A Little Shooting

Seeing as how the gun control topic seems to be big now, I thought I’d post a few pictures of us shooting. After all, I’m an endowed life member of the NRA so I’m supposed to be a gun nut. The photos were taken at a family ranch in Arizona.

Here is the ranch with my cousin Kerry and his wife Sharon ready to go shooting.

Here are some of the guns we used. In deference to Diane Feinstein, we didn’t show the machine guns. The gun on the far left is a muzzle loader that is fun to shoot. Since it only fires one shot at a time, this would probably be permitted by Senator Feinstein.

Here is Kerry shooting an assault rifle, 1870 edition. Apologies to Diane.

Here I am firing an assault pistol, 1862 edition. It’s called an “old Army” design and uses black powder and lead balls. It can fire six shots in rapid succession so it probably should be banned.

Here I am assembling one of these scary looking shotguns. It is a semi-automatic and has a magazine that holds four rounds plus one in the chamber. I don’t know that it might be too scary for Diane.

Now, here is a photo that should go on the Brady campaign web site. Cindy is firing one of those dangerous semi-automatic hand guns that is “military style” as defined by Diane’s new bill. Kerry is shooting a safer revolver but it can still fire six shots in rapid succession.

This is a photo that would probably be a mystery to Diane or Mayor Bloomberg. It is called “shooting trap” a sport that us scary gun nuts like. Shooting sports are not hunting and they are not self defense. However, if you are going to know how to shoot a gun, you have to practice. People who have never held or fired a gun are doing a lot of talking about guns and usually don’t know what they are talking about. It is embarrassing to see some of these people pontificating on television who are obviously ignorant of the subject and make silly gaffes in terminology. And, importantly, we didn’t have any rocket launchers.

By the way, the black puff of smoke in the sky in line with Kerry’s gun shows that he hit the clay pigeon. Nice shot, Kerry.

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7 Responses to “A Little Shooting”

  1. norcal says:

    I love the sarcastic commentary below the photos.

  2. Jonathan says:

    Looks like fun!

  3. Charlotte says:

    Great photos, clay target shooting is a popular pastime in our valley too. Actually, our neighbour has a 15 station sporting clays course on his property.
    Via Walter Russell Mead, a rather sober take on California’s future.
    Charlotte, it’s so nice to hear from you. I’d love to see some discussion from you about post-Mandela SA.

    Dr K, on the downside South Africa suffers from massive unemployment due to leftist economic policies and a failing education system. Violent crime, state corruption, and the ever-widening wealth gap, which is larger now than it was under Apartheid, as well as raced based policies of employment, are all factors contributing to the continuing brain-drain.

    On the upside, the independent media has well and truly fallen out of love with President Zuma. The ruling party is driven by factionalism and internal strife. The main opposition, traditionally supported by whites and other minorities, continues to gain substantial black following. Race relations are better and improving, while civil society and the courts are vociferous in defence of the constitution.

    Interesting times in this cruel, crazy, beautiful country.

  4. Mike_K says:

    I do worry about South Africa. I read an interesting book about Zimbabwe called “Dinner with Mugabe.” It suggested he meant well but his followers could not be controlled. Anyway, good luck. We may need it as well.

  5. Charlotte says:

    I read Heidi Holland’s Dinner with Mugabe, I preferred Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe’s Future by Martin Meredith. The message of reconciliation Mugabe gave at independence was shown to be worthless when his North Korean trained 5th Brigade murdered 20 000 Matabele, a tribe traditionally supportive of the opposition. Tribalism might not be discussed in polite company, however, it plays a role in most African countries. The ANC, traditionally led by Xhosas (Xhosa-nostra) is now under Zulu control resulting in the breaking away of two new Xhosa dominated parties.

    Our test as a viable democracy will come if and when the ANC is seriously challenged at the polls. I’m not confident they wouldn’t engage in Mugabe-like tactics.

  6. Mike_K says:

    Charlotte, we are seeing similar tribalism in Arab countries. We didn’t anticipate it in Iraq but it is there. Rebecca West explained its source in “Black Lamb and Gray Falcon” her history of Yugoslavia written before World War II. It is still the best thing written about the Balkins. When the central government cannot guarantee security or does not exist, families and clans and tribes take its place.