(Ft. Worth, TX, USA)

aubreyturner.org

Thursday, March 12, 2009

That’s No Moon…

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of taxpayers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

H/T The Smallest Minority (original at AR15.com).  Via Instapundit.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Funny Product Warning: Run Away!  Run Away!

As part of my pre-SCHIP cigar acquisition program I also bought a couple of inexpensive humidors through eBay.  They came with analog hygrometers but I decided that I would add a digital one to each humidor that also included a thermometer, since you have to maintain both humidity and temperature for optimal cigar storage.

I ordered two of the Western Humidor Caliber III units and they arrived today.  Analog hygrometers usually require calibration and there are a number of methods that usually involve water, salt, and plastic bags.  This digital one, though, does not require calibration and it had the following warning on the sheet that accompanied it:

WARNING:  This is an electronic instrument.  To maintain the warranty of this product and enjoy many years of error free operation, do not attempt to perform the following; DO NOT wrap this gauge in a wet towel to test the accuracy.  DO NOT attempt to perform the salt test.  DO NOT submerge the gauge in water!  DO NOT microwave or insert in an oven.  Should anyone suggest any of the above to test the accuracy of the CALIBER III ™, we recommend that you run from them immediately!  If you need help to any questions, please call us directly…

I have to give credit to the folks at Western Humidor for making my day with this product warning.

The Smell of PSH In The Morning

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday.  I’ve been wanting to tear into it, but I haven’t had time until today.

College students have shown such amazing maturity with respect to alcohol, frat rituals and spring break (just visit Cancun in March and see for yourselves), that it seems only obvious we should throw concealed handguns into the mix.

What are Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, and Reps. Joe Driver, R-Garland, and Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, thinking? (See: “Gun bills are in lawmakers’ sights,” March 1)

If these bills become law, they will bring the law of unintended consequences: only Texans will be foolish enough and culturally inclined to apply to colleges that allow concealed handguns on campuses. And Texas will reinforce its image as “a whole ’nother country” and “the home of broad lawns and narrow minds.”

Most of our Texas colleges and universities are too good and too safe to suffer this foolishness!

— Rufus Schriber, Fort Worth

While Mr. Schriber’s PSH-laden missive would have us conjure up the old Animal House image of college students as a bunch of drunken frat boys, it helps to remember that people who are licensed to carry concealed are adults over the age of 21 who have clean criminal backgrounds and are perhaps the most law-abiding segment of society that you will find.  The idea that someone with a CHL will get drunk and shoot up the campus is ridiculous on its face.  Responsible adults with a CHL simply aren’t going to be doing this.

This line, though, is highly ironic:

...only Texans will be foolish enough and culturally inclined to apply to colleges that allow concealed handguns on campuses. And Texas will reinforce its image as “a whole ’nother country” and “the home of broad lawns and narrow minds.”

The writer accuses us of having narrow minds, while being quite guilty of the same alleged fault.  I mention this because there are indeed other states where concealed carry is either explicitly allowed or possible if the school allows it:

15 “Right-to-Carry” states leave the decision of concealed carry on college campuses entirely to each college/university. A person with a license/permit who was caught carrying a firearm on a college campus could not be held criminally liable but students and employees of a university would be expelled or have their employment terminated. These states are Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

Though these states contain a few colleges/universities, such as Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) and Blue Ridge Community College (Weyers Cave, VA), that allow concealed carry on campus, most prohibit it. Utah is the only state to allow concealed carry at all public colleges/universities, by prohibiting public colleges/universities from creating their own restrictions.

Of course, this seems par for the course with this kind of blood-will-run-in-the-streets hysteria.  Everywhere that expansion of the right to carry is proposed someone can be relied upon to come out of the woodwork (much like the cuckoo in a cuckoo-clock) to claim that their state will become the OK Corral, completely ignoring the experience of the other states that have already done so.

Aside from this letter I also heard a comment from a member of some anti-gun group claiming that our Texas universities are already very safe and that most crime occurs off-campus.  This may be true, but it ignores the fact that a lot of crime occurs when law-abiding adult students are going to-and-from campus and are legally required to be disarmed because of the law against carrying on school premises.  While the new law itself won’t stop all crime, it is a good start towards making our campuses safer against both mass-murderers and on-and-near-campus rapists. 

It’s always good to remember that wherever the law bans guns, it just means that only the victims will be disarmed.  Bad guys don’t give a damn about any silly laws.

Snark Of The Day

Tam brings the snark concerning Obama’s national health care plan:

Obama’s plan will guarantee that the nation’s elderly are shovel-ready.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Stay Home And Send The Money Where It Will Help

I was looking forward to going to Phoenix this year for the NRA Annual Meeting and the Second Amendment Blog Bash.  However, I’ve decided that I’m not going to go.

First, there’s the amount of time away from work.  I don’t want to fly and driving adds two extra days each way (it’s just over 1000 miles from here to Phoenix, and I just don’t have the stamina to drive that far in one sitting anymore).  Since my sister is moving back to Colorado from Alaska in June, I was planning on visiting her in July.  I can take the vacation time I would have used in May and use it for the Colorado trip.  Second, there’s the cost.  My rough estimate is that the total cost of this trip would be around $1000 by the time I was done with everything (gas, hotels, food, etc).  Somehow I’m having trouble coming to terms with spending that much money on a trip in the current economy. 

So, I’ve decided to stay, but to help the 2A cause, I will donate part of the money I would have spent on the trip to NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF.  The rest will be spent on additional ammo to maintain stocks in my ammo closet.  I will receive my yearly bonus later this month.  When it comes, I will send $250 each to NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF and set aside another $500 for ammo. 

To me this is a more useful way to spend $1000 so that it promotes the Second Amendment rather than spending it on gas and hotels.  I’ll still miss going, but I can always go another year when the meeting is closer to home.