Black Powder and FFL

[GolfGuy]

I found this nifty little .22 magnum black powder revolver and it made me wonder why North American Arms would convert a modern cartridge gun to black powder and I’m afraid the answer does not bode well for the black powder community.

Why would they do it? Probably because they are seeing an increasing number of potential customers being turned away because they can’t pass the background check and decided to make this gun to offer as an alternative for those customers.

This is a self-defense/personal protection weapon, it’s not a traditional cowboy heritage gun. People aren’t buying it to compete in cowboy shoots and wear on their hip at cowboy gatherings, or to hang on their wall as a show piece, they are buying it to wear on their ankle for protection and if they could buy the cartridge version they would, it’s easier, cleaner, takes less know how to operate etc…

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I fully support a persons right to keep and bear arms and if black powder is the only way they can do that legally, then more power to them. But the fact that a manufacturer would convert a gun TO black powder indicates that there is a growing market for it.

And my concern is that as the gun laws increase more people will be going the black powder route more out of necessity than out of love for tradition and heritage. And as these numbers grow the feds are sure to start taking note and I’m afraid to say it but I can feel it in my bones that black powder will become regulated, probably sooner rather than later.

And the gun laws are getting tougher and tougher. An interesting side note to this story is one of personal experience. I grew up here in Texas and when I was 17 years old a group of buddies and I drove down to Mexico for a weekend of drinking and carousing and we came across a street vendor selling switch blade knives, you know the classic flip up switch blade, (the ones that are illegal in the U.S.) and so a couple of us forked over the $5 or $10 bucks and bought one.

Well as we crossed the border back into Texas with a trunk full of booze and a car full of underage kids all sitting as straight and quiet as possible and looking as innocent as we possibly could so not to draw the attention of the border guards, which in fact certainly made us all the more suspicious. When was the last time you saw a group of teenagers on their best behavior? Yep, you can bet they’re up to something. Well, not surprisingly we got selected for a ‘random’ search and they found the booze and made us all empty our pockets and of course found the switch blade in my pocket.

We were already back on the Texas side and I was arrested for a prohibited weapon. Not a huge deal for a 17 year old, I got what they call ‘deferred adjudication’ that meant that if I stayed out of trouble for a year and completed a probation period that the charges would be dismissed and they were. Not a big deal. And over the next 15 years or so I purchased several guns and passed several background checks and then about 5 years ago I went in to buy a gun and failed the background check. WHAT? How can that be?

It turned out that that same prohibited weapon charge that happened 15 years earlier and was DISSMISSED was now in my NISC (or whatever it’s called) file. I did get it removed fairly easily all it took was a couple of phone calls and postage stamp, the hard part was getting the 15 year old court documents from Texas that showed the charges had been dismissed. But my point is how and why did that show up 15 years later? And unjustly and inacurately, I might add? That did NOT belong in my file, the incident happened when I was a minor and the charges were dismissed it was a non-issue, yet someone put it there, it didn't just miraculously appear after 15 years by a computer glitch.

It’s like they’re digging into peoples past and looking for stuff to disqualify them for gun purchases. And the more this happens the more people will be looking to black powder as an alternative and black powder’s growing popularity will ultimately be its death I’m afraid.

I could be way off base here but it just seems to be the way things are headed.

Thanks for letting me rant! Whew! “Where’s the Tylenol?”

[Low Key]

I know exactly what you are saying and I have the same concerns myself. We have too many gun laws as it is and I think as BP shooting becomes more visible, especially with cartridge conversions, the liberals are going to start going after us as an easy target and demonize the whole sport just as they have done with firearms in general.

I am an NRA member, I vote in every election and I absolutely will not vote for anyone who is anti-gun regardless of party. The NRA publishes a grading system before major elections and give grades to all the candidates rating where they stand on gun related issues. They base this on how did the individual vote on gun related legislation regardless of what the individual say in public. A is pro-gun, and it slides down hill to F which is anti-gun.

To all who are concerned--We have mid term elections coming up soon, get out and vote and vote pro-gun! It may save us some big headaches in the future.