Why is downtown even coming up? Because the next time we are down there in search of food, I know where I will not be eating – The Bistro at the Bijou. Why? Because I generally do not patronize businesses / establishments that demonstrate rank intolerance, regardless of whether we are talking about skin tone, firearms, or political viewpoints.

Before we go any further, if you want a recap/synopsis of what transpired, Rich has an outstanding one, so if you are not local, go read the backstory and then come on back here.

All done? Great. So, first, I do not agree with… well, the overwhelming majority of the things State Senator Stacey Campfield says/does. I appreciate his willingness to go to bat for my right to self-defense, and I definitely appreciate his fiscal conservative bent (though I wish it were stronger, as I do with all politicians), but I firmly believe that much of his time could be spent on significantly more useful and productive pursuits than he choses to expend it upon. However, I absolutely love how he seems innately capable of driving the liberals / progressives / left-wingers in Tennessee into a knee-jerk, deranged, frothing-at-the-mouth tizzy simply by existing; he almost seems like Tennessee’s own Sarah Palin, considering the extents those lefties go to to smear him, attack him, and otherwise hate him.

Second, I believe that corporations / companies / businesses / etc. should be able to do, and not do, business with whomever and whatever they so choose. Yes, that means I would be comfortable with businesses discriminating against blacks, homosexuals, Irish, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, open carriers, etc. etc. etc. And? We, as individual people, discriminate for or against other people all the time, and not only would it be unconstitutional for someone to force us to do otherwise (can anyone say “freedom of association”?), but it would simply be wrong. As such, there is simply no reason why an owner of a business should be forced to associate with, or not associate with, people against his will by way of his business.

Yes, I know there was a time in history when such force was necessary to move things along, and, yes, I know that the government does not readily give up power it has claimed for itself, but time has moved on.

Third and finally, I firmly believe in voting with my dollar – by and large, I do my best to not encourage/support companies whose policies/behaviors I do not agree with.

So why am I not going to eat at The Bistro in the future, apart from simply not being in that geographical area very much? Just because I am comfortable with someone doing something does not mean I necessarily endorse it or want to support it, and, personally, I do not want to encourage corporate discrimination on the basis of political/social beliefs. I am fine with another person doing so if they want to, but I am not going to help them along their way or force them to modify their behavior according to my beliefs (a statement which, in my humble opinion, could serve well as an attempt at reclaiming the concept of “tolerance”); I am simply going to do my business elsewhere.

… And this is all without even touching on the inanity of combating discrimination with… wait for it… more discrimination. The non-stop stream of “It’s not [X] when WE do it!”, rationalizations, appeals to political correctness, and so forth have been rather disheartening, but even worse are those morons claiming, “You sure taught him!”

Uhm, no you did not.

What you did do, however, is teach the world that you are more than willing to employ discrimination, intolerance, and hate when you think it is appropriate to do so. If you take exception to that observation and support The Bistro refusing service to Senator Campfield, let me ask you this: would you support a business owner kicking out a pro-LGBT politician on the basis of disagreeing with that person’s political/social views? If your answer is “no”, as I expect it would be, then you are logically inconsistent, internally inconsistent, a hypocrite to boot, and in absolutely no place to lecture anyone on anything even remotely related to “tolerance” or “acceptance”.

I credit Martha Boggs, the proprietor of The Bistro at the Bijou, for taking a stand for her beliefs, but if you think she “won” anything, you are a damned fool.

(Oh, and on a mostly unrelated note, being let go cannot keep a good man down – Michael Silence is back to webloging, in much the same pattern as before, just at a different address.)

The store is, quite simply, massive, and has pretty much everything you could every want from grilling to hunting to running to camping to fishing to Lord alone knows what else, and, better yet, their prices are actually reasonable, especially their "in-house" brand, "Magellan", which bears a striking resemblance to Columbia clothing. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", or made on the same mills and simply rebranded? Dunno. Their firearm prices were surprisingly on-par with local non-chain gun stores, their ammunition prices were steeper than the intertubes but still cheaper than most brick-and-mortars, and their selection of both was rather impressive.

In other words, if I were Dick’s or Goose Hill, I think I would be worried. Amusingly, despite the store officially opening last Friday, Academy will be holding their Grand Opening this coming Friday, so see the image to the left for the specifics.

As for why I am writing this post, in a rather large sign on their front doors, their policy regarding firearms in the establishment basically boils down to, "If it is here for us to work on it or some other commercial purpose, it needs to be unloaded and in a case. Otherwise, if you have a permit and are legally able to, carry a gun if you want, open or concealed. We do not care." Ok, that last part I added, and the whole thing is paraphrased, but the signage did specifically spell out "concealed or open" carry being perfectly fine in their eyes. We just continue to win, folks.

Some cats would definitely improve both of CCA‘s locations, though…

Note how none of the lines are so much as yellow (Cat1) inside of that bubble?

Yeah. I can live with that.

Having had the… "privilege"… of experiencing Hurricane Bob, being rendered homeless by Hurricane Katrina, and being bounced around the Gulf of Mexico and West Atlantic by Rita, Ophelia, Dennis, and all the rest of those frakkers from 2005, I have done my time in the hurricane belt. I enjoy a spot of inclement weather as much as any other red-blooded male, but I will leave the whole "worrying about whether or not my house will float away" problem to other folks, I do believe…

The family and I (wife and kids) are moving out of New York State. Its too expensive here…taxes are onerous, and the only places where the cost of a home approaches something that could be construed as reasonably affordable are so far from the population centers that pay on the highest scales, that you need to live 70+ miles away, and commute to the better paying jobs.

Which I have done for the past 13 years…each day is an 80 mile commute ONE WAY (yes, you read that right…its a daily round trip of 160+ miles each and every day) just to get a paycheck. The costs of gasoline alone tops $600 a month. Add in the state income taxes paid to NY (for the *cough* privilege *cough*) to live there, and the state income tax paid to NJ for the *cough* privilege *cough* to be allowed to work in *that* state, and my monthly outlay in terms of net dollars is insane. And that’s not even considering the costs of tolls, monthly maintenance on the vehicle, insurance costs, etc.…

Since I still need the day job while the holsters are still gaining momentum (the holster business is finally finding its legs, and that’s a good thing) I’ll be working out of one of the offices in the Knoxville Tennessee area.

Which means that Dragon Leatherworks will also be changing its base of operations to the Knoxville area as well. The two towns that are running in close competition are Oak Ridge (northwest of Knoxville proper), and Maryville (southeast of Knoxville proper).

I have to admit, it will feel great to breathe the free air of Tennessee…up until now, the thought of being able to buy a handgun and not have the state demanding that I register it, and add it to a permission slip that says I’m *allowed* to have it, were just crazy thoughts. And I literally can’t wait to walk into a gun shop, see a 17 round capacity handgun, ask to see it, and not be asked to show my super-secret-LEO qualification permission slip that allows me to even *touch* the gun. Hell….I’m surprised that they don’t arrest folks on the spot here in NY for even *thinking* about a LEO-only handgun.

And making mag carriers for 17 rounders, at least in NY, would make me a felon, because as a non-LEO, I’m not allowed to even *possess* a mag larger than 10 rounds. Can’t properly build/fit a mag carrier if I can’t legally get my hands on the mag.

Dennis would like everyone to be aware that any orders with a September delivery date are on-track for being in the mail by 07SEP11, regardless of their original intended shipping date, and he plans on having his leatherworking shop back up and running by 03OCT11.

If you are not familiar with the name, I took some pictures of a Dragon Leatherwork holster not too long ago, and I have seen nothing but good reviews from fellow gunbloggers.

On a related note, I wonder if any of my numerous fellow Knoxville gunbloggers and commenters would be interested in another get-together while Dennis is in-town and house-hunting? The 4th and 11th of September are available on his calendar at the moment, and we could either hit up Coal Creek Armory again, or go check out their apparently new competition. In any case, we are having some extended family medical issues, so I can make no guarantee about what weekend I will be in town, so if someone else wants to step up and organize this shindig (*cough*cough*cough*), I would appreciate it, and I am sure Dennis would as well.

Today, we have our answer:

Coal Creek Armory is opening a new location
1 mile off I-40 on
Gallaher Road in Kingston TN!
The new location will offer
everything our Knoxville store has
including an indoor A/C &
Heated range!

Personally, this news comes as a "huh" to me. As the conversation at my previous post indicated, I honestly expected them to be casting their seed further afield, but even in the Knoxville area… well, time for an explanation.

Coal Creek Armory is in West Knoxville, right on the border with Farragut; Gunny’s Indoor Range services Alcoa/Maryville (South Knoxville); the Volunteer Rifle and Pistol Club / TWRA John Sevier Range are on the North side; and then you have nothing until you hit the Sevier Indoor Range out in Sevierville, the Norris Police Department range way up that way, Farnsworth Firearms down in Vonore, or Frontier Firearms and their supposedly-spiffy new range out by Kingston. (There are, of course, various "clubs" and whatnot floating in the back hills, but most of those have to do with skeet/trapshooting or other hunting-only activities.)

I cannot say as though I know a darned thing about small business ownership or firearm range operations, but from my personal experiences in the Knoxville area, I would think either North-West Knoxville (primarily Oak Ridge, given the steep price of admission at ORSA) or East Knoxville (considering that the TWRA range is a pain in the ass to use, from every direction) would be prime for a new indoor range.

Interestingly, CCA‘s new location is almost right on top of Frontier Firearms in the Kingston (or far, far West Knoxville) region – my understanding is that it will be in the old, rather abandoned ex-Down-Range-Inc. building just down the road – and given Frontier’s massive new, interactive range, there will be some pretty stiff competition.

Me, I would just love to have an indoor, air-conditioned, rifle-and-buckshot-compatible range, or, barring that, an outdoor range that either is not an hour away, or does not require all manner of hoop jumps to gain access to. Seems like a silly thing to have to ask for in the Patron State of Shootin’ Stuff.

In the course of one run down and one run back, I had no fewer than ten separate squids attempt to commit suicide on my hood and/or A-pillar, either by passing into oncoming traffic (namely, me), or having the tires of their cute little superbike just barely on their side of the yellow line in a sharp turn, with the bikes’ and their bodies hanging completely into my lane. 

While my whole day would be rather ruined by getting into an accident with a motorcyclist, and while my car would unquestionably suffer some very aggravating damage (especially at the speeds they were travelling) which would piss me off to no end, I would probably survive the experience, while the motorcyclist probably would not. 

There are effectively no places on the Dragon where it is safe to pass another vehicle.  Oh, sure, there are stretches where it is possible, and I know how frustrating it can be to be trapped behind some slowpoke in a minivan, but coming around a hairpin and seeing some moron on a motorbike in my lane pointed at me has a tendency to damage my calm.  Likewise, if you cannot keep your vehicle – all of your vehicle – inside of your lane, you have no business being on the road… any road.  I know the lanes are a bit narrow on US129, but treat it as a challenge, rather than some new way to splatter your innards all over someone else’s windshield. 

In other news, I should have some pictures up later this week… 

(* – Squid:  “An extremely rare animal with a short lifespan. Usually a new sport bike enthusiast with the reasoning of a lunatic, whom you might see thrashing on an R1 wearing sandals, shorts, and a tee. When found lying motionless on the pavement, this creature transforms itself into a stream of blood, exposed flesh, and broken limbs. Hence the squid moniker.”)

And, sadly, Tennessee deserves every ounce of it.

Good for them. 

Step One:
Call or Text Us at (865) 776-3465. Watch for our fully insured driver to arrive on a Di Blasi motor bike.

Step Two:
The driver will fold and package the bike, then load it into the trunk of YOUR car.

Step Three:
Then just give the driver your keys.

Step Four:
You and your car, will be driven to the destination of your choice.

Step Five:
You, your car, and your driving record will all arrive safe and sound! Thanks Zingo!

(Image shamelessly yoinked from their page.) 

Pickups cost $15 for members and $20 for non-members, with the delivery charge after that being $2/mile and $3/mile, respectively. Alternatively, you can purchase a package of 5 or 10 pickups, including five miles each, for $100 or $200.

Unfortunately for you out-of-towners, this is definitely a Knoxville-only metropolitan-area-only thing, but something tells me the general concept could easily be applied to other metropolitan areas… and if it keeps drunk and intoxicated drivers out from behind their steering wheels, I sincerely wish them the best of luck.

(Obligatory FTC Disclaimer: Zingo Knoxville did not give me a gorramed thing to write this post, hence why it is not placed in the "for hire" category. Go do something constructive with your time… like retire.)

- Permits are required to carry firearms in Tennessee. We are working on constitutional carry, but that is a bit farther down the agenda.

- Tennessee recognizes permits from any state that will give you one, but also has specific, signed reciprocity agreements with Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. You have to keep the permit on you whenever you are carrying a firearm outside of private property where you are otherwise allowed to carry.

- You are not allowed to carry a firearm during judicial proceedings, on school grounds or at school events (there are some very narrow exceptions to this that you probably will not have to worry about), while you have any alcohol in your system, at airports, or at any local/state/federal government building.

- You are allowed to carry at restaurants that serve alcohol (including "bars"); however, you are not allowed to drink alcohol, or have any in your system, while you are carrying. If you see a sign at a restaurant/bar/liquor store that reads, "MISDEMEANOR STATE LAW PRESCIBES A MAXIMUM PENALTY OF ELEVEN (11) MONTHS TWENTY-NINE DAYS IMPRISONMENT AND A FINE NOT TO EXCEED TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($2,500) FOR CARRYING WEAPONS WHERE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE SOLD OR SERVED," it is out of date, and probably not binding, but it is up to you as to whether or not you want to fight that battle.

- Effectively all signs are binding. This includes "gunbuster" stickers (a silhouette of a firearm with a red circle-and-slash over it), as well as something that is mostly like, "AS AUTHORIZED BY TCA § 39-17-1359, POSSESSION OF A WEAPON ON THIS PROPERTY, WITHIN THIS BUILDING, OR THE POSTED PORTION OF THIS PROPERTY OR BUILDING IS PROHIBITED. POSSESSION OF A WEAPON ON POSTED PROPERTY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE." It is incumbent upon you to check the entryway of any business thoroughly, as the only requirement is that it has to be "prominent" and "plainly visible to the average person" on all "entrances primarily used by persons entering the property". If you can find a regularly-used door that is not posted (like at most malls in the area), it is up to you as to what you want to do – the law is not clear, and no one has fought that battle yet.

- You are allowed to bear arms in all federal and state parks, wildlife areas, forests, etc. Knoxville and Farragut city parks are off-limits, though, and I am not sure about Lenoir City. Be advised that "greenways" often look lounge sidewalks, are not well-marked, and count as municipal parks.

- Per Tennessee Attorney General Opinion 05-154, open carry is legal, in that the state does not prohibit it; however, that opinion is not legally binding, and there are no laws or judicial cases I am aware of clarifying just how "legal" open carry really is. In the Knoxville/Lenoir City area, you probably will not encounter any problems, but if you try to open carry in Nashville or Memphis, you are on your own.

- Tennessee does have a "castle doctrine", in that you are allowed to use deadly force to protect yourself wherever you have a legal right to be, and you have civil immunity if you lawfully defend yourself from a criminal attack. This legal construct might apply to property as well, but for you out-of-towners, I am not so sure.

- You are not allowed to carry a loaded long arm unless you are hunting or on private property where you are allowed to be. And, honestly, I have lost track of what is legal to do with rifles in your car, so the safe bet is to leave them unloaded and keep the ammunition separated from them while transporting them.

- Tennessee does have blue laws – limited/no alcohol sales on Sunday, depending on city/county.

- Also, you can only purchase beer or beer-like things at grocery/convenience stores, and you can only purchase "hard" liquor and wine at designated liquor stores. No overlap. We are working on at least slightly changing that.

- The Knoxville area is big on red light revenue cameras. The intersections have to be clearly posted, but the cameras have been abused in the past.

- I confess to not being entirely versed in the restaurant scene in Lenoir City, but if you have not eaten at a Five Guys, you need to, and there is one right down the road from where most of you will be staying. A little farther down the road is Ott’s Bar-B-Q, which is definitely worth the drive.

I think those are all the high points… if you have any specific questions, feel free to sound off in the comments, and I will update the post. And if you want to arrange a get-together outside of the Lucky Gunner stuff, drop me a note and we will see what we can work out.

(NOTE: Nothing in this post is guaranteed to be accurate. This is not legal advice. You are responsible for error/idiot-checking all information in this post. If you get arrested following my advice, I will probably point and laugh.)

1. Leave it in second gear.
2. STAY IN YOUR FRAKKING LANE.

And that is about it.

For the motorbikes and hardcore performance vehicles out there, simply leaving their transmission in second gear is robbing you of a great deal of their engine’s performance and capabilities, but given the horsepower and torque available to the ‘Stang’s V8, along with the not-exactly-butter-smooth stock shifter, you could certainly do worse than simply leaving it there, and fiddling with the clutch pedal as necessary. And it is necessary – a Mustang’s stock brakes are undersized for the vehicle already, and they will only get less grabby the hotter they get, so a lot of your deceleration has to be a combination of both not going too fast for conditions to begin with, and careful clutch management (with the knowledge that your clutch can overheat as well). Even on the longest straightaways, though, you will be hard-pressed to run into the rev limiter, and if you are trying to set a record for conquering the Tail of the Dragon, and you are using a Mustang, UR DOIN’ IT WRONG.

Be advised, however, that Mustangs still tend towards oversteering, and even with their Traction Control System engaged, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you have the engine revved up, the clutch dropping in, and the wheel heeled over, and the Dragon does not have a lot of room for error correction (or guiderails to speak of).

Coincidentally, I also found one of the perfect times to run the Dragon – 0930 Friday. There was almost no traffic from the reservoirs to the Fugitive Dam (which they are working on, by the by – be advised of construction delays, equipment in the road, and uneven road surfaces), and I did not have to pull off once (either to let someone past or bide my time for a slowpoke to get farther ahead). Unfortunately, this also meant that most of the photographers had not shown up quite yet (not as though I blame them – pretty much the only traffic besides me and two squids was local), so I have nothing from Killboy, but US129 Photos took this rather decent glory shot which thankfully does not show just how dirty the car was (and still is)…

And in a stroke of good news, it looks like the Tapoco Lodge has new owners, and will be opening again soon.

The standard disclaimers, as always, still apply to running the Dragon – for the love of God, stay in your own lane; pull off if you are getting a stack of people behind you; semi rigs still seem to think it is a good idea to use this road (despite the obvious problems it presents) so look ahead; and do not drive too fast for conditions (by which I mean a combination of weather, road surface, turns, speed, vehicle capabilities, driver skill, etc.).

In short, be safe, have fun, and try to ensure everyone comes home alive… and if you want clear runs, hit the road early Friday morning!

I blame global warming.

Thanks again to Coal Creek Armory for hosting us, and to everyone for showing up!

On a completely unrelated note, when was the last time you saw eight anti-rights nuts hanging out at a social event? Do they even have social events?

I plan on being at Coal Creek Armory when they open at 1000, and while I would love to roll up in my Bullitt, one of its catalytic converters decided to eat itself, and the ‘stang is currently spending the weekend at the shop. Instead, you will just have to pick me out based on my hippie-length hair and Chewbacca-esque sideburns… in short, you should have no trouble at all. I have three lanes reserved at CCA (Saturday is their “busy day”, so we will see if we can snag more, but I would not count on it – yearly members shoot for free, otherwise $10 a lane plus $5 for each additional person up to two. If this is your first time shooting, I will pick up your tab.), but Jim ‘N Nick’s does not take reservations, so we are just going to have to play that by ear.

So, anywise, stop on by, say hi, send some lead downrange, and chow down on some BBQ (after vigorously washing your hands, of course). I can think of worse ways to spend your Saturday afternoon.

Ok, so maybe the graphic is not as whiz-bang awesome as some folks‘, but at least it gets the point across (feel free to yoink it and spread it around).

As previously mentioned (and made doubly-clear above), I am working on organizing a Knoxville-area blogger/commenter/reader/lurker get-together at Coal Creek Armory and the semi-new Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q. Given that the only definitive vote in either direction has been for the 5th, go ahead and plan on this shindig going down on that day (that would be this weekend, just so everyone is on the same page).

The general plan of attack is to start at CCA at 1000 to gratuitously perforate some paper, and then to retire to Jim ‘N Nick’s about 1200 to consume copious quantities of TN BBQ. You are welcome to attend both/either event as your schedule and desires dictate, but I would appreciate it if folks were to RSVP to this post by this Friday, so I can give both establishments something of a heads-up. Additionally, if you are planning to come to the range portion of the shindig, do bring something you would not mind other folks using, including newbie shooters… and for those folks out there unfamiliar with firearms, or without one of your own, I will definitely bring along something that should be suitable for most beginners.

At the moment, we currently have Les Jones, Brick, Beaumont, Rich and Lissa, M. J. Mollenhour, Matthew R., and myself more-or-less confirmed to attend, with SayUncle and Michael Silence making it if their schedules allow. I have shot a few emails to a few other area bloggers, and even some corporate types, but if you know of anyone else who might like to come, feel free to pass on the information.

Anywise, it is always interesting to put faces to names, so if you write, comment at, read, or lurk at a weblog based in the Knoxville region, and you are not far from there yourself, feel free to stop on by… if nothing else, as the good folks at The Box O’ Truth like to say, shooting stuff is fun [and BBQ ain't too bad either]!

Over the weekend, the thought occured to me to purchase a sled, however, the snowmageddon-that-was-not rather disillusioned me regarding the accuracy of weather forecasts.

So here I sit, home from work, with three inches of virgin snow outside. *sigh*

That is all.