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Gun Dealers File for Summary Judgment in First Amendment Lawsuit Over State of California Ban on Handgun Advertisements – “(A)ttorneys for 5 gun California dealers have filed a motion for summary judgment to strike down a state law that bans the on-site advertising of handguns outside of gun store in a federal First Amendment civil rights. California Penal Code section 26820, first enacted in 1923, bans gun stores from putting up signs advertising the sale of handguns — but not shotguns or rifles. Tracy Rifle and Pistol, a firearm retailer and indoor shooting range located in San Joaquin County, was cited by Attorney General Kamala Harris’ Department of Justice for having pictures of three handguns in window signs that can be seen outside the store. An adjacent window image at Tracy Rifle, which shows a photograph of an AR-15 rifle, was not cited by the DOJ.” Arbitrary and capricious. But the First Amendment is just another enumerated civil right. Why should the state of California respect this one any more than it does the Second?

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17-year-old accidentally shoots friend while deer hunting in Charlotte County – “A 17-year-old mistook his friend for a deer and shot him while hunting in Charlotte County, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Two teenage boys went hunting Friday around 5:20 p.m. on private property on Mt. Carmel Road in Charlotte County. While hunting, a 17-year-old boy mistook his friend for a deer and shot him.” Let’s please be careful out there. And wear your orange.

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On a happier note . . . Nebraska: Seward Girl’s Bull Elk More Than Just a State Record – “A bull elk harvested by a Seward girl in September is not only the new non-typical record for Nebraska, it also ranks 16th in the all-time world records maintained by the Boone and Crockett Club. Hannah Helmer’s bull, harvested on the Sept. 24 opener of the elk season in the Hat Creek Unit near Crawford, was officially scored at 430 6/8 on Nov. 30 by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission wildlife biologist Randy Stutheit. That topped the previous mark of 409 7/8 taken by Dana Foster of Ogallala in Garden County in 2008.” Hope she has a lot of wall space in her room for that rack.

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Temple, Texas-based Hudson Manufacturing is slowly dropping the veil on their new pistol, the H9 From their press release: “For the past three years, Hudson has been working on an innovative new pistol to be launched at SHOT Show 2017. This new design combines a striker fired system with a 1911 style single axis trigger. The culmination of the countless hours of design and testing resulted in a product that has never before been successfully created. This new pistol design boasts multiple new patents sure to disrupt the standards and expectations of the firearms industry.” They tell us it’s a striker fired pistol with a single-axis 1911-style trigger. Can’t wait to get our hands on one.

Heavily armed ‘Mannequin Challenge’ video leads to felon gun arrest – “A gun-strapped “Mannequin Challenge” video led to an Alabama man’s arrest for criminal possession of a weapon. The clip made in Huntsville adheres to the rules of the video craze, with its participants standing still as statues while a roving camera pans over them.”

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Disarmed UK homeowners encouraged to turn to shrubs for personal defense . . . Defensive planting helps combat crime – “Residents and businesses are being encouraged to enlist the help of Mother Nature in the fight against crime. Colchester Borough Council and the Safer Colchester Partnership (SCP) have joined forces with Essex Police and Poplar Nurseries to launch a Defensive Planting Initiative. The drive aims to help residents and businesses choose the best shrubs and other living barriers to plant, in order to boost security and deter crime such as burglary.”

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58 COMMENTS

      • Considering the overall general state of oral hygiene in Briton, bad breath that can drop a buzzard would make an excellent personal defense weapon…

    • To be completely honest, I think there is SOME merit to it.

      Burglar breaks your window and steps through into a big, heaping patch of stinging weed. That’s likely to incapacitate him somewhat.

    • SHRUBZ IS RAYCISS, YO!

      However, it’s good sense for homeowners to put trees farther away from your house and garage and overhead lines, as you don’t want limbs falling on things in a storm, and criminals can climb trees to get to upper story windows. Meanwhile, bushes under windows give a barrier, and if someone tries to climb a bush it will collapse and they will fall to the ground and/or be stuck in it. This leaves only doors as easy entry points. Of course, you should also maintain defensive weapons of your own that are accessible in case of emergency, plan out what you and your family will do in the event of a break-in, get good locks, get a good dog or two (one that can bite and alert you to strangers near your home, but it doesn’t have to be a pitbull or a Caucasian Shepherd- I prefer Basset hounds) and maybe put bars on the windows and get an alarm system.

  1. That’s pretty pathetic, relying on plants to protect you. However, it’s worth considering into an overrall defense plan which includes firearms/dogs/alarms. You figure planting thorny bushes around your windows won’t stop anyone, but it might get them to say “fuck!” Thereby alerting you or your dogs. If I could, I’d honestly try to find a way to get fireants to nest under each window.

    • My thoughts exactly. I actually followed the links to get some ideas. Unfortunately the information provided was somewhat lacking in actual ideas, and more of a convoluted way of telling people to ask questions at their local gardening center.

    • Y’all beat me to it. A bunch of thorns could be quite effective at getting a typical gangsta to reevaluate how much he wants to get in that window. Defense is an onion (layers!) not an egg!
      This is an example of the tunnel vision we develop as People of the Gun and we need to be aware of that weakness: just because its not our solution to the problem doesn’t mean its without merit. Defensive shrubbery though, LOL!
      As for that beautiful elk, the only prouder face in those woods was likely the young lady’s father. Good going, gal!

      • Where I live, that’s not an option. There’s always fire ants on my property, no matter what I do. No amount of poison or gasoline gets rid of them. So, I simply gave up and just let them be. But I wish I could at least convince them to live underneath my windows.

        • A shovel full of each nest taken and mixed with (dumped on) another nest and the ants will wipe each other out. Takes about a week.

          Just gotta make sure you get some ants in the shovel-full of nest/dirt.

        • “There’s always fire ants on my property, no matter what I do.”

          Amdro fire ant bait.

          A few teaspoons around the mound (no need to water it in). Workers feed it to the ant-queen, mound *dies*.

          You can broadcast spread it over your entire yard to keep the little bastards in check. Works very well here in Florida…

          http://www.amdro.com/all-products/fire-ant-bait

  2. My condolences to the family of the 16 y/o. I did have rant typed out about shooting at movement, luckily I read the story first before posting. Bad firearm handling seems more likely.

    • The story says he “mistook his friend for a deer and shot him”. Assuming that’s an accurate account (a big assumption with any news story), that sounds less like bad firearm handling and more like just really irresponsible hunting. I mean, if he couldn’t see his target well enough to know it was a person wearing blaze orange, how could he have taken a clean, ethical shot even if it was a deer?

      • Then I would have been fine posting my rant.
        I’ll leave the short version; If you are being so fricken stupid to shooting at something you can not identify, you should not touch a gun.

        • I’m not a hunter. I have a hunting license because I did dove hunt this year. But I won’t call myself a hunter. Much like, I won’t call myself a doctor just because I applied a band-aid to a wound.
          As a non-hunter, I can’t fathom the situation where one would shoot a human being mistaking it for a deer. Orange or no orange. Shouldn’t matter. Ethics being what they should be, not only does one need to clearly identify the harvest, but the shot placement is critical in assuring a one shot kill.
          Some hunters I know are the least knowledgeable when it comes to firearms. As a defensive firearm enthusiast, my targets are humanoid and proper identification of the threat is the mos important factor when discharging my weapon. How so many hunters disregard this “law” is beyond my understanding.
          I’ll add this, overheard two hunters talking at work about opening day. One said “you going to the woods?” The other replied, “I never hunt opening day. To many fucking idiots in the woods.”

        • When did hunter safety this year I heard some thing interesting. Once hunter orange was necessary to hunt in the state accidental hunting ‘friendly fire’ dropped 93%. I don’t know what the raw numbers are, but too me that shows people are just shooting at movement. If you can’t follow the four rules of gun safety, i.e. know your target and beyond, you shouldn’t be hunting.

          Not much gets me more pissed than ‘friendly fire’ hunting accidents like this. Someone had to die for you to learn this lesson and now you have to live with it for the rest of your life.

  3. The right kind of plantings can be part of a good defensive perimeter or zone, but NOT as a substitute for anything banned.

    Anybody ever seen a cholla? @Bill, anybody running into a fence or hedge of them wouldn’t just say, “F*ck!” but rather scream, “F*ckF*ckF*ckF*ckF*ck! F*****CK!”

  4. I am a bit appalled at the reference to the young hunter’s rack! Wait… what? That’s not what they meant? Oh, sorry. Never mind.

    • If defensive shrubbery worked they wouldn’t have had to worry about Germany invading in WWII.

      And if hedgerows worked…

    • The Scottish have this legend about thistles holding off a Norse invasion. Or at least causing the enemy to shout expletives alerting the defenders, after treading on said plant.

  5. During WW2, one of the biggest problems the allies faced in Europe were the hedgerows. Tanks had to battle their way through them and they resisted being burned.

    I think using plants is an excellent idea. I would like to dip bullets in curare, or some other toxic plant stuff. It’s likely a LOT easier than chambering a poison arrow frog.

  6. In regards to the video: the guys with the mini-van are severely outnumbered.

    With respect to home-defense horticulture: There is a shrub that grows in the Caribbean and is probably related to Aloe (I don’t recall the name off the top of my head.). It grows as a green blob of tubular structures to maybe 8′ high and it’s quite bushy. It’s easily sculpted like a regular old ornamental shrub.

    People will put up a 10″ rock or cement wall, lay down a layer of cement on top and stick broken glass bottle shards into the cement and then top the wall with barbed or concertina wire. Then they’ll plant these bushes and let the things grow to the height of, or nearly to the height of the wall and get to be about 3′-4′ deep (so the front of the plants is 3′-4′ from the front of the wall).

    The trick to this plant is that it’s pretty fragile and it’s full of this milky sap that looks like Aloe but this shit BURNS like the dickens if you get it on your skin. It doesn’t itch, it burns like you just dumped boiling water on yourself. It will leave significant welts like a good old chem burn will (because that’s likely what it is) The sap is oily too so getting it off requires soap. The stuff is strong enough that I have never seen a plant that even had insect damage.

    I won’t say the wall, wire, broken glass and plants are an insurmountable obstacle but I wouldn’t try to get through that stuff if I didn’t absolutely have to. The combined deterrent effect is quite high.

    Before someone asks how you sculpt a bush that puts out Alien blood the answer is simple: You buy some basic PPE and pay a Haitian gardener $20. Yes, that sounds terrible but that’s how the islands work.

    Too bad the plant likely won’t grow in Britain. But greenhouses and sprayers might weaponize that stuff…

    • The broken glass set in concrete on the top of the wall is an old French trick, if memory serves.

      The type of glass is important. The best is shards of *thick* plate glass…

      • Broken quart bottles of beer seem to work pretty well. Dunno how it works against damage from hurricanes and what not.

  7. Can’t find much on the dead 16 year old. Five sentences is long for an article on the incident.
    This is the most in-depth I’ve seen so far: (standing in a field wearing blaze orange, really??? Was it an unharvested corn field, in December?)

    ASPEN, Virginia (AP) — The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says a 17-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed a 16-year-old hunting companion after mistaking him for a deer.

    News media report that the shooting occurred late Friday afternoon on private property on Mt. Carmel Road in Charlotte County.

    The agency says the victim was standing in an agricultural field and the shooter was 150 to 200 yards away. The agency says the victim died at the scene.

    Investigators determined that both were wearing blaze orange and had taken hunter education classes. The department says both had hunting licenses.

    The agency has not released their names. The department says the shooter is from Cullen and the victim was from Phenix.

    • If you’re gonna take a 150 to 200 yard shot minutes before legal shooting time ends (sunset was at 4:57pm, article says they “went” hunting “around” 5:20pm, shooting was legal until 5:27pm), you should damn well be sure of your target.

  8. I seem to recall a move by Marine bases to plant some fast growing, thorny shrubs to deter fence climbers so it isn’t a terrible idea. I’ve actually thought about putting something suitable in front of windows myself.

  9. Defensive planting…

    They encourage that now, but you know if this ever catches on, then in no time you’ll have the botanophobes wailing about high capacity hedges, prohibited gardeners, and the need for shrub-free zones. It’s a whole thing.

  10. The most effective use of “defensive shrubbery” I’ve ever seen was a college town that had a problem with lowlifes hiding in hedges and jumping out to assault women. They replaced the boxwood hedges with Oregon Grape — end of problem.

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