Longarms, top to bottom;

Russian SKS

Russian Mosin Nagant 91/30 built in 1943

Ruger 10/22 with folding stock, 25 round magazine and Tasco scope

Handguns, left to right

Springfield Armory 1911a1 style .45

Ruger Security Six, .357 magnum Bicentenial Edition "Made in the 200th Year of American Liberty"

Just heard over the scanner of shots fired from a red small sedan-- possible drive by shooting near Martin Way in Lacey. At least seven 9mm casings found on the ground.

Whose near?

UPDATE: Ashley129 in the comments:

A sporting clays event on April 27th. This is a non-registered shoot, so anyone can come out and give this exciting sport a try, or just watch.

You can get the club info and directions from their site below.

Evergreen Gun Club site

So, I went and ordered a new rear sight for my Flattop AR and had to do a little bit of sighting in and put the rifle though it's paces. The following are pictures of myself and a friend doing this.

Given all of the argumentative topics, and topics about guns that seem....removed, I decided a thread talking about what I've been up to seemed appropriate. Hopefully some will enjoy this.

These are pictures of firearms. Don't look if you are offended by such.......you have been warned.

Paper-target Work

Different angle

My Friend, showing me how it's done

And then presenting some of the finer points of pistol marksmanship

Good times were had by all! Plus the new rear sight worked great.

I ran this by Rick real quick to see if he thought it was Olyblog appropriate... The link takes you to another website where you can download a PDF of a comprehensive Washington State Gun Rights pamphlet. I'm happy to discuss any issues or questions that arise from this. It is a PITA to load PDF docs on my computer right now (slow 'puter) so I would appreciate a quote of the issue in question. Thanks!

I've been thinking about this whole debate around gun culture on OlyBlog, and I've got a couple of questions. The first is, what exactly is the point of posting so much gun-related material on OlyBlog? Does anyone really think that there are going to be converts to the cause? I was looking on the NRA website and I noticed something interesting: there isn't a shooting range in Olympia, Lacey or Tumwater. Hmm. Why is that? I'm guessing that the population here wouldn't generate enough business to support it. So, first question: What's the goal?

Then, I think about the response to my offer to set up another blog for the gun folks to have their own chat-space. Why isn't this of interest to the local gun lobby? The only thing I can come up with is that they don't actually want to talk to each other, they want to argue with the rest of us. Is this possibly the case? Why would it be more attractive to continue to battle about these issues with a group of hardened pacifists (or folks otherwise resistant to gun culture)? I'd really like to know.

I want to emphasize (again) that I'm not against the occasional post about gun-related events or occurrences that are local in nature. That's what OlyBlog is for. I am against the evangelizing about the benefits of gun ownership.

If there is no resolution around this issue (like the creation of another blog for that stuff) then here's what's going to happen: I'll begin making posts that catalog the senseless and entirely avoidable deaths that occur as a result of easy access to handguns. I'm absolutely certain that I can exceed by a factor of 10 the number of lawful uses of handguns for self-defense. In short, we can use statistics, or we can do it the hard way.

Had a dinner at Old School today starting at 5pm, I reserved the back room, figured about 6-8 people.

We had dang near 20 people openly wearing sidearms crowding Old School and eating pizza. I somehow forgot to mention the size of a "small" pizza to my friends :-)

We spent about 3 hours chatting, and having a good time. Nobody had any problems or issues with us, and I'm pretty sure that 20 people openly carrying were noticed. When we were all getting ready to leave, we chatted with with a couple of guys playing video games about OC.

Drew Hendricks showed up as well, and had a good time talking and exchanging information.

It was quite a rush to have 20 people show up as a show of solidarity against the OPD's harassing actions.

EDIT.  This happened Monday, around noonish. Uploaded document from the OPD, added image of my sidearm

Okay, this deals with guns, and the lawful possession and carry thereof. Anyone offended by this, may as well stop reading. There may even be pictures. Let it be known upfront that I have broken no laws, and always carry my sidearm legally and peaceably. I am not posting this to get into an argument about if my prefered mode of carry is a good thing or a bad thing, or if people should even carry guns, etc... This is to discuss a really screwed up stop by the OPD. The fact that I open carry (OC) my sidearm is not up for debate here. I do, and will continue to do so. In this state, the right to keep and bear arms is clearly enshrined in the constitution, and is a civil liberty. Not up for argument.

The Olympia Police Department has issued a training directive regarding the fact that OC is legal. I have uploaded it here for anyone to download.

Because OC in and of itself is not enough to warrant alarm, and there must be specific behavior accompanying it, despite complaints if I was not engaged in threatening behavior I am breaking no laws. Officer O'Neil gave me a choice to have my weapon taken from me, or to conceal it. This totatally disregarded my rights. This was all happening while his partner had a gun out. They were coercing under color of law to force a particular mode of behavior, despite the actions I was doing breaking no laws. Anyway, I'll clarify points as they arise. I also have some emails from Lt. Wilson I am going to upload. There are some disturbing statements in one of them. I will post them as a reply to this blog entry to keep the intial post as brief as possible. The topic here is how the OPD violated civil liberties, not guns, not OC, etc....

That said, here goes...