Article – Drug Shortages Approach an All-Time High, Leading to Rationing

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Remember when things like drug shortages were things that happened in Third World and Soviet satellite countries?

Thousands of patients are facing delays in getting treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, with drug shortages in the United States approaching record levels.

Hospitals are scouring shelves for supplies of a drug that reverses lead poisoning and for a sterile fluid needed to stop the heart for bypass surgery. Some antibiotics are still scarce following the winter flu season when doctors and patients frantically chased medicines for ailments like strep throat. Even children’s Tylenol was hard to find.

Hundreds of drugs are on the list of medications in short supply in the United States, as officials grapple with an opaque and sometimes interrupted supply chain, quality and financial issues that are leading to manufacturing shutdowns.

I’m lucky, I suppose, in that I don’t need any particular medication to keep my quality of life where it is. No insulin, no high blood pressure meds, none of that sort of thing. Sure, there are times I eat ibuprofin like M&M’s, but other than that….

And, fortunately, any meds I do want to keep on hand are all over the counter so I can keep a pretty generous supply around. Sure, maybe they lose a bit of efficacy after a few years but so what? Just up the dosage. I’d rather face a cracked rib with five year old Tylenol and Advil than I would without. Drugs that only deliver 85% of their effectiveness is orders of magnitude better than the 0% afforded by not having drugs at all.

Moral of the story: while you’re stacking up the .223 and 9mm, the freeze drieds and AA batteries, the water filters and toilet paper….stock up on the OTC stuff (and first aid as well) because thanks to Brandon we are, apparently, dipping our toes into the warm water of neo-Soviet supply issues.

10% mags

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It’s interesting…I was thinking about how mags for the Barrett are normally around $150 ea. To buy, say, six spare magazines, which is a reasonable amount, would be almost $900. Thats the sort of thing that would make most people, reasonably so, declare “what the heck, I’m not spending almost a grand on magazines for one gun!”

And then the math kicked in. That would be about 10% of the cost of the Barrett. Hmmm. A quality AR is, say, $900. Ten percent of that is $90 and that would get you about….six or seven spare magazines.

A Glock? Retail is about $550. Ten percent of that is about $55. That $55 would get you about five Magpul magazines.

An AK? A Zastava goes for about a grand in the stores. Ten percent of that is a hundred bucks. Again, you’re back to around a half dozen magazines.

So, the more I think about it, I’m starting to think the answer to “how many mags should I have for a gun?” is to plan on having at least as many mags as 10-15% of the gun’s cost will get you. That would seem to put you on some pretty solid ground…a starting point.

Of course, that math gets skewed if you buy a used gun which is usually much cheaper than new. But the notion of spending about 10-15% of the MSRP of a gun on magazines sounds like it might be a good baseline.

Mags

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I didn’t even know police surplus M82A1 mags were a thing, but….

I daresay that might be enough mags for a gun that costs almost $9 a round to shoot.

I lucked out and found these for $60 ea. on GunBroker. Serendipitous, that. Apparently the universe wants me to have a squared away Barrett. Maybe the universe is planning on bringing back the t-rex or something.

Still to purchase – optics. And I am dreading the outlay.

Right place, right time III

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NOTE: New version of WordPress sucks..I somehow neglected to turn commenting on. Got something to say? Let’s hear it.

Okay…so there’s a Barrett M82A1 on its way to me. The gun ships with one lonely magazine. As you may expect, extra mags are expensive. But, sometimes fortuna gives me a wink and a nod…..

Me: I see you have some used M82A1 mags for sale
Them: Yup. $60 each.
Me: All of them…
Them: Uhm…How many do…
Me: All. Of. Them.

(And bring me all the bacon and eggs you have while youre at it)

So, I got eight more mags. If my life hits the stage where I’m laying prone somewhere needing 90 rounds of .50 BMG on hand….well….life just took a turn for the savage.

Article – Vermont outlaws paramilitary training camps

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It prohibits a person from teaching, training, or demonstrating to anyone else the use, application, or making of a firearm, explosive, or incendiary device capable of causing injury or death that will be used in or in furtherance of a civil disorder. It also bans a person from assembling with others for such training, instruction or practice.

There are, of course, exemptions for “legitimate law enforcement activity or lawful activity by Norwich University or any other educational institution where military science is taught. it also doesn’t apply to self-defense instruction or practice without the intent of causing a civil disorder; firearms instruction that is intended to teach the safe handling and use of firearms; and any lawful sports or activities like hunting, target shooting and firearms collection.”

Here’s the problem – there are no objective standards when it comes to these sorts of things. All .gov, or it’s busybody fellow travelers, have to do is determine that your activity falls under their prohibitive rubric and…presto…your weekend with your buddies preparing for the zombie apocalypse magically becomes an ‘insurgent training facility’. Watch your head as you duck into the squad car.

We see this sort of threat in the new licensing/registration schemes being promotes as ‘commonsense’ and ‘reasonable’ gun control ‘safety’ laws – establish a requirement and then make the fulfilling of that requirement impossible. For example: to get a firearms permit they may require you to have an approved (keyword) safety training course under your belt. And then they simply deem that no available safety course meets the standard. Since no safety course meets the standard, the permit requirement cannot be met…but thats not a denial of your rights…after all, we’re not saying you can’t have a gun, you just need the approved course certification. And its not our fault theres no qualifying course available.

So, whenever a law like this comes up always ask yourself – how would Hitler use this law to his advantage. Because if there’s even a 1% chance this law can be used heavy-handedly to strip someone of their rights, then its a law that needs to never hit the books. When your right to something is conditional upon another qualifier being met, be extremely cautious….the odds are good that qualifier will then be made unobtainable. A good example is the ‘instant background check’ for gun purchases. Shut the system down for ‘maintenance’ and no one (generally) gets their thundertoy. Or require a license but the license office is only open on the 32nd of each month. Or require that a potential purchase get a signed letter from his local police who may decide that, sorry, we only fill those forms out once a month…see ya in thirty days.

“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.” – Atlas Shrugged

Dagger

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The primary reason I’m a big fan of the Ruger P95 is that for the price (usually $200), you can’t find a 9mm handgun of equal quality and durability. That doesn’t mean the P95 is the ‘best’ 9mm….it simply means that for $200 it’s the best you’ll find. There are other 9mm’s that are superior due to the P95’s dated design.

Most of the P95’s (but not all…most, though) lack an accessory rail, the sights are functional but thats about all you can say about them, threaded aftermarket barrels are virtually unheard of, magazines are proprietary, spare parts are tricky (although I’ve never heard of anything breaking), ergonomics are lacking, and finding a good holster is a trick.

What the P95 brings to the table is utter brute ruggedness, reliability, and economy.

But, if I could get rid of all those negatives and still keep the price down there in the 200’s, then it might be worth moving along to a different platform.

There are a few Glock knock offs floating out there these days, as well as a few well-regarded polymer pistols (Canik, Steyr, etc). The one that caught my eye was Palmetto State Armory’s (PSA) entry…their Dagger 9mm.

The Dagger is clearly a Glock knock-off. So much so, in fact, that the slides/frame interchange although there are some internal parts that are unique. But there’s also a rather large amount of parts that do interchange. And it takes Glock magazines, Glock holsters, Glock sights, and can be had in different colors and with slides that have features such as dot mounts, forward mounted rear sights, etc. But, what separates it from the other Glock wannabes is the price.

PSA sells the frames and slides separate for those who already have a Glock slide (or frame) around that they need to mate up to make a complete gun. So, if you don’t want to buy an already assembled gun (and its excise tax), you can order a frame and order a lower. PSA regularly offers ‘blems’ at a discount and also has ‘flash sales’. It’s that combination of discounts that  made me decide to give them a try.

‘Sniper green’ complete frames were on sale as blems for $59. Okay, sign me up. And then they had a flash sale on ‘sniper green’ complete slides with threaded(!) barrels, suppressor height sights, and optics mounting plate. $199. Again, count me in.

So, for $260 I wind up with an off-brand Glock. Or did I? A gun that is unreliable or just plain won’t work is no bargain. I’ll take it to the range and dump a couple hundred rounds of ball through it.

But what is more interesting is to examine how it changes the logistics environment.

The Ruger P95DC (and P89DC) were never my ‘run out the door’ gun. When it’s time to grab a rifle, pack, and go,go,go my pistol choice will be the Glock. And the Glock is also my secondary tier gun as well, which is why I have so many. But sometimes there are situations where you don’t want to ‘waste’ a $500 pistol. A gun for under the seat of the truck, a gun hidden in a stall out in the barn, a gun tucked in a drawer at your remote cabin, a loaner for friends, etc, etc. Those are the times you want what essentially amounts to a disposable handgun. Good enough to do the job well, but cheap enough that if you lose it you don’t really care. For that scenario, the Rugers fit the bill perfectly.

For $60 more though, I get the economy of not having to buy specific magazines….my stash of Glock magazines will work fine. Same for holsters. And a large amount of my spare parts. And manual of arms. And accessories for the rail. And a threaded barrel for a can. And is a candidate for the ‘carbine/pistol combo that share a common magazine’. Since there’s no need to buy proprietary mags at $20/mag, and no need for a particular holster since I can use my GLock holsters, that would offset, I think, the $60 difference.

So, although in this case its about 1/3 more expensive than a $200 P95DC, the advantages may make it worth the extra coin. And, even at $260, youre still well below the price of most big-name 9mms. And there’s the additional economic incentive of not having to buy extra mags since the existing supply of Glock mags takes care of that side of things.

Pretty much every review I’ve seen so far seems to affirm that they’re pretty much what youd expect – a no-name Glock with mostly Glock performance. But, there’s no substitute for empirical data so I’ll be taking a couple to the range and seeing how they go.

I’ve no intention of dumping two dozen Ruger 9mm pistols on Gunbroker and replacing them all with the PSA gun…I’ve already established the logistics base, so wht not keep them? But for the places where I’d stash a P95DC, I might swap them out for the PSA and get the benefit of being able to leave extra mags, a mounted light, and any one of the huge number of very affordable holsters out there for the Glock.

We’ll see….they should be here this week.

Surreal estate

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Warmer weather has finally arrived in western Montana. This can be a bit misleading because Ma Nature has a habit of giving us a couple weeks of summer-like weather to lull us into letting our guard down and then … wham!…donkey-punches us with snow and arctic cold. Sort like kicking someone in the cajones as you walk out the door.

This winter was a pretty long one. I’m looking forward to doing more bike rising, spending time at the range, and possibly looking at real estate. That’s one problem with shopping for real estate in Montana – for almost half the year its under a blanket of white and inaccessible without a snowmobile.

There’s a couple pieces of property I’m interested in going to look at. It’d be a tough swing to put the money together but I can get about ½ of it together without too much pain, it’s the other half that’s a concern. I have a fully paid for house, but after what I had to go through to get it that way I am absolutely loathe to borrow against it.

The owner of the property is willing to carry the note but at an interest rate that I think is a bit much, and, as I understand it, when you engage in those sorts of deals the actual ownership of the property remains with the seller until such time as the terms have been met. Which means if he gets drunk, slams into a school bus, gets sued, and people come after his assets that means I’m frozen out as the land, still being in his name, gets sold to mee the judgement. Or perhaps I have that all wrong, I need to investigate it.

But, as Will Rogers said, “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” It’d be nice to have forty acres to hide in. Of course, I’d have to do some creative means of keeping the ownership information private…but one step at a time, y’know? First thing is to get the money together and buy the bloody thing. Hopefully if the weather is still good in a week or two I’ll go out driving in the boonies and take a look around at some of the prospects.

Roof Korea Birthday – ROK on, boys

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‘Tis the anniversary of that unique subset of Americans – the Roof Korean.

For those who don’t recall, or, like me, never get tired of hearing the story, the Roof Korean was the name given to the Korean shopkeepers who grabbed their thundertoys, climbed up on the roof of their business, and persuaded would-be trouble makers to go elsewhere.

It’s a fascinating and inspiring story. The moral of that story is that sometimes things go sideways to the point that an AR, plate carrier, and a half dozen of your best friends with AR’s and plate carriers is exactly what the doctor ordered.