I’m a big fan of BJ’s Brewhouse, a restaurant chain with tasty food and delicious beer¹.

There’s now two in Tucson. The first one, which is on the north side of town, used to have a “gun busters” (warning: PDF) sign, but after some polite prodding by the citizenry, they took it down — permit-holders are not forbidden from carrying there, so long as they don’t drink. There’s been no incidents of violence, gun-related or not, at the restaurant that I’m aware of.

However, the newly-built BJ’s on Broadway has a “gun busters” sign. A polite letter asking the management to remove the sign, like the other restaurant, has been dispatched to the management. I urge others to do the same.

1. Try their red. It’s outstanding. [↩]

Today I acquired a shiny BLACKHAWK!¹ IWB holster for my Glock 19.

Holy crap, this holster makes the gun disappear. As I’m left-handed, I carry around 8:00pm on the clock-style of angular measure, and it’s essentially invisible. Comfy too. The holster is leather² and has enough flex to fit comfortably without any uncomfortable edges. Super comfy at the desk, in the car, and walking around.

I’m a bit skeptical of the velcro angle adjustment (though one needs to loosen a screw before adjusting the angle), but we’ll see how it holds up.

On a different note, there’s entirely too much Shiny! at the shop, and not enough money in my wallet. I’d like to see this reversed, at least for a short while.

Oh yeah, the FTC can bite my shiny, slightly radioactive ass³ if they think that companies actually want to give me shiny things and have me pimp them out. I wish I was that awesome.

1. That’s a rather silly name, honestly. [↩]
2. Made in Italy, too. Somewhat odd. [↩]
3. Probably not, but if I get ass cancer for sitting next to all that purportedly low-level radioactive stuff in the lab, I’ll get annoyed. [↩]

I’ve been following the comments on several local news websites regarding the passage of permitless carry in Arizona.

A common theme among opponents, other than the normal “blood in the streets” comments, is that they discuss various bad guys (either criminals, drunks, “rednecks”, and so on) now being able to arm themselves and committing various crimes of opportunity (road rage is commonly mentioned) against the innocent citizenry.

While no credence is given to the fact that such actions are already illegal, such a reaction (or lack thereof) is common.

I did, however, note that none of the people opposing the measure ever considered taking measures — whether carrying a firearm or not — to protect themselves. The law is designed to ease the ability of law-abiding people defend themselves, yet the thought of availing themselves of the new law didn’t occur to them.

I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective; if one believes that guns belong only in the hands of criminals and police, the thought of owning or carrying a gun for their own protection never occurs, yet if one believes that guns belongs in the hands of the law-abiding, good people that make up the majority of the population, such a thought is not difficult to envision at all.