Twitter was trending this morning with a story that a man in Iowa ran over a bunch of abortion rights protesters with intent to kill them.

That comes from a thread from a Blue Check writer:

https://twitter.com/lyzl/status/1540490191080771586?t=ljuEGrE37t88X_MHwyPYAw&s=19

Lyz Lenz is reporting that the man moved over a lane of traffic to run over women in a crosswalk.

*Side note: In common English, Lyz is not pronounced “Liz” as in short for Elizabeth, but “lies.”  This feels like a villain from a children’s book where the lying reporter’s name is actually “lies.”

The intrepid Andy Ngo also posted longer video from the altercation:

At a pro-abortion rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, protesters try to stop a truck on the road & begin attacking it. #RoevWade pic.twitter.com/LnsrLSid2v

— Andy Ngô ?️‍? (@MrAndyNgo) June 25, 2022

Several things to note:

If the driver’s intention was to murder protesters with his truck, why did he drive slowly through them and only speed up when nobody was in front of him?

If the protesters were really innocent women who feared being run over by a man in a truck, why did they stand in front of his truck pushing on it?  Did they expect to stop a 6,000 lbs, 450 HP truck driven by a man with murder in his heart?

Why were other protesters yelling at the women “get out of the way, stop doing this?”

Now we have video from an interview with one of those women from CBS2 Iowa.

Here's the woman who said the truck ran over her foot at protests today in Cedar Rapids. She says the driver "charged into the crowd" and she went over to try and stop the truck.

More details: https://t.co/ukHYt8PpoF pic.twitter.com/miRyE7HDgy

— Iowa's News Now (@iowasnewsnow) June 25, 2022

Why did she jump in to try and stop the truck?

Consider the Nice truck attack or the Waukesha Christmas parade attack, there is no video of people jumping out in front of those vehicles to stay and stop them with their bodies.

People did their best to get out of the way and not be run over.

Why is it that whenever we see this situations described as “driver runs over protesters” do we we crowds of protesters surrounding the vehicle, pushing on it, and trying to block it?

We don’t have the full video, but from past incidents, I’m inclined to believe he was mobbed first and decided to drive on through.

I really hope for his sake that he has cell phone video from his perspective.

I think that’s important to consider now.  If you are in an area where you get caught in a protest, start recording video.   If you need to hit the gas to save yourself, make sure you have exonerating video evidence.

To address the philosophical question, I believe that the actions of the protesters demonstrate that they are spoiled children who were never disciplined and understand the violence switch theory and take advantage of it.

It’s clear that these grown up children threw temper tantrums and were not punished for it.  As protesters they expect that they can block traffic and beat on cars and the divers will sit passively and take it.

They assume that a driver of the opposite political side will not fight back.  They assume that we will absorb the low level violence done to us but not flip the switch ourselves and run them over.  They become shocked when we do.

From what I see here, admittedly colored by my prejudice from watching other car vs protester videos from the Summer of Love™, is that the driver ran through a bunch of angry protesters who started shit with him.

Things I never thought would happen but did.

Just asked Whip Clyburn about the Dobbs decision: “It’s a little anticlimactic, I think we all expected this. And I'm hopeful, you know I have to read the decision to see exactly the extent to which we can move legislatively to respond to it.”

— Dylan Wells (@dylanewells) June 24, 2022

This is actually the proper response.

Look at the poll numbers.

If you actually ask Americans what they want about 78% want some form of legal abortion with restrictions.

The vast majority (that 78%) agree to at least abortion in cases of rape, incest, to protect the health of the mother, and in cases of severe birth defects in the unborn child.  The majority, about 65% of Americans, agree to some form of abortion for convenience (abortion for reasons other than the aforementioned) limited to the first trimester, generally between nine and twelve weeks.  Those same people also do not support third trimester or partial birth abortion.

The “ban all abortions, no exceptions for any reason” and “fully legal, no apology, no restrictions” sides are the loudest but are also the minority.  They are the 22% left over from the 78% who want legal abortion with restrictions.

So a rational federal government could easily come up with a law that says something to the effect of “abortion will be legal unger the conditions of rape, incest, to protect the health of the mother, and in cases of severe birth defects in the unborn child, and for convenience up to nine weeks and states can decide if they want to extend that cutoff to up to 24 weeks.”

That right there would immediately satisfy at least two-thirds of the country.

California, New York, and other Blue states would opt for 24 weeks.  Deep Red states would opt for nine weeks.  Purple states would probably split the difference to between 12 and 15 weeks.

The radical 10% on each side would be angry, but fuck them.  We shouldn’t be held hostage by the fringes on each side.

I don’t know what Jim Clyburn would propose for a law but at least it seems from this statement that he’s willing to do the sober work of trying to figure it out.

That is the correct response from a responsible legislator.

All the Democrat politicians shrieking and saying people need to take to the streets are doing it wrong.

Is never thought I’d have respect for Jim Clyburn, but in this instance I do.  He at least has some inkling of how the legislature is supposed to work.

Violence is a legitimate and appropriate response to oppression. https://t.co/IDNh2QlKUK

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) June 24, 2022

The suffragettes planted bombs. Queer people threw bricks. Violence has always been a necessary and important part of social justice.

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) June 24, 2022

The whole point of democratic governance is to create an alternative to violence.

When the government is no longer democratic, you’re supposed to go back to Plan A.

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) June 24, 2022

We have different definitions of democracy.

Our candidate won because their candidate sucked.

As the victor, ours got to pick the SCOTUS Justices.

Our Justices made a decision based on their interpretation they didn’t like.

That’s our system.

Like any child who is losing, he wants to change the rules then have a tantrum.

Rather than convince his side to work on a moderate law that that will be a point of compromise between the moderate Right and moderate Left (78% of Americans support some sort of legalized abortion with restrictions), he’s gonna burn it all down because he didn’t get his way.

They want to fuck around, I hope they find out hard.

As seen on the internet:

BREAKING: Congresswoman @AOC has arrived in front of the Supreme Court and is chanting that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade is “illegitimate” and calls for people to get “into the streets” | @TPUSA pic.twitter.com/jNkCYDrLtz

— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) June 24, 2022

https://twitter.com/ang0l777/status/1540389531287015428?t=lYvkJ_JDtBrTj9znjkIVgw&s=19

This is why anarchists will always be my cherish comrades❣️ WTF are we all going to DO about this? #RoeVsWade pic.twitter.com/mQy0KgmMe9

— ★☭MassStrikeNow☭★ (@strike_dr) June 24, 2022

Hang on to your butts…

Readers of this blog know that I am as much of a gun safe aficionado as a gun aficionado.

Over father’s day weekend, my father’s day present to myself was a new gun safe.

I found on Craigslist a used Cannon 24 gun safe for $300.  Usual MSRP is $850.

I immediately bought it, brought it home, and with some help and a heavy duty hand truck from Costco, got it into my master bedroom closet.  It only weights, according to the factory spec, 485 lbs.

Now, if I can get it in that way, other men can get it out that way, so I had to secure it to the floor.

In terms of load bearing, it was in perfect position directly over an engineered trust floor joist.  In terms of security, it was in a bad position as the holes in the bottom to mount the safe were sitting above hardwood and OSB subfloor.

The safe came with four 1-1/2×3/8 in lag screws.  I drilled pilot holes and screwed them into the floor.

I didn’t feel confident about that and looked up the pullout strength for lag bolts.  That information is available, especially if you work for a company that does forensic engineering.

A little math later and a 3/8 in lag screw has about 300 lbs pullout strength in 23/32 in OSB.

That’s not enough.

I didn’t want to cut the trim so the safe has about 1/2 in gap between the back and side and the drywall in the corner of the closet. Enough for some burly guys to get their fingers or a strap behind it and pull it forward.

With the leverage of 59 inches of safe body, that would be enough to pull the lag screws out of the OSB.

I wasn’t going to worry about the front screws, since tipping the safe backwards against the wall would accomplish nothing.  I just needed to increase the pullout strength on the back screws.

I drilled two 3/8 in holes through the hardwood and OSB.  I shoved dowels through the holes to locate them in them in the basement.

Once I did, I hammered 2-1/2×3/8 in lag bolts through the holes, set a 1/2×2 in fender washer, then a 1-1/2×3/8 in fender washer, then a 3/8 in nut with red Loctite, and torqued it down with an impact driver while my beautiful wife held the bolt head with a ratchet in the safe upstairs.

The 2 in fender washer was against the OSB, so to pull it out, someone would have to apply enough force to pull a 2 in steel disk through the subfloor.  I calculated that at about two tons.  It might actually rip the bold head and washer through the bottom of the safe first.

I then tucked the insulation back and replaced the drop ceiling panels in the basement camouflaged the nuts.

Yes, nuts are vulnerable from attack from underneath, but a thief would have to know that’s how I anchored the safe, and know where in the basement to look, and pull down the drop ceiling and insulation to expose the bolts and get a ladder to attack them.

I doubt a thief will go through that much trouble for a closet gun safe when there are TVs to steal.  And any thief with the tools to attack the bolts would probably just attack the safe in place.  While the alarm went off and the dogs went nuts.

I don’t keep much in that safe anyway.  Most of my stuff is in my two Fort Knox safes in the basement.  Those are almost a ton each, with 1/4 in bodies, double lined, and are anchored to the slab with 5/8 in Red Head expanding anchors.  Those you could hook a truck to and couldn’t pull them out.

The upstairs safe holds a home defense shotgun, two of my most used CCW pistols, some cash, and jewelry.  Just things that I wanted secured but was tired of having to go into the basement to get every time I needed them.

I tried to maintain a reasonable balance between cost of security (a light duty safe anchored to the OSB) and what I stored in it.

Since proper mounting of a safe is as important as the safe itself, I thought I’d share with you my engineering solution for upstairs above OSB if you can’t place the mounting holes over a joist.

Update:

Yes, anyone could rip open a safe with an angle grinder or metal blade on a Sawzall.

Every time I post about safes someone comes along and tells me how they would go all Ocean’s 11 and steal my shit with the tools they have in their garage.

I don’t care and I’m tired of those comments.  Feel free to keep them to yourself.

I keep saying, and clearly some people are not listening, that the vast, vast majority of home burglaries are junkies and/or teenagers looking for stuff to steal that is easily sold for cash, e.g., electronics, guns, jewelry, etc.

They want in and out fast and they don’t want to fuck around while they are in your house.

They will tug on a safe a few times.  If they can’t budge it they will leave it alone and rip your TV off the wall.

My safes are not impenetrable.  No safe is.  The highest rated safes are TL60, which means engineers from UL couldn’t break in within an hour.

I wanted to express a cost effective way of increasing the security of a low cost safe with better mounting hardware.

So if you don’t understand the situation and you don’t understand the threat, your fantasy of cracking open my safe with a carbide tip tool is unwarranted.

What 99.99% of you, you suburban gun owners in middle-class neighborhoods, need to be worried about is two junkies in your house for 10 minutes max, trying to get as much value out if your home as they can.  A simple safe or job box, anchored firmly enough to keep them from putting it on a hand truck, will make them leave your safe alone and take your TVs, computers, and the other shit lying around. They’d rather spend those 10 min filling their car with your electronics than wasting them trying to crack a safe and driving off with nothing.

That and keeping your kids from touching your guns.

Be reasonable, not a dick.

I, like gun owners everywhere in the country, are rejoicing in the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association.

Leftists across the country are beating their chests in lamentation over that decision.

I read the opinion of the Court and it felt familiar.

I had a sense of deja vu to 2012.  Another case known as Obergefell.

At the 50,000 foot level, both cases are not dissimilar.

In Obergefell, the Court decided that the 14th Amendment required that gays be granted equality under the law across state lines, establishing that they do not need to meet any higher standard to have their marriage licenses granted and given full faith and credit.

In NY Rifle & Pistol, the Court decided that the 14th Amendment applied to gun rights and that New York gun owners did not need to meet any higher standard to enjoy their Second Amendment right compared to any other Constitutional right.

In essence, both decisions state that the 14th Amendment means that all rights protected by the Constitution apply equally and a state can’t decide to deny a Constitutional right without due process and that Constitutional rights do not exist on a hierarchy where some rights can only be enjoyed by special privilege.

So how about we all relish in the way they Court has begun applying the 14th Amendment and look for more ways to use it to lift the yoke of government off our backs.

And Leftists, alternatively, attacking the NY Rifle & Pistol decision will pull a thread that unravel Obergefell as well.