Go. Train. Now.

Oh, man - if I had the money, I would SO be at Front Sight, like, tomorrow. Dr. Piazza's giving we gunnies a suh-WEET deal on training...including a free Springfield handgun when you're finished.

So, if you can get over to Front Sight, then take advantage of this deal. He's also offering all the training and paperwork that's required to apply for concealed carry permits that will cover thirty states (reciprocity agreements and such). I'm not particularly interested in that part, because I already have my CHL, but some of you might find that part to be fairly useful.

If you can't go...well...I totally understand, seeing as I can't go either. But by all means, we need to be taking some training classes where and when we can. I've taken the CHL class, but that's it so far. I'm really interested in some more classes, but I don't have the money. I'm saving a tiny bit at a time so that I can afford a class or two in the future, though. I think that we should all be doing that, as best we can, because it's always a good idea to learn as much about your tools as you possibly can.

Range Time Yesterday

For the first time in a few weeks (okay, it was more than a month) I managed to get out to the range yesterday. We took the AR-15 and the .45s. And by "we," I mean Mom, Youngest Bro. and me.

Rifle time was fun as always. We had a really short session with that, though, because we all wanted to put some .45 ACP down range. I feel that, if I'm going to carry that handgun, I'd best keep in shape. This, of course, means routine practice.

I could lie and tell you all that every shot went right through the center of the silhouette's x-ring, but you would all call me out in the comments section. Everything stayed in the rings, though, at 30-35 feet, so I'm satisfied.

We learned a few important things yesterday, though.

One: Dad's reloads are very consistent. He's getting pretty good at this. The rounds that we put down range yesterday were accurate, well within factory tolerances, and just plain fun to shoot. We didn't have any squibs or hot rounds at all in any of the .45s that we took.

Two: Mom is a very-accurate shot with an AR-15. We will not be messing with her nearly as much now that we have witnessed this. Especially since we showed her how to load the magazine and cock the rifle. Eep.

Three: Carry guns attract lint almost as quickly as the dryer's screen does. Holy cow. I haven't given my carry gun a thorough cleaning in about a month and a half. It's...wow. It's nice and clean now, but I spent a good fifteen minutes cleaning out the part of the gun that doesn't ride in the holster. It seems that my shirts deposit quite a bit of lint when I'm carrying. Oh, well.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009. Now, get back to work. Uncle Sugar needs your tax dollars. Millions of people on welfare are counting on you, ya know.

This year, I resolve to rant more often. Oh, quit whining. You enjoy my rants. Admit it. They're informative, entertaining, and well written, unlike my other posts.

Here's one for you now, in fact.

Local news stations spent part of yesterday's newscasts warning us to not shoot our guns at midnight. It seems that, if you fire your gun without first ensuring that the round will travel in a safe direction, bad things might happen.

Well, duh. Even if you don't know squat about handguns, you know that gravity requires objects to come down after they've gone up. Simple concept, really, for most of us.

But people still fired their guns in the air at midnight anyway, because a select few are too stupid to breathe without reminders. These idiots play Russian roulette with other peoples' lives. Without thinking, they go out to celebrate, and endanger innocent bystanders as well as property.

They're violent criminals the moment they pull the triggers. That being the case, they should serve long prison sentences for what they've done. They belong in prison with all the other violent offenders, from the rapists to the armed robbers.

Most firearms owners would agree with me on this. The overwhelming majority of us do not do anything along these lines with our guns, and want nothing to do with these oxygen thieves. They endanger other people and make the rest of us look bad. As far as I'm concerned, these idiots need to be locked up or deported to a tiny island, where they can all shoot each other. No big loss if that happened, you know.

Maybe they'll do the world a favor and have themselves sterilized. Heaven forbid the irresponsible idiots who do things like this reproduce, thus bringing another generation of morons into this world.

Illogical Anti-gun Arguments

People who are terrified of guns confuse the snot out of me. When I ask them questions about this, they inevitably tell me that they're just fine with cars, knives and swimming pools. But all of these things - these everyday tools and objects - can be deadly. Far, far more people die in car crashes every year than in shootings. But people who would like to take away our firearms have no problem with 16-year-old, reckless speed demons flying down the road in souped-up sports cars, which are designed to go really fast (and, therefore, are more likely to lead to serious injuries, or even death - speed kills, you know).

We don't lock up our butcher knives. If you have children and knives in your home, you're not considered irresponsible, and nobody's afraid that your kid is going to knife himself with your cleaver. People use logic, and reason that you surely keep an eye on both your child and your tools. People who are terrified of guns tell me that knives are not significant safety risks to children, because parents keep the knives away from them - and teach those kids to give the tools a wide berth.

That's exactly what parents teach their children about firearms. Gun owners tend to keep the firearms secured, and teach their kids about gun safety. The NRA has a program designed to teach kids to leave the room if they see a firearm. That's simple enough for even very-young kids to understand, and it's an excellent supplement to what parents are teaching those kids. The gun-owning population takes more precautions with firearms than we do with knives, as far as kids and safety go (remember: we don't padlock our knives in fireproof, childproof cabinets), but people just don't want to accept this. They're still convinced that parents are leaving loaded guns on the coffee table while they go take a nap, with Junior toddling about.

Parents with swimming pools put up fences and/or pool covers. They enroll their tiny children in water-safety courses, designed to reduce the risk of drowning. As soon as the kids are old and mature enough, they're taught how to swim. All this time, their parents also watch them - because you cannot be too careful with children and water. Parents are aware of the fact that a young child can drown in just a few inches of water, and act accordingly.

But if a Mom enrolls her ten-year-old son in a firearms-safety class, she's trying to turn him into a killer, or a soldier, or something. She's not merely ensuring that her child knows how to safely exist around firearms - because he's proven that he's mature enough to absorb, and apply, this knowledge. Oh, no. She's somehow irresponsible by letting him anywhere near a gun even though it's in a safe, controlled environment with more than one well-trained adult teaching him. Even though the firearm is secured again when they return to their home, there's something wrong with this situation.

Then the terrified-of-guns crowd insists that these well-trained, adult instructors aren't trained enough. Despite professional certification, which comes after many, many hours of training and other experience, these people object. Never mind the fact that these parents sometimes send their own kids to public schools that are struggling to keep teachers - and, as a result, are passing out emergency, in-district certifications. These "teachers" aren't really teachers, and they aren't necessarily well trained. Where I live, some people who barely finished high school have been given substitute-teaching gigs. But let's not question the people in charge of teaching everyone's children for eight hours a day. Oh, let's not do that at all.

Nobody wants a waiting period, or "may-issue" licenses, for purchasing motor vehicles. I've yet to meet any person who believes that the government should have the ability to, for no particular reason, deny someone the privilege of driving. Having a license is not a right, no matter how easy that thing is to obtain. If you're a warm body, you can get a license to drive - and if you can pay for it, you can drive off the lot with a car immediately after signing the paperwork.

But we should have waiting periods before we walk out of the gun shop with our new firearms. We should have licenses just to purchase guns...or even ammunition. We should have to prove that we have a "good reason" to desire a firearm. Nobody cares if I want to zoom down the road in a couple of tons' worth of steel and plastic, but people are very upset at my desire to legally purchase a three-pound piece of steel and plastic: one that's far less likely to kill another person than the car is.

When I say that we should restrict the First Amendment in the same ways that we've restricted the Second, I'm some sort of Communist. How dare I suggest that each American must apply for a license to exercise Freedom of Speech? How can I suggest that we encourage the government to inspect our speech - to ensure that whatever we want to say is not too long, or too short, or too scary sounding? And what sort of nutjob am I for suggesting that the government should have the right to deny, at will, an application for permission to practice religion?

I suggest that we should have government-mandated training classes, and licenses, before we may purchase a chainsaw. Suddenly, I'm the one who isn't making any sense. Why, we have a right to own chainsaws. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights say no such thing, but we Americans take the right to our tools very seriously: so much that we're upset by the very thought of "safety training" or "licensing" requirements to go clear a section of our land, or cut down trees for the wood-burning stove.

But those types of infringements are just fine if we're talking about firearms. The Second Amendment isn't as important as the First, apparently: probably because the Right to Keep and Bear Arms bit is the second-place finisher. People just aren't kind to you unless you come in first, I guess.

Plaxico Burress is a Moron

Plaxico Burress is a complete idiot. That giant head of his has a blinking "Vacancy" sign attached, because all but the last four brain cells died off years ago.

This football player is a moron, and a waste of perfectly-good oxygen, because he managed to shoot himself in the leg. (The New York Giants responded by suspending the idiot for the remainder of the season.) Because he's intelligent enough to remember an entire football playbook, but not intelligent enough to remember four simple rules. You can, by the way, teach Cooper's Four Rules to toddlers. I've seen parents do it before, and they'll continue doing it in the future. Burress, on the other hand, is terminally stupid, and probably can't be taught.

To shoot himself, Burress had to violate at least three of the four firearms-safety rules that most of us were faithfully taught long before we got near our first guns.

He did not treat the firearm as if it were loaded - which it was, considering the fact that he fired a bullet into his own frickin' leg. Every gun is always loaded, folks. Jeff Cooper had a very good point when he wrote this rule, and those of us who follow it do so because we recognize that failure to respect our firearms just might end badly. The other three rules, in my opinion, hinge on this one. If you treat the gun, loaded or not, as if there is a round ready to fire, you will avoid breaking the other three rules (pointing the gun at somebody/something you don't want to shoot; letting your finger wander on the trigger when you aren't ready to shoot, and not being sure of the area behind your target before you shoot).

He let the muzzle cover something - his own leg - that he didn't really want to destroy. Unless Burress really wanted to attempt suicide (sever the artery running down your leg and you bleed out quite quickly, I'm told), he broke a rule that even tiny people understand. How many young children do you know who can tell you, in their own words, that pointing any gun at anything they don't want to shoot is bad? I know quite a few of these kids. Apparently, Burress is not smarter than a 5th grader. Or a kindergartner, for that matter.

He did not keep his finger off the trigger until he was ready to fire his gun. Unless he meant to shoot himself in public, he allowed his finger to stray. I wonder if the idiot knows what a holster is? He probably thinks that they're just for cowboys and cops. I wouldn't be surprised if the dude had his handgun jammed down his pants like a crackhead/home invader/common street thug/et cetera. Because that's so much cooler looking than bleeding on the nightclub's floor because you're too stupid, or cheap, to pay forty bucks for a decent holster that covers the trigger guard and, therefore, helps you keep the booger hooker off the bang switch.

And finally: he probably didn't pay attention to the area behind his target. I'm guessing this because Burress probably didn't intend to pull the trigger. That being the case, I highly doubt that he double-checked the area beyond the muzzle (or his own body, as that was the target whether he intended for it to be or not) to be sure that his round would not hit an innocent bystander or damage somebody's property.

What a dummy.

My Opinions. You Know You Want Them.

A quickie for today.

* Auto-industry bailout: Bunch of horse nuggets. If they can't figure out how to stay in business without taking the government's money (which was taken from John Q. Public), they deserve to go under. I didn't notice Uncle Sam swooping in with a big, fat bailout check when my parents' business attempt went terribly, horribly wrong. If my folks can figure out how to low-crawl out of the wreckage, then so can Chrysler, Ford and GM. Surely their CEOs have plenty of brain cells between them to find a solution to their epic problem.

* Crazy-huge number of gun sales: Interesting, but not surprising. Too bad I can't afford to get the eternal awesomeness that is the Kimber Ultra Carry. That, my Dear Readers, would be sweet. Heck, I'd be happy to have enough cash in the gun fund for night sights on the handgun I already own.

* My bank went under. A bunch of bankers (people in the business of playing with funds) couldn't figure out how to manage a big pile of other peoples' money, so another institution bought them out. My bank, which will soon be a past-tense type of thing for me, is full of idiots, it seems.

Taking a friend shooting

I don't often get to take a friend shooting but, when I do, we usually have a great time.

As a gun owner and shooter, I feel that it's my responsibility to show other people, through my safe and competent firearms handling, that guns are, when safely handled, a lot of fun to use. They are, to some of us at least, great recreational tools. I for one love to put some lead downrange, and would get out there at least twice a week if I could afford that much ammunition.

When I take a friend to the range, I want to show her (sorry, but the friend is usually a fellow woman - hence, the female pronouns here) how much fun target shooting can be. That's why I set up the reactive targets. The steel plates make nice, big sounds when you hit them, then when they fall down onto their metal stands. This is more fun than putting a bunch of holes in a piece of paper, especially to new shooters. The falling plates give you a very clear, visual result, along with that satisfying clanging.

But I also want her to know that firearms can be dangerous if we aren't responsible. That's why, before we do anything else, we go over the four rules. When you consistently follow all four of these simple rules, you don't have to worry about a negligent discharge. Nobody's going to lose a toe, or worse, if you remember that the gun is loaded...if you keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction...if you keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire...if you're always aware of what's behind your target.

We're at the range to have a good time, but not at anybody's expense. Oh, hell, no. The rules are so easy to follow, and so easy to teach to others (even young children), that there's no excuse for not bringing them up as soon as we get to the range.

After a box or two of ammo, the friend is usually smiling, if only a little bit. She's hitting the targets more often than not, because I'm sure to give her the largest plates we have. I'm also sure to put her fairly close so that she stands a better chance of hitting the targets. Shooting is a lot more fun when you actually hit them.

By the end of the trip, she's usually glad that she came along. She's had fun, learned something new, and gained another topic of conversation.

And you thought that we womenfolk did our bonding at the mall. Heh.

Comfortable IWB Carry

IWB (inside the waistband) carry is not always comfortable. Quite a few people have asked how to make this method more tolerable - including me. Here are the things that I've learned over the last near-year of carrying.

* Find a good holster. This does not necessarily mean a hundred-dollar investment. Some less-expensive holsters are perfect for some people. Don't be afraid to try a different holster, just to see what happens. You'll join a long, proud tradition among those of us who carry: discarding one uncomfortable holster for one that, hopefully, works well. Some people have drawers full of holsters: make friends with some of them and see if you can swap things out with each other until everybody is happy.

* Move the holster forward or backward on your waistband. Shifting that sucker even half an inch in the right direction can mean the difference between agony and comfort.

* Secure your rig. Don't buy some cheap-ass, Made in China belt from Wally World and expect that piece of junk to stabilize your holster and gun. Do you trust your eight-year-old to make a good belt? No? Then why would you trust a Chinese kid to do any better? You shouldn't.

A good belt - leather or synthetic - will prevent the sliding and flopping around that some people experience with crappier belts. This is worth the forty to eighty bucks, or whatever you spend on this item. Shop around, try on a few different belts, and see what happens. You might even convince the significant other to put it under the Christmas tree for you this year.

* Balance the weight. If you carry a larger, heavier firearm, you might list to that side a bit. Your body might naturally compensate for that extra weight, which can be uncomfortable, to say the least. Balance that load with other stuff. Some people have magazine holders on the opposite side: when those mags are full, they tend to balance things nicely.

* Undershirts are your friends. I might be a girl and all that, but I wear wifebeaters under my tops. The models with long tails, when tucked in, prevent pretty much all of the chafing that I have when I don't put one on.

That's just the sum of what I've learned. Your results may vary, of course, but the point here is to try something different to see if that will work better for you. I'd really rather see all of us finding comfortable carry methods and setups, than leaving our firearms at home because they're too much of a hassle to carry.

Daddy's Little Girl

Mom: Sarah's birthday is this weekend.
Dad: Uh-huh.
Mom: What are you getting her?
Dad: I dunno. Sarah, would you like ammo?
Me: Yes. Yes I would.
Mom: How about renewing her NRA membership?
Dad: Oh, I can do that.
Me: Sweet.

You know that you have an awesome family when they insist on gun-related gifts.

Now, to convince them to buy me an AR-15 when I finally finish college...

Stupid Wind

On Wednesday, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, the wind was fairly stiff. That afternoon, between classes, I headed to a shopping complex to pick up a few much-needed items, including a case of canned cat food.

When I went into the store, I was able to subtly press my elbow against my side. This kept my shirttail down, where it belonged, concealing my carry gun. Though unintentional failure to conceal is not a crime here in Texas, I still hate the idea of flashing the entire parking lot. Concealed carry doesn't work very well if anybody who looks my way can clearly see the black holster, not to mention the blued .45, against the light-gray undershirt that I was wearing at the time.

However, I exited the store with a case of food. Though the cans were still shrink-wrapped in the cardboard, the sucker shifted on me. The middle of the cardboard also bowed downward from the weight of the cans, which required me to support the bottom with one hand and grip the edge with the other.

I didn't have a free hand to stop my cap from blowing off and tumbling across the parking lot. I wasn't about to leave my hat behind, so I trotted after it, the cat food still in my hands because I was in the middle of the crosswalk. (Simply putting it down there seemed like a bad idea, what with traffic and all.)

When I bent over to retrieve the hat, my cell phone fell out of my shirt pocket. Sigh.

Then, another gust of wind rolled through just as I finished collecting all of my crap and stood back up, the case of food back in my hands.

My shirttail blew up to the back of my neck. For an agonizing, embarrassing moment, I was flashing the entire parking lot. Double sigh.

Not having much of a choice, I range-walked across the lot and quickly got the cat food into the car. At some point during that quick trip, my shirttail fell back into place and covered up everything that should have been covered.

Stupid wind.

But at least Officer Friendly didn't show up in response to a "WOMAN WITH A GUN! OH MY GOD! NO" call. As far as I know, at least.

Russ Martin and Texas CHLs

To the Dallas/Ft. Worth media:

If you are going to keep pointing out Russ Martin's now-revoked Concealed Handgun License, I suggest that you also report these facts related to both Texas CHLs in general and Martin's case in particular.

* Fewer than two percent of Texas CHLers commit violent crimes. If only the rest of the Texas population were so trustworthy and decent. If the rest of the people here were that law-abiding...that trustworthy...we would have a truly-amazing state to call home.

* Texans do not have to have any sort of license to possess firearms on property we personally control. I can take my handgun from my home to my driveway, get into my car, and drive to my business - all without my CHL. The gun can even accompany me into my establishment. But if I want to pop into the supermarket for a box of donuts while I'm traveling to my business, I need the CHL if I want to take the firearm in with me.

So: even if Martin had not been in possession of a CHL, he would have legally possessed the gun that was in his home. His CHL status did not enable or allow him this right.

* You cannot obtain a Texas CHL without undergoing a full background check. Both Texas and the Feds check out your criminal records, if any exist, and grant or deny your application based on what they find.

An interesting point to consider is that, here in Texas at least, a conviction of domestic violence disqualifies you for a CHL. If you're convicted of beating the snot out of your significant other/family member/roommate, then you don't get to carry a concealed handgun to the grocery store, church, et cetera.

* If Martin is convicted, then he's going to have a rough life - as it should be. If he's guilty of assaulting somebody without physical provocation, then he deserves to suffer the legal consequences of the criminal act. However, I say "if" because I believe that he deserves his day in court - just as any accused member of society does.

Forget Flying

I haven't been on a plane since August 2001, when the U.S. Army sent me from Arizona (my last duty station) back to sweet, sweet Texas.

Back then, things were simple. I ran my carry-on luggage through the X-ray machine, gave an employee my boarding pass, and had a seat on the plane. We flew, marvelously, through the clouds, looking down on palm-sized football stadiums and cow pastures. Being in the air was liberating, even when I was more interested in sleeping through most of the three-hour flight.

Oh. And the little packets of peanuts were delicious. I hear, unfortunately, that you get pretzels now because some passengers are allergic to the nuts. Too bad. The honey-roasted, salty goodness was one of the very best things about flying. Especially when the attendant gave me one quarter of a canned soda, in a tiny plastic cup, to drink with my snack.

However much I enjoy flying, I prefer to drive myself now. I have since security procedures changed following 9/11.

You, airport-security screeners, do not have the right to treat me like a criminal. I have done nothing wrong, illegal or suspicious. I've undergone federal background checks more than once in my life, in fact, and they've all come back clean. Google "Define: law-abiding citizen" and you'll find me in the search results.

You will not grope me.
You will not have me remove my shoes.
You will not strip-search me.
You will not steal my possessions.
You will not bark orders at me like I am an unruly puppy.
You will not threaten me for no apparent reason.
You will not treat me like one head of cattle in the herd.
You will not humiliate or embarrass me.

When I travel, I have the right to take any snacks, beverages and hygiene items I wish. I want my twenty-ounce bottle of Dr Pepper, my honey-roasted peanuts and my full-sized bottle of shampoo.

And I want to bring my concealed handgun with me, because I'm licensed to carry and I have every right to defend myself even when I am not inside my own home.

I refuse to fly. I would love to travel to Vegas after I finish my undergraduate work, as the 2009 World Series of Poker will be underway right after I walk. But if I cannot afford the trip unless I take a plane, I'll change my plans. I'll go to Oklahoma and enjoy poker there. I'll find a local home game. I'll stay at home and play online.

I'll do anything but get on the plane because, as an American and a law-abiding citizen, I have the right to be treated like a decent human being.

SCOTUS Landmark - and Our Continuing Fight

Five of the Supreme Court Justices know what they're doing. They proved this today when they declared that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is, in fact, an individual right - and that it is Unconstitutional to outlaw handguns in homes.

This is a huge day. I'll be telling my future nieces and nephews about this someday, I'm sure. They'll hear about the thirty-plus years of oppression in our nation's capital...about the attempted handgun ban in San Francisco, Kalifornia...about the failed lawsuit that NYC Mayor Bloomberg tried to bring against handgun manufacturers.

And they'll hear about what we all got up and did after we paused for a bit to celebrate this landmark decision. They'll hear, I hope, that we continued fighting for what is rightfully ours.

I hope that they hear about my state's ongoing petition for open carry.

I hope that they hear about our collective, national fight for concealed carry on campus.

I hope that, when these future citizens hear the stories of how things were, and are today, they won't understand at first. I hope that the idea of gun control is bizarre and foreign to them - that they cock their heads to the side and say, "But Aunt Sarah...didn't the good guys always have guns?"

No, I'll reply. We didn't. I'll tell them about the 1980s, when Texans could not legally carry handguns. I'll tell them about the 1990s, when our government discriminated against rifles based on color and appearance. (Those evil black rifles, I'll say, just looked nasty to some people.) And I'll tell them about the 2000s, when we started to gain ground and retake our rights.

And when story time is over, I hope that I can take them to the range for some target practice.

---

The people who came before me fought for rights that they didn't have. I have a CHL because they fought for me. What we do today will affect the next generation. If you and I continue the fight, then our relatives - your children, their children - will have the rights that we don't have today.

I may never get to carry my concealed handgun to college. I may never get to openly carry here in Texas. But maybe the next generation will get these things because of what we do today.

Vote. Write to your politicians. Join a gun-rights organization like the NRA or a state-level group. Take a friend to the shooting range. Know the facts about firearms so that you can gently correct the liberal media's lies when they come out of a friend's mouth. The more we do, the better.

While You're Just Sitting There, Doing Nothing...

If you want to help one of your favorite causes just by sitting on your butt - much like I'm doing right now, in fact - you can use a search engine to that organization's advantage.

Just direct your browser to Good Search and look toward the middle of what's visible on your screen. Search for the organization that you'd like to help. Now use this search engine just like you would use Google or Yahoo!, Ask.com or whatever it is that you've been using to find your gun porn.

And just for the record: you fellow gun nuts can help the National Rifle Association every time you search for, well, anything, really. I've set Good Search to share the cash with the NRA's Civil Rights Defense Fund. You can choose other NRA funds, but this one seems like a good one for me to support.

Oh, and you should go through Good Search to hit Amazon.com, Target, and other shopping sites. The participating sites donate a percentage of the sale to the organization you've chosen.

You're probably thinking, "Okay, so the search engine sucks, right?"

Actually, Good Search is good - so far, anyway. I get real search results instead of a bunch of garbage. And in my not-scientific-at-all, totally-random search comparisons, Good Search does as well as Google where search results go.

That might not be saying much to you, but I was a Google freak until I found Good Search.

Oh, and if you use Firefox (which you should be doing, unless you're using Opera - because these are the only two Web browsers that deserve to be on any good guy or gal's PC), you can add Good Search to Firefox's search bar. This whole searching-for-the-greater-good thing could get better only if mind-reading hamsters typed for me.

Give it a try. If you don't like it, you can always, you know, go back to what you were doing before.

Michael Bloomberg: Kiss My Gun-loving Butt

Michael Bloomberg: Kiss My Gun-loving Butt

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a bully. He has cash, which bought him the mayor title, so he's pushing around innocent, law-abiding citizens.

Bloomberg orchestrates sting operations in other states to "bust" gun retailers. The mayor violates federal laws left and right in his twisted attempts to overthrow the United States Constitution, particularly the Second Amendment. Because he hates guns, and he's determined to come up with anything, however illegal or not even true, to get retailers closed down. Especially ones outside of New York. Because they obviously affect him, a New Yorker, and his city, New York. Obviously.

But he has an armed security escort. Because he's special. He's the elite, ruling class.

Remember, kids: an unarmed person is a subject, but an armed person is a citizen.

But...that's not even the main point here. Wal-Mart recently announced that their stores will voluntarily follow Bloomberg's ten-point plan to invade privacy, treat law-abiding citizens as criminals, and further the nanny/police/jack boot state.

Bloomberg wants retailers to adopt these ten practices. Because we have to have more gun control, you know. Despite the statistics and other facts proving that more guns = less crime, and that fewer guns = more crime, Bloomberg is throwing obscene amounts of money at the "problem" of lax gun control.

Bloomberg's points are all worth laughing at, or even being afraid of if you're really concerned about the miserable state of the Union.

But number 2 in particular really needs your attention, and mine. This point:

"Mayors Against Illegal Guns will develop a computerized system that participating retailers will implement over time to log crime gun traces relating to the retailer. Once the program is in place, if a customer who has a prior trace at that retailer attempts to purchase a firearm, the sale will be electronically flagged. The retailer would have discretion to proceed with the sale or stop the sale."

This is bothersome because the trace is on the gun, not the person.

So if you buy a gun, new, and then sell it to a friend later, who sells it to another friend, who has it stolen from his house...well...you'd best hope that the thief doesn't get caught committing a crime with that gun. Because you're quite likely to be the person who's "flagged" for the gun trace, seeing as you're the one to whom the records will point. Here in Texas? No gun registration. So if my gun is stolen, and then used to commit a crime, it's going to come back on me.

And under Bloomberg's little scheme, this means that Wally World might or might not sell me a nice, new rifle. All because I had the audacity, the nerve, to allow somebody to steal my gun when I wasn't looking. How terrible of me.

The sooner the feds bust into Bloomberg's office and haul him out in cuffs, the happier I'll be. That criminal gives politicians a bad name - and that's saying a LOT.

Rest in Peace

Charlton Heston - Mr. NRA himself - died last night at the age of 84. Though we all have to pass from this part of existence to the next at one point or another, I'm still a bit sad by Mr. Heston's death.

Though I do enjoy his acting, I'm more appreciative of his Presidency in the National Rifle Association. The time that he devoted to helping us keep our Second Amendment rights means more to me than all of his films combined.

Thank you, sir, for a job well done.

I'm a Student, Not a Criminal

Concealed handgun licensees here in the Great State of Texas have been fighting for the right to carry on campus for...quite some time now. As of right now, our best hope is that Governor Perry will attempt to change things during our 2009 legislative session. This is one of the rare times in which I think that meeting every other year is a very bad thing. We're trying to be patient, but...it's getting harder.

With the recent shooting on a college campus in Tyler, Texas, we have no choice but to acknowledge that this type of thing can happen anywhere. Even here in Texas, where more than a quarter million of us are legally licensed to carry our concealed handguns in many public places (except, of course, school).

And then, the University of Texas at Arlington reported that there was an armed robbery on campus. There was also an incident involving a pellet gun.

So: we need concealed carry at Texas schools. Right now, only the criminals have weapons at school. By definition, criminals break laws. You can post all the "No Gun" signs you want, and you can pass all the "No guns at school" laws you want. The criminals are going to ignore all of this. Those of us who follow laws will obey...and by doing so, put ourselves at risk.

This ticks me off because I'm a UT-Arlington student. (I'm taking off this semester, but I'm returning in August.) I have to walk, by myself, across several parking lots. The campus is wide open to anybody who wishes to show up. Cooper Street, which basically runs right down the middle of the school, is a large and public road open to anybody who'd like to drive down it.

And though many of the people who live in the numerous houses near the campus are wonderful, law-abiding citizens...some of them are not. Not every person in the surrounding neighborhood is a good guy or gal. The criminals who live right off campus have very easy, free access to the unarmed students who are in the parking lots and on the streets.

There aren't enough campus police officers to personally escort every student all over the campus. Until or unless we each have armed escorts, we're responsible for protecting ourselves. But right now, legislation and school policies make this difficult. Very difficult.

Because, quite frankly, I have no delusion about what would happen if I were confronted by a criminal armed with a handgun. I have...pepper spray and a folding knife. Oh, yes, those are highly effective against handgun-wielding purse snatchers, rapists, school shooters and other, miscellaneous thugs.

This is not fair. I haven't done anything wrong, but the law puts me at a distinct disadvantage re: my own protection. The State of Texas licensed me to carry a loaded .45 at church, in Wal-Mart, and at the hobby shop. But I cannot carry that same gun to classes. I'm the same law-abiding citizen no matter where I go, but for some reason, I am not worthy of self protection when I'm attempting to better myself through higher education.

The Brady Campaign's "Drop out of school" solution would be a fine idea if it weren't for the fact that I have just as much right to attend college as an anti-gunner's kid does. I earned my seat at UT-Arlington. Wishing to defend and protect myself while I'm occupying that seat does not make me any less worthy of what I worked to earn.

Besides: the anti-gunners still have the right to NOT carry guns. They have a choice. I do not.

The sooner we get campus carry, the happier I'll be.

The Dreaded Purse

Right now, I carry inside the waistband. This, for me, is an ideal way to tote my .45 around. The setup is comfortable and the gun is concealed, so I'm content to keep doing things this way as long as possible.

But last week, the bursitis in my right shoulder flared up. Having dealt with this eight years ago, I knew that I would need a doctor. This, of course, requires me to take off my shirt. The doctor has to look at the shoulder. And if things go as they did the last time this happened (eight years ago, thankfully - this isn't a huge problem for me), I'd get a steroid injection in the shoulder too. Definitely a "please take off your shirt" kind of visit.

So I got dressed on Thursday morning and suddenly wondered where I would carry my gun. I had not planned this doctor's visit very far in advance. I called on Wednesday and got the appointment for the next day. There really wasn't time to go shopping for another holster.

Being a tomboy is tough because, well, I hate purses. I've never even OWNED one because they're not my thing at all. If I can't fit my junk in my pockets? I don't need it.

But there I was, in the doctor's office, holding one of my Mom's purses with my .45 carefully tucked inside. I looked, quite frankly, like a tool. You know how your husband looks when you ask him to hold your purse while you do whatever? I looked exactly like that, but with small boobs and no facial hair. Even down to the "I'm so embarrassed to be seen in public with this...thing" look on my face.

[shameless self-promotion]
So, eligible bachelors: If you date me, I promise to not hand you a purse to carry around in public. Or private, for that matter. I might hand you car keys, a cell phone, or a Dr Pepper. But no purses. I won't even ask you to hold my wallet. It doesn't really LOOK girly, so it might be okay for a person of the male persuasion to hold. But I won't even ask you to do that unless it's very important. Like, "Hold this while I shoot this wannabe mugger" important.
[/self-promoting singles ad.]

The snickering from Kid Sis didn't help any, either. "Man, you look like a weirdo," she announced. Yeah, well. She was right. I couldn't argue with her. (But I COULD tell her to shut it. Which I did. Repeatedly.)

Purse carry, I learned, is difficult because the purse is not attached to my body. When the nurse called me back to the scale for weighing, I had to put down the purse. Had I been carrying the gun in my waistband holster, I wouldn't have said a word or done anything. Let my weight be five pounds over. I don't care. That's all metal and polymer, baby! Yeah!

After that awkward moment, though, I learned that purse carry is probably a good thing when you're going in to see a doctor about a shoulder problem. The purse was safely stashed while I:

* Posed for X-rays
* Let the doctor manipulate my shoulder - to the point of excruciating pain, naturally. Because, for some reason, doctors don't believe you when you say "It hurts" unless it's accompanied by a yelp, profuse sweating, or a fist to their crotches.
* Learned that, despite current medical knowledge, the brilliant doctor wanted me to drop my jeans for a shot in the ASS. My SHOULDER needed the steroids, but my ASS was going to get them. The truly sad part was that I was in too much pain, and too tired of being in the doctor's office, to make a decent Major League Baseball joke while the nurse was stabbing me. Man, I suck.

So, purse carry can be good, but it's a really complicated and frustrating way for certain people - like me - to do things.

---

And then, yesterday morning - after an entire weekend of my "The shot isn't working. Somebody give me tequila STAT!" whining - I went back to the clinic to see a doctor whose head was not lodged someplace dark and smelly.

Once again, I was NOT prepared for this appointment. I had been awake until four in the morning. So I was fast asleep, finally, when my Mom decided to take pity on me and call on my behalf.

So one moment, I was having a very pleasant dream that involved a very pleasant person of the opposite sex...and the next, I was blinking several times and wondering where Johnny Depp went.

Next thing I knew, I was in the kitchen, holding The Dreaded Purse.

So we repeated the entire freaking weigh-in process at the clinic. But, fortunately, I didn't have to get more X-rays or take another needle in the butt. The whole thing was still awkward, Kid Sis still snickered at me, and I still vowed to never willingly carry a purse again if I could help it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I'm shopping for an ankle holster this weekend. If I have two decent carry methods, then I don't have to worry so much about being caught up in an unexpected doctor's visit that will leave me clueless and frustrated.

Thoughts On Concealed Carry

Carrying a concealed handgun is not something that anyone should take lightly. I, for example, spent more than a couple of days thinking and praying about the decision before I even began the application process. From that time through now, I've had some very interesting discussions and debates with people who don't really understand why some of us choose to go armed.

So, while I'm thinking about it, I'm happy to write a little bit about the subject. Let's try to clarify some ideas, find the truth, and disperse some of the myths that keep coming up when I discuss guns and concealed carry with others.

Carrying a gun is not about "getting to kill somebody." I don't lie awake at night thinking, "Oh, BOY! I might get to shoot somebody!" That's just wrong on every possible level. Those of us with normal, rational brains and minds are genetically programmed to not kill other human beings. We're just like the four-legged creatures in that respect. Just thinking about taking another person's life makes me uncomfortable: it's definitely not something that I put on my to-do list.

When I'm out and about, I pay attention to my surroundings and to the people in the area. That way, I stand a good chance of noticing a hinky situation and getting out of it before I'm backed into a corner. Even before I acquired my Concealed Handgun License, I made a point of staying out of trouble. This - avoiding bad situations - is better than fighting my way out of them. Every time.

I don't believe that having a gun on my person means that it's a good idea to venture out into the more dangerous parts of my community. Horrifying things can happen anywhere, but willingly walking into a crime-infested area is not something that I feel the need to do. Sometimes we have to go into less safe areas, yes. But whenever I can avoid that, I stay as far away as possible. Just because I have a means of defending myself doesn't mean that I want to go out of my way to use it. My gun is like a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. I appreciate the fact that it's there, but I'm not going to forget common sense and basic safety precautions.

There is nothing wrong with being morally inferior to a bad guy. In the past, people have told me that fighting back makes me worse than the bad guy. I don't have any problem with that. At least I'll be alive - and, hopefully, the bad guy will decide that his profession of choice is not worth continuing.

Having guns in public does not create a "Wild West" atmosphere in which people have shootouts on the street. Here in Texas, something like 250,000 of us have our concealed handgun licenses. Just a few of us - not even two percent of us in all, according to the DPS Web site - have caused problems with these guns. The overwhelming majority of us do not flash our pieces in public. We do not draw on people for minor offenses like cutting us off in traffic or calling us four-letter words. We aren't the vigilante-justice types, either. We're the good guys, and we accept the responsibility that comes with our armed status.

I am not any less responsible at college than I am in other parts of the public world. I can carry my .45 in Wal-Mart, but I must leave it outside of my classroom. Do I become an evil, bad CHL holder when I set foot on my campus? Of course not. Those of us who passed the background checks and other requirements to get our licenses proved that we're responsible, law-abiding citizens. We're not going to turn into wild, crazy, shoot-'em-up types just because we're on a campus somewhere.

I carry because I am responsible for myself. It's my job to protect my life. Nobody else can do it for me - not effectively, anyway. And nobody else is quite as interested in preserving my hide as I am.

If I Ever Own a Business

I'm a Texan. More specifically: I live near the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. Local news sources reported a very sad story yesterday. Two pieces of human scum rolled into a convenience store with guns drawn, murdered Abate Hailu (the store owner - he was working the counter) and then robbed the place. CBS reports that the store owner died before first responders even made it to the scene.

If I ever own a business, I will not let this happen to my employees, my customers, or myself. This brutal violence is unnecessary, horrifying, and not tolerable. Some news sources report that Mr. Hailu hit the panic button to summon law enforcement, which could explain why the killers shot him. (Or maybe the murderers are just useless pieces of excrement who don't deserve to suck air with the rest of us. Either way, they should go up on capital murder charges and fry.)

Here's how I run my place. This is all hypothetical because I do not own a business at this point in my life, but I HAVE thought about this situation.

I carry my concealed handgun the entire time I'm there. To and from the place, too, because you either carry your firearm 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or figure out how to predict when and where a crime will occur. Because my crystal ball is in the shop at the moment, I go with carrying whenever and wherever I can legally do so.

Any employee who is legally qualified and willing to obtain a CHL (concealed handgun license) is encouraged to apply. If/when that person obtains the license, I reimburse that employee's CHL-related expenses. I give him/her 100 percent of the licensing and application fees and cover some percentage of the firearm and ammo costs too. Heck, if business is good, I just might repay the whole cost of the gun and ammo.

Employees who go through NRA-approved safety and defensive-shooting courses are reimbursed for their time and expenses. They're be paid for the time off work and reimbursed for all the ammo that they use. And when they pass certain, relevant courses, I give them a nice holster of their choice so that they can comfortably carry on the job.

But that is not all. Before the CHLs come into play, I make sure that my store is as secure as possible. I pay for video surveillance, an alarm system, good locks, et cetera. Most of these things prevent bad guys from breaking in when the store is closed, but some measures are good for business hours too. Video cameras record the events so that law enforcement and the court system have solid evidence. If somebody has to draw on a bad guy, I want the entire universe to see that it was in self defense.

And I'm sure that there are employees who don't want to carry guns. Or maybe they can't. Either way, that's fine. Discrimination is not cool. But there will always be one, if not two, CHLer in the store during business hours. And if an applicant is not cool with that, well, he or she shouldn't bother applying. My business, my rules.

None of these things will necessarily stop evil people from bursting in with guns drawn. But if the good guys - the honest citizens who are in there shopping or trying to make a living - have any advantage, they're more likely to survive. If somebody insists on bringing trouble to my place, he or she will pay for it.

I am not, I should mention, talking about shooting a kid in the back for running out of the store with a 50-cent candy bar. Thievery of all types pisses me off, but I don't believe in shooting somebody unless there is an immediate threat to my safety or life. I am, rather, talking about saving an innocent life. People who aren't engaging in criminal activities (like breaking into homes, or joining gangs, or whatever else) do not deserve to be robbed or beaten, shot or sliced and diced. We have the right to live without fear for our lives and well-being. When a bad guy tries to disrupt that, or steal it from us, we have every right to defend ourselves.

Oh. And I imagine that the large, neon "Criminals Beware: All Employees are Armed and Will Shoot to Kill" sign on my front door would discourage many bad guys.