Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?
I think this is the most compelling Blog posting I’ve ever read. It’s from Joe Huffman at The View from North Central Idaho. Read it. Learn it. Ask it. And if anyone ever gives you a compelling answer, share it.
Why do people name their guns?
I named my first Glock 17 after Bruce Willis, because my wife suggested I buy a gun she could shoot and not have to count the rounds fired, just like he does in the movies.
Since then I’ve come to realize a secondary benefit of naming my guns. If we’re in a subway station late at night and my wife asks “Is the Duke coming with us?” it draws a lot less attention than if she asks “Hey, are you carrying your Glock 21?”
Now, I’ve had many names for my SKS, but none of them have been memorable enough to stick. It’s a Norinco, all matching serial numbers. Of course, I’ve added a few aftermarket parts, including a tactical stock and foregrip.
So, please help me pick a name.
Please submit your choices for a name, and reasons if you have them (provenance lends interest, after all), and I will choose a winner, which I will announce on Friday April 15. The winning submittal will receive accolades and the admiration of the masses, in addition to Gun Naming Immortality.
Since I’ve owned guns I’ve lived in three states, so I have had the pleasure of holding Concealed Carry Permits in three very different states. The processes to obtain and renew those licenses are as varied as they come.
I believe the Second Amendment guarantees to citizens the right to carry concealed firearms, and there should be no government regulation of that right for those citizens who can lawfully own a gun. But, living in the real world, we are forced to deal with the system we have. For those unfamiliar, there are basically three kinds of permit processes for concealed carry in the United States. The first is my favorite, so-called Constitutional Carry, and requires no permit. Vermont, Alaska, and Arizona currently have this system and a lot of others are considering it.
For states that require a permit for carry, there are two kinds of processes, May Issue and Shall Issue. May Issue means the permitting authority May Issue you a license if they deem you are worthy, and usually if you can prove the need for the license. In Shall Issue states, the permitting authority Shall Issue your permit, unless they can prove you are not eligible for the license. It really comes down to the burden of proof: in May Issue states, the burden is on the applicant to prove the need, while in Shall Issue states the burden is on the issuer to prove the applicant is ineligible.
When I first got a pistol, I lived in Alabama, which was and is a May Issue state. From what I know about other May Issue states, Alabama is the easiest to get permits. My experience was simple. I went to the Sheriff’s office in the county seat, and filled out an application, and paid $10. Five days later I got a call that my background check was clean, and I could come get my license.
Although the permit was good for only a year, renewal of the license was much easier. I went back to the Sheriff’s office and filled out a renewal application, and the clerk looked up my name in her computer to be sure I hadn’t gotten in trouble in the past year. She then called into the other room and told the Sheriff that she had a renewal, and told him my name. The Sheriff stuck his head in the room, looked at me, and said “Yeah, he’s good.” I paid my $5 and was on my way.
When I moved to Arkansas and wanted to get a permit there, I found a different situation. Arkansas is a Shall Issue state, and requires applicants to complete a training course, pay for fingerprints, and pay a $144 permit fee, that’s not refundable if the permit is denied. The permit is good for five years. At the time, I also had to list the serial numbers of no more than 5 guns that I would be carrying, which, to me, was de facto licensing of my guns. I got all the forms from the State Police office in my town, completed my training, paid to be fingerprinted, and mailed it all off. The law allows up to 120 days for the process to be completed, but six weeks later, I had my permit. Then five years later, I went through it all again.
When I moved to Georgia, I found a process that was about in the middle. Georgia is a Shall Issue state. I got a money order for the permit fee and background check fee, and went to the county courthouse. The application was easy to complete, and fingerprinting was actually done by a scanner rather than the traditional ink and paper. Four weeks later I had my permit, although the law give them 60 days. Georgia’s permit is good for five years, and I realized recently that I’ve lived back here long enough to have to renew my permit for the second time. My, how time flies.
Another interesting point here in Georgia is some changes that happened last year. For a long time, knives with blades over five inches were in a regulatory black hole. The law covered knives under five inches, but there was nothing about knives longer than that. The fix – a couple of sentences in a gun law passed in 2010. One changed the name of the Georgia Firearms License to the Georgia Weapons License, and another said that handguns and knives were weapons. Done.
So, how do I feel now about these processes?
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to set a reminder to renew my permit this fall.
One way I have found to get better at shooting is to make the target smaller, and make the caliber smaller if you can. An example – this past weekend I spent a couple of hours shooting bumblebees with a regular old Daisy BB gun. I stood on my driveway while the bees flew around the gutters on the back of my house, which are full of pollen these days. I figure most of the shots were from about 20 feet, and although they did go out to maybe twice that, I didn’t have any success out much farther than 25 feet.
Shooting bees with a BB gun is as hard as it sounds. In fact, I played around with the photo above, so that the bee is just about life size, to give you an idea of what you’re up against. But with practice, you can get pretty good at it. It uses a lot of the skills you need for wing shooting or trap – you basically follow the bee with both eyes open, and use the front sight of the gun like the bead on a shotgun. The difference is a clay pigeon doesn’t bob and weave.
I hit two bees while in flight, and believe me, when you can shoot that way, then when they land, they’re toast. A third bee landed on the under side of the gutter, and my first shot hit him mid thorax.
A quick word, if you try this – remember Rule 4! Always know what is behind the bees in case you miss. In my case, there’s 20 acres of woods, but if I slide around trying to get a better shot, the end of the parabola is probably in a neighbor’s yard, so I hold fire and move back around.
This isn’t my only Go Small drill. I also cut out some pieces of aluminum in the shape of a tombstone target, but sized much smaller. By making a 2 inch target, and setting it at 33 yards, I simulate a 2 foot target at 400 yards. Once I work out how high to hold, I can usually get hits half the time after that. The aluminum makes a nice ping, and down it goes.
My son and his friends had a ball with me Saturday, shooting these tombstone targets. Then I set out some 5 inch clay pigeons, and they didn’t stand a chance. Once they could Go Small, the bigger targets were easy.
We started out a couple of years ago, shooting 8 inch aluminum pie pans hung on the back fence, about 40 yards from the driveway. Unless it’s windy and they are swinging and fluttering, though, these don’t seem quite the challenge they once were.
Now, I’m not the first to discover this. I remember reading Rogue Warrior by Richard Marcinko, one of the founders of Seal Team Six. His standard was to use 3 x 5 index cards as targets for his Seal Team, since it represented the size of the target zone on a terrorist. It stuck with me, so I must give credit to Dead Eye Dick. Thanks!
Fill Yer Hands 