God, Guns and Grits: August 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What to do and say after the brown stuff hits the fan -- if you survive

Suppose the worst happens and you have to shoot somebody to protect your own life or the lives of your loved ones -- or even a complete stranger you see in deadly peril.

What then? What should you do, what should you say and how should you say it? And when should you shut up? The first thing you should do is dial 911 on your cell phone and report the incident to the authorities.

Even if no shots are fired, if you have to draw your concealed weapon, you should call 911 to report the incident. If you don't, you can bet the would-be robber who changed his mind is dialing 911 as he runs away, screaming some madman just pulled a gun on him! Police assume the first caller to report an incident is the victim, so if you don't call, you could be suddenly surrounded by police demanding that you drop your weapon and surrender. Call first.

Here's some good advice from an article by K.L. Jamison in Concealed Carry Report.

The first words out of the caller’s mouth should be the location of the incident. If the battery then dies, or the minutes run out, or some other technological catastrophe occurs the authorities will know that something of interest is at that location, and the caller’s cell phone records can prove that he or she made the call. The next statement is the caller’s name.

The core of the 911 call consists of three sentences:
“He tried to kill me.”
“I was never so scared in my life.”
“Send an ambulance.”

The first sentence serves to introduce the roles of the parties, the caller is the victim, the other person the attacker. Being in reasonable fear of life or limb is a prerequisite to acting in self-defense. The phrase “I was never so scared…” is to preclude the prosecutor from claiming that the citizen never said he was scared “until he talked to a lawyer.”

The phrase “Send an ambulance” says that the caller does not want anyone to die.
When the police arrive, they will want a more elaborate statement; this should consist only of:

1. He attacked me.
2. I will sign a complaint.
3. There is the evidence.
4. I WANT A LAWYER.

And if you can't manage to say anything else to police or when calling 911, say "I was in fear for my life!"

If you have any trouble after that explaining the situation, fall back on a one-word vocabulary, "Lawyer!" You can get in a lot of trouble by saying too much or too little, but it will never hurt to shut up and say "Lawyer!"

Yankee 'Warlord' is best man for N.C. 4th Congressional District

I'm predicting this fall's election is gonna be a "Throw Out Da Bums!" election at minimum on the scale of Bill Clinton's 1994 disaster and hopefully far worse -- for the leftwingnuts, that is, far better for the rest of the planet. I've read some pundits saying it's gonna be worse because this time it ain't Bill Clinton and Hillary in the White House, but an even more arrogant leftwingnut, Barack Hussein Obama.

And if we can get rid of Nancy "Dumber than a sack of rocks" Pelosi and Harry "The war is lost!" Reid, it will be a real good start toward vacating the White House in 2012 and moving in the best man for the job, Sarah Palin.

But back to the job up first, cleaning out Congress. One good move would be to elect a yankee named Ilario Pantano from Noo Yawk City to serve the 4th Congressional District here in North Carolina. Seriously.

Mike Adams has the lowdown on why this Yankee is the best man for the job here in the Deep South. Short version, when in trouble, Send In The Marines!

Ilario Pantano is a Warlord. That was the name of his U.S. Marines unit when he served during the Iraqi War. It was his second tour of duty after serving previously in the Gulf War. He had returned to civilian life during the 1990s and was working on Wall Street when the attacks of September 11th rocked his office in lower Manhattan. The first thing he did after the attacks was to go to his barber to get a military-style haircut. He knew right away that he was going back to war.

Some of you may remember Ilario Pantano from his appearance on The Daily Show with John Stewart. He was promoting his book Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy. I will never forget the interview because I have never seen John Stewart behave in such a respectful and professional manner while interviewing someone so diametrically opposed to him politically.

And there was plenty of potential for fireworks in the interview. Pantano had been accused of murder after killing two insurgents during intense fighting near Bagdad. But Ilario Pantano was cleared of all charges in an Article 32 Hearing, which is the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing. No trial was ever convened.

Ilario Pantano also acquitted himself well in the court of public opinion. Even when dealing with tough adversaries like John Stewart he overwhelmed them with a sharp mind and an articulate tongue. When I saw his interview with Stewart I knew Ilario Pantano was congressional material.

And now the Warlord is running for Congress against Mike McIntyre – a Democrat who voted against the surge in Iraq.

Help send Mike McIntyre, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to the unemployment line. Elect Ilario Pantano!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Reflections on being 63 on the outside and 19 on the inside

I just turned 63 which sounds awfully ancient to my ears, but my body is telling me it's true. I have no idea how I got to be so old because if it wasn't for all these aches and pains, I could believe it was just yesterday when I was 19 and could jump a 10-rail fence.

Well, maybe a one-rail fence. I never could jump very high or run very fast or do anything physical very well. But I was young once and really do still feel like I'm 19 on the inside. I've never really thought about why I've chosen 19 as my forever-young-inside age, until now.

That was the year I partied myself into flunking out of N.C. State University in Raleigh as a freshman. The Vietnam War was raging and the draft was under way, so in the spring of '67 when the grades came in, a flock of F's, one D and one I (for Idiot!) , I literally saw the writing on the wall. I walked from campus to downtown Raleigh to the Navy recruiter's office and signed my life away for four years.

I was gonna be a war photographer, like one of my heroes, Cornell Capa, except in uniform. But after boot camp I got sent to electronics school and learned how to be a gunnery fire control technician, whatever that was. I put it down as my first choice in boot camp because some idiot told me you never got your first choice. Photographer went down as second and that's how I became an FTG rating in the Navy.

And I discovered that what drew me to that Navy recruiter's office, instead of the Army, Marines or Air Force, was the call of the sea that was within me. I truly loved my four years in the Navy, serving on four small ships almost constantly at sea, three destroyers and a communications ship. Shore duty sucketh in the Navy, as the KJV says, but sea duty is great. I even enjoyed my 1969 tour off the coast of Vietnam during the summer of Woodstock on the USS Mullinnix, DD-944, lobbing 70 lb. shells at the enemy with my literal finger on the trigger.

Peace hell, war was what I was all about then. But I also discovered drugs in the Navy: marijuana, hashish, acid, LSD, uppers, downers, sideways, every which way but loose, I never met a drug I didn't like. So when I got out in 1971, I let my hair grow long and joined the hippie generation. But at least that attitude adjustment I got in Uncle Sam's service made me grow up more than four year's worth.

I got married in the fall of 1971 after I got out of the Navy and soon had two kids, a son and a daughter. Then in 1977, when I was 29, came the event that changed everything. I met Jesus. He found me. He wasn't lost but I was. The Lord saved me on Feb. 28, 1977, when one day I read about His plan of salvation and said to him out loud in my bedroom, "Well Lord, I've tried everything else. Why don't I try you?" The Lord heard me and took me at my word. I knew something happened that day but it took a while to realize exactly just what.

Now 33 years later, I'm still learning "just what" the Lord wants to teach me. And I've learned far more from my failures than I ever have from the few successes along the way. And I wouldn't change a thing, even if I could, which I can't. It's been a wonderful life, as Jimmy Stewart said, and I'm looking forward to about 30 more years or so of seeing what Jesus has in store for me here, until He comes again.

And then I'll spend eternity with him in that land where we'll never grow old. The older I get, the more I'm looking forward to that fair land.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

How to buy beer without looking like you're gonna drink it

From Brownells:

BEAUTY PARLOR
Bob Brownell

While shopping in a food store , two nuns happened to pass by the beer, wine, and liquor section... One asked the other if she would like a beer.
The second nun answered that, indeed, it would be very nice to have one, but that she would feel uncomfortable about purchasing it.
The first nun replied that she would handle that without a problem.
She picked up a six-pack and took it to the cashier.
The cashier had a surprised look, so the nun said, "This is for washing our hair."
Without blinking an eye, the cashier reached under the counter and put a package of pretzel sticks in the bag with the beer.
"The curlers are on me."

You're welcome.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Focus on the Solution - Best Shooting Advice I Ever Recieved - Shooting Photo Galleries

Focus on the Solution - Best Shooting Advice I Ever Recieved - Shooting Photo Galleries
Expert shooters share their advice on how to shoot better. Here's my favorite:

Posted by: NRA Staff

Stay with the Big Picture

If I may be so bold, I think I gave an aspiring hunter some of the best advice on a pronghorn hunt several years ago. The hunter was from the east and had never seen a pronghorn, much less hunted or killed one. This individual was consumed with caliber, scope, scope reticle, sling type. It got so bad that during the few weeks before the hunt, this hunter was bugging me daily—sometimes several times a day—about minutiae that would be of consequence only on a sponsored hunt, which this was not. The questions came fast and frenetic. It got down to a difference in bullet manufacturers—same weight, same general construction—which one would kill a buck?

I sort of lost my patience at that point and blurted out: “The first rule of hunting or shooting is P.T.F.T!" The hunter looked quizzically at me and I explained, "Pull The Freaking Trigger!"

We all get a little too wrapped up in gear occasionally. I've done it, too. However, once you have a suitable arm—something that will fling a bullet with reasonable accuracy—sighted in with, again, a reasonably accurate load, it's time to paste the cross-hair on the critter and let fly. Everything else is feathers on the dog.

Dave Campbell, AmericanRifleman.org Contributor

Drunken mortgage worker shoots computer server

Drunken mortgage worker shoots computer server
His name ain't Elvis so this guy is in a lotta trouble.

Kimber pistols come flooding in -- a sure sign the gun glut is over

The gun glut is most definitely over and a buyer's market has been in full swing for the past few weeks. Yesterday I listed 10 new Kimber pistols on gunbroker and how we have 17 Kimber models listed plus a .22LR conversion kit and a couple of different Kimber nonlethal pepper sprayers.

Kimber pistols we've had on backorder for weeks and even months are now coming in daily so I think it's accurate to say the Kimber factory has finally caught up its backlog of demand and is shipping promptly.

I'm lazy so I just copied and pasted our Kimber listings off gunbroker. You can look at the pretty pictures free, we haven't figured out a way to charge for that yet.

187174577