Medium is the brainchild of Twitter founder and billionaire-to-be Evan Williams. I think it’s supposed to be a blend of Twitter, Reddit and a blog. Or maybe Pinterest, Digg and Tumblr. It’s impossible to say right now. At the moment, only a small group of invitees can create content. “What we’re doing is ordering things by our best guess of the relative quality/interestingness of the different items,” Ev avers, “according to the people who have seen them.” Medium contains a section called Gun Rights & Wrongs, Debating Guns in America. It’s edited by Kate Lee, Medium’s Director of Content and self-proclaimed Newspaper Nazi. Checking the page, there’s not much doubt about which side of the “debate” Ms. Lee prefers . . .
The home page for GR&W has four “recommended” articles.
Barrel of a Gun was written by a Medium staff member Jason Stirman. His tale of being a brandishee contributes precisely nothing to the “gun debate,” save the assertion that being on the wrong end of a gun is some majorly scary sh*t.
Of “Monsters’ and Brothers makes a lot of excellent points about mental health care in these here United States. Too bad author Chantel Garrett can’t resist a cheap shot at, and mischaracterization of, the NRA’s position.
Before I do this, it’s necessary to first point out that the NRA’s call for a database of ‘monsters,’ among other hideous suggestions that assume that events like Newton can be prevented by merely keeping guns away from people with mental disorders, is both unrealistic and unhelpful to finding real solutions.
Dr. Dustin W Ballard’s The Bullet as Pathogen attempts to propagate the “gun violence as a public health crisis” meme, which argues for gun control laws and lots of ’em.
And consider the booming and mostly unregulated gun show industry, which makes it remarkably easy to purchase firearms, including excessively deadly ones (like the TAC-50 sniper rifle – which has a kill range of nearly two miles). Gun shows thrive despite evidence that regulating them (as California has done) decreases illegal sales and despite the knowledge that Mexican drug cartels are buying thousands of powerful weapons at U.S. gun shows.
Richard Abate’s Losing My Brother is as ancient (in internet terms) as it is predictable in its pro-gun control perspective.
Think of my brother tomorrow if you were his friend or part of his family, or if you are just reading this because you know me through a Facebook connection. Think of everything about him that is not what I described above, because he deserves our purist memory of his life. But on May 26, honor him by writing your senator and/or congressman and put background checks back on the table.
So Ms. Lee has front-and-centered two pro-civilian disarmament articles, one slanted in that direction and one that offers some excellent bullet points [sic] on mental health treatment.
There are four more “latest” articles beneath these on the Gun Rights & Wrongs home page. The first tells us “why Jerry Brown should sign the LIFE Act” (he didn’t). My Very Innocent Guns uses that headline sarcastically. Dear America wants to know why The Land of the Free is pro-gun—although the author’s not really interested. Why I Need My Gun at Starbucks is satire.
Total tally: seven out of eight articles are anti-gun. Not much of a debate is it? Oh and Medium doesn’t provide a comments section. The website might recover from this inauspicious start as it “allows” the general public to chime in with articles and elevate the ones they, the readers, consider worthwhile. Given Ms. Lee’s overall control of the content, at the moment, I’m rooting against it.
Not that it’s in any way appropriate or constructive but I wonder what this douche bag would do if we took to taking off our guns and just punching his lights out at every opportunity?
Of course he’s not actually talking to us, he’s talking past us hoping to convince some fence sitter or something. . .or maybe it’s just verbal masturbation and he’s trying to convince himself that his inability or unwillingness to defend himself and his loved ones is somehow noble.
The aggressive wording suggests a personal shortcoming that he’s trying to conceal from himself. Perhaps that is his hoplophobia and it makes him feel inadequate, perhaps it’s lack of knowledge and since he can’t use a gun those of us who can scare all hell out of him, perhaps it’s because he’s not a member of the club and the exclusion is getting to him. Perhaps it’s that he realizes that his fears and inadequacies really do make him less of a man and he just can’t bear that and so must try to tear us down.
I’d like to help him, I really would but I’m so busy and of course he didn’t leave any contact information.
Isn’t there a rule on the internet that when you compare your opponent to Hitler you automatically lose? I think the small endowment theme works the same way. Once you go there no one is paying attention anymore.
That in technical terms is called showing off 🙂
I like guns enough I would watch Leghorn do that! I would love to watch RF try that.
Then its not “breaking” shabbat. Life and death matters are instances were normally something that would be forbidden on the sabbath is/are not.
Ultimately it is to your Creator that you must answer. What would He have you do or not do?
You know what I’m gonna tell God when I see him? I’m gonna tell him I was framed.
I’m gonna tell him that it was all George Bush’s fault. Hey, it worked before.
Ms. Lee looks like another smug hateful b!tch I would like to get to know in a Biblical way. . . . . .
I just bought this gun. I am a 115 pound blonde chick. Shot it from 10 yards for the very first time and nailed a four inch round all seven times. I have the extended clip. The trigger was fine to me, you whiners. Great gun for me to carry if I ever have a problem…I love the gun.
Lil pricey for my taste and from the stuff on their site I feel as though I’m being sold grape Koolaid in Jones Town.
Some trick shot suggestions:
1. Distance Shot. Some kind of super long distance .22lr shots, maybe incrementally longer each week.
2. Risky shot. Something with a bit of nominal “risk” in it. Like shooting something off of one of your trophies (the trophy is at risk) or set up a few smart phones close together like dominoes and shoot between them.
3. Politically incorrect mental challenge shot
Drink a quarter shot of whiskey, and then shoot a pretzel nugget off of the shot glass at 50 yards, go down range, flip the glass over, pour another quarter shot, throw it down, flip the glass over again, put on a new pretzel nugget…and see how many times you can it before breaking the glass (up to some amount of shots that doesn’t result in unbearable drunkenness). Maybe have someone “spot” this one, like have a non-drinking person safe your rifle for you between shots and declare when that it’s safe to fire after they check the target and what’s beyond. Check your local laws before posting on youtube.
4. Politically correct physical challenge shot
Put a target on a shot glass, sprint 50 yards to your rifle, shoot it. Sprint 50 yards to the shot glass, put on a new target, sprint 50 yards to your rifle, etc, until you break the glass. Whew, I was feeling better about the whiskey than all that running, make it 25 yards!
5. Fast shots – not like shot repetition fast shots, but maybe set up a target and then situate yourself with your rifle behind a screen. Drop the screen on the beep of a shot timer and then see how fast you can hit the target once you can see it. For this one, again maybe consider using a spotter to make sure the target and beyond is safe.
6. Blind shots – take your time aiming at a target then have someone put a card in front of your scope and shoot it with your scope covered. Spotter on this one too, but you should be able to still see in your peripheral around the scope.
7… and so much more!
I went down their rabbit hole for a while. The one guy claimed to have a PhD in literature. His writing reminded me of a 10 year old with ADHD.
How many kids with ADHD does it take to change a light bulb?
Wanna go ride bikes?
Now I’m back among the intelligent folks.
Very kewl.
If you can borrow a rifled barrel, before, or save a few of your targets, Robert,
I wonder if it would be worth comparing this rounds fragment spread to what you get when you shoot 00 buck thru a rifled 870 barrell, at various typical in-home distances.
Not good for the rifled barrel, over time, but a poor man’s way to achieve greater spread.
I wonder if you can also try shooting something, or ask them about their experience with the round when it comes in contact with some narrow item, and one tether wraps around it- a stairway handrail, a piece of furniture, maybe even a stud in the wall – would the 1/3 fragment detach at some point, or just whip around and around?
Good God these people have absolutely no personality. And it seems, (as Malloy has pointed out) that we have gone from 90% of Americans to 92% of Americans who support “sensible gun regulations.” Where the hell are these donkeys getting there data?!?
“The AR-15 is virtually identical to the M-16, except for the fact that it can only fire on
semiautomatic. (Delehanty Aff. at ¶¶20-21). That is not a meaningful distinction in practice; while it takes just under two seconds to empty a 30-round magazine on full automatic, it takes just five seconds to empty the same magazine on semiautomatic.”
Really? Well if its not that big of a deal then why can’t we reinstate the manufacture and sale of machine guns to civilians? PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ?
Here is your trusty leather holster:
http://www.itstactical.com/warcom/firearms/safety-warning-worn-leather-holsters-can-cause-accidental-discharges/
The above article is the exact thing I would expect from the “old guard” of gun guys. This author claims that anyone who has been in a gunfight will use leather, yet I can’t imagine any modern special forces soldier using leather attached to their MOLLE gear.
Even if you completely discount whom I think to be the only people getting into regular gunfights, what should a typical concealed carrier use? The linked article proves that leather is inferior, without regular replacement or maintenance.
How is a leather holster better than this holster, previously reviewed on this website?
http://www.stealthgearusa.com/pages/the-onyx
I just completely disagree how this author writes off Kydex and ballistic nylon in one fell swoop.
Finally, the statement of ” Because they know S_ _ _ and they have spent the better part of their lives armed and testing various carry systems.” is completely asinine. I can carry every day for thirty years, too. What happens? I use what I like. Not what is the best or what is the only way to sure as hell draw quicker than the other guy.
PS – it’s too bad nobody will read this.
PPS – what the fuck are “serious social purposes”? A gunfight is not a social engagement.
I suppose since I sent it in I should get the ball rolling. I’m basically just taking some points of the table of contents.
1) “Assault Weapons and LCMs Are Designed For Combat, and
Have the Same Killing Capacity as Modern Military Weapons”
They say that the only difference is semi-automatic vs automatic, going on to say that “But that is not a meaningful distinction for constitutional purposes”. Really? If it isn’t meaningful then why have automatic weapons been treated differently since 1934? More importantly, how is any weapon without the supposed combat features, but retaining the semi-automatic functionality any different? Somehow a pistol grip is the deciding factor in lethality? By their definition every semi-automatic firearm has the same capability as a modern military weapon.
2) “The Act Must Be Upheld Because It Does Not “Substantially Burden” Any
Second Amendment Rights, And Provides “Ample Alternative” Firearms For
Self Defense”
Well, let’s say you want a semi-automatic rifle with a magazine. Not an unreasonable thing for a variety of uses right? Without AR-15 variants, what does that leave you with? Not much, certainly very little within a reasonable price range. To my knowledge, aside from an M1A and an Mini-14, there’s practically nothing left in terms of compliant semi-automatic rifles that can be purchased in the state of Connecticut. Even those have to be modified to be compliant. So, just like the DC handgun ban, you are effectively banning an entire class of firearms. I’ll let RF address the self-defense aspect of this statement, but suffice it to say, nowhere in the 2nd amendment does it say a firearm has to have a self-defense application.
3) The Pistol Grip Language Is Not Vague
“The language at issue obviously exists to prohibit any grip that results in any finger in addition to the trigger finger being directly below the action of the weapon when it is held in the normal firing position, which is horizontal. ” Orly? Well, what about a palm swell? That satisfies this condition. What about a bullpup design where the trigger is far forward of the action? If they design a rifle where the pistol grip is behind the action, is that ok? Also, what is “directly below”? If you draw a vertical line from the front and back of the action, is that good enough? Or is there a grey area that you want to exploit? Dollars to donuts it’s the latter.
Anyone else want to take a crack at it? There’s plenty for everyone.
Sam Colt would have shot this a..hole, Winchester would have given him 50 paces. This guy is a disgrace to the history of Conneticut ,and is obviously a clueless boob.Everything he says is total libaturd rubbish ,more stupid RANT from a “why do you need it” “common sense BS” ,”we respect the 2nd amendment” as we pee all over it lame brain crowd.
I smell RECALL how about you?
Im confused. Could someone show me where in the second amendment that it says “except for these firearms” please.
“Military-style assault weapons and large capacity magazines substantially contribute to these numbers …”
First of all, criminals have used military-style assault weapons in almost zero crimes in the last 30 years. I will acknowledge that criminals have used military-style semi-automatic rifles to commit a few crimes in the last 30 years. As it stands the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports do not tell us whether a criminal used a shotgun, hunting rifle, or “military style semi-automatic rifle” in crimes. Those reports only differentiate between handguns and long guns. Year after year, when criminals use a firearm as a weapon in a violent crime, they use long guns a very small percentage of the time. In fact criminals only used long guns in about 3% of violent crimes. To put this in perspective, criminals use their fists and feet to kill about as many people in any given year as they do with all long guns combined. That means criminals likely used their fists and feet to kill more victims than criminals used military style semi-automatic rifles to kill victims.
I’d like to see a takedown 10/22 with a full Mannlicher stock, really nice wood and a canvas and leather case.
I’m impressed with the reviews I’m seeing of the Lucid optics – it seems like they’re getting a good handle on QC and sourcing, which is really the name of the game when you deal with Chinese manufacturing.
That said, when I read the reviews about this optic on Amazon, some of the folks were screaming about massive parallax issues on the top half of the optic. Did you guys see any of that?