7/13/2006
#2 Report
#2 had his 6 month checkup today. 27" (75th percentile) and 19 lbs, 7 oz (90th percentile.) We'll be enrolling him in the Junior Linebacker club tomorrow.
And he's becoming something resembling self-mobile. Not proper hands and knees crawling, but a form of movement that looks amazingly like an Army high-crawl-digging with one shoulder and elbow while pushing off with the opposite leg and reaching with the opposite hand, then reversing sides. If I can just get him to keep his butt down, he'll be a right proper little soldier.
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Another One for the Cosmoline Collection
I just received the shooter-grade Yugo M48 that I ordered from AIM Surplus. I was actually somewhat impressed by the condition of the stock-it looks like it will come out pretty good when it's de-gunked. The metal shows a good deal of wear and the front sight hood is missing, as advertised. Had to judge the bore with all the cosmo. Oh, and all the SNs match.
That makes three shooter-grade rifles I've purchased from AIM-a Yugo M59/66 SKS, a Soviet M1938, and this one. Quite happy with all of them. I'm thinking about possibly getting this one drilled and tapped for a scope, but I might have to put a new bolt handle on for that. Not so sure I want to go to that trouble.
It also makes 3 rifles that I've got sitting waiting for cosmoline removal-a Yugo M59 and a CMP M1903A3 being the others. The M59s been waiting for over a year. Hopefully once I finish the biggest items on my 'Honey Do' list I'll be able to build a cosmoline-removing hotbox.
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7/12/2006
Something Here Doesn't Add Up
Background: there was a gang shooting in Tacoma Saturday morning, one dead (a 19 year old gang member who the Bradys will not doubt call 'another child tragically killed by guns'), two wounded, one of those an innocent bystander who is now paralyzed. Nothing much unusual about the shooting, except it happened downtown instead of in the parts of Tacoma where this kind of thing normally happens. One of the shooters, Verick Yarbrough, age 17, is being charged with murder and assault for killing one member of a rival gang and wounding another.
But here's the twist: the DA says he can't charge anyone for shooting Tiffany Walker, the now paralyzed bystander. The DA says the shot the hit her were fired in self defense, by other people who were with the deceased.
Now, I'm completely in favor of being able to use a gun in self defense, but that excuse just doesn't wash with me. When you fire a gun, be it on a range or in self defense, you are responsible for every bullet that leaves the barrel. That means if one of those bullets doesn't go where you meant it to go and hurts or kills someone, you're responsible. That's why "Know your target and what's beyond it" is one of the Four Rules. Whoever shot at Yarbrough and hit Walker instead didn't abide by this rule, and should, in my mind, be charged with Reckless Endangerment at least.
The other problem with the DA's excuse it that it doesn't seem to jive with the story, at least as relayed in the paper. The story in the paper states that,
Two to four seconds after Yarbrough stopped shooting at his rivals, one or more people shot back as Yarbrough and his friends ran south. Walker was hit by one of those bullets.
Now, if I've got the geography straight in my head, "ran south" means that the return fire came as Yarbrough, the original shooter, was running away. Shooting someone who is running away is not self-defense, legally speaking. It's attempted murder, or at least assault. Now, I'm not sure if this would bump Reckless Endangerment to something bigger or not, but if Yarbrough was in fact running away, I'm baffled as to why the DA isn't bringing charges.
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