Presidential Pick

I'm conservative, so I look to the Republicans for my salvation (if there were a truly conservative party in this race, I'd be there in a shot).

I heard some clips today from Sunday's ABC debate (Sunday morning? Sheesh.) on the Hugh Hewitt show today. Romney sounds grave and concerned, but Giuliani sounds sharp and responsive. Aggressive, even, against the moderator George Stephanopoulos.

I don't know the man, only his recent history as mayor of NYC, and his 9/11 experience. I have to go by what other conservatives say about or present of him--I'll most likely vote for Rudy Giuliani for President.

Do I like his stance on gun rights? No.

Do I like his stance on the war on terror? Yes.

Do I trust him more than any other candidate? Trust how? He's a politician running for office. When he's not kissing babies, he's stealing their lollipops. He'll say what he thinks will get him elected.

It doesn't matter who wins--we're all fucked.

Kenn Blanchard - A Reply

Kenn Blanchard has a post up titled Violence in Our Society. He asks several questions that I'd like to try to reply to:

How can we stop the violence in our society?

I believe that violence is part of the human nature; so is the seeking after of truth and salvation. I don't believe that it can be stopped, only struggled with.

I see two ways of combatting violence: 1) Inappropriate violence must be met with sudden and overwhelming violence in response, and 2) the unchecked and uneducated impulse towards violence must be controlled and re-directed into honest pride.

But social engineering is a road paved with good intentions, viz. the War on Poverty.

What can we do to repair our communities without given [sic] up the essential liberties that made this a great nation?

I can't comment to this without knowing more about who 'we' and 'our communities' are, as well as the 'essential liberties'.

What are you willing to do to protect your family from violence?

An interesting question! While I think I'm willing to do violence to others to protect my family, I've never been put to that test and God willing, I never will.

But what about non-violent methods? I'm not active in my neighborhood (not 'community'), I don't belong to a church, I don't set a good example for boys and young men by leading a Boy Scout troop. I'm pretty much a schlub.

What are your working in to make that a reality?

Again, I'm a schlub.

Can we stop violence?

As I said already, it's part of human nature. It's part of my nature, yet it does not drive me or consume me. I'm untrained in martial mayhem, yet big enough to do serious damage to small, weak or unsuspecting victims--but I don't. I own guns and have enough ammunition on-hand to kill a dozen, a score, a hundred--but I don't.

Why not?

Because I have more tools in my emotional and intellectual toolbox than only violence. The urge to do violence is bound closely to feeling disrespected; I have other ways to respond to the feelings of being dismissed, ignored, or looked down upon.

But I would not want to delete my ability to do violence, because I might need it at some point. I trust my own judgement as to whether I need to be violent. I don't trust everyone else's judgement about their need to be violent and spend most of my time in Condition Yellow.

Mr. Blanchard continues with a long ranty paragraph about rabid PETA advocates, unsocialized dogs, ignored children, the failure of parenting, time-saving devices, the lack of interpersonal skills, and the exploitation of the lonely and confused.

Children and the elderly have become the targets of everything wicked. Why because their innocence offends the very nature of the world today. What are you going to do about it?

Children and the elderly are always targets of the wicked, because they are easy prey. I look out for my own family, and to the extent that I can, I keep an eye on those around me as well. But I can't save everybody and I refuse to feel shame for not being able to do what I am incapable of doing.

Thoughts On Owning A Nuclear Weapon

Disclaimer: I Am Not A Philosopher.

When discussing the Second Amendment with an anti, the question of whether individuals should be allowed to possess nuclear weapon often comes up, dragged in as the ultimate absurdity.

I am comfortable with my understanding and/or interpretation of the Second Amendment, which is that the individual should be equipped comparably ("well regulated") to a regular soldier (modern light infantry).

To me, this means at least a semi-automatic rifle in a military caliber. Full auto or select fire? Sure. Grenade launcher? Sure. Mortar? Eh...yeah, okay. Heavy machine gun? Um...okay. 20mm cannon? Yikes...but yes.

Artillery? No. A tank? Strangely enough, yes. Rocket launcher? No. Bazooka or TOW? Yes. Flamethrower? I honestly don't know.

I see that my acceptance or rejection of the above seems to be based on the individual pulling the trigger. A firearm must be aimed at a chosen target by the shooter for the weapon to be effective.

A mortar is not aimed the same way, nor as precisely. I believe a tank is aimed precisely and so I have no quarrel with ownership of one (or hell, even several).

But drive one into my neighborhood and I'm going to be uncomfortable with that, to the point of looking for a bazooka or other tank-killer. To me, taking a tank into a residential or business area is a declaration of intent to cause great harm, out of proportion to your individual capability.

So what about a nuclear weapon?

Is it a defensive weapon? Not really. It's a terror weapon, a weapon of mass destruction that kills out of proportion to its existence, its...quantity.

So, should individuals be allowed to possess nuclear weapons?

No, in the strongest possible terms. Like a tank driving down a neighborhood street, individual possession of nuclear weapons is a statement of intent to cause great harm, way out of proportion to the individual's capability otherwise. It should be an automatic death sentence for the individual, no appeal, no stay of execution, shoot on sight.

"But what if he's got a deadman switch and kills lots of people even when he's dead?"

I know that all of those deaths would be a horrible tragedy. But you can't negotiate with Evil, and that's what individual possession is.

And I realize that this is close to what the antis believe, that guns kill out of proportion to the individual's capability, and that they (and those who possess them) are Evil, and that only the police or the military should have guns.

But the police and the military have no secret gift or talent that makes them moral or just or especially qualified to deal with Evil. Bad Guys with guns are Evil and can only be stopped by Good Guys with guns.

IANAP.

Saturday Poetry

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

Exegi Monumentum

I have erected a monument to myself
Not built by hands; the track of it, though trodden
By the people, shall not become overgrown,
And it stands higher than Alexander's column.

I shall not wholly die. In my sacred lyre
My soul shall outlive my dust and escape corruption--
And I shall be famed so long as underneath
The moon a single poet remains alive.

I shall be noised abroad through all great Russia,
Her innumerable tongues shall speak my name:
The tongue of the Slavs' proud grandson, the Finn, and now
The wild Tungus and Kalmyk, the steppes' friend.

In centuries to come I shall be loved by the people
For having awakened noble thoughts with my lyre,
For having glorified freedom in my harsh age
And called for mercy towards the fallen.

Be attentive, Muse, to the commandments of God;
Fearing no insult, asking for no crown,
Receive with indifference both flattery and slander,
And do not argue with a fool.

Glendale Gun Show

The Glendale Gun Show http://www.glendalegunshow.com is this weekend, August 12 - 13, Saturday 9 - 5, Sunday 9 - 4, at the Glendale Civic Auditorium.

Free parking, cheap admission, some decent stuff here and there. I need to replace the American Eagle ammo I bought at the Ventura gun show, since it won't reliably cycle my .22 rifle. I probably need to clean the gun, too.

Plus I need more Wolf for the SKS, and maybe some 185 grain .45. Knives are always good to look for, plus a cotton web sling for the SKS. Maybe another piston, too.

Update: Well, that was disappointing. The same people selling the same stuff for the same prices, maybe a little more (Wolf ammo). Couldn't find anything that I was looking for at a decent price and I didn't much care for any of the other choices.

Has the Glendale Gun Show run its course? Hmmph.

Political campaign material

Since tomorrow is a statewide election day, we here at Casa Mr. Bruce have been receiving pounds of mail every day about the virtues and talents and importance of various people running for office.

In the midst of all this drum-pounding (dead horse beating?), one mailer really stands out as an example of the mindset of the Democrats. Senator Jackie Spier (San Mateo county) is running for Lt. Governor. One of her quotes reads: "I rely on my own outrage meter...I figure if it upsets me, it's likely to upset the average person in my district, and it's an issue worth taking on."

It's hard for me to express my dismay and disgust coherently. Based on only her mailer, she has no spine, no vision of government's role in anyone's life and having gotten on board a gravy train, has no desire to get off.

I'd like to see somebody campaign on the basis of what laws they have successfully repealed--that would sure get my attention.

Review: Joss Whedon's Firefly

Firefly Boxed Set review

I got the Firefly boxed set for my birthday last March, and I'm just now starting to watch it. I had seen the first episode ("Train Job") when it aired on Fox and I liked it.

Why am I not liking it now?

I've watched the first two discs and I'm not satisfied. Mal, the official hero of the series, isn't heroic. He's just angry. The official mystery passenger, River, is just a crazy homeless person, albeit government-created.

Shepherd Book is the most interesting person. He's also the oldest. Think there's a connection?

Joss Whedon's vision of the future is nasty and brutish. The Alliance (aka "the government") has no goals or purpose, democracy is nowhere to be seen, religion is not viewed positively (Mal's "Just don't say it (grace) out loud"), and capitalism has been replaced by thievery and slavery (apparently they're the same as capitalism).

It would've been a much more interesting series had Whedon taken not the western as his model, but the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Kimball .30 Caliber Carbine Auto Pistol

Reading the January 2006 issue of American Rifleman the other day, there was a small squib "50 Years Ago" about an ad in the January 1956 issue for Kimball's .30 (carbine caliber) auto pistol, modestly billed as "The World's Most Powerful Automatic Pistol":



(Picture found at Tank.net--page 5 of the thread, post #82.)

It's not clear from any of the excerpted articles below, or any pictures that I've seen, whether the gun is loaded via a separate or integral magazine.

From Canadian-Firearms Digest V1 #851:

In 1955, the Kimball appeared on the scene, looking rather like a lightweight Colt or High Standard on steroids. Using a lightweight half-slide like those two .22 rimfire handguns, Kimball chambered his offering--are you ready for this?--in .30 M1 Carbine. A very illogical design!

So he had an excellent way to lock the breech CLOSED until the pressure dropped, right? WRONG. He gouged an annular ring around the inside of the chamber. On firing, the case expanded into the ring, and blowback forces swaged it back down to size as the cartridge pushed the slide back.

The NRA was highly interested in this new "wonder30." They got one of the first specimens off the line, and fired it. In a VERY short period of time, it stopped working, with the slide unwilling to move. They disassembled it.

The design allowed the slide to run back until it hit a vertical post at the rear of the grip -- again, like the .22 rimfire Colt or High Standard. The post was so battered and distorted by trying to stop that light slide that it had mushed out to the sides and jammed the slide.

The NRA sent it back. Kimball explained that the problem was poor heat treatment, and sent another. It failed almost as quickly.

When the second specimen was disassembled, they found that the new hard post had cracked, bent, and was obviously ready to shear off completely. A quick estimate of the path of the slide if the post HAD sheared completely indicated that it would end up in the middle of the face of the shooter--and, given the hammering it was doing when it reached the post, it would probably fly all the way to the face--and some distance into the shooter's head.

The Kimball company ceased production after 238 specimens had been made.

From GUNS Magazine, December 2001, by Mike Cumpston:

In 1958, the J. Kimball Arms Co. went into business (and out of business quite shortly) producing a .30 Carbine caliber pistol that closely resembled a slightly scaled-up High Standard Field King. It was extremely well-made and functioned on a delayed blow-back principal. This one contributed much to the mystique of the .30 by coming apart in the hands of one W. B. Edwards of GUNS Magazine. The rear slide lugs fractured on the 192nd round. No provenance is found for the legend that the Kimball has lodged its slide in the eyeball of several unlucky shooters, but the story is widely believed.

J. Kimball Arms Company (Detroit, MI), another American gun-maker gone.

Update: But not forgotten! GunsAmerica has one for sale, only $1950 (#185 of 300, condition is new, but there's no box).

Moral Actions

Disclaimer: I Am Not A Philosopher.

A recent High Road thread, "What's with mock assault rifle sales for kids?", got me thinking about moral actions.

(One more time: IANAP)

Moral actions are those actions that have consequences for the actor. So, I blink, I twitch, I snore--these actions have no discernable consequences for me.

I choose to own and shoot guns. At a very basic level my choices (actions) have consequences. I am constrained by law as to the way in which I may possess them (e.g., access to those guns by others, especially children; transporting them; carrying them concealed).

On another level, the firing has a consequence (*BANG*, recoil, ejection of a fired cartridge, et cetera).

The most important consequence of gun ownership is that I must observe and obey the Four Rules: Treat all guns as if they are loaded, never point the gun at anything you do not intend to destroy, keep your booger-hooker off the bang switch and always know what's behind your target.

So my moral actions lead to behavior which is moral.

The Capital Times (Madison, WI) column mentioned above, "Rob Zaleski: What's with mock assault rifle sales for kids?" purports to find no good reason for children to have airsoft rifles which are patterned after an AR-15 or M16.

His complaints are that such a toy might be dangerous to an (un)intended target ("You could shoot someone in the eye!"), or to its user if the police mistake it for a real rifle and shoot the kid. QED, it's too dangerous and shouldn't oughta be allowed.

Mr. Zaleski is a columnist for a paper that proudly styles itself as "Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper", so I feel safe in assuming that he is liberal in his views. I wish that I could engage him in dialogue and ask his views on teen driving and teen abortion, but I'll presume that he favors both. I will presume also that he prefer that teenagers go through Drivers' Ed and sex ed.

Driving and sex are moral actions, in that they have (or can have) consequences. Education that teaches the consequences of those actions--therefore, moral education--benefits both individuals and society.

But education is not confined to a specific time and place and subject, it can happen anywhere, at any time, from anyone. Even in play, with toy guns.

The Four Rules of safe gun handling can be learned in play, but more than just those rules is learned playing Cops and Robbers (or what have you). It may have been Kim duToit who wrote about little boys learning about morality through play of just this sort: being the good guys, rounding up the bad guys, and an enactment by the group (society) of enforcement of the rules (laws), accepted by all.

So, moral behavior can be learned and practiced through play. With boys, it'll probably be mock-violent. Eh--what are you going to do?

I do not believe that Mr. Zaleski is evil, nor that his individual actions will have evil consequences for his grandson (mentioned in the column). But I do believe that he does not feel that playing with toy guns can be morally educational.

So he won't be giving his grandson a toy gun, which is to say: "Grandson, I see no purpose in giving you such a toy. I do not feel that you can be trusted with it, and you cannot learn anything from it."

But I feel that such a toy (especially from him, the grandfather), given with the caveats of the Four Rules, could be a powerful moral experience for the child that I could weep for the loss of such an opportunity.

Saturday Poetry

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Gun Blogs, or What Did They Say?

Because I'm interested in guns and shooting, I look for and read a lot of gun blogs. Most of what I find is listed at N.Z. Bear's The Truth Laid Bear gun blog community page.

In that community are

1. Argghhh! link
2. Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave link
3. Resistance is futile link
4. SayUncle link
5. The Countertop Chronicles link
6. damnum absque inju link
7. Alphecca link
8. The Smallest Minority link
9. Publicola link
10. Random Nuclear Strikes link

...and eighty other blogs.

Here is quick roundup of recent posts from what I read:

--Ah, Shoot! comments about Paul McCartney's refusal to play in Communist China (11/29/05)

--Blognomicon says "It's still very odd to me to see this blog grouped in amongst "actual" news sources..." (11/29/05)

--The AnarchAngel posts about abortion, and the requirements for a new Special Operations combat pistol (.45 caliber, of course!) (11/29/05)

--andDr. StrangeGun posts about his plans for a digital camera (11/24/05)

Probably this is all done much more easily with a fancy-schmancy RSS feed, but I don't have nearly as much learning curve as I used to.

Saturday Poetry

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

Alas Madam for Stealing of a Kiss

Alas, madam, for stealing of a kiss
Have I so much your mind there offended?
Have I then done so grievously amiss
That by no means it may be amended?

Then revenge you, and the next way is this:
Another kiss shall have my life ended,
For to my mouth the first my heart did suck;
The next shall clean out of my breast it pluck.

Last night on TV

I haven't watched TV on a regular basis for quite some time, because I've gotten out of the habit. But last night I had the time and I watched some or most of three shows:

Supernatural, on the WB

Invasion, on CBS

and Law and Order: SUV, on NBC

So what did I think?

In no particular order:

Law and Order has been telling grim fairy tales for a long time, and is now targeting younger and younger teens as its audience.

Plus the usual liberal kool-aid...

(But remember there's no media bias!)

Supernatural is chasing the X-Files audience...scary enough without being stupid about it, worth another look I suppose.

But Invasion left me dumbfounded. In last night's episode, the good guys chase a rich man's beautiful wife because she's pregnant with an alien baby. (That's bad.)

In the end, she's reported dead (missed how) and the team blows up her expensive, beautiful house. The final shot of that was a good guy walking (walking!) away from the house, down the slope, as the house explodes in the background--no distress, no fear, no remorse, no doubt. (That's good.)

What the--?

Okay, if the slasher movies of the '70s and '80s taught us all anything, it's that having sex kills.

So bad SF of the '00s teaches us that...we learned nothing?

Secondly, the good guys are, um, dweebs. Biologist Girl (Carla Gugino) spent all her time pursuing a Ph.D., Computer Guy 1 lacks social skills (just a guess), Computer Guy 2 is a dwarf with an on-line gambling problem, Charles Dutton is big and black, and the token white guy is very unmemorable.

Nobody on the good guys seems to have sex.

Indeed, they are concerned--obsessed--with people who do have sex.

That is, the bad guys. Well, bad girl in last night's episode.

She's beautiful, sexy, strong, smart, seemingly one step ahead of the team, and married to a rich, powerful older man.

God, this sounds like high school: The cheerleader and the football captain, in other words.

And the nerds completely destroy the hot girl who's having sex--kill her and burn her house to the ground.

So the slashers are the good guys, out to keep anyone from having sex?

I don't watch TV anymore on a regular basis...

Mini-14 Range Report

What a boring day at the range.

I recently took possession of a Ruger Mini-14 (series 182, made in 1981). After field-stripping and cleaning it (and figuring out how to put the pieces back together), I took it out to the range.

Based on what I've read about the Mini-14, I had no expectations of great accuracy and did not ever hit the steel plate I was aiming at. No, what I was doing was teaching myself the basics of how this rifle operates, shoots and feels. Plus, I checked out the magazines (one factory 5-round and three aftermarket 10-round magazines).

All semiauto rifles have the capability of having a slamfire, so I loaded one round into the factory magazine, inserted the magazine, released the slide, took the safety off, aimed, squeezed the trigger, bang.

Next, I loaded two rounds into the factory magazine, inserted the magazine, released the slide, et cetera, bang, bang.

Next, I loaded one round into the first 10-round magazine, inserted the magazine, et cetera, bang.

Then two rounds into magazine 10-1, bang, bang. And repeat with the other two magazines (10-2 and 10-3).

After all that, they can still call me "Ten Finger Bruce", because nothing blew up. Which is the way I like it.

So the rifle works just fine. It feels okay in my hands (way better than the SKS!), but my God that op-rod wiggles around in the stock.

For my next trick, I shall attempt to shoot accurately. For this I will needs more ammo in various weights (50-70 grains? hmm...) and a muzzle weight.

Not a muzzle brake, just a simple two-piece 9/16" shaft collar that I can move around until I find the sweet spot on the barrel. I told you I'd been reading about this stuff (Mini-14 Talk)

Political Foulness

I was just listening to a few minutes of the Hugh Hewitt show. Hugh was talking about the nomination of Judge Alito with his guests, Irwin Chemerinsky of USC and John Eastman of Chapman University.

Hewitt played an audio clip of Sen. Charles Schumer in which Schumer expressed his concern (belief?) that Judge Alito, as Justice Alito, would roll back the achievements of Rosa Parks. That can only be understood as Schumer's belief that Judge Alito could find segregationist policies acceptable under the constitution.

One guest agreed, one pooh-poo'd the interpretation. I believe it was Eastman that further stated that Schumer should be ashamed of his statement.

Charles Schumer is a Democrat, from New York. He's been a U.S. Senator since 1998; before that, he was a Congressman from 1980 to 1998, and a state assemblyman from 1974 to 1980. So he's been a professional politician for 30 years.

I am disgusted to realize that this man is merely a typical politician--he has no shame, no honor, and nothing is beneath him. He is vile, untrustworthy, and unscrupulous. All of that and he's just a typical politician.

And there are tens, hundreds, thousands--millions--eager to follow in his shallow, meaningless footsteps.

What can I do to improve the quality of politicians in this country? What can anyone do?

Saturday Poetry

James Munro (aka James Mitchell), 1926 - 2002

The sign outside the door said: "Arthur Candlish, Boats." It was an elegant handmade sign of teak, with neat, precise lettering. It looked considerably more valuable than the building it adorned. Loomis stared at the sagging door, the low, grimy wall of unpainted brick.

"You sure this feller's any good?" he asked.

"I'm sure," said Craig, and pulled on a rusty bell chain. It screamed its lack of oil, extended a foot and a half, then contracted back to normal in a series of convulsive jerks as its bell clattered. Loomis liked it. A man in a white apron opened the door. In his hand was a chisel. He looked at Craig, and the chisel's cutting edge no longer faced them.

"John," he said. "Nice to see you. Arthur will be pleased--he's in the office."

Die Rich, Die Happy (1965)

James William Mitchell also wrote under the pseudonyms 'Patrick O. McGuire', and 'James Munro'.

Titles and year of publication:
1) Here's a Villain! (US Title: The Lady Is Waiting) 1957
2) A Way Back (Also published as: The Way Back) 1959
3) Steady, Boys, Steady 1960
4) Among Arabian Sands 1963
5) Ilion Like a Mist (Also published as: Venus in Plastic) 1969
6) A Magnum for Schneider (US Title: A Red File for Callan) (Also published as: Callan) 1969
7) The Winners 1970
8) Russian Roulette 1973
9) Death and the Bright Water 1974
10) Smear Job 1975
11) The Evil Ones 1982
12) Sometimes You Could Die 1985
13) Dead Ernest 1986
14) KGB Kill 1987
15) Dying Day 1988

As 'Patrick O. McGuire'

1) A Time for Murder 1955
2) Fiesta for Murder 1962

As 'James Munro'

1) The Man Who Sold Death 1964
2) Die Rich, Die Happy 1965
3) The Money That Money Can't Buy 1967
4) The Innocent Bystanders 1969

End of an era?

Well, it looks as though Kim duToit has hung it up. That's sad, because he was one of my first favorite blogs and he was always (nearly always) worth reading.

I hope everything goes well for him and his family, and that he returns someday.

LA County Gunstores

Last week, I visited seven different gunstores in one day.

Ugh.

For all that I live in California with its restrictive and nonsensical gun laws, plus living in LA county, gun stores are fairly plentiful and easy to find. The established stores and the newly-opened stores are going to have the same selection of "New! New! New!" guns for the California market that the Internet offers, and that's really not what I'm interested in.

But I can't know what else they have, unless I go there.

Wednesday morning, my primary caregiver duties done for the day, I strolled through the doors of the Pasadena Turner's Outdoorsman...and right back out again, since they had nothing interesting in their consignment section.

Onto Wimpey's Pawn in Azusa, just a quick jaunt on the 210 East to the Azusa Boulevard exit. This was my second time here and I ran straight to the back of the store to cruise the pawned firearms. The handguns seemed to be all new, except for the Taurus 66 (.357 Magnum, 6" barrel) that I had seen last time.

Asked to see one consignment rifle, a Marlin 99 M1 in .22. Also saw a Ruger 77 in .338 Winchester Magnum ($460), a Remington 673 in .350 Remington Magnum ($720) and a couple of still-handsome Remington Nylon .22s.

From there, I ran down the 605 and east on the 10 to the Turner's in West Covina. Finally found it in the Stater Bros' shopping center; Turner's told me they weren't big enought to rate a mention on the marquee on the street. Hmmph.

Nothing worth mentioning in consignment, but I did ask about Mini-14 prices ($570 for the blue steel and walnut stock, $620 in stainless).

That's three gunstores in one morning, so far.

Back on the road again to the north end of the 605 and Gunrunners, in Duarte (sorry, no link--c'mon people, it's the 21st century!). Lots of tasty consignment goodness! Three M1 carbines ($300, 400 and 500--cash price, more for credit cards), and a stainless Mini-14 for only $429, plus several other mil-surps and lever actions. Plenty of traffic coming into this store.

Pushing my luck, I decided to drive to Glendale to check on Gun Gallery (no link, see above). They've been open only for a few weeks, but I couldn't see any inventory changes between my last visit and this one. Hope their advertising plans work out.

AMT Automag II, mmm...

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's back up Pacific to the 134 West and onto the 5--Stevenson Gun Ranch, here I come! What the--they're remodeling?!? No guns for sale for the next 30 days?!? That's just not right!

Finally, my odyssey is almost at an end. One more short drive down the street to Gun World. The store's got customers and a comedian behind the front desk ("Hello, I'm Josh, welcome to my Gun World. Can I interest you in something in 2000fps from a handgun?") Whoa--they're selling or taking orders for FN5.7? Hot diggity!

Gun World has a back room behind the front desk which is just packed with guns, guns and guns--handguns in the locked cabinets, long guns on the walls.

And speaking of long guns on the walls, aren't those Bushmasters? Really nice Bushmasters, but what are they doing for sale in California? I'm thinking LEO-only...but their tags aren't marked that way. Did I miss a legislative change of heart?

Alas, no. The Bushmasters are neutered, er, "modified" to have a fixed, non-detachable 10-round magazine, which is loaded by removing the upper. Very sad, but apparently they sell quite well.

And that was number seven. I'm amazed that I made it to, and through, so many different stores. I suspect I won't need to hit those stores again for a while.

Maybe...

Guns

Saturday Poetry

Theodore Sturgeon, 1918 - 1985

[I]t is enough for you now to know that its most significant effect is to turn on the full analytical powers of the mind whenever fear is experienced. Panic occurs when analysis is shut off. Embarrassment occurs when fear is not analyzed. Hereafter, no truck driver will fear to use the word 'exquisite', no propagandist will create the semblance of truth by repeating falsehoods, no human group will be able to instill fears about any other human group which are not common to the respective individuals of the groups. There will be no fear-ridden movements of securities, and no lovers will be with each other and be afraid to state their love. In large issues and in small ones, the greater the emergency the greater will be the stimulation of the analytical powers.

That is the meaning and purpose and constitution of the ultimate weapon.

"The Traveling Crag" (1951)

Saturday Poetry

Raymond Chandler, 1888 - 1959

"Red Wind"

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

Saturday Poetry