Apparently not.

A hiker on Mount Wilson in California came face to face with a black bear in the middle of a trail, but his method of trying to scare away the huge animal was less than successful.

In fact, the man was fortunate to escape injury, or even death.

Cellphone video by another hiker in the Angeles National Forest shows the man trying to frighten the black bear (who was actually brown) by jumping up and down and making noise with bells attached to his hiking gear, KTLA reported.

The video, which was posted on Instagram on Monday by Eric Chiu, shows the bear’s reaction, which was not what the hiker had hoped for, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Instead of retreating, the bear charges at the hiker before the video stops, the newspaper reported. The hiker and the person recording were not injured, but Chiu, whose stepmother filmed the video, was incredulous.

Folks in the Smokey Mountains weren’t so fortunate.

Parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are closed to the public after visitors encountered aggressive bears in two areas over the weekend, the National Park Service said. In some cases, bears chased and bit people.

Rangers responded to three incidents involving bears along Ramsey Cascades Trail, a popular hike to a waterfall, and three more on Abrams Falls Trail, which is another waterfall hike, according to the park service.

In the encounters near Ramsey Cascades, two bears “approached visitors and took two backpacks,” while a third “displayed aggressive behavior and briefly chased a group,” the park service said. Ramsey Cascades Trail and Ramsey Prong Road, which leads to the trailhead, remained closed Monday as rangers continued to monitor the area for bear activity.

The other trio of incidents near Abrams Falls involved “an aggressive black bear,” which in one instance bit a visitor who had entered a closed area, the park service said. Both the trail and road leading to it had been closed, but they were reopened by Monday after several days without bear activity.

About 1,900 black bears live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a massive wildlife area that covers sections of North Carolina and Tennessee. It’s also the most-visited national park in the U.S., according to the park service, which notes that the “combination of high visitation and a thriving bear population increases the likelihood of human-bear encounters.”

Thanks, but I’ll carry a large bore firearm rather than jingles and jangles and human seasoning packaged as bear repellent.

It’s the most aesthetically pleasing aircraft ever fielded in my opinion, and certainly the most effective CAS airframe ever built.

Source.

The U.S. Air Force has now ended the training of new A-10C Thunderbolt II pilots, in another step towards the retirement of the aircraft. In fact, on Apr. 3, 2026, the 357th Fighter Squadron graduated the last class of A-10 student pilots at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.

So they’re ending the program because the AF wants sexy jets to fly. Or maybe not.

The US Air Force is extending the service life of the decades-old A-10 “Warthog” until at least 2030, again pushing back the attack aircraft’s retirement following heavy combat use against Iran.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink shared the news in a social media post on Monday. He said the decision “preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in response: “Long live the Warthog.”

Who knows, but it doesn’t seem like they have their ducks in a row.

I can tell you this much. When my son was in Fallujah he was saved more times than he could count by A-10s. They weren’t allowed to do gun-runs into Fallujah, but in their operations near the Euphrates they were heavily used. He told me that nothing strikes fear into the heart of the enemy like hearing the sound of the A-10s and their guns, nothing gave hope to U.S. troops like seeing the A-10s come to help, and nothing was as “gay” as trying to use jets for CAS.

Mark is an extremely smart man, but he continues his Pollyanna march toward ultimate victory in the courts. Pardon me if I’m not so confident.

Until the SCOTUS grants certiorari to an AR ban case, I’ll continue to say that their cowardice knows no boundaries. I don’t care what else they take up, 2A related or not.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) April 25, 2026

I neither need nor want "protection" from LE or the military. That's why we have a second amendment. It is my job to do that. And it's the job of every man to provide protection for his home, hearth and family. Thus, ownership and usage of weapons is a God-given duty.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) April 20, 2026

Source.

During a training exercise in Alaska, two U.S. Army soldiers were attacked by a brown bear, officials said.

The two troops were participating in a “land navigation training event” at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s Arctic Valley training area in Anchorage, Lt. Col. Jo Nederhoed, a spokesperson for the 11th Airborne Division, told the Anchorage Daily News.

Wildlife officials from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game told the Anchorage Daily News the incident appeared to have been a defensive attack after the bear recently emerged from its den, and both soldiers were carrying bear spray and used it.

“We hope both individuals have a full and quick recovery, and our thoughts are with them during this time,” Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Cyndi Wardlow told the newspaper.

After the incident, the soldiers were “receiving appropriate medical care” Friday morning. The extent of their injuries is unknown.

“The safety and well-being of our personnel is our highest priority,” Nederhoed said. “The incident is under investigation, and we are coordinating with local wildlife authorities to ensure the safety of all personnel in the area.”

So, the deployment of bear spray wasn’t a successful tactic. Color me shocked.

I guess the safety and well-being of their personnel isn’t really their highest priority since they weren’t carrying large bore sidearms for bear defense.

FPC.

April 9, 2026 — On February 7, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14206, “Protecting Second Amendment Rights.” It sounded promising, but it has since proven to be little more than empty rhetoric.

The following month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a disappointing decision upholding the ATF’s “Frame or Receiver” rule, a relic of the Biden Administration. Rather than dismissing the appeal or withdrawing the Biden ATF regulation before the Court ruled, the Trump Administration chose to continue defending the gun control rule, allowing the Court to issue a decision that preserved President Biden’s regulatory overreach.

In May 2025, FPC provided the Trump White House, DOJ, and ATF with a complete, print-ready proposed rule to address the Court’s decision following months of dialogue with key officials. But the Administration has since sat on its hands.

Adding insult to injury, the Administration informed us yesterday that “At this time, the [Trump Administration] has decided to maintain the current definition of firearm ‘frame’ and ‘receiver’ contained in that final [Biden Administration] rule.”

Whoever is steering the Trump Administration is aiming the Titanic directly at the iceberg.

To put this latest disappointment in context, FPC has provided the Trump Administration, the White House, DOJ, and ATF, with dozens of lawful actions that could be taken to protect peaceable gun owners and the right to keep and bear arms. Nearly all of those proposals have been ignored.

Instead, in case after case, the Trump Administration has adopted authoritarian, anti-American positions to restrict Second Amendment rights and prosecute those who exercise them. Worse still, the Administration is actively fighting to restrict or eliminate the injunctive relief that FPC and other organizations obtain to protect people from government abuses.

In short, rather than championing gun owners, the Trump Administration is actively working against them.

The Trump Administration needs to clean house. Indeed, draining the swamp should start in the Trump White House—and it should not stop there, because “Protecting Second Amendment Rights” takes more than a few empty words in a throw-away Executive Order.

Remember men, this is allegedly the most pro-2A administration in history.

I wonder if Harmeet Dhillon would make a difference?

Source.

Approximately 1,350 union workers at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri, are escalating their strike against Olin Winchester as they demand better wages and stronger contracts.

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 have been on strike since April 4 after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract offer from company management.

Workers held a solidarity rally Saturday, with hundreds of cars lining Route 78 outside the facility.

“What do we want? Contracts! When do we want it? Now!” the crowd chanted.

Workers said wages have not kept up with persistent inflation and paid sick leave is nonexistent. They also cited high turnover and excessive mandatory overtime as key concerns.

Scott Brown, directing business representative for IAM Local 778, said the union wants an agreement that addresses these issues.

[ … ]

The Lake City Army Ammunition Plant is a critical facility in the U.S. defense industrial base. Workers manufacture 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm and .50-caliber rifle ammunition for the military.

IAM workers said the facility is the only site capable of rapidly scaling production of small-caliber ammunition to meet national defense demands.

Union sources indicate very little production is currently taking place, which could impact the timely supply of ammunition to U.S. forces and allied partners.

This will certainly have a deleterious effect on training (my son estimates he shot more than half a million rounds in the workup to his Iraq deployment), but I also suspect it will have an effect on general civilian ammo availability in 5.56mm and 7.62mm.

This is why the Argentines suffered so badly in the Falkland War.

Falklands War from Argentina’s Perspective.

But you probably knew that anyway.

All gun control is wicked. It is the signal feature and characteristic of a tyrant. Weapons of defense and warfare is a God-given right, and defense of the home, hearth and family is a God-ordained DUTY commanded in the Scriptures.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) April 14, 2026

Fortunately, I’m a Calvinist and the pope is irrelevant to me. He’s nothing more than an oddity or curiosity. But it is interesting that so many Roman Catholics stay in that church with such bad people, the one at the top claiming to speak ex cathedra.

Ammoland.

If carry can be banned in a place because it is busy, enclosed, or hard to exit, the list of so-called sensitive places will never stop growing. Today, it is buses and trains. Tomorrow, it is train stations, public parks, entertainment districts, events, and any other place politicians decide feel is too populated for ordinary citizens to exercise a right. That is exactly the kind of interest balancing that Bruen was supposed to stop.

And to date, not a single AR ban case has been granted certiorari.

That of course means that Ms. Amy Coney Barrett, whom professor Mark Smith loves so much, believes in gun control, just like chief justice Ms. Roberts (and presumably Kavanaugh and Gorsuch).

So much for the fine list of justices named by Trump. Great recommendations from the federalist society, or whomever.