The Conspiracy To Invade Ceuta

From Breitbart: "Bombshell Spanish Police Report Accuses Moroccan Agents of Orchestrating Ceuta Migrant Invasion, Contradicting Sánchez Government." The article relates:

    Contrary to the myriad of potential masterminds put forward by the leftist government in Madrid [such as Russia, Israel, or even right-wing groups], the Spanish National Police accused the Muslim Moroccan government of orchestrating the invasion, which the report claims was an operation to undermine Spanish sovereignty over the North African territory, El Mundo reports.

    The police dossier claimed to have evidence from the National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) that uniformed Moroccan gendarmes were on the ground at Castillejos, a town across the border from Ceuta, on the day of the invasion, directing the flow of migrants towards the fence which separates the two countries.

    Furthermore, the report said that police are in possession of “graphic evidence” showing plainclothes Moroccan government agents giving instructions to the uniformed gendarmes on where to send the migrants, specifically the sea surrounding the fence.

Why the sea?

This came just weeks after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that illegals arriving by water could not be pushed back, opening a loophole for the Ceuta territory, where migrants could simply walk into the water on the Moroccan side of the border and technically arrive in Spanish territory a few feet down the coastline by sea.    

 While most of the 80,000 the Muslim invaders were forced out of Ceuta, there are still 8,000 or more remaining; and, according to Daniel Greenfield, it doesn't appear that those will be leaving anytime soon:

    Despite initial promises from the prime minister that all the migrants would be returned, many thousands of the invaders have remained behind. Some sources estimated the number of remaining invaders who have occupied beaches and overrun entire areas at only 8,000, but Spain’s Ministry of Health is sending 45,000 doses of vaccines to deal with the migrant outbreaks including 10,000 polio, chickenpox, and diphtheria-tetanus vaccines and 15,000 MMR vaccines suggesting that the true number may be between 10,000 and 15,000.

    What the vaccine regime reveals even more than the numbers is the fact that they’re staying.

    The fiction that the migrants will soon go back is falling apart. There would be no need for over 10,000 vaccine doses for the migrants if they were on the verge of being deported back home.

    MMR vaccines with the second booster shot operate on a 4-week schedule. The chickenpox vaccine is spread out over 2 months, and the polio and diphtheria-tetanus vaccines operate across 6-12 months. The Spanish government expects thousands, and perhaps even a full ten thousand migrants, to stay for at least a year which means that they will probably never leave.

    The new unified command is preparing to seize housing for the migrants for the rest of the year which means that the government expects the occupation to continue until at least then.

Meanwhile, the locals have had to put up with a 1,000% increase in crime. But that is not all:

    Prime Minister Sanchez, who famously wrote a New York Times op-ed titled, “I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants” to promote his policy of legalizing 500,000 illegal migrants, helping spur the invasion, has been running out the clock by offering meaningless reassurances and delaying any emergency intervention until now.

    As Spain’s former head of immigration, Ramón Caudevila from Ceuta, pointed out, under the law “after 31 days from the application date, undocumented immigrants have the right to go to the Spanish mainland.” What that means is that in around a week, thousands of invading Ceuta migrants will enter Spain proper and then all of Europe will lie open before them.

    No wonder they’re getting vaccinated. 

40 Million ARs?

The Truth About Guns reports that William English’s 2026 National Firearms Survey was used by attorney's fighting so-called "assault weapon" bans before the Supreme Court. The interesting thing to me were the numbers. Extrapolating from the survey:

    Put together, 30% of American gun owners — roughly 26.4 million adults — currently own at least one rifle commonly targeted by so-called “assault weapon” bans. About 22.1 million own an AR-15-type rifle specifically, per the survey.

    English estimates Americans possess around 40 million AR-15-type rifles and another 20 million similarly styled semi-autos. That’s roughly 60 million rifles.    

That should make the AR the most prolific rifle ever produced in the United States, and the second most prolific world wide. It also tells me that even if you don't own an AR and have no intention of ever owning an AR, you should nevertheless know the basics manual of arms for an AR in case you ever have to make one safe or end up having to use one. 

Ellifritz On "Professional" Attire For Firearms Instructors

In a recent piece from Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz answers a question as to what is appropriate attire for a firearms instructor. The short answer he gives is "who cares?" and, if you do care more about what he is wearing than what he is teaching, he doesn't want you in his class. But he does provide some history of the 5-11 slacks and polo shirt which seemed almost a uniform among certain types of people. He relates:

    FBI firearms instructors started wearing Royal Robbins climbing pants (the pants model was called the 5.11, named after a difficult climbing route) and polo shirts as their uniforms in the 1990s. Royal Robbins spun off the 5.11 pants into a separate sales division called 5.11 Tactical in 2003.  That’s the brand you all know well.
 
    There weren’t a whole lot of professional commercial firearms instructors in the business in the 1990s as compared to now.  Most of the commercial instructors in the business at the time had taught at the FBI academy or at least at their regional offices.  Those commercial instructors emulated the FBI instructor/agent look because it appeared sharp and was somewhat unique.  I remember when wearing 5.11 pants from an obscure outdoor clothing company (which had to be ordered by mailing the company a physical order form and a paper check) was like a secret code.  It meant that you were one of the cool kids who played with guns for a living. 

    Looking back on that time, it now seems quite odd.  Most firearms instructors I know are free thinkers and a bit anti-authoritarian.  Even if those instructors were (or had been) cops, very few had a high level of respect for the FBI.  Yet everyone jumped at the chance to LARP like an FBI instructor without the slightest bit of cognitive dissonance. 

VIDEO: Cleaning A Mini-14

 Another Mini-14 maintenance video for you. 

VIDEO: "Ruger Mini-14 Maintenance Series: Cleaning"
Brownells, Inc. (2 min.)

How To Video: Dissembly/Assembly of the Mini-14

 

VIDEO: "Ruger Mini-14 Assembly Disassembly"
bgallaher77 (8 min.)

"Gimme" - Mass Immigration In A Nutshell

 

VIDEO: "This Is The Perfect Clip To Expose The Illegal Immigration Crisis"
Matt Walsh (7 min.)

WaPo Goes After Conservative Commentators

The Washington Post has published an article accusing  Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson (aka Cynical Publius) of having been hired to propagandize for the Department of War and, in particular, War Secretary Pete Hegseth. And the story has been picked up by many other outlets, including a Canadian influencer and former radio "shock-jock" named Dean Blundell who published a piece entitled "The Pentagon Is Collapsing, So Hegseth Hired Influencers To Tell You It Isn’t." 

    I would never have come across Blundell's piece, except it found its way to Western Rifle Shooters Association. Blundell's piece is actually less about Maness, Schlichter, and Anderson, and more about some of the Pentagon old guard leaving or being shown the door, and, more generally, reducing the number of flag officers and generals.  Since it has been long argued (correctly in my opinion) that the military has too many senior officers overseeing a bloated bureaucracy, I don't see this as ipso facto proof that the Pentagon leadership is collapsing. 

    But going back to the original accusation from the Washington Post, Kurt Schlichter has published a rebuttal: "The Washington Post Embarrasses Itself Trying to Embarrass Me." He explains:

    Last spring, a senior Pentagon official — not from public affairs, which had zero to do with this project — reached out to me, Tom Anderson (aka @CynicalPublius), and Rob Maness (@RobManess) about undertaking a review and making recommendations about the military’s war colleges, which senior military leaders attend as colonels and Navy commanders and captains. These programs (there are about 10 of them, of various sizes and forms) have had their problems, including but not limited to the same creeping wokeness that had affected the entire military until President Trump essentially banned it. But DEI was not the focus of the project, as the WaPo implies; the focus was how to ensure these institutions are preparing future generals and admirals for the challenges of war in the 21st century. The poison of DEI was a component of the inquiry, but just one part of a complex issue.

    We would come on board as temporary special government employees, since we needed that status to use government information systems, access information, and perform our duties. None of our duties involved tweeting or messaging; again, the claim we were paid to publicly message is a lie. We would visit the campuses, interview people, review course materials, and prepare a report with recommendations. We began by reviewing reams of written materials. We eventually made several visits to the Pentagon and to various schools, plus had some video interactions. We each talked to hundreds of people. We conducted detailed interviews with large and small groups, including commandants, students, civilian and military faculty, administrators, and civilian and military leaders in the field. ...

[snip]

    We eventually produced a report of about 17,500 words. It is up to the Secretary of War to release it or throw it in the trash as he sees fit. I will say we are proud of it and that we made recommendations we think will help train the best possible senior officers to face the challenges of the future. Every moment we worked, we were focused on one thing — making sure our young troops got the quality leaders they deserve. I know that motive is not as juicy for the regime media and their lefty friends as some fantasy influencing scheme, but it’s the truth.

    So why pick us? Why would three right-wing internet guys get picked for this job? Well, because we have a very special set of skills. All three of us are retired O-6 colonels, graduates of one or more of the war colleges, and we all have extensive tactical and command experience. Tom Anderson was an Army logistics officer with multiple deployments. Rob Maness was a B-1 weapons officer who was in the Pentagon on 9/11. I was a chemical and an infantry officer, serving both on active duty and — importantly — in the reserves, which make up about half of America’s military forces and are often overlooked in projects like this one. ...    

All three, he points out, also have had extremely successful careers in the public sector that would assist in their assessments.

    This reminds me of an incident from my college days. I had a friend who was a journalism major and wrote for our university's newspaper. One day he excitedly told me that he had learned that the Army was conducting a "secret" research project at the university and he was going to blow the lid off the program. He seemed to think that it was going to be another Pentagon Papers or similar. It turned out that it was a small research project assessing better methods to teach people how to type. Oh, and it was not secret. I got a good laugh out of that one. 

VIDEO: Massad Ayoob Discusses The DA/SA Pistol

Massad Ayoob discusses the DA/SA pistol: it's history, its advantages, and why law enforcement and the public moved away from the design.  

 VIDEO: "Why did they stop using the Double Action Pistol?"
Massad Ayoob - Facts and Firearms (13 min.)

Israel Counters Turkey

From Israel Hayom (via Instapundit): "Israel, Greece finalize €3 billion defense system agreement." The article reports:

    A 3 billion euro ($3.48 billion) defense agreement between Israel and Greece was signed on Monday, with Israel set to construct a "multi-layered" defense system for the Greek military, Israel's defense ministry confirmed in a statement.

    Greece has dubbed the new program "Achilles Shield," a deal the ministry ranks among the largest in the country's defence history. Never before has the Israeli Ministry of Defense delivered a single, fully integrated array built to counter threats as varied as ballistic missiles, aircraft, and hostile drones. The two countries also finalized a smaller, supplementary contract, valued at 26 million euros, for Israel to provide Greece with drone dome systems.

This will, at a minimum, give Israel radar coverage of Turkey's north-eastern western coast. 

Rifleman's Guide To The Standing Position

Last week I had a post about controlling muzzle climb when using an FRT, and a comment to that post noted the importance of keeping the arm for the support hand bent and using a sling. So with that prompt, I decided to try and find a good article discussing the standing position when shooting a rifle. And the one that I found that I liked was this from Matt Robertson at Everyday Marksman: "A Marksman’s Guide to the Standing Position." Robertson begins by observing:

    The standing position is simultaneously the least useful, from a marksmanship perspective, but the most used of the rifle positions. It’s the one you see most at any tactical class, shooting range, or a day out plinking. Just because it’s the least useful, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice it. In fact, you should practice it a lot.

    If you’re using the standing, then you didn’t have time to get to a more stable position like kneeling, sitting, or prone. 

Or, as he quotes from TC 3-22.9, Rifle and Carbine Marksmanship: "This position should be used for closer targets or when time is not available to assume a steadier position such as short-range employment. The upper body should be leaned slightly forward to aid in recoil management." Discussing what he terms the "tactical" or "trapshooter" standing position, he has this to say about the support hand/arm:

    For the supporting hand position, you have to options: traditional and clamping.

    The “c-clamp” became a fashionable way to grip the rifle some years ago. With that variation, you drive the supporting hand out on the handguard as far possible and grabs the rifle from the side. The index finger of the support hand is sometimes laid parallel to the bore so that the support hand more or less “points” at the target.

    This variation usually includes a very “squared” stance to the target.

    The touted benefit of the “c-clamp” is that the shooter “drives” the rifle more quickly from target to target. But it’s not particularly new. There are pictures of the Rhodesians using the stance with FAL for close range combat during the Bush War.

    For most people, in most circumstances, placing the support hand under the rifle works just fine.

    Either way, the tactical standing position is the quickest way to get several shot off in a hurry. 

 He also goes on to describe an "erect" standing position which is often used for hunting or target shooting, and target standing position (like you might see an Olympic rifle shooter use when standing with the elbow of the support hand resting on the hip or midriff). Finally, he covers shooting from a support (e.g., a tree, edge of a window, fence post, etc.) and use of a sling. 

• More: "Resource Review: US Army TC 3-22.9 Rifle and Carbine Marksmanship" by Matt Robertson, Everyday Marksman.  
• More:  US Army TC 3-22.9 "Rifle and Carbine Marksmanship" (PDF). 
• More: "Rifle Shooting Positions"--Texas Parks & Wildlife.