Every Now and Then ...

Every now and then I find unusual things. Sometimes it's an odd item, sometimes an odd thought. 

Sometimes it's an odd bit of archaic whatnot. 

A lot of people have heard of the Anasazi, and the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. There are some cliff dwellings in the Garden of the Gods area west of Colorado Springs. And, of course, Chaco Canyon. 

RadioShack, when it was trying to be relevant to the (then) current shopper included an Alanis Morissette  unplugged session in Chaco Canyon. Personally, I wasn't impressed by her, but hey, even then I was an old guy.

Just lately I learned of a site in southern Colorado that seems to be an extension of the Chaco culture: Chimney Rock, Colorado (go to this website: chimneyrockco.org). It sounds like an interesting place, and in all my sixty years in the state of Colorado I'd never heard of it. (I found out about it through this channel: TheRandallCarlson, the particular link: They Built This to Catch the Moonrise)

There are new things to be learned even in a place I have resided most of my life.

I am unsure if I'll be able to visit the site this summer, but here's hoping. 

The biggest thing that stands in our way of learning new things, accepting new challenges, or taking new paths is our own short-sighted sophistication. It's that Dunning-Kreuger thing: 'I know something about something, so I know all I need to know.' 

Novice confidence, gotta love it! 

Novice confidence can be a good thing. It is what kept me on the ski slopes, learning without meaning to, that if you're skiing moguls it really does help to keep a bend in your knees. 

With my Cognitive Field Theorist brain I try to learn a little (the world-at-large, as well as the people in it, is/are my teachers, though not officially), while showing/teaching people (again, not officially, but, everyone you meet is a student) how to do the same, filling in the 'Here Be Dragons' places on personal knowledge maps. The trick is to teach something without the learner realizing they are having their mind expanded. When you hear, 'Hey, that's cool!' or similar, you know a lesson has hit home. I've always tried to teach the wonder.

I'm at a stage in my life that I'm at the other end of the D-K process: I know enough about most things to realize I really don't know a lot about anything. So I try to keep an open mind, but also I test the new knowledge as best I can before redrawing the map.

That's a Mizpah I keep with myself.

So should you. 

Yes, You Can!

Colorado HR 24-1292 Assault Weapons Ban

Folks, I don’t usually go political in this blog, but this is important for those of us living in Colorado.

For nearly a decade I have had the feeling that the folks in the statehouse really don’t have Colorado citizens’ best interest at heart, certainly not from the standpoint of citizen autonomy and freedom.

They have taken measures that make internet commerce difficult (my AdSense ads became pointless, so I removed them).

They have added punishment in the form of fines for things as minor as missing the registration renewal of vehicles and/or trailers by a day, instead of merely letting the renewal fee stand for itself.

They have limited the autonomy of Home School families, insisting that someone in the family either holds a teaching certificate or under the authority of a certified teacher, thus limiting the content and methods of teaching available to Home School parents.

There are other things, but this will do for background. 

With HR 24-1292 Assault Weapons Ban the statehouse wishes to restrict gun ownership, and NOT just banning AR-15 or AK-47 –style rifles.

It does call out these rifles particularly, but also many other similar firearms. Specifically, it mentions that any firearm that has a detachable magazine falls under the ban (other firearm features are banned as well).

In other words, your great granddad’s war relic Luger P-08 pistol from World War I is now an ‘Assault Rifle’.

 

        Let that sink in.

 

Any firearm with a detachable magazine (not just external magazine) is now an 'Assault Rifle'. That's a bit sweeping; it includes semi-automatic pistols of every variety down to the .22 caliber Colt Woodsman that granddad learned to shoot with, back in the day.

(It sounds like if they could find a way to make any sort of revolver, bolt action rifle or lever action rifle, or even a muzzle-loader into an ‘assault rifle’, they would.)

Any firearm that falls under the ban that you currently own would be grandfathered. But that just postpones the ban: when you die, there is no provision for passing your banned firearms down to your heirs. Nor is there any legal way to sell them.

And with the laws that went into effect last year, we cannot even buy a gun, then hand it to my wife or daughter for their own defense.

Our elected leaders have their backs guarded, why not sauce for the gander as well. It’s not that I begrudge our Governor his protection by the Colorado State Patrol. But I DO begrudge this notion of ‘Yes for me, but none for thee’ attitude. 

I cannot afford to hire security personnel; I must needs take the defense of my person and of my family into my own hands. This means having the equipment in my own hands, and in the hands of my family members.

Furthermore, there are legitimate reasons for responsible gun owners to own these firearms, beginning with (just like owning a particular kind of automobile), “I Want One.” The last I checked, if you had the money you could buy a Ferrari, no questions asked. 

"You don't need an AR-15 for hunting." Beside the point. If I want an AR-15 or similar, I should, dollars permitting, be allowed to purchase one. It’s not about hunting, it’s about self-defense. Coyotes come in both four-legged and two-legged varieties.

It’s also about tyranny. A government that does NOT trust its upstanding citizens with the tools to defend themselves from tyranny, is by definition tyrannical.

This government has shown its disregard for its citizens, from the laws it passes that affect its citizens daily lives, to the edicts it hands down that limit the citizens' freedoms, but not the freedoms of its special ruling class (the COVID-19 travel ban famously ignored by our Governor for his Christmas trip, as an example).

Our rulers do not deserve this law to pass.

We The People wish to keep our rights intact!

 

This citizen does, at very least.