What's Not To Like? My Own Firing Range!
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| Son-in-law Howard (orange vest) and grandson Colby, the Iraq-Afghanistan Navy veteran, at the range.. |
By Mike McCarville
Go Figure: So this is a website that specializes in political and governmental news 24/7, right? So your writer gets a wild hair and decides, after seeing a photo of Susie and Brandon Dutcher's adorable Charlie dog (presented to Susie as a Christmas present and promptly the star of the entire Dutcher Clan), that other readers have dogs and why not do a short photo essay on them? Well...that short photo essay keeps growing as readers send in their photos and the post has drawn as much, or more, comment as anything we've posted here in the five years we've been online.
Lesson Learned: While I have a license to carry a concealed weapon and often do, there are times when I don't. When I'm going to an office building or doctors' offices with those "not allowed" signs. And sometimes, when I'm going to lunch a few blocks from the house, I don't strap on my semi-auto. This week, I went to lunch and left the pistol at home. Four hours later, across the street from that restaurant, a nutcase involved in a running domestic dispute with his former girlfriend and the mother of his child, shot her multiple times and then shot himself. Both died. Could an armed citizen have saved that woman's life? I don't know. The circumstances would have to have been happenstance for that to happen. But a murder/suicide less than six blocks from my home? Henceforth, I go nowhere without my sidearm.
Idiocy: A 7-year-old Mid-Del School District student suspended from school for making a gun with his fingers. A 9-year-old suspended for bringing a one-inch long rubber pistol look-alike to school in his backpack. In our schools, students routinely shoot the finger, use the foulest of language, disrespect teachers and others, and what happens? Most of the time, nothing near as we can tell. It is political correctness gone beserk administered by school officials following those often-ridiculous "zero tolerance" policies that eliminate common sense from public school discipline. No wonder home-schooling and charter schools continue to grow like topsy.
The Wonder: Grandson Mike is building himself a home (the second he's built) in eastern Oklahoma County on five acres for which he paid cash (he sold the first home he built for a handsome profit). Last Sunday, Mike drove me out to take a look since it had been a while since I was at the house site. The house is taking shape. But what caught my eye was the deer tracks all over the dirt road going into the property and on the dirt around the house. Mike tells me he, his betrothed Brandi and her daughter have spotted numerous deer roaming the property, including a multi-point buck. I'm looking forward to sitting on Mike's front porch early some morning and watching the deer walk by, no thoughts of hunting in my head. Nope, now's the time to appreciate nature's wonder.
The Discomfort: For the third time, I have double pneumonia. I'm still upright and walking and talking, no doubt due in part to the anti-pneumonia vaccine I got last fall and the prescribed steroid I take. The pneumonia was discovered by an xray taken prior to an arteriorgram last week. The good news: heart muscle strong, arteries clear. The bad news: a birth defect, missing valve in the aorta of my heart, is causing some problems we'll have to deal with down the road.
Idiocy: A 7-year-old Mid-Del School District student suspended from school for making a gun with his fingers. A 9-year-old suspended for bringing a one-inch long rubber pistol look-alike to school in his backpack. In our schools, students routinely shoot the finger, use the foulest of language, disrespect teachers and others, and what happens? Most of the time, nothing near as we can tell. It is political correctness gone beserk administered by school officials following those often-ridiculous "zero tolerance" policies that eliminate common sense from public school discipline. No wonder home-schooling and charter schools continue to grow like topsy.
The Wonder: Grandson Mike is building himself a home (the second he's built) in eastern Oklahoma County on five acres for which he paid cash (he sold the first home he built for a handsome profit). Last Sunday, Mike drove me out to take a look since it had been a while since I was at the house site. The house is taking shape. But what caught my eye was the deer tracks all over the dirt road going into the property and on the dirt around the house. Mike tells me he, his betrothed Brandi and her daughter have spotted numerous deer roaming the property, including a multi-point buck. I'm looking forward to sitting on Mike's front porch early some morning and watching the deer walk by, no thoughts of hunting in my head. Nope, now's the time to appreciate nature's wonder.
The Discomfort: For the third time, I have double pneumonia. I'm still upright and walking and talking, no doubt due in part to the anti-pneumonia vaccine I got last fall and the prescribed steroid I take. The pneumonia was discovered by an xray taken prior to an arteriorgram last week. The good news: heart muscle strong, arteries clear. The bad news: a birth defect, missing valve in the aorta of my heart, is causing some problems we'll have to deal with down the road.
Labels: Gadfly's Columns
posted by Mike McCarville @ 12:45 AM
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