Sunday Morning Drinking – Almost

You may or may not have heard Senate Bill 155, the Brunch Bill, has been sent to Governor Cooper to be signed. This bill was actually entitled ABC Omnibus Legislation and made several changes to the law including the definition of Homebrew. Assuming he signs it quickly that does not mean you get to run out and have a bloody the following Sunday morning. In fact now you will have to wait for your city or perhaps county to allow those sales. Yep, it may be quite some time before you actually can have a Sunday morning libation in a restaurant or bar depending upon when the governing body for each area meets to allow or disallow those sales. I suspect you will be walking into a small town restaurant next year on a Sunday morning and order that mimosa only to be told the town has still not approved those sales. I’m all for big government allowing small cities and towns to be the master of their fate, but I’m also for uniformity, especially when it comes to alcohol. I should be able to expect the same rules in each and every place where it is sold in NC. Anyway, the bill has passed and soon enough the larger cities will jump on the bandwagon. No more waiting until noon to head out to Sunday brunch. Now I can thrown on a hat and have some hair of the dog first thing in the morning.

There are many other tweaks to the law in the bill. The text is available here.

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Great Idea BA! Horrible Graphic!

The Brewers Association has rolled out their Independent Craft Brewer seal and I gotta say that is a great idea. On the other hand the graphic kinda sucks. Who had the bright idea to put an upside down bottle on the seal? If you read about it the thought process is craft beer is turning ideas about beer upside down, but who exactly is the target audience with the seal, those who will read about it, or those who may not understand which beers are craft and which are BudMillerCoors? To me the seal is a negative and I expect more than one person to see it the same way and plenty of others who will applaud the seal without truly putting any thought as to the target audience. Go back to the drawing board boys before your members start putting that seal on marketing materials and labels. It isn’t all that and a bag of chips, it is the chip that fell on the floor and you are trying to decide if the five second rule applies and whether or not you should pick it up or throw it in the trash. I vote for throwing in the trash!

Philando Castile Dash Cam Video

Please Note: The linked video below is graphic.

By now you have heard the officer charged in the Philando Castile shooting, Jeronimo Yanez, was acquitted on the charges of second-degree manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm. Back in July of last year I had armchair quarterbacked the situation while believing Philando had told the officer he had a concealed firearm and permit. After reviewing the video below, there was no mention of a permit in the conversation only that he had a firearm and then the officer immediately grabs the grip of his gun and tells him not to reach for it. I believe the officer acted too fast and as a result Philando is dead. I also believe Philando had a duty to obey the officer’s command and when he went reaching he escalated the situation.

After hearing the news the officer was acquitted I immediately felt the jury got it wrong despite deliberating for four days. After watching the video I am not so sure. For certain any officer that fearful and quick to action should rethink their chosen profession. A trained professional should exercise caution and restraint until the situation call for the use of deadly force. In this case we have a driver with a broken tail light who has impairment from use of marijuana and his decision to not obey the officer’s commands in conjunction with an officer making a poor decision led to his demise. In my mind the officer is guilty of something, but I am no longer convinced it is manslaughter.

As a concealed carry permit holder I strongly feel anyone who announces they have a permit and firearm to the officer should never be shot. In the case of Philando Castile he never mentioned the permit, only the firearm, and then reached when he was instructed not to do so. It is a tragedy which could have been prevented if Philando had obeyed the officer and if the officer had exercised a bit more restraint instead of fear, especially considering there was a child in the vehicle.

Another N&O Column With False Information

Imagine my surprise this morning when I opened up the paper and saw the caption on a photo said, “Bullets from an assault rifle travel three times the speed of handgun bullets. Once they enter the body, they fragment and explode.” This came from an opinion piece by Dr. Leana S. Wen who is an emergency physician and the Health Commissioner of Baltimore City. One would think a Doctor would be able to do simple math and also understand how bullets function. So let’s explore her statements. I’ll choose a 9mm bullet because it is probably the most common round one will find today in semi-automatic firearms. The muzzle velocity of a 9mm varies, but if we select a middle of the road round it will travel at least 1,200 ft/s. Now let’s compare that with the muzzle velocity of a .223 which is the round most commonly associated with a modern sporting rifle. Again a middle of the road number would be 3,000 ft/s with some being faster and some being slower. Let’s apply a little mathematics to determine 3 / 1.2 = 2.5 which I suppose one could round to three, but should people with advanced degrees round? Suppose Dr. Wen was administering a drug to a patient in the ER. Should she say 2.5 cc is the exact amount, but let’s round that to 3 cc? I think not. Now she could choose an exact manufactured round which has a muzzle velocity of 3,600 ft/s, but by the same token we could choose one with a muzzle velocity of 2,500 ft/s which in Dr. Wen’s world would round down to 2. The patient requires 2.083 cc of the drug, but let’s just round down to 2, no worries.

Now let’s hit on what really caught my eye. She said, “once they enter the body, they fragment and explode.” No, no they do not. They do fragment, that much is true, but there is no explosion which happens from a rifle bullet hitting a target. The .223 bullet is unstable once it contacts a target and it begins to tumble and fragment, but it NEVER explodes. I despise when people who should know better choose to represent statements as fact when they are actually false. Dr. Wen should know better (or at least Google it) and The News & Observer should not print opinions such as this with statements which are so easily fact checked for validity. Perhaps there are words of wisdom in Dr. Wen’s opinion piece, but sensationalizing the photo in the print edition is yet another example of poor journalism standards from the N&O. Maybe Ned is hitting the bottle again?

Ruger 10mm SR1911

Oh Ruger, you are a cruel mistress. You roll out yet another new firearm which temps even the most resolute of us to add it to the collection. The new SR1911 in 10mm is already receiving great reviews. Luckily I am not in the market for another 1911, but if I was this one would certainly be under consideration.

National Bourbon Day 2017

Today is National Bourbon Day! I think you know what to do! 😉

Ruger Mark IV Recall

Ruger just announced a recall for Mark IV pistols manufactured before June 1, 2017.  If you own a Mark IV which was manufactured prior to June 1, please visit their website to determine the appropriate steps to return the firearm and have it updated.