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Ever see a gun permit?
9 April 2013 20:48
Well, here's a picture of a gun permit.
That sign is on a few places in Minnesota. Part of Minnesota carry law specifies the size and wording of the sign for those who insist on denying others the right of self-defense and wish to publicly say "Take your business elsewhere, we prefer having unarmed victims here."
Even though I do not have a carry permit and thus do not carry, I do try to avoid rewarding such businesses with my patronage. Today things got ironic in a sad way. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jmaynard and I went to a gun show which was held at the local VFW. Normally that show would have been held at the National Guard armory, but work is being done on that building. So the show is taking place at the VFW. And there is a sign that the VFW bans guns.
That's odd. Not just that a place holding a gun show bans the carrying of firearms, but that it's the VFW. VFW? Veterans of Foreign Wars - the folks who have fought for your, my, and others freedoms. Folks who know their way around firearms, and know that what they are: mere machines, inanimate objects. I wonder what the real story is. I suspect it's some clueless building owner or clueless insurance company that insists on that sign being there. I rather doubt the members of the VFW are the ones behind it being there. At least I hope not. I'd like to think well of them.
The last few days I've seen the term "gun culture" thrown around and it bugged me. I've figured out why it bugs me. The term "gun culture" is equivalent to the term "gay agenda." Really. Both are used by the ignorant and fearful to demonize that which they seem unable to comprehend. Both signal to me that the person using the term doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.
And if the title of this post made your head explode, perhaps you shouldn't look here or it's likely to happen all over again.
Yesterday jmaynard and I headed up to the Twin Cities to meet a couple people and go to a range to do some shooting. One of the guys in the group brought something rather unusual, a .500 Smith & Wesson revolver. It is big. It is heavy. And it is LOUD.
Watching someone else fire it was interesting. Other folks were firing weapons in the other lanes of the range and there was a background of *plink* and *pop* and the occasional *bang* then there was a *BOOM* and the rest stopped for a moment. I was glad I had doubled up on hearing protection. I had the range-issued earmuff style things, but had put in foam earplugs before putting those on.
I fired it (a total of seven shots), and I'm still feeling the effects today. I'm not really sore as such, but I know I took a bit of a kick from how my hands feel. I can't really see owning or using something like that. It's a very potent novelty, but it doesn't seem very practical. I can now say I fired a .500 S&W, but I have no great desire to go out and get one of my own. Nor to fire one again, really.
