What path will you follow

Samuel and John Adams.
Cousins, both seeking a new form of government away from what they saw as the tyranny of Great Britain. Both active in the politics of Massachusetts. Both active in the Declaration of Independence. Both considered "Founding Fathers". However, they had different approaches to achieving their 'goals'.
Let's put aside that John was a bit of a big central government person. While relevant to him overall, it's not pertinent to this post.
John was a lawyer by trade and spent most of his effort in the fight for independence arguing. It's what lawyers do. All of his efforts were for a 'peaceful' separation from Great Britain. He believed that independence could be achieved through petition.
Sam, if you will, was a politician, but also an activist. Not content with simple petitions and procedure, he argued, publicly and privately for a resistance to the tyranny. While it's unclear how much of a role he had inside the Sons of Liberty, he certainly advocated for their actions and was a leader in the infamous "Tea Party".

Today, there are similar voices, taking similar tracks.

People like Kerodin, of the III Percent Patriots, are calling for action, of sorts. Active resistance is probably the best term for it. While not calling for people to attack government, the call is to resist with whatever force is necessary, whichever form that takes.
We then have Glenn Beck, who is calling for resistance through the ballot box. Believing that resorting to violence is not the way, he calls for calm and to fight through the redress of grievance; voting, marching, etc...
Like Sam and John, two approaches towards a similar goal of freedom and liberty.

However, also like Sam and John, I fear both will be needed in order to change the course of things.

Yes, to use the age old phrase, violence begets violence. The question you have to ask is, "Who threw the first punch?"
The State has become more and more oppressive. While I'm sure the increase in the availability of news from around the US has contributed to it, there's not a day that goes by without hearing of another LEO who has arrested/beaten/tased/maced/shot/killed someone who did nothing wrong other than not submit to the will of The State. The phrases "Stop resisting!" and "I felt my life was threatened" have become so common place that to not see them in a story of LEO abuse is surprising. And yet people react with almost glee when put into a state of near martial law saying "Whatever it takes to protect us." "Police work is a dangerous job and they worry about going home at night".
The State has actively targeted people who disagree with it. It's not a matter of political party, but a matter of liberty or statism. If you oppose statism, you are thus deemed an Enemy Of The State and your life will become hell. How many individuals have suddenly been up for an IRS audit because they spoke out against government? How many whistleblowers have had their lives ruined with false charges because they spoke out about injustice? And the sheep call for more government to protect them.
Every attempt is being made to restrict the access to arms and armament. The natural right protected (not granted) by the Second Amendment of the Constitution was to allow a citizenry to resist the advancement of tyranny; whether personal or governmental. Like all tyranny that's effective, it starts slowly and 'legally'. Remember, the Nazi's rose to power through voting and they justified all actions taken against their state enemies through the law. But remember, "nobody needs an assault weapon". "It's for the children."

I abhor violence. Sometimes it's the only action that can be taken, but if it can be avoided, all the better. But like The Revolution, there comes a time to determine which path you will take.
In the struggle for independence, it's said that 1/3 were for independence, 1/3 were loyal to The Crown, and 1/3 didn't care. In total, 3% of the citizenry of the colonies actually fought for independence. So using rough numbers, 30% of the people of the American Colonies wanted independence, but didn't believe in violent action.

So, are you part of the 3%, part of the 30%, or part of the 66%? Simple question to ask yourself.

Yeah... it's gonna be like that

LONG TIME since I posted last.
Funny what happens when life gets in the way. But recently, had a few family things happened that have given me insomnia, so wonderfully I'm typing in the wee-hours of the night.

Nice looking collapse, huh? Coming soon to a country near you.
You shouldn't be surprised by it. It's been in the mail for a while. The problem is, you didn't want to admit it. You wanted to believe it would all work out. Some politician (or group there of) would remove their cranium from their rectum and fix things. In early 2010, I was out grabbing a bite to eat in my Gadsden sweatshirt. A nice older couple came up to me and said, "Thank for keeping up the fight." Nice of them to say.
We chatted a bit and the elections that year came up. I said plainly, "This is the last year we have a chance to turn it around." They were more optimistic and thought 2012 would be critical. But I disagreed, we said out goodbye's and that was that. But I knew I was right. Not because I'm some smug prick who walks around believing their shit doesn't stink, but I knew 2012 would be worthless.
The Republican party HAD to run the next guy in line. In 2008 it was McCain's turn. No one else stood a chance. Right after the election, I knew in my hear Romney would be the next one. Knew it. And in the years heading up to it, before any announcement, you could see it. The business background, his speaking style, "He's going to mop the floor with King Barry I". Yeah, right... I don't need to rehash that business, do I?
2010 was the last year to make a change. And what happened? A couple decent candidates made it through, but in general, more party establishment types got in, along with a few snakes (Renee Elmers, anyone?) who pulled the typical political move of lying through her meat curtains and then buddying up to the establishment. And why did this happen? Because you believed the hype. These people were going to be serious now! Yeah! They had the House! They controlled the purse strings! King Barry I wasn't going to push them around!
Pussies.
They "caved". Where are the spending cuts? Where's the return to fiscal responsibility? Where's the resistance to King Barry I? Oh yeah, this is politics, not some novel. The bad guys wear white AND black.

Government is about control. How much control they have is up to the will of the people who elect those into positions of government. Once people stop exercising that will, the path to totalitarianism has been started.
It usually starts with a problem of some sort. Some reason to let government take power it doesn't have. And it was in the midst of the founders that it started. In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court bestowed upon itself the right to review the Constitution and any laws passed by Congress and the President. Define for me in Article III where they have this right? I'll cut to the chase, they don't. But they took this "right" and instead of impeaching the court, which because the justices serve only"...in good standing..." was the right power for the Congress and President, they let it slide. Now 9 men and women in black robes determine what is and is not law. Not the 536 people duly elected. 9 people, hand picked by those in seats of power. If that's not the basis for an authoritarian government, I don't know what is.
Since then, Presidents and Congresses have bestowed upon themselves powers which were either rightfully those of the other branch or the states OR the people of the states.

Because of this collection of power into the hands of 545 people and their hand-picked subordinates, this country is now destined to collapse in on itself.
The debt is no longer worth mentioning. We talk only of deficits now. "Hey, it's less than a $1trillion, so that's a good thing!"
Spying is fine as long as its done on the people, not The Elites. But each group of Elites can spy on each other, as long as us mere citizens don't get involved.
Police enforce the law, not keep the peace. And that enforcement could mean being beaten (to death if they choose), tased (also to death if they choose), chemical sprayed (once again to death if they feel up to it) or shot. They will not be held accountable for their actions. Qualified Immunity is a term you better get used to. Sounds good until you realize you are powerless to stop them because you've already given them the power to override your choices.
We involve our military in engagements around the globe that we have no businesses going near. But it's alright because "We're a global force for good." Say it enough times and maybe you'll believe it. 2+2=5, right?

I don't know what comes next. Or when it'll all finally self-destruct. It can't be turned back at this point, I'm fairly confident of that. No one has the guts to do it. Everyone wants what others have and doesn't want to work for it. "I'm owed..." "I should have..." "It should be free..." "You're just trying to deny me..." "Racist!" "Greedy!" "Fair share!" and the slogans go on and on.
The problem isn't government. It's society. The "American Spirit" has truly become a spirit and it passed without so much as Taps being blown.

Sad when you think about it.

Parts is parts

Sorry for  the delay for those who stroll by regularly. Between work and personal life, I've been pretty tied up and haven't shown this blog attention in a few weeks.

Something different - A critique of the shooters out there. Well, some of you anyways

This is an exploded AR, in case you're not a shooter. Standard platform broken down into it's individual components.

Side note - You can tell the AK was designed by a soldier and the AR by an engineer. Having put together a few AR lowers, the amount of tiny pieces, little holes, and springs on the thing, you can see why it doesn't really like mud, sand, and just overall grit. Those little detents and springs suck ass. Back to my commentary...

It's common for people, once they have an AR or two, or twelve, to begin customizing them to make them 'their own'. Stocks, foregrips, grips, end-plates and so on. You can really go overboard sometimes and make it look like a bit of a franken-gun

But guess what? It's your gun so unless you're making it unsafe for those around you, you're the one who has to deal with it.

Why my gripe?
While looking for a new stock for a recent AR build, I came across this little thing from Magpul called a B.A.D. (Battery Assist Device) lever.

The idea behind this little thing is it helps you engage and disengage the bolt catch using just your trigger finger. It requires no modification, as it just clamps on with an allen head screw around the standard catch paddle. I thought it was pretty nifty and when reading some of the reviews from people, they said they really liked how it allowed them to change magazines a little faster as you can drop the spent mag with your trigger finger, bring up a fresh one and instead of "dropping the bolt" with your support hand, start moving that into position while you let the bolt go with your trigger finger. You can still work the catch normally, obviously, but it lets you move a little quicker.
No problem there.

But here's what rubbed me the wrong way and it's with the 'religious' faction of the shooting community out there. Those who believe the 1911 was designed by His Holiness John Moses Browning and must never be sullied by guide rods, flared mag wells or the like.  Or The Lord Eugene Stoner betrothed this Holy AR upon the masses and we must bow down before Its wonder and majesty, never to alter his Creation. "ALL HAIL GLOCK! ALL HAIL GLOCK!"
Comments from this group ranged from "It'll cause the bolt catch to engage or at least cause it to rub against the bolt, causing early failure." to "What, you'll save half a second engaging the bolt normally?" to my favorite "Devices like this will make it harder for you to pick up someone else's gun in the middle of a firefight and operate it properly. Don't use this on your duty weapon."
First off, this part was developed by Magpul, who is a leader in developing parts for the AR platform. You don't get to the leader status by making things that can cause a weapon to fail or function improperly. Yes, some people make thing that are just to make a buck. I get it. But Magpul? Yeah...
Yes, shaving time off is what you want if you happen to find yourself in a real life gun battle (maybe .1% of people in the "civilian" world, but...). And if this was for a competition setup, that .5-1 second shaving is the difference between first and loser.
Finally - Unless you are in a situation where all of your guns are issued to you or you ALL buy the exact same guns and don't modify them, everyone has different guns out there. You may have a grip sleeve on your Glock 22 and your partner doesn't. You may have an HK P30 and the buddy you're hunting with has a S&W M&P 9. If you ever find yourself having to pick up someone else's gun, you're going to have to take a moment to figure it out. Even basic things like triggers, grips, or stock positions differ from gun to gun and person to person. While something can be said for the idea of "train how you fight", that gun you just picked up isn't yours and will require an adjustment. Get over it.

We are sometimes our own worst enemies. It's one thing to be critical of someone who's making their guns unsafe, but the idea that artistic or ergonomic changes require you to become a dick is beyond the pale. I may think in part of my head that this is sort of silly...

...if it floats your boat and makes you happy with your firearm, have at it. Besides, there's an adage out there that says "It takes a real man to wear a pink shirt."

Great H.L. Mencken article

I'll post something of substance shortly, but I can across this today and thought "Almost 100 years later and we're fighting almost the exact same fight. Somehow pathetic"

THE UPLIFTERS TRY IT AGAIN by H. L. Mencken (Copyright, 1925, by The Evening Sun. Republication without credit not permitted.)

We're here to help

Last Tuesday, I was pretty right on when I said, "And so it begins..."
As the world now knows, on Friday, the city of Boston and it's direct suburbs were basically under martial law. Let's not kid ourselves about semantics, because that's what it was. You were not allowed outside your home, you were not allowed on the street, police could search your home without a warrant (at gun point in some cases), police were patrolling the streets with "assault rifles"... actually, let me clarify that, assault rifles, because there was no use of the term "so called" here; these were the real deal, military style rifles, a vast majority with select fire or short barreled, meant strictly for offense. And the people of Boston complied and cheered.

Fucking sheep.

2 animals blew up a bomb, killed three, injured hundreds and the city goes into lock down. Yet for 30 years or more, the "Irish Mob" killed more people than that on a Saturday every week and they did as they pleased. That's a Thursday night in Chicago nowadays and people sigh. Hourly, our soldiers are ordered to do this overseas as well as are victims of this and people want to watch "Dancing With The Stars".

I'd say I want to move away from this insanity, but I don't have the money or speak the language anywhere else to move there.

People are getting into heated arguments over the actions taken by government Friday. So many people think it was wonderful and The Book Of Face was littered with all these "Go Boston!" items praising the police actions. The "2013 Hide & Seek Champions", et al... Of course, it was a home owner who, when "allowed" to go outside, saw something weird with his boat and low and behold, douchenozzle was in there.

"They had to do something!"
"It was just one day. What's the big deal?"
"He was a terrorist and we had to use every means necessary to find him!"
"I didn't do anything wrong, so I didn't have anything to worry about."
"If this happened in your city, you'd want the same thing to happen!" - Oh that one's rich.
And it's cousin I saw on a YouTube video: "If he was in your house, holding your family hostage, you'd want the police to search and wouldn't care about a warrant."
Really, fuckstick? No, I wouldn't because the asshole would be dead in the doorframe with 2+ .40S&W hollow point rounds in his torso. I'd be calling the police over to get him out before the flies started swarming.
And then, in the process of detaining this US citizen, he wasn't read his rights, which could mean he walks on a technicality. The RINO's charged and demanded he be held as an "enemy combatant". People shrugged and said, "He's a terrorist. Too bad." "This is a war on terror and the battlefield is everywhere."
Oceania is at war with Eurasia, Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia

Yesterday, Prince Michael of Nanytown declared that the Constitution needs to be reinterpreted. Last week, the CISPA bill passed the US House, sneaking under the flood of news reports about the Boston bombing. After the people control bills failed in the Senate, King Barry I stomped his feet in the Rose Garden and proclaimed that he'd use executive orders to get his way.

There's a few old statements that are becoming more and more true.
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"It may seem like a conspiracy, but that doesn't mean it's not happening."
"Those who give up liberty for security will get and deserve neither."
Paraphrased that last one.

I don't believe this was a "False Flag" or these guys were setup or this was CIA mind control or any of that other shit. I believe these were two wackjobs who believe the murderous tenants of radical Islamists and thought they were doing their part of the holy jihad. But just like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tuscon, Aurora, Sandy Hook or going back to the Roaring 20's, when government sees the opportunity to control the populace due to the violence created by a minute set of individuals, they're going to do it. Our founders warned the newly free people of this and we didn't listen.
"Power, once granted, will be used."

The paint is peeling off the walls.

And so it begins...

The third person wasn't dead yet and already the Progressives were blaming "right wing extremists" on the Boston Marathon bombing. And the tin-foil hat crowd were already calling this a "False Flag" and it was a staged bombing by the .GOV black ops groups.
I had been working on another post but obviously the actions from yesterday sort of change your mindset and priority.

We knew this would happen. Sorry, but no matter where you are, evil people exist and commit horrendous acts and there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. Even in the most extreme of police states, acts like this happen.
Could it be a "right-wing extremist"? Yes
Could it be a government operation? Yes
Could it be a religious extremist of the Muslim persuasion? Yes
Could it be a local gang member with a beef? Yes
Could it be a narco-syndicate trying to terrorize the people of Boston? Yes
Could it be a 80 year old who hated the world and wanted to go out with other people? Yes
Could it be a sociopath who "...just wanted to watch the world burn"? Yes
Because we don't know anything, it is 100% speculation right now. BUT... that doesn't mean the ramifications of this won't be deep and wide.
Last night, Rep Peter King already made calls for spending on surveillance and intelligence gathering.
The White House said that security needs to be increased.
The DHS is already being seen in more and more cities and this will increase their presence and intrusion.

Life in a free country is difficult and painful. People will die from the hatred and ignorance of others. People will die from their own stupidity. Companies will fail, causing widespread suffering to many people, possible around the world. But to turn to government for the answers to these issues has never ended well.

Last night, as with all night, I prayed to HaShem (Hebrew for "The Name" - a way that Jews refer to The Sovereign without calling Him by name. In the South, there is a respect for elders that's still generally being taught and because you don't know these people personally, you call them "Mr./Miss First Name". Consider HaShem to be the same respect to Him). I felt a pain rise up in me because we've taken this wonderful creation He's given us and made a mess of it. We've taken the freest country on Earth, never before seen, created by men who believed they were following His guidance, and brought it right back around to be just like the rest of the world, which means it'll suck ass. And as tears formed in my eyes, asking Him to be with those who were directly hurt by this despicable act, I also asked Him to have mercy on us for our ignorance.

JPFP: Why Jews Hate Guns

And excellent piece by Rabbi Dovid Bendory at the Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership.

It’s no secret that one of the largest blocs of people pressing for so-called “gun control” is the culturally (aka not-so-religious) American Jewish community. This confounds many observers who would expect that Jews, with such a stunning history of oppression and murder by humanity’s villains, would cling tenaciously to personal firearms and the ability to protect themselves as the Hebrew Scriptures instruct.
In reaction to the Holocaust, American Jews adopted the phrase “Never Again!” If actions mean anything, they don’t believe it. That’s for someone else to do. How do Jews expect to put teeth behind the words “Never Again!” if not with the ability to apply and project personal force when righteous -- and necessary -- for survival?
Why then do so many American Jews hate guns and fear gun ownership so much?
Our research identifies ten reasons why these Jews feel the way they do about self defense in general, firearms specifically and your own right to keep and bear arms.

Whole piece here...