Last time around Congress decided not to pass any new gun legislation. It’s fortunate the House rarely agrees with the Senate. Like everything else surrounding firearms these days, there are many ways to interpret this lack of Congressional action, good or bad news depending on who is telling the story. I don’t care for politics. It’s difficult to have an appreciation for something that appears to represent not much of anything, but I like guns so there is no way to avoid it.
Soon the campaigns will be heating up, and my guess is that Republicans will claim Democrats were politically motivated in preventing needed gun control legislation from passing, and Democrats will put everyone to sleep with a chorus of “Republicans love the NRA”. Anymore, I just lump both parties together and simplify the Senator – Congressman thing by blending them into the single name, “weasel”. These guys would vote anyway necessary to stay in office and continue to suck the life out of constituents.
My guess is Republicans, as a result of a failed attempt at passing additional gun control laws, will be rejected by traditional supporters and hung out to dry by Democrats as unwilling to protect: mom, children, apple pie, good penmanship and organized religion as we know it today. Republicans are in the tank, and there will be about half as many in Congress next time around, which I think will be a serious problem for gun owners. I’m not sure even owners are working together for a unified objective.
I was in Reed’s San Jose, CA store this weekend. I was arranging a transfer of a rifle from an out of state dealer. It’s a pretty good service, done at a reasonable cost, and I thank them for being willing to offer the service to local firearms enthusiasts. When I can’t find a specific gun in local supply, I can dig through wholesale and distribution operations on the Internet, locate what I want, and have it delivered through Reed’s in a legal and responsible manner. Gun selection must be consistent with all state and local laws, and there is still a 10 day waiting period.
While I was at the counter, with my eyes glazed over, working my way through the background check forms and questionnaires, I noticed most of the customers inquiring into hunting rifles, higher end over/under shotguns and reloading supplies. The aisles were stocked with accessories that are consistent with these primary products; rifle rests, shooting boxes, scopes, books on reloading and how to cook venison and other varieties of game. They of course carry firearms geared for self defense and police work, but there is probably a greater variety of Ruger single action revolvers than Glock auto pistols, and I couldn’t find an AR-15 look alike amidst the Browning highwalls and limited edition Winchester model 94’s. Reed’s has a very busy gun counter.
Another area gun store is geared toward self defense and police work, and tends not to carry hunting rifles and related supplies. They have heavy barreled bolt and auto tactical rifles and folding stock shotguns. The handgun cases are filled with Glock, SIG, Kimber, and S&W auto handguns. The interior shelves are filled with Trijicon sights, laser grips, spare mags, 1911 custom parts, and AR-15 components. There ammo area is loaded with .223 and .308 ball ammo, .45 auto, .40 S&W and 9mm. Not so busy, the customers are very focused, and there isn’t a a lot of idle conversation going on around the counter.
I’d be lying if I said both types of places represent the average gun owner, or that both types of places draw from the same pool of shooters and gun enthusiasts. There is some crossover for narrow and specific purposes, but outside of that, customers are very much different – No, I don’t know why, and my opinion is based solely on casual observation.
On Saturday Reed’s had customers shopping with their kids; buying first guns or just going along with Dad to look at guns. Never have seen anyone other than adults in the other place. Reed’s has a lot of handloading equipment. The other store use to have volume producing Dillon equipment, until the trends in self defense equipment dictated only factory ammo for functional reliability. Reed’s carries flyers for hunters safety and marksmanship courses, the other store holds courses in self defense.
When someone shows an interest in guns and wants to learn more, I take them to a place like Reed’s then on to an outdoor range. The trip almost always results in another trip and frequently is expanded to include other family members or friends. People like to get outside and pop holes in paper 100, 200 or more yards away. They like the equipment, the fresh air and the preciseness and potential accuracy. Sometimes I’ll bring a chronograph, which typically becomes another point of interest for people with an interest is data collection and analysis. Sometimes guests walk along behind the firing line to see what other equipment people are using.
When I take inexperienced people to an indoor range, they almost never return or explore the activity further. They’ll blast away, make references to a lot of “B” movies and play out some childhood good guys/bad guys fantasy. Sometimes they just see other people on t he firing line shooting at silhouette targets, and immediately draw the conclusion that guns are about killing people, and are not about a sport. I believe there are many people who are much more willing to accept guns as a component of a sport, than placed in civilian hands for the purpose of killing. I think this is the distinction that is causing a rift within the NRA, and probably on Capital Hill.
The defense gang worries about the loss of Constitutional Rights, and Target Shooter/Hunters are only concerned with the loss of a privilege. I think the Rights guys legislatively scrap a lot more, because I’m sure they perceive their potential losses to be more serious – They are losing the right to defend themselves from criminals in life or death situations, while the target shooters only feel a sense of remorse over the closing of target ranges, or the inability to miss a shot at a game animal. Odd that anti-gun factions would much more quickly compromise with the target shooter to help them get what they want, than to compromise with guys who are getting some paragraphs removed from their copy of the Constitution. Sort of makes me wonder if the whole issue really has much to do with guns at all as government seems to love a good victim much more than a self reliant individual.
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