Category: Guns

California Magazine Ban Struck Down

April 1, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Judge Roger T. Benitez permanently enjoined California’s ban on standard capacity magazines.

From the Volokh Conspiracy:

The 86-page opinion is the most thorough judicial analysis thus far of the magazine ban question. The opinion is founded on a careful analysis of the record, and thus provides an excellent basis for future appellate review on the merits, perhaps one day by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Covering all bases, the opinion analyzes the confiscation law under a variety of standards of review. First is the standard favored by Judge Benitez, what he calls “The Supreme Court’s Simple Heller Test.” In short, magazines over 10 rounds are plainly “in common use” “for lawful purposes like self-defense.” Ergo, they may not be confiscated. The analysis is similar to then-Judge Kavanaugh’s dissenting opinion in the 2011 Heller II case in the D.C. Circuit.

I’ve heard the terms scathing and comprehensive being thrown around for the judge’s opinion

I don’t doubt we still have a tough time with the rest of the 9th Circuit, but it’s a win.

State of Podcasts – 2019

March 27, 2019 / / 2 Comments

State Of Podcasts 2018

I;m doing this on an annual basis. Part of it’s my own curiosity at how my podcast habits change. I’m also curious what others think about the same podcasts and which podcasts come and go. One thing I noted from last year were reader comments about this host or that host supporting positions the readers disliked (particularly when the host was anti-gun). I’m trying to incorporate diverse voices in my podcast consumption, both to understand those I normally oppose and find out when my side is wrong.

I list the podcasts into some broad groups, with any annotations about frequency I listen to them or general impressions. I listen to my podcasts in Overcast. The app deletes podcasts I’ve listened to, plus it has a smart speed feature which will speed up if it hears dead air. Generally, I listen to my podcasts at 2X speed. I use three playlists:

  1. Daily – This is a playlist of what I want to listen to during my commutes, work, and other times. I used to have certain podcasts for certain days/times, but the volume and rate I go through them makes that difficult. Some are “promotable”, which means they go to the top. The rest are filler, and I’ll get to them when I can.
  2. Writing – I use this as a warm-up for when I’m going to write as well as general knowledge to improve my writing
  3. History – Podcasts on History.

My podcasts as of March 2019:

Comedy/Entertainment

Friendly Fire – Three guys watching and critiquing war films. Sometimes they get a bit too much into the art of film, or into the wokeness world, but I generally end up enjoying what they bring to the film. It’s a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist.

The Incomparable Game Show – Rotating panels playing rotating series of ostensibly board games. Often hilarious, sometimes dangerously so when driving. It’s a filler podcast on my Daily playlist.

Penn’s Sunday School – Penn prognosticating on the world with a few of his friends and/or guests. It’s a promotable podcast on my Daily Playlist.

Unjustly Maligned – This one is currently ended (the host hints he’d like to do more), but I’d recommend going through the back of episodes.

Economics / Libertarian Theory / Free Speech

The Bob Murphy Show – Bob Murphy discusses different concepts with in Austrian economics. Some of it is a little too far off mainstream for me, but it’s still intellectually interesting.

Cato Events Podcast – Recordings of various panels put on by the Cato Institute. I’ve heard a lot of very interesting discussions and arguments. This one I use as filler on my “Daily” playlist. I will delete if the topic doesn’t interest me, as these can be pretty long.

Econtalk – Economist Russ Roberts does great interviews with a wide variety of guests and topics. I’ve been learning a lot. This is a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist.

Free Thoughts – Interview podcast on libertarian issues and theories. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

GAO Podcast – GAO discussing some of their reviews they’ve done on federal agencies. This one I use as filler on my “Daily” playlist

Make No Law – Ken White delves into the case law around the First Amendment and free speech. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

The Pursuit – Not sure if this was just a limited series or if there will be a second season, but a great overview of government seizures of private property. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Short Circuit – From the Institute of Justice, this one discusses notable cases that IJ is arguing. I put it under libertarian theory rather than politics because it discusses legal libertarian arguments rather than issues of the day. This is a filler on my Daily playlist.

So To Speak – FIRE’s podcast discussing free speech issues. The guests and legal theories put this more into theory although it sometimes delves into the issues of the day. This is a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist.

Words & Numbers – Two economists from the Foundation For Economic Education discuss different aspects of economics from a libertarian perspective. Sometimes dipping into issues of the day. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

Guns & RKBA

Assorted Calibers Podcast – The spiritual successor to the Gun Blog Variety Cast. Weer’d Beard and Erin Pallette are the real reason I listen to this, but the other segments are generally pretty good. This is a promotable on my Daily playlist.

Black Man With A Gun Podcast – Kenn’s podcast was one of the first I started listening to, and then I wrote Zombie Strike for him. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

Civilian Carry Radio – I just subscribed to this one and haven’t made up my mind about it. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist

Down Range Radio – Right now, this is promotable, but it may get downgraded to filler. Some of Bane’s nonsense and glad standing is getting on my nerves. On my Daily playlist.

Firearms Nation – Interview podcast with leading competition shooters and others to discuss both competition and practical shooting techniques and strategies. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

Geeks Gadgets and Guns – A couple of geeks discussing guns and other geeky stuff. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

Gun and Gear Review – Another new (to me) podcast I’m evaluating. Currently, it’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

The Gun Nation – This one I’m pretty sure is defunct, but I’m keeping it on the list just in case it isn’t. It’s promotable on my Daily playlist on if it drops.

Handgun Radio – This one I’ve been enjoying. Especially the in-depth histories of different firearms companies. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

Handgun World – This one is filler on my Daily playlist. Bob has good information, but sometimes his views annoy me, particularly when he goes off on rising evil.

Polite Society Podcast – Good information, but often too long if I have a backlog. This one is filler on my Daily playlist.

Pro-Arms Podcast – This one hasn’t been updated since 2017, but I recommend any serious shooter (new or old) go through the back episodes. If it ever updates again, it’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Riding Shotgun With Charley – Interesting, but sometimes hard to follow the conversation due to road noise. It’s currently filler on my Daily playlist

Rifleman Roundtable – Not sure if this one is defunct, but it hasn’t updated in a while. Hosts from other gun podcasts discuss the gun issues of the day. It’s filler on my Daily playlist

Safety Solutions Academy– This one hasn’t updated in a while, but I still think everyone should go through the back episodes, Real good information. This is also one I recommend to new shooters. Paul is one of those trainers I’d like to learn from if I could scrape together the time and money. This one is promotable on my Daily playlist.

The Second Is For Everyone (2A4E) Podcast – Tony Simon’s been doing great work up in New Jersey spreading gun culture. His podcast with his friend Sean often has a different take than most gun podcasts.

Self-Defense Gun Stories – I like the analysis of what went right and wrong from a variety of professional trainers. This is another I recommend to new shooters and those who are thinking about using a gun for self-defense. This one is a promotable on my Daily playlist.

Skip’s Tactical Solutions Podcast – Avery’s a new voice in the gun podcast world, and I find some of her insights fascinating. It doesn’t hurt that she’s local. I may end up taking a class from her if I can scrape up the cash/time. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

This Week In Guns – It’s the week in gun issues. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Trigger Words – Just subscribed to this one and haven’t made up my mind. It’s filler on my Daily playlist

History

Clear and Present Danger -A History of Free Speech – This is a filler podcast on my “Daily” playlist. It’s okay from a history perspective, and I might move it over to that playlist and refresh all of the episodes.

Hardcore History – Dan Carlin’s storytelling on various historical events is spellbinding. This is promotable on my History playlist on the infrequent occasions new podcasts show up.

Hardcore History: Addendum – A companion to the Hardcore History podcast where Dan Carlin does segments outside his normal narrative style. This one is promotable on my History Podcast.

The History of Byzantium – This is a sequel to the History of Rome podcast and the host tries to keep the same style. I would highly recommend listening to the History of Rome before jumping into this one. It’s filler on my History playlist.

A History of Europe, Key Battles – Haven’t actually listened to this one yet, but I’m keeping the first episode on my History playlist until I work through the backlog of History of Byzantium and Revolutions

The History of Rome – This is a great overview of Rome from its founding until the fall of the Western Empire. It’s a finished series. I’ve listened to all the episodes, but I’m keeping it on the list as a recommendation for others.

History On Fire – This one came highly recommended, and I have the first episode downloaded. I’m waiting to get through my backlog on my History playlist before getting into it.

Omnibus! With Ken Jennings and John Roderick – The conceit of the show is the hosts are leading an audio time capsule of odd bits of history for some far-future civilization. The choices are interesting bits of historical trivia. It’s filler on my History playlist.

Revolutions – Really good series on various revolutions. Each season goes through one of the more pivotal revolutions in history, starting with the English Revolution. This is filler on my History playlist.

Slate Presents – The first season was a history of Ruby Ridge. It’s Slate, so it came at it from a different perspective. It’s filler on my History playlist.

Slow Burn – The first season dealt with Watergate and the second with Bill Clinton’s impeachment. I’m fairly certain the producers were hoping the third season would be the Trump impeachment. Still, it’s a compelling podcast. It’s filler on my History playlist

War Stories – Good military history podcast. It’s in filler on my History playlist.

Politics

Cato Daily Podcast – A good quick bit in various topics from a libertarian viewpoint. This one I use as filler on my Daily playlist.

Contra Krugman – Bob Murphy and Tom Woods tear apart a Paul Krugman column using Austrian economics. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

The Economist – I listen to the Economist, because it provides a different perspective and reports on areas that barely hit my normal feeds. This is a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist.

The Editors – Editors from National Review discussing the issues of the day. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

The Federalist Radio Hour – Editors of the Federalist website interviews guests about the issues of the day. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

The Femsplainers – Christina Hoff Summers and her sidekicks discuss free speech and free thoughts issues of the day. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

The Fifth Column – This is a really good roundup focusing on the issues of the day and how the media reports them. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

The Long Game – Long interview form podcast with different former and current politicians. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

LRC Presents: All the President’s Lawyers – I picked this one up because Ken White is one of the hosts. It’s a different perspective on Trump’s legal issues than most of my normal feeds. I’m impressed with the other host, I may pick up the parent podcast “Left, Right, and Center.” It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen – Charles Cooke. That’s why I listen to this podcast. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

Neal Boortz Daily Commentaries – I loved listening to Boortz when he was on syndicated radio, and now I get two minutes of him. It’s interesting to see how I’ve diverged from him over the years. It’s promotable on my Daily playlist.

Ordered Liberty – This is a National Review podcast that started mainly discussing liberty from a traditional conservative side, but it’s meandered into daily politics. A bit heavier on the freedom of religion and abortion than I’d like, but understandable from the hosts’ perspective.

The One With Greg Gutfield – Greg does interviews in the way only Greg can do. Currently promotable on my Daily playlist.

Part of the Problem – Rabid anti war libertarian comedian Dave Smith is interesting. He’s certainly challenging some of my ideas. Particularly when he beers over to the conspiracy theories. Promotable on my Daily playlist.

Popular Front – A look into smaller conflicts going on or unusual aspects of modern warfare. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

Power Problems – A Cato podcast focusing on foreign affairs. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist

Reason Podcast – Reason’s weekly podcast with their editors is promotable on my Daily playlist. The others are filler. Some good content and some that just don’t interest me. The latter might get deleted if the subject doesn’t sound interesting.

The Rubin Report – Long form interview with an eye to free speech and social justice zealotry issues. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Something’s Off With Andrew Heaton – Take the Daily Show, except with a libertarian bent. Funny and thought provoking. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Squirrel Report – Three former bloggers talking over the issues of the day. Amusing with gusts of hilarity. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

The Tom Woods Show – I found this one when Tom interviewed Larry Corriea, and I like his take on many issues. It’s a filler on my Daily podcast.

Unregistered with Thaddeus Russell – Thaddeus interviews a varied list of guests. Some were very interesting, some less so. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

War College – This is a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist. An interesting look at politics and military issues.

Wrongspeak – Another one devoted to the issues of free speech and SJWs. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Science and Skepticism

The Prism Podcast – A dentist and a pediatrician interview guests and discuss skeptical topics. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist

Skeptics Guide to The Universe – This was my first science podcast and really helped forge my skepticism. It’s a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist.

Science Salon – Michael Shermer interviews scientists, scholars, and other intellectuals on a variety of topics. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist

Skeptoid – Another one that helped in developing my skeptical outlook. It’s a filler on my Daily playlist.

Stories / Writing

This Is War – The host relates a combat veteran’s story interspersed with the veteran providing his/her own insights. This is the brutal personal side of combat and its effects on a person – both physical and emotional. It’s filler on my Daily playlist.

The Way I Heard It With Mike Rowe – After growing up with Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story”, this one is a wonderful substitute. It’s a promotable on my Daily playlist.

Writing Excuses – If you are a fiction writer, I can’t recommend this one highly enough. It’s currently the only one on my Writing playlist.

Tech

Clockwise – This is a promotable podcast on my Daily playlist. I like the format and it helps keep me up to date on tech issues and trends.

Daily Tech Headlines – Good summary of big tech stories. It’s promotable on my Daily playlist.

Marriage Civilizes Man

March 25, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I’m mostly commenting on the fact that a simple request from The Wife kept me from verbally taking apart the partisan witch collecting signatures to put an assault weapons ban on the next ballot.

That woman (the partisan hack, not The Wife) somehow in three sentences spoke more errors than she had words.

One hopes for a repeat meeting sans civilizing influence.

Friday Quote – Col. Jeff Cooper

March 15, 2019 / / 0 Comments

The media insists that crime is a major concern of the American public today. In this connection they generally push the point that a disarmed society would be a crime-free society. They will not accept the truth that if you have take all the guns off the street you will still have a crime problem, whereas if you take the criminals off the street you will not have a gun problem.

Tab Clearing

March 4, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Bunch of odds and ends I’m not going to have time to make full posts on, but you should RTWT.

A column from the New York Post on why people distrust journalists. Letting your political bias and disdain for fully half the country ain’t helping.

Surviving Your 15 Minutes of Hate I’m not going to lie and say that this does not worry me. It’s one reason I write under a pseudonym.

From Volokh Conspiracy, 3 Rules About Hate Speech This is one thing I dread is having to explain this to my niece and nephew.

From USCarry, 5 Types of People You Should Avoid While Concealed Carry A lot of don’t go stupid places with stupid people doing stupid things.

And for something completely different, how to cook perfect rice in an Instant Pot. Which is the main thing the Wife To Be and I use ours for these days.

Parkland + 365

February 14, 2019 / / 0 Comments

A year ago, a student walked into his old school. He murdered seventeen and injured seventeen more. This became a rallying cry for gun control in a way the Las Vegas shooting four months previously was not.

The gun control groups were quick to press their advantage by riding on the backs of telegenic children to manipulate quisling legislators. Florida passed its first major gun control legislation in decades. Other states did the same. The mantra was the same. Easy guns, lack of universal background checks, and no red flag laws allowed this monster to kill children. Oh, and bumpstocks too.

Except, if anything, this proved the hollowness of gun control arguments. The Sun Sentinel – not exactly a friend to gun owners on their editorial pages – did amazing work showing the failures of Broward County.From how the schools failed to get the shooter help and then covered it up to how the Broward County Sheriffs Office and the local school authorities failed to take action when it happened. The failures documented in the official report were so bad, that the chair of the commission – the previously anti-gun Pinellas County Sherriff – reversed his position and called for armed staff in schools.

Every authority that we are told by our opponents need additional authority to protect us failed. Not because they did not have enough power, but because they did everything to subvert the controls in place to achieve other politically-motivated goals. I don’t believe that the individuals in place wanted a school shooting, but in light of their actions, is there any difference? About the only thing they people in charge could have done more to facilitate this tragedy would have been to give the murderer the money for the gun and ammo.

If someone tells me that Parkland is why we need gun control, I can honestly agree with them. Parkland is why we need gun control, in that we do not need it at all.

S&W Tells Whiny Nuns to Fuck Off

February 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments

In much nicer terms. The Daily Caller relates a study published by American Outdoor Brands, who owns S&W, at the behest of an “investment group.” I use the scare quotes because this “investment group” (which includes some nuns as mouthpieces) are buying into companies not to profit, but for social change. The report had one of the sickest burns I’ve read in some time:

The Company’s reputation as a strong defender of the Second Amendment is not worth risking for a vague goal of improving the Company’s reputation among non-customers or special interest groups with an anti-Second Amendment agenda…

That’s a nice way of saying “Why the fuck would we care what people who don’t give us money and hate us think?”

Guns and Mutants

February 11, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I came across this article comparing the gun control debate with the debates over mutants in the Marvel universe.

From the article:
The human tendency is to judge all people by their worst examples and to act accordingly. This is silly and frankly bigoted, but it’s what people do and you just have to argue around it. Almost all transgender people want to do is use a bathroom in peace and not molest children under pretext; however, people are ready to judge the 99.9% who obey the law by the rare example who actually does commit a bathroom molestation. Most immigrants, particularly from Islamic countries, want to immigrate to the United States for peace and prosperity; however, people are ready to judge all of them because of the few who come here and commit terrorism. I maintain that 9/11 was far more catastrophic than any school shooting, but we shouldn’t block Muslim immigrants because of the dozen or so who killed 3,000 Americans on one very bad day, or the one who killed numerous LGBTQ people in Orlando.

So the X-Men deal with the same crap. Some mutants have gone terrorist; all are judged by that standard. One mutant could commit a crime; therefore, people assume that they will.

To borrow a phrase, snip:

Still, readers connect with the X-Men despite the bona fide concerns of the world around them. Why?

Because we read the X-Men as “real” people. We know that not all mutants are not the Brotherhood and Magneto. We follow them as ordinary people who come from ordinary backgrounds. While they have extraordinarily dangerous powers, they’re not dangerous people. They date, play baseball, go to bars and movies, and are generally not interested in hurting anyone who isn’t out to hurt them first. For the most part, they want to help.

Joss Whedon had a run on Astonishing X-Men, which was the first comic I picked up after a fifteen-year hiatus. There was a scene where Cyclops confronts the rest of the team over who’s being mind controlled. The team is freaked out because Cyclops is holding a handgun. Cyclops. The mutant whose eye blasts can take down giant robots. And his team is more scared of the 1911 in his hand. Let’s just say it was something that yanked me out of the narrative right quick.

No Specific Motive

February 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

The FBI closes its investigation into the Las Vegas shooter without coming to a definitive conclusion as to why.

While the agency found no “single or clear motivating factor” to explain why Stephen Paddock opened fire from his suite in a high-rise casino hotel, Paddock may have been seeking to follow in his father’s criminal footsteps, the FBI said.

Honestly, I’m not surprised. I figured if we were going to find the reason, it would have come out within the first month. Personally, I’m going with Alfred’s explanation.

Concealed Carrier Versus Active Shooter

February 4, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I came across this article on things to consider if you, as a concealed carrier decide to engage an active shooter. For me, this definitely reinforces my opinion of getting my family and friends the fuck out and only engaging if needed.

Still, even with that stance, this article explained some things that have to be considered if that active shooter does cross my path. My big takeaways were:

  1. Act fast and decisively
  2. Get close because the bad guy has a rifle and I have a pistol
  3. Even doing everything right, I still might get shot by the cops – accept it

There is a lot more in the article, so read the whole thing.