Thugs

There was a Burger King that was robbed this past Saturday morning at about 7:30 in the Villages.

They finally found and arrested the guy. He is only 18 years old, but has already been arrested four different times since his 18th birthday. The history of this particular thug is an interesting insight into the court system:

October 2018:
Aggravated Battery with a deadly weapon
Criminal Mischief
Battery by touching or striking
This ended in a plea deal where the felony charges were changed to misdemeanor.

November 2018:
This case was the misdemeanor charges that were part of the plea deal from October. He finally made it to trial in January, and was released January 17th with a sentence of time served and a $1350 fine (which he never paid).

February 2019
It wasn’t long before he was in trouble again. Just 35 days after his release from the last case, he was again arrested for driving without a license. He received 6 months probation and a $600 fine.

April 2019 (The Burger King robbery)
Illegal carry concealed weapon
6 counts kidnapping to facilitate a felony
2 counts criminal mischief
1 count of aggravated battery on a LEO
1 count fleeing and attempting to elude LEO
1 count of  robbery with a firearm
possession of methamphetamine
driving without a license
2 counts of child abuse

This is all just since he turned 18 in September. He is a one man crime spree. Since his 18th birthday seven months ago, he has committed at least 15 felonies (that we know of), even though he was in jail for four of those seven months. 

When thugs like this are running the street and robbing people at gunpoint, honest, law abiding gun owners are being punished, even though it is the failure of our court system to put a stop to this madness. Maybe this time they will have him serve some real time, because the next crime he commits will likely result in him killing someone.

Guardian

Today the Florida Senate voted to remove the prohibition on teachers carrying firearms as a part of the Guardian program. This ends the law that armed school janitors and lunch ladies, but denied the same ability to teachers. Opponents claim that this places too much of a burden on teachers. I don’t see how, since the program is entirely voluntary, and should a teacher ever need to use their weapon to defend their students, it will be less of a burden than standing by as they watch someone murder their students or even getting murdered themselves.

As for me, I have already volunteered for the program. I hope that I am selected. I even used it as an excuse to buy a new handgun. I just bought a M&P 2.0 9mm Compact. I caught one on sale at my local gun store. They had them on sale for $379, and at that price they threw in 4 magazines and a $50 gift card.

I put a new set of Trijicon HD sights on it, and installed an Apex Action Enhancement kit. The new action lowered my trigger pull to what I measured to be 4.75 pounds and removed the grit from the trigger. The trigger now has a smooth pre-travel, and a clean, crisp break.

Now to wait for the House and my school district.

Pistol standardization

I have owned dozens of handguns. About five years ago, I decided that, to simplify maintenance and the number of spare parts and tools that I need to keep in stock, I would be going with one brand of handgun. I wanted it to be striker fired, available in multiple calibers, and relatively common as well as reliable.
I arrived at this decision because I had just gone through dealing with my 1911 phase. I owned several 1911 type handguns: Several Kimbers, a Colt, and a couple of others. They all required more maintenance and were less reliable than any other category of handgun that I owned. They became safe queens. For more than a kilobuck, I expected more. Sure, you can get a reliable 1911, but expect to spend as much on one as you would on a machine gun. I decided that I wanted to find something more reliable.

Then I realized that there really was no difference between handgun cartridges. The 45 versus 9mm versus 40 debate just stopped being interesting. For all practical purposes, there is no difference between handgun cartridges. So, I gave up on stocking so many different types of ammo.

I sold many of my own handguns and thereafter decided to buy firearms based upon the niche they were to fill. The Smith and Wesson M&P series fills most of my needs. I have full sized models in 9mm, 22LR,  and 40 caliber. They all even have the same sights on them (Trijicon HD in orange) so it is easier to transition from one to the other. I also have a 357Sig and 9mm barrel for the 40, so I can choose my caliber.

For those times when a single stack is needed, the Shield fits that bill nicely. Again, the Trijicon sights make transition from one handgun to the other easier.

I also have a Jframe, just so I have a handgun that I can quickly slip into a pocket for a quick trip to the store. I am also planning on getting an M&P 9mm compact just in case the legislature finally decides that teachers can be accepted into the Guardian program.

Dumb idea

An Orlando company is attempting to market “intelligent guns” that will tell the wielder if the gun is pointed at a “good guy” or a bad guy. A device mounted on the gun appears to act as a sort of IFF device.

Not only are the guns supposedly able to tell the difference between a school shooter and an armed teacher, the guns will be locked in a safe that can be released by school officials via WiFi. Just wait until some kid hacks the system and gets a gun that identifies him as a good guy.

Know what you are talking about

On a recent post about taxes, irontomflint left this comment:

Taxes will be fair when everyone pays the same rate- no deductions, no pro-rating systems. You earn a dollar, you pay the rate. The business earns a billion dollars, it pays the same rate. If you or a business loses money, too bad, you learn from your mistakes and move on. You want to advertise or have children, why should the rest of the country subsidize you? That comes from yoour own profits. You want to take a risky chance? Fine, but why should anyone else be forced help you along? THAT’S when taxes will be fair

There are more than a few problems with this statement. Let’s look at the problems one at a time:

1 According to this comment, businesses cannot deduct expenses before calculating profit. In other words, they will be taxed on gross receipts, not on profit. Advertising and other expenses could not be deducted. A car dealer would sell a car, but cannot deduct the cost of acquiring the car, advertising the car, the pay of the staff, or the cost of the car lot and building. They would be responsible for paying income tax on the entire price of the car. If they lose money, “too bad.” The truck transporting the car from the factory to the dealer could not deduct expenses, nor could the factory, the parts supplier, and everyone else in the supply chain. This would be an incentive for companies to move manufacturing jobs overseas to avoid the taxes, and raise prices drastically for the rest of costs.

2 If this were to come to pass, the rich would pay the same tax rate as the poor. Either my taxes would massively fall, or the tax on the poor would greatly increase. This would likely cause shenanigans like a universal 40% income tax rate with a massive welfare program to return money to the poor.

Whoever irontomflint is, he doesn’t know squat about economics.