Heads, Meet Brick Wall

You have to hand it to the Gun Control Party*:  they never seem to realize that the liquid running into their eyes is blood from continuously beating their fool heads against the wall of conservative, Second Amendment-loving Texas.

Courtesy of the Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA), here’s their latest laundry list of wishful thinking:

  • House Bill 22, House Bill 106, House Bill 284, House Bill 324 & House Bill 662 requiring the REPORTING OF LAWFUL SALES of certain firearms and magazines to state and/or local law enforcement. [nope]
  • House Bill 76 & Senate Bill 172 CRIMINALIZING the failure of a victim of gun theft to report having his or her firearms stolen. [unenforceable, according to the State Police]
  • House Bill 88 & House Bill 447 further TAXING the sale of firearms and/or ammunition and firearms accessories. [higher taxes? in Texas? lol]
  • House Bill 110, House Bill 146, House Bill 308 & Senate Bill 360 BANNING private firearms transfers at gun shows. [was that a unicorn I just saw?]
  • House Bill 123, House Bill 136 & Senate Bill 144 so-called “red flag” GUN CONFISCATION legislation requiring firearms surrender without due process. [no due process… yeah, maybe they could get away with that in Illinois]
  • House Bill 129, House Bill 565, House Bill 761, House Bill 781, House Bill 925, House Bill 996, House Bill 1072, Senate Bill 32 & Senate Bill 145 RAISING THE AGE for firearms sales, restricting firearms transfers to, or purchases by, young adults. [lowering the age would have more chance of passing]
  • House Bill 155, House Bill 236, Senate Bill 170 & Senate Bill 370 BANNING private firearms transfers between certain family members and friends, requiring FFLs to process these transactions that would include federal paperwork for government approval at an undetermined fee. [yeah, we just love getting the feds’ noses stuck in our bidness in Texas]
  • House Bill 817, House Bill 925 & Senate Bill 32 BANNING the manufacture, sale, purchase or possession of commonly-owned semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns. [there aren’t enough body bags to enforce this little wet dream]
  • House Bill 197 & House Bill 632 BANNING the sale or transfer and possession of standard capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. [see the point above]
  • House Bill 179, House Bill 216 & House Bill 244 RESTRICTING long gun open carry, with limited exceptions. [you mean, over and above the restrictions we already have, and that most Texans hate like poison and mostly ignore?]
  • House Bill 298 establishes a 3-day WAITING PERIOD for firearms sales. [uh huh — I know we’ve got a lot of Californians come here recently, but we still ain’t California yet]
  • House Bill 887 CRIMINALIZING the practice of home-building firearms. [sorry, I need to go get another hanky]
  • House Bill 925 requiring enforcement of a whole host of newly-established firearms restrictions through PRIVATE CIVIL ACTIONS. [once again, this isn’t California or New fucking York]
  • House Bill 1092 REPEALING Texas’ firearms industry non-discrimination act from the 2021 session. [considering the margin by which the latter was passed in 2021, that ain’t gonna happen either]
  • Senate Bill 205 REPEALING Texas’ campus carry law. [because of all the dozens of mass shootings on Texas campuses over the past few years, maybe?]
  • Senate Bill 253 STREAMLINING signage requirements for posting areas off-limits to gun owners, making it easier for property owners to ban carrying on-premises. [actually, that we have any such signs at all is something I and others intend to take up with our legislators]

Every single one of these has been copied and pasted, so to speak, from years gone past;  all have gone down in flames or else been “tabled” without making it out of committee.

And lest we forget, the Texas Legislature is only in session for six months every two years.  Amongst other things, they have to build, debate and pass a two-year budget — which the U.S. Congress can’t do in a full year — and ours have better things to do than debate this foolishness in the short time available to them.


*Actually, what I’d like to hand to them is their own severed heads on a pike, but we can discuss that some other time.

Making The Transition

I’ve been shooting 1911s in .45 ACP for pretty much all my adult life.

While there have been many forays into revolvers (Colt Pythons, various S&Ws etc.) it can truthfully be said that my bread, butter and jam has been the above gun.

Which is no longer mine, having been given to the Son&Heir for his birthday.  Along with every single round of .45 ACP out of Ye Olde Ammo Locquere.  (“FFS, Dad:  I’ll never have to buy ammo ever again.” )  Okay, I did find a small stash of another hundred or so rounds later (everybody here knows how that can happen), but the S&H is coming over tomorrow for dinner so I’ll give him those too.

Yep, not only did I make a clean break from the 1911, I also made it difficult to go back should I be tempted to do so.

Which is all very well, except that I have a serious shortage of 9mm, never having done much Europelleting in the past.  In fact, as I discovered when preparing for a range visit a couple days back, I did indeed have a couple hundred rounds of premium self-defense 9mm (don’t ask me why), but not a single box of standard 115gr. practice stuff.  So I had to buy a couple boxes at full retail price (!!!), which made it almost as expensive a proposition as .45 ACP.  Fortunately, I had a small cash windfall (as described yesterday), so I could buy that hundred rounds of practice ammo with only a small amount of chagrin.

Nevertheless, as I hadn’t shot the High Power in earnest for well over five years, I had to put in the practice considering that the BHP is now my everyday carry piece.

Aaargh.  I couldn’t shoot it for shit — I mean, compared to the results I’ve been getting from the 1911 in, well, forever — and I found the trigger not just different, but horribly different.  The 1911’s trigger had been seriously worked on, and fired over 30,000 times — use your imagination.  The High Power hasn’t been touched, other than the substitution of the original spur hammer for a bobbed one, as in the pic.

I’m not happy.

Bear in mind that the paper results were not that bad, considering, but nothing close to what I’m used to, and the “unpleasant” trigger made my first proper outing with the BHP no fun at all.  And I’m not familiar with coming away from a range session feeling bad about my shooting;  I’ve worked too hard and practiced too much to have to put up with this.

So I’m grappling with the thought that carry duties, which I’d planned on giving to the BHP exclusively, may be shared with the S&W 65 (my bedside piece).

Not that this would be a hardship, mind you:  I took the 65 to the range along with the BHP, and shot both .38 Spec+P and .357 Mag through it, with excellent results.

In fact, I had so much fun with the revolver that I might well use it as a carry piece instead of the High Power.  (I also have what may be described as an “adequate sufficiency” of both .38 and .357 ammo on hand, so no hardship there, and therefore would require no building up a supply from scratch as would be the case with 9mm Europellets.)

I wish I still had my 1911.

Subtle Hints

Here’s a real tearjerker for you:

Lowri Rose grew up in a devout Christian home but her local church “grassed” on her when she started flogging naked snaps.

Her stepdad then called her to say the family wanted nothing to do with her and she has had zero contact with them since.

Gosh… if her family had only had some small clue about her side job, say on their summer holidays:

…or around the house:

…or even in the backyard:

Ugh.  If she was a waitress, I wouldn’t even want her serving my food.