Tag Archives: Guns
Southern Discomfort
From article by George Packer in The New Yorker:
The region was an American underbelly in the semi-tropical heat; the manners were softer, the violence swifter, the commerce slower, the thinking narrower, the past closer.
Following the upheavals of the civil-rights years, the New South was born: the South of air-conditioned subdivisions, suburban office parks, and Walmart. Modernization was paved with federal dollars, in the form of highways, military bases, space centers, and tax breaks for oil drilling.
the Southern way of life began to be embraced around the country until, in a sense, it came to stand for the “real America”: country music and Lynyrd Skynyrd, barbecue and nascar, political conservatism, God and guns, the code of masculinity, militarization, hostility to unions, and suspicion of government authority, especially in Washington, D.C.
As its political power declines, the South might occupy a place like Scotland’s in the United Kingdom, as a cultural draw for the rest of the country, with a hint of the theme park.
James Arness
When I heard that James Arness had died my first thought was, “How could he still be alive?!” It’s just that Gunsmoke was so long ago.
So I dug out this photo taken when Craig Watson and I “interviewed” the popular TV actor when he appeared at the Sikeston Bootheel Rodeo. KBOA news guys John Reeder did the recording and Craig (on the right) and I asked some questions. Marshall Dillon signed my Fanner 50 holster.
What war actually feels like
Sebastian Junger was recently a guest on The Daily Show but you really don’t get much of a feel for a book (or the author) from those segments. Not sure why I picked up War but it’s hard to put down.
The war in Afghanistan seems very… abstract to me. I know it’s going on and people are dying (although we see almost no images of that) but it doesn’t seem real. Junger’s book (and the documentary, I assume) makes it seem very real.
I can’t tell if Junger has any views about whether the war is right or wrong or if that’s even a relevant question from the perspective the people fighting it. But his account makes it difficult to imagine anything like “winning.”
“The fact that networks of highly mobile amateurs can confound –even defeat– a professional army is the only thing that has prevented empires from completely determining the course of history. You can’t predict the outcome of a war simply by looking at the numbers.” – page 83
“The moral basis of the war doesn’t seem to interest soldiers much, and its long-term success or failure has a relevance of almost zero. Soldiers worry about those things about as much as farmhands worry about the global economy, which is to say, they recognize stupidity when it’s right in front of them but they generally leave the big picture to others.” – page 25
“…at one mile out (an) aircraft carrier is the size of a pencil eraser held at arm’s length. The plane covers that distance in thirty-six seconds and must land on a section of flight deck measuring seven yards wide and forty-five yards long.” – page 34
“…he joined the Army because he was tired of partying and living at this mother’s house, and now he’s behind sandbags on a hilltop in Afghanistan getting absolutely rocked.” – page 67
“Once while leaning against some sandbags I was surprised to feel some dirt fly in my face. It didn’t make any sense until I heard the gunshots a second later. How close was that round? Six inches? A foot?” – page 71
“It certainly isn’t beautiful up there, but the fact that it might be the last place you’ll ever see does give it a kind of glow.” – page 71
“The problem with fear, though, is that it isn’t any one thing. Fear has a whole taxonomy — anxiety, dread, panic, foreboding — and you could be braced for one form and completely fall apart facing another.” – page 73
“If I had any illusions about personal courage, they dissolved in the days or hours before something big, dread accumulating in my blood like some kind of toxin until I felt too apathetic to even tie my boots properly.” – page 74
“There are different kinds of strength, and containing fear may be the most profound, the one without which armies couldn’t function and wars couldn’t be fought (God forbid).” – page 74
“…an enormous amount of war-fighting simply consists of carrying heavy loads uphill.” – page 75
“If you’re not prepared to walk for someone you’re certainly not prepared to die for them, and that goes to the heart of whether you should even be in the platoon.” – page 77
“(He) had some kind of crazy redneck strength that was more like hydraulics than musculature.” – page 75
“The fact that networks of highly mobile amateurs can confound –even defeat– a professional army is the only thing that has prevented empires from completely determining the course of history. You can’t predict the outcome of a war simply by looking at the numbers.” – page 83
A “Vietnam moment” was one in which you weren’t so much getting misled as getting asked to participate in a kind of collective wishful thinking.” – page 132
“…much of modern military tactics is geared toward maneuvering the enemy into a position where they can essentially be massacred from safety. It sounds dishonorable only if you imagine that modern war is about honor; it’s not. It’s about winning, which means killing the enemy on the most unequal terms possible. Anything less simply results in the loss of more of your own men.” – page 140
“The enemy now had a weapon that unnerved the Americans more than small-arms fire ever could: random luck. Every time you drove down the road you were engaged in a twisted existential exercise where each moment was the only proof you’d ever have that you hadn’t been blown up the moment before.” – page 142
“War is a lot of things and it’s useless to pretend exciting isn’t one of them. It’s insanely exciting. The machinery of war and the sound it makes and the urgency of its use and the consequences of almost everything about it are the most exciting things anyone engaged in war will ever know.”
“War is supposed to feel bad because undeniably bad things happen in it, but for a nineteen-year-old at the working end of a .50 cal during a firefight that everyone comes out of okay, war is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.” – page 144
“The moral basis of the war doesn’t seem to interest soldiers much, and its long-term success or failure has a relevance of almost zero. Soldiers worry about those things about as much as farmhands worry about the global economy, which is to say, they recognize stupidity when it’s right in front of them but they generally leave the big picture to others.” – page 25
“…at one mile out (an) aircraft carrier is the size of a pencil eraser held at arm’s length. The plane covers that distance in thirty-six seconds and must land on a section of flight deck measuring seven yards wide and forty-five yards long.” – page 34
“…he joined the Army because he was tired of partying and living at this mother’s house, and now he’s behind sandbags on a hilltop in Afghanistan getting absolutely rocked.” – page 67
“Once while leaning against some sandbags I was surprised to feel some dirt fly in my face. It didn’t make any sense until I heard the gunshots a second later. How close was that round? Six inches? A foot?” – page 71
“It certainly isn’t beautiful up there, but the fact that it might be the last place you’ll ever see does give it a kind of glow.” – page 71
“The problem with fear, though, is that it isn’t any one thing. Fear has a whole taxonomy — anxiety, dread, panic, foreboding — and you could be braced for one form and completely fall apart facing another.” – page 73
“If I had any illusions about personal courage, they dissolved in the days or hours before something big, dread accumulating in my blood like some kind of toxin until I felt too apathetic to even tie my boots properly.” – page 74
“There are different kinds of strength, and containing fear may be the most profound, the one without which armies couldn’t function and wars couldn’t be fought (God forbid).” – page 74
“…an enormous amount of war-fighting simply consists of carrying heavy loads uphill.” – page 75
“If you’re not prepared to walk for someone you’re certainly not prepared to die for them, and that goes to the heart of whether you should even be in the platoon.” – page 77
“(He) had some kind of crazy redneck strength that was more like hydraulics than musculature.” – page 75
“The fact that networks of highly mobile amateurs can confound –even defeat– a professional army is the only thing that has prevented empires from completely determining the course of history. You can’t predict the outcome of a war simply by looking at the numbers.” – page 83
A “Vietnam moment” was one in which you weren’t so much getting misled as getting asked to participate in a kind of collective wishful thinking.” – page 132
“…much of modern military tactics is geared toward maneuvering the enemy into a position where they can essentially be massacred from safety. It sounds dishonorable only if you imagine that modern war is about honor; it’s not. It’s about winning, which means killing the enemy on the most unequal terms possible. Anything less simply results in the loss of more of your own men.” – page 140
“The enemy now had a weapon that unnerved the Americans more than small-arms fire ever could: random luck. Every time you drove down the road you were engaged in a twisted existential exercise where each moment was the only proof you’d ever have that you hadn’t been blown up the moment before.” – page 142
“War is a lot of things and it’s useless to pretend exciting isn’t one of them. It’s insanely exciting. The machinery of war and the sound it makes and the urgency of its use and the consequences of almost everything about it are the most exciting things anyone engaged in war will ever know.”
“War is supposed to feel bad because undeniably bad things happen in it, but for a nineteen-year-old at the working end of a .50 cal during a firefight that everyone comes out of okay, war is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.” – page 144
Free handguns from smays.com
“A week after the election of the nation’s first black president, gun buyers across the country are flocking to gun stores to stock up on assault rifles, handguns and ammunition. Some say they are worried that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will attempt to re-impose the ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004. Others fear the loss of their right to own handguns. A few say they are preparing to protect themselves in the event of a race war. — L.A. Times
I support the right to own a deer rifle or a shotgun or a handgun, for that matter. No point in talking about race war or assault weapons. That’s moron country.
But here’s a wager I offered today and I’ll extend it to readers who really believe the new administration is going to take away your right to own a handgun.
You buy a new pistola for, say, $500. If the right to buy or own a handgun is limited in any way by the end of Obama’s first term, I’ll pay you $500. If not, you pay me $500. We’ll give the money to an agreed-upon third party to hold.
What do you say? Here’s your chance to get a free Beretta (or whatever). Hit the comment link and we’ll set it up.
Crappy Hour with Megan and Annamarie
Tell me what is better than two hot geekettes talking trash early in the morning. No, I’ll tell you. Nothing!
“When the chips are down and all the prayers to God to win the election and protect you from witchcraft haven’t worked, everyone knows it’s time to call in the big guns: the forces of evil. And, if they’re too busy helping the Axis of Evil get nukes and shit, well, then you can always call in the forces of pettiness and covert racism, as they’ve been helpful in many an election here in the States. But Swampland’s Ana Marie Cox and I will insist on, at a minimum, throwing rhetorical spitballs at the hordes and making assfucking jokes as the sky is falling, so there’s that.”
Best line: “Pfister? I hardly knew her.” Read the post.
Spud Panzer
I like bumper cars and paint-ball looks like fun. Doesn’t Paint-Ball Bumper War sound like a whole greater than the sum of its parts?
Instead of hiding behind a row of old tractor tires, put those paint-ball warriors on roller skates and get ’em out on the figure-8 track. No (intentional) body contact but if you go down, you go sit out.
And for the serious gamer, Spud Panzer. Golf carts mounted with potato guns. Two teams of three carts start on opposite end of golf cart (back nine?). A non-combatant fires a spud gun into the air and both teams race toward each other. If driver or gunner gets knocked out of the cart, they’re out. Every golfer that gets injured or suffers a heart attack costs you 10 points. Game lasts until cops arrive.
Guns in America
In April of 2007, John Edwards, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were in Iowa, campaigning for the Iowa Caucuses. Radio Iowa News Director Kay Henderson interviewed the candidates and asked each spoke with each who made a point of talking about gun rights and none of the three endorsed such proposals as gun registration or a ban on handguns.
Kay posted portions of her interviews on her blog, which has generated a couple of dozen comments over the past year. Some flaky, but most thoughtful. The one that haunts me is from Sergio (who has an email address in Aruba?):
“As a non-US citizen I can’t believe how Americans in 2008 still cling to their weapons while trying to police and moralize the rest of the world. Although the US has a unique culture and history – certainly when it comes to guns – I wonder if Americans ever consider why almost no other country in the world allows people to bear arms, especially fire arms. The US has one of if not the highest gun killing rates in the world for a country that is not at (civil) war.
Do you really believe that weapons make a society safer? Strictly licensed weapon possession for hunting and sports is allowed in most countries of the world, but the ‘right to keep and bear arms’ is really unique.”
I honestly don’t know if we enjoy the freedoms we do because of, or in spite of, all the handguns (and assault rifles etc etc). If every man in Zimbabwe had a gun, would Robert Mugabe still be in power? Let’s face it, the ballot box is a joke in that country. Sort of like Florida.
The recent Supreme Court ruling has prompted me to think about this topic a little. And make a list of all the reasons I can think of for a private citizen owning a handgun. In no particular order:
- Self-defense (from a mugger or home invader)
- Sport/target shooting
- Collector/keepsake
- Repel government goons when some president decides two terms aren’t enough
- Commit crimes
- Piss off people who don’t think handguns should be legal
That’s all that I can come up with at the moment. Self-defense is a popular reason for gun ownership, but I can’t recall the last time I heard of someone repelling a robber with their six-shooter. And it seems like there’s no end of stories of some youngster shooting his sister (or a dozen or so classmates) with dad’s Glock. That’s the tasteless interview I’d like to hear.
“Mr. Smith, it’s been a year since your oldest boy shot and killed his little brother with the gun he took from your bedside table. Has this terrible tragedy changed your position on hand-gun ownership in anyway?”
I think Sergio is right on one point. We need to stop “trying to police and moralize (to) the rest of the world.” It just makes us look like dicks.
Pull!
I went skeet shooting with Scott and Christi yesterday. Technically, I went “skeet-shooting-at,” since I didn’t actually hit one of the little clay targets (in the air). Scott placed a couple on the ground about 20 feet from the shooting area (“home intruder range”) and I sent them to the ER if not the morgue.
I haven’t shot a gun in 40 years. Last time was during training for the Postal Inspection Service. We had to qualify with a sidearm (a very un-sexy .38 revolver back in those days) and got an hour or two of training with a 12 gauge riot gun.
I really enjoyed yesterday’s outing and quickly became the designated clay pigeon flinger. Used a little plastic launcher to sling tiny clay Frisbees into the air where Scott and Christie blew them to smithereens.
I was impressed by the skill exhibited by both Scott and Christie. She wielded a 12 gauge pump (is there anything hotter than a woman with a 12 gauge?) and he switched back and forth between a couple of shotguns.
In case you’re wondering… no, I’m not a hunter and don’t plan to be. I’ve never owned a gun. But in the unlikely event someone showed up in the middle of the night, uninvited, I’d like to greet them with something besides my MacBook in my hands. Scott recommends a side-by-side double-barrel 20 gauge.
I know. I’m as surprised as you are.
The children are the future
I found the following comment on one of our network blogs:
"i was looking online for a school project and ran acrost a small comment by obama that said"band all semi atomatic weapons" banding ALL semi auto guns wouldnt make a differns. that wont stop kids from coming to schools with guns! in some case’s it will just agrravate them to do it more as an act of rebeling."
I don’t know which frightens me more… the thought of this little fucker with a gun or that he’s a product of our education system.