Full article here...

PROVO, Utah — For years, Kevin Jensen carried a pistol everywhere he went, tucked in a shoulder holster beneath his clothes.

In hot weather, the holster was almost unbearable. Pressed against his skin, the firearm was heavy and uncomfortable. Hiding the weapon made him feel like a criminal.

IMHO the article is a little shy on meaningful information, and it cites Utah law, but is still interesting to see open carry hit mainstream news and presented in a favorable light. 

In Washington, you can open carry anywhere you can carry a loaded handgun, although you need a concealed weapons permit to carry in a vehicle, but there is no obligation to conceal.   

I am a big fan of the state constitution, it is one of the better written state constitutions, and provides protections of rights higher and beyond the federal document.  I think any responsible person should be aware of this document, and how it is written.  Take the time to read Article I below, and consider what a great state this is to live.  I am not aware of many states for instance that have a rights of crime vicitims written into the constitution.  The full document may be viewed here. 

I try to be as open minded about a person's individual choices as I can. I won't pretend that some bug me more than others, because some do, but I try to live a "hey if it's legal, and/or not causing harm to other folks what the heck" life.

Women with serious facial hair is one of those things that bug me. Not just a little hormone driven 'stache but full blown beards, moustaches, or long scraggly facial hair. Noticeable stubble does it too. I have a beard, and go several days between shaves usually, so when I see a woman with either longer stubble than me, or (and I have seen this once) a better beard than me, I get a little weirded out.

Now I want to deep inside my depraved little open minded gun toting heart I tell myself things like "self determination" or "hey, if it is growing, who cares, it's natural right?" Or I ponder if this person is having a sex change operation (another thing I can't understand, but hey if you are an adult, whatever) or is just not wound too tight, or just doesn't give a rip.

It's just one of those things, women as far as I know generally were not built to grow long scraggly whiskers or full blown beards and moustaches.

I expect some sexist flames here. Fine. I can handle a flame war right now. Not what I'm looking for though.

Women especially please, tell me what you think of this?

I wear a goatee and keep it short. Should I be shocked at seeing women with longer whiskers or beards than I have?

I don't know all the particulars, but I have learned that Larry's Guns in Lacey is under new ownership.  This makes me happy, as I thought Larry had the customer service skills of a dead walrus.

I'm gonna pop in next week and try and get a story.  I'll post most of it on my webpage with a teaser and pic here.   

This happend in Lacey and Olympia, and was an appeals from Thurston County Court.

The Court ruling here.

Here is an excerpt from the case.  For those who do not know, the Washington State Constitution has a higher level of protection for individual rights than the Federal constitution.  In this state, state and local authorities are bound by the higher levels of protection accorded by the State Constitution.  I don't like crooks getting off the hook because of legal technicalities, but now I would hope that the lawyers for varying police agencies work with their command to create proper training information so that the cop on the street does not have to wind up with "tainted evidence."

"By contrast article I, section 7 is unconcerned with the reasonableness of

The city has identified a temporary fix for the washed out section of the trail, and expect to reopen it in mid June.

More info here.

Finally got cable internet on the boat!  Now I can look at useless stuff online EVEN FASTER!  :-)

Of course the cable guy didn't know how to set up an instalation on Linux...  And running the cable to the boat was just annoying.   Oh well.  

No more sitting up in the laundry room using the wifi from the bar upstairs!

I'm one of those guys who can't turn down buying a poppy from the VFW when I see them.

Here is a brief history of Memorial Day in general...

Here is the VFW's history of the "Buddy Poppy"

The poppy became a symbol of fallen war dead after WWI. The history of this is well known enough not to delve into great detail about.

The poppies of Flander became famous in this poem;

In Flander's Field
by John McCrae
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw,
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us, who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields

Please for this one time, if anyone wants to reply no anti Iraq war or anti military rhetoric or jingoism.

I know that is asking a lot out of some here, so if you can't say something in reply without making a political statement out if it, don't please.

This is when I was stopped downtown by Officer O'Neill for OCing. Officer Beckwell had his gun out, but not pointed at me... this is OPD's response to my complaints. Here is the conversation on OpenCarry.org for those interested.