This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.
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Germany’s Response to Knife Attacks After Festival Tragedy. JWR’s Comments: Since the police cannot be everywhere to protect everyone, the logical response would be to recognize the right of the citizenry to be armed. Their typically statist response will cost many innocent lives. Solingen is world famous as “the city of blades” — known for its well-crafted stainless steel knives (pictured, above.) It should become famous for the open carry of both guns and knives, An armed society is a polite society. Ironically, the three murder victims were apparently all pro-immigration liberals.
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The Trace (an “Independent” “journalism”, pressure group, largely paid for by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg) has posted this misleading interactive map: An Atlas of American Gun Violence: Ten years. 370,000 shootings. How has gun violence marked your corner of the country
JWR’s Comments: Though outwardly the map looks like a national bloodbath, the map’s interactive features are quite telling. If you click on “Explore The Map” and then toggle: “Fatal” and then “Child-involved” it displays deaths of 0-to-19-year-olds. But if that had excluded 18- and 19-year-old drug dealers killing other drug dealers, then much of the map would be nearly blank. And if there was a category for “self-defense shootings” (quite noticeably absent from their map, by design) then the map would tell a much different story. To get an idea of the difference that would make, try toggling “Officer-involved”. A similar number of the shootings shown as red and yellow dots were legitimate self-defense shootings of criminal perpetrators by the general citizenry. It is also noteworthy that they mentioned “corner[s] of the country”. If you look closely at the map when displaying just Fatalities, there are plenty of corners of many western states — especially in The American Redoubt — that have had no homicide shootings for many years. And if the map maker were intellectually honest, then they would have included a toggle for “Suicides”. If those were removed from the tally of fatalities, then again the map would be largely blank in many states in most years. Let’s face it: If someone wants to kill themselves, then they can and will find other ways to do so. (Japan has a large number of suicides, but their citizenry has hardly any guns. Their suicide rate is 17.5 per 100,000. In the US, the suicide rate is 14 per 100,000.) It is also notable that the uptick of shootings in 2022 and 2023 in the US is attributable to two key factors: The government forcing people to stay cooped up in their homes during the COVID pandemic and the BLM riots.
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SaraSue sent this Snippet:
“I put my garden to bed for the winter, early this year. The semi-drought we have had this Spring, Summer, and going in to Fall has devastated any remaining things I was trying to grow. The only other option was to be out watering every day for hours. Maybe next year I will set up a “leave it and forget it” watering system. Watering the garden requires pulling out 100’ hoses, connecting them, and standing there watering, in the 100 degree heat, then pull the hoses all back in so that the dogs don’t chew on the them. No can do. The lack of rain has caused the pastures to dry up, so I had to put hay out for the cows this summer – not normal.
I sold the last heifer I was planning on selling. I am now down to my “keeper” cows. The cow I’m trying to get bred had her final hormone shot, so now it’s a waiting game to see if she can keep the pregnancy. I have paid for the last of the needed hay for the winter, and just need to stock up on bedding materials should we have a rough winter (like the last two) so that the cows can seek shelter in the barn. The livestock guardian puppies figured out how to get in the chicken run, and decided that chickens are so fun to chase and capture, so I had to lock all the chickens up in the large hen house. Fortunately, the hen house is well-ventilated. The puppies are still in training and getting quite large at 6 months old. All the field water troughs were emptied and scrubbed out with vinegar and soap, then refilled. Due to the dry heat, certain invasive plants and weeds were taking over sections of the pastures and garden and had to be mowed down flat.
I processed 1/2 bushel of apples, making apple butter and dehydrating slices for later snacking. My garage refrigerator/freezer died. I ordered a replacement and began the awful task of cleaning out the old appliance and throwing away food. Ouch.
The background stress: Why does death bring out the worst in people? Settling my mother’s estate should have been a straightforward task, but I have two siblings who seem to have gone mad over money. It breaks my heart. And for the first time, I was so glad nothing was ever given to me, and that I had to work, even when very ill, to keep the lights on. No one came to my financial rescue. I don’t expect anything from anyone and take responsibility for my choices. That situation added a lot of stress to what should not have been stressful. Sigh. I pray for calmness and peace, and a guard over my mouth so that I don’t say things in response that are not necessary.”
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Video: Trump Shooter’s AR-15 Detailed Breakdown & Analysis: Everything You Need To Know.
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Reader “Bulldog” sent this, as a follow-up to his recent article:
“For the magazine issue, particularly on the 7.62×39 cartridges, you are so correct. I can however speak to the reliability of ASC magazines. I actually have gone to them for everything, especially the AK chambering. The problem of course is just as we saw in some batches of the military mags back in the day, there is the possibility of variation. I personally stay with the metal ASCs or the remaining supply of military mags to avoid problems feeding between the 556/223 and 300 blackout chamberings. I even use the ASC mags for my wife’s 9mm AR upper (colt pattern).
Likewise, I am given to understand that the otherwise loved by many Magpuls are not forgiving of using the same magazine for either 556/223 or 300 BK, hence the reason for the company’s sales of 556/223 magazines and separate magazines for the 300 Blackout.
To the color association to prevent mix-ups of ammunition chambers, for my wife’s build;
– 223/556
– 300 Blackout
– 9mm
I placed colored dots on the side of the receiver and also on the lower side of the magazine to alleviate confusion, particularly in a high-stress environment.
Hopefully, someone will follow up with some info for readers on scopes, especially the LPVOs you mentioned (I’ve only the one on a heavier 16″ SPR sort of build here). Even a cursory overview of the variations of weapons optics we have available today, particularly if they address the very broad price point issues I would think help many. The build I reported uses the same optics on all three, but hopefully your readers will get the idea and benefit.”
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Massachusetts Switchblade Ban Overturned on Second Amendment Grounds. (A hat tip to D.S.V. for the link.)
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H.L. spotted this news of pre-WW3 brinksmanship: Ukraine Presents White House With List Of Targets Deep Inside Russia.
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And lastly, there is this symptom of tyranny: After Arresting Hundreds of Anti-Migration Protesters, Britain Has Only 83 Jail Cells Left Open.
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