Range Etiquette

Until my most recent class I was not aware how many people had never been to an indoor range. Of the nine people in the room, seven had never been inside an indoor range. It is important to follow the rules at any range, but even more important at an indoor range. I could try to cover the topic, but the NSSF has an excellent video on the topic that anyone contemplating a visit to an indoor range should watch. It is worth every minute of the 9 minutes it takes to watch and while most of the information may be something you already know, you cannot spend too much time thinking about safety.

Favorite Beer?

I get this question quite a bit and usually I give the “University Answer,” it depends. What I really mean by that is what my mood is, if I am pairing with food, etc. Many will ask what beer style do you like to which I reply, all of them. There are individual beers I don’t care for and some breweries I try to steer clear of, but for the most part I am open for anything.

So what is my favorite beer, the one in my glass. 😉

N&O Article

Today in the editorial page of the N&O editor Steve Ford proved just how little thought reporters can put into an article before they write it. He suggests that the psychopath who murdered the movie theater patrons in Aurora, Colorado had “stockpiled huge amounts of ammo” and then implied, of course without stating it directly, that somehow the tragedy might have been avoided if the ammo had not been purchased in bulk.

Let’s explore this for a second. The first firearm produced by all accounts was a shotgun which was fired until empty. Best I can recall a Remington 870 holds six shells maximum and a box of shells is 25. So whether he had a box or case he still fired less than a box of shells from the shotgun, most accounts I have seen say he dropped it when it was out of shells.

The next firearm was an AR15 which fires .223. I don’t have a black gun since I like wood and metal instead of metal and plastic, but the difference between a regular hunting rifle and one the press have incorrectly termed an “assault rifle” is nil. They both fire rifle cartridges only the black gun is lighter and more easily carried. The .223 generally come in boxes of 20 and cases of 300 to 1200 rounds. In Colorado the lunatic had one large capacity magazine which would hold the equivalent of 5 boxes. I personally don’t think 100 rounds qualifies as a bulk/huge purchase since most shoot more than that when they spend time at the range.

If reports are correct he last used a Glock 23 which has a magazine capacity of 13 .40S&W cartridges. I have not heard a report of how many times he fired the handgun, but let’s assume he had three magazines he still was not using a full box of ammunition since it comes in boxes of 50.

So I ask, what part of limiting quantities of ammunition purchases would have stopped the tragedy in Aurora? Instead of pointing the finger at the firearms and ammunition, how about the shrink who was treating him? Shouldn’t they have some responsibility, or at least as much as an inanimate object? If he went into the crowd with a butcher knife would the article have said let’s limit the number of knives contained in a Ginsu set?

In reality I think Steve was trying to defend his buddy, Mr. Mark Binker, or at least defend his actions of course based on flawed first amendment logic. Bad form Steve, your piece was filled with poor conclusions and flawed logic.

Use of deadly force

Last night I had a thought about the use of deadly force and an easy way for people to instantaneously recognize whether or not it may be applicable to their situation.

Just follow the Golden Rule (in reverse)

 

Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You

And add in a bit of

An Eye For An Eye, And A Tooth For A Tooth

No, I am not advocating vigilante justice with the quote. What my thought was you can use deadly force in any instance where you are not the instigator and you may suffer serious bodily injury at the hands of another. The law says (outside your home in NC, inside the home we have the Castle Doctrine) you can use force proportionate to the force being used against you. So if you didn’t instigate the situation and have imminent threat of death or great bodily harm you can use deadly force according to NC Common Law and also according to the Golden Rule, except applied in reverse. Simple.

 

 

Bottle Auction To Help An Injured Homebrewer

A few days ago the topic was about Jarrad Wilkinson, a local homebrewer who fell off a ladder and is now paralyzed from the chest down. CARBOY has a bottle auction planned for August 25 from 3 pm to 6 pm at Triangle Wine Company. Triangle Wine is located at 3735 Davis Dr., Morrisville, North Carolina 27560.

If you can attend, please do, if not you can always donate directly to his recovery fund:

Jarrad Wilkinson Recovery Fund
Fidelity Bank
2538 Lyon Station Road
PO Box 457
Creedmoor, NC 27522

Please help by participating or donating if you can!

Women going undercover

Saturday I have a small private class for eight students and just realized 50% of the participants will be women. One is a grandmother, one is a mother of several children, one is early thirties and one is my beloved wife. This got me to wondering just how many concealed carry are now women. I tried in vain to find a number published for North Carolina so I started looking for other areas around the country. I came across a news article from Ohio where it stated more than 1 in 5 of their applicants are women, 23% to be exact. (For the record I would have called that almost 1 in 4, YMMV.)

When I took my concealed class we had one grandmother in our class and the remaining eleven participants were men. Several instructors hold women only classes so that skews the numbers. I checked and the application in NC includes your sex so someone should know the percentage of permits issued to women. If anyone has statistical concealed carry gender information for NC, please pass it along.

The woman interviewed in the broadcast link below from a local television station did an excellent job speaking with the reporter on the topic of her friends impressions following the tragedy in Colorado.

video?id=8749131&pid=8749130

I think it is awesome more and more women are training and becoming proficient with handguns. Cheers to the fairer sex!

Kombucha

Last night I bellied up to the bar to see one tap handle marked “Buchi Fire.” Of course my interest was piqued and I asked what that was since I had never heard of that beer. Turns out it wasn’t beer at all, but a fermented tea beverage known for probiotic properties. This particular beverage was made by a local company and had ginger and cayenne as additives. It is tart and sweet and interesting to say the least. I have some books by Sandor Katz and will have to read up on what exactly Kombucha is and how it is made, but I found a site named KombuchaKamp which appears to have a tome of information.

If you happen upon Buchi Fire, I’d suggest you give it a whirl. Pretty tasty stuff!

Choosy Mothers Choose?

Yesterday a person was asked what would be the best pistol for them. Wow, what a wide open question. I explained it all depends upon what they are trying to accomplish and what the budget will allow. If all they desire is a 22 caliber to plink at cans in the back 40 then that is one pistol. If they want to use it as a paper punch trying to place the bullet through the hole made by the previous round that is another. If the gun is for home protection yet another and if it is for concealed carry that can be an entirely different selection.

In the end I pointed out the individual had rather large hands so a small mouse pocket gun was not going to fit the bill. Initially they discussed a 357 magnum, but once I explained the cost per round they seemed to decide that was not going to be a caliber for them. I got the sense they wanted an inexpensive plinker so that points us to a 22 caliber or if they want to spend more for ammunition a 9 mm. We did not even get into aesthetics. While a Block might be a very popular and reliable firearm, it isn’t very pretty. A 1911-style on the other hand is quite an attractive firearm to most people whether in black or stainless.

The final selection depends upon answering a host of questions and here are just a few:

• What is the pistol’s main function?
• Revolver or semi-automatic?
• What caliber?
• Does it fit my hand?
• Do I like the looks of the firearm? (If I don’t can they be changed?)
• Is it accurate for my given task?
• Is the manufacturer well-regarded for making quality firearms?

Purchasing a firearm is a very personal thing and it has to be given some thought and is not a trivial matter since most firearms are not low cost. You can of course get something that was cheap and will go bang part of the time, or you can get a reliable pistol that will last a lifetime of shooting. It’s really your choice and there is something for everyone.

 

Drink Local

Last night I was having dinner at a watering hole which has a loyalty program and while looking at my list of 60 credited brews at this establishment decided to see how many were from NC breweries. The number turned out to be 40, or two-thirds of all the beers on the list. Of course all three I had last night were from NC breweries and I had another five NC brews I was eye-ballin as backup in case my selections had tapped out.

Generally when I hit an establishment I try to see what they offer I have not had before or what is seasonal and also what they have from local breweries. Why would I travel to an area and not at least try to sample some of the local culture and the same philosophy spills over into my beer selection. I often see people as I travel who hit the restaurant and order BMC (BudMillerCoors) and I am sure that is because it is what they like and they are not adventuresome in their beer selections. They also eat nothing but vanilla ice cream, only drink sweet tea and want ketchup on everything. For some reason they just don’t want to see what experience awaits their palate by trying a craft beer and that is their prerogative.

Drinking local keeps the economy moving and shaking by supporting businesses in the community. So the next time you ask for a craft beer, ask the barkeep what they have that comes from a local brewery. You’ll be glad you did.

Newsworthy?

Since WRAL first made the searchable online database available they have tried to hide behind the First Amendment and maintained the information was fair game because it was available by request. I thought today we might spend a minute and have a look at the First Amendment for both the US and NC and then try to determine if a database of law-abiding citizen’s and portions of their addresses is even newsworthy.

First the US Constitution and the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So looking closely the amendment dictates that Congress shall not make a law which lessens the freedom of speech or of the press. Let’s take a second and look at the NC Constitution and Section 14 of our Declaration of Rights:

Freedom of speech and of the press are two of the great bulwarks of liberty and therefore shall never be restrained, but every person shall be held responsible for their abuse.

I actually like ours better because it details you will be held responsible for abuse of freedome of the press. Basically anything which might cause harm or is inaccurate/false and might cause harm can put a news organization in hot water.

A few bloggers have concluded WRAL was perfectly fine to host a database of law-abiding citizens under freedom of the press. I don’t actually see anywhere in there where it says the press has a free card to do whatever they desire wherever they desire and further if someone is harmed I do see where they can be held responsible. I believe that is why they redacted addresses and had enough intelligence to remove other information such as names, DL#, most house numbers, etc.

A question keeps popping into my head, is this news? The article was interesting and certainly worth reporting. The accompanying map was interesting and certainly worth reporting. The question becomes is the database worth reporting. It has drawn a large amount of negative interest, most likely this has come from gun owners who are disgusted WRAL would publish and host a database list which has similarities to a sex offender database. Mr. Binker and Ms. Hinchcliffe had to request the information from the NCDOJ and Mr. Binker indicated on twitter that is exactly what they did. I won’t link to it, but WRAL General Manager Steve Hammel wrote in a WRAL blog, the information was available at the Sheriff’s office. While a Sheriff may supply that information, there is absolutely nothing in the NC Statutes which would compel the sheriff to release that information and further it is not where they obtained the information for the database.

Is public information which is not part of a breaking news story really news? I mean shouldn’t they start to report on every bit of publicly available information if this is the position WRAL chooses to take? I anxiously await the publication of the searchable list of streets, city, etc. for hairdressers in the WRAL viewing area. I’m on pins and needles for the Veterinary license holders, Professional Engineers, Restaurants, etc. Heck, why not the panhandling permits, at least that way we can know the guy holding the cardboard sign really doesn’t have an address or if they do that they are not homeless like their sign indicates.

In fact this is not news. It was gathered for a new story and someone said, “Hey, I got all this info in a spreadsheet, what should I do with it, can we put it on the site?” The response was “of course we should, it’s one of our freedoms.” No, it’s not. It is an invasion of privacy and an attempt to create hostility in the neighborhoods where law-abiding citizens reside. Further it is a google search for criminals to find homes where firearms may be available and areas where they are less likely to find armed resistance to crimes. It’s plain and simple a bad idea.

One last point which I’ve stated a few times is the article and database are filled with inaccuracies. No one in NC has a “concealed weapon carry permit”, it simply does not exist. No one has a “concealed weapon permit,” it also does not exist. The number of shots required for the course by law is 30, not 40. This is not the first time Mr. Binker has been less than accurate in reporting or about his reporting. He penned an article in May on S745 and then later in the article called it S742. Recently on Facebook he stated, “we removed the House numbers from our data set before posting” and we know that is not the case. Below is a highly redacted screen shot of a single search where one of four addresses had the street number included. If a reporter cannot get the terminology correct in a story, fails to research the law to know what it says regarding qualification, incorrectly states the Senate Bill in his own article on that bill, and then doesn’t state the truth on social media how can we believe and trust anything emanating from this reporter and his news organization?