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The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear’s sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
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Two Barret sniper rifles were reeled from a canal in Florida. (Composite via Canva and Creative Commons)
Over a balmy winter weekend in South Miami-Dade, Florida, a young boy and his grandfather set out to fish along a canal. What they reeled in weren’t fish, but holy mackerel were they a catch.
Duane Smith was shocked when his grandson Allen Cadwalader pulled in two .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifles while magnet fishing, the Miami Herald reported.
Smith and Cadwalader went out with magnetic rods after viewing a YouTube video on it, and decided to drop lines in the C-102 canal.
“We ended up with two pounds of scrap metal and 40 pounds of gun,” Smith told the Miami Herald, adding, “I figured, since it was our first time, this was beginner’s luck.”
But luck struck twice, and the pair pulled up a second rifle one drop after the first.
“The Barretts had so much mass,” Smith noted. “The magnet went straight to them.”
Smith, 61, who formerly served with Army infantry, said that he was interested in the firearms’ lower recievers, where serial numbers are typically located. He immediately called police.
“Whoever did this is not your run-of-the-mill criminal,” said Smith. “It looked like it was something that someone would want to come back for.”
The guns are currently being processed at a local forensics lab.
This was far from the first time people have gone “magnet fishing” and found old weapons.
This YouTube video shows the discovery of an old Nazi MG-42 machine gun from World War II.
“For me a very exciting video!” said MjrCarnyx – WW2 Metal Detecting, who posted the video, which had more than 280,000 views, in 2019. “As you can see we had a few epic days with the guys from Dutch WW2 Magnet Hunters. It was absolutely unbelievable and I can’t thank them enough for taking me along. I really do hope you enjoy!”
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland announced today the creation of a “National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative” designed to crack down on homemade guns, sometimes referred to as “ghost guns.”
The announcement comes as Biden travels to New York City to meet with Mayor Eric Adams, who recently announced his own “Blueprint to End Gun Violence.”
“Today, the Department is announcing the launch of a national ghost gun enforcement initiative designed to prevent these unserialized firearms from being used to commit crimes, including by prioritizing bringing federal charges against criminal use of these weapons,” the DOJ explained in a statement.
As part of this new initiative, the DOJ will “train a national cadre of prosecutors on enforcement issues specific to the use of ghost guns in crimes.” These prosecutors will be available to “every district across the country.”
The DOJ will also send out a “set of materials” to assist investigators and prosecutors in bringing cases against those who use homemade firearms in crimes, and designate a “ghost gun coordinator” in each ATF field division.
The statement’s focus on crimes and criminals is doubtless intended to reassure law-abiding gun owners that the DOJ won’t come after them. But “ghost gun” owners may not be considered “law-abiding” for long.
At the behest of the Biden administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) proposed a new rule that would redefine what constitutes a “firearm frame or receiver.”
As part of this new rule, the ATF will ban “weapons parts kits” by redefining the term “firearm” to include “a weapon parts kit that is designed to or may readily be assembled, completed, converted, or restored to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.”
This new definition requires companies that manufacture weapons parts kits to serialize unfinished receivers and conduct a background check on all customers prior to purchase.
The ATF assures gun owners that “nothing in this rule would restrict persons not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms from making their own firearms at home without markings solely for personal use.”
However, the DOJ’s laser focus on “ghost gun” prosecution casts doubt on how gun owners who currently own non-serialized weapons parts kits will be treated. As GunsAmerica has covered previously, the ATF has banned a product, secured customer lists from gun companies, and used those lists to prosecute search warrants.
In the case of one firefighter from California, state agents discovered illegal firearms while assisting the ATF on its raid, and the state tried to prosecute him.
Considering this history, the DOJ’s assurance that its new task force will only target criminal ghost gun owners is small comfort.
Jason Everman
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Jason Everman
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Everman serving with the U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jason Mark Everman |
| Born | October 16, 1967 Ouzinkie (then-part of Kodiak), Alaska, U.S. |
| Origin | Poulsbo, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative metal, grunge, heavy metal, grindcore, hardcore punk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, soldier, philosopher |
| Instruments | Guitar, bass, drums |
| Years active | 1989–1994, 2017–present |
| Labels | Sub Pop |
| Associated acts | Nirvana, Soundgarden, OLD, Mind Funk, Stonecrow, Silence & Light |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/ |
 United States Army |
| Years of service | 1994–2006 |
| Rank |  Sergeant First Class |
| Unit | .svg){kind=small} 2nd Ranger Battalion 3rd Special Forces Group |
| Battles/wars | War in Afghanistan Iraq War |
| Awards |  Combat Infantryman Badge |
Jason Mark Everman (born October 16, 1967) is an American musician and soldier who played guitar with Nirvana and Mind Funk, and bass in Soundgarden and OLD. He later served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army as an Army Ranger and Green Beret. As of May 2017, Everman plays the guitar in a military veteran band called Silence and Light.
Early life[edit]
In a 2013 interview with The New York Times Magazine, Everman said when asked about his birth, “My birth certificate says Kodiak, but I’m pretty sure it was Ouzinkie, where my parents lived in a two-room cabin with a pet ocelot named Kia.” His parents had moved to the remote Spruce Island to, as guitarist and writer Clay Tarver put it, “get back to nature”, but their marriage did not “work out”. His mother left with Jason when he was a toddler, moved to Washington, and remarried to a former Navy serviceman; the family eventually settled in Poulsbo, across Puget Sound from Seattle.[1]
According to Everman’s half-sister, with whom he grew up, “My mother was extremely depressed, an artistic genius who was also a pill-popping alcoholic. Jason and I learned to walk on eggshells and really learned to take care of ourselves.” After an incident in which he and a friend blew up a toilet with an M-80 firecracker, his grandmother put him in therapy sessions to deal with his emotional issues. Everman began playing guitar during the therapy sessions; he initially picked up one of the guitars the therapist kept around his office, and the therapist then decided to play with him, hoping it would help him open up. He went on to play in several bands during his high school years. Also, he reestablished contact with his biological father, who by that time owned a fishing boat in Alaska, and worked several seasons on the boat.[1] Prior to joining with Nirvana, he played guitar in a local band called Stonecrow with future Nirvana drummer Chad Channing.[2]
Early musical career[edit]
Everman joined Nirvana in February 1989 as a second guitarist. He is listed as being second guitarist on Nirvana’s Bleach and appears on the cover, but did not actually play on any of the tracks. Nirvana founder Kurt Cobain said the credit was a token of thanks to Everman for paying a fee of $606.17 to record the album. On the 2009 remastered edition of Bleach, Everman is no longer credited but can still be seen on the front cover and he is given special thanks in the booklet.
Everman toured with Nirvana the summer of 1989 in support of Bleach. He can be heard playing guitar on Trust No-One, an unofficial release of a live performance in Boston. Cobain had broken his guitar the previous night and only provided vocals, leaving the guitar playing to Everman. Everman can also be seen in the bootleg video of Nirvana playing an “in store” performance at Rhino Records in Los Angeles on June 23, 1989. During his time with Nirvana, he could sometimes be seen using Fender guitars, generally the Fender Telecaster. Nirvana fired Everman after the tour ended[1] due to his moodiness.[3]
A two-song Nirvana session featuring Everman on guitar is available, albeit in separate releases. A Kiss cover called “Do You Love Me?” was released on the 1990 tribute album Hard to Believe: A Kiss Covers Compilation, [4] and “Dive” was released on 2004’s With the Lights Out.[5] Both tracks were recorded at The Evergreen State College‘s 24-track studio in June 1989.
Everman next joined Soundgarden in 1990 as Hiro Yamamoto‘s temporary successor on bass. In April of that year, he played on the band’s cover of The Beatles‘ “Come Together“, which appeared on an EP called Loudest Love. Everman appeared in Soundgarden’s Louder Than Live home video. Everman left immediately after Soundgarden completed its promotional tour for Louder Than Love in mid-1990 to play bass for the band OLD (Old Lady Drivers) and Soundgarden found Yamamoto’s ultimate successor, bassist Ben Shepherd. Later, in 1993, he played guitar in Mind Funk.
Later life[edit]
In September 1994, influenced by Renaissance icon Benvenuto Cellini (who stated that a well-rounded man is an artist, warrior and philosopher), he left Mind Funk to join the United States Army, subsequently serving with the Army‘s 2nd Ranger Battalion and later with the Special Forces, serving tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.[6] After completing his service, he took a break from the military and lived in New York City where he briefly worked as a bike messenger. He then traveled to Tibet and worked and studied in a Buddhist monastery before returning to the U.S. He reentered the Army when offered the chance to join Special Forces.
After receiving an honorable discharge in 2006, Everman went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Columbia University School of General Studies on May 20, 2013.[6] General Stanley A. McChrystal wrote a letter of recommendation for his application.[1] In September 2010, Everman conducted an interview with Music Life Radio detailing his life.[7] He also briefly appears in a 2010 documentary on Motörhead frontman Lemmy where he described Motorhead as “Good go-to-war music.”
In July 2013, The New York Times published a portrait on Everman, written by guitarist and writer Clay Tarver.[1] The article features interviews with Everman, his family members, former band colleagues, music industry people, and soldiers. A 2014 The Daily Beast interview mentions that Everman was invited to attend Nirvana’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, that he lives in New York, has participated in writing workshops and “still goes overseas regularly, working as a consultant for the military.”[8]
According to his biography on the homepage for The Pat Tillman Foundation, of which he is a member, Everman is currently pursuing a Master’s in Military History from Norwich University.[9]
In May 2017 Everman met fellow veteran Brad Thomas in New York and the two decided to start a band. By July the band, named Silence & Light, had a complete lineup consisting of military veterans with Everman playing the guitar. They began recording an album in January 2019 in Van Nuys California. One song was released in October 2019 and the complete album was released in December 2019. The band’s profits are dedicated to helping members of the Special Operations Community, the Military, and First Responders. The band says they consider their genre to be modern rock.[10][11]
Discography[edit]
With Mind Funk
- Dropped (1993)
With Nirvana
- Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation (1990)
- With the Lights Out (2004)
With OLD
- Lo Flux Tube (1991)
- Masters of Misery – Black Sabbath: An Earache Tribute (1992)
With Soundgarden
- Loudest Love (1990)
- Louder Than Live (1990)
With Silence and Light
- Volume One (2019)
Awards and decorations[edit]
Everman’s awards include the following:[12]
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4 Overseas Service Bars |
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