1,723-pound pumpkin disqualified at fair

ADN has the story.  Seems a small hole can disqualify a giant pumpkin, who knew?  The next biggest was still 1,287lbs, which is still a state record.

The really incredible things:

"Roughly the size and shape of a Smart car, and slightly heavier, Marshall's pumpkin will be put on display with the other giant vegetables for the remainder of the fair."


"The growing season for pumpkins is brief in Alaska. The titans at the fair grew for only three months, gaining 20 to 40 pounds a day."


I'm having trouble even envisioning this.  The past few years, I don't recall seeing a pumpkin bigger than 500lbs.  The one here is more than twice that size, the disqualified one more than three times.  And to grow so fast?  Man, you must be able to practically watch it get bigger!  And getting the darned thing to the fair in the first place...wow.

Picture time!

I couldn't get a very good angle on this due to another downed power line off to the side, but here's a bit of what it was like during the hurricane.  The road is completely flooded, the lake in the upper left is actually a driveway, and the tree is down in the power lines across the road.  This is what idiots were out driving through during the storm.

In other news, I just got an email from Dennis at Dragon Leatherworks and my holster is nearly done and will be on its way in just a few days!  I feel like a kid at Christmas, that's how excited I am!

Seriously?

Any cat burglars looking for a job?

Got the Lower

I had a pretty rough week at work, so what better way to perk up then a trip to sonic (mmm drivethrough goodness) and a trip to the gun store? One of the local stores had a nice clearance sale over the weekend so I figured I'd check it out. In the spirit of hurricane preparedness, I was able to pick up some Emergency Water Pouches and emergency food bars for 1/2 off, which brough the price to a bit less than I'd pay on Amazon after local taxes. I usually keep a few nalgenes of water in the car but I figured a few pouches of water would be good for the car emergency kits, the desk at work, etc given the hot climate we're in right now.

While there I noticed some cheap AR lowers on sale. They had "Plum Crazy" brand polymer lowers with complete lower parts kit and stock installed for $129. I was hesitant of a plastic lower but they seemed solid enough, glock style plastics. They also had some Aero Precision lowers for $190 with LPK and stock installed. I was able to snag a used Aero Precision lower with parts kit installed which looked like it had never been fired for $150, and I grabbed a second one fully stripped for another $80.

There's a little wiggle with my BCM upper but it fits pretty well. For the price I'm pretty happy. Next I need a BCG and a charging handle along with a rear sight, and I need to install my ambi parts kit in the stripped lower. We also need to follow up on engraving for the lowers. Still, another step towards being complete with the project!

Irene Update

Well, the power is still out at my parent's house, but we made it to the airport okay and I'm sitting around waiting to start my trek back home.

Almost 100% of the town lost power.  Some of it is back, but most still isn't.  The first two days of school have been cancelled so far.  There were a lot of trees down in power lines and across roads, as well as some significant flooding.  I took some pictures which I will upload later.  One house that I've heard of was unfortunate enough to get a tree through the roof.  I was a bit concerned about the same happening to us, and had made a few back up plans for that eventuality.

We went out during the storm for a short walk - we were getting a lot of rain at the time but not much wind and wanted to see what sort of damage we were dealing with as the power had already been out for 12 hours.  We live a bit out-of-the-way, and if we waited for the town to take care of things, we'd be waiting a long time.  After the storm was past, we went out again with chainsaws and took care of clearing everything that did not involve power lines.

Even without power we were quite comfortable, mostly because we were prepared.  We broke out the white gas stove during the storm for tea and cocoa, and Sunday night (after the rain) fired up the charcoal grill and cooked off all the meat from the fridge and freezer.  As of this morning, the fridge was getting a little warm, but the freezer was still, well, frozen.  Helped, of course, by the fact that we'd frozen a bunch of jugs of water before the storm to help control the temperature.  We had a fire in the fireplace for s'mores and candles and flashlights for when it got dark.  I beat everyone soundly in cribbage, then got my butt handed to me in Yahtzee.  This morning we were even able to heat up water for baths. 

All the stores around are out of ice, bread, water, and some weird and bizarre items like bananas.  Who knew bananas were a storm food?  There was a run on generators as well, and I'll guarantee most people weren't hooking them up correctly.  The day of a hurricane is not the day to buy a generator, folks!  As always, preparation is the key.

Additionally, there were LOTS of people out driving around during and after the hurricane.  I have no idea where they thought they were going, because every single business in the town was closed.  With most of the roads closed, many people came down our road who have never driven it before.  Mind, this is a dirt road, full of blind curves, with a speed limit of 20mph.  People were whipping through at 40+, without headlights, on a road they'd never driven before, while there were power lines and trees down all over the place.  It was utter insanity!

Of course, the bottom line is that being prepared is necessary, and being prepared occurs before a disaster is on anyone's radar.  Unfortunately, I suspect that this lesson will not be learned by those who most need it.

Victim Disarmament Zone + Soft Targets + Jihad = ...

Apparently a young jihadist in Maryland was conspiring with a student at Penn State to execute a Columbine-style raid on his school, in part because a lot of the kids had parents who were military or worked for the US intel community.

First off, this is unpossible. Maryland has relatively strict gun control, and in any event, you can't legally bring guns into schools.

The kid was reading Inspire, which is AQ's english language online magazine. Based on the wiki for it, Inspire focuses on recruiting so called "lone wolf/homegrown" terrorists. It has lauded the attack on Ft Hood by Nidal Hassan and pointed out numerous times that there are many soft targets which are undefended. Luckily we've been very successful in stopping these attacks due to law enforcement and good intelligence.

Given that these plots often pick target areas where the attackers know that nobody else will be armed, and the Al Qaeda propoganda points out the advantages of such target sets, it seems fair to say that the enemy has cracked the code on victim disarmament zones. Just something fun to think about, especially as DW and I both often have to work/travel in such areas, given that even Pres Obama is worried about "lone wolves."

Pirates

Shocker: Allowing crews to defend themselves and hiring armed security guards cuts down on piracy. It is almost as if wolves prefer to attack lambs that aren't watched by sheep dogs.

Hello, Irene!

So I've been on vacation the past two weeks, with plane tickets to come home Monday.  Unfortunately, as it happens, I'm vacationing directly in the path of Hurricane Irene, which may put a bit of a crimp in my plans.  I expect the worst trouble where I am will be flooding and downed trees.  We'll be safe here as long as a tree doesn't fall on us (which, looking out the window, is entirely possible), but the flooding may make getting to the airport impossible.  That is, if they don't cancel my flight in the first place.  As it is, we're taking in some family who live in Manhattan.

The craziness has definitely hit.  I was at the store buying tomatoes yesterday and the shelves were cleaned out.  We have pretty good supplies here, but not the same as I would have at home.  I did convince them to buy extra water though (before every place sold out!).  We'll see how it goes.  If nothing else, I'm hoping to get some great storm pictures!

State of Emergency in North Carolina

The blogosphere has been humming about the State of Emergency declared in North Carolina due to the recent earthquake, impending hurricane, and inevitable swarm of locusts. Apparently NC has a broadly worded law that makes it a high misdemeanor to transport or possess any sort of dangerous weapon off your property when a state of emergency is declared, with the excpetion of certain special people on duty (I haven't dug into the law, but it may not exempt off-duty police... not sure).

People didn't read the actual proclamation though. In it, the governor explicitly stated that she was not invoking the restrictions on weapons. I agree that the law is stupid and possibly unconstitutional but it isn't a problem in this case.

Elections for the executive branch matter, because in many places the executive has the authority to enforce -- or not enforce -- the laws as they see fit. We often don't like selective enforcement because it can be arbitrary and capricious as well as dangerous to the principle of rule of law, but sometimes a win is a win. I won't fault an elected official for ignorning the law to stand for civil liberties too much!

My whimsical introduction to the contrary, I do hope that the Southeast gets through the impending hurricane ok with minimal damage and loss.

Gun Blogger Rendevous

The Rendevous is rapidly approaching!  On one hand, I really want to go.  As a college professor of mine once said, "it will never be closer and it will never be cheaper."  On the other hand, the timing is a bit awful.  I was hoping we could both drive down over the weekend, at least, but September 11th is that Saturday and I have to be back in town to play a concert.  I guess I could drive down Wednesday night or Thursday morning and then leave either Friday night or very early Saturday, but Chris certainly couldn't come with,  it's a lot of driving for two days, and I just realized that it would entail missing my second CERT class... but then again, maybe it is worth it.  I need to see if I'm even allowed to skip a CERT class, but if I am... What do you think?

Supertuck IWB Holster

I have a mixed relationship with IWB holsters. On one hand, they are practical and fairly comfortable for me. The draw is pretty similar to an OWB holster and they're simple and straightforward. However, I've had trouble finding one that works well.

I started with an Uncle Mike's just to test the concept. It worked and was ok as an inexpensive "test of concept" but the design was floppy and didn't give much confidence. I like a more rigid design that protects the trigger guard more effectively. Additionally, there is no protection for your skin so you have to wear an undershirt to keep the pistol slide from chewing you up.

I tried some other designs including a Bianchi IWB that worked fairly well. The problem with the Bianchi is that it only had one clip, and it never felt secure. I felt like the holster would rotate a bit, even on a stiff broad belt. If I had to jog or climb stairs it would sometimes work itself off the belt. This was with good, thick gun-leather belts as well as no-nonsense stiff "duty" belts, so I feel comfortable in blaming the holster. There were also some printing issues.

When leaving the colder climes, my need for a good concealment rig increased. In Alaska I could get away with just wearing an OWB rig and putting a jacket on over the top. Not really an option in hot weather.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Crossbreed Supertuck Deluxe. They are a bit pricey but thus far I have been very satisfied. The holster works for both the compact and full size M&P which is nice. There is a broad swath of soft leather between my skin and the firearm, and it looks like with some break-in it will conform nicely to my body. There's a stiff kydex retention design which also keeps the trigger guard free of clothes and other material, unlike a floppy Uncle Mike's holster or even a leather one.

Concealment is excellent. I can wear this at 3:00 or 4:00 -- unlike the Bianchi which needed to go at 4:30 or even 5:00 to avoid printing too much -- and avoid much printing even with just a semi-tight polo shirt. With a looser garment there's zero printing.

While the name advertises an ability to tuck in a shirt with it on, I find that to be much less useful. I mean, ok, yes, technically you can tuck in a shirt. However, unless the fabric is really thin it bunches up pretty seriously. And if it is thin, then there is printing. However, the option to tuck might be a good choice for folks who plan on wearing a jacket or sports coat that could conceal the bunching or printing. I did order the velcro straps and a belt with velcro, so I will try those out and see if it improves "tuck ability."

The best thing about the supertuck is comfort. The broad leather design and the use of two belt clips distributes the weight very well. I almost forget I'm carrying with this holster. It really is that comfortable.

The main downside I've discovered thus far is that there is no screw to adjust retention. Crossbreed sends instructions for how to use a hair dryer to adjust the plastic's retention or offers to do it for you, and the factory retention fit is pretty good, but a screw would be a nice feature, standard on many other designs.

Thus far, I'm quite pleased. Good concealment plus great comfort is a winner in my book.

Ship Creek in the MSM

Nice to see the MSM reporting on one of the really unique things about Anchorage.

One of my bosses used to hit up Ship Creek every day before work when the salmon were running. That is, when he wasn't "combat fishing" (drive 3 hours down to the Kenai, fish to catch his limit, sleep until 5 minutes past midnight, limit out again, drive back to Anchorage, shower at the gym, then come to work again).

Lone Wolves

Apparently Pres Obama is concerned about Lone Wolf attacks, because one crazy person with a gun can inflict a lot of damage and is apparently hard to trace. That may be why his administration is promoting people who systematically armed organized drug cartels; maybe organized narco-terrorism is much easier to track and monitor than individual lone wolf crazy sprees, so we should just arm the cartels in hopes that they take out the "little guys."

Too bad DW and I both often work and travel in victim disarmament gun free zones. It seems that the lone wolf problem is most easily dealt with by encouraging a situation where the "good guys" can provide a <60 second response time in order to put down the rabid dogs that think themselves wolves.

Criminal Control

This isn't local, but it relates to Victim Disarmament Zones and seems somewhat fantastic to me.

Apparently a kid in Florida was getting ready to blow up his school. Luckily police intervened and actually prevented the crime (unfortunately, they usually show up after the killer has committed suicide and are relegated to chalking out the bodies).

I do have to wonder, though... Why was this kid out on the streets?

Authorities said Cano has multiple juvenile arrests. Charges have included burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, altering serial numbers on a firearm and drug possession. All have been either dismissed or no action has been taken.

First off, all our gun control apparently didn't stop the perp from obtaining a weapon in the past. After all, it is illegal for him to buy one (under federal law), illegal for him to concealed carry it, and certainly illegal to obtain one while he's a user of an unlawful controlled substance. Even after he was caught for what would is a serious felony under our current gun control act, he was apparently cut loose. Next, even banning guns wouldn't have stopped his plot, which relied on bombs.

In fact, the police and school administrators said this:

"Mr. Cano had indeed been on our juvenile checklist in '08 and' 09. He had been arrested recently for a burglary in which a firearm was stolen, and he has some other charges such a [breaking and entering] of autos, and possession of marijuana," explained Major John Newman with the Tampa Police Department.

Cano was expelled from Freedom High school after that charge. He had started high school at Freedom as a freshman. Principal Chris Farkas said Cano blended in.

"He was not involved at anything that jumps out at me. Not an athlete or anything like that, involved those academic clubs," Farkas explained.

Farkas said he saw no warning signs, no red flags that Cano was plotting an attack.

The principal apparently doesn't consider drug use, breaking into cars, stealing guns, filing the serial numbers off of guns, and unlawfully carrying around a concealed handgun "red flags," but ok then. So we have a kid who's been committing felonies for the past three years, since the age of 14, and he's still out on the streets? Meanwhile, if an otherwise law abiding adult gun owner did something like this -- say, filing off a serial number -- it'd be a serious felony. Likewise, if he had been a poor kid from a bad neighborhood then I have a feeling the justice system would have chewed him up, put him on the digital plantation, and ruined his life forever.

I wonder if his friends or family were connected in the local community and were able to protect him from the fallout of the justice system despite some of his previous misdeeds.

So Much for Civil Liberties

Remember how the Democrats kicked and screamed and made noises about civil liberties in the wake of the Patriot Act? I was actually really optimistic about the prospects for a Democratic president with a friendly Congress to undo the worst abuses of the post-9/11 security state.

Now the Democrats are deriding TSA's new intrusive questioning program for not being invasive enough. Apparently they strongly support groping and taking naked pictures of most airline passengers. If the Dems have no desire to scale back the TSA insanity I seriously doubt that the Strong on National Security Republicans will have any appetite. I think we're stuck with the expensive, useless, and offensive infringements.

Paranoid? I think not.

A few weeks ago we were called paranoid for owning body armor.  The person could not envision any possible reason for a person to need such things in their home.

Then this happened:

Today I was hanging around the apartment while Chris was at work.  I was lounging on the couch, playing around on my guitar whe all of a sudden I heard several loud noises.  I froze for a few seconds while my brain said "Hey, I'm pretty dang sure that was gunfire.  Right here."

The guitar went down and I grabbed my gun and my phone and went into the bedroom and strapped on my body armor.  From the bedroom, I could hear a male and female voice, both sounding quite angry.  I couldn't make out much either than cursing and the occasional "get out of here" or "I want you gone" or something along those lines.  I couldn't see anything out any of the windows, and could only really hear from the bedroom (which, given the layout of the apartments, leads me to believe that this incident was in one of the rooms directly below my bedroom).

No one appeared to be injured, nor were there any other gunshots.  In short order the shouting was done, several cars left the parking lot, so I relaxed a bit and took the body armor off.  It took about half an hour for the police to come knocking.  I told them I did hear what sounded like gunshots, and shouting, but I couldn't see anything.  Interestingly enough, the officer only spoke with me and one other apartment on this floor, bypassing the other two.  He also didn't appear to talk to anyone on the other floors (apart from ground floor - I can't hear if someone walks up to a ground floor apartment).

I have no idea what actually happened tonight.  If I was to make a guess though, it would be that someone in one of the apartments beneath me discharged a firearm in some direction that was (thankfully) not up.  Given the lack of ambulances, I'm guessing that no one was injured.

Seeing as the police response is not very fast and I may be living on top of someone whose mastery of firearms safety is somewhat lacking, I think having body armor is a fantastic idea.

National Review for Gun Rights

The National Review just ran a column about the chaos in Britain which points out the downsides of citizen disarmament programs. It is nice to see the conservatives in National Review -- who aren't always known for libertarian leanings, and who often think of the gun rights movement as the crazy uncle in the attic that conveniently votes Republican often enough -- coming out with an articulate and forceful argument.

Not Victims

Apparently the US Attorney's office in Arizona has decided that Brian Terry's family are not victims with regard to the case against Jaime Avila, one of the ATF's part time employees straw buyers from the Fast and Furious "Gunwalker" scandal. Avila smuggled the weapon that killed US Border Patrol agent Brian Terry into Mexico apparently after the FBI ensured his NICS check would go through, when the ATF ordered the firearms dealer to make the sale, and while ATF agents watched but took no action.

Official victim status lets the family speak at the trial and sentencing. I am not sure exactly how routine a request this was and how strange it was to deny the request. Fox does say that such motions are routinely approved by prosecutors and usually opposed by the defense attorneys (makes sense). However, there are a few interesting reasons why this prosecutor rejected the request.

• The feds may want to cut a deal with Jaime Avila so that he will implicate higher ups or at least sing whatever song they want him to sing vis a vis Gunwalker. That is, they have no interest in dealing harshly with this particular felon.
• The prosecutor was also the lead District Attorney for Gunwalker in AZ. Both folks in the prosecutor's office are under subpeona to testify to Congress based on their involvement in Gunwalker.
• If the family are considered "victims" then they may be able to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the US government.

The ironic thing is that if a private cartel had found a way to pervert background checks, encouraged straw buyers to make illicit purchases, and coerced dealers into making sales they knew were fradulent and illegal, then the DOJ and many others (media, brady bunch, etc) would be screeching for their heads and handing out "victim status" cards to everyone they could. But when the cartel organizing all this is the ATF then apparently nobody is a victim; after all, to be a victim, you need a perpetrator.

Still, maybe we should talk to Joan Peterson and the Brady Campaign to have them lobby for these victims of gun violence.

Restrictive Gun Control Fails to Prevent Shooting, So We Need More

Gwen rants about a US Army-Alaska soldier who was shot by a trooper by Fairbanks:

http://www.adn.com/2011/08/01/1995427/trooper-shoots-armed-man-at-delta.html I am glad that our well-regulated militia has access to firearms–it prevented a crime in this case. Too bad that just about any Tom, Dick and Harry can get their hands on a gun, and then create problems for the rest of us.

At this time we still don't know many facts about this incident. We do have the names of the trooper involved as well as the soldier who has been charged (and who was shot!).

However, Gwen's position on this is incredibly absurd. Let's consider some of the incongruities.

- Prohibited Person: If we look up the soldier involved on Alaska Trial View, we'll find that he may be divorced with a restraining order out against him. I say "may" because there is another, much older, person with the same name who has a long record and the protective order is ambiguous. He doesn't appear to have a DV record in the state of Alaska. However, there is a chance that he is a prohibited person due to DV in another state, or due to the restraining order. This is especially disturbing, as the military takes enforcement of the Lautenberg Amendment fairly seriously. They actually require soldiers to regularly swear/affirm that they are in compliance with the law before they can be issued arms and may even check up on it. So, if this is the case, the soldier may have perjured himself and the Army may have failed to check up on their troop.

- The Well Regulated Militia: Gwen is confused, because a member of the "Well Regulated Militia" did not shoot the soldier. A member of a select militia, our own Alaska State Troopers, did so.

- "Only Ones:" In the past, Gwen has stated forcefully that the only people in our society who should possess firearms are the police and military. She has then clarified that this should only apply when such people are on duty. Think about what this implies about her view of our men and women in uniform -- clearly, she feels that they are so irresponsible and reckless as a class to only be trusted with arms when under direct supervision (and I think she does not understand what modern military training for marksmanship is like, nor does she understand how much autonomy the American fighting man is given in the field even at very junior ranks). Alternatively, she may feel that our soldiers and police can't be trusted with arms under any case but it is a necessary evil to arm them on duty, preferably abroad when among other people; in this case, one wonders how she in good conscience can support letting such an army operate among the civilian population of another country in a counterinsurgency war. Personally, if an army or police force requires close supervision to prevent atrocities against civilian populations, then that is not the kind of army or police force I'd want. I don't think we have such a force, thankfully, but Gwen apparently does -- either that, or she has zero regard for civilians in other countries.

- Registration: This soldier was a junior enlisted man which meant he was probably living on base. If so, then he was required to register his firearm with the unit arms room and his commander.

- Effective Licensing: When soldiers register their firerms, they must give written notice to their commanders. Commanders have exceedingly broad authority over their soldiers and could argueably prohibit them from accessing arms. This is essentially licensing, with very broad and subjective criteria.

- Safe Off-Site Storage: If this soldier lived on base, he was almost certainly required to store his firearm in the unit arms room. I am not sure what USARAK policy is right now but there is a possibility that it requires written commander or supervisor approval to check out the weapon. It almost certainly gives the arms room NCOIC authority to refuse to allow a member to draw their arm on purely subjective criteria.

- Concealed Carry Prohibited: Despite the DoD reauthorization bill which prohibits the Army from regulating arms of servicemembers and their families when off post, I believe USARAK still prohibited concealed carry under all circumstances. While perhaps not legit order, it is still in effect and may well be considered to be a "lawful order" if disobeyed.

So, to summarize, we have an "only one" who may be a prohibited person who is also subject to frequent background checks, weapons registration, safe storage, arbitrary and subjective supervision as to when he is allowed to actually take his firearm out of storage, and a ban on concealed carry. All that gun control, and yet an Alaska State Trooper still perceived an imminent threat and the man has been charged with serious crimes.

Gwen's answer is to bleat that we need more gun control. Really, she should think about what she is saying. This incident occurred despite all the gun control we currently have plus most of what she would consider essential intermediate steps along the road to the total prohibition she desires. Then again it is not a surprise to find that an anti-self-defense zealot has crap for brains.

Musings About Practice

Both Chris and I are trained musicians and several times have talked about how this applies to learning firearms skills.  Breath control is something that translates very easily from one application to the other.  Fine motor skills as well - there are a lot of people out there who aren't used to controling their body in such precise ways.

What I'm thinking about today, however, is practicing.  My defensive firearms instructor used this continuum very frequently: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence.

Obviously you want to proceede along that spectrum and eventually end up at unconscious competence.  The instructor also said that it would take tens of thousands of repetitions to achieve this, which I cannot disagree with.

I remember one moment in early high school very clearly, the moment my eyes reading music and my fingers and face and breath creating the sound all simply clicked together and I realized that I didn't have to actually think about this at all.  That is the feeling I associate with unconscious competence.  Now, I hadn't mastered my instrument by then (does anyone ever master an instrument?  The learning process always continues) but that particular aspect of it had reached the desired level.

Today, I looked back at how I got to that one moment.  Years.  To master that one skill took five years of practice.  Now mind you, I'm a bit on the lazy side.  I was not and am not one of those people who practices for hours a day.  To be honest, during that time frame my parents were satisfied if they could bully me into practicing once or twice a week.  But it wasn't just the practice.  From the get-go, I had private lessons once a week.  I had rehearsals for school ensembles every day, after the first year.  I had rehearsals for an out-of-school ensemble weekly.  I might not have been practicing every day, but I was certainly playing just about every day, and that counts as repetition as well (so long as you're doing it correctly).  Now, if we only count the school year (I didn't play nearly so much in the summers), that's about 289 days a year.  Let's say the first two years were only a quarter of that each, so 80 days the first two years, 289 the next three.  That's 1,027 days, about an hour a day.  That's how long it took to reach that unconscious competence for that one particular area on my one particular instrument.

That's a lot of time.

I don't put that much time into shooting.  I bet most people don't.  Shooting is more expensive.  It's more time consuming.

These days, I tend to leave my instrument sitting out on a chair, so that as I walk by I can simply pick it up and play for five or ten or fifteen minutes and then continue about my day.  The time adds up - not as much as when I was in school, but enough to maintain the competence I've already earned.

Shooting is different.  Obviously I can't just leave my gun sitting out and bang out a few shots a few times a day.  Also, I haven't yet earned that level of competence with my firearm that I have with my horn.  But how do I find the time to put in a thousand hours of practice?  I'm an adult now, with grown-up responsibilies, and when the range is forty minutes away, an hour's practice becomes three hours really fast (and gas is expensive!).  All that lead is money that I'm shooting downrange as well.  When I blow a few notes in my horn it doesn't cost a penny, but the ammo adds up.

As I said earlier, I was not a "practice every day" girl.  But I still got those playing hours in, and this was how:

Lessons.  In music, this was once a week for an hour.  In firearms, that's probably not reasonable, but taking a class every now and then is.  Classes are expensive, but they give you a lot of time with the gun and expert advice to boot.  We've been pretty good about this.

Ensembles.  This was the best thing that got me playing - even today, I try to always be playing with some group that meets once a week.  I can block out one evening a week and put up two or three good hours of playing.  For firearms, maybe this is some sort of shooting club or some IDPA or something along those lines.  Maybe it's just you and your friends agreeing to go to the range every Saturday morning for a few hours.  Being responsible to the group is more likely to get you out.  This is something I need to try more.  I had a goal of doing some IDPA while out here, but that's fallen to the wayside.

Practice.  Yeah, I hated it as a kid, but there's really no way around it.  To head off the time and money issues in the firearms arena, it seems like dry-fire is the answer.  No lead expended.  No need to drive to the range.  The biggest issue here is to make sure that you are doing this safely.  Better people than me have written all about this, so I'll leave that to them.

I've only been shooting for two years at this point and most of my skills are either consious incompetence or conscious competence.  Sometimes this is depressing, but coming back and thinking about all the hours I put into my horn to get where I am brings it back into perspective.  I just need to apply those lessons to shooting.

I think it's time for some dry-fire.

TSA Uselessness

I had another interesting TSA encounter during some business travel recently. My trip out went fine, but the next time I visited the airport was more sporty.

I was flying out of a major US city and thus the two lines both went through a rapiscan full body imager (you know, the ones that apparently might give the employees cancer). I normally opt for the pat down. First, I am in favor of anything that is personally uncomfortable for the employees of TSA. I like to make them work harder, I like to look them uncomfortably in the eye while they are forced to deal with me, and I want them to be personally involved in their work. This is best done via a pat down. Additionally, it gums up the works in a fairly subtle manner -- thus inconveniencing all the other passengers and making the American people dislike TSA even more for delaying them. Finally, there is some PR value to making myself -- a clean cut business traveler -- a subject of an invasive and public search. It obviously isn't as dramatic as when TSA assaults a rape surivor, feels up a nun in a wheelchair, or separates bawling toddlers from their mothers, but still, it can't hurt for people to see the absurdity and indignity of these searches.

Regrettably, I was short on time today as I arrived late to the airport. When traveling for pleasure, I'll take my time and risk missing a flight. But when I travel for business, that's my employer's time and plane ticket and I'm wary of wasting it or appearing to waste it.

So, I said, "I'd prefer to go through the metal detector, please" when it was my turn to see how it would go down. They told me I'd have to wait for a pat down. I asked how long that would be. Given that there were lots of extra employees lounging around and a short line, this should have been an easy question. The smirking reply? "We can't say for certain, sir; it may be some time until someone is available." I pressed a bit for details, asking if "some time" meant more like a few minutes or more like half an hour. The TSA flunky got a manager-type that explained that due to all the factors it might take "at least twenty or forty minutes" until a male screener was available to begin the search (and of course, it might take "significantly longer" depending on things went).

WTF? There are at least three male screeners just hanging out -- including this supervisor -- and it might take a half hour to find some rubber gloves? I pressed the issue politely once more, explaining I had a flight to catch, and the supervisor refused to clarify a start time.

Fearing missing my flight I grudgingly got into the rapiscan machine, snarkily remarking, "Well, I guess I'll be inconvenienced this way today." The supervisor-type guy had the gall to come back, "Sir, I'm not forcing you to go through the machine. You have a choice." I came back, "Copy, so I can wait at least half an hour or more for one of your screeners to get off their break so they can touch my genital area and inside my pants, or I can go through the machine? I guess I'll have to opt for the machine today."

Then they wanted me to assume the position. You know, the feet shoulder width apart, hands above your head type deal. I know at least two good dudes -- a marine who fought in Fallujah and a great self-defense instructor -- who both were strong advocates of never, ever letting anyone put you into the "surrender" (aka "please don't violate me") position for both tactical and moral reasons. Personally I feel it is offensive and even degrading to be put into that position. I suspect that the chosen position TSA requests for their searches and scans has as much to do with establishing a psychological position to establish dominance if they want to question you as it does for making the scans work better.

So I did the "USPSA Surrender Position," i.e., feet in weaver positions, body bladed, and fingertips about shoulder height. This obviously didn't fly for the TSA guys so I complied with their request to get my hands higher by raising them about an inch. Then another inch. At that point I guess they got sick of me holding up the line, so they whirred the machine, gave me my radiation dose, took my nekked picture to add to the file on difficult travelers, and motioned me out.

Apparently they saw something funny so they had to feel up one of my legs. I maintained uncomfortable eye contact with the dude until he finished, and then he remarked, "That really didn't help anything, you know." I briefly asked, "Oh, did I inconvenience you?" He nodded, started to say something, and I cut him off and said, "Then it did. Good bye."

Then I left, having pushed my luck with the goons enough.

The funny thing about all this?

I found my toiletries kit in my carryon after getting through the checkpoint when I was repacking my laptop. Apparently it had fallen into my laptop case somehow as I was packing out of my hotel room at oh-dark-thirty this morning. I normally throw my toiletries kit into my checked luggage as it has a shaving razor, several gels/liquids, and a bladed utility knife, but I couldn't find it this morning so assumed I'd already tossed it into the checked bag even though it somehow ended up in the carry on.

So here we have a "belligerent passenger" who highlighted himself by being difficult, opted for the rapiscan machine then endured a partial pat down, put frowned-upon items into a case that was basically empty (after the laptop was removed) which should make them easy to see -- and they still missed the prohibited items.

Enjoy your security theater.

Going Green = Taking My Green

Today, I received our first electric bill at our new place.  I expected to see a laundry list of assorted fees, of course, but the names of some made me curious.  In particular, I was charged fees for the following:

- Temporary Green Power Financing
- Renewable Energy Program
- Energy Efficiency Fee

The first one, TGPF, is a "temporary charge to foster the development of new alternative energy projects in Nevada."  Ok, that's nice.  But let's keep going here.

REP is basically a charge to me to pay for the rebates offered to people using solar and wind power.  Let's put that together with the first one.  I'm paying for them to develop alternate energy projects which they then offer rebates for, but I also pay for those rebates.

Right.  But wait, it gets better!

Now we have the EEF.  This is a brand new fee, just started this month.  The company says ": A charge to recover costs and other expenses associated with Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs"  So your energy efficiency programs can't pay for themselves.

Of course, then there is also this little thing.  "The state’s electric company wants to raise power bills by as much as 5 percent for Southern Nevadans as compensation for the loss of electricity sales because customers are more power-efficient"


There we have it, folks.  Be energy efficient, and pay more money!  John Owens, director of "renewable green stuff" suggests that people simply conserve more to offset the increase in rates.  Well, John, when everyone conserves to offset that increase, is your company just going to take it like a man, or are you going to raise rates and create more fees?

More on Canada and Firearms

My recent post about Canada's firearms laws -- spawned by a current events news story -- got a fair amount of feedback. There were some links from others as well as an irate Canuck. I wanted to explain a bit more in detail the issues.

BARRIER 1: THE GCA 1968

If you review the ATF data on “unlicensed persons” you’ll find it is totally legit to ship yourself a firearm. For example, you can mail yourself a rifle to go hunting with in another state, no problem.

In theory an unlicensed person can do the same thing with a handgun. However, handguns cannot be shipped via the US mail. You have to go via contract carrier, which generally means UPS or FEDEX for most of us. Then you are bound by their corporate policies which are more restrictive than federal law. I investigated it recently and UPS (at least the branch in Alaska) would only ship to an FFL. The problem with this is that the FFL cannot transfer it to you unless you’re a resident of that state. So an Alaskan driving to Haines (via Canada) then hopping on the ferry to WA can’t mail a gun to Seattle and pick it up at an FFL there unless they establish residency in WA.

Fedex will ship guns to “licensed collectors” as well as FFLs. That includes your FFL03, even if the firearms aren’t C&Rs. Remember ,it is corporate policy, not federal law. FEDEX was willing to “hold shipment” upon arrival in Washington for a few days then let me pick them up in person as long as I showed my C&R license. They weren’t willing to hold it for long enough for the ferry trip though, and they wouldn’t agree to a pre-extension of the hold time in advance.

There is also an FFL in Haines. So I could have shipped my handgun(s) from Southcentral to Haines via UPS/FEDEX. The FFL could then transfer them to me as we’re still in Alaska. However, people have had issues with the NICS check in Haines not going through right away which triggers the 3-day waiting period. So unless you’re waiting for your ferry for three extra days in scenic Haines (it really is very pretty…) you could be left in the situation of needing to catch the boat before the clock runs out.

BARRIER 2: CANADA

Canada's website makes the process sound reasonable. It is not.

First, any handgun is restricted or prohibited. One of the criteria for prohibited is a short barrel. So, a S&W M&P compact — totally legal in Kalifornia — is verboten in Canada. Prohibited means there is no way you’re getting it into the country.

Restricted guns require an Authorization to Transport. This requires you to either show up to the Customs point or office to pick up the paperwork weeks/months in advance, precoordinate via phone with the Chief Firearms Officer, or show up at hte border, declare them, and hope that they can get the CFO on the phone for an ad-hoc teleconference (and if they can’t, you’re stuck).

I tried 2-3 months in advance to coordinate with the CFO to bring restricted firearms through. The problem is the only phone number they give you leads you to a 1-800 number style answering machine. They are pretty good about calling you back but they are terrible about sending you the paperwork you need to complete and send in. I got the feeling that the program was underfunded and not a priority; given that some of the provinces don’t even bother enforcing the laws I can see why (and thus they only apply to Americans I suppose). Yukon Territory doesn’t even have its own CFO; it has to share with BC.

I ended up just hand carrying and declaring my excess quality ammo and not bringing any firearms through. Maybe if you started the process six months out you could get it done, and it might help if you’re willing to drive out into the middle of hte wilderness to talk to the border people in person, or if you can afford to delay for a few days on the border for your ATT to go through. Of course, there is a stretch of “no-man’s land” in between the US and Canadian checkpoints a few KM in length so you’d have to leave the US and enter Canada to even talk to their border agents.

There are only a few ways to get handguns from Southcentral Alaska to the lower 48.

• Fly with them in your luggage.
• Hand carry through Canada with an Authorization to Transport; no "prohibited" weapons need apply. Start coordination EARLY (a year out would not be unreasonable).
• Ship them via contract carrier to an FFL in another state. Change your residency to the other state so the FFL can transfer them back to you.
• Sell them and buy new ones in your new state (if you are switching residency and not just visiting).
• Ship them to yourself -- not an FFL. Based on my research, this can pretty much only be done with FEDEX. FEDEX will only help you out if you hold a FFL03. No, they don't care that the guns you're shipping aren't curios and relics. They also don't have to ship them to the address on your C&R. Nobody said the corporate policy made sense.
• Ship them to an FFL in Haines, Alaska and pick them up before you get on the ferry. Plan an extra 3 days in Haines on the off chance that NICS is down and your check doesn't go through instantly.
• Book passage on the cross-gulf ferry. They just started running those again regularly this summer. However, due to demand, they booked up right away and are hard to get spots on.
• Leave them in AK (or sell them) and buy a C&R defensive sidearm in the place you're visiting. I actually was thinking hard about just picking up a CZ-82.

The thing that frustrates me is that these laws are so easily circumvented. One of my family members just asked, "Why can't you just ship them to an FFL, I'll pick them up, and then give them back to you?" They had just described a straw transfer which is a felony for them and for me, but even people who don't know much about the subject can rapidly come up with ways to pierce the web of laws we've set up. I also knew several coworkers who said they'd just "smuggled" guns through the Canadian border and hadn't gotten caught.

I'm pretty sure that a hardenened con could find a way to get around either their laws or our laws. The law abiding citizen though is left with few options and a lot of pain-in-the-neck. These laws are a joke. They are both onerous and ineffective infringements, which is what irritates me so much.

Reasonable Gun Laws and Smuggling in Canada

Canada recently rolled up some American citizens traveling to America on "gun smuggling" charges. Given the whole Gunrunner thing I guess it is reasonable for the Canucks to be concerned about American gun smuggling, but then again, the individuals involved were past retirement age so I doubt they were working for the ATF.

The two alleged smugglers -- both senior citizens with clean previous records -- had about a half dozen firearms. Now, I totally understand why one might want to bring guns through Canada in such a manner. Canada's procedure for legally declaring firearms other than certain hunting-type long arms in incredibly onerous. It takes literally months of previous preparation, and there is no guarantee that you'll get permission at all. Even declaring a firearm at the border -- while totally legit, say, a hunting shotgun -- is risky because it may increase the risk that you'll suffer the inconvenience of having your vehicle torn apart in a search for something.

Meanwhile, Canadian gun control is a farcical failure. 72% of Canadians feel that their registry is useless, and similar majorities of front-line cops feel the same way. There are serious privacy concerns because the registry system is not secure. The $2 million system has ended up costing over a billion dollars. Non-compliance is huge -- large double digit percentages of both citizens (probably well over 50%) and Canadian law enforcement organizations have failed to register their firearms. Several provinces refuse to enforce the laws. Their own auditor general states:

The performance report focuses on activities such as issuing licences and registering firearms. The Centre does not show how these activities help minimize risks to public safety with evidence-based outcomes such as reduced deaths, injuries and threats from firearms.

Pretty much the only people that the laws seem to apply to are Americans traveling across the border.

Meanwhile, the Gun Control Act of 1968 can make it difficult to ship firearms ahead. Long arms are ok -- you can ship them via USPS and send to yourself to pick them up upon arrival. Handguns are a lot harder though as they have to be shipped via contract carrier. UPS and FEDEX have restrictive corporate policies that pretty much require them to go to a FFL, and the FFL can't or won't transfer your own gun to you if you aren't in your home state. The best work around I've found is using a C&R FFL03 with FEDEX to have them ship the pistol to you just like you would with a rifle and USPS.

This is what "reasonable gun control" looks like, folks. The purpose is not to be effective at reducing crime. The purpose is to apply arbitrary and capricious law enforcement action against people who had no intent to ever commit a violent crime and to suppress lawful ownership of inanimate objects.

As a note, when I had to drive through Canada, I brought my own gas. I didn't want to spend an extra nickle in their country. It really is too bad that we gave them the ALCAN for free. Given that we built it and American dollars continue to support it, I think that Americans should have free passage on the ALCAN highway -- at least the stretch to Haines, so that you can get on the ferry free of Canada's onerous and useless import laws.

Home Invasion

Not in Alaska. Looks like yet another middle-of-the-night ninja raid on the wrong target.

The target -- a retired military translator who had served in Iraq -- thought based on the conduct and nature of the police raid that terrorists from Iraq were kicking in his door in a revenge raid.