Anselm And Basil

I received a postcard from Anselm on Saturday the 19th. He said he is doing well and is allowed to send and recieve mail now. He said Basic Training is easier than he expected. He said it reminds him of Boy Scout camp but with more PT.

Basil and his mother have been sick for most of June. The doctors thought it was covid but the tests came back negative. They don't know that the disease is. She is better now but Basil is still pretty sick. I had planned on taking Basil fishing, crabbing, or shooting almost every day this month while Kathleen has been out of town but it hasn't been possible.

Water Jobs

I have been studying for certification as a water treatment plant and waste water treatment plant operator for a while now and I think I am ready to take the state certification exams. So, as of this week I have begun applying for "Operator in Training" (OIT) jobs around the San Francisco Bay Area. Being an OIT is required for taking the state certifiction exam. And passing the exam must occur during the year one is working as an OIT. I applied for three positions today.

A new holiday

I just found out that "Juneteenth" is a new United States holiday. I had no idea it was even being considered. I am about to say something unpopular and, I am sure, someone is going to say it is racist.

Juneteenth is, to the best of my knowledge, a celebration of good news arriving late or, perhaps, the celebration of the memory of the happiness of the people who received the news that they were freed. I am not aware of anything happening or anyone doing anything on "Juneteeth" that actually freed anyone. And that brings us to the question of what U.S. holidays are for.

Washington's Birthday is to honor the father of our country, and, hopefully, encourage all Americans to emulate his selflessness in service to the United States. Columbus Day holds up the explorer and Almirante del Mar Océan as an example of bravery and historical import who's actions lead to the founding of the United States. The Birthday of Jesus is a United States holiday because he is God and the source of all Law, and thus the foundation of the United States. I could continue on discussing all the holidays, even the somewhat troublesome Labor Day, created to honor the people "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold" and to put a brake on the cancer of Communism in the United States. But what does Juneteenth honor? What does it urge us to do? Deliver messages late? Listen to good news? I think to have made any of the following dates a holiday celebrating emancipation of the slaves would have been better, for these acts really freed slaves. :

Aug 1 - The date general Fremont, a Californian, declared martial law and freed the slaves in Missouri.

September 22 - The date President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which would later free the slaves in captured rebel territory.

January 1 - The date the Emancipation proclamation went into effect.

January 31 - The date the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery was passed by the Congress.

December 6 - The date the 13th Amendment was ratified by the States.

All of these dates point to courageous acts and to people who's examples we should follow.

Why So Many Guns?

Sometimes there will be a person who commits a horrible crime and then the news media reports the story. Often in those news reports there will be a statement such as this, "When they searched the alleged culprits house, police found an arseal of 6 guns and 10,000 rounds of ammuntion." While statements such as that are factual and should be included in a news story, that information is often used in a way that maens "nobody should have that many guns or that much ammo". Now, if all the guns were Barret Model M2A1 and all the ammo is .50 caliber armor piercing tungsten then yes, that would be strange, and possibly an indicator of mental illness. But there are reasons to have more than one gun. Here is an explanation of why a person would want several guns.

Scenario 1. Hunting for tree squirrels in a populated are with little confidence about where a missed shot might land. For that you would use a .177 calibre air gun, such as the Gamo Wildcat or the Benjamin Titan. Even though the pellets leave the barrel of these guns traveling faster than 1,300 feat per second the mass of the pellets is so little that they can only cary a tiny amount of energy, and they quickly lose velocity due to friction against the air. And when the pellet reaches the apex of it's arc and falls to the Earth it has less energy than a pea-sized piece of hail falling from a storm cloud. Additionally, these air rifles have a very short range. The pellets are not going to go very far, 100 yards max, and when they get there they will have too little energy to do anything. Their effective range, meaning the range at which they can damage a squirrel is about 30 yards.

Scenario 2. Rabbit hunting in the scrublands of the American west. A bolt action rifle chambered for .22LR cartridges, such as the CZ American. It delivers much more energy on target than the .177 calibre air rifles do, which is needed for a rabbits greater mass, but not so much energy that the rabbit is varorized, as it would be with a bullet from a larger caliber bullet. And the ammunition for this rifle is very inexpensive. Two summers ago I bought 1,500 rounds for less than $80 though, because of the election and covid, ammo is scarce now and the prices have risen dramatically.

Scenario 3. Pest control on a farm or ranch. With no cover as there is on scrubland, the rancher will not be able to get close enough to the praire dogs and ground squirrls to consistently hit them with a .22LR. That means he will want to use a gun that shoots a .17HMR, such as the Tika T1x MTR. It is designed to hit small targets out to 300 yards with a high-velocity small-calibre bullet shaped for minimum air resistence. Yes, one could use a deer rifle on praie dogs and ground squirrels but the cost of typical deer rifle ammo would be enormous compared to .17 HMR.

Scenario 4. Trap and skeet shooting. Competition rules require that the gun has no more than two rounds loaded at any time. The need for maximum reliability requires no semi-automatic shotguns. The need for maximum speed requires minimum weight and minimum time between shots. That means skeet and trap competitors want short barrels, small gauge, over-under guns, such as the 20 gauge Fausti XF4 Sport with 28-in barrels and an adjustable comb.

Scenario 5. Pig hunting in Texas. In Texas wild pigs are a serious agricultural pest and the government there wants them irradicated. There are almost no rules regarding when or how a person can kill them. If one has the money one can even ride in a helicopter and shoot them from the sky. ( I'm not making that up). Without a doubt the most popular gun to use for pig hunting in Texas is the AR-15 chambered in 5.56mm NATO. The gun's low weight, low recoil, and pistol grip allow for quick transition from target to target. So this gun is ideal for taking on sounders of 20, 30, or 40 pigs.

Scenario 6. Home defense for people living in apartments. No one wants to think about killing another person. But shooting someone might be necessary to defend your spouse or children. But what it you live in an apartment and don't want to accitentally shoot through the wall and hurt your neighbor or your own children. Well, obviousy, the first solution to that problem is don't miss your target. But everyone misses, at least, once in a while. So that rules out all rifles and hand guns. Even a .22 Short will penetrate the typical apartment wall or bedroom door with enough energy to hurt the person on the other side. But there is a solution. A short barreled shotgun loaded with "shorty" rounds. Because of the low energy of shorty rounds they can not be reliably used in semi-auto shotguns, so that leaves two good options. The first is the Mossberg Shockwave. It can hold 7 shorty rounds and because of its tiny size it is very manueverable in cramped indoor spaces. Sadly, this gun is not legal in California, where I sell guns, so I recommend Stoeger Coach Gun, the shortest shotgun legal to own in California, to my customers looking for a houshold defense gun.

Scenario 7. ISSF 50-meter pistol competition. Most competitors who hope to get to the Olympics use the Walther GSP. It is as close to perfect as an ISFF compliant pistol can get.

Scenario 8. Grizzly bear hunting in Alaska. Long shots, very few hunters, and extremly dangerous game require long range powerful rifles that are still light enough to cary on long hikes over rugged country. The gun needed for this scanario is the Winchester Model 70 chambered for .338 Magnum. It is one of the few bullets that can stop a grizzly with one shot. That's important because you do not want to have to contend with a wounded grizzly bear. You might not have time to fire a second time.

Scenario 9. Black Bear hunting in California. Black bears are dangerous but easier to kill than a grizzly bear. And in the forests of California there are more people, which means one should not use a long range rifle such as the Winchester Model 70. Rather, a large calibre brush gun, such a Henry repeater in .45-70 Government calibre. It is massive enough to not be deflected by twigs and small branches but the balistics are such that the bullet loses elevation quickly, so it does not pose much danger to hunters the next valley over if the shot misses the bear. But it will drop the bear.

Scenario 10. Goose hunting on San Francisco Bay. Geese fly high over the bay, and not every shotgun can knock them out of the sky. The gun that does shoots 3" or 3.5" ammo, not the usual 2.75" shotgun ammo. A 26" barrel, commonly used in duck and quail hunting is almost useless when hunting geese. Finaly, U.S. Law prohibits hunting waterfowl with more than 3 rounds in the gun. So, what is the best gun for hunting geese? That is hard to say. A lot depends on the ability of the shooter. A very skilled shooter, who can get off three shots and bring down three geese while two are alrmed and flying away might benefit from using a Baretta A400 Extreme Plus with 30" barrels. If the shooter is of average skill that third shot will be wasted so there is no reason to buy such an expensive gun. In that case the best gun is probably the Stoeger Longfowler with 30" barrels.

Scenario 11. Cowboy Action Shooting. The shooter who competes in this game will use three guns: A 12 gauge double barreled shotgun, such as the Stoeger Coach Gun and Longfowler (mentioned above), a lever action rifle chambered in .30-30 such as the Winchester 1873, and a single action revolver chambered in .45LC calibre, such as the Ruger Vaquero.

And that is how one person can have enough guns to scare news reporters and the people who pay attention to them.