Guns & Hunting Thread (1-20-13)

I Hear It Was Gun Appreciation Day

... or something.

Gun Appreciation Day, a grassroots movement started in response to President Obama and Washington Democrats' recent rhetoric on gun control, drew big crowds to state capitols nationwide that consisted of strong supporters of the Second Amendment. The show of strength by gun supporters couldn't go unnoticed.

Thousands showed up in New York, where Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed a new strict gun control measure designed to make "assault weapons" illegal and limit magazine sizes. In areas of the country where open-carry is allowed, supporters proudly - and responsibly - exercised their Second Amendment rights.

Gun appreciation day is called that "days that end in 'y'" in my house.

Eyes On The Prize

Speaking of New York, John E. spotted this over at Weasel Zippers:

Here it is. This is the video where I [ed. -- Republican NY State Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin] was asked to keep the Democrat proposals for the NY SAFE Act away from the public. This list was given to me by a colleague and it is not confidential.

This bill was an attack on the 2nd amendment and the Democrats clearly wanted to dismantle the work of the Founding Fathers. None of these amendments were included in the final bill thanks to us fighting back. I will not stand silent while these unpatriotic proposals are pathetically thrown at us a 11 o’clock at night:

1. Confiscation of “assault weapons”
2. Confiscation of ten round clips
3. Statewide database for ALL Guns
4. Continue to allow pistol permit holder’s information to be replaced to the public
5. Label semiautomatic shotguns with more than 5 rounds or pistol grips as “assault weapons”

...

Keep in mind how paranoid we "gun nuts" are about the Democrats' true goal being complete confiscation as you click over and read the whole list.

Buying Guide -- Updated

Lots of the discussions in these threads involve recommendations for the best rifle, shotgun, etc. And the gun-totin' types around here are always willing to oblige.

Yet the recommendations are made in a vacuum. We were having an email discussion this week among the cobs, and a couple of facts caught my eye. John E. ordered some magazines from a large U.S. gun manufacturer and only received half his order, and Russ reported that he saw earliest-delivery dates of October 2013 for a case of .22 ammo when shopping on the Internet.

Given that the gun manufacturers were already running flat-out before the election, I'm updating my official gun recommendation to "YES" in response to whether someone should buy a particular gun. If you can get your hands on it, buy it.

Let us know what you're seeing in your part of the country on availability of guns & ammo.

Gun Of The Week

Hard, but easy:

Marksmanship Award

Hero of the Day - Philadelphia: Man fatally shoots intruder - articles.philly.com/2013-01-17/new… #NRA (via @phillydotcom)

— Cam and Company (@CamAndCompany) January 18, 2013

The Tip Line Runneth Over

'Flounder' damned near melted the thread tip line this week with the excellent collection of links that I'll work into the thread. This one triggered a memory of my gun-rich upbringing: Elmer Keith: 1899-1984

In 1911, Elmer was burned terribly in a hotel fire in Missoula, Montana, and carried scars for the rest of his life. An ordinary man would have died from the fire. His entire body was covered with burns and his chin was "welded" to his right shoulder with his left hand turned upside down on the back of his left wrist.

Elmer recounted this: "When we moved from Missoula back to Helena I was considerable of a wreck. My left hand was just turned upside down and back on my wrist, just a claw extended from the top of my wrist. I used to wrap a towel around it when Father sent me to school so the girls wouldn’t cringe at the sight of it. The right side of my face was all drawn down towards my shoulder, also. I was a horrible looking sight.

I told Father I had to have a left hand so I could hold a rifle and do normal things. Father contacted every doctor in Helena to try to get them to operate on the hand and break it over and straighten it out. None of them would tackle the job. They all said I would never live to be 21 anyway and they were not going to torture me any further.

Finally, I had had enough of going with only one hand, so I asked Dad if he would break it. Mother said, "Can you stand it?" I said, "I don’t know, but you can go ahead and do it anyway."

So mother got a bunch of cotton bats and gauze, soaked them in melted deer tallow, and had a lot of bandages ready. Father went down to Goodkind’s wholesale liquor store and bought a gallon of Old Granddad, 100 proof, and came home with it.

He said, "Son, do you still want to go through with it?" I said, "I do." I said "Regardless of how much I howl or pass our or whatever, get the job done. I want this hand straight whether I’ll ever be able to use it or not."

That's a man right there. His great book, Sixguns, is required reading.

Gun Of The Week - Answer

That's the Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum, made famous by Clint Eastwood and owing its existence to Elmer Keith. I'll also take "generic S&W N-frame revolver" for the correct answer, as they make several different models in .357 Mag., .41 Mag., etc. Go ahead and buy one, punk. Make my day.

Tips

If there are topics you're interested in seeing in the gun thread, please send them to AoSHQGunThread at gmail. You can also send them to me on Twitter at @AndyM1911.

posted by Andy at 09:42 AM

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