Gillibrand moves guns after outcry
posted at 11:37 am on February 17, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
After gun-control activists criticized Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for keeping pistols under her pillow, the new appointee dutifully moved them to an undisclosed location in her home. Did Gillibrand agree that the guns posed a risk for her children or pander to defuse a potential primary threat — or both?
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has moved the two rifles that she kept under the bed to protect her upstate New York home, her spokesman said Monday.
“Given that the location of the guns has been disclosed, they have been moved for security reasons,” Gillibrand’s spokesman Matt Canter said.
She relocated the guns over the weekend while upstate to endorse Democrat Scott Murphy in the March 31 election to replace her in the 20th District, he said.
He also said Gillibrand, mother of a 5-year-old and an infant, kept the ammunition separate from the empty guns, and then later called to add that the rifles were locked in a case while stored under the bed. She had refused to describe her gun safety measures.
Full disclosure: while I enthusiastically support gun rights and ownership, I do not own a firearm myself, nor have I since being married. The First Mate had serious reservations about having weapons in the same house as a curious young boy, although I myself grew up with guns in the house, including pistols, a shotgun, and a rifle. The Admiral Emeritus carefully explained that the guns could cause me great bodily harm, ie, if I touched them, he’d kill me and replace me with another one just like me. As firearm-safety classes go, that was very effective.
It sounds as though Gillibrand took gun safety in the home seriously. She kept the ammunition separate from the weapons, and locked the rifles at least. As long as she did that, the firearms represented no threat to her children. Maybe the pillow isn’t the most effective hiding place, but for people concerned about overnight burglaries, it’s less a hiding place and more of a quick-access location.
This sounds like a retreat based on pandering, and it’s a shame, because it represents a lost opportunity to remind people that a safely-stored gun is no more dangerous than a steak knife. Obviously Gillibrand faces a challenge in being an NRA member for a statewide election in 2010 that will heavily rely on convincing gun-banners in the Big Apple to support her, but her retreat makes it look like she thinks she did something wrong, rather than defend common-sense gun ownership.
Blowback
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I’ll sat this for the Dems, they are good at picking phonies and turncoats. Seem to have a sixth sense about them. I wonder why?
jeanie on February 17, 2009 at 12:26 PM
On that point I definitely agree.
MadisonConservative on February 17, 2009 at 12:26 PM
An implication, rather than an equation.
Are you implying that one can gain such expertise without ownership?
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:27 PM
I am not saying that so stop trying to put words in my mouth.
I am asking as to those who own one. Do you want them taken? Have you read the HR 45 bill? I am a firm believer in education of guns, in any way shape or form… but it is your RIGHT to have a gun. Not just a privledge.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 12:28 PM
No. Guns scare me because I am psychologically deficient.
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Gun safety. Years ago, when my son was 14, he wrote a letter to one of the gun magazines. It surprised me because he did it on his own. The gist of the letter was that the magazine was full of ‘gun safety’ items. He went on to say that kids are naturally curious. Even more so when the particular object is FORBIDDEN. He said that his Dad (me) had taken him to the range at age 6. He was shown what a bullet could do to an inanimate object. At age 8 he was allowed to shoot a .22 rifle for the first time. To him there was never any “mystery” about guns. He saw what they could do. His suggestion was that parents with guns invest some of their time to educate their children about them. Gun locks and safes are fine, but removing the ‘mystery’ would be a lot more effective. Not bad advice from a 14 year old.
GarandFan on February 17, 2009 at 12:30 PM
She moved it to the shoulder holster under her nightie. No biggie.
AubieJon on February 17, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Absolutely. In fact, it might be wise before ownership.
a capella on February 17, 2009 at 12:33 PM
You can gain proficiency, but I would argue that expertise is only attained when they are part of your everyday life.
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:34 PM
I own a rifle and a handgun. Both stored back home in the States. Seems they’re outlawed where I live, don’t know why…
DarkCurrent on February 17, 2009 at 12:34 PM
It appears that Gillebrand is as much a panderer as Hillary Clinton, whom she replaced. She’ll do whatever she thinks will please the audience she is currently addressing.
I haven’t heard the ages of her children, but rather than using threats, etc she should be actively teaching her children the “who, what, when, where, why and how” of safe and appropriate use of firearms. Participating in Hunter’s Education, Shooting Sports Programs and Marksmanship courses will do more in the long run for promoting safety, purpose and outcome of use than any lecture.
As for keeping her rifle under her bed, I am more concerned that she understands a firearm is an expensive tool which must be properly stored and maintained in good working order on a regular basis. An upright gun safe in a bedroom is just as easily accessible and more practical.
Personally, I don’t keep my chainsaw under the bed either.
2nd Ammendment Mother on February 17, 2009 at 12:36 PM
I own a 9mm S&W, a 410 Mossberg, and an 1895 Chilean Mauser 7mm deer rifle.
Hey Upinak. I hope things are well with you.
AubieJon on February 17, 2009 at 12:38 PM
I grew up in a house with eight siblings and we had two assault rifles, an automatic weapon, a shotgun, two hunting rifles, and two pistols. There were never any incidents at all. So long as you teach the children properly, guns in the house are not a problem.
Kronos on February 17, 2009 at 12:38 PM
1st line of defense – I live in a Cul-De-Sac- One way in, one way out.
2nd line of defense – front security door and all doors locked.
3rd line of defense – 75 lbs Australian Sheppard.
4th line of defense – Remington 870 shotgun. (Closet, 7 shot, loaded)
5th line of defense – 9mm locked & loaded for when the shotgun runs out. (next to bed)
With this information, I only have one question:
“Do you feel lucky punk..? Do Ya..?
Badbrucskie on February 17, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Odd. It appears that the revelation that Ms. Gillibrand kept a pistol under her pillow was pandering to virile 2d Amd. folks in the first instance. Who can sleep with a pistol under their pillow? Why, given the wide range of secure, quick access firearm storage alternatives available, would anyone do this? Of course, now that the votes of gun owners are relatively less important, she moves the pistol (and rifles)”for security reasons” as if knowledge of its location gave potential intruders some sort of advantage.
Hogwash.
Also, a rifle for home defense? I’ve always thought a shotgun the more practical choice.
Tamaqua on February 17, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Dad taught me when I was young. The Marines honed that knowledge. Firearms, chainsaws and cars are dangerous but it’s the lack of common sense that kills people.
Newer pistols have internal locks. Master Lock and others make trigger locks. Lock it when you get up, unlock it when you and the kids go to bed. It ain’t rocket science.
Tom
marinetbryant on February 17, 2009 at 12:45 PM
I’m talking about safety in this particular instance, but it can also apply in care and usage. My wife became very proficient, perhaps not expert, in a college riflery course.
Why do you think prospective owners are encouraged to take a course in maintenance and safety before they buy one?
a capella on February 17, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Everyone who knows me and has for years known that I keep guns in the house and they are LOADED. No child or adult has ever touched one or wanted to see one. They are in easy reach from any room and give me a very good sense (false sense?)of well being. After all, isn’t that what we pursue in our lives?
hip shot on February 17, 2009 at 12:46 PM
A Winchester 1300 12ga and a Norinco SKS.
Hows the weather? Warm here today, only -15′C.
Frozen Tex on February 17, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Ditto…except I have 105lb lab and 90lb shephard..I’m always amazed at people who are attacked in their homes by people who leave their windows or arcadia doors unlocked. Also, if someone finds the need to break through my locked windows and security door, past my snarling dogs..then as I was taught by my Dad..shoot for the center of their chest because they aren’t there to just steal the TV.
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 12:46 PM
No argument there. :p
MadisonConservative on February 17, 2009 at 12:47 PM
DOH!
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 12:48 PM
When I was in fourth or fifth grade in Seattle public school, my teacher asked us to write an essay about what we’d done over the weekend.
Mine stared out something like “On Saturday my dad took me up to the mountains and showed me how to shoot a gun…”
My mom got a very agitated phone call from my teacher that evening. How could responsible parents let a child shoot a gun? What were they teaching me? Were they really fit to be parents?
DarkCurrent on February 17, 2009 at 12:49 PM
If Sen Gillibrand moved her guns once it became publicly known that she had them and kept them close, and this in turn was politically inconvenient for her liberal democrat constituency then she is indeed a sell out and is rightfully being criticized. (And, on the surface this seems to be the case.)
If she did it because she decided that it made better sense to her in her family situation, well fine. It’s her decision.
Most of my guns are in a safe. A couple are available and ready to use. And they have been since my kids were small. (Exception being during deployed periods. My wife is definitely more dangerous to herself than anybody else with a gun.) My kids went through the Eddie Eagle program early on and both go to the range with me now. My 16 yo daughters latest target is up on her bedroom door. (All in the black at 20yds using Colt Anaconda with 44 special.)
Do I feel better that my kids know how to use a gun if they need to…You bet.
Why I Carry a Gun
My old grandpa said to me son,’ there comes a time in every man’s life when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts bustin’ caps and usually it’s when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin’.
I don’t carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don’t carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil.
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry.
I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.
I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
I don’t carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.
Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.
Personally, I carry a gun because I’m too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin’.
.author unknown (but obviously brilliant)
SoonerMarine on February 17, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Only line of defense for liberals: A hand-drawn sign saying: I voted for Obama too. Please don’t hurt me.
ignorantapathy on February 17, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Geez, Ed. She’s a libtard. She doesn’t have any core values or beliefs that she would defend or exercise. No surprise here.
cjs1943 on February 17, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Who said that?
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:53 PM
I am good. Hunting has made me freaking tired… 850 lbs of meat can do that tracking it out.
As for those who don’t own a gun. I am not saying anything bad about it… but don’t tell those whom do own guns to do what you want with them. It is our right to have one. And the accidents that happen are usually carelessness via the adult not showing a child why. Or hunting and drinking or just carelessness on the part of the individual.
Guns are usually safe…. it is the people who aren’t. And it is usually the people who are most afraid of guns who cause the most problems. Carelessness a second, and children are a third.
Currently I own a 30.06, .22 semi auto, .22 bolt, .40 cal and a couple of 20 gauge shot guns. I have ordered my AR-15 since I can’t get one up here to save my life, and I am also getting a .50 cal. Does that make me inexperienced for not shooting any of these? No, as everyone can learn.. it is the fact of safety that they teach that people do not use even after they learn.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 12:54 PM
Amen.
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:54 PM
It was a mistake for her, a public figure, to disclose information in such a public venue that she keeps firearms under her bed or in any other specific location. She could have just left it at the family owning firearms which are kept unloaded and in a locked case and that would have been the end of it. Very few people know what firearms I own or how/where they are maintained/stored in my home, but I also wouldn’t give out the code to my alarm system or the location of all the alarm sensors to very many people. Many people do know that I have at least one firearm in the home as I carry daily, sometimes openly where/as legal.
deepdiver on February 17, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Warm… suppose to be 35 above today… so what 2C.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 12:55 PM
The price of M16 clones is insane around the gun shows down here
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:56 PM
I have a bb gun. Does that count?
I’m planning on buying a gun after I have a chance to go through a safety/ownership course. Though, with the way things are going, I may need to buy it first or I might not be able to buy it at all.
JadeNYU on February 17, 2009 at 12:56 PM
I read that she moved them because th elocation was now known, meaning that any intruder would know roughly where to find them.
Noting about her pandering in that, if it was the truth.
todler on February 17, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Yep.. it is costing me 1800 for mine.
hey Jade… in your area I would get a hand gun and a rifle. Look around for a hand gun course for Women… I know they have them there unlike up here.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Buy it now. Buy the ammo once you have passed your course ;)
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 12:59 PM
We have so many, I can’t list them all here…that would require too much bandwidth. I will say that my son was raised to respect guns and taught how to handle them, much the same way GarandFan stated. And yes, we do have a couple of Garands ;-).
Having said that, I would never have allowed my guns to lay around under my bed. Too many parents don’t teach their children anything but fear where a firearm is concerned and I didn’t want to risk any other child picking up one of my guns. I didn’t fear for my son but rather his friends.
That is what the gun safe is for. The weapon kept for home safety was always kept in a discreet and safe location. Now that my son is in the USAF and not living at home, the weapon is very handy.
I have no problem with Gillinbrand removing her guns from under her bed….as long as she doesn’t try removing my guns from my house.
ladyingray on February 17, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Had she left it at that it would’ve been fine..it was the added part by her spokesperson of..
That was the blatant pandering to the anti-gun people that a lot of us disagree with.
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Big oof.
The bitter irony is that if ‘we’ (pro-gun folks) are politically successful, you can only lose money on that gun.
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:01 PM
When I was 8 my dad signed us up for the local rifle club where we learned gun handling and safety from some WWII vets who were great guys, but were 150% NO nonsense. Every week we went to a rifle range and fired target rifles. (Way cool) Don’t try to hide your guns – there was not a cubic inch of space in our house I didn’t know about – but educate your kids to know and respect them.
swede7 on February 17, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Too true…
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Who told where her weapons were?
And why?
Only criminals would want to know.
profitsbeard on February 17, 2009 at 1:06 PM
I can’t imagine why anybody in their right mind would have any interest in what is under Al Gore’s bed! eew….
Old Country Boy on February 17, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Gillibrand should have grown a spine and told the fascist gun-grabbers to go pound sand.
It is no one’s business where she keeps her firearms in her own home.
-Dave
Dave R. on February 17, 2009 at 1:12 PM
First of all, none of this is anyone’s damn business. The laws restricting how we store ammo and guns are invasions of our privacy and an assault on common sense.
Bunch of annoying nannies…
And Ed wrote:
Good man. Too bad that if that happened today, you would be forcibly removed from your home and placed into the care of the State. Which would probably mean; into a family run by a Transgender Mother with a swimming pool out back.
Montana on February 17, 2009 at 1:12 PM
LimeyGeek – Just think, if we are pollitically unsuccessful we may loose 100% of our investment when they knock on our doors to take them away.
Badbrucskie on February 17, 2009 at 1:14 PM
Those of us with a scientific interest in astrobiology would like to know exactly what’s under there
DarkCurrent on February 17, 2009 at 1:17 PM
I think there’d be a revolution before that would happen. I’m in the southwest and we will fight to the end to keep our guns. My state is the #2 in the world for kidnappings..thank you Mexico.
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 1:18 PM
His oscar, emmy and nobel prize. Yak.
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Where is back home? Are you overseas?
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:20 PM
I do… Will not say how many or where or what, but a far right radical Conservative HAS many… All in family can shoot, born and raised in Texas. Now in New Jersey, so…
Mark Garnett on February 17, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Nice. Everything gets all melty, then freezes again.
Frozen Tex on February 17, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Yep, last big freeze is on the move. The trees already have buds out… I think even the trees are ready for breakup. Been a crappy couple of years.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:23 PM
5 handguns and 2 rifles…get our CCW’s in March…
Equality 7-2521 on February 17, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Wileygrl3 – me too – Phx.
I always say they will have to take my ammo first before they can get my guns.
Badbrucskie on February 17, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Home is Seattle (Gateway to Alaska!), currently residing in Shanghai
DarkCurrent on February 17, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Yep….that’s the ugliest of possible endgames….
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:32 PM
After WWI they decided to take all weapons from “civilians” so they wouldn’t have issue with a Coup.
Many countries are like that, England, Germany, Japan, China, Korea… most countries that do not want their citizens to come after them (the government)…. so they took their rights, if they had any to take.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:33 PM
All powder is sold out up here. As soon as they get a shipment… it is gone an hour later.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Folks are reading WAY too much into the statement…
Press told EVERYONE where her guns were… not a good idea when they are for home/self defense.
So, she moved them…
She didn’t say she got rid of them… just moved them..
I’d do the same if suddenly everyone knew where my guns were… especialy the one in my bedroom which is for “emergencies”…
Pretty stupid IMO to tell the BAD GUYS where your stinkin gun is…
Romeo13 on February 17, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Very wise. Use powder weapons for hunting etc and reserve the centerfire stuff for two-legged gremlins.
That’s my strategy….
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:35 PM
well she will be spending much more time in the Big Apple and she can’t have her guns there anyway. It didnt take her long to change her tune now that she has to appeal to the all the voters. The loons in NYC control the agenda much to the chagrin of the upstaters!
pgrossjr on February 17, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Ammo is pretty much gone too. I should take a pic of how empty the shelves are.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:37 PM
I have a few. My main piece is a Sig Sauer P220 .45
gator70 on February 17, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Have you read HR 45? It will make your skin crawl.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Depends on your understanding of what a ‘right’ is. I would argue that Brits never had ‘rights’, only ‘concessions’…and they can be revoked at a whim.
Even so, it was only until relatively recently that Brits were able to purchase any type of weapon and carry a pistol without a permit. Think back to the post-war ‘Sherlock Holmes’ era…
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:39 PM
I’ve already got that half of the clue ;-)
DarkCurrent on February 17, 2009 at 1:39 PM
I’m stocked up just fine ;) The gun shows down here are insane….we have freaking queues waiting 15 mins to get in the door!
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:40 PM
I confess I haven’t….care to give me the benefit of some bullet-points?
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:41 PM
That is exactly why the liberals feel they need to control/confiscate firearms. They realize that those who oppose the direction they wish to take the country and the Constitution are armed and proficient in the use of those arms. They are also afraid that this armed faction just might be willing to fight to perserve the freedoms that have been defended, so many time in the past, by those who went before.
Yoop on February 17, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Psst Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, when appointed to the U.S. Senate, you don’t have to give up any of your Constitutional rights. Your knee jerk reaction show that you’re not your own person, but merely another Democrat Donkey in a FUBAR larger herd of misguided Jackasses.
byteshredder on February 17, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Yeah..and the ACLU has their slimey fingers all over it. The whole idea of “registering” is bad enough. Funny, the ACLU screams racist haters at us for wanting illegals to “register” ….
Wileygrl3 on February 17, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Ha ha. This is classic Bill Cosby, of course.
I grew up with my parents quoting Bill Cosby. It was very instructive.
Badger40 on February 17, 2009 at 1:50 PM
It isn’t pretty. Here is a quicky site though.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show
Feb. 9 showed it was referred to the subcom on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Sec. Now THAt is scarey!!!!
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:52 PM
When my husband is gone trucking, I keep a loaded pistol on the floor beside my bed.
I live way out in the stix & sometimes can’t hear anyone coming down the 1/2 mile that my driveway is.
If somebody comes to my house without invitation, & at night, the chances are very high they need shot.
Libs put that in your pot & smoke it.
Badger40 on February 17, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Well, she’s cute but she does not answer mail or phone calls from constituents. I think the Gov wants to sleep with her and that is why she was given the Senate seat. Hey call me cynical.
georgealbert on February 17, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Limey this HR 45 is also part of this one as well. Basing off each other:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h257/show
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 1:55 PM
My line of defense is just the opposite. I am setup to use my Kimber .40 S&W to fight my way to my 18″-barreled 12 gauge Home Defender pump, with the tube feeding, in order, #8, 000, 000, slug, slug.
I then would use the pump shotgun to fight my way to the really big stuff. :-)
Yoop on February 17, 2009 at 1:56 PM
I read most of it & it IS scary.
Also is a bunch of crap.
A test. A fee. Dear God.
Only the smart & law-biding will be punished.
The criminals will still have access to illegal arms.
Meanwhile, regular citizens will find it increasingly more difficult to engage in shooting sports of any kind as well as home protection.
UK here we COME!
Badger40 on February 17, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Thanks for those two links….I’m reading ‘em now
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 1:57 PM
At least Obama for now is defending the concealed carry thing in National Parks.
For now.
Interesting that some say interest in park visitation would go down supposedly from the multitudes of packing public running rampant vigilante-style throughout our National Parks now.
Hilarious.
Park crimes have always been high. This is why I am to understand rangers & park employees with law enforcement experience are usually preferred.
Gee I wonder why anyone would find the typical Sierra Club camper a threat. Perhaps they were just easy prey.
Badger40 on February 17, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Y’know….the only Constitutional thing I could find in those two bills was the establishing of training courses.
Disgusting fascism. We could power the planet with the spinning corpses of the Founding Fathers.
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Limey, have you not bought a gun lately? They are even making you do a background check on shot guns…. and I wish I was kidding.
Some states aren’t nearly as bad, but it is a Federal thing they are doing… checking you no matter what on all guns bought. This also includes gun shows, and if you bought a shot gun lately at one of them, and you didn’t get a background check…. they can be fined now.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Remember Libs always say do as i say not as i do.We all know this women still has her gun very very close by. You can bank on it.
thmcbb on February 17, 2009 at 2:12 PM
15 minutes?!? Pe-shaw!!! My son and hubby went to one here a few weeks ago. The convention center parking lot was so full, parking was two blocks away; after you paid the $10 each to get it, the wait was 1 HOUR.
Ammo is the big draw. A friend of ours has a local ammo store. He had to close his store front and is only selling online – because he can’t keep it in his warehouse.
Learn to reload, everyone, and hoard those primers!
ladyingray on February 17, 2009 at 2:13 PM
My father-in-law had the same issue after his son went bragging to some ‘friends’ one time. When they went on vacation all his shotguns and rifles were stolen. He ended up getting them back when one of the miscreants felt guilty and confessed. He now hides them very well. Still I keep telling him to buy a safe.
Bunsin on February 17, 2009 at 2:14 PM
Better yet-just booby trap the house. One mistake will be the defining lesson for all.
Heh heh.
Badger40 on February 17, 2009 at 2:20 PM
I’ve made recent purchases….and to be honest, I thought that federal law required FFLs to run backround checks on all types of cartridge-based firearms….muzzleloaders etc were exempt, no background check there. The only guns you can lawfully buy at a gun show (or anywhere else) without a background check are ones for sale by private individuals (the fictitious & fraudulent “gun show loophole”).
The last gun show I went to I had a state trooper check my concealed handgun and then he dumped my ammo on his table and told me to collect it on the way out. Fucker. Was too mad to argue with him.
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Safes are only good for so long. Some kids were busted for stealing a SAFE! It weighed over 2000 lbs and yet they got it out of the house (they also busted the walls and a few doors getting it out), because they wanted the 3 AR-15′s in it.
Safes aren’t “safe’ anymore either.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Landmines rule
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 2:23 PM
I always wondered why nobody has invented a long-lasting, reusable piezo-electric primer.
Maybe I just did….
LimeyGeek on February 17, 2009 at 2:27 PM
I had a recent background check on my two pump action 20 gauge shotguns (Bernelli made) for water fowl.
I did say I wish I was kidding. I paid 350 for each… one is a continuous pump the other is a single shot loading type (I haven’t got to shot either as the range near me does not let you shot and site them and is a new rule which is completely stupid). I went to buy ammo for them and could only get 2 small boxes of 25 each…. which I had never seen before. They also made me pay seperately for my guns and ammo. I had to take the guns out to the truck and then come back in for the shells. I was ticked.
The BF was shocked as well… as he was trying to get some ass on for his shot guns and a .22 which they wouldn’t sell since they had to SEE the gun.
We are now going to a private dealer. He is getting some special add ons for his .22 and his AR-15. I am waiting for mine to come in.. and I may just ask for my money back as it is a 3 month wait. I think the BF and I are going to build me one instead….
you can take the girl out of the Army (or in the BF’s case, the man out of the Marines) but you can never take the military out of the individual.
upinak on February 17, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Does everybody who goes to Washington have to throw their convictions under the bus? Jeez, what a shit town Washington is.
AntonK on February 17, 2009 at 2:34 PM
My kids had no choice when it came to guns. Every one of them were forced to load, unload, fire, clean, and store every weapon I owned. I would trick them too. I would sit them down in a circle and hand out a nondescript vanilla rifle. Each person, even though the person before had checked the weapon for a round when it was first handed to them, had to recheck the weapon. When the weapon got to me, I would then hand out the “cool” gun. As the “cool” weapon made the rounds and all their eyes were fixated on it, I slipped a spent cartridge into the “vanilla” gun. After the cool gun made the rounds, I had them pass the first gun around again. When the first kid ejected the spent cartridge, the look on their faces were priceless and you could hear a pin drop. I never found a better way to illustrate how quickly someone could get killed by an “empty” gun.
Consequently, my kids were NEVER afraid or curious about weapons. They were also armed with the knowledge of how to make safe every kind of weapon made. Pistols, revolvers, bolt action, semi-auto, etc. I never worried about them being at a friends home whose parents didn’t keep their guns locked up.
Liberals are psychologically damaged people. They are that way from birth and we have to protect ourselves from them.
csdeven on February 17, 2009 at 2:40 PM
That first day: My son got a stern lecture about how dead is really dead and dead people don’t leap back up like they do on cartoons. The day of that lecture, I didn’t mention to him that he was going to be on the firing range the next day firing a highly deadly weapon.
Yes, I got some looks, and even some remarks from the others at the firing range that first day (and folks who visit firing ranges are not known for being left-leaning either).
When we got to the range the next day, he got the standard safety briefing (for the 4th or 5th time). He’s already gotten some kinetic instruction over the previous weeks with toy guns.
He didn’t notice as he took a real gun in hand, that first day, that Dad’s hands were never more than six inches from the weapon the whole time. He was amazed that Dad seemed to trust him with the power of life and death; he wanted to be trusted and acted accordingly, that first day.
I was mostly firing my new Remington 700 in .308 that day. Pretty tame, even with the hot rounds I sometimes load for extra punch. Then we got out the Mosin-Nagant which he had never seen fired. He fired his first round from a Mosin-Nagant carbine. (for those of you who don’t know, the Mosin-Nagant has a VERY significant kick, and the carbine version issues a 3-foot flame from the muzzle when fired).
He nearly cried when he fired that one for the first time. He was very sober for a couple of days over that experience.
He’d had his lectures about his sight picture and breathing, etc. and his first round was preceded by a long period of just looking through the scope as he breathed, watching the aim point move up and down. His first round was in the black – 6 ring if I remember…
Today, he can, and frequently does, deliver a better safely lecture than I can to youngsters his own age. Even when they are playing with toy guns. On his eleventh birthday last month, he got a .17 cal that had been ‘mine’ and was now ‘his’.
Henry Lewis Stimson said that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.
He knows about ‘STOP, don’t touch, leave the area, tell an adult’; has been covertly tested on it, and has passed.
ALL of their moral decisions take on a new intensity and a new credibility when they proceed from a moral base of “I can be trusted with the power of life and death.”
Since it is true anyway, that we must and do trust them with the power of life and death, why not be sure that they fully realize it? Why not drive home the point?
I suggest here that an unspoken discomfort (outrage, really) with the idea that each of us can be correctly trusted with the power of decisions over life and death – is the real root cause for anti-gun sentiments. This is why anti-gunners get really crazy when they begin the lose a rational agument over this issue. They know that getting us to delegate moral decisions to them over other things like environmentalism or welfare policy starts with the willingness to delegate life and death moral decisions to them. If we feel unequipped to make life-and-death moral decisions, then we feel unequipped to make any other moral decision. Some are glad to delegate these moral decisions. I am not, and I don’t want my son to be either.
I think, at root, this is what really outrages the left: I am willing to assume and take authority for my own decisions on the life and death of those around me. The left feels I must delegate that decision and authority to them and they are outraged when I persist in keeping that decision and authority for myself.
I think that point is the basis of all moral education. Moral decisions, after all, are pro-survival, life-and-death, selecting-for-survival-of-the-group decisions for the entire group, (perhaps even at the expense of the individual) are they not?
My son was 4 that first day.
ElRonaldo on February 17, 2009 at 3:30 PM
For getting your son used to firearms, you should be proud.
For starting him out on that rifle, you should be ashamed. Seriously.
MadisonConservative on February 17, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Wait a second a democrap
has guns?
Oh what about the children think of the children..
she should immidiatly give them to the islamists
then invite some child molesters into her home to prove how democraps policies do change the world..
I find it intersting that all of the liberals and DEMOCRAPS
SCREAM bloody murder about the civil rights of the terrorists..
but then go running to their local gun dealer to buy a crap load of guns to protect their own family…
jcila on February 17, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Ed, get your kids used to guns. My own philosophy with my 5 kids (yes 5), is to “gun proof my kids, don’t try to kid-proof your gun”. That doesn’t mean no locks and such, only that you can’t rely on those in all cases. For example, what happens when your kid goes over to a friend’s house and the friend’s parents left something unlocked? In short, take your kids shooting early. Teach them respect for firearms and show them what they are capable of doing. Don’t avoid the issue; it won’t help.
PersonalLiberty on February 17, 2009 at 3:53 PM
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