Something I Learned at the Gun Show

I want to share something I learned at the Los Alamos Gun Show last weekend. I've been tempted to buy at least one semi-automatic rifle in a caliber like 9mm, 7.62mm or .223 that is common, fairly inexpensive, and easy to get. I fully expect that the Obama administration will attempt to ban what the gun-haters call "assault weapons", which is really any semi-automatic long gun.

The major barrier for me has been the idea of spending over $1000 for a good rifle. Since President Obama's election the price of an AR-15, the civilian equivalent of an M-16, has skyrocketed.

So I parked the kids and the dog at a table with a snack and talked to a local dealer about his AR-15 models. He told me something most of you probably already know: You can buy an AR-15 in steps. Only the lower receiver is actually considered a firearm. And one can purchase an AR-15 receiver for as little as $150.

The photo shows a stripped lower receiver (image courtesy of Rock River Arms, www.rockriverarms.com ). Once you have this part, which you can store in a safe or in a box under your bed, you can buy the other parts to the AR-15 with little or no problem, even via mail order. There is no background check required on the parts except when one purchases the stripped lower receiver, which the law defines as the actual firearm.

And perhaps most important of all, even when there was a ban on "assault weapons" the ban did not include parts other than the lower receiver (the actual firearm), because those parts are not considered firearms.

The other advantage is that many receivers are caliber independent. Therefore, you could later purchase a 9mm upper if .223 ammo becomes scarce.

So if you have any inkling that you may need one of these weapons at some time, then you should buy one (or several) lower receivers and tuck them away for a rainy day.

Tom Tom, Fearless Hunter

As many of you probably know, my family recently moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico from Texas. Los Alamos is high desert. The altitude where we live is 7300 feet.


When we moved, we brought our pets: Buddy, our beagle mix, whom you've met in a previous post, and our four cats - Bitty (short for Bitty Kitty), Polly (short for Polly Molly Rosie Blue-Eye Winter), Meow-Meow, and Tom Tom.


Tom Tom is a big (15 lbs) yellow former tomcat. He loves to be outside and since it's still warm in Los Alamos, we leave a kitchen window open most of the time so he and the other cats can come and go as they please.


From Tom Tom's perspective, Los Alamos is a target-rich environment, to borrow from the military lexicon. When we moved in, our yard hadn't been cared for in over a year, so we had a major gopher infestation. There are also a lot of chipmunks, mice, and other rodents, as well as a plethora of birds.


I was sitting on our back patio one day about six weeks ago reading. Tom Tom was stalking some birds that had come to feed at one of our bird feeders. Much to my surprise, he managed to catch a small bird. I was surprised because you wouldn't think a bright-orange, 15-pound tomcat would be particularly stealthy. But he is patient and I guess our birds aren't very bright.


After he caught the bird, he strolled back to his hidey-hole under the house, uttering a loud "MEEOOW, MEEOOW", all the way, even with a mouthful of feathers. It was a guttural, primitive sound and the purpose seems to be to advertise what a mighty, fearless hunter he is.


I started finding presents on our back patio. For a couple of mornings it was a dead gopher. Again, I was surprised and impressed because I saw the gopher mounds, but had never seen a gopher above ground. Another morning it was a dead mouse. I have really enjoyed sitting in a chair and watching Tom Tom hunt. He would find the active gopher holes and very patiently sit beside the hole waiting for some action. Sure enough, at some point, the gopher would think it was safe to peer out and Tom-Tom would snag him with a sharp claw.


One night not long ago, I woke up to the sound of a loud "MEEOOW, MEEOOW" coming up the stairs. I thought, "Uh-oh, I recognize that sound!" Sure enough in a few minutes, I heard the padding of paws coming into our bedroom. If you've ever had a cat, you know that cats don't simply kill and eat their prey. They have to enjoy it first, which usually involves 15 to 20 minutes of playing with whatever they've caught. So, I fell asleep to the sound of "Pounce...skitter, skitter, skitter, Pounce...skitter, skitter, skitter...".


After I got up the next morning, got the kids out the door for school, and finished my first cup of coffee, I remembered the events of the previous early morning. I went upstairs to see if I needed to dispose of a body. Sure enough, there was a dead gopher lying on the floor below the bed, directly under where my head is while I sleep. Good job, Tom Tom.

The Gun Show, part Buddy

Los Alamos is having a Gun Show this weekend. I'm a bit of a firearms nut and decided to take a look. MDW (My Darling Wife), Michelle, was taking my middle child, Charlotte, to a birthday party, so I had my eight-year old son Malcolm, four-year old daughter Sasha, AND our one-year old beagle mix dog Buddy.

I wasn't sure about the dog and we almost left him in the Suburban while we looked around. But he so wanted to go and I relented. Buddy is pretty well behaved, especially for his age, and is particularly attached to the kids. So leash in one hand with Sasha's hand in the other, we headed in. I wasn't sure how Buddy would be received at the gun show, but the guy taking money at the door said it was fine.

If I had thought more about it, I should have realized what you probably are already thinking - people who like guns absolutely love dogs, almost without exception. Even if a gun lover doesn't particularly like dogs, they are certainly ready to tolerate them, since they are definitely a live-and-let-live people.

Buddy was a hit, even though he wasn't particularly well behaved. There was a snack bar and people were walking around the gym eating nachos and bratwursts while looking at pistols, AR-15s, bayonets, knives, all manner of scabbards and holsters, and of course turquoise jewelry (it is New Mexico). The result of all this snacking was quite a few crumbs and tidbits on the gym floor which Buddy was determined to clean up. So there was quite a bit of pulling on the tether and wrapping his leash around exhibit table and chair legs. Luckily we made it through the aisles without spilling a tableful of .223 and 9mm ammunition.

Buddy also likes to greet everyone, especially if they show any appreciation for him at all. I'll warn you-if you ever meet Buddy and don't want to be licked and jumped on, it's best to avoid eye contact and for God's sake, make sure you aren't carrying a hot dog.

So Buddy has a propensity for placing his front paws on the tables and greeting the exhibitors. At least I think that's what he was doing. It could be that he was simply inspecting the merchandise, looking for the perfect home defense weapon.

I heard several, "That's a good-lookin' dawg!" and "What a nice dog!" and "That dog looks like he could be a coon dog." I had a few offers to take Buddy in trade for various guns I was looking at (I am looking for a reasonably-priced AR-15, an oxymoron if there ever was one). It was tempting, but Buddy came home with us.

The Gun Show with 1 Beagle and 2 Kids

Made a mistake yesterday - I took my 8-year-old son, 4-year old daughter, and our 1-year old Beagle-mix "Buddy" to a Gun Show. More on that later when I have more time.

Here's the recap according to the 4-year old:

Mommy: Sasha, did you like the gun show?
Sasha: It was boring. No one shooted guns.

Poland addendum

I did not realize when I wrote the previous posts that yesterday, September 17, 2009, was the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939. This invasion was unprovoked and proceeded without a declaration of war against the Poles.

Curious that we would choose such an infamous date for another stab-in-the-back.

More on Poland and Czech

I wrote a post yesterday about the Obama administration's decision to cancel the radar sites in Poland and Czech. These sites would be part of an anti-missile defense system to protect Eastern and Western Europe from attack.

There are more repercussions today. Polish & Czech headlines are as follows:
"No Radar, Russia Won" - largest Czech daily
"Betrayal! The US Sold Us to Russia!" - Fakt, a Polish Tabloid

And an editorial in Czech newspaper Hospodarske Novine said:
"an ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia, of which we are rightly afraid."

We must also remember that these two countries have very recent experience of being sold down the river. The Sudeten portion of Czechoslovakia was given to the Nazis by hopeful appeaser Neville Chamberlain in 1938. Later Germany occupied the remaining part of the country with no action except for weak protests from Chamberlain.

And let us not forget the August 21, 1968 when Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks rolled through Czechoslovakia to crush anti-communist reforms. President Lyndon Johnson took no action except for weak protests to the United Nations.

Poland was divided by the Nazis and the Soviets in 1939 and the Soviets ruled Poland under an iron fist until 1990.

You might be saying, "So what? That all happened over 50 years ago." True, but Russia is becoming more and more belligerent. In 2008 Russia invaded the sovereign country of Georgia, a former member of the Soviet Union (birthplace of dictator Joseph Stalin). This conflict essentially started when Ossetian rebels began bombarding the rest of Georgia with rockets. The Russians clearly believe they have every right to invade its neighbors and do not worry about world reaction.

Two last points:

First, Candidate Obama campaigned on the promise that he would improve our image in the world. Does this action do that? We've heard the reaction from Poland and the Czechs. I can imagine the reaction in Iran and Russia is joyful and gloating, like a bully who successfully challenges a stronger, bigger kid who doesn't have the guts to stand up to him.

Second point: When the Nazis invaded Poland, the appeaser Neville Chamberlain was still prime minister of England. But at least that appeaser had to recognize the truth and England declared war on Germany, as did France, and honored its commitment to Poland.

I wonder whether our president has even as much backbone as Neville Chamberlain.

Hoisted With My Own Fairy Petard

Conversation in the car yesterday with my four-year old daughter, Sasha:

Daddy: Sasha, what are you reading?
Sasha: A book about Fairies.
Daddy: Oh really, do you like it?
Sasha: Oh yes, I really like Fairies.

...pause...

Sasha: Daddy, are Fairies real?
Daddy: No honey, Fairies are made up.
Sasha: I think Fairies are real.
Daddy: No, they're not.
Sasha: Well you told us the Tooth Fairy is real. Isn't she a Fairy?
Daddy: Ummmm.

The European Missile Shield

I read this morning that President Obama has decided to cancel missile defense system installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/17/united.states.missile.shield/index.html

I am alarmed by our new policy of Peace Through Weakness compared to President Reagan's successful Peace Through Strength. I suppose we could also call our new strategy, Peace Through HOPE, as in HOPE Iran Doesn't Get Nukes & Rockets, HOPE Russia Doesn't Become More Aggressive.

In my personal life, I've never had much use for Hope by itself. Hope is a powerful virtue, but has to be accompanied by action. I can HOPE that my children are going to grow up with the right values. But that doesn't do much good unless I am active in their lives and work to instill the values I want them to have (and work to counteract the influences that could lead to values I abhor).

Benjamin Franklin, who was much more articulate and pithy than I could ever be put it this way, "He that lives upon hope will die fasting."

So while I too HOPE (and pray) that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons or the capability to deliver them to Europe, and while I too HOPE that Russia will not become more warlike, I'd like to have a defense system, JUST IN CASE.

Welcome to dcarr's blog

A variety of events have spurred my interest in creating a blog. There are going to be a wide-range of posts including my thoughts on current events and politics, what my children are doing or saying, random things that happen to me throughout the week, to things I'm reading about that are interesting.

So enjoy and I welcome your comments.

David