Tom

Whenever gun control, especially 'assault weapon' bans, become a prominent topic in the media there is a spike in sales of that category of firearms. This is likely a factor in the continuing surge in sales past the election itself. However, as someone who works in the shooting industry, in addition to the increased demand for AR-type rifles/pistols, I've been seeing a lot more interest in personal carry handguns and people worrying about their their ability to defend themselves.

That bridge is burned. It’s long past time to put up or shut up. The true believers on either side won’t believe any verdict that doesn’t vindicate their position, but there are still people who believe that laws and government are supposed to work and haven’t finalized the verdict in their own minds (hard as that may be to believe) that want to see less innuendo and more action. If Trump is guilty, then prove it and convict him.

8- isn’t particularly impossible. And I’ve seen at least two instances where only a “3” would do the trick - and did… I wouldn’t mind seeing “an act of dice” come November. I’m just not going to hold my breath.

ok - that was unexpected but makes perfect sense…

Didn’t they try that in Texas last winter?

Yeoman is a rating (or job specialty), not a rank, though in the Navy your rating is frequently part of how your rank is shown - at least while I was still in. FWIW, my father in law was a yeoman (YN). I was an electronics technician (ET). When I got out as a 3rd class petty officer (E4), my rank was officially Electronics Technician 3rd Class or ET3 - though if I were being addressed by rank informally I would just be called petty officer.

10 by a quick count.

Not having read all the relevant documents, my understanding on the gun case was it struck down the New York law based on it being “may issue” as opposed to “shall issue”. Assuming I haven’t been badly mislead, this would not invalidate the National Firearms Act of 1934 simply on the basis of what we would recognize as a “machine gun” was not specifically referenced by the framers (along with suppressors, short barreled rifles, sawed-off shotguns, and a few other things). Which doesn’t mean there isn’t any “there” there. The NFA requirement for transfers of the regulated items can be argued as being “may” authorize as opposed to “shall” authorize - which likely would run afoul of the SCOTUS ruling.

Well, we do live in a society that uses firearm related analogies and metaphors as casually as sport related analogies and metaphors. And there are politicians who toss similar firearms related “political speech” onto the airwaves in speeches and their political advertisements and then claim its all harmless...

The “original” Dark Champions gun may be back….

If you really want to be practical, and Lady O is willing to oblige, getting Aspirant a weapon more tailored to him would be even more practical. Assuming he could be convinced to give up his trophy. A project for Pogo, perhaps? (Assuming she bought into the idea.)

Hmmmm, a shoulder stock mightn't be a bad idea given the recoil...

This isn’t the first time Texas has threatened to secede, and likely won’t be the last. But trying to apply logic isn’t the best way to discount the threat. There are still people who think Brexit was a good idea….

Just a random appearance in my Facebook feed…

The question (as it is quite frequently) is how you define identity. Or at least if you use terms and anologies people can recognize.

Ok, I haven't bothered to read most of the stories coming out of Texas since it's still largely who can scoop who the fastest with the latest juicy bits, but I'm going to throw something out here for people to think about before they continue the rush to the pitchfork and rope concessions... The PD in question is a "no-place-we've-ever-heard-of-and-still-haven't-googled", USA town police force. They're not the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team. They're not SEAL Team 6. They're not Hollywood or FPS action heroes. They're not TTRPG PCs. It's a pretty safe bet we're probably all role players here. How many of you have ever had to run through a hostage scenario? Especially with a GM willing to punish "stupid" or bad dice? Imagine doing it without plot armor - and knowing if you screw up people are going to die for real. It's also a safe bet that almost everyone screaming about the what the cops did (or didn't do) would be screaming just as loud if they'd gone all cowboy and gotten those kids just as dead by being reckless. Yeah, protecting those kids was the cops job. Getting kids, themselves, or anybody else caught in the crossfire killed through stupid wasn't - and isn't. And I'll bet those cops are having a much harder time sleeping at night than you or I are right now...

United States passes one million Covid deaths https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61301910 yay, US?

If you want to just shock them without going to technical extremes, you can point out that there are already efforts to create a medical system that doesn’t bankrupt people and welcome them to the cause…

I would also argue that this could impact business/corporate donations to Republicans on a national basis. The Republicans have always been the pro-business party. DeSantis just made absolutely clear that the Trump wing’s willingness to throw red meat to its base on culture war issues trumps any sort of relationship with corporate America. Ever hear the lobbyist definition of an “honest politician”? One who stays bought… Why give money to a party that is going to throw you under the bus so it can rile up its base over social issues? Especially social issues that are going to wrong foot you with your customers if you keep your mouth shut and remember your place…

A bigger nightmare (for Republicans) would be if Disney were to throw Scrooge McDuck levels of money at a massive PR campaign to convince Floridians just how badly they were going to be hurt by DeSantis and Republicans ruffling the feathers of the golden goose...

I've seen a couple of similar stories. I've just not seen anything claiming more than "medium confidence" or providing anything other than unnamed sources. I find it much easier to believe the Russians got sucker-punched by a missile or two than an accidental fire somehow detonated a magazine, but the latter isn't impossible. I'm more surprised NATO didn't have an AWACs monitoring the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, but that also isn't impossible depending on the exact when/where,