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Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

Let’s hear it for Idaho grannies:

The 85-year-old mother of a disabled son committed a “justifiable homicide” in Idaho when she shot an armed burglar who snuck into her home and threatened to “kill her multiple times,” a county prosecutor said.

Christine Jenneiahn presented “one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation” that Bingham County prosecutor Ryan Jolley has ever heard of when she shot and killed 39-year-old Derek Condon, according to an incident review written Tuesday.

Yup.  The only bad thing that happened in all this shooty goodness was that before expiring, the goblin was able to get off a few shots himself, wounding Our Heroine (may she have a complete and speedy recovery).

In the meantime, please do the usual:

News Roundup

Bad News

And if ever we needed beer:


...I don’t wanna say “I told you so!!” but…

And completely unrelated to the above:


...no, you shouldn’t buy “an” AR-15.  You should buy at least two because, as the old saying goes, “Two is one and one is none.”  Three would be better, and four (one or two for you, and a couple for your friends, if needed) is just dandy.

Some International News:


...wait:  Japan’s getting upset by this?  It has to be bad.


...not so nice when it happens to you Arab assholes, is it?
#Payback


...and then were promptly arrested for destroying an endangered species, I bet.

Some Murkin News:


...name ONE, asshole.  Get specific.


...did they overturn Kelo?  No?  Then nobody cares.


...priorities:  they’re important.

And in the Dept. of Education:


...it’s called “free enterprise”, guys;  leave her alone, dammit.  Also, keyword:  Houston.

In Business News:


…

And now, ’tis time for  

...welcome to the boys’ club, honey.

And on that note, it’s time for our little journey down  :

Unlike the news, that’s just the way we like it.

Carry Trends

The Gun Thing

Tami Keel talks about the trend in carry guns that she’s witnessed over the years:

The first [competition] I attended, at DARC in Arkansas back in 2017, was largely after the “Caliber Wars” were over. I’m sure there were a few .40s and .45s in attendance, but 9mm was the overwhelmingly most common chambering and it wasn’t even close. I’d feel pretty comfortable stating that probably half everybody was shooting a Glock of one variant or another, with M&Ps being the second most common, and the remainder a mishmash of Sig Sauers, HKs, and Berettas, mostly

Next year TacCon was at DARC again. Glocks were still the most common gun, but probably only a plurality at this point. Sig P320s were already vying with M&Ps as the second most commonly seen pistol. There were a handful of people using red dot optics in 2018, and John Johnston made it into the man-on-man shootoff with one.

At 2019, down in Louisiana at NOLATAC, there were more red dots, and Rick Remington won the shootoff with an RMR atop a 9mm Wilson. Glock alternatives continued to grow in popularity.

After a one-year hiatus during the Plague Year of 2020, TacCon was held at Dallas Pistol Club in 2021. That’s when I first started seeing significant numbers of the smaller pistols, like Glock 48s and Sig P365s. Red dots were commonly spotted in every class and were no longer limited to hardcore dot proponents who’d had pistol slides custom milled for RMRs.

2022 was back at DPC again. Red dots and smaller pistols were everywhere, even in the shootoffs.

2023? More of the same.

For 2024, the biggest difference I noticed was that there was a greater number of people who were willing to talk openly about living “the snubby lifestyle” à la Darryl Bolke. Gear-wise, dots had become downright prevalent. Walthers had become more common. I don’t know how Walther’s doing in terms of overall market share, but they’ve certainly penetrated the serious training hobbyist demographic. The majority of optics were now Holosuns.

All very interesting.  I couldn’t help thinking how my personal carry choices have changed over the same period of time.

2017:

2018:

2019:

2020:


(briefly, then back to the usual)

2021:

2022:

2023:

2024:

I know, this is carry as opposed to competition, but still.  One assumes that the competitive shooters were carrying the same as, or at least copies of the ones they were shooting.  (If not… LOL.)

The only changes I can foresee in my carry choice would be substituting one 1911 for another.

Occasionally, if I’m in the mood, I may carry my bedside S&W Model 65 instead of a 1911, because that’s the holster belted onto a different pair of jeans and I’m too lazy to swap it out:

So you see, I can be flexible.

I’m just not interested in carrying a little gun like a SIG or Walther in 9mm Europellet, unless one day I decide to substitute it for my backup Model 637.

Don’t hold yer breath.

By the way, I typically carry two or four backup 1911 Chip McCormick mags (depending on whether or not I’m wearing a gilet), and a couple of 5-round speedloaders for the 637.  That should be enough ammo to get me back to the car rifle, after which I can really bring down the thunder.

Update:  Several people have written to me, speaking of their preference for hi-cap mags.  One asked me whether the 8-round Chip McCormick 1911 mags would be sufficient in a BLM-type encounter.

I have two responses to this:  firstly, three CMC mags = 24 rounds, five mags = 40 rounds, and three .38 Spec loads = 15 rounds.  If I wanted to get serious, and with a little foreknowledge, I could just swap out the 8-round mags for 10-round CMC mags, of which I have a half-dozen or so on hand.  Should be enough.

Any more than the above, and I probably would avoid going out to where there’s a chance I may be heavily outnumbered — OR I could just turn the trunk gun into a front-seat gun (with several backup mags), if you get my drift.  I venture to suggest that this combination of weaponry would be adequate for any group of scraggly scrotes.

Private Property

Government Thugs, Rights

Here we go:

A proposed rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will soon take effect, forcing many private gun sellers to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to sell their guns.

The targets of this rule are not licensed federal gun dealers, as they are already required to use the NICS on every gun sale and/or transfer.

Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders are required to conduct background checks on all gun sales and transfers because of the Brady Act (1993). That act created the NICS, and, since then, all retail sales of both new and used guns have been conducted via the NICS. Democrats have pushed to include private sales in the NICS requirement. However, Congress — even when controlled by Democrats — has refused.

But the recently proposed rule does what Congress has refrained from doing by allowing the ATF to set its sights on private, non-licensed Americans who may sell guns at some time throughout any given year…

…and when people refuse to comply with this fucking monstrosity, the rule will create criminals where heretofore none existed (as so many of these “regulations” do).

Oh, and don’t think you can get around this assholishness by swapping or bartering for guns, either.

I know, I know:

But a reminder:

This should be interesting.  My advice (and remember, I am no lawyer, nor any kind of criminal — yet):  if you are going to ignore this un-Constitutional infringement on your rights, make sure to do so only with trusted friends and family members — no strangers, ever, because you never know when the ATF is blackmailing or otherwise pressuring someone into breaking the law on their behalf.

Like they did with Randy Weaver.

Table Manners Matter

Manners

Over at the DM, Tom Utley talks about table manners, and the apparent disdain with which the foul Gen Z twerps regard them.

If we’re to believe a poll out this week, however, old-fashioned table manners will soon be consigned to history. A ­survey of 2,000 teenagers and adults found that 60 per cent of those aged 12 to 27 — known as Generation Z — think table manners in general are no longer important.

More than three-quarters of them, finds Censuswide, say they don’t care about elbows on the table, while more than half think it doesn’t matter which way round a knife and fork are held.

I have a rather jaundiced view of the whole thing, because I’ve found that all manners — never mind just  those at the table — seem to have taken flight and disappeared from modern life.  And while the article is Brit-specific, it’s certainly true in the U.S. as well, and both New Wife and I continue to throw up our hands in horror when we encounter such societal contretemps.

But as for table manners:  our kids (her two and my three) have all been indoctrinated in the matter, and I’m pleased to note that they’ve passed on that training to their other halves and kids.

I remember well the first time I noticed how well-mannered my kids were, several years ago.  The occasion was afternoon tea in the St. James Room at Fortnum & Mason, where impeccably-dressed waiters and waitresses brought us plate upon plate of foods (sandwiches, and then scones with jams and clotted cream) and of course, pots and pots of F&M’s delicious Royal Blend tea.  (It’s still the Son&Heir’s favorite, and it’s a staple birthday present choice.)  Anyway, the kids showed impeccable table manners, and of course we the parents were hugely gratified that all our efforts had not been in vain, and that we were not embarrassed by any loutish and gross behavior.  (The same was evident when New Wife and I were treated to afternoon tea at the Ritz by her two sons, a few years back:  exquisite table manners all round.)

I have a visceral reaction to someone with terrible table manners:  I finish the meal as quickly as possible, and make a point of never eating with that person ever again.  When someone gobbles down their food like a baboon, and speaks with a mouth full of food, I actually feel nauseated and try not to look at them at all.

I’m somewhat indifferent to the American style of eating, whereby one cuts the food into small pieces and then transfers the fork to the right hand to spear it.  (It’s the way children eat their food, back where I come from, but it’s a method that is firmly discouraged once they reach the age of seven or eight and have developed the dexterity to eat properly, i.e. with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right.)

Living here in Murka, I’ve always been keenly aware that I’m the “guest”, so to speak, and that if that’s the cultural norm, then manners preclude me trying to change it in others.  That doesn’t mean that I’ve changed my eating style, of course, and when American table companions point out my “British” style of knife-and-fork usage, I just shrug and say, “South Africa was still a British colony when I was born, and that’s one of the little legacies thereof.”  To change the way I eat is unthinkable.

The whole point of good table manners is respect for the feelings of others — hell, that’s the point of good manners in toto, and not just at the table;  and I find it amusing that in these times, when everyone has to tiptoe around the feelings of others so circumspectly, that the most important of these is no longer de rigueur.

Anyway, I’m just glad that I’m unlikely to be exposed to the boorish table manners of the child-like Gen Z people, because to be honest, I have no interest in any kind of intercourse with them at all, let alone at the table.  And if exposed to them in public (e.g. in a restaurant), I’ll just put on metaphorical blinkers and try to ignore them — unless it all gets too much, and I’ll flay them with scorn and contempt, loudly if in the mood.

As Gen Z seems to be, as a whole, a bunch of tender snowflakes, I don’t think I’ll be in any danger.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Remington Nylon 66 (.22 LR)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

I stumbled on this fine article SOTI, and I had to share it with everyone because not only is it a good analysis and background story on the wonderful old Nylon 66, but it evokes from me a feeling of deep regret, because I was once offered one for about $20, and I turned it down because to me the little gun looked kinda cheap and nasty.

It was a Black Apache like this one:

No, don’t bother to offer to kick my ass, because said ass already has an excellent set of bruises thereon, self-inflicted.

In my defense, I didn’t know as much about guns back then as I do now, and in fact I’d never even heard of the thing because of my deprived South African childhood.

Anyway, here’s a different model, the brown one:

…and one that was recently on sale at Collector’s (it’s long gone, don’t bother), and for around $650 (!!!!):

Now go and read the article, because it’s full of interesting stuff.

By the way, I rejected the Nylon 66 because it looked flimsy and cheap, whereas it’s anything but.

Don’t trust me with any investment advice;  I suck.