A Nuclear Solution To Global Warming - BOOM:

Today's Starter Question for ten points:

 Do you seriously think that any ambitious corporation would budget to spend

1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS on upgrading it's nuclear arsenal unless

a/- It was run by profligate millionaire-morons.
or
b/- They intend to profit by using them when the time is right.
or
c/- Both a/- plus b/-.

____________________________

So - are you ready?

- we currently have a Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg inspiring voters to act in protest against 'Democratic Government's' corrupt inaction over oil & coal generated climate change .. and there is a small chance that this might be somewhat effective.

I wonder might Greta also lead the young to rise up against the greedy plutocracies that are considering a more rapid & immediate end for much of the worlds surplus humanity?

___________________________

Do you think that some "leader" has calculated that 'global warming'  might be successfully countered by a nice multi-purpose strategic  'nuclear winter'  ?

 Surely not ..😏

Bloody Hell - New Zealand's Not Even ON This Map ..

I've been thinking about this threat since around 1961 .

Cynical? - Who moi? .. Je pense pas.

Vincent van Gogh's 7mm Lefaucheux Revolver:

The 7 mm pin-fire revolver that killed Vincent Van Gogh was recovered in 1965 from the French field where he was shot in July 1890. The accepted tale is that he suicided .. but there is also a theory that he may have been accidentally shot when two young teenage boys were playing in that field .. no-one will now ever know.

A Lefaucheux 7 mm Pin Fire Revolver.

The Van Gogh relic condition revolver is offered for sale about now (June 19) by auction at Druout Auction House:
- It had lain in that French field for 75 years. The painter had survived for some 30 hours as the bullet deflected through his chest after hitting a rib - and contentedly smoked his pipe before leaving the world.

The Lefaucheux pin fire cartridge system was the first self contained cartridge system developed - patented in France in 1854 and around 12,000 of these revolvers were exported to either sides of the Mason-Dixon Line during the American Civil War.

The Lefaucheux design is said to have been the fourth most widely used sidearm in that dreadful conflict. Made in both France & Belgium in a range of calibers .. 7mm, 10mm, 12mm, & 15mm, - the roughly .44" 12mm was the most widely used in America.

This early cartridge type was fully usable and even re-loadable but it's power potential was restricted by not being fully gas-tight where the ignition pin emerged from the cartridge casing.

Cylinder Shell Ejector Pin Is Badly Bent.

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-90 was variously diagnosed as suffering from Acute Mania with Generalized Delirium, an episodic condition of Bipolar Disorder, Intermittent Porphyria, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Depression, malnutrition, insomnia, alcoholism, smokers cough, and was treated at different times for Syphilis and for Gonorrhea .. a razor-severed-right-ear and .. immediately prior to his death .. for a self inflicted bullet wound to his chest.

This painter-nutter is known for producing more than 43 self-portraits .. also for being a somewhat Self Obsessive and - intermittently a 'god-botherer'.

Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear And Pipe - 

He Liked To Paint Himself  (at least 43 Times).

Vincent is understood to have only sold only ONE painting during his confused life - giving most away .. but he'd no doubt be impressed (or depressed) that today many are valued at hundreds of millions each .. and that there is a Don McLean No.1 Hit song "Starry-Starry Night"  ('Vincent') written about him.

STARRY NIGHT - Painted 1889 In The Asylum: Worth $300 MILLION?

- It's a strange old world eh .. consider how modern medication might have effected both his behavior, talent .. and longevity.
Marty K.

11 SURRENDERED/BANNED WEAPONS Stolen From NZ Police:

New Zealand Police have launched an urgent manhunt to attempt recover the ELEVEN surrendered firearms removed from Palmerston North Police Headquarters.

UPDATE: Police have announced that Harris has been arrested in "the early hours of Saturday morning - but no firearms have been recovered.

Acting Commander Inspector Sarah Stewart today reports that the weapons were stolen at 07.40 THURSDAY morning by a person identified as Alan James Harris who left the premises by car.

The Central District Acting Police Commander says that this burglary is being treated very seriously.

Is this yet further evidence that NZ Police are not FIT & PROPER to be responsible for the custody and licensing of New Zealand firearms?

Commissioner Mike Bush has directed an investigation be conducted into how this offender was able to gain access to the Police station, as well as an immediate audit on security around firearms at all stations nationwide.

Marty K.

STECHKIN APS Machine Pistol:

One of my all time favorite books says (on page 683) this:

"This is a Stechkin APS pistol" he said, taking up the weapon and removing it's magazine He checked to ensure that there was no round in the firing chamber, and handed the pistol to me. "It is Russian .... you will find plenty of ammunition for it on the dead Russians, if you have to fight them ... and the only weapon with more bullets in it where we are going is a Kalashnikov"

The book is  SHANTARAM - a very BIG book by Gregory David Roberts who tells his own story of escaping from High Security prison in Melbourne - taking refuge in New Zealand (which he barely mentions) before taking to the criminal underworld of Bombay and fighting against the Russian occupation in Afghanistan. Warning Warning .. this great read is some 933 paperback pages & my copy is very heavy, grubby and curly .. but it would still warm at least three book-burning secret policemen for around an hour long vodka-break.

Further Warning: Do not try this at home .. unless you are a "reader".

STECHKIN APS & Holster-Stock.

Designed in 1948 by Igor S this is a twenty round select fire 9mm .. 9x18mm Makarov caliber blow-back design - with it's 750 rounds per minute rate of fire controlled by a spring-loaded weight RATE-REDUCER mechanism in the grip. The slide has a very long stroke that helps absorb recoil energy.

It's a nearly 70 year old Russian design .. and a similar(ish) modern pistol might be the select-fire Glock 18.

This APS is said to be a design reworked from the smaller Makarov Service Pistol - but it became outdated by the compact variety of Kalashnikovs however then regained it's popularity after wide service issue & use in Afghanistan during the Russians Soviet-Afghan War - an often bloody time occupying that sadly war-crushed Nation.

Readers will find all the APS data they want on the Wikipedia page;

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stechkin_automatic_pistol

And there is an excellent review video from Ian at Forgotten Weapons at:

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/stechkin-aps-the-soviet-machine-pistol/

and the firing fun bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn6LyFxlogE


.. My earlier blog on the SHANTARAM book is linked here .. This book really is a good read :

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2014/02/shantaram-and-knife-fighting-and-camels.html

.. so there you go then - the dated but versatile Stechkin APS,

Marty K.

"Handgun Stopping Power" Some FBI History:

Note: It is widely & well recorded that 80% of handgun shots fired by US law enforcement miss their target .. so shot placement (closely followed by penetration) must be of the highest priority when attempting to measure handgun caliber effectiveness.

The full sad story and background to The 1986 FBI Miami Shootout can be found here on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout

Within four years the FBI had adopted the S&W 1076 - a 10mm caliber semi-auto described by one expert as “that sh*tty Smith & Wesson,” .. it didn’t last long before the FBI moved on again.

http://www.recoilweb.com/shootout-in-miami-142459.html

..Subsequently Special Agent Urey W. Patrick titled his FBI report “Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness,” after an exhaustive study of the failures in the 1986 Miami shoot-out (still widely available in PDF format on the Internet). This is the upshot of his conclusion:

“Kinetic energy does not wound. Temporary cavity does not wound. The much discussed “shock” of bullet impact is a fable and “knock down” power is a myth.
 The critical element is penetration. The bullet must pass through the large, blood bearing organs and be of sufficient diameter to promote rapid bleeding. Penetration less than 12 inches is too little, and, in the words of two of the participants in the 1987 Wound Ballistics Workshop, “too little penetration will get you killed.”
 Given desirable and reliable penetration, the only way to increase bullet effectiveness is to increase the severity of the wound by increasing the size of hole made by the bullet. Any bullet which will not penetrate through vital organs from less than optimal angles is not acceptable. Of those that will penetrate, the edge is always with the bigger bullet.”

Too little penetration will get you killed. Period. Full stop."

____________

In 2015 - FBI Special Agent Ray Cook, the then current unit chief of the FBI’s Defensive Systems Unit, said that the bureau, which continuously tests various types of ammunition, began considering a return to the 9mm round in 2007 in part because of advances in ballistic technology.

Here is a Copy of the 2014 '9mm Justification' Study-Report:

http://soldiersystems.net/2014/09/25/fbi-9mm-justification-fbi-training-division/

- In my readings it appears that the 9x19 mm cartridge may be thought of as performing much like the popular & respected 38" SPECIAL revolver round but in a compact condensed higher pressure package.

 - not being a big fan of big bang theories - I have on-sold my excellent Ruger GP 6 inch .357 Magnum revolver and have upgraded to my latest precious Glock 19X 9mm .. while I've filled the revolver vacancy with two compact stainless steel 4 inch barreled Ruger SP101s .. a .22" L/R rimfire x 8 shot and my versatile 6 shot 327 Federal Magnum.

 - So much choice available .. how do my selections measure up in your eyes? - I think they are solid and reliably functional tools.

However .. it is self-evident that any US civilian or Service seeking true "STOPPING POWER" needs to carry a long-arm - not a handgun. - Handguns are seriously under-powered relative to a rifle or shotgun .. and need a degree of co-ordination and regular practice to be vectored effectively.

The FBI says:

“Most of what is ‘common knowledge’ with ammunition and its effects on the human target are rooted in myth and folklore. … Handgun stopping power is simply a myth,” the FBI said in its report. “There is little to no noticeable difference in the wound tracks between premium line auto law enforcement projectiles from 9mm Luger through the .45 Auto.”

“The Ballistic Research Facility has conducted a test which compares similar sized Glock pistols in both .40 S&W and 9mm calibers, to determine if more accurate and faster hits are achievable with one versus the other,” the FBI says. “To date, the majority of the study participants have shot more quickly and more accurately with 9mm caliber Glock pistols. The 9mm provides struggling shooters the best chance of success while improving the speed and accuracy of the most skilled shooters.”

Marty K.
P.S. 
Many people are currently perceiving a threat from privately owned guns .. But:

  - During the final days of the Nixon administration, when the president seemed depressed and was drinking heavily  - Nixon had stoked fears when, among other things, he had reportedly said to a congressman that “I can go in my office and pick up a telephone, and in 25 minutes, millions of people will be dead.”

The current US administration plans to spend more than 1.2 Trillion Dollars on maintaining & upgrading it's nuclear arsenal in the next few years.

M.K.

'Prepper' Combustibles In My Garage

Junk like plastic drinking straws, cotton-wool, body-filler-bog, petroleum jelly, brake fluid, pool chlorine, old bike inner tubes, Bic lighters, Canola cooking oil, 1/4 inch brass rod, old knives, para-cord, baked-beans(?) 😃 engine oil .. all sorts of useful crap clutters MY garage* - how about yours?

- Here's today's starter question for 10 points: Why don't the oil giants squirt their oil into containers that are specifically designed (& colored red ) - to be re-used as spare FUEL CONTAINERS after you've changed your oil - instead of making more plastic crap to be dumped?

Anyway - I won't disclose what can be done with plastic straws, "bog", pool chlorine, & brake fluid - but revolver shooters can use fat straws to carry .22" R/F rounds stacked ready for re-loading - and weight aware outdoorsy types can pack their fire-lighting starters into straws as here ..

The Mountain Guerrilla says:
"One of the best tinders available, as most people know, is petroleum jelly on cotton balls. What Alan did was take those cotton balls, and shove them into a length of plastic drinking straw, then heat sealed the ends closed. So, in a piece of straw about an inch long, you’ve got enough tinder to reliably start a decent fire, and the plastic in the straw means it burns slightly hotter and slightly longer, than just the cotton ball and petroleum jelly combination. Best of all, I can carry four or five of those in my wallet, and forget they are there. Three drinking straws, from a drive-through soda, and you’ve got enough to start a fire every day for a month or more. That’s a month of fires for basically less than a dollar (I can buy a 100 count of cotton balls at the Dollar Store for $1, and I can buy a tub of petroleum jelly, at the same store, for another $1. Hell, if I paid another dollar, for a pack of 100 straws, and divvied it up, I BET I could get a year’s worth of tinder for $3. In fact, I may try that!), and it will take up less room in your pack than most other types of tinder would for a week’s worth of fires"

https://mountainguerrilla.wordpress.com/2019/04/08/the-more-you-know-the-less-you-need-a-personal-example-of/

- Anyone who hand-loads pistol ammo will know what a brass rod is used for .. and canola (rape-seed) cooking oil is what much expensive gun oil starts as 😙 before they package it for sale as wonder-person-miracle gun lubricant.

.. And - like the 'm.g'-man says - why buy an expensive water bottle when a used "soda" bottle does exactly the same job?

You know, - the Marketing People (bums paid to lie) have got a lot to answer-for when they arrive up at the "Pearly Gates"  ... ah but I forgot that it was them that invented the pearly gates in the first place ..

But what would I know - a 75 year-old still with teen-age spots? .. there's one born every minute,

Marty K.
* Judging from UK TV .. house-owners there have converted all their garages into extra bedrooms.

US GUN DEATHS 2017. - CDC Figures:

The latest gun fatality figures released by the US CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL are being reported as "almost 40,000 killed".

The actual figure as stated is 38,658 firearms related fatalities - but this includes 23 thousand gun suicides. - Removing those voluntaries leaves 15,549 killed .. then subtract from this figure 2,015 "unintentional deaths" to arrive at "shootings" third person intentional violent deaths numbering 13,544 from a population of 328.5 million ..

Note: there are recorded some 45 Thousand US suicides by all means every year.

10% of that 13,544 annual number - around 1,000 - 1,350 are variously recorded as police shootings of criminals.

.https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-americans-do-cops-kill-each-year-480712

EVERY sudden death is a tragic loss of someone's beloved family member.

However as a comparison .. John Hopkins Medical Research lists Medical Misadventure as the third largest cause of fatality in US at more than 250,000 every year. This encompassing category includes various medical complications such as abnormal reactions to medications & infections etc .. Medical Misadventure does not equate to an 'iatrogenic' cause of mortality.

Note: There are 2.744 Million total deaths each year in USA - where average life expectancy is 78.6 years. The biggest cause of mortality is Heart Disease while Cancer is number two followed by 'medical misadventure'.

A further perspective would be to consider that in one year (2014) twice as many - 28,360 Indian citizens were killed there in railway accidents.  (BAN INDIAN TRAINS?)

It would be surprising to hear of these other massive losses of life in the same kind of lurid reportage as is used to vilify private gun ownership.

But we are getting so used to being deliberately fed "fake news" - that the habit has evolved of just picking any quote that supports ones beliefs and bias's while shouting louder .. Eh 😎

Marty K.

Hotchkiss Cannon & London's Wooden Block Roads:

My old pommy mate Mick (well .. he's one day younger than me - but there you go) was reminiscing by e-mail about the time when road workers dug-up the Kilburn High Road / Edgeware Rd. in London and the lads were selling-off the coal-tar creosoted timber blocks to the locals for firewood.

- We were actually recalling the Great London Smog of 1952 - when we were 8 years old - that brought transport to a crawl over many days and is blamed for thousands of deaths from respiratory disease .. anyway - remembering another good mate's advice that "Google is your friend."  I found a quality blog page that answered all my questions about London's roads being paved (not with gold) but with hardwood blocks in the 1860-1870s.

 I reckon that it might have been around 1954-55 when the navvies were making cash by selling-off the lifted old A5 'Watling Street' wood blocks for the Kilburn locals open fires .. probably at sixpence for a dozen.

http://roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/wood/

- However - one of the entrepreneurs who developed his own system and business for paving the city roads of Paris and London with wooden blocks was American Benjamin Berkeley HOTCHKISS who had worked for both Colts and Winchester before moving to Paris to make and sell his hand-cranked 37 mm CANNON (That's a 1.5 inch caliber) to the warlike Europeans.

 Australian Jarrah and Karri Eucalyptus Hardwood Proved To Be the Best Roading Timber.

Five Barrel Hotchkiss Cannon Business End.

A Hotchkiss in GERMAN East Africa.

The early Hotchkiss Cannon of 1872 was hand cranked to fire 68 rounds per minute superficially much like the Gatling Gun .. but very different internally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_gun


http://oldbritishguns.com/the-37mm-hotchkiss-revolving-cannon

Hotchkiss formed two road building companies as well as his French gun making plant .. Mr Hotchkiss (1826-85) was a bearded bigamist who obviously had an active brain and an eye for a buck, - His company Hotchkiss et Cie continued making guns through two world wars - and Hotchkiss cars were built from 1903 into the 1950s - trucks etc into the 1970s ..

1931 Hotchkiss.

Marty K.

Amritsar Massacre / Jallianwala Bagh Massacre:

The Government of GREAT BRITAIN is widely reputed to be so concerned for the welfare of it's ordinary citizens that it bans the possession of nearly all firearms - other than those held by it's own military and Law Enforcement forces:

However the British are currently angrily debating if they need to publicly apologize for 'The Amritsar Massacre'  13 April 1919 - One hundred years ago - the British-Indian Army brutally gunned down many hundreds of unarmed civilians gathered in a walled garden park in the Punjab.

After The Amritsar Massacre.

Naturally the numbers of innocent victims is disputed - but the despicable use of maximum force is acknowledged by history. - How can you not apologize?

The Wikipedia page is an accurate record:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

Personally I have no hesitation in apologizing to the people of INDIA for this historic brutal attack on their ancestors.

I also feel that the Islamic folk of Christchurch too deserve our sincerest heartfelt apology and sympathy for their recent shocking tragic losses.

Marty K.

Shot Twenty Times, (& Sixteen) But Survive:

Once again all credit is due to TFB for blogging this first survival story from The New York Times:

Mr Kenny Vaughan way back in 1995 was shot TWENTY TIMES but avoided potentially deadly wounds by making himself hard to hit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/nyregion/03shot.html

I don't really have anything to add to the article .. But you will no doubt be thinking about it for some time after reading it.

- Another man, Joseph Guzman - was hit sixteen times by police in 2006 but also survived.

- His story linked below is complete with surgical detail:

https://survivor-story.com/joseph-guzman-survived-being-shot-sixteen-times-by-police/

- I wonder is survival strongly linked to the will to live .. or conversely to the belief that being shot means you are finished? - I'd opine that prompt expert surgical attention is likely more critical eh.

Marty K.

High Capacity Magazine BANS:

"No honest man needs more than 10 rounds."

Those words are reputed to have come from that fine engineer Bill Ruger the founder of 'Sturm Ruger & Co' in 1949. - Naah he didn't say that in 1949 but I guess he might have said it sometime (maybe 1992) before he passed in July 2002 - Bill was a dynamic guy who loved his guns and his cars.

RUGER Mini-14 Magazines .. Ruger's Small 10 Round Magazines Are Reckoned To Be a 'Betrayal' & Terrible in Some Circles 
- As Are The Higher Capacity Units In Others 

There are to this day STILL folk who seem to want to spit when Ruger's name is mentioned - feelings run high and deep. - In all fairness there is also as big a crowd of passionate haters for Smith & Wesson since they started building their revolvers with a "stupid" internal 'lock' mechanism in 2000.

Today, all around our world and particularly here in New Zealand - high capacity magazines and "assault rifles" - along with their owners - are being blamed for the deaths of innocent victims .. and together with "military style semi-autos" .. have now been BANNED.

This is because a majority of ordinary people really can't see why anyone needs so much 'fire power'.. These good people right now are shocked and grieving following the evil killings of 50 innocents in Christchurch.

There's nothing new in the opinionated having as loud a voice as those who actually have experience & knowledge about these firearms and their workings.

However shooters doubt that a restrictive legal ban on any 'style' of gun will end acts of terror or general criminal mayhem. - Indeed our NZ Police themselves favor this same style of weapon for defense against violent crime.

I once was invited to sign an anti-air-gun petition calling for some aspects to be made illegal that were already unlawful .. & had indeed been illegal for decades. - When I tried to explain why I declined to sign - a heavily built outraged parent became very bellicose.

In all fairness there are strongly held arguments and justifications in both directions - but as the world gets smaller and ever more crowded - the opportunities and need for privately held sporting arms is decreasing - while the clamor for disarmament will inevitably get louder. - Guns for self-defense come under a whole other argument related to civil rights.

One sad aspect of our local reaction to the horror of the 'Mosque Massacres' - is that some 240,000 of New Zealand's finest steady citizens - who have been examined, approved, endorsed and repeatedly checked as Fit and Proper to own and use firearms .. seem now to be blamed as a causal noxious sub-group to be both contained and punished.

Any government or law enforcement service that chooses to vilify hundreds of thousands of a nation's most honorable, law-abiding and upstanding people - has gone badly off-course.

Marty K.
P.S. Welcome news is released of NZ Police drug raids on Comancheros gang houses - with drugs & high value vehicle seizures. - I think it strange how our police still seem preoccupied with stock style & seem to rate a shotgun as more deadly when fitted with a "free standing pistol grip":  "About $60,000 of cash and firearms have been seized, including a loaded pistol at one address, and a MSSA pistol grip shotgun and rounds of ammunition at another."

Russian Revolvers & Longarms In US:

Am I showing my dumb here? .. likely but I don't care .. because I think it's a shame that multiple good Russian designs have never made it out into the daylight where they'd be affordable.

- Surely Donnie would do a deal for a few Trumpushka Towers on the Steppes? .. The US government buy plenty of Russian rockets to launch their American satellites .. but not civilian firearms? - & the US manufacturers haven't shown much interest in a commercial partnership to date .. too much like competition.

The problem seems to be that the free market US has repeatedly banned Putin's imports - checkout Obama's 2014 Executive Order 13661.

The BATFE is used as a big hammer to shape the American weapons market - all that crap about silencers having a $200 machine-gun registration tax .. Back in 1996, Clinton entered the U.S. into a “Voluntary Restraint Agreement” with Russia that banned the importation of several types of firearms following a similar move earlier in 1989 by George H. W. Bush,

A 9 mm Bottom Chamber Firing BREAK-ACTION.

REX Top Break 357" MAGNUM Revolver.

Nosorog (Rhino) 9MM uses Full Moon Clips.

Check-Out The 'Swing' Action Of This Silent STECHKIN.

One beautifully made early .22" target pistol I should never have sold was a Russian Margolin MCM - well finished quality tools and very affordable.

- Where did they all go to?

There has to be an answer to getting these red revolvers built & distributed. - All that poisonous mind altering drugs-shit seems to flow freely in and out of borders in the Americas. Why don't Kalashnikov USA set-up to manufacture some solid quality handguns and let 'The local Market' sort it out freely?

 - Ship over the machinery .. and the staff for an overseas experience - call them Spiff & WestKal .. Mmmm nachos and burgers for the workers - заводской рабочий.

SAIGA.

Donnie's Citadel Tower NYC

Can't someone "Get on with it?"

Marty K.

P.S.  On the US home market for handguns ... How many months is it since Standard Manufacturing was taking orders for it's interesting TWO BARREL .22"WMR eight chamber but FOUR shot revolvers? - Where are they?

- You can now send me a wee support $ - starting from $1 to get all this stuff from New Zealand:        https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

The NZ MSSA Ban - A False Start:

I have received a copy of the Second Reading of the Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Bill

View it & read it yourself .. Link to the House of Representatives document:

https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/SCR_86606/d390ad91a9369f8482d2050648e1074226dee11c

Sadly - It is apparent right from the very first opening paragraph that any hope for a reasonable fact based consideration of firearms regulations is futile and wasted:

First paragraph (first sentence):

"About the bill as introduced
 On 15 March 2019 an armed person carried out a mass shooting at the Al Noor and Linwood Mosques in Christchurch using legally held semi-automatic firearms. Fifty people were killed and a similar number suffered serious to moderate injuries."

.. I surely don't need to correct that false statement and point-out that the main weapon used was an illegally modified and unlawfully possessed restricted firearm ..

This is an official Parliamentary document that is being used to alter important LAWS ..

Marty K.

Christchurch Massacre Trial Detail:

The NZ HERALD report about the Christchurch "Mosque Massacres" dated 16 March in part states:

"It also emerged last night that a prominent member of the Muslim community fought back against the gunman, firing two shots at them as they sped away. He was heard telling police officers he was firing in "self defence"."

I have no other information or confirmation of this important claim.

Link to this NZ Herald story:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12213150

It is possible that this reported armed resistance to the murderer may have been effective in saving innocent lives at the Linwood mosque and all interested parties need to follow the trial evidence for accurate detail regarding this part of the attack.

____________________________

Concerned shooters .. and that must be ALL of us - need to hold our deep hurt and grief permanently large in our minds following that scum's awful Christchurch killings 

- BUT we have also to turn-out and join the nasty game that our sometimes venal politicians have started to play - along with the poorly informed ANTI-GUN crowd.

WE are being 'scapegoated' and our gun rights ** attacked.

The politicians have to be seen to do something - to be decisive. - Indeed many of us shooters agree that the existing regulations were faulty in various areas.

The GUN Banners can taste a victory in their long-time simplistic stance that "GUNS KILL .. GUNS ARE EVIL".

We all need now to join and support either or BOTH  COLFO & SSANZ as these spokespeople need our support and funding .. NOW 

We forcefully stand accused of being part of a powerful gun lobby - but money for travel and legal representation will be essential if we can hope to even hold these political 'players' to a draw.

** Our Gun Rights are exactly that .. they are NOT a 'privilege':

.. Article 7 of our British AND New Zealand Bill Of Rights clearly states:

Bill of Rights 1688 (February 13).

" Subjects’ arms. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law:"

- By the passing of the (NZ) Imperial Laws Application Act 1988 - the British Bill of Rights, unmodified, became part of New Zealand law.

____________________________

Marty K.

Young Woman Fires 97 Historic Guns:

Mae fires 97 historic firearms without once flinching - handguns, revolvers, carbines, battle rifles and even full autos .. she may shake a little at times but there's that lovely smile for each firearm from each nation.

- There's even The Pederson Device.

What a great "encyclopedic"  hour and a half C&Rsenal video. Superbly put together 😄.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7emUP4SiV74

Go on .. treat yourself,

Marty K.

If you truly are in a hurry - there is a brief condensed version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwu-2RbKFA

NZ Licensed Shooters Are Being 'Scapegoated':

New punitive anti-gun restrictions here are being pushed through into New Zealand Law with scant regard for democracy (or The Law). Very short notice was given of only two days being allowed for written submissions and ONE day only for sixteen invited speakers to address the committee.

When a society is put under stress it's members look for somebody to blame and punish for their problems. - Consider the way that overcrowded rats start fighting and biting at each other as one example of this.

The scapegoat theory of intergroup conflict provides an explanation for the link between hard times and increases in prejudice and violence toward out-groups.

 - In this very emotional time - following the cruel shootings & murders of 50 innocent worshipers in two Christchurch mosques - licensed firearms owners are being regarded as members of an outsider group and held responsible without trial.

Wikipedia says that:

 In the Bible, a scapegoat is an animal that is ritually burdened with the sins of others, and then driven away. The concept first appears in Leviticus, - in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community.

- There is also a similar unjust system of the 'Whipping Boy' in slave owning societies .. where there was a tradition of bringing-up aristocratic young boys with a slave companion .. and it not being socially acceptable to punish or strike a member of the noble master classes - his slave was scapegoated for any youthful criminal act.

To correct the young master's behavior, it was custom to subject his young slave to punishment, such as flogging. The master-child would be made to watch his companion-slave undergoing the flogging, thus inflicting the lesson upon him. The physical suffering being seen as too cruel to inflict upon aristocratic children.

Shooters hoping for logic, common sense, or even basic justice are wasting their time - as our shocked and grieving country is in no mood for reason.

Ordinary folk need their SCAPEGOAT to punish for their shock and horror - and we gun owners are being pointed at by the GUN-BANNERS as the guilty ones.

Marty K.