Hi-Point donates new carbine to GBR-IV

The Brand New Hi-Point 9mm. Carbine.

Soon to be available in .40 and maybe .45, details here. I wonder if it's legal to own in California?

Tasers creepy X3 promotional

The report card on the (previously reported) wireless Taser technology is still out, but their promo falls somewhere between creepy and authority central Orwellian. Check it out.

High Five - Danger Room

Top ten signs my radical days are over

My big exciting events of the past week, in order of occurrence:

1. My injured foot has healed enough I can wear shoes and I walk normal again.
2. Light housekeeping on Saturday turned into Spring Cleaning.
3. Family BBQ on Monday.
4. I made BBQ'd corn on the cob for my grand daughter and she liked it.
5. Three weeks of us dog-sitting CosmoDog has ended.
6. Motorcycling - brake and battery maintenance on the Buell.
7. Our kids are seriously house hunting to buy their first home.
8. I did major damage to the ivy which is eating my fence.
9. I had a tele-conference with my stockbroker during breakfast this morning.
10. I'm so lame I think this is blog worthy.
    

America - We wanna buy your guns, or sell you some

Oh surprise, Americans are fueling the guns export business worldwide since year 2000.

The 2009 Small Arms Survey reported that the Untied States alone was responsible for about half of the worldwide increase in legal international gun sales between 2000 and 2006. The U.S. now accounts for over half of the world's imports of pistols and revolvers and 45 percent of shotguns, it said.

Well, it's not like we got attacked or anything in that period. Oh wait...

It illustrated how U.S. purchases of hand guns—which averaged $173 million annually—have driven a sharp rise in exports from a number of countries.

Speaking for all Americans, I say "Your welcome."

Austria remained the world's largest seller of pistols and revolvers with a 25 percent jump since 2000. Seventy-five percent of its exports go to the United States.

I contributed to this. I bought a HK USP Compact .45 Auto. Because I suck and they hate me.

Did you know that Croatian exports soared almost 24 times in value since the start of the decade with the U.S. accounted for 98 percent of its 2006 sales of $27 million. At least some Austrians and Croats like us.

The U.S. dominates as the world's major supplier of light military weapons, with $228.5 million in exports. That amounts to 54 percent of the world total.

For some countries, accurate export information was particularly hard to obtain. The report said Switzerland, Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia and the United States were among the more transparent nations. Iran, North Korea, South Africa, Russia, Israel and Taiwan were cited as the least transparent.

Oh, I can help. The Norks recently increased the number of Scud missiles they export toward Japan. The Nork delivery system still sucks so Japan hasn't actually received any. Thank God.

Business is booming (sorry!) and we're at the center of it. More please.

Judge to TSA - Weapons and bomb search only

Good. A federal judge threw out seizure of non-weapons or bombs from a traveler, saying that TSA screeners violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

Take that TSA. Your not cops so stop pretending you are. This is the same problem I have with DUI checkpoints. They're random searches without cause. Even if they turn up Osama bin Laden on an explosives laden camel, they shouldn't be able to arrest him unless he, and maybe the camel too, are drunk.

Awful lot of scofflaws in cars

The latest crime menace in the SF Bay Area is toll jumpers on the seven local bridges, specifically people in rent-a-cars just breezing through the FasTrak® toll booths. The article claims 120,000 people a year do this, which is 4% of the total toll jumping scofflaw menace.

The equals about 3 million toll jumpers per year, or 1178 per bridge per day.

Enemy intel - why are they helping us on guns

California Attorney General Jerry Brown signs on supporting incorporation under the 14 th. amendment on a gun rights case. As noted here and also here, our infamous statist former Governor Moonbeam, former Oakland Mayor and all around big government power broker is now backing gun rights? Ah, no. I don't think so.

He's planning on another run for Governor. I think he doesn't want to get stuck defending Californias myriad crazy gun control laws and have his campaign tarred with wasting many millions of tax dollars California doesn't have. Or being the AG who lost on gun control.

As we've seen in Washington, D.C., California type gun control (gun bans based on color) won't fly at the Federal level. Brown is trying to get on the winning side of a fight he believes his side has already lost.

4th of July BBQing on the 6th

We had our little family Independence Day BBQ today (which is why blogging is light). Ride Fast 3.0 had BBQ corn on the cob for the first time and she really loved it. Which is kind of amazing because I never attempted it before.

I grilled the equivalent of at least seven whole chickens and five corn cobs. BBQing for three hours straight is hot and tiring but the food was great. We also had Commandress' Special banana bread, five layer dip and tortilla chips. Everybody stuffed themselves.

As sky rockets exploded in air and M-1000's KABOOMED nearby, my ten month old grand daughter never cried, she did flinch and look at me with that "WTF !?!?" expression though. Too cute.

It was such a total whirlwind everyone forgot to take pictures.

Happy Birthday AK-47

Born out of Kalashnikov’s obsession to create a weapon capable of driving the invading Germans from his motherland, the Soviet weapons designer produced an assault rifle renowned as much for its simplicity as for its effectiveness.

Even though the Nazi's had been defeated two years prior? Happy Birthday anyway.

Attention K-Mart shoppers...no guns for you

Went with my wife on an escort mission to K-Mart. I don't mind filling the role of executive security for her, even with a caper that involves K-Mart. It would seem they don't sell guns and ammo anymore, for all I know they haven't for years. Disappointing.

Oddly, though, they had these see-through plastic toy guns that shoot plastic pellets locked up with the Red Ryder BB guns in a display case. It was really strange. Who locks up a BB gun?

Then I noticed the paint ball guns were on the open shelves, next to the CO2 tanks and paint balls. On the wall next to these shelves were all the hunting knives. I didn't see anything tempting but it was nice you could handle the knives without waiting on a sales person.

Still, what's the psychology behind locking up toy plastic pellet guns but the real paint ball guns are OK to be on open shelves. Very strange.

Advice

As I often write about the ongoing train wreck that California is, commenter's often advise I move out of state. Texas, Arizona and Nevada seem to be the most recommended. Thank you for that and please keep sharing.

There's many things to consider, like moving costs, family, real estate, future income. A big one, though, is this may be the moment. We may be entering the beginning of the end of California as we know it. The politicians I've been railing against for years may have finally crashed this state.

The obvious consequences of the nanny state and all its hideous ramifications are no longer coming home to roost, they're arriving with a vengeance. The financial boondoggle is the most obvious but it's also extremely important. Most revolutions are really about wealth.

Our own revolution against the British, the French revolution against their royalty, even our own Civil War was largely about money. Who's got it, who wants it and how much do the people keep.

So for now, for better or worse, I'll be in my front row seat watching this leviathan collapse and applauding like hell.

Geniuses, we got 'em

For about the last ten minutes, a multitude of banned fireworks have been going off at the big party in the park behind my house. There is also a large fire station behind my house, right next to the park.

All quite now. But I have to wonder if those mental midgets actually vote during elections.

How we're winning - "assault weapons" version

The Sacramento Bee, a statist newspaper generally, runs with a hit piece on "assault weapons" loopholes. The reporter, to his credit, passed on the facts along with his opinion, and the hit piece generally turns into an attack on the ban on "assault weapons".

Yet weapons can be legally purchased in Sacramento area gun stores that are functionally the same as some of the most famous military rifles in history, such as the AR-15 and the AK-47.

Oh the horror. Then there's this.

"California coined the term assault weapon," said Sam Paredes, executive director of the California Gun Owners Association. "There is no real definition other than what California defines it as."

The article goes on to explain some work arounds to avoid the ban, up to and including how one can simply build an AR-15, for example, and now own a completely legal rifle you cannot buy in stores.

When even gun banners and their enablers cannot defend a bad gun control law you know enemy surrender is eminent. Faster, please.

This mornings heart stopping conversation

Commandress, while coming downstairs: "Hey, Ride, the Norks just launched seven ICBMs at us."

Ride: "WHAT?!?! Those bastards launched on Hawaii???"

Commandress: "By us, I meant Japan."

Ride: "Did any of them hit Japan?"

Commandress: "No, they all landed in the Sea of Japan about 250 miles from Norkland."

Ride: "Oh. Those are just SCUDs, then. Not to worry, dear. Excuse me while I go change my underwear."

Sex or porn fireworks

Glenn says "I say, do it yourself if you want, just be smart. “Leave it to the trained professionals” is one of the cancerous mantras of our age, and there’s a big difference between setting off your own fireworks and sitting passively while others do it for you — the difference, if I may say so, between having sex and watching porn. And, in both cases, the presence of a degree of risk is part of the difference."

Emphasis mine. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Trend spotting

Now that many, many police departments are issuing rifles to their basic patrol units, I'm noticing more rifles being wielded by officers when they respond to any disturbance involving a possibly armed suspect. Which is natural and a bit frightening at the same time.

Dear Founding Fathers

Happy 233rd Birthday, America!

Dear Founding Fathers,
The nation you helped create is not only still here but basically still going strong. Although we've managed to bollix it up a lot we haven't completely screwed the pooch yet. I thought I'd share with you some of where we're at now as compared to the founding days.

We're still a Constitutional Republic even though a great many citizens think America is a democracy. The right to vote is very common, although not all that many avail themselves to use it. Women and Negros right to vote is very well respected. Yeah, we ended the whole slavery thing, badly I might add, it took a war, but we ended it. The President is a black man, women have run for the office. Impressive, eh?

The Constitution is pretty much in tatters but it is still there. Many of us are fighting diligently to restore the law to it's constitutional origins. There are currently only 27 amendments to the Constitution, although thousands have been proposed. Toeing the line there, boss.

The fact that there are 300 million of us now must be impressive Fifty states, numerous overseas possessions and protectorates, the military has people stationed all over the world. For good or bad, we are a true world power and have been pretty much tops for the last seventy years.

You would no doubt be amazed that England and Canada are our best allies now. Have been for decades. Perhaps surprisingly, France is also still an ally. Ha!

Speaking of the military, we have at least two armies, two navies, four or five air forces (I'll explain that in a later letter) fifty state guard armies, fifty state air forces and God only knows how many militias.

Our technology is so advanced I'll just tease you for now with this. We not only sent men to the moon and brought them back safely, we now launch a space truck on a regular basis. Pretty much just because we can. We are building another permanent station in space (the previous permanent stations all fell down but we're still trying). We are now screwing around with DNA and genetics directly (I owe you another letter to explain that).

Although we are in some troubles these days, the country is still a destination magnet for immigration. Pretty much the whole world still wants to be here, or wants us there. Some states (you never heard of, like California) are in terrible financial straights, and yet, are still comparable to other nations.

As bad as things are today, the basic political structure you formed is still in place. I believe we could fix many of our current ills through one election cycle while leaving the (mostly) original political system in place.

So pretty much the kids are alright. Thank you, sirs. Well done.