A Friendly Self Defense Reminder

Back in February a local 81 year old man shot at two men who were stealing his trailer.  He hit one of the thieves in the face, but both bad guys ended up surviving the encounter.  The problem is that the bad guys were driving away at the time.

Robert Joseph Wallace, the 81 year old in question, just pleaded guilty to two felonies, attempted reckless manslaughter and illegal discharge of a firearm.

Luckily for him he had a compassionate DA and judge and was only sentenced to probation.  That being said, he still is a convicted felon with all that entails.  He is also much poorer, having likely given his lawyer large sums of money in order to keep him out of prison.  He was originally facing two counts of attempted first degree murder.

Self defense does not mean protection of property.  This isn't like the old days where you can shoot the guy stealing your horse and end up with a pat on the back from the local sheriff.  It is very hard to justify fearing for your life as the bad guys are driving away with your stuff.  Shooting at another person is a last resort action.  It is a kill or be killed (or seriously injured) situation.

A flatbed trailer is not worth prison time or two years of probation and the loss of rights associated with being a felon.  A flatbed trailer is not worth another person's life, no matter how worthless that person is. 

C'mon Bad Guys

I found this gem of an article over at the Denver Post on the stupidity of action movies.  I picked out my favorite part and tossed it below, but the whole thing is made of awesome sauce.  Clicking the quote gets you the full meal deal.

Five guys with machine guns can destroy everything breakable in a room and not even touch the Hero, who is usually diving behind the couch or something.
The couch — is the theory that the cushions deflect bullets because of all the coins lodged in there? And if he's behind the couch, why are the bad guys shooting the TV and the dishes and the pictures on the wall? And why don't the bad guys find their own couches to crouch behind, instead of standing out in the open hosing down the room with bullets?

The Vroom Rrrch

Around these parts we have a certain special type of driver.  I call them the Vroom Rrrch.  When traffic is bumper to bumper (read my drive to and from work every day), the Vroom Rrrch driver will first slam on their brakes for no apparent reason.  After all of your stuff has shifted forward in your car the driver will likely proceed to realize that slamming on his brakes has caused him to back off of the bumper of the car in front of him and press the accelerator to the floor.  This is followed by slamming on the brakes once again.

All day yesterday while sitting in traffic I was trying to figure out what could be going through the Vroom Rrcher's mind.  I still haven't figured it out.  About the best I could come up with is that maybe they are ex-manual transmission drivers that haven't figured out how to drive without the aid of a clutch.  Any ideas?

Life Circles Back Around

I've been asked by my company to go and represent us at the career fair of my alma mater.  It got me to thinking about my senior year career fair back in 2001.  I was planning on talking to the company that I likely had a job with and making some other contacts in case things fell through.

The day didn't exactly turn out as I had planned.  My senior year career day was on September 11th.  I spent most of it in a hallway watching a TV that had been wheeled out and plugged into the wall.  There were about 10 of us that watched for most of the day.  I didn't go to class.  I didn't go to work.  I just stood there and watched.

Now I head back to career day and the prospects for many of the upcoming graduates are the same as mine were back then several days after September 11th.  I hope they all are as lucky as I was and find employment that leads them into a successful career.  Nine years removed, it is hard to believe that little has changed.

You Win This Time Tactical Tim

I resisted as long as I could, but in the end due to the amassing of excellent writers like Tam, Marko, and Caleb and the Advisory Board, I ended up renewing my membership.  Although I am still not enamored with Tactical Tim's writing style or especially his marketing style, I do like the selection of people he has chosen to surround himself with.

Here's hoping he convinces me to renew next year as well.

Stupidest Thing I've Seen All Day

I just got done watching the commercial below. At the end of it I literally did a facepalm. Crap like this can't really sell cars, can it?

How I Spent My Friday Night

After the boys went to bed, I got everything set out and ready for a little Friday night fun.  This is the result.

I like the Magpul parts as far as feel and durability go.  However, I was a little disappointed with the rough finish, particularly on the MAID grip.  The LPK and stock kit were from Stag Arms. There were no issues and both the buffer tube and the trigger look to be on the nicer end of the spectrum.

Now I've got a serious problem.  I need to decide exactly what I want to do with the upper.  I know I want it in 6.8 SPC (for a possible antelope gun and general bigger boom).  After that though I am undecided.  Maybe I should just ask the experts and call up Bison Armory.  Maybe I should hem and haw some more.  After all the journey is part of the fun.

Gun Shop Wisdom

After having shot other peoples' AR-15s in various configurations and deriving massive amounts of enjoyment from the Evil Black .22, I decided it was finally time to own an Evil Dark Earth Rifle.  I looked around and didn't see anything really close to what I was after, so I did what any country boy with a smidgen of mechanical aptitude would do.  I went out and bought a stripped lower.

The first gun shop I called had lowers in stock, but I couldn't get over there till the next day.  By then what they had was gone.  I drove across town to another gun shop who when I called to see if they had them replied that they did but, "they are marked pistol".  After being assured that they were indeed mil-spec receivers I headed on over to pick one up.

When I got there another gun shop employee asked what I was after.  When I told him he asked if I was building a rifle or a pistol.  I replied that I was building a rifle thinking he was just making small talk.  That was when he proceeded to tell me that all they had was pistol lowers.

Que my confused face.  After about five minutes of discussion, I finally got him to agree to sell me the "pistol only lower".  It came with a warning to be real careful if I was really going to build a rifle out of it.

LPK is on the way, and the furniture from Magpul is already here.  I guess I'll just have to be real careful...to not lose the pivot pin detent spring when I build my rifle lower.

Fish, Fish Got His Wish

So as details started coming out about the crazy guy that was holding hostages at the Discovery Channel, I had a couple of thoughts.

First, crazy can find you anywhere.  Who at the Discovery Channel woke up today thinking, I bet today is the day the nut with the bombs shows up?  Remain aware of your surroundings and carry your guns.

Second, when I found out that his crusade was against human beings "infesting" the planet and that he wanted to save every animal but the humans, all I could think after SWAT had taken him out was, "Well, one less human in the world."

Seriously, any other whack-jobs that think like this dude, do us all a favor and when you decide to reduce the human population do it quietly in your own home.