Gun Appreciation Day, January 19

Billy Hallowell reports that January 19, 2013, has been designated "Gun Appreciation Day." Support firearms rights. Support your local gun shop.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/have-you-heard-there-will-be-a-gun-appreciation-day/

Seriously...when I think of independent, family-owned businesses that haven't been gobbled up by big bloated arrogant customer-hostile chains, firearms dealers come to mind. There are a lot of Gun & Pawn places across the country. Some are operated by very conscientious people, some by the very opposite kind, but at least they're independent. This web site has been fortunate to be sponsored by one of the conscientious ones. Since our local gun shop is a sponsor here youall might distrust anything else I say about them, but if you are a local lurker, don't want to send money by e-mail, and don't want to talk to me personally, one way you can sponsor this web site is to support their store.

Btw I hope all local lurkers have picked up your Daily News (it's local, it's real, it's free!) and read Police Chief Lane's column. We have very little violent crime in Scott County, Virginia. We have our ways of keeping it that way. Mine is to warn people about what can happen if you or a member of your family takes certain drugs, such as antidepressants like Prozac, which can cause violent insanity, or relaxants like Flomax, which can cause very short-term temporary insanity. Don't handle guns, knives, or motor vehicles while using these drugs. We have plenty of churches that remind people to read the Bible, and for those who don't attend church many of us will, like Chief Lane, remind people about the Bible in casual conversation. We have firearms safety classes. We have people, including the owners of the Gun & Pawn shop, who go out of their way to help desperate people solve real-world problems without turning to crime, vice, violence, or drugs--including legal drugs. Christians have no monopoly on helping neighbors solve real-world problems, nor do most so-called Christians even try to do this, but I will say that Christian-phobics are rather conspicuously not doing it.

Let's keep our constitutional rights, fellow Americans...and let's also remember the responsibilities that go with them. Firearms in a community are like wood in a forest. If the community or the forest is clean, healthy, well-aired and lighted, they are healthy and useful. If not, they attract fungi and parasites. Such as drug traffickers. And busybodies.