That's 49 in Blog Years

Seven years ago today I hit "Publish Post" on my first entry here at The Smallest Minority.

It's been an interesting seven years.

I've been unemployed once, changed jobs twice, gone to two NRA conventions, watched two fronts of a war unfold, gotten three Instalanches, been to four Gun Blogger Rendezvous, met nearly a hundred other bloggers, gone from less than a thousand hits a week to over a thousand hits a day (closing in on two million total), written 4550 posts, collected something on the order of 50,000 comments, saw the Supreme Court finally declare the right to arms to be an individual right, watched the continuing march of "shall-issue" concealed-carry legislation across the nation take us from 33 "shall-issue" states to 39 - including two, Arizona and Alaska going from "no-issue" to "no permit required" . . .

As I said, it's been interesting.

And it's been ego-boosting. Some of the compliments I've collected from here and around the web over the past seven years:

Not only does your essay hit on all the major points of self defence, it is crafted with a type of cold, hard, scientific logic that I have seldom seen from anyone in my, albeit inexperienced, 19 years of existence. This logic is what sets your essay apart from other writers on the subject, as they often do not hit on very important defining details that allow logical links to be made.

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I've argued the case for gun rights many times using information I got right here.

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I don't always agree with you and I have no illusions about whether you have all the answers or not, but you bring a unique perspective that always makes me look at things from a different point of view. You inspire me to think just a little bit deeper and analyze just a little more thoroughly and for that, I thank you.

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I'm now forced to reconsider my position on religion, now that I realize you share it.

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Wow... Reading your takedowns of this drivel is like watching Barry Bonds play tee ball.

It's an easy target, but it's still damned impressive.

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Entertaining and witty, your occasional fiskings of the anti-gun whackos is marvelously entertaining.

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You seem to be doing O.K. without their help. Madison, Jefferson and all the rest may slumber peacefully in their graves because men such as you have proved themselves to be competent caretakers of our political liberties.

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I'm going to print out a copy of this and use it on my liberal history professor. Probably best online synopsis of the various important 2A court cases I have read.

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"What has been your best blogging experience?"
Arguing with Kevin from The Smallest Minority over religion and philosophy.

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I don't read as many blogs as a lot of other people do so I can't say he is the best philosopher on guns and freedom. I can only say he is by far the best philosopher of the bloggers I have read.

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I warn you, The Smallest Minority is (a) addictive and (b) almost invariably "Geek Length". The difference being, of course, that Kevin can put more concept and information into his writing than I do, he is a better writer, and a much better researcher.

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I don’t know if you read Kevin Baker’s, The Smallest Minority but if you don’t, you should. There is no finer way to spend an evening than with your feet up in front of the fire, a large glass of something dark & peaty close to hand as you read one of his Uberposts in which he will methodically & in great detail argue his position & deconstruct the opposing view.

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Your blog is one of the few I read daily. Thanks for your tireless efforts on behalf of our rights, both on your own blog and in the comments sections of others. You are far more persuasive and far more tolerant of ignorance, stupidity, emotional reasoning and bad faith than I could ever be.

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I really like the way you tackle these issues - it appeals to the (software) engineer in me. More than that, your posts are incredibly effective in getting lefties to think about guns and crime. Most profess themselves open to alternate viewpoints, so on several occasions I have pointed people at your posts – not as facts per se, but as a place to start because you always attribute your sources. One friend will now simply no longer talk about guns in any context; I’m sure that given a little more time he’ll accept that “more guns please” is the only logical step to take.

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This is one of my key sites, where I consistently see stuff I can find nowhere else.

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Watching one of your debates is like watching a episode of Mission Impossible, you know the IMF is going to pull it off, but it's great fun to watch the process.

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Seriously. I am going to print this out and carry it in my wallet.

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Deep down inside, you knew all this. But it is very nice to be able to read an extensively research post on the topic so that you don’t start believing you’re the only one.

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. . . it’s interesting to me that a media, namely blogs, that have long been associated with personal spleen-venting, are increasingly becoming sources for polished, focused commentary. Some of the work (e.g. Kevin Baker’s uberposts) being done on them is downright scholarly.

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In theory, controversial subjects are best resolved through a dialectical process of argument and counterargument, arriving at a conclusion. Threaded discussions are the perfect medium for this kind of debate, because they allow a topic to be broken up into component parts, and each part to be addressed individually. This should serve to simplify and clarify complicated debates.

In practice, few people (anywhere) have the discipline, patience, or intellectual honesty to carry such a debate to its conclusion. Fewer still combine these traits with sufficient subject-matter expertise to be useful in such a debate. (Kevin at The Smallest Minority keeps coming to mind. He combines an extraordinary knowledge of gun control case law, with Sisyphean patience.)

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It took me an hour to read (it is a classic Kevin Baker post) but I found the enlightenment worth my time.

As Uncle says, I do this to entertain me, not you, but stuff like this really makes all that effort worthwhile.

Thank you all for being my audience. I will continue to strive to be worthy of your time. Quite often, a LOT of your time!