I hit the X!

There really is no excuse for what a law-abiding citizen in the State of Maryland has to go through to purchase a handgun. 

I've been fingerprinted and my prints sent to the state police and the FBI. They found nothing. OF COURSE they found nothing. I'm a law-abiding citizen. 

I had to take a four-hour safety course on how to handle a gun. Did I get to handle a gun? Nope. I watched the instructor handle a gun. I don't have a gun so I had no hands-on instruction. 

I got to test fire a handgun a sum total of eight times. Not my gun. Not the gun I have to learn to handle. Not the gun I need to know how to break down and clean, put back together so it doesn't blow up in my face, and load and unload. Nope. 

Why didn't I get to learn how to handle my gun? Because I can't purchase it until the paperwork comes through. How fucking stupid is that? 

I got to pick up the instructor's gun and fire at a target. 

Yeah, baby. I hit the X in the center. 

Then the spousal unit fired the gun eight times. He let me win, I'm sure, because he didn't hit the X. 

Laws really are only for honest people, and they punish honest people in the stupidest ways. Honest, law-abiding citizens do not buy a handgun to shoot another person. They purchase it to shoot venomous snakes and rabid raccoons. Or go to the brother's backyard and plink at targets stuck on a bale of straw. Or fire a few shots in the ground to scare off a flock of blackbirds. 

I'm more of a threat to others when I get behind the wheel of my very fast, zero to sixty in a few seconds, corner on a rail, four-thousand-pound car that can flatten your ass into the pavement. Not that logic rules in this world. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Legal gun ownership in Maryland

Both the spousal unit and I grew up around guns. We were both taught proper respect and handling at an early age. The men in my family were predominately military and hunters, the men in his family military with only a few hunters. We recognize guns, or any weapon, are tools to be used properly.

We've been hearing for years - most of our lives if the truth be told - that it needs to be more difficult to buy a legal firearm. For whom exactly? What fucking idiot believes a criminal will try to legally purchase a firearm? 

Second amendment rights? YOU BET. The second amendment is about the right to overthrow the government if it seizes too much power away from the people. The part that says the people have the right to bear arms to use to do this is the problem politicians have with it. Think long and hard about that. 

Disarm the populace and politicians don't need to fear the populace. Think long and hard about that. 

But this isn't about skanky politicians beyond the fact that they're desperately trying to make it more difficult for a law-abiding citizen to have a gun.

I'm getting a license to purchase a handgun. 

I plan to purchase more than one and stockpile some ammo.

I would prefer the spousal unit to get the license, but he's disabled. Getting him to be digitally fingerprinted, to a safety class, to the firing range, etc., isn't possible. Handicapped accessibility my ass. Where would that be? And so it falls on me.

We live in the woods. Last summer a raccoon strolled onto the patio in broad daylight. Himself was trapped, unable to flee the beast or to defend himself. I was at work and called the Sherriff's department to help him. What a fucking joke. No help came. I got home as quickly as I could and got him to safety.

THIS CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

Raccoons out in the daylight are generally rabid. This can't happen again. He will have a handgun in his saddlebag for his own protection. 

I have to assume all you folks who want handguns melted down would rather see him die a horrible, agonizing death from rabies than protect himself. I don't think much of you and your ilk. 

Getting a license to purchase a handgun in Maryland isn't all that easy, nor is it cheap. You need to get digitally fingerprinted- $50 and up. You need to take a safety class - $100 and up. You need to fill out an application - $10 and up. Cost of the firearm - $300 and up. 

I'm not a criminal. I don't have a criminal record. A criminal has to do nothing but pay someone for a gun. 

As a law-abiding citizen, I must endure a protracted and expensive process to obtain a weapon for my family's protection. 

The reason for that? The money it generates for the government. 

Follow the money - always. Think about that. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor