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Returning to controlled commenting

July 4th, 2008

When this weblog was established, a very modest form of security was imposed: anyone wishing to post or comment would be required to register as a user and log in before contributing.

Eventually, the Phantom’s stubborn democratic tendencies demanded that this limitation be lifted, so it was.

We have learned the reason for such a limitation: in one 24-hour period, the blog was hit by 175 “comments” filed by an Internet pharmaceutical seller. These “comments” have been marked as “spam” and the former limitation on access is being restored.

We apologize for this surrender to the realities of the Web.

We do get customers

July 4th, 2008

Fr Alex was in on the 3rd, closing out his three lay-aways. With all the paperwork, a small stack of customers developed, including one man who had a cultural problem with Western traditions of waiting one’s turn.

While waiting on Fr Alex, I made a stop at the Lay-Away Handgun cabinet and stacked his purchases, preparing to carry them to the counter where Fr Alex was finishing the paperwork. This other man then asked me to show him one of Fr Alex’s guns. I was later told that the boss had already asked the man to wait, and told him that we would wait on him presently. I simply told him “I’m sorry, I’m busy” and took the stack of purchases back to the counter.

The man was not pleased, and made some remark about going somewhere else where they weren’t so busy. I won’t pretend I’m not sorry he left: I’ll come right out and declare I wasn’t sorry.

Every now and then, we are visited by newcomers to the United States who not only know nothing about American culture - they’re making no effort to learn about it - because they don’t care about anyone else’s culture.

In the United States, most of us grow up with an understanding of basic queueing theory: everyone gets a turn - but everyone waits his turn. In American retail, there’s another tradition: sold merchandise is not automatically available for examination by other customers. A salesman may decide to use it that way, but the choice is his - he is under no obligation to do so.

Immigrants really need to learn another new habit, if their native cultures don’t include it: respect for the host culture. After all, if you’re moving here - you’d damned-well better resign yourself to learning to fit in - unless you want to be a permanent object of suspicion and distrust.

All contributions gratefully received…

June 28th, 2008

Had an interesting question today -

Fr Chazz the Mark was picking up his noisemaker, today and he offhanded “Expecting a pick-up in business, now, with the Supreme Court’s ruling?”

After a moment, I closed my mouth - I hadn’t even reflected on that ramification - and thought - “Well - what would a moderately intelligent mammal expect?”

So I have to ask - what’s your answer?

(Responses in cash preferred, plastic OK, checks with prior management approval…. :-)

District of Columbia v. Heller

June 26th, 2008

Rejoice!

Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States has had an opportunity to explain the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States - and took it - and ruled as it must.

First and best, the Court explained to those of limited grammatical skills that the first thirteen words of the Second Amendment do not limit the rest of the Amendment in any way, shape, or form: they simply offer but one reason for the existence of the Amendment. There is no necessary grammatical connection between the two sections, and, were the first thirteen words eliminated, had they never been included - the meaning of the the Amendment would not change.

Second, as a result, no formal military experience or membership is required before the people acquire their right to keep and bear arms: it is a native right, theirs at birth, a natural corollary of their right to life. What good is a right to life without a right to defend that life and that right?

I was going to print a copy of the Opinion - as well as copies of the two dissenting Opinions - but (a) my copy of Adobe Reader can’t handle the copy on the SCOTUS website, and (b) either my computer or my dial-up connection (or both) cannot handle printing the HTML copy on FindLaw - so a full discussion of the Court’s Opinion must wait.

I did want to speculate, briefly, on how the national socialist cities and states, such as Chicago and Wisconsin, where civil rights relating to defense of one’s life are so largely ignored, will react to D.C. v. Heller; the reaction of Morton Grove, Illinois, in particular, would be interesting.

A continuing source of problems will reside in any concession by the Court that local, state, and federal regulations on manufacture, shipment, sales, and ownership comply in any way with the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment states explicitly, as it must, that searches and seizures must be “reasonable” - there is NO such statement in the Second Amendment; it does not state

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be unreasonably infringed.

The word “infringed” is not qualified, in the Amendment: that means that no infringement is constitutionally permissible. No licenses, no permits, no fees, no taxes, no lists, no bans, no nothing. If I stick a gun in your face and take your stuff, I can be punished (if caught) for assault and for theft. Before I stick anything in your face, though, I cannot - constitutionally - be required to undergo a background check or to obtain a permit to purchase, to trot down to city hall to register, to pay any except sales taxes, to be limited in my purchases by any list of approved arms… “shall not be infringed”. Look it up, it’s not that hard to understand.

‘nough said.

Until later.

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Out of the Pink

June 24th, 2008

Pink frames.

Pink grips.

Pink “camouflage” composite stocks.

Excuse me for a moment, brothers; I’d like to devote the next few dozen words to our sisters -

Do any of you feel insulted by any of this pink crap? Good God, I have a dick and I’m insulted!

I’m reminded of all of the guys (and benighted daughters of Eve!) who come in to The Shop and ask for “a woman’s gun”!

OK, let’s see: a woman’s problems are generally bigger than she is, so - I guess a woman’s gun would be a .44 Special, a .45 Colt, or a .45 ACP - right? I mean, most of the problems a woman encounters that require a gun are men - right? OK, from now on, we only sell the major artillery to women

Point one. I do not recognize guns as toys.

Point two. I do not recognize guns as jewellry, nor as any other sort of fashion accessory.

Guns are power tools - the tools of power. No woman ever need fear a man if she is adequately armed.

“Pink” does not contribute to armament. Moreover, sisters - if you are threatened with grave bodily injury or worse and you pull out a pink gun - well, why bother?

There is one rationale and only one rationale I can conceive for this idiotic notion, and I will personally buy the first sister to point out this rationale, a box of her favorite hollowpoints. To be precise, I have conceived of a possible rationale, and the first sister who knows what that rationale is has a box of gunfood coming. Applications should be made in person, by telephone, or e-mail, to Brother Eric, here at The Shop.

We buy guns.

June 18th, 2008

We had a visit from a couple of ladies, recently, who had no realistic idea of the possibilities in converting material assets into cash. They had an unrealistic idea of the value of the guns they offered, in other words. They probably won’t see this, but it may help someone else, in future, should they need to sell a gun.

I realize that the makes and models are very specific; I’ll try to keep to principles, rather than specific, limited cases.

First gun: Browning .22LR semi-automatic rifle.

This model was first made in Belgium, by Fabrique Nationale, in 1956; production was suspended in 1974. A Grade I (basic, nice gun) with the original box and clutter should be worth upwards of $775 according to the Blue Book of Gun Values: that’s the first point I need to make. A reputable dealer, in front of the prospective seller or not, generally works from the BBoGV - not because it is infallible - but because it is objective - anyone in the country can consult it and come up with the same values.

Now, that $775 figure assumes that the gun is unfired and unblemished. If the original box had been missing, the gun would be worth $50 less. Second point (which will arise again later) is that minor points can change values noticeably.

In 1976, production of the Browning semi-auto resumed at Miroku, in Japan. And a 100%-condition gun from Miroku is only worth - at best - about $445 - $330 less! And all “they” did was to move production to Japan! Well, collectors can be funny guys - and, without a collector raising the bar, your Browning .22 semi-auto is a pretty shooter - value, about $150. A Marlin 60 would be more valuable, since - well, who cares if he nicks the beechwood stock of a Marlin?

That $445 is retail, of course - but anyone trying to sell a used gun to a dealer is in the same position as a distributor of new guns and should only expect the wholesale value - which is roughly 50% of retail. So your Japanese Browning is worth about $200 - $220 to an honest dealer.

Second gun: Remington 870 Express 12 ga. combo.

Still in production - but with a deer barrel equipped with a cantilever scope mount - so, if your gun ain’t got it (it didn’t), its shooter value plummets. 100%-condition value of the combo with the cantilever mount is $465; we’ll scratch our heads and allow a retail value of $375 for an unfired combo, in the original box. Wholesale? $175, most likely.

Third gun: Mossberg 500, .410 bore.

The Blue Book says a .410 500, unfired, in the box, is worth about $250 retail. Had it been the youth (”Bantam”) model, that would drop to $188. Wholesale on a $250 gun, of course, is $125 at most. Without the box…

“Wait a minute,” she says, “a man at another shop I was at earlier said the Mossberg was worth $795 -”

“Why didn’t you sell it to him?”

“Well, he wasn’t offering $795 -”

“Well, talk is cheap, isn’t it? Did he quote an authority? Or did he reminisce about a GunBroker sale?”

Just remember: unless you’re looking at Ended Auctions, the prices on GunBroker are for guns no one has bought yet - and, thus, may be totally unrealistic.

Those are a few things you need to remember when trying to sell a gun to a dealer: get objective quotes, remember the difference between retail and wholesale, discount stories about Internet (and gunshow!) prices unless you know the gun sold at that price.

One more thing: seasons affect prices - and the current state of the economy is even worse on offers: figure any offer is going to be lower than it might have been 5 years ago!

To the Editor, NRA member magazines

June 18th, 2008

When, exactly, was Wiley Clapp hired by Sturm, Ruger & Co.?

I received my issue of The American Rifleman today and read Mr Clapp’s article on the LCP with avid interest. He would have had an opportunity to fire the pistol and, thus, would be able to answer the question many of my customers have asked:

“How does the LCP compare with the Kel-Tec P-3AT?”

(frogs and crickets)

What? Nothing from Mr Clapp about the relative accuracy? Recoil manageability?

What? NOTHING?!

Reading Mr Clapp, one could be forgiven for believing no gun manufacturer with a name beginning with “K” even existed!

I’m confident that no significant size differential between the two pistols exists; further, I am equally confident that no significant weight differential exists. Mr Clapp doesn’t say, though.

For six years, now, Kel-Tec CNC has been making the smallest/lightest .380 on the market - sorry, Wiley Clapp never heard of it - never fired it - never accidentally caught sight of one in another gun magazine.

Ever since its foundation, Sturm, Ruger & Co. has steadfastly ignored the concealed-carry market - I’m sorry, the SP-101 is no better a concealed-carry gun than a J-frame (or even a 2″ round-butt K-frame) and is heavier and bulkier to boot - and as far as light guns are concerned - !

So, naturally, once their founder (and marketing obstacle) is dead, they copy the smallest/lightest .380 on the market and Wiley Clapp can’t even do Kel-Tec the honor of recognising their product as a standard of comparison!

Whore!

Out of my head

June 17th, 2008

What do the following sixteen words have in common? What don’t they share?

  1. Although
  2. Bough
  3. Cough
  4. Dough
  5. Doughty
  6. Enough
  7. Gough
  8. Hough
  9. Lough
  10. Nought
  11. Ought
  12. Rough
  13. Sough
  14. Tough
  15. Though
  16. Thought
  17. Through

All right, make that “seventeen”.

Simple - right? All seventeen use the letters “ough” - and those letters are pronounced seven different ways!

English really sucks, as a language - doesn’t it?

Well, it’s actually like Michigan weather: if there’s a language you like better, just wait a bit: English contains so many words borrowed from other languages that almost anyone should be able to find something to like!

Most of the seventeen date back to the period in history when Catholic monks were trying to record ”barbarian” languages in the Roman (Latin) alphabet - but the barbarians continually insisted on using sounds that Latin simply lacked. Throw in the lack of orthographic standardization at the time -

The WHAT?!

Sorry. Standardized spelling had to wait for mechanical printing - about half a millennium after the good monks did their work. Thus seven different ways to pronounce “ough” - because it was used to represent seven different sounds!

Enough!  :grin:

Lest ye be Judged

June 17th, 2008

Now that a Taurus Judge has finally found its way to The Shop, I’ve been able to check ammunition applicability and - if you buy (or have bought) one of these revolvers, be careful of the shotshells you buy.

First, if you load a 3″ shell, it will protrude from the front of the cylinder. This will prevent the cylinder from turning. Oops.

Second, if you load a conventional crimped plastic (or paper) 2¾” shell, it will fit - until you fire and blow the crimp out. This may very well protrude from the front of the cylinder and, presently, tie it up. Not good. The Russians load a genuine high-brass (actually, all brass-coated-steel) 2¾” shell - so it has no crimp to blow out. Even better, their line of all-”brass” 2¾” shells include a #4 buck load. Heh, heh, heh…

The gun is actually designed for 2½” shells - but this limits one to slugs, 6s, 7½s, 8s, 9s, and some expensive 4s from Remington Extreme Long Range.

Taurus is rumored to be working on a new version of the Judge that will work with 3″ shells. Stay tuned… 

p.s. With care, two 2¾” shotshells can be used with 3 rounds of .45 Colt. Load the 3 metallic cartridges first, followed by the shotshells. This way, when the crimps blow out, they will be in the arc of the cylinder outside the window of the frame, and not tie up the cylinder. Of course, such Dutch loads tend to be unpopular with courts, since they could be construed to imply a measure of premeditation.

le Roi de le merde de poule

June 13th, 2008

Who is the king of chicken-shit?

Yesterday, we received a letter (and other printed matter) from the state of Kalifornia. Seems they’re not happy with the way that federally-licensed gun dealers have been shipping guns to the Land That Thyme Forgot.

Beginning in July, any firearms being shipped to a federally-licensed firearms dealer in the PRC must be accompanied by a Firearms Shipment Approval Letter. This document, uniquely numbered, must be obtained by the shipping dealer; several possible methods (mail, on line, etc.) are listed in the documents that accompanied the letter we received.

If you have a Curio & Relic License, you are not licensed to deal in firearms, so this does not apply to any guns you ship to dealers in the PRC.

If you are a private citizen, you are not federally licensed, so this does not apply to any guns you personally ship to dealers in the PRC.

If you want Wessel Gun Shop, Inc. to ship one or more firearms to a dealer in the PRC, we will be happy to accommodate you - at a 100% surcharge. If the normal shipping cost would be $35, we will charge you $70.

Why is the People’s Republic of California doing this? They did not deign to share that information with us - but we can guess.

Attention, old farts!

June 11th, 2008

And any old fart (you know who you are) who goes gun shopping fewer than once a month can scroll to the next essay.

Come on, guys: if you go gun shopping with any regularity, pay a visit to your favorite tool department and pick up the skinniest, smallest flashlight Mag makes. I think it may be called the Solitaire, but I won’t guarantee it. If you find a tiny Maglite that takes AAA power cells, you’ve found the one I’m suggesting you buy.

Why do you want this?

So you don’t have to borrow my bore light!

Come on - this is what being a Boy Scout is all about: being prepared! The light I’m talking about is really inexpensive and, despite lacking a LED bulb, it’s quite bright enough for most barrels. If you try it on a long-barrelled used rifle and you don’t see light - pass the gun up: the bore is for shit.

“But wouldn’t a real bore light be better?”

HELL, YES!

But if you can’t spare the time or money for a trip to your friendly neighborhood sink of depravity - excuse me, tool department - how do you expect to afford a gun? And if you’re not really planning on buying a gun - why do you need my bore-light?

(I got mine - a fiber-optic-based model with a flexible neck - out of the Brownell’s catalog. I bet it’s available on their website, too - if the Internet isn’t too modern for you.)

An open letter to the gun industry

June 4th, 2008

When the Tyrant Lincoln decided to rape the southern states back into line, his army discovered something: the young men of the Union weren’t very good shots.

This discovery eventually led to the establishment, in 1871, of the National Rifle Association, founded by former Union Army officers.

The years that followed the War Between the States were much more violent than the years before it: the federal government, no longer accountable to anyone, began making war on every easy target it could find, stealing a colony here, a colony there, keeping the United States Army busy - and a ready market for a young man who could shoot and wasn’t too choosy about the targets offered to him. The Army overseas, hunting and the NRA at home - marksmanship flourished until The Great War, when the public at large was reminded what a dead son looks like - or, worse, what a living son with a crutch and a stump looks like.

Shooting’s recent loss of good aroma has more causes: for instance, think of all the innocents killed because they were concentrated in places where the law-abiding were not permitted to armed.

Here, at The Shop, we continually meet gun shoppers who barely recognize a muzzle, let alone know enough to keep their fingers off the trigger. Who is now teaching the young?

I remember all of the people who wanted to know how to make contact with the “local chapter” of the NRA, so they could make arrangements for lessons, or find classes. NRA has never had “local chapters”: maybe the market is ready for an organization - or a company - that will fill this hole.

Whaddaya think?