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Legal Oddity

Rights, The Gun Thing

When I first started looking to buy  gun, (very) shortly after I arrived here in the md-1980s, I was astounded to learn that while I could buy any long gun from an out-of-state Merchant Of Death, I could not buy a handgun in such fashion.

It made no sense to me back then, and it has never done so since, especially as the stupid NCIS-check thing (which has to be carried out before even buying a gun from an FFL in your home state) seems to make the whole issue a moot point.

Well then, lookee here:

The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) is taking on the federal ban on interstate handgun sales in their latest lawsuit. The filing is titled Elite Precision Customs v. ATF. Industry notables Tim Herron and Freddie Blish are plaintiffs alongside the FPC and Elite Precision, which is an FFL based out of Mansfield, Texas.

The federal ban makes it illegal for Herron or Blish, both of whom travel quite a bit for work, to purchase a handgun directly from Elite Precision Customs when they’re in Texas. Under current law, a handgun has to be shipped to a FFL in the buyer’s home state where the background check will be completed. If the ban can be successfully challenged, it would make it possible for people to purchase handguns directly from brick-and-mortar FFLs while visiting states in which they don’t reside.

Well, I don’t agree with the whole NCIS check thing at all anyway, but I would love to swing by a mom ‘n pop pawn shop or gun store in my travels, and pick up a handgun which caught my fancy.  (I actually stumbled on one such situation somewhere in Arizona, many years ago;  it was a peach of a 3rd Generation Colt Peacemaker, and the price was about three-quarters of what I’d expect to pay in Texas.  But noooo…)

Strikes me that if a federal law states that I need to have my ass checked before buying a gun anywhere, that a handgun should be treated no differently from, say, a shotgun.

But that would mean applying logic to Gummint — and that right there is a non-starter.  Silly me.

The Bard, Updated

Good Stuff

From Richard III:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this Donald Trump;

Honestly, everything that the God-Emperor has done over the past couple days has had me giggling like a schoolgirl.

Out of the WHO? — check
No more Paris Climate Accord? — check
Eliminate birthright citizenship? — check
Sends fed (non-)workers back to the office? — check
End federal government affirmative action? — check
Toss out the anti-gunners? — check
Pardon the J6ers? — check
Fuck this DEI bullshit? — check
Ditto the Pride bullshit? — check
Take away security clearances from the unworthy? — check

…and so on.

Even better is that his capos  (Rubio, Homan) are likewise kicking butt (they already have the names;  they don’t need to take them).  Gawd knows what will happen when Pete Hegseth gets to Defense and Pam Bondi to the DOJ… but personally, I can’t wait.

Not just all the above, but the media and other socialist scum are running around with their hair on fire, which is immensely satisfying.

I need a cigarette… and I don’t even smoke.

But THEY are.

Please, sir:  can I have some more?

A Taste Of Nock

Albert J. Nock, Deep Thoughts

I could call this the Quote Of The Day, but I think I’ll just start a category entitled as above, because Albert J. Nock should be required reading in schools, let alone on a small blog like this.  Fat chance of the former happening, however, when you get impious thoughts like this:

“Refrain from using the word Bolshevism, or Fascism, Hitlerism, Marxism, Communism, and you have no troubles getting acceptance for the principle that underlies them all alike — the principle that the State is everything, and the individual nothing.”  — Journal.

Which reminds me:  I need to schedule a meeting with my tax preparer.

My Choice

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Met up with Reader Jim and his lovely wife at the range yesterday at the Real New Year’s Day Shoot, and learned something  — or rather, re-discovered something.

You see, Jim’s wife had only recently started shooting, and her handgun was a compact HK 9mm with a green-dot sight.  It was shooting rather low for her, and at first I put it down to her flinch (which was quite severe;  clearly, even the mild recoil of the 9mm out of the diminutive HK was a little much for her).  I should note that she is a petite woman, and thus, I thought, the flinch.

But when I popped a few out of the HK, it still held low;  so I adjusted the sight upwards for her until it fired into the desired area.  That problem was solved, but she was still shooting a little low, and that was definitely the flinch.

So I invited her to shoot a few rounds out of my Buckmark:

…and the results were immediate, and very gratifying:  once she’d got used to the trigger, she was putting all ten rounds into a 3″ group, not once, but several times, with absolutely no flinch.  (Yup, it’s strange how much fun shooting a .22 pistol can be, huh?)

I therefore made a mild suggestion to Reader Jim that he purchase her a Buckmark to play with, and once I let go his arm and he stopped screaming with pain, he agreed that this would be A Good Thing.  (Okay, I’m lying;  he agreed immediately, with absolutely no hesitation, and a big grin on his face.)

Here’s a lesson to everyone:  if you’re going to teach someone to shoot handguns, let their first shots be out of a .22 pistol — Browning Buckmark, Ruger Mk IV, whatever — because shooting should be first and foremost a lot of fun, and you’re not going to pick up bad habits (e.g. a flinch) when shooting the .22 LR cartridge.

“So which one would you recommend, Kim?”

It’s all personal, of course.  But I’d recommend the Browning Buckmark — to be specific, this one, the Standard:


…but if Madame prefers something still lighter, there’s the Camper with its alloy barrel-sleeve:

I would stay away from the Micro, because even though it weighs next to nothing, it’s really difficult to shoot accurately at any distance past 20 feet with that lil’ shorty barrel:

Of course, you can go pretty, like with the Medallion:

…and for those of the red-dot persuasion there are these options (among many):

(For what it’s worth, this last — the Medallion Rosewood — is the one I’m lusting after, but as we speak it runs well over $800 including the scope, so I have to decide which gun I want to sell/trade to get it.  Also, it’s quite heavy — speaking for women in general — but the longer, heavier barrel makes for astounding accuracy.)

“So what about Ruger?”

There’s nothing wrong with the Ruger, specifically the Mark IV.  Here’s the Standard:

…the Target:

…and for those who would prefer less rake on the grip, the 22/45:

…which has an advantage in that it comes in a variety of girly-type colors:

 

And just so we are all on the same page, so to speak, I prefer the MkIV over all other Ruger .22 pistols because for the first time evvah it’s possible to field-strip and clean a Ruger .22 pistol without needing a third hand.  (In fact, the MkIV is easier to clean than the Buckmark, for that matter.)

And I know, cleaning the guns is typically the job of hubby / boyfriend, so this is not a little thing.  (If the woman in your life insists on cleaning her own gun, by the way, hold onto her with hoops of steel because she’s the rarest of all breeds.)

The only reason I still prefer the Buckmark over the Ruger in general is that the Buckmark’s trigger is miles better than the Ruger’s, in fact it’s better than just about any pistol ever made, including the 1911.

And of course there are jillions of other .22 pistols extant, so be my guest.  But unless Milady wants to go all historical / nostalgic with a Colt Woodsman:


…I’d stick to the above two brands.

Oh, and single-action is better than double, because the squeeze is easier for a first-time shooter.

All comments, of course, are welcome.

One final thought:  I’ve personally owned just about every variant of Buckmark and Ruger before, and fired a huge number of other .22 pistols (Walther, SIG, S&W etc.), and that’s why I pick the above two over all of them.  I will confess, however, to having no experience with the S&W SW22 Victory model, but I will happily hear stories thereof.