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A post in "Friends of Hartwood" on Farcebook. ------------------------------------------------ Here's a shout out to Clay Schoelpple. Clay went back east after his dad passed. He was cleaning out some old shelves & found an old velcro pouch with some old guy's original log books, USPA licenses, SCS cards, etc. I had left those there in 1987 and never found them again. You can imagine what it must have taken for Clay to track me down 34 years later! I was in the Navy and moved a dozen times since then. Thank you, Clay! I miss those days at Hartwood and was sorry to hear about Harry. Blue Skies to all of you in the group & remind Clay what a great guy he is. - Bob Larys, D-6822

From February 24th 2018: 1. License the person (training, use, care, transfer, storage, transport).2. Background Check (Criminal & Mental – defined as one who has a condition that makes them dangerous) MENTAL ILLNESS: I don't know if a simple yes or no from a healthcare professional would violate HIPPA3. Waiting Period – 25 weekdays (if waiting period ends on a Friday – Monday pickup).4. Traininga. 8 days - training, use, care, transfer, storage, transport.b. 6 Days - CQB in a MOUT environment (automatic (2), revolver (1) shotgun (1), rifle @ the range (2). (*) = days.5. Gun Show Loopholea. All new weapons recorded/logged from cradle to grave (manufacturer to each new owner).b. Existing weapons requirei. Individual sales to have a bill of sale.ii. [strike}All weapons to be logged/recorded & kept with the owner – failure to produce equals minimum of three years.[/strike] TO BE WRITTEN AS: All guns in existence have one year to be entered into a national database. Any guns not in the database shall be confiscating by local authorities and smelted. 6. Schoolsa. Each school to have a minimum of one armed uniform police officer & one armed uniform security guard (onsite during school hours).i. Each to carry an assault rifle, automatic pistol, taser, handcuffs, radio/cell).ii. Both to train in CQB at their specific day w/ the local police department twice a year when class is not in session).b. Teachers may carry if they choose and adhere to items 1-4i. Teachers who carry receive $5,000-year special duty pay and must attend the twice a year training (6.a.ii)c. Random & sporadic locker inspections.i. Parents & students must sign an acknowledgement to allow.ii. All students must carry their learning materials in the open (no book bags).NOTES:1. Items 1- 5: Cost of gun ownership.2. Item 6: Both Left & Right have to cut their respective budgets equally at 50% of cost to protect schools. (i.e., Right – military budget. Left – social programs).Special Notes:1. Thanks to those that sent me information in a PM (both sides).2. Everyone has to be receptive to giving up something.

I honestly didn't see that thread (or at least I don't remember reading it) but what tells me is that if we can come up with something so close, independently, there MUST be a reasonable consensus that is able to be reached.

BIGUN's posts on the matter seem reasonable to me. There are two things that people need to agree to for any movement to be made on this. First - the 2nd Amendment isn't going away. There is zero chance of a constitutional amendment being written to ban guns. A gunman could storm the capitol, wipe out the sitting government and the next one STILL wouldn't pass that legislation. Even talking about it does nothing more than generate resistance to any sort of future legislation in gun owners minds. It's self defeating. Second - what we're doing isn't working. Every law passed gets watered down so much as to be basically ineffectual, while at the same time making future laws more difficult to pass. This is the entire function of the NRA. (well, that and defrauding members). I've long thought there are a number of changes that would make a difference without limiting the rights granted by the constitution and having some chance of adoption in a meaningful way. 1 - The background checks and gun show / private seller loopholes. These need to change. Every gun purchase must go through a dealer who does the appropriate checks. You can order a gun at a show, or buy one from your buddy, but the actual firearm effectively goes through a licensed escrow before you can get it. 2 - The waiting period for all guns needs to be expanded. There should be no possible way that if you're pissed off on a Monday then you can go on a killing spree on the Tuesday. Give everyone a month to cool off at least. Those two are easy to write into legislation. Now for some tougher ones. 3 - While you have a right own guns, that right CAN be removed from you under specific and detailed circumstances. This would require a database of who owns what guns, which comes with complications of its own, but these are not insurmountable. Commit a class 'x' felony and get convicted? Part of your sentence is that you have to give up all of the guns registered in your name or face an extension of your sentence. You get them back 2 years after your sentence is complete under the condition that you haven't been arrested again (or something like this) - the precise wording would need to be worked out. Use your weapon in a dangerous way (misfire in your house, threaten a spouse etc) - you lose them for a period of time. *Some sort of provision for mental health has to go in here, and the discussion what constitutes a red flag I think could be a different thread in itself. Things like this. 4 - You have to have completed a training course suitable for the type of weapons you own, and you have to stay current on it. Now, both of these come with some serious logistical and admin issues, so they're harder to implement. Now for the realm of fantasy. 5- Guns MUST be secured to a particular standard. Your teenage son can't be able to get hold of it when he's had a bad day. 6 - New guns must come with a device that simply prevents them from firing outside of approved areas. Take a gun to a cinema? It isn't going to work. Someone breaks into your home, it will. The technology to do this isn't that complicated if we WANTED to. But I don't see it happening. I've talked in more detail about how this could work before. If this solution was implemented then you could remove ALL limitations on gun ownership - own any gun or ammunition you want.

You mean as in 30 dead in a weekend in Chicago from mostly 9mm Glocks, Or the number of Black men shot with 9mm by cops, or do you mean those nasty scary looking "Assault Weapons" specifically AR15's - which of ALL weapons used is the one that kills the least, but gets the headlines for a shooting event??? And, so here we go again - a non-solution solution, but I feel better legislation. I love when you guys talk of banning "AWs" and rescinding the 2nd Amendment - guarantee for a republican takeover in the next election. The left continues not to learn from it's previous mistakes. I'm at the point where I really don't think you want to solve the problem - you just want to complain about it again, for awhile, until the next one, and the next, and the next

Part of what makes a helmet good is whether it fits your head. Not all heads are shaped the same, and the safest helmet is one that fits you well. Wendy P.

Longtime Texas and Massachusetts jumper, DZO, rigger, and instructor; last number of years in Stephenville, passed peacefully this morning. I spent many a happy hour sitting on a packing table at Houston Parachute Service in Laporte when he owned it. Godspeed, sir Wendy P.

Now that there’s funny, I don’t care who y’are Wendy P.

On Jan 6th of this year, around ten thousand people attended a rally in DC then stormed the Capitol. These were, of course, the extreme of the extremes - the people who not only believed as Ron did, but had the money, determination, and free time to travel to DC. And they were not just hapless otherwise-good conservatives who got caught in something they didn't understand until later. There was a gallows built and on display during the rally. There were regular chants of "take the Capitol", "Invade the Capitol" and "Storm the Capitol." Those people knew exactly what was going to happen - and they decided to stay. And while these were the extremes, they were backed up by the tens of millions of less extreme Americans like Ron who believed Qanon - that the election had been stolen, that the left was carting in fake ballots by the truckload, that Dominion was discarding votes for Trump, that Biden could not have possibly won since no one went to his rallies, that the media was inflating COVID to make it look like a pandemic just to make Trump look bad. So no, Ron is not an exception. Ron is a more MODERATE Republican - one who did not storm the Capitol, shit on the floor, vandalize and loot, and kill and assault cops. He just believed all that stuff. As Trump supporters go, he is mainstream. And like it or not, Trump supporters are the bulk of the conservative party. And so yes, the country has moved right. What even you consider to be an extremist is now a mainstream republican. What was once considered mainstream and centrist - like amnesty for illegals, or banning assault weapons - is now something only a communist wacko gun-hating lefty (like Reagan) would propose.

Wow I had to turn off the TV after Biden lost his train of thought the third time during his press conference. It went from funny to embarrassing to sad. Can anyone say President Harris?

Hi Keith, Re: Now for some tougher ones. While there are few things you list that I would not care for, given the choice of where we are today or your recommendations; I would absolutely support every one of them. Re: Everyone has to be receptive to giving up something. ABSOLUTELY - I could not agree more. This discussion reminds me of the bell curve; now we just have to get rid of both the far right thinking and the far left thinking. I actually think we are making good progress. And to Will ( Yoink ), great post, let's keep this going. Jerry Baumchen

Impossible! Biden can’t string together 15 words without a prompter.

More attackers with knives have been disarmed by unarmed bystanders than have been shot. Knives are far less lethal and the only mass killing with a knife to kill more than 18 was in Japan and those were disabled adults in a nursing home Typical weak NRA fluff. I'm ready when you have bone behind your salient points. Wendy has brought a better game to a pro gun position than your last few posts. Straight out of FOX. Irrelevant race and religion baiting for its base. Who swallows it up w/o thought. Days before, but stick to picking the rotten cherries. Which would not have penetrated the body armor of the attending officer who was killed. In addition the suspect pumped four bullets into the first man he killed outside the store. How does that fit into your skilled military mind whose analysis suggests such a weapon. IMO so called "assault weapons" could be owned by those who pass the checks and training akin to carry permit possession. The same applies to large capacity magazines. Statistics show that they are far more law abiding and mentally stable than almost any other demographic. But the gun lobby as illustrated in the last 24 hours of posting in this thread. refuses to compromise. Can't seem to author real ideas and BIGUN seems to have gone AWOL in the skilled argument of fact. Laws, like politics operates on a pendulum. Eventually it will swing and very restrictive laws will be enacted. Because the pro gun, GOP refuses to keep guns away those who just should not be near any gun. When the unstable and mentally deranged have their choice. When these young, ignorant, young men decide to attack the innocent. The AR-15 and large capacity magazine is the weapon of choice. Body armor, other than SWAT, becomes irrelevant. The stress of mag changes, irrelevant. Lethality v handgun, no comparison. For gun owners and the well informed on these issues none of this is new. But dancing around the issues, misinformation and deflection. Will continue until its too late for the responsible gun owner. Then it will be the smelter. The question is, will it take 300,000 or 500,000 more innocents to die before that political will forms. i.e. a decade to five decades.

The problem is that many of those ways are not quite legal - but are not illegal, either. For example, let's say you create a 501c3 private foundation, intended to run a museum. The museum is in a building you purchase. You have a few things on exhibit, all relatively cheap art that you like. You also have a back room with an entertainment space where you hold parties for donors, who are all your friends, and who rarely donate. Big TV, an open bar, stripper poles. The money in this foundation pays for the purchase of the property, utilities, for catering supplies for your parties, and for travel expenses that allow to fly first class all over the world to buy art you like. You contribute your ordinary pay check to this foundation, and thus deduct all your income. That is all technically legal. It is also a way to party and travel all over the world tax free. You can't get away with this, of course, unless you have those clever accountants you mention. But if you are making $500K a year, the $185,000 you save on taxes pays for a lot of creative accounting.

Another mindless accusation that is incorrect. Check the stats on injury and death with knives. Perhaps those should labeled as assault weapons and be banned. Check the stats on death from prescription drugs. Hmmm....close down the pharmaceutical companies. The only thing blind is people saying that certain types of guns should be banned while ignoring other types of weapons. A 12 gauge shotgun loaded with #2 buck shot is just as or more deadly than a typical semi auto rifle. And then there are the semi auto pistols that hold 20+ rounds. And the list goes on and on. Once the facts are fully evaluated it's easy to conclude that banning guns won't work. Anyone that thinks it works should look at how well banning illegal drugs is working. I'm all for sensible legislation and have discussed this in the past. Training, background checks on flea market and gun show sales is needed.

My apologies, it sounded like you were headed in the direction of ban "assault weapons."

Not picking on you, but what are the recommendations for an unconscious jumper of any weight? I've been conscious and aware for all my reserve rides (many........., training CReW jumpers has it's hazards), but always size my reserves close to 1:1 in the event I'm just a sack of meat and am not flying it.

Thank you for that insightful contribution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPWJOJYVKc

I'm also a jumper familiar with F-111 style 7 cells. I'll give a stab at the issue of reserve flaring, without being any kind of expert: Reserves tend to not have a lot of energy to convert into a long duration flare, which is both because they are high drag compared to modern main canopies, and may fly flatter than more ground hungry canopies. (Earlier reserves like the original Ravens, perhaps the most popular of the late 1980s, are especially flat trimmed and if at higher loadings, tend to lack much flare power, and have high stall points on the toggles. But you don't see them around much any more.) I have seen a jumper on his first reserve ride, who wasn't familiar with 7 cell F-111, have a terrible landing. On a small modern reserve like a PD126, he started to feed in his flare gradually and progressively, from higher up, as one might do while casually planing out a main. He ran out of airspeed and flare power while still some ways from the ground and thumped in, only avoiding injury by landing in muddy ground. That being said, it isn't like all the jumpers trained in the last decades under ZP student canopies are all smashing in when they first land a small reserve. Even a ZP student canopy, at typical low wing loadings, is going to need a shorter sharper flare than one will use later in one's skydiving career. One does want to think about one's reserve flare & hopefully practice it higher up. A shorter, sharper flare, started closer to the ground, will be what is needed. It can still be so-called 2-stage to evaluate how it is going and finish it off, but the total duration of the flare isn't going to be very long! (Would I go as far as Riggerrob saying a reserve is similar to a Sabre 1 of similar size? Hmm, I don't think I'd go that far. I think my Sabre 1 135 does plane out way better than a PD reserve of similar size. But still, I see the point: As long as you treat the reserve like a canopy that isn't by modern standards a ground hungry super-swooper, and start the flare closer to the ground and quicker, that will help.) PD has some useful info in their documents on their canopies' flight characteristics. A couple relevant quotes: For the PD Reserve: For the PD Optimum, which is supposed to be easier to land:

Biden pulls a Trump and dumps his crisis on the lap of his vp. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/544741-biden-taps-harris-to-lead-on-immigration-amid-border-crisis

A cop died he was not murdered. He did not die during the assault, he died a day later from an as of yet undetermined cause.

The only victim of gun violence was a protester, not a cop.

Sorry, I’ve been out of the loop. Benjamin (lol)and I are teaching combined classes for grades 3-6th,all subjects. I also have a 9th grader part-time. I’m loving every minute!! One of the funniest things my 3rd graders have come up with is “bra milk”. They’re all aware of how I feed Benjamin in privacy of course. They just started calling it bra milk on their own.

A big part of the problem is that people simply don't read their reserve manuals. The Optimum has clearly stated maximum levels from novice through to expert. I am not certain of the certification status in the grey zone between maximum wing loading above expert and below the listed absolute maximum weight. https://www.performancedesigns.com/products/optimum/ For a 143 Reserve the recommendations are 122lb for a novice, 143lb intermediate, advanced 165lb and expert 200lb with maximum rated capacity at 254lb. This means that the vast majority of jumpers on 143 and smaller reserves are in the expert category and often exceeding manufacturers recommendations. At 300 jumps I was on a PD160 reserve placing me in the expert category. With the evolution of main canopies, the flight characteristics are vastly different between mains and reserves. So I have no idea on a two out situation (which is one of the reasons cited for having similar sizes) what the outcome would be. You need to make an informed choice on your reserve. The type of jumps you do, the terrain you are jumping over, your experience level, physical fitness and how your reserve responds if you're slumped over in the harness due to being unconscious. We all take risks, and this is a risk based sport, but it is better to take risks with an informed decision. Just because you are jumping a 119 Crossfire, doesn't mean that a 126 reserve is a sensible choice as an example.

Less than a handful of voter fraud cases and the GOP feels that much stricter access to voting is required. Tens of thousands a year dead with guns and the answer is supposedly, more guns.

Weird how it's only the US that has such a "mental health" problem

It is a people problem. It is caused by the selfish entitled American people who feel that the "right" to possess the tools of war as toys is more important than the damage it causes.

Semi Stowless Bag Review by Sandy Grillet I first started jumping the semi-stowless bag from UPT with the two locking stows and 4 tuck tabs, prior to them going into production because the designer wanted his design to be field tested using mostly an everyday jumper with what he thought would be typical skydives and pack jobs. I make 325-350 jumps each year. Roughly 1/3 of which are camera jumps - filming tandems. The rest are belly jumps as 4 and 8 way training, competing, coaching and FS organizing at boogies and events. I make use of packers for about 275-300 of my jumps (one of the reasons for the designer to give me a prototype of his bag). I now have more than 2500 jumps on the semi-stowless bags using Katana 120s, Velocity 103s and Valkyrie 96s. I have zero jumps (that means none) on wing suits. So my opinion is based on my personal experiences and my general knowledge of skydiving and deployment sequences. I have nothing but good things to say about the semi-stowless bag. It is essentially set up the same as a reserve bag except it uses a flap with tuck tabs for figure-eighting the lines instead of sliding them down into a pouch. This allows the packer to see what the lines look like as they are being figure-eighted - a good thing IMO. As recommended by the designer, I use large rubber bands for the two locking stows and double wrap them around no more than 1 1/2 inch of line bite. Some people will tell you double wrapping is not a good idea and may cause bag lock. This is a myth (assuming the use of large bands and the proper maintenance of your pilot chute and kill line length). I've been double wrapping large bands for 18 years on all my stows (locking stows included) even before the semi-stowless bag). I love the openings of the semi-stowless bag. I've had mostly very controlled on heading openings. Any off heading openings (90-120 degrees) usually happen on my pack jobs because I've been told I sometimes pack a bit hastily. Thank God for packers. The bag does allow you to get to line stretch quicker and cleaner than a conventional bag. I like this because I believe the majority of line twists start and are caused before the canopy comes out of the bag. Most jumpers replace the rubber bands only when they break or are extremely close to breaking. How many times have you wrapped a band around a line-bite thinking "come on don't break..... just hold for one more jump"? This means our bands are generating varying levels of force on our line bites. Some hold better and longer than others due to better (newer) strength. This imbalance of line bite strength often initiates rotation of the bag as the lines play out causing line twists. I believe the single wrapping of line bites sometimes allow the lines to deploy out of sequence allowing one or more lines to sneak out early and wrap around another line bite which can and has caused bag locks and hard openings. I also believe too much line bite helps cause line twists and out of sequence line deployment which can also cause line twists and bag lock. I've seen footage of quite a few opening sequences using high speed cameras, which means you can slow the footage down by roughly 2/3 of a normal video camera slow motion. The footage is quite enlightening. I think most people would be shocked to see how much bag dance and out of sequence line deployment is actually going on above our heads. Now, this doesn't mean that it happens all the time but it does happen pretty regularly. It also does not mean that it couldn't happen with the semi-stowless bag but the design is such, and testing along with hundreds of thousands of jumps has proven that bag dance and out of sequence line deployment is dramatically reduced to almost nothing. I like my lines to come out quickly and cleanly (like a reserve) so my canopy can hit the air with the greatest chance of an on heading deployment from the bag. After that, it's a matter of how well you packed and placed the canopy in the bag (especially the control of your slider), how well your canopy is in trim (lines), your body position during deployment and the design and wing loading of the canopy. As I mentioned earlier, you do get to line stretch quicker but it does not cause faster or harder openings. The openings are controlled by the slider and the packing (and canopy design). If a person gets a hard opening it's usually because the slider was not well controlled during the packing and bagging process. There can be other factors but it's almost always the slider. The semi-stowless bag does not affect the hardness or softness of the openings. It only affects the speed to line stretch which I like. It also allows the lines to play out in a more orderly fashion. We must remember, we only use rubber bands to keep the lines in place until they are needed and then to allow them to play out in a relatively orderly fashion in what is otherwise a fairly chaotic couple of seconds. But those bands can and do create other issues as I mentioned above. The semi-stowless bag does exactly the same thing but simply allows the lines to play out more consistently. All of this can and has been debated by those who are naysayers. And I believe healthy, sensible, civil debate is good and necessary for further development of ideas in our sport and gear. And I welcome the debate by those who have actually given some rational and original intellectual thought to this or any subject. Of course this is just my humble opinion – Sandy Grillet Full disclosure >> I am a UPT Vector dealer.