Welcome back to another installment of the Watercooler, RedState’s daily Open Thread! Today, we’ve got…

IN MEMORIAM

Kira Davis already wrote about this here, but Stephen Hawking has taken the final leap into exploring the Great Unknown. As Jeff Cooper used to say of similar passings, “We are diminished.”

Dispatches From the Gun Scene: Another Take on “Compromise”

As regular WC readers might recall, occasionally I like to feature the writings of other People of the Gun. This one comes to us courtesy of “CarlMc” at Northwest Firearms.

The mathematician is put in a chair in a large empty room and a beautiful naked woman is placed on a bed at the other end of the room.
The psychologist explains, “You are to remain in your chair. Every five minutes, I will move your chair to a position halfway between its current location and the woman on the bed.” The mathematician looks at the psychologist in disgust. “What? I’m not going to go through this. You know I’ll never reach the bed!” And he gets up and storms out. The psychologist makes a note on his clipboard and ushers the engineer in.
He explains the situation, and the engineer’s eyes light up and he starts drooling. The psychologist is a bit confused. “Don’t you realize that you’ll never reach her?”
The engineer smiles and replied, “Of course! But in less than half an hour, I’ll be close enough for all practical purposes!”

That naked woman is gun control.
The first “halfway there” was in 1934
The second “halfway there” was in 1968
The third “halfway there” was in 1986
The chair has been getting inched forward whenever the opportunity presented itself.

This is the kind of “compromise” the Gun Grabbers and their spineless Fuddtard Kapo enablers have been dealing in from the beginning, and this is why so many of us are tossing a big fat “GFY!” to the latest round of demands, insisting that THEY give ground on either Suppressor Deregulation or Nationwide Carry up-front.

Things Week In History

• Sunday, 3/11: Army Corps of Engineers established, 1779; Lend-Lease signed, 1941; COPS TV show premieres, 1989
• Monday, 3/12: Blizzard of 1888; FDR starts “fireside chats,” 1933; Truman Doctrine announced, 1947
• Tuesday, 3/13: Houston retreats from Santa Anna’s forces, 1836; Johnson impeachment heard in Senate, 1868; Army K-9 Corps launched, 1942
• Wednesday, 3/14: Battle of New Bern, 1862; Marx goes to Hell, 1883; gold standard adopted, 1900; FBI introduces “Ten Most Wanted,” 1950
• Thursday, 3/15: Battle of Guilford Court House, 1781; Pershing expedition dispatched against Pancho Villa, 1916; first Internet domain name registered, 1985
• Friday, 3/16: Union forces take Alexandria, LA, 1864; Goddard launches first liquid-fuel rocket, 1926; Battle of Iwo Jima ends, 1945
• Saturday, 3/17: Redcoats abandon Siege of Boston, 1776; National Gallery of Art opens, 1941; B-45 Tornado introduces jet power to strategic bombers, 1947

Today’s Birthdays: Composer Johann Strauss, 1804; “Father of Relativity” Albert Einstein, 1879; “Dennis the Menace” creator Hank Ketcham, 1920; Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy, 1921; astronaut Frank Borman, 1928; actors Michael Caine, 1933 and Billy Crystal, 1948.

Holidays Around the World: The principality of Andorra has Constitution Day, Estonia celebrates Mother Tongue Day and St. Vincent & the Grenadines observes Heroes’ Day. For Sikhs, it’s Nanakshahi New Year.

This Week In History is compiled with assistance from History.com and Wikipedia. Something interesting not listed here? Please share in the Comments section–this is an Audience Participation Encouraged featurette.

Gratuitous Gun Giveaways

• *American Handgunner magazine, for a Springfield SAINT AR15 pistol or Les Baer Premier II longslide 1911 pistol package: http://americanhandgunner.com/giveaway/
• *Guns Magazine, for a Midland Arms 4-shotgun family-pack, Ruger Mk IV scoped .22 target pistol or KRISS .22LR AR-pattern rifle: http://gunsmagazine.com/giveaway/
• Davidson’s Gallery of Guns, for a Sig P210 Target 9mm pistol or MCX Virtus 5.56mm rifle with 1-6×24 scope: https://ggg.galleryofguns.com/
• Aero Precision, for a custom AR15 pistol: http://gvwy.io/yzqu1fv
• GrabAGun, for 6.5mm Creedmoor Ruger Precision Rifle: http://grabagun.com/giveawaySpringfield Armory, for a Saint EDGE AR-pattern rifle and two XD pistols: http://www.springfield-armory.com/resources/giveaways/

*Note: FMG Publishing giveaways require you to provide an FFL dealer’s info at entry. Aero Precision and Primary Arms giveaways give me one entry each per person who uses my referral link.

March 24 Moneybomb Counterprotest
Just a reminder about the March 2up for dealing with the NRA4 Moneybomb event to counter Bloomingnazi’s “March For Gun Grabs.” If you’re not game for dealing with the NRA, there are other worthy alternates that could use your support and still make a statement too. GOA and JPFO are both the “Bad Cops” to NRA’s “Good Cop,” SAF is our side’s Lawfare specialists that brought you Heller and McDonald, and CCRKBA is a sister org to SAF and JPFO. Each has different specialties and niche, different clubs for different roles in the gun-rights “golf bag.”

• NRA – $35 one-year to $25/month ($600 total) Installment Life – https://offers.nra2018.org/Join
• Gun Owners of America – $15 one-year Military Armaments Channel special to $20/month ($500 total) Installment Life – https://gunowners.org/donate/donations/mac/
• Second Amendment Foundation – $15 one-year to $150 Life – https://www.saf.org/join-saf/
• Citizens’ Committee for the Right to Keep & Bear Arms – $15 one-year to $150 Life – https://www.ccrkba.org/donations/
• Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership – $25 one-year to $500 Life – http://shop.jpfo.org/cart.php?m=product_list&c=4

Public Service Announcement for “Sanctuary State” Residents
If you would like to report illegal aliens, please call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (347-2423). They will need to know names, locations (either work place or residence) and any other specific information you can provide. Visit http://www.ice.gov for more information.

Quote of the Day

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.–Mark Twain

As always, the Watercooler is an Open Thread. And as so eloquently coined by ntrepid, “Thanks for the click! Your effort helps fund future posts of this nature.”

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”–Voltaire

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