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New Talk about “hardware”
So I’m going through Lina’s goods and chattels with a mind to discarding much of these through various channels—feels like effacing her life, but what am I to do? If I don’t now, someone else is going to have to take it on for both of us in a few years, and at least I’m in a position to make informed decisions.

Anyway, in one of her sock drawers—she had several—I have found a handgun, an “Iver Johnson .38 Special” snubnose revolver, plus a lot of ammo (did anyone know that bullets, at least back when she was in the market, went for US 7¢ apiece? Talk about “life is cheap”). I vaguely recall her mentioning that she had acquired this jobbie following an episode early in her career—she was a grocery clerk then—when she was clubbed to the ground by a customer after she displayed insufficient alacrity in surrendering the contents of her cash register drawer, but I’d never actually seen the thing.

Surprising: the pistol has a satisfying “heft” to it. A very substantial piece of kit (and I can imagine how painful it must have been to have been struck on the cranium with the grip of such a thing) that—I blush crimson to admit the very Americanness of this—feels satisfying, empowering, to grasp in my hand. By god, the next aggressive panhandler who approaches me had better look to his kneecaps!

Um, yeah. That way madness lies, or at least criminal charges. Still, although my first impulse upon discovering the weapon was to clutch my pearls and betake myself to the local police department (which, judging from recent news reports from other jurisdictions, might be just as likely to retail it out the back door) to surrender it like a good citizen, I’m thinking that things might be about to get pretty weird next year in post-Weimar Amerika. Maybe I’ll keep it for personal defense, or if only to make a quick end of myself should things go as severely south as they might over the next few years.

cordially,
Expand Edited by rcareaga Dec. 15, 2024, 10:51:13 PM EST
Expand Edited by rcareaga Dec. 16, 2024, 05:09:57 AM EST
Expand Edited by rcareaga Dec. 16, 2024, 12:47:17 PM EST
New Without touching on the politics of it at all ...
If you're going to keep it for any reason at all, make sure you've got whatever paperwork the Republic of Californistan requires; then take it to a range, have it inspected, and get some training on it.

That line about the most dangerous knife in a kitchen is the dull one, because it's unpredictable ... it goes for unfamiliar guns, too.
--

Drew
New Concur: Keep, but make sure it's OK. (Also, spello on WeimAr?)
New Typo, not spell-o. Fixed, thx.
New Correction. The most dangerous knife in the kitchen is...
...the falling one, because it has no handle.
New Get some training and range time.
Practice is everything with guns. But familiarity breeds contempt.

Every gun is loaded all the time, no exceptions.

Don’t point it at anything you don’t want to destroy (and anything behind the thing, too). Don’t put your finger on the trigger until you know you have a target you want to destroy (and anything behind the target).

You know. The usual.

But mainly get some range time. Target shooting can be a deeply satisfying thing, especially as you get better.
New You sure you want to keep it?
You know the odds go up that having a gun near you will mean it's used against you. Without training, someone will take it away from you unless you're willing to shoot them when they're about 6 ft away max. It's a lose-lose without serious training and experience.

And F that awareness of what's behind the target. If you're willing to pull the trigger to kill someone, that means your life is in enough danger that you're making a snap decision to save it. You don't live with anyone, you're not worried about kids hanging out. Fire till the clip is empty. Don't worry about what's behind.

I went through this process. I've found a couple guns in my life.

The first time was high stress. I was with a friend's mother's female friend and her daughter. The female friend was going through a bad divorce and I was simply there helping her clean out the house while the husband was supposedly away but could actually show up at any minute. I was 18 at the time.

The daughter was hot. Incredible skinny little redhead that had a keychain that said sex instructor. She wanted me. She was jailbait. Serious jailbait. Serious. Stay away.

But I hung out with this group for a few months and one day they said come help move.

So I did.

As we're cleaning stuff out, we come across a loaded gun. Am I sure? No. But none of us know enough about guns to do anything other than hide it or get rid of it. We do not want it there if the husband comes home.

So I, along with the hot little redhead because she knew the area, drove off into the Jersey pine barrens swamplands. She was guiding me. This was Jersey where if I was caught with this gun I would go to jail. Do not pass go.

BillyJoel came on the radio. Under pressure. Where the only thing that you feel are loaded guns in your face.

She pointed to a heavily wooded trail and had me drive my 77 Impala down it. This was a gray overcast day and it certainly felt like a bad movie about it end or begin.

At that point it became a matter of throwing it as hard as I could into a pond. Hoping there were no witnesses. With my fingerprints on it. Who knows who it killed. But it was gone, at least for a while.

The next time was when I bought the house in Trenton. We moved in and they missed cleaning out a linen closet. Under the linens was a box with a Taurus handgun. Along with a letter signed from the chief of the police authorizing its owner to use it. I was not the owner. I called the old guy and delivered the gun along with a few lamps that he had left behind. Again, I shouldn't have held it, I shouldn't have driven with it.
Expand Edited by crazy Dec. 16, 2024, 08:30:25 AM EST
New Sure? By no means.
What surprised me, as I mentioned, was how oddly satisfying it felt to heft the weapon (so heavy, so substantial for its compact size), and also, unbidden, the all but subliminal sensation of yeah, next clown tries to fuck with me is going to get his hash settled, stat! Made me understand the gun-fondler mindset a little better. Of course, in the half century in which I’ve dwelt in Oakland thousands of heat-packing men with that same attitude* have found themselves briefly guests at the county coroner’s office downtown.

Should I decide to hang onto the weapon, I will certainly ascertain whether it is actually functional and may be discharged without hazard to the operator, and undertake to train in its use. Your comment, to be sure, includes a couple of points that might militate against its continued possession.

*See next comment

cordially,

“iverjohnson”/
New “Night courage”
Har!

“courage”/
New Lots of superlatives in that last paragraph.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New My favorite uncle was a Life Member of the NRA.
Had lots of handguns, rifles, shotguns. And a 3 pounder cannon.

Reloaded his own shotgun shells (I helped him once).

He almost killed himself (luckily the bullet just grazed his index finger) once when he was cleaning his rifles and a rifle that he was sure was unloaded actually wasn't...

:-/

One summer during college I visited him and he took me and a friend out to shoot his handguns at a friend of his farm in the country where they had a backstop made of railroad ties.

44 Magnum, 45, and a few other things.

We had hearing protection, so I don't know how loud they were.

Yeah, they're big, heavy, well-balanced machines. And one can see the appeal.

But, man, are they dangerous!

We were maybe 50 feet from the backstop? I shot the 44 and the slug came flying back at us and landed at my feet. It was all mangled and spread out into a jagged sculpture maybe 2" wide. We backed up another 10-20 feet.

I shot another gun and once nothing happened. Pulled the trigger again, nothing. My uncle very carefully took the gun from my hand and unloaded it and we buried the dud shell. I don't know how common delayed explosions are and am very glad we didn't find out.

And we heard later that his friends' parents were upset because our shots were flying over the backstop and coming close to their house (apparently because the gun sights weren't "dialed in")....

And that was just an hour or so in the country with a guy who knew what he was doing!

Be careful, please. :-)

Best wishes,
Scott.
New I once tried to ricoshet . . .
. . a bullet from my FN49 off a flat rock (out in the middle nowhere, of course). Even at a very shallow angle the velocity was so high the bullet and a bit of rock just turned to powder. 7mm full load machine gun rounds.
New 15 metres from the target is waaaaaay too close for large calibre pistols
I can hear the wailing and gnashing of my old gun clubs rangemaster’s teeth from here!
New Yes, but ...
If I'm training for home defense, there's no place in my house where I'd be aiming at something more than 5-6 meters away.
--

Drew
New Large calibre handguns are also no good for that, iirc
Too much penetration - you’ve a decent chance of missing your evildoer and accidentally shooting your neighbour instead.

9mm, or a shotgun, are better choices - each with their pros/cons re: power, handling, accuracy, etc.
New Shotgun is the only thing for amateurs
Like me.

And if you're wimpy about it, you can put rock salt in them.
New That's an ammo problem
You want the stuff they give air marshals. Breaks up on impact, makes a right mess of people, but won't go through the airframe. (Theoretically.) Also probably super expensive. I mean, it was too expensive to practice with back when regular rounds were cheap.
--

Drew
New rules about guns
dont pull it out unless you are going to shoot it.
Dont shoot unless you are willing to shoot to kill
that and practice
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
     Talk about “hardware” - (rcareaga) - (17)
         Without touching on the politics of it at all ... - (drook) - (3)
             Concur: Keep, but make sure it's OK. (Also, spello on WeimAr?) -NT - (CRConrad) - (1)
                 Typo, not spell-o. Fixed, thx. -NT - (rcareaga)
             Correction. The most dangerous knife in the kitchen is... - (pwhysall)
         Get some training and range time. - (pwhysall)
         You sure you want to keep it? - (crazy) - (10)
             Sure? By no means. - (rcareaga) - (9)
                 “Night courage” - (rcareaga) - (1)
                     Lots of superlatives in that last paragraph. -NT - (malraux)
                 My favorite uncle was a Life Member of the NRA. - (Another Scott) - (6)
                     I once tried to ricoshet . . . - (Andrew Grygus)
                     15 metres from the target is waaaaaay too close for large calibre pistols - (pwhysall) - (4)
                         Yes, but ... - (drook) - (3)
                             Large calibre handguns are also no good for that, iirc - (pwhysall) - (2)
                                 Shotgun is the only thing for amateurs - (crazy)
                                 That's an ammo problem - (drook)
         rules about guns - (boxley)

Like a flaming ant farm, only less organized.
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