Okay, let's get serious, darkspace is a rant page, this is a SERIOUS page. If you came here expecting me to dawdle around like a moron emotional and crazy, the screws are a little more tightened here, especially for THIS page as we talk about my views on a subject it seems few who are actually intelligent talk about - guns. This is my only page on this, and just like any other page like that on a guitar or a computer thing that's not a thought piece, this is intended to be a actual serious look. That doesn't mean it'll be devoid of humor (maybe even apropriate dark humor at times), but it does mean that if you were expecting 30 rounds of f-bomb carelessly hurled at a subject like a maniac...this isn't the page.

Let's get started by introducing this world to people who aren't comfortable, or used to it. I know I'll be "Mr. Rodgers-ing" this a bit, but hello, and welcome to the world of firearms. While the original intent of a gun was to harm living organisms, it's true purpose is something a little more complex. See, a gun is something you have, and hope you never need, like a spare tire for your car, or a charger for your cell phone in your car's center console. There are alternatives, the calling AAA (the cops), or maybe just being responsible in the first place and taking care of that stuff before leaving home (like dressing apropriatley for where you are going). Guns are merely an assemblage of parts, just like your car, and in the wrong hands, can do serous, even lethal, damage. However, in the right hands, with a skilled operator, can be something that can save your life or even someone else's.

That said, I am in agreement with Tacticool Girlfriend in that they are not for everybody. The mentally ill, those with true murderous intentions, people who might self harm, those are people who should not have firearms. The Republicans love to tell everyone that the 2nd Amendment shall not be infringed - true - but like anything else in life, there ARE exceptions to the rule, and those are at least some of them. I'm going to confess, she and TheGunPenguin inspired this page. I don't think people talk about guns from a left-leaning perspective enough, at least not a non-corporate left-wing perspective. The Corporate left-wing perspective is that we don't need guns anymore because police and the military will take care of everything. But the events of 2016-2020 and 2025-present have proven otherwise, and society lately seems to be having more difficulty with being "evolved" (seems that Ohio band is right - "We're all DEVO").

The Second Amendment isn't for hunting, it's here to protect our sovereign state. By that nature, it also covers hunting and self-preservation as well (as those are a bit of a part of it in a doomsday scenario). And it's not to be infringed upon. A lot of the things politicians do are indeed, infringements on the second amendment, but it's no different than what they have done with other things such as legislating rock shows out of beign affordable with various "ordainences", legislating cars out of being affordable in the name of making them safer for idiots who can't drive, and using terribly executed decisions that don't bring the intended effect (in this case, less gun violence), and instead, carrying out "feel-good" decisions that seem like they are doing something on the surface, but ultimatley either do nothing, or make the problem worse (ie, only the bad guys will have weapons). If they get rid of guns, all that will happen, is problematic people will harm each other with knives, pencils, angle grinders, or anything else with a sharp edge, even a broken piece of glass from a dumpster. There's danger everywhere. Part of surviving isn't hiding from it, it's dealing with it being present in the right way.

Deciding to own a deadly weapon, firearm or not, is a big decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. I left out of respect for the left-wing of my family, but I came back for the same reason because I knew out of everyone, if anyone could handle having to take a life in self defense, it would be me. I spent a better part of two years thinking this over, and finally did it because I wanted to be sure I did everything better this time so set myself up for success. One big problem is the gun world is like any other special interest hobby (computing, guitar, cars, bicycles, lawn care, etc..) - it's also commercial, and because it's commercial, it muddies the waters between truth and hype a lot.

The first thing I had to consider what what type of arm I wanted to purchase. There are generally three genres: Shotgun, Pistol, and Rifle.

Pistol - Pistols aka. "Handguns" are compact firearms that fit in the hand.

Shotgun - Shotguns don't shoot "bullets", they shoot packages of small BB's called "Shot".

Rifle - Rifles are the most misunderstood of the lot it seems. People assume that a rifle is a wood-stocked, long-gun only, but guess what, those so-called "Assault Rifles", are just regular rifles with a different package, that's it. They are no more or less dangerous, just because they are all black, have a long magazine that looks like a second "handle" and