Articles by Herschel Smith

Florida Politics.

The fliers were funded by the National Association for Gun Rights, which takes a “no-compromise stance when defending our right to keep and bear arms.”

Brannan, a Macclenny Republican, chairs the Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee. The flier includes a call to action to contact Brannan’s office and demand he slate a “constitutional carry” bill for consideration. Specifically, it seeks an agenda spot for legislation (HB 103) carried by Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican.

Sabatini, a lawmaker who regularly feuds with GOP leadership, tweeted the legislation was being blocked by RINO lawmakers …

“RINO Cowards like Chris Sprowls are once again BLOCKING Constitutional Carry!” he tweeted. “When will people wake up and vote these TRASH establishment ‘Republicans’ out?!”

Some members have pointed out there is no Senate companion legislation to Sabatini’s bill, which means the bill could not be passed by the full Legislature anyway.

Still, the gun rights organization would like the legislation considered by at least one chamber this year. If passed, the bill would eliminate any requirements for concealed carry permits in order for Floridians to carry firearms in public.

Until the bad actors are eliminated through primaries, this will continue to happen.  We pushed hard enough in South Carolina and made it such centerpiece legislation (even though I don’t live in S.C.) that they took open carry out of the judiciary committee and put it straight on the floor because the committee was blocking it.

Granted, it takes the majority of the senate to do that, but it can be done.

I really want open carry and constitutional carry for Florida.  I remain disappointed that the governor has not brought this up as an important piece of legislation and thrown his weight behind it.  Another reason, of course, that this is stalling is because LEOs are opposed to it.  Of course.

So far my reaction to DeSantis is … meh.

Dean Weingarten.

The Judiciary Committee was the chosen vehicle used by the Republican majority of senators to kill Constitutional Carry in 2021. The Republican senators had met in caucus and are reported to have used a secret vote to kill Constitutional Carry. They did so with the simple method of never allowing the bill to be debated or voted on in the Judiciary Committee.  The problem for the Republican senators is Constitutional Carry is very popular with their base constituency.

There are 21 states which have Constitutional Carry. It has not been a problem. Homicide rates have not increased. As with all the other reforms which have removed and loosened decades of infringements on the Second Amendment, the “blood in the streets” promised by those who wish to disarm the population, has not materialized.

Dean calls them RINOs.  I don’t use that term.  The two parties are mirror images of one another.

Don’t confuse them with the facts, Dean.  What you said is true.  They’re going after the soccer mom vote, and they know that no one will take the time or make the effort to oust them in the next primary despite what they say.

Daily Mail.

Bob Bolus, who’s leading a fleet of transports from Pennsylvania to Washington on Wednesday, plans to help shut down the Capital Beltway on Friday in protest of vaccine mandates, pandemic-related restrictions, and more.

The 64 mile road – whose formal name is the I-495 – encircles the capital, and is its most vital ground transportation link. One lane will be left open for emergency vehicles, but Bolus has said ‘tough luck’ to commuters.

‘The Beltway will be shutdown,’ Bolus told Fox News. ‘I’ll give you an analogy of that of a giant boa constrictor that basically squeezes you, chokes you, and then swallows you. And that’s what we’re going to do to DC.’

‘We will not compromise anybody’s safety or health. As far as if they [people] can’t get to work, geez, that’s too bad.’

I’m left wondering about the wisdom in telegraphing your plans to your opponent.  Larry Bird used to tell his opponents exactly what he was going to do, and then he would do it.

This isn’t the same thing.  As for those folks who are going a different route, I’m also wondering if this isn’t perhaps a plan to hamper those efforts?

Fox News.

“Time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground,” one member of RCMP Musical Ride allegedly wrote. Musical Ride is described as an RCMP group assisting “front-line police operations by building positive relationships, supporting recruiting efforts and promoting the RCMP’s image in communities in Canada.”

“okay we can give out free hugs and unicorn stickers,” the RCMP member allegedly said after receiving pushback for his “jackboots” remark.

“Don’t kick all of them out until next weeks group gets our turn,” one member of RCMP Musical Ride allegedly said in the group chat accompanied by a photo of a beer, Rebel News reported.

“just watched the horse video – that is awesome,” the RCMP Musical Ride member allegedly wrote.

Hey Canadians, you’re watching and listening aren’t you?  Tell me you’re watching and listening?

Do you believe that they love and support you?  Or do you believe that they identify more with the effete, latte drinking ruling caste?

Seen at Instapundit.

Source.

They have cast themselves into the camp of “We mustn’t take actions that will topple the government.”  Therefore, they have assured the eventual toppling of the government, probably in a bit more dramatic way than it could have been.

Shooting Illustrated.

For us, the main takeaway is that if you have a bad guy hiding behind a common interior wall, concealment is all it’s really providing. With an AR-15 carbine, there’s a high probability your bullet will perform nearly as well after passing through that wall—even if it hits a stud—as it would if there was no barrier between you and that bad guy at all.

We also learned that the 150-grain 300 HAMR load is rather wicked with regard to terminal performance. Though it may provide deeper-than-desirable penetration in a home-defense setting, from a wound-cavity standpoint you can see why this cartridge is one of the best available for big-game hunting with an AR-15. And finally, do not discount the 125-grain hollowpoint .30-30 Win. load for personal protection. It should not over-penetrate, and it creates a reasonably large crush cavity. It’s clearly a great choice for home defense if your life-saving gun is a lever-action carbine.

If I had to pick one of these cartridges/loads for home defense, I’d probably go with the 110-grain 300 HAMR load because of its consistent 12 to 14 inches of penetration and the lack of over-penetration concern associated with it. The Speer Gold Dot load for the .223 Rem. and the FTX load for the .300 BLK delivered similar, but slightly deeper performance. There are, of course, lots of other loads and carbine cartridges to consider. This test is only a glimpse. But, it does give you an idea of what can be expected with carbines, and even the ancient .30-30 Win., if they must be fired inside a home to save your life.

Well, the .30-30 is a venerable cartridge, and stands today as the load that has probably taken more white tail than any other cartridge.  It would be an awesome home defense round.  It’s also noteworthy that lever action rifles are very popular within the AR community, and for good reason.  Every man should have lever action rifles.

The summary is a bit strange though.  The graphs show the 300 HAMR as over-penetrating, and the last thing you want inside a home is over-penetration.  Moreover, availability is an issue, as is cost.

I had initially seen this with no direct reference to a name or a report in the field and was just a bit skeptical, deciding that I wouldn’t post it.

But then this report appeared, and it seems to corroborate the report above from someone to whom it happened.

But I’ll say (somewhat tongue in cheek) that the worst of all of this appears to be that they won’t let the lady in the video below buy coffee.

Beyond the fact that they acted like Nazi thugs (and certainly enjoyed it), this is just too far.  If you get between me and my fresh ground black coffee, there’s going to be trouble.

As for the first two reports, if they know they can’t really legitimately arrest protesters and they’re simply dropping them off down the road, that seems to me to be a similar criminal offense to false arrest (and maybe worse).

I believe the formal name for this would be kidnapping.

Anyway, I suspect that “support the blue” thing is rapidly evaporating in Canada with this behavior (just as it is in the U.S. with SWAT raids, asset forfeiture, bad treatment of people who carry firearms, indemnification of police in bad shootings, vocal support for gun control and permitting schemes, and a host of other awful things).  I also suspect that for every protester they mistreat or kidnap or trample with horses, they create a thousand new ones.  As for the lady who wanted coffee, we should all condemn the cops in complete disgust for that offense.

From the perspective of COIN (counterinsurgency) doctrine, they have learned nothing from the misadventure in Afghanistan.

Then again, neither did our doomed elitists.  They can talk about COIN all they want to and write pedantic and silly papers until they’re blue in the face.  They never understood it then, and still don’t today.  They never knew what they were doing.

Quick example: In Afghanistan they gave Viagra to child molester chieftains so they could continue their abuse, thinking they would make friends, while disgusting our own troops and infuriating the Taliban even more.  In the end, no one loved the command structure or brilliant “thinkers” and “strategists.”  They were hated everywhere and by everyone.

Western nations are one big gaggle of incompetence and stupidity.

Finally, there is this ridiculous, pretentious finger wagging and sermon-preaching by cops while threatening to bust doors down.

The story is in the comments.  Basically, this restaurant owner was about to go out of business because of Covid restrictions.  The truckers meant new business, saving his livelihood, while they also helped him clean up.  He had given interviews about that, and this is the cops paying him back.

What was that I said about bullying one protester and creating a thousand more?

In the offices of Klaus Schwab: “Call on line 3 … the boy king is in a panic and needs assistance and direction.”

NPR.

The Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to block a Missouri law that allows private citizens to sue law enforcement agencies and officers for $50,000 if they can show their state gun rights were infringed upon. Gov. Mike Parson signed the Second Amendment Preservation Act last year, and since then, counties, cities and dozens of Missouri police chiefs have challenged it.

The law, known as H.B. 85, invalidates in Missouri five specific federal gun law categories, such as ones prohibiting the gun ownership by some felons, confiscation orders, and registration laws.

The complaint filed in federal court in Jefferson City, Mo., on Wednesday says “the overall purpose and effect of H.B. 85 are thus to nullify federal firearm laws and to affirmatively interfere with their enforcement.”

“This act impedes criminal law enforcement operations in Missouri,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The United States will work to ensure that our state and local law enforcement partners are not penalized for doing their jobs to keep our communities safe.”

I’m telling you, the FedGov hates this law.  Missouri has the strongest such law on the books, and the FedGov is fearful of it spreading.

But the determination to carry through with this (including preventing any LEO who is found to aid FedGov gun control efforts from ever working again in Missouri) is what will win the day versus the determination of a federal judge.

When they can’t win any other way, they go judge shopping.

In Toronto too.

And back in Ottawa.

Ottawa police try to make excuses for trampling an elderly woman.  Excuses suck.  And this one does too.  They wouldn’t have to make excuses if they didn’t do it.

Finally, I’ll observe that there is no insignia or badges or names on the goons on the line. They have de-personed them just as they’ve tried to de-person the protestors. This is what the Bolsheviks did.

More news about the couple who perished in Northern California.

MARIPOSA COUNTY, Calif. — Nearly six months after a Northern California family and their dog died of extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration while hiking, phone data was released on Thursday that shows a text message and several phone calls did not go through due to poor cellphone reception.

John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Miju, and their dog were walking in extreme heat in a remote area close to the Merced River in the Sierra National Forest last August before they died.

Jonathan Gerrish’s phone showed the family took multiple photos throughout their hike from 7:44 to 10:29 a.m., according to the release. At 12:25 p.m, they took a screenshot of their location on the trail map.

A single text message at 11:56 a.m. saying, “Can you help us. On savage lundy trail heading back to Hites cove trail. No water or ver (over) heating with baby” did not go through due to not having cell service in the area, the release said.

Five calls were also found to have been attempted but were not successful due to the same reason. The first was at 12:09 p.m. and the last four were attempted within one minute of each other at 12:36 p.m.

I know we’ve covered this before, but the last sentence struck me.  Recall when I said this?

First of all, remember the necessary life-saving kit that MUST be carried in the bush: Rubberized poncho, parka, redundant fire start, large bore handgun, food energy, cordage, tactical light, knife, water and means of water filtration.  This might have saved their lives.

Beyond this, I was commenting to my oldest son not too many days ago that the biggest enemy of survival in the bush is panic.  If you carry the right kit, you can be in the position where you say to yourself or loved ones, “I don’t know where we are, but it’s getting dark and we need warmth, shelter, water and rest.  We have the right kit for it, so we camp here for the night and get a safe, good night sleep, and carry on at first light.”

If you panic, adrenalin rushes into your system, you expend way too much energy, your judgment is clouded and you’re more likely to do stupid things, you get exhausted, the exhaustion makes you cold, and you risk hypothermia.

In the bush, panic is your enemy.  It sounds as if they didn’t have the right kit, and they panicked.

My suspicion was right.  In the bush, panic is your enemy and will kill you.  Always be prepared for things not to go as expected.  That’s the only way to avoid panic.  Even if he had not carried the proper kit, they could have always stopped and gotten out of the sun until dusk, and he could have hunted for water (or found a muddy spot and dug a hole) that evening and the next morning.

If it’s over 100 degrees and you have no water, walking in the noon sun to find your way out isn’t a good idea, and rather than deal with the situation and stopping in favor of a primitive shelter, he panicked which made matters worse.

Panic is always your enemy.