Are You a Gun Owner Moving to Finland? Better Save Your Targets...

Just another Wednesday night at the rifle range at the National Rifle Association Headquarters. Only this time I realized that I needed to start saving my targets, just in case I move back to Finland:

HELSINKI, Finland: Finland has introduced stricter rules on gun permits in the wake of a deadly school shooting.

The government issued the new directives to police on Monday.

First-time applicants for a handgun license must now prove that they have been members of a shooting club for at least a year. In addition, all applicants must provide a note from a doctor about their mental health. - International Herald Tribune

That is all very interesting. Of course, what is a complete mystery is how they intend to handle gun owners who move to Finland. With that in mind, I decided that it would be a good idea to keep my targets as evidence of active target shooting as a hobby. In addition, I also want to make clear that I use a .45 caliber pistol for target shooting. I had seen some reports where the Finnish police thought a 9mm pistol as too powerful a weapon for target shooting. Well, it is the power/kick that makes it so challenging. (I have no idea what they would think if I showed up with a .50cal M1911 pistol, if I ever run into enough money to purchase one.)

- .22 Cal rifle (no scope) kneeling at 100 feet. 9 out of 10 for 90% -

- .22 Cal rifle (no scope) standing at 100 feet. 83 out of 100 points -

- '45' standing at 15 feet. Grouping of 5 -

- '45' standing at 25 feet. 4 hits out of 5 for 80% -

- '45' kneeling at 15 feet. Grouping of 5 for 72% -

- '45' standing at 15 feet. Grouping of 5 -

Does anyone have any experience in moving to Finland with handguns or rifles? Please email me or leave a comment on your experience. My situation is going to be complicated. I have what they consider a high-powered pistol. I will also be bringing two high-powered hunting rifles, a WWII era 'assault' rifle (M1 carbine), shotgun and a small .22 caliber pistol which I understand is considered a concealable weapon due to its size. That I think is a little ridiculous, as I carry my full-size 1911-A1 pistol under my shirt and nobody notices that it is there until I point it out. They normally fixate on whatever ugly shirt I might be wearing.

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DC to Require Disassembly of Cars When Not in Use

Take this from one of Washington, DC's idiotic politicians:

If approved, Mendelson’s bill would allow residents to register handguns but it would still require them to keep the weapons unloaded and disassembled, or sealed off with trigger locks. It would allow citizens to reassemble the guns for “immediate self-defense.” - DC Examiner

Now compare that statement with what Mr. Mendelson writes on his own website:

Phil believes government should be an honest, efficient deliverer of services, that the District should help those least able to help themselves to develop the skills to become self-sufficient and end the cycle of poverty, and that government must do this without increasing the tax burdens already shouldered by our middle and upper income residents. The District, as the nation's capital, should be a model of service delivery -- in public education, public safety, and public health. - Phil Mendelson

What BS. They might as well decree that all DC car owners disassemble their cars when not in use, because cars kill people too. (As a side benefit, they can claim that this new car law will cut down on car thefts.)  As it so happens, a version of the gun bill was passed requiring gun owners to keep their weapons unloaded and disassembled, or sealed off with trigger locks

So, why don't gun owners just disassemble their guns? Well they do, to clean them. So most gun owners in the country are at least temporarily in compliance with the DC law, but definitely not by choice. Here is what my 1911-A1 looks like disassembled.  No person in their right mind keeps their gun like this, unless perhaps when there is some special reason to do so, like they are waiting for a replacement part or they are using the pistol for parts for other handguns.  How would you like to put this together in the middle of the night for “immediate self-defense.”?

Here it is partly reassembled, but still not in any way you'd want to keep a weapon unless you were afraid that the owner might go and try to shoot a criminal with it.

In this last photo, the spring here just needs to be pushed in and locked.  But there is no way I'm keeping my gun stored like this.  Oddly enough, this is probably in violation of the law because it is possible to fire the gun this way, at least once.

Since I live in Virginia, I'm more likely to keep it like this on a shelf. (The bag being zipped shut)

Good thing too that I live in Virginia as DC seems to dislike semi-automatics regardless of being disassembled or not, so I would only be able to keep my .45 if I had owned it already illegally, or so we are led to believe.

However, my Iver Johnson .22 cal. M1 Carbine would be legal in DC, again provided that it is disassembled. But look at the number of loose parts for this rifle when taken down for cleaning:

There is nothing 'immediate' when it comes to putting this rifle back together.

While it appears disassembled in this photo, it will function as long as you keep your hand out of the way of the slide mechanism.  But that probably puts it in violation of minimum length rules, so be sure to attach the stock before shooting any criminals with it.  Better yet, just take the stock and club your intruder with it, because you are not going to have the time to do anything else.

This public service message brought to you by the District of Columbia, the nation's capital, "a model of service delivery -- in public education, public safety, and public health"

P.S. I do read the Examiner prior to using it for cleaning my guns.



DC Councilmember Phil Mendelson

Update:

There is just one other small problem:

The only time that a gun can be unlocked is when it being used for self-defense against an immediate attack; accordingly, it is illegal to remove the lock from an unloaded gun in order to clean the gun. - The Volokh Conspiracy

When will the craziness stop?

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Target Practice

So it is Wednesday and I have gone back to going to the range on Wednesday nights.  I normally start with my 45 and then switch to the 22 rifle.

(.22 Cal Iver Johnson Mini M-1 Rifle kneeling at 50 feet)

The nice thing about these targets is that you either get 10 points or you get nothing.  Kind of like in real life.

Funny, two lanes down was a guy with a revolver. It was the loudest (scariest sounding) weapon there. So I wonder just what Washington, DC is thinking in allowing registration of revolvers and not semi-automatics like the M1911? Maybe the mayor should take a trip to the range. Of course he needs to go to Virginia to do that!  (I am pretty confident that DC will be forced to abandon their idiotic semi-auto handgun ban, eventually.)

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Update: Never Push Your Luck II - Joe Horn Innocent

In February, I covered the case of Joe Horn, the man who shot dead two thieves who made the mistake of breaking into his neighbor's house. (Original post here)

At the time there was some controversy because he was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher who told him not to interfere.  He did:

Horn fatally shot the burglars, two illegal immigrants from Colombia named Diego Ortiz and Miguel de Jesus. Stephanie Storey, De Jesus' fiancée, wants to see Joe Horn prosecuted.

"This man took the law into his own hands," she said. "He shot two individuals in the back after having been told over and over to stay inside. It was his choice to go outside and his choice to take two lives." - ABC News

Of course it was these two guy's choice to go and try to steal someone else's property.  Now I disagree with the dispatcher who told Mr. Horn that nothing was worth being shot over. If it had been my stuff, I definitely would have shot the thieves, if given the opportunity.  And one more thing, I would have also shot to kill. (Which is why when I decided on a first gun, I got a .45)  Really, why risk these guys getting a stupid idea to try and come after you when/if they ever get out of jail/hospital.

Well today comes news that Mr. Horn will not be facing any criminal charges

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.

Joe Horn, 61, shot the two men in November after he saw them crawling out the windows of a neighbor's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. - CNN

Sure it is sad that two people had to die, but at least it was the right two people.  Nobody knows what might have happened had these two invaded a house that was occupied.  Also, the police could have prevented this shooting had they gotten there a little quicker. (This is a common claim to leave it to the police)  However, as quick as the police were, they would have just missed the robbers had Mr. Horn not intervened.  Also, these two had long police records and were just pushing their luck for something like this to happen to them.  One of them was sent back home to his country after serving only 5 years of a 25 year prison sentence.  Had he been required to serve his full jail term, he never would have ended up in Mr. Horn's sights.  It's doesn't matter if he was right or wrong, it was the wrong choice of the two robbers that then forced this man into a position of having to decide interfering or not.

Previous:
Never Push Your Luck II - 28 Feb 08



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I bought a HandGun this Week

I have been living outside of Washington, DC's gun ban for about two years now. Buying a gun has always been in the back of my mind, however it was only after learning that there was a gun range only 15 minutes away at the National Rifle Association Headquarters that finally got me to go and buy one.

So last Saturday, I took a ride to the less urban parts of Northern Virginia to a gun dealer and was promptly told that they didn't have the model that I was looking for. I was shown a couple similar models and after trying them, I decided to order the specific model that I had initially wanted. They checked and I was told that there are none around to order. On the bright side, they informed me that I was welcome to have one shipped to them if I managed to find one. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. I have ordered lots of things on the internet, but never a handgun. My query to the manufacturer, Springfield-Armory, was replied to with an apology in that the model would probably not be available again for another six months. But, they encouraged me to try to find a dealer that still had some in stock. I finally did find one in Florida, and purchased it on the phone. I also made arrangements to get it shipped to Virginia. All the work involved was in finding a dealer that had this in stock. Once I did, the whole transaction took less than ten minutes. The gun shipped today and I should be able to get it transferred to me by Saturday. No permit required, just a quick background check.

This is what I purchased:
I went with the classic Model 1911-A1.

The M1911 is a single-action, semiautomatic handgun chambered for the .45 ACPcartridge. It was designed by John M. Browning, and was the standard-issue side arm for the United States armed forces from 1911 to 1985, and is still carried by some U.S. forces. It was widely used in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War. Its formal designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original Model of 1911 or Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the M1911A1, adopted in 1924. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam era. In total, the United States procured around 2.7 million M1911 and M1911A1 pistols during its service life. and the

The M1911 is the most well-known of John Browning's designs to use the short recoil principle in its basic design. Besides the pistol being widely copied itself, this operating system rose to become the pre-eminent type of the 20th century and of nearly all modern pistols. - Wikipedia

Updates as I get back into shooting. I was nationally ranked one year. I was sixth from the bottom, but that was good news as the rest of the team proclaimed: "Holy sh*t! There were actually five people who shot worse than you!" Of course, it's all relative. They were very good competitors and I was filling in for someone who couldn't go.

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