Considering the fact that the images and multimedia buried in this post took me over two hours to upload (thanks to a piss-poor network system in my apartment complex), you bloody well better enjoy it. 

As I have been mentioning, today is Buy a Gun Day...  Basically, take whatever money you have coming back to you from the Federal Government and apply it towards exercising your Constitutional rights.  Or, if you are like me, and are not getting any money back (which, after all, is the better situation, since it means they have had less of your money and you have been getting the interest on it as opposed to the government), just go spend however much you would want in order to flaunt your rights in the face of those who would take them from you. 

Unfortunately, at the moment, I am not really in the market for a new firearm, due to moving shortly, and especially due to moving to Kalifornistan, and doubly especially moving to a county in the said "state" that has a sheriff with a remarkably narrow view of self-defense.  However, out of sheer boredom, I went ahead and hit up a gun show that was taking place nearby.  Of course, those of you who have been to these kinds of shows before know that they are not made solely up of firearms and firearm accessories...  One could purchase firearms (with the prerequisite waiting period, of course...  there is no such thing as the "gun show loophole", despite morons' claims otherwise) and ammunition and scopes and add-ons and all that good stuff, of course.  But hot sauce, Rescue Tape, backpacks, tasers, concealed safes, rubber band guns, insignia, guidebooks (the best I saw was "Homemade Claymores: Construction and Personal Defense Applications"), bumper stickers, political literature (the Libertarians were recruiting), jerky, airsoft toys, and even wood carvings were also available.  And this was all in a space about the size of half to two-thirds of a football field.  It got crowded sometimes.  However, the most interesting thing was not the items, but those people, who were both remarkably numerous, and completely polite.  Hell, some of them were downright friendly, and I spent nearly 15 minutes at the Rescue Tape table talking about it, its applications, and its properties.  Sure, these people were just looking to make sales, but so are sales people and cashiers at department stores, groceries, and shops out in town, and I can all-but guarantee you that every one of those sellers at the show was at least an order of magnitude more polite, friendly, and personable than 90% of the people you run into regularly in commercial establishments.  So much for gun "nuts", eh? 

In the firearm field, the good news is that I finally decided on which pistol I will eventually purchase (barring new developments, considering that I will not be doing the actual purchasing for some time) for use as a concealed weapon - the Springfield .45ACP XD Compact, in a 4-inch variety.  Yes, I have sold my soul to the dark side - I may, very well, purchase a synthetic pistol in the future.  *shock*  The show gave me yet another chance to try it and its competitors on, and I confess that I like the fit of it the best, and it has all of the various features I want.  Well, to be honest, it does not have a manual positive safety (except for the trigger safety), but, to be honest, the best "safety" is the human using it - if you do not want to shoot, do not put your finger in the guard.  It really is that simple.  But, again, that is something I will be taking care of in the distant future, so this knowledge will be placed in an appropriate folder, and we move on. 

The bad news, however, is that I got to also try on the Springfield SOCOM 16 M1A.  I have been considering getting a rifle for a while now...  I shot air rifle competitively in college, and enjoyed every minute of it...  However, those toys are more than a little expensive, and despite that exorbitant price, there is not a lot of utility to them outside of the range - one can only cause so much damage with a 4.5mm pellet propelled by compressed air.  So, with that in mind, why not graduate up to an honest-to-God shoulder-fired (at least normally) weapon?  In light of the whole moving-to-Kalifornistan thing, as well as my growing distaste for small-caliber rounds when you can use large-caliber ones instead, the M1A was a somewhat natural choice - it is legal in that "people's republic" (at least with the compensator barrel end, as opposed to the flash-suppressor - flash-suppressors make things "assault" weapons, despite the bloody thing being non-automatic, over three feet long, and almost ten pounds in weight), and fires the 7.62mm/.308WIN caliber round.  Makes sense, considering it is the (civilianized) modern adaptation of the M14, which is the less-modern evolution of the oldie-but-goldie M1 Garand.  So why the SOCOM?  Shorter barrel, and scope base.  I had initially considered the SOCOM II, but the salesperson at the show raised a valid point - the II is almost a full pound heavier, and all of that extra weight is at the far end of the barrel in the form of its four-way, picatinny-based Cluster Rail System.  Sure, those four rails could be used for a light, laser pointer, scope, and bipod...  but, good lord, imagine what that would weigh.  I think I can live with just the single rail.  As for size mattering, I am not terribly concerned about being able to reach out and touch someone at hundreds of yards...  My recreational shooting would almost definitely be less than a 100 yards in range, and my not-quite-recreational shooting would absolutely be less than 100 yards.  So why fight with the extra weight and length if you are not going to use it?  Anywise, this is an after-move thing, so enough rambling on this. 

In the nifty category, I had the chance to fool around with something I have been wanting to fiddle with for a while - a holographic sight.  These devices provide no magnification to your view, but they make aiming... all but effortless.  Basically the sights generate a holographic crosshair on a small screen in front of you, making the crosshair accurate no matter your frame of reference.  Your eye can be centered on the gun as if you were shooting with iron sights, or you can be off center - as long as you can still see the holographic crosshair, if you put the center on-target, and the sight is centered, you will hit it.  Think of it as a laser pointer, sticking a convenient crosshair on your target... but it projects nothing downrange.  It was a breeze to use, and something tells me that once I save up enough for the M1A, one of these widgets will eventually end up on top of it. 

So now that I have been jawing your ear off about all the stuff that was there that I wanted but did not actually purchase, what did I walk out of there with?  Well, first off, a pack of four hot sauces for my father... with the hottest one supposedly possessing a temperature rating of 15,000,000 Scoville units.  For reference, a jalapeno is 8,000 units.  From the chart on that page, however, you can see how they cheated and accomplished this massively huge rating.  Second, I nabbed a knife-sharpener of somewhat dubious usefulness.  It is comprised of a small plastic piece holding two steel cutlery sharpening bars at an angle to each other... and that is it.  You run the blade in the angle between the two bars, and it is supposed to sharpen it on down...  I have had mixed success thus far.  I guess I just need more practice. 

Third, the real "toy" I got from the show.  I saw these at the last one of these shows I attended, and they definitely caught my eye at the time.  Between then and now, I decided that if I came across them again, I would go ahead and snag one, and, lo and behold, I did.  So after all of this writing, how about some pictures (which are also links, by the by)? 

Could not quite make out the name on that blade?  Let me make it a little more clear for you, since that is the reason I purchased it to begin with: 

Yup, you read it right.  This is a commemorative knife, authorized by Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov himself, created by Boker...  all in the memory of the Automat Kalashnikov series of rifles (this particular model is the 74BT).  Having grown up during the Cold War, and having had a father actively engaged in fighting it...  I had to have this knife.  Granted, an AK itself would be more appropriate, but while I find the knife quite aesthetically pleasing, the rifle does not engender the same feelings.  Nothing wrong with spartan and utilitarian, but, personally, I find those rifles downright ugly.  However, the knife itself comes complete with its display case...  appropriately modeled after the magazine of an AK rifle: 

And below, it is hanging out with its older cousin - the Smith and Wesson large-size S.W.A.T. folder that has been living in my pocket for the past five-ish years. 

However, there is one marked difference between these two knifes, besides their size and the shape of their blades - the new one is an "automatic" knife.  What does this mean?  I press the small button on its left side, and the blade swings out.  To those of the appropriate generation, this brings to mind the concept of a "switchblade", but that is a rather emotionally-laden word, so we will go ahead and avoid it.  Yes, this knife is spring loaded.  Yes, the blade swings out and then up - it does not project directly and straight out.  And, yes, they are legal here in Florida, both to own and carry.  Much though I despise Wikipedia (it is a flawed concept at its very core, and is prone to remarkable elitism), it does have a good summation of the appropriate laws in this particular case.  Oh, and, yes, this is a state-by-state thing... the only Federal law regarding these is concerned with the manufacture or transportation of the automatic knives between states for commerce. 

So, with all of this in mind, does the spring really make a bit of difference?  A lot less than you would think.  As I said, the S&W knife has been my regular-carry knife for the past five years, and has been relatively well cared-for in that time - regular cleanings and sharpenings, and the occasional splash of WD-40 for preservation and ease of operation.  Suffice it to say, this thing is relatively easy to get out at this point, and, fo comparison, I filmed a couple of clips of the operations of the two knives, found here and here.  As you can see, they both are on-point rather quickly, with the "automatic" one being very, very marginally faster - but, then, it is also smaller and lighter.  And, in terms of effort, I was pushing with my thumb in both instances... hardly a significant difference.  The irony of the situation is that the Boker knife is twice as safe as my S&W.  The latter has a small dimple which holds the blade in the handle when it is at rest, but the former has a positive locking mechanism - the button itself.  The knife will not deploy until the button is pushed, and there is no way to force it out that I have ascertained.  Additionally, the knife also has a "safety" - a small slide on the spine of the knife that, when pushed forward, prevents the button from being pushed and the blade from deploying at all. 

Yes, the banned-in-31-states knife is, in fact, safer than the legal-in-all-of-them one.  Yet another instance of idiotic legislation proposed and enforced by the ignorant, for the sake of implementing further controls on anyone except themselves.  Do you not just love those kinds of (stupidity)² laws?  Oh, and for the record, if I ever move to one of those states wherein the ownership of this particular tool is banned (imagine someone trying to ban philips-head screwdrivers because they are easier to stab into someone than flat-heads?), the tool will be disposed of properly.  Of course it will. 

Regardless, the show was all manner of a good time, and I made it out of there with some useful items.  If you ever need to burn a few hours, I highly recommend this manner of time-wasting, especially when they fall upon this auspicious day. 

(Oh, and all pictures were taken with my brand-spanking-new Fujifilm Finepix F31fd.  More on that later, but for the time being, know that I am quite happy with it.) 

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, 123beta, Maggie's Notebook, basil's blog, Helium, Shadowscope, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, The Pet Haven, , Pursuing Holiness, , Faultline USA, Stageleft, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.