Bacon And Eggs
In Camp, Whatever Ails You Vanishes With The Sizzle
Let the hunting camp sizzle soothe whatever ails you. Dave says
you can’t look at this photo and not smell the bacon.
Trust me on this, the world’s troubles — or at least your share of them — disappear in a hunting camp just as soon as breakfast bacon begins sizzling in a slowly-warmed cast iron skillet, to which eggs are added at the appropriate time.
There may be nothing more pleasing to the spirit, and the senses, than the smell of bacon cooking, especially on opening morning of the fall general deer hunting season. Boiling coffee in the percolator? Not a chance. Smoke from the campfire? Not even close.
While listening to the sizzle, one can manage to check the ammunition, load rimfire cartridges into the magazine of a Ruger MKIV pistol which rides in a holster I’ve attached to a backpack, and slide an N-frame Smith & Wesson .41 Magnum into the top pocket of said pack (rather than leave it locked in the truck). I have lived in the High Lonesome enough times to understand one can never have enough guns if things go remarkably bad. Yes, that probably was a pile of wolf poop I found yesterday, and no, I’m not stupid enough to think bears and mountain lions are tame as house pets.
I have a Facebook friend who seems to have a problem cooking bacon. She has frequently posted images of her burned bacon. That’s a travesty, if not downright un-American. I learned to not burn bacon many decades ago — well into the last century, actually — and the trick is as simple and important as curing the bore of your muzzleloader with patch lube.
On this particular morning in mid-October, the news was talking about spiking gas prices, forecasts of a recession, demands for more gun control in the aftermath of the multi-murder rampage by some kid in Raleigh, N.C.; things I have to listen to back “in the world,” but out there, in a small meadow as dawn is breaking over the ridgeline above, that stuff all takes a distant back seat when the bacon and eggs are crackling and you’re anticipating the first warm, succulent, outrageously delicious bite.
It had been a year since I fired up the camp stove, kept the flame very low to gradually warm up the skillet and only when I could feel heat rising off the surface did I drop three slices of bacon into the pan. Oh, the wonder!
About midway through the morning feast, I turned off the lantern. Once the artificial light is gone, the genuine morning light takes over, slowly increasing until shadows disappear and everything within a few hundred yards is clearly visible. One really can sit there in a camp chair watching the world come to life while savoring every bite from the plate.
Cleanup is a breeze. A few wipes with a paper towel and the pan goes back in the box until its next use. Then everything is locked up, on goes the pack, gloves in the pocket, the rifle is loaded and a round slides into the chamber as the bolt goes forward and closes. The silence is deafening.
Want to improve your outlook on life, even for just a morning? You’ll be amazed at the world problems you can solve while chewing on a mouthful of bacon and eggs.
Stay safe, shoot straight, and don’t burn the bacon.
Five gun dealers in the Southwest are being sued by the Mexican government,
which has some interesting help from some attorneys formerly working in the
gun prohibition movement.
Hmmm? Connect the Dots
Reuters recently published a report about the Mexican government filing a lawsuit against five U.S. firearms retailers in Arizona, alleging these dealers had been part of “illicit weapons trafficking” resulting in lots of our guns winding up in their country … at crime scenes.
This report stirred up a lot of bad memories about a little fiasco back in the Obama administration called “Operation Fast & Furious.” This was an effort undertaken by some folks at the Phoenix field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Their plan was to allow the sale of what eventually was an estimated 2,500 firearms to suspected “gun walkers” who in turn would get those guns across the border into Mexico where they would then be traced to criminals.
The story exploded when a couple of guns involved in the scheme were recovered at the site of a gunfight between U.S. law enforcement and border outlaws. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in that battle, and when the traces came back with a link to Fast & Furious, the operation was shut down, but not fast enough to prevent the scandal from erupting.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held hearings. One ATF agent described Fast & Furious as a “perfect storm of idiocy.”
Jump ahead more than a decade and now Mexican authorities are suing gun dealers, the Reuters report said.
This might not raise many eyebrows until one reads another story, this one in Politico, revealing, “Former top lawyers at the gun control advocacy organization Brady have formed a new gun policy venture. And they’re registering as foreign agents of the Mexican government as part of it.
“The new advocacy group, Global Action on Gun Violence, aims to address cross-border gun trafficking from the U.S., according to filings with the Department of Justice,” the Politico story continued. “The group, which has not yet formally launched, intends to represent foreign governments or others rallying against the gun industry in lobbying and litigation. It is led by Jonathan Lowy, the former chief counsel at Brady who directed the organization’s legal arm for years.”
When Mexico sued last year in Boston, seeking billions of American dollars, a federal judge dismissed the complaint. The dismissal is under appeal.
Meanwhile, Lowy’s Global Action on Gun Violence is a busy bunch, Politico reported. See if this sounds familiar: “Global Action on Gun Violence filed a lawsuit in Arizona against U.S. gun dealers on behalf of Mexico earlier this month. The lawsuit alleges that the companies ‘choose to sell guns using reckless and unlawful practices, despite the foreseeability — indeed, virtual certainty — that they are thereby helping cause deadly cartel violence across the border.’”
Where were these guys ten years ago, when they could have sued the ATF, or the Obama administration?
SAF’s Alan Gottlieb is fighting New York State’s new concealed carry
law in support of two Empire State clergy who can no longer carry handguns
in their churches, because those places have been classified as “sensitive places.”
On the Other Hand
Last month, when the Second Amendment Foundation filed a federal lawsuit challenging New York State’s new concealed carry statute — on behalf of a pair of clergymen who want to be armed in their own churches for personal protection and defense of their congregations — it didn’t get near the media attention.
SAF was joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. The two primary plaintiffs are Bishop Larry A. Boyd of Buffalo and Rev. Dr. Jimmie Hardaway, Jr., of Niagara Falls. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
When lawmakers in Albany went ballistic earlier this year over the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, they swiftly adopted a new law designed to dance around and frustrate the high court’s decision to strike the earlier New York law as unconstitutional because it required “good cause” to get a carry permit.
The new law sets aside lots of locations as “sensitive places” where guns are prohibited, even if they were previously allowed.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb stated, “New York officials are determined to fight progress, not to mention the Supreme Court’s common sense, by engaging in legal acrobatics that promise to mire the state in federal lawsuits for the foreseeable future. The right of self-defense is the oldest human right, and New York’s law is written to frustrate the exercise of that right at every turn.”
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and John W. Tienken with Cooper & Kirk, PLLC in Washington, D.C., and Nicolas J. Rotsko at Phillips Lytle, LLP in Buffalo.
