They hear me trollin', they applaudin'... -- Guns & Gun Shops

So, this post and this one, and this gun:

Photo from Gun Nuts Media, which you should totally go visit, or I wouldn't have linked the article already. Don't read the comments.

I visited two local gun shops today, one to sign up for an upcoming class and the other to buy some ammo for said class.

At both shops I asked if they had the Taurus Curve in yet.  They could probably tell from the way I said it and the expression on my face that I was needling them, but they didn't know why...

...until they looked it up, and saw the splendiferous derpitude for themselves.

Hooray, me!

***

Speaking of signing up for a class, they had this flyer up in the range area:

In case you or someone you care about is from around here and wants/needs some training. Highly recommended.

***

From the "Seriously?" department:
I ordered some spare mags for Mrs. Drang's Elsie Pee early in September.  They just arrived. Annoyed...

How dost thou annoy me? Let me count the ways:

• The people refuse to get enough training to understand that dropping the mag does NOT mean the gun is unloaded.
• That the herp-a-derps who need the reminder will try and load the mag with the sticker attached.
• That the Herp-a-derps who do that will ask for my gun advice and ignore it.

Mind you, I really believe that, before the end of 2015, Ruger will bring out their own version of the Curve, and it will almost certainly be a decent option for self-defense. 

***

At work the other night one minion overheard a conversation about guns, about the Taurus Curve, in fact. "I need to get a gun."

Asked what she was getting, she said "I really want a snubnose. So-and-so says I should get a .357..."  So-and-so being other minion. She also said she plans on practicing weekly.

The fact that Minion So-and-so is mostly a rifle and shotgun shooter, that he was giving her "Gun Culture Gen 1" advice, and that she normally responds to any advice or feedback at work by saying "I know this job as well as any man!" caused me to react, well, not very respectfully.  (Mostly to her citing a non-pistol guy with whom she does not get along very well¹, but that was obvious to no one.)

Guys.  Really, Stop that.

No, really. STOP THAT!!!!

A double action revolver has simple, easy-to-master controls for the non-enthusiast, and a full sized (4+") barrel six+-shooter can make an excellent general purpose sidearm, but a snubnose revolver is a specialists tool; as a concealed carry gun for the neophyte it sucks out loud.

• The sights are as vestigial as those the Army had John Moses Browning (pbuh) put on the 1911. 
• Or worse.
• In those rare cases where the sights are OK, the sight radius is so short as to be laughable.
• With that short a barrel, you need to select ammo carefully.
• And the recoil is going to be a beast.  NOT good for newby non-enthusiasts.
• That's in .38 Special; a snubnosed .357 magnum has reduced grown men to tears. 

A hammerless model can be useful as a pocket gun; as Tamara has related that she sometimes carries one in an outer pocket of her winter coat in addition to her regular defensive piece, as she can get to it faster when dressed for Fimbulwinter. (Fortunately, it rarely gets as cold in Western Washington as it does in Indiana²...)

***

1. Yes, I wonder if he was trolling her.
2. Because if it did, Mrs. Drang would make me relocate to Arizona or someplace.

Uh-oh

I see Obama says "Israel will survive."  Given his track record, this worries me.
— Drang (@DWDrang) August 12, 2014

Helpful hint

If every single driver you pass on the interstate starts flashing his brights at you, this is what we call A Clue: Your headlights are off.

The "interstate" portion of my homeward commute generally lasts all of 15 minutes, and I saw two, count 'em two, idjits running dark.

As one of them passed me I could see that she also needed to hang up the damned phone and drive.

These were far from the only behind-the-wheel jackasses I saw today, but they may have been the most egregious.

Maybe.

This'll help how, exactly...?

State considers adding ADD to medical pot list: State officials will consider a request to allow medical marijuana for people with attention deficit disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Well, so much for that...

A couple weeks ago I realized I was talking like a Paulite.

Then I read my Gateway Pundit feed and, by golly, there he was, yakking about how They Hate Us Because of our Presence in the Middle East.

In the immortal words of Nero Wolfe, phooey.

Des Moines Register: Two weeks away from the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul says that U.S. intervention in the Middle East is a main motivation behind terrorist hostilities toward America, and that Islam is not a threat to the nation.

They hate us because we're us.
They hate us because we're rich and powerful.
They hate us because we allow, nay, encourage women to get an education and a job.
They hate us because we allow women to dress how they please, and to express themselves freely. Even if that makes some of uncomfortable at times. (SEE: Me and Rosie O'Donell, or any randomly selected Democrat and Sarah Palin.)
They hate us because we allow, nay, encourage all varieties of Christians, and Jews, and whichever variety of Muslims they disapprove of, and Sikhs and Hindus and Buddhists and all sorts of "pagans*" to worship pretty much as they please.
They hate us because this whole "Freedom of..." thing is anathema to them.
They hate us because, the first day any jurisdiction in this country decides to abide by Shariah law, there'll be blood--theirs, and that of whichever dhimwit government official decided to go along with it.
They hate us because that whole representative democratic republic thing is a total mystery to them.

At the same time, they despise us, because they see the workings of a representative, democratic republic, they don't understand it, and they think it means we're weak.
They despise us because they see us allowing just about any dhimwit to blather about how horrible we are, and they think it means we're weak.
They despise us because we didn't turn their benighted paleolithic asses into radioactive ash the first time they attacked us.

They mistake our strengths for weaknesses, and the hate and despise--and maybe fear--us for them.

I can forgive these misunderstandings in a journalist, or a pundit, or an entertainer, but not in an elected representative, especially one who aspires to be Commander in Chief.


***
*Many of whom are friends of Mrs. Drang and I; the quotes around "pagan" is because many of them resent the phrase, and I didn't want to catalog the various titles or sects, as that's not the point...

QOTD, 03/21/2011

Further brilliance from Survival Preps participant Razorbacker in the thread "Radiation In Perspective":

If you look at this chart http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/USA-ntestsS.html you see 210 American above ground nuclear tests.
That's probably why no one lives in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, or Colorado, and why you can't drive across those areas or fly above them to this day.

QOTD, 03/11/2011

At Shooting Illustrated:

How is it that Belgians design and manufacture some of the greatest firearms known to man, yet get conquered every time the German Bundesliga gets more boring than soccer usually is?
By Ed Friedman

I do disagree with him about one thing: The German National Sport is conquering France, not Belgium.
Belgium is just the warm-up.

Unintentional Humor

Courtesy Are We Lumberjacks?, some (probably) Unintentional Humor: "

The Democratic Underground takes the Unthinking Angry Kids in America prize. And it's because of quotes like these, re: the Republican vote on teacher's unions in Wisconsin:

“I’d almost be willing to get a job in order to participate in A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE.”

Thank you Lord. Good one. (via)

"Almost be willing to get a job..." Wow. "Here, you stupid prole, let me tell you how misguided you are." That worked out so well for Vladimir Illych et cie...

He's Amish, right?

From AP, seen on AOL News:

Saudi Student Charged With Plotting to Bomb Bush House
Feb 24, 2011 – 11:38 AM
LUBBOCK, Texas - A young college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas purchased explosive chemicals over the Internet as part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, the Justice Department said Thursday.
"After mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for jihad," the student wrote in his journal, according to court documents.

This line for the "Duh File":

The terrorism case outlined in court documents was significant because it suggests that radicalized foreigners can live quietly in the U.S. heartland without raising suspicions from neighbors, classmates, teachers or others.

Apparently tangos are supposed to run around yelling "Allahu Akbar!" and wearing "Osama Is My Homie" t-shirts. And trying to dress Hooters waitresses in burqas.

Get the popcorn!

Phred Phelps & His Phamily of Phreaks (AKA Westboro "Baptist" Church) to protest at largest Muslim Center in Dearborn, MI. 

Sent to you via Google Reader

Oh, BTW...

I should probably mentioned in yesterday's post Wish I'd seen it sooner..., about Ancestry.com offering free access to their military collection for Veteran's Day, that they have minimal listings for the living.  And they can be slow about updating.  So, nothing about me, or my Dad, or even Mrs. Drang's Dad.

"Dance with the one that brung ya"

This sage bit of political advice is apparently unknown in His Imperial Majesty Barack Hussein Obama's mis-administration.  According to The Daily Caller,

Acting on a request from the Obama administration, a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday lifted a judge’s order that had halted enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays, leaving the much-disputed law in legal limbo.

Now, I'm not certain of the authority of that original judge to tell the military what to do, or how to do it--does a Federal Judge have jurisdiction over the Pentagon?--and the rights and wrongs of homosexuals serving openly can and will be debated until 10 years after DADT goes away and the military doesn't collapse--racial integration worked, and I really think America is ready for this--but, either way, HIMBHO alienating the homosexual community is about as bright as G.W. Bush complaining about "Those damn' Rednecks and their damn' guns and NASCAR."  Which, you will recall, didn't happen.

Yes, we know

Courtesy Jim Hoft @ Gateway Pundit, O'Reilly shares a Blinding Flash Of The Obvious:

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From my Droid.  Edited once I got home from The Salt Mines.

I missed the fact that he was talking to Gingrich.  Whom I currently hold in similar esteem to Michael Steele and Lindsey Graham.