Weekend Entertainment

Several things have kept me away from the blog. One of them was the combination of a job and several non-internet projects. (When computer #2 out of my set of 3 died due to a mechanical error on a hard-disk drive, that made things even more interesting.)

One things which proved very enjoyable was the primary entertainment for the weekend. A friend of mine took me to an outdoor shooting area, and let me use some of his rifles. Even more fun, the fellow shooters there made for good company, and let me try a few of their guns as well.

Interestingly, the outdoor shooting area is not an official range, though it appeared to be set aside for hunting (and practice shooting) by the State DNR. In the absence of any official authority, every participant was well-behaved and kept to the Four Rules of gun safety. I have been in very few other situations where such a level of trust was evident between participants; fewer still have included such a large collection of weapons.

The entire event was organized by a group of firearms enthusiasts who like to own and use Class III weapons. The variety of fully-automatic and silenced weapons was impressive. The weapons ranged from a belt-fed, tripod-mounted machinegun to an Uzi sub-machinegun.

There was also a large collection of more normal rifles: AR-10's, semi-auto-only AK-47's, Ruger 10/22's, Garands, and bolt-action rifles based on the Masin-Nagant design.

Curiously, the allure of the fully-automatic guns decreased somewhat after several clips of ammunition. Some full-auto weapons are easy to control (a 9mm Uzi with a foregrip and a folding stock), and others make control a challenge (full-auto AK-47). The rapidity with which such guns can dispense 50 rounds of ammunition is shocking. The ease with which the bullets will chew through random pieces of wood, old computer-boxes, bowling-pins, milk jugs, and other flotsam that served as improvised targets was impressive. A significant part of this factor, though, was the fact that the many improvised targets were targeted at random intervals by many of the shooters present.

If the desire is a spray of lead traveling in the general direction of the target, a full-auto gun will definitely answer the question. If the desire is accurate shooting, a semi-auto or a bolt-action rifle will do much better.

One of the effects of the weekend was an inspiration to research and purchase a rifle of my own. I don't know quite what I want, but I am (at the moment) leaning towards an AK-style rifle in semi-automatic mode. Although a Garand rifle wouldn't be bad, either.

The decision will likely come in a month or so. But I'm looking forward to owning a rifle.

Media and Insanity

[UPDATE: additional thoughts at bottom]

One of the noticeable results of the media circus surrounding the recent murder of 32 people is the focus on the weapon used.

Another noticeable result is that the villain who committed the crime made a video about it, and released the video to a news organization. (It is becoming hard to distinguish a psychotic domestic murder from terrorist kingpins who behead journalists. There is the small distinction that terrorist kingpins tend not to commit suicide, while they encourage their foot-soldiers to do so.)

Perhaps the focus on the weapon has been misguided--in the sense that commenters do not understand what the most deadly weapon at work was. The most deadly weapon was not the Glock-19 pistol, nor was it the Walther P22 pistol. It was the mind of the Cho Seung-hui.

Most disturbing about this case is the fact that Cho had shown evidence of psychological problems, voluntarily committed himself to a mental institution, and apparently emerged without finding a cure. He had been the subject of investigations for stalking, had caused concern and worry among faculty who knew him, and was found to be a danger to himself and others by a court.

Hindsight--which is always better than foresight--tells us that something ought to be done. However, as at least one therapist has said, his mental condition was one which fell short of modern standards for being committed to a mental institution. Few people wish to return to a time when many borderline cases are imprisoned in a mental institution for showing signs of being dangerous.

We do not know how many borderline cases exist of people whose behavior is similar to the behavior of Cho Seung-hui. It is apparently a part of the common wisdom that too many such cases exist which are not actually a threat to society, because they don't carry out their murderous deeds. By not carrying them out, they escape the notice of most of the public, and are noticed only by their teachers, parents, and the health professionals that they come in contact with.

This is one area where mental-health professionals (no matter how inexact the science of the study of the mind is) would know more than I do. However, for the moment, I will bow to that common wisdom.

There are other ways to reduce the recurrence of such events.

[RE: comment below]

I am hesitant to apply the label witch-doctor to doctors who study and attempt to heal minds, but the label may be valid. First, a quick case-study.

If a person comes before a mental health examination for anti-social tendencies (with or without any noted predilection towards weapons ownership), the possibilities are:

(1A) The person is a danger to himself and others, and the examiner decides that he must be locked up.
(1B) The person is a danger to himself and others, but the examiner decides that he should not be locked up. (This could happen through several modes. Two possibilities are that the examiner misjudges the level of danger, or the examiner misjudges the examinee as not being dangerous.)
(2A) The person is not a danger to himself and others, but the examiner decides that he must be locked up . (Here the examiner erroneously diagnoses a non-dangerous person as dangerous.)
(2B) The person is not a danger to himself and others, and the examiner decides that he should not be locked up.

Given that this is a prediction of future actions based on present observations, and that the future actions cannot be compared to a control-case in a lab, I can agree that such determination is much closer to the activities of a witch-doctor than the activities of a scientist.

A determination that a person is likely to be a danger to himself and others requires a lower level of proof than the determination that he certainly will be a danger to himself and others in the future. A prediction that a person certainly will engage in pychopathic murder is a prediction that requires omniscient foreknowledge. Absent such certainty, it is very hard to distinguish between cases (1A) and (2A) given above--or between cases (1B) and (2B).

It should be noted that American society has spent the a significant amount of time trying to avoid cases like (2A) on the assumption that they are much more common than cases like (1A) or (1B). Considering that events like the murders perpetrated by Mr. Cho are still extremely rare, it is probably not wise to make drastic policy changes based on them.

However, there is one policy change that I was in favor of before these events, and remain in favor of--the elimination of laws and bureaucratic rules which attempt to create "gun-free zones."

(belated) Tuesday morning lyric

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

(If you drive a car car) I'll tax the street
(If you try to sit sit) I'll tax your seat
(If you get too cold cold) I'll tax the heat
(If you take a walk walk) I'll tax your feet

Taxman!

'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for
(Ah, ah, Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more
(Ah, ah, Mr. Heath)
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advise for those who die
(Taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes
(Taxman!)

'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

And you're working for no one, but me

(Taxman!)


--written by George Harrison
(courtesy of the Tax Guru)

Physical Security (University campus version)

[UPDATE: a much better discussion of this subject, from the perspective of an armed man, is here.]

A disturbing news story out of Virginia today: at least one unknown malefactor goes on a murderous rampage across a University campus. The number of the dead is at least 30.

His tool of choice is reputedly a 9mm handgun or two, with dozens of pre-loaded magazines.

Due to the inaction of Virginia Legislature and the actions of University administrators, none of the students at the University could carry firearms on campus in compliance with University policy.

This situation seriously decreases the level of physical security that students and faculty enjoy on a University Campus. The students are not entirely defenseless, but would be challenged in responding to a rampaging murderer carrying a gun.

What tactics could be used by students who want to protect themselves from such an assault?

As was seen today, a few seconds' warning may allow the use of tables to barricade classroom doors, forbidding entry to the murderous assailant. However, that leaves him free to murder elsewhere.

Stopping the assailant is a daunting challenge. It is possible (not guaranteed, but possible) for students to mob the assailant from all sides. Although this would be potentially fatal to some the students, a wide pattern of approach might allow one student an opportunity to wrest the firearm from the hands of the attacker. A backpack with a textbook or two would be very distracting if it struck the murderous attacker in the chest or head. A dozen such backpacks thrown at random intervals might play a much better role than merely one.

Such a response would be much more effective if it occurs in the interval when the assailant is either switching firearms or reloading a magazine.

However, all of this would require some sense of unity and a definitive leader among the students. Even with 2 minutes warning, few classes of University students could assemble into a group willing to respond in such a way.

Considering the relative rarity of such events, the cost involved in training an entire body of students to react in this way to a murderous shooter would be rather high compared to the measured benefit.

A much more efficient measure would be to offer those students (and faculty) who are interested the opportunity to acquire a Concealed Carry permit. Of course, both school policy and State law would have to permit the carrying of weapons on campus.

Such a policy would provide an excellent place to test the claim that an armed society is a polite society.

Posted elsewhere

A post on heroes and their press agents, at Grim's Hall.

On the lighter side

Jeff Soyer at Alphecca tells us what blogging is all about.

Good Friday

This year, the season of Lent hasn't gotten much blogging attention.

I notice that this guy--atheist that he is--is quite willing to acknowledge the deep religious mystery celebrated this weekend.

Captain Ed, a believer, is celebrating also.

Another believer posts his thoughts this day.

Perhaps the best reflections this Good Friday are found by Father Richard John Neuhaus. Neuhas has years of experience with mass on Good Friday. Yet his posting gives the impression that such celebrations have not become routine for him.

Good Friday is a day that is hard to call good. A day dedicated to remembering an excruciating death; a death precipitated by the jealousy of religious leaders and trumped-up accusations.

Yet the death itself is only part of the story. For the executed rabbi (and for his small band of followers, and the crowds who had joyously paraded him into Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover), the death seemed a bleak ending to a tumultuous week. But the dispirited followers were visited by the surprise of their lives--nay, the most surprising event in the life of the Cosmos--at the beginning of the next week.

Good Friday is only good in that it is the necessary prelude to Easter Sunday.

Word

Word on the 'web is that a certain African-born American is publishing a book about the experience of moving from Africa to America.

He's just published a rough draft of one section, titled Word of Honor.

The story he tells is one from another world. It reflects a cultural attitude which is still within living memory in America. It also reflects a setting which has always been rare in America--a boarding school.

A man's word of honor has value that appreciates with regular reinforcement, but disappears rapidly after its first breach. The story Word of Honor highlights the way in which a man's word of honor is a valuable asset.

The story can also be used as an example--the young man lived in a closed society, a world in which his word of honor (or lack thereof) was easy to discern. Those of us who do not live in a closed society (or a small community) do not feel the same cultural forces to keep a valid word of honor.

This does not mean that a man's word of honor is useless. It does mean that a man's word of honor, when it can be trusted, is much more valuable.