Tulsa Gun Show

I heard that a gun show was on in Tulsa Oklahoma.

So to have a look at American 'gun culture' I went there...

(Trying to be discrete in taking photos to avoid identifying people...)

Just amazed at the quantity and variety of tactical assault weapons....
Very sophisticated and deadly weapons for killing people.....
Very different from the hunting rifles and shotguns that I was raised with.....

I assume pink ones for the ladies??

Big ones, little ones

This was just a small gun show.

In November there's one here that claims to be the biggest in the world,

with 5.7 miles of display tables....

http://www.tulsaarmsshow.com/homenoframes.html

Note that they say:

"...Guards can hold your ammo at the door so you don't have to walk through parking lot unarmed..."

I've travelled rough in 80 countries for 55 years,

slept rough beside motorcycles in Africa and Central America,

worked in the bush and jungles of many countries,

which entailed camping alone a tent in remote parts of

Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela, 

Colombia, Equador, and along the Amazon in Oriente Peru,

and never once felt the need of a gun for self defence....

(except for grizzly bears in Alaska)

Surely all that experience was more than just good luck......

So it's difficult for me to imagine how that parking lot could be so threatening,

except for all those loaded guns, some of them carried by nut cases......

and unfortunately, nut cases are attracted to fancy guns......

I'm really comfortable with the way Australia handles it's gun situation.

Some false propaganda says that they took all our guns away, but it's not true, 

(my neighbour has 13 legal firearms),

They only bought back the 'weapons of mass destruction',

 semi-automatics and pump action shotguns,

and of course we never did have, or need to have, hand guns.

(They paid $450 for my 40 yr old Remington Wingmaster, which always was a cheap gun)

We still have long arms in case of emergency, and know how to use them,

so we don't need rapid fire, cause the first shot will be true.....

But the guns we have must always be locked away in a steel case,

except when actually being used for hunting or sport shooting.

We have our share of nut cases as well, 

and need to be protected from them having ready access to lethal firearms.......

Now all gun owners must be licensed, 

and undergo background checks every couple of years at renewal.

It all works pretty well, and I feel safe and secure there.

But I don't feel so secure in the USA......

It's just too easy for crazies to get hold of guns,

and carry them around in their cars or even in their pockets......

I don't feel assured that all those 'good guys' packing guns make it any safer.......

I have a couple of stories about good guys with guns,

both these stories I know of personally, not just rumour....

I was working out of New Orleans with the offshore oil exploration crews.

We were mostly overseas, but a workmate, lets call him JCN,

went on leave to his house in Texas.

He was single so the house was vacant.

It seems that he arrived late at night, and parked in the driveway,

then got out carrying his 357 magnum in one hand and his boom box stereo in the other.

Turns out that he had forgotten that he had a new security alarm system installed,

so the flood lights went on and the siren wailed......

Another Texan 'good old boy' was driving by, and assumed JCN was a theif,

so stopped and opened fire with his 357!

JCN hit the deck, and as he said it, "...Tried to dig a hole with his fingernails..."

Luckily the good old boy wasn't a good shot, but blasted holes in JCN's Mustang 

and a couple of powerful rounds through the garage door and into his Cadillac inside...

A couple of skip marks in the concrete showed how close they came to JCN......

Of course these were both 'good guys' with guns......

The other was at a breakfast cafe in Florida.

A guy came hobbling in on two crutches, just barely able to shuffle.

It seems this was the result of a domestic triangle  that turned into a gunfight.

Both the other man and the woman died, and his guy is crippled for life with spinal damage.

And an innocent child is now in the care of grandparents.

What a needless tragedy.....

And of course these were 'good guys' with guns....

Guns should never be at readily at hand 

when the powerful emotions of a domestic dispute are raging.....

 I'm aware these are contentious words, 

but gotta say it,

based on a lifetime of experience in a whole lot of real life situations.....