First time gun buyer? What should you get?

Some friends recently moved to the Shire from a less-free place. They asked me what gun they should get. I offered to teach them basic firearms safety, pointed them toward a few ranges that offer classes from beginner to advanced, some that rent guns so they can try a variety and see what they like. They said they are mainly looking for home defense, but also one that they might be able to carry around. He is big and she is small. After compiling this information, I thought it might be useful to make it a video presentation. That way others besides my friends can benefit. Maybe there are people out there like me, who didn’t have any of this knowledge at the beginning and would have loved a video like this to give me some basic understanding.

Citizen Cain – 12 – Pretty Blue

Keene landlord says no to kids. Suffers the wrath of HUD • NH libertarians back on the ballot • State Rep Richard Marple arrested for noncompliance. Gets re-elected same day • State election results • http://CitizenCain.org

Citizen Cain – 09 – No Skin In This

Historic District annex brought to its knees • Rethinking the prohibition on political signs • Keene 2016 Benchmark. How do we compare? • City wide revaluation. Good for some. Bad for me. • http://CitizenCain.org

Another Small Victory for NHexit

I organized an NHexit event in Portsmouth this Friday called “NH Independence Celebration“. People from Keene, Manchester, Nashua, and Portsmouth attended. Dave Ridley of New Hampshire’s #2 YouTube channel shot video from a safe distance across the street. Shire Dude live-streamed video while making commentary and chatting with curious passers by. One person waved a blue flag with a peace sign. Another waved a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and a sign that read, “I LOVE AMERICA, NOT D.C.” Some conducted a 3-question poll about secession from a random sampling of Portsmouth’s downtown. Music by The Beatles played from a small portable speaker. In total the event was 1 hour.

Poll respondents were asked to read 3 short statements and rate their level of agreement or disagreement with each one. 17 people participated. The results are as follows (click image to enlarge):

NHexit poll
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2016 Keene School District Ballot Results

education674 ballots were cast at the polls this past Tuesday. This represents a dismal 3.8% of the district’s 17,898 registered voters. Last year 1,114 ballots were cast (6.2%). It should be noted that the Keene School District employs approximately 671 individuals.

As usual, voters were given only two options as far as the operating budget was concerned. Both were increases from the previous year. The smaller increase was passed. All other warrants which involved increases in yearly operating expenses were passed overwhelmingly. The average results for all of the school sponsored warrants were 500 for/160 against.

As far as the petitioned warrant articles (3 of which were amended at the deliberative session), the tax cap of 10% failed 298 to 334. The reduction of $500 per student failed 294/349. The withdrawal from SAU29 failed 168/467.

Here is a complete breakdown of the ballot results.

It’s very clear to me that the taxpayers of Keene are being held hostage by a very small percentage of the overall population. In this case I believe a large portion of them are involved directly within the school system. In my four years in Keene, I have encountered an overwhelming majority of keene residents who are unhappy with the out-of-control spending from both city and school and the subsequent tax rate, but for some reason they can’t be bothered to make it out to the polls for 30 minutes out of their day. I won’t lie to you, it is an extremely discouraging process. I can understand completely why so many have given up entirely. Anyways, stand by for next year. I’ll be at it again.

Keene Sentinel article covering Tuesday’s results.