By: Jay Loeffers

Hello all! How are you doing today? Again I want to go back to talking about my favorite past time, which is Beanie Baby collecting! Just kidding. I mean guns. I love shooting them, collecting them, learning the history of them, working on them, cleaning them… well, not so much the cleaning part. I am going to give my observations, experience and some insight into this wonderful Constitutional-given right of all Americans.

I spent last Friday at my local gun range with my .22s, my 9mm and the always fun zombie animal targets. I did reliability testing of two types of cased ammo for my Ruger SR9, tested out a new folding stock for my Ruger 10/22 rifle and zeroed in my Marlin XT-22 bolt action rifle.

THE JOY

Do you get joy out of target shooting, friendly competition or just blowing stuff up with your guns? I know I do. I like hearing about when a Hollywood actor who has to go to gun training. You just know he is dreading it because of his liberal ideas on guns and all the media myths on guns as well. Then after the training is over with, they always say the same thing: “Man that was real fun!” I will not lie, I am a fan of Discovery Channel’s SONS OF GUNS, MYTH BUSTERS and the newer show, AMERICAN GUNS. You watch Will or Steph and her new hubby Chris just get pure joy out of the special order builds and test shooting of all their products and the pride they have in what they do. I mean, Chris just turns into a hopped up kid on Jolt Cola when he says the word CANNON! (I will admit the same thing when I say .45!) Mr. Will Hayden is not only a fine and grand gentleman, but one of Uncle Sam’s misguided children (USMC retired) and a hero of mine. I would love to order from RED JACKET, but I can’t afford anything but to drool over it – ha, ha. Then there’s the WYATT family of GUNSMOKE in Denver. I love the way they get into the history of the builds and the customer reveals. I get joy from my custom work test and it always gives me joy when things work better than expected.

THE PLEASURE

Do you find pleasure in fixing a gun problem or restoring an older gun to working order? Or do you get pleasure from that 1,000 yard shot you got? A fine pleasure for me is also the cheapest. I love all day shooting with all of my .22s. When I was at the range, I saw many first time shooters being taught by their boyfriends/husbands and these men were happy to teach and to pass on a woman’s right to protection. What women liberation group would not want a woman to protect herself, huh? At the range as well I get the pleasure of talking to and learning from other fellow gun owners or teaching a little to first timers. Let’s look at a man who gets an over abundance of pleasure from things that go POP! TED NUGENT – here is a non-typical rock star entertainer who gets pleasure from the hunt, from the bow and arrow, from his GLOCK 20, from catching rocks on fire and from a full auto H&K MP-5 (My kind of guy! I too have fired both the MP-5 9MM and UMP .40S&W and they are loads of fun!) Here is one of America’s champions of the 2nd Amendment who like Glenn Beck gets daily death threats from absolute morons and idiots because he finds pleasure in life while those knuckleheads have none. My true pleasure comes when someone comes up to me and asks if I want to learn more about guns and gun ownership.

THE RESPONSIBILITY

My YouTube buddy NUTNFANCY, is all about personal gun responsibility whether it’s about training and teaching your children about gun responsibility (video: CHILDREN OF THE GUN) or if he talks about the anti-gun protectionist culture (video:GUN FREE, DEATH PAY). Then there is his own protocol views on conceal carry and self defense (video: CONCEAL CARRY PROTOCOL, CLOSE TO ENGAGE). These are all things to consider. With the rise in gun sales every month, the sale of just over 10 million guns this last year alone and 60% of the sales are to new women gun owners, we have to make sure that all gun owners take the time to teach and train these new and first time buyers. We need to make sure these newbies get informed and do their homework. It’s everyone’s responsibility. Part of the responsibility is of course gun safety. Believe me when I tell you that injury from an accidental discharge really sucks. If you survive it, it will take you a year at least to fully heal up from the injury. So don’t ever take gun safety for granted. EVER!

THE SECOND AMENDMENT

“A WELL REGULATED MILITIA BEING NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE, THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.”

What does this amendment mean to you or me? Well, this is the way I see it. Unlike what most of the media thinks, the word militia is not about “joining” any militia group. That’s out there and besides I have seen a lot of these so-called militias and most are hiding either: A. racist views, B. contemplating illegal acts or C. they are a bunch of fat guys in surplus camo from the Vietnam era with mullets showing off their ‘Shooting” skills they learned watching way too many Steven Segal movies (there was an Idaho “militia” group’s recruiting booth at a Tea Party rally 2 years ago, showing videos of their so-called gun training – it was laughable). So, always be leery of these guys and do your homework. Besides, a militia by the founding fathers was defined as anyone not in the military and in fine heath. You don’t need to be in a so-called militia to be a militia member. As an American, it’s your duty and responsibility to be armed in the first place in case of invasion, forming a needed posse, in times of WROL, riots and disasters. There are over 20,000 gun control laws and regulations on the books and I have noticed one thing – in the most gun controlled states or cities, they are the ones with the most violent crime rates (Fresno, Detroit, Washington DC, Chicago, L.A., Boston and Washington state), while the ones with the least gun laws are generally safer (Coeur d’Alene, the state of Texas (not the border towns) and Arizona (again not the border towns). As a new/old gun owner, it is your responsibility to know the laws of your state, city and local town and to follow them.

I remember some wussy, anti-gun owner guy saying that the NRA was against “reasonable” regulation of guns. I was just wondering… with the 20,000 gun laws still in place, what is reasonable that will work and is not unconstitutional? Oh yeah, none.