[FRIAM] Don't take your guns (or ammo) to town...
Steve Smith
sasmyth at swcp.com
Wed Sep 16 17:33:33 EDT 2020
Frank -
I think you just missed the Santa Fe City/County firearms "buyback"
which has some charms (though I think they are constrained to always
destroy the weapons, which may contradict some particular antique value
of one or the other).
I DO think firearms of the type you likely inherited (pre 1950
manufacture?) are for the most part, not in the problematic class...
According to Wikipedia, NM does require background checks on private
purchases... it would probably be easier for you to sell to a gun
dealer, possibly at a gun show. Such a person would at least
understand the collectible value of what you have, whether they pay a
fair price for it or not (guy's gotta make a profit?).
My own values suggest that A) you make sure the firearms don't get
abused in this modern gun-crazy culture; B) make sure that any familial
sentimentality is not violated (sounds like that phase has already been
passed); C) make sure any particularly interesting vintage pieces make
their way to proper collector/museum hands. Roughly in that order.
They could also be rendered inoperable such that it would require a
gunsmith to return them to fireable condition. I'm guessing in all
cases, removing or filing down a firing pin is the method.
While I often imply (maybe even boldly state?) That I do not own any
firearms, I AM the curator of two revolvers handed down to me, I just
deliberately don't maintain any ammunition, nor do I fetishize them (as
cool of mechanisms as they are when inspected closely). I DID
incorporate the (very slightly damaged) barrel of my Grandfather's
service .45 (replaced by my father during his tenure with it) into an
art piece about "action at a distance"... cartography and ballistic
weapons..
/(it was selected in a juried art-show making me "an Artist" which
in turn means (I believe) now anything I craft that I *call* Art, is
now, in fact *Art* because I'm an artist (see first clause) and I
*say so*! I am in the same boat as you Frank, thinking I might
best just remove these fancy mechanisms from being useful for
threatening/wounding/killing people/animals/roadsigns.)/
When closing down my parents house after my dad died and my mother opted
for an assisted living lifestyle, his two *rifles* went missing. I
did not know precisely where they were stored, but had an idea and
sought them out first to make sure they didn't "get loose". Both were
fairly innocuous... the first being my Grandfather's *other* WWI service
weapon (30.06 bolt-action single-shot used by my father as a deer rifle
with open sights) and the other being a 20 guage shotgun my father took
in trade from a colleague early in his career but never really used...
He had let go of a .22 plinking rifle somewhere in his retirement, so I
didn't have to look for that. The revolvers and a tiny (by most
people's measure) cache of ammunition (at least a decade stale by that
time) were nearby but the likely thief (someone who had done some
work/help for my parents who had access to the building and must have
seen the weapons) didn't find. While either of the weapons "lost"
could be used to threaten, harm or kill someone, they are nothing
compared to the now-popular assault-style semi-automatics and combat
(12ga) shotguns. My father taught me the basics of firearms handling
and safety and sent me through an NRA sponsored course around age 13
which I am thankful for. I handled his weapons enough during that time
to become moderately proficient and familiar but I suspect I'm more
accurate with my bow or a rock than I would be with a firearm.
I don't know what to offer about your youngster who is being
indoctrinated into gun violence/combat by the popular culture... I
myself can be seduced by the action shows and some aspects of strong
action-oriented computer-video games... with "action" as a euphemism for
*aggressive violence* I suppose. I believe that we, as a culture, are
rather unhealthy in a number of dimensions, this being one of the more
acutely obvious (to some of us) ones.
Good on you for caring enough to do right by this issue.
- Steve
> I inherited or received as gifts six firearms (rifles and pistols)
> from the previous generation of my family. They were ranchers,
> farmers, or railroad workers at various times in their lives. I would
> be happy to sell the whole lot. It may be the case that a sale of any
> of them would have to be done in connection with an investigation of
> the buyer's possible criminal background. Does anyone know? I can
> call the police if a buyer appears. They are all now in a very secure
> safe since I live with a young boy with an intense interest in guns
> and combat. He watches videos made by high school and college
> students and plays video games almost all of which have combat modes.
> I wishi it were possible to assess the association of such games and
> videos with violent criminal activity later in life. If that were
> possible would it affect their availability?
>
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:48 PM Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com
> <mailto:marcus at snoutfarm.com>> wrote:
>
> I think it probably depends on the time horizon. While the
> social wound is healing it probably helps the authoritarians, in
> the long run there is memory. Counting on empathy at all seems
> pretty iffy to me. It depends where one sits in the
> socio-economic scheme of things and how you see the future. I
> would just replace the your recommendation of group-self-policing
> with self-modulating. Invoke chaos when chaos will be untenable
> to stop by force -- when it is in fact terrifying to those in
> power to have it continue.
>
> It definitely makes me think every time I drive by the local
> hardware store and still see it boarded up with plywood -- the
> plywood now covered with graffiti. It makes me speculate about
> the guilty conscience of the owners, actually. The movie theater
> across the street put up a Black Lives Matter sign on the marquee,
> and nothing happened to them.
>
> This is reptile brain stuff, but I think it has an impact.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com
> <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com>> On Behalf Of u?l? ???
> Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2020 12:36 PM
> To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com <mailto:friam at redfish.com>>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Don't take your guns (or ammo) to town...
>
> I can't find it now. But some outlet argued that state-sponsored
> violence positively reinforced empathy for the victim and
> negatively reinforced empathy for the police and state. And
> riot-violence positively reinforced empathy for the police and
> state and negatively reinforced opinions of the rioters. I don't
> believe it (yet) because it makes too much *sense* to be an actual
> result. Sounds like rationalization or confirmation bias.
>
> But if it's true, then riots do work ... to bolster a fascist
> state. Rioters who call themselves "anarchists" are either tools
> of the fascists or just too stupid to understand what they're
> doing. Actual anarchists would not riot.
>
> On 9/16/20 12:17 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> > In my neighborhood somewhat hijacked a LED street sign to say
> "Riot's work". If it is just the 2nd amendment types barging
> into the capitols with their guns, then the danger will be
> perceived as one-sided.
>
> --
> ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ
>
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> --
> Frank Wimberly
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
> 505 670-9918
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