I’m not Rambo. I don’t think there’s a justifiable reason for a private American to own a fully-automatic machine gun or a grenade launcher. But I do own a hand gun. Now, with that said, let’s discuss the fire-arm-phobic media and some of the stupid things they say.

In the next week or so, a gun ban passed by President Clinton (under the shadiest of political circumstances) will expire, due to a congressional repeal of that ban. And the media is FREAKING OUT

The hype (this, from Reuters):
“The ban on such weapons as Uzis and AK-47s will expire at midnight next Monday unless Congress votes to renew it. …high-powered guns and large-capacity ammunition clips could flood America’s streets…”

The fact:
AK-47s and UZIs along with all other fully automatic weapons are covered by several other fire arm and crime laws. When the Clinton ban expires, AK-47s and UZIs will still be illegal. If fact, the Clinton ban is so poorly conceived that it does not cover many true assault rifles.

The hype (from Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY):
“The NRA is an extremely powerful group, there’s no two ways about it… [politicians] don’t want to tick them off two months before elections.”

The facts:
After the gun ban was passed in 1994, virtually every one of the legislators that voted for the ban was defeated in the biggest congressional land-slide election in history. If you think the NRA had the power to orchestrate the ’94 landslide, then you give them far too much credit. If that were true, McCarthy would surely not be in office to begin with. Sorry, Carolyn. It’s called democracy.

The hype (from Amy Sisley of Physicians for Social Responsibility):
“It is a health-care crisis… 90 percent of spinal cord injuries in the United States are caused by gunshot wounds.”

The facts:
Amy Sisley is either a complete idiot or she does not know how to read. What crack-smoking maroon would honestly believe that 90% of spinal injuries are caused by assault rifles?! Lady, have you been on a highway lately? Have you ever in your precious, sheltered life heard of a car accident?

The established facts are that a quarter of once percent of violent crimes in the US (that’s 1 in 400) involve weapons covered by the Clinton ban (and all of those weapons are already banned by other laws). Only 5% violent crimes (1 in 20) involve fire arms legal or otherwise. The vast majority of violent crimes are perpetrated with knives, blunt instruments, or bare hands.

Now, let’s consider that 95% of crimes that are committed without guns. What do you think would happen if victims of those violent crimes carried legal, licensed hand guns? Ever heard the phrase bringing a knife to a gun fight? Face it. Violent criminals are just not the smartest people. But even they are smart enough not to face down a gun when they’re holding a golf club.

How many crimes do you think are prevented every year by law abiding citizens who are willing and able to protect themselves from criminals by owning and being willing to use legal fire arms in their own defense? Unfortunately, that statistic is impossible to calculate, but pick up any gun magazine in any given month and you will read two or three letters to the editor by licensed gun owners telling of a crime that didn’t happen thanks to a legal, private fire arm. Seriously, try it!

My adoring readers (all two of them) have been clamoring for an update on the “fam”. I apologize for the delay. I could say something like I’ve been buried at work, but it would be a lie. I’ve just been lazy. At least I’m honest.

Tammy has finished rehab and has been cleared by the doctor to put her new and improved ankle to use. We’ve been to the climbing gym twice and taken one short bike ride. She’s doing well, but still taking it slow. She had a little “discomfort” climbing, but nothing that can’t be avoided by doing easier routes while she rebuilds her strength.

My explorer had water pump issues last month and I couldn’t seem to find a full day to tear it apart (nor the money to buy replacement parts) so I decided to take advantage of the unusually cool weather and ride my mountain bike to work. I rode to work for almost a full month. Weekend before last, I finally managed the time and money to tear down the truck and replace the water pump. BamBam is running fine now.

My old buddy Galyn has taken me out on several death-defying mountain bike rides in the last couple of months. I am very surprised at how much I enjoy it. It’s not the same as riding a motorcycle in the mountains, but it’s close. Plus it’s getting me back in shape. I still can’t keep up with Galyn on the hill climbs and have to stop to catch my breath once in a while, but it’s getting better.

An unfortunate side-effect to this new hobby is that I tend to fall… hard. On our first difficult trail (Cedar Hill), I did a full-fledged “endo”, landing squarely on my helmet. Yaaay helmet!

A couple of weeks ago riding in the Hwy 360 area, I lost it going down a rocky ravine and bashed my shin in a big way. My knee is still a tad swollen from that fall, which put an end to my daily ride to work. The knee is not bad enough to keep me off the bike entirely; just enough that I decided to rest it.

In other news, I have been drafted as the “climbing expert” on an exhibition to summit Grand Teton next summer. Again, this can be entirely blamed on Galyn. His brother-in-law, for some as yet undetermined reason, has made up his mind he needs to climb the Grand. He enlisted Galyn to head the team and Galyn tapped me to be the rope-man. We are planning on taking the Owen-Spaulding route in August of 2005. That route is the easiest way to summit, but still has a couple of spots that will require some easy rock climbing. All the guides say the route is easy but “exposed”, meaning you probably won’t fall, but if you did (without protection) you would make a nice meal for the carrion birds three thousand feet below. On the way down from the summit, we’ll be doing at least two rappels over 100 feet. This means toting two climbing ropes (approx. 9 pounds each) to the 13,770 foot summit along with the necessary hardware. I’m going to have be me in MUCH better shape by then.

Tammy and I are starting our second season directing the youth drama group, The Bottom Line, at our church. This year is going great. The kids are excited and we have many more chances to perform. We are also both teaching Sunday school; I’m with 10th grade boys, Tammy’s got 9th grade girls. Just last night we have a meeting at the church to discuss a new adult drama ministry. We won’t likely have directorial roles in that group, but will certainly be involved.

Okay, I’m spent. I can’t think of any other information to share. I hope you all (both of you) enjoy this update. Good day!