I AM NOT ANTI-GUN

I am x-military, Vietnam vet.  I earned expert rifle and expert pistol ribbons and was on the Quonset Point Navy pistol team for two years.    

I don’t hunt any more, I don’t need the meat and the Idea of killing an animal for sport no longer appeals to me. 

I recently sold my 44 mag. that I had used for bear protection in Alaska when we had students in the woods.  I do feel better with a firearm in the house for protection; and so when my wife asked me what I wanted for Solstice I told her a Heritage single action 22 cal. pistol.  

It is now my habit to research anything I intend to purchase on YouTube.   There were numerous sights with some good reviews of the weapon; but I also ran into some of the crazy survivalist sights.   These people live in a make believe world.

One man said he stores his 22 cal. pistol and a 22 cal. semi auto rifle in his car trunk along with a backpack of survival items so if he is ever on a trip and the situation arises (zombies???) he can leave his car and ‘bug out.’

Another man was saying that a 22 cal. is not lethal enough for ‘neighborhood defense’ and that if he and his neighbors ever have ‘to make a stand’ he prefers a larger, semi-automatic pistol and assault weapon.   He failed to mention who he intends to repel -  perhaps the 101^st Airborne, Delta force, or the maybe the 1^st Marine division… or aliens... zombies?

There is a difference between gun owners and gun nuts.   These survivalists I place in the same ‘living in a fantasy’ category as people who believe in Noah’s Ark and immaculate conception.  

Ignorance is a choice today, and there are a hell of a lot of ignorant people occupying this country – it is just the way it is, and you can’t fix stupid.

Just my observation

the Ol’Buzzard

MY BUCKET LIST IS EMPTY

I recently run across references to bucket list and that got me thinking.   A bucket list contains something that you always wanted to do but were never able.  

I can honestly say that I have done everything that I ever wanted to do.  

As a child my dreamed were of hunting and fishing and camping in remote wilderness areas; I ordered the U.S. Navy Survival Manuel and practically memorized it; I dreamed of canoe trips through wild rivers; I fantasized about living off the grid with a beautiful, sexy woman; I wanted to scuba dive and sky dive; I dreamed of living in the Alaska wilderness; and of cars and motorcycles.

As an adult:

·       I joined the Navy, and along with other assignments I spent eight years as a Navy survival instructor

·       I was a licensed Maine State Guide

·       I ran the Allagash river in Maine – a ten-day canoe trip.

·       And transited the Okefenokee swamps in a canoe – a ten-day trip

·       I was a licensed scuba diver and assistant instructor, and operated my own diving company in Florida.

·       My wife and I lived in an old, remote farmhouse with no water, electricity or sewerage while we attended college and made love.

·       We spent eleven years in the Indian and Eskimo villages of Alaska as teachers.

·       I have owned numerous motorcycles and cars

·       I made my first solo parachute jump when I turned seventy.

·       I live with a sensuous, sexy, intelligent woman

·       And so much more…

We still have little trips and we enjoy the same simple pleasures; but nothing that’s deserving of a bucket list is left for me to do.

the Ol’Buzzard

HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE YOU HAVE SEEN A SNUFF FILM?

A recent cat snuff film that is on YouTube I find very disturbing.   A cat is coaxed into a cardboard box at the top of the stairs with a laser – the box appears to have a small flash charge in the front of the box – The box slides down the steps with the cat in it and then explodes in a burst of flames.    I have watched it a couple of times and the explosive fire ball does seem to emanate from the box.  You have to ask yourself, did the cat die in the explosion or later from burns. 

There is something really sick about people who torture animals.   I have known a dysfunctional family with five kids: the oldest in jail for hitting a teenager in the head with a hammer; the second oldest, a daughter, was sent to juvenile detention for attacking a girl with a knife; the eight and ten year old were told by their parents to kill  a litter of unwanted puppies, so they stuck a stick in the anus of the puppies and use the stick as a catapult to hurl the puppies against trees – then had batting practice with the dead or almost dead puppies; the ten year old was later sent to juvenile for beating a classmate girl with a stick,  and the eight year old shot his six year old brother in the hip with a 22 rifle in an argument over a video game.

I think the most telling thing about this family was their callousness for cruelty against innocent animals.   It is an indicator of dangerous antisocial tendencies.

I know there is a visceral dislike by many people for cats – mostly men; and I believe it comes from a need to control – cats being the only domestic animal that will not bend its will to please a ‘master.’   Men sometimes have such strong dislikes for certain animals that they will kill them; but torture for fun is another step beyond the mere unacceptable.

We are omnivores, descendants of scavengers, so meat eating is part of our heritage.   People no longer need to hunt for food, but still kill animals for ‘sport.’    However, hunters kill fast and do not torture.

 As omnivores we still scavenge for food, except now we go to McDonald’s for a triple cheeseburger instead of feasting on the carcass of a dead wildebeest left by a lion pride.   

It does speak to the callous nature of the human race when we see kids or animals allowed to get hurt so that it can be filmed and placed on social media; but torturing an animal for fun is a whole other aberrant behavior beyond our omnivore or calloused instincts.  It speaks to a twisted and dangerous personality. 

the Ol’Buzzard