Relativity II

Back on Pi Day I wrote Relativity, in which I mused on the differences between various states' rules and procedures for applying and getting approved for a permit to carry a concealed pistol, by whatever name that permission slip may be known.

Now, I'm sitting here planning to attend the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville, and am glad to note that Tennessee recognizes a Washington CPL.  (In fact, TN apparently recognizes every other states' permits, except for Vermont. Oh, wait, Vermont doesn't even issue a permit, thus the original name for "Constitutional Carry", FKA "Vermont Carry.")

Now, here in WA I can carry in a restaurant, and even have a beer or some wine, but I cannot cross the--often invisible--line that separates the dining room proper from the bar. Entering a bar while armed is verboten.

"South of the border", down Oregon way, there is no rule against a lawfully armed citizen from sitting down in a bar and having an adult libation.

Getting drunk, no, having a drink, go for it.

In Tennessee, as it turns out, one can enter a restaurant that serves alcohol, but if The Man has authorized you to legally carry the means to defend yourself and your loved ones, you are expected to be on the wagon.

Now, I understand the reason behind this: "ZOMG, booze and guns don't mix!"And yet...

WA and OR manage to let a person who is deemed responsible enough to carry a gun to have a drink.

I am not aware of any state that says "No drinking and driving AT ALL."

"If you're driving you'd better not go take Communion!"*

Yeah, that'd go over well...

 TN also does not let you carry in a park. (I understand that this is changing very soon, perhaps before the NRAAM.)

Many municipalities in WA try and ban lawfully armed citizens from carrying in public spaces, like parks, but state preemption and all, they regularly get slapped down for it.

Not all states have preemption, and it can get pretty silly, the gyrations you may have to go through, figuring out how the rules may have changed when you're crossing an invisible line.

 Considering that it has been proven over and over again that crime goes down when citizens are armed, that all the panic-driven predictions of "blood in the streets" are untrue, it seems like being allowed to have a beer with friends, many of whom I've never seen, is jot too much to ask.

 ***

*Yeah, I know the "sacramental wine" is often actually grape juice that has not been changed...

Dinner pic

Usually don't bother, but...

...This was pretty good.

As you may be able to tell, this was when I went back for seconds.

"Tomato Kielbasa Shortcakes."  Made with elk meat kielbasa. Basically, you make pico de gallo and add the sliced sausage to it, and put it over the shortcake; recipe called for dressing with sour cream, we added guacamole as well.

The shortcakes are 2 parts AP flour to 1 part cornmeal, with baking powder, baking soda, sour cream for dairy and a touch of sugar. Tasted like corn bread with more body to it, and a slightly crunchy exterior.

Pretty good stuff, will probably avoid telling any babushkas about this use of kielbasa next I'm back in Detroit, though...

Broccoli slaw as a side. Cheated on that, bag of broccoli slaw and jar of cole slaw dressing from the grocery store, threw in a handful each of craisins and sunflower seed kernels.

As an aside, jalapeños seem to be running huge these days. Made a triple batch of guacamole for the Super Bowl Sunday potluck and only needed a single pepper, the average jalapeño these days would have been regarded as an extra large one just a few years ago.

Random thoughts

It is not a good sign when the server at dinner doesn't know the special of the day.

• Not just "What's the special?" "I don't know", but "We'll have the Hummingbirds Tongues in Aspic", and you have to explain that it's the special.  "Did you see it on a board some place?"
• Proof: she doesn't bring you the wine until you're halfway done with the entree.  
• EDIT:  Mrs. Drang reminds me that when she did bring the wine, it was the wrong one.
• And then brings you the Special Of The Day white chocolate bread pudding with butterscotch sauce at room temperature, served with a scoop of ice cream.
• We could have done without all the proof...

The weather alert I posted a day or two ago has been rescinded and then re-alerted several times.

• Don't be surprised if you hear soon that Spokane is the newest west coast port...

One thing I've learned, or had confirmed, hanging out on Internet firearms fora is that every handgun manufacturer has it's fanbois, as well as it's hateh's.

• One guy can post an innocuous question about, say, getting his gat refinished, and someone will be along shortly to warn him that, because it's the make and model it is, it will blow up in his hand and he should get something else¹.  Usually a specific "something else."  Which a third party will be along to villify in a post or three, the cycle repeating itself until pretty much every manufacturer and model out there (including some waaaaay out there) has been claimed to be simultaneously the greatest thing since Friar Schwartz²  had his little lab accident AND the greatest danger to the operator imaginable.³
• Pistol-forum.com is far better than most, if not all, others, although talk about 1911s will inevitably draw Glock or HK fanbois who will solemnly avow that one must first pay $1000+ for a 1911, and then spend another $1k on it to ensure it doesn't simply fall apart at the first shot.
• Admittedly 1911 sights as John Moses Browning (pbuh) designed them for the Army are practically vestigial. And the 1911s running from $4-500 new are imports from countries which do not necessarily have great metallurgical quality.  But that doesn't mean you just bought a grenade...

Another thing I've learned specifically from Pistol-forum.com is that, not only is the answer to the question "How many magazines should I buy?" "Even more", but the magazine is probably the most sensitive part of the semi-automatic pistol.

• If the magazine does not present the bullet to the chamber at the proper  angle and in the proper orientation, it doesn't matter if the feed ramp has been all smoothed and polished.
• On the one hand, my habit of buying 1911 magazines over the last year or two seems like a good one.
• On the other hand, buying the cheap ones marked and packaged as GI 1911 mags may not have been so smart.
• I went to Joanne's Fabrics yesterday and bought a paint pen, and now all the magazines are marked with my name and an identifying number. Magazine goes bad? Smash it and toss it.
• Tamara uses cute stickers on some of hers, but I have my image to keep up...
• Also, I've ordered some Pachmeyr magazine bumper pads, and stickers won't stick to the rubber.

Have I mentioned that taking a "Basic, Fundamentals" handgun class was totally worth it? Maybe if I'd done that 25 years ago I wouldn't have this unreasonable prejudice against Beretta handguns.

• Please note that I do refrain from telling everyone that just because I couldn't shoot well with one that obviously means no one will, or that they're just one round away from blowing themselves up...
• Mostly this speaks to the Army not really caring about handguns or handgun training.
• Think about that when someone says "This guy at work  was in the Army and he says..."  "This guy at work" is probably That Guy, so at least find out more about "this guy's" actual qualifications.

Intermediate class tomorrow.  We'll see how I do...

• Including whether I need to buy a dozen new/replacement 1911 magazine springs and followers.

***

1. Although sometimes the warning is followed up by "Send it to me for disposal", which is a sign it's a desirable piece of gear.
2.  Or Roger Bacon.  Or Francis Bacon, I can't remember who. Whom. Yes, I know black powder was first formulated in China.  They don't seem to have had the necessary mindset to look at a mortar launching it's pestle, and visualizing the AK47...
3.  At the first Gun Blogger rendezvous I attended, the local gunsmith who was handling FFL duties made the claim that the M1911 as issued in WWII was an unreliable piece of crap, that all 1911s since were even worse, and that the best handgun for self-defense was the Hi Point 9mm.