So Joan, and several other antis have been complaining about the fires in Colorado started by shooters.
Right. Citizens absolutely do NOT surrender their civil rights- ever, ever, ever. No matter that thousands of acres of land are burning. No matter that in national emergencies people do not necessarily think straight and may just use a gun when they shouldn’t. No matter that the common good and public safety are more important at times than individual rights. There just are times when, as communities, people should pull together to do the right thing and help out. But apparently not to the gun guys. They have to have their guns at all times even if they themselves can be dangerous. There just is no common sense when it comes to the common good for the gun rights advocates.
See? Its all about banning guns! FOR OUR OWN GOOD! Of course somebody who isn’t a drooling moron, Michael Bane has a lot to say on this.
I question whether “target shooting” in the sense we use the words are the cause of the fire, especially when the reports stem from the U.S. Forest Service, which has a long-term antigun agenda. I would, however, like to say quite bluntly to the shooters in the Front Range that we need to obey the restrictions! And in areas that aren’t restricted, for god’s sake use your heads! No tracers; no steel core surplus ammo (which will, rarely, spark off rocks); above all, no “exploding” targets of any kind! I also suggest carrying a good-sized fire extinguisher with you, as well as a shovel. Make sure any fire you start is out out out!
I live up here in the restricted zone, and yes, this has put a huge crimp in my shooting practice for the year. But yesterday it was 91 degrees at the Secret Hidden Bunker — the first time in 13 years the temperature has hit those highs at almost 9000 feet! The humidity is in the single digits, dead dry. Right now, the wind is down as the temperature climbs once again into the 90s, but it will come up hard in the afternoon. What that means in simple, easy-to-understand terms is every single spark goes! And with winds gusting 30-40 miles per hour, there’s no stopping it.
Its not HARD not to burn the place down, and still have a fun day of target shooting. And of course the risky kind of shooting is already restricted when the fire danger is high.
Of course what you won’t hear about from the antis is this story:
People remained out of their homes in Last Chance, Woodrow and surrounding areas on Colorado’s eastern plains Tuesday after fire raced across 41,000 acres of prairie land Monday.
Officials believe the fire began at about 1:30 p.m. as a result of sparks from a tire blowout along Colo. Highway 71 near the small town of Last Chance in Washington County Monday. The sparks set some brush on fire. It then burned 41,000 acres.
I’ve seen tires blow out at highway speeds and it indeed produces more sparks than an 80s music video. I’ve also seen tons of people riding around on under-inflated tires. Who’s willing to bet that Joan has NO idea what the factory recommended tire pressure for her car’s tires, as she’s probably riding around on her tire’s sidewalls.
Joan won’t talk about this because a ban on cars would inconvenience HER! She just wants to restrict rights she doesn’t use!
You see guns are different because they are different!
Hanging chains are also notorious for starting fires. There was a blackened stretch along the interstate on my way to work this morning that was probably started like that. Should we stop all interstate commerce when it’s dry?
Thunderstorms this afternoon–I wonder if Joan wants us to regulate the weather to prevent lightning strikes?
The most common vehicles I see with grounding chains are ambulances and fire trucks.
Obviously they need to be banned….or accept the dangers of a massive static discharge!
And school buses. Obviously we need to restrict access to public school for anyone who doesn’t live within a block of a campus. It’s FOR THE CHILDREN!!!
BTW I have a link to a TSA-related article to e-mail you, but I can’t remember your address and your “About Weer’d Beard” link isn’t working.
weerdbeard (AT) gmail
Not that you shouldn’t take care to start wildfires, but when the conditions are like that, fires are going to start on their own and you’ll need to expect it. Apparently it’s part of nature or something, who knew?
I took a land management course in college that was taught by a forestry major TA, and one subject he covered was that some areas are being totally decimated by fire BECAUSE of all the fire prevention and people not wanting their houses burned.
Before the land was settled the forests would burn every few years…but the fires wouldn’t consume the older growth, just burn up the small bush, fallen branches and dead trees. Now the areas have become major tinder boxes with LOTS of available fuel, and when they burn, they burn hot and long enough that EVERYTHING is consumed, and attempts to extinguish it is VERY difficult.
It was all a theory, but it made good sense to me.
I don’t think that’s a theory, it’s a widely agreed upon fact.
Haven’t been keeping up with the forestry stuff, so I didn’t want to over commit.
It’s the same collectivist punishment pap.
I suppose the idea that the State should only restrict a person’s rights *after* they have committed a crime, and has gone through due process is too much of a bother.
It’s also funny that there are restrictions due to dangerous weather for range use, and precautionary behaviors, but it seems that Joan has decided to abandon the incremental ratchet method of gun control and wave her (prop) bowcaster screaming “Shall be infringed!”
If it turns out these were guys bouncing mild-steel bullets off of rocks or metal targets, or people shooting tracers or tannerite, or some other incendiary ammo/targets, those people will not only face charges for violating the shooting restrictions (if that’s how I’ve been reading the story…I haven’t read the law m’self) but for the damage done from the resulting fires.
But that’s not enough for her, because that doesn’t take MY guns away, here in the rain-soaked Northeast where most of us have never heard of such things.
So the people responsible did not just show poor judgement but also were criminally negligent. IE, they broke a law and are being charged and processed through the justice system.
And, of course, that’s not enough.
Let’s make it double illegal! That’s like how making murder extra illegal ended that!
They really do hate the rule of law and presumption of innocence don’t they?
If guns were as illegal as murder, nobody would be murdered with guns! That’s anti-rights logic right there!
And no, all gun owners are guilty…its the job of the anti to find out what that is and have them arrested, and preferably executed….preferably by firing squad so they can lament your “Gun Death”.
And big gulps make people fat!
Why if we just banned those….
Oh.
I wonder if she was raging a number of years ago when some of the largest fires in the nation’s history were started by part-time firefighters looking for work.
Nope! Guns are different because they are different!
Unless those Fire Fighters were registered republicans….then it was probably the evil guns they owned telling them to start fires! She’s JUST that crazy!
What a crazy conspiracy theory you have that people paid to solve a problem might have a vested interested in making the problem worse first. Rachel Maddow would assume you heard that on FOX news.
A few years ago, there was a massive forest fire near Banning, CA where a few firefighters died. It was reported by the media and the authorities for quite a while that it was started by target shooters, until they found out it was actually an arson. Since then, I feel like it is a knee-jerk reaction to blame shooters for all forest fires until they find out what really started it.
That’s what Michael Bane thinks too. But he’s playing it fair noting how to shoot responsibly. Joan of course wants all guns to be confiscated and the 2nd Amendment suspended in times of drought…or severe weather…or civil unrest…or rise of a military junta….
But if this fire WAS started by plinkers it wasn’t people shooting paper or wood targets with copper and lead ammo, that’s for damn sure! Hell I doubt you can get an old steel computer case to spark if you don’t at least use magnetic jacket ammo.
I am thinking we also need to ban catalytic converters.
I was trying to gather what her actual proposal is. She says she wants temporary bans in times of emergency in light of shootings causing forest fires. So what is the emergency condition? A fire going on? Or just being dry and hot? Is she suggesting bans on firearms for half the year in some places?
This is also a perfect example of her MO to call for the broadest ban in light of an antidote. She would ban all guns in an area rather than just the act of shooting, or just shooting steel jacketed/cored bullets, or tannerite targets, etc… She never wants to delve into the actual problem passed the word “guns”. This is just like when she uses antidotes of dropped guns discharging, but plugs her ears when we start talking about purse carrying spur triggered derringers.
It’s simple.
She’ll reccomend banning all outdoor ranges.
For fire safety you see.
Then she’ll point to OSHA and get all indoor ranges closed.
For lead safety you see.
“Right. Citizens absolutely do NOT surrender their civil rights- ever, ever, ever.”
Well, she got that part right.
The rest is crap.
And this from the woman that says she never calls for a gun ban.