Unless you've been living in a cave, you've probably heard that pretty much everyone in New York, Ohio, Michigan, and parts of Canada were without power the last 24+ hours. That included the Esmay abode: we've been completely unable to get online since about 3:00 pm on Thursday.
Given how heated things have gotten on some issues recently, maybe that's for the best. Plunging your head into contentious social issues is like sticking your head in a blender sometimes, ain't it?
Hey, seriously: I got an olive branch right here for anyone who wants one.
I will say this though: we live about 10 yards from the border of Inkster, Michigan, which erupted into riots within a few hours of the power going out. Excuse my French, but it was pretty fucking scary for bit there. We were sitting on our front porch and heard gunshots and almost-endless police sirens for a few hours there.
Which made it time to teach my son a particularly important lesson.
Jake is going to be 6 in October. Now frankly, if you've ever met him, you know he's a fairly impressive young man. Not that he isn't a flake. All kids are flakes. But when it comes to certain things, he knows how to take life seriously.
So there we sat, at 9:00 pm on a very, very dark Thursday night, and I decided that it was time to teach my son what a gun was, and what it was for. I've talked to him a little about it before, and showed him a little, but this was a good time to be more explicit.
Mr. Mossberg is an ugly creature. He's a 12-gauge shotgun. He's solid black, and pump-action. He can hold four rounds, and I keep him filled as follows:
1st round) Buckshot. Chamber this round, and it sprays like an aerosol can. Almost impossible to miss whatever you aim for. Hard to do truly crippling damage except at close quarters.
2nd-4th rounds) Hollow-Point Slugs. These are bullets the size of your thumb with a special design: if they impact into a large body, they explode. Essentially, if you get hit with one in the head or chest, the coroner's office will be a week putting you back together. One way or the other: you are going to be a serious mess, dude.
Our first night alone without power, I brought Mr. Mossberg out to explain him to my son. Put a round in the chamber:snickt-SNICKT!!!
Hopefully, that sound all by itself will scare the bejeezus out of you. You'll soil your pants and run. Which is the whole idea. Not to mention the BOOM!!! if we should fire it.
Second round: you don't want to see the results if we fire a second time.
So I tell my son: "Hey, you can touch this if you want. Do you want to touch it? Just reach out and feel it. Good. Now, you understand, this isn't a toy, right?" He nods. "Do you touch this without mommy or daddy's permission?" He shakes his head. "Do you get what happens to you if you point this at someone?" He nods. "You understand, this is never, ever a toy, right? That you could kill me or your mom if you play with this? Or kill yourself? Or our dog Buttons, or one of your friends?" He nods. "It's never a toy, and you never touch it without talking to mommy or daddy first, right?" He nods. "What's this?" I ask him, pointing to the trigger. "It's what makes it hurt things," he says.
Satisfied, I decide that he gets it.
That night, because we had no power, my wife sat in the living room. We were hot, and she wanted to leave the front and back doors open, to help keep a breeze going. So, with the sound of sirens and gunshots in the background, we slept. My sweet wife sat in our easy chair with Mr. Mossberg in her hands, while our 90-pound goofball dog, Buttons, slept at her feet.
I slept pretty danged well. Wouldn't you?
That's pretty fricked-up man; a town in your backyard has rioting while New York is a model city. Have we entered Bizarro-world?
Wow...I didn't hear about the Inkster mess. I did hear about a jewelry store on Wayne Rd getting looted. All in all, it was much better than I ever thought possible. Oh by the way..I didn't get to go out of town.
Before anyone gets snippy, know this.
I am not afraid to shoot and I'm deadly accurate as an expert marksman should be, not that you have to be all that accurate with a 12 gauge...
I, despite what I appear to be online, am calm, cool and collected when it comes to weapons. I prefer to scare the poop out of a perp with the sheer act of pumping the shotgun rather than firing it. However, I will shoot to protect my family if given no choice. I don't relish the thought of killing. But if it's between some criminal or me/my son/my husband - some criminal will be some dead criminal, I assure you.
I suffered horrible guilt for running down a raccoon on I-94, it was unavoidable, but nonetheless I was heartsick.
(muttering hopelessly)
Damn raccoon if he hadn't panicked and kept on going he would have lived... (sniff, sniff)
Dawn,
We just got back online and I checked your site first thing. I'm here if you ever need it again. Okay?
Glad to hear you folks are okay. I figured it must've been the blackout that was keeping you offline.
Rosemary, Dean. Good work on introducing Jake to the newly-revealed member of the family. Maybe in six months to a year you can show him how much hurt Mr. Mossberg's trigger can deal? A racoon, or rabbit (those would disintegrate, I'd imagine) maybe? Or maybe Mister Burglar, unlucky twat that he'll end up to be.
The dog is important. My mother, who has lived in an apartment in NYC her entire life always worries about me. I have to assure her that if anyone comes near my house the dogs (I have four) let us know in plenty of time to react.
We have been thinking about a mossburg though my wife thinks the 12 would kick too much and wonders if we should get a 20 instead. Rosemary, how do you find the kick on the 12ga.?
Isn't it great to live in a country where your right to defend yourself is recognized (in some parts at least)? We need to get our politicians and, especially, our courts to realize that the Second Amendment means what it says. We need more people like you and Rosemary, more gun owners. I did not say more "responsible" gun owners because most gun owners _are_ responsible.
I am glad you came out of the Inkster mess all right. Though I am surprised that all the local news media did not report on any such incidents - they seemed to be very intent on making sure that no mention was made of riots or looting. In Ann Arbor, however, nothing much happened. I guess our ultra-leftist population just sat around and complained about not having power, and how that affected them cuz they couldnt get theeir gourmet food items from Zingermans!!!!
I had no idea about all that in Inkster. And here I was thinking except for that jewelry store incident and a couple gas station lootings that things were pretty okay. Glad you all are okay.
I didn't sleep well the night of the blackout. Honestly it was technology withdrawl that kept me tossing and turning. Also the town was alive with crazy people hooting and hollering all night. I heard several explosions of some sort, but no gunshots. I remember at 12:30am I went downstairs to have a cigarette, and I swear my house was completely surrounded with voices.
Rose, why do I get this mental picture from Terminator: T2 where Sarah Hamilton one-arm-cocks a shotgun?...
It was kinda scary, but sexy at the same time. :)
I'm also reminded of an old Heinlein quote: "Get your first shot off fast; this scares the other guy and gives you time to aim your second shot."
I may have mentioned this to Dean before (in chat), but that's why I'm here today. You see, my father was an eleven-bush (er, infantry) in WW2. On day, on patrol in Europe, he came around one corner of a house to be surprised by a single German, who had come around the opposite corner and was equally suprised!
Well, you can imagine what happened next: both fired immediately, and both missed. :) The only reason I'm here today is that the German had an older bolt-action rifle while dad had an M-1 Garand. So, while the hapless kraut was fooling with his action, my father just had to aim, and squeeze...
I remember this story, as this was the only time my father ever talked about his experience in the war while he was still alive...
A 20ga. doesn't kick any less than a 12ga. You have more selection in 12. Buy Win. AA light loads if you're recoil sensitive. Buy Massad Ayoob's book "In The Gravest Extreme" and understand all the legal ramifications of using a weapon in self-defense including what to say/not say to the police. Stay safe.
Sorry to hear about the black-out experience in your part of metro Detroit, I'm glad to hear that everything is OK. I'm in Sterling Heights and our area became more of a block party, than anything else after 4:00PM on Thursday. We did have the "good" fortune of having our power back by noon on Friday.
Welcome to liberty city, Jake (if Dean let's you read the stuff on Dean's World.)
1) Listen carefully to your dad about the ethics of firearms handling. I'm sure he and his friends can teach you all you need to know about safe, reliable and appropriate gun handling.
2) 12-gauge is better than 20, and as someone has suggested here, you get a lot better choices of loads.
3) If some bastard breaks into your house and threatens you in the middle of a blackout-induced civil disturbance, no prosecutor in the United States will successfully indict you and no jury will convict you. And probably no policeman will arrest you, in the first place.
4) Make sure that when you grow old enough to vote, you do your share to help make the entire non-felonious overwhelming majority of the American population aware that the right to keep and bear arms is the best way to assure that the liberties under which this country was founded remain in force forever.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
AMEN! Arnold. Amen.