To the man I sat next to on the train: I am the gun owner you hate

Boston Globe (letter to the Editor) ^ | January 09, 2016 | A. Linden

[Mount Athos]

When I boarded the commuter rail, you were already in the midst of a spirited phone conversation and didn't seem to care about how loud you were talking. You were talking with someone about the Paris train attack and the growing epidemic of gun violence in America.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

There are two weapons rosters -- in a nutshell, a list of guns that are legal to own and a list of guns that are legal for dealers to sell. But hold on to your hat, the lists are disclaimered as neither necessarily complete or up to date. Additionally, there is a list of "banned features," but having a banned feature doesn't (necessarily) make a gun illegal -- only certain combinations of "banned features," or a certain number of "banned features." Then of course, there is the 10 round limit on mags and sundry other arbitrary laws. Most of these laws are also quite vague, purposefully so, I think, so you have to think twice about what and where you buy. This leads many companies to just set up a blanket policy of not shipping to MA, period, and I can't blame them.

And you're right, the closer you get to Boston, the harder it is to get a concealed carry permit. Worse still, you can't own a handgun without holding a concealed carry permit, and the list of misdemeanors that disqualifies you from getting a permit is pretty comprehensive.

Open carry is theoretically legal, but causing a public disturbance can be grounds for losing your concealed carry permit, and surprise, open carry has been held to be a public disturbance in multiple cases, resulting in the holder losing his/her permit. I haven't yet found a CCW rig that I would be comfortable wearing in summer clothes for fear of printing. I'm thinking about getting a Ruger LC9 for summer carry, but I've never liked tiny guns.

[bravo whiskey]

I presume this isn’t AMTRAK. I don’t think you can carry there but could be wrong.

[ExCTCitizen]

Great well written letter...

[dr_lew]

I've never owned a gun, but I've fired a gun a handful of times, starting with the Boy Scouts. I shot a .22 on a range with rigid supervision - every motion made on direction of the supervising "commander", as we regarded him, being mere babes. I kept the target for many years, but I don't know where it is now. It could be in my basement! I think on the same occasion of a week long campout, I shot skeet with a .22 gun and hit 2 of 6, IIRC.

Anyway, it was all enough to make me a gunner, in spirit if not practice.

[cloudmountain]

It is the nature of the universe.. Destruction.. Random.. Total.
Reset. Do it Again.

That is very Hindu. They believe that we humans keep coming back again and again and again until we "get it right."

There are no women in Hindu heaven. Only men go there so women pray to "come back" in their next life as a male. Maybe the Hindus believe in the "houris" who will give men such pleasure. It's sure no place for females.

They continually "reset" for continual "do-overs."

[billorites]

Shooting is a great discipline and I'm glad that I was introduced to it when I was young. By the time I was 12-13 I was going down into the basement by myself to shoot off a box of 50 rounds regularly and I took it deadly seriously. Probably the first activity that I approached with a, more or less, "adult" frame of mind. I learned breath control, patience, a systematic approach to safety and to improving my skills, etc. The NRA marksmanship program for youth and adults is first rate. When young folks are introduced to shooting early they tend to view firearms with the respect and caution that they deserve.

I was lucky to live in a house with a basement that had over a 60' clear and open space. I could shoot the 50' target curriculum for rifle and pistol. My father had it fitted out with a couple of big old fashion bullet traps and great lighting. The targets were right under the laundry where the back door was and where the dogs slept. When a .22 hit the steel bullet trap it would ring like a bell, a very loud bell. The dogs upstairs would levitate about two feet off their beds into the air. Probably accounts for why our toy poodles always seemed so anxious.

[IronJack]

How could anyone sit and listen to such drivel and not wish the driveler would get hit by a bus?

[no-s]

I look like a young Liz Taylor. Well, I dreamed I did.

Heheh. I had a girlfriend in Junior High who thought I looked like Paul McCartney. OF course I wanted to resemble Robert Plant...

Many years later I found a picture of young Steve Jobs and thought he resembled my father in a photo taken at the same age. I met his daughter one day (she went the same high school as my son) and showed her the two photos - she agreed...

[Talisker]

There are no women in Hindu heaven. Only men go there so women pray to "come back" in their next life as a male. Maybe the Hindus believe in the "houris" who will give men such pleasure. It's sure no place for females.

Absolutely wrong. You don't know what you're talking about.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for that.

I am a non-aligned born again with issues..

I wish the Vikings could get it ‘right’ once..

dang kicker just shanked one to the left..

I wish there was a flag. do-over? oh yeah..

[Exit148]

I wish the writer, when he parted from his seat mate, had told him how close he was sitting to a gun— and was perfectly safe.

One time at a FReep at the WH, we were doing something about the 2nd Amendment. A woman approached us and complained about dangerous guns. I asked her if she felt safe where she was at that moment, and she said yes. I then pointed out all the armed people just yards from her— the DC police, the guards at the WH gate, the snipers on the WH roof, and so on. She had nothing to say and just huffed and walked away.

[sauropod]

Show them the Juanita broaddrick interview and make sure they know that Fat Bottomed Girl covered for His Slickness’s habits.

Hillarity! the enabler.