Gun Shows~~~An American Freedom~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

I love flash drives, I can type up something and then save it to down load later, which is one of these times, I’m typing this opening paragraph from work, because I’m waiting for a meeting to start which has been delayed for the next 20 minutes. It is very cool and over cast here in the city, which is not unusual because it is now Fall but for what our weather people are saying and sometime I think they really don’t know what the weather is going to be.

Once again our weather people here in California are saying that we are having a heat wave.

We are, but it is a strange one. The more you go inland, the closer to triple digits you get, but here on the coast it is like a mild, cool summer and here it is the Fall Equinox! Such paradoxes for this area.

I want to do a brief mention of Fram’s blog “The Great American Gun Show”. I have to agree, gun shows are as American as God, Mom, Apple Pie and your dog. It is the only place were I have been able to see antique’s, collectables, security devices, classes in training for self defense, the latest in camping equipment, Rod and Gun Clubs, and survival equipment, (which is a bit different from just camping equipment).

Let me explain----you go to a County Fair, also an American institution, and you see the latest wizzy things to make one’s life easier, more fun, things for the home, places to go to, unusual exhibits like the six legged cow, little strange collectable bric-a-brac, and foods that you never find in the usual fast food joint’s like funnel cakes, frozen bananas’ and Big Bad Bubba’s Bar-B-Que with turkey drumsticks that could choke the Hound of the Baskervilles.

(By the way did I ever tell you that I love an old-fashioned county fair?)

A Gun Show is much the same thing, equivalent to a Boat and Camping show, an Antiques Show, a Harvest Festival (have you tried the Teriyaki jerky?), a Gem-Mineral-Jewelry Show, a Military Collectibles Show, a Coin and Knife Show; it is all of these all rolled up into one big ball, the only thing missing is the “All Alaskan Pig Races” (and you will have to Google that one just to find out what that is).

But there is an advantage, that it is under one very large roof. You meet the nicest, friendliest, politest people, who are more than willing to share their opinions based on their experiences. For example I was at a gun show in Antioch, I took a lunch break and enjoying one of spiciest hot dogs I’ve ever come across, seating was tight, but a few nice gentlemen scooted over to give me a seat. As I was about to bite into my dog the man next to me saw the ring I was wearing, an old Navajo ring that I knew to be at least 50 years old.

He asked me where I had purchased it and I told him the history behind the ring. He said that he found one exactly the same style in the bottom of an old junk box at an estate sale. He was fixing to cut it and use it as a concho on his holster, but after seeing mine changed his mind and instead will keep it as is. It’s moments like that that can make life so interesting. I seldom have it at the more traditional, very upscale antique shows, where people are more interested in showing off that they can afford to buy such expensive things, but at a Gun Show everyone is more down to earth, and especially with the old timers, who strongly believe in the “Code of the West”.

Gun Shows should be preserved; with the exception of an old-fashion county fair it is one of the few places where it is a great equalizer, where everyone is on the same level, based upon their experience, and where one is willing to learn more. I love them and am working hard to preserve them, because the minute we become a too pacifist society, that is the moment we, as a society lose our freedom and to quote Charlton Heston as he held up his rifle “From my cold dead hand” for that is only when I will give up my guns and my 2nd Amendment rights.