‘Puter wrote about Ms. Gunn Barrett’s dipstickery on the topic of New York’s unconstitutional SAFE Act yesterday. ‘Puter would like to revisit Ms. Gunn Barrett’s logic-challenged and fallacious letter to make a larger point about the quality of liberal thought … Continue reading →
The delightfully named executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, one Leah Gunn Barrett,* takes to the pages of today’s New York Times to display her ignorance of firearms, government and law, not necessarily in that order. Ms. Gunn … Continue reading →
News came this morning that Otis MacDonald passed away. Mr. MacDonald is legendary in Chicago, and by rights ought to be as famous as Heller, Brown, and Wade. At the very least, as famous as Heller. Mr. MacDonald was a … Continue reading →
Confucius* is a bit of a gun-history nut. Skip this post if you suspect it won’t interest you. Apparently Confucius is not a big enough nut, as a hugely significant bit of trivia has thus far eluded his gaze. For … Continue reading →
A quick followup on a topic that got some serious reads—the anatomy of police shootouts. Your Immensity; I’m well aware of human stress reactions (trying being 17, scared of heights, and being one of two Air Force pukes in Army … Continue reading →
This little note from the Retired Spook has much to unpack: Your Immensity: A recent news article seems to indicate that 103 rounds were fired by eight officers into a newspaper delivery truck. If memory serves, the range-to-contact was less … Continue reading →
A falcon left a dead mouse on our windowsill yesterday. As the Czar went to flick it off the sill down into the guest parking lot, the Czar noticed a small note tied to its leg. Indeed, the note read … Continue reading →
Did you hear that the Left has totally lost the gun control argument? No? Let us catch up. For years, in nearly every location, if you wanted to carry a firearm on you, you had to have a license or … Continue reading →
The Ghost—perhaps our most mysterious operative, although today he was down in the Castle Cafetorium because on Mondays we usually feature that awesome French toast special, where you get two decent scrambled eggs on a separate plate so the syrup … Continue reading →
The Czar assumes that for every paragraph he writes, he loses 50% of his readership. In other words, the shorter the essay, the better. There are days he writes so many paragraphs that by the last one, he’s the only … Continue reading →
Back in the 1990s, several hundred years ago, the rage was the AK-47 assault rifle. At the time, the AK-47 was blamed for all bad things, including high tides and illness among the cattle. Today, of course, the AR-15 is … Continue reading →
Typical mainstream media representative Cenk Uygur stepped in a pile of his own feces yesterday when he tweeted, evidently in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman—who evidently will not be truly not guilty until 2016—the following: Ok, I give … Continue reading →
As you likely have heard, Illinois became the 50th state to join reality and legalize concealed carry. To be fair, implementation of this law will take a little while yet, but already people are watching to see what happens in … Continue reading →
The Czar and the Mandarin went off shooting on Friday, and put rather a lot of rounds down different types of weapons. However, the Czar noted that he has never, somehow, done a review of a rifle. Not sure how … Continue reading →
Could the Czar be any happier than to have not one but two highly respected epistolarians offer sweet prose on different topics, each of which deserves a response. First, in order of arrival, is Borepatch, who delights us with a … Continue reading →
A popular video is shooting around the Internet in which Natalie Foster—a woman, evidently—is advocating two things: that women need to get into shooting because it’s fun, and that male shooters need to be supportive of women when shooting. The … Continue reading →
The Czar has finished reading Glenn Beck’s latest book Control: Exposing the Truth About Guns and wanted to beat the Mandarin (a) to a book review and (b) with a hockey stick. We shall tackle (a) here today. The book … Continue reading →
Two missives from Island Dweller worth sharing: Most exalted one,It seems the IRS agents who sang so freely about methods employed to harass and stymie conservative tax-exempt organizations in their application or renewal process have declined to identify those high-ranking … Continue reading →
Chicago has had many fine police superintendents over the years, and when the Occupy twits hoped to stage a monster riot in Chicago a while back, Chicago’s Garry McCarthy showed superb organization and an understanding of how riots spread; he … Continue reading →
Gov. Cuomo demonstrates the danger offinger guns before Mayor Bloomberg joinshim on stage to introduce their jointlegislative proposal “Fingerguns UnderControl of Kids Kill Us Act,” or as it iswidely known, Cuomo’s FUCKKU Act. ‘Puter’s a casual hunter, and an even … Continue reading →
For all the sanctimony that Democrats fly on their recently multi-colored flag, they sure are into theatrics just as much as Republicans. Maybe more so, particularly in matters of good taste. In Illinois, beleagured—and that puts it mildly—governor Pat Quinn … Continue reading →
Michael Shermer usually does pretty good analysis, but one of his lesser-effort essays is being circulated around the Facebook these days: *#147;The Science of Guns Proves Arming Untrained Citizens Is a Bad Idea.” Dr. J. forwarded the Czar this essay, … Continue reading →
Be thankful the right-wing media is pushing this story out, because God know the rest of the media are hiding this story. An interesting analysis by Pew Research correlated two critical pieces of data: gun homicide rates are down by … Continue reading →
And lo, verily does Island Dweller throw down a little jotting: Most illustrious Sultan of the Steppes: Your faithful minion, though he be surrounded by water on all sides, still manages to maintain periodic contact with a former co-laborer for … Continue reading →
Lucy VanBloomberg Dr. J.’s buddy Jamie Jeffords linked to this American Perspective post in his weekly Blogroll Spotlight. Nothing we haven’t heard before, but just a reminder of the progressive mindset. Dr. J.
Continue reading →Well, you put the Царица in charge of date night, and you gotta expect something like this. After a superb dinner at a nearby Szechuan place, the Czar was asked to drive to our favorite shooting range for an evening … Continue reading →
These came up while the Czar was washing blood off his hands in the men’s room. First up is JAB, who pops up from the Doublewide to tell an awesome story: Dear Mr. Mandarin and Your Czarness: Reading your “Literal … Continue reading →
A chat at the Gormogon lobby bar the other day between Mandarin, Borepatch, and the Czar encouraged the Czar to paint this rather interesting analogy. Indeed, this might be one of the most enduring images of the debate—rather than the … Continue reading →
Psychologists ought to be studying the strange disconnect between the Right and Left when it comes to perception of media bias. The Right has, for a long time now, been supplying fairly inarguable evidence that the news media is tilted … Continue reading →
Know what has gotten to be so obvious that it has become a cliché? Progressivism. Notice how every state in the union suddenly has a bill on the table about firearms. And notice how oddly similar they all are. Americans … Continue reading →
Remember about thirty-five years ago, when the Sequester was going to utterly destroy societies, completely annihilate Western thought, and thoroughly split infinitives? And it didn’t happen, and the President plunged in the polls? And then he made a series of … Continue reading →
The Czar was in need of new boots lately, as his previous pair of boots lost their ability to keep out snow and blood. Any excuse to go Bass Pro Shop, really, as they have very nice inexpensive and not … Continue reading →
Long-time reader Mark Spahn of Seneca, New York, is head of our recently inaugurated Caring & Sharing Division. He notified the Czar of a genuinely weird story involving the Czar’s long-time annoyance—the Department of Homeland Security, under Janet “Concrete Blonde” … Continue reading →
The Czar was having dinner the other night with a police detective with whom he is well acquainted. The Czar asked if he was the one who bought up all the Czar’s ammunition. The detective smiled politely and mentioned how … Continue reading →
ScottO writes in in response to the Czar’s review of the Ruger P89. Dread and Powerful Czar, I have one thing to say about your italicization of bona fide: Merci beaucoups! FWIW, bona fide is not recognized as English by … Continue reading →
Because despite all the back-and-forth on the Second Amendment lately, we have not had a bona fide gun review on here for a while. And yes, the Czar is the kind of guy who italicizes bona fide even though it … Continue reading →
Very alert and long-time follower mastermind EC writes in: Okay: This is much ado about nothing, but four points: 1. President Obama is depicted firing an over and under shotgun. Why is there a wisp of smoke about 8″ back … Continue reading →
See? The President is too macho and tough! Like Reagan! Even though we were told that there were no pictures of the President shooting, suddenly someone comes up with one in the same amount of time it would take to … Continue reading →
RKB writes into the Czar with an appropriately supplicating tone: Oh great and dreadful Czar, She isn’t using a pump shotgun, which tells the Czar she knows about shooting clays. Bet she knows the President lied about his experiences based … Continue reading →
Essential Update at the end Well, now that Americans have forgotten about Sandy Hook and are all excited excited excited for the President’s inauguration tomorrow (Obama 2.0? More like Obama 1.1), okay, well, now the story is getting out that … Continue reading →
Well, a lot of our mailbags have been filling up with gun talk, but not because any of us wanted to go there, but because once again the Left dragged us there so they can replay another failed lecture on … Continue reading →
History will vindicate my memory.—James Buchanan The worst president ever.—History The suggested gun rights legislation should be of enormous interest to political bird watchers like yourselves. Perhaps you don’t own or even care about firearms; even so, what’s happening now … Continue reading →
For those of you who read our site here, but do not follow us on Twitter, you might be wondering what our reactions to the ObamaScare report were. “No, no, Jimmy!” Relax—it’s a Photoshop, Mr. President. Briefly: a tremendous waste … Continue reading →
A big welcome back to LTC Dan, from whom we have not received a message in far, far too long. We appreciate the Colonel’s presence here at the Castle, and are most interested in his question: Sir, I found “Reading … Continue reading →
Chief Jay writes in with a disturbing amount of supplication, even for a power-mad despot such as the Czar. Check out the second sentence in particular: Mighty, Fearful Czar and Fellow Inmate of the Peoples Democratik Republik of Illinois; I … Continue reading →
Fair is fair. The media have declared the Second Amendment ineffective. We get it. But guns are only half the problem, right? Someone has to pull the trigger. So in the same spirit that the media are looking out for … Continue reading →
Right now, a lot of firearm enthusiasts in Illinois are in a panic, with emails flying around urging immediate action! Illinois legislators are planning to pass a sweeping bill that will outlaw everything you like, from magazines, to pump shotguns, … Continue reading →
Here is a quick link to a petition gathering web site for the defense of the 2nd Amendment – click here The MandarinThe Mandarin, whose real name is 吏恆, joined the order in 1309, and introduced the Gormogons into England … Continue reading →
Tying up some loose ends here. The last two weeks, thanks to the Portland shooter, the Sandy Hook shooter, and the New York firefighter assassin, have triggered a hypocritical caterwauling from the liberal progressives about removing guns completely from the … Continue reading →
Three things were wrong with Wayne LaPierre’s speech on behalf of the National Rifle Association. Some of us are members of the NRA, by the way, while some of us are not. Even so, and even though the NRA tends … Continue reading →
Figures there would be nitpickers. Well, maybe that’s unfair; perhaps they are sincerely concerned. Long-term Operative BG takes a break from training sea turtles to carry encoded messages to our trained attack infantry whales (The GormoPodForce™) to hector the Czar … Continue reading →
Okay, the Czar is willing to compromise on an assault weapons ban. He recommends Congress quickly pass the following restrictions through: The following weapons (“assault weapons”) shall be banned from sale effective the date of passage: Weapons with a detachable … Continue reading →
Liberals want to have a “national conversation” on the subject of guns. Uh-oh! Whenever liberals want to have a national conversation about anything, what they mean is that they want you to shut up with your reality-based facts and figures … Continue reading →
Imagine the surprise the Czar got when he found out that a federal court has not only struck down Illinois’ concealed carry ban, but has ordered the legislature to draft a new law in 180 days or less. This means … Continue reading →
Not all the news is bad, you know. Just as conservatives bemoan the potential loss of many of their social arguments, they are decisively and quickly winning one of their most popular: legalized firearms. A couple of Supreme Court victories … Continue reading →
Well, at least the Czar does not have to grouse that we haven’t had a good gun review lately. We just did one yesterday. The Heckler und Koch P30. Remember to pronounced the last word “Coke” to sound authentic. And … Continue reading →
The Czar begins every firearm review with some variant of the phrase “It has been a while since our last gun review.” Not the next one. But for this one, yes, it has been a while. The Beretta PX4 Storm. … Continue reading →
Since the Aurora, Colorado, shootings, gun sales are up nationally, either despite the media’s fear and terror about firearms, or because of the media’s fear and terror. Firearms are the media’s biggest bogeyman. And like all bogeymen, this fear is … Continue reading →
Special Operative Brass is one of the Castle weaponsmithies, and he reminds us: Dear Dread and Frightful Czar, The reason the EPA dropped the ban [proposed for lead bullets, referenced here] was the Republicans in Congress actually grew a pair … Continue reading →
The Czar attended an open house for an outdoor rifle and pistol range this weekend, much as he has done for the last few years. This particular weekend though found the place overwhelmed with attendees. Yeah, this event is crowded … Continue reading →
The Gormogons have not commented much (except perhaps on Twitter) concerning the death of teenager Trayvon Martin, pending a lengthy examination of the facts—which seem to be much in dispute, due entirely in part to an over-zealous mainstream media pillage … Continue reading →
Trust us in our ability to predict things. But what’s worse than the old Cassandra complex, in which you rail that no one believes your predictions until after they come true? When people tend not to listen, but then go … Continue reading →
The Left should just admit they don’t know anything about firearms. Those of us on the Right who embrace firearms know this already—one of the safest bets in all of gambling is linking an anti-gun crusader to ignorance about firearms. … Continue reading →
Operative CN writes in with a quip so great the Czar laughed at its brilliance! Regarding your recent article, “Isn’t There Anything Bad We Can Find In This?”, here’s the headline as would be reported by gun control groups: “Teen … Continue reading →
Seems two teenage thugs tried to commit a violent robbery of a Spartanburg, SC, Waffle House. Except a customer, packing heat, shot and killed one of the bandits as they were about to fire their weapon. The other bad guy … Continue reading →
MC writes in a binary palindromes sometimes, with a letter starting 0101 but tending in 1010. Very clever. And not only did Lincoln know someone named Kennedy, but Lincoln knew a Hanks, while Kennedy was known to sneeze into a … Continue reading →
The Czar was interested to learn that tonight was the GOP’s sixteenth presidential debate. Yikes. Anyhow, the five remaining candidates generally did well. Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry were strong, forceful, and explicit in their views. Romney seemed a little faltering … Continue reading →
The Czar remembers things. He remembers the Mark Fiorino case, in which Fiorino strapped on a .40 Glock, as fully allowed by Pennsylvania law, and walked by two Philadelphia police officers. Officers immediately ordered him to surrender the weapon, and … Continue reading →
Michael A. Walsh, of the New York Post sums up perfectly what the Czar has been thinking: what if everything US AG Eric Holder testified over the last couple days was true. If so, here is your attorney general: he … Continue reading →
Answering the mail call, that is. The Czar has four unread messages. First up is Operative FJR, who etched this onto a small grain of rice and slipped it into the Czar’s Burmese Beef: I do a lot of outdoor … Continue reading →
FJR brings up a great observation: we have not had a firearm-related post up for a while. Dread and awful Czar, Followed a youtube link from Borepatch and stumbled on to this cool video showing dragon’s breath shotgun ammo. Thought … Continue reading →
Operative ME writes in regarding Dr. J.’s sufferings at the hands of Rebecca Roberts: Dr. J., As a once and future resident of Arizona, I thank you for the link to NPR segment with Ms. Roberts and the caller from … Continue reading →
Well, the Czar is not taking any credit for this. Illinois governmental liberals want to release the names of all Illinois firearm owner identification (FOID) card holders, in order to embarrass them so they never want to own or hold … Continue reading →
Our good neighbor (well, he is the kind of neighbor who strolls out to get the morning paper wearing only his underwear) Uncle Jay writes in with this very interesting update: Oh dread & awful Czar— Re: Some shooting ranges … Continue reading →
Man, the Czar hates when people ask him to cite sources, because then we all find out what little work we actually do around here. Oh, dread and mighty Czar, I read with interest your post on the baloney reasons … Continue reading →
Well, we go from not having nearly enough firearm-related posts to having way too many at once. And the Czar will admit he is to blame for the latter. Maybe the former, too. But Confucius* alerted the Czar via Twitter … Continue reading →
Dread, ominous, invincible, etc… Please explain the quirk of Illinois voting that allows a bill to have enough votes to override a veto, but not enough votes to make it to the governor? Was it shot down in committee or … Continue reading →
If the Czar were a professional gun control advocate, he might think about grabbing a box, getting some of the best office supplies, taking down the poster of the kitten hanging by her front paws on a clothesline, and heading … Continue reading →
Illinois is slowly moving toward concealed carry. Legislation is under way that will allow Illinois residents, 21 and over and in good legal standing, the ability to carry concealed. On the one hand, this is good news for Illinois residents; … Continue reading →
Sometimes the Czar doesn’t even get a chance to become enraged. For example, the Czar found out recently that there was a movement afoot to release names of Illinois firearm identification holders to the public. Evidently, the Associated Press—for reasons … Continue reading →
With only 127 days to go before we ring in the New Year, here is a little cautionary tale as to why firearms and alcohol don’t mix. Come to think of it Your Mandarin has had an awful headache ever … Continue reading →
Secret Operative TB writes in on the Czar’s review of a few .40 caliber handguns: Sounds like you are qualified to give us your best-.40-4-teh-$ opinion. That is, if you’re willing to say, ‘cause you seem a bit reticent to … Continue reading →
We haven’t had a good gun post here in a while. So the Czar, like a few of the G-boys around here, is a fan of .40 caliber weapons. Here is a round up of things we like or do … Continue reading →
The Czar had the opportunity today to fire the Sig Sauer P226, a slick-looking 9mm pistol today. The weapon has become the flag ship of the venerable Sig Sauer line, and it is easy to see why. The Sig Sauer … Continue reading →
There never was much wrong with the venerable .45 ACP, or the 9mm. Both have been around for decades. But the .45 is a big ugly, slow round that limits how much you can put into a handgun, and the … Continue reading →
