Boston Globe- "A semiautomatic, sir, and pass the ammo"

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/05/10/a_semiautomatic_sir_and_pass_the_ammo/



This being Massachusetts, many (if not most) of these new gun buyers are Democrats.
Wonder how this will be spun?

The comments section is heartening. Here's my favorite:

I just recently bought a new rifle because of, amongst other things, concerns about Republicans.

the boonies where we have the occasional rabid raccoon, opossum, or other critter that gets into the garden or could harm my aide dog. We have also had poachers shooting with in 100 feet of the house.
The main reason was the small, but real fear of rabid republicans that hate gay folks.

Never yet had to deal with any seriously threatening animals, but I didn't want to be in that position with only having the short range of my shotgun to work with. Shooting a rabid animal from 50 feet is about 200 feet too close for my taste. But self-defense was a major consideration, as I'm a publicly known Dem living in a VERY Republican area.

I've seen JaredN's stuff before; no surprise he would try to pull-start that ol' racial law mower sitting all these years in the shed -- "damn thing worked great back in '68." Eldridge Cleaver made some remarks about that stuff, back then.

He was countering a (now-deleted) comment by explaining the diversity of the membership of his gun club.

To which I would add: Good on you, Jared. And good for them.

I bought most of my serious guns - separate from my fun guns - during the Bush Regime, so I am nor really affected by the current rush to buy more.
FWIW, the gun/ammo buying craze seems finally to be abating. I guess the RWers have maxed out ALL their credit cards.

I expect to see some great used gun bargains over the next several years, hope to be able to pick up a few good deals.

mark

...and I can locate a range within driving distance, I might even buy a gun after many years without owning one.

The range is essential, IMO, even without the state law. I haven't shot anything more powerful than a
.177 pellet rifle in years. No way am I not going to practice a lot!

PS: Great sig line!

later in summer.
I belong to 2 ranges, fortunately places where I don't usually run into many other (RW) members. One is $15/year, the other is $10. I believe aoom is starting to be available at Walmart again, one of the only places I know that is not price gouging.
(If you are looking for a great bolt rifle, I recommend Savages.)

mark

Bad news is a law to limit firearms has been to limit ranges both indoor and outdoor.

Opening a new one is a giant legal and political battle.
Even keeping an existing one open ends up being a battle every couple years.

Hell the boy scouts had to fight to keep one of their ranges open.
It was built 30 years ago 10 miles down a dirt road (10 miles forest in each direction).
Due to development houses were built within a 1/2 mile away.

Then people bought those houses and now they are fighting to have range closed as a public nuisance.
Despite the fact that it is used infrequently.
It fires nothing more powerful than a .22 long rifle.
There have been no accidental shootings.

Get rid of the ranges and they get rid of potential gun owners like you.

I am Mexican-American and I too grew up around guns. My father grew up shooting since he was a kid. There was always a gun in the house and as others have said, "It was no big deal". As I got older and got married I looked into getting my own handgun, but my ex wife was vehemently opposed. I ended up buying my first in November of 2000 after my ex wife's crazy boyfriend threatened to harm my son during one of their frequent fights. I tried to file a protective order but the police said that they couldn't do it as my ex was the one that heard the threats and she had to file. She was too flaky to follow through. Fortunately, nothing ever materialized from those threats. I re-married and my wife was on the fence about firearms, but she was able to understand about the right of self defense and about responsible ownership. I have purchased a few more firearms within the last 3 years mainly for target shooting and home defense. My father always taught me that it was best to be prepared for any scenario and not have it happen rather than having a scenario happen and not be prepared at all.