Leather for the XO

I love the unique contour of the slide on the Sig Sauer 1911, but it makes holster selection tricky.  Blade-Tech makes their Stingray model for the gun, but most other makers aren't supporting it yet.

That means custom work, so I contacted Tom Dyer, and as usual, he came up with an elegant setup.

The Morning After

While CNN frets, Cairo rejoices.

When Hosni Mubarak announced his resignation, Egypt exploded.  Not in strife or anger, but in triumph and elation.  My sister and her husband were present at the celebrations in Tahrir Square, and they sent a few pictures.

I've rarely seen the spirit of hope and optimism so eloquently conveyed.

Seefeel

Last fall, Seefeel showed up out of the blue to perform new material at Warp's 20th Anniversary concert. An EP titled Faults was released shortly thereafter.

This came as something of a surprise, as I hadn't heard anything from them since 1996. It's hard to grasp that it's been 17 years since I first heard them on the astounding Pure, Impure EP.

Lots of things from that period sound pretty dated. Surprisingly, Seefeel's output doesn't.

Cairo

I have a bit of personal perspective on this.  My sister and her husband teach at the American University in Cairo.  They were with me for the holidays, and they returned last Tuesday.

The day they left, we had been hearing about a few student protests.  That was the extent of it.  We were heartened by the departure of the Ali government in Tunisia, and while we suspected this to be the spark of the rallies in Cairo, nobody expected the situation to erupt with such swiftness or power.

By Thursday, the internet was shut down, as were the cellular phone networks.  We had communicated by VoIP, and that link was now severed.  I was left to wonder and worry as activism turned to unrest, then to violence.  Historical patterns like this never bode well.

The Usual Suspects

None of this is anything new, novel, or unexpected.

Carolyn McCarthy will be presenting a bill [pdf] on Tuesday, as yet un-numbered, to "prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices, and for other purposes."  Yes, she's capitalizing on Saturday's tragedy in Tuscon.  Yes, it's revolting.  No, I really don't expect any better out of her.

Before anyone panics, let's remember that Ms. McCarthy has attempted to reintroduce the Assault Weapons Ban every single session since 2003.  It has never made it out of committee.  Tuesday's bill will be met with the same crushing apathy.  It will not pass.

Next, consider Peter King's proposed bill to ban the carry of firearms within 1000 feet of a federal official.  Such a thing is utterly unfeasible to implement.  Would police have to pat down every WalMart customer when a local politician goes shopping?  What happens when your Senator wants to go to the range?  Must everyone else clear out?  That seems pretty lonely for the guy.

It's silly, it's unworkable, and our new Speaker of the House is hearing none of it, so take a deep breath and go do something interesting with the rest of your day.

Snow Day

Heck of a snowfall today, and not something Dante gets to see as often as he'd like.

Rhetoric Has Consequences

As the news came in about the shootings of Gabrielle Giffords and Judge John Roll, I was sadly reminded that her office was one of those targeted by the so-called window war following her vote in favor of the health-care bill.  I'm not saying that any group or political stripe bears the sole blame, but we all need to step back and take a look at the rhetoric we're tolerating from elected officials, the media, and from some in our own ranks.

In the months following the 2008 election, I lost count of how many times I heard some seemingly normal person blurt something like, "I wouldn't pull the trigger, but I wouldn't cry over ______'s grave, either."  There was talk from armchair revolutionaries about it being "time to vote from the rooftops."

There was more of it after the health-care vote.  In the 2010 mid-terms, we were treated to Sharron Angle's drivel about "2nd Amendment remedies," and Sarah Palin's PAC ran an advertisement (now removed) portraying literal targets on the names of Democrats they hoped to unseat.

Words often have unpredictable effects.  Tact and diplomacy have been thrown to the wind the last few years, and the whole landscape has gone from uncivil to bewildering and disturbing. I'm well aware that nobody put the gun in this guy's hand and forced him to do this, but at some point, the atmosphere has an effect on the suggestible and unbalanced.

Politicians and commentators on both sides of the aisle will no doubt use today's tragedy to claim that it justifies their respective agendas.  If it must be used for anything, it should be as a call to reason and civility.

(It should also be mentioned that Giffords was a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and that she signed on to the congressional brief in support of the Heller case.)

Sig Sauer 1911 XO

To this day, the steel-frame Government model remains the apotheosis of the 1911 platform.  Everyone has their own take on the design, some successful, some not so much.

After a few false starts, Sig has gotten it right.

Many Bothans Died to Bring Us This Information

Let's just say I know a guy who once knew a guy who once sniffed paint with Julian Assange in college.  He sometimes gets, shall we say, privileged information.  Some of it is highly classified, as is what I'm about to share with you.

Seriously, let's not put this all over the internet, people.

We all know that the SCAR Mk-16 was recently dropped by SOCOM, and the government claimed they were going back to the M4.  I now have evidence that this is not the case, and that a vast government cover-up is at work.

“He Had Caps, Mike”

In the movie Serenity, Joss Whedon defined "hero" as "someone who gets other people killed."

Bill Husfelt and Ginger Littleton would have done well to know that.  Mr. Husfelt was apparently laboring under the impression that the gun held by Clay Duke was loaded with blanks.  After a security officer shot Duke, Husfelt remonstrated the officer as follows:

He had caps, Mike.  That's what he wanted right there, Mike.  That's why I was trying to talk to him:  I knew.

Perhaps Mr. Husfelt didn't notice the very real bullet holes in the floor and wall behind him.  When he chose to launch into a condescending lecture to Duke under the impression his weapon was harmless, he gambled the lives of every one in that room.

Then there's Ms. Littleton.  If you're going to play the hero and attack the bad guy, you'd better be able to stop him, because if you fail, there's a good chance that you're the one who pushed him over the edge.  Littleton's impulsive, impotent, and stupid purse-swinging antics could have gotten everyone in that room killed.

I find it even more worrisome that Ms. Littleton was safely away from the scene before she chose to re-enter and engage.

Look, folks:  our first clue things are going badly is when a guy spray paints a symbol on the wall and produces a weapon. That generally doesn't bode well. You don't have the option of wondering whether it's loaded, or whether he really means harm with it.  You assume the worst and act accordingly, especially when the lives of others are on the line.

...and I Am All out of Bubblegum

Who's Captain Tactical now?  Huh?  I can't hear you!



That's right, baby.  I am.

Then There Was One

I subscribe to a few anti-gun mailing lists. As such, I get weird emails from time to time. Some are ludicrous, some are informative, and lately, most of them carry a certain air of desperation.

Today's example: a request from the Wisconsin Anti Violence Effort urging me to sign a petition against reform of Wisconsin's carry laws. According to the petition,

Research shows that allowing more people to carry guns in more places will lead to one thing -- more tragedies.

That's odd, because most statistics I've seen prove quite the opposite. Perhaps if they'd provided a citation, I could research their allegation further. Alas, none seems forthcoming.

Not that it would help much. Carry reform in Wisconsin, though long overdue, is all but inevitable.  Once passed, Illinois will be the last state in the union that completely bans concealed carry.