Book Review: "After 1177 B.C.: The Survival Of Civilizations"

Book: After 1177 B.C.: The Survival Of Civlizations by Eric Cline (2024), 352 pages.

     I reviewed Eric Cline's book 1177 B.C.--The Year Civilization Collapsed back in 2015. That book examined the causes of the Bronze Age Collapse and the nations caught up in that broad civilizational collapse: the Minoans-Mycenaeans in and around Greece and the Aegean, Egypt along the Nile and extending control into Canaan, the Hittite Empire controlling most of Asia Minor, the Mittani which occupied the northern Tigris and Euphrates river region, and the Babylonians. The impact was likely felt beyond even these kingdoms and empires as trade collapsed.

    The gist of the book is that there was a perfect storm of events and causes that interplayed and magnified each other to lead to wide-spread disruption and collapse, as there is evidence of a centuries long drought (probably due to the climate cooling), several natural disasters including some earthquakes that destroyed a few major cities, resulting in famine, war, collapse of trust in institutions, collapse of long distance trade, social upheaval,  and migrations of people leading to more conflict.

    Although Cline and I use the term "collapse," that is not to say that everything regressed to the stone age. Rather this is a collapse in the sense that Joseph Tainter uses the term: a rapid decline in complexity of the civilization until the complexity reduces to a level where stability returns. In other words, while a society can collapse completely, it can also fragment or shed institutions without fully disappearing. Thus, it can occur at different times and to different extents.

    In the case of Bronze Age Collapse, the Hittite Empire disappeared to never reappear. The Babyloniann declined but adopted and recovered a couple hundred years later. The Mittani were absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. The Minions-Mycenaeans society disappeared to reappear later as the Greeks and Cretens of the Archaic age. The Egyptian Empire went into a decline from which it never fully recovered although it also did not collapse. Some of the territories over which it established control became independent and actually seemed to thrive during the dark ages that followed the collapse, such as the Phoenicians who developed a trading empire and, more importantly, spread their alphabet around the Mediterranean. The collapse of the international tin trade also drove a shift from bronze to iron. 

    After 1177 B.C. explores what happened to the major civilizations and cultures after the Bronze Age Collapse and the next 200 to 300 years. While Cline takes a "glass is half full" approach, emphasizing that the Collapse did not mean the complete loss of civilization, but that cultures adapted--some even thrived--with comparable complexity and international trade reappearing between 200 and 300 years later, depending on the location.

    That doesn't mean that it was an easy transition. Cline notes, for instance, that "there was a dramatic drop in population on mainland Greece immediately after the Collapse." Recent estimates indicate a decline in population of between 40 and 60%! To put that in context, that is greater than the die off from the Black Plague in the 14th Century. That is merely one of many societal changes. Cline identifies seven (7) changes: 

1. The collapse of central administrative organizations;
2. The disappearance of the traditional elite class;
3. A breakdown of the centralized economy;
4. A settlement shift;
5. Population decline; 
6. Loss of writing (what I would characterize more accurately as a loss of certain technologies); and,
7. A pause in the construction of monumental architecture (which is a symptom of the loss of centralized authority--with its taxing power--and decline of the elites and overall disappearance of wealth). 

 In this respect, Cline writes:

Joseph Tainter notes that a systematic collapse of a civilization or society is also usually thought to bring an end to "the artistic and literary features of civilization, and to the umbrella of service and protection that an administration provides." As a result, he says, "The flow of information drops, people trade and interact less, and there is overall lower coordination among individuals and groups. Economic activity drops ... while the arts and literature experience such a quantitative decline that a dark age often ensues. Population levels tend to drop, and for those who are left, the known world shrinks" All of this is usually seen as a fearful event, "truly paradise lost." However, according to Tainter, sociopolitical collapse is quite a normal occurrence and even to be expected in the general course of the life of complex societies.

     But while a dark age followed the Bronze Age Collapse, Cline contends that the question in studying such a period is "'dark' for whom and in what respects?" 

 This is the question at the heart of our explorations. What was it like for those living in the aftermath of the Collapse, and how was it different in each of the affected areas? What did it take to survive?

 Cline then explores different the different regions and what happened in each region, rather than simply address all regions in a chronological fashion. First he examines the fate of Egypt, Israel, and the Southern Levant. Second, Assyria and Babylonia. Third, Phoenicia and Cyprus. Fourth, Anatolia and Northern Syria. Fifth, the Aegean region. 

    Egypt was the only one of the prior great powers that survived with any substantial continuity of government. But the pharaohs that rules following the Collapse oversaw a permanent decline in the power and influence of Egypt. They were faced with disruptions and upheaval within their borders taking the form of an significant jump in tomb robberies (this was the period that Egyptian officials were forced to gather up mummies from scattered tombs and hide them), famine and food shortages, in-fighting among the elites, and "disruptions" caused by foreigners (probably both migrants and slaves) inside Egypt.  As Cline put it, the Egyptians "were able to cope and continue to exist but really failed to make the transition properly, neither adapting particularly well nor transforming at all."

    Of course, Egypt's loss was another's gain. Losing its control over Canaan, it appeared that the mantle of control would fall on the Philistines, but it was actually the Israeli kingdoms that emerged the dominate power over Canaan in the wake of the invasion by the "Sea Peoples". The success of the Philistines and Israel were helped along by climate: although much of the region was gripped by a centuries long drought, the southern Levant experienced an uptick in moisture starting around 1150 to 1100 B.C. and lasting until about 950 B.C. permitting intense cereal and olive cultivation. In fact, newer research shows that the Levant may have been one of the few areas to experience in increase in population during the post-Collapse dark age. But as minor kingdoms, the Israelite kingdoms only flourished until other larger regional empires arose again. 

    Turning to his next region, the upper and lower regions of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Cline observes that "[o]verall, the Assyrians and the Babylonians proved to be among the most resilient and successful of the affected societies to weather the aftermath of the Collapse," being able to retain writing, keeping their systems of government, and even able to engage in some massive building projects. Nevertheless, they did not escape unscathed, as Cline writes, pointing out that "archaeological evidence  obtained from surveys in the region of ancient Babylonia suggests that there may have been a decrease in population of up to 75 percent during the three hundred years between the Collapse at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Babylonia resurgence after 900 BC." As for the Assyrians, it is notable that there were almost no royal inscriptions during the period from 1208 BC to 1133 BC. Nevertheless, Assyria was able to grown and expand swallowing up the city-states and smaller kingdoms that arose after the Collapse. As Cline writes:

Without any strong competitors, Assyria eventually filled the political void to become the most resilient large state recovering from the Late Bronze Age Collapse. In doing so, the Assyrians invented many of the elements that were adopted by later empires: standing armies, effective communication and transportation systems, and policy propaganda (like the Balawat gate inscriptions).

    Cline next examines the Cypriots and the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians took the advantage of the sack of other port cities during the Sea Peoples invasions to win control of the trade routes across the Mediterranean Sea, "spreading their version of the alphabet, and exchanging trade goods such as purple dye for silver and other metals coming from as far away as Sicily, Sardinia, and Iberia." The Cypriots similarly spread iron goods and iron technology east and west. "Together," Cline contends, "they were the two societies that weathered the transformation to the new normal most successfully; both could even be labeled as anti-fragile, flourishing during the chaos that followed the Collapse." 

    Cline next examines Anatolia and Norther Syria--areas dominated by the Hittites prior to the Collapse. Cline indicates that the Hittite Empire in Anatolia had collapsed and disappeared almost completely in the years after 1200 B.C. 

The capital city of Hattusa was initially abandoned and then partially destroyed, with a small Iron Age village subsequently established on one small portion of the original city. The situation has been recently summed up by Lorenzo d'Alfonso of New York University and his colleagues as follows: "A deep transformation took place in the former core of the empire around the capital Hattusa, resulting in a drastic decrease in political complexity, a shift to subsistence household economy and a lack of evidence for any public institutions." Furthermore, James Osborne, a professor at the University of Chicago, cites recent research stating that there may have been "a drastic settlement drop of about 90%" in south-central Anatolia at this time and says that "despite evidence for continuity in certain locations ... the general picture is one of marked decline and social complexity until  the ninth century."

What is significant about the 9th Century BC is that when the drought that played such a large role in the Bronze Age Collapse ended, when the climate returned to one that was warmer and wetter.

    Nevertheless, "despite the collapse of the Hittite Empire proper, we can see that there were survivors and that life did continue, especially in the hinterland, even if the centralized government and its attendant bureaucracy and administration had essentially vanished, leaving the various areas to their own devices." In addition, some remnant of the Hittite royalty apparently retained some control over as many as 15 city states in northern Syria. And while the region appears to have suffered the most from the invasion of the Sea Peoples, most sites were almost immediately reoccupied following the destruction and resumed agricultural, industrial, and trade activity. Eventually, however, this area fell under the influence of the Assyrians. 

    Mycenae on the Greek mainland similarly fully collapsed, although not as quickly. Cline notes that "[i]t is now clear that it took more than a century for the last vestiges of the Bronze Age Mycenaean palatial society to fade away and the succeeding culture of the Iron Age to begin on mainland Greece." The primary cities were largely abandoned, but life appears to have continued in the countryside, albeit free of a centralized government control and within a simpler economic environment. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing for the commoner: as Cline notes they were freed from the overwhelming taxation to support the palatial elites and their projects, "such that some rural areas may have actually experienced a brief moment of prosperity in the decades immediately after the Collapse." But the collapse of the urban centers also led to the loss of writing for centuries as well as the loss of the representational arts and crafts. "The complex forms of political, social, and economic organization fell into oblivion. Palaces, kings, and royal families became matter for Greek myths." "In short," Cline concludes, "Greek civilization was reduced to the level of a prehistoric society." Thus, while there were survivors, "it was not until the eighth century BC at the earliest that we can talk about Greek culture resuming on a path that led to more than simply basic subsistence and scratching out a living."

    In summing up his book, Cline writes:

    Painting with broad brush strokes, what we see in general from the twelfth century BC onward is a fragmentation and decline in security and material standards of living in the years immediately after the Collapse, continuing down through the tenth century or thereabouts, as the Bronze Age kingdoms fell apart. In the areas that were affected to the greatest extent, including mainland Greece, Crete, Anatolia, and the southern Levant especially, there was a collapse of the local palaces, states, or kingdoms (including government, centralized economy, and so on) even if segments of the population managed to survive.

    However, reintegration then begins during the ninth century and continues through the eighth century...

    To put it another way, and to emphasize the material side of things, in general the period from the twelfth through the tenth centuries BC saw population crashes, abandonment of cities, violence, probable migrations, the collapse of trade routes, disease, earlier ages at death, falling economic output, lower standards of living, and the loss or decline of advanced skills, though the extent varies depending on where one looks in the region. In contrast, the period from the beginning of the ninth century BC onward saw many of these trends reversed. By the time we reach the second half of the eighth century BC, we see new life and innovations in many of the areas, and a fully interconnected world begins to take shape once again for the first time in several centuries.

He sees the Bronze Age and its subsequent collapse and recovery fitting into what is termed the "adaptive cycle" with the early part of the Late Bronze Age representing the Exploitation phase, the Late Bronze Age as the Conservation phase, the Bronze Age Collapse as the Release phase, and the subsequent Iron Age is the Reorganization phase which, will, eventually start the cycle over again--in this case, the Archaic age followed by the Classical age. 

    Cline also examines why some cultures seemed to weather the collapse better than others. Some of it may have been a matter of luck: located in an area that was not as affected by drought as others, being shielded from the attacks of the Sea Peoples, better leaders, more redundancies in their state administration, or armies better able to fight off raiders or conquer neighbors. But he notes, at least as to the Assyrians, that "they may have proved to be resilient because of four things that they were able to retain for whatever reason: their centralized government, still led by the king; their basic economy; their writing system; and their army."

    But the main lesson that Cline wants to emphasize is that "Collapse can involve both the end of old social institutions and the beginning of new ones."

    Unfortunately the archaeological record is too incomplete to come to firm conclusions as to why one culture did better than others. Unlike Cline, I think luck played a major role both as to climate and to which areas were subject to invasion or attack by the Sea Peoples. Some must have been due to the cultures--some were more, perhaps, fatalistic and others more adaptable by nature. I suspect that the relationship between the people and their elites played a role. That is, that elites that maintained their legitimacy even in the face of drought, disaster, or war, were more likely to continue their rule; and for those hated by their populace, the events of the Collapse provided an excuse for their elites "to disappear". Unfortunately, while the loss of elites may have been a temporary boon in those civilizations that were heavily taxed, it also didn't help with recovery (although the conflict among elites in Egypt appears to have been almost as crippling to recovery). 

    And while there are no guarantees, it appears that on an individual basis, living in a rural area that provided water and arable land was vital; and combined with access to trade and trade routes was ideal.

My Theory: Biden's Blunders And Frailties Are In Preparation For The Debates

 My theory on why we have seen more fumbles, bumbles, and tumbles from Biden lately is that his handlers have had to ween him off his drugs so that they are more effective when they administer them just before the debate. I suspect that Biden will come across as more cognizant and forceful at the debate.

Chicago Tribune Attempts To Scare City Into Hiring More Police ...

 ... by raising the specter of people defending themselves. The editorial from the Tribune's Editorial Board is entitled: "Potential victims are shooting back. This should raise alarms for Chicago public officials." The Board chastises Chicago officials for letting criminals loose and not hiring enough police to keep crime down because "[w]hen a large slice of the public believes that crime is out of hand and most offenses go unpunished, some people inevitably take the law into their own hands." And by "take the law into their own hands," the Board means the peasants exercising their right to self-defense. Because apparently, in the minds of the Board members, crime victims are supposed to lay back and enjoy it so long as there is a chance the criminal might be apprehended later.

    The Board writes with concern:

Worryingly, we’re seeing more signs of that phenomenon in Chicago, with three separate episodes over the last weekend in which would-be victims proved to be both armed and willing to fire at their assailants. Four people who police said were attacking these concealed carry holders were shot and wounded, all of them critically, according to a report by Block Club Chicago.

I think its funny that the Board had to turn to a source outside their newspaper to get the news. But, back to the subject, the Board summarizes their concern: "Here’s the situation: People who go through a relatively minimal process can legally defend themselves in their homes or even on the city streets with a gun. More and more of them are doing just that."

    Oh no, we can't let the peasantry be armed! 

    Realizing how bad that sounds, the Board attempts to obfuscate its position by shifting their ire to City officials:

    This is not to pass judgment on those who for their own protection go through the steps necessary to get a concealed carry permit and then take advantage of the legal rights that license gives them.

    It is to say that it’s the job of the mayor, the Police Department, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, judges and all involved in the criminal justice system to make it so that those prone to crime feel there’s a decent chance they will be caught, prosecuted and punished if they commit those acts. For several years now, it’s fair to say, the risk-reward calculation has been far too heavily weighted toward the reward side for street criminals in Chicago.

    Chicagoans considering whether to purchase a gun and get a license to carry and use it aren’t likely to be dissuaded from doing so when, for example, the Cook County state’s attorney says she favors simply not prosecuting those accused of gun offenses when illegal guns are discovered during a police stop of a car for a minor violation. They can be pardoned if the thought occurring to them when reading stories about that prosecutorial policy is that they better get a gun because those tasked with combating the scourge of illegal firearms say they won’t take action when they get the opportunity.

In other words, they are saying its okay for an innocent to lose his or her life or be raped because they lack the arms to defends themselves so long as there is a decent chance the criminal will be caught and punished. 

    After some more recriminations against the city officials and noting the sharp increase in violent crimes over the past several years, the Board returns to its original theme that if it is a choice between people owning firearms or cops making arrests, the City should make arrests:

Surely, our public officials, no matter what side of the criminal-justice-reform divide they’re on, can agree that the growing risks of more ordinary citizens taking responsibility for their own safety at the point of a gun isn’t a healthy development. They ought to think of an ordinary Chicagoan, maybe right now mulling whether it’s a good idea to carry a firearm as they head to the store, and prove to them there is no need. For crime in this city won’t be allowed to pay. 

Japan Going Quietly Into The Night

    A couple stories that caught my eye as they represent the dire straights into which Japan has fallen due to its declining population. 

    First, the Asahi Shimbun reports that the "Majority of Japanese support government-run dating apps," with women that have already "hit the wall" being most enthusiastic. From the article:

    According to an Asahi Shimbun survey, the majority of Japanese citizens wouldn't mind a state-backed service to help boost marriage and the declining birthrate.

    The nationwide survey, conducted over the phone on June 15 and 16, found that 54 percent of respondents supported such initiatives, while 36 percent voiced their opposition.

    The survey follows the Tokyo metropolitan government's recent announcement of its upcoming AI-powered matchmaking app.

    Tokyo officials are emphasizing the benefits of a government-backed app, highlighting its credibility and the sense of security it can provide to users.

    The survey results indicated no significant gender disparity in terms of support for government-run dating apps.

    However, younger generations were more enthusiastic about the idea, with 64 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 74 percent of those in their 30s indicating their approval.

    Notably, among women in their 30s, support for such services topped 80 percent.

 It won't change the decline--hypergamy is too strong of an instinct.

    Second, government and industry leaders have decided that if their population won't have children, they will simply replace the population: "Migrant labor law revised to allow longer, flexible stays." The article relates:

    Under the new system, workers can remain in Japan for three years. They can then apply for Type 1 specified skilled worker status, which extends their stay for a maximum of five additional years.

    To apply for Type 1 status, workers need to meet certain skill and Japanese language proficiency requirements.

    The new system grants workers eligibility for the same range of occupations as Type 1 status for the initial three years, streamlining the transition to the higher skilled worker category.

    However, the new system maintains the existing restrictions on bringing family members to Japan and does not permit family reunification for the first eight years of a worker's stay in the nation. 

Also:

    The new system will allow workers to change jobs within the same industry after one to two years of employment. This flexibility will empower them to leave low-paying positions with abusive employers.

    The bill also includes controversial provisions to revoke permanent residency status for those who refuse to pay taxes or social insurance premiums.

    This provision has sparked concerns about the potential impact on long-term foreign residents, including generations of ethnic Koreans and Chinese who hold permanent residency in Japan.

It may seem a trifling, especially compared to the mess that is immigration to the United States, but I suspect that it is just the beginning as the population crises in Japan deepens. 

Pride Flags Torn Down In North Boise

I refer to the Boise North End neighborhood as "Portlandia" because to be there is like stepping onto the set of that old comedy show, Portlandia. They are the reason that the recent Boise mayors have been socialists. The premier street--large, expensive, old houses on a beautiful tree lined street--is Harrison Boulevard. And being Portlandia, it wouldn't be complete without Harrison Blvd being lined with flags celebrating the religion of the left. But not everyone appreciates the LGBT religious symbolism, as the local ABC affiliate reports: "Residents on Harrison Blvd continue to see damaged flags." Someone has been damaging and stealing both the pride flags and the flag poles on which they have been hanging. 

Revolver Guy Reviews Colt's New Blued Python

If you have been keeping on Colt's revolvers, you probably are aware that Colt has released 4.25" and 6" versions of the Python with a blued finish (in addition to the stainless versions already out there). Kevin McPherson, at the Revolver Guy blog, recently got his hands on a blued model and gives his review there. Most of his review was a review of how the Python shot, its fit and function, mechanical differences between the newer models of Pythons versus the old classic version, accuracy, etc. For instance, he thought it was more comfortable to shoot than the S&W 686 using factory stocks:

The “hump” of the grip’s back strap is sloped and less severe than on an S&W. It made the Altamont stocks more comfortable than the factory target stocks on a 686, for example. Covering the backstrap with soft rubber isn’t a necessity with the Colt. The muzzle heavy feel combined nicely with the shape of the backstrap to make magnums reasonable to shoot. The Remington SJHP stayed true to its roots and gave an average velocity of 1,536 fps–impressive velocity from a 4.25” barrel. Sixty rounds were fired on the maiden voyage.

He liked the accuracy, reporting:

I shot groups from offhand and field supported positions and came away very pleased with how the new Python shot. It would generally keep six rounds in an inch and a half to two inches, standing offhand at fifteen yards, whether I was shooting match wadcutter or Magnum fire breathers. From a prone position, or perched on a stadium seat cushion, most loads held two to three inches at 25 yards. I shot a few single action groups at twenty-five; They tended to be better than double action groups, but not by a great margin. 

He found that while it gave good accuracy with lighter bullets, it gave its best accuracy when shooting Federal 158 grain JSP loads. The exception to accuracy was "CorBon’s .357 Magnum 100 grain Pow’RBall. It shot a disappointing group with a flyer that stretched it to 'barely on B-8 paper' from 15 yards."

    But, with the weapon being offered in a blued finish, the big question is how good was the finish. McPherson reports:

When I removed the big revolver from its packaging, the first thing I noticed was my reflection in the frame. It had been very well polished before the finish was applied. The blue was deep and even, with no visible flaws. It was a shade or two darker than the classic “Royal Blue,” but it was very nicely done.

 And that is what the accompanying photographs show. 

    If you are interested in the Python, or just beautiful revolvers generally, be sure to read the whole thing.

The Immigrant Shell Game In Action

 The Daily Mail reports on the sudden surge of illegals and asylum seekers flooding into Utah. Most of the article is about how the illegals are seeking the state out because they think the Mormon population would be suckers and support them. But near the end of the article, the truth of the matter comes out:

    Bright orange fliers issued by the state have since been handed out to those crossing the border telling them to stay away from the state. 

    The advisory warns migrants: 'There is no room in shelters. No hotels for you. Housing is hard to find and expensive. Food banks are at capacity.'

    Despite this, people and families continue to arrive into the area from already overwhelmed cities like New York and Denver. 

    KUTV reported earlier this week that the city of Denver has being paying for thousands of migrants to travel to Utah. 

    The report prompted a response from state Governor Cox who said: 'We recently learned that the Democrat mayor of Denver has been sending illegal immigrants to Utah without proper notification or approval. 

    'This is completely unacceptable and follows on the failed catch-and-release policy of the Biden administration. 

    'Every state has received illegal immigrants and Utah’s resources are completely depleted.

Cox is a RINO suckup who had previously welcomed illegals until Utah actually started receiving illegals. His position has since evolved. 

And Some Cultural Enrichment In The U.S.

 From the Daily Mail: "Bloodied Uber driver appears in court covered in bruises after being battered by furious father 'who caught him raping his drunk daughter in car'." The article explains:

    Ahmed Ali, 58, had injuries to his face and bandages on both hands as he appeared in a Washington state courtroom on Monday. 

    A father-of-five himself, Ali is accused of kidnapping a woman who he picked up from a bar when she was too drunk to return home alone on Saturday night. 

    Police say that instead of driving her home, Ali took her to a secluded location close to the Nisqually River in Olympia, where he sexually assaulted her in the back of the car.

    Before allegedly launching the attack, Ali manipulated the Uber app to indicate that the drop-off had been completed. 

    He was caught out by the alleged victim's father, who had grown worried waiting for his daughter to return home so tracked her phone to the riverside location. 

    Along with other relatives, he searched for her and found her naked in the backseat of Ali's car. The driver hurriedly pulled up his pants and scrambled into the front of the car. 

    The victim's furious relatives responded by attacking Ali, and two shots were fired. Badly injured, Ali tried to run away, but he was later detained by authorities. 

 And, of course, Ali's "family and neighbors turned out en masse to support him in the courtroom on Monday." 

Some More Cultural Enrichment In France

 The Daily Mail headline reads: "Macron condemns 'scourge of anti-Semitism' after Jewish girl, 12, is 'gang-raped by boys who accused her of hiding her religion from her boyfriend' as three youths are charged in case that has shocked France." Because it might reflect poorly on certain races or religious groups, French officials are very reluctant to release details of criminals. In this case, for instance, they are only described as three youths. But the article relates that "[t]he girl from Courbevoie, in the Hauts-de-Seine suburb northwest of the French capital, told police on Monday that she had been raped at the weekend by three youths - one of whom she said was her ex-boyfriend." The "youths" had dragged the victim to an abandoned warehouse where, "[a] police source said[,] the youths 'forced her to have anal and vaginal penetration, fellatio while uttering death threats and anti-Semitic remarks' amid the heinous attack - as the ex-boyfriend reportedly accused the victim of 'hiding her Jewish religion'." So almost 100% likely that her ex-boyfriend was a Muslim. And as authorized under Islamic law; e.g., Surah 33:50: “O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries and those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war.” France should have sunk the boats.

Over The Rainbow Crazy and Dangerous

Murdering trans ... something ... on the run after killing man and woman in Utah. From the Daily Mail article:

    A manhunt has been launched for a transgender woman who police say murdered a man and a woman in a Utah residence. 

    Washington City Police are looking for Collin Troy Bailey, 28, who also goes by the name Mia Bailey, who is currently transitioning. 

    Police said they were called after reports of shots fired at the home, and upon entry found the two deceased adults, confirming they died from gunshot wounds. 

    No identities for the victims have been released.

    The home where the victims were found shot dead is listed as Bailey's home address, according to public records.

    Also living there are Gail Bailey, 69, and her husband Joseph, 70, who appear to be Bailey's parents, though police are yet to confirm they were the victims.

Seems that there are more and more of these violent and murdering trans-people around. I guess it comes with encouraging them in their mental illness. 

China Showing Weaker Manufacturing and Continued Real Estate Issues

Via the Asahi Shimbun: "Asian shares mostly lower as China reports factory output slowed." The relevant part:

    Shares were mixed in Asia on Monday after China reported its factory output slowed in May, with the property market still deep in the doldrums.

* * *

    Factory output fell 5.6% in China in May, the government reported, below analysts’ forecasts and slowing from 6.7% the month before. Retail sales rose just 4.1% in the first five months of the year.

    Overshadowing those lackluster numbers, property investments fell 10% in May from a year earlier, while home prices in major cities fell 3.2%.

    Property sales plunged 30.5% year-on-year, in further evidence that a raft of measures to try to turn around a slump in the property sector have yet to take hold.

New Defensive Pistolcraft Newsletter

Jon Low has his latest news letter up, including, as usual, many links and commentary on firearms and shooting, self-defense, and other security topics. 

    I think I'd mentioned last year that my wife had given me a Glock 43X, which I promptly (well, as promptly as circumstances allowed) took out to shoot and immediately discovered I shot it like crap, with large groups off to the left. I adjusted the rear sight so that although my groups were large, they were reasonably centered. A few weeks ago, I was out with it again and, although at just a few yards or so from the target, was able to get tight groups including one with 4 out of 5 rounds through a single hole and the fifth one nearly touching the larger hole. 

    What happened in between is that I undertook time (and bought some tools) to understand why I was a decent enough shot with most of my handguns, but not this one. I initially reached out to Jon for some advice. Just going off my description, he suggested that I work on my surprise trigger break to make sure that I wasn't anticipating the recoil and jerking the gun down and to one side. So, I started conducting some dry fire. And to help me with my dry fire, I purchased an inexpensive laser dry fire/bore sighting cartridge.* I was just using small targets of opportunity in my house for practice (my wife's small collection of china dolls on a high shelf, a clock face, etc.) but Jon links to downloadable dry fire targets from Memphis Beach that might work better. 

    Using the laser training cartridge, I still noticed some movement even when I was absolutely sure that I had a surprise trigger break. I realized that what was happening was even though I thought I had a good grip on the pistol (and I think it is a matter of the ergonomics but might also be that I'm getting older) I actually wasn't gripping as tightly as I needed when I brought the pistol up to aim, with the result that when I pulled the trigger, the sympathetic reflexes caused my hand to tighten up slightly, thereby pulling the barrel down slightly. By making sure I had an almost crushing grip on the weapon, I was able to address that issue in my dry fire.

    Unfortunately, due to a wet winter and spring and other obligations, I was not actually able to go out to the desert to do more live practice until last month. Due to the time gap, I did jerk the gun my first couple of shots due to anticipating the recoil. But keeping in mind Jon's advice and what I had discovered about needing an extra strong grip, I was able to get the tight groups that I wanted. And, frankly, in retrospect it makes sense because I had a similar issue with a 1911 until I switched out the flat recoil spring housing with one that was arched.

    This has been a long intro to some shooting advice Jon has in this most recent newsletter. He writes:

     You may think that God gave you your little finger to clean your nostrils and ear canals.  But the truth is that God gave you your pinkies to control muzzle flip (a part of recoil).  Not to prevent or eliminate muzzle flip, control it.  

     Your modern semi-auto combat (self-defense is combat) pistol is designed to pivot about the tang (where the web between your thumb and index finger is jammed up high and tight) on recoil.  [If the pistol did not dissipate impulse (force X time) by rotating, the jerk (3rd derivative of displacement with respect to time) could cause medical problems in your wrists.]  Recoil is just conservation of momentum.  It is neither good nor bad.  It's just reality.  We accept reality and accommodate it.  The tang (deepest indentation of the backstrap) is the fulcrum.  The lever arm is the distance from the fulcrum to the force perpendicular to the lever arm.  The longest lever arm you have is the force from your support-side-hand little finger against your grip.  So your grip must be long enough to allow your support-side-hand little finger to press the grip.  

     You will not pull with the little fingers to prevent muzzle flip.  That would be WRONG!  You simply grip tight, aware that the little fingers are active (because they usually are not in untrained persons), and allow the pistol to recoil.  

     Pushing with the firing side hand and pulling with the support side hand (which is difficult with an isosceles arm position, that's why Chapman, advocated the Chapman version of the Weaver arm position) will minimize movement of the pistol upon recoil.  Actively gripping with the little fingers will minimize muzzle flip.  

     Of course, this is assuming you always strive for and have achieved a surprise trigger break.  It is the surprise break that will defeat all of your autonomic nervous system responses to the report and recoil by allowing the bullet to exit the muzzle before you jerk, flinch, push, freeze, etc.  

     Actually, you can train yourself not to blink when something approaches your eye.  But, it's a stupid thing to do.  That's why your optometrist surprises you to get your eyeball pressure.  

    Moving on, I'm well aware of the dangers of firing warning shots, but sometimes people need reminders. Thus, I liked that Jon included this bit:

     Never fire warning shots.  You will not be on a multi-million dollar range with soft dirt berms to catch your bullets.  Any bullet fired down will hit the concrete floor, the asphalt pavement, or a rock and ricochet injuring someone (maybe killing him), maybe you.  Any bullet fired up will come down with equal speed (gravity on Earth is a conservational field) on someone's head probably killing him.  

     Never shoot to wound.  Shooting in combat is a low probability event.  So you must always shoot to the center of mass of whatever your intended target is to get a significant probability of hitting your intended target.  Shooting for an arm or leg just about guarantees you will hit an unintended target.  There are no misses.  There are only unintended hits, which destroy property and injure innocent persons (maybe killing them).  

Taking a slightly different tack, focusing on the elements of self-defense, are you really facing an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death if you are shooting into the ground, the air, or deliberately trying to hit a criminal's leg?

    If you are considering appendix inside-the-waistband (AIWB) carry, Jon has some thoughts about it, including his attempts to use the technique. AIWB carry is not for everyone. 

    I've always used the modified Weaver stance, termed the Chapman stance, for as long as I can remember, which probably means that is how I was taught by my father. Jon writes about the Chapman stance:

     I think that pushing with the firing-side hand and pulling with the support-side hand is fundamental to control recoil which includes minimizing muzzle flip.  In the Chapman version of the Weaver arm position, the firing-side arm is locked out straight, as the stock of a long gun, and the support-side arm is bent at the elbow and the elbow is down, not sticking out to the side.  This allows the bicep of the support-side arm to pull the pistol grip in towards you.  

     It's hard to get this push-pull tension with an isosceles arm position.  And most instructors of the isosceles position don't teach the push-pull tension.  But note that the support-side hand is in front of the grip, so can only pull.  (Ya, the support side hand can squeeze the grip, but that's only the grip strength pressure.  Maybe 100 pounds for a man, maybe 70 pounds for a woman.  It's nothing compared to the force due to the larger muscle groups closer to the spine and of course the bones used in skeletal structural support of the pistol.)

After linking to an article from Massad Ayoob on different types of pistol stances, Jon lists a bunch more reasons why he likes the Chapman stance. Be sure to check it out.

    Jon had caught my post about the Army offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of M17 pistols that went missing, and offers up a story that illustrates how little interest the Army appears to have in recovering any such missing weapons. Basically, Jon was at a gun show when he was approached by someone wanting to sell what appeared to be a NIB M-17 for a ridiculously low amount. The man claimed to have many more in the trunk of his car. Jon was naturally suspicious and reached out to Army CID to try and get information on the serial numbers so he could identify whether the pistol offered for sale was one of the stolen ones, but they were unwilling to share that information. Which, of course, begs the question of how they expect a dealer to identify one of the missing weapons should it cross their counter. It's an interesting story, so check out the full thing.

    Anyway, a lot more tips, information, and links to article and videos, so be sure to read the whole thing.

------------------------------------------

* I purchased the CVLIFE 9mm Laser Training Cartridge & Laser Bore Sight from Amazon (don't worry, I don't get anything from Amazon for referring people so if you find a better price elsewhere, go for it). Please note that they offer other calibers, but those are just the laser training cartridge and do not include the constant on endcap for bore sighting.  

Voyager 1 Returning Data From All Working Scientific Equipment

 You may remember that several months back, NASA had lost almost all communications with Voyager 1--it was just returning gibberish due to a computer issue. Robert Zimmerman, author of the Beyond the Black blog, reports that the first step in restoring communications was in April when engineers were able to get the spacecraft to start returning engineering data. 

On May 19, the mission team executed the second step of that repair process and beamed a command to the spacecraft to begin returning science data. Two of the four science instruments returned to their normal operating modes immediately. Two other instruments required some additional work, but now, all four are returning usable science data.

The Voyager spacecraft have had a remarkable run, being in operation for 47 years. But sadly, as Zimmerman notes, "[t]he nuclear power source for both no longer provides enough power to run all their instruments, and will run down completely sometime in 2026, as expected, when operations will finally cease."

This Is Not The Way: Biden To Shield More Illegal Aliens From Deportation

 From the Daily Mail: "Biden to give hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants who are married to US citizens protection from deportation, work permits and path to citizenship in the biggest immigration shakeup in decades." From the lede:

    President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy Tuesday that would lift the threat of deportation for hundreds of thousands of people married to U.S. citizens, an aggressive election-year action on immigration that had been sought by many Democrats.

    Biden will announce the new program at a White House event to celebrate the Obama-era 'dreamers' directive that offered deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, according to three people briefed on the White House plans.

    The policy will allow roughly 490,000 spouses of U.S. citizens an opportunity to apply for a 'parole in place' program, which would shield them from deportations and offer them work permits if they have lived in the country for at least 10 years, according to two of the people briefed. 

The announcement is supposed to be made this afternoon. 

This Is The Way: Throw 'Em Back

The BBC reports: "Greek coastguard threw migrants overboard to their deaths, witnesses say". The article relates:

    The Greek coastguard has caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over a three-year period, witnesses say, including nine who were deliberately thrown into the water.

    The nine are among more than 40 people alleged to have died as a result of being forced out of Greek territorial waters, or taken back out to sea after reaching Greek islands, BBC analysis has found.

    The Greek coastguard told our investigation it strongly rejects all accusations of illegal activities.

    So who were these people being "thrown overboard"? The article recounts: "We showed footage of 12 people being loaded into a Greek coastguard boat, and then abandoned on a dinghy, to a former senior Greek coastguard officer." That's not being thrown overboard. 

     Anything else? "In five of the incidents, migrants said they were thrown directly into the sea by the Greek authorities. In four of those cases they explained how they had landed on Greek islands but were hunted down. In several other incidents, migrants said they had been put onto inflatable rafts without motors which then deflated, or appeared to have been punctured." Well, they weren't thrown to their deaths because they are still alive. As for the rafts, they were probably the rafts used by the migrants themselves which are well known to be of crappy Chinese manufacture and prone to sinking. Again, not being thrown overboard to their deaths.

    What else? 

    One of the most chilling accounts was given by a Cameroonian man, who says he was hunted by Greek authorities after landing on the island of Samos in September 2021.

    Like all the people we interviewed, he said he was planning to register on Greek soil as an asylum seeker.

    "We had barely docked, and the police came from behind," he told us. "There were two policemen dressed in black, and three others in civilian clothes. They were masked, you could only see their eyes."

If they were masked and dressed in black, how does he know they were policemen? 

    He and two others - another from Cameroon and a man from Ivory Coast - were transferred to a Greek coastguard boat, he said, where events took a terrifying turn.

How does he know it was a Coastguard boat? 

    “They started with the [other] Cameroonian. They threw him in the water. The Ivorian man said: ‘Save me, I don’t want to die'… and then eventually only his hand was above water, and his body was below.

    "Slowly his hand slipped under, and the water engulfed him."

Just like something out of a movie instead of what an actual drowning victim acts like. (See, e.g., this article from the Journal of Search & Rescue; this article from State Farm Insurance; and this article from the Red Cross). 

    Our interviewee says his abductors beat him.

    "Punches were raining down [a common saying in Cameroon (sarc.)] on my head. It was like they were punching an animal." [Oops--let his native culture show through] And then he says they pushed him, too, into the water - without a life jacket. He was able to swim to shore, but the bodies of the other two - Sidy Keita and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana - were recovered on the Turkish coastline.

Given his culture's propensity for lying, why should we believe him? He had, after all, broken laws and lied in order to get to Greece in the first place and has a strong incentive to lie in order to get additional sympathy to support an asylum application.

    And another incident:

    Another man, from Somalia, told the BBC how in March 2021 he had been caught by the Greek army on arrival on the island of Chios, who then handed him to the Greek coastguard.

    He said the coastguard had tied his hands behind his back, before dropping him into the water.

    "They threw me zip-tied in the middle of the sea. They wanted me to die," he said.

    He said he managed to survive by floating on his back, before one of his hands broke free from the ligature. But the sea was choppy, and three in his group died. Our interviewee made it to land where he was eventually spotted by the Turkish coastguard.

 Again, why should he be believed? 

    And another incident:

    Of the incidents we analysed, the one with the highest loss of life was in September 2022. A boat carrying 85 migrants ran into trouble near the Greek island of Rhodes when its motor cut out.

    Mohamed, from Syria, told us they rang the Greek coastguard for help - who loaded them onto a boat, returned them to Turkish waters and put them in life rafts. Mohamed says the raft he and his family were given had not had its valve properly closed.

    "We immediately began to sink, they saw that… They heard us all screaming, and yet they still left us," he told the BBC.

    "The first child who died was my cousin's son… After that it was one by one. Another child, another child, then my cousin himself disappeared. By the morning seven or eight children had died.

    "My kids didn't die until the morning… right before the Turkish coastguard arrived."

Once more, there is no corroborating evidence offered in the article that this incident occurred, let alone that it happened in the way described. Instead, we are supposed to take the word of an admitted criminal, a member of a religion that authorizes lying if it benefits the liar, and who, if his story is to be believed, let his children drown while he survived.

    What's ignored in the article is that this is a type of war. Turkey, the sworn enemy of Greece, is allowing illegals from countries throughout the Middle-East and Africa to traverse its country and encouraging them to swim or boat out to Greek islands near the Turkish shoreline for the purpose of undermining and weakening its enemy. It is, literally, an invasion by a hostile power. In war, soldiers are killed and weapons destroyed. Why should it be different in this case? And why is the BBC glossing over Turkey's criminal conduct--including violating international treaties and agreements to keep asylum seekers in its borders? 

Give A Man A Hammer .... UK Police Edition

 From the New York Post: "Cop suspended after horrifying video shows him repeatedly ram calf with patrol car." When I first saw the headline, I thought the idiot was trying to get the calf to move off a road. But the story indicates that the cops were trying to capture the calf and put it in a trailer. My guess is the officer was simply following his training which required that a suspect be taken to the ground and then handcuffed or zip-tied. Walking up to it and putting a rope around its neck to lead it to the trailer would have required actual thinking. 

Gun Control In Action: Prison Inmate Shoots And Kills Worker And Himself

 The New York Post reports: "Violent inmate manages to get gun, fatally shoots young mom working in prison kitchen before killing himself." Prison officials and law enforcement are being mum on how the prisoner was able to get hold of a gun in a high security prison. But if gun control doesn't work there, why would anyone expect it to work in the real world?

An Example Of Why I've Grown To Dislike Father's Day

I don't know how other churches deal with Father's Day, but I've noticed over my lifetime how Father's Day in my church has devolved from the sacrament meeting talks being in praise of fathers or fatherhood, generally, to being a second Mother's Day. That is, the talks are generally about how the only reason that the speaker (generally the male speakers) have amounted to anything is because of a wife or mother; or the speaker outright just talks about the importance of mothers ignoring the fact that it is Father's Day; or it's a talk reprimanding the men for not doing a better job of being fathers and husbands. 

    And this Father's Day short video put out by the Church perfectly illustrates my point, only showing the wife and never the father, and focused on his wife giving birth to his child and his increased love for his wife as a result. Can you imagine if the Church had released a comparable video on Mother's Day with a woman talking about how getting knocked up by her husband and giving birth made her love her husband even more? And only showing pictures of the husband holding the baby?

VIDEO: "Celebrating the Happiness of Fatherhood"

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (52 seconds)

Compare it with this short released for Mother's Day this year, that puts women at the center of the family and emphasizes all the things that mothers do, without ever mentioning a husband/father or the mother's role as a wife. 

VIDEO: "Every Woman A Mom By Divine Destiny"

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (56 seconds)

Or this one, also released around Mother's Day this year, which focuses on a woman's work as a mother to a handicapped son and as an advocate for handicapped children. 

VIDEO: "A Mom for her Son, an Advocate for her Community"

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (55 sec.)

What Were The "Unicorns" Mentioned In The Bible?

 Another interesting video from NathanH83, this one addressing what were the "unicorns" mentioned in the Bible. I've heard various theories before of different animals that might have been "unicorns" but the video offers compelling evidence and argument that "unicorns" (literally, one-horned) refers to the Asiatic one-horned rhinoceros. Moreover, he notes what while the KJV generally refers to "unicorn" without distinguishment, the Latin Vulgate actually differentiates between the two-horned rhinoceros and the one-horned rhinoceros. That is, certain of the references to "unicorn" in the KJV actually pertain to a similar, but two-horned animal. 

    The reason for this video is that there are apparently some people that actually try to use the references to unicorns as "proof" that the Bible is false, even though, as the video explains, the meaning of "unicorn" has radically changed in the last 200 years (and perhaps even more in the past 400 years since the KJV was published). I've never heard anyone make that ignorant of an argument, but NathanH83 includes some clips of people making that very argument, so it must happen. 

VIDEO: "Why Does the Bible Mention Unicorns?"

NathanH83 (8 min.)

Bible Chronology: Masoretic Text Versus Earlier Sources

The Old Testament in almost all modern Bibles are translations of the Masoretic Text: a copy of the Hebrew Old Testament that only dates back to the 11th Century A.D. But when comparing against earlier sources such as the Septuagint, Samaritan Pentateuch, writings of Josephus, Dead Sea Scrolls, and comments or quotes from the New Testament, there are inconsistencies indicating errors in the Masoretic Text, including some of the pre-Exodus chronology. The two video, below, goes over some of these errors.

    The first video discusses how the Masoretic Text indicates that Israel was in Egypt 430 years, but that the other sources indicate that the 430 year period includes both the time in Canaan and Egypt; and, in fact that the period was 215 years for each location.

    The second video discusses some other errors including, most importantly, that 100 years was removed from most of the lives of the Patriarchs between Seth and Abraham. The producer of the video moreover argues that these errors were introduced specifically to debunk that Christ was the new high priest via the order of Melchizedek (rather than via Aaron) as stated in the New Testament. As Melchizedek had no genealogy, the Jews decided to create one by shortening the lifespans of the Patriarchs so that Seth's lifespan overlapped that of Abraham so they could, therefore, argue that Melchizedek had a genealogy because he was actually Seth.

VIDEO: "How Long Were The Israelites In Egypt?"
NathanH83 (13 min.)

VIDEO: "Were the Pyramids Built Before the Flood? (Masoretic Text vs. Original Hebrew)"
NathanH83 (32 min.)

Ellifritz: "Surviving Mob Attacks On Your Vehicle"

It's summer, an election year, with two major wings of the Democratic party attacking one another: a perfect time for more riots. Will it be a repeat of the riots and protests following the overdose death of George Floyd? Don't know, but it would only take one incident reframed and spun up to start such riots.

    And with riots would come traffic being shut down by mobs on busy highways or important intersections, with the risk of being surrounded, attacked and robbed by these same "protestors". What to do if that happens?

    Greg Ellifritz has posted an article at his Active Response Training site on this very topic: "Surviving Mob Attacks on Your Vehicle." Greg notes:

John over at ASP has a couple video critiques of folks who were surrounded by protestors during the 2014 and 2020 riot seasons. I’d suggest you take a look at his video “Using Your Car To Escape a Mob“. He brings up some very good points. You can also see the longer, uncut version of the same surveillance video on YouTube.

But he also decided to address certain points not brought up in the Active Self-Protection video. Specifically, Greg discusses the following topics:

1. Avoidance is key.
2. You can't just run people over because they are on the road--the rules of self-defense and using lethal force still apply.
3. The situation changes, however, once the rioters attack you or your vehicle.
4. Doors locked and seat belt OFF.
5. Tear gas grenades may or may not work.
6. Carry your gun on your person, not in the car.
7. Beware of other forms of road blocks other than masses of protestors--e.g., abandoned cars or caltrops.
8. Long guns aren't the answer--pistols are a better choice. 

If your vehicle is attacked, Greg writes:

Don’t get out and shoot. You will quickly be overwhelmed and your gun will be taken from you. Instead, accelerate steadily and forcefully, driving away from the surrounding rioters. Steady movement is the key. Hitting folks too hard can disable your vehicle. As John suggests, use your vehicle to push people out of the way rather than striking them.

 There is a lot of good information in the article plus additional links, so be sure to check it out and read the whole thing.

See also: "Weekend Knowledge Dump- June 14, 2024"--Active Response Training. More links and tips for the armed self-defender and prepper.

Muslim Invaders Conduct Raid Into French Countryside

From Front Page Magazine: "Muslim Immigrants to French Farmers: ‘We’re Here To Kill The Whites’." An excerpt:

Young French farmers from the villages of Saint-Marcellin and Pont-en-Royans organized a “farmers’ ball” on Saturday evening, May 24, held at the Murinais ballroom. It was to have been a night of innocent fun. They had not counted on Muslim immigrants from Saint-Marcellin showing up with mayhem on their minds. Six Muslims came to the hall, and waited outside. When two farmers left the ball, the Muslims attacked them and. began to beat them up. At that point, other farmers streamed out to help defend their fellows, and the Muslims then fled, only to return later with their own reinforcements, and proceeded to attack the now-outnumbered farmers. One of the farmers was repeatedly kicked and punched, and suffered serious injuries to his head, sufficient to incapacitate him fr 13 days. A night of harmless fun turned into a nightmare when Muslims, for no reason other than their hatred of “whites” — that is, indigenous Frenchmen — led them to unleash their unprovoked and savage attack.

 If this sounds familiar, it should. The article reminds us:

This latest attack reminded many French of the attack on November 18, 2023, in the tiny village of Crépol, in the Drôme department, with a population of about 500. Local, farmers had organized an annual “winter ball” attended by many people from the surrounding area. Just as the evening was ending, and people streamed from the hall, a gang of Muslims, armed with knives, arrived at about 1:30 a.m., and began stabbing the French people. Nine people were stabbed with knives, while others were hit with stones and fences. Eight people were treated for shock. 16-year-old Thomas Perotto was stabbed in the heart and the throat, and died. Two others, aged 23 and 28, were treated as “absolute emergencies” while six others were treated for minor injuries. Witnesses said that when the Muslims arrived, they yelled out “we’re here to kill the whites.” And that’s what they tried to do.

 You would think that a small, isolated village would have the means to make a Muslim raiding party permanently disappear without a trace. Because that is where this is headed. 

U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Bump Stock Ban

The bump stock ban was always premised on the concept that the items converted a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon. Opponents to the ban pointed out that semi-automatic is defined as requiring a single action of the trigger for each shot; and that, even with a bump-stock attached, the weapon only fired on a single action of the trigger. 

     The United States Supreme Court has agreed in a 6-3 ruling. In a decision authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court held that a "semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a ‘machinegun’ because it does not fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger.'" And, "[e]ven if a semiautomatic rifle with a bump stock could fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger,' it would not do so ‘automatically.'" Thus, the court concluded that the BATF had unconstitutionally overstepped its authority in implementing the ban.

    I will note that this decision does not appear to rest on an interpretation of the Second Amendment, but rather on the interpretation and application of the language used in federal firearms laws. If that is correct, then the Supreme Court's decision may not have any impact on bans under state law (NBC News notes that 18 states have banned the accessory), nor would it prevent Congress from acting to ban bump stocks. On the other hand, one of the reasons that Trump resorted to a rule-making process to ban the accessory is because there was insufficient support in Congress to pass a new law, but Trump felt that he had to do something anyway (not that it helped him in the end).

    On a side note, Justice Sonia Sotomayor once again proved that she was a diversity hire who finds logic and reasoning to be too hard. Sotomayor rejected any reasoning based on the actual words of the relevant statutes, instead explaining: "When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." That saying is short hand for the logic that if A shares all the same characteristics as X, then it A = X. It is because bump-stocks do not have certain of the key, defining characteristics of an automatic weapon that the majority found the ban unlawful. 

    Sotomayor instead is focused on appearances. Her reasoning is because it helps shoot a weapon faster, a weapon with a bumpstock must be an automatic weapon, and the actual wording of the law is superfluous. It is legal reasoning focused on getting to a particular end without concern for the necessary predicates. Thus, Sotomayor "derid[ed] the majority’s interpretation for ignoring common sense and instead relying on obscure technical arguments" that were apparently too difficult for her to comprehend. Sotomayor exhibits the same "logic" as deciding a person is a murderer because the person "looks like a murderer" and the technical explanations of physical evidence showing his innocence--such as finger prints, DNA, hair samples, etc.--are too difficult to understand and "ignore common sense". That is the reasoning of a child, mentally handicapped adult, or someone completely lacking any intellectual honesty. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is Sotomayor.

Stories:

• "Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Bump Stock Ban"--The Truth About Guns.
• "Supreme Court overturns Trump-era ban on bump stocks"--New York Post.
• "Supreme Court rules ban on gun bump stocks is unlawful"--NBC News.
• "Sotomayor rips Thomas’s bump stocks ruling in scathing dissent read from bench"--The Hill.

Bombs & Bants - Episode 131 (Streamed 6/12/2024)

The latest Bombs & Bants podcast with more lively banter about current events -- and 2 minutes of guns in 1 minute. 

VIDEO: "Episode 131" (42 min.)

Don't Play The Hero

I've warned before about the dangers of intervening in situations that do not involve you or a loved one (see, e.g., "The Dangers of White Knighting"). Other experienced self-defense experts have also warned about physically intervening, especially when you don't know the facts and circumstances. 

    One of the early Massad Ayoob books I read related an incident where a passing motorist saw a man pushing a woman against a wall, while the woman cried out for help and that she was being raped. The motorist decided to intervene, shooting and killing the "rapist" who turned out to be a plainclothes police officer attempting to arrest a prostitute. As you might imagine, it didn't turn out well for the "white knight".

    The Truth About Guns reports on a similar recent incident from the Seattle area: "Off-Duty Security Guard Kills Teen Returning Malfunctioning Airsoft Gun." (See also, "Washington man shot teen 7 times after mistakenly suspecting him of planning robbery"--USA Today). In this case, it wasn't just that the security guard intervened where he shouldn't, but that once he interjected himself into the situation, he made very poor decisions that took him outside the box of self-defense. That he did this in the rabidly anti-gun King County, Washington--killing a POC kid in the process--just makes it all the worse for him.

    The dead young man in this case was Hazrat Ali Rohani. According to his two surviving friends, the three were going to Big 5 to see about repairing or replacing an airsoft pistol owned by Hazrat, as well as have the store personnel check out a magazine problem with a second airsoft pistol. 

    The "hero" in this case was Aaron Brown Myers, the owner of a security company and licensed security guard. According to the articles, Myers had taken his son to a martial arts class held in a studio next to a Big 5 sporting goods store. Myers was sitting in his vehicle waiting for his son and conducting, what he apparently told police, was an "overwatch" of the parking lot and stores. "He told police he's seen numerous crimes occur there in the past and just wanted to keep his son safe," according to the USA Today article.

    Suddenly, Myers saw the three teens approaching the Big 5 store with one of them carrying what appeared to be a Glock pistol and another apparently stuffing a weapon into his waistband. A statement from Myers attorney indicated that "Mr. Myers sincerely believed that he was witnessing the beginning of an armed robbery when he observed three young men pass his truck on their way into a store that was adjacent to the location where his son was attending a martial arts class." 

    Myers, a “professional security consultant,” got involved in the hopes of stopping a robbery before anyone got hurt.  Myers echoes a similar sentiment made to police during the interview, telling them that he was “in fear for his own life and fired his duty weapon to defend himself.” He also said he didn't have time to call 911 and "had a duty to act to stop the individuals from hurting someone innocent," Burke wrote.

    “We are confident that over the course of this investigation the evidence will show that Mr. Myers’ only intent that day was to protect himself and others from serious harm or death,” according to the statement. 

    So, although his son was not in immediate danger and he didn't have time to draw his cell phone and call 9-1-1, Myers had the time and opportunity to get out of his car and confront the teens with a drawn weapon. Unfortunately for Myers, he talked to the police and what he told the police did not match up with surveillance video:

    When Myers confronted the teens, he told police they ignored his commands to put their hands up and that he thought that one of them was "going to kill him." Police say surveillance video contradicts much of Myers' story.

Rather, when Myers approached the teens with his own gun in hand, one of the teens put his airsoft pistol on the ground and showed Myers his empty hands. Myers then pushed one of the teens to the ground and straddled him while pointing his weapon at Hazrat, who had an airsoft pistol in his pocket, but was also showing Myers his hands per the surveillance video. 

    Hazrat begins to turn away from Myers, briefly lowering one of his raised arms in the direction of his waistband, at which point Myers opens fire, shooting the boy seven times, hitting him "once in the side and at least six times in the back," Burke wrote in the charging document.

    A King County sheriff’s deputy in the area at the time witnessed the shooting, Burke wrote, though it was unclear why she didn't intervene. It was also unclear if she or her partner were the ones to arrest Myers.

Also, "[b]oth friends said they told Myers repeatedly that the guns weren't real but that before they knew it, their friend had been shot." 

    Now Myers is being held on a $2 million bond on charges of second degree murder. Worse, this was not the first time he had followed and threatened to shoot someone who he believed had a weapon. In 2022, he had followed and called police about a man on a bicycle whom Myers believed was carrying a weapon. When police stopped the man, it turned out he was unarmed and only had a silver object believed to be a bicycle part.

    It is entirely possible that the youths were going to a store that sells guns with the purpose of robbing it with fake pistols. I'm not sure why Myers didn't see the orange barrel caps on most every airsoft gun I've seen, but perhaps they had been painted over or removed. So it is believable that Myers might have genuinely thought the airsoft pistols to be real. 

    But the teens were not headed into the ju-jitsu dojo where his son was training. Moreover, there are lots of other ways to get involved that did not require him to physically confront the youths with a drawn weapon. For one thing, he could have simply been a good witness, taking photographs or recording a description of the youths in case there was a robbery. He could have called 9-1-1, although perhaps his prior experience in 2022 made him reluctant to do so. And although I think it going too far, he could have shadowed the teens into the store and observed them.

    But he screwed up because he wasn't considering the rules of self-defense. When he stopped the teens, no one was in imminent danger of grave bodily harm. Myers literally had no justification for drawing his weapon. He also had no legal right or authority to try and detain the three. He had no legal duty "to act to stop the individuals from hurting someone innocent," Rather, he became the aggressor in this situation. If he had just stuck with the idea of keeping his son safe, he wouldn't have left his vehicle and be in this bind; but he decided to play hero. And now he will probably never be able to keep his son safe or provide for his family. 

    But this story is not just a lesson in what not to do when confronting a potential criminal, it is also a lesson for someone carrying a weapon as to what could happen if someone saw your weapon. That is, if you were openly carrying or someone was able to spot that you were carrying a concealed weapon, you could end up suddenly facing the muzzle of a pistol held by someone like Myers.

RIP: Veteran Gun Writer Mike “Duke” Venturino Has Passed Away

If you read a variety of gun magazines, you undoubtedly have come across articles from Mike "Duke" Venturino. The Truth About Guns reports that he passed away on June 9, 2024, due to complications from heart disease. 

Using Promises Of Reparations To Foment Hatred

Yesterday, the Anonymous Conservative had linked to an article about a California slavery reparations group that has recommended that California provide reparations even though the anticipated cost of the program could reach $800 billion and likely require the state to raise taxes. Clearly such a proposal should (and probably will be) dead in the water. So why make such a ridiculous recommendation? AC offers this insight:

It is a great play for fomenting strife. The closer you take it, the more many poorer blacks will begin spending that money in their heads. Then, when it doesn’t happen, they will be enraged at who intervened and stole that money from them for no reason.

Hmm: "Australian Senate Launches Major Inquiry into Soaring Deaths Among Vaxxed"

The article is from Slay News, and it reports:

    The Australian Senate has just launched a major inquiry into the nation’s soaring numbers of excess deaths among the widely vaccinated population.

    The country has suffered staggering losses since the mass vaccination program was launched in 2021.

    Australia led the world in tyrannical lockdowns and vaccine mandates during, and after, the pandemic.

    The nation has one of the highest rates of Covid mRNA vaccination in the world.

    Over the past three years, however, the country has been battling the worst level of excess mortality since World War II.

    The investigation by the Australian Senate is being touted as the first instance in the world of a Parliament formally examining the issue of soaring deaths.

    The successful motion to launch the inquiry was brought by United Australia Party (UAP) Senator Ralph Babet.

Suited Shootist: "Why I Dislike The Clip Draw"

In the video from the Suited Shootist, below, the presenter explains why he doesn't like the clip draw: that is a clip that attaches to a firearm allowing it to be carried inside the waistband (IWB) with or without a belt. His primary concern is that the clip--at least on a small Kel-Tec pistol he was showing--is that the firearm sits so deep that it is hard to get a good grip on the weapon when drawing it (which he demonstrates). He also finds it difficult to reholster without using his other hand to pull the waistband out slightly. Finally, he questions the safety of carrying a weapon with an exposed trigger, particularly when there are other options out there (he mentions using the Philster holster and pocket holsters). Nevertheless, as he also discusses, undercover police used a similar type device (the Barami hip grip) with revolvers when they couldn't use a holster, relying on the heavy double-action trigger pull as a safety.

    Since I typically use suspenders instead of a belt when wearing suits, I'm tempted to give one or both products a try. Although I've used shoulder holsters in the past when wearing a suit jacket, I've had a few instances where with bending or sitting and then standing or straightening up, the suspender will catch on the thumb break strap on the holster and pop it open. On the other hand, a pocket holster does not work well because the fabric is so thin that the pistol and holster just flop and it would be obvious to anyone not blind that I have something in the pocket. And belt holsters don't work well without a belt! The Suited Shootest may have found these clip systems less than ideal, but it is better than going without.

VIDEO: "WHY I DISLIKE THE CLIPDRAW: Pros & Cons of Holsterless Carry"

The Suited Shootist (9 min.)

More: "Handgunning: The Hip-Grip" by Patrick Sweeney, Guns & Ammo. An excerpt:

    Holsters exist to be used. The idea of stuffing a carry gun into a pocket, waistband, purse or anywhere else without a holster is now on par with shooting without hearing protection or the phlogiston theory of combustion. (And rightly so.)

    Yet that was not always the case. Back in the days before we knew better, it was common to simply tuck a handgun someplace convenient and count on it being there when it was needed. This did not always work. One of the best life lessons is this: Whenever possible, learn from the mistakes of others.

    One evening, I was eating in a fast-­food establishment in Detroit. Like most of the other patrons, I had a seat with my back to the wall and an eye on the door. A gent walked in, intent on ordering food. As he strode to the counter, he suddenly got a hitch in his step, clutched at his leg, and the result was a handgun sliding out of the cuff of his trousers. Propelled by his stride, the handgun skidded along the floor and smacked into the counter with a loud crack. Nonplussed, he picked it up, turned, tucked it back in his waistband and walked out. (Smart, as at that time, in that place, the average number of guns carried by the patrons would have been two or three. That was Detroit in the 1980s.) Clearly, he was not using a holster. But then, half the patrons there probably weren't, either.

    One trick we used back then to try to ensure the snubbies we had tucked in our waistband stayed at our belt was to wrap a big, messy bundle of rubber bands around the frame. This lump acted as a sticky spot and a hindrance to the gun sliding down our trousers. It sometimes worked.

    But then we found the Hip-­Grip. The Barami Hip-­Grip is a simple device; it is a replacement set of grips for revolvers with a paddle or wing added on the right-­hand side. The wing hooks onto your belt and keeps the snubbie where you put it.

After giving background on the development of the Hip-Grip and the Detroit police officer that invented it, the article continues:

    The product name, Hip-­Grip, is pretty obvious. The company name, Barami, is a combination of the initials of the company's owners. And they are still in business, albeit not at the volume they used to produce. 

 

    Why?

    Simple. Guys like me realized that while there were valid uses for a Hip-­Grip, say for a backup gun or a quick "I need a handgun while I roll the recycling bins to the curb," modern EDC demands a more traditional holster. So, I went completely to holsters, put the Hip-­Grips away and moved on. In time, most of us, and the new guys we taught, did the same.

    Just out of curiosity, I went digging through some old gear. It appears the old adage that three moves are as good as a fire is true. Could I find those Hip-­Grips I had depended on those many years ago? No, I could not. (The smart alecs will comment that I probably could not find Jimmy Hoffa in the shop, but that's a vicious lie. I found him; I just can't say where.)

    So, I went to the purveyor of all goods, Amazon, and ordered two identical to the ones I used to have. Since the Hip-­Grip was designed before there were hand-­filling grips, I made sure I reinstalled my Tyler T-­Grip (another still-­useful vestige of prehistory) on a Smith & Wesson Model 15. It's a more recent acquisition, and my original Hip-­Grip was on a 2-­inch S&W Model 10, long since gone. And my Model 60 had never had a T-­grip, so this was like being back in the '80s again without the popped collars.

    I'll still tell you that your first choice for daily carry should be a good holster, but there may well be a time when you need a second or third handgun (even though it isn't Detroit in the 1980s) and for that, you can tuck a snubbie with a Hip-­Grip on it into some useful locations. Sometimes progress doesn't make old gear obsolete, it just changes its use.