An open letter to Rep. Gael Tarleton

I am not publishing this to show the internet how smart I am. I just want the correspondence between all myself and the representatives for my state to be public to help keep our voices a little louder.

I'll begin by showing my email to Rep Tarleton and her reply.

"Dear Representative Gael Tarleton:

My name is David. I ve been living in Washington state since 2005. I am a member of the National Guard, an active member of my community. I wanted to express my concerns about the possibility of further deterioration of our 2nd amendment rights. I am opposed to any further legislation restricting the ability of the people to legally keep and bear modern firearms. I hope you will do what you can to protect our fundamental right to self-protection.
I love living in Washington state and I plan to live here the rest of my life so long as my constitutional rights are protected. Thank you for all you do."

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Her reply:

"Dear David,

Thank you for your service, and for contacting me to express your support for the rights of private citizens to keep and bear firearms. I understand that for many people this is a very personal issue. However, as a state representative,  I must take a public policy position on this issue. There is one principle that guides my approach to public policy decisions: do the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the longest term.

When it comes to gun rights and gun laws, I believe in adopting public policies that protect public health and safety while also protecting the individual's constitutional rights. There are many constitutional rights in our U.S. and State of Washington Constitutions: a right to privacy; a right to a quality public education; a right to free speech, due process, a jury of your peers, and an absolute freedom to exercise one's own religion as well as the freedom to not adhere to any religious beliefs.

When one individual's rights interfere with or deny another individual's rights, legislation is required to protect everyone's rights to the maximum extent possible.  I would never consider passing legislation that violated people's constitutionally guaranteed rights. And for most of this nation's history, the second amendment was not considered by the Supreme Court to provide an unlimited right to gun ownership.

Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren Burger, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, once addressed the nature of a  'a well-regulated militia.'  He noted: "If the militia, which was going to be the state army, was going to be well regulated, why shouldn't 16 and 17 and 18-year-old persons be regulated in the use of arms, the way an automobile is regulated?"

The bills I have supported surrounding the regulation of firearms this session would not infringe on constitutional rights. Laws to prevent teenagers from obtaining rapid-fire weapons, to ban trigger modifications that make weapons even deadlier, or to allow the Washington State Patrol to destroy confiscated weapons are necessary to ensure public safety and public health.

I know that we may continue to have different beliefs on these issues, but I hope you can see these debates as good faith efforts to make all of us safer. Please do not hesitate to contact me again about this or any other issue.

Your voice in Olympia,
Gael"

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My rebuttal:

Dear Representative Gael Tarleton

Thank you for your personal reply to my email. Like you said, we will likely continue to disagree on the subject. However, I would like to share my views on some of the points you brought up.

“When one individual's rights interfere with or deny another individual's rights, legislation is required to protect everyone's rights to the maximum extent possible”

One thing we can agree upon is that one’s freedom ends where another begins. The rights you listed (a right to privacy; a right to a quality public education; a right to free speech, due process, a jury of your peers, and an absolute freedom to exercise one's own religion as well as the freedom to not adhere to any religious beliefs) are in no way threatened by the right to bear arms. And I will hold you to your promise to support legislation required to protect everyone’s rights (including the right to bear arms) to the “maximum extent possible”

“I believe in adopting public policies that protect public health and safety while also protecting the individual's constitutional rights.”

Okay then you should support private gun ownership and enforce laws that are already in existence. Supporting responsible firearm ownership achieves both goals by allowing people to protect themselves while keeping their constitutional rights.

“And for most of this nation's history, the second amendment was not considered by the Supreme Court to provide an unlimited right to gun ownership.”

On the contrary, the 2^nd amendment was created affirming the right of private citizens to own “arms.” Typically, “arms” are used to describe military level weaponry. This can be demonstrated in the letters of marque and reprisal from James Madison in the 1700’s for private sailors to have cannons. If the authors of the 2^nd amendment had intended private citizens to have the cutting of weapons technology for their time, I’m sure they would have no issue with the people having weaponry that is technologically inferior to the military. The intention of the 2^nd amendment was very clear by James Madison, the co-author of the 2^nd Amendment. “That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.” – Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 12, 1776

The very phrase “shall not be infringed” means there should be no limitation or restriction put on that right. No further explanation is needed.

There instances in history where gun ownership has been restricted actually the exception.The national firearms act of 1934 and “Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act” of 1994 are the only instances of legislation that broadly restricts firearm ownership. Again, these acts restricted, not banned, certain types of weapons. Private citizens may still own restricted items with a 200 dollars fee and semi-automatic rifles could still be owned if they were manufactured before the “assault weapons ban” was passed. Here’s the real take away. Neither of these acts had any measurable effect on deaths by firearms.

“The bills I have supported surrounding the regulation of firearms this session would not infringe on constitutional rights. Laws to prevent teenagers from obtaining rapid-fire weapons, to ban trigger modifications that make weapons even deadlier, or to allow the Washington State Patrol to destroy confiscated weapons are necessary to ensure public safety and public health.”

Let’s get real for a minute. “rapid-fire weapons” is just a scary way to say modern rifle. When one thinks of a “rapid-fire weapon” they think of a M-240B machine gun or some other Hollywood rubbish. You are talking about keeping legal adults from owning a modern rifles under the presumption that because of their age, they cannot possible handle them responsibly. I am in acquaintance with many “teenagers” who have operated actual military grade weapons in defense of our country. I myself have operated crew served, belt fed machine guns. If the young men and women of our military can responsibly handle military grade weapons, the law abiding young men and women of this country can handle a modern sporting rifle (not rapid fire). This is not a question of age, it’s a question of responsibility and proper education. Let’s further dissect this idea of “rapid-fire weapons.” You are referring to autoloading or semi-automatic firearms, that is, a firearm that discharges one projectile per pull of the trigger. With the exception of pump action shotguns, antique firearms, and bolt action hunting rifles, virtually ALL firearms operate this way including revolvers (1 projectile per pull of the trigger). So when you talk about taking away “rapid-fire weapons” you are talking about a major infringement of the 2^nd amendment.

When you talk about trigger modifications I assume you’re talking about bump fire stocks because all other modifications (like the binary trigger) are already illegal in this state. I’ll assume that many people are simply ignorant to the fact that bump firing is a technique and a special attachment is not required to do it. Watch this video for demonstration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RdAhTxyP64. Banning private ownership of an item like this is not only a prime example of government overreach into the private lives of citizens, but completely pointless. As for your claim about these restrictive measures being “necessary to ensure public safety” you are making a false assumption that these restrictions would make the public safer. There is no evidence to support that assumption and measures taken to do this in the past had no measurable effect on public safety.

You are supporting legislation and ideology that is harmful to the liberty and safety of your constituency. You are falsely assuming that a ban on modern rifles is a way to prevent violence and mass shootings when statistics are not on your side. You are implying that the government has the right to alter what freedoms the people have, and if that’s the case, the people have no freedom at all. This is exactly why the 2^nd amendment was written in the first place. 

Fixing my el cheapo rubber boots.

First the obvious question. Why would I bother fixing such a shitty pair of boots? The answer is as obvious as the question. Because I can.

I got these boots from Fred Meyer on sale for $20 dollars (originally $30) a year and a half ago. I got them because I needed some rubber boots for taking my mutt to the dog park to play. I used them about a dozen times for that before I abused the shit out of them on a Blacktail hunt in 2016. I was in a pretty wet environment, but a waterproof pair of hiking boots would have worked fine. I put about 18 miles on them all together (over 3 days). Needless to say, I obviously didn’t know shit about what boots to wear for that kind of hunting. My feet felt raw and cold by the end of each day and I vowed never to wear them for that much walking again… shortly after that I wore them for waterfowl hunting with a pair of waders I borrowed from a friend. I put about the same number of miles on them over 3 weekends and by the time I was done they were leaky, dirty, and essentially useless for my purposes.  After the second weekend I tried to fix the leaks with some Shoe glue, but that just didn’t work too well. Now here we are with a leaky useless pair of el cheapo boots that need to be thrown away and replaced… so let’s fix them.

11)    First things first. I had to clean the mud and duck shit off.

I just used some soap and water with a nail brush and a kitchen scrubber. It worked really well to get the grime off. I did this inside the bathtub to reduce the mess and clean up. I gave the boots a quick dry with a hand towel to prepare for the next step.

2) I used my wife’s nail polish remover to remove any dirt residue that was left and to help remove the shoe glue.

2 3) I spend about 15-25 minutes picking off the loose pieces of shoe glue that were stuck to the edges of the boot.

3 

the boots got pretty clean. You can still see some residue from the shoe glue but that doesn’t really matter.

44)   I used this leak sealer left over from a different project to seal any leaks and add a layer of durability to the boots.

 I on two coats and both took about 20 minutes to dry. I know what you’re thinking! ‘how the hell are you gonna’ use bright white boots for hunting?’ I’m not. See next step.

55)  

I used some cheap ass black spray paint to return the boots to the original color. I have NO idea if the paint will stay or not, but we’ll see I guess. For now, they look like boots again.

In addition to the repairs I’ve made here, I’ll probably be putting in some cheap insoles for cushion and maybe use a wool liner.

The Average Outdoorsman: about the blog and blogger

Growing up I was always outside. I loved to play, fish, camp, hike, you name it. I was an avid boy scout (eagle scout) and had a keen interest in outdoor survival and bush craft. I grew up mostly around southern Utah. It was an outdoor paradise. The diverse landscape made outdoorsmanship easy and it was an integral part of the culture. I spent hours learning how to make a fire with flint and steel, tie the perfect bowline, or hit a squirrel sized target with my wrist rocket from 50 yards away. I did everything from day hikes to 50 mile canoe trips where I spend the night in a lean-to shelter. My enthusiasm spread beyond the boy scouts. I was determined to learn everything there was about being a "mountain man." I build snares out of shoelaces and dead fall traps out of bricks and twigs, I learned how to flintknap, throw tomahawks, and brain tan buck hides. Those are my best memories. 

 Like so many people, somewhere along the way I stopped. It was a combination of family circumstances, moving across the country and wanting to fit in with the culture that caused me to lose both interest and proficiency in my outdoorsmanship. It was no longer cool to be a rugged outdoorsman like it was where I had previously lived. I conformed to the hippy culture of the great Northwest (Seattle, the epicenter of American hippieism). Inside I continued to long for the wilderness. I would participate in cushy camping trips and day hikes periodically, but stopped perusing high adventure activities. I became bored, depressed, directionless, even neurotic from neglecting my need for adventure in the wilderness.

Seattle, WA

       Recently I have regained this passion and have started practicing the things I love. 

 The suddenness of this revival is for several reasons. The first being I have stopped caring

 about what the hippies think. I no longer care about the dagger stares I get when the hipster next to 

me overhears a conversation I’m having with a friend about hunting bear. I have allowed myself to 

become myself  again.

Greenlake. Seattle, WA

The second reason is I have finally realized that the evergreen state can be just as much of an outdoor paradise as Utah (greater in many ways). The gap in my outdoor adventures has left me feeling like an empty shell. I hope to heal my heart by doing what I love again.

Mt. Pilchuck, WA

Thirdly and finally, outdoor sports are becoming more and more popular again as people begin to realize how oppressive city living can be. Still, only a short list of outdoor sports that are socially acceptable in the hippy capital of the northwest. Hunting and shooting sports are not on that list. However, I'll take what I can get. The increased interest in outdoor sports has provided a great opportunity for affordable used gear which makes reentering the world of outdoor adventure a bit easier.

Used REI backpack I purchased for 15 dollars at goodwill

            After hiking in jeans and sneakers, I decided that I really needed to get on the ball. with gear. The gap in outdoor activities has left me with virtually no gear or outdoor clothing. I’m a student so I’m also Poor AF. This blog will really just be about getting back into adventuring and the cheapskate ways I’m trying to get it done. I don’t have tons of money for equipment, but I don’t want to buy cheap and repeat every year so I'm looking to strike a balance. You as the reader get to learn through my experiences about what is affordable and functional versus what is CHEAP without having to spend your own cash and in a fraction of the time it would take for you to experience it yourself.  You will learn this through before and after reviews on gear, clothing, and more. Additionally, I’ll be writing 'how to' blogs on restoring, repairing, maintaining, and creating gear. I don’t claim to be an expert. I want you all to leave input and respectfully discuss the topics presented in this blog. The goal is that we can all learn from each other here. I’m not gonna’ sit here and preach. I’m just an average outdoorsman.

Fort Casey. Whidbey Island, WA