Weapons and gun ownership

Assault rifles and automatic weapons (like Uzis) are NOT for hunting or home protection. They are ANTI-PERSONNEL weapons created for WAR to give your military enemy the maximum opportunity to die for their country. 

Even law enforcement does not need anything that can SPRAY bullets at high speed. The bullets that miss the target can go for great distances and/or ricochet off to unintended directions. Completely innocent people several blocks away can be hit without ever knowing what hit them. Bullets in populated areas ABSOLUTELY need to be controlled, and that means firing them ONE AT A TIME intentionally at a SPECIFIC target so you can see where they go and account for them. 

NO civilian ever NEEDS an automatic weapon. You want to hunt and protect your home - fine. Do it with a weapon that you can actually CONTROL. One that fires one bullet for each time you pull the trigger. TAKE LESSONS! Get training. Practice. Become an expert in the weapon that you own. Be responsible for it. It's not an extension of your dick! You're not a bigger, badder, more manly man because you own a military grade assault rifle that you're not competent with and can't control. You insist that you have a right to own such a weapon?  Okay, fine.  Then when you fire it, you deserve to go to jail for all the damage that you caused with it.  Street gangs and criminals think automatic weapons are cool because they don't require any skill to spray the front of a house, or a car and kill everyone in the vicinity of their target. Home grown gang violence is just another form of terrorism.

Sadly, when you make something illegal to own, sell or use, you only take it away from honest citizens.  Yes, I agree that automatic weapons should be banned and not be on the streets of our cities and towns.  But how do you stop black market military weapons dealers from selling the damn things to gangs, criminals and terrorists?  Taking them out of stores and gun shops is not going to take them off the streets.  It will just make them harder to get and more expensive to buy out of the trunk of a car.  The law isn't going to stop that.  It only gives law enforcement additional crimes to charge them with when they get caught.

Update:  July 1, 2015 - http://www.ibtimes.com/omaha-nebraska-most-dangerous-place-america-be-black-1548466

Omaha, Nebraska not only has the highest murder rate of Black people in the country, but it is double the national average.  This is ridiculously sad.

IT'S STILL GOING ON...

...or, THE CONTINUING SAGA OF FINDING A WHEELCHAIR VAN

See post entitled, "Power Wheelchair Lift Van Difficulties"

http://mrstigercat.blogspot.com/2014/11/power-wheelchair-lift-van-difficulties.html

When I wrote that post last fall, I was barely able to walk at all.  For all we knew (then), by this time (summer 2015) I could be severely disabled and needing a nurse.  Such a prediction was not unreasonable paranoia, but likely considering the normal rate of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD) in nearly every other CBD patient, including me. Therefore, the plan last year was to get a conversion van with a built-in ramp that was easy to operate and required no walking from me and no lifting from Joe, who has arthritis in his back.

Then, something odd and unexpected happened:  I got better.  No, not better better, but just not worse.  The pain in my foot improved so that I could put my weight on it.  I can walk short distances. The rate of degeneration slowed to an imperceptible rate.  I no longer feel like I'm going to die in 2 to 3 years.  So then I got to thinking about an SUV and having one of those carrying platforms mounted on the back. I can get a decent SUV with less than 50,000 miles for just under $20,000.  I could buy it from a dealer and know that it's been checked out and certified.  I would feel a lot more comfortable about my purchase, and the process of making it.  

The proper name for that lift is Bruno Out-Sider^®. They are reasonably priced at $2600 installed, and can be mounted on the back of trucks, vans, SUVs and some larger sedans...or so their literature says. Then I called the local Bruno distributor. It will not work on the back of my existing Subaru Legacy station wagon (slightly longer than an Outback). Surprisingly, it won't even work on a Forester. Then, I got to researching and found out why. Sport Utility Vehicles are getting smaller. A lot smaller. They started out more like big, square, enclosed trucks with 4WD or AWD. You could tow a trailer or boat with one. They had big engines and big frames and were strong and heavy. That's why they got such lousy gas mileage. Because of the environmental concerns and the economy, SUVs are now smaller and lighter and get reasonable gas mileage. They are no longer trucks. They are more like AWD hatch-back cars. They no longer come with trailer hitches because they no longer have towing capability. And you can't mount a 142 lb lift that carries a 250 lb wheelchair onto the back of them. Shit. That puts me back at vans.  See my earlier post for my problem with vans.

Then something expected happened:  Joe's Honda Element started breaking down.  We have reached that inevitable point in an old vehicle's life where it is costing more to repair it than car payments on a new(er) one would be. It is broken down right now.  We have to get it repaired to trade it in. This is not good.  It means that I have to make a decision about this van NOW, or at least, really damn soon.  I'm still really confused.  And the used ones are $30,000 and up...WAY up. So the guy at the lift dealership suggested I look into getting a VA grant to help me pay for it.  Shit.  More complication.

I'll keep you posted.