The gun show link in the left navigation bar has been updated for 2004.  Most of the show dates are given, although one promoter does not yet give dates past June on their site.  The list of shows is just for the DFW area.

For gun shows in other parts of the country, you may wish to consult Shotgun News or the NRA (although both sources seem to miss most of the shows in the DFW area).

Colt BAR Serial #1.

Yup, this is the one. No, it is not new in box, it is an incredible piece of history that will require a special customer to own. Comes with quite a bit of documentation and of course, it is completely transferable

Oh, did I forget to mention the asking price?  Only $650,000.00.  (Yikes!)

Somebody needs to tell the foley artists on TV these days that Glocks don’t have a hammer that can be pulled back.  The ones working on tonight’s episode of Law & Order added the sound of a hammer being drawn back when one of the detectives drew his Glock.

Of course it could be worse—like those old westerns where every single shot had a ricochet sound.

In an earlier posting I mentioned that a new shooting range is being planned for Roanoke.  One of the people involved in opening the range added a comment giving updates on their status as well as a link to their website.

I noticed that their yearly membership is $300 for individuals and $500 for families.  At first, this seemed a bit steep to me, but then I realized that the individual membership is the same price as 38 trips to the range at Bass Pro, so I’d be saving money over the course of a year by buying a membership.  They’re also offering a lifetime (family) membership for $3500 to the first 100 applicants (it will be $5000 after that).  That’s a bit steep for individuals like me (especially after buying a house).  It would be nice if they offered a less expensive individual life membership (with the option to upgrade to a family membership if things changed).

According to their site, they will also offer gun rentals and sales, classes (CHL and safety) and a gunsmith.

I look forward to checking them out once they’re open.

One case (1000 rounds/20 boxes) of PMC .45ACP 230gr FMJ. 

You did buy your ammo today, didn’t you?  (Exceptions made for those poor souls who live in socialist hellholes.)

The Ninth Circuit ruled today that Congress may not ban homemade machine guns based on the Commerce Clause.

Link via Instapundit.

Now where did I put those machine tools…

Do we really need Yet Another Cartridge?

I went to the Great Western gun show at Fair Park this weekend.  I was an OK show, although it wasn’t quite what I’d expected.  It seemed smaller than what I had thought it would be.  Perhaps that was just because of the way the hall was laid out.  If someone is interested in old military or old west stuff, then it was probably a good show.  I just don’t have as much interest in those things, so I only spent a couple of hours there.

Some things the show’s promoters should address before the next one:

• Better directions are needed.  The flier simply listed “2nd/Exposition Ave”, but Fair Park is a big place and that’s not really enough information (it’s easy to get lost down there).  It would have been good to have included a detailed map which included parking and pointed out which building the show was in.
• Better signs.  I only saw one sign and it wasn’t very helpful.  I was eventually able to deduce where the show was when I noticed a ticket booth lit up with some people milling around it.
• Perhaps this isn’t really something for the promoters, but clear directions about how to get out of the parking lot would be good.  I ended up having to go the wrong way down a one-way parking area to get back to the entrance, which was the only open entry/exit point.  I suspect that this is a general failing of Fair Park when dealing with small groups, though, since they had big exits (which were marked), but they were closed off.

The Instapundit mentions “NASCAR Dads” and the Democrat party when linking to today’s rant from Kim du Toit.  This is an issue that’s been percolating around in the back of my head for a few days.  I’d been having similar thoughts, although I was focusing on the ‘soccer mom’ification of America.

With me, the one nonnegotiable part of my political philosophy concerns guns, which is what got me thinking about the issue.  As long as Democrats like Kerry run around spouting off about hunting anytime the subject of guns comes up, I will continue to conclude that they are fundamentally out of touch with the real meaning of the Second Amendment.  If they want to win over people like me (who think the NRA is too wussy) they’re going to have to acknowledge that the right to own arms is a basic human right that includes self-defense and that it exists regardless of whether the Second Amendment exists.  Nothing less will do.

Until they come around on this issue I will consider them an enemy.  Yes.  ENEMY.  Anyone who denies the most basic human right to self defense is no friend of a free citizen, but would instead make you a helpless peasant (just ask those poor bastards in England how well that’s working out).  And if the Republicans think they can continue their back-door sneaking sell-out of gun owners, and then turn around and scare me into voting for them by bringing up the spectre of a Democrat victory, they can kiss my ass too.

Upon entering the local Target store I noticed the standard blue sign that states that unlicensed carry is a felony.  This is a sign that’s required by any location that sells alcohol, but doesn’t derive more than 51% of its income from doing so (Texas law normally provides for a misdemeanor charge for carrying without a license, which upgrades to a felony where alcohol is involved).  But underneath that sign was one which started with “It is unlawful to carry a handgun…”  This got my attention.  But when I read the rest, it turned out to be a rephrasing of the law from section 46 of the penal code, which simply stated that you have to carry the type of handgun you’re licensed for and keep it concealed. 

I think this was Target’s way of trying to discourage CHL holders from carrying in the store.  If you only read the first part, you’d think that you weren’t allowed to carry in the store.  If Target really wanted to prohibit concealed carry in their stores, there is a legal method to do so.  The downside for them is that the sign is huge because it requires specific text in English and Spanish in letters at least 1 inch high.  The legal sign would take up almost all of the space on one of their doors and it would be clearly obvious.  It would also incur the wrath of TSRA and anger local CHL holders, who are known to be vocal in calling out stores that don’t allow concealed carry.