jfb | (no subject)

MSNBC's Jan Herman shares reader responses to a recent item on Wal-Mart. (They've decided to stop carrying "lad magazines" like Maxim and FHM.) One reader asks, "If Wal-Mart is so concerned about promoting a ‘family-friendly’ culture, why do they sell shotguns?" Jan says, "I know Wal-Mart sells rifle gunsights. But does it really sell shotguns? I don’t believe it. Please tell me you’re wrong."

Searching Google for "wal-mart guns", I learned that they sell nail guns and Young Guns 2.

I also learned that--according to Packing.org, "a great place to find out how to legally carry a concealed weapon"--Wal-Mart "has given in to an orchestrated campaign to move its firearms counter out of sight of its toy department," at least in the "embattled Providence store". And that in September 2000, Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership was alarmed by news that Wal-Mart might stop selling guns.

(JPFO's sister organization, Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States--a stance I'm in full agreement with--provides a Totalitarian Time Clock that measures the march of the police state in the U.S. It's currently 10:48, where the ratification of the Bill of Rights signifies the "dawn of freedom", and a totalitarian police state would be midnight.)

I still don't know whether Wal-Mart sells shotguns. If they do, they're not available online.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I have only been in Wal-Mart stores in NY and NJ. In NJ, they do not carry firearms or ammunition. I have not seen a firearms counter at Wal-Mart in NY, but I have been told my fellow shooters that some stores sell ammo. The purchase and sale of firearms is usually regulated by individual states, so I would imagine that there is some variance between stores. For example, in NY, outside of NYC, a resident can typically purchase a shotgun or rifle without a permit, subject to a 10-minute federal background check.

Interstate sale of firearms is regulated by the BATF, and is only permitted between federally licensed firearms dealers. (This is recalled from a conversation with my brother, who makes his living selling surplus military equipment, including rifle parts.)

I got through two paragraphs without even mentioning that the reader's premise - that firearms sales by Wal-Mart are somehow at odds with their attempt to be "family-friendly" - is silly. I must be getting old.

What?

Of course Wal-Mart carries guns. They carry rifles at my local one (rural Ohio), or did last time I was in the sporting goods section (which, frankly, isn't too often).

Want me to go take a picture?

--sean

Why ISN'T selling guns inconsistent with being "family friendly?"

Guns are used to kill things -- living things. Living things exist because they were created by other living things. Living things that are related to other living things are often families. QED.

Fuck the gun nuts.

--sean