There was supposed to be a firearms sale here yesterday

Why there wasn’t in a moment.

There was a death in the family a couple weeks back. It was my step-father. He was a hunter and a fisherman who participated in each deer and elk season in Washington state between 1950 and 2000, and was fishing from around 1945 until the week before he passed.

Over both days of this last weekend I was watching the morning politics/news/topical shows. On the more left leaning shows, one of the topics that was discussed was the “Things that didn’t come up during Wednesday’s debate but should have” trope. Essentially, they lambasted Jim Lehrer and the debate hosts for not bringing up items that would have given Obama a natural advantage because, as President, he could promise loaves and fishes of government largess to the masses, and Romney, being slightly more sensible, probably would not have.

One of these “things” that was brought up was, of course, Gun Control.

I do wonder why they think that this is an issue they can still win with? I was watching the debate when the anti-civil rights/pro-gun control ad with the guy who was wounded at the Denver theater attack aired and wondered this same thing.

Have they come up with some new idea that won’t treat current and future firearms owners as potential criminals? The folks on these weekend shows sure didn’t have any new ideas. And if they have not, then there is nothing to talk about. All of their other ideas have been tried, with the usual horrific results (e.g. – California, Chicago, Detroit, NYC and D.C.).

Back to the gun sale that didn’t happen here yesterday….

I had nearly a dozen firearms, both long guns and handguns, that were for sale with the proceeds going towards my mother’s savings. The prices were fair and family members would receive a discount. After selected family members got their picks, I put the word out to the RNS “inner circle” and some of the local bloggers I knew might be interested in these particular items. Any that didn’t get snatched up in that round were to be posted in a sticky top post for the RNS readership to purchase or make an offer on.

I am glad to say that all but a couple are gone, and those that aren’t have folks “looking at their finances”, to which I am affording them some time before offering them back to the next person in line or the open market.

If those on the left had even just a small portion of their way, I would not have been able to do this. The gun controllers “ideas” would have made it so difficult to sell these firearms that I would have probably passed the task on to someone else. If they had even just part of their way, I would have had to take them to a federally licensed firearms dealer for storage and would also have had to make anyone who wanted to inspect or make a purchase go to the dealer and fill out paperwork and submit to a federal and state criminal background check. In addition, either they or I would have also been made to pay a fee for the dealer’s time and services.

Using common sense, how can that situation be an improvement to the way I did it?

I know all of the people I am dealing with. They are all current firearms owners and most have Washington Concealed Pistol Licenses. The family members mostly wanted the firearms they selected for sentimental reasons. The non-family members wanted the firearms they chose for utilitarian reasons.

When I mentioned the “selected family members”, I was implying that, like almost any extended family, there are some members with whom I wouldn’t trust to operate a firearm safely, so they were not included in the group to which the firearms were offered. Likewise, I don’t congregate with scumbags or idiots, which means that I don’t have friends whom I wouldn’t offer to sell firearms to.

I understand that some people are not gifted with common sense or good judgement, but this should not mean that myself and those I choose to deal with should be punished for the sins of the few. Or, as Tam said “I don’t care if every other gun owner on the planet went out and murdered somebody last night. I didn’t. So piss off.”

The experience of having to sell the firearms of a loved one is not something I would wish upon just about anyone. I would have rather just given the firearms to select family members, but the costs of living day-to-day being what they are today, having to sell them was unavoidable. I am glad that I live in a mostly free state, where I can go about using the phone and email box to enable these transactions. But the folks of the anti-civil rights bent would prefer that I, and you, are unable to do this at all.

Keep up the good fight, ladies and gentlemen.

If any of the aforementioned firearms currently on hold become available and you would like an email in advance of a their sale here, feel free to leave a comment or send an email. There are currently one centerfire pistol in .45acp, one centerfire revolver in .38Spl and two rimfire rifles, one of them being a scoped bolt action and the other an iron sighted falling block, in the holding pen.