Evangelical Superstars Should Keep Quiet When They Don't Know What They Are Talking About

Sometimes it's hard to categorize stuff.  Is it about guns and shooting or theology and the Bible?  In this case it's both.

I hesitate to write this post.  But I just can't seem to restrain myself.  As most of you know, I am a Presbyterian minister.  I'm not a pastor in the mainline liberal or progressive Presbyterian church.  That organization is scarcely identifiable as a Christian church any more.  I am a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). We broke off from the United Presbyterian church back in 1973 because of rampant unorthodoxy and modernist progressive social dogmatism in their seminaries.  But I digress. 

All of that to say that I identify with a tradition of straight-taking, tough-minded Calvinists that do not view the world through rose-colored, liberal glasses.

Read it all at Simply Shooting.

This one is a classic. If you haven't seen it, watch and learn.
Obviously, this buffoon didn't know the basics of handgun safety. So the government sends him to a school to give a demonstration of his idiocy. He shot himself in the leg, but he could have easily killed someone in the room.

The only deer I "shot" this year!

Ejected Casing & More

I love to capture the ejected casing in these kinds of shots. This is Jeffrey shooting a Sig P228 (9mm) yesterday. Yeah. His grip is squirrelly. I know. Hey, he's 15. He does what he wants.

I may as well give you a video, too. But in this video he's shooting an RIA (Rock Island Armory) .45 auto (1911a1 CS GI). See the picture below the video.



The RIA 1911 "Officers" 45 auto

Deer Hunting Report

Well, no deer this year. That's okay for me cause I got a big one last year. But I was hoping Jeffrey would shoot a big buck. No luck this time. Bummer. Here's some pictures of the mighty hunter.
On his way to the tree stand.
Waiting in the stand.

More Deer Hunting

Jeffrey and I are headed back out this afternoon. I was out of town during youth weekend and so he wants to get out on his own during regular rifle season. Looks like we'll have too nice, almost warm days. Not sure what that will mean for hunting.

Image of the Day - A Shelter in the time of Storm
St. Jordan's of Beaufort, MO

A Lost Art

This girl should be allowed to vote. I like John C. Wright's idea: make field stripping an AR-15 rifle a requirement for voter registration.

The Supreme Court Gets It Right!

The Supreme Court announced its decision in reference to the case in which plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the Washington DC's gun ban. The District of Columbia appealed a lower court’s ruling last year affirming that the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and that the District’s bans on handguns, carrying firearms within the home, and possession of loaded or operable firearms for self-defense violate that right.

The case marks the first time a Second Amendment challenge to a firearm law has reached the Supreme Court since 1939.

From the Supreme Court's conclusion announced today:

In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the
many amici who believe that prohibition of handgun ownership is a solution. The Constitution leaves the District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns, see supra, at 54–55, and n. 26. But the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table. These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home. Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment
is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

Read the entire decision here.

Randall .45 Slide Broke

Okay, you guys (and gals) that don't like guns, just ignore this post. Don't even look at it.

I've had my Randall .45 Raider (right hand, rounded top slide) since the early-80's. Never had a problem with it. I've put more than a thousand rounds through it. This weekend, while shooting it, the front end of the slide broke clean off. Here's the pistol with the crack in the slide:

Here's a closeup:

And this is to show that the whole front end just blew off:

Okay, so what causes this? I don't believe I erred when I reassembled it after I cleaned it last. I've done that so many times, I can't imagine not getting it right. Anybody have any clue? Hopefully I can get a new slide. They don't make Randall pistols anymore, but perhaps another 1911 style slide will fit.

Got the Ruger LCP!

In an earlier post I said I was looking for a new Ruger LCP .380. I couldn't find one in St. Louis. There are waiting lists at all the guns stores for this pistol. Well, on the way out to the church men and boys camp out this past Friday, just for kicks, I stopped by Champion City Guns in Redbud, MO, on highway 50. I didn't think I'd find anything, but I had never been in the store, so stopping in wouldn't exactly be wasted time. Has anyone ever wasted time in a gun shop? Nah. But right when I walked in I saw the Ruger in the case and couldn't believe it. His asking price was a bit over retail, but I don't blame him for that. I paid it.

The pistol is amazingly small. The .357 looks like a canon next to it. It fits in your front pocket with space left over. It's well made. It cycled the 50 rds I put through it this weekend without a single problem. Cool.

Oh Yeah, Trust Us!

What's wrong with this? Besides the fact that Boston officials are complete idiots.

Boston’s much-ballyhooed “safe homes” initiative hasn’t received a single call to search a home for guns in the nearly four weeks since the program was launched.

Program advocates had hoped parents of at-risk youths who suspect their children of stashing guns would be among the callers to the hotline, 1-888-GUNTIPS.

Under the program, aimed at taking the battle against gun violence into teens’ bedrooms, anyone can request a voluntary search of homes where guns are thought to be hidden.

Homeowners or parents sign a waiver allowing a search team of clergy and plainclothes Boston police assigned to the public schools to conduct the search. In exchange, cops promise not to arrest the offenders for illegal possession, saying the goal is to take as many weapons off the street as possible. Read the whole story.

From the field (Nov 10, 2007) . . .
. . . to my wall (April 2008).

Congratulations to Me!

Just got back. I'm tired. Very tired. Shot this eight pointer early this morning.

Update: Okay. More details. Had about three and a half hours sleep Friday night. Poker and all that. Got up before dark and got out to the stand. View from stand is half in the woods and half out into the cornfield (in the picture). After about 45 minutes on the stand I was dozing off. Not a good thing mostly because a drop to the ground wouldn't be all that pleasant. Glanced over at the cornfield and saw the buck's rack moving around. Hello. Where did you come from? The thing with deer hunting: you almost never hear them, they just show up out of nowhere. (That's why you can listen to a book on your ipod, but not read a book while in the stand. Gotta keep looking. But don't necessarily need to hear.) The shot was on my right. Because I'm right-handed I couldn't turn sitting, so I had to stand up and pivot 180 degrees in order to bring my rifle up and check him out. Couldn't see how many points he was right away. Kept looking but the drying corn was making it hard. Can't take a 6-point buck. Illegal in Gasconade county. All I could see was 6 points. Not good. The buck kept walking and zig-zagging away from me heading to the other side of the cornfield. Finally, when he was on the other side of the field and out of the corn I saw the 2 extra points I was looking for. He was ready to head into the woods when I aimed and squeezed the trigger. Boom. 94 yards away (used rangefinder afterwards). Deer jumped up (as they usually do when you have a good shot) dashed into and over a wood pile and down a draw. I thought I had a good shot, so I got down immediately and went to see the blood trail. Followed it for a few feet and saw the buck down about 10 yards away. Turned out that it was a perfect heart shot. Yeah, I know. I'm good. That's what my wife says anyway. Oh yeah, rifle used: Weatherby Vanguard 30-06 w/3x9 Leupold VX-II scope.

Nothing But Photos This Time

We didn't have much luck this year during the two-day firearms youth season. We didn't see a single deer on Saturday.


But we did shoot off some pretty cool fireworks Friday night.

Bow Hunting

It's time for my first bow hunt of the year. I'll head out in the afternoon after church, sit in a stand for a couple of hours before sunset, spend the night, and try again in the morning. I haven't arrowed a deer yet, so maybe this is the year. We'll see.

Looks like it will be hot. I just hope the mosquitoes lock onto some other source of warmth.

Guns & Games

Since I'm on vacation this week I've got time to play a few more games than usual. Jeffrey and I are playing through Gears of War together. It's okay, but not great.

One thing I really love about the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty games is their attention to historical detail, especially when it comes to guns. Shooting futuristic weapons in Gears and Halo is fine, but using WWII era rifles and machine guns is really cool. I just finished playing through Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360.

You might think, for example, that the best guns are the big machine guns, the BAR or the Thompson. They are fine for some situations. But the game has done a great job of making you appreciate the utility of the legendary M1 Garrand. Sometimes said to be the rifle that won WWII, it was a great semi-auto infantry rifle chambered for a 30-06 round. If you've ever actually fired one, you'll know that the kick is minimal, a lot like the AR-15 because they both have gas-powered systems that eat the recoil.

Anyway, I found myself carrying two weapons - the Tompson to clear out houses or for close combat, but once you get out into the open or are firing from a window, the M1 is the rifle to have. I used some of the discarded German rifles and submachine guns, but none of them worked as well as the American weapons.

Interestingly, a study was done by the Army's Continental Command Operations Research Office (ORO) in the 1950's analyzing the statistics from over 3 million casualty reports from WWII and the Korean war. Here's what they found:

• In combat, nearly random shots produced more casualties than did aimed fire.

• Rifle fire was seldom used effectively at distances greater than 300 yards.

• The majority of rifle fire casualties were produced at ranges of 100 yards or closer.

Add to this the research results of Gen. Marshall: he discovered that four-fifths of all foot soldiers in WWII never fired a round in any given battle. Think about it. There was one exception to this rule. The soldier who carried the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) or the Thompson almost always fired. And once men heard the automatic fire (from their side) they usually engaged.

By the way, studies like these led to the development of the AR-15, the most effective combat weapon for the foot soldier in modern warfare.

The Call of Duty 2 game has stunning graphics on a HD monitor. The lighting, muzzle flashes, etc. are done quite well. Sometimes I would just stop and look around and admire the graphics. At one point you find yourself on the outskirts of a French village just before a thunderstorm. They recreated the green-yellow atmosphere so well it was uncanny.

And the sound effects are wonderful. You even get the little metallic ping when the M1's clip is finished and shoots out of the top of the rifle.

Well, I hope my Call of Duty 3 comes before my vacation is over.

Oh, Deer Me

I thought about using my new AR-15 for deer hunting this year. But after seeing this I ordered a falcon from Cabelas. You really have to watch it a couple of times.

Catching A Deer With A Bird - Watch more free videos

Defending the Barn

This is my son having fun with MY birthday present! You can hear the rounds hitting the steel plate if you listen carefully. Well, so much for this blog being devoted exclusively to theology.