This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: 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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First up, is this news: Federal judge blocks Colorado county from banning sale and manufacturing of specific semi-automatic weapons and magazines. JWR’s Comments: The impact of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision is just starting to be felt. Bruen clarifies that a “text, history, and tradition” test must be applied. Hence, any sort of restrictions on “arms” that did not have an equivalent in force in or before 1791 is unconstitutional. This means that the vast majority of firearm, ammunition, magazine, knife, and sword restrictions now on the books at the Federal, state, and local levels must be rescinded! As an aside: America’s first gun law was a restriction on the sale of guns to American Indians. And that too would be unconstitutional, per the 14th Amendment.
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Any homeschoolers nearing high school graduation, or already graduated that would like an alternative to brick-and-mortar colleges and universities should consider Hillsdale College. They offer a wide range of free online courses.
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Reader C.B. mentioned a new instructional video from our friend Plaid Daddy, a.k.a. Garand Thumb: Basic Mountain Camouflage. Becoming Deadly in the Mountains (visible, IR, Thermal). It is 37 minutes long, but well worth watching. (Warning: There is some foul language.) Reader C.B. also offered these comments about fabric and NV/ IR:
“The more synthetic the blend of material, the more it’ll brighten/reflect under those systems, natural Cotton and Wool are much more dim than Polyester and Nylon materials. Nylon straps and bare hook/ loop squares glow fairly substantially under NV/ IR, you can use ash or dirt to dull them down. Rain shells also glow like crazy due to their material composition. There are only a few manufacturers that have NIR compliant dyes on the market, many aftermarket products use contract-compliant dyes and materials, but aren’t NIR dyes in large. Wash your stuff before use. Use detergents with no brighteners to remove residual optical brightener from your new clothing and gear. Plastic also reflects pretty substantially, all those buckles and clips are indicators, so dull them down with proper rattle-can action or camo paint. Tape the tabs of zippers too, they jingle and make noise. Certain outdoor use camo spray paints are better than others, some will light up hard. The Military uses Aervoe brand camo spray paint in part, Rustoleum outdoor also works well. A good way to defeat IR sensors on Drones is to use a Mylar blanket as an over tarp to cover the OP/ LP/ Hide and put some natural foliage (like leaf fall or some small light branches with leaves on them) or camo netting over it. You do not want the Mylar to contact your body (unless for practical emergency blanket use to combat weather injuries and such), but it works very well in a tarp covering application.“
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