Wilder: "Diversity + Proximity Still Equals War"

John Wilder's latest piece takes a look at the inevitable Balkanization of Western nations due to mass immigration. As he notes, the most fecund peoples currently are in sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan and, until very recently, India. They are also the most mentally challenged people in the world. And they will be coming to a country near you. 

More On The Proposed Restrictions On Air Rifles

The Truth About Guns has more about the proposed restrictions on air rifles: "California Congressman Introduces Federal Bill To Redefine Many Air Guns As ‘Firearms’." The legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-California (of course!) would classify almost all air rifles as "firearms" and subject to the same regulations. The so-called "lethal air gun" in the proposed law include those that would shoot:

A .177 caliber pellet expelled at a muzzle velocity of not less than 800 feet per second; a .22 caliber pellet expelled at a muzzle velocity of not less than 500 feet per second; a .25 caliber pellet expelled at a muzzle velocity of not less than 450 feet per second; and any metallic pellet above .25 caliber.  

The bill is being called, for now, Garrett’s Law, "named for one of his constituents’ late sons who committed suicide with an air gun," while struggling with mental health issues during the pandemic--i.e., someone who had mental health issues because he was forced into de facto house arrest by the same idiots now proposing this bill. And to take the stupidity even further, Mullin suggests that if Garrett hadn't been able to order the air rifle online, he would not have committed suicide. As if all the other multitude of ways that people kill themselves wouldn't have been available. But now we are all supposed to be punished because one person misused a product?

    Not unsurprisingly, the legislation is being supported by GIFFORDS and March For Our Lives Foundation (another gun control group). Because the greatest fear of liberals is that somewhere, someone is doing something fun and wholesome. 

Hopefully This Means That Gas Prices Will Be Going Down

It looks like Trump won another game of "can't stump the Trump". From the National Review:

The news out of the Strait of Hormuz is pretty straightforward: The Islamic Republic of Iran has all but lost whatever control it once had over the maritime traffic flowing through that contested choke point. “Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to around their highest level since the war began in February,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Shipments via Hormuz and bypass routes were delivering just under 80% of their prewar regional flows as of last week, according to tracker Kpler.”   

I still question the value of the war, but its hard to argue with success. There is also this:

Iran is in a terrible position. Its currency is valueless. Its trade relationships are being severed. Its citizens and political officials cannot fly in or out of the country. Its political class is in a state of semipermanent revolt against the informal leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Protests are once again breaking out in Iran’s universities, despite the explicit threat represented by the hated Basij. And there are now credible reports of insurrectionary activity in outlying provinces such as Baluchistan, where at least one IRGC commander was killed in the fighting. 

In fact, the war is going so poorly for Iran that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is now urging American voters to vote for the Democrats this fall. To parody the message that Princess Leia left for Kenobi in R2D2, the IRGC's letter to Americans might as well read: "Help us Democrats, you're our only hope." 

    The war also gave the U.S. opportunities to try out new laser weapons against drones and cruise missiles. Conversely, it highlighted the failure of Chinese weapon systems. As Seoul Economic Daily noted back in March:

    Questions are mounting over the combat effectiveness of Chinese-made air defense systems deployed in Iran after they failed to intercept large-scale airstrikes by the United States and Israel. Analysts say the credibility of Chinese weapons systems will inevitably suffer, given that similar failures occurred in Venezuela. 

    According to Taiwan's Newtalk and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on the 3rd, Iran deployed China's fourth-generation mobile radar YLC-8B alongside Russian air defense networks at key locations including the capital Tehran. China first unveiled the equipment at the 2016 Zhuhai Airshow, claiming it could detect U.S. F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters from 250 kilometers away.

    The Chinese-made long-range surface-to-air missile HQ-9B operated by Iran also failed to prove its capabilities. China has stated that this missile, with a range of 250 kilometers, features active radar guidance and infrared seekers capable of intercepting stealth aircraft even in electronic warfare environments. China also provided Iran with its indigenously developed Beidou satellite navigation system to replace U.S. GPS.

    However, combat results told a different story. While Israel scrambled some 200 fighter jets and the U.S. struck more than 1,000 targets with B-2 stealth bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles, Iran failed to shoot down a single aircraft. Taiwan's FTV reported, citing experts, that despite Iran pouring enormous costs into Chinese radar systems, they failed to function properly during both last year's nuclear facility attack and this year's large-scale airstrikes.

    India's Times of India reported that analysts are investigating whether the Chinese air defense systems have technical defects or were simply overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the U.S.-Israeli coalition's offensive. Observers note that having failed to defend critical facilities, the systems will inevitably lose competitiveness in export markets.

    This is not the first combat failure for Chinese radar. In January this year, China's JY-27A radar in Venezuela also failed to detect U.S. military aircraft. China had emphasized the radar's stealth target detection capabilities and jamming resistance, but it failed to track aircraft deployed for the operation to arrest former President Nicolás Maduro. 

The performance of the Chinese systems were so bad that, according to an April 1 report from the Washington Times, China purged some of its defense officials:

    High-profile failures of Chinese weapons and military equipment in Iran and elsewhere have resulted in the disappearance — and likely purge — of several key military developers.

    Former State Department policymaker Miles Yu said Chinese military systems that were promoted as capable of detecting and deterring high-end threats, such as stealth aircraft, were ineffective against recent U.S. military operations.

    “These failures did more than undermine specific platforms, as they exposed the gap between China’s claims and its actual capabilities,” said Mr. Yu, a Washington Times columnist.

    Perhaps the most glaring shortfall involved China’s highly touted HQ-9B long-range air defense system that Tehran purchased in mid-2025, reportedly as part of an oil-for-weapons deal.

    The missiles and radar were deployed at key nuclear sites and other high-value military sites in Iran. They were part of a layered integrated air defense that included domestic defenses and the Russian Pansir-S1.

    The HQ-9B was supposed to be able to knock out aircraft and missiles, but it proved unsuccessful when U.S. and Israeli airstrikes wiped them out before attacking other major targets.

    The system’s JY-27A long-range, VHF-band 3D active phased array radar was built for early warning and purportedly capable of tracking stealth aircraft. 

    But when the first missiles and bombs were fired, the Chinese system proved ineffective. Its destruction was so successful that the U.S. military is now flying older B-52 bombers unthreatened in the Iranian skies despite those aircraft having a very large radar cross-section.   

Flying The Friendly Skies

The religion of peace strikes again. The New York Post reports: "Pilot arrested for attempting to crash plane in ‘jihadist terrorist attack’ thwarted by brave passenger: Israeli officials." The plane was scheduled to fly into Tel Aviv. From the article:

    The copilot who stabbed his colleague piloting a flydubai jet Wednesday has been arrested for trying to crash the packed passenger plane in “a jihadist terrorist attack,” Israeli leaders said.

    The suspect, reportedly of Omani descent, stabbed the pilot and plotted to bring down the Boeing 737 Max jet with 174 people on board, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in a statement.

    “According to the initial information in our possession, the terrorist had one intention: to crash the plane with all its passengers,” he said. 

The plane dropped from 33,000 feet to 15,400 feet in two minutes. Passengers were able to force their way into the cabin and subdue the copilot. "Two off-duty pilots seated at the back of the aircraft who were scheduled to captain another flight later that day rushed to the cockpit to take control, one passenger told the BBC," and landed it safely in Saudi Arabia, where the copilot was taken into custody by authorities. Israel is treating it as a terrorist attack. 

Supplements For The Backcountry

 Diana Helmuth, writing at Outdoor Life, discusses "How to Eat in the Backcountry — Without Blowing Up Your Stomach." She offers some tips (and warnings) on supplements she has used while backpacking: vitamin B12; caffeine and tea crystals; creatine; Glutamine and Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) which apparently can work wonders for muscle recovery when on backpacking trips; and protein powder. She also has some suggestions for high protein and high fat foods to use while hiking: oatmeal with trailmix; mashed potato soup; whole cheese; and freeze dried coconut milk (for those who don't tolerate dairy milk). And she offers this point about proteins and fats:

I thought protein was only something men had to care about. While I do think our society has a tendency to act like protein is the second coming, turns out, lining your stomach with protein actually does smooth your blood sugar and help you feel full longer. The outdoors is a place to indulge in as many carbs as you want, sure, but in my experience what you really want in the backcountry is the exact opposite of what everyone tells you to eat at home: fat, and tons of it. It sticks to you longer, has the most calories per gram of weight, and doesn’t make you crash. ... 

A Tale Of Two Spacecraft Companies In Two Headlines

• "Starship Just Became a Money Making Machine"--PJ Media.
• "Boeing's Starliner won't launch astronauts until 2028 (and may need a new rocket), NASA says"--Space.com.

TTAG Looks At The New Sig P385

The Truth About Guns takes a first look at Sig's new pistol in its article, "The SIG P385 Is Here — But Would You Buy One Yet?" Sig says that the P385 is not replacement for the P320--which they would have to say given any pending lawsuits or claims of injury from allegedly defective P320 pistols. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and accept that this is a response to both the Gen 6 Glocks and the Ruger RXM. But it is compatible with P320 magazines and, per the article, uses a different trigger design from the P320 featuring "a patented flush-faced trigger safety that neither the P320 nor the P365 currently has." Sig is also introducing a modular grip system that allows for better tuning of the grips to fit the hand (this article at Guns.com has much more detail on the modularity). 

    But what made me laugh was the author's sarcastic comments about past Sig problems:

• "SIG also gave the P385 what it calls a 'redundant drop safety mechanism' — the kind of feature they probably wish they’d built into the P320 back in 2014."
• "But the P320’s history is well known: the 2017 drop-safety issue TTAG’s own testing helped surface, the 'Voluntary Upgrade Program' that followed, and a string of uncommanded-discharge reports along with the lawsuits that came with them."
• "SIG’s initial QC record on striker-fired guns has been spotty. Early P365s showed striker tip breakage, primer drag, and dead-trigger problems from a trigger return spring issue."

It is a credit to Sig's reputation and market power that these problems did not kill the product, as it would have to a lesser company (e.g., the reaction to the Remington R51). And this go to the heart of the question raised in the title of the article--would you buy one yet. As the author puts it:

That’s the honest read on SIG’s new-product track record: the platforms get sorted out, but sometimes not until the second or third production cycle. And the P385 has a lot of “new” in it — new FCU, new trigger safety, new SRDS recoil system, new grip module system. That’s a lot of first-generation engineering to bet on right out of the gate.   

More:

• "SIG Sauer P385: New FCU, Recoil System, MagStrap Grip and Five Models"--Guns America.
• "SIG Sauer Launches the New P385 Pistol Family"--The Firearm Blog.  
• "New Product Highlight: Sig Sauer P385"--Pew Pew Tactical. 

Dems Going After Air Rifles

The Mr. Gunsngear channel is reporting that Dems have introduced a bill in Congress that would regulate air rifles and other similar items using a gas to discharge a pellet or slug. It appears to be aiming for those large enough to be used to hunt anything larger than a squirrel. Similar bills have also popped up in some state legislatures. Not sure how this passes the Heller test since pneumatic rifles have been around and used since the 16th Century.  

VIDEO: "New Law Introduced To Ban Pellet Guns - Seriously 👀"
Mrgunsngear Channel (7 min.)

VIDEO: "Top 10 Wilderness Survival Items In The 18th Century"

Townsends discusses the must-have equipment that 18th Century wilderness explorers and adventurers carried with them, including a good belt knife, musket or rifle, small ax, fire making tools and materials, emergency food, appropriate clothing, blanket, cooking pot, canteen, and rope or other cordage. He notes that most of their food would have come from land such as hunting or fishing; and the areas being explored in what is now the eastern United States was generally well watered, so a quart canteen would generally suffice for carrying water. 

VIDEO: "Top 10 Wilderness Survival Items In The 18th Century"
Townsends (16 min.)

John Wilder Has Memes

 "The Weekend Ate My Homework."