Sunny Days in Heaven
Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven


Saturday, September 03, 2005  

Armed but not dangerous

I went to a hunting store today to look at weapons. I looked at a Remington 870 shotgun (this model -- the lower one), and this Smith & Wesson revolver.

I left the store, did some research on the web and then went back and bought the shotgun since it wasn't too expensive. I have to wait ten days now.

It cost $30 dollars for the DOJ check. They charge that amount each time you buy a weapon, or for each handgun you buy. Buy five pistols at once and pay $30 for each. Nice, huh?

Then you have to buy a lock box for your pistol, and a lock of some kind for your rifle or shotgun. The lockbox I saw costs $175 for the hand gun. The lock for the shotgun which fits in the shell chamber is about $40 I'm told.

These are good precautions to have. The lockbox can be opened by key or by touch with a code number. The shotgun lock must be unlocked by key but can be done so fairly rapidly.

The way things are, you definitely want your weapon stored safely, but ready enough at hand for emergency use. If you don't have a few seconds to unlock your gun, you're probably going to be too late anyway.

I don't expect I'll ever need my weapon where I live, but New Orleans woke me up to the fact that I simply have to have a weapon just in case the worst happens. We can see that the worst happens with unnerving frequency even in this country.

I have to say that it felt very strange buying the shotgun. One of the most serious things I've ever done. I'm no kind of hunter or warrior. The idea of delivering lethal force unsettles my stomach and makes me a bit queasy since I have a vivid imagination.

I won't sleep better having a firearm in the house, but I won't sleep any worse either. I will feel better, though, knowing that if push comes to shove, I've something with which to protect my family.

We've found in Sacramento that we could have a flood, an earthquake, a tornado, or a riot to unleash insecurity on a large scale (but what I really want to do is shoot herons in our trees!).

posted by Mark Butterworth | 5:07 PM |

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