gun control, gun grabbers, hatred of Jews, Uncategorized

The Nuge – read before you judge

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A week ago Second Amendment firebrand Ted Nugent posted an appalling graphic on his Facebook page, showing a dozen of America’s most famous gun grabbers with Israeli flags superimposed on their photos. The implication was clear – an obvious, disgusting claim that some kind of vast Jewish conspiracy was behind gun control efforts in the United States.

Fans of Ted’s music and his Second Amendment supporters were understandably upset. Was Ted implying that Jews were somehow responsible for the demise of our freedoms? Was he an anti-Semite? Is Ted prejudiced in some way against Jews? Has Ted become a liability to the gun rights movement?

Fast and furious calls for the NRA to cut ties with Ted. The National Review Online called Nugent a disgrace to the gun rights movement.  The usual suspects – everyone from the Huffington Post to Mother Jones to the Southern Poverty Law Center to Media Matters – screeched about Ted’s alleged anti-Semitism. Even Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership – the organization from which this group sprang – immediately jumped into action to condemn Ted for his alleged Jew hatred.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL IVES Toting a guitar covered with camouflage pattern and a zebra-striped semi-automatic assault rifle, Ted Nugent is ready for an assault on the outdoors.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL IVES Toting a guitar covered with camouflage pattern and a zebra-striped semi-automatic assault rifle, Ted Nugent is ready for an assault on the outdoors.

You know what these reactionary outrageatrons didn’t do? No one in the mainstream media or any major gun rights organizations contacted Ted Nugent for a comment. They didn’t try to find out what was going on. They just assumed that a longtime friend and supporter of our freedoms, who never had an anti-Semitic bone in his body all of a sudden became a Jew hater, and they tripped all over themselves to condemn him.

You know how I know this? Because on behalf of the Zelman Partisans, I spent time on the phone with Ted Nugent – quite a bit of time – discussing this issue, and he told me so. “It’s not like my contact information is hard to find,” he told me. But no one called him to get a statement or to find out what was up.

“I can’t believe that knowing my history, knowing how much I love freedom, and how much I’ve fought to protect it, that no one thought to call me!” he said.

Now, what I’m about to tell you is not an excuse for the use of the graphic in any way. The graphic was originally found in 2013 on an anti-Semitic site called “the Jewish Problem” (and no, I’m not linking to that fascist crap – find it yourselves if you’re curious), according to a TinEye search I did when I first saw the Facebook post. There’s no doubt about what this thing is. Ted used it. There’s no way around it.

Ted is known for some pretty outrageous comments and his blunter than blunt delivery. He’s got energy and fire, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of time for political correctness. But the one thing he has never been is a racist or a bigot, so what happened? Why did a steadfast friend of freedom – regardless of color, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation – all of a sudden turn into an anti-Semitic jerk?

The answer is: he did NOT.

How do I know? Again, I asked him. Ted and I chatted on the phone first, texted, and then I asked him some questions via email. Apparently, that’s something every reactionary jackass who rushed to condemn him failed to do.

I simply asked, ” What happened? How did you wind up using this thing?”

“Can I say oy vey?” He replied. “I sincerely apologize for my irresponsible re-posting of such a nasty and offensive meme. In my rush between songwriting jams and musical recording frenzy, all I saw was the images of people dedicated to disarm us, I made no connection whatsoever to any religious affiliation. Everyone knows deep down that at 67 years of age I didn’t suddenly become anti-Semitic. That’s patently ridiculous, and those who rushed to such a mistaken condemning judgement should re-examine the system by which such equally irresponsible knee-jerk judgments are made.”

And you know what? Given his decades of commitment to freedom for every single person, regardless of race, color, or anything else, alarm bells should have gone off when Ted posted something so out of character. I was surprised to hear that no one, other than the Zelman Partisans (and one regional writer who put us in touch with Nugent), had made an attempt to contact him about the issue, and I asked him how he felt about supposed Second Amendment allies not bothering to contact him and clear the air.

“In a world of soulless political correctness and the dishonesty and denial that goes with it, I was not at all that surprised,” he told me. “The real tragedy is how many who claim to be on the side of freedom so viciously attacked me with zero effort to communicate with me directly as you so honorably did. For that I thank and salute you.”

I will say that as a former disc jockey for the American Forces Network, I blushed a bit at that. But you know what? That’s just good journalism, and I’m glad we got the chance to clear the air.

Ted Nugent’s real message that got lost in the outrage about the badly thought out use of that graphic? It was about Jewish people needing to defend their rights and freedoms, so that the horror of the Holocaust never happens again.

NEVER AGAIN! Plain and simple, the same powerful uniting message against freedom haters and gun banners that I have dedicated my entire adult life to in 1000s of concerts, numerous books, 1000s of articles, blogs, media interviews and constant speaking presentations. Period.

Oh, and our offer to Ted? He took us up on it. We’re sending him a Zelman Partisans membership packet, plus the yarmulke we promised, and he said he would wear the yarmulke on TV!

nugent membership

 

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So Much Stupid!

Media Matters Not

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Media Matters, the far-left, ‘progressive media watchdog‘ has blessed The Zelman Partisans with publicity. In a hit piece which starts by targeting Ted Nugent’s most recent bit of controversy, MM’s Timothy Johnson demonstrated a lack of journalistic skill which I’ve come to associate with MM.

Amid Anti-Semitism Controversy, NRA’s Nugent Attacks His “Mentally Challenged” “Devil” Critics
(Not linked, to avoid driving traffic to them.)
“Below the interview, Nugent posted a link to a press release issued by a fringe gun group called The Zelman Partisans, a more hardline spin-off of the far-right gun group Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO).

“The press release, which excused Nugent’s use of the anti-Semitic image and played on the same anti-Semitic tropes espoused by Nugent, suggested that The Zelman Partisans would accept Nugent’s conduct if he joined the group.”

In fact, Mr. Johnson managed to spend fully half of his article on us, despite never having contacted us. But then, since he was inventing his own facts anyway, why should he?

Nor, although he makes claims about our press release, did he link to it (and thus, we return the ‘favor’). I suppose that was so his ill-informed readers would remain ill-informed. If they read it, they might have seen:

“Ted Nugent planted boot firmly in mouth on Monday…”

“Invoking some hoary, fictional Jewish conspiracy is ridiculous.”

“Jews are simply an easy and familiar target for blame.”

That hardly “excused Nugent’s use of the anti-Semitic image”. Nor did it suggest “The Zelman Partisans would accept Nugent’s conduct”. We offered Nugent an opportunity to prove his claim that he is not anti-Semitic, a chance to correct and redeem himself in our eyes.

Johnson settled for taking a single sentence out of context, and presenting it as indicative of the entire release.

We would like to thank Timothy Johnson for helping to spread our message, even to those who might be incapable of comprehending it, rather like Johnson himself. And thanks for that traffic.

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Uncategorized

The Zelman Partisans have an offer for Ted Nugent

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The following is a news release for the gun media and any mainstream media that might be interested. We urge TZP readers to spread the word to their media contacts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 9, 2016

JEWISH PRO-GUN GROUP HAS AN OFFER FOR TED NUGENT

Ted Nugent planted boot firmly in mouth on Monday when he used a graphic on Facebook to make a point about gun-grabbing politicians that clearly implied that victim disarmament (aka “gun control”) is the work of a vast Jewish conspiracy.

Catching flak for anti-Semitism, he responded by saying that Aaron Zelman — a prominent Jewish PRO-gunner until his untimely death and the inspiration for The Zelman Partisans — called Nugent a gun rights hero. Nugent also stated (spelling his): “I adjust my yamika at my barmitzva playing my kosher guitar.”

Nugent is correct that Jewish individuals play an outsized role in U.S. anti-gun leadership. (Aaron Zelman, in his inimitable style, called them “bagel brains.”) It’s also true that Jews play an important role in defending gun rights. Zelman’s lifelong work and the existence of the recently formed Zelman Partisans serve as proof.

Invoking some hoary, fictional Jewish conspiracy is ridiculous. If Nugent insists on blaming entire groups for the deeds of a few members, why pick on Jews? The victim-disarmament movement is also largely an urban phenomenon, so how about blaming everybody who lives in a city? Women are among the most prominent anti-gunners, so why not post about the “international female conspiracy”?

Oh, but that would be obviously wrong.

Jews are simply an easy and familiar target for blame.

If Nugent means it when he says he’s really pro-Jewish, then The Zelman Partisans say, “Have we got a deal for you. Hey, Ted: If you show your support for pro-gun Jews by joining The Zelman Partisans, we’ll send you not only our standard beautiful membership package; we’ll throw in a TZP ‘yamika’ for free.” Better known as either a yarmulke or a kippah, the TZP version features a Star of David crossed with both an AR-15 and a Mauser 98 of the type WWII-era Jewish partisans captured from Nazis and used against their oppressors.

The Zelman Partisans appreciates Mr. Nugent’s intent in noting the misplaced idealism of those Jews who support victim disarmament. But we wish to remind him that Aaron Zelman’s true legacy of ‘Never Again’ lives on in the hearts and minds of those who understand the dangers of gun control. TZP’s motto says it all: “Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.” That’s on the TZP yarmulke, too, Ted.

—–

About The Zelman Partisans: TZP was established in 2014 to maintain the late Aaron Zelman’s vision. We are a group of Jews and friends who stand uncompromisingly for the right to keep and bear arms — and the entire Bill of Rights. We will keep a close eye on both the enemies of our rights and the compromising “friends” of the Second Amendment who try to sell us out while pretending to be allies.

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authoritarian swine, gun control, You can't fix stupid

Unintended Consequences

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The title has been used, but victim disarming wanna-be tyrants seem deadset on providing an endless stream of appropriate legislation. One of the most recent is this:

The alarming phenomena of homemade firearms and their ease of access without any scrutiny, has led me to introduce two pieces of legislation in the House – the Homemade Firearms Accountability Act and Home-Assembled Firearms Restriction Act. These two bills would mandate anyone who intends on legally manufacturing their own firearm to obtain a registered serial number to be affixed on the firearm and would block the sale of any form of do-it-yourself firearms parts or kits – especially those currently being sold over the internet. It is my hope to draw attention to the too often overlooked issue of homemade firearms and include these firearms in the national discussion on gun control. For once we may be able to have a proactive approach in protecting the American people from an emerging threat rather than retroactively lashing out after great damage and loss has already been done.
 – Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.)

Starting with HR 376: Home-Assembled Firearms Restriction Act, the PRK’s ill-informed, ethically-challenged congresscreep wants to ban gun kits for home use. But kit being tough to define when one is that box-of-rocks dumb, he bans basically anything that could possibly be used to contruct a semiautomatic firearm.

Like… steel pipe, sheet metal, blocks of metal, nails, springs, rivets, iron oxide and aluminum,and even plastic bags.

Looks like Home Depot is going out of business. And I guess we will see the return of paper grocery bags. Finally. (Luckily, Honda only obsessed over semiautos, or paper would be gone, too, as I’ve seen single use paper shotguns which were confiscated from prison inmates.)

As an aside, 376 also prohibits marketing or advertising castings and blanks. Gotcha covered, dimwit. (Amazon has pulled that listing, but expect more elsewhere.)

Next up is Honda’s HR 377: Homemade Firearms Accountability Act, stripped to basics, requires all ‘homemade’ firearms be registered and serial numbered. It’s a repeat of ‘Ghost Gun’ Honda’s HR 5606 from the last session.

On the one hand, it assumes that gangbangers and thugs, who have been assembling gadgets like these…

… for pretty much since the dawn of firearms, will suddenly exclaim, “Oh, darn! I need to run down to my local FFL and register my crude zip gun.” C.R.I.M.I.N.A.L.

On the other hand – and here’s where consequences raise their little heads – up to now, a home-built firearm, like an AR built from an 80% lower blank, could not be sold. No record, no serial number, no sale. Under GG’s bill, your handicraft project can be sold down the line, if you need the cash to build a better gun. You can’t go into the manufacturing business, sans FFL, but this moves your little science project into the ‘occasional personal sale from collection category. If anything, this will get more 3D printed and CNC milled goodies out into the wild.

On the amusing side, Honda is mandating the individual FFLs issue their own ‘unique’ serial numbers,without specifying a format that identifies a serial number set by FFL. Assuming this managed to get passed, some 50,000 FFLs could all uniquely (in their shop, anyway) SN 1, SN 2… SN 51998.

You could see a lot of homebrewed ARs with the identical serial number 666.

Perhaps Honda should have thought of opening up the ATF’smanufacturers’ registry to personal builders, so those numbers would be unique.

Not satisfied with banning virtually all metallic and plastic materials in the world, our deeply paranoid compulsive bill sponsor wants to ban body armor. HR 378: Responsible Body Armor Possession Act bans ‘enhanced body armor.’

WTF is ‘enhanced body armor,’ you ask? It is any “body armor, including a helmet or shield, the ballistic resistance of which meets or exceeds the ballistic performance of Type III armor”. Plain English: anything rated for rifle rounds. Since the vast majority of freelance criminals don’t bother with rifles (less than 2.5% of all firearm deaths, 2013 last year available), who is it that he wants to be sure can kill you?

Consequence of this one? A whole lot more citizen research into homemade ballistic plates. No doubt, the quivering mass of fear will sponsor yet another bill to ban that. (I should send him an email claiming that someone is 3D-printing armor.)

Honda is bound and determined to render you helpless, depriving you of active and passive defense. The real unintended consequence of these bills is that more and more people understand precisely that.

Added: Lest you think that the idea of common items getting caught up by Honda’s vague language, take a look across the pond in the UK.

Breaking: Policing and Crime Bill will criminalise possession of common tools
(a) the person has in his or her possession or under his or her control an article that is capable of being used (whether by itself or with other articles) to convert an imitation firearm into a firearm, and
(b) the person intends to use the article (whether by itself or with other articles) to convert an imitation firearm into a firearm.

Dremel, drill press, file…

Anyone believe the gun grabbers in DC are any smarter?

Ed. note: This commentary appeared first on TZP’s weekly email alert. If you would like to be among the first to see new commentary (as well as to get notice of new polls and recaps of recent posts), please sign up for our alert list. (See sidebar or, if you’re on a mobile device, scroll down). Be sure to respond when you receive your activation email!

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authoritarian swine, gun control, gun grabbers, guns, hoplophobia

Maryland’s Scary Black Gun Law: Back to the Drawing Board

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scary black gunsRemember when former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who during a Democratic debate (his pathetic campaign has thankfully and quietly faded into the annals of historical obscurity) got into a screeching argument with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton about who among them is the biggest enemy of American gun owners?

Remember how O’Malley and his gun-grabbing monkeys in the Maryland legislature rammed though the “Firearms Safety Act” assault weapons ban, which had nothing to do with actual safety?

That’s the one upheld by an activist judge last year, because she soiled her frilly, pink panties at the thought of scary, black guns being legal in the state, even though they were almost never used to commit crimes.

That judge has been issued a slap on the judicial nuggets by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Maryland’s assault weapons ban implicates its citizens’ core Second Amendment rights and must be reviewed under a more rigorous judicial standard than the one used by a judge who upheld the law’s constitutionality, a divided federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

[…]

The appeals court said Maryland’s law affects the constitutional right to possess firearms for self-defense and home protection by banning virtually an entire class of weapons commonly owned by law-abiding citizens. In 2012, the number of semi-automatic rifles manufactured and imported into the United States – and banned by the Maryland law – was more than double the number of Ford F-150 trucks sold, the appeals court said.

I want to stress that the court didn’t rule on the constitutionality of said law, but did say that the judge who issued the ruling on the Scary Black Guns ban issued a ruling that “conflicts sharply with rulings of other federal appellate courts.”

What? You mean to tell me that standards pulled randomly out of a petty statist Clinton appointee judge’s fourth point of contact, influenced by her own  prejudices without any knowledge about these guns, and armed with nothing but an uninformed opinion, don’t represent sufficient reason to deprive Americans of their rights?

You mean “Well, I think these guns are scary, so I’m upholding their ban” is not sufficient legal standing to shred the Constitution?

Look at my shocked face!

Of course the gun-grabbing authoritarians in Maryland aren’t done yet. There’s a chance they will appeal this case to the Supreme Court. There’s no length to which they will not go to infringe on the People’s right to keep and bear arms!

But for now, at the very least, we have a ruling that recognizes that bigotry and ignorance are not standards by which the constitutionality of a law should be judged.

The entire decision is here (h/t This Ain’t Hell) if you want to read it.

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self defense, So Much Stupid!, You can't fix stupid

Thinking Outside the Box

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A girlfriend of mine thoughtfully sent me an article today. She thought I might find it of passable interest, and so I did. A tip of my Stetson to Christie. The Silverbelly one, not the black one of course!

You have to admire some out of the box solutions to situations. Some others however, not so much. For example some people use landscaping timbers in their yards, they frame flowerbeds and the like. Now landscaping timbers of course, are intended to be used in round corrals to teach horses trail course, or a nice stride length at trot or canter, or perhaps to prepare to jump. But if people want to use them in their yards, good for them I say. For my negative examples I use unemployment statistics. What the MSM (mainstream media) will tout as the unemployment statistics are the U-3 numbers. In December 2015 that was at 5.0%. HOWEVER, what they or the White House will not tell you, is that the U-3 number does not include people that are not looking for work. Nor does it include the under-employed, those that want to work full time and can’t find a job, or people that are laid off and waiting to be called back. There are marginally attached workers, discouraged workers, under-employed, none of which count. The only unemployed people are those that have looked for a job in the last four weeks. If you add all those up, the real unemployment rate, the U-6 number is around 9.9%. So just as many people are out of work, but by changing the rules, labels, pigeon holes and shuffling the shells, you get better numbers. So that’s their out of the box solution to high unemployment numbers.

Well, a clever man has come up with a way to lower crime statistics! Although I’m quite sure that wasn’t his purpose, but suspect the DOJ would be fine with it.

2015 Rape statistics, figures from March 30, 2015

Average number of rape cases reported in the US annually 89,000
Percent of women who experienced an attempted or completed rape 16 %
Percent of men who experienced an attempted or completed rape 3 %
Decline in rape rate since 1993 60 %
Percent of rapes that are never reported to authorities 60 %
Percent of college rapes that are never reported to authorities 95 %
Percent of rapes where both victim and perpetrator had been drinking 47 %

What Daryush Valizadeh “Roosh” has proposed is to change the rules about rape. The name may be ringing a bell with you already. Perhaps you have seen his 2007 book “Bang” on the penny rack at Barnes and Nobel? It’s his helpful guide to seducing and raping women, and includes such helpful guidance as

“No means no..until it means yes,” Roosh instructed in his book. “In America, having sex with her would have been rape, since she legally couldn’t give her consent.”

“I know that when it comes to sex, one ounce of hesitation or morality will get me nowhere.”

Well, alrighty then. A penny is too high a price.

This author started out with a Blog called “Return of Kings” where he could brag about his rape conquests, and then went on to publish his book.

Now we are not talking some yokel from a third world Islamic country where they still think women are property. No, no, we are talking about an American born muslim with a degree in Microbiology from University of Maryland.

Why is that important? Well, perhaps because the huge rise in sexual assault and rape in Europe is being attributed to the new immigrants not realizing it is considered impolite to rape and kill women in Europe. And some in the German media have attempted to tell how much worse it really is and are being silenced. There is an encouraging thing to look forward to, no doubt.

Finland has put out a helpful video for their women showing them how to utilize the powerful word “NO”, if that didn’t work, putting up one hand, palm to the attacker, if one hand didn’t work, use the even more deadly TWO palms towards them. If they can resist that? Hit them with your purse. Seriously. So their arsenal of tactics to deal with assault has now been broadened by FOUR, count ’em folks, FOUR tactics.

https://www.facebook.com/IrelandFirst2015/videos/673183526154809/

Germany has chosen to address their efforts towards the new refugees, by issuing them cartoon books basically saying the same, groping, raping and killing women is considered rude in Germany.

But these actions will not bring down the crime statistics. Valikazoontike’s solution will.

His solution? Make rape legal on private property.

Yes, you read me correctly. Actually ValenKernalKlink believes rape should be legal all over the world. He believes that women are just pieces of meat and he can have any of them within 3 dates anyway.

Any women that attempt to speak against him and his little band of merry men are targeted with instructions to gather data on them, and rape them.

But all this crap is going on in Europe, and he’s bragging about sneaking in Australia and speaking there. What more has this to do with us?

He and his jolly boys were set to have a meeting, Saturday February 6th. In America. In Oklahoma. In Oklahoma City. It was to have been 1 of 165 meetings in 43 countries. Yep, countries, not counties.

Women and gays were not to be allowed to attend and VakaSargentSchultz warned that he would “exact furious retribution” on anyone who challenges the groups. He says that their numbers have grown and they wouldn’t have to continue to hide in the shadows.

Oklahoma City, the Cowboy Hall of Fame, and you think it’s a good idea to have a meeting to get more members to vote and lobby to make rape legal. Awesome.

Well, that is one way to lower the rape statistics.

Another is to shoot the bastard. Dead rapists seldom repeat offend. Very seldom. They may vote Democrat, but they won’t rape again.

I talked to Christie about going to the meeting. But I was concerned my dyslexia could create problems reading the signs directing one to the room for the “Return of Kings” and confusing it for the room for “Oklahoma for open carry”, where we of course would have been headed. Sometimes words like that look a lot a like to me. I’m thinking they may meet some of those Oklahoma and Texas women that will make them reconsider the error of their ways.

But at least they are making progress on breaking down the causes of rape.

Causes of Rape
Causes of Rape
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Poll

New Poll: Smart Guns

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My apologies for being a bit late with this week’s poll. Sometimes life gunjust makes you crazy.

Today, we want to talk about “smart” guns. Would you ever buy one? Under what conditions? Why? Do you consider them risky? Do you think they’re cool?

Assume it’s a voluntary thing. No one is forcing you. They’re just something that is available on the market.

Enjoy, and feel free to comment.

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guns

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cheap Carry Guns

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Guest Commentary
Exclusive to The Zelman Partisans
By pigpen51

I have a confession to make. I’m not a millionaire.

This probably doesn’t come as a shock to anyone familiar with my comments on different topics on this website, but what you might not realize is that I have other interests outside of firearms, and other things to spend money.

Like a great many of you, I have a family that’s grown accustomed to a certain level of comfort. They expect things that, from looking at the lives of many other gun enthusiasts, are a given for most, but must be planned for in my case. Things like — oh, I don’t know — a roof over our heads and gasoline in our vehicles. My family even likes to eat every day.

It sometimes seems that I’m the only gun enthusiast who must work hard not only to squeeze firearms into my tight budget, but to squeeze in the normal, everyday things as well.

This post is not for the person who has an unlimited budget. It’s also not intended for the person who has a perhaps normal, decent, comfortable income. It’s meant for the rest of us. Living in the real world. The world where you can’t spend money frivolously for the latest and greatest guns and doodads.

Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking: I’ve seen this type of post before. How inexpensive firearms are just fine for self defense. But that’s not quite what I’m getting at. When I first was looking at a handgun for concealed carry, I also read as many of those articles as I could find. The problem with them, and the reason I ultimately rejected their advice, was that others’ idea of a cheap handgun and my idea of a cheap handgun are two different things. For starters, those other writers would balk at the word cheap and would insist on the term affordable, which opens a whole new can of worms.

Who hasn’t seen the post from the guy or gal who likes to say, “Your life is worth it. Don’t buy a cheap gun. Save your money until you can afford to buy a decent one.” Their idea of affordable almost universally has a price tag of $500 and up. Do you know how long it would take some of us to save up that much?

For those who are unwilling to use a credit card, or who chose to live simply and have finally escaped the rat race, that price can still be too steep.

So what do the rest of us do? Are we supposed to stay defenseless if we can’t afford someone else’s idea of “affordable”?

I used to think it was not necessary for me to carry a gun, that I could handle one or two attackers on my own. I was strong, fit, and of the mindset that I would prevail. In other words, I was an idiot. I’m now older, slower, and hopefully wiser. I realize that there are people out there willing not only to hurt me, but kill me to take what little I may have for themselves. And the only way that I can stop them may be with a gun.

With that in mind, I’m going to present you a real world example of self defense carry guns on a very basic budget — including the good, the not so good, and what I am doing now. This is not what I’m saying you should do. Rather it’s what I have done and some of the reasons why.

My first handgun was an H & R model 929, a 9-shot, .22 caliber revolver. I had the 6-inch barrel. I carried it for quite some time, and never felt like I was in danger of being “made” even though I used an OWB holster with a cover garment. It seemed like concealment became more of a mindset thing than anything else. And it was a fairly good sized gun.

I won’t get into the caliber wars. I used what I had. I figured that .22 was similar to the diameter of a pencil. I sure wouldn’t want anyone to stick a pencil through me nine times, so I felt somewhat safe.

I admit to making my biggest mistake next. Not because of my choice of gun, but because I was still using credit cards. I bought a firearm from Cabelas for $179. Looking back, I still would have bought the gun, but wouldn’t have gone into debt to do it.

This gun was a P-64, made by the Polish factory Radom. The short description is: an all steel military version of a Walther PPK, only instead of being .380, it’s chambered in 9 x 18 Makarov. Again, I am not getting into caliber debates. Just remember the .380 is 9 x 17, the Makarov is 9 x 18, and the Luger is 9 x 19. This gun is double-action, with a decocker safety. It came with two magazines, a military holster, and a cleaning rod.

It does have its quirks, shall we say. First, the trigger pull. Just go to the P-64 website and you will learn how to change the springs. I ordered the kit from Wolff springs. It took the double action from about 30 pounds (almost unusable) to maybe 16. It took the single action to probably 3 pounds. After about 500 rounds, the double action pull not only smoothed out, but lessened some more. Its other, more difficult for some, quirk is that it kicks like a rented mule. Not for everyone, but I had no problem with it.

I was working third shift when I owned this gun, and coming home from work in the morning, sometimes at 5:00 a.m., I had occasion to stop at the local big box store based in Arkansas. It was comforting to know that this gun slipped easily into the front pocket of my jeans and just as easily came back out in a hurry if the need arose. Even here in small town middle America, the class of people one might encounter at that big box store in the early morning hours after perhaps a long night of drinking are questionable at best, and not the type I wanted to brave without protection.

Next comes every gun snob’s nightmare. The dreaded Hi-Point. I bought a Hi-Point C-9, with a Galco paddle holster, for $140. I get how bad everybody says they are — that is, everybody who has never owned one or shot one. Yeah, they are kind of ugly. Just like I think all plastic guns are kind of ugly. They are kind of top-heavy. They feel weird. They also kind of work. Every time.

But here’s the best part. My wife was able to cash-flow the entire purchase of the gun and some ammo by winning a contest from a local radio station just before Christmas one year. She won gift certificates to a Cabelas close to us. I had been wanting a new pistol, and the prices for everything but the Hi-Point were more than the gift certificates.

Just a couple more to go.

I sold another gun, got $100 again, and wanted a pocket carry gun. I had my eye on the Phoenix 22a. It’s a .22 cal semiauto. I checked online and got a price of $119 from Classic Firearms. I thought, I really should give a local gun store a shot. You know, support them and all. I went to them and they said that they couldn’t sell me a Phoenix for a good price; they had to pay $130 to their supplier for the gun themselves. Of course, they not only lost that sale, they never saw me again. I have no problem with someone making a profit from me. I just am funny about rape.

The Phoenix 22a is a neat little gun from California. It feels nice in your hand. It has an available 5-inch barrel, which can be switched with the 3-inch barrel I bought.

I made a holster for it and carried it for awhile. Then my son moved back to Michigan (where I live) from California. His new wife, who hadn’t been exposed to guns, went shooting with us. She fell in love with the gun, and I sold it to her for $100, plus I gave her the extra magazine I had ordered.

This would be a great carry gun for someone with a small hand, or who was recoil-sensitive, save for one thing. The safety setup on the gun is onerous. It has a hammer-block safety, which is fine; it is a single action. It also has a magazine safety lever. And it has other idiosyncracies. One that I found just plain strange was that you could only draw the slide back about 3/16 of an inch to check for a loaded round. I just never got comfortable with all the monkeying about with safeties, and am reluctant to follow the advice of some on the web and just disable the magazine safety. I carried the gun with both safeties off and no round in the chamber, and although quite workable, it never felt like this was a good carry gun for me.

And now we come to my current carry gun. I paid exactly $200 for it, new, from Classic Firearms on a 4th of July sale. This is the Taurus PT 111, Gen 2. It’s a striker-fired, polymer gun with a second-shot capability, which means if the first time around it fails to fire, simply pull the trigger again for a double action attempt on the same round.

This gun was not affected by last year’s recall of Taurus pistols which could fire if dropped, safety on or off. Most of the time we try and not drop our handguns, but I suppose that it could happen.

The Taurus has an external safety, comes with two double-stack 9mm magazines, each holding 12 rounds, plus one in the chamber. Like any handguns I’ve owned, this one has never had any issues of any kind. I currently have about 600 or 700 rounds through it.

I carry this gun in the Hi-Point’s old holster, with a slight modification. The thumb-break strap was loose on the Taurus, so I drilled the old snap out and moved it to get a better fit.

I hardly have to say that these guns are not high-end. Yet, given my experience there is no need for any “expert” to claim that you should never carry a _____ (whatever gun that person doesn’t like) because it might blow up, or spontaneously combust, or even worse, one of my friends might see me with it.

Maybe you don’t want, or don’t have to, get guns as cheap as these, but no matter what any “expert” says, you can get a good carry guns without breaking your bank.

Of course, I would love to own and carry a different gun. I now have enough experience for MYSELF to decide what type and caliber of handgun I will ultimately acquire, if I decide to spend the money for something else.

I’m not going to tell you what gun I lust after, but for me it will be hammer-fired, double-action with a decocker safety. I would love to own another P 64, but the two issues that make it a no-go for me are parts availability and the caliber. It was a communist bloc gun, and if a firing pin were to break, it could be a problem to find a replacement. On the caliber issue: I paid from 21 to 25 dollars a box Makarov ammo in the town where I live, when it was available. I could sometimes order Russian-made ammo for as little as $9 from Cheaper Than Dirt, but that, too, wasn’t always available. With 9mm Luger, I can go to my local Dunham’s Sporting Goods and get Remington/UMC ammo for 12 dollars per box. I can buy just a box or two when I can afford it and not have to worry about availability.

I still have the Hi-Point in 9mm as well, and for us poor, I mean frugal-minded, folks, it just makes sense to settle on a major caliber for all of our carry guns. That means I can slowly build up my supply of ammo without trying to do so in several different flavors. I do save my brass, and also pick up other spent brass left behind. If someday the need arises, I can always start to reload, and the brass will keep indefinately.

Again, I’m not aying you should do anything I’ve just described. Rather, this is is what I have done and some of the reasons why. I don’t pretend this is what a quote-unquote knowledgable firearms person would recommend. I can almost guarantee they would scream in panic at the thought of carrying some of the firearms I’ve carried.

I can also bet that more people fit the mold of either going this route or going without. And I don’t have to tell you that I think doing without is a bad idea.

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Ed. note: This commentary appeared first on TZP’s weekly email alert. If you would like to be among the first to see new commentary (as well as to get notice of new polls and recaps of recent posts), please sign up for our alert list. (See sidebar or, if you’re on a mobile device, scroll down). Be sure to respond when you receive your activation email!

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