Necessity is supposed to be the mother of invention. I’m sure that was the case when it comes to the AK-47 shown below. Not only does it use a guitar strap for a sling but it has a rather unique buttstock to say the least.
This picture is from a post on The AK Forum which was seeking unique examples of AKs for a calendar. I believe the poster called this the Poppy Farmer Special. There are a lot of other nice examples but none so unique as the one above.
The Republican National Convention starts today in Tampa. The security in Tampa seems to be very tight according to this report from Roger L. Simon of PJ Media. One of the reasons security is so tight is the threat of violence by anarchists and other nihilistic lefties.
The area around the convention has been declared a “National Security Area” and Simon has some interesting thoughts about that.
If there’s one thing that has dominated the talk, not to mention the hearts and minds, of most people here in Tampa for the convention is the tremendously stringent security, far worse than what I remember from Minneapolis in 2008.
Only two routes, roughly a mile and a half apart, give you entry to the convention facilities. All other streets are blocked off with staggering numbers of security personnel – soldiers, police from various venues, secret service, other security services, private services, etc. – on horseback, motorcycle, bicycle, automobile and, of course, on foot. There appear to be vastly more of them than there are of us, media and delegates. At some angles from the convention perimeter, Tampa resembles a military encampment.
One insider in a position to know told me that over 60 security organizations were involved. What could be the reason for this? It’s hard to believe it’s the threat of those so-called anarchists who seem to be nowhere in evidence (or washed down a drain). Or could it?
(Yes, I know. According on to one report linked by Drudge, one group of 200 demonstrators, later reduced to 100, did show up somewhere – a minuscule number in a metropolitan area that approaches three million in a country of well over three hundred million. Ten times as many people are on line for pizza at Ray’s on a bad day.)
Here’s another interesting thing that same insider told me. This intense security was not instituted by the RNC or by the Romney campaign, but by the federal government that has declared Tampa a national security area. In other words, Obama’s people are in charge of the stringent security here. They instigated it. What do they fear?
I have two theories, not necessarily contradictory. One, they just want to make the Republicans look bad – police state types. Perhaps more importantly, the Obama folks don’t want anything violent to happen because they know convention violence most often comes from the left (cf. Chicago 1968). Violent left-wing demonstrators at the Tampa Republican Convention would be bad news for the Democrats.
Hmmm.
As most people know, being convicted of a felony – violent or non-violent – will cause a person to lose their constitutional rights to keep and bear arms. Moreover, restoration of these rights is damn near impossible nowadays thanks to people like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who continually blocks funding for relief from disability reviews at BATFE. Thus, you just shake your head when you read about seven people charged with a third-degree felony for cheating in a fishing tournament.
From the Lone Star Outdoor News:
Some unladylike behavior in the Ladies Kingfish Tournament held in South Padre Island has left seven people facing felony accusations for cheating during the competition.
Willacy County Game Warden Oscar Castaneda was checking boats at the ramp with fellow warden Jason Duke when the suspicions first began.
“We’d had conversations with people in the area that they had possibly been cheating in different tournaments, and we both recognized the boat,” he said. “(Game Warden Jason Duke) went over for a water safety inspection, and they started unloading fish they were going to take to the weigh-in.”
The wardens noticed that some of the fish, including the trout, had red bellies, which Castaneda said raised a red flag that the fish had been kept in a basket instead of being recently caught. The wardens called ahead to the tournament directors to advise that the fish be studied carefully for legitimacy.
“About 45 minutes later we’re still checking boats, and we get a call from another game warden that said the team showed up with a flounder,” he said. “We said, ‘man, there’s no way they caught a flounder between here and there’ — she had as much as told me there wasn’t a flounder anywhere in the boat.”
An individual then came forward and told wardens that he had seen a flounder handed off in Arroyo City to Jose Cavazos, father of fishing guide Jose “Meme” Cavazos, whose boat was being used by the women for the tournament.
“For the Calcutta, you’re required to have that flounder,” Castaneda said. “The Calcutta pays out a ton, and with that fish they were tied for first and ended up second.”
The women won over $5,000 for second place.
“It’s just wrong on so many levels,” he said. “It’s the first saltwater fraud charges ever filed in the state.”
The decision to cheat has brought the defendants third-degree felony charges.
“The charge is fraud in a fishing tournament, section 66.023 of the Parks and Wildlife penal code,” said Cameron County Justice of the Peace Bennie Ochoa III.
The quote of the day comes from Tam and her discussion of the abysmally poor marksmanship of New York’s Finest on Friday.
That’s gotta suck for Bloomie. What appeared to be an ideal soapbox for a
little blood-dancingnational conversation on how America’s lax gun laws are hurting Mike’s fat-free, sugar-free, low sodium gun-free paradise turns into a national conversation on why the hell can’t Mike’s cops shoot?
The gun prohibitionists were figuratively jumping for joy after the shooting in NYC outside the Empire State Building. I won’t even go into Mayor Bloomberg’s stupid comments.
The Violence Policy Center put the cart before the horse yesterday. They made many assumptions about the handgun used by the killer of his former boss without knowing the facts.
Washington, DC–Following the fourth high-profile shooting in little over a month, this time outside the Empire State Building in New York City and reportedly involving a 45 caliber handgun, the Violence Policy Center, a national non-profit educational organization working to stop gun death and injury, issued the following statement:
“How long are we going to ignore America’s gun crisis? Today’s shooting outside the Empire State building is the fourth high-profile shooting in little over a month, following the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting, the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Sikh Temple shooting, and a shooting outside Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. One can only guess where the next shooting will occur–but we do know that it will occur. Today’s shooter reportedly used a 45 caliber handgun to end the life of a former co-worker, offering yet another example of how the ready availability of semiautomatic handguns that can be equipped with high-capacity ammunition magazines destroy lives and make everyone less safe. All Americans deserve the right to feel safe in public spaces–in theaters, their places of worship, and walking city streets. The deadly mindset propounded by the gun industry and the gun lobby that guns are the ultimate problem solver is stripping away the feeling of safety that communities across the country not only expect, but deserve. It is long past time to regulate the out-of-control gun industry that makes these horrendous public shootings possible.”
From all reports, the Spanish-made Star .45 ACP were purchased legally in Florida 20 years ago. Moreover, even assuming it was larger than the Star PD which only held 6 rounds, this pistol does not have a “high-capacity ammunition magazine.” At most, the pistol used by the killer held 8 round and more likely 7.
Normally I’d suggest that VPC think before they issue such press releases. However, in this case, I’m glad that they show their stupidity.
The following interview with NY Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is presented without comment because, let’s face it, none is needed.
Peggy Noonan is one hell of a speechwriter. While I disagree with her vehemently on occasion, she does write well. The quote of the day comes from her column in today’s Wall Street Journal discussing Mitt Romney and the Republican convention in Tampa. As noted elsewhere, the Obama Administration, in a rather tasteless gesture, (and is there any other kind from their ilk) is sending Joe Biden to Tampa during the convention.
It is good that Joe Biden is going to the Republican National Convention to hold high the flag of his party. People make fun of his gaffes, of his embarrassing verbal forays, but he’s no fool and he knows how to take it to the other guy. The speech he is working on, to be given in the heart of downtown, just across from the convention site, will be stirring and stentorian: “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Tampa, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein Tampon.'”
I wish that were mine. It came in the mail from a Hollywood screenwriter, one of the gifted conservatives who quietly toil there.
I wonder if Joe does poorly in Tampa will they pull his string.
August 24th is National Knife Day. I had hoped to have a picture of my new Cold Steel Kukri Machete so I could say, “This is a knife”, but I’ve been lazy.
So in honor of National Knife Day, I’ll let Crocodile Dundee fill in for me.
On a slightly more serious note, Knife Rights is celebrating National Knife Day by giving away a Limited Edition Knife Rights S&W folder or ESEE Izula to the person who posts the coolest picture of themselves with a knife on their Facebook Page. Their page is here. If you like having and using knives you may want to make a donation to them as well. They are, as they say, the Second Front in the battle for the Second Amendment.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation just released another of their shooting tips videos. This one features Ryan Cleckner who was an Army Ranger sniper team leader in an earlier life.
As Cleckner makes clear, you can’t always shoot from the prone position and you rarely have a shooting bench when you’re out in the field. He discusses and demonstrates a number of alternate rifle shooting positions including two sitting positions, kneeling, and standing using a tree as a brace. With many Southern states starting their deer seasons as early as next month, this is useful information.
Katie Pavlich of Townhall.com and Dave Workman of the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner are both reporting that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has delivered the Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious to Eric Holder for review.
Sources told Examiner Wednesday that the Inspector General’s report was transmitted to the Justice Department this week for “review” and one source indicated the report could be released sometime in the next two weeks. Release just before the Labor Day weekend could bury any damaging aspects, and it could become further removed from public attention by the Democrat convention in early September.
According to sources, the long awaited Department of Justice Inspector General Report on Operation Fast and Furious has been delivered to DOJ “shot callers,” including Attorney General Eric Holder, this morning. It will be reviewed today and in the coming weeks. No cell phones, Ipads or computers are allowed in the review room. After it is reviewed, it will be released to the public in 30 days.
Keep in mind, the DOJ Inspector General up until May was Cynthia A. Schnedar. Schnedar served under Holder during his time as the U.S. Attorney for D.C. In May, Schnedar was replaced with Michael Horowitz, who sources say is an “even handed” guy. The bulk of the IG report throughout the past 20 months was done by Schnedar. Holder called for an IG investigation into Fast and Furious in early 2011.
William LaJeunesse of FoxNews also has more on the Inspector General’s report:
The new allegations come as Holder reviews the long-awaited internal report detailing what happened in — and who is to blame for — Fast and Furious, in which the U.S. knowingly let some 2,500 weapons slip into the hands of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, failing to track the guns as planned.
Sources tell Fox News the Office of Inspector General delivered the report to the Department of Justice on Tuesday. Under existing protocols, the department has a month to respond to the report’s findings, after which, the inspector general typically releases the document to the public.
The allegations that LaJeunesse refers to involve former ATF Assistant Deputy Director William McMahon. It appears that McMahon was given a paid leave of absence until December of this year to allow him to get his full pension. In the meantime, McMahon is working in the Philippines for JP Morgan Bank as a highly-paid security consultant. There are Federal regulations that would prohibit this sort of double-dipping.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter today to Acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones asking for answers.
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