Mr. Disproportionate Response

Recently, I had the pleasure of getting a chance to take my Benelli Supernova Tactical-PG out into the mountains to burn off a few rounds and find out what all the fuss was about. Now that I’ve had the chance, I can safely say that this was very nearly the best $500 I’ve ever spent. A review of the shotgun itself and the incredibly amusing tale of the shooting adventure (and the many interesting and sordid men that we met during the trip) will be forthcoming. This is more about the best $500 that I did NOT have the spend this weekend, and the $500 that some of the other shootings from Sunday DID get to spend. The big difference was an $8 nylon tarp…but more on that in a moment.

My preferred site for shooting in this area is a pleasant little clearing just off of the I-90 Tinkham Road exit, just east of the town of North Bend in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The people who live in the area and the federal government tend to get a little touchy when it comes to littering up a national forests and other public property. There, though, is the key reason that I love shooting there. All US National Forests are public property. You can use them for pretty much whatever you want, as long as you aren’t ruining the forest for OTHER members of the public, presenting a safety hazard, or harming the forest itself. This is specifically outlined in Federal Regulation 36 CFR 261.10(d,e), which has the complete text listed here. The regulation states:

TITLE 36 – PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY

CHAPTER II – FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

PART 261 – PROHIBITIONS

subpart a – GENERAL PROHIBITIONS

261.10 – Occupancy and use.

The following are prohibited: …

(d) Discharging a firearm or any other implement capable of taking human life, causing injury, or damaging property as follows: (1) In or within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation site or occupied area, or (2) Across or on a National Forest System road or a body of water adjacent thereto, or in any manner or place whereby any person or property is exposed to injury or damage as a result in such discharge. (3) Into or within any cave.

(e) Abandoning any personal property.

In order to be a positive influence on other shooters, and a positive example to the forestry service of what a responsible recreational shooting can be, Mr. Disproportionate Response recommends following a very simple code of conduct. Adhering to these guidelines will not only prevent you from falling foul of the law, but will help to make your recreation areas and the people that you shoot with an ever-improving experience. Also bear in mind that I’m writing this with the assumption that you know how to use your firearms, and already know a fair bit about safety. Something that bears repeating, no matter what, to know what you’re shooting, and know what’s BEHIND what you’re shooting. I recently saw a guy pop a round of buckshot into an old hulk of a car, while his buddy was standing behind it, taking a whizz. No one was hurt, but that’s a GREAT way to end a fun day. If you’re shooting toward a hill as your backstop–take the time to climb the hill and see what’s behind it. If you aim too high and miss your target, you want to make sure that you’re not ending someone’s camping trip early by sending little Timmy or Mommy or Daddy to the hospital or an early grave.

First, know the law in your area. The regulation posted above is for the US National Parks, Forests, and Public Property–but those locations, being federally controlled, may have additional limitations attached to them due to their state or the peculiarities of that area. This also does not apply to hunting–this only applies to the recreational destruction of inanimate targets. As soon as you put an animal in your sites, you’re going to be dealing with a whole different set of rules, and most of them say, “Don’t do it on federal land.” Usually a quick check out the park online will turn up all of the pertinent information.

Second, even before you shoot, get organized and be prepared. I can’t stress this enough. Not only does keeping your shooting area neat and organized promote and ensure safety, but it goes a long way to avoid trouble from others. If you just pack off to your favorite shooting spot with an unruly pile of guns, ammo, and targets, you’re going to appear unkempt and messy to Mr. Ranger, should he choose to stop by for a visit. If you look like a professional that cares about the state of their equipment, the state of their sport, and the conditions in which they practice, it will give a sense of ease and an impression of competence to the people around you. This is one place in life where appearances count. The more that it looks like you’re taking care of yourself, your equipment, and the area that you’re using, the less questions that the authorities will be able to ask you. A good part of this organization is making certain that you have good equipment for the trip. That’s hearing protection, eye protection, targets, trash bags, and a tarp or large sheet. A small shovel or a broom wouldn’t hurt you, either.

Keep the area clean. When you’re setting up to shoot, pick one spot that’s going to be your main staging area, and lay out your tarp or sheet. Make sure that it’s long enough, or that you’re far enough away from it that when your weapon ejects its shells, they will land on your spread. This way, at the end of the day, all you have to do is pick up your spread, and all of your shells and brass are ready to go. Paragraph (e) of the regulation states that abandoning any personal property is prohibited. That’s littering, folks. Don’t leave your trash behind for other shooters or the forestry service to have to clean up. This is where having a small shovel or broom is handy, too. While you’re there, before you start shooting, or after you’ve finished your rounds for the day, take time to load up a shovel or two of other people’s shells and brass onto your tarp. It’s good for the environment, it’s good for the shooting sports, and if you’ve got a recycling center nearby, that brass can be worth a pretty penny at local recycling locations! Don’t cheat at this either–just because you caught “most” of your shells doesn’t make it okay to leave your garbage around for others.

Related to the above note, do not shoot at glass bottles. Use plastic bottles or paper targets, instead. Phone books are immensely satisfying, as are bottles or jugs full of water and ice. They make for some pretty impressive explosions, without leaving hundreds of shards of litter everywhere. Before picking a target, consider how hard it will be to clean up, once it’s pining for the fjords.

Keep your head on a swivel. An important part of shooter safety is in always maintaining awareness of your surroundings, and it’s better to overcompensate for this and assume that other shooters aren’t remaining aware of their surroundings. Keep watch for details. Make sure that you see what’s going on around you before it happens, and be ready and able to take necessary precautions to keep the area safe.

Bring water, leave the drinks at home. If conditions are nice enough that you’re going to be shooting, there’s a good chance that you’ve got a nice, clear day. Make sure to stay hydrated, and for the love of all that’s decent and good, do NOT consume drugs or alcohol while shooting, nor should you go out on a shooting expedition while under the influence of these substances. Even if a beer or two will have not affect you, it gives the impression that you’re not being a paragon of safety and cleanliness, which can land you on the wrong side of the rangers.

And finally, be considerate of the people around you. If your shooting area only has room for you and your spotter to shoot, and a group of other people are waiting to set up to shoot, give them the opportunity. By instilling a sense of goodwill and commonwealth in these public areas, we guarantee the ability to keep using them. Barring someone else from shooting, or being inconsiderate of other sportsmen will only lead to animosity, which might lead to altercations with the authorities, or one another. In a field where everyone has a gun or twelve, it’s good to be mindful and considerate of the people around you.

Really, these are just common sense guidelines, and they all stem from one piece of advice: We’re talking about shooting on public lands, which means YOUR land, but it also means that it’s MINE. So now, more than ever, treat these areas like you would want a stranger to treat your bedroom or living room.

–MDR

Nearly finished with the reviews of the Benelli and Dawn of War 2. The funny just isn’t coming yet with the details of the shooting trip on Sunday of last week. The shooters guide for public land IS finished, I’m just doing some polish on that before I publish it. Sadly, I don’t have a whole ton of things to say about SteamCon, other than what’s on their website, so I’ll just be adding a link to the links section on the right, once that’s all finished.

Speaking of “once that’s all finished,” I’m still working on the back end of this blog, to make sure that I’ve got the right links, right tags, and right categories to make this really “fit” everything that I want to talk about here. Rather than pushing things live in pieces, I’m stealing a page from the playbook of some successful, large websites and only pushing finished products to the live page. I guess, technically, that this blog isn’t “open” or “running” yet, for that very reason. So, enjoy these bonus posts until the real deal starts.

On an interesting side note, I’ve already garnered some measure of attention from the writing so far, and have been invited to do some guest writing for some other sites. Once my posts are published over there, I’ll include links here. It’s been a crazy, busy week, but fun. Until then, enjoy!

So, yes. I admit. I got distracted from some of the other stories I wanted to feature this week. Most of them are in some form of draft, and I’m trying to make them what I want them to be. Then I found this video, and my whole life just imploded. This bird now rules my life. ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOBIRD.

I just don’t know what else to say. The yellow cockatiel singing the chocobo theme from Final Fantasy is more irony than I can possible stand. It’s like someone divided by zero.

I woke up early today, rather hoping to knock out one of the posts in the earlier preview that I posted. That didn’t go so great. I’m way too sleepy, and thinking has been expressly forbidden until after my first espresso.

I don’t recall the series of thinking-bits that got me to the point where I was laying in bed, thinking how awesome it was that I had a blog, and I didn’t HAVE to post, just that I CAN. Something about feeling free at being uncensored or something. Regardless of what led to that point, I recalled this video that a great friend posted on her livejournal in weeks past, and thought I’d share:

So, with the wonderful new toxic asset buy-out plan is going into effect, we’re seeing some improvement in the markets. Just today, the DJIA made a 6% jump toward the green ink. That means that investors are happy and banks are happy and people are buying stocks because they’re happy. Why would they be so happy with this plan? Because they’re the corporate entities who pissed on their responsibilities and got us into this mess, and it’s the taxpayers that get all of the crap assets they’ve been having to deal with. As is pointed out by one man who won the Nobel Prize for economics, this is not exactly happy news.

Over at lifeaftertheoilcrash.net they’re having a lively discussion on the downstream results of this bailout. Rather than copy and pasting their great research, or re-doing all of the legwork myself, go take a peek. This crap just continues to go from bad to worse, and people keep LETTING their Congress do this.

Folks, these people are public servants. They work for you. They work for me. The whole REASON that your paycheck has a “gross” and “net” value on the paystub is that you PAY these people to REPRESENT your interests before the Congress. Is this really what you want? For your money to be spent away thousands of times over, to prop up the already-rich, who’ve already done a shitty job guarding our assets?

Let’s put this another way: The banks and Wall Street are bending the taxpayers over EVEN further, now. When they’ve bent us over a full 360 degrees, where does that leave us? Here’s a hint:

An average American, after being bent over for the new bank bailout.

Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. Bailout the bankers with my great, great, great grandchildren’s tax dollars, and I’ve stuck my head up my own ass.

EDIT: Okay, I’ve caught some guff from people over this post, and it seems that there’s a disconnect between what they’re reading and what I’m trying to say. Let me clarify. I’m not focusing on the bailout, the economy, or any of the number of things related, there. I included the LifeAfterTheOilCrash (LATOC) link for that purpose–the people over there are discussing this in much greater depth than I could cover here.

The point that I’m making is not the bailout or that it’s bad. It’s that it’s ANOTHER bailout. It’s that “We, The People” are letting it happen again. And again. And again. My point is that it’s gone from people obfuscating the true nature of what’s happening and tricking people, and turned into people just resignedly shrugging, saying “Meh,” and letting themselves, their countrymen, and their descendents for GENERATIONS to come get taken advantage of. The point of this entry isn’t that there’s shit happening. It’s that people need to be doing something about it. Call your representatives. Make some noise. Get angry. Don’t hold back because of the thought, “Well, I’m only one person, I won’t make a difference.” The point is that we’re ALL just one person, and that there’s 300 bloody million of us.

This weekend was action-packed, and nearly every minute of the two and a half days were worthy of being dropped in Ye Olde Blogge. So, I’ll be doing just that. The coming week looks pretty dry, though, so I’m going to spread these posts over the next few days, hopefully with the first coming up tonight. Fun stuff you can expect to see:

- How to get 4 marginally-bathed gamers to bodily hurl you out of a hobby store.
- How to make a law enforcement officer sound like a little girl.
- Seattle’s smallest toadstool.
- Review of the first trip out with Benelli’s Supernova Tactical PG.
- The good conduct guide to wilderness shooting in US National Forests.
- STEAMCON
- Review of Dawn of War II

So–check back often. This week should be fairly content heavy.

(Note: This is a repost of what was posted on the 21st. Some folks were having problems with adding comments, and for the life of me, I can’t seem to fix it. So… let’s try a whole different post.)

So, sometime yesterday, I get this really random IM. It’s just, “Hi.” Being no stranger to random, weird IM’s from folks who like to play the, “I have a new screen name and know who you are but you don’t know who I am” game, I ask who it is. No response for something like five minutes. When there’s finally a response it’s “How are you, (First name of Mr. Disproportionate Response)?” What the hell.

Okay, so here I am, thinking that someone’s being a douche, and I have an idea of who. I went to middle and high schools with this guy named Chris. Chris had some problems. At once point, Chris thought that he was a TROLL. Not someone who musses internet forums. No… a mythical fantasy creature that lived in a tree and took sacrifices of human carpenters and weird things like that. He later moved on to making people deeply uncomfortable in high school and tried hard to be a goth, but the goths were like, “oh, hell no,” and then he got kicked out of school. He later resurfaced in my life after having been kicked out of his family’s home (for being weird, mind you…) and came to crash with my dad and I for a couple of nights. I think my dad finally booted him after three or four weeks and a $600 phone bill and using a love letter from my then-fianceé as a place to write video game cheat codes and flipping out in my kitchen one day and coming after me with a gun show el-cheapo katana that his father gave him after a war with some elves or something…Anyway… he vanishes again after we kick him out for having too much of the crazy. YEARS later, like after my divorce, I start getting these cryptic e-mails. After a lengthy week of WTF and calling in some favors from my l33t friends, they track down who’s sending the e-mails. It’s Troll-Chris. Troll-Chris has found my e-mail address through someone on MySpace, and is now dead-set on being all buddy-buddy with me again. Across the continent. Uuuh, no.

But the point is this–I thought these IM’s I started getting yesterday were from him. He always called me by my whole name. Only my mom, dad, and Troll Chris consistently do this. So I kinda ripped into him, told him that he could either skip the drama and games, or fuck off. He says nothing else, and disappears about an hour later. Today, I’m at work, and I see the same username pop up. I could only leave it alone for so long, before my malicious streak kicked in, and had to start taunting him to keep being scary. For like, a half hour, I’m berating the hell out of this guy, and he’s not saying a damn thing.

…Before I find out that it’s my BROTHER. I’ve not seen him since he was an infant, and haven’t really said more than about four words to him since then. Apparently, my dad gave him my login name, and.. voila! There he was. We talked for a few hours, and sort of caught up, and I came to feel like an utter ass.

But in a fun way!