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Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Epstein and Justice For Dummies

Whenever the GQP is on the back foot over allegations of wrongdoing, there seems to be a renewed interest in the Epstein case by the right wing looneys.  The motivation is obvious, because the alleged list includes many influential democrats.  The looneys scream for justice because no one's been arrested except for Jeff and Ghislaine.  More accurately, they get themselves all lathered up over putting some democrats in jail.  I've decided to explain the reality of the situation, best I can, once and for all.

First, the list is bullshit.  You can tell this by how it grows each time it reappears; hell, I think the latest one has Franklin Roosevelt on it.  Also, there's literally no base evidence from which to compile it; it lacks any sort of provenance.  Again, bullshit.  

Second, even if we enter the right wing looney fantasy world and consider the list real, it literally proves nothing beyond these people visited the island.  

It would require one to be a complete fucking moron to think charges would be filed, much less a court convicting someone based on their name appearing on a fucking list of visitors.

What would be required is actual evidence of wrongdoing.  This means eyewitness accounts, victim testimony, video evidence, etc.  Even better to have testimony from the victims themselves, that the defendant hurt them while they were underage.  But this apparently doesn't exist.  Beyond the pedo pair, only perp I'm aware of the victim testifying against them is Prince Andrew.  Again, NO FUCKING EVIDENCE of a crime occurring.  Perhaps some exists, but it hasn't been revealed and I refuse to speculate.  

The best part about the right wing looney fantasy is they're all for punishing the shit out of someone whose name is on a list, but vehemently deny their Cheeto Face Idol was involved, despite the numerous photos of him with Epstein.  If there was a person who'd want to visit the island, it's Trump. Considering his obsession with his daughter, it wouldn't surprise me if Epstein had an Ivanka lookalike just for the bastard.  If the list represents flight manifests, Trump wouldn't show up, because he'd insist on flying his jet powered whore house.  

Others who'd fly their private jets would be Bill Gates and Oprah; they're much nicer than Epstein's.  I'm sure there are others on the list who own jets as well, but I'm not inclined to go through it again.  None of these would appear on the bullshit manifest list, either.   

In summary, those who think the list they've seen is real are gullible fucking morons.  Likewise, those angry no charges have been filed are again, total fucking morons.  Use your brains, idiots.  

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, March 16, 2023

An Evening With His Toy

 Warning:  This post is definitely NSFW and contains explicit descriptions of sexual intercourse between two consenting partners along with mild BDSM themes.  If either offends you, please close the window.  If you are under the age of 18, please close the window.  If you are named Jason, please close the window.  

Below is a true story about one particular evening with a former sub of mine.  She was fun.  

Per his instructions, she rang the doorbell at exactly eight p.m.  Looking through the side glass of the door, he could see her standing in her tie closure spring coat, with her conservative knee length skirt and flats; she exuded confidence.  To anyone who passed by, she looked all the part of the accomplished university professor she was, the epitome of prim and proper.  Well, a very attractive university professor.  At just under five feet tall, and weighing ninety pounds on an off day, she was petite in every way.  Most of her friends knew her for her keen intellect, endless optimism, and joie de vivre.  Only he knew of her other side; the side he created at her request.  He opened the door and she glided past him, not stopping until reaching the great room.  Catching up to her, he helped her with her coat.  Her attire underneath was a pleasant surprise; she wore a flowered, yet completely transparent top, her pert breasts unspoiled by a bra.  She knew he loved such surprises and did her best to please him, because that was her job.  She was his dirty slut, his property, and she took that role very seriously.  

As he admired her form beneath the gauzy material, he took note that her nipples already resembled little pebbles, in anticipation of what was to come.  He had a few twists to throw her way tonight that would excite her that much more.  Some nights would involve reminding her of her place, which would find her being shoved her to her knees and made to worship his cock, right in the foyer.  When she misbehaved, he would order her to finish him there, then turn her around and push her back out the door.  That always left her feeling both used and unfulfilled and she loved it.  But not tonight; he would put his toy to proper use.

As always, he offered her a glass of wine, knowing full well her Muslim beliefs would prevent her from accepting.  It always struck him that she refused to imbibe, yet welcomed, no, demanded the decidedly non-traditional treatment he would be subjecting her to shortly.  They sat on the sofa, chatting about this and that.  He enjoyed their interaction and could find an evening of deep conversation with her fulfilling on its own.  While they talked, he could see her become physically unsettled to the point where suddenly, she became the aggressor, straddling, then wrapping her arms around him and kissing him passionately.  Her body was giving off the unmistakable message of 'take me to bed and fuck the hell out of me'.  While such behavior was not in line with their roles, he very much did appreciate an aggressive woman, on occasion.

He grabbed her hair and yanking her head back, admonished 'not so fast, you seem to have forgotten something.  We'll take it to the bedroom.'

She was well acquainted with the most direct route and eagerly led the way, like a child who wants her parents to catch up so they can get on the roller coaster.  She stopped in the large, open area of his bedroom, and stood there, looking at him intently.  She knew what was expected of her, but being manhandled by him turned her on more than if she'd done it of her own volition.  A few seconds later, she got her wish, as he roughly shoved her to her knees. 

'You know you need to prove your worthiness as my whore and possession, before I touch you.  Now get to it.'

He barely got the words out before her hands were on his zipper, extracting his hardening cock.  She was on fire tonight and dispensed with the tease, instead devouring him to the root.  

'You've become such a good little cocksucker.  Perhaps I should share you with a few of my young subordinates, so you can show off your skills.'

She knew he was creating a mood and that he understood such an act was a bridge too far for her, for now.  That didn't prevent her from gushing a little over the thought of being used by multiple men.  And she really was proud of how well she'd learned to service a man, since he took ownership of her.  

Her eyes were glazed over with pure lust as she worked his now rock hard manhood with her lips, tongue, and hands.  He could see she was in her own world of desire and had to snap her back to reality, before she brought him to the point of no return.  She had become such a cum slut, that he barely recognized the naïve woman he'd begun training a few short months ago, incapable of providing a a pleasurable blowjob.   

He grabbed her arm, yanked her to her feet, then roughly shoved her, face down, on the bed.  Moving forward until he trapped her with his body, he snarled, 'God, you're such a whore...you come over here just to have my cock in you.  And you won't be happy unless you leave with my hot cum somewhere inside you.  Even if you didn't want it, I own you and can take whatever I wish.'

With that, he flipped up her skirt and shoved his cock inside her.  To someone observing the scene, it would genuinely appear as though she was being taken against her will, particularly the way he had to force himself inside her.  The truth was that this woman was petite in more than just stature and was always a tight fit.  Penetration took a bit of effort, even when she was soaked, as she was now.

Once inside, he began to slam himself into her, fucking her hard and fast, making sure to hold the angle he knew ravaged her sensitive g-spot.  She howled with pleasure as he took her.  It turned her on so much when her owner took what he wanted, her helpless to resist.  She could only let herself be in this position with a man she trusted completely, and her owner had earned that trust in spades.  

He grabbed her hair and yanked her head up so he could speak right into her ear.  

'Everyone else sees you as a respected university professor, but only I know what a slut you are.  What would your colleagues think if they discovered what you've become?  A dirty little plaything, who lives to be used like a whore, however I want, then tossed away until I wish to use you again.  You're nothing but a fuck toy.'

He kept hammering her, alternating between spanking her ass, pulling her hair, shoving her face into the bed, and twisting her arm around her back as he degraded her.  Each move was more extreme than the one before and he knew he was causing her pain.  This pleased him, not because he was a sadist, but because he knew pain, and lots of it, heightened her pleasure.  He derived pleasure from taking his lover places she'd never been before and pushing her limits.  Once again, he thought how reckless he had been, neglecting to establish a safe word, but such a precaution always proved unnecessary.  No matter how brutal he was with her, she always wanted more.  

'What are you?'

'I'm your whore...all of my holes belong to you.'

'And when can I use them?'

'Whenever you want!  I belong to you!'

She screamed nonstop as he pounded her and would orgasm every time he told her what a whore she was.  After he felt she'd been properly fucked in that position, he waited until he felt her building to another orgasm, then pulled out and told her to finish getting undressed.

She was frustrated and completely on fire, but she didn't dare complain.  She knew he wasn't done using her.  But she needed to cum, just the same...now.

'Lie on your back with your legs spread apart, like a good slut.  You know...your natural position in a bed.'

She complied.

'I think it's time for you to demonstrate what I've taught you about your body', he said as he sat down in a large leather chair in the corner.  'Show me that you know how to make yourself orgasm.  Give your owner a bit of a show, like a good girl.'

And like a good little fuck toy, she began rubbing her fingers around the lips of her battered pussy.   She maintained intense eye contact with her lover as the pleasure began to wash over her.  As much as she wanted to give him a proper spectacle, she needed a release.  With that, her opening act ended and she drove two fingers deep inside her sex, working her g-spot vigorously until her hips spasmed in climax.

After her body relaxed, she had a contented expression on her face and beckoned him to the bed.  Once he climbed in, she acted as like a sleepy kitten and snuggled up to her owner.  He held her and delivered kindness, a little laughter, and tenderness.  He hadn't yet heard the word aftercare. 

As they chatted, he saw she had something on her mind and looked at her with an expression that told her to just tell him.  In a barely audible and timid voice, she asked 'will you..to my butt tonight?'  He'd introduced her to anal sex a few encounters ago and she found she loved it better than vaginal intercourse.  

'You want me to fuck your ass?'

She nodded.

'If you want me to fuck your ass, you need to ask properly and not like an innocent little girl.  You're so far from innocent at this point...'  Chuckling, he let the remainder of the sentence hang unfinished.  

She looked him in the eye and said, 'Will you please fuck my ass tonight, sir?'

'Much better.'

With that, they began to kiss passionately, him holding her tightly, occasionally nibbling at her tiny neck.  Without much in the way of conscious thought or intent, he found himself inside her again, and rolled so she could ride him.  This was one of his favorite positions, because he could watch her pretty face, as she rode him.  It also allowed access to twist her nipples and give her the pleasure pain she craved.  

That reminded him of one of the presents he'd bought for her, and rolled over far enough to retrieve it from the bedside table.  She watched him as he brought the devices up and attached them to her nipples.  She breathed in quickly from the pain and thought to herself, 'Fuck, they hurt...it feels so good!'

'Thank you sir...I love them.'

With that, she began riding him in earnest.  The clamps hurt so good and he would occasionally apply downward pressure to the chain running between them, to further heighten her sensation.  She howled in both pleasure and pain as her hips moved.  Her already tight pussy gripped his hard cock with greater intensity as she neared her next orgasm.  He knew she wouldn't last much longer and she didn't.  She wailed at the top of her lungs and pounded his chest with her tiny fists as the wave of pleasure ripped through her body.  

He pushed her off of him and pulled her to the side of the bed, yanking her to the floor, and bending her over the bed again.  

'Do you want my cock in your ass?'

She nodded and gave a little 'mmmhmm'.

'No, I want to hear it.  Beg me for what you want.'

'Please fuck my ass; I need to feel your cock everywhere. Please fuck my ass!'  

While she was begging, he retrieved a bottle of lube from the nightstand, and put just a few drops on his cock.  She seemed to like it more when it hurt going in.  Grabbing her hips, he guided himself into position and drove his cock home, causing her to scream. 

'Is that what you wanted, slut?'

She could only wail in reply.

Once he built a bit of a rhythm, he began with the pain and degradation she loved so much.  This time, it brought out a little professorial monster.  Gone was the submissive, replaced by a unrepentant hedonist, completely on fire.  She began to taunt him.

'Are you spanking me?  I can barely feel it.'

He spanked her harder, leaving more pronounced welts on her ass with each swat.

'Surely, you can do better than that.'

He went safeties free and began wailing on her as hard as he could.  Administering more pain would require slugging the woman.  Yet, she continued to taunt him.  He began to wonder what he'd created.  But that was enough impudence from his possession; she needed to be taught a lesson.  Rather than continuing to spank her, he grabbed her hair, pulled her head up, and wrapped his hands around her delicate neck.  He'd never choked a woman before and he was a bit tentative at first.  Another taunt came and he tightened his grip, never letting up his assault on her ass.  He knew how her body reacted to every stimulus and could feel both pleasure and a touch of panic.  Perfect.  After a minute of so of this, she settled down and he removed his hands from her neck and paused fucking her.  With the restriction removed, she gasped for air.  She wasn't sure if she liked being choked or not.  It was definitely something she wanted him to do again, just to make sure.  

Reaching into the nightstand, he retrieved the other present he bought for her.  A remote control vibrating egg.

'Put this in your pussy...feel what it's like to have both holes occupied.'  

She complied and slipped it inside.  He could feel it on the other side of the wall between.  He recommenced his attack on her ass, with all the intensity he could muster.  No longer was he fucking her for her.  She sensed what was happening and how he was using her ass to make himself cum.  She began screaming, pleading for his hot cum.  That was the final check in the launch sequence; neither could stop it if they wanted to.  As they were barreling toward the grand finale of the evening's events, he turned the vibrating egg to its highest setting.  

That was all it took to push them over the edge with a vengeance.  She let out one final scream, then began to lose control of her body.  The combination of sights, sounds, and sensations drove him over the edge.  He snarled one last thing to her.

'I'm fucking cumming in your ass, whore. Take it like the cumslut you are.'

He flooded her ass with his load just as her orgasm reached its zenith.  Just as he pumped the last of his seed into her, what little control of her body she had left disappeared and she went completely limp.  Had his arms not already been around her, she would have dropped like a wet towel.  Instead, he held her until she regained a bit of control of her legs,  then assisted in getting her into his bed.  After her eyes refocused, she looked at him in awe and told him that was the most intense orgasm she'd ever had.

'Can I come over tomorrow night and do it again?'

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Giggle Switches - The Real Gun Problem No One's Talking About

In the shooting community, the term "giggle switch" refers to the select fire lever that takes a gun from semiautomatic to full auto fire.  Shooting full auto makes most grown 12 year old men practically giggle, hence the name.  A 1986 amendment to the Gun Control Act banned any further manufacture of full auto weapons not for military use. Therefore, there are a finite number of machine guns and that makes them expensive.  A garden variety Uzi will set you back 40k$!!!  Even a garbage machine gun, like an M11, will set you back $10-15k.  Also, legally obtaining a machine gun requires a lengthy and costly background check.  Owning an automatic weapon without the proper tax stamp is a felony and carries a lengthy prison sentence. 

Of course, not everyone wants to go through that hassle and some semiautomatic guns are super easy to convert to full auto.  The traditional gun for conversion was the AR-15, but it's been eclipsed by Glock pistols, which is even easier to convert.   

The part that instantly turns a semi auto into a full auto is an auto sear and the Glock version is becoming way too popular.  In fact, getting a Glock auto sear is a piece of cake.  If you have a 3D printer, there are plans on the web for you to print them.  If you don't, they're made by the thousands in China and shipped here.  Because they're small and frequently not identified by customs, they slip through without issue.  

The video below shows what an auto sear is and how easy it is to install.  


Here's a better picture of one hanging off the back of a Glock pistol.  



Full auto Glocks are extremely dangerous in two different ways.  First, in close quarters, they concentrate a lot of rounds into a tight space, which has been deadly for law enforcement attempting to gain entry into homes or when attempting to arrest a suspect.  The bad guy can literally spray bullets at their target; statistics say one will hit an area not protected by body armor.  

The greater danger comes from lack of control.  Because a long time friend is a gun dealer in Pennsylvania, I've had the opportunity to shoot a few full auto guns, including an M11, AK47, and M16.  On full auto, these guns were impossible to control beyond the first few rounds.  Keep in mind the last two were rifles, which can be held by both hands.  For that reason, today's battle rifle, the M4 (an M16 variant) has no full auto option; only three round bursts.    

Now, imagine the recoil forces in a pistol, where you don't have two hand holds.  The dork in the video below provides a perfect illustration - watch the gun jump around in his hands.


The inability to keep the gun on target, while dumping a 50 round mag, dramatically increases the risk of standers by being hit with an errant round.  And let's be honest, the individuals who use these guns aren't at the shooting range, honing their skills.  They've always been the type to spray rounds, which was already deadly to bystanders with semiauto guns, but with full auto, it's become even more perilous to be nearby when they decide to shoot someone.

My typical entry concludes with my thoughts on a path forward, but I don't see one with these devices.  They're cheap, easily obtained or made, deadly, and way too easy to get ahold of.  

This entry is part of my "Gun Series" that focuses on providing insight into the gun debate and gun violence.  You can find the other entries in the series HERE.  

About the author: Sean R is a recovering conservative who owns a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing.  He's been a competitive shooter since the early 90's and holds a High Master classification in PPC and a Master classification in USPSA.  Additionally, he's served as an instructor for gun safety and competition courses.  He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his overly vocal white dog, Sadie.


Wednesday, February 22, 2023

The Missing J6 Footage

I'll begin this post with a universal truth.  Under no circumstances is it ever legal or morally right to storm / enter the United States Capitol by force, short of Red Dawn happening.

The right wing was so proud of themselves on January 6th, 2021.  They'd shown the world they weren't going to stand for an election being stolen from their idol, Donald Trump.  Thousands of photos were posted to social media by those who stormed the Capitol by those who declared themselves to be patriots.  Then, they realized maybe not that they'd done something wrong, but that the majority of the country despised them for their actions.  The social media posts came down and the participants couldn't account for themselves on J6.  I don't for a moment think any were shameful about what they'd done; they just didn't want to go to jail.  

Under no circumstances is it ever legal or morally right to storm / enter the United States Capitol by force, short of Red Dawn happening.

Once they regrouped, the search began for mitigating factors.  In other words, they were looking for scapegoats to blame for their actions.  First, there was Ray Epps.  Why they chose him, I have no idea.  But he supposedly ushered the insurrectionists inside and was an FBI plant.  There were dozens of undercover FBI agents leading the charge, they said.  We weren't there; it was Antifa, they claimed.   That's my favorite one.  Clamoring all over these scapegoats is an implicit admission by the right wing looneys they don't think for themselves.  

Unfortunately for the insurrectionists, none of these lame diversions have stuck, so they're down to their last excuse, which is the tens of thousands of hours of security footage from that day.  They claim there's a reason that footage has been kept under wraps and that reason will absolve them of their blame.  

Under no circumstances is it ever legal or morally right to storm / enter the United States Capitol by force.  

There are two logical explanations why the footage hasn't been released.  First, beyond the hours of the siege, there's a whole lot of nothingness on the video.  Only an idiot would fight for the release of 10 hours of footage of the door to the ladies room that no one uses.  The second, and most important reason, is that there are most certainly cameras that show the routes to the safe rooms used by the members that day.  In other words, it would provide valuable information for their next try.    

The bottom line is this:  Unless there were signs posted at an entrance saying "Welcome Rioters", along with a tray of cookies, no valid excuse will ever exist for storming the United States Capitol.  

It doesn't matter if Jesus himself was in the building, spurring people on; it's still illegal.

Finally, it's dangerously close to treason in anyone's book to take over a chamber of Congress, smear shit on the walls, erect a noose and scream to hang the Vice President, or perform a B&E into Nancy Pelosi's office and trash it.  Any reasonable person knows doing so is flat out wrong and illegal.  

While we're on Pelosi, if you think she orchestrated it, congratulations, you're a fucking moron.  Trump held the rally, the speakers got the monkeys fired up, then Trump told everyone to converge on the Capitol.  Now, tell me again how Pelosi's to blame.  

Right wingers stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow a free and fair election.  But it seems the party of personal accountability has become that of whining and blaming others for their horrible actions.  

Thursday, February 16, 2023

The Impact of the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban

TLDR: The 1994 Crime Bill accomplished absolutely nothing because it did almost nothing.  Mass homicides remained at the same level and AR-15's were actually used in more of them during the time it was in effect.  

 Many folks I interact with point to the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban (AWB) as an example of a successful measure in reducing gun related homicides and mass shootings.  They posit that similar success would be a reasonable expectation with a repeat of the legislation.  I thought it might be a good time to explore the bill's accomplishments, from a data perspective.  Having begun shooting competitively during the ban, I'll also share firsthand insight in how it changed market dynamics.

For reference, the bill went into effect September 13, 1994 and sunset on the same day in 2004.

First, what was included in the bill?
Magazines - No magazines with a capacity greater than ten rounds could be manufactured or imported, after the effective date, except for those designated for law enforcement or military use, which were required to be conspicuously engraved as such.  It was a major no no to be a civilian caught in possession of these.  Magazines already manufactured or imported prior to 9/13/94 were grandfathered in.  

Assault Rifles - What we've (incorrectly) come to refer to as assault rifles weren't banned outright. Instead, they were watered down to not be so scary.  Rifles with detachable mags were only permitted one of the following list of attributes: pistol grips, bayonet lugs, collapsible stocks, or flash hiders, and grenade launchers.  Threaded barrels were banned.  As with magazines, those already manufactured or imported prior to 9/13/94 were grandfathered in.  There were other rules, but they weren't applicable to the topic at hand.  

What was the impact on gun violence?
Figure 1 shows gun related homicides from 1988 through 2011.*  While it's obvious the quantity dropped precipitously, while the AWB was in place, the numbers had already begun to decrease when the bill was implemented.  Also, it might be tempting to attribute the correlation between number of gun related homicides with the efficacy of the AWB.  However, if the decrease did in fact come from the AWB, murders would have returned to pre-ban levels once it sunset, which they didn't. This is another example where correlation doesn't equal causation.  



Figure 1

On the mass murder piece, Table 1 shows that there were the same number of incidents during the AWB as the decade prior.  There was a slight decrease in the number of fatalities.  However, the standard deviation on mass murder fatalities per event of 24.3, there's no statistical difference.   AR's were used in more mass murders during the AWB than in the decade prior.** 

For clarity, I use the FBI definition of a mass shooting (murder), which is an incident in which four or more people are shot and killed, not including the shooter, and the victims aren't related to the shooter.  (i.e. excludes domestic violence)

Table 1

Table 2 breaks out the numbers of incidents and resulting fatalities, across various time periods, between mass murders committed with AR's versus those that used another firearm.  You can see that the AR became more popular with mass murderers but didn't didn't become the most commonly used firearm until the most recent half decade.  I'll come back to that later.**

Table 2

What was the impact to the market and individual gun buyers?
Rifles - You could still buy those without issue.  There were plenty of used pre-ban AR's available for sale, although they'd more than doubled in price.  New rifles were plentiful as well, with manufacturers simply producing AR-15's without the features the government considered scary.  Don't believe me?  Pictured below is an AR-15 I bought brand new during the AWB to shoot 3 Gun matches (pistol, rifle, shotgun); it was just as capable as the ones I own now.


Congress was seriously miffed and pulled in the heads of Colt and Bushmaster to explain themselves.  I recall the president of Colt testified something to the effect of, "We're in compliance with the law; don't whine to us when you did a shitty job of writing it."

There were other dumb loopholes, as well.  The most egregious was the exemption for the Ruger Mini 14, which fires the same cartridge at the same rate of fire and holds the same number of rounds as an AR-15.  Just as lethal, but less scary.

Not Scary
Scary

"High Capacity" Magazines - Manufacturers did their best to compensate for the hi-cap mag spigot being turned off.  For example, in the months leading up to the AWB taking effect, Glock was using their entire sea freight allocation to bring in almost literal boatloads of hi cap magazines to include with new guns.  Other firearms manufacturers were taking similar steps, which meant there were plenty to go around at first.  If you weren't able to grab one with your new gun, there were plenty of hi cap mags available on the secondary market, for a price of course.  I recall the mags for my Sig P226 mags changed in value from $15 to $100 each overnight.  I was forced to pay $50-60 each for scruffy 30 round GI AR mags at the time.  Brand new, better designed versions currently sell for $10.  In other words, you could still get whatever hi cap mags you wanted, but at an inflated price.

There was another interesting loophole in that if you already owned hi cap mags, you could repair them (i.e. buy replacement components) if they were damaged.  I "heard stories" of my fellow competitors using this loophole to build new hi caps from components.  I will neither confirm nor deny doing so myself to support the new competition racegun I had just built.  

Ultimately, the numbers prove the AWB had almost no impact in reducing overall gun violence or the number of mass murders because it didn't really do anything meaningful.  You could still buy anything you wanted on the secondary market, at a higher price.  In reality, the AWB made the AR-15 more popular.  I've already written how a gun dealer friend of mine said that he had droves of first time gun buyers come in to his store to buy one.  He told me there were a few that literally walked in and wanted "whatever the government doesn't want me to have."  While this may be anecdotal evidence, consider that when the bill took effect, there were two manufacturers (Colt and Bushmaster) supporting 95% of the market demand for AR-15's.  After the bill sunset, new ones began coming online every year to support the spike in demand.  Now, there are no less than a thirty major manufacturers making AR-15's, which have become the most popular gun in the country. The author of the AWB was of course, Joe Biden.  Maybe a bit of irony the person who drove the greatest spike in popularity for a gun now wants to outlaw it.  

The facts above haven't prevented those who want semiautomatic guns banned from posting falsehoods and nonsense data.  The one I see most frequently is the chart showing how mass murders rapidly increased after the AWB sunset.  Anyone who understands cause and effect / the scientific method recognizes the chart as the bullshit it is.  The AWB was meant to decrease gun violence; was there a drop after the bill was put in place versus the decade prior?  That answer is obviously NO.  

In order to not perpetuate the falsehood that this piece of legislation was successful in its goals, I will no longer refer to it as the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban...it was the 1994 Crime Bill.

Update:  I've been made aware of at least two studies that contradict my findings with respect to the bill's impact on mass homicides.  The recent video from Robert Reich you may have seen relies on one of these.  Both clearly had an intended conclusion they were seeking and backed into it in some sketchy ways.  I'll address each and explain why I don't care about them.

1.  A Study Conducted by Stanford Law:  This is the one Reich used for his video.  This study utilizes the same dataset as I do, but alters the criteria of what a mass homicide is to SIX or more fatalities.  They justify this via someone's book I'm not paying $18 for.  My position is if the FBI's definition is good for the FBI (and is the standard most entities use), it's good enough for me.  We can all manipulate the data and reach any conclusion we want, which is why I'm transparent.  FWIW, another author called BS on their findings and this was the article responding to it.  In addition to data manipulation, they show a complete lack of understanding of how the bill impacted someone looking to purchase a gun (it didn't).  Plus, they were bitchy and petty about being called out.  

2. A column by some guy in the Ohio Capital Journal that references some nebulous studies by Dimaggio:  This guy copy pasted a chart from the Dimaggio study and provides a link for the data.  Said data only includes fatalities by year, with no detail, and those are hopelessly understated (by almost fourfold) versus the FBI's data.  Yet, he claims to have referenced Mother Jones, which if you read the footnotes, is the exact same source I use for mass murder data.  The data being wildly off and no detail on methodology make this piece a joke.  

In conclusion, I'm done with this topic.  I lived it as a gun buyer.  I easily and legally bought the shit it was supposed to ban, so I know how it impacted the availability of the guns it targeted (it didn't).  The data is what the data is and further debate on the subject is a waste of time.

**Source: Mother Jones Mass Shooting Database
***For the sake of simplification, I dumped all assault rifles into the AR(15) bucket, instead of breaking down the various subtypes, such as AK's, etc.   

This entry is part of my "Gun Series" that focuses on providing insight into the gun debate and gun violence.  You can find the other entries in the series HERE.  

About the author: Sean R is a recovering conservative who owns a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing.  He's been a competitive shooter since the early 90's and holds a High Master classification in PPC and a Master classification in USPSA.  As an instructor, he taught courses in gun safety and competition.  He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his overly vocal dog, Sadie.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Can We Ban Guns?

Every mass homicide brings out those who want to ban guns altogether in this country.  Unfortunately, reality says it won't happen, at least not in any of our lifetimes.  Rather than debate in 140 characters or less, I decided to put together a quick and dirty list of hindering factors.  There may be others, that I've missed.

Reasons a gun ban will never come to fruition:
2nd Amendment - It's not going anywhere and it guarantees the right to own firearms

Most members of Congress won't touch it - The topic is widely considered a third rail and an instant way to prevent yourself from being reelected.

Gun lobbies - They make massive contributions to GOP members of Congress, who don't want to lose that stream of funds.  

The population doesn't want a ban - Obviously, there is a portion of Americans who support a ban on guns, but it's a far cry from the much louder majority. 

The US isn't other countries - The gun culture is ingrained into American society, as I wrote here. That entry also talks about banning guns.  

If we confined a ban solely to scary AR-15's and similar weapons, we can probably skip the section above, because such a ban may come in the form of an executive order (that would be overturned by SCOTUS, but that's beside the point.  

Why a ban on guns would be next to impossible to implement:
For the purpose of this entry, I'm working within the context of an outright ban, with nothing being grandfathered in. 

Compliance - More accurately, lack of compliance.  Anyone who believes Americans will happily turn their guns over is completely out of touch with reality.  There will be a large number of firearms "lost in boating accidents" or "sold that thing years ago".  The criminals who own them most definitely won't surrender theirs.  

Enforcement / Confiscation - What happens when the government sends out their ATF jack booted thugs to collect guns?  First, it would be a matter of time until some junior ATF agent gets shot on someone's front porch.  Second, the folks tasked with confiscation would be the most likely to oppose such a ban.  "Nope, didn't find any this week."  Sheriffs in some communities have already stated they won't enforce a ban just on AR-15's.  That number would skyrocket in the event of a total ban on guns.  

Costly - The US government would be required to reimburse gun owners for the value of what was confiscated.  400 million guns in the US at a median cost of $800, means $320 billion for reimbursement.  There are some really nice and rare (read expensive) guns in peoples' safes that won't go anywhere without compensation being involved.

Finally, let's not forget the 50,000+ Americans who would be suddenly out of work, because of the ban, because that's the number who work in the firearms industry.  

Now, can we get back to the real work of addressing why people pull triggers? 

This entry is part of my "Gun Series" that focuses on providing insight into the gun debate and gun violence.  You can find the other entries in the series HERE.  

About the author: Sean R is a recovering conservative who owns a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing.  He's been a competitive shooter since the early 90's and holds a High Master classification in PPC and a Master classification in USPSA.  Additionally, he's served as an instructor for gun safety and competition courses.  He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his overly vocal white dog, Sadie. 

Friday, February 10, 2023

The Founding Fathers, AR-15's, and Goals

  Following President Biden's SOTU speech, the topic of banning this, that, and the other firearm has come to the fore once again.  Inevitably, this has brought out the anti gunners tossing out their usual talking points.  I've already covered how it's not guns that are responsible for the increase in gun violence, along with other fallacies.  Because of how inane it was, I refused to waste time on one particular claim, but someone pissed me off on the internet and here we are.  

This particular talking point pertains to "assault weapons" (i.e. AR-15, AK47, etc.).  The argument is that when they penned the Second Amendment, the Founding Fathers couldn't have envisioned something so vile as an AR-15.  The follow on is that they wouldn't approve of such a firearm being available to civilians.  

Anyone who thinks that possesses zero grasp of the Constitution and the history of the Bill of Rights.  The 2nd Amendment protects the rights of the states to maintain militias, for the sole purpose of preventing a tyrannical central government from overreaching. (I already wrote a lengthy entry on the 2nd Amendment; go find it).  Therefore, the Second Amendment specifically applies to weapons of war, whatever they may be.  It's ludicrous to suggest the Founding Fathers would have confined these militias to using muskets, knowing technology improves everything, weapons included.  

With SCOTUS's latest ruling that the 2nd Amendment applies to personal gun ownership, any ban would be unconstitutional and shot down by the corrupt right wing judiciary. 

And in case you've forgotten, the AR-15 isn't used in warfare; the M4 is, with its three round burst capability.

At this point, I'll once again, ask those who want a ban on AR-15's what they're attempting to achieve.  I've previously pointed out how these guns contribute to a very small percentage of firearm related homicides.  In 2021 (2022 data isn't available yet), ALL RIFLES accounted for <600 homicides, so AR-15's would account for considerably fewer.  

What's really important is how many lives you'd save by eliminating the AR and similar rifles.  Here's a quick calculation with some assumptions:
For 2021, ALL rifles were used in 578 homicides 
Being generous, let's say 70% of rifle deaths were associated with AR's - 405
However, it would be disingenous to say none of those homicide would have happened; the murderer would simply choose a different weapon.  I've used a 50% factor to calculate this difference.
Putting that all together, in 2021, there would have been 202 lives saved if AR-15's didn't exist.  

On the mass homicide side of the equation, those firing AR-15's were responsible for 386 homicides, SINCE 1982.  Obviously, some percentage of these murders would have still taken place, just with a different type of firearm.  Using the same 50% factor as above, 193 lives would have been spared, were the AR not available.  Again, this is from 1982 until now.  

Because everyone likes pictures, the two charts below illustrate two things; in what context gun related homicides take place and by which type of firearm.  Now tell me again how assault rifles are killing so many people in mass shootings.




Banning the AR-15 won't move the needle on firearm related homicides, so what are you trying to accomplish?

In conclusion, I'm not unsympathetic to the cause of decreasing gun violence, but as I've said previously, it's abundantly clear some aren't interested in root causes, but attempting to achieve a pipe dream.  Furthermore, such flawed talking points are useless in changing any minds, because they're flawed.

This entry is part of my "Gun Series" that focuses on providing insight into the gun debate and gun violence.  You can find the other entries in the series HERE.  

About the author: Sean R is a recovering conservative who owns a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing.  He's been a competitive shooter since the early 90's and holds a High Master classification in PPC and a Master classification in USPSA.  Additionally, he's served as an instructor for gun safety and competition courses.  He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his overly vocal white dog, Sadie.