Financial preparation for SHTF

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The blog is going to take a turn from gun news to more of a prepping resource. I've been a prepper for many years, ten years on purpose and twenty years more or less because that was just the lifestyle I lived. I was a prepper before I knew there was a term for it. Disaster preparedness, not waiting on the end of the world, the Chinese are invading, survivalist (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I have a list of topics that I want to write about, I even have a couple of posts started and just haven't put the final touches on them, but this one is probably the most important post of disaster preparedness.

If you are financially prepared, you are ready to survive 99% of disasters that will come your way. I am by no means advocating to forego food and water storage, damage mitigation, or disaster planning. In fact, I'm a YUGE fan of planning and having a written plan in place for errorything.

If you have the money and there's a hurricane on the horizon, jet out, vacay in Colorado. Tornado, no prob, hunker down in the storm shelter until the threat is gone. Zombie apocalypse, you better start building that fort right now. Not everyone can afford to flee a storm and vacation in the mountains for a month, in fact, many Americans live pay check to pay check or even struggle to pay monthly expenses on time.

Initiative to Amend California's Constitution to Include the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Guest post by Sam Bocetta
A small contingent of Second Amendment advocates is marching forward with their initiative to
put the right to bear and keep arms into the California Constitution.

The group seeks to engage with and gather support from the nearly 13 million gun owners that
reside in California. Since early May the group, 2AforCA has started taking millions of online
commitments on their website in the form of signatures and online signups. They hope that with
enough numbers they can add a constitutional amendment that would protect existing gun rights
in California.

The 2AforCA summarizes their petition with, “THE INITIATIVE FOR A STATE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT RECOGNIZING AND GUARANTEEING ALL LAW-
ABIDING CALIFORNIANS THEIR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.”

The goal of the movement is to stop legislation from passing that would adversely affect
gun ownership throughout California and help return gun rights to all law-abiding people
throughout the Golden State.

The online petition, which kicked in early June, the campaign picked up 80,000 commitments.
There is also an online donation area that has raised money for the campaign as well.

Bahrami said front-loading the campaign with pledged signers will help speed the petition
process along when it goes active. Once the petition process is filed and given the go-ahead to
collect signatures, which will start as soon as they reach 800,000 commitments. 2AforCA will
have six months to generate 585,000 to put the constitutional amendment on the next general
election ballot. Also, the effort will have the benefit of petitions that can be printed at home and
mailed in, similar to the successful drive to recall Gov. Grey Davis in 2002.

The effort originally started from the Veto Gunmageddon referendum effort late last fall which
aimed to gather 365,000 signatures on seven different petitions to stop a series of pending gun
control laws. Suffering from narrow six-week window and no budget, the effort came up pretty
short, collecting just over half the number of signatures needed, despite hundreds of volunteers
and signing locations.

I believe that while Californians’ right to keep and bear arms, as in the rest of the country, is
nominally covered under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a “Yes” vote would
help give state lawmakers a mandate to protect gun rights from future perceived
encroachments. It would also help build an additional legal bulwark to challenge current
restrictive laws.

For anyone who is a gun right supporter in California or any state for that matter, the time to
stand up for our rights is here and now. Kudos to 2AforCA for spearheading this initiative and
spread the message to your friends and family.

Author bio: Sam Bocetta is a writer at Gun News Daily, where he covers US gun news and gear reviews.

MDA hates gun owners, still.

A Florida woman, who was 36 weeks pregnant and upset with her husband, took his pistol from a closet, pulled the slide  back to eject the chambered round, and thinking the gun was unloaded, pointed it at her abdomen. The husband walked into the bedroom, saw what she was doing, and attempted to take the handgun from her. The firearm discharged, striking him in the hand and her in the abdomen, resulting in the death of the unborn child.

The woman was previously convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 2010, escaping from law enforcement in 2012 and at the time of the homicide of the baby, was on probation. She was arrested for a probation violation. There is no indication that the husband has ever been arrested or accused of a crime.

The following is what Moms Demand Action thinks of gun owners and the women that marry them.

It's not reported if there was an argument or what led to her becoming angry, but clearly the anger from Moms Demand Action toward him is his gun ownership.

The baby was delivered by Caesarean section, but did not survive. The MDA members are arguing amongst themselves of whether or not the baby that was delivered via Caesarean section was a fetus or a child.

These people hate you, because you're a gun owner. And, most of them appear to be very evil.

NICS Facts and how it works

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was established in 1998 as a result of the Brady Act of 1993. Initially, local police departments were required to run criminal background checks on gun buyers, but that portion of the Brady Act was struck down as unconstitutional cos cops aren't slaves.

Once a potential firearms purchased completes a form 4473, the FFL dealer contacts a NICS call center to request a background check. The call taker searches four databases, the Interstate Identification Index, National Crime Information Center, NICS Index, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement databases. The Interstate Identification Index will be replaced with the Next Generation Identification Increment 4.

The III contains individual criminal history records, The NCIC contains records of persons who are the subject of protection orders or active criminal arrest warrants, NICS Index contains information on persons prohibited by federal or state law from possessing a firearm, and ICE databases contain information on non-US citizens.

If the call taker finds no matching records, a proceed is given to the FFL to complete the transfer. 66 percent of transactions are given a proceed by the NICS call center. No information is provided to the call taker regarding the type of firearm transferred and records of this background check are purged within 24 hours.

If the call taker finds matching a record, the FFL is transferred to an FBI examiner to determine the potential buyer's firearms eligibility status. If a complete and matching record is found, a deny is issued. If the record is incomplete, the FFL is given a delay. The FBI has three business days to complete its investigation and contact the FFL to issue a proceed or deny. If the FBI doesn't complete the investigation within three days, the FFL can (but isn't required to) transfer the firearm. The FBI has 88 days to complete its investigation before the records of the background check are purged from the system. If it's found that the transferee is a prohibited person and the FFL transferred the firearm, the FBI forwards a firearm retrieval referral to the ATF. There were 2,511 such referrals in 2014.

Quick Facts:

There are 12,881,223 active records in the NICS Index. Half of those records are for illegal aliens, half of the remaining are for persons adjudicated mentally ill.

Sara Brady once bought a gun and transferred it to her son without a background check

As of December 31, 2014, 1,166,676 persons were denied the purchase of a firearm through NICS. 90,895 were denied in 2014, 4 of those were for renouncing their U.S. citizenship. Dumbasses.

Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action, a gun control group, has armed security. 

91% of NICS transactions are immediately determined as proceed or deny

Since some denials are erroneous, there is an appeals process and a Voluntary Appeal File can be created and entered into NICS. With the VAF, persons who were routinely denied or delayed can have an immediate determination. There are 31,100 persons who have a VAF. 

In 2014, of the 90,895 denials, 31,125 were appealed. The deny transaction was overturned for 4,411 of those appeals.

You can go to www.fbi.gov/nics-appeals to start the appeals process.

Micheal Bloomberg, who finances gun control groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, also has armed security.

The 200 millionth background check resulted in a denial. It was on Friday, November 28, 2014 at 12:53 p.m.

In 2010, nearly 80,000 people received a denial on the NICS background check, 62 were arrested, charges were dismissed on 18. 

In 2014 1,887,169 firearms transactions were delayed.

Everything you wanted to know about lost and stolen firearms

and maybe a little bit more.

1. 19,229 firearms were lost or stolen from FFLs in 2014, 13,510 of those were lost.

2. Pistols account for 30% of lost or stolen firearms, just over half were stolen.

3. Rifles account for 25% of lost or stolen firearms, 80% were lost.

4. 35 suppressors were stolen, another 94 were lost.

5. 35 machine guns went missing in 2014, 13 through burglary, 10 through larceny and 12 were lost.
   5a. Larceny is a non-violent theft akin to embezzlement and used to carry the death penalty.

6. 94 unknown types of firearms were lost. DAFUQ, how you don't know what type of firearm was lost?

7. Wyoming FFLs lost the most firearms with 848, New Jersey FFLs lost the least firearms with 0.

8. North Carolina FFLs lost the most firearms through burglary with 347, Rhode Island had the least with 0.

9. There were a total of 2,157 reports to the ATF regarding lost or stolen firearms.

10. Florida FFLs filed the most lost or stolen reports with 173, New Jersey filed the least with 1.

11. Ohio FFLs lost the most firearms through larceny with 99, New Jersey had the least with 0.

12. Of the 22 robbery reports, Texas filed 11.

13. "Lost firearms" doesn't necessarily mean that a firearm is not in the FFL's inventory. Some things can lead to a firearm being "lost" such as serial numbers being incorrectly recorded when receiving or transferring a firearm, lawfully sold firearms that are not recorded properly in the FFL's Acquisition and Disposition record, and manufacturing engraving errors.

* Due to audits, Texas and New York were largely omitted from these facts.

Rep Donna Edwards wants to confiscate your guns

Rep. Donna F. Edwards (donna@donnaedwardsforsenate.com) penned a piece in the Baltimore Sun demanding that Dealing with guns demands more than another moment of silence.

Dealing with guns. Not dealing with the haters that would take advantage of a gun free church to kill innocent people. Not dealing with thugs that would take advantage of a gun free school to murder as many children as he could before the cops showed up. Not dealing with the criminals that run rampant in the city of Chicago that rarely face murder charges for murdering both innocent people and other criminals. She wants to deal with the guns, cos it's the guns' causing mayhem.

President Obama is right: We need more than talk. We need more than another moment of silence. We need a real, sustained commitment to getting handguns and assault weapons off of our streets. Here's how we do it.

She's got a plan, y'all!

We know which guns are the criminals' weapons of choice, so let's ban them from sale and possession.

Oh, she want's to ban the sale and possession of the guns that criminals use. Hmm. I wonder what guns those are.

According to MSNBC that would be the 9mm, .22, .40, 12 gauge and .38. Most certainly S&W, HiPoint and the Jennings type handguns make into a lot of evidence lockers. As well as .22 rifles of all varieties.

So, what's the Rep's solution?

Let's ban the high-capacity magazines that were used to kill 20 children in Newtown. Let's ban the AR-15 and the military style semi-automatic weapons like the one that killed 12 moviegoers in Aurora, Colo.

Oh, yes of course, always have to ban "military style" scary black guns and magazines. I suppose those people killed with a shotgun at the Navy Yard don't matter too much to her.

She has more solutions, too.

For starters, no domestic abuser should be able to get their hands on a gun. No one with a serious mental illness should be able to arm themselves.

Gee, when LaPiere said something about mental illness, all the gun grabbers wanted him to die a firery painful death. But, when we talk gun control, the mentally ill come up.

And make background checks and registration meaningful from one state to the next.

She wants to ban all the guns, and magazines, and have registration. Why would she want registration? Because it would make it easier to ban the sale AND POSSESSION of the next few guns she takes aim at.

I see on social media a lot, and hear it when the mad mommies start flapping their jaws, "we're not talking about banning you all guns". The fact is, if the only gun I own is the one they want to ban, then yes, they're talking about banning all my guns.

What Rep. Edwards fails to state as part of her solution, is how does she plan on confiscating the hundreds of millions of guns she wants to ban. I can only assume it will be at the point of a gun. In which case I wonder, will she be leading the charge?

More Guns Do Not Lead To More Gun Crime

HEADLINE: Guns Don't Deter Crime, Study Finds

"A new study, however, throws cold water on the idea that a well-armed populace deters criminals or prevents murders. Instead, higher ownership of guns in a state is linked to more firearm robberies, more firearm assaults and more homicide in general."

Oh, my! Let's look at the new study...

Two-year-old 'new' study

Mkay, a nearly two-year-old study is 'new'.

Here's a screen cap of a spreadsheet where I list the states with the lowest gun ownership rates and the states with the highest gun ownership rates along with Brady scores, suicide rates, gun homicide rates and overall murder rates. Gun ownership stats came from the gun control study on how to infiltrate the 'social gun culture' in order to change the culture to support "prudent gun policies that aim to reduce gun ownership..."
Other information is directly from Brady Center, CDC and FBI

Click to enbiggen

Clearly, higher gun ownership rates do not lead to higher gun homicide rates. As a matter of fact, the ten states with lower gun ownership rates have a higher gun homicide rate than the ten states with the highest gun ownership rates.

They found no evidence that states with more households with guns led to timid criminals. In fact, firearm assaults were 6.8 times more common in states with the most guns versus states with the least.

Absolutely this is wrong. Looking at the last column in the spreadsheet we see that the firearm assault rate is 1.19 times higher for the ten states with the highest firearm ownership rates than the ten states with the lowest firearm ownership rates.

Firearm robbery increased with every increase in gun ownership...

No, no, no... As a matter of fact, the ten states with the lowest firearm ownership rates have nearly twice the rate of firearm robbery rates than the ten states with the highest gun ownership rates.

The researchers were able to test whether criminals were simply trading out other weapons for guns, at least in the case of homicide. They weren't. Overall homicide rates were just over 2 times higher in the most gun-owning states...

Again, this is false. Looking at the overall homicide rates, we see that between the two groups, the homicide rate is nearly the same, but more importantly, the overall murder rates are exactly the same. Furthermore, the ten states with the lowest firearm ownership rates have a higher rate of firearm homicide than do the states with the highest gun ownership rates.

It should be noted that there is a distinction between the CDC homicide rates and the FBI murder rates. The CDC includes all homicides, including negligence and lawful self defense. The FBI only includes murder and non-negligent homicides. The CDC rates are estimated based on medical records and the FBI estimates are based on criminal complaints.

Moving on...

"What's known? One, the presence of a gun in the home increases the risk of suicide in that home. "That relationship we really know, no doubt about it," Hemenway said.

Based on the spreadsheet, this seems to be true, it appears that states with more guns have a 2.7 times higher rate of firearm suicide than states with fewer guns. But... Who the hell is anyone to tell anyone how they decide to check out. Whether it be by self harm, participating in risky behavior, or by natural selection?

Also unclear are what policies work best to lower the number of firearms available, Siegel said. He and his colleagues are tackling that question now.

There you have if folks. These 'studies' aren't about reducing the number or rate of gun crime or accidents. They do it to find out how to reduce gun ownership. This explains why all the anti-gun research never correlates to real life statistics.

One in Three Americans Own a Gun

I'm sure everyone by now has read the headlines, even dove off into the articles. There are numerous articles about a study on 'gun culture' that makes that proclamation. Make no mistake, though, the term 'gun culture' was not used in a favorable way to refer to those of us in the culture of gun ownership and shooting sports. Dr Bindu Kalesan was studying the 'gun culture' to support "prudent gun policies that aim to reduce gun ownership..."

The gun control organizations run  around screaming "we need more gun control laws to reduce gun death, wahhhhh". But, is that true? Do 'stronger gun laws lead to less gun death'? That would be a no. In the figure below, you'll see the states with the lowest gun ownership rates listed at the top and the ten states with the highest gun ownership rates are on the bottom.

click to enbigger

You'll notice that the states with the lower gun ownership rates also have the highest average Brady Campaign score. The Brady Campaign score indicates the 'strenghth' of gun laws. Apparently, states with "stronger" gun laws have higher "gun homicide" than states with lower Brady scores, and have the same overall murder rate.

If we turn our attention to the "Firearm Suicide Rate" column, we see that states with higher gun ownership rates and lower Brady scores have higher suicide with firearm rates. Will a law address this? If laws would affect suicides rates, we would just pass a law making suicide illegal, but we don't. Perhaps Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws would reduce suicide. Column J would indicate no. The only state with enough information to accurately estimate the number of suicides of persons 17-years-old or younger is California, and they have CAP laws.

Now, more about that gun control social gun culture study.

Exposure to social gun culture was associated with gun ownership by 2.25-fold

You know what that means folks? You need to start inviting your non-gun-owning friends to the range and let them plink with your .22. This way we can get more people into the 'social gun culture' and increase the ranks of gun owners. I've had many new people on my private gun range, not one of them every said "I'll never do that again", and they've all asked to come back.

* DGUs outside of the home, July end of month

July 14, 2013:

Philadelphia bar owner closed up shot and drove home, only to be followed by three thugs that wanted what they didn't work for. The armed yoots demanded cash but what they got was embarrassed. The bar owner pulled his concealed handgun and went all Hollywood and shot the gun out of one of the thugs hands. Not wanting to stick around for a shootout with Quick Draw McGraw, the other two perps fled the scene. The victimized villain was transported to Hahnemann Hospital in serious condition. What's not noted is if his serious condition is related to the gunshot wound or his ego as a thug.

July 15, 2013:

42-year-old James Hayes, of Ambridge, PA, wasn't about to brake no gun lawz to commit an armed robbery, so he did the next best thing. Hayes grab himself a BB gun and entered a convenience store to commit an armed robbery. The clerk wasn't having any of that nonsense and pulled his own gun. After a tussle, Hayes made a break for it. Not living on the edge enough, Hayes then broke into a woman's apartment nearby, only to have his getaway foiled by her going outside to notify the police that he was there. Interim Police Chief James Mann said Hayes “is one of the world’s dumbest, and luckiest to be alive, criminals.” Luckiest, maybe. Dumbest, we'll see about that.

July 16, 2013:

Larry Kidd, 29, and Jason Penley, 24, both of Bluefield, WV, tried their hands at armed robbery. The first was at Patty’s at the Bluefield Plaza on Cumberland Road, a video lottery parlor, where the duo made of with some chump change. Not happy with their small take, or needing a place to rest, they continued on to the Economy Inn, also on Cumberland Road. Details are scarce, but apparently they demanded something with their ax handle and knife, but demanded it from the wrong person. The clerk pulled a gun and Penley sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest. I'm guessing that kind of deflated his ambitions of being a successful armed robber. Penley was transported to the hospital for his phisical wounds. Both have been charged in the robberies.

DGUs outside of the home, July mid-month

June 29, 2013:

Troy Rector found out the hard way that booze and boolits don't mix too well. Rector had a habit of stealing beer from a Houston area convenience store. During one point in his latest theft, the boozeman put the beer down and challenged the clerk to a fight. Coming to his senses, he picked the beer up and walked out the store. The clerk followed the thief out of the store and that's when Rector lost his mind and became combative again. The clerk pulled his concealed handgun and defended himself. Rector got wrecked with a boolit hole and is currently in the custody of the medical examiner's office. Eyewitness Sheemeka Brown said, "They could have said, 'just put the beer down' and let him walk out the store..." Or, you know, dead dood could have just not stolen things and then got combative about it.

June 30, 2013:

Words must be expensive to print on the internets, from the three sentence article. Some bad dude in Jacksonville, FL... Dude, really? Florida is not safe for bad dudes, move to... Never mind. Bad dude got the surprise of his life when he approached two other dudes in a car around 3:30 am and attempted an armed robbery. Things went south from there when one of the would-be victims pulled his heater and opened fire. Bad dude was pronounced Dead Right There. I'm sure he was just about to get his life on track.

June 30, 2013:

Around 11 pm, two fellas, high on stupid, attempted to rob a Katy, TX pizza place. SMH, apparently word hasn't hit the streets, yet. Texas is dangerous for dummies. A 20-year-old and his accomplice stormed in from the backdoor and confronted the manager. Shortly after demanding cash, the 20-year-old was begging for an ambulance because of the gunshot wounds he got from the manager. The accomplice, apparently not man enough to finish the job, ran away, arms flailing about and screaming like a girl. He was so scared, he forgot they drove there and left the get-away truck at the restaurant. Last check on hospital records shows the 20-year-old is still living.

July 3, 2013:

Pleasant Grove wasn't so pleasant for 19-year-old Juan Soto. Soto failed to realize that Pleasant Grove is in Texas where bad guys get shot by good guys. Soto attempted to commit and armed robbery and was shot for his troubles. The yoot was transported to a local hospital where he kicked the bucket. Soto's official cause of death has yet to be release, but I'm sure it can be pinned down to a fatal case of thinking he was in New York.
12 more

DGUs outside of the home, June end of month

June 28, 2013: Hey, Jack, don't mess with old people!

The 70-year-old store owner was mindin' his own bidness at the Elizabeth Grocery in North Philadelphia when an unnamed thug walked in around 11:00 am. While the register was open, the thug proceeded to stick his hand in the cookie jar register. The geriatric gentleman didn't play those kinds of games and pulled his handgun and shot the junior jackal in the ankle. "Now get off my lawn you hoodlum, and clean up your bloody mess, dummy". The wounded and limping perp was taken to the hospital and will then checked into the grey bar motel.

June 25, 2013: Why do I need more than 7 rounds?

Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an alarm set off by a broken window at Ypsilanti Middle School in Ypsilanti, MI, yada, yada, yada, they came upon a naked man who was covered in blood from the waist down. Blood? Yes, he was covered in blood from castrating himself with his bare hands! It took SIX police officers to subdue him. He and his parts were transferred to a local hospital. At least this zombie was mutilating himself and not eating someone's face.

June 12, 2013:

Hungry Howie's in Charlotte, NC. got a call for delivery of $74 worth of pie. Robby wells, delivery guy, though the order was odd and tooled up. This isn't the first time an order that large came in for delivery, COD. The last time, the driver got robbed. When Wells arrived at the delivery address, a church, he saw four yoots sitting on a bench, then noticed another yoot hiding behind a pillar. Pillars of society these boys were not, the five young men surrounded Wells to collect their free pizza, and a tip to boot, until Wells displayed his peace keeper and said "Now that we're at this point, do you have the money for this food, or not?" The answer was "not" and Wells left, with the pizza, his money and his life. Police said drivers should not take the law into their own hands, 'cause the po po are always there to protect you.

16 more 

June mid-month report, DGUs outside of the home

June 11, 2013: Hey Jack, Don't mess with old people.

Jan and Bob Cooper were just chillin' in their Anaheim California home on Sunday when their Rottweiler alerted them to a prowler outside of their home. Jan Cooper, 72, grabbed her .357 magnum revolver and her phone. She called the po po and begged the 911 operator to send deputies, presumably to save the prowler. 31-year-old Brandon Alexander Perez, the would-be home invader, was not deterred by the growling of the man eater, or the barking of the dog, as he slid open the glass door. Not wanting to clean up a bloody mess inside her home, groovy grandma took aim at his head then let fly a burst of fury that would make the average man cry, then she fired one shot, narrowly missing the perps face. She then let loose another burst of verbal assault words. Perez apologized to Cooper and then began to flee. Deputies arrived just in time to catch him in the yard. Perez was on parole and living at a halfway house at the time of his latest transgression. Cooper is a Christian who doesn't normally use foul language.

June 4, 2013: Hey Jack, Don't mess with young people.

Two upstanding citizens in Brooklyn, that's New York, dressed up like FedEx delivery men to attempt to get free stuff. The plan, knock on a door, when the homeowner opens the door, collect free stuff. Their plan failed to come to full fruition when the one dummy pulled a gun on the home owner and she slammed the door on his arm, causing him to drop his gun. Her ten-year-old son picked the gun up and took a shot at the thug. The accomplice, also armed with a handgun though he'd make matters better by firing a single shot at the kids. No one was injured, you know, except for the two goons' pride. It's unknown if the boy will be charged for handling a firearm without a licence.

May 31, 2013:

A Bakersfield, CA, man left for work when he realized he forgot his laptop charger. He "flipped a u-turn" and made it back home to find 35-year-old Jesse Perez, 35-year-old Edward Anaya and 35-year-old Miguel Reyes relieving him of his property. If no one's home it must be free stuff, right? What's the first thing you do when you encounter bad guys in Kalifornia? Call 9-1-1, except this man is one of the three people in the state that doesn't have a cell phone, so he pulled his lawfully concealed handgun and sent a ringing message to the free loaders. Three shots is all it took to the get the attention of the bad guys, the neighbor (who was sleeping) and the police. When the police arrived, they found the homeowner holding the three at gunpoint. Contrary to popular myth, the police did not confuse the armed guy with the bad guys and they didn't shoot him.

May 31, 2013:

A 17-year-old Lansing boy, not yet old enough to start getting government freebies, decided he couldn't wait for free stuff any longer and decided to cut out the middle man and go directly to the source of the free stuff. He approached a 28-year-old man, pulled his weapon, and demanded his share of the man's stuff. Being a generous sort of fella, the robbery victim decided to share his bullets with the young punk. He pulled his concealed handgun and gave the youngun a lead injection to his ass. The would-be robber was transported to a local hospital with embarrassing, but non life-threatening injuries. The wannabe's weapon of choice was a stun gun.

June 2, 2013:

A Fort Wayne man was standing outside of his home when he was approached by 18-year-old Jaquese N. Dandridge and another man, who though it might be a good idea to commit an armed robbery. At least one of the two would-be robbers pulled a gun, and so did the homeowner. Shots were exchanged and the homeowner took a bullet to the foot. He was treated and released from the hospital. Danridge received multiple gunshot wounds. The coroner ruled the cause of death as fatal stupidity with a touch of dumbass. The accomplice ran away on foot. Way to stick in there with your pal.

UPDATE: The accomplice, a 16-year-old, was apprehended.

June 2, 2013:

Enrique Herrera, of Texas City, TX, arrived home after work just before 3am to find that he had been followed by Dumb and Dumber. 26-year-old Lekenvrick Deon Nelson, of La Marque and 24-year-old Jermaine White approached the the 60-year-old and attempted to relieve Herrera of his belongings. Herrera pulled his own gun and a gun fight ensued, Herrera was struck in the thigh and the boneheads ran away. Nelson made it as far as across the street before he collapsed and White was picked up by police a few blocks down the road. I'm sure Nelson's final thoughts were "Hey jackwagon, it's Texas, is not safe for violent offenders.

Santa Monica Shooting

I've remained quiet about the mass shooting in Santa Monica because I wanted to wait for the facts to come out. I've waited long enough. For those of you who are waiting for my to give my condolences for the victims and family, don't wait too long. While the gun grabbing prohibitionists are blaming the NRA, I blame the citizens of California, and I'll get to that later.

I found it mighty suspicious that will all of the photos available of the weapons and ammunition, the AR was missing. There was a revolver that appears to be circa 1800s, there was an AR upper receiver  which was stated to be an extra one that the shooter was carrying. There were numerous ammunition magazines for the AR rifle, there was even a picture taken from a video that shows the shooter carrying what appears to be an AR type rifle, but no picture of the complete rifle itself.

As I suspected, and as 89.3 KPCC radio station reported yesterday, the AR-15 type rifle was homemade.

Investigators found a drill press in 23-year-old John Zawahri's bedroom among other materials that indicate he likely assembled the weapon.

The drill press is used to help finish building the rifle by drilling holes in the lower receiver. A lower receiver that is only 80 percent complete can easily be purchased, and because it is not complete a person isn't required to go through a background check nor does it need to have a serial number.

As I've said before, time and time again, regardless of the laws, criminals will get firearms. The gun prohibitionists even admit as much when they claim they want universal background checks to make it harder for criminals to get guns. Here's the truth, universal background checks won't make it harder for criminals to get guns, I would guarantee it took less than five hours for the shooter to manufacture his own. How do I know, that's how long it took me with hand tools in my wood shop. I didn't even use a drill press, I used a battery operated drill and a rotary tool.

Furthermore, a recent ATF study shows that:

The majority of guns used by inner-city gang members in Chattanooga come from burglaries and car break-ins in surrounding counties, the lead local ATF agent said.

Some of the weapons reviewed were purchased at gun shows in what are called "straw buys" -- where a legal buyer purchases guns off the books in private sales and then resells the weapons for profit to gang members.

But most of the weapons traced in the review were stolen from legal gun owners, Hill said.

There are already laws against straw buying and theft, one more law won't make a difference.

KPCC FM also reports that the shooter had several homemade single shot zip guns, a fake gun, and an old revolver that was converted to shoot .45 caliber ammunition. The last time police had contact with him was seven years ago when they found bomb making materials at his house. The search was prompted by threats to students and teachers at a high school.

Zawahri's 15-minute midday rampage Friday spanned a mile between his father's home, where his father and brother were shot to death, and Santa Monica College, where police shot him to death in the library. Along the way he fired at vehicles and strangers, fatally wounding three people. One other person was seriously wounded and two others had minor injuries.

Fifteen minutes and more than a mile of shooting and not one single person was able to do one damn thing about it, except drive him from his fathers house to the the campus. All the while, he was shooting at pedestrians and automobiles. Not a single freaking person pulled a gun to shoot back, and the driver of the car failed to draw her own gun and shoot the sorry ass in the back of his head while he was leaning out of the car shooting at other people. Why? Because the citizens of California keep voting in the same state legislator pricks that keep voting to infringe their right to self defense  The citizens of California keep voting in Feinstein and Boxer, who in turn, keep pushing for more infringements on the rights of the citizens of the United States. If you're waiting for my condolences  wait no longer, it won't be coming. Of all the mass shootings since the 1980s, that Mother Jones has been keeping track of, California has had ten. That is three times more than any other state. Every time there is a notable shooting in California, the legislators pass more gun control laws. California has every single gun control law that every single gun control group want save for one. A complete ban and confiscation of semiautomatic firearms. Hey people of California, stop voting these clowns in office and take responsibility for your own safety.

Open letter to Senators RE: S. 649

Dear Senators

Have any of you read S. 649? Specifically the background check requirements. Under the proposed bill, the following innocent activity would be a felony if the transfer is not done through a federal firearms licensed dealer:

• If you go to a party and hand your firearm to the homeowner for safe storage.
• If you are in a self defense situation and you hand your firearm to someone to protect himself.
• If you go to your friend’s house and hand him your firearm for him to inspect your new purchase.
• If you give a firearm as a gift to your uncle, that raised you.
• If you store your firearm collection at someone’s home for safe keeping while you are out of town. You will also have to go through an FFL and background check in order to get your firearms back.
• If you and a non related roommate share a gun safe and either one of you leave for more than seven days.
• If you give a firearm, that has been a family heirloom, to a nephew that you raised.
• If you let someone on a private shooting range inspect your firearm.
• While you may gift a firearm to certain family members, you cannot receive anything of value in return.
• While you may gift a firearm to certain family members, you can't loan those certain family members a firearm

There are many more scenarios where I can see someone unintentionally breaking the law including, if you hand your firearm over to, or otherwise allow the transfer of your firearm to a police officer. While the bill contains the exemption “by operation of law”, as it’s written, it appears to apply only to estate owned firearms being transferred to the legal heirs.

There are no exemptions for law enforcement departments to issue firearms without first having to go through an FFL. While I am no fan of exemptions to firearm laws for law enforcement personnel, lacking this exemption may harm community safety

There are no exemptions for security companies that issue firearms to their personnel.

There are no exemptions for firearm instructors that operate on private shooting ranges.

This bill is a legal disaster looking for a victim, compliance would still be voluntary, albeit illegal and still won’t affect already illegal transfers, such as those between prohibited persons. What would compel a criminal seller to conduct a background check on his criminal buyer anyway? Telling a criminal seller he has to make a firearms transfer through an FFL is like telling a crack dealer he has to sell his crack at a pharmacy, it won't happen.

If the Senate wants to address background checks, open up NCIS to the public, it would still be voluntary but it would still get the same compliance rate.

Respectfully,
Bill Baldwin

Suicide, 2nd leading cause of death in jail

Bob Costas, last night, during Sunday Night Football, made the comment during half time (and quoting Jason Whitlock) if Jovan Belcher 'didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.'" Jovan Belcher, if you didn't know, was a professional football player that killed the mother of his child, and then drove to a gun free facility and shot and killed himself in front of his coach.

The anti-rights cultist bigots scream from the rooftops "30,000 people a year die from gun violence". We all know that more than half of those 'gun deaths' are suicide. The anti-rights cultist bigots often claim that if a person didn't have a gun, or access to a gun, they would kill themselves. Oh really? I have made several comparisons on this blog of gun ownership and suicide rates, I have also compared U.S. suicide rates with other countries that have higher suicide rates, but lower gun ownership rates. All of the comparisons that have been done regarding guns and suicide show that with or without guns, people will intentionally harm and kill themselves.

Imagine the most secure place you can be, you have an armed security detail. This is a palace, your food is prepare and brought to you, your laundry is cleaned for you, if you wish to read, the library comes to you, you don't have to leave, because everything that you need is provided for you. This a secure place, so weapons are not allowed, but you don't need a weapon, because you have your armed security detail. Your palace is so secure, that even your armed security detail doesn't carry a firearm, but they do have other weapons and they do, in fact, protect you. Don't worry about your palace being invaded, there is a high wall protecting you from outside forces. Just outside of your palace, in the courtyard, there are snipers with rifles to protect the palace from invasion, and these snipers are so good at their job, together with the walls, no one has ever invaded your prison or courtyard. Yeah, I'm talking about prisons and jails. Pop quiz hot shot, what's the leading cause of death in prisons? Illness, what's the second leading cause of death in prisons? SUICIDE!

Number of guns owned in the U.S.

The number of guns in the hands of the American citizens is often reported to be anywhere from 270 million to 300 million. I was curious and was going to start digging round a little bit, and then I saw in one of  David Codrea's articles.

November 14, 2012 Congressional Research Service report on “Gun Control Legislation”  (pdf)

From that report:

2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns.

That's a good place to start counting the number of firearms available to the American people.

Louisiana Sheriff's Chief Deputy says gun ownership a privilege

Nola.com ran a news piece about car burglaries and thefts. When they contacted the Jefferson Parish  Sheriff's Office, this was the quote from the Chief Only One.

"Owning a gun [...] is a privilege" - Chief Deputy Tom Gorman of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. 

This is just weeks after a majority of Louisiana Voters overwhelmingly approved a Constitutional amendment that says any gun control law must meet "Strict Scrutiny" and removed language from the State Constitution that gave authority to the legislators to make laws against concealed carrying of firearms.

How to remote detonate your fireworks

So, you've followed Kurt Hofmann's advice and downloaded the Army Technical Manual 31-201, the Improvised Munitions Handbook. You've followed the instructions in the manual and now you have your umm fireworks, but now you're wondering, "How do I detonate these things?" The manual gives clear instructions on using blasting caps, detonation cord, and even tells you how to make a fuse, but you don't have blasting caps and want to set them off remotely.

If (when) the tyrants of the government come to confiscate your guns, and you shoot the first one in the head because, well, he's an agent of a tyrannical government, you can expect another visit from other tyrants. I'm sure that by this time, you're already prepared, and by prepared I mean that you've already planted and hidden your fireworks. Certainly you can't run out into the yard, light a fuse, and then run back to the safety of your home. This is where a remote detonation system would be very handy.

Predator Pyro makes a Remote Firework Ignition System and for 20 bucks, you can have a remote ignition system and enough clips to detonate 15 devices. The major drawbacks to this system is you have to use fuses in your devices (they may get wet) and it uses an infrared remote, so you have to have line of sight with the devices. You'll also have to have one of these remote ignition systems for each one of your umm, fireworks.

Cobra Firing Systems makes a very nice, wireless fire control system, but it also uses the firing clips that must be clipped onto a fuse.

Infrared remotes are out and you don't want to use fuses, so you need to find something that uses radio waves and e-matches instead, here is where RF Remote Tech comes in. RF Remote Tech makes a wireless firing system that ignites from one device up to 32 and costs from $20 for the single system up to $120 for the 32 device system. The shipping charges are very reasonable as well.

Now comes the problem with E-matches. E-matches (electric matches) are lengths of wire with a piece of nichrome wire wrapped around the ends or a nichrome chip soldered on to the ends and dipped in a pyrogen. E-matches are regulated by the ATF and you must have a license to purchase them. You can, however, make your own e-match, legally. The folks over at PyroCreations sells a kit that comes complete with everything you need to make 50 e-matches for about $50. The only thing that you have to do in your shop to complete the e-matches is mix the pyrogen, dip the wire leads (that already have the nichrome bridges soldered on) and let dry. Their website says that the kit will coat up to 300 e-matches but only 50 blanks comes with the kit, luckily, they offer 25 blanks for $13.

There you have it, folks. A book that tells you how to make your own fireworks and how to detonate them from the safety of inside your home.

Pro tip: don't make pipe bombs and use this remote system to detonate them, it's illegal and may be harmful to your health. This information is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Breaking! Mass shooting at private gun range

It is with a heavy heart that I must report, out of all fairness to the gun control anti-rights cultists, that there has been a mass shooting at the Baldwin Family private gun range.

There were about 14 family members in attendance on Saturday, November 24, 2012. Of course these people were all related and knew each other, several of them live in separate households on the family ranch. The gun table, a table set up to rest the guns on, looked like a mock up for a Mexican press conference. This table included rifles, shotguns and pistols. Some of the rifles were high power sniper style rifles, although it's reported that the owner refers to one of them as a Remington 700 30.06.

how to hide your cache during a gun Confiscation

Pop quiz hot shot, you see the gun confiscation coming, what do you do chump, what..do..you..do? Quick, search online for hiding spots. Look, there's a post about using an old soda vending machine, yeah, that's brilliant, except, what if ATF put that online so they can easily find you cache of weaponry? Damn the government!

Yeah, searching online for ideas on where to hide things brings up some pretty good results. You'll find hidden drawers in drawers, hidden rooms behind book cases, even book cases right out of a 007 movie with hidden doors and drawers. These are all great ideas, except, the Gun Sniffing Canine. Yeah, he's a rat bastard for taking that job. You can hide things in the ground, but ground penetrating radar. You can hide things in the wall, but wall penetrating radar. Dammit, what do you do? That's what I'm about to tell you.

Is there a gun confiscation on the horizon? gun confiscation, meh, I don't see it, but for your educational entertainment, or would that be edutainment? Here's the plan, the government has all kinds of toys to find things, and those toys are pretty good, unless you confuse the toy or the operator.

Gun sniffing dogs. You can't run from a dog, you can't hide from a dog, until you confuse the dog, or it's handler. I'm sure you're wondering how a dog knows what a gun smells like, and Imagonna tell you. It's not the metal, or plastic that the gun is made out of, it's what the gun shoots. Gun sniffing dogs were first trained to sniff out burnt gun powder. Every firearm is test fired at the manufacturer, so now it smells like burnt gun powder, eventually, that smell could be cleaned off, so now dogs are trained to sniff out the combination of things that are used on guns. Burnt gun powder, cleaners, solvents, oils, etc. as a whole. It's the overall smell of firearms that dogs are trained to detect. Some dogs are good at it, some dogs are great at it, some dogs are just stupid and follow their handlers lead. The Fed Gov used to have a drug dog that had a affection for cheese. During searches, if you had a cheese sandwich in your automobile, the dog would alert and your automobile would be searched for drugs. Yeah, that's nasty, dirty, rotten cheating right there. There was another dog that liked the smell of gasoline and would alert to the gas cap. Both dogs would alert to drugs as well, but cheesy and gassy (that's not their real names) would also give false alerts. The handlers finally realized the error of the ways of the canines. I don't know what happened to those dogs, hopefully they retired early and are someone's pet.
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