Each week I receive e-mails and calls from people responding to my written columns in ”The Courant” or my TriggerTalk radio show on WAAM. Over the past four years I have often talked of the “Shooting or Gun Community” I speak fondly about these people and the way they interact with others of similar interest.
These people can be trusted and when the situation calls for it, they step forward and do the right thing. They uphold the 2nd Amendment by embracing its encompassing activities: hunting, self-defense, and target shooting. If necessary, they recognize the 2nd amendment to be the last word in the defense of the Constitution and their Country.
A long time reader of “The Courant” and listener of my radio show contacted me recently to set up a meeting. I will call him “G”, and over the years he has amassed quite a collection of firearms that are important to him, May you would look at the group of firearms and proclaim “Meh nothing special”. But to him, each of these guns is a wonder of history.
There are a couple of pieces that I will talk about later, but it is more important to note the time we spent talking about guns others may consider ordinary. A Trap Door Springfield that hung in his cottage for years. A Ruger 44 magnum Carbine with a cool Weaver scope (German Style Post Reticle) that harvest many a deer. Or a .22lr bolt action that his father gave him for a High School graduation present in 1948.
This is the “Gun Community” that the Anti-Gunners can’t seem to comprehend…a life of traditions passed down from Grandfather to Father to Son. “G” and I looked at rifles, Shotguns, and pistols: beautiful ones and ugly ones but each had a story. We discussed when and why they were purchased, how many times they were fired, and the reasons they were neat. We viewed rifles that were used to practice the fine art of Checkering and specifically at the customization of the stocks and pistol grips.
My Reason for being with “G” that day was to acquire a “Wham-O” 22 Pistol, also called WAMO back in the mid 1950’s. This handgun was a real anomaly; a toy company that made Frisbee’s and Hula Hoops had ventured into the realm of real firearms. Later this design would turn into a Daisy BB Gun, but in 1956 this young boys could be purchase for $19.95 from the back of any comic book or outdoor magazine and delivered straight to your door.
Before I left we went outside to shoot the Wamo Pistol. “G” wanted me to see that it was fully functional. I knew it would be, but I was more interested in him shooting it one last time. We hammered a stick into the ground and put a tin can on it. We each took two shoots and were rewarded with a satisfying “TInk”
The transaction completed, the Wamo came home with me. To the future delight of my Grandsons this gun will see many rounds this summer when they come to visit. This gun will be a great introduction to handgun shooting just the way Wamo and “G” envisioned it in the 1950’s…when young boys learned responsibility, marksmanship and a love for the American freedoms we enjoyed and today take for granted.
