UK: Muslim Slasher Kills Soldier in Gun Free Utopia

So let me get this straight: In [Previously] Great Britain, two ‘radicalized Islamists’ (i.e. An “Overseas Contingencies”) run down a soldier with a car, begin stabbing and hacking with a knife and cleaver trying to behead the victim and tell bystanders to film it – and they do it while waiting 20 minutes for a cop with a gun to show up to “cut them down in a hail of bullets” (consisting of “up to 6 shots”, from which they survive).  During this time, the only one with the stones to confront the murderers is a lady cub scout leader.

And ‘unarmed subjects’ is the model the Anti-Rights crowd want us to adopt?  Of course they do.  In their eyes, this was a success because the soldier wasn’t murdered with a gun.

[Update: Edited title for accuracy]

Jeremy Alcede Pouts (Still Doesn’t Know Jack About Shotguns)

Not content to espouse faulty advice on local radio, Jeremy Alcede went nationwide and is stunned that the paragon of truthful and unbiased reporting, Piers Morgan, would dare edit a segment with him in it.

Really?  I saw cuts between cameras but for the most part the conversation followed what appears to be a linear timeline.  If Mr. Alcede isn’t happy with how he appeared on camera perhaps he should have considered that he invited Musket Morgan into his shop, along with Morgan’s producers, crew and editors and (presumably) signed a release form for the footage that was used.

I will say that Mr. Alcede did do better than I thought he would. He handled himself fairly well against a professional who continually tried to bait him into making first person comments on the actions of criminals and the misuse of legal firearms.  However, if Alcede really wants to appear better on camera the next time he embraces the mainstream, he might try learning a bit more before throwing out such nuggets of wisdom as those listed below:

[From the YuToob link below] @1:00 Alcede: “I like shotguns because you don’t have to worry about missing, and having the pistol or rifle round going through sheet rock and killing an innocent loved one in your own house or even a neighbor outside.” [Wrong]

Then @9:09 Morgan: “Show me quickly the kind of weapon that you think would be effective for home defense.”

Let’s review Mr. Alcede’s sage advice:

1) He’s pulls out a Blackwater labeled Mossberg Cruiser pistol gripped shotgun.  [While shotguns can be a good choice for defense, the Cruiser is not ideal.  It has no stock (difficult to aim, difficult to control), no sights, and no light.  I’d strongly recommend something more user friendly.]

Less than ideal.

2) Then says the strap is to aid in retention when someone tries to take it from you. [It’s to keep your hand behind the muzzle during cycling and harsh recoil.]

3) Also that “It’s a pump action so it’s not going to jam.” [Wrong. Any gun can jam and pump action firearms do require a person to cycle them properly.]

4) Racking the slide is the “Universal sound for ‘Get the heck out of my house'”. [Because if an assailant is bold enough to kick down your door to rape and kill you, the sound will turn them away.]

5) Finally, you have to shoot it from the waist because shooting it from eye level “will bust your teeth out”. [Or not; although it helps if you are 6’+ and have good upper body strength.  It’s definitely not the gun for every family member. But hey, Jeremy, you’ve already established that the sound of the action will run the invaders off so why bother needing to aim, right?  Unless the bad guys try and take it from you, but then you’ve got a strap.]

All from the same guy that said if you have to defend yourself from a home invasion, you should shoot out your back window [Tip: Don’t do it] to simultaneously scare away the intruder(s) and alert the neighbors to call the police.

My recommendation is that Jeremy Alcede should next invite Louis Awerbuck to teach a shotgun class at his range.  He could sit in and learn a few things so the next time he gives advice it would actually help people.

Ted Nugent vs Piers Morgan

Ted Brings his ‘A’ game.  Heh.

I’ll admit that for a couple of reasons, I purposely did not watch Musket Morgan’s show last night.  Those reasons are:

1) I don’t have cable.  [Thank you, Dave Ramsey.]

2) If I did have cable, I wouldn’t want to be personally responsible for an additional percent gain in Morgan’s ratings.

[Updated] Please, No! Piers Morgan vs. Jeremy Alcede

When I heard last week that Piers ‘Musket‘ Morgan was coming to my home state of Texas to interview berate and spew his anti-rights bigotry and hate-filled invective at a gun range owner, I had the passing though of, “Good Lord, I hope it’s not at Jeremy Alcede’s place.”

Well, 740 AM KTRH carried the story this morning that, yes indeed, the interview will happen at Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas.  *Sigh*

Do you think that Morgan’s peeps had the wherewithal to Google ‘Jeremy Alcede’ before tonight?  Most likely they did and the results aren’t pretty.  Heck, my article on Alcede is third on the list.

For those that aren’t deeply involved in the gun blogosphere, let me state that Jeremy Alcede is far, far from the best spokesman to represent the pro-2A side.  At best, he’s not an expert; he’s a businessman.  Unfortunately, his method of promoting his business is to offer himself as an expert when he hasn’t the skill, experience or knowledge required to state a pro-gun position effectively.  Instead, Alcede seems to be the guy that ‘goes with his gut’, trusting that because he has (so far) been financially successful, he therefore must be an expert.*  Naturally, I don’t have high expectations about tonight’s ‘interview’ but maybe, just maybe, it will turn out alright.  Yeah, and maybe I’m a Chinese jet pilot.

Thank goodness, nobody watches CNN.

[*I guess you could say the same about Piers Morgan…]

Update: On a whim, I took time to go down to Tactical Firearms see what all was going on there and saw, and heard, Matt Patrick (950 AM) doing his show live from the store.  Mr. Patrick has announced that Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott and ‘Uncle Ted’ Nugent will also be on the Piers Morgan show tonight.  So, it looks like Jeremy Alcede will have skilled back-up while on the air.  Thank goodness.

Additionally, Mr. Alcede spoke with Matt on air for a while and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.  Mr. Alcede was well spoken, articulate and modest.  He said that Mr. Morgan admitted to not having fired a gun in about ten years and he hopes to let  Mr. Morgan have some range time.

As a side note, there were several guys in full kit (chest rigs with plates, mag pouches, radios, etc.) toting various long guns (a M1A SOCOM, a AR-15 SBR, an AK variant).  Mr. Alcede said on air that they are his employees and all former military that are providing event security for the guests.

Update 2:  Matt Patrick has Piers Morgan on the radio as I’m typing and Matt fell for Piers’ opening straw man argument asking “Why should people be allowed to own rocket launchers?” Now he’s having to defend the false argument. Crowd is getting rowdy.

Matt: 1) It’s not about need.  2) It’s not about rocket launchers, there are no proposed law changes regarding rocket launchers.  No mass shootings have occurred with rocket launchers. 3) Piers is talking about ‘gun violence’; change it to ‘violence’. Ask him if it is morally preferable to have a victim killed by a hammer or cricket bat.  Why focus on the tool?  Come on, man.  Ask why law abiding citizens should surrender Rights for the actions of criminals.  Better yet, ridicule him.  Ask about muskets.  Ask about similar restrictions on 1st Amendment rights: waiting periods before publishing, government approved licenses, limits on number of articles, rollbacks on technologic and ergonomic advances – Why should it be so easy to publish and distribute information?  Why do you need a video camera?  The quill pen and movable type presses were the intention of the Founding Fathers; they couldn’t have envisioned computers, cable TV, the internet, etc.

Never mind, the show is over.

Update 3: Michael Berry on 740 AM has some harsh words for Piers Morgan’s desperate attempt at ratings and also said that five other area gun ranges refused to participate.  Good for them.

Something Else to Hoard: Twinkies

Just great.  Now in addition to ammo, magazines, rifles, food, gas, medicine and such we now have to add Hostess Twinkies to our prep list.

Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.

“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” Hostess CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in announcing that the firm had filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to shutter its business. “Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”

Dang.  Now we know why it was so hard to find a Twinkie in Zombieland.

Thank Goodness we still have Moon Pies.

Update via text conversation:

BC: “The Ding Dong is dead.”

Me: “Long live King Ding Dong!”

For Petraeus: “Party in the CIA” music video

Had his own little party now, didn’t he?

The timing does seem odd; it’s been announced that he will not be testifying before congress next week about what happened in Benghazi.

Quite a few changes happening lately…

Quisling or Fudd? Jeremy Alcede’s History of Bad Advice

Jeremy Alcede of Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas is catching all kinds of hell for comments made on the air  [click to listen] supporting Lautenberg and McCarthy’s current proposal that would ban online ammunition sales and require record keeping of face to face ammunition sales.  And rightly so.  Any amount of capitulation to gun control only emboldens the Anti’s and furthermore, agreeing to the loss of civil rights for the purpose of eliminating competing businesses is as low as a belly gunner on an armadillo.

Tam especially takes him to task in her own lead-pipe-to-the-face prose with the reader comments in full support.

However, this isn’t Mr. Alcede’s first time to espouse spectacularly bad advice on the radio.  Back on May 15th of this year, on the Matt Patrick show, Alcede offered this [paraphrased] nugget of self defense wisdom: If during a home invasion with your door being kicked open, don’t try to seek out and meet the aggressor.  Instead, shoot out the bedroom window and in doing so scare off the intruder and alert the neighbors to call the police.

Click here to listen to his rationale for this.  Also, pay attention at the 1:40 mark where he says he told his wife to let his children be killed in order to save herself rather than go house clearing with a shotgun.

Even if you are able to consider his advice after hearing that, he obviously isn’t aware that warning shots are a crime and will land you in jail.  Maybe even 20 years worth as in one case from Florida.  Even if a gang of 20 is on your front lawn threatening you and your family, firing a warning shot will get you sent up the river.

I had high hopes for his business when I first heard about it; after all what gun nut doesn’t want another place to shop and shoot?  His initial concept and execution of the business plan were impressive.  He has worked hard to promote the store and launched it with a big event that featured manufacturer representatives and even an autograph session with R. Lee Ermy (The Gunny).  The store is bright, clean, well stocked and also has female staff in an effort to appeal to every customer.

While I am not trying to excuse him but perhaps Mr. Alcede is the type of man who isn’t really a firearms enthusiast but saw a business opportunity as the firearms market exploded in the last few years.  That would sort of make him a Fudd, and in my mind there is the possibility that a Fudd can be educated and even reformed.  I tend to view them largely as gun owners that are ignorant of the civil rights involved in gun ownership most likely due to a lack of interest in politics in general.  It’s not a polite term but it is kinder than Quisling.

Ironically, it’s his own drive to promote the store that led to this current firestorm.  As part of his drive to advertise for the store he apparently has offered to be the on air ‘expert’ whenever firearm related news pops up.  Unfortunately he has not bothered to educate himself in the pro-freedom mindset, civil rights history, legal aspects of firearm usage or even sound defensive tactics.  When he first Zumbo’d himself back in May, I had hoped that the local backlash would knock some sense into him and he would be more careful going forward.   I purposefully didn’t blog about it because I didn’t want to promote bad advice or punish him for a single misstep.  I wanted to believe that his intentions were good and that he was simply a better businessman than a public speaker.  However, this latest explanation of his reasoning (i.e. his business prospering at the expense of our freedom) is more than I can stomach.  I expect he is currently learning the lessons also taught to Jim Zumbo, Bill Ruger, and Smith & Wesson [in fairness, Ruger and S&W have offered mea culpa, repented and again prospered – largely due to changes in ownership/management].

So what say you?  Do we forever brand him as a traitor?  Is there a way Jeremy Alcede can redeem himself and be forgiven?  What would he have to do to earn our trust?

Update:

Voice of Insanity has received an email reply from Mr. Alcede regarding this matter. Click here to read it.

Also Mr. Alcede said that he would again take to the airwaves on 8/3/2012  on the Matt Patrick show to clarify his position.  When I find audio of that I will link to it.

Mythbusters Violate Rule #4 in Spectacular Fashion

Cooper’s Rule #4: Be sure of your target (and what’s behind it).

Mythbusters let a 6″ cannonball get away from them and it flew 700 yards and punched through a cinder block wall, completely penetrated an occupied house, crossed a six lane road, knocked off some roof tiles and came rest by destroying a minivan. (pics at the link)

Video: Mythbusters cannon accident news story

Wow!  Thank God no one was hurt.

The print article goes on to say that Mythbusters has insurance in case of ‘mishaps’.   I bet those premiums go up a tad after this too.

A quote from the article:

Reached Tuesday evening, [Adam] Savage said, “I can’t talk right now,” before hanging  up.

No foolin’.

Pistol Packing Pizza Purveyor (with Permit) Prevails, Pops Probable Plunderer

[set alliteration to ‘off’]

Yet, again a pizza deliverer disobeys his employer’s mandate to disarm and survives because of that choice.

The 31-year-old driver told police he was walking to the door of the house when he noticed a man hiding behind a bush in the yard. The man called out to him and told him to drop his money. That’s when the driver says he pulled his gun and fired.

The article actually states that two different pizza guys died in two other attacks prior to this particular event and then closes with a statement from Papa John’s that employees are prohibited from carrying weapons.  Think about that.  Faced with the choice between possible death versus unemployment it seems pizza delivery folk and pharmacists seem to be prone towards self-preservation and anti-authoritarian tendencies.  I can relate.

There was a time, not too many years ago, when I was working three different jobs to get by.  One of those jobs was delivering pizzas for the Chickenfoot Pizza Co*.   I thought that I had been pretty sharp by choosing a store location in a well to do area surrounded with McMansions and high end condos.  It was a bit of a surprise to find that the coverage area also included a substantial portion of an area best described as “the wrong side of the tracks”.   Nothing really encourages rigid adherence to daily carry like having to dress in bright colors and go strolling through the darkened labyrinths of the worst housing projects and cheapest apartments.   Afterwards it occurred to me that I hadn’t considered the proximity of such neighborhoods to the store because it was second nature to me to avoid those same neighborhoods.  I’ve always been a bit bigger than most, but it was in that job where I became utterly determined to ‘not look like food’.  I gathered my height, squared my shoulders, strode with purpose and made eye contact.  I didn’t hint at challenging anyone; to a predator that would have to be answered with a show of strength.  My intention was to silently acknowledge awareness of my surroundings and present myself as more effort than I was worth; to create just enough doubt in others to remain safe.

It was a fact that the job required me to assume risk to myself in order to complete the duties of the position.  Never was that more evident when I delivered a stack of pizzas to group of about a dozen cholos.  I’d made it a conscious habit to hold the insulated box carrier with my off hand to keep my strong hand free.  Standing there on the fourth floor walkway next to a thin railing barely three feet tall looking into an apartment devoid of furniture but packed with guys wearing khakis, tank tops and black shoes, I began to think maybe I should have stitched my holster to the underside of the bag rather than wearing it in my waistband.  Gladly, the delivery was uneventful.  I smiled and handed them the pizzas, took the cash they handed me and without counting it said, “Thanks” and left.

No matter the job, I’ve always striven to put in an honest day and earn my pay.   That does not mean I give my unquestioning loyalty to an employer.  I read my employee handbook and knew weapons were forbidden.  My boss was a good guy and thankfully not too diligent in getting my to sign the employee agreement.  Oddly, I always managed to forget to sign it, lose it in my car, etc.  Even if I had eventually been made to sign it, I still would have carried.  Being cognizant that the corporate bean counters established the policy to reduce liability (their risk), I felt no compulsion to agree to a policy that shifted that risk to me and stated (in essence) that in the event I were I challenged on the battlefield of pizza delivery, it was easier for them to console my grieving family than to fight a lawsuit from the surviving family of the “choir boy who was turning his life around”.  I could easily tolerate being fired from a menial job rather than bleeding out on a dark stairwell witnessed only by feral cats.  At that time my only concealable handgun was a Ruger SP101 DAO in .357 Mag; I carried it in a IWB kydex holster from Hoffners and kept a Surefire Z2 (60 lumen incandescent) in my offside front pocket.    The episode above was a stern wake up call that even with a spare speedloader, having only 5 shots on tap was a risk in itself.  As soon as I was able to afford it, I quit that job to further reduce risk to myself.  I understand that no aspires to be a pizza delivery man, and certainly not all delivery jobs may entail as much risk as I endured for that short time, but for those that are in such situations I strongly advocate that they enact their own “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.  Because in the end, sometimes the correct thing to do is apologize after the fact than to ask permission beforehand.

[*not that brand matters, AFAIK all corporate pizza companies have the same policy]

h/t SSI for the news story

50’s Flashback: Responsibilities of American Citizenship (video)

“The world is caught in an era of socialist expansion.  Most of the nations are affected.  And America is a target; in fact, the number one target of both the socialists and the communists.”

Hmmm.  Everything old is new again.