanaticism. I also understand that we want cool stages so people have fun. But what we can never do is create a stage that forces people to be unsafe.  Our primordial responsibility is to the shooters and their safety, not their Disney-type entertainment. Besdes, DQs and bullet wounds are no fun at all.

UPDATE: At Walt’s request, I transformed the stage into IDPA Legal (I think.) Please make a note that where it says “retreat” it means walking backwards. None of that Duty to Retreat crap in IDPA.

It has the 18 shots allowed per IDPA rules and the shooter must start sitting down with a cigar in one hand and a big Slurpee/Smoothie-type container in his other hand.

Variation 1. (For matches with New/Inexperienced Shooters) Shooter must drop items, stand and then draw his weapon.

Variation 2: (For matches with Experienced Shooters) Shooter must drop items,before drawing & shooting. Shooter can engage from seated position or stand up to shoot. Be careful not to sweep your leg (or any part of yours or anybody’s anatomy) or automatic DQ will be issued.