Latest Posts

Victory At Yorktown!

Self-Defense

Apparently, Gen. George Washington has just forced the English Army to surrend– oh, you knew that already?  Well, here’s some more of that kind of news:

Because Everyone Needs a Boot Knife
While EDC knives are certainly tools, I think anyone who carries a gun also acknowledges that they’re a backup weapon as well. Especially in a weapons retention situation. Even if you don’t carry a gun, if you carry a knife you’re probably cognizant of its defensive potential if needed. While there are a lot of knives out there that you can choose from, with a lot of good reasons why, let’s take a look at the humble boot knife.

I don’t know where he’s been living, but a boot knife is anything but “humble”.  I’ve been carrying one almost my entire adult life — whether the local constabulary had declared them “illegal” or not — and I loves it, oh yes I do.

Here it is (next to my 1911 for scale):


(Kershaw “Special Agent”)

Now I must confess that it’s not an everyday carry (EDC) thing for me, mostly because I don’t wear boots, cowboy or otherwise, every day.  And it’s a little too big and bulky to be worn on my belt — so I prefer to carry a decent folding pocket knife instead.

But if I’ve got the old Ariats on, you’d better believe that the Kershaw is clipped inside (the left boot, so that my right is free to wield the 1911, of course).

So of course everyone needs a boot knife.  I bet ol’ Cornwallis didn’t have one clipped to his boot.  Now I’m not saying that’s why he lost the battle, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Proportionate Response

Foreign Affairs, Law and Order

See, here’s the kind of statement that makes me want to reach for the old nail-studded cluebat.  (I know I know, it’s a Brit ergo a fucking dumbass / ideologue, but I’ve heard the same drivel being spouted by our Lefty assholes Over Here.)

British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has said that not all ethnic groups should be treated the same by police in the wake of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who died in police handcuffs after officers refused to believe he had been stabbed by a Sikh man.

Wait, it gets better:

Lammy, who also serves as the left-wing Labour Party government’s Justice Secretary, said that while the “starting point” should be equality before the law, it is not always appropriate to be treated “the same”, noting the disproportionate arrest rates of certain ethnic minority groups, such as Roma travellers [Gypsies] and black Britons.

…and as we all know, the reason that gypsies and Black Britons get disproportionately arrested is — wait for it — because they commit a disproportionate number of the crimes.

It stands to reason (except to people like this twerp) that if you go fishing in a pond where 80% of the fish are yellow-colored, you’re going to catch a disproportionate number of yellow fish.

I’d like to give tits like this Lammy the benefit of the doubt — i.e. that they’re just statistically ignorant — but the truth of the matter is that for them, everything is viewed through the RAAAYYYYYCISM! lens.

Which is what led to the horrible outcome for the Nowak kid, above.  (For those who don’t know what that story was all about, go here.)

Semi-Automatic Musings

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

For some time now, I’ve been thinking about getting a shotgun as an accompaniment to my bedside revolver.  Now the advice is going to be predictable:  “12ga pump-action, Kim!”  followed by a host of brand recommendations/warnings.

I don’t want to do that.

I don’t want a 12ga, because my aging shoulder is going to hate me for the recoil, and I’d rather have a semi-auto bedside shotgun for the same reason I carry a semi-auto 1911:  one up the spout, cocked and locked — a flick of the finger and away we go.

I have fond memories of a semi-auto shotgun I once owned (and sold because Poverty, with lasting regret).  It was one of these:

Browning Gold Hunter (20ga)

…and it was an absolute joy to shoot, reliable as hell and featuring minuscule  recoil, so one might think that I should just get a new one.

Silly rabbit:  Browning no longer makes them (#Idiots) which means that because they are such good guns, the second-hand market thereof is priced at Ferrari levels, i.e. unattainable to one of Humble Means such as myself.

Oh well.  So off I hie to the various Merchants Of Death to see what’s on offer in the same chambering.

Franchi Fenice ~$2,500

Lovely, but way too spendy.  I’d have to sell at least two guns out of Ye Old Gunne Sayffe to be able to afford one of these, and I don’t want to do that.  Next?

CZ 1020 ~$750

Not bad, and I do like CZ guns as a rule, but these are Turkish-made pieces, and I’d rather buy Murkin.

The problem with both the above is those 28″ barrels.  That’s kinda long and ungainly for use inside a home, and one thing I liked about pump-action guns is that they have shorter (18″) barrels, which to my way of thinking is much better for close-quarters work of the anti-social persuasion.  So what else can I look at?

Remington 1100 Lt-20 ~$900
Okay, that’s much better, with its 21″ barrel.  But it’s listed as “New Production”, which means… “new” Remington quality?  I’m not so sure, and given the price of nearly a grand, I don’t really want to take the risk.

And would I really want to get, say, a CZ 1020, only to have to pay for my Friendly Local Gunsmith to give it a 9″-10″ circumcision?  (If the proposition gives you a bad taste in the mouth, it does that to me, too.)

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Afterthought:  another reason why I’m set on something in 20ga is that during a recent inventory of Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere, I discovered two cases of sundry 20ga ammo:  buckshot, birdshot and slugs, all a legacy of the late-lamented Gold Hunter which I (fortunately) did not include in the sale of said gun.  So there’s no ammo cost involved, just the gun itself.

Random Totty

Gratuitous Chick Pics

Good grief, y’all:  at this rate, the Intarwebz is going to run out of MILF pics soon, thanks to your frequent beseechings / requests / threats.  Oh well. let’s go down [sic]  fighting…

I’m somewhat out of practice at this business, of course, but to my old eyes there may be a hell of a lot of good times promised in them portraits.

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

From The Divine Sarah:

“I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Heinlein was right during WWII to only read the papers two weeks late, when it was pointless to get angry about old news.”

Me, too.  I think that this has been at the heart of my current blogging malaise, of thinking that my writing is pointless and silly, not to mention (occasionally) harsh and anarchic.  Like Sarah, I find myself reading headlines and thinking, “Ah, the hell with it” — hence the sometime-appearance on these pages of a “news summary” including a headline and at best a short,  pissy  pithy comment.

Thus, I read about the election/voting shenanigans in California, wherein non-Democrat mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt was doing pretty well in the polls, until an (unexpected!) flood of mail-in ballots found their way into the counting-houses which resulted in (surprise!) the promotion of the third-place (Commie) candidate into the second place — which, in the “top two” election system in California, means that the runoff election will be between Thing 1 and Thing 2, both Commies and either quite likely to hasten the Golden Shower State’s steady progress into the abyss.

And I don’t actually care, and refuse to get all worked up about it.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for a little trip to the range.