Thanksgiving. The family matriarch has banned me from saying anything about guns. “And you’re not bringing any paraphernalia with you are you?” The subject of firearms became verboten after a particularly nasty episode; a by-marriage family member caught site of my empty holster, gathered her brood in a panic and scarpered. She had firearms-related issues, to which I am entirely sympathetic. But I caught all the flak. No surprise there. I am the black sheep; the “unstable” son who never settled down. And burned through two fortunes and two marriages when he did. And now my fascination with that which shall not be named. And yet I’m thankful for this ongoing antagonism . . .
My family’s opposition to my “lifestyle” has prepared me for my labor on this website. I know what it’s like to argue with someone who isn’t listening. It’s not, as Ralph suggests, a waste of time. It’s a chance to announce “this is what I believe because this is who I am.” And vice versa. Not to anyone else. To yourself. To stand proud for what you stand for. If you can accept this limitation—that you can no more open a closed mind than close an open one—you can suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous opposition.
But no opposition? That’s tough. I feel like a gay man in a family where everyone knows he’s a homosexual but no one can acknowledge it. That’s why I have sympathy for people who open carry knowing they’re going to face a police stop. Yes, it’s unnecessary. OC does nothing to advance our cause amongst those blind to the importance of our gun rights. But there’s no better way for a gun rights advocate to prove—to himself—that he’s 2A all the way.
Sure it’s selfish. But the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. Someone who carries a gun to bolster his belief system or make a political statement is well within his rights, and should remain unmolested. Especially by his fellow gun owners. But that’s not how it goes down. The People of the Gun is a family but we are a fractured and fractious lot.
For example, I have serious issues with the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s position that Congress should renew the Undetectable Firearms Act (as is). NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane told BusinessWeek that it’s OK to ban all-plastic guns because they “would be very unreliable and very unsafe.” At the same time, he said new proposals (aimed at sneakily banning standard capacity plastic mags) would “hamper federally licensed firearms manufacturers from developing prototypes using advanced technologies.”
Larry fails to see the contradiction: how can plastic gun technology be both unreliable and unsafe and critical to advanced firearms manufacturing? Or maybe he does sees it; he’s trying to shield gunmakers from public condemnation—they don’t care about terrorists building undetectable guns!—while protecting’ profitability. Truth be told, any gun is a good gun when it’s in the hands of a good person. Any process that puts guns in the hands of good people, regardless of the bad, is a good thing.
By the same token, Wayne LaPierre’s post-Newtown rant against violent video games drove a wedge between generations of firearms and potential firearms owners for no good reason, to no good effect. The NRA’s crusade (along with the NSSF) to “fix” background checks by adding mental health records to FBI’s database does nothing to advance firearms freedom, and much to destroy it. If the NRA’s not aware that the Soviet Union used the mental health system to isolate, imprison and murder hundreds of thousands of dissidents, they should be.
Without naming names, I’ve heard that same kind of boneheaded hypocrisy at the Thanksgiving table—back when my father was alive. A deeply conservative man with a liberal eldest son and wife, he learned the fine art of encouraging debate while eliminating rancor. Now that he’s gone, it’s turkey and stuffing without politics.
I like to think TTAG serves the same role in the gun “debate” as my father did at the dinner table. We have our beliefs but we’re happy to encourage dissent and debate. We don’t seek compromise, just civility. We try to create what Hemingway called a “clean, well-lighted place.”
On this day I am thankful for my father’s influence and my readership’s empathy for his philosophy. And I wonder how he felt, inside. This is not the time to speak of black dogs, but I’ll say this about that: my father could never reconcile his experience with his idealism, no matter how hard he tried. It saddened him. I share my father’s burden and spend much of life suffering in silence. But not here, where I can speak freely. Thank God for that.
Another reason for handloading is for calibers not available commercially, or only at really extravagant prices. Last time I checked, the only Japanese 7.7 was $4 a shot, and this was before the big rush sent prices sky high. I have a WW I rifle recalibered after the war to (I think) 8×56, I’d like to get a French bolt action and they are another weird caliber.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
I know the feeling.
Nothing says “happy holidays” at the family table like getting the stink eye because ,oh my gosh, you LIKE guns!
My family is African American, and they’re staunch ,Obama voting Democrats.When they discovered I held a CCW permit, they staged an “intervention”.I’ve seen court martials which were nicer.What could I do? It was like Galileo and the Church- being on the side of the truth didn’t mean squat.It was their hoplophobic way, or the highway.
RF, happy thanksgiving to you and yours. Even the libs amongst yours. I have some understanding of what you go thru. Everybody in my family owned rifles and shotguns. But true fudds they were. Handguns were off limits as were any of what we’d call modern sporting rifles.
The only encouragement I can offer you is that gradually a few of my family have changed their minds and are becoming more 2a friendly. It only took a lifetime.
A lovely day for a cigar. Not being around family, I’m headed to my local cigar shop, which is open today for those of us who are either in my position or who want to escape family for a while.
As for the NSSF, they’re a creature of the manufacturers. 3D printing is a disruptive technology. It’s a rice bowl and a PR issue for them. I don’t happen to agree with their position, but I don’t expect a creature-or organisation-to act against its nature.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Economics is generally used as the first reason to handload, and it is true that you can load your own for a lower cost per round that pretty much any brass cased commercial ammo. Economics, however is not the primary reason I handload. Contrary to the OP, I really enjoy it. The process of choosing components, trying different combinations and testing each iteration to try and improve on your rifle’s performance is tremendously satisfying to me. You get quantifiable results, good or bad, and have the ability to judge the success of your efforts accordingly.
Happy Turkey Day.
This is why I like AKs.. They’re not overly accurate anyways so who cares |D I’ll buy the Russian stuff. I find it cheap as dirt all the time, just gotta be persistant.
Until there is an import ban on ammo and firearm parts. It’s this reason I keep a cache of brass cased 7.62×39 in storage.
Robert, get that filthy thing out of your mouth…..
Maybe I’m just high but that was confusing as hell.
What ever it is, it will be plastic, and probably look identical to every other model. Now if they make some kind of change to its design, such as any, then I may take a look. How about .380 compact that isn’t two and a half inches thick on the grip with a metal slide, better trigger, and less boxy shape.
Happy Thanksgiving all! I’m sharing this holiday with my wife (scared of guns) whose concern is stoking my daughter’s facination with them. In a couple of years they will be old enough for the range!
And this is blasphemy to some, but i can cast .30 cal, and if i dont push them too fast they work in most of my stuff. short range plinking would be the usual use, and more cleaning obviously. Most useful for handguns of course, but if its the only way to shoot, and our friends in the Govt dont want us shooting….might be worth picking up the gear now and practicing…
Sounds like your dad needs a range trip.
I boycott Dicks, F&S. I’m a much happier shooter now that I don’t even consider going in there.
Cabelas has had 22LR every week available through their website. Last time I was in the store they had a full shelf of CCI mini mags for $9/100. I’ve been getting other brands in quantity of around 500 a week (on average) for $25 or less.
If it were truly a competitive market then supply ought to have caught up by now, as it has with most other calibers. All the ammo manufacturers have loudly proclaimed to the heavens that they were cranking out ammo round the clock, especially .22, yet I haven’t seen or heard of any for sale at my local Walmart for more than a month now, and over the course of the entire year, just a few crumbs compared to last year. And I’m on a first name basis with the department manager in sporting goods. I pretty much gave up on spending time looking for .22LR. Thankfully I managed to build a decent supply at reasonable prices over the course of the year, but I’m hard put to shoot what I have if I can’t replace it.
Bottom line….somebody’s been lying to us. Probably a lot of people have been lying. It really needs to stop.
Tom
Don’t forget to deep fry your turkey!
a lot of big talkers in upstate NY (where I live) about not registering. personally, of all the people I know, they say they won’t register but when it comes down to it, they will. losing your job or your freedom is not worth not registering.
I’m spending the thanksgiving weekend sending out resumes. the very best way to get my message heard in Albany is to move out of new York. They will no longer have my state income tax or any of the money I spend to live here. That will hurt them where it counts.
That’s probably my favorite scene from Watchmen, which otherwise I thought was very meh.