I just completed a trip to NYC. My last, I think, for the forseeable eternity. I was flying out but driving back. Since I flew, I couldn’t take any guns with me without causing a buncha headaches. But…where there’s a will, there’s a way.
A neighbor was helping me move furniture and I noticed he had a spare pistol mag on his belt. Hmm. I watched him a bit more and, sure enough, on his left hip there was a bulge under his sweater. Ok, time to start giving the signs and countersigns that I, too, am of the Brotherhood of The Gun.
“Whats that a spare magazine to?”
“Oh, thats for my VP9.”
“Oh, you’re a gun guy?”
“Yeah, I do handgun instruction at a range and shop about a mile from here….”
And after talking guns with him long enough for me to realize he’s a gun person, and long enough for him to realize I’m a gun person, the ice was broken and the fun began.
“I’M a dealer from out of state. I’m looking for something for the ride back to Montana. Have anything cheap and used in stock?”
“Well, I think we have a Taurus snubbie..”
“Any .38 ammo?”
“No.” Pause. “I can bring you five rounds from home, though.”
And thats exactly what we did. I showed up at the shop the next day, pulled a copy of my FFL out of my phone, and wound up with this:
Junk on the bunk
A Taurus snubby, Ruger LCP, and a genuine NYPD Gen2 G17 complete with the utterly horrendous NY-1 trigger. Makes a staplegun look like a Hammerli. Then, after the paperwork was done and my wallet was lightened, me, him, two fo the other clerks, and an off-duty cop stood around jawboning about guns for 45 minutes.
Oh, and they literally went through their desk drawers and gave me all their loose ammo…..”For the trip”. Some dinosaur stuff……38 RNHP Nyclads, Gen 1 Glasers (I mean early, early, early Glasers), miscellaneous .380 and .38 ammo, etc. And they threw in a 15-rd Glock mag because they can’t sell it to NYC residents, and kicked in a box of PMC 9mm ball as a way of apologizing for the $80 in sales tax that I was charged.
And then…I simply walked out the door with my purchases. In Westchester NY.
One of the few perqs of having an FFL.
But…this is how my tribe, The People Of The Gun, operate. Once its established that you really are a genuine ‘gun guy’ and not some Call Of Duty poseur whose entire gun knowledge comes from Stallone movies and video games….well, gun guys look out for each other.
So, I’ll be sending a thank you package of some Montana goodies, some .22LR (which they were out of), and a couple ten-round Glock mags that are about as useful in Montana as a 2 cu. ft. beer fridge.
That was the entire highlight of what was otherwise a long and exhausting trip.
But…I made gunbuddies behind enemy lines! Told them to come out here sometime and we’d do a whole suppressed, full-auto, high-capacity, short-barrelled extravaganza that would make Charlie Schumers head spin in a fit of liberal outrage.
People of The Gun, man. Thats my tribe.
And…I would bet that most of you have a similar story. Some time when you were doing something, encountered another guy who had some indicator he was a gun guy, struck up a conversation, and the next thing you know he’s helping you change a flat tire or youre helping him unload roofing from his truck.
That is a great story. Glad you made it home safe and sound.
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Westchester? Dude!–why didn’t you tell me you’d be out here. . . Would have loved to have met you. . . Was the shop in Mt. Vernon?
Yup.
Broadly speaking, I dont blog about when I’m traveling until after the fact. Kind of a security/safety thing.
Glad you made it back to fly over country. Them coastal areas in the northeast and the entire left coast give me a rash. Urban jungle is an apt description. More rabid animals there then in wilds of the interior of the country. And less armed citizens means the population of animals seems to increase. Nope. Those big cities aren’t for me. They are corrupt dangerous places.
You forgot the most dangerous bit,Chicago/Gary is far more dangerous than almost any
other areas(you drove right through). If in the area you are welcome to couch surf and would have treated you to a great burger at the last real old school drive in-Jansens Blue Top,constant car show,real car hops(service),good food,right off expressway. I know you were tired,most people can’t drive more than 500-800 miles without rest
Love it! Good people.
Great story. Is it worth having an FFL just for the convenience you described? I have no idea of what it entails. Is it a hassle to get and keep?
Theres a bi of hassle…about on par with filing quarterly taxes.
IIRC, there used to be about 250k FFL’s, until Clinton had the Feds start screwing around with them. Lots of “kitchen table dealers”, which mostly went away due to rules requiring a business location with regular hours, and they let the states add on their own requirements to get or keep your FEDERAL license. Saw some established dealers in CA forced to close their doors due to those added on rules. For instance, the feds mandated bars over windows, but if there were zoning rules that forbid that, tough luck, you’re gone.
Some of those kitchen dealers were gunsmiths or custom manufacturers that didn’t need a retail business location, just needed a FFL to be able to ship and store other peoples guns. Some of those were able to make deals with established stores, but not many could.
IIRC, some of the other bull that the feds mandated was a requirement for your shops floorplan and storage safes info to be handed over. Makes raiding you easier for the doorkickers.
One of the side effects of not being able to get the needed licenses is that it stifles innovation, as it is illegal to make guns or other gun stuff without the appropriate licenses. Lots of firearm designs were privately done, back in the day. Not legal now.
I am convinced that America is still the greatest country in the world, filled with some of the best people ever born. The problem is that the leftists have carjacked the narrative, via the media, and are slowly convincing people otherwise.
It seems like in all the times that I have ever left my home state of Michigan, and have stopped anywhere, from a gas station to restaurant to hotel/motel, I have always found people to be kind, friendly, and helpful.
Once in a VERY shady area of Largo, Florida, I was forced by circumstances to stop at a stop and rob convenience store for directions. The person locked in the cage running the place was so lacking in both intelligence and English that I left disappointed, until I stepped outside, to encounter a rather nice looking young lady and her boyfriend, who was actually from Michigan. She was so sorry that her town of Largo had not helped out strangers that she not only gave us directions, but drew us a map and gave us advice on a good place to eat.
Apparently they had overheard me talking to the clerk inside the store, but didn’t want to approach until we got out due to some other weirdos gathered there buying booze.
I was of course on my guard, and didn’t want to stop, but that is a whole other story. And like a credit card, if I had one, I never leave home without my gun.
Great story Commander. Who would of thought our sort of folks are in NY. As far as Shumer goes, why notbinvite him out too? You need a target stand dont’t you? Heh.
Tried a NY1 trigger back when I did the Glock armorer’s course. It seemed to me to be like a long DA revolver trigger, which I guess was the point, with all those Model 10s NYPD used to have riding around in holsters. Not saying I was a fan, but I could make it work, if need be.
Thankfully, changing it out is a simple operation.
I hadn’t thought about people in occupied territory. I have several 10 rounders that would be surplus to needs; I should post on one of the boards and see who can make use of them.
Was having a floor put my LR, head on the phone. Talking o his son, that 1,000 rds should deliver today. Talked guns for a bit, asked what the rounds were for, he said a Mosin, I showed him my Finn’s one and he wanted to buy it, LOL
The trick with the NY-1 trigger spring is to pair it with a (–) trigger bar. That really makes it feel like a double action revolver. Drawback is that you don’t want to take a 4 day class (1000 round) with that setup, as it will chew up your finger if you have a stock trigger.
Halfway through the class I replaced the spring with the stock one, complete with that negative bar, and went on to finish the class. Took a bunch more classes, and totally forgot about that trigger bar, until doing a complete teardown maybe ten years later brought it to my attention. It’s still in the gun. It’s certainly not what I would call a light trigger. Still seems a little bit heavier than a 1911, just with a mile of take up.
I was thinking it was basically a stock Glock, but then I added up the mods, and the total seems to be 9, and some of the mods have been modded.