In happier news....

Oklahoma's legislature passed the Open Carry bill with a wide enough margin to make it veto proof.

So, there's a w00t...

Winter Doldrums.

I just don't have anything to blog about.

It's looking like Brown might, just might, exceed the "margin of cheat" in MA.

Another suspicious person was escorted off an airplane in MI.

Everyone is talking about this new "thumbs high" grip, which looks an awfully lot like the grip I was taught and have used for years.

Hell, I have had a rant about the decision to try the terrorists in civilian courts bouncing around in my head even.

And I just can't get myself to sit down and start typing.

I blame the weather. And I blame Al Gore for the weather, so...

I Blame Al Gore For My Lack Of Posting!

In the Realm of Good News.

I've seen this article on several news sites now.

Tenn. demonstrates trend of looser guns laws in about half the states; NRA is behind the push

Go RTW as they say. The only problem I have with this is the last clause. The NRA has often times struck me as the slow witted, foot dragging Gomer of the constitutional rights crowd.

Personally, I'd really place the push on the average person being tired putting up with the "They're just misunderstood", "Give them what they want and they wont kill you... probably" crowd.

Illusions Leading to Spatial Disorientation.

As a pilot we learn that sometimes the body and it's sensory systems can lie to us.

Everybody, unconsciously, use three sensory systems for orientation: the visual system, the motion sensing system in the inner ear; and the position sensing system involving nerves in the skin, muscles, and joints. With the visual system being the major sensory organ for orientation while moving. All this adds up to a feeling we have about our position and it's situation relative to our surroundings. Simple.

But sometimes through a combination of visual cues, motion, and body movement we can create orientation signals to the brain that are incorrect to our actual orientation and "illusions" happen. In no particular order some of them are:*

The Leans - Basically, a bank may be entered into so slowly that the fluid in the "roll" semicircular tubes in the inner ear aren't set in motion. An abrupt roll correction sets the fluid in motion causing an illusion of a bank in the opposite direction

Coriolis Illusion - An abrupt head movement made during a steady turn may set the inner ear's fluid in motion in more than one semicircular tube creating an illusion of turning or accelerating in an entirely different direction.

Somatogravic Illusion - A rapid acceleration, especially during take off, can create the illusion of being in a nose up attitude. A rapid deceleration can have the opposite effect, with a feeling of being in a nose low, or dive, situation. This is part of why you feel like the airplane is really climbing during takeoff in an airliner. Even though the deck angle may only be 8 or 9 degrees.

Autokinesis - In the dark, a stationary light may appear to move about when stared at for a period of time.

There are others, they all deal with the visual cues, inner ear or body movement not agreeing with the airplane's attitude.

Don't worry, I'm getting to a point here.

Anyway, as pilot's learn to fly, we train to recognise these illusions and cope with them. The biggest of the coping mechanisms is to use the flight instruments and rely upon them. We're trained to ignore what our feelings are telling us and rely on the facts as relayed by our instruments. With very few specific exceptions, the airplanes instruments don't lie and we train to read them and rely on that information.

While our feelings may be saying one thing, if they don't agree with the instruments, we have to disregard them and believe the instruments. Did you get that, feelings are one thing, but they aren't the only thing. And in some cases they may be the wrong thing.

There are other professions that teach that. My career as an engineer is one. Numbers don't lie. Statistics are another thing. I'm sure there are others, but let me get to my point. (Yes, I know, finally. You don't have to sound so relieved.)

That's whats wrong with a lot of people these days. They haven't been trained to tell the difference between their feelings and what the facts are. I've bemoaned the loss of logic and argument classes that used to be taught in school, this is part of the consequences.

Hoplophobes cry that guns are bad and, sometimes psychotically, ignore the fact that crime rates drop in states that allow concealed carry.

They are convinced they are right because they feel that it is so. The facts must be wrong because they feel that they are. So, they merrily go along holding tighter and tighter to their world, railing against reality that must, MUST be wrong, because their feelings tell them so.

What can stop this cycle? I don't know. Try to present the facts and they shut you out with their feelings. Showing them the reality outside their door won't work, they just view it through the colored lenses that their feelings have placed over their eyes. Would a severe shock to the system work? I'd be afraid that it would just cause them to curl tighter into their cocoon of feelings.

Listening to their feelings makes them feel safe. And safe is supposed to be secure and happy. Pilots are trained to overcome that sometimes terrifying sense that relying on outside information for the real situation can cause. The problem is that feeling safe and actually being safe are two very different things. Feeling safe and being safe are as different as a quiet night flight and an abrupt stop followed by a write up in the aviation safety journals.

=======================================
AC 61-27C - Instrument Flying Handbook, USDoT FAA

A Cause for Concern

I've been seeing rumors all over the web in the last couple of days concerning the incoming administrations first attempts at legislation. Particularly, it seems that it's going to take a swipe at the new AWB. Both Michael Bane and Jim Shepard are reporting these rumors coming from the hill. Others are talking about when not if for this fight. Since an ounce of prevention and all that seems to be smart, I'm going to take a moment out of today to call my Representative John Sullivan and my Senators James Inhofe and Tom Coburn to let them know my concern and stance should this sort of legislation be proposed.

I'm also going to ask that you do the same with your congresscritters. This is one of those times when I feel that leaving it up to the PAC's and lobbyists isn't enough. D.C. should know that there is a vast sea of individuals out there that are wholeheartedly against this sort of attack.

Edit: Made the calls, talked to the legislative aide for the issue in Inhofe's office, left a message with the aide responsible in Coburn's office and left a message with the office manager in Sullivan's office. I tried to sound concerned and non-threatening. But I did say I would be watching this upcoming session and how they were voting.

Lest we forget.

The Shootist has an excellent post up on the effectiveness of gun control. Go read it.

I think the line:

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

says it all.

Why I shoot.

RobertaX ask a question on her blog and I think we should turn it into a Meme.

It's a good question. And I think the answers could be as varied as the people who choose to answer it.

Why do I shoot.

I could talk about the responsibility of self-defense but that's said much better, by more eloquent fellows than I, here and here.

Roberta said it very succinctly when she stated:

Just wanted to be good enough to be able to say NO! to bad guys in a language they could understand.

Others feel that it is enough just to be able to exercise a God given right.

Let's face it, we don't live in a world of rainbow unicorns and care bear hugs. We live in a world where a portion of our race looks on the rest of us as a resource to be exploited. A walking ATM, if you will. A means to the next fix, the next whatever they want without having to work for it.

I'm not going to rant on the ills of our society or the failure of whatever is the current demon. It is what it is and I have to live in it. And that's the crux of the issue. I live in this world and I want to continue to do so. And no one has the right to take that from me.

Why do I shoot? Why do I carry? Because I will not "go gentle into that good night,".

Why I carry.

There was a shooting in a Knoxville Mall earlier today. My sympathies go out to the victim, co-workers and families in this.

Again, I'm NOT saying that being armed would have prevented this. I AM saying that just because thinking someplace is safe, doesn't make it so. If wishfull thinking worked, we'd all be living in mansions with Lexusii in the driveways. Violence can and does happen anywhere. All it takes is a sick or twisted individual to make it happen. Leaving your self-defense tools at home because you're "just running down to the store, won't be a minute" makes no more sense than leaving your spare tire and jack home because you're "just driving around".

Like the commercial says, life comes at you fast.

Another Good Read

Okay, first off, I'm in an insomnia state of mind. It might be because of the downstairs neighbors stereo usage at 12:ohmygod30 in the ayem, but I've had it for a couple of days now.

Anyway, Anthony has another excellent post up on the RKBA, "You are the first and last line of defense".

This paragraph though is especially to the point.

When someone kills an innocent person who could not defend themselves because of a law the blood of that person is on the hands of the people who helped to pass it.

That says it all. Pelosi and Kennedy and Obama and both Clintons and even Bloomberg would take this right away and then bemoan the results, yet ultimately bear no guilt themselves. They are all fired to take the gun manufacturer to court for some critters act, how eager are they to go to court for the laws they create? I'm talking about their being sued in civil court for the results of their mandated defenselessness. How photogenic are they going to look standing opposite a women who's been raped and robbed because she lacked the means to even the field against her assailant? Or the child whose lost his mother, father and siblings to a home invasion turned murder because their means of protection was locked up, unloaded, and disassembled while the police were still minutes away?

Let's face it, the goblins aren't the "deep pockets" the civil liability attorneys are looking for. Those politicians are. The first time their bank accounts are threatened, their tune will change.

On second thought, they'd only enact liability limits.

Ha! How's that for a touchy-feely emotional appeal you liberals!

Sheeeee-it...

Everyone has been blogging about Bidens naming as the running mate of Oba-my-god over the weekend. A lot of more eloquent and knowledgeable people have already commented on it. So, I won't waste your time beating this particular cardio-challenged equine.

I just want to say, on one side we have a man who believes he's the promised one (whether that's the second coming or the antichrist I haven't heard yet) and his running mate, the man who not only authored the last "assault weapons" ban (a truely useless and insane piece of legislation), but has bragged about it.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Where is the line.

Last weeks Gun Nuts:TNG pod cast was a good one. During the show a question was asked about where do you draw the line on, in this case, gun rights. But the same question could, conceivably, be asked about any of our rights. Where do we draw the line? I made an off-handed comment along the lines the hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to look back and say, "Yeah, there's the line we shouldn't have crossed."

Let me put it too you that while something may be glaringly obvious after the fact, as you're barrelling up on it, it's not so clear.

Ask the victims of the Nazi regime and holocaust. It started relatively benignly. Lets just make it easier for "the undesirables" to leave. If they don't, well, we can enact some laws to make it easier. Step by step, a statute here, a demonstration there, suddenly, we've got death camps and pogroms.

Below is a time line of Nazi anti-Semitic growth and the infamous Nuremberg Law.
http://cghs.dade.k12.fl.us/holocaust/laws.htm
http://www.mnstate.edu/shoptaug/Timelines.htm

Do you think most of them knew what was happening until it was too late?

But back to the original point. The Constitution guarantee's some of our most basic rights. Where do we draw the line in defense of those rights from those who would take them away in the name of "our own good" or "for the children" or whatever fallacious slogan they've cooked up? There's often been talk of the slippery slope, but how do you identify those first few steps? When everything seems to make sense and nothing seems to have changed.

I only have my opinion. I'd say that we should have put the line at the point the founding fathers placed it and not one step backwards.

Why I carry.

This happened just before I left for work yesterday morning. I had to drive around the police tape and firetrucks.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080806_11_hr744416

As one of the chatters at last nights Gun Nuts podcast said, "When you need smoke and covering fire to get to work in the morning...."

This is the 4th murder in my complex this year. That's not including other crimes like home invasions, drive bys, drug dealings,....

And speaking of last nights podcast. A point was made in passing that has me pondering a blog. I'll post it when I get it polished enough for me to not be completely embarrassed by it.

On concealment choices.

A friend of mine just submitted his paperwork for the CCW and he's opted for a Kahr PM9 for his carry weapon. One of his concerns was anything larger would be impracticle to conceal effectively. I've mentioned it before, I think. But if not, I believe that the two best things you need for concealment are an appropriate belt and a well designed holster. I carry a full size Springfield M1911A1 and have no unusual troubles with printing. In fact I've had friends at gun shops mention that they didn't know I was carrying till I lifted my cover.

A good belt and holster don't need to break the bank. In fact the best IWB holster I've owned only ran about 70 dollars and it's the one I use every day. My belt is a Looper Leather belt. The internal kydex reinforcement completely changed the way the holster hangs on my frame, and that belt alone did more for pulling the butt of the gun snug against my side than any holster has ever done. My holster is an AKJ Concealco IWB. The design is great, the fold open mouth works as good as the all kydex holsters I have for ease of reholstering. The snap loop system allows me to take the holster off and put it on without having to drop trou to do it.

His other concern was comfort. I didn't tell him at the time, and maybe I should have, but we don't carry a gun because it's comfortable, we carry it because it's comforting. A good belt/holster combo can help in that area too. A holster that rides on the belt higher may be better for someone long waisted than someone long legged. There are as many different body types as there are, well, people. Fortunately, there are a great many holster and belt makers out there. A holster that fits me comfortably may not be right for you. On top of all that, men and women are shaped differently (Vive la differance!) and a women's curves mean a completely different class of holsters. For the same reason jeans are cut differently for men and women. Did I mention vive la differance?

I, like many others, have a drawer full of holsters that for one reason or another weren't right for me. I've collected them in my way to finding the right holster for me. Unfortunately, I can't think of any other way to find the right holster. And I'm still looking for an OWB holster that fits me.

On the subject of concealed carry.

I just read an excellent Op-Ed article on the one year anniversary of Kansas' concealed carry law. One thing struck me as epitomizing the anti-gun crowds thought process.

"Recently, a legislator in an eastern state was pushing a law against allowing guns in the State House. Her argument was about as irrational as a person can be. She was given a “what if” scenario, “What if a killer came into the state house and started shooting people. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if honest citizens had a weapon to fight back?” She said, “I would worry about someone accidentally killing an innocent person while shooting at the killer." WHAT? Some one is standing there deliberately killing helpless people and she is worried that someone will “accidentally” kill an innocent person,"

I was left trying, I mean really trying, to fathom this particular persons thinking. Somehow, she believes that its better to meekly submit and ultimately die than to even think about trying to stop this kind of tragedy. This, and I've blogged about it before, is a professional victims mentality. This type of person just sits there and waits for it to happen. I've met and talked with these types. To be aware that something could happen and still do nothing about it is, well, insane. If I told you to go out to your car and take the spare tire and jack out and leave them at home you'd look at me like I was some kind of fool. Yet, that's the same sort of logic that leads this woman to wait to get gunned down.

Oft times, there are things that happen that give people wake up calls. Something shocking enough that they are forced to actually fire cerebral neurons on an idea. Unfortunately some wake up calls are less survivable for said thought.

It's out of the park!

Xavier or at XavierThoughts hits one out of the park. This is the best creed for concealed carry yet. Read it: The Concealed Carry Creed.