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Thank You LuckyGunner.com!

December 18, 2021 by 2 Comments

I have been an affiliate of LuckyGunner.com since 2011 when they sponsored the Blogger Shoot. If you look at the very bottom of this page, you will see a link to their website. Using that link to buy your ammo generates a small commission for me. I use the proceeds to either pay for some of my research costs (Pacer is not free) or it goes as donations to pro-Second Amendment organizations.

Over the last few years Anthony Welsch, their marketing guru, has sent out some very nice Christmas gifts to affiliates. This year he sent some wonderful buffalo steaks and roasts which I can’t wait to taste.

I do plan to play with Olivia and Aria next week. I’m sure I will watch at least one episode of Paw Patrol as well as numerous episodes of Sophia, Bluey, and one or more involving Disney Princesses.

Thanks again to Anthony and the whole team at LuckyGunner.com for this wonderful Christmas gift.

Now go buy some ammo and use the link at the bottom of the page!

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Questions Not Asked (Updated)

December 17, 2021 by 1 Comment

I received a press release late this morning regarding a recent shooting in Durham, North Carolina. It was from the North Carolina chapters of Everytown, Moms Demand, and Students Demand. The tenor of this missive was that “gun violence” (sic) is killing the youth of North Carolina.

Lest I be accused of selective editing, here it is in its entirety:

DURHAM, N.C. —  The North Carolina chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement after a shooting in Durham left two people dead and four others injured. According to local reporting, the six victims were driving in an SUV when they received fire at around 3 a.m. Monday morning. Most of those shot were under the age of 18, with some of the youngest being just middle school students, WRAL reports.


“The shooting in Durham is another tragic example of the devastating impact gun violence has had on North Carolina’s youth,” said Sylvia Burns, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We can’t sit idly while young lives continue to be cut short by gun violence. Enough is enough.”


The shooting comes at the end of Durham’s deadliest year — by September 30, 2021, Durham police had investigated 43 homicides, surpassing 2016’s previous record of 42, according to INDY Week.


In an average year, 1,388 people die and 3,407 are wounded by guns in North Carolina. Guns are the second-leading cause of death among the state’s youth population, with an average of 104 children and teens being killed by guns every year. 60% of these deaths are homicides. More information on North Carolina gun violence can be found here.

There are a number of questions that this press release ignores while saying “enough is enough.”

Why were these “youths” out driving around at 3am on what is a school night?

Did the parents of those that were identified as “middle school students” know their children were out at this time of the morning? According to a more recent report, the middle schools students included a 13 year old boy, a 13 year old girl, and a 12 year old girl.

Given police say this shooting was not random, were any of these “youths” members of a gang?

Did the victims know their attackers?

Was this shooting gang related? Durham officials said earlier in the year that the city has a gang problem.

Were any firearms found in the SUV of the “victims”?

With one of those killed being 19 years of age, does Everytown consider this victim a “youth” or an adult?

The Durham Police Department reports that the SUV, a Hyundai Santa Fe, was reported stolen sometime on Sunday. Were these “youths” involved in the theft of the car and did the theft play any role in the shooting?

I do agree that it is a tragedy to see any young person’s life end prematurely. However, there are so many factors at play here that to heap all the blame on firearms is both misleading and simplistic.

UPDATE: More details emerge on this incident.

In addition to there being a seventh passenger in the stolen car, a firearm was found in it by police.

From WRAL Raleigh:

A police report indicates a .308 Winchester 88 was recovered from the Hyundai Santa Fe, which crashed into a utility pole near the intersection of Mathison and Eugene streets after the shooting.

Police said the SUV had been reported stolen on Sunday from a location in Durham that they didn’t disclose. There was no information as to whether the rifle was stolen along with the vehicle. Police haven’t said whether any of the teens have been linked to the vehicle theft.

A Winchester 88 is a magazine-fed lever action rifle. I will say it is not what one would expect to find at the scene of the crime.

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Pay To Play Sheriff Indicted

December 16, 2021 by 4 Comments

I wrote about Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith last year and how big donors were rewarded with CCW permits. There were a number of indictments including that of a captain in the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office. However, Sheriff Smith herself was never charged. That has changed.

Yesterday, a civil grand jury in Santa Clara County returns seven indictments against Sheriff Smith. This is the California equivalent of an impeachment proceeding for a local official. She must appear in court to answer the indictments. If she wishes to contest them, a trial will be held. However, the only penalty she will face if found guilty is removal from office.

As per custom, the local DA has recused himself from the case. Taking his place will be the infamous Soros-sponsored San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin who will handle the prosecution. Boudin is not fan of law enforcement.

KRON reports the charges against Smith as follows:

  • Count 1: Illegally issuing concealed carry weapon permits (CCW) to VIP’s
  • Count 2: Failing to properly investigate whether non-VIP’s should receive CCW permits
  • Count 3: Keeping non-VIP CCW applications pending indefinitely
  • Count 4: Illegally accepting suite tickets, food, and drinks at Sharks game
  • Count 5: Failing to report Sharks game gifts on financial documents
  • Count 6: Committing perjury by failing to disclose Sharks game gifts
  • Count 7: Failing to cooperate with internal affairs investigation surrounding treatment of Andrew Hogan

Note that Counts 1 to 3 all involve the issuance of concealed carry permits. Her behavior makes the case that may-issue concealed carry permits and their issuance are ripe for corruption. As reported last year, if you were a big donor to Sheriff Smith, you had a 79% chance of getting your permit. If, however, you did not contribute to her campaign, you success rate was a mere 5.5%. While this is better than San Francisco, it is still abysmal.

Sheriff Smith has been in office since December 1998. While California sheriff’s elections are officially non-partisan, it is reported that she is a Republican.

Under California law, even if she is booted from office, Smith would not lose her pension. Public officials can only lose their pension benefits if convicted of a felony and only from the date of the commission of the felony. A rough estimate of her pension is $266,000 annually based upon her last reported salary of $296,000. As I said this is a rough estimate and her actual retirement pay is probably considerably more. Other than avoiding the public shame of being removed from office, she has nothing really to lose by continuing in office. That said, if I were 69 years old like her, I’d have already retired.

UPDATE: NBC Bay Area has more on the case with Santa Clara County DA Jeff Rosen who has recused himself from the case.

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Promoting Marksmanship

December 15, 2021 by

Sweden in 1941 had Nazi-occupied Norway on one side, Nazi-allied (through mutual hatred of the Soviet Union) Finland on the other, and Nazi Germany itself across the Baltic Sea. It was hard being a neutral nation in the midst of all of that. Like the Swiss, the Swedes believed in armed neutrality.

The 1941 Swedish propaganda poster below is promoting marksmanship. The wording translates as “shooting skills increase the defense force.” Both the civilian and the soldier are firing what appears to be a Model 96 Swedish Mauser.

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Comment Of The Day

December 14, 2021 by 1 Comment

The comment of the day comes from Jon Caldara. He is the president of the Colorado-based Independence Institute. His comment came in reference to the calls to ban personally made firearms and the ignorance of those pushing it.

My very favorite social media meme is a picture of a car’s manual-transmission gear shift. It reads, “millennial anti-theft device.”

Wouldn’t it be weird if people who’ve never driven a stick shift tried to outlaw them? Well, that’s the anti-gun movement.

Caldara’s comment is very astute and is totally on the mark.

For those that don’t know, Caldara is the one who sued the People’s Republic of Boulder when they tried to ban possession of certain semi-automatic rifles.

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You Would Not Have Seen This In 2018

December 11, 2021 by 7 Comments

I received a press release earlier this week from Roy Hill of Brownells. Reading through it I was struck that this was not something you would have seen in earlier times. Bear in mind that Pete Brownell served as president of the NRA from May 2017 until May 2018 and was an officer and member of the board prior to that.

The release was about a donation made by Brownells to the Firearms Policy Coalition.

Brownells is proud to announce it has become a Benefactor Member of the Firearms Policy Coalition Constitution Alliance.

Brownells joins other well-known firearms industry companies such as Daniel Defense and Silencer Shop to stand with the Firearms Policy Coalition in defense and support of constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights for all Americans.

Founded in 2015, the FPC’s main mission is to protect and defend constitutional rights—especially the right to keep and bear arms— often by filing lawsuits against egregious anti-gun-rights laws and regulations.

Recently, FPC filed a lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional New Jersey restrictions and local practices that prevent its residents from exercising their right to carry loaded handguns in public for self-defense. Additionally, FPC has recently filed lawsuits in Nevada, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and Tennessee.

“FPC has stood in the Breach to defend our 2A rights for years. They have stacked up an impressive list of legal wins that keeps the individual right to bear arms alive in America,” said Brownells Chairman Pete Brownell.  “Now is the time to double down in supporting our Second Amendment Rights by supporting FPC.”

“It is an honor to have earned the support of Pete Brownell and the Brownells family,” said FPC president Brandon Combs. “Brownells is not only a world-class supplier of constitutionally protected products, it is an institution in our culture. Because of the generous support of our individual FPC Grassroots Army members and growing family of Constitution Alliance benefactors, like our friends at Brownells, our FPC Team is able to aggressively address important issues and protect individuals’ rights, freedoms, and property without hesitation. FPC will proudly continue to Fight Forward for the People and their rights, liberty, and property.”

So far in 2021, Brownells has donated around $175,000 to the FPC.

As I see it, the move by Brownells is an indication of two things. First, it is a testimony to how far the FPC has come in a short time. Second, and what really struck me, is that Brownells which has a long history with the NRA has chosen to send their money elsewhere.

Perhaps I’m mistaken but I see this as a way for Brownells to continue their support for the Second Amendment while distancing themselves from the NRA and all of its self-inflicted problems.

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Congratulations To Cam Edwards

December 10, 2021 by 1 Comment

The Second Amendment Foundation announced earlier this week that Cam Edwards was awarded the 2021 Ray Carter Blogger of the Year Award. Congratulations to Cam on winning this award.

From the announcement:

The “Blogger of the Year” award honors the memory of Ray Carter, a lifelong gun rights activist in Washington State whose final years were spent working for SAF in its Bellevue, Washington national headquarters. Carter is remembered as “an activist’s activist” by SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, and one of the founders of “Blogorado,” an annual gathering of pro-gun bloggers in Colorado. Ray passed in May 2016 following a long battle with cancer, but he never gave up fighting in defense of the Second Amendment.

“Ray would have been delighted to see this award go to Cam Edwards,” Gottlieb observed. “Cam’s background and breadth of knowledge about Second Amendment issues makes him a superb writer and blogger. He knows the subject and he knows his audience, and he’s never backed away from the gun rights battle.”

“I am incredibly honored to receive the Ray Carter Blogger of the Year award,” Edwards said. “As someone who started out as a broadcaster to be recognized for my blogging and writing is really an honor. It really means a lot to me. I know I am in really good company with my colleagues.

Previous winners of the Ray Carter Blogger of the Year Award include Paul Lathrop of Polite Society Podcast (2016), Rob Morse of the Slow Facts Blog (2018), Charlie Cook of Riding Shotgun with Charlie (2019), and Rev. Kenn Blanchard of Black Man with a Gun (2020). Without engaging in too much self-promotion, I, too, am a previous winner. I was greatly honored to win this award in 2017.

I can say I was lucky enough to have met Ray aka Gay Cynic in person though not at a “Blogorado”. Dave Workman has more about Ray and the origins of the award here.

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A Day That Will Live In Infamy Plus 80 Years

December 7, 2021 by 2 Comments

It is hard to believe that it has been 80 years since the attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on Pearl Harbor. For my parent’s generation, it was something that they lived in real time. They heard about it on the radio or in extra editions of their local newspaper. My dad had already been in the Army for almost a year, my mom was working for the New York City office of the Lend-Lease Program, and my Uncle John would skip school the next day to enlist in the Navy.

Those who were in the military at Pearl Harbor that day are now in their late 90s at the very least. In other words, there are very few of them left. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association stopped their Hawaii reunions 15 years ago due to the aging of their members. They officially disbanded in 2011. It has been succeeded by the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Even still, if you look at the pictures of their members, they are not youngsters.

A quick search of the Internet will allow you to find many, many propaganda posters from that era such as the one above. My favorite that I first posted in 2013 is the one below. Not only does it play on words but it emphasizes the total national commitment that was required to win World War Two. Notice that the knitting needles are arranged in a V for Victory.

remember Pearl Harbor - PURL HARDER". Promoting Civilian Knitting for War Production, New York City WPA War Service, 1942. : r/PropagandaPosters

It was done by the New York City office of the War Production Board to promote civilian knitting for war production.

My point in remembering the Pearl Harbor attack every year is that we should never forget our history. I fear that both our civilian and military leadership has forgotten many of the lessons that Pearl Harbor taught us and we will be caught unawares again.

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Would This Be Considered Baiting Bears?

December 6, 2021 by 1 Comment

Imagine this. You just shot your first deer. Not only is it your first buck but it is your very first time deer hunting. Then out of nowhere a bear appears and starts munching on your deer. That one bear then becomes four bears as three more arrive.

Sounds like a tall tale, doesn’t it. Except that it isn’t.

That is exactly what happened to Jordan Zabinski on her first time deer hunting in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving weekend.

I’ll let her take over the story:

“I was so terrified of a bear, and my husband was like, ‘I’ve never seen a bear except for this one time,’ he said, ‘don’t worry, you’re not gonna see one,’” Jordan Zabinkski said…

“I hear like, crunching. And I’m like ‘there’s a deer, there’s a deer!” she said. But it wasn’t another deer, Her biggest fear had come true. She was staring at four black bears. “And then right behind it comes three, and I’m like ‘okay, now there are four bears.’”

After multiple unanswered texts and calls to her husband, who was helping her brother load a deer he had killed, she started to worry.

“At first I was really quiet, but then I really started to freak out,” Zabinski said. After finally getting a hold of her husband, she had to wait about 30 more minutes, so she tried to keep as quiet as possible. “It’s been a while now and no one’s coming. What if they don’t to get me in time?”

Eventually Jordan’s husband and brother arrived. Yelling at the bears was enough to get them to leave. Fortunately, for Jordan the only damage that the bears did was to the tail.

From what I understand, Pennsylvania does allow bear hunting but you are required to have a bear tag. However, from what I can tell, Jordan was in Wildlife Management Unit 2E where the season was closed when she got her deer.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, it is unlawful to put food or minerals out to attract bears. That, of course, leads to the question – is the deer that you just killed considered baiting if it attracts four bears? The answer should be an emphatic NO but one never knows.

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Camouflage Maps

December 5, 2021 by 3 Comments

I like camouflage. I like reading about how different styles are developed as well as the history and science of it. I like to see how both military and hunting camo styles are developed.

Thus, when I stumbled across maps showing camouflage adoption and use, I was intrigued.

Here is a map of Europe with the different military camouflage patterns by country.

You can see France with its CCE Woodland camo, Germany with its Multitarn which replaced Flecktarn, and the UK with MTP camo which is a DPM variant of Multicam. I have jackets that I use for hunting in CCE, MTP, and the original British DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material). They all are good at different times in the season and were bought as military surplus. They are rugged and relatively inexpensive.

In researching this post, I have come across both a map of Africa and a map of the world by the camouflage patterns adopted by each countries military.

From Dreamstime

From Reddit

The next two maps are the ones I first stumbled across. They are two maps of the United States with one each for spring/summer and fall/winter. They divide the country up into the appropriate camouflage pattern for the region.

By an interesting coincidence (or not), the camouflage for coastal North and South Carolina in the spring and summer is MARPAT. Also located in this region are MCB Camp Lejeune, MCAS Cherry Point, MCAS New River, MCAS Beaufort, and MCRD Parris Island.

Once fall hits and the leaves start falling, the best camouflage from my section of North Carolina would be Partizan SS with ATACS FG for the Piedmont. I can actually see that as the forests are heavily deciduous with pockets of green from hemlocks and rhododendrons.

I guess if I were artistic or really industrious, I would create a US map with the best commercial hunting camouflage patterns. That said, I’m not that artistic. I will say my preferences in hunting camouflage run to the disruptive rather than hyper-representational. That is why I like camouflages like TrueTimber’s Strata, NaturalGear, and ASAT as opposed to some of the Realtree and Mossy Oak patterns.