Old Dog

I wrote about this on my blog and posted websites for further info and who you can contact. This app is being touted by some as a way to establish a national gun registry by the people. Just report everyone you know with a gun and over time there will be a large database of gun owners established by citizens. Very dangerous so take this seriously.

I just use the Do Not Disturb feature. Keep it on all day if you want so that only calls from certain people ring through.

More guns here = less ammo available. I have been buying my self defense ammo online since I moved here. The stores tend to carry the brands that give them the most profit like Hornady. Speer is hard to find at the places near me. The larger stores probably have a larger selection but I only live near small guns stores; although there are a lot of them.

After living in NJ for so long I was amazed at all the guns stores down here. I have 4 within 20 minutes of me and about 10 times that amount within an hour. Plus private sales require no documentation or FFL so there are always a lot of guns being sold by people all around you. Enjoy the Gunshine State where gun control is a firm grip on your carry piece.

Which wars were Glocks 23's used in to qualify it is a 'fighting gun'. Are you aware that the .40 cal. is not a NATO round and we have agreements in place to use NATO calibers for general use? Are you also aware that JHP is not allowed for military use so we are talking using .40 hardball? You can make a good argument for the Glock 17 but the 23 has the same problem that the 1911 does; a non NATO caliber. OK for special units but not for widespread use. That is why we went to the 9mm in the first place.

Don't sweat it. I went through a war with an M16 fired on full automatic and 30 years later when I bought an AR15 and entered my first action rifle competition, I laid it against my forearm after shooting a stage. I still have the burn mark.

You make my point. You are aware of the issues and trained to use a long gun. Most people buy long guns for home defense because of the perceived ability to use them with no training. There are many ways to prevent handgun fatigue. Some as simple as switching hands, resting gun on top of something, using off hand on and off, etc.. Of course, part of any training with a handgun should be using it with your off hand. I know enough from personal experience not to count on having your strong hand available to you after a fight A relative of mine used his right arm to ward off a blow from an oar. Broke his fingers in many places. Could not use his gun because he never trained with his left hand and they tossed him in the lake to drown. Luckily someone saw it and saved him. this was about 30 years ago and he still only practices target shooting with his dominant hand. Go figure.

I recommend that everyone go through a dry run of clearing their house. Try opening closet doors, flicking on light switches, turning suddenly in narrow hallways or on stair cases and then see if a long gun or handgun is the right tool for you. I too used a shotgun and AR-15 for home defense at one time but when I did a walk through I found it was very cumbersome for doing a lot of normal things and also thought what if I had to hold someone at gun point for 20 minutes waiting for the police. That long gun would get very heavy and require the use of both hands. Try handcuffing someone while holding a rifle on him too. For me the final straw was finding two areas on my home where if I turned around suddenly my long gun would hit a wall or staircase rail. No way would I remember the areas where I had to lower my long gun to avoid that if under extreme stress. To tell the truth, the recommendation for a shotgun for home defense is from a long time ago and I cannot recall any modern well respected firearms instructor that recommends them as their first choice anymore. Plus too many buy them thinking that they are death rays and do not require much practice when in fact they require more practice than handguns for home defense. I used to watch guys compete is action shotgun matches with their home or hunting shotguns and it was interesting to note that when under time pressure, a good number of them forgot to rack their pump gun or short stroked it the first few times they competed. My own cousin had a shotgun for home defense for 40 years and never shot it. He was told it was the best weapon for home defense and when the time came he just needed to point it and he would hit whatever was in front on him and not penetrate his walls. At age 70 I told him that the 12 gauge he had loaded with 00 buck would knock him on his butt since he had no idea of how to hold it. He never even racked it once. I had him check out a few websites to see that instead of one projectile penetrating his walls, he would have many doing it. I believe 00 buck is .36 cal pellets and they will certainly penetrate dry wall as well as any bullet can. I have since switched to a handgun and love having a free hand to do the things that need to be done to open doors safely and not worry about hitting stuff with my long gun. BTW, shotguns jam too and after shooting sporting clays with them I know that clearing a shotgun jam can turn into a project, both with pump and semi autos.

I do not now but I have in the past. Never was robbed at home when I had my 1911 serving as my home defense gun. I do not know why you think all 1911's are unreliable without having work done on them. Like any other gun, most will work great and a few will not. Spend the money and you get what you paid for. I never spent less than $900 for a 1911 and all of mine have been reliable.

So true. We bought the house we are now living in because of the dogs. It is the only type of house that has a wall around it. No other houses are allowed to be fenced in. Then we paid to have our lanai screened in so that the dogs could lay out there in safety. Next was installing two doggie doors so that they could come and go as they please. We also bought an SUV so they could ride in comfort. Of course we had to get two doggie car seats that put them at window level so they could lay down and look out. Every couch, inside and out, plus each bed, has doggie steps. Put in three trees for my dogs to sniff around. My two dogs have over 100 toys to play with stored in 4 doggie toy bins. Annually we spend more on vet bills than we do our own medical ones. Even took a loan to pay for an operation for one of the dogs. Before we moved we paid to have a picket fence installed in our back yard so that they can roam free and see all the animals wondering around. They are spoiled beyond belief as they ride in my golf cart looking like a king and queen. I think the worst was buying my male dog a Burberry coat for $200 and spending $49 on my K-Mart one. Well, there was the time when I bought my wife and female dog matching coats but now there is no need to dress them for winter in Florida and we have resisted buying them sunglasses as some dog owners do. Thinking more about contacts. My dogs start the day by going out onto the lanai and laying down on a chair and couch to get the sun. When they are warm enough they come in. They spend the day chasing the geckos, frogs and birds that have the audacity to enter our back yard. At night my female dog, who loves cool weather, goes out to the lanai to take a nap until 1am. She loves being outside more than the male. Of course we have doggie beds in every room and blankies next to the couch where my wife sits to watch TV so that one can lay on the couch with here and the other lays on the doggie blanket. They eat special dog food which we have to drive to the vet to buy and get treats every night. What a life they have.

I live in Florida and am not concerned. I lived in NJ during the Newark riots and even rode shotgun in our work truck going to a job right near Newark. I literally held a shotgun on my lap. I have never been the type to scare easily but am no fool either and avoid places where there is trouble. My experience with race riots is that they are usually confined to low income urban areas with a lot of stores for riot shopping and those in the suburbs should be fine. Down here, we have more people with ccw permits than you have gun owners so people are not so quick to mess with anyone. In any event, since you cannot carry a concealed gun, there is not much you can do about it if you leave your house. Stay home from work for a few days if you are concerned but I would not worry about anyone travelling to my suburban home to cause problems. Not enough big screen TVs per square foot to make it worth anyone's time.

I saw a video of a shark attack at local beach but I still do not carry shark repellent when I go there. My point is that low probability things happen all the time and most of them occur much more frequently than what you are worried about. However my life experience seems to indicate that people are more likely to do something about unlikely things, more than the likely which have much higher odds of hurting them, when the answer is a gun. You do what you think best but if I felt the need to carry a gun on me in my own home, fear has won out and that is no way to live. Personally I would look for other options than lugging a gun around and wearing clothes based on their ability to carry a gun. It is your life though and you have to do what you think best. If I were you I would look more towards hardening your home with better doors, locks and a good alarm system rather than live my life lugging a gun around on me all day in my home. If you have more than one gun you can get some cheap handgun safes and scatter them around the house. I have lots of guns and lots of gun safes and live someplace where a home invasion is as unlikely as it gets but I have guns scattered all over the house. I have the guns and safes so why not? Mine however are more for dealing with coyotes, gators, wild hogs and occasional black bears spotted in the area and/or attacking dogs. My .454 Casull is not exactly a home defense gun. I plan on adding a .44 mag this xmas for the smaller critters. I always advise people to first make sure they address things that are more likely to hurt or kill them before taking care of those things that guns fix. As Spock would say, it is logical. Think rationally and look at those in your family and among your friends. Are they dying and getting hurt due to criminal violence or are they being harmed by more mundane things that you ignore like health issues, safer cars, fire extinguishers, etc. If you still fear a home invasion, or whatever you are thinking about carrying a gun for, and only wearing a gun will get rid of that fear, then go ahead because life is not worth living if you have to live it in fear. I know that some do not like the 'f' word and rather call it concern/being prudent or whatever, but I only get concerned about the things I fear. If I am not afraid of something happening I do not prepare for it, especially inconveniencing myself to do so. Whatever you decide, good luck but I recommend that you look for an off body solution, even something like a Wilderness Tactical SafePacker that you can lay down nearby wherever you may be. Carrying a gun is not comfortable and once the novelty of doing so wears off, you will figure that out for yourself. Feel free to disregard me but this is the advice I have given to others and found it to work for them. You do what you feel you need to do. It is your life, not mine after all. A good part of my job is protecting facilities that hold high value and sensitive items. Of course, the people who work in them are also valuable. One of the things I learned over the last 30 years of doing this is that good security is keeping the bad guys out, not defending yourself after they get in. If they get in, you have failed in providing good security. Once they are in there is no guarantee that even with your gun you will prevail. We have found armed guards not as effective as dogs and doing things to prevent them from gaining access in the first place. Just having a gun is no guarantee that you will prevail against multiple armed intruders who have the element of surprise and no hesitation to shoot in all and every direction due to fear of hitting the neighbors, woman or children. Your life and your choice but I just wanted to let you know that there are other choices to keep your family safe other than lugging around a gun.

After I took a job here and moved, it took me months to stop asking if things in gun stores were legal with no special license. You just do not see 100 round drums for rifles in NJ.

In our lovely State anyone can carry their gun in their car BUT in must be in a closed container. That can be a shoebox, glove box or even just a holster with a snap thumb break. However, keep in mind that not all LEO know the finer points of the law so it is best to just put it in the center console or glove box. Whatever you do, do not put it on your person or so close to you that it can be considered on your person. The short answer is you can keep it off your body anyplace in a container that requires that the container first be opened before you can get the gun. Aside from the obvious, the other methods can be determined to be legal at your trial. Some just put a towel/hat/rag/etc. over their gun in the passenger's seat although if you stop short your gun will go flying out of reach. WARNING: While it is legal for anyone to carry a gun in their car, it is illegal to carry it in your car in a school zone and that means if the school is right on the street and you drive past it, you are technically in violation of Federal law. It is one of those stupid laws that politicians did not think through. The major concern for Florida is that you cannot transport your gun from your car if you are parked in a common area such as is found in an apartment, hotel or condo complex. It is illegal to do so. This is a flaw in the law but as it reads, you need a ccw license to move your gun from your apartment/condo/hotel to and from your car. BE VERY AWARE OF THIS LEGAL FLAW. So while you can carry in a car, getting it to and from the car may be a problem. This is why a lot of people get their ccw license even if they just carry a gun in their car. However, you can have a gun in your hotel room as it is considered your domicile while staying there. How you get it to and from you car is another matter. Just a not well thought out law but a law nonetheless. Our Evans is Jon Gutmacher. Google him. His book on Florida gun laws is used in LEO training centers. It will answer all of your questions. Just be aware that should you carry your gun to/from you car illegally and then have to use it, it will become a major issue at your trial. I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice. it is just what I read that a lawyer here wrote. As someone who has made the NJ/FL trip many times I too urge you to avoid Washington, DC. I usually do but the last time I was in a hurry and got caught up in traffic so bad that I had to cancel my hotel and find someplace closer. I was stuck in traffic from 1 PM until it got dark at about 5 PM due to rain and heavy fog which caused accidents coupled with heavy traffic. We just sat there most of the time.

Sad to say that unless things change, every gun will. Our great grandchildren may have to go to a museum to see what guns their great grand dad used.

Get to the emergency room right away. I have often felt that way but after prompt medical attention I was lusting for more guns. See a good Gunterologist right away.

Get a set of good audio cables for your phonograph and hear the difference.

The sound of puff the magic dragon wiping out that company of Vietcong closing in on you. It is still the sweetest music I ever heard. Viet vets will know what I am talking about. As far as boring non life saving music, I listen to anything from classical to pop. Good music is good music.

I had a S&W .327 and sold it. Big mistake and I think I will buy another. What I like is that the .327 is similar to the .357 but with less recoil. The best part is that you can shoot just about any .32 out there from the very mild to the powerful .327. Gives you a lot more choices in ammo than a .357 does.

I see what they did to Times Square. I used to go there as a kid to visit the magic shops nearby. Now it is like Disney Land. I frequently battle with the locals in Florida who read all the stories and think that NYC is a battle zone and everyone who lives there is crazy to go out without a gun. I try to explain that many cities in Florida have worse crime rates and just because the numbers of events seems large to them because they are used to small cities, those numbers as a percentage of the population are small in comparison to other places. They read about 300 shootings and think wow, that is a lot but never consider the population and the fact that a lot of the bad stuff goes on in places most of us know enough to stay away from.

Is NYC now safer? Despite being born there and spending a third of my life living there, I have not set foot in NYC for about 10 years. Just wondering if it is now safer due to the recent new laws? Can I go home again? :-)

One good thing about being old is that you have heard the SHTF stories for so long that you can ignore them and move on with your life. However, as one sharp tack reminded me, just because it never happened does not mean it cannot happen. Duh, OK, but there are many things that can possibly happen that are unlikely to happen and it is only those things that are likely to happen that we should worry about or else we will end up like Howard Hughes secluded from all the possible dangers of the world. Does anyone else notice that when it comes to possible but unlikely events that include having a gun, they are paid more attention than those more likely things that do not require a gun?

I am a licensed FCC Amateur Radio Operator. Hold the highest license they issue to non commercial radio operators. I talk to people all over the world over a piece of wire and 100 watts of power. Something magical about being able to use as much power as a light bulb and bouncing a radio signal off of the atmosphere so that it comes down on the other side of the world. Can even bounce signals off of satellites, meteors and talk to the space station. With the internet, most young people prefer other methods of communications but ham radio provides a sense of accomplishment because you are talking to others without the aid of anyone else.

I am typing this with one hand, perhaps something more familiar to those who have not been typing since they were 10 years old. The day before my birthday my left hand started hurting enough for me to stop using it. I could not extend my fingers or make a fist. My guess is that between work and blogging, I was spending too much time at the keyboard combined with an extensive shooting session. I did my usual web research and came to the conclusion it was tendonitis, a condition that would require taking an over the counter inflammatory and using ice packs. Seems to be working but it got me started thinking about something I have written about; why all seniors should have at least one revolver. In gun forums I have often spoken about having a revolver in your arsenal for those occasions when you do not have the use of both hands. For us older gunhands, those occasions seem to come suddenly and all too often. I normally have problems with my hands due to nerve damage and arthritis. Tendonitis is something new and a great birthday gift to remind me that each year is not making me stronger and better. However, I plan for such events and had my trusty J-Frame snub nose ready to go. I loaded it with some mild Hornady FTX 110 gr. .38 spl ammo and was good to go. I could even reload it. Using a semi auto was out of the question as there was no way I could rack a slide and press a magazine or slide release. Be prepared, and I was. I just wanted to post this reminder for older shooters that if you can afford more than one carry gun and holster, one setup should be suitable for those times when medical problems prohibit carrying your primary gun. A snub nose and pocket holster is a great setup for those times and something everyone should consider. I have to keep this short as it is slow going for me to type like this and my left hand keeps wondering to the keyboard undoing all the healing it has undergone. Something to think about whether it is hand problems, bad back (I have both), etc.. A simple, lightweight easy to use gun that will not strain any part of your body that you carry it on, is always a good idea for seniors. Even with one hand I was able to load it by laying it down and that reminded me of why I keep it handy. It even makes a good primary gun for seniors and is very popular with the retired LEO I know. I cannot imagine trying to clear a jam in a semi auto with the condition of my hands today so I am comforted by my revolver; well two actually since I bought the Alaskan to use as a backup home defense gun which it is now is doing. I planned ahead just in time. I have it stoked with .45 LC self defense rounds but if a bear tries a home invasion I am ready with a box of 20 .454 Casull. That reminds me, I have to cancel my range trip this week where I was going to shoot the .454 Casull for the first time. Best to wait until I can use both hands and then post the results on my blog.

I finally got a chance to shoot my new Colt Mustang Pocketlite. I have been trying to buy one since they first were re-introduced in the spring/summer of 2011. I went on a backorder list but after almost a year of hearing that it should be arriving in about 2-3 weeks every time I called, I cancelled my order. Of course, two weeks after I did that, they actually did arrive but were quickly sold to those who had more patience than I did on the backorder list. I then went on the email notification lists of anyplace I could find online that offered such a service. After many months of never being notified I decided to buy the Sig P238. The P238 is a Colt Mustang with a Sig flair. From what I understand, Sig bought the rights to manufacture the Colt Mustang, which Colt stopped producing in 1997, right before the pocket .380’s took off. Way to go marketing department! You can usually find the original Colt Mustangs for sale on gun auction website. They were first introduced around 1987. They have a cool factor as they look like miniature 1911’s and were very popular for a time. However despite their cult following, the original Mustang was not known for its reliability. Its slide was cast rather than made from a solid block of steel. Tolerances were not as tight as they should be. Most worked well and others worked well after a little gunsmith work. Read more .........