Last Sunday at the local indoor firing range I took this shot of Damsel punching holes in a silhouette target with the S&W 908 9mm semi-automatic pistol. On the right side of the photo, an ejected 9x19mm brass case and it’s shadow hovers in mid-air just before it ricocheted off of the partition onto the floor.
It’s a busy day for us today – wash day at home and moving day at work. I’m starting on a new project in the next building. We’re not going to have much opportunity to post anything requiring serious thought, so I’ll just throw up this target from yesterday’s 9mm session at the range. We had fun shooting and sometimes we would hit the middle of the target.
Excellent for shooting pictures and firearms, that is.
I took a bunch of pictures today after our excellent session at the firing range. Many more of them turned out excellent (in my humble opinion) than usual. It was difficult to post any one of them, but since my little S&W 442 .38 special revolver is my choice for personal protection (I have no favorite gun), I decided to post this close-up of the right side of this pretty little revolver.
Earlier this year we made a decision to get a couple of .45 ACP pistols; we’ve been shopping for a while now, and to “celebrate” the most ridiculous recently passed anti-second amendment laws in California, we decided that now is the time. I have been saving up some spare change in the slush fund, and just this week it passed the threshold for acquisition. So, the countdown is on . . .
Damsel decided on the Para Ordinance “Warthog.” One reviewer had this to offer:
The original super-compact .45 with truly awesome firepower is the Para Warthog. There is no 1911-style, ten-round, semi-auto in the world smaller than the Warthog. The Warthog is remarkably controllable, thanks to its superbly engineered and contoured grip design. Add the feeding and extracting reliability of the exclusive new Para Power Extractor and you have the best super-compact pistol on the ground or in the air.
My choice was to go with the Glock 30. I already own a G-26 9mm and love it. It’s lightweight, has a great feel to it when I shoot and it’s easy to maintain. Based on my satisfaction with the 9mm, I ordered the new pistol which isn’t much bigger than it’s 9mm counterpart.
The Glock 30 is the smaller frame .45 caliber version of the Glock 21. Like the Glock 26, it has a 10 round capacity in a dual stack magazine. When I hold the pistol, it seems to have the same weight and feel of my Glock 26. According to reviews I read about firing the Glock 30, it should be every bit as reliable as my Glock 26.
I’m looking forward to the waiting period to end, as is Damsel. We only get to wait because obtuse California politicians believe that penalizing legitimate firearms owners will make criminals somehow stop committing crimes with guns. Oh! The insanity!
Certain pediatricians now employ the practice of asking kids if “Daddy has a gun,” and, if the answer is “yes,” they follow-up with questions about weapons in the home – legitimate or not. I infer from this that they must think children with gun-owning parents have some sort of health risk.
Let’s consider some numbers:
In the U.S. in 2003, there were 28 accidental gunshot deaths among 10 year old or younger children. There were an estimated 90 million gun owners and about 277 million guns nationwide at that time. There also were 40 million (or so) kids under the age of 10 in 2003. So actually a small percentage of children were killed or about 0.00007 percent (1 child for every 1.4 million) – still way too many, but a small percentage. This also translates that only one gun out of every 100 million guns was involved in the death of a child that year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1400 kids are killed yearly by automobile accidents, either as passengers or as pedestrians. Why not ask if Daddy owns a car? 90 kids are drowned in bathtubs annually – should we put locks on tubs? Space heaters, swimming pools, bicycles, toxic cleaning agents, skateboards and a host of other common articles are factors in child fatalities. When you add all these “health” risks together, the health risk of a gun in the household is not only dwarfed, but practically eliminated. Why not ask about other known-to-be-dangerous items?
Kids are not so much at risk from guns as they are from parents with habitual substance abuse, violent criminal records, domestic violence and such. Pediatricians should zero in on whether children have parents who are people who would use guns violently, not if “Daddy has a gun.”
Of course anti-gun fanatics and leftists are arithmetically challenged, preferring hyperbole to statistics. Crusading for children, it seems, is a favorite ploy by the left, except when it comes to crusading for abortion wherein children are intentionally killed for the sake of “health” or “convenience.”
Interview your health professionals (after all, they work for you) and see if they have an anti-gun agenda – if they do, FIRE THEM!
And OBTW (oh, by the way) if the country goes to a national health care system, certain anti-gun politicians (Hillary!) will assign a health professional(?) to you – you will have NO choice in the matter, since free trade and competition are the enemies of socialism.
In a giant leap to the left, Arnold TERMINATES legal gun owners’ rights:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an unprecedented law Saturday requiring that certain pistols sold in the state be equipped to mark each cartridge when fired so police can more easily trace the weapons. Another signed measure also opposed by the interest group will ban the use of lead ammunition in the habitat of the endangered California condor.
Arguably his most controversial decision, Schwarzenegger signed a bill requiring semiautomatic handguns made and sold in the state to have technology to microstamp each bullet fired from the gun.
Supporters say the micro-stamping requirement, the first in the nation, will help police track down criminals.
Opponents, including the National Rifle Association, argued the technology is unreliable and could be used to implicate innocent people if criminals leave behind stamped cartridges from other guns at crime scenes.
In his signing message, Schwarzenegger said he understands the technology is not perfect, but hopes it would give police a new tool in solving violent crimes.
Under the gun bill, every semiautomatic handgun sold in California will have to “microstamp” each bullet cartridge in two locations whenever it is fired. The stamp would identify the gun’s make, model and serial number. The law will take effect in 2010.
The Governator admitting that “the technology is not perfect,” sets the stage for a court challenge to this insane legislation.
Just in case, we’re putting a couple of .45 ACP pistols on the short term wish list. Damsel wants a Para Ordinance Warthog and I want a Glock 30.
After the weekly trip to the shooting range, we set up shop on the patio (weather permitting) for cleaning and maintaining the firearms. Regardless of which guns belong to whom, Damsel always cleans the revolvers (shines ’em up good) and I disassemble and clean up the pistols. She cleans up the shotgun barrels and chokes and I clean up the fore-end, breech bolt and receiver. Once every couple of months, I knock out the pins and clean and oil the trigger mechanisms. We each do the part we like and make a good team.
Clockwise from the bottom:
Click on the image for the big picture.