Gun Free Zone

Several readers were kind enough to share that the real seizure according to Customs was of 10,800 Assault Weapons Parts. 

I am not happy that we were only given a photo of a bunch of bags that makes it hard to believe there is an AK 47 or similar inside as some of our readers also pointed out.

So I grabbed the pic, enlarged it a bit and saw this:

Is it me or do those long rectangular things look like magazines? I can’t see anything that resemble a frame, so who knows what else.

I am going to offer a guess/prediction here and say these are Non ATF-Definition-Of-Firearm parts, but all counterfeit other parts and gadgets. Or parts and gadgets for Airsoft.

The thing is that a true illegal importation of firearms would have gotten a lot of publicity with Schummer, Feinstein and assorted politicians screaming for Gun Control. At least that is what is bothering me.

Update on the Update.

A reader who works in the airsoft business and wants to remain in confidentiality shared his thoughts:

I highly doubt those are magazines, it’s not possible.
No company I know of would dump their mags in bags like that and not have it properly stacked in carton boxes, unless US border customs purposely dumped out the contents into a plastic bag like said pic.
I’ve work with companies where if we requested something on the lines of generic packaging, it would literally just be individually packaged in ziplock bags and/or wrapped in (Chinese) newspapers
Also, if my memory is correct, Shenzhen isn’t known for airsoft manufacturers

Thanks! I do not mind corrections, specially from the readers. We are only as good as our info is good.
The more info we get, the better. Maybe one day we will figure what is all this and try to make sense.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —More than 10,000 assault weapons from China were recently seized by federal officers who said they were being shipped to a home in Brevard County.

The shipment was seized on May 22 at a package handling facility in Louisville, Kentucky, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

According to a statement, the officers inspected the items, which arrived from Shenzhen, China, and were headed for a residence in Melbourne.

The parcel contained 100 steel pin samples, which is a common practice of smugglers manifesting the contraband as a harmless or legitimate commodity to avoid additional examination, officials said.

“This smuggler was knowingly trying to avoid detection, however, our officers remain vigilant, ensuring our community is safe,” said Thomas Mahn, Louisville port director.

According to investigators, the shipment was transferred to the Center of Excellence and Expertise’s machinery team, which put the value of the shipment at $129,600.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regulates and restricts firearms and ammunition. Importation of weapons or ammunition must be made by a licensed importer, dealer or manufacturer, officials said.

More than 10,000 assault weapons with $129k value seized during shipment to Brevard County

And if my math is not that off, that comes to about $12.9 per assault weapon.  That is some serious competition for Palmetto State.

OK, can we say AIRSOFT, boys and girls? It is not the first time that some overzealous agent with stars in his eyes goes full dumb on stuff like this and makes it in the news.

And with a lot of expense and fitting you may get to have an AR that shoots….once.

The Garrote Vil (vile garrote) was Spain’s favorite way to execute people till the 1970s. After the death of Franco, Spain got rid of the Death Penalty and I guess the device is hidden somewhere or destroyed.

If you are looking for the definition of Cruel and Unusual, this baby here fits the bill so well it will give a collective heart attack to SCOTUS en toto. The condemned man spends its last minute on this planet slowly chocking till the screw pops the cervical vertebrae and decerebrates him. Of course, if the executioner is an asshole, this torture can take forever.

I found a clip of a Spanish movie which did a nice job reproducing an execution by Garrote Vil.

The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled, following mass public criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd.

The 12-0 vote is just the first step in a process that faces significant bureaucratic obstacles to make the November ballot, where the city’s voters would have the final say.

And it came amid a spate of recent shootings in Minnesota’s largest city that have heightened many citizens´ concerns about talk of dismantling the department.

BREAKING NEWS: Minneapolis city council votes 12-0 to abolish police department after death of George Floyd and will replace it with a ‘department of community safety and violence prevention’

This is the first thing that came to mind.

Now, if the officer of Minneapolis PD are so kind and quit in masse tonight, it should make for an interesting weekend. You know goons are gonna come out and attack them, right? Why risk it?

Get popcorn.

This is why you don’t fly in Third World nations…

… unless you have at least one First World pilot in the cockpit.  That’s been a hard-and-fast rule of mine for decades, and I think it’s one of the reasons I survived living and working in the Third World for as long as I did.  I know I’m far from alone in observing that precaution, too.  Many of my friends and colleagues did likewise.

Peter is right, deadly right. Go read the post. The Pakistani gov found out that 30% of civilian pilots in Pakistan have bogus licenses.

Back when I was in college in the boonies Venezuela, I was given the advice never to take a ride in a private plane unless the pilot was a certified commercial pilot who actually flew by an airline. Truthfully, I would have got into any plane as long as it got me to Caracas for free rather than shed the cash for a plane ticket.

That lasted till one day going back to school, I met a mate at the airport waiting for the same flight to take us back. We got to chat and he told me about his flight home 3 days earlier where he got a free ride from a wealthy ranch owner in his Cessna 172 . It seems after taking off from his private strip, the “pilot” grabbed a cigar, moved the ring till it was about 1/3d from the top end and lit it.  They got to chat and what nots and when the cigar finally reached the ring, the “pilot” said something along the lines of “I guess it is time to turn right” and he did.  My buddy thought it was funny, but then he realized that the guy had never gotten on the radio the whole trip. H e saw the pilot looking all over to the ground as if searching and mumbling about where was the effing strip. My friend trying to be helpful, asked why not check the map and the “pilot” replied

“I can’t read”
“You can’t read a map? You are a pilot!”
“No, I can’t read, period.”

My buddy went both pale and silent and I figure he started to do some heavy rotation of Hail Marys and Our Fathers.  The rancher finally found the strip and landed at another private property he had near Caracas.  Out of the plane, after regaining his breath and composure, my friend asked him how he could fly without a license. The rancher smiled, produced his wallet and pulled a shinny Venezuelan private pilot license, “I have money, I can buy whatever I want in this country”

About six months later, the rancher died in a crash when weather turned on him after take off.  He was alone, thank God for small mercies.

If I have to fly, I do so commercial and only in big planes from established airlines.

From the Sage of Baltimore, H.L. Mencken:

Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.”

This describes cancel culture perfectly.

Marxism and identity politics is an inferior culture and its practitioners are uncivilized, hence the destruction of monuments, vandalism, and violence we are seeing.

The barbarians have breached the gates and are sacking the city.  The only question is: does civilization have the fortitude to push back?

From the Book of Face:

I wrote about this yesterday.

It seems like Larry’s breaking point is near mine.

I would be more than happy to help him build a killdozer when the time comes.

I don’t think I’m alone in that.