I’m traveling today, beginning a trip that will culminate with the 2008 SHOT Show this weekend in Las Vegas. I have some things lined up so posting should continue more or less as normal.

I’m planning to have a lot of coverage of the show, with some of the more military-ish guns and gear over at Murdoc Online and all of the rest here.

I’ll be at the show Saturday through Monday and, for the first time, will be able to attend the big Media Day events on Friday.

If anyone out there is headed to SHOT, drop me a line.

Christmas came late to Murdoc. A gift that was on backorder just arrived and it looks great:

It’s the RedHead Trap Vest from Bass Pro Shops. Mesh for comfort while blasting clays into dust, large pockets for loads of loads. Light padding on both shoulders.

Murdoc is new to the clay shooting scene, having tried for the first time this past fall. It’s a blast and I’m not even half bad. (Nor half good, as I’m sure my brother-in-law would point out…)

Thanks, Santa. Pull!

In Popular Mechanics: How to Survive in the Wild for 72 Hours: I’ll Try Anything

It starts

Night is falling, and we’re lost. Somewhere in the canyon lands of southern Utah, I’m trudging across a seemingly endless sagebrush plain, and the twilight gloom is thick. My group of 14 hikers has been on the trail for 5 hours, and our delight at the majesty of the red rock landscape has long since given way to grumbling about hunger and sore feet. As the first stars start to twinkle, the question arises, “Okay, now what?”

Though not strictly a gun-related topic, I think that wilderness survival is a subject that most gun owning readers have at least a passing interest in. Remember, the term “wilderness” includes the wild rural areas of Utah, but it also includes the woods where you hunt deer, urban sprawl where the predators are more dangerous than those in rural Utah, and just about anywhere after the shit hits the fan.

Having a few things ready can help. Having a plan is crucial. Having enough basic knowledge to ad lib when necessary is key.

I am going to add a ‘Survival’ category to GunPundit. Photo by Ian Parker.

I previously noted Chris Matthews’ anti-2nd Amendent (and anti-4th Amendment, for that matter) plan to end the “wacky” problem of unlicensed concealed guns on the street.

Say Uncle notes the plan and we get this in the comments section:

Rustmeister Says:
January 28th, 2008 at 11:45 am

Hmm, densely populated urban areas.

Is he saying black folks shouldn’t have guns?

SayUncle Says:
January 28th, 2008 at 11:46 am

Shhh. We can’t say it like that.

This, of course, is a giant open secret that no one wants to talk about. Look at Chicago. Illinois is one of only two states in the Union with no form of CCW permit for regular citizens, and Chicago, of course, is not the most crime-free city in the nation. And, at 36% black and 31% white according to the 2000 US Census, the population of Chicago isn’t what you would call White European-dominated.

When we hear about education and career problems in inner cites, it’s often portrayed as a racial issue and the NAACP gets involved and Jesse Jackson demands change. When black neighborhoods suffer higher crime rates we hear cries for more police protection.

But when these same urban areas, often peopled by those in the lower tax brackets and in many cases minorities, are blanketed with draconian gun control we don’t hear a peep. Is this iron fist of disarmament getting the guns from the gangbangers and drug dealers?

There is no equality when one man can carry a gun and the other cannot.

Meanwhile, over at Murdoc Online, this comment was left:

Rrrriiiight…so Matthews’ dream is that the only people who can legally carry are agents of the state.

That idea puts a hard, icy ball in the pit of my stomach.

But I put him at ease with my response:

Well, I’m sure Matthews would make an exception for authorized bodyguards. You know, like Matthews has.

Recall How many bodyguards do you have?

Say Uncle notes a disturbing factoid from New York: 215 convicted killers were set free in Spitzer’s first year as governor.

Uncle says:

But, remember, one more gun law will keep you safe.

Ray Sasser at the Dallas Morning News writes How to choose a shotgun that’s right for you.

Jeff Soyer: Rather than go after criminals, the Philadelphia Mayor and City Council have decided to become criminals themselves.

You know, it’s sort of refreshing to see a politician totally admit that they’re just totally going to ignore laws, procedures, court orders, and all that sort of crap. Usually they try to pretend that they’re doing the Right Thing or doing it For The Greater Good or something.

Sort of a “Why Settle For The Lesser Evil?” sort of guy. What a Nutter.

Proposed bill OKs guns in schools
Proposal would allow permit holders to carry

Individuals with a concealed-weapons permit would be allowed to bring their guns onto school grounds under a measure introduced Friday at the Arizona Legislature.

The proposal, Senate Bill 1214, would exempt concealed-carry permit holders from a state law that bars individuals from knowingly carrying deadly weapons onto school property. If it becomes law, the measure would allow teachers and anyone else with a valid permit to carry their weapon onto the grounds of any public or private K-12 school, college or university in the state.

This would obviously be big news if it passed. It’s clear that simple rules to keep all guns out of schools have failed utterly and that the total lack of defense for law-abiding citizens is beginning to get old.

Phoenix Democrat David Lujan and president of the Phoenix Union High School District board, predictably, is “uncomfortable with having weapons on school campuses”:

In the context of a school shooting, for example, he said the prospect of additional weapons in the hands of faculty or even students could “exacerbate the situation” when police arrive on scene and are trying to quickly identify the assailant.

In the context of a school shooting, “when police arrive” usually means after all the killing is over.

The comments section is full of loons, but this one is a keeper:

As a gun owner I am a strong supporter of the second amendment and CCW in AZ….BUT…do we truly need to allow parents to bring weapons to school to truly prove “whose dad is tougher”?

Right. I’ll believe that guy is a “strong supporter of the second amendment and CCW in AZ” when the streets run red with blood.

John Ray in Australia says

Expect heated debate.

You can say that again.

Not that this is a newsflash, or anything, but MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews is a Grade-A lunatic. Once upon a time I thought he was a decent host of a decent program, but he seemed to lose it during the presidential campaign in 2004 and he never recovered.

Newsbusters has the video of Chris suggesting that everyone be disarmed and that people walking down the streets get searched for weapons like in airports. Really. He really says “they ought to check people on sidewalks like they do getting on airplanes.”

I redid the transcript a bit because some important bits, in my humble opinion, weren’t quite right in the Newsbusters transcript. I think it’s important to note how Deroy Murdock reacts to Matthews’ claim Murdock supports carriers without licenses.

MATTHEWS: You know what I think? In big cities they ought to check people on sidewalks like they do getting on airplanes. And why an airplane should be safer than an American sidewalk is crazy to me. Why you can walk down the streets of an American city carrying a concealed weapon without a license is wacky.

MURDOCK: I didn’t say without a license! I think–

MATTHEWS: But that’s what’s going on. I’m talking about a different point here.

MURDOCK: No, people have concealed carry permits. They actually have to–

MATTHEWS: I want to see people disarmed.

MURDOCK: They are made to [inaudible] target practice–

MATTHEWS: I want people disarmed in our major, major cities. How’s that for a plan? I don’t think we should all be armed, and I don’t think more guns is the answer. I think it’s wacky to say that the solution to armed robbery and killing in our streets in big cities is to put more arms in the streets. Anyway, thank you Deroy.

It’s hard to know where to begin. I guess the first problem is that Matthews thinks that people walking down the street “carrying a concealed weapon without a license” is “wacky” and that his (presumably non-wacky) solution is to get licensed weapons off the street.

Right? That’s what gun control is. It’s the control of legal weapons. Matthews is arguing on national television that the solution to unlicensed concealed guns on the street is the elimination of licensed concealed guns.

At least he’s honest when he says that he wants to “disarm” people. Ask the US military, with over 150,000 troops in a country the size of California, how easy it is to disarm a population. They’ve been trying for five years and have got basically nowhere.

Apparently, Matthews has a magic wand that just makes all guns disappear.

Watching the video, it’s clear that both Matthews and Murdock (no relation, by the way) had talking points that they wanted to get out. It’s also clear that Matthews is unhinged.

As a commenter at Newsbusters says:

Wow…He not only wants to take away the 2nd Amendment but also the 4th with its restrictions on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Just so we’re clear on this: These people will stop at NOTHING to take away every gun from every citizen that they can. Half of the time, like Matthews here, they don’t even bother trying to conceal their goal.

UPDATE: More on this over at The Liberty Zone.

UPDATE 2: And even more here.

John Donovan points out Another veteran you might not mind as a neighbor… or walking through your mall. Great story, though it appears that it’s from this past summer.

I hadn’t heard this one, and as a police detective pointed out:

‘These criminals ought to realize that most men in their 70’s have military backgrounds and aren’t intimidated by idiots.’