Wednesday, December 18, 2013

"Guns may be in high demand for Floridians' holiday gifts"

"We have definitely seen an increase in the number of background checks over the past several years," FDLE spokeswoman Samantha Andrews said Monday.

"You can see November and December are relatively larger" for sales.

"Andrews declined to speculate on the reason for the increase and said the checks are only conducted on the individuals making purchases.

Click Orlando (click read more for video)

18 comments:

edutcher said...

Firearms have been everybody's big gift since the Choom Gang came along.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Christmas is always a time for 'comfort'. Comfort in gifts and in being with family.

Gifts of slippers, warm fuzzy jammies, big box of chocolates, an expensive bottle of the favorite booze and a nice shiny Glock. Comfort all the way.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

And for that last minute stocking stuffer.... a box or two of ammo

:-)

KCFleming said...

Barbara Walters says happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun:


"During her 1977 interview with Fidel Castro “I spent 10 days with him, traveled through the mountains and held his gun in my lap,” she said. “People thought we had a romance, but we never did.”"

Did Reggie Love hold Barry's gun in his lap?
We know the Danish PM didn't. Michelle saw to that.

Favorite gun lyric, aside from Los Beatles:
"Like a shotgun needs an outcome
I'm your prostitute, you gon' get some
"

Lykke Li - Get Some

AllenS said...

Too bad Fidel didn't shoot Barbara.

The Dude said...

DBQ beat me to it - just bought some ammo and the clerk said "Stocking stuffer?"

Made me laugh.

Icepick said...

No, no, no. The stockings are for grenades. The ammo is the stuff you hide in the kids room for a late morning surprise.

Wait, maybe I have that backwards....

Methadras said...

About to finish building an AR15 as a gift to myself. It's gonna be real nice.

Chip Ahoy said...

Cool. Pictures please.

I too am trying to have a gun fetish but it is not working out at all. I'm still a klutz and when seconds count I'm still as klutzy as ever. It's why I make a crap photographer too.

When I saw that guy take a ten mile hardscrabble hike to the desired rock arch in the desired light at the desired time of day, at length, at last, after all that, breathlessly reach into his pack and pull out a broken lens I laughed my ass off. So what. They have the television lens recording the whole thing. Nothing lost except his ace photo with his ace camera and that's funny.

I seem to have digressed. Klutz. He shouldn't have guns either.

But these firearms-related Christmas ideas reminded me of the list of seized items Zimmerman is expecting returned via TMZ, the list includes strange things, but the paucity of ammo to guns caught my attention. Why not more bullets? Why not hundreds of bullets? Thousands? Regular people have more than this:

2 .233 rounds
(that's two bullets, right?)

8 9mm rounds
(that's eight bullets, right?)

I'm really good at counting all the way up to ten, and this looks like ten bullets in two sizes. So far.

2 .40 caliber magazines with 8 rounds each.
(now it's getting better)

2 9mm magazines ( 1 with 14 rounds and 1 with 15 rounds )
(noooow, it's getting interesting)

13 12 Gauge Shotgun rounds
(that does not seem like many to me)

59 AR15 Rounds
(hello)

Here's another thing that makes firearms proponents seem like complete pricks to firearms haters, their affection for technical jargon, their attachment to Acronyms with numbers especially fractions fraught with deathly meaning and serious importance, like a secret language for nerds. Soldier nerds, much as military personelle are with their ordinances and their materielle.

For all their vee-hickles, and such.

But just try to find out how many cartridges come in a box. Such a simple question. Too simple to ask. What a dummkopf for asking.

What kind of cartridge, what kind of box? What kind of shotgun, what size, what for? How far, how fast, how wide a spread, what size a pellet inside, how much gunpowder, what chemicals, which asteroid the raw materials?

Gauge, length, dram, oz shot, shot size, velocity, and price, but not how many you get in a box.

Because you're born knowing that. Duh. Or perhaps it is printed on the top of the box that they never show.

12

That's my final guess.

No wait! That's too expensive. 24 is my new final guess. I don't know. Still, only 13 shotgun shells doesn't seem like very much fun at all.

The Dude said...

Good one, Chipster.

Michael Haz said...

I've been shopping for my Christmas gift. It's beginning to look a glock like Christmas.

Methadras said...

Michael Haz said...

I've been shopping for my Christmas gift. It's beginning to look a glock like Christmas.


Michael, if you can get your hands on a Springfield Armory XDM in either a 3.5", 4.5", or the 5.25" then do it. Great weapon out the box. I prefer the .45, but your caliber is preference. :D

Michael Haz said...

Methadras - Thanks. I checked the website and will try one out at the range. The 9mm is what I'd want for CCW.

Aridog said...

Michael .... if you are looking for a very compact, but solid, 9mm for general carry, try out the Springfield XDS in 9mm and the S&W M&P Shield in 9mm. Both are "single stack", very compact, and easily carried in a minimal leather holster like Galco's "Stinger" model.

I wound up with the S&W M&P Shield model for 9mm and easy carry due to its excellent crisp trigger pull at around 6+ lbs for a striker fired pistol...that also has a manual thumb safety. Make sure its a pistol made after late August to assure that you get the revised crisp trigger if you choose the S&W.

Aridog said...

Methadras ... Does Springifled make an XDM model with a safety and/or a decocker for first shot double action...follow up single action?

For my .45 ACP pistols I have a Kimber Custom Shop 1911 model and an FNH FNX-45 that I bought for my birthday :) Again, chosen for a larger carry pistol due to its features, of a crisp single action (not as crisp as the Kimber, but good) and true double action & single action hammer fired pistol , again with a manual thumb safety that is also a decocker. H&K also makes a version like this...just not as good a trigger. When the FNX safety is engaged the trigger is totally disengaged from the sear. Decocked and on Safety is about as safe as it gets. Old Model 1911 guys like me just have to have that manual thumb safety. We're used to it and disengage it smoothly if we have to draw the pistol. I know I am an old fart when younger guys at the range are amused by my fetish for safeties...and they look at me weirdly when I fire my old S&W Model 49 revolver single action cocking the hammer every time and still stay inside timed fire parameters.

I just never could mentally adapt to striker fired pistols without safeties or decockers...when I found a hammer fired version tuperware gun with both I was hooked.

Michael Haz said...

@Aridog - Thanks. The S&W M&P Shield is on my short list.

Not sure of the caliber yet. A compact CCW size is good, but I carry when I hike in the woods and forests near my cabin, and need to be able to stop a feral dog, coyote or (in rare instances) a wolf, since we now have a pack within one mile.

I like the power of a .45, but that's an awfully hot round in a compact. And for home defense use, that round could go through a perp and still go into a neighbor's house.

Although the one time I needed a home def weapon I grabbed a Remington 890 pump action and the sound of pumping a round into the chamber was enough to make the bad guys turn around and run away. Maybe I'll stay with that.

Michael Haz said...

And I understand the safety thing. I have an old Savage .32 that is double-saftied. Darn near idiot proof.

Aridog said...

Michael....regarding .45 ACP rounds...there are several of them that are hollow point with plastic insert and relatively slow velocity that they won't go through most walls as secondary pentatration, but will destroy soft tissue. My carry .45 ACP round is a 185 grain Hornady Critical Defense round. I have no need for +P super 45 ACP's ... but a lot of folks think they do so they sell. My duty .45 ACP rounds were all sub-sonic 230 grain hard ball rounds at 900 fps or less. They did the job. The idea, even with hard ball rounds, was to expend most energy in the target and not over penatrate. Hot 9mm rounds are far more likely to go through walls. My carry 9mm rounds are 147 grain JHP Federal rounds that are in convesntional 9 mm velocity, not +P.