Typical government BS….theyl’ll let municipalities and individuals bring huge lawsuits against ammo companies because, well, because…but then when some outside company wants to buy that same ammo company all of a sudden its a national defense issue.

The concerns involve the sale of Vista Outdoor’s ammunition business to the holding company Czechoslovak Group, or CSG, which Higgins said would weaken national security if the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, or Cfius, approves the sale.

The Louisiana Republican said in a letter that the sale of Vista Sporting Products to CSG would result in the firm controlling “nearly 70% of production capacity for primers in the Western world.” Primers are the component of a bullet that ignites the charge, sending the projectile down the barrel of a pistol or rifle.

This started, I think, with Macnamara back in the 60’s/70’s who felt that closing down government owned facilities and farming it out to private industry made more sense. I have boxes of Springfield Armory and Rock Island Armory primers and bullets from the 1940’s. Yes youngsters, there was a time Uncle Sam made his boomtoys himself. Sure, some of it got farmed out too (Rockola M1 Carbines, Winchester 1903’s, etc.) but it used to be the US had government facilites for churning out this sort of thing.

I am extremely opposed to the nationalization of any industrial concern, but I’m not opposed to government building its own production facility to meet its needs. And, really, if Uncle Sam is really that concerned about this issue, they can reach into their bottomless pockets and just buy the whole business lock, stock, and barrel making facility.

I also find it interesting that Janet Yellen, she of ‘temporary inflation’ fame, is sounding the call on this issue.

You guys saw that earlier this week AT&T had a little kerfuffle with their service? The claim is that it was a software issue. I’m sure it was, but I’m also sure that if it was something more sinister they would try like hell to cover it up and blame something more benign…like a software issue.

Then, today, you get a headline like this: Pharmacies nationwide face delays as health-care tech company reports cyberattack.

It’s a strange new world when the more likely threats to your way of life and your security come from the internet and not a Tu-95.

This is he stuff Hollywood has made movies about. There’s no shortage of flicks about people gaining control of some critical infrastructure computer and messing things up on a grand scale. The war strategists have told us that our water treatment, fuel delivery, air traffic, and electrical distribution systems are high priority targets for our friends the Chinese/Russians.

In true Machiavellian fashion, I wonder if some bad actor will conduct an operation and make it look like someone else did it in order to foment conflict. Couldn’t you see the Chinese launching a cyberattack that makes it look like the work of the Russians so that the US and Russia lock horns, leaving China to take advantage of the chaos and do what they want?

The lesson here, I suppose, is that while we prepare for the loss or diminution of infrastructure, it appears that it’s becoming even more vulnerable. Sure, we expected electricity and municipal water to be a problem….but drug prescriptions?

Wonder if they’ll take it to the level that the Estonians have.

Finland has announced it will open 300 shooting ranges in a bid to encourage citizens to take a greater interest in national defence.

A member of Finland’s defence committee said the move would help Finns improve their shooting skills in the face of increased threats from Russia.

Under the Finnish constitution, every male aged between 18 and 60 must complete national army service but the government hopes that civilians will keep their weapons skills after the period of conscription with the new range proposals.

Finland and Russia/Soviet Union have a bit of a past, shall we say. The Winter War and The Continuation War make for interesting reading and seem to have some contemporary parallels today.

Mandatory conscription providing a base of trained civilians to form the backbone of a reserve, home guard, militia, or other irregular force is something that is fairly common in the world but often administered haphazardly. Some nations take it very seriously (ROK, Israel, Switzerland, etc.) and some…not so much. I’ve always thought the Swiss did it best, what with letting their guys take their military guns home with them and encouraging competition with them. Plus, the whole bunkers and redoubts thing also gives them some cred.

Russia’s recent foray into Lebensraum has seemingly forced some European countries to admit that, perhaps, the grand European tradition of disarming your citizenry in the name of security, safety, and civility withers in the cold harsh light of threats to sovereignty. Who knew? Behind every blade of grass and all that jazz.

Do you know who some of the strongest, most vocal, most virulent, most dedicated anti-Communists are? Former residents of communist countries. I have met plenty of people from former Soviet bloc countries and to a man they all support the notion of an armed citizenry. People who fled Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Cuba…they take to the AR15 like fat kids to donuts. I’m surprised more former Soviet states that were steamrollered by the USSR haven’t put an AK in every household.

I really hope the trend of encouraging national participation in firearms activities in the name of national defense continues. I’m sure at some point the various European governments will do their usual act of calling all loyal sons to bear arms during the crisis and then demand they turn those same arms in when the crisis is past. Looking at you, UK.

And, of course, I hope the Finns don’t make the mistake of thinking that opening shooting ranges is the start and finish (Finnish?) of creating a citizen-soldier. Small unit tactics, communications, medical, logistics (so much logistics) all need to be part of the curriculum. It’s the mistake that we often joke about in the survivalist world…you’ve got a million rounds of ammo and three days worth of food. Knowing how to shoot is only a small part of good training.

And, of course, no post about Finnish anything is complete without the comments constantly bring up Simo.

GLOCK announced today that their founder, Gaston Glock, died Wednesday, December 27th 2023 at the age of 94.

Man left behind a tremendous legacy…..that old rich men can still get hot young wives.

Glock Perfection

I also hear he designed some cool guns.

But seriously…no idea who the next ‘disruptive designer’ will be in the field of firearms, but if you’re carrying a plastic handgun you can thank Glock for making it mainstream (even though HK did it first.)

Much like how Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 became the paradigm for future planning, this recent event in Israel is going to be the touchstone for quite a while. Finally, someone addressed the ‘safe rooms’ or shelters that have been required in new construction for quite a while. I haven’t checked, but I believe this used to be a requirement of the Swiss as well, although they seem to have relaxed it as the Soviet Union disappeared.

It’s commonplace for homes in Israel to have a specially-built safe room inside to shelter in place after a law was introduced in 1992 by the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command, establishing new civil defense regulations.

The regulations required the inclusion of a residential protected room, a communal protected space, or an institutional protected space in every newly constructed building.

I suppose that, if I had the room, I’d construct something similar but more for providing a secure room for valuables to be protected from fire rather than a hole to hide myself and loved ones in. Frankly, if there’s a situation where hiding from people is necessary then I’d probably be more likely to be standing somewhere inside/outside my house with an AR rather than crouching behind a steel door. And if I was hiding behind a steel door in a fortified room as a ‘last resort’ …well…the first person through that door is in for a bad time.

As for gun policies in Israel. I was always under the impression that in certain regions, along the border for example, the rules were a tad different. I suspect that after this recent development, there may be some rather large changes to the current policies.

Moral of the story, though, is that having your own bunker is never a bad thing.

An Israeli couple has killed seven Hamas militants to save their children after the Hamas fighters came to their home. The woman and her husband were killed too.

Oleh Vyshniakov, Israel’s consul in Ukraine’s Western Region, shared the couple’s story. On his Facebook page.

Adar and Itay Berdychivsky from the Kfar Aza kibbutz both served in the Israeli army as officers and kept weapons at home.

When the militants approached their house, the couple hid their 10-months-old twins in mammad, a reinforced security room required in all new buildings by Israeli law, and returned to wait for the militants in the main house to distract their attention from their children.

I’m sorry the couple didn’t survive their encounter, but if you have to die then there’s probably no more noble way to die….fighting alongside your loved one to protect your other loved ones. Tragic and romantic at the same time. Its almost like the finale of “Mr and Mrs Smith” but with kids. Assuming, of course, this story is true. The first casualty of war and all that.

I’m glad to read that there were people in Israel who had weapons of their own and didn’t hesitate to use them. The overwhelming majority of news stories tend to promote the idea that all these people just meekly stood around like sheep waiting for a bullet in the back of the head. I hope its true.