834. The Ruger 10/22

I think for those that know me well, know I’m not some big gun advocate. There’s a little thing called the second amendment I know and it along with the NRA are some pretty polarizing topics around these parts. Other folks from other country’s may say… “I mean what’s up with Americans and all their guns?? I mean, what’s that aboot??” See that’s a person from Canada which evidently is a whole other country North of here. Who knew? Who knew such a thing exists?

So back to the second amendment and we’ll get to why the Ruger 10/22 is a good thing. If you place the 2nd amendment in context, well there was a time when the British didn’t want to colonist to have guns. Something about us wanting to be our own country and then wanting to shoot them with our American guns. Go figure. The freaking British!! They also had this tendency to stick troops in our homes back in the day against our will. So what did we do about it? I mean I’m sure you all know about Washington and the Delaware, Paul Revere and 1 by land 2 by sea, Concord and the shot heard around the world…all that stuff. Well we upped and formed our own country and then wrote some constitutional amendments on just the things the Brits did that pissed us off so much. No taxation without representation and then you have territories that don’t have a voting delegate in our system of government, like Washington DC., Puerto Rico and such. I frankly don’t even know if Puerto Ricans get taxed but you get the point. What was very relevant 200 or so years ago might not be equally relevant today. If you are a die hard constitutionalist, I know this idea might represent treason of the highest order. I mean Lighten Up Francis!! Lighten up Francis Scott Key. See what I did there? Stripes anyone?

I would have never owned my own guns if I wasn’t half raised in Grapevine, Texas by the Doug Zimmerer family. That’s probably the reason why I got my own .20 gauge single shot shotgun and definitely the reason why I got my own Ruger 10/22 which my father-in-law is holding for me for an very extended period. When we moved to Germany, I acquired their daughter and they acquired my dog Hamlet. Later when we had kids and didn’t want guns in the house, they also acquired my beloved boyhood wooden stock Ruger 10/22. That rifle means a lot to me as only guns do as it was my first upgrade from a pellet gun and I spent many a hours in a Ranger, West Texas farm field roaming the pastures with that 10/22 and my best friend Doug Zimmerer. Good times. Good times.

So just to put it out there and to be fully transparent. I think we have way too many guns in America and I think our gun laws aren’t adequate given the amount of violence we seem prone to. When you have national gun murder and gun death rates being competitive with such places like Iraq, Columbia, and Brazil. Houston, you may have a problem. So I think a moderate amount of gun ownership and hunting and target shooting are all good things. And this little versatile semi-automatic 10/22 made by Ruger, so affordable and so well-designed is a very good thing. I went just last night with my son Z to scope his 10/22 which doesn’t have a wooden stock by the way… like my pride and joy did and we had some good bonding time. One of the highlights of my birthday. Peace out peeps!!!