The Stories and Novels By Derek Ward
Had to give a presentation for a leadership development class at the day job. For the first time, my segment is after lunch. So I this is how I decided to “wake them up.”
Everyone stand up next to your desk.
Now, take a step back.
No, I’m sorry take a step forward.
Sorry, take a step back.
A step forward, a step back, and now we’re cha-cha’ing.
It went moderately well, but no one got the reference.
You’ve been able to buy long guns in other states, but doing so with handguns has been verboten. The court has decided that’s unconstitutional.
From Reason:
“The federal interstate handgun transfer ban is unique compared to other firearms restrictions because it does not target certain people (such as felons or the mentally ill), conduct (such as carrying firearms into government buildings or schools), or distinctions among certain classes of firearms (such as fully automatic weapons or magazine capacity). Instead,” Judge O’Connor wrote in Mance v. Holder, “the federal interstate handgun transfer ban targets the entire national market of handgun sales and directly burdens law-abiding, responsible citizens who seek to complete otherwise lawful transactions for handguns.”
Some are saying this is the death knell for local magazine restrictions or “approved” guns lists. I’m skeptical. The courts have been more lenient in those areas.
Still an excellent win from Alan Gura.
Robber doing a high speed chase collided with the wrong van.
From Battleswarm, who noted it was a good thing the robber was lucky he didn’t encounter someone with a CHL.
The murder of three North Carolina college students was motivated by an ongoing dispute over a parking space, despite widespread speculation the victims were targeted by an avowed atheist because of their Muslim faith, police said.
First off, this guy was batshit insane. Using him to paint all atheists and/or progressives as violent murderers is just as wrong as when they accuse Second Amendment supporters of being at fault when there’s a mass shooting.
Here’s the takeaway – the anti-gunners do view everyone, including themselves, as being similar to this asshole. We’re all just a dispute away from pulling a gun and murdering someone(s). They have no concept that those of us who own and carry guns actually try to avoid or de-escalate fights because we understand that we are carrying lethal instruments.
When they call for new restrictions on our rights, remember – this is how they see us.
One of the running memes in the gunny community is “When seconds count, the police are minutes away.”
And sometimes 911 doesn’t even answer the phone.
Jonathan Raiskin is still livid about his attempt to call Pasco County 911 on Monday when a neighbor needed help.
“I already ran out the door when I saw her pulling up. I knew there was a problem, she said Jonathan, she was hysterical, my sister is not breathing, she’s blue and cold.â€
Raiskin dragged the woman out of the rain to his front porch and he and the sister tried to revive her.
When that didn’t work, he called 911.
He says he waited through 12 long rings, but there was no answer.
His father did manage to get through and medical assistance was on scene in minutes. Here’s the real kicker – after the ambulance was gone, a dispatcher called Mr. Raiskin back asking if there had been a hang-up from that number. When confronted about no one answering the phone, the dispatcher told Mr. Raiskin that it had been a busy night.
The takeaway from all of this: you cannot depend on 911 when the fecal matter impacts the turbine.
You are on your own.
This was the song that got me into Persuader, and later into Savage Circus.
Lyrics:
So what’s left when all is said and done
Who would deprive us our light to be
Lunacy unbound
But in the shadows eyes still lure
Awaiting every chance to set us free
Free us from our sanity
Trapped again
Haywire jaws
Lashing at us sinners
With broken fangs and claws
Fragments of pain will return
My life’s so precious to sacrifice
To this darkened world
You’re my nameless God
Earth you walked for infinity
Shattering my everything
Trapped again
Haywire jaws
Lashing at us sinners
With broken fangs and claws
You know it ain’t right, you know it ain’t so
There’s gotta be more to life than you know
Break the chains and see the light again
Maybe you’ll beg, maybe you’ll pray
Maybe there’s more to life than decay
Trade your soul for one more day
Finally, my swarming soul is free
But every time you set on me
You’ll be afraid to die
Sends shivers up my spine
Trapped again
Haywire jaws
Lashing at us sinners
With broken fangs and claws
You know it ain’t right, you know it ain’t so
There’s gotta be more to life than you know
Break the chains and see the light again
Maybe you’ll beg, maybe you’ll pray
Maybe there’s more to life than decay
Trade your soul for one more day
Humanity
A feeling weaker
Then your need to control
So much is asked in silence
My hands are soiled with blood
Your world spawned through violence
Evolution purgatory
Trapped again
Haywire jaws
Lashing at us sinners
With broken fangs and claws
Florida Carry? The organization that’s gotten us preemption with teeth, better concealed carry laws, and will probably get us campus carry. That Florida Carry.
And a gun show won’t let them set up? Seriously, WTF?
This company runs the big gun shows around me. I haven’t gone in a couple of years for two reasons: 1) they’re crowded as all hell, and 2) I can rarely get out of there without spending at least fifty bucks. I’ve purchased four guns from vendors there, and assisted the purchase of at least three more. And I’m a small consumer!
Suncoast Gun Shows, consider this my declaration: I will not attend – and will actively campaign against your shows – unless you either a) prove that Florida Carry was acting in an unreasonable manner (doubtful) or b) allow Florida Carry to rent space in your shows.
By myself, it’s probably not much, but gunnies have this nasty habit with word of mouth.
*Anne*
Anne cradled her suppressed carbine as her team charged from the woods onto the grassy clearing. Jason was to her right and slightly behind with his M4. Behind them came Veronica and Samantha. Although both were armed with submachine guns, Veronica let hers dangle on its sling. She wanted both hands free for slinging spells. The sorceress was already linked to Anne so that she could draw on the wild magic Anne had gathered up.
“*Metro Police! Hands on top of your heads and down on your knees!*” Anne yelled as her quartet approached the group of thirty to forty teens milling around the edge of the ritual site. Anne avoided looking over at the robed figures. Something about what they were etching into the grass made her queasy. Not a feeling she wanted to deal with at the moment. All of the Avalonians had it much worse. Part of the reason that Anne and Jason were in front of the other two was that both of the Avalonians were fighting nauseous from whatever was going on at that side of the clearing.
The teens all looked over at the four, but instead of bolting into the woods, they started forming lines of about eight wide and five deep. It reminded Anne of a blind date that ended up at one of the country and western bars.
*Something’s very wrong, here,* Anne thought over the telepathic link that Samantha was maintaining among the team.
*You just noticed?* Veronica replied, *Those kids are touched by the Outsiders. Can’t you feel it from them?*
*No,* Anne answered.
*I’m starting to think Erik was right. We should just shoot them,* Samantha commented, *Their surface thoughts are twisted.*
*We can’t do that,* Jason observed, *I’m damn sure not about to wade into that many of them just to cuff them. Let’s just hold here and make sure that they stay out of the others’ way.* Almost as if summoned, gunfire erupted behind them.
——
*Erik*
Erik, Kurt, and Joseph were halfway across the clearing when Anne’s yell broke their silence. The robed cultists all turned as one. Erik shouldered the Galil ACE suppressed assault rifle and fired a burst at the nearest cultist. Oh yes, he liked this Israeli gun much better than those Russian ones he’d been using before. Not as good as an Imperial Armory Mark VII, but fairly decent. His target let out a short scream of pain before crumpling to the ground. Kurt took a second cultist with his Benelli while Joseph killed a third with his suppressed AR. Americans certainly loved their little pop-guns. To be fair, their 5.56mm cartridge seemed to do just fine against most humans, even if they wouldn’t take down creatures like orcs or trolls.
A half-sphere of darkness sprang up between the robed cultists and Erik’s trio of shooters. All three instinctually hit the ground as some of the cultists sprayed automatic fire indiscriminately. Kurt and Erik traded sidelong glances. The German shrugged as if to say *I didn’t see any of those when we were scouting.* Erik nodded in reply. These were obviously some of those small machine pistols. The cultists also didn’t seem to understand how to use them properly. Erik hated dealing with ill-trained amateurs. He reached out with his psy-senses into the darkness. He bit back a wave of nausea as his powers intersected the twisted magic of the Outsiders. Finding a target, he pointed his ACE and fired a short burst. Erik was rewarded by a gurgling scream.
“We should have brought the grenades,” Kurt said, firing a pair of harassment blasts into the darkness.
“Grenades? Hell, we should have brought a flamethrower,” Joseph replied. Erik was starting to like the Army Ranger-turned-hacker. The man was not only skilled, but incredibly calm during very stressful situations. That wasn’t something you found everyday.
“Flamethrowers are messy and finicky,” Erik said, getting up to a crouch and closing with the cultists. “I was thinking more of a Metal Storm.”
“Wait, you have one of those?” Joseph asked as he and Kurt followed Erik’s movement. Erik could feel his excitement pulse at the thought.
“Not on this side of the gate, but we use them quite a bit back home,” Erik said. “Very good against mass walls of orcs.” The three hit the ground again as the cultists finally got their weapons reloaded and proceeded to empty their magazines again.
“You’d think they’d learn how to properly aim,” Kurt said before swearing in German. “Erik, we could probably build a Metal Storm. After all, if the Australians could, we should be able to.”
“That would be cool,” Joseph said, firing at a cultist that took a step just outside the darkness sphere. The cultist spun and collapsed face first into the grass.
Erik was about to agree when a wave of intense Outsiders magic swept over him. His ACE slipped from his hands as Erik doubled over and vomited everything he’d eaten for the last two days. His head spun violently as he tried to stand back up. Instinctively, he reached out with his telekinesis to brace himself, but found it wouldn’t respond to his thoughts. He couldn’t summon the proper concentration.
“Time to go,” Joseph said, grabbing the drag handle on Erik’s armor and yanking Erik back towards the other group. Erik managed to pick his head up long enough to see that the bubble of darkness was gone. In the middle of the cultists stood two *things*. Both stood well over eight feet tall and were roughly humanoid. That was all Erik could discern. Even looking at the creatures caused intense pain from their wrongness.
——
*Anne*
Anne’s head throbbed with psychic backlash as their telepathic link was violently ripped apart. Samantha screamed in agony behind her, but Anne forced herself to keep watching the now square of teens in front of them. Whatever just happened made Anne sick to her stomach and she felt the lines of wild magic – quaver? Was this what Veronica had been feeling from the Browne suicide? It certainly felt *wrong.*
Two monstrous roars drew Anne’s attention to where the cultists had been. In the midst of the robes were two huge creatures. One was looked like a headless, eight foot tall wrestler, until she realized that its pectoral muscles were actually eyes and the roar was coming from a mouth that opened where the abs should have been. The other had its arms coming out of its waist and tentacles coming off of its shoulders. And no face. Where the face should have been was only smooth, pale white skin.
“Oh hell,” Jason swore. Anne turned back to the teens. All of them were staring at her with solid black eyes and emotionless faces. Fear flooded Anne.
*KILL THEM MY CHILDREN!* screamed a voice through Anne’s head. It was more painful than even when the vampires forced themselves into her head. It took her a moment to realize that she was on her knees and screaming.
TurboTax has halted state returns after eighteen states complained about fraud.
This is just state-level returns, but something to take into consideration when selecting tax software. Even the IRS doesn’t really trust TurboTax. Not sure if that is a condemnation or endorsement, though.
A man’s got to have a code, a creed to live by.
John Wayne