Life in 3D

Fear Factor

No, not me, this reporter – if you want to call him that.

With concealed carry laws in effect, I can’t be too lax about casual encounters anymore. I have to remind myself to be aware of any sudden movements or suspicious behavior by individuals while in public space.

Even driving back and forth from home to work takes on a new relevance. I have to make it a point to be more courteous to fellow motorists and exhibit extreme road courtesy in all situations.

You can’t be flipping anybody off in the age of concealed carry, that’s for sure.

Hate to tell you this, but a lot of holsters will do a very good job of tucking the firearm in so you won’t have that bulge. Also, the people who would be acting suspicious or having “sudden movements” are probably the bad guys and (I know, this will be hard to hear) they won’t be CC permit holders.

Thankfully, the “No Weapons Allowed in the Building” sign has been posted at my job, which was a great relief for some of us who write the kind of stories that occasionally get the public agitated.

(Thanks, boss!)

Yeah, because we all know those “No Weapons” signs are like a magic shield that makes anyone with a weapon incapable of entering the building.  Look how well it worked out at Virginia Tech.

I’ve traveled to many of the states that allow concealed carry – you probably have, too – and can attest to the fact the law doesn’t contribute to any greater or lesser sense of public safety.

Most times, you don’t even think about it.

Pro-gun advocates insist concealed carry laws lead to a decrease in crime, but statistics don’t bear that out in any discernible way. Apparently, there aren’t a lot of stories about concealed carry “heroes” rising up to stop crime.

Really??? I would love to know what stats you are looking at, because the ones I’ve seen show that the more we protect ourselves the more crime goes down.   But I am sure it’s just an aberration that crooks don’t target people when then think those individuals are armed.

I’ve heard all the arguments, but I’m still not sure why any ordinary citizen would feel the need to carry a gun in public for self-defense. What also doesn’t make sense to me is the idea that having more guns will make us safer instead of the other way around.

Uh-huh.  Heard all the arguments have you and yet you still can’t understand how a 102 lb woman would be safer when she is armed from Joe Biden’s 200 lb rapist than if she just tried to scare him of with a police whistle and a cell phone?  Are you sure you are competent to be functioning in society without a keeper then because it’s pretty damn obvious to me and a lot of other people.

Face it, you don’t trust yourself to handle a firearm and so you don’t think anyone else should have one either.

Well, I’m afraid that’s one fear you’ll either have to get over, or you can move to that gun free, crime free  paradise of Chicago.

H/T to Sebastian

Intuiton Get Your Gun

When the wife and I hit Austin we acquired a Ruger SP101 for her with a deal that was too good to pass up, namely – we bartered for it (cue the exploding heads at the Brady Bunch).

Anyway, she is now thinking of getting one a bit different and with a smaller frame that fits her hand better.  To her, the Ruger is just a bit too large and slightly heavier than she likes so while we were over at Charlie’s the other day she started looking at the pistol case while I headed to the gunsmith to find out why my Browning’s slide had jammed up on me.  I had been cleaning it and when I put it all back together and attempted to rack the slide it went half way back and stopped which resulted in me using words that are not acceptable around small children, but lucky for me it was his nap time and he was upstairs. (Turns out that there was no reason, they got it working again and charged me nothing for the service).

Once the guys in the gunsmith shop had worked their magic, which took them less than five minutes, I met up with her and our son Insight near the revolvers and had a very nice talk with the man behind the counter who showed us a number of very sweet pistols.  He talked to the wife about calibers, safety features, and how to see if a gun fit the hand and took his time to talk to her instead of the common mistake I have seen (mostly with buying cars) where they talk to the guy like you are making the decisions for her.  As he showed her a S&W Model 60 he mentioned on of the nice things about it is that if you crack it upside someone’s head they WILL feel it, which I thought was a good side note on that particular weapon.

In the end, she has narrowed it down to two weapons, though I might point out a third one to her.

The two she like are the S&W Model 60

I like the 60, it’s a good solid pistol without too many frills and has a very comfortable grip to it.  Since it’s a .38 and she is a new shooter the recoil would be manageable while still giving her some stopping power.

Plus, the J frame would give me a tax write off since I would be using it to fit for grips.

The other one is the S&W Bodyguard .380

The nice thing about this one is the size.  I have never shot a .380 but since Breda uses one I will not make the common mistake of saying something stupid like “That’s too small of a round to stop a mouse!”  Mainly because Breda would shove a boot up my ass, but also because any bullet can kill you if you know how to shoot.

The one I would add to the list is the Sig P290

This one is pretty much just like the .380 when it comes to appearance, but the 290 shoots 9mm which fits me just fine, one less type of ammo to buy.

In the end though, it’s her choice so I’m just going to shut up and hand the guy the money.

Holy Mother of God!!!

A 12 gauge… revolver???

H/T to Uncle

Getting a Grip: Part 1

No, this isn’t a political posting, this is a gun and art posting.

So it’s like this, I have been ignoring my thesis for much too long because I have jumped into teaching myself how to make custom pistol grips.  I was actually inspired to start down this road by my friend Michael, maker of amazing custom holsters, to get into this for a few reasons; One, it could potentially be another source of income for us, and with a baby (and the wife wanting a few more) extra income would be nice.  Two, I’ve seen bunches of custom grips for .45′s but not much out there beyond that and I think with the proper tools, methods and practice I think I can provide a product that people will want. Three: Along with Michael’s  inspiration I also wanted to make a set of custom grips for my dad’s .45 Kimber for Christmas.

So, with all those in mind I decided to start with something that I already have, a Browning Hi-Power 9mm.  I actually figured this is a good one to start with because it is not a flat back grip, the grip actually curves into the back strap of the pistol and on the backside of the grip there are some cut outs that help hold the grip in place since it is only mounted with one screw.

So rather than just having to worry about shaping the sides and face of the grip I also had to do some carving and right angle work as well.  I figured if I could get this one to work then I could probably handle the flat back grips too.

Below the fold are pictures and narrative of what I started doing

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