A Gun Free Zone is a bad contract issued between yourself and some other entity in which you agree to forgo any attempt to defend yourself while in the area defined by this “contract” while the other side will not provide you with a decent system to protect you in case of trouble. If you were to have the means to protect yourself while in a Gun Free Zone, you will be prosecuted and probably found guilty of breaching the original agreement. A Gun Free Zone could be a school, a post office, a county, a state or the whole country. It is an ever expanding concept which promises the moon over starry eyes.

Let’s make it simpler: You body has what it is called an immune system. This is an integrated body system of organs, tissues, cells, and cell products such as antibodies that differentiates self from nonself and neutralizes potentially pathogenic organisms or substances. Basically it is an armory dedicated to fight things that might kill you such as bacteria, microbes, virus, parasites, etc. Some people either by sickness (Like AIDS), by treatment (Radiation therapy) or by genetics (Primary immunodeficiencies, think The Boy in the Bubble) lack this defensive system which makes them prone to infections and death. Your body has an array of amazing weapons: White Cells, T-Cells, Lymphocytes, B-Lymphocytes and a whole slew of guns and ammo dedicated  to protect you. Any living organism that wants to hurt you, will face no mercy from these weapons. And of course, we have antibiotics and other medications which we take to help our body combat these invaders. Basically we pull no punches when our body is threatened with sicknesses.

Now, your family doctor or the Secretary of Health and Human Services comes to you and tells you must give up your immune system and that it would make us all safe by doing so. They would promise that the best doctors would be roaming the streets just one phone call away in case you develop an emergency such a a cold or a cut that might need to be treated. Or if you wish, you just could go to a local hospital and file a complain about the infection and wait to be treated for that ferocious tetanus that attacked you and let the wheels of Medical Gov take your case. And by the way, you will have no say on the issue of countering an infection because we will make it against the law for you to have immune system. Possession of White Cells or any other body component aimed to defeat dangerous microorganisms without the proper and state-given authorization will be harshly punished.  Oh! And by the way, I must inform you that the Supreme Court determined that We The Government have No Duty to Treat You so you cannot sue us or penalize us in any way in case of sickness or death.

Sounds absolutely stupid and downright absurd, right? Yet we are asked to give up our guns in order to be “safe” under the care of the Government but without any guarantee of security at all. We are told we must shed our means to fight against a criminal if we are in these areas just because a group of lawmakers decided we are better off following a law that no criminal or deranged individual must follow. And yet many people think this is a good and logical thing!

Not a bad day at the range yesterday. Took out the S&W 65-2 for a spin, tested some new reloads and I had a great time with my fellow club members.

About a couple of years ago, I found the S&W 65-2 online for a good darn price (Under $300). It was a LEO trade from the Texas Department of Corrections and the serial number starts with TDC which is cool. The gun shows some moderate wear and scratches which makes it not the prettiest girl in the collection but she is solid. I changed the springs to Wolff’s and the original grip to a Hogue Monogrip. The S&W 65-2 comes with fixed sights and I painted the front sight initially with Bright Sights Orange although now it is sporting Bon Bon’s Orange nail polish. Don’t ask, I might tell later.

My affair with the revolver has been strange. My first revolver was a loaner from my roommate who owned a S&W Model 13 who would leave it with me whenever he went out on a trip with the proviso that I would clean it after using it. Feeling the kick of a .357 Magnum was an eye opening experience for a guy who barely months before was anti-gun. After the Model 13, came the Ruger Blackhawk in .44 Magnum belonging to my brother in law. The usual stories of being such a powerful weapon that it would either kick me to the ground or park itself between the eyebrows were quickly eradicated and the only thing left was shooting that mule with pure pleasure and being more accurate that my brother in law who was a tad miffed about it.

Fast Forward 20 plus years, several semi-autos plus long guns and I bump online with the 65-2. It brought back memories of my first time (Specially since the 65 is the “evolution” of the Model 13) and with a wee bit of cash hidden somewhere available, I went ahead and bought it. It was the beginning of a rocky relationship which I will detail later. Anyway, I found that shooting revolver has improved my semi auto shooting a decent amount. It made me more aware of my trigger manipulation and more accurate as in “I don’t have 17 rounds to spray and pray.” And revolvers are a load of fun, specially when you arrive at a match and a fellow club member stars to give you grief about the ancient gun and after the scores are posted, you find out you beat the hay out of the disrespectful bastard.

And as a payback, next match will be shot with full power .357 rounds. I wanna share the love! But in all seriousness, get a revolver and shoot it. It is way too much fun.

(more to come)

Tam’s going to Knob Creek…probably she is there by now. She composed a little verse in celebration.

Beltfeds and subguns and antitank rifles,
Loud GE Gatlings that ear muffs can’t stifle
Cannon and mortars and Tannerite fun
These are a few of my favorite guns!

I am gonna be humming it all day long while soaking in envy. Nothing like full auto to brighten up your life. Tam, enjoy  it for us mere mortals.

Armed robbery at a Starbucks located inside of the University of Miami. UM is a Gun Free Zone, but apparently nobody informed the Bad Guys of this decision.  I wonder if the robbery would have happened with a shop full of Open Carry people but at least we can tell Brady and Co. that a Gun Free Starbucks is not so safe & secure after all.

By the way, in the same news item I found something interesting. After Virginia Tech, Universities decided that the best way to deal with major crimes and specially incidents like an Active Murderous Shooter was to warn everybody via email & text messages. I am not shocked to see that the system is used for “very important stuff”:

“It’s a little bit shocking,because usually when we get crime alerts, it’s either a test or something minor like somebody snatching an iPod“

Cry wolf and all of that….

UPDATE: Perps caught! It was an inside job where an employee left the door open so the accomplices could come in and clean the till. Again the one thing that called my attention was the reaction of the students:

UM student Gemma Shields noted, “I think it’s really terrible. It’s really shocking that we’re on campus, and something like this is happening where we’re supposed to be secure.”

That what they said at Virginia Tech too.

Mine is signed by Charles Bronson, how about yours?

And yes, I really look like that.

Some stuff I learned through experience.

1. It is always a bad idea to involve Government Services. Public Servants have a very short fuse and they despise being involved in something funny that they did not create. Calling 911 to report screaming coming out of your neighbor’s house while they are having sex is a no-no. Nothing endangers good relations with you town dwellers and the local fuzz as having somebody dragged naked to a patrol car with a face full of pepper spray and the ensuing civil lawsuit. Also do not call USAMRIID and tell them that the arabic-looking owners of the nearby 7-11 present Ebola symptoms and they are chanting while coughing over the sandwiches. That the 7-11 owners are Dominican and singing salsa and bachata tunes will not make a difference to the lab rats in the white NBC suits.
2. Never pull a scary prank on somebody packing a gun or with easy access to crew served weapons. You never saw Allen Funt or whathisname in Punk’d trying to scare the daylights of anybody in a gun shop or range. There is a rumor that some idiot actually came up with a fake zombie invasion on Ted Nugen’ts ranch never to be heard from again. It is alleged that nearby earthquake monitors registered the amount of shooting coming out of the Nugent Household.
3. If the joke ends with stitches, Celox or calling for a casket, you have gone too far. Remember, one of the great things about practical jokes is to have the mark laugh alongside with you after is over. If your prank results in major medical intervention or the presence of a coroner at the end of the practical joke, you may want to tone it down a smidgen for the next time.
4. Be tasteful. Dragging body parts stolen from the morgue behind your car like some ghoulish Newlywed decoration is just tasteless. That kins of stuff should be reserved for Halloween only.
5. Avoid E-Mails that warn about nasty or scary pending legislation. Not only this is an old and tired joke that nobody buys anymore, but you are an amateur writing idiocy in legalese. Besides Congress will beat any comer… and for real.
6. Make sure your mark does not mind being the target of a prank. Unfortunately some people have no sense of humor, specially wives and significant others of the female persuasion. If you keep telling your wife that she looks like Britney Spears and then give her a USMC Boot Camp haircut while she is asleep, expect yourself to wake up without some body parts, the house, the truck, the kids and the bank account and a restraining order crazy glued to your butt.

Enjoy April’s Fool!