June mid-month report, DGUs outside of the home

June 11, 2013: Hey Jack, Don't mess with old people.

Jan and Bob Cooper were just chillin' in their Anaheim California home on Sunday when their Rottweiler alerted them to a prowler outside of their home. Jan Cooper, 72, grabbed her .357 magnum revolver and her phone. She called the po po and begged the 911 operator to send deputies, presumably to save the prowler. 31-year-old Brandon Alexander Perez, the would-be home invader, was not deterred by the growling of the man eater, or the barking of the dog, as he slid open the glass door. Not wanting to clean up a bloody mess inside her home, groovy grandma took aim at his head then let fly a burst of fury that would make the average man cry, then she fired one shot, narrowly missing the perps face. She then let loose another burst of verbal assault words. Perez apologized to Cooper and then began to flee. Deputies arrived just in time to catch him in the yard. Perez was on parole and living at a halfway house at the time of his latest transgression. Cooper is a Christian who doesn't normally use foul language.

June 4, 2013: Hey Jack, Don't mess with young people.

Two upstanding citizens in Brooklyn, that's New York, dressed up like FedEx delivery men to attempt to get free stuff. The plan, knock on a door, when the homeowner opens the door, collect free stuff. Their plan failed to come to full fruition when the one dummy pulled a gun on the home owner and she slammed the door on his arm, causing him to drop his gun. Her ten-year-old son picked the gun up and took a shot at the thug. The accomplice, also armed with a handgun though he'd make matters better by firing a single shot at the kids. No one was injured, you know, except for the two goons' pride. It's unknown if the boy will be charged for handling a firearm without a licence.

May 31, 2013:

A Bakersfield, CA, man left for work when he realized he forgot his laptop charger. He "flipped a u-turn" and made it back home to find 35-year-old Jesse Perez, 35-year-old Edward Anaya and 35-year-old Miguel Reyes relieving him of his property. If no one's home it must be free stuff, right? What's the first thing you do when you encounter bad guys in Kalifornia? Call 9-1-1, except this man is one of the three people in the state that doesn't have a cell phone, so he pulled his lawfully concealed handgun and sent a ringing message to the free loaders. Three shots is all it took to the get the attention of the bad guys, the neighbor (who was sleeping) and the police. When the police arrived, they found the homeowner holding the three at gunpoint. Contrary to popular myth, the police did not confuse the armed guy with the bad guys and they didn't shoot him.

May 31, 2013:

A 17-year-old Lansing boy, not yet old enough to start getting government freebies, decided he couldn't wait for free stuff any longer and decided to cut out the middle man and go directly to the source of the free stuff. He approached a 28-year-old man, pulled his weapon, and demanded his share of the man's stuff. Being a generous sort of fella, the robbery victim decided to share his bullets with the young punk. He pulled his concealed handgun and gave the youngun a lead injection to his ass. The would-be robber was transported to a local hospital with embarrassing, but non life-threatening injuries. The wannabe's weapon of choice was a stun gun.

June 2, 2013:

A Fort Wayne man was standing outside of his home when he was approached by 18-year-old Jaquese N. Dandridge and another man, who though it might be a good idea to commit an armed robbery. At least one of the two would-be robbers pulled a gun, and so did the homeowner. Shots were exchanged and the homeowner took a bullet to the foot. He was treated and released from the hospital. Danridge received multiple gunshot wounds. The coroner ruled the cause of death as fatal stupidity with a touch of dumbass. The accomplice ran away on foot. Way to stick in there with your pal.

UPDATE: The accomplice, a 16-year-old, was apprehended.

June 2, 2013:

Enrique Herrera, of Texas City, TX, arrived home after work just before 3am to find that he had been followed by Dumb and Dumber. 26-year-old Lekenvrick Deon Nelson, of La Marque and 24-year-old Jermaine White approached the the 60-year-old and attempted to relieve Herrera of his belongings. Herrera pulled his own gun and a gun fight ensued, Herrera was struck in the thigh and the boneheads ran away. Nelson made it as far as across the street before he collapsed and White was picked up by police a few blocks down the road. I'm sure Nelson's final thoughts were "Hey jackwagon, it's Texas, is not safe for violent offenders.

Santa Monica Shooting

I've remained quiet about the mass shooting in Santa Monica because I wanted to wait for the facts to come out. I've waited long enough. For those of you who are waiting for my to give my condolences for the victims and family, don't wait too long. While the gun grabbing prohibitionists are blaming the NRA, I blame the citizens of California, and I'll get to that later.

I found it mighty suspicious that will all of the photos available of the weapons and ammunition, the AR was missing. There was a revolver that appears to be circa 1800s, there was an AR upper receiver  which was stated to be an extra one that the shooter was carrying. There were numerous ammunition magazines for the AR rifle, there was even a picture taken from a video that shows the shooter carrying what appears to be an AR type rifle, but no picture of the complete rifle itself.

As I suspected, and as 89.3 KPCC radio station reported yesterday, the AR-15 type rifle was homemade.

Investigators found a drill press in 23-year-old John Zawahri's bedroom among other materials that indicate he likely assembled the weapon.

The drill press is used to help finish building the rifle by drilling holes in the lower receiver. A lower receiver that is only 80 percent complete can easily be purchased, and because it is not complete a person isn't required to go through a background check nor does it need to have a serial number.

As I've said before, time and time again, regardless of the laws, criminals will get firearms. The gun prohibitionists even admit as much when they claim they want universal background checks to make it harder for criminals to get guns. Here's the truth, universal background checks won't make it harder for criminals to get guns, I would guarantee it took less than five hours for the shooter to manufacture his own. How do I know, that's how long it took me with hand tools in my wood shop. I didn't even use a drill press, I used a battery operated drill and a rotary tool.

Furthermore, a recent ATF study shows that:

The majority of guns used by inner-city gang members in Chattanooga come from burglaries and car break-ins in surrounding counties, the lead local ATF agent said.

Some of the weapons reviewed were purchased at gun shows in what are called "straw buys" -- where a legal buyer purchases guns off the books in private sales and then resells the weapons for profit to gang members.

But most of the weapons traced in the review were stolen from legal gun owners, Hill said.

There are already laws against straw buying and theft, one more law won't make a difference.

KPCC FM also reports that the shooter had several homemade single shot zip guns, a fake gun, and an old revolver that was converted to shoot .45 caliber ammunition. The last time police had contact with him was seven years ago when they found bomb making materials at his house. The search was prompted by threats to students and teachers at a high school.

Zawahri's 15-minute midday rampage Friday spanned a mile between his father's home, where his father and brother were shot to death, and Santa Monica College, where police shot him to death in the library. Along the way he fired at vehicles and strangers, fatally wounding three people. One other person was seriously wounded and two others had minor injuries.

Fifteen minutes and more than a mile of shooting and not one single person was able to do one damn thing about it, except drive him from his fathers house to the the campus. All the while, he was shooting at pedestrians and automobiles. Not a single freaking person pulled a gun to shoot back, and the driver of the car failed to draw her own gun and shoot the sorry ass in the back of his head while he was leaning out of the car shooting at other people. Why? Because the citizens of California keep voting in the same state legislator pricks that keep voting to infringe their right to self defense  The citizens of California keep voting in Feinstein and Boxer, who in turn, keep pushing for more infringements on the rights of the citizens of the United States. If you're waiting for my condolences  wait no longer, it won't be coming. Of all the mass shootings since the 1980s, that Mother Jones has been keeping track of, California has had ten. That is three times more than any other state. Every time there is a notable shooting in California, the legislators pass more gun control laws. California has every single gun control law that every single gun control group want save for one. A complete ban and confiscation of semiautomatic firearms. Hey people of California, stop voting these clowns in office and take responsibility for your own safety.

Open letter to Senators RE: S. 649

Dear Senators

Have any of you read S. 649? Specifically the background check requirements. Under the proposed bill, the following innocent activity would be a felony if the transfer is not done through a federal firearms licensed dealer:

• If you go to a party and hand your firearm to the homeowner for safe storage.
• If you are in a self defense situation and you hand your firearm to someone to protect himself.
• If you go to your friend’s house and hand him your firearm for him to inspect your new purchase.
• If you give a firearm as a gift to your uncle, that raised you.
• If you store your firearm collection at someone’s home for safe keeping while you are out of town. You will also have to go through an FFL and background check in order to get your firearms back.
• If you and a non related roommate share a gun safe and either one of you leave for more than seven days.
• If you give a firearm, that has been a family heirloom, to a nephew that you raised.
• If you let someone on a private shooting range inspect your firearm.
• While you may gift a firearm to certain family members, you cannot receive anything of value in return.
• While you may gift a firearm to certain family members, you can't loan those certain family members a firearm

There are many more scenarios where I can see someone unintentionally breaking the law including, if you hand your firearm over to, or otherwise allow the transfer of your firearm to a police officer. While the bill contains the exemption “by operation of law”, as it’s written, it appears to apply only to estate owned firearms being transferred to the legal heirs.

There are no exemptions for law enforcement departments to issue firearms without first having to go through an FFL. While I am no fan of exemptions to firearm laws for law enforcement personnel, lacking this exemption may harm community safety

There are no exemptions for security companies that issue firearms to their personnel.

There are no exemptions for firearm instructors that operate on private shooting ranges.

This bill is a legal disaster looking for a victim, compliance would still be voluntary, albeit illegal and still won’t affect already illegal transfers, such as those between prohibited persons. What would compel a criminal seller to conduct a background check on his criminal buyer anyway? Telling a criminal seller he has to make a firearms transfer through an FFL is like telling a crack dealer he has to sell his crack at a pharmacy, it won't happen.

If the Senate wants to address background checks, open up NCIS to the public, it would still be voluntary but it would still get the same compliance rate.

Respectfully,
Bill Baldwin

Suicide, 2nd leading cause of death in jail

Bob Costas, last night, during Sunday Night Football, made the comment during half time (and quoting Jason Whitlock) if Jovan Belcher 'didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.'" Jovan Belcher, if you didn't know, was a professional football player that killed the mother of his child, and then drove to a gun free facility and shot and killed himself in front of his coach.

The anti-rights cultist bigots scream from the rooftops "30,000 people a year die from gun violence". We all know that more than half of those 'gun deaths' are suicide. The anti-rights cultist bigots often claim that if a person didn't have a gun, or access to a gun, they would kill themselves. Oh really? I have made several comparisons on this blog of gun ownership and suicide rates, I have also compared U.S. suicide rates with other countries that have higher suicide rates, but lower gun ownership rates. All of the comparisons that have been done regarding guns and suicide show that with or without guns, people will intentionally harm and kill themselves.

Imagine the most secure place you can be, you have an armed security detail. This is a palace, your food is prepare and brought to you, your laundry is cleaned for you, if you wish to read, the library comes to you, you don't have to leave, because everything that you need is provided for you. This a secure place, so weapons are not allowed, but you don't need a weapon, because you have your armed security detail. Your palace is so secure, that even your armed security detail doesn't carry a firearm, but they do have other weapons and they do, in fact, protect you. Don't worry about your palace being invaded, there is a high wall protecting you from outside forces. Just outside of your palace, in the courtyard, there are snipers with rifles to protect the palace from invasion, and these snipers are so good at their job, together with the walls, no one has ever invaded your prison or courtyard. Yeah, I'm talking about prisons and jails. Pop quiz hot shot, what's the leading cause of death in prisons? Illness, what's the second leading cause of death in prisons? SUICIDE!

Number of guns owned in the U.S.

The number of guns in the hands of the American citizens is often reported to be anywhere from 270 million to 300 million. I was curious and was going to start digging round a little bit, and then I saw in one of  David Codrea's articles.

November 14, 2012 Congressional Research Service report on “Gun Control Legislation”  (pdf)

From that report:

2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns.

That's a good place to start counting the number of firearms available to the American people.

Louisiana Sheriff's Chief Deputy says gun ownership a privilege

Nola.com ran a news piece about car burglaries and thefts. When they contacted the Jefferson Parish  Sheriff's Office, this was the quote from the Chief Only One.

"Owning a gun [...] is a privilege" - Chief Deputy Tom Gorman of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. 

This is just weeks after a majority of Louisiana Voters overwhelmingly approved a Constitutional amendment that says any gun control law must meet "Strict Scrutiny" and removed language from the State Constitution that gave authority to the legislators to make laws against concealed carrying of firearms.

How to remote detonate your fireworks

So, you've followed Kurt Hofmann's advice and downloaded the Army Technical Manual 31-201, the Improvised Munitions Handbook. You've followed the instructions in the manual and now you have your umm fireworks, but now you're wondering, "How do I detonate these things?" The manual gives clear instructions on using blasting caps, detonation cord, and even tells you how to make a fuse, but you don't have blasting caps and want to set them off remotely.

If (when) the tyrants of the government come to confiscate your guns, and you shoot the first one in the head because, well, he's an agent of a tyrannical government, you can expect another visit from other tyrants. I'm sure that by this time, you're already prepared, and by prepared I mean that you've already planted and hidden your fireworks. Certainly you can't run out into the yard, light a fuse, and then run back to the safety of your home. This is where a remote detonation system would be very handy.

Predator Pyro makes a Remote Firework Ignition System and for 20 bucks, you can have a remote ignition system and enough clips to detonate 15 devices. The major drawbacks to this system is you have to use fuses in your devices (they may get wet) and it uses an infrared remote, so you have to have line of sight with the devices. You'll also have to have one of these remote ignition systems for each one of your umm, fireworks.

Cobra Firing Systems makes a very nice, wireless fire control system, but it also uses the firing clips that must be clipped onto a fuse.

Infrared remotes are out and you don't want to use fuses, so you need to find something that uses radio waves and e-matches instead, here is where RF Remote Tech comes in. RF Remote Tech makes a wireless firing system that ignites from one device up to 32 and costs from $20 for the single system up to $120 for the 32 device system. The shipping charges are very reasonable as well.

Now comes the problem with E-matches. E-matches (electric matches) are lengths of wire with a piece of nichrome wire wrapped around the ends or a nichrome chip soldered on to the ends and dipped in a pyrogen. E-matches are regulated by the ATF and you must have a license to purchase them. You can, however, make your own e-match, legally. The folks over at PyroCreations sells a kit that comes complete with everything you need to make 50 e-matches for about $50. The only thing that you have to do in your shop to complete the e-matches is mix the pyrogen, dip the wire leads (that already have the nichrome bridges soldered on) and let dry. Their website says that the kit will coat up to 300 e-matches but only 50 blanks comes with the kit, luckily, they offer 25 blanks for $13.

There you have it, folks. A book that tells you how to make your own fireworks and how to detonate them from the safety of inside your home.

Pro tip: don't make pipe bombs and use this remote system to detonate them, it's illegal and may be harmful to your health. This information is for educational and entertainment purposes only.