ATI Nomad: Ordered

A while back, I started looking for a "camper" gun - something cheap, simple, stowable to have in our popup camper, when our family of five is out in the woods. I forgot about that.

More recently, I wanted to get a shotgun again. I had sold my Remington 870 several years ago, and I am sitting on a pile of shells. My birthday was looming, I was asked what I wanted, I said it was a cheap shotgun, that didn't work out, but I received a gift card to one of our local gun stores/ranges. The gift card has sat in my bedside table since October, but in the meantime I ran across the ATI Nomad shotgun series.

I had looked at the Midland Backpacker single-shot shotguns, but I was waiting for Midland to also come out with their promises promised rifle barrels for the gun. I even considered the Wal-Mart special - The Hatfield single shot.

On a whim, I pulled up the ATI Nomad 18.5" 12 gauge on Gallery of Guns. The price was amazing $83 plus tax and fees brought it to $99 out the door (the listing claims no transfer fee, but I'm suspicious). And low and behold, the first retailer offering the gun is the one I have the gift card for.

So the gun is coming my way.

NEXT: Nomad Unboxing

Pandemic IN China

NEXT IN SERIES: If The Name Fits ...

Hypothesis: Covid-19 (aka coronavirus, Wuhan virus) spread had become a pandemic BEFORE it left the borders of China.

Pandemic (n.): 

(1) (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world. (Google)

(2) an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population : a pandemic outbreak of a disease. (Merriam Webster)

(3) A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan "all" and δῆμος demos "people") is an epidemic of disease that has spread across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or worldwide. (Wikipedia)

So on the balance a widespread disease that has ONLY occurred in "mainland" China could be considered a "pandemic."

Also, the sheer numbers of people and internal border controls in China make a spread within its population equivalent to a spread over multiple  international borders. For example:

Hubei Province has 58 million citizens, which equivalent to the populations of England or Burma. Hubei is the center of the outbreak with Wuhan being epicenter and multiple other populations centers effected. Thousands of people have been infected in multiple provinces.

Given that a pandemic really had already occurred WITHIN the borders of China with epidemics in multiple locations, the World Health Organization is irresponsible for pussy footing around the definition of a pandemic and failing to declare a pandemic. 

Also, when the virus actually did present itself as pandemic across traditional international boundaries, the WHO was grossly negligent  by using politically-correct, non-triggering language. Actually, China and the WHO were negligent, when COVID-19 was only confirmed within the borders of Hubei. 

In the past, pandemics spread relatively slowly. The plague took years. The Spanish Flu took many months. Now with international trade and leisure travel available to the masses, and since the masses are so much more massive, the response to biological threats needs to more rapid and sophisticated. 

COVID-19 took one month to become a epidemic, another month to become an intranational pandemic, and another month to become an international pandemic.

Yes, the response to this threat is better than even SARS, but  systems we have in place are still dependent on the fears and ambitions of the individuals implementing them.

NEXT IN SERIES: If The Name Fits ...

Trump and Suzuki

Trump Vs. The Democrats

The Democrats have all their pieces on the
table, but the Orange Man is playing a
different game.

Truth and Memes

Snark is truth in an empire of memes.

Trump Bad

The Democrats have reduced their platform to one plank: Trump Bad.

Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo

When I first tasted Sierra Nevada's Tropical Torpedo, I laughed. The tropical-fruit flavors mellow the initial sips of this IPA to less than a dull roar. But as the apocalypse of this overhopped American IPA overwhelms your taste buds, the tropical fruitiness nicely compliments the overwrought hop cones. This beer surprised me from the start, and satisfied after the initial speed bump.

Positive or Negative Rights

Also posted on Hoplotarian and SteemIt

Is what we want always a lack of something?

I've been looking for the word that succinctly and accurately represents what we are looking for in the "liberty movement." Of late, "libertarian" has fit the bill, because "liberal" has been tainted by back-biting power-hungry abusers.

"Freedom" leads back to "freeneck." Unfortunately, a "freeneck" is a guy lacking a yoke.

"Liberty" instantly - for me - brings to mind "at liberty," as in a sailor that has been allowed to have a day off from his contracted servitude. There is a good, basic foundation for "liberty," especially after the United States revolutionary civil war, but it is still tainted by being let loose from something.

What's the right word? Maybe it needs to be invented - or discovered. Or maybe it will never really exist.

This all leads back to the left's fundamental criticism of the "freedom movement" - that liberty is all about "negative rights." So is what we want just negative.

Even if you journey down the path to no government, the word for it is negative - "anarchy," which means "no ruler." Continuing down this rabbit hole, which doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, we can come up with a word that is foundational and positive.

Let's break down "anarchy:" "an" = "without" + "archy" = "ruler." So what would be positive? "Self" + "ruler." "Autarchy." Oops! We did go down a rabbit hole. We ended up with an "absolute ruler," which is the absolute opposite of what I was getting at.

"Eaftos" is another form of "self" in Greek. "Know thyself" translated into "gnothi sauton" in Greek. "Sautonarchy" could be it, but it is hard to say. Shortened to "sautarchy" would leave us with "salty ruler" or "shoot ruler," if one confuses the Scottish and French words.

So what about Latin, because "anarchy really is about the same in Latin and Greek. We gets word for "self" like "sui," "sese," "ipse." "Suiarchy" is being used in a very-small scale on the Web. It might be the one. And it might be too close to "suicide." There are alternatives, or are there?

Nope. I don't think there are another way. "Sui" = "self" + "cide" = "murder." "Suiarchy:" "sui" = "self" + "archy" = "ruler."

Job done. Now we have a word that does not draw its strength from being negative, though it shares a stem that is used in a negative word. That's just the way it is.

Sub $300 Gun

Originally posted on the Hoplotarian blog

Michael Bane had said on his Down Range Radio Podcast episode #619 that SCCY had found a niche - the sub-$300 gun (presumably 9mm). He also focused on Ruger's sub-$200 Wrangler, which is now challenging the Heritage sub-$200 single-action .22 revolvers. Ban'es point was that the big players will eventually see potential in a niche and then invade and take it over.

So how many sub-$300 9mm pistols are out there? And according to Bane, we are talking about MSRP - I think.

To start with, SCCY offers their CPX-1 at $284 and CPX-2 at $269.99. The CPX-2 deletes the manual safety.

credit: SCCY.com

To my amazement, Taurus now offers NO sub-$300 guns in 9mm. They used to - but no more.

Ruger comes in at $299 with the EC9s, a decontented economy LC9s with machined instead of adjustable/replaceable sites and only one magazine.

credit: Ruger.com

Smith & Wesson offers nothing? So where are the big boys with the cheap guns?
600
But first let's explore some of the offerings by some of the smaller players. Kel-Tec offers NOTHING. Then of course, there are the extreme-budget makers.

Hi-Point comes in at $199 ($219 as shown) with the "entry level" C-9.

credit: Hi-PointFirearms.com

Cobra offers its Big Bore Derringer in 9mm for a probably MSRP of around $187*. The Cobra Patriot 9mm is priced out of the competition.

credit: SportsmansOutdoorSuperstore.com

Jimenez, possibly the smallest and cheapest pistol maker, offers the J.A. Nine at $199*.

credit: JimenezArmsInc.com

Now price and quality start going up. Diamondbnack's DB9's MSRP is $269.

credit: DiamondbackFirearms.com

So where are the "big-boy" manufacturers with this? Remington offers nothing below $300. So it looks like the sub-$300 9mm semiautomatic niche being invaded is a myth, or MSRP is not really the benchmark, or Michael Bane has some top-secret info under NDA wraps.

So what are we talking about? Also, we are also looking at a window in time, because of inflation. My first-ever firearm was an SKS that my uncle purchased as a dealer for $89. So adjusted for inflation and dealer markup we are looking at a gun that would retail for $300 now.

Let's get back to the current sub-$300 handgun thing and what Bane was getting at. Since SCCY had "such a niche," I'm going to make a few assumptions: (1) sub-$300 MSRP and (2) 9mm, and (3) quality, (4) 10-round magazine. All that would make the SCCY 9mms really the current niche firearms.



credit: SportsmansOutdoorSuperstore.com

So since quality is subjective, and this is my blog post not Bane's, this is a list of the guns available despite quality:

Sub-$300 Guns: Contenders 

1. SCCY CPX-1 (safety) & CPX-2 (safety delete) 
Price: $284.00 & $269.99 (base prices)
Capacity: 10+1
Weight: 15 oz


2. Jimenez JA-NINE
Price: $199*
Capacity: 12+1
Weight: 30 oz



Sub-$300 Guns: Pretenders

1. Ruger EC9s
Price: $299 + ~$17 = $316
Capacity: 10+1 (with aftermarket magazine)

Weight: 17.2 oz +
Disqualified: Price & Form-Factor Violation

2. Hi-Point C-9
Price: $199 +$21 = $220
Capacity: 10+1 (with "accessory" magazine)
Weight: 25 oz +
Disqualified: Form-Factor Violation

3. Diamondback DB9
Price: $269
Capacity: 6+1
Weight: 13.4 oz
Disqualified: Lack of 10-round magazine

4. Cobra Big Bore Derringers (6 pistols)
Price: $1122
Capacity: 12
Weight: 84 oz
Disqualified: Completely Ridiculous

So in the end, SCCY does not have a niche, unless you factor in weight and overall quality. I think in my follow-up post the two factors will be mitigated, if I think I know what Michael Bane is getting at. So the Jimenez JA-NINE stays for now.

*Genitron.com

Democrat Gun-Control Nuts

Also posted on Hoplotarian

The crop of Democratic presidential candidates that are jockeying for also-ran positions seem to be quite obsessed with virtue signalling their gun-control stances. Cory Booker just released his gun-control wish list, and it just begs for a response.

Once again, the lunatic demands for control on the federal (central government) level might just lead to nullification on all levels.

What do you think?