Sheesh…

Okay, we’re starting to get picks in the gun raffle…

However, the delay was that at least one of the winners notifications ended up in his spam/junk folder… So… PLEASE, please check your spam folders… Expect an email from 4anditherapy@…

Jim Hambleton- Package 7, RO 1911 in 9mm

Doug Dewitt- Package 15, Ruger in 6.5 Creedmore

John Sage- Package 6, RO 1911 in .45

Brian Dumire- Package 3, BCM AR-15

Paul Neubauer- Package 1, Taurus .44 Magnum

Larry Lambert- Package 8, Law Dog’s Rock Island 1911 9 mm

David Brehmer- Package 2, Ruger MKII Bull Barrel

Roy Zesch- Package 13, Glock 19 and accoutrements

Lois McArdle- Package 4, Remington 870 in 20ga

Larry Lambert- Package 12, Beretta FS92

Pat Patterson- Package 5, Chinese copy of a 12ga coach gun

John Harrison- package 9, Ladies jewelry and knife

John Amdor III- Package 10, books

Kirk Conover- Two sets of custom 1911 grips from Rimfire Designs

Roy Zesch- A full polish on a stainless or nickel plate on a blued handgun from Reflections Chrome Plating

And that does it for the raffle!!!

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to each and every one who either donated raffle packages, or donated to the Go Fund Me.

 

Intarwebz is back…

Finally…

Doug Dewitt, please check your email. You are holding up the selection process for the donation packages.

Grumble….

Internet has been flaky all day yesterday, and this morning again. Which means you don’t get a post. Sorry! All I can say is go raid the folks on the side bar and I will try to get a post up whenever the Internet decides to grace  my computer. I’m not about to sit here and try to type a long post in the iPhone I am not that good a typist. So there probably won’t be many comments today either.

And I have to go get a physical today anyway, which means sitting at the doctors office for God knows how many hours in addition to the vampire blood draw. And other assorted indignities.

76 years ago…


On Dec 7, 1941, Japan performed a sneak attack on the US at Pearl Harbor, the attack sank four U.S. Navy battleships (two of which were raised and returned to service later in the war) and damaged four more; other damages included three destroyers, three cruisers, 188 aircraft with 2,402 killed and 1,282 wounded. There are less than a dozen survivors left, at last count. Many have requested they be interred with their shipmates onboard ARIZONA. They are listed on the small bench on the lower left of the picture below.

Everyone knows about the USS ARIZONA, but few know about the ships on the other side of Ford Island. USS UTAH, USS RALEIGH, USS DETROIT, and USS TANGIER.

This is all that is left of the USS UTAH. Today a monument is located on the far side Ford Island near the rusting remains. It replaced a bronze plaque which had been placed on the wreck in the late 1940s. The monument is not listed on most tourist brochures and the memorial attracts few visitors. The official USS UTAH association website is linked here: http://ussutah.org/ and the Historical Naval Ships Association webpage on Utah is here: http://hnsa.org/ships/utah.htm and the Naval History and Heritage Webpage is here: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-u/bb31-y.htm

The  USS RALEIGH was badly damaged, but the DETROIT and TANGIER escaped.

This day does live in infamy…

New reads!!!

Ben English has a book out, called Yonderings!

You can click the cover to get it!

The Blurb-

It was a time before Terlingua Ranch and chili cook-offs, and you could drive a hundred miles without seeing another vehicle or another person.  The year was 1961, and the tides of humanity which ebbed and flowed into the lower reaches of the Big Bend were at their historical nadir.  It was a vast, empty land spotted by isolated ranch headquarters, a national park with few visitors, and the many ruins of a past shrouded in legend, lore, and improbable truths. There was no television, no daytime radio, few telephones, and very few people. 
 
Ben H. English came to the Big Bend at the age of two, the fifth of six generations of his family to call this enigmatic region home.  With his family headquartered at the old Lajitas Trading Post, he worked and lived on ranches and places now little more than forgotten dots on yellowing maps. He attended the one-room schoolhouse at Terlingua, prowled the banks of the Rio Grande, and crisscrossed the surrounding areas time and again on horseback and by foot.
 
Some fifty years later he writes about those many decades ago, as well as the history and legends of this singular land he knows so well.  Ben separates fact from fiction and brings the reader into a world that few these days can ever imagine, much less experience.  He also writes about the lower Big Bend as it is found now, and what one can still rediscover just over the next rise.  

If you like real history, written honestly, with self-depreciating humor, this book delves well beyond what you will get in any pamphlets at the National Park! 🙂

And Alma Boykin also has a new book out! Grasping for the Crowns is the second book in the alternate history of WWI from the Hungarian perspective.

You can click on the cover to get it!

The blurb-

In 1916, war has swept the entire world, along with famine and riot tearing countries apart from within and without.

István Eszterházy, now the Head of Hungary’s House Sárkány, struggles to lead its men, women, and True-dragons alike through the shifting tides of fortune, even as the Habsburg Empire is staggered by England’s treachery. While hunger and defeat stalk the streets, the Powers beneath the land grow poisoned and maddened.

When the spirits of the land attack each other, and rebels plot to destroy his House, István must fight not just for his own survival, but for his entire family!

This book moves the story forward to the end of the war, and doesn’t sugarcoat the privations that existed in that time period and area. Well written, historically correct in the actions of the various factions, it melds the ‘real story’ seamlessly into the alternate world Alma has created.

Oopsies and limitations…

And of course it’s the far left states…

First up- Hawaii!

It appears HPD just ‘might’ have overstepped a bit…

The Honolulu-Star that covers medical marijuana news questioned how police officials apparently accessed the Hawaii State Department of Health’s database of cannabis patients to compare against the agency’s list of registered gun owners, and if the move was legal.

‘Supposedly’ that database is ‘confidential’…

Full article, HERE.

And next up- Kommiefornia…

Defender Outdoors (Texas based ammo retailer) has sent out the notice that all sales to California via the internet will cease 17 December. This is all because of Prop 63, being pushed as a ‘Safety for All’ proposition.

For the first time in California history, residents will have to go to a licensed dealer and undergo a background check when buying ammunition, says the company in a statement, pointing to the success of Proposition 63 which criminalizes the private transfer of ammo in the state.

Full article, HERE.

And the rest of the story-

Of further note, California will prohibit its residents from bringing ammunition into the state, bypassing taking delivery through a licensed dealer. Ironically, these new laws do not impact sharing ammunition in person with your friends and shooting partners…you just cannot sell it to them.

If you do sell to your buddy, do you become a felon? And what about those folks that go to Nevada or Arizona to shoot? And bring ammo they didn’t use back? Will THEY by arrested? What about competition shooters who are sponsored by ammo makers?

SO many questions…

Proposition 63 supersedes AB 962 and applies to all ammunition sales and summarized as follows:

Effective January 1, 2018

  • Licensed sellers will conduct and process all ammunition sales
  • Unlicensed sellers will have to conduct ammunition sales through a licensed vendor much like private party firearms transactions
  • Ammunition obtained from an out-of-state seller must initially ship to a licensed ammunition vendor for delivery to the purchaser upon completion of a background check

Effective July 1, 2019

  • Sellers will not sell or transfer ammunition without conducting a background check on the buyer
  • California law requires ammunition sellers to record, maintain, and report to the DOJ records of ammo sales in a manner similar to that of a firearm purchase

Proposition 63 does allow ammunition sales at shooting ranges without the purchaser undergoing a background check and without a sale record provided the ammo remains inside the facility.

Finally, a little recognition!!!

PSA- For all the veterans that did not retire out of the military!

VA Announces Rollout and Application Process for New Veterans ID Card

WASHINGTON — Today the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that the application process for the national Veterans Identification Card (VIC) is now available for Veterans — yet another action honoring their service.

This has been mandated through legislation since 2015 to honor Veterans, and today’s rollout of the ID card fulfills that overdue promise.

Only those Veterans with honorable service will be able to apply for the ID card, which will provide proof of military service, and may be accepted by retailers in lieu of the standard DD-214 form to obtain promotional discounts and other services where offered to Veterans.

“The new Veterans Identification Card provides a safer and more convenient and efficient way for most Veterans to show proof of service,” said VA Secretary Dr. David J. Shulkin. “With the card, Veterans with honorable service to our nation will no longer need to carry around their paper DD-214s to obtain Veteran discounts and other services.”  

The VIC provides a more portable and secure alternative for those who served the minimum obligated time in service, but did not meet the retirement or medical discharge threshold. Veterans who served in the armed forces, including the reserve components, and who have a discharge of honorable or general (under honorable conditions) can request a VIC.

To request a VIC, Veterans must visit vets.gov, click on “Apply for Printed Veteran ID Card” on the bottom left of the page and sign in or create an account.

Veterans who apply for a card should receive it within 60 days and can check delivery status of their cards at vets.gov. A digital version of the VIC will be available online by mid-December.

Folks, this is well worth it, especially for those who can use a little more help getting things done. An upside is that this card should also allow you to get discount benefits at places like Lowes, which gives either a 5 or 10% discount to veterans on EVERY purchase!

Gun raffle winners…

Notification has begun for the winners, and it’s a little bit of a slow process, as each one has to pick their choice of package, before I can notify the next one… So if you’re further down the list, be patient please! I WILL get to you!

Once we get all of them answered, we’ll post the final list.

Thank you again to all who participated, either as donors of the great prize packages, or those folks that donated over $18,000 to help Andi regain as much of her health as she can.

And we have winners!!!

As as usual, I don’t have an email for one of them… Paging Doug Dewitt, Doug Dewitt to the white courtesy phone please…

And an ‘oddity’ of truly random draws is you get truly random results, hence we have two double winners…

Having said that, here are the winners in the order they were drawn. As we contact folks, we will move down the list and list of remaining prizes.

Jim Hambleton

Doug Dewitt

John Sage

Brian Dumire

Paul Neubauer

Larry Lambert

David Brehmer

Roy Zesch

Lois McArdle

Larry Lambert

Pat Patterson

John Harrison

John Amdor III

Kirk Conover

Roy Zesch

And a special thank you to William Simons, he was actually drawn 4th, but said in his email to draw someone else if he came up. Kudos to you, sir!

Thanks again to all who donated, we had 154 individuals enter the raffle with a total of 1551 entries.

Doug Dewitt, white courtesy phone… Need your email! 🙂

$18,517 of $25.0k goal!!!

74%, we definitely gave it the old college try…

We have closed the gun raffle, but the Go Fund Me for Andi will remain open, HERE.

As a reminder, the raffle packages are as follows:

Note: All guns are used, with the exception of package 15 which is new.

  1. Taurus .44 Magnum pistol
  2. Ruger MK-II bull barrel .22
  3. Custom sub-MOA AR-15, two new P-Mags, one Colt 15 round mag.
  4. Remington 870 pump in 20ga
  5. Chinese copy of a 12ga coach gun
  6. Springfield Range Officer .45 with 7 magazines and custom holster
  7. Springfield Range Officer 9mm with 7 magazines and custom holster
  8. Lawdog’s personal Rock Island 1911 9mm, reworked by Joe Speer with 6 magazines
  9. A ladies package consisting of a ring (late-Victorian-style design with either high-quality glass or mid-grade garnet stones. The mount is jeweler’s metal, size 6 3/4 or 7).  A unicorn necklace, late 1980s-early 1990s James Avery sterling silver charm on a silver chain. A coin necklace, an 1904 Indian Head penny, silver dipped in a gold-plated mount with a gold-plated silver chain. And a handmade necklace and earrings from Phlegmmy. And a very nice Damascus knife.
  10. Signed copies of Lawdog’s, Peter Grant’s, Dorothy Grant’s, JL Curtis’, Ambulance Driver’s, and Tom Rogneby’s books
  11. Two sets of custom 1911 grips from Rimfire Designs, you can also work with Mark to design your own!
  12. Beretta 92FS, with six magazines.
  13. Gen 3 Glock 19 Trijicon tritium sights. Two 15 round magazines, which are included. If the winner is in a 10 round state I will find some and substitute them. Other goodies include the usual mag loader, a Streamlight TLR-3 weapon light, and a Bladetech range holster and mag carrier.
  14. A full polish on a stainless or nickel plate on a blued handgun. This is a 600-800 dollar value from Reflections Chrome Plating up in Maine!
  15. NEW Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmore, with 4 magazines.

Winners will be notified in the order their numbers are pulled, and they will have their choice of the prizes (or remaining prizes) based on the drawing order. Winners will be announced as soon as we contact everybody.

Thank you to all who donated items for the raffle, and especially thank you to all of you who donated for this good cause. You folks continue to amaze me with your generosity!!!

And a special thank you to Jenn, for once again doing the back office ‘stuff’ to manage the spreadsheet of donations and receipts, without her this would not have been possible! If you’re of a mind, drop by In Jennifer’s Head and give her a thank you.