It's a cold Saturday morning and I get up and stagger into the kitchen under orders from the family to find some sausage and make some pancakes. As I put together the ingredients, my fuddled brain considers that I really ought to be making Johnny Cakes or Hoe Cakes in honor of our founding fathers, but then again I'm not ungrateful that we've learned to properly mill white flour in the last 200 years. I guess flapjacks are patriotic enough to start the day, because today I'm celebrating being an American. Today I'm going to the gun show.
Now, I don't actually need any more guns and there are those who would argue I don't actually need the ones I have now. Some people have a gun safe or a gun rack or a gun cabinet. Here in my fortified compound I have a gun room. I've got big guns - really big guns - I have a cannon, in fact. I've got small guns - small in barrel length if not in calibre. I've got new guns - my latest is a Browning 30-06 hunting rifle. I've got old guns - several nice reproduction Civil War era black powder pistols and rifles. What I have the most of are working reproduction guns from the cowboy era for use in Cowboy Action Shooting. Yes, I do occasionally dress up in 19th century garb and go out on a range and shoot at targets with other costumed buffoons.
Our local gun show is the Saxet gun show in nearby Austin which jams a converted Best Buy with about 80 dealers every third weekend. I don't actually need to go to the gun show to actually buy any guns, but I'm not going to let that stop me. Of course, there are other things to see and buy at the gun show from collectible coins to Beanie Babies to beef jerky and everything inbetween, not to mention gun tools and accessories - and I do need a replacement magazine for my Marlin 12-gauge goose gun.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tim Hall
Anyone selling landmines or anti-aircraft missiles?
2 - alienboy
Is this guy for real?
Frankly, I am quite appalled that you even printed this quasi-fascist, certainly extremist propaganda
3 - Tim Hall
Dave Nalle is clearly attempting to out-wingnut Al Barger.
This could get ugly....
4 - Tim Hall
BTW, is this the same Dave Nalle who used to post in rec.games.frp.* a few years back?
If so, is Eric going to make "Hybrid" a blogcritic.
5 - bhw
My husband loves to shoot. And he's a gadget hound, too, so he loves to "accessorize" his collection. We don't quite have a dedicated room yet, but we do have a locked cabinet -- don't want the kids getting a hold of the stuff.
When we lived in NJ, we used to attend a show every second Sunday of the month, called the "Second Sunday" show. And we'd go for two reasons: first, because he could buy used equipment that was in near-mint condition for a song and second, because, as you note, these kinds of shows are a testament to American entreprenuerism. They were here before eBay took the idea and put it on the Internet.
Of course, my husband loves to shoot pictures, and we attended camera shows, not gun shows. It's not just about supporting first amendment rights -- though that's reason enough to go -- it's about supporting free enterprise and entrepreneurism. It's the point where mainstream America meets the underground economy, where enterprising people are finding ways to make money with their skills, wit, imagination and cool hardware. People make good livings travelling camera show circuit, and when we went we could always find something new and interesting to look at and sometimes something my husband actually needed. The camera show is the entrepreneurial frontier, a lot of fun, and a temple to American liberty.
6 - Mike Kole
Here we go with the generalizations. Is someone a nut because he is fascinated with something to the point of intimate knowldege? If so, we're all going to classify as nuts, because it applies to our love for music, books, film, politics- you name it. Dave just happens to have a zeal for guns.
Big deal.
7 - Dave Nalle
>>Anyone selling landmines or anti-aircraft missiles?<<
That would be illegal, you know. So no. But I bet that 9/10 people at the gun show would argue that under the 2nd amendment they ought to be able to buy, sell and own them.
>>Is this guy for real?<<
Entirely.
>>Frankly, I am quite appalled that you even printed this quasi-fascist, certainly extremist propaganda<<
Let's see. I talked negatively about fully automatic weapons. The only guns I mentioned by name are in categories which have never been considered for any kind of gun control. In fact the Pedersoli is in a class which isn't even legally considered a controlled firearm at all and which you can buy through the mail. I scoffed at anti-government conspiracy theorists. I bought a knife at the gun show, not a gun. But yet I'm an extremist who ought to be censored. What a lovely representative you are of liberal open-mindedness. Perhaps it's just my whole-hearted endorsement of free enterprise which offends you? When I lived in communist Russia there were certainly no gunshows - though even there it was legal to own a shotgun and in fact one of their recently privatized factories makes an excellent line of shotguns for export.
>>BTW, is this the same Dave Nalle who used to post in rec.games.frp.* a few years back? <<
Why yes, and as I recall people there hated to have their assumptions challenged too.
Great post, BHW. Just as you did with camera shows the same could be done with computer swap meets, flea markets, comic book shows and dozens of other places where people meet to trade their wares.
Dave
8 - Jim Carruthers
So, do you think there's good money to be made selling woodchippers to 'murrican terrorists at gun shows?
9 - DrPat
Thanks, Dave - I thought I was the only one who found intriguing non-gun treasures at gun shows. Four years ago, I made a connection with the local onager society, and would have entered their competition if we hadn't needed to move out of state two months later.
10 - Dave Nalle
OMG you found a local onager society? Where did you live? I'd love to build an onager. I built a ballista many years ago, but an onager would be a real challenge.
Dave
11 - DrPat
Subset of Orange County CA SCA. They "turn up noses" at catapults and such-like "new-fangled machinery." Contact them at the big gun show, wherever they're holding them now, or try the Barony of Gyldenholt. If they're still doing this. In four year's time, lots of SCA folks graduate college and go other places...
12 - Shark
Dave, can't wait till yer next detailed description of a shopping trip.
Great work!
Truly a creative and thought-provoking addition to the Blogcritics site.
....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
13 - Bill Lamb
My only question...why two blogs with different titles and identical content?
Both www.elitistpig.com and www.torchofliberty.com are the same blog with a different title line.
14 - Dave Nalle
>>Dave, can't wait till yer next detailed description of a shopping trip. >>
Comparative reviews of cool grocery stores is next. Whole Foods vs. Central Market. I hope you can stand the anticipation.
>>My only question...why two blogs with different titles and identical content?<<
Well, domain names are cheap and I'm indecisive. Plus all the perfect ones were taken and I had to try some out before I settled on elitistpig.com as my primary one.
Try these:
http://www.diablog.us
http://www.wakeupzombies.com
http://www.technobarbarian.com
Theoretically if I have time and can sort out some software issues the technobarbarian site will be split off into a separate blog oriented towards technology reviews, but for now they're all together.
LOL, the software thinks I'm URL spamming, so I cut 3 of the addresses out of the list.
Dave
15 - Dave Nalle
The rest of the addresses are:
http://www.commonsenseaustin.com
http://www.freenation.us
http://www.psychopundit.com
I wonder if domain names are addictive.
Dave
16 - Temple Stark
Addictive. Yes, they can be.
I may get a coup here in a day sor so. more later as someone forgets to re-up on their URL Actually, lest I overhype this - its not a national name or anything.
17 - DrPat
Dave: Coming soon, a review of a new book on constructing onagers, ballistas and catapults... Of course, I will cross-post here too, as well as on my blog.
18 - Eric Olsen
Dave, I couldn't be much more removed from the natural constituency of those who would be intereted in a story about a trip to a gun show, but I found it compelling, humanizing and it challenged my preconceptions. Thanks!
19 - Dave Nalle
>>Dave: Coming soon, a review of a new book on constructing onagers, ballistas and catapults... Of course, I will cross-post here too, as well as on my blog.<<
Sounds cool. My brother-in-law gave me a miniature onager he built from a kit for Christmas. It's quite impressive for the size. Throws wooden ballsa bout 30 feet.
>>Dave, I couldn't be much more removed from the natural constituency of those who would be intereted in a story about a trip to a gun show, but I found it compelling, humanizing and it challenged my preconceptions. Thanks!<<
I was hoping someone would take it that way, Eric. Thanks.
Dave
20 - RJ
"Frankly, I am quite appalled that you even printed this quasi-fascist, certainly extremist propaganda"
WTF?
21 - andy marsh
Onager..like a trebuche? I'm not familiar with this device...but from the discussions, that's what I'm assuming.
22 - Eric Olsen
yes, I would say that response demonstrates how loosely the term "fascist" is used in some quarters
23 - Shark
"You'll get this onager when you pry it from my cold dead hands." -- Charlton Heston
"Pumpkins don't kill people; people with torque and too much time on their hands kill people!" -- National Onager Association, James Baker CEO
24 - Mark Saleski
trebuche's are cool.
some guy built this enormous one not far from where i live.
i tell ya, it's quite amazing to see a pumpkin get launched off into space like that.
25 - bhw
I'm shocked that tough American, flag-wavin', gun-totin' guys like y'all would declare anything with a French name worthy of praise.
Btw, Mark, there was also some Discovery-channelesque show [or maybe even PBS!] a few years ago where some guys built a catapult to see if they could really get it to work.