[geeks] Michael Moore can kiss my ass.

[Bill Bradford]

On Wed, Dec 24, 2003 at 04:00:00PM -0500, Kurt Huhn wrote:
> Hey, cool!  So that's an actual 9x19mm, not an airsoft? [0]  

Yep.  I own one of the "transparent plastic" Desert Eagle .44 Airsoft
guns, but I'll be getting one of the G19 Airsofts soon to play with
indoors.  Does yours not have the orange-ringed barrel?

> I didn't get any guns for Christmas or my birthday this year.  I 
> asked for power tools instead - I need to beef up my pipe-making 
> workshop.  It's stage 1 on the road to getting out of IT:

This was a totally unexpected gift.  Amy was talking to me on IRC yesterday
(Wednesday) morning, "Hey, I'm going to go to the beauty store, I'll see
you in a bit."  About an hour later, she walks into my office totally 
unexpected.  "I was going to go buy you a gun and surprise you with it
for Christmas, [0], but they wouldn't let me buy one with my Tennessee 
driver's license!" [1].

So, I skipped out of work early [2] and we went down to the gun store [3]
before they closed at 1pm.  She'd walked into the store earlier, "Hi, uhm,
I don't know anything about guns, and I want to buy my husband one for
Christmas.." and played up the helpless little lady part... She'd looked at
a Sig 226 (since she knew I'd looked at the Airsoft version at the sporting
goods store), but they ended up not able to actually buy it.  When I went back
with her, we got the same sales guy, and I looked at a few different pistols:

- Ruger Mark II (bull barrel)
- Walther P22 (looked a little too space-age-hi-techy for me)
- the aforementioned Sig 9mm (too worn, used)
- the Glock 19 (secondhand, but looks BRAND NEW)

In the end, I picked out the Glock.  I started out looking at .22s, since
I'll mostly be doing target shooting - but then ended up just buying a better
gun from the start.  Since we'd not had time to go home and get my Discover 
card, the guy said "Go over to the other side of the store, buy him a gift 
certificate, come over here, hand it to him, and then he can buy the gun 
with it."  That's what we did.  I filled out the paperwork [4], it took 
them about five minutes to call it in, and then the guy handed me the gun 
in the box.  "Here's your combat Tupperware!  Merry Christmas!".

We brought it home, Amy took it away from me, and is going to wrap it up
so I can formally open it tomorrow (well, today).

It's a FRPxxx serial number, from what I can tell, means it was made in
October (just two months ago).  3rd generation G19, with accessory rail,
etc.  It normally wouldn't have come with a box or anything (since it was
used), but the guy at the store dug me up the box and cleaning rod, etc,
that you see in the picture.  I need to pick up a spare magazine for it.

I'm happy.. Haven't had a chance to go out and fire it, but I'm going to
be going through a complete firearms training and safety course, since
its been about 10-12 years since I've actually actively used and fired a
gun.  Figure its best to start from scratch.  I'll be going for a CCW permit
as well, of course.

Bill

[0] Amy was previously REALLY anti-gun.  Her compromise:  "You can own a 
gun, but you can't keep any ammo for it in the house.  You'll have to go 
buy ammo before you go shooting or go out to shoot with Tony."  I can live
wiht that.  Tony is a friend of mine with a CCW who carries a KImber .45 
and owns an AR-15.

[1] We've still not gotten around to getting her a Texas license.  Need to
do that soon.

[2] All of 3 people at work today out of a staff of 65ish.  I think my 
coworker left at 1pm anyway.

[3] http://www.mcbridesguns.com.  GREAT staff - the guy Amy talked to and
we bought the gun from was funny, knowledgeable, and our age.  "This is the
third generation glock, with the accessory rail - you can put a flashlight,
laser sight, grenade launcher, Quisinart, whatever you want on here.."

[4] First time I'd ever filled out gun-purchasing paperwork, as all the 
stuff I owned as a teenager was second or third-party private sales.

-- 
bill bradford
mrbill at mrbill.net
austin, texas