Articles by Herschel Smith

I’ve immensely enjoyed watching the Osprey family in Boulder, Colorado, for the season.  I saw the chicks when they hatched, watched them fledge, and watched them learn to fish for themselves, all in a single season.  And now they’ve migrated, all individually.  You might have seen images or video of the mother protecting her eggs in a hail storm.

Here are some other images.

Chick #3 hatched last, and had to fight for every morsel of food.  Every now and again when I saw dad bring in a fish and hand it off to mom, I’d scream at #3 to go get some.  This made for an interesting lunch break for me.  But he did learn to fight for himself, and was a big as the rest when he fledged and then eventually left the nest to migrate.  He was also first to learn to fish for himself.

And finally, one of dad himself, the big boy, the feeder and protector of the family.  He did have to chase away interlopers.

All the chicks lived, fledged, and presumably they all learned to fish.  I’ll see mom and dad again next year.  They mate for life and nest in the same location every year (after running off the squatters).

Source.

A Grand Canyon hiker has died while attempting to hike rim-to-rim in a single day at the national park.

Ranjith Varma — a 55-year-old man from Manassas, Virginia — was attempting to hike from the Grand Canyon’s south rim to the north rim in a single day on Saturday when the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received an emergency call at approximately 1:55 p.m. of a “hiker in distress” on the North Kaibab Trail, about one mile south of Cottonwood Campround, according to a statement released by the National Park Service (NPS) on Monday.

“For the hearty souls who are willing to work for it – less than one percent of the Grand Canyon’s five million annual visitors – the real magic lies below the rim,” the National Parks Foundation says on their website. “On this epic Grand Canyon hike, you’ll leave from the North Kaibab Trail on the North Rim, challenging your personal limits as you descend 14.3 miles and 6,000 feet to the bottom of the canyon before connecting with the Bright Angel Trail and climbing 4,500 feet and 9.6 miles back out again to the South Rim.”

That’s 23.9 miles and 10,500 feet of elevation change in a single day for a 55-year old man.  I’m not sure I could have done that at 22 years old on a cool day.  He was trying to do this on a hot day.

My bet is that he died from Rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo), which is a breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue that has to be processed by your kidneys.  We’ve seen this before.

A man has got to know his limitations.

Source.

“The order is being enforced, and citations will be forthcoming from the State Police,” said Caroline Sweeny, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham’s office. ”To ensure officer safety, we will not be providing additional details at this time.”

[ … ]

On Friday, after announcing the order, Lujan Grisham told reporters “we’re likely dealing with misdemeanors,” but she was not specific.

It’s also unclear if any penalties people could face for violating the order would stand up against a challenge in court. Several attorneys showed up Sunday offering to represent anyone who receives a citation under the public health order, which is already facing several legal challenges.

Potential misdemeanors were not a concern for some in attendance, most were focused on what they view as a violation of the Second Amendment.

I don’t know, but I still think this isn’t as simple as everyone is making it out to be.  First of all, I’m sure the controllers have an overarching plan – or think they do.  Maybe they want images of violators.  But that makes little sense to me.  So they get images of guys and girls with guns.  So what?  There are another hundred thousand in NM (and another several million across the nation) just like them for every one image they capture.

Second, they are obviously running some sort of misdirect – after all, who really believes Ted Lieu really cares about constitutional violations (I’m not going to link or embed his idiotic tweet because I don’t believe him and he’s a liar)?  I’m sure this is still a probing attack, but I’m also certain that they didn’t quite expect what’s happened or what’s coming.  This will be heard in federal court, and there will also be state lawsuits over this.  So the state police issue citations.  So what?  After refusal to pay, the district attorney has put in writing that he won’t enforce it and has gone on record saying that under Bruen this is unconstitutional.  Does the governor really want to go to federal or state court with that testimony on record?

It’s over for them as a company.

It is with deep regret that we announce the closing of Windham Weaponry. Our website/online retail ordering system will remain active through Tuesday night, Sept 12. We will do our best to ship all orders this week and early next week. No credit card will be charged until the order is shipped.

Twelve years ago, when we started Windham Weaponry, our shareholders and longtime employees were excited to continue the traditions and spirit of Bushmaster Firearms, after the new owners decided to leave Maine.

We built WW into a company we could be proud of providing outstanding customer service, high quality products, as well as a great place for our dedicated employees to work.

The last few years have been a very challenging time for the firearms industry, and we have struggled to keep the WW dream alive for as long as possible. Unfortunately, we have not been able to meet our loan obligations with the bank after they worked with us as much as they could.

There was a glimmer of hope when we were negotiating with an investor to help keep WW alive and healthy, but that just fell through.

We have begun discussions with Keenan Auction Company to determine the best course of action for a full liquidation which should happen within the next month or so.

Our shareholders and employees truly appreciate your loyal support all of these years.

Here is a video of one man’s perspective.  Here is a reddit/Firearms discussion thread.

I searched hard in the comments for reasons.  I couldn’t locate any.  There are hints of loan problems, and family that may not be as committed as the owner Richard Dyke (who recently passed away).  There seems to be nothing definitive on why this is happening to the company.

The one thing I do agree with in the discussion threads is that the AR-15 market is saturated (LaRue, PSA, Daniel Defense, Aeroprecision, BCM, S&W, and on the list goes).  Unless you have the money to go big, I’m sure it’s difficult to compete.

I'm not commenting on the veracity of this, but, in this day and age, be wary of facial recognition, even on the private level. Wear a hat, sunglasses, and even a mask. Don't post photos of yourself or allow photos of yourself to be posted online. Don't do things in public that… https://t.co/wk3VgwQt6A

— Don Shift (buy my books) (@DonShift3) September 11, 2023

There are two ways to look at this.  The first is that it’s a chance to get into trouble.  Hide yourself.  Wear sunglasses.  Wear a hat.  Dress in an unfamiliar way.  Borrow a neighbor’s car to get there.  Leave your cell phone at home.

The second is even more interesting to me.  Let it all happen.  Identify yourself.  Set up a lawsuit that will go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Only they can decide.  Or maybe they already did.

Via WiscoDave.

By now you’ve seen the tyrannical declarations of the New Mexico governor.  Here they are in all of their sordid detail.  She doesn’t think oaths mean anything at all.

The Governor of New Mexico has just declared the 1st & 2nd Amendment “does not exist” due to an “emergency.”

Under this legal theory *all* of our “rights” are essentially eliminated.

Watch the most evil & tyrannical 60 seconds you’ve ever heard from a politician: pic.twitter.com/xLpMSTbyi2

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 9, 2023

I wonder if her husband, Manuel Cordova, thinks the same way about oaths?  Anyway, this declaration has drawn a firestorm of reaction.  I told my family that it wouldn’t last through the week.  In fact, it didn’t last that long.  There are already protests, and promises to disobey the unconstitutional edict, and even more importantly, her own enforcers aren’t on her side.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who once served as a Democratic party leader and was appointed by Lujan Grisham, on Saturday joined Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Police Chief Harold Medina saying they wouldn’t enforce the order.

“As an officer of the court, I cannot and will not enforce something that is clearly unconstitutional,” said Bregman, the top prosecutor in the Albuquerque area. “This office will continue to focus on criminals of any age that use guns in the commission of a crime.”

Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he was uneasy about how gun owners might respond.

Yeah, he should be.  Next up, on Monday morning the federal courts will face at least two emergency cases from briefs filed over the weekend.  One is friend of this blog Stephen Stamboulieh working for GOA.  Here is the brief.  The second has been filed by the National Association of Gun Rights.

Perhaps the district attorney knows about this and doesn’t want to be responsible for bankrupting New Mexico.  The governor has given every gun owner in Albuquerque a way to make quick money if this is true.

Finally, Fenix ammunition posted a warning to the Governor.  There are consequences to her actions.

The beacons have been lit.@GovMLG – we are going to flood your state with ordnance.

We’re offering free shipping on ammunition to your entire state until you resign, or until you’re impeached.

The choice is yours. pic.twitter.com/UE2wW8oJFN

— Feni Ammunition (@FenixAmmunition) September 9, 2023

For those who don’t grok the big picture, this has all been done under a “health” order.  The controllers got a taste of unlimited power under the Covid regime, and they liked it.  They are addicted to the power and want more.  This is a trial balloon, and the Governor must be disobeyed, stopped, and held accountable.

Other than actual firearms confiscations, this is a recapitulation of what happened in New Orleans during Katrina.  In this case, the stakes aren’t quite as high – there is no going about armed.  But if she could effect confiscation, she would.

On that subject, I sent out an email thread earlier today where I said this.

This is a very big deal.  She isn’t some loose cannon.  They’re probing for weaknesses.
This is similar to the firearms confiscations in New Orleans during Katrina.  I never got full resolution on exactly what happened with Katrina and there are open issues for me on that.

I exchanged email with Gen. Honore and he pointed the finger of blame at the Mayor of NO rather than himself or the NG (who accompanied the thugs who went door-to-door).  He tried to distance himself from it all and said he wasn’t involved.

I met two guys at a gun show in Charlotte who I think were involved as contractors going door-to-door. They were jerks.  The general’s finger pointing makes a bit of sense to me given Posse Comitatus.

I submitted a FOIA on whether the NG troops were armed and under arming orders, and if so, who issued the orders.  Whenever troops are armed, (1) range time and qualifications must be conducted, (2) arming orders must be issues, and finally, (3) the lawyers (JAGS) have to write and train the troops on RUF/ROE (rules for the use of force, rules of engagement – in this case, I suspect RUF rather than ROE).

I never got an answer to the FOIA.  I exchanged email with the state two more times.  The first time someone seemed to take it seriously and told me he would follow up. The second time, he ignored me.  It was never completed.  A number of years old now, it hangs out there as an incomplete FOIA.

Did Gov. Bobby Jendel have his AG issue arming orders?  Did the troops have ammo in their mags?  Did the JAGS write RUF?  Who conducted the confiscations?  Was it all at the hands of a rogue city major of NO?  Was General Honore involved? After all, he is a known gun controller.

Inquiring minds want to know.

This is just a recapitulation of firearm confiscations in NO, but under a different pretext. In this case, no one can go about armed.

The bottom line is that there will be massive disobedience, her enforcers won’t enforce her edict, if they do she be responsible for giving gun owners a get-rich-quick scheme on behalf of the government of New Mexico, she will be in court on Monday, and her state is going to be flooded with ordnance.  She is in way, way, way over her head.  She shouldn’t have listened to the current administration when they decided to launch the trial balloon in her state.

I wonder if she thought about “unintended consequences?”

UPDATE #1:

From Legal Insurrection, four lawsuits filed so far.

Hey Ted, conceal and open carry are state laws that I have jurisdiction over. If you’re really interested in helping curb gun violence, I’d welcome you to join our next police academy class. https://t.co/Odf9fNbO2W https://t.co/17ca1dYpLc

— Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) September 10, 2023

Imagine someone thinking that because she’s the governor, she can suspend state laws regardless of the House and Senate. That’s the “republic” we live in.

Source.

Gun safe manufacturer Liberty Safe has said its customers will now be able to have the records of their safe combinations “expunged” after the company faced growing backlash for handing over the access code to one safe to the FBI.

Liberty Safe customers will be able to fill out a form to have records of their safe access codes deleted, meaning they can “take control of how their information is stored and protected,” the manufacturer said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

Earlier on Wednesday, Liberty Safe had said the FBI requested the access code to a safe on August 30, which it gave after seeing proof of a warrant. The safe belongs to 34-year-old Nathan Hughes, who has been charged with felony civil disorder and several misdemeanors relating to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Civil disorder, and misdemeanors.  A misdemeanor is like when your drive over the speed limit.  Disorder is just that.  Disorder.  Remember those charges, and remember that no trial has been conducted yet, so nothing has been proven.

“Our company’s protocol is to provide access codes to law enforcement if a warrant grants them access to a property,” Liberty Safe said on Tuesday evening. “After receiving the request, we received proof of the valid warrant, and only then did we provide them with an access code.”

In the statement posted to social media, Liberty Safe said it was committed to protecting its customers’ personal property and 2nd Amendment rights, “and has repeatedly denied requests for access codes without a warrant in the past.”

Several conservative figures criticized Liberty Safe over the move, with the founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, calling the company “an enemy to gun owners.”

In its updated statement, Liberty Safe said it understands that “many of our customers are willing to assume the responsibility of safeguarding their own combinations,” and those who opt out of the company’s “secure database” will have “limited recourse in case of a lost combination.”

Just like I said should have been the policy all along.

But it may be too little, too late.  Especially because of things like this.  You knew someone was going to look into this.

Financial contributions made to Democratic political candidates including former President Barack Obama have drawn scrutiny after an executive’s company recently complied with a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warrant.

[ … ]

In an additional X post published on Wednesday, Liberty Safe said the company “was founded on the belief that Americans should have the fundamental right to protect and safeguard their valuables and property.”

In September 2021, Liberty Safe was acquired by Monomoy Capital Partners, a private investment firm that has offices in New York and Connecticut and $2.7 billion in committed capital across five investment funds. Liberty Safe operates out of its Payson, Utah, facility.

The manufacturer’s CEO, Justin Hillenbrand, made political contributions to Obama twice when the Democrat was a first-time presidential nominee in 2008, totaling $4,600, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

Monomoy founding partner Stephen Presser, who died in March, is listed by the FEC as making countless individual contributions to myriad Democrats, including current Senators Raphael Warnock, John Fetterman and Mark Kelly. The company’s max donations over the last 10 election cycles have totaled almost $400,000.

“And we’re supposed to be surprised they betrayed their customers to the FBI as quickly as humanly possible?” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Boycott Liberty Safe.”

You know, those folks who talk about that whole “bitterly clinging onto God and guns” thing.

So realize what they did to him.  They conducted a red flag raid on him and took his possessions, before a trial and without just reason.  You know how we feel about red flag laws.  They are unjust, immoral and unconstitutional.  They violate due process rights.

Here is the Gestapo trash who effected the theft and firearms confiscation.

Another angle of the FBI arrest of Nathan Hughes over J6

The feds REALLY didn’t want people getting close and videoing them pic.twitter.com/l6UFDMBGT5

— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) September 7, 2023

The downside is what the SCOTUS did, i.e., stay the vacatur until heard by the supreme court.  So regardless of what is found in the Fifth Circuit, it’s got to go back to the Supreme Court again.  So this is a right delayed one more time.

Reddit/Firearms.

Just noticed my Drivers license-my first and last name off by a letter (I have a rather unique name). I Filled out and spelled my name on 4473 correctly and my previous license didn’t have the spelling issue (same state different address). See more in post.

Passed the NICS check but I’m Wanting to correct my name to reflect it correctly. Anyone have experience with this? Should I call the gun shop and or ATF as well and let them know? I have a clean record and nothing prohibiting me from owning a firearm. I have purchased firearms in the past too with correct spelling on my previous drivers licenses. Funny thing is, I got the “star” or enchanted license too and had to give additional documents and the dmv spelled it wrong still (bith cert., social security card etc). Going to get my name spelled correctly at dmv tomorrow.

The ATF will find a way to blame a DMV error on the FFL and pull his license.  They’re communists.  It’s what they do.