…and the horse you rode in on

By | July 31, 2015
1 Comment

I know, I’m a couple days late on this one, but I’ve got to rant about it.  If you haven’t already heard, a couple who lost their daughter in the theater shooting in Aurora, Co decided to sue 4 websites that sold the killer ammo.  They lost… badly.  Not only did they lose, but they now owe over $200k in legal fees.  Oh, by the way, just to twist the knife, Lucky Gunner has decided to donate their portion of the money to a pro-gun org, to be chosen by vote here.

Now… would these grieving parents scuttle awaay and lick their wounds?  Of course not!   They’ve gone onto national TV to declare that the evil, horrible judge has probably forced them into bankruptcy!

To save you from watching the video in the link above (and if you’re like me, the shouting at the screen and possible blood spewing out your ears), let me address a few of the points.

Right of the bat, the judge didn’t put you into this situation.  They did.  This is the equivalent of suing the gas station that sold the gas in the car of a drunk driver that plowed into a school bus.  It was a stupid lawsuit, they, and the lawyers that represented them, should be ashamed of themselves.

They claim that the NRA paid for the lawyers for the defendants.  Really?  I haven’t done much research into it, but Lucky Gunner claims that they paid for their own damned lawyers, and I haven’t seen the NRA using that cost as a reason for me to give them more money.  Even if they did, so what?

The host mentions that the Brady Campaign “filed the suit on their behalf.”  Oh, so I guess it’s ok if the largest lobbying group in their field pays for the lawyers if it’s on their side?  Oh, also not mentioned is that both the wife and husband work for the Brady Bunch.  Of course, if the Brady folks were so righteous, they should be the ones picking up the bill, but that would rob them of another “victim of the evil gun lobby.”

They claim that this wasn’t about money, but an attempt to change the laws.  They… sued… private companies… to make new/change laws… what?!  I’m not a lawyer, but that’s not how this works!  That’s not how any of this works!

They claim that they would have more rights if a kid shot theirs in the eye with a bb gun.  Really?  Little Ralphie could sue Daisy for shooting his eye out?

I’m thinking that this was planned from the beginning.  If, by some insane chance, they won the case, hurrah! some evil ammo dealers hurt/out of business.  If they lost, well, claim it was the evil gun lobby that destroyed this couple’s finances.

To the couple, I must say “I’m sorry for the loss of your daughter, but… F you and the horse you rode in on.”

Well… I guess there is interest

By | June 8, 2015
1 Comment

Well, that’s at least the second person to ask me if there’s going to be a Bidet Shoot 3 this year, so… I guess I should try to figure something out.

Of course, it won’t be this month, since next weekend is the only weekend in June I’m not already doing something, and I’m not going to have time to plan anything anyways due to being a director of Hypericon (in… uh… two weeks?!).  Anyways, the folks that attended last year talked about wanting to maybe move it to the fall to try to avoid heatstroke.

Maybe September?

Also, the location for the first two shoots is great, but I would like something a bit closer to me.  Anyone know of a range that wouldn’t mind us taking over one Saturday in the Nashville area?

Random thought of the day.

By | May 27, 2015
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I have the solution to all those cops leaving their guns in bathrooms or accidentally firing them while preparing to use/leaving the facilities.

Replace the pants portion of the police uniform with kilts.

No need to remove the kilt when going to the bathroom, therefor there’s absolutely no need to remove the firearm (if there truly was in the first place).  As we’ve talked about before, there are many companies that already make kilts with many pockets!

…

This is probably why they don’t put me in charge.

Shameless self promotion!

By | May 21, 2015
4 Comments

If you’re the kind of person interested in scifi conventions, I’m the gaming director of a convention called Hypericon on the weekend of June 19-21 in Nashville.  It’s currently only $30 for weekend, which includes access to a con suite with great food for the weekend.

If you’re interested, and wish to get a hotel room, I’d hurry though.  The room block closes on the 28th (next week), and the room rates will go up.

As an added bonus, you’ll get a chance to heckle me as I pretend to be a gun expert!  I’m going to do a panel covering some of the real guns that have shown up in scifi shows (think the broom handled Mauser that Lucas used for Han’s blaster, or the Beretta Cx4 that was used as the marine battle riffle in the Battlestar Galactica reboot).  By the way, does anyone remember the name of the show that used Nerf guns as props?

Should be a good time, and if enough gun folks show up, I might be persuaded to run off to the range at some point.

You have got to be $^*@ing kidding me!

By | May 7, 2015
4 Comments

I’m having a hard time seeing straight over this one.  Apparently, Memphis and Nashville are planning on still banning guns in certain parks, even after the state passed the law saying that they can’t.

Just to catch people up, the final language of the law stated that a carry permit holder can carry in a city park, with the exception that you can’t carry in “the immediate vicinity” of a school event (baseball games, etc).  If you wander up on one by accident, you can legally turn around and leave upon learning of the event.

This is apparently confusing for some people.  The city of Nashville is in the middle of building an amphitheater in of our river front parks, and the folks that are contracted to run the concert venue have a policy that they ban weapons at all of their venues.  What’s Nashville’s Metro Director of Law’s response to the question of banning firearms in a facility on park grounds? “We’re in the view that we can probably prohibit weapons in the new amphitheater.”

Oh… he has logic!  You’ll love his logic!  See, the law also refers to “areas owned, used or operated by a local government ‘for recreational purposes,*'” and, in his view, going to see a concert isn’t recreation!

No.

Seriously.

Direct quote from Metro’s DoL Solomon: “When we think of ‘recreating,’ it’s somebody going out and doing something, not somebody sitting around,”

The article also states that it’s “still unclear” if the city will ban guns in the park around the concert venue, or if they will ban guns in the amphitheater when there’s not a concert going on.  Here’s a thought…. the state law says that they can’t!

5.11 has kilts again, but….

By | April 28, 2015
4 Comments

The good folks over at the Firearm Blog have noticed that 5.11 have brought back their Tactical Duty Kilts.  I thought they had decided to give up these limited runs after not making a new announcement for April Fools.  I’m curious if they got a bunch of email asking about.

I bought a couple of these when they first came out with them.  If you missed it, and are interested, I wrote a comparison between them and my Utilikilts here.  At the time, I thought that I got my money’s worth at $60, and even wasn’t against them at $70.  This time around, they’re $80 a pop.

I’m thinking I’d tell people to pass on them at $80.  As I said in the review, there’s not many pleats in the 5.11 kilts.  This means that there’s not a whole lot of material to cover things that should be covered.  It’s fine when walking normally, but you have to pay attention when sitting, and it can be a noticeable issue when running, climbing, etc.  At the $60 mark, there wasn’t really anything like it out there at that price point.  At the $80 mark, there is.  If I was going to drop $80 on a new tactical/utility kilt, I’d probably go with UTKilt’s “Wild Outdoor/Wilderness” or “Ultimate Utility” kilts.  I don’t own one, but I’ve seen them both on the rack and on people, and they have more material and look at lot less like a “pencil skirt for guys” than the 5.11 kilts.  Heck, if you’re ok with not having the front slash pockets (think “normal” front pockets on pants), you can get utility kilts for that price point or less from several places (or traditional tartan kilts, for that matter).

edit: forgot to mention that TFB stated that they saw 5.11 kilts going on ebay for $260+ during one of the times that they weren’t in production.  Are you freaking kidding me?  I could buy a Utilikilt or Alt.Kilt for that money!  Wait… who wants to buy mine?  Only $250 a pop!

A little late, but….

By | April 24, 2015
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The guns in parks bill is finally signed!

Of course, I was hoping for it to be signed and in effect before NRAAM, so we could have a cook out, but that didn’t happen.

Also, I love how my wonderful mayor has stated that he will “work with the Metro legal department to better understand how the law could be enforced.”  Umm… it’s quite simple.  See that guy in a park with a gun on his hip?  Is there a school event happening in spitting distance? no? Then leave him alone!  Oh, there is one going on?  Tell him he’s got to leave and why, and, assuming he follows your orders, that’s it.

I may double check the language to make sure that this thing instantly goes into effect (which is the original language), and go visit a park this weekend.

Edit: I have been asked for a link to the actual bill, which can be found here.

More troubles for Colt

By | April 22, 2015
2 Comments

Th folks at the Firearms Blog have noticed an article at the New York Times talking about what looks to be the inevitable bankruptcy of Colt.

On one hand, this makes me sad.  Colt has a long history, and has been responsible for some important firearms.  While this bankruptcy doesn’t mean the end of Colt, it does signal that there needs to be some serious changes if they’re going to continue.

On the other hand, they’ve screwed up bad.  I had to resist going to their booth at NRAAM and ask one of them to comment on how an established gun company could have troubles paying their bills in the buying frenzy environment we’ve had for the past few years.  We’re talking about a time where there have been instances of gun shops literally having issue keeping anything on their shelves, even after pricing their wares at what would charitably be called “inflated prices.”  I didn’t go over and ask, because, well, I didn’t want to be that guy that got tossed from a booth.  Also, believe or not, I’m actually a nice guy.

Of course, even a casual observer like me can tell you what happened.  As TFB mentions, they decided a few years back to focus on government contracts, and all but abandon the civilian market.  So, they missed out on the civilian market explosion… and then they lost a couple key government contracts…

Now they’re basically one more company that makes ARs and 1911s.  Sure, they’re supposed to be nice ARs and 1911s, but beyond the name Colt stamped on the side there’s little to differentiate their ARs and 1911s from the next 20 companies that make ARs and 1911s.  Oh… and they make SAA revolvers, which is a bit of a niche market, and token bolt action rifle.

I forgot to mention just how many variants of the 1911 they make.  Including the Colt Mustang, they currently have 11 different series of 1911s on their website catalog.  Not models mind you, series.  Each one of those series have multiple models available.  In the very crowded field of 1911s, they’re competing with themselves on top of the competition.

So… here’s what I think Colt should do in hopes of turning things around.  Step 1. is discontinue at least half of the different 1911s they make.  It really doesn’t make sense to keep that many variation in production.  Step 2. would be bring back the double action revolvers.  There’s still a market out there for carry, competition, and hunting revolvers.  Step 3. is develop a plastic fantastic gun, or at least a modern double stack gun.  Doesn’t have to be a Glock clone, but that does seem to be what’s selling these days.

Did I miss anything?

I’ve made it!

By | April 21, 2015
0 Comment

It’s official!  I’ve made it as a gun blogger!  I went to NRAAM and was given a wheelbarrow full of cash!  I mean, I’ve been told that we bloggers are just paid off stooges for the gun industry.

I even have a picture!

Wookie not included

Wookie not included

Thanks to Longhorn Jeff (who’s blog seems to be abandoned, but it was him) for the gift.  It sits proudly on my desk.  The wheelbarrow, not Chewbacca.  He sits in the Milenium Falcon next Han.