Category: The Gun Thing

Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them

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Anti-Gun Nannies, The Gun Thing

It is a well-known fact of sales and advertising is that if you want to create demand for a product, you show it, extol its features and wonders, and then say, “…but you can’t have it.”

I have a similar reaction to a product when someone might want to prevent me from owning it:  I get one.

Longtime Readers will be only too familiar with my attitude towards the AR-15 poodleshooter and its varmint ammo — the executive summary would be that I despise the frigging things.

However, the more that the anti-gun brigade wants to ban them as eeeevil assault rifles (“only the military”, “designed not to hunt but to kill humans” etc. etc. etc.), the more I think that every American citizen should own one (or more, as the urge takes).

Which is a long way of saying that I am really, really glad that I now have one:  not because of any love I may have for the thing, but because now that I own one, I’m never going to give it up to any government agency, no matter what laws or restrictions the government may pass to make them illegal.

Were the Nanny Hoplophobe Set not so keen on banning them, I wouldn’t own one in a month of Sundays, because let’s just say that I might happen to have alternatives that I would consider far more effective in the AR-15’s purpose.

But regardless, I’m glad that I have a poodleshooter… simply because some asshole doesn’t want me to own one.

And it appears that as many as 15 million Americans feel the same way that I do — and very many likely for the same reason.

So while news items like this are very welcome, we sure as hell don’t need to have some super-lawyers (e.g. the USSC) explain the Second Amendment to us.  We know what it means, regardless of what they think or how carefully they may parse penumbral meanings out of the Constitution.

As for the would-be gun-banning types:  FOAD.

Liquidation

The Gun Thing

I believe it was Reader GT3Ted who said:  “I need another .22 rifle like I need another wife,” and I can certainly see his point.

However:  I have seen a .22 rifle that I absolutely must have — I think pretty much all y’all are familiar with the feeling — BUT I cannot afford it.  And there is literally no room left in  the Ark  Ye Olde Gunne Sayffe.

So out they go.  I’m offering these two as a package deal:

Marlin 880SQ (.22 LR)

…and its companion:

Marlin 882SV (.22 Win Mag)

And together:

Scopes, bipods and sundry spare mags are included.  All will be shipped in a hard case.

Now the sales pitch, for those not familiar with their story.  As equipped and shown, these are both one-hole rifles — I’ve found that CCI Mini-Mag / Maxi-Mag 40gr solids work best — and while I’ve moaned about their triggers before, Combat Controller put it thus:  “FFS Kim, they are one-hole rifles.  How much smaller do you want to make the hole?” (or something like that).

I’d rather not split them up, because then shipping costs get ugly.

Price for the package:  $500 plus shipping.

Reply via email, please, and we can make arrangements.

And once that is taken care of, I’ll tell you about the rifle that will replace them.

Get Busy

Anti-Gun Nannies, Politics, Rights, The Gun Thing

Here’s something I can only describe as a wake-up call:

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R) is leading a coalition of GOP House members urging President Donald Trump to pick an Attorney-General who will “immediately” wipe away Biden-era ATF gun controls.  Clyde and 32 other House members signed an April 21, 2026, letter, asking Trump to choose and A-G who will “immediately cease enforcement of Biden-era gun rules and secure permanent – not temporary – relief.”

Yes, yes, and again yes.

I’m getting heartily sick of a Department of [alleged] Justice which pays lip service to the Constitution — and especially to the Second Amendment — but either fails to redress wrongs through inaction or by continuing to slavishly enforce older regulations which tramp all over the Founding Document.

Clyde and his colleagues also ask Trump to choose an A-G who will reform and clean house at the ATF. They view this task as including:

    • Purging the ATF of gun-grabbing bureaucrats;
    • Opposing any effort to create, operate, or maintain a federal firearms registry in any form;
    • Stopping the ATF’s release of sensitive firearm trace data in violation of the Tiahrt Amendment*;
    • Shutting down and deleting the ATF’s illegal, searchable gun registry known as the Out-of-Business Records Imaging System (OBRIS); and
    • Reducing NFA application processing times.

That “purging the ATF of gun-grabbing bureaucrats” should only be a precursor to moving the A and T part back to the Treasury (where it belongs), and a complete deletion of the F, because fuck them.

Clyde and his colleagues pointed to the support Trump received from gun owners during the November 2024 elections, suggesting he should now support them as they supported him: “Mr. President, American gun owners have been some of your most loyal and enthusiastic voters. They delivered for you at the ballot box, and they deserve to see their constitutional rights respected in return.

“The roadmap above requires no new legislation – it only requires leadership, will-power, and a Department of Justice that is genuinely committed to your agenda rather than protecting its own institutional inaction.”

Clearly, ex-AG Blondie wasn’t up to the job.  If I were Trump, I’d make Alan Gottlieb (of the Second Amendment Foundation) the AG, let him clean the place out for (say) two years, and then let him get back to doing his proper job at SAF.

Frankly, I don’t actually care what Trump does.  What I want is for the DOfuckingJ to stop harassing gun owners and go after the real criminals.  And to do it quickly.  If DJT can achieve that with his choice of Blondie’s replacement, so much the better.

*The Tiahrt Amendment is a provision of the U.S. Department of Justice 2003 appropriations bill that prohibits the National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation. This precludes gun trace data from being used in academic research of gun use in crime.  Additionally, the law blocks any data legally released from being admissible in civil lawsuits against gun sellers or manufacturers.

Kicking His (Gr)Ass Blue

Anti-Gun Nannies, Resistance, The Gun Thing

Let’s hear it for the Kentucky state legislature:

When Democrat Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently vetoed two pro-gun measures, lawful gun owners in the Bluegrass State were hopeful that pro-gun lawmakers in the state legislature could garner enough votes for an override.

Gov. Beshear vetoed House Bill 78, which would provide critical liability protections for firearm industry members against third-party misuse of the products they manufacture and sell, and House Bill 312, which would create a provisional concealed carry permit for lawful young adults ages 18, 19, and 20.

On April 14, the state legislature convened for a veto override session and successfully overrode both measures. The override vote totals for HB 78 were 80-19 in the House and 31-6 in the Senate, while HB 312 was overridden by 81-to-18 and 28-to-9 margins.

I still can’t understand how the Bluegrass State ever came to elect a Democrat governor in the first place, but as long as the voters keep the legislature in line with solid conservative majorities, we should be okay.  (“We” in this case being Kentucky gun owners, with whom I share a deep and lasting bond through my Readers.)

Would that all states could be this way:  as a country, we’d be in far better shape.  (And by “we”, in this case, I mean everybody and not just gun owners)

Gun Lust

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

At my age, and given the number of guns I’ve a.) shot and b.) owned, you’d think that I’d be immune to gun lust by now.  And to a large degree, I am.  Certainly, I’m no longer seduced by a pretty gun like this vintage Purdey Hammer gun (because Purdey co$$$$t):

…and for purely cost:quality criteria, I would be more likely to go for something like this Chapuis Chapeur Classic (Classique?):

…which runs for under $5,000 and gives me a balance between looks and utility, rather than a super-budget CZ Bobwhite:

…which sells for under $800, still has all the features I want (splinter/English stock, double triggers, etc.) but would probably not provide the same stirring of the loins when I opened up Ye Olde Gunne Sayffe.

Leaving aside all mention of Purdeys and their ilk, one asks the question:  is the Chapuis a better gun than the CZ?  Answer:  probably, and certainly in terms of workmanship (hand-built vs. Turkish assembly line), yes.

Next question:  is the Chapuis six times better than the CZ?  Answer:  probably not.

The only time this becomes a more interesting question is if one wonders whether such a decision (upgrading to a more expensive gun) would improve one’s score / performance.

And here I turn again to Jonny Carter, who talks shotguns with ace shotgunner Anthony Matarese Jr., multiple-times world- and U.S. champion shooter.

Most of the things I once thought critical to shotgun shooting performance (e.g. locktime and trigger) turn out to be, well, not that critical, according to the (again:) multiple-times world- and U.S. champion shooter.

Go ahead and watch it (20-odd minutes), and prepare to be surprised.

Close Enough For Government Work

Gratuitous Gun Pics

We gun owners often  waste our time  talk earnestly about the concept known as the “BBQ gun” (or “Governor’s BBQ gun”).  In essence, this would be a nice-looking, quality handgun that would “show well” in a fancy holster — in other words, a description that no gun named “Glock” could ever satisfy.

Of course, people will suggest something like a shiny nickel Colt Single Action Army (Peacemaker) as the sine qua non:

…and I would be the last to disagree with that, to be sure, because it’s as pretty as a picture and would make a fine addition to one’s formal attire.

However, there are a few drawbacks to this, from a practical perspective.  Firstly, there’s the price… yikes, and that’s for a new manufacture.  Step back to a First Generation piece and well, you don’t wanna know.  Next, we all know that while the SAA shoots the manly .45 Long Colt, as a self-defense gun it’s not what we’d call an optimal choice in terms of both capacity (6) and reloading speed (measured in geological time by comparison to the usual self-defense choices).

But that doesn’t matter because this is a “dress” gun — one could even be unkind and say it’s “ornamental”.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course;  thinking from a girlie perspective, a pair of sexy Christian Louboutin shoes might be a perfect choice for the Governor’s BBQ Party, much less so for hiking in the mountains.

So getting back to the gun thing:  all this was brought to mind when I got the latest sales promotion from the kids at Palmetto State Armory, which featured this:

Granted, this might be a little too show-offy for some (it certainly is for me), but you can’t deny that it’s not the worst-looking handgun you could carry on your hip at said event.  Certainly, it’s more affordable than the nickel SAA above — like 10% of the SAA’s price — and yes I know, cheap guns don’t always make the very best choice for self-defense.  But remember, the main thing about a BBQ gun is that it looks good on a formal occasion, not necessarily that it works that well as a self-defense piece.

See where I’m going, here?  Discuss.