I’ve bagged on the City Pages’ Matt Snyders a time or two for his flights into context-challenged, myopically-biased political writing.

But fair is fair; this piece on the “gun show loophole” is excellent, well-balanced, and…fair.

It kicks off with a conversation with this blog’s good friend Andrew Rothman…:

“If there’s an unequivocal opposite to growing up around guns,” says Andrew Rothman, “it’s being raised by New York Jews.” He puts down his glass of water and wipes his dark goatee with a napkin. It would be quite the outlandish statement were he not talking about himself.

“I grew up believing guns were bad,” he continues. “That’s what my parents taught me. But they also taught me to read. That was their first mistake.”

…and somehow managed to go to press without a quote from this blog’s other good friend (and my own carry permit training instructor), the ubiquitous Joel Rosenberg.

Snyders, by his own account, attended three gun shows trying to find a seller who’d let him buy a piece without running him through all the legal hoops – as the media and the gun-control groups who tell them what to think assure is is inevitable:

“So, um, what’s the difference between a Glock and a Beretta?” I asked.

A stupid question in this environment, and also a suspicious one. It’d be like attending the Cannabis Cup and asking a vendor the difference between hashish and marijuana.

“Well, Glocks are easier to use, I suppose, with a trigger-on-trigger safety, instead of an external lever,” he says. “Beretta, on the other hand, is a more traditional pistol with a hammer instead of a slide.”

I opt for neither, going instead with the Hi-Point. He hands me a clipboard containing a questionnaire—the background check required of all licensed firearms dealers. The so-called “gun show loophole” refers to sales between two individuals. The occasional guy walking around with a rifle and makeshift price tag are not required to check in with the national criminal database each time they make a sale…

…”You have your permit to purchase, right?” asks the vendor.

The answer to the question was an unfortunate no.

“No permit to purchase?” he said. “You’re shit outta luck, my friend.”

You might be surprised that the City Pages would cover the issue fairly – indeed, I was. 

Again.  Because it was in the winter of 1994, as the “shall issue” movement was just gathering steam in Minnesota, that I saw the first fair, balanced piece about concealed carry…

…in the City Pages.  Written by none other than Steve Perry.  So it’s not without precedent.

Snyders took Rothman’s carry permit training class – and like a lot of beginners, did pretty good.  He also catches the appeal of shooting like few people I’ve read on the left:

After five minutes and 25 rounds of warm-ups, it’s time for the test. An inexplicable wave of adrenaline washes through my arms and torso as I clumsily load five 9mm rounds into a magazine. I slap the magazine into the handle grip of a midnight-black semi-automatic Glock 17, and take aim.

Pop! Pause. Pop! Pop! Pause. Pop! Pop!

After seeing the five shots land true, Rothman instructs me to reload ten more rounds and squeeze them off. I oblige. Nerves settled, I begin to understand the elusive appeal of the gun. To be in control of a tool this powerful and deadly is to experience a visceral, almost intoxicating degree of autonomy. It’s sort of like the initial few days of giddy emancipation one feels after receiving a driving license, all contained in a flex of an index finger.

I won’t tell the other guys,” Rothman says as the target reels back six additional feet, “but you’re shooting a perfect score so far.”

The words of encouragement proved to be a jinx. The next two shots veer five inches off-target, one high and to the left, the other just high. Ignoring the occasional spent shell casing peppering my head, I continue to blast away, each shot about two seconds apart. I regain control and finish with a score of 146.

I’m now eligible for a permit to carry in Minnesota.

Kudos on the score and the story.

(But I got a 149…)

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Culture War, Victim Disarmament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.