Articles by Herschel Smith

Via WRSA, Matt Bracken has given us another prescient fiction piece (or non-fiction, if you want to be honest) entitled Wolfophobia On Dog Island.

Supposedly that’s why they were put in charge of dividing up the dog food, keeping the water bowls filled, and things like that. And despite their silly fur, Standard Poodles can grow pretty big, so they are not pushovers. And of course the show dogs loved it that the Poodles were in charge, and gave them dog food even though they didn’t work. If you can believe it, the show dogs had almost everybody convinced that they should get fed just for looking so good and raising everybody’s morale. And the poodles agreed with this nonsense and kept the show dogs fed for doing nothing but looking good.

[ … ]

But now Apollo was trying to convince us to let one poor wolf who had been forced to flee his home island stay and live among us on Dog Island. Apollo said that all canines are equal, and we must not show prejudice toward our cousin the wolf. He did not choose to be a wolf, he was born that way, and conditions on Wolf Island have become unbearable.

Read it all, including the war at the end.  I’m not certain that the next story of Dog Island will turn out this way.  But I want it to.  One thing I am sure about though is that there will be another incarnation of the story of Dog Island.  Very soon.

As I alluded to in the remarks, this isn’t really fiction even though it’s dressed up that way.  Thanks to Matt for his wonderful writing.

American Rifleman quotes training material for 1911 operators from WWI.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the fact the pistol is an emergency weapon. The man who wants a stock on his pistol so that he can shoot it at a distance of several hundred yards has no understanding of the function of the arm. It is solely for the personal protection of the bearer when the enemy is within very short range and there is no possibility of accomplishing more with the other weapons with which the soldier may happen to be armed.

The member of an automatic rifle or machine gun squad who stops serving his rifle or machine gun to indulge in pistol practice at the enemy is wholly without a proper sense of his duty to his comrades. At the same time the stupid man who does not use his pistol when the enemy is on top of him and his gun is jammed or it is no longer possible to use it profitably, deserves no better fate than that which he will probably get, that is, immediate death.

When conditions are such that the opportunity for the proper use of the pistol in the near future appears probable, every man armed with the pistol should so place his weapon that it can be used in the minimum of time. What this position will be will depend on the circumstances. It may be on the parapet alongside the gunner, or on the flap of the carrier’s musette, or in the holster.

For the average man, 25 yards may be taken as the maximum range at which the pistol should be fired. To fire at longer ranges will usually result in no casualties for the enemy but only an empty pistol at the crucial moment. This does not apply to a very small percentage of expert shots, but a man should be quite sure that he can be classed as such before violating the general rule.”

Boy that sure is sage advice, and for all handgun operators, not just 1911s.  Things haven’t changed much in those many years.  I don’t mind being told that I’m not Jerry Miculek.  Because I’m not.

NBC Philadelphia:

Gareth Glaser could be seen as an optimist. After all, he believes gun owners will pay more to implement strong safety mechanisms in firearms.

He even believes gun owners might be willing to have chips implanted in their hands.

The implanted microchip would send a signal to a “smart gun” held in that person’s hand allowing for the trigger to operate, Glaser, CEO of Lodestar Firearms, told NBC10.

The implant is only one of a few ideas to improve the safety of guns. Glaser said a ring or watch could also be used as signal-bearers — if worn, a handgun could be fired.

It’s called “token recognition technology”: The technology keeps a gun from firing unless the “token” is within inches of the trigger. Glaser believes it’s the gun of the future.

“Our token is either going to be in a ring, in a bracelet, or quite possibly implanted right here between your thumb and forefinger,” Glaser said as he showed off a similar smart gun made in Germany. “I think law enforcement would go for that.”

As NBC10 reported in November for an initial story on smart gun technology and the impediments to their sales growth in the United States, an average of seven children shoot themselves each day.

That type of tragedy is exactly what spurred Glaser, of Radnor Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to getting into the firearm manufacturing business. The former executive with 30 years’ experience in the energy and pharmaceutical industries was at a colleague’s party when the woman’s son shot himself accidentally with a shotgun.

Oooo … yep.  I’m sure law enforcement will go for that.  And I can’t wait for those chips to be surgically implanted in my hand.  I’m sure willing to double the cost of firearms, even though I will have to cut by half my purchases.

I encourage Mr. Glaser to spend, spend, spend, spend like a drunken sailor to make this smart gun technology.  It’s brand new.  No one has tried it before.  Please write me a note Mr. Glaser and let me know how it works out.  I want to meet those LEOs who are willing to use “smart guns.”

Prior: Smart Gun Tag

The Independent:

It is 9am on a Sunday, and a group of radical leftists are gathered at a shooting range in rural Long Island having target practice.

From a distance, it looks like a scene from any small, conservative town in America: A group of guys palling around in a snow-covered parking lot, taking turns firing down the range while swigging cups of hot coffee to ward off the cold.

Up close, however, it looks quite different. The guns are not American-made, but Russian; forged in the Soviet era. One has a hammer and sickle etched into the bolt. The men are genial but reserved, keeping their distance from the other groups around them. And one of them is complaining bitterly about his coffee. It came in a Styrofoam cup.

“What’s wrong with Styrofoam?” his friend wants to know.

“It takes, like, 50,000 years to decompose!” he replies.

The environmentalist’s name is Mike, a Long Island native and self-described Marxist-Leninist. He was born in conservative Suffolk County to a clerical worker and industrial maintenance technician. He says he grew up “dirt poor,” and was radicalised by a lifetime spent thinking: “There’s got to be an answer for why this is so shitty.”

So thus far we’ve learned that Mike from Long Island is an idiot and a gullible goober.  He’s a self described Marxist-Leninist, he’s apparently anti-capitalist because he believes that we harm the environment, and he conveniently ignores the fact that in order to electrify the Soviet Union, the communists utterly destroyed the environment, creating rivers of unpotable water that are harmful to health even after treatment.  So let’s continue with this and perhaps we’ll learn something about Mike and his buddies that will cause us to think that he can ponder things beyond a fifth grade level.

And yes, they carry guns.

So, one of two things has happened here.  Either Mike is a liar, because clearly he isn’t really carrying on Long Island since there are no gun permits issued to people like him, and the reporter with the British newspaper is too stupid to research this and press the point, or he really does carry and he just confessed to a felony.  So once again, Mike and his buddies are liars or idiots.  Things aren’t getting any better.

Indeed, Redneck Revolt may look like many other social-justice groups – its website contains frequent mentions of “trigger warnings” and “solidarity” – but it is far from it. The members of Redneck Revolt don’t want you to sit in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya. They want you to know you have an enemy – it’s just not who you think it is.

In an open letter that the group frequently uses for recruitment, it urges working-class white people to “look around” and wonder: “Who lives in the houses or trailers in the same neighbourhoods as us? Who works next to us in the factories, or cooks alongside us at the restaurants?”

“It sure as hell isn’t rich white people,” the letter continues. “It’s Brown people, Black people, and other working-class white people. They are the ones that are in similar situations to us, living paycheck to paycheck, stretching to feed their families like we do. So why then would we view them as so different from us that we literally view them as our enemies?”

Okay, so perhaps from a purely Machiavellian perspective, they aren’t so stupid.  They are manifestly inconsistent in their world view (white people are bad if they have money and racism divides us, but white people with money are the devil, at least until we have their money at which point we won’t be the devil), but they apparently want to go after idiots.  So they may not be the smartest folks on earth, but they know how to use people, at least a couple dozen idiots so far.

“I think it’s very cool that we can bring groups together that normally wouldn’t have anything else in common,” he told me. “And seeing a whole bunch of leftists with guns is cool.”

Not everyone thinks the guns are cool, of course. Redneck Revolt has gotten pushback from liberal groups who think the weapons sully their image. But the members maintain that the firearms are necessary to protect themselves, and the communities of colour they want to help serve.

And in two paragraphs the author explains why this is a self limiting endeavor.  The sons and daughters of hippies are hopeless statists and collectivists.  They won’t do anything en masse that would weaken the power of the state.  This may be a fun weekend project for these confused boys, but they will forever be just a few dozen strong.

The Redneck Revolt pitch is surprisingly simple: Both poor white people and poor people of colour are actually fighting against the same enemy – the rich.

And in one paragraph the author has explained to us why this is a self limiting endeavor.  There is no moral foundation, any more than there is currently a moral foundation in America.  I’ve said all along that the constitution isn’t the problem, and that no piece of paper can bring liberty.  It’s weakness hasn’t led to our decline, and its strength hasn’t aided our trajectory.  A country cannot stand long whose God is itself.  Marxism will eventually perish wherever it exists because it is lecherous and kills its host.  Just look at Venezuela today.

Indeed, if Redneck Revolt is the revolution, then the revolution is decidedly chill. Members of the Suffolk County branch shake off their Sunday mornings at the range with a weekly book club, where they sip home-brewed coffee and discuss radical texts like Caliban and the Witch. The evening is consumed by a planning meeting, where they decide which charitable projects to take on next.

What began with a bang is now at a whimper.  They can keep their “revolution” in Long Island.  I want no part of it.

Alex, an applied mathematics student at Stony Brook, played scribe, taking down the group’s suggestions from his perch on the couch. Under the “strategies” section of the mission statement, they agreed to focus on holding town halls, reading groups, and skill shares. They set a goal of working with the disabled population, the homeless population, and opioid crisis victims.

Uh huh.  Where is Alex getting that money for the applied mathematics degree?  I’m assuming that Alex will be happy to give all of his future earnings to the needy, right?

So I left out the best part for me earlier in the article.  Mike gives us the  wisdom of his gunsmithing and shooting expertise.

Mike says Russian-made firearms are the most ‘accurate and reliable’

Uh huh.  So there you have it.  It’s a wearisome and choppy article.  I want to take these folks seriously, but if they tried to sell this Long Island Marxism in my neck of the woods it would be laughable, and maybe even dangerous.  Go into small-town South Carolina and try to unionize the workers and tell me how that works out.  And make sure you do it with Long Island accents.  Take video, post, send link.

I encourage you to read it for yourself and let me know your thoughts.

The Hill:

The retiring head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) warned ahead of his exit Friday about extremists’ ability to acquire lethal weapons in the U.S.

In a final briefing with reporters ahead of his departure, NCTC Director Nicholas Rasmussen voiced concern about the ability to protect from mass casualty attacks.

“We find ourselves in a more dangerous situation because our population of violent extremists has no difficulty gaining access to weapons that are quite lethal,” Rasmussen said, according to The Washington Post. “I wish that weren’t so.”

Rasmussen, who served as the NCTC’s director for three years, said he had no solutions to offer domestic law enforcement agencies working to prevent mass-casualty attacks, but said a link between the availability of guns and the potential for violence is a calculation for counterterrorism analysts.

“More weapons, more readily available, increases the lethality of those that would pick them up and use them,” he said.

Rasmussen said the U.S. should be focused on stemming the spread of violent ideologies, adding that anti-Muslim rhetoric has complicated that effort, according to the Post.

His “warnings” are all bullshit.  First of all, the Obama holdovers aren’t worried about Islam.  They don’t want white, middle class Americans to have them.  His warnings are a misdirect from his real fear.

Second, I feel about this kind of “warning” the same way I feel about it when I read that suicide is highest among white rural Americans.  They blame it on guns rather than drive to the root of the problem.

Finally, you learn all you need to know about the goobers Obama hired to captain the sinking ship of his administration when he tells you that “anti-Muslim rhetoric” has complicated the effort to stem the spread of violent ideologies.

As if violent Islam is a function of Western invective against it.  I believe he has his cause and effect mixed up, yes?

I hope you had a blessed Christmas day, a day of remembering and honoring God for His greatest gift to mankind, without whom the cosmic gulf between God and man would still exist, but with whom we have reconciliation to God and a vicarious atonement because of the sacrifice of the Word of God, God Himself in Jesus.

Remember this great decision by the Delaware Supreme Court?  Yea, well, it didn’t take long for the controllers to spring into action in order to blunt the force of God-given rights (finally recognized by men).

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Department of Agriculture plan to issue interim firearm regulations early next week.

The regulations come after the Delaware Supreme Court repealed a firearmsban.

The state anticipates that the interim regulations would prohibit firearms in certain public facilities and designated areas – including park offices, visitors’ centers, bathhouses, zoos, educational facilities, dormitories, group camping areas, swimming pools, guarded beaches, stadiums and water parks.

In addition, the regulations would allow holders of valid Delaware concealed carry permits to carry within parks, including designated areas. The regulations would further allow active-duty law enforcement officers and qualified retired officers to carry anywhere within the parks and other areas affected by Supreme Court decision.

Group camping areas.  So in other words, when you might most need a firearm for self defense (if you were a criminal bent on evil, would you go to a location where nobody else was?), you aren’t legally allowed to have one.

Hemp rope and lamp posts, after their toe nails have been pulled off, one by one.

News from Texas:

SCHERTZ, Texas – Teachers and schoolmates at Weiderstein Elementary School are heartbroken after the loss of 6-year old Kameron Prescott.

First-grade teacher Shanda Ince was with Kameron on Thursday morning just hours before the shooting claimed his life.

“Yesterday, we had our class party, our holiday celebration. His parents were there. We enjoyed food with one another,” Ince said.

Kameron was fatally shot by Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputies’ gunfire during the pursuit of felon Amanda Jones. Investigators said Jones broke into the mobile home where the child and other relatives were.

Authorities said Jones verbally threatened deputies and was holding something in her hands they believe was a weapon as she attempted to escape from the home. Deputies opened fire and a bullet entered the home, killing the first grader.

“All I can think about right now is what could I have done differently, had it not been a half day. I know there’s nothing no one could have done differently,” Ince said.

Nothing anyone could have done differently.  Then there is this other news from Texas.

HOUSTON – A Oak Forest family is counting its blessings after a mother scared an intruder out of their house at gunpoint.

The mother’s quick thinking saved her and her child from danger.

The family does not want to be identified, but wanted to share the story in hope that awareness can help in similar situations.

The mother was at home with the family’s 3-month-old daughter Thursday night. Her husband was out of town working, but was coming home Friday to celebrate the first Christmas with their daughter.

After tossing and turning in bed for a while, the mother was not able to fall asleep and went to the living room around 11:30 p.m.

About an hour later, she heard the home alarm beep and her back door open.

Her instinct kicked in.

“I froze for a second and then I realized I needed to spring into action, I mean, I had my baby in the house. I was alone. My husband was away on business, so I had to take care of things,” she said.

She grabbed a gun and went towards the back door, where she found a man standing in her kitchen.

She yelled at the man while pointing the gun at him, and her dog ran towards him, scaring him out of the back door.

She locked the door and called 911.

Three Houston Police Department units were on scene within minutes.

Neighbors in the area reported seeing a suspicious person on their video camera surveillance systems Thursday night and Friday morning.

We blurred the man’s face because he has not been charged with a crime that our sister station in Houston, KPRC, is aware of.

The mother credits her husband’s training for the way she handled the situation.

“I am just glad that I had that training and that knowledge of what to do in that moment with the gun,” she said.

Hmm … within minutes.  The police are good for response within minutes.  Note that she didn’t ever discharge the firearm, which is good because the person was running away.  She didn’t have all of that super secret Ninja warrior stress management special ops special forces law enforcement simulator experience and training.  But she made the right decisions nonetheless.

And it happens every day in America.  Every day.  People without all of that super secret Ninjar warrior … [blah blah] … training do what they’re supposed to do and live to tell about it.  And cops panic like ignorant goobers every day in America and shoot up people and places, all the while telling America that they need to cower and wait on those cops with the super secret Ninja warrior stress management [blah blah] training.

I grow so weary of the claptrap.

Outdoorhub.com:

The versatility of the .22 Mag. lies in the wide range of ammunition available for it. With bullet weights ranging from 28 to 40 grains, and with rifle muzzle velocities spanning 600 fps – from about 1,700 to 2,300 fps – the .22 Mag. might not shoot as flat or fast as the .17 HMR, but it is unquestionably a more practical cartridge.

A 40-grain FMJ load for the .22 Mag. will penetrate almost 20 inches in 10 percent ordnance gelatin. This is a great load for head-shooting tree squirrels because it won’t damage excessive amounts of meat. On the other hand, CCI’s 30-grain JHP load screams out of a rifle barrel at more than 2,300 fps and expands like a bomb. This makes it a great load for ground hogs or prairie rodents.

[ … ]

I’d not suggest the .22 Mag. as the ideal defensive handgun cartridge, but keep this in mind: Older or less physically capable folks might not be able to handle a centerfire handgun. Fortunately, the ammunition companies have recognized this and now offer personal protection loads for the .22 Mag. Hornady has a Critical Defense load and Speer a Gold Dot load. At handgun velocities, both can be expected to penetrate about 1 foot in 10 percent ordnance gelatin, with the bullets expanding to more than .30 caliber.

Of course, the .22 magnum isn’t going to take down large game or be a battle rifle, but that’s not its purpose.  I torn between the .22 magnum and the newer high velocity .17 HMR.  But I find this last quoted paragraph compelling.  I don’t carry a .22 magnum for personal defense, but women might find what I carry problematic.

If you can convince your wife to carry a .22 magnum wheel gun when she won’t carry anything else, that’s much better than nothing against two-legged threats.

I had wanted to make a much longer post on Christmas, but I’ve been so busy it’s been impossible.  Too busy.  I’ll follow up more later, but for now, Merry Christmas to my valued and important readers.