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, foremost, and for your immediate action on mitigation: Have you seen this bill, now undergoing markup, in congress? H.R. 1808. This is REALLY bad legislation: This ban is like a flashback to 1994, but even worse. It is patterned after California’s notoriously-bad semi-auto and magazine bans. Unlike the Federal 1994-2004 ban, it has NO sunset clause! It includes a ban on new 11+ round magazines, it would ban any semi-auto pistols with a threaded muzzle — even .22 rimfire pistols. It would also vaguely ban the production of any parts that make semi-autos shoot at a higher rate of fire — i.e. anything short of full auto, such as binary triggers, forced reset triggers, or even short-reset/match triggers. The bill’s text does NOT properly define “designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm”, so bans on parts would presumably be left up to the ATF. And, unlike the Federal 1994-2004 ban, this bill bans private transfers of grandfathered so-called “assault” guns. All of those would then have to be sold through FFLs, with a background check and a Form 4473 put on file. This legislation is evil. It is aimed at disarming the citizenry of the guns that are most capable of repelling an invasion, or overthrowing a tyrant.
Markup of the bill is scheduled to begin in the House today. According to the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), Pelosi & Company are making moves behind closed doors to send H.R. 1808 to a House floor vote next week. This bill will surely sail through the House, but it might be stoppable in the U.S. Senate. Please contact your state’s two U.S. Senators and urge them to do everything in their power to stop the Senate version of this bill. (A Senate bill number has not yet been assigned.) Please urge them to filibuster it, but first add several “killer” amendments.
Some suggested killer amendments:
- Adding the Hearing Protection Act, removing silencers/suppressors from the NFA.
- Remove short-barreled rifles and shotguns from the NFA.
- Implement nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry permits. (Under the Equal Protection clause — just like various drivers’ licenses are recognized in all 50 states, the territories, and DC.)
- Reverse the Hughes Amendment to FOPA-’86, thereby re-opening the registry for new privately-owned machineguns.
- Declare a 180-day registration amnesty for all NFA items, with no tax or just a $5 tax on each registration, during that amnesty.
- Redefine the term “antique firearm” to be any gun or receiver more than 70 years old.
As a fallback, in the event that you hear that “compromise negotiations” are in progress on H.R. 1808 between the Democrats and the RINOs in the Senate, stock up HEAVILY on current configuration ARs — with pistol grips and threaded muzzles. Also, buy up your lifetime supply of 11+ round magazines and links/belts. And, if it starts to look like the passage of this bill is a certainty, then expend some of your savings or even borrow money from within your family to buy additional ARs and full-capacity magazines for every gun that you own or that you plan to own! I fully expect magazines to triple in price, within a year, if this bill passes in both chambers of congress. Stack them deep!
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Indiana: ‘Good Samaritan’ with a gun stopped Greenwood Park Mall shooting, went against mall’s code of conduct JWR’s Comment: With an average of less than 300 armed officers per 100,000 citizens, police can’t be everywhere to deter most crime and mass murderers. But a well-armed citizenry can be.
Here is a follow-up at ABC News: Police applaud armed citizen who killed 20-year-old mall shooter.
And some further analysis: Mall Shooting Outcome Devastates the Media Anti-Gun Crusade.
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Andre liked this thought-provoking essay: I Have Nothing To Hide.
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F.J. sent this: How Dangerous Are Flash Floods? Find Out in POV Footage From Capitol Reef NP.
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Reader C.O. recommended this piece, at Redoubt News: Dismantling the Constitution: Police No Longer Have to Honor the Right to Remain Silent.
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Kevin wrote:
“You said; ” Remember: There is NO truly secure electronic communication!”
I could not agree more. It is all compromised. Why? Because of the ‘compiler’. I spent most of my life doing computer-related work. Including programming. When you create a computer program or App you write in text. Then you run your text through a compiler to create the ‘program’ or App. So if you ‘compromise’ the compiler then you can put a backdoor in EVERY App created by the compiler. Thus it reasonable to conclude that hundreds of Governments, NGOs, rich private individuals funded those with the technical ability to do so. There is NO privacy on the internet, PERIOD!”
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Reader C.B. sent us a couple of useful links:
The most mathematically efficient solar cooker designs.
and,
Comparative Analysis of SK-14 and PRINCE- 15 Solar Concentrators.
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D.S.V. sent us this: Shocking Body Cam Footage Shows Uvalde School Police Chief Negotiating With Gunman.
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And D.S.V. also recommended this article, about Holland: Second-Generation Dairy Farmer Forced to Cull 95% of Herd Over Environmental Regulations.
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Reader M.N. sent this note:
“In reading your survival notes for 16 July you mentioned round hay bales [selling in Texas] for $100 each. In conversation with a couple of local small heard (<50 head) ranchers it was relayed to me they are looking to slaughter/cull most of their herds this year due to round bails of last year’s hay going for $135/bail that you come get in the Somervell County area.
They said that they are looking at keeping just enough to “restart” their herds next spring. My friend told me (I am now a rancher so I will take their word for it) that it takes 14 months for a calf to go from weaning to slaughter weight. Granted the net weight of processed beef is 1,200 pounds but the point to keep in mind is that these ranches will not have ANY beef for sale until the summer of 2024.
One cow here eats one round bail/month. Worst case, 14 bails at $135/bail for $1,890/cow to grow and finish. The price of beef will be out of reach for most people next year.
Any ranchers that can pasture their cows threw this drought will make a pile of money this next spring when there are no cows to be had. Also when the cull happens there will be a temporary glut of beef on the market and prices will un-naturally drop. Same thing happened a year ago when all the pigs were culled.
He also let me know that there is a six month lag to get a slaughter date from the certified processors in the state of Texas.
I suspect you have a contact or two around the country that can get you better numbers. Might make for an timely post for your readers that have some cash set aside if there is in fact a price drop to take advantage of. A conversation I read bout this happening in Michigan or Ohio got me asking around these parts.”
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T.W. wrote:
“I could not agree more with your recommendation of the Alpha Strategy in your blog. I remember you mentioning it sometime in 2008 and I took action. I am in the prime position I am today because of that book and your blog. Here’s to weathering yet another storm.”
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Reader C.B. spotted this: Conservatives, journalists criticize NPR’s new ‘disinformation reporting team,’ recall Hunter Biden dismissal.
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And lastly, Tim J. suggested a 50-minute S2 Underground video: One-Time Pads.
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