Month: February 2019

A Tale Of Four Shitties

Gummint, The Gun Thing

…by which I mean shitty states to live in if you’re a gun owner, that is.

First up is our perennial anti-Constitutional state, California:

They’ve already proposed a requirement for gun owners to lock up their weapons, They’ve previously suggested a 10-year prohibition on firearm possession for anyone convicted of two drug or alcohol offenses within three years. They already have proposed a gun tax to fund violence prevention. It seems those things aren’t enough to add to their gun control basket.

Yup:  the Golden (Shower) State is going Full Europe (and you never  go Full Europe).  However, not even Europe is considering what Illinois is talking about:

That’s why [some asswipe from suburban Chicago — Kim]  is proposing gun buyers reveal their public social media accounts to Illinois police before they’re approved for a firearm license.

You have to know how bad a thing is when even the dickheads at the ACLU (who loathe  the Second Amendment) are opposing it.

And of course, New York is trying to be even worse than Illinois:

Fuckwit Didech says his bill is a less intrusive version of a similar measure that’s been proposed in New York state. That version allows police to recover a gun license applicant’s entire browsing history.

And then there’s Connecticut, which is trying to limit ammo purchasing through taxation:

A first-term Connecticut lawmaker wants to hike the price of ammunition in the state through the application of a special tax.
…
“I’m hearing push back about the need to protect one’s home… but how much ammunition does someone really need to do that?” Gilcrest said in a post to social media.

Anytime I hear someone say something like that, I buy another 500 rounds of ammo.

Man, it’s a Good Thing I don’t live in either Illinois or the Northeast anymore;  I’d be fucked harder than a $5 whore during Fleet Week.

The best thing I ever did was leave Chicago for Texas.  The second-best thing I did was toss my Illinois FOID card into the Mississippi River on my way down.

Cut-Price Popguns

The Gun Thing

Yeah, I’m exaggerating a little, but still.  Shooting Illustrated just published a list of cheap handguns, and the contents thereof are about what you’d expect.  I want to beat this drum just one more time.

Small-caliber handguns are useless as self-defense tools. 

There;  I’ve said it.  And yes, I know, I know:  having any gun is better than having no gun.  Sort of.  And yes I know too that women and older men sometimes have controllability issues with the larger-caliber handguns — my own Daughter carries a .380 ACP pistol — and let’s be honest:  as a backup, the .380 gun will do simply because you can cram it in your pocket.  But will  that .380 Beretta Pico do anything for you in a life-and-death situation?  Not as much as the 9mm Para Diamondback (also a cheap gun) can provide, and less still than (say) the .38 Spec/.357 Mag EAA Windicator or Taurus .357 Mag revolvers.  (How long that Taurus snubbie will last when shooting the magnum loads is a topic for another time;  my experience has not been good, although YMMV.)

So yeah, if you absolutely cannot afford to spend more than $300 on a handgun, then go ahead and get something from SI’s list of pistols.  I just hope you’ll never regret your decision.

Remember that I’ve recently been agonizing over using a 9mm Browning High Power as a carry piece, and I’m still  not convinced that I should use it as a substitute for my .45 ACP 1911 (especially as the lighter 185gr bullets seem to be doing the job)… but if I’m grudgingly going to concede that the 9mm (out of the BHP’s 4.5″ barrel) is just barely acceptable, it’s going to take a lot more convincing for me to accept the same ammo coming out of a shorty 2″ tube.  Hell, I consider my .38+P Spec S&W 637 to be my backup piece, and that’s way more powerful than anything delivered by the little budget pistols listed in the article.

So to sum up:  if you want a cheap, effective self-defense piece, then get a revolver — or alternatively, ignore the .380 ACP pistols for anything other than backup pieces.  But we all knew that anyway.

Oh, and one last thing.  The SI  article opens with this line:

“In the past couple of years, soft demand for firearms in general has led to great deals for anyone looking to buy a gun.”

Perhaps it has.  Just not on my planet.

Update:  If you are looking for a new/different carry gun, see what sold the best (both new and secondhand) in 2018.  (Note the positions of the BHP and 1911…)

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

From The Man Known As Sundance:

“Unfortunately, most financial pundits are prone to talking down the strength of the U.S. economy. It’s maddening. They spend all day mining for coal nuggets while currently surrounded by diamonds.”

That’s because they want to be able to say “I TOLD you so!” when the economy slows (as it must, eventually).  Or because they’re NeverTrumpers, Anti-Reaganites or socialists.

But read the whole article.  It’s brilliant.

Aw, Diddums

Freaks & Loonies

OMG it must be so difficult to be a vegan these days…

British vegans claim they have been mocked, derided and snubbed by waiters because of their lifestyle choices.
MailOnline spoke to three women about their experiences of adopting a plant-based lifestyle and all three said they had encountered problems when dining out – from milk in their coffee to salad containing eggs.
It comes after a study found that well over half of vegans (61 per cent) have faced difficulties and been ‘snubbed’ by waiters when eating out at restaurants because of their choice of diet.
A further 41 per cent claimed that waiters have accidentally served them food excluded from their diet, with a third (35 per cent) said they struggle to find the right foods when eating out.

Listen to this tale of horror:

‘On another occasion when ordering a vegan salad from the menu – I was brought the wrong food – a salad with anchovies and egg on it. When I pointed out that this isn’t my order, in response I got: “No, this is vegetarian, just what you asked for!” I then embarked on a long conversation explaining the difference.’

I can just imagine the tone of the “long conversation”.  And by the way, a “study” of a sample of a splinter section of society isn’t going to yield credible data, so take your 41% and 61% and eat it — provided the numbers are plant-based, of course.

Let’s see if I’ve got this right:  you assume behavior that sets you apart from the mainstream of society, then try to make everyone change to fit your freakish choice.  Ergo:

Oy.  Nothing like an evangelist, eh?

Veganism is not a lifestyle choice, it’s a religion.  And I’m an atheist.  The same, by the way, goes for bullshit eating restrictions like halaal and kosher.

All this talk of food has done the usual to me.  Time for brekkie.

And I apologize for the “vegetable” part of the meal, but it was  cooked in beef fat.