Chris Johnson

Skill is not knowledge. Knowledge is not skill.

20 years ago, I made one net with a 4-inch mesh with rope. It was large enough to roll a small boulder into with the backhoe, then I could lift the boulder and move it where I needed before dumping the boulder.

I designed it to be able to lift in excess of 1.5 tons.

Once I completed that task, I forgot about making nets.

The primary reason? In my state, fishing with a net is (generally) not legal. I had intended to make a gill net to take fish from a local river.

Getting Started

The cost of tools for netting is very low. You want a netting needle and a sizing stick. I made my sizing sticks from a chunk of wood off an oak tree. I did purchase a set of netting needles. I will make a netting needle shortly.

Other than the needle and the sizing stick or card, you will need cordage. I started this learning adventure because I saw an ad for “Tarred Bank Line #36”. The price was ok, and it had a nearly five-star rating.

When it arrived, I found that #36 was larger than I wanted for what I was going to make. I ordered a pound of #15, which turned out to be precisely the size I wanted. Tensile strength of approximately 117lbs and a diameter of 0.051inches.

The first loops

They say you can make a net without a sizing card/stick. Don’t bother. The time/cost of a sizing stick is so low and the advantage is so great that it isn’t worthwhile to do without.

You make a loop. I tied a double half hitch, knowing I was going to be pulling the loop tighter after the first set of loops was cast on.

Use the sizing stick to make your first loop the correct size. Tie a double half hitch on the main loop. Then make your second loop using the same sequence. Repeat until you have created 16 new loops.

Pull your main loop tight.

Second Round

This is where you start tieing actual net knots. Each loop you add, from here out, will be a tied to an existing loop with a sheet bend.

Tie the loose end and tie it to a metal ring or a dog clip or carabiner. I would use a carabiner, but I don’t have any handy. Tie a six-foot length of line to the ring. Now anchor the long line to something sturdy, such as the leg of a heavy table.

I used #36 bank line. I wrap it around something, then put a one-way slip knot in. This allows me to shorten the anchor line as my net gets bigger. Otherwise, I need to move further from the anchor point, which might not be possible.

To make your first true loop, run your line around your sizing stick, down the front and up the back. Bring your needle from back to front from your first static loop. Pull everything tight, so that the static loop is pulled hard against the top of your sizing stick. Use your thumb to pinch the running line hard against the stick to keep it from loosening.

Take your needle over the top of your sizing stick and around both lines of the static loop, back to the front. This should leave you with a loop in the running line resting on the top/front of the stick. You want to feed the needle down through this loop.

Now pull the running light tight, slowly. You should feel and see a bight tightening around the static loop. As it starts to pull up, it will pull out from under your thumb. Make sure that the loop coming from under your thumb snaps on top of the static loop.

If this knot is made correctly, it will be small, tight and lock the line in place on the static loop and create a new static loop.

You can now repeat for the next static loop. You will now have two new loops.

We want to expand the net, so we are going to make a second loop on the same static loop.

This pattern repeats, 1 loop to a static loop, then 2 to the next loop.

When done, you should have 24 new static loops, completing your second round.

Note, you will have been adding loops to your sizing stick as you go. When you need, just slip the loops off the back end of your sizing stick.

Third Round

This is where it starts to get fast and easy. From here it is a one for one. You keep going around the net until your needle runs out of line.

Fourth Round

If you want to make your net a little bigger, you can do a 1,2 pattern or a 1,1,2 pattern. It all depends on what you require and want. For me, the fourth through final rounds were the same.

Tieing On

When you reach the end of the line on your needle, it isn’t an issue. Because the net is a series of knots, nothing will happen as you prepare the next length of line.

Load your netting needle. Put as much as you are comfortable pushing through your loops. Unlike other fiber things I’ve done, such as knitting, there is nothing difficult in tieing on.

Once you have loaded your needle. Tie the tail of the old line to the new line using a sheet bend. The loop should be in the new line. Trim the loose ends relatively close. Not so close that the knot will pull apart under tension, but not so long that you have something distasteful.

The only issue is to make sure that the connecting knot does not interfere with tieing on to the static loops. It shouldn’t be placed within the knot connecting to the static loop.

Finishing

When you are done, stop. Trim the tail close, but not too close.

Now get a larger line to use for the rim and handle.

I used the #36 line. I should have used something larger. Or I need to whip the line to make a comfortable handle.

Feed the finishing line through each static loop in the final round. Always feed in the same direction. For me, that is from in to out. But it doesn’t matter.

You are going to tie the finishing line to itself to create a finishing loop or handle.

Make sure the finishing loop is large enough that the mouth of your net will open as wide as you want or need.

It was surprising to me how large the mouth will open.

Put something in your need to shape it. Hang it by the handles, enjoy the results.

Conclusion

The next one will be better.

Here is an ok video on what I made. I got sizing (16 and 24) from her video.

There are five listed exceptions.

1. The transferor was convicted under section 925(h) of U.S.C. 18. This is part of the gun control action of 1968, as amended.
2. The seller is guilty of negligence or negligent entrustment.
3. The manufacturer or seller knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product, AND the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought.
4. for breach of contract or warranty.
5. Death, injury, or property damage resulting from a defect in design or manufacturer of the product, when used as intended.

Only section iii has any wiggle room. The question then becomes one of “proximate cause”.

For example, in the original Lilo and Stitch, there is a scene where the child crawls into a washing machine or a dryer. If your child were to watch the movie and then replicate crawling into the dryer or washing machine, and then they were injured or killed, you might be able to sue Disney for that scene because it was the “proximate cause” of the injury.

Claiming that an advertisement, in a firearms’ magazine, stating “Consider your man card reissued”, is the proximate cause of an asshole killing children and adults in a school shooting is a serious stretch.

This is precisely what the blood vultures did after Sandy Hook. They had the parents file a lawsuit against Bushmaster, with the novel legal argument that since Connecticut has laws about certain types of advertisements, and because the PLCAA had an exception for sale or marketing, that the suit would evade PLCAA protections.

This should have required the plaintiffs (bad guys) to prove that not only did Bushmaster produce advertisements that were in violation of CT law, but also that the asshole actually saw the advertisements and that those advertisements somehow incited the asshole to go murder children.

This should have been thrown out in the lowest court, where the case was filed. Instead, the case made it to the CT supreme court where they said, “This advertising claim might actually pierce the PLCAA protections. Please continue the case to establish a fact pattern.”

The Supreme Court did not stop this travesty. Remington went under, this lawsuit was part of the reason.

Since the insurance companies, which owned the Remington Name, settled for a considerable amount, more lawsuits attacking manufactures have been filed. One bad decision leads to more bad decisions.

Kagan gets it right, Mexico is alleging that S&W et al. were doing something illegal. For that to be true, there would have to be convictions for those illegal acts.

In the very next paragraph, she slaps down all those that say that the firearms industry is the only industry that can’t be sued. 15 U.S.C. §§7901–7903, bars certain lawsuits against manufacturers and sellers of firearms. — id.

Kagan skillfully avoids the advertising part of the law, here. Instead, she gives a concrete example of how the law was intended to be used. If the seller or manufacturer breaks the law by the transfer of the firearm, they can be held responsible for later harms caused by a third party.

Yep, the PLCAA is implicated here, and should protect the defendants (good guys). Mexico is attempting to pierce the PLCAA’s protections by claiming the manufacturers were knowingly violating gun laws.

Wow, this is a big one. To pierce the PLCAA protections, the plaintiffs must prove that the manufacturer’s actions were the proximate cause of the injury. Before that can be done, they must first plausibly prove that the manufacturers added and abetted the illegal act which led to the injury. Mexico has not met the minimum requirements for plausible, much less probably.

To translate into language even a leftist can understand, “AR-15s are in common use”

Justice Jackson wrote a concurrence. Her concurrence is designed to limit the extent of the actual opinion.

In her flawed opinion, the only reason Mexico did not prevail is that they didn’t point to a specific violation of state or federal laws. If only they had done that, the court would have allowed them to put it to those evil gun manufacturers.

She also, intentionally, misstates the reasons for PLCAA. We have observed that lawfare is intended to destroy the defendants. The flood of civil lawsuits was designed to destroy the firearms industry. Even the military said as much.

According to Justice Jackson, Activists had deployed litigation in an effort to compel firearms manufacturers and associated entities to adopt safety measures and practices that exceeded what state or federal statutes required.—id..

She has such a strong opinion of the good will and selfless motives of those filing lawsuits.

Snope and Ocean State Tactical

This was a real bummer. We couldn’t get four justices to vote to grant cert. Thomas wrote a powerful dissent.

Unfortunately, if the Supreme Court is only taking two or three Second Amendment cases per term, they will be picky about which cases they take.

I believe that Thomas and Alito want to take every Second Amendment case which allows them to correct the inferior courts or to advance Second Amendment jurisprudence. If I were on the court, I would be the same way.

I believe that if they are being told, “You only get three Second Amendment cases in the 2025 term.”, then it is better to pick cases that advance Second Amendment jurisprudence over just slapping down the inferior courts.

Let’s face it, the Fourth Circuit was told they got it wrong in Bianchi, they then heard oral arguments in front of a three judge merits panel, then took the case en banc before the merits panel released their opinion, then decided they got it right the first time.

For different reasons, mind you, but they always get the same result.

S&W v Mexico

And just in time, a 9-0 opinion from the Supreme Court which advances Second Amendment jurisprudence. Congress passed the PLCAA to protect the firearm industry. PLCAA is designed to stop frivolous lawsuits against those involved with firearm sales, distribution, and manufacture.

There is a very tight exception, which is if the sued party aided, abetted, or committed an actual crime.

Kegan said that this case should have been dismissed at the outset via PLCAA. That third-party actions which are illegal is not the responsibility of the defendants. She went on to say that sales and advertising does not confer responsibility. And that making items that are attractive to third-party evildoers does not confer responsibility.

This is a case that will be used to stop lawfare suits before they begin.

Remington

An asshole killed his mother, stole her Bushmaster AR15, went to a school where he was known, entered the building and killed children, teachers, and staff(?).

Because Connecticut doesn’t allow for armed teachers in the classroom, they had no way of stopping this monster.

The usual suspects then got the parents of some victims to file a lawsuit against Remington. They filed against Remington because Remington had purchased Bushmaster. This lawsuit falls square in the PLCAA protections.

The plaintiffs (bad guys) alleged that Bushmaster had violated CT law by creating advertisements that appealed to bad actors. This violation of the CT law would pierce the PLCAA protections.

The CT supreme court ruled that there was not enough evidence to decide, and allowed the case to go forward.

Remington appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied their petition.

This is not unusual, the case was still in an interlocutory state.

The battle went on and on. Remington went out of business. The name was left with ???, the insurance companies cut a deal with the parents to make the suit go away.

This has emboldened the blood vultures to continue to file lawfare suits whenever there is a mass shooting.

Uvalde

An asshole entered a school in Uvalde, TX. He shot multiple children and adults.

The cops stood around with their thumbs up their collective asses in a circle jerk for over 40 minutes.

A group of border agents rolled up, stacked up, and ended the standoff with a good school shooter. I.e., the shooter is dead.

The usual blood vultures lined up to get parents to front another lawfare attack.

I do not know where that case currently is.

If it is still active, I expect the defendants (good guys) to file notices on the docket pointing to S&W v. Mexico, and that should bring that suit to an end.

Good Teachers Have Skills…

I was at The Fort at No 4 on Wednesday. It was a good group of homeschooled children.

There was one student that was a little mouthy and it changed how I dealt with him.

I have to do better. Even if he and I were cool, it wasn’t cool. As the adult, representing the Fort, I must do better.

It sometimes sucks learning new people skills. No, it always sucks learning new people skills.

Hard Things Made Simple

My entire computing career has been at the bleeding edge of technology. Even when it wasn’t, it was doing things that nobody else had done. Of figuring out how to do something with little guidance.

Back when I was babysitting Cray super computers, there was another site that wanted to upgrade from the Cray specific operating system to Unix (SYSV/UNICOS).

These people were performing cutting-edge research in the medical field.

This type of upgrade is normally a two-week project if pushed but normally three weeks.

I did three one-day prep visits to the site, then did the complete upgrade over a three-day weekend, finishing 20 hours earlier than we expected.

Was this cutting edge? Not really, I just knew it had to be done and did it. My boss’s boss’s boss was there, he kept pizza and coke-a-cola in the ready room and took notes.

One of the difficult things I’m learning is that if it is a hard problem, it is likely somebody else has already published a solution. Go find it.

This just happened to me with Django content Types and generic foreign keys. Sigh, I wish I had known about them 7 years ago.

New Skills

I’ve taken up net making. I’m likely to finish my first round net today. Too many people are telling me that learning a new skill in a couple of days is not reasonable.

Question of the week

What is one skill you would like to learn in the next year?

What is one skill you would like to master in the next year?

In a unanimous opinion, delivered by Justice Kagan, the Supreme Court held:

Thomas and Jackson both wrote concurring opinions. I have not read them yet.

This is a huge win. In just the skim I did, they specifically call out advertising as being irrelevant.

I intend to have an article on Saturday. This case advances Second Amendment jurisprudence.

Yesterday’s article was a surprise to me. I started the post with one mindset, and ended in a different place. Occasionally, it helps to talk out your issues.

It started with my statement, Snope should have been GVRed.

Why? Because the Supreme Court has already done a gun ban case. It is a slam dunk, easy case.

Slam dunk, easy cases, don’t make good law. Just like bad facts make bad law, easy cases don’t advance the law.

Every case the Supreme Court takes is important. They intend it to be important. While every case is important to somebody, or to a group, not every case is important to the country or the Court.

Every Second Amendment case is important to me. I want every court at every level to make a good ruling based on the plain text of the Second Amendment and this Nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. To do anything less is to flaunt the rule of law and our founding documents.

Too many judges are agenda-driven hacks, black robed wannabe tyrants, operating their rogue inferior court as if they are the supreme authority of this nation.

When an inferior court makes a bad decision, their superior court should step in and set them right.

If every inferior court judge had every bad decision slapped down, there would be many fewer bad decisions. On Monday, the court decided 116 cases.

Of those, three cases were an invitation to the Solicitor General to file a motion on how the US Government stands in the case.

Two were, “You can proceed as a pauper, you must pay to play.” One denial of cert had two dissents written. The rest are denials. Most of which are dealt with by being put in a column titled “Denied”. Nothing more.

If the Supreme Court was capable of dealing with more cases in a meaningful way, then I could see them taking these slam dunk cases.

Unfortunately, the court has painted itself into a corner in what they feel they can say. I can wish all I want that a GVR would say more than “in light of Rahimi“, but a GVR never has more than “do it over obeying this new opinion”. This should be happening with more targeted language.

But they don’t.

Instead, they hear 65 to 70 cases per term. They decide which cases will have the most impact on our country. Which cases will bring common understanding across all the circuits.

They choose. And right now, Roberts is not going to let more than a couple of Second Amendment cases be heard per term.

I agree with Thomas and Alito, the Court should have dealt with Snope in some way other than ignoring it.

Dealing with it now might make a difference in the next few years.

More likely, it would not have accomplished anything. The Court is supposed to set guiding principles. It isn’t supposed to be fixing individual results.

Assume the Court said, “AR-15s are arms under the plain text of the Second Amendment. They are in common use. They cannot be banned.”

What would change in the Ninth Circus court? The First, Second Third, Forth and Seventh Circuit? Nothing.

“The Supreme Court has said that Semi Automatic rifles are arms under the plain text, they are most similar to machine guns which can presumptively be banned.”

Or they require a permit to own an “assault weapon”. It is no longer “banned”. Instead, you are required to register as an assault weapon owner, pay $1000/year per assault weapon.

They didn’t ban those evil assault weapons, they are just making sure that people treat the ownership of such weapons seriously.

We need to see advancement in the Second Amendment.

When Bruen was decided, multiple cases were GVRed. Those cases are making their way back to the Supreme Court. If the Court takes any of them and produces a major opinion, like Heller, or Bruen, then we are on track.

So I’m licking my wounds and preparing to fight for the rights of The People to keep and bear arms.

During the term, the Supreme Court has multiple conferences. The Friday conference is when they decide which cases will be granted cert, which will be denied, and other issues relating to cases, outside of opinions.

On the following Monday, they publish their order list. This is a list of all the cases they have an action on. Some of those a denial of cert, others are denials of moving forward as somebody that can’t pay filing costs, others are invitations to the federal government to speak up on the case.

The only people in the conferences are the 9 justices. There are no law clerks, no bus boys, no secretaries. It is just the nine of them.

When evaluating a motion for a writ of certiorari, it only takes 4 justices to grant the writ.

A case that is granted cert can be quickly handled by vacating the inferior court’s decision and remanding the case back to the inferior court. This is normally accompanied by instructions to “do it over, right, in light of a recent opinion”.

I would have loved to see the Court GVR Snope with “in light of Heller and Bruen“. Not that it would have done anything when dealing with the Fourth Circuit, but it still would have been an interesting method of dealing with these rogue inferior courts.

If they are not GVRing a case, but simply granting cert, they will schedule oral arguments and set deadlines for all briefs to be filed. They never state a dissent or make a statement when a case is granted cert.

If they deny cert, most times it is a simple list of cases with a short sentence at the end, “the motion for certiorari is denied.

The Snope case is ripe to be heard by the Court. It has been kicking around since 2013. It was one of the cases that was seeking cert while Bruen was seeking cert. It could have been the case to move Second Amendment jurisprudence forward.

The Court did the right thing in taking Bruen. Snope, known as Bianchi at the time, was a simple repeat of Heller. Bruen advanced our cause significantly.

The holding was that the Second Amendment extends outside the home. That is huge. It is much bigger than saying, “It is a gun ban case, we decided it in Heller, you can’t ban guns in common use for legal purposes.”

The Supreme Court only hears 70 or so cases a year. That is across all parts of the legal landscape. First Amendment, Fourth and Fifth amendments, environment and a host of other subjects.

The question becomes twofold, how many Second Amendment cases will the court hear in a term, and what are the best cases to take?

The Supreme Court heard Rahimi in the 2024 term (current term) as well as VanDerStok.

Was Snope the right vehicle for the next major Second Amendment opinion?

Maybe not. If the Court could hear every Second Amendment case presented to them, then yes. This was a slam dunk case for The People.

It would not have advanced Second Amendment jurisprudence in any significant way. It would be a redo of Heller.

Justice Thomas would have written, either as the author of the opinion or in a concurrence, that the plain text is plain, there is no evaluation to do. But it would still just be another Heller.

We have other cases coming forward. My feelings were that an opinion in Snope would have addressed these other cases, but maybe we need to have the court look at sensitive places?

When the Bruen opinion issued, I remember focusing in on “sensitive places”. It was obvious to me that many of the rogue states would laser focus on making as much of their state “sensitive places” as possible. The goal isn’t to make every place illegal for you to carry, it is to make it so legally dangerous that you don’t bother.

Every time something comes up on Craigslist that I want which is in MA, I evaluate it in terms of drive time and danger. Because I have to leave my firearm behind when I travel into Mass. It is painful.

There are two east-west roads near me. One is faster to certain towns in NH. But, it dips into Mass for part of that trip. I refuse to use that route, even if it adds 15 to 30 minutes to trip time.

Now imagine thousands of little “legal guns prohibited” areas in a state. What happens if you’re driving to pick up a rabbit hutch, and you drive past a school. With the way some states work, that could be a felony.

So the Court could be looking for a sensitive places case. Or, one that I would like to see, a reciprocity case? How cool would it be if the court found that whatever requirements my state requires is all it takes for me to be able to carry any state?

I’m disappointed. I never expect anything of Roberts. I was hoping for better from Amy.

This is a war. It is better to not lose this battle and continue to make headway in the Supreme Court.

Boy am I disappointed.

I’m feeling down from the SCOTUS lack of spine. I was looking for a song about good things to come. Instead, this came to mind.

Today, the Supreme Court denied cert in both Snope and Ocean State Tactical.

Thomas and Kavanaugh wrote dissents. Alito and Gorsuch joined Kavanaugh in his dissent. Amy and John sided with the agenda driven left of the court.

Because Ocean State Tactical is in an interlocutory state, they will have at least another two bites at the apple. If this outcome is any indication, I do not expect a positive result.

On the better news front, Kavanaugh listed several cases that are making their way up the chain and will be or are seeking cert.

I was in 2nd grade when I decided I was going to make a table and chairs. I had watched my grandfather make things. It couldn’t be that hard. With my mother and grandparents providing the material, I made a table and chair.

It was a success. Was it sturdy enough for an adult to stand on? No. Regardless, for a 2nd grader, it was very much a success.

As a 4th grader, I watched my father rebuild the engine of our VW Microbus. He used the original “idiot” book to do it.

From my father, I learned how to break concrete, how foundation forms were put in place, how concrete was poured and how to frame in a room. When I say, “I learned”, it means that I had my hands on the tools doing. I had the blisters to show for it.

A few years later, 6th grade or so, I purchased my first motorcycle. When it needed work, I am the one who tore it down and rebuilt it. And then got it back together and running.

That was my success. My father didn’t lay hands on that motor or motorcycle. It was mine, and I was going to do.

Did I mess up? You bet I did. I don’t remember the failures because they were mine. I learned from them. Then I went and tried again. Today, 50 years later, I can still hear the sound of that MX-80 screaming back to life.

My parents let me own my failures, they let me own my successes. They never stole my success nor my failures from me.

Years passed. It didn’t matter what it was, I was willing to try. I was willing to fail. I tried learning how to draw. I spent four months drawing hands. In the end, I decided that I preferred photography.

When my brother and I needed to work on the VWs, we pulled the engines ourselves. We could tear down and rebuild an engine on the side of the road. How do I know we can? Because we did. It was in a gas station parking lot. Bro and I pulled the engine from the VW, tore it down enough to get to the broken, removed and replaced the broken part. Put the whole thing back together and put it back into the bus.

We did it between 1700 and 0200, then we drove another 400 miles the next day to get to my grandparents.

“Can do” isn’t the correct version of our attitude, it was more like, “We’ll make it work.”

Today, children aren’t allowed to fail. Even in simple things. My son made a wonderful meal the other weekend. I was asking him what went into it. We are about done, but still discussing things, when my wife pipes up to tell me a spice that was in the meal.

I knew it was there. I wanted my son to tell me. She stole his success.

I’m lucky, my kids do know how to succeed because they also know about failure.

My second wife refused to try new things. She explained the reason thus:

As a child, her mother would look at what she was going to attempt to do, then her mother would tell her, don’t bother to try, you can’t do that.

How can you succeed if you don’t try? How can you fail if you don’t try?

It is said that Edison said, “We didn’t fail, we just learned another material that doesn’t work as a filament.”

We learn so much more from failure than we do from success.

Consider a class of 20 students. We can fit a bell curve to those students. There will be a mean and standard deviation for those students. From that, we can determine which will get As, Bs, Cs, Ds, and Fs. It is standard statistics.

We do this by using an instrument to measure something about those students. If we have an instrument that gives every student a 100%, we know nothing. That instrument is useless.

We want an instrument in which nobody gets 100%. At the same time, we need to be careful of the outliers on the high end. If you have somebody who gets 100% on a test where everybody else is getting 50% or lower, you can’t design your test/instrument to have the outlier get a 95%

One of the interesting things my mentor taught me about digital cell phone communications is that the protocols strive to match a 90% raw error rate. If the error rate is higher than that, the phone uses more power to get a cleaner signal. If it is better than that, the phone reduces power until it is running at that 90% error rate.

At 90% error rate, the algorithms can repair the damage and give a perfect digital signal.

If we were running at 100%, we would never know when we were using too much power.

We live in a society where the ego of a student is much more important than long-term success. We give out participation awards. We have games where we ‘don’t keep score.’

There is an old joke: A man walks up to a baseball diamond where some kids in a youth league are playing. He asks one of the fathers/couches, “What’s the score?” “We don’t keep score. We play for the joy of the game.” One of the kids yells over from the dugout, “We’re ahead 5 to 3.”

My children know that if they ask for feedback, they will get honest feedback. If they don’t ask, they will get a proud parents’ response. My kid’s friends know the same.

It also means that when I give out a “well done”, it means something. My kids know that their mother will always praise whatever they do, no matter how bad it is.

“Everybody makes mistakes!” is something I’ve had shouted at me.

Yep, that’s true. But not everybody learns from their mistakes. You cannot learn from your mistake if you don’t know you made a mistake. You can learn from your mistakes if you’re not allowed to make mistakes.

I’m learning how to turn wood. I’ve learned not to stand in front of the work when I first apply the cutting tool. Why? Because that damn bowl coming off the spindle at 1300 RPM HURT. I’ve learned a little.

I have seen some people decock the hammer of a firearm with their thumb between the firing pin and the hammer. I thought it was stupid. It is how I do it now. I had the hammer slip one time with a loud bang when the hammer stopped moving. It will not hurt all that much to have the hammer fall on my thumb if it stops a round from going “that-a-way”.

It is easy to see how stealing their successes can be bad. Stealing their failures is worse.

Every so often, it is worthwhile to just sit back and enjoy the show. Get more popcorn.