Nice Video on the Gun Control Field

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

I like how the point that there are countless laws on the books NOT being enforced is a good enough reason to NOT push for more laws is really getting the attention it deserves. Only took like 20 years to do it too!

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Safety | 1 Comment

Beard Science

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

A neat article:

Researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia took photographs of 10 men when they were clean shaven, at 5 and 10 days without shaving and with a full beard. They then asked 351 women and 177 heterosexual men to evaluate what they thought of the men in various phases of beard growth. Each face was rated for attractiveness, masculinity, health and potential parenting ability.

Women chose men with a heavy 10-day beard as the most attractive and both women and heterosexual men chose men with full beards as the best with perceived parenting skills. Men with light stubble (5 days of growth) got the lowest scores across the board from both men in women in all categories.

According to the researchers concerning 5-day growth “a threshold of density and distribution may be necessary for beards to function as an attractive signal.”

Researchers also tested women who were on contraceptive pills and determined that women who were highly fertile and ovulating increased their score of men’s masculinity rating compared to women not ovulating. But interestingly, the phase of fertility that women were in had no effect on their impression of a man’s attractiveness.

They conclude that stubble conveys maturity and manliness, with less aggressiveness implied by a full beard.

Interesting study, still I’d like to see it re-tried in a few other European nations, as well as maybe East Asia, and the Middle East, where facial hair are viewed differently to rule out cultural differences.

H/T Mrs. Weer’d

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When Your Only Tool Is a Hammer….

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

….The World starts looking like a nail:

Yeah, well…probably not:

Er, “we know a gun check would stop him,” really? That’s quite the conclusion to draw, considering that A) the most recent update from ABC reports the only gun recovered so far from the scene of the Tsarnaev brothers’ shootout was a semiautomatic handgun with its serial number scratched off, suggesting that it was probably purchased through illicit means that wouldn’t have subjected to a background check no matter what; and B) the brothers somehow neglected to register for gun permits as required in Massachusetts, suggesting that they were pretty unconcerned with the law — as also evidenced by their blowing up a busy street with pressure-cooker bombs. (Not to mention, that “90 percent” figure is getting wildly overused as an indicator of public opinion that isn’t nearly as robust as it makes it out to be.) Lawmakers have been arguing over introducing some stringent coordination between the terror watch list and background checks, but let’s not make it sound like universal background checks would have definitively thwarted the Boston bombing nor are a reliable method for thwarting terrorism in general, shall we?

Hey, but they’ll try and make their agenda fit ANYTHING, because, well, they have an agenda, and little actual support for it anyway.

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics, Safety | 2 Comments

How I Live My Life

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

The Four Rules, and the Scientific Method!

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Odd Gun: Wildey Magnum

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Weerd Beard

Actually handled one of these in a local shop, and they feel vastly better in the hand than a Desert Eagle. Its still a football bat of a gun!

Posted in Guns | 6 Comments

“Gun Death” Ritual Killing

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Weerd Beard

No way to sugar-coat this one:

Chile has arrested four members of an alleged cult accused of burning a baby to death during a human sacrifice ritual, officials announced on Thursday.

“We found bones that correspond” to those of an infant, said Miguel Ampuero, a police investigator, in comments made to Chilean radio.

Authorities said the baby was burned alive on November 23 at a farm outside the city of Quilpe, some 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of Santiago.

That’s all I have for that….

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War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Weerd Beard

It appears that Stephen Goldstein (no relation to Emmanuel) has been hired for the Ministry of Truth!

The NRA has won the battle but lost the war. The best thing that happened to gun control is its defeat in Congress. Today’s losers (Obama, Democrats, the 90 percent of Americans who support sane legislation) will be tomorrow’s winners. Today’s winners (NRA and its corporate backers and Republican puppets) will be tomorrow’s losers.

Huh?

Losers: The NRA. Heady with victory, no doubt Wayne LaPierre and his colleagues were belly-laughing, high-fiving, and guzzling down bottles of Dom Perignon to celebrate. After all, they showed the President of the United States who’s boss — or so they think. Surely, for a “job well done,” LaPierre will ask for — and receive — a raise on his $1 million salary….Instead, drunk with power, the NRA stupidly opposed any and all restrictions on gun sales — and violated the first lesson of “war”: Don’t humiliate your defeated enemy. Thinking/knowing that it “owns” Congress, it wouldn’t give an inch. By its hubris and intransigence, it has inflamed its opposition.

Oh I see, the NRA has “Lost” because Mr. Goldstein’s fictitious view of the NRA taking a brash victory lap. Just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it isn’t true! Fake but accurate, and all!

So, the next time there is a murderous rampage the NRA will be blamed. And the backlash against it will be unrelenting, fierce — and successful. Congress will cave in to overwhelming public pressure, and we’ll finally get sweeping gun-control legislation, beyond anything that might have passed recently.

Ahh, another anti-rights goon openly hoping for another mass-killing. Yeah because NEXT time the NRA will totally be blamed for mass shootings! Because nobody has ever attempted to blame the NRA for mass shootings, domestic violence, the AIDS virus, and psoriasis!

Next time will be different because stupid people will have forgotten the last time, and DEMAND GUN CONTROL! (That has NOTHING to do with the event they’re citing)

Losers: Congress. A pox on both their houses with the lion’s share going to the tea party/GOP! The country has gotten used to the seamy way(s) in which legislation is passed — or blocked. But it has never taken place in an emotional cauldron, against the backdrop of the murder of innocent children.

Yeah, fuck those Legislators! How dare they do their job, representing the people who elected them!

Members of Congress who have sold out the public will pay the ultimate price when voters get even in 2014.

God reality must hurt! The Legislators who voted against this bill were inundated by calls from their districts demanding they vote against the law. On the contrary, people who support gun control amount to very few, poorly motivated people. This will continue in 2014, and Goldstein will likely have forgotten this article by then…or at least deny its existence.

Losers: Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Republicans in general. According to one poll, 94 percent of Floridians support universal background checks. Could Sen. Marco Rubio, the tea party/GOP perceived all-around savior and front-runner for president be in political trouble because he voted against recent gun control legislation?

We covered carpet-baggers and that 90% nonsense here, also I like how Bloomberg’s ads are suddenly and effective weapon when they didn’t do anything to keep the background check, and Assault Weapons bills from being scuttled. Oh well, another bit of revisionist history coupled with cries of “Next TIME!!!!”

Yeah, good luck with that!

Winners: President Obama and Democrats. Gun-control will be a defining issue in the 2014 election: Democrats may retake the House of Representatives and get a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate by targeting anyone who voted or opposed new gun-control legislation, especially if another crazy goes on a mass murderous spree.

This would be true…if gun control was popular. If gun control was popular bills would have been passed. So I don’t think this is going to work out the way you think. Honestly I think the whole gun control chatter is going to vanish soon, as elected officials don’t want an albatross around their necks too close to when the polls open. Still if they do, we’ll be happy to be rid of them. Oh and again, he’s hoping for another spree shooting, because you need to break some eggs to make an omelet!

Winners: Women. Ultimately, mothers will carry the day in getting sweeping gun-control legislation. The anti-gun-control coalition has forgotten that “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the mothers of children slain at Sandy Hook Elementary, and almost every mother in America will be on the warpath until Congress passes meaningful legislation.

Ummm, seen the news recently? Used to be anti-rights activists could depend on women because hunting, sport shooting, and concealed carry were dominated by Men, and further those pro-gun men were mostly in rural areas. Now that self-defense is the most cited reason for gun ownership, and support of the 2nd Amendment, as opposed to hunting, we’re seeing HUGE in-roads in minorities, people who live in urban areas, and women.

Hey just because it isn’t true, doesn’t mean it can’t be so…right?

Winners: The 90 percent. The 90 percent of the American public that supports gun-control will have the last laugh.

Except they probably don’t exist. That 90% number came from a single study, with an N value of 2703, and included questions on gun ownership, which is generally a question 2nd Amendment supporters find distasteful, and I suspect the ardent supporter of the 2nd Amendment excluded themselves from the survey on those grounds. They DID call their legislators, so again, the bill was voted down.

Soon enough NRA will stand for Not Relevant in America. And a whole different crew will be popping open the Dom.

Mr. GoldStein is likely the only person who believes that….and even that I’m not sure.

Pretty impressive for a person to write an article where EVERYTHING is wrong. That actually takes skill!

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Podcast | 8 Comments

Swiss Army Knife At Camp

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Weerd Beard

This Zero-Tolerance crap has totally jumped the shark!

A fifth-grader in Cupertino, California was suspended and threatened with expulsion for bringing a small Swiss Army knife on a school-sponsored, science-oriented camping trip.

In early April, Braden Bandermann’s class set off on Garden Gate Elementary School’s annual, week-long pilgrimage for fifth-graders to the Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco.

Before leaving, Braden did what any Silicon Valley 10-year-old faced with the perils of nature might do: He packed his trusty Swiss Army knife. As any camper knows, the multi-tool device is nothing if not versatile. Braden’s particular model contains a can opener, tweezers, a toothpick, a nail file, a tiny pair of scissors and a small blade.

The little blade landed the boy in big trouble.

“They called me,” explained Tony Bandermann, Braden’s father. “They said, ‘You have to come and get him. He has a weapon. He needs to be suspended or possibly expelled.’”

At the time, the elder Bandermann was on a business trip in Sacramento, roughly 100 miles away. His wife, Braden’s stepmother, was at the camp with Braden, but they had arrived by bus and had no private transportation. (Braden’s mother was also unable to go to the camp so that he could serve a suspension.)

The school principal, Brandi Hucko, allegedly wanted Bandermann to rush to the site of the science camp, pick Braden up for a one-day suspension and then deliver him back to camp.

I went to a nature camp when I was a teen. One day I got a nasty splinter in the woods, and it was a Swiss Army knife owned by one of the Councillors that saved me from further agony. When you’re in the woods lots of little tools can be helpful. Oh god forbid some student have a KNIFE!

I think this could all be put to an end when ridiculous expulsions, suspensions, and punishments are responded to by having the responsible principal horse-whipped in the town square.

I can see having special school rules against “Weapons” and certainly rules against fighting, but seriously, I read too many stories about students suspended for pen knives, or butter knives, or even toy soldiers or drawings of guns.

A good horse-whipping will sort this out, methinks!

Posted in Bad Justice, blades, Freedom, Politics | 5 Comments

Look At Their Reactions

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Weerd Beard

An Outside-the-Box background check:

Here’s how Coburn’s plan would work: A gun buyer would log in to a free federal web portal and enter some personal information. If the buyer passes the background check, he or she would get a multi-digit key code, good for 30 days, to print out and take to a seller. That seller would use the same portal to confirm the authenticity of the background check.

The self-service system, the Oklahoma Republican said, would bypass the cost and record-keeping requirements required by the current proposal, which requires the involvement of a federally licensed firearm dealer for sales at gun shows and over the Internet. It’s unclear how much it would cost to create a public-facing portal, but Congress has already authorized more than $1.2 billion to improve the system available to law enforcement and licensed dealers.

I like it because it can be done anywhere with an internet connection, and it doesn’t care what’s being transferred or why. I don’t like it because it fails in the locked position meaning the .gov can take the site down for “Maintenance” and essentially shut all the doors for as long as they want, or use a bad server that will crash if, say more than 100 people use the system at a time. We already saw a smaller scale version of this last black Friday, and its no good!

I still think the easiest way to do this is to add an endorsement on a driver’s license or State ID that is essentially a “Go”, or “No Go” as far as NICS is concerned, or simply allow people to show their carry permit. Since becoming a prohibited person requires adjudication by a court of law, part of the ruling is surrendering permits and getting IDs changed.

Still the big take-away from this is the anti-rights advocate’s reactions:

“It’s unworkable,” said Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, “and there would be no incentive for any private seller to do a background check under the legislation.”

Another problem for gun control advocates: There would be no lasting record of the sale.

“When there’s a crime committed, a police agency can go to a manufacturer and ask, ‘Hey, where did this gun go?'” said Mark Kelly, who founded Americans for Responsible Solutions with his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords. The manufacturer can point to a federally licensed dealer, who would have a paper record of the sale, “and then they can help them solve some crimes,” Kelly said.

Well except that such a system would add teeth to the existing federal law making it a crime to knowingly transfer to a prohibited person. Its a tough law to enforce because the system in inaccessible to people without an FFL. By allowing anybody with a computer or smart phone to access the NICS system, and to do it for free makes it hard for somebody to unknowingly sell to a felon.

(BTW I also like allowing people access to NICS because it will show some of the model citizens of today that some of their youthful mistakes are removing their rights. There are so many felons I could care less about on a safety standpoint, and there are people who might have one moderate infraction 20-30 years ago, and a clean record since who I think have proven to be trustworthy.)

Of course Mark Kelly is making a point that is already bogus. There are several states, as well as nations that have complete registries of firearms and firearm owners…and those registries are NEVER used to solve crimes. At best these registries are used to tack on additional charges for illegal possession, but I’ve never read of a crime solved because of registry data, nor do the anti-rights people show any such stats. The one statistic that DOES exist for registry is allowing door-to-door confiscation.

And we all know that’s their end-goal anyway, they could care less about background checks.

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics, Safety | 23 Comments

“Gun Death” NYC

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Weerd Beard

In Chinatown where Meat Cleavers are common:

A husband hacked his wife with a meat cleaver on a bustling Chinatown street before firefighters tackled him, police said Monday.

Ming Guang Huang, 28, was hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation after being arrested on attempted murder and other charges, police said.

The attack unfolded before witnesses and surveillance cameras on Chinatown’s main thoroughfare, authorities said. Firefighters getting their trucks ready for their shifts Sunday heard screams across the street from the firehouse and sprang into action to stop the bloody assault, authorities and witnesses said.

Obviously we need to ban preferred Asian cutlery!

H/T Barron
and
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