May 24, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Gear Backpackers Ditch First"--Homemade Wanderlust (13 min.)

This is discussing what through-hikers generally get rid of, not necessarily what you might ditch for a one or two day trip.

• "ATF Measuring OAL With Brace Folded?"--The Firearm Blog. As best as I can determine, Freedom Shoppe decided to play the "its not a pistol or a rifle" game by attaching folding braces and vertical foregrips to pistols. The ATF was not amused, and declared that the weapons fell under the category of "any other weapon" (AOW) requiring registration under the NFA. To reach its conclusion, the ATF apparently decided to measure the weapons with the braces folded, which brought the overall measurement as less than 26 inches. Freedom Shoppe is taking two approaches to contesting the ATF decision: (1) noting that the ATF typically measures the length with the brace or stock unfolded and extended to its longest length, and (2) noting that a lot of firearms from other manufacturers also fall into the same trap (the "everyone else is doing it" argument). Unfortunately, we do not have the specific ATF determination letter, so we can't see exactly what was the grounds for the ATF. 
• "Brace Yourself: A Game Changer for American Shooters"--Survival Blog. From the article:

Arm-braced pistols have become so popular that they made most registered Short Barreled Rifles (SBRs) passé. With a “braced” AR, HK, or AK pistol, here is no ATF Form 1 processing to wait on, no $200 transfer tax, and no interstate travel/notification restrictions. So why bother with all the hassle of getting a Federally-registered SBR with a $200 tax stamp? In my opinion, these days, the arm brace is definitely the way to go.

Just don't remove the strap from your arm brace, or it becomes a stock.

• "Tripods – Take Your Rifle Shooting To Another Level"--Guns America. Although a good part of the article is about the advantages to using a tripod, the author also cautions against using cheap tripods, but to look at the higher end tripods. The tripods at issue are those used for photography.
• "Gun Review: Remington R51 v 2.0, Take Two"--The Truth About Guns. His main complaints is that it is hard to field-strip, that the magazine release is stiff/hard to push, and that it is too hard to pull the slide back to charge the gun. I will admit that the field-stripping and re-assembly is difficult compared to most modern pistols. The magazine release is hard, but I don't view that as a downside in a concealed carry pistol. The difficulty he has with retracting the slide is something I have not experienced; rather, I think it is very easy to pull the slide back. My primary problem is that the weapon really needs rounds with some kick to them to function well--I would only recommend +P rounds for defensive carry.
• "Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich"--The New Yorker. An article from last year, but still interesting. An excerpt:

In private Facebook groups, wealthy survivalists swap tips on gas masks, bunkers, and locations safe from the effects of climate change. One member, the head of an investment firm, told me, “I keep a helicopter gassed up all the time, and I have an underground bunker with an air-filtration system.” He said that his preparations probably put him at the “extreme” end among his peers. But he added, “A lot of my friends do the guns and the motorcycles and the gold coins. That’s not too rare anymore.”

• "The 7 core areas of preparedness"--Backwoods Home Magazine. Food, water, heat, lights, sanitation, medical, and safety. She discusses them all.
• For those of you building an AR: "Strike Industries Enhanced Low Profile Steel Gas Block"--The Firearm Blog. The gas block is skeletonized and only 1.6 oz., nitride finished, and has an MSRP of $29.95. 
• "Calibers for Beginners: The Controversial .40 Smith & Wesson"--The Truth About Guns. The author discusses a bit of the history and pros and cons of the cartridge, then writes:

So what would be the reason for a beginner go with a .40 over a 9mm or even .45? The real answer, dear reader, is that I can’t give you one. The .40 was designed because, in a nutshell, it was what the FBI decided it wanted in a pistol cartridge.

• Conversely: "Faulty, Fabulous, or Fad? An M.D. Argues the 40 S&W"--Ammoland. The author writes:

          Our patient was a heavily muscled young gladiator of the sort who frequents an urban emergency department. Stabbings and gunshot wounds are lamentable side effects of his day job. When he hobbled into the ER he had a bandana pressed against the lower right side of his abdomen yet seemed pleasant enough.

         I forget the sordid details. Turf, drugs, or women accounted for the lion’s share of the chaos, so the impetus this evening was likely some toxic combination. Once we got him into the CT scanner we could see the 9mm round flattened against the back of his pelvis. The bullet had undoubtedly played holy havoc with the intervening entrails so the surgical residents got a laparotomy out of it, but I will never forget how calm he seemed. The round could have ricocheted or passed through some intervening barrier material to bleed a little horsepower, but its terminal effectiveness in this particular instance was decidedly underwhelming.

          I have seen men killed with the 9mm round, but that experience with that thug in the ER made an impression. I like to shoot the 9mm because it is lightweight and fun. The round is cheap, produces modest recoil, and remains easy to carry. None of these attributes speaks to the crux of the issue, however, which is speedy incapacitation and expedient behavior modification.

• "The Beginner's Guide To Sailing"--Popular Mechanics. A well written introduction to sailing and sail boats, including how it works, and some basic equipment that you would need.
• Related: "Pirate attacks grow in South America and Caribbean - report"--Reuters. From the article:

         Pirate attacks around South American and Caribbean waters are growing, and violence is increasingly used during robberies committed on vessels at anchor, a report showed on Wednesday.

         The Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) non-profit group recorded 71 incidents in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2017, a 163 percent increase over 2016.

        OBP said the majority of the attacks occurred in territorial waters, with around 59 percent of incidents involving robbery on yachts. Anchorages in Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Colombia and St. Lucia were the regional hot spots during 2017, it said.

         "We have observed a significant increase in violent incidents and anchorage crime, particularly in the anchorages of Venezuela and the recent violent incidents off Suriname in the first part of this year," said the report's lead author Maisie Pigeon.

           In late April a pirate attack off the coast of Suriname left at least a dozen fishermen from neighbouring Guyana missing and feared dead with three separate bodies found in what was described by Guyana's President David Granger as a "massacre".

          In a separate incident in May a fishing boat captain was shot dead after his vessel was attacked off Suriname while the rest of the crew survived.

• If you wonder why gay characters are over-represented in movies: "Ian McKellen: half of Hollywood is gay, yet in movies gay men don't exist"--Guardian. By "in movies gay men don't exist" is, translated into everyday language, he means that he wants to see 50% of all movies feature a gay character, but Hollywood is not there yet. In fact, even the barely perceptible shift toward K has meant that the newest Fantastic Beasts movie will not portray young Dumbledore as gay. 
• "Quit Acting Like Christ Was Accepting of Everyone and Everything"--Greg Trimble. The author addresses the "love and inclusion" crowd within the LDS Church, or any other church, for that matter. He writes:

        At the base of this movement is the feeling that Christ was so loving and accepting of everyone, that He would never stand for any kind of exclusion or discrimination. This could not be farther from the truth. Yes… it is true that Christ loves everyone and yes it is true that we should practice the doctrine of inclusion, but Christ was far from accepting behaviors that were not in accordance with the commandments. He didn’t come to this earth and just “accept people” and let them act however they wanted to act. “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” he said in Matthew 10 verse 34. He continues, “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” In another place in the New Testament He even says, “I never knew you” as he spoke about people that were unwilling to repent and live the commandments. How and why will “a man’s foes be they of his own household?” Because Christ asks you to take a stand. He asks you which side of the line you’re going to be on…and you prove which side you are on by “keeping the faith”. Everyone and everything is not “ok” or “accepted” by Jesus Christ. All are loved by Him, but our behaviors have the power to leave us standing at a door in which He will not open. 

          Does that sound all-inclusive?

           If Christ were walking the earth today preaching the same things He was preaching back in His day, people would be flying off the handle. He’d teach hard things. Draw a line in the sand. Tell people He loves them. Ask them to repent. Maybe even get mad and turn over some tables. (Matt 21:12-13) Then they’d call Him a bigot. Self-righteous. Un-accepting of others and their way of life. They would “go away” and start their own form of religion like so many of them did while he was preaching in Israel. The question you have to ask yourself is the same question He asked His apostles. “Will ye also go away”? (John 6:67)

• Religion of Peace: "Canadian Beaches Closed After Islamic Group Sabotages With Dangerous Objects For Not 'Embracing Islam'…"--Weasel Zippers. Women's swim-wear was not in accordance with Sharia so they dumped broken glass, needles, nails on the beaches--broken bottles were buried purposefully so the jagged glass stuck straight up.
• "Escaping Venezuela: They pour into Brazil by the thousands looking for work"--Los Angeles Times. From the article:

        The exodus has strained the social safety nets of Venezuela's neighbors, particularly in Boa Vista, where the 40,000 who have settled in shelters and public spaces now account for 10% of the city's population. The state of Roraima has become so overwhelmed that in mid-April, Gov. Suely Campos filed suit in Brazil's Supreme Federal Court demanding the federal government temporarily close the border. An average of 800 Venezuelans cross into Brazil every day. Others flood into Colombia. The migration never seems to slow.

         To alleviate some of the stress, the federal government partnered with the United Nations to relocate some of the Venezuelans living in Boa Vista to other cities across Brazil. Baena, 42, and his nephew Teoscar Mata, 29, were among those who agreed to be moved to São Paulo by the Brazilian army.

• Didn't fit the narrative: "Texas shooting suspect's choice of guns complicates debate over assault rifles"--Chicago Tribune. The article reports the hypocrisy of the hoplophobes: 

Gun-control advocates counter that laws should not be based on any single incident - that the fact that an assault-rifle ban wouldn't have thwarted the Santa Fe suspect should not resign the country to the inevitability of more shootings.