Smokin

That entire case is complete BS and an abuse of power. I'm guessing they thought he was some anarchist dude that was a legit threat, but once they started an investigation they found out he was just into guns. Then they realized they couldn't look bad for being wrong in front of their bosses so had to press charges with what they found. There are so many random laws on the books that if you put enough of a focus on ANYONE in the United States, you'd eventually find them doing something illegal that 'justified' the investigation and could put them in jail. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. However, at the end of the day, if I have to choose between having a silencer and an SBR, I'm going with the silencer 100%. Also, silencer rules super easy compared to the SBR legal spiderweb.

I can see where you're coming from, but when it gets to the courts, it really doesn't matter what you knew or didn't know. Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense. A firearms lawyer that is publicly proclaimed as an expert in firearms law that illegally owns an SBR should be held to the same punishment as joe bagofdoughnuts. That link didn't have enough info about if he was really subjected to extra prosecution because of the existing suppressor, but if he was, that is just another abuse of justice thrown into what already seems to be an abuse of the system in that case.

This 1000%. The biggest downside is that I'm now annoyed when I shoot guns that aren't threaded. Especially now being $200 cheaper, you can get an ok silencer for $500 and a good one for $1K. Your only regret is going to be that you didn't buy one earlier.

Case in point, I went TDY to my first ops squadron a little over 4 years after I left it. Other than a nametag on the wall in the bar, there was zero visible evidence I was ever there. And honestly, while slightly humbling, that's the way it should be. Even as a commander, if you are truly irreplaceable, then you've failed.

And at the same time, they wonder half the country isn't listening to them since they're the "experts". Zero humility, zero accountability when they're wrong. And in the last 6 years they don't even seem capable of admitting that they were wrong, instead they double down on what is clearly stupidity. There was a point that doctors thought smoking was just fine. They admitted they were wrong and fixed it. If that were today, you'd have those same doctors recommending to smoke 3 packs a day.

I'm rather surprised its that low. He's been in Congress a while (2019), so if he was really doing inside trading and Peolsi/Biden type stuff, I'd expect his net worth to be well north of $10M by now. Most guys can/should retire from the military with a net worth in the $1-3M range with zero outside help. Max out your and your wife's Roth IRA every year and put another 6-9% in the TSP and you have a good chance at just those three accounts putting you in that range at retirement, let alone years down the road. Obviously divorce or similar major life setbacks can crush that plan quickly.

The only real deterrent, and I doubt if it is legal, would be to hold the lawmakers in contempt of court and put them in jail for passing laws that any first year law student could tell will absolutely be struck down by the courts. Otherwise they pass a law they know will get struck down, but makes life miserable for gun owners until it does. Then once it gets struck, they change happy to glad and pass it again knowing full well what the result will be.

If he can demonstrate a pattern that singles him out then he has a solid case for reprisal. For example, it is perfectly legal to order cop Airman Snuffy to guard the gate on Friday and Saturday night. But if Snuffy can show that after he submitted a complaint, his schedule went from a normal rotation to every Friday and Saturday night every weekend when other guys still had a normal rotating schedule, that's reprisal even if an individual order outside the larger pattern is legal. The larger pattern of behavior that makes the individuals life worse after (and thus likely because of) a complaint is illegal. Just like if you saw some dude complain about a squadron commander filing a voucher that was fraudulent and suddenly that dude ends up sitting SOF four times a week and is sent to safety school when his wife is due. All of those taskings are legal if you look at them individually, but would obviously constitute a pattern of behavior that anyone could see was a result of his complaint. The government has an interest to not make people afraid to make a complaint, so protects against this type of pattern.

Do NOT do this. As much fun as it would be, this is textbook reprisal and would get you in actual trouble rather than just having to deal with BS complaints. Treat him no differently than you did before, other than document everything and obviously watch what you say. If there isn't a paper trail, it is your word against his and he is apparently willing to lie and play minority cards. And I mean document absolutely everything. If he shows up two minutes late, log it. Makes a single disparaging remark about someone, log it. If he walks into your office to ask when something is due, log it. However, and this is going to be the really painful part, you should start a similar documentation with everyone else, except the disciplinary part and maybe not needing quite the same level of detail. Otherwise if this ends up going sideways and you bring the documentation, the other side is going to logically ask to see the similar log you kept of your other employees. Otherwise they can claim you're only documenting him because he filed a complaint, which is also reprisal. When I started to have a problem with a guy that worked for me, I just kept a word document open on my computer. Anytime anyone that worked for me stopped in, I'd put it down. As simple as: "0945: Airman Snuffy asked due date for MFR - Friday". Depending on how often people stop buy or you go to their offices, shouldn't take too much of your day. Finally, if your boss doesn't have your back then you're probably SOL. I'd wait a week or so and ask for a sit down to talk about how much this guy is destroying the workplace. Even bring up the EO complaint as an integrity problem, which actually could be legitimately used against him if other people there will back you. If your boss still won't cover your back, then you're screwed.

That escalated quickly. Hope people thought through the transition better than we have the last couple times. Good work by the 160th.

Do you still have to pay that tax if you buy online and ship to an FFL? I've never paid any sales tax doing that, but then again, I've never lived in a commune like CA.

Terrible mass shooting in Australia (which must be fake news because guns are illegal there and they even did a confiscation). But an awesome display of courage for a dude that was able to jump one of the gunman and take his gun away even after apparently being shot twice in the process. The gunman then kinda stood there in disbelief and slowly backed away. More proof that most mass shooters are cowards and will stop when they're confronted with force.

Strange, I couldn't find a post from you saying WTF when it was changed under Biden. Did that Secretary of State also lose a bet?

I think that would be as much of a deterrence as a nerf gun. Even if they owned 100% of our debt (which they don't), I think they'd consider that a bargain.

As always, I'm sure there's more to the story is being reported. Hopefully they had bodycams on to clear this up. That being said, I'm not a fan of this new trend of law enforcement wearing facemasks. That's something thugs and third world countries do. If I'm approached in my vehicle (or worse, at my house) by guys wearing facemasks, my first reaction is not going to be thinking that everything is fine.

That is all horrific, but you missed my point. The system cannot do anything in and of itself; only the people within the system. So being disgruntled at the entire system because of some bad people doesn't make sense. You apparently got screwed by some people that had no business being in authority and have every right to be angry at them. My point is that there are good and bad people in every organization, the nature of the military just ends up giving those people the potential to have a larger impact on other people's lives than most civilian structures.

No organization will ever care about you, nor will it betray you, because it can't. The people in the system are what matters and you'll find good and bad people in every system. I had far more good than bad experiences in my AF time and I would absolutely do it all again, but I know that experiences will vary. I still think that there is a higher proportion of good dudes in the AF than in the airlines (I'm at a legacy) or in most other career fields. Timing and luck play a huge part of your AF career; I knew good guys that got repeatedly shafted and I knew guys that had a great career even though they were less deserving. But by far more common were good dudes that got some good deals and some bad deals. It sucks when your commander/boss happens to be one of the guys that shouldn't be there, but that happens everywhere, including at the airlines. The only difference is at the airlines it is often easier to distance yourself. If your career really was just one bad deal after another than either you were extremely unlucky (it happens, I knew a good guy like that) or it might be your attitude. Looking back at my career, I'm thankful for all my good deals. They made great friends, memories, and stories. But I'm also thankful for most of my bad deals because they helped shape my path to be where I am now.

I'd like to see that exact same interaction happen without a badge to hide behind and no TV cameras... That 'tough guy' would get whooped.

AKA, "the" engine. Having only one really simplifies which one you're talking about.

Just so we're not always beating up on cops' shooting skills here; skip to about halfway through. Dude was apparently wearing two plate vests and thought the motorcycle helmet would stop a bullet.

During my first requal in M9s, the instructor told everyone to point their guns at him and practice pulling the trigger to get the feel of it. My chin hit the floor. Had I been in his chain of command, I would have pulled every qualification he had.

The video is pretty disturbing, although it would be nice to know what happened in the 6-9 seconds before the video started. It appears to be an absurd amount of force being used. Do all the agents really need their guns drawn? Unless she was suspected of some violent crime, then these guys should be retrained in the proper use of force. Police, to include ICE, FBI, ATF, etc, need to understand that they are public servants, just like the military. Any policeman that is so scared that he feels like he needs to be the 5th guy to draw a gun on a small single female is in the wrong line of work. That being said, if she was actually the one instigating and either hit or positioned her vehicle to impede the operation (again, previous 6-9 seconds would be nice to see), then their actions would be a little more justified. I'm guessing that the truth is somewhere in the middle as it usually is. If ICE was entirely at fault, there would be dozens of lawyers lined up at her door. She probably either hit the van or was being aggressive with her vehicle and the ICE leadership likely realized that they used excessive force so they didn't pursue charges. But given the district that the events occurred in, it is entirely possible that the DA dropped the charges for political purposes even if she was 100% at fault.

A Glock was the first pistol I bought, but that one is still my only Glock (a pretty old model, maybe it'll start being worth something). They did push a significant innovation with their original introduction, which is good for the gun world. Hopefully this new model similarly pushes all the companies to improve.

If that's not a real designation, it should be. Think I made it to Oregon only few times, spent 98% of my time hunting. 'Oh, I have space for two pounds of meat, I'd better go shoot a dozen animals.' Designation should be official if you ever powered on the Commodore 64 and then left to go play tag for 15 minutes while it booted up.

More parents than you would think will take your side. I sat kids on multiple occasions across multiple sports because of an attitude and only one time did I have a parent say anything about it (and the coward didn't come to me, they went to the club admin who backed me). I set clear expectations at the start and 95% of kids met them. The few that didn't found little support from their parents. I benched one kid and he walked away crying over towards his dad. His dad took one look at him and said something like "what'd you expect?" and the kid stopped crying because he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere. He didn't have an attitude with me the rest of the time I coached him. Also gave out exactly zero participation trophies or medals.