Washington Gun Law interviews Chris Cheng

I'm a big fan of Washington Gun Law and have been watching his YouTube videos for years. I was very pleased when he posted a video talking about the amicus brief that Operation Blazing Sword filed, along with several other organizations that comprise the Historically Discriminated Coalition, in support of the plaintiff in Ocean State Tactical v. State of Rhode Island.

I was even more pleased, and quite surprised, when William Keith contacted me and asked if I would be at SHOT Show this year, because he wanted to interview me. 

Unfortunately I wasn't going to be there (I really should go one day), but I knew who would be: Chris Cheng, Top Shot season 4 champion and member of the OBS board of directors. I played matchmaker and the result was a fun, comfortable interview between two pro-gun people. 

If you don't subscribe to Washington Gun Law, you should. Unlike a lot of 2A YouTubers, he doesn't waste your time and gets straight to the point. Most of his videos run 12 minutes or less and he's a great speaker. I hope that in the future I can work with him to bring gun rights to Washington state. 

Assorted Calibers Podcast Ep 330: I'm Thinking We're Back

  

In This Episode

• Erin and Weer’d discuss:
  • a Bloomberg publication clutching their pearls over SHOT Show, and what it says about who's winning the culture war over guns.
  • a successful self-defense shooting with a legally-carried handgun... in New York City?
  • an anti-gun lawyer who thinks that "high capacity magazines" were invented in WW2.
  • reports from the January NRA Board Meeting are out,  and things look promising.
• Weer'd interviews John Richardson about running for NRA Board of Directors.
• and David looks at the new no-lock S&W revolvers.

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Show Notes 

Main Topic

• SHOT Show 2025 Preview: More Assault Weapons and Silencers
• Brandon Herrerra: We Need to Talk About Keltec
• Keltec PR57 pistols
• Gunman claims self-defense in deadly clash at Brooklyn park, no charges likely: sources
• “Concealed carry is herd immunity against crime” t-shirt
• New Jersey argues in its brief that "the earliest [large capacity magazines] with magazine capacity beyond 10 rounds were designed specifically for use by soldiers during World War II."
• January 2025 NRA Board Meeting

John Richardson Interview

• No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money
• Elect a new NRA

Gun Lovers and Other Strangers

• Smith & Wesson
• Tompkins plc
• American Outdoor Brands
• Smith & Wesson Website
• 629 Mountain Gun
• 686 Plus Mountain Gun
• 432 and 632
• Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson, 5th Edition
• History and Future of the Smith & Wesson Internal Lock
• British owner sells Smith & Wesson to Arizona company
• The S&W Revolver Internal Lock
• Lipsey's Exclusive: S&W No Lock 686 and 629 Mountain Guns
• Brena Bock Author Page
• David Bock Author Page
• Team And More

 

Traveller Tuesday: Jumpspace is Psionic

Don't consider this a return to regular Traveller Tuesdays; they might happen, they might not. But playing in All Ones' Traveller campaign has me thinking about the system and setting again, so here's a notion which I've had for a long time and I've finally decided to write out. 

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

The crux of my argument that jumpspace is psionic stems from two canonical pieces of information. I shall use links to the Traveller wiki to support my thesis.

1. Continuous observation of jumpspace has been known to drive intelligent beings insane, so starship viewports are shuttered during jump.
• Yes, I am aware that this sounds a lot like Warhammer 40,000's Warp, but WH40K came out in 1987 and Traveller came out in 1977, and WH40K has a reputation for unabashedly stealing ideas from elsewhere for their setting. 
  
  
2. There must be at least one living being (definitely sentient, presumably sapient) onboard a ship to successfully jump. 
• If this weren't the case, then player characters wouldn't get contracts to deliver mail to planets, because mail ships (such as X-boats) would be automated. Instead, the IISS has at least one human being aboard an xboat per jump. 
• Jump torpedoes were a thing which existed in the early days of Traveller, but they have since been de-canonized. J-torps would be perfect for delivering non-physical mail to systems. 

So this tells me that there's something about jumpspace which requires a living being to perform a successful jump. To me, the easiest answer is that jumpspace is a quantum state which requires an observer in order to collapse the wave function successfully, which engages the jump. 

Why? Again, the easiest answer from my perspective is that jumpspace is psionic in nature. This means that any species which is capable of manifesting psionics -- and so far as I know, that's any sapient (self-aware) species -- needs to observe the jump in some manner. 

That these observers don't themselves need to be psionic means that they aren't causing the jump to happen. This means that there's something about the nature of jumpspace itself that prevents entry to ships without a sapient observer on board, resulting in a misjump. 

This must be linked to jumpspace's quality to cause insanity, which is presumably a psionic effect of some sort.

(Whether or not a long observer in cold sleep would count as an observer is an argument I'm not ready to have right now. I could see it going either way, frankly.)

So why is jumpspace like this? The easiest answer for weird, spooky stuff in Traveller is "the Ancients did it." Considering that the Ancients were a powerfully psionic species, they may have invented jumpspace in order to speed their spread across the galaxy.

Traveller GMs: yes, I am absolutely suggesting that a powerful Ancient device (maybe the undiscovered Ancient homeworld) is keeping jumpspace active. Which means that jumpspace could be controlled... or amplified... or even turned off. 

Want to have an instant disaster on par with or exceeding the Long Night, but not the Empress Wave or Virus? Here's your solution. 

Have fun. 

Assorted Calibers Podcast Ep 329: Sad Developments

  

In This Episode

• Erin and Weer’d discuss:
  • the passing of Cam Edwards' wife, Elaine;
  • Germany disarming political groups (again);
  • a bill in Colorado that, if passed, will ban the sale of most guns;
  • the ATF defying a court order by posturing about pistol braces create short-barreled rifles;
  • the Firearms Policy Coalition suing Massachusetts over their Handgun Roster;
  • the Second Amendment Foundation's legal victory against Pennsylvania over adults  18-20 carrying guns;
  •  a negligent discharge on another podcast, and what we can earn from it.
• David gives his review of the Mountain Billy GOAT-15.

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Show Notes 

Main Topic

• A January Thanksgiving
• Germany: AfD members banned from owning guns in new court ruling
• Sale, manufacture of semiautomatic guns that accept detachable magazines would be banned in Colorado under bill
• Rogue ATF Bureaucrat Ignores Injunction on Pistol Brace Rule
• FPC Moves to End Massachusetts Handgun Ban
• SAF Win in Lara v. Evanchick
• Wow, Gun Goes Off In Podcast Guest Pants Who Wasn't Wearing A Holster

Gun Lovers and Other Strangers

• GOA
• GOALS
• Mountain Billy Gun Labs
• Mountain Billy Staff
• GOAT-15
• Swampfox Liberator
• Goat 15- Handguard
• Goat-15 Box
• Goat-15 Lower
• TFBTV NRAAM 2024
• Magazines 1
• Magazines 2
• GOAT-15 Weight
• Goat-15 Bolt Face
• Goat-15 FCG
• Brena Bock Author Page
• David Bock Author Page
• Team And More

Traveller Actual Play: R.A.V.E.N. ep 7, "Banquets and Beatdowns"

This is a very Chrome-centric episode, so of course I like it. He was funny, he was sneaky, he had a juicy role-play opportunity, and he was useful in a fight. (Next session will continue this trend, but with vehicles.)

Because All Ones didn't include the picture of what Chrome wore to the Aslan shindig, here it is in all its glory: 

https://amzn.to/4h2xA3U

As you can see, there's totally room for a stunner pistol down that codpiece!

Erin on Handgun Radio ep 437

If you listen to Handgun Radio. then you already heard this episode when it came out two weeks ago. But if you haven't, well, here's your chance!

We recorded this the Sunday before Christmas, and it looked like Weer'd Beard wasn't going to be able to make it because he was picking up in-laws at the airport with no idea when he'd get back. I wasn't doing anything that night and thought I'd fill in for Weer'd. 

Go to Handgun Radio and listen to episode 437 to find out what happened next!

Assorted Calibers Podcast Ep 328: Anti-Gun Liars and Other Villains

  

In This Episode

• Erin and Weer’d discuss:
  • Justin Trudeau stepping down as Canadian Prime Minister;
  • the hand-wringing and calls to "do something" after two New Year's attackers passed their background checks to rent trucks on Turo. Car owners won't tolerate what gun owners endure;
  • the man who stabbed two people on the New York Subway, who has been arrested over 80 times;
  • meanwhile, New York City is adding tolls to the streets to encourage more people to go on the dangerous subways.
• Weer'd discovered an Everytown project badly in need of a fisk;
• Michigan has passed a suite of new gun control laws, and Xander needs to rant about them;
• and David gives us information on drop-loading guns and whether or not it will harm the extractor.

Did you know that we have a Patreon? Join now for the low, low cost of $4/month (that’s $1/podcast) and you’ll get to listen to our podcast on Friday instead of Mondays, as well as patron-only content like mag dump episodes and our hilarious blooper reels and film tracks.

Show Notes 

Main Topic

• Live updates: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau resigns as Liberal Party leader
• Turo CEO: Attackers had clean records, so background checks wouldn’t have stopped them
• This is the 10th deadliest mass killing in the U.S. since 2006. We need to Ban every car that can go over 20 miles per hour
• Shooting near New York nightclub: At least ten injured victims
• Jamar Banks, accused of two train stabbings, seen being escorted out of NYPD’s Transit District 2
• Congestion pricing maps show which New York roads and tunnels are and are not impacted
• Charging working-class people exorbitant amounts of "fees" to force them onto a dangerous public transit system where they aren't allowed to defend themselves without being charged with a crime.

Weer’d Audio Fisk

• Everytown-Are You Good With That?
• Senator Mazie Hirono Veteran Suicide Gun Control
• The Accessibility of Firearms and Risk for Suicide and Homicide Victimization Among Household Members
• Bushmaster’s Corporate Overlords Leaving the Gun Business
• North American Arms Belt Buckle .22
• Underoos
• Zero Tolerance’: The Biden Admin Is Allegedly Shutting Down Gun Stores For Minor Clerical Errors
• Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
• Young People Fear Gun Violence, But Also Think Guns May Keep Them Safe
• Gen Z is more conservative than many realize — but the Instagram-fluent generation will revolutionize the right
• CDC 2018 Cause of Death by Age (PDF)

Gun Lovers and Other Strangers

• Handgun Radio
• Extractor
• Colt 1911 Parts Diagram
• Glock 19 Parts Diagram
• Mossberg 500 Parts Diagram
• Mossberg 500 Function VIDEO
• Michiguns
• The 1911 Volume 2
• Shotgun Extractors 1
• Shotgun Extractors 2
• Rim Damage
• C&Rsenal: The Alofs
• Brena Bock Author Page
• David Bock Author Page
• Team And More