Seen at the Gun Show – 01/24/10

I had the pleasure of attending the local gun show this past weekend.  It was well stocked and attended, and as a bonus, I was able to visit with a long time friend in from out of town.  All in all I had a good day.

However, what I wanted to share with you is this:

I have a love for historic guns, particularly for those from the Old West.  Furthermore, I have a weakness for curiosities; the classic book Firearms Curiosa has been a favorite of mine since I was a very young.   So when I happened across the sawed-off buffalo rifle seen above, I had to grab a picture of it.

The gun is a Sharps carbine chambered in .50-70 Government that has had the barrel cut down to about 12 inches.  Whoever cut it down went through the trouble to reinstall a front sight (more of a bead actually).  Also, it even has the original sling attached.

Most of us at one time or another have wished that a firearm (or other piece of history) could tell its story.  I really wish I knew how the odd Sharps Shorty came to be and how it was used.

Was the barrel cut back because it was damaged or was it meant to be concealed?  Who carried it and were they a ‘white hat’ or a ‘black hat’?   Just how much flame comes out when something like that it touched off?  [Did Matthew Quigley have a cousin that was an Oompa-Loompa?]

O.K. maybe not the last one.

Of course, I’ll never know the real story behind it but I consider it a real treat just to happen upon something so unusual.

More on the .50-70 Govt cartridge here

Is Scott Brown a Friend to Gun Owners?

He is.  A lot more so than Kennedy was, but he’s no TEA Party candidate.

I spent the day rejoicing that Brown won and the Dems got served a heaping pile of rebuke.  Heh.

Hugh Hewitt remarked that it was The Most Significant Non-Presidential Election of my Lifetime, and the Most Surprising Result Period (and that’s not an understatement).

Then I saw a Drudge headline asking if Scott Brown will seek the Presidency next.

Whoa. Let’s just wait a moment….

First off let me say that I am tickled pink that Scott Brown won.  I even donated to his campaign in the hopes of breaking the Senate’s 60 seat super-majority (Alliteration: Yea!).  But, even as shock and fear grind through the Democrat party like tectonic tremors as the ramifications of Brown’s win sink into the minds of the non-celebrity Dems and their coming elections, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on whether Brown is ‘our guy’.

Brown is the guy that took Ted Kennedy’s seat* away from the Dems (in Massachusetts, no less!).   However, Massachusetts already has a ‘universal health care’ system and it seems their opposition to a national single-payer plan is largely based on the idea that they don’t want to pay for anybody else’s health care but their own.

Also if you missed Scott Brown’s victory speech (like I did), apparently he thanked his new friend and colleague for helping nurture and guide his campaign.  That friend is Sen. John “Reach Across the Aisle” McCain.

But to the meat of the matter: David Codrea has a piece today that reveals some of Sen. Brown’s views on our 2nd Amendment rights, which for someone from Massachusetts, is actually not too bad (supports concealed carry).  His view however are not so much in line for what the Founding Fathers believed (Brown supports ending private sales between individuals and some other things I don’t care for.)

So, we’ll have to keep looking for the next Reagan-to-follow-Carter for the time being.

Still….

The Dems lost Kennedy’s seat*!    Nah Na Na Na Nah!
The Dems lost Kennedy’s seat*!    Nah Na Na Na Nah!
PBPBPBPBPPPPBBBLT!!

(A little schadenfreude every now and then is OK ).

Now let’s all throw a few bucks to Tark and see what happens.

[*Yes, I know it's the People's Seat]