Category: “Aw shucks
BY JOHN TAFFIN
By the winter of 1956–57 John had the first three early Ruger single actions offered —
the .22 Single-Six, the .357 Blackhawk and the .44 Magnum Blackhawk.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost.
Anyone who cannot look back down their personal Road of Life and see many, many roads — which ones were chosen and the effect it had on life — has just not been paying attention. I will say there’s no such thing as chance or coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. We may not understand the reason at the time, we may never understand it but it’s always there.
Beginning
The first fork in the road I remember came in fourth grade. One day my teacher said she would like me to spend a couple weeks with the fifth graders. After those two weeks she asked if I would like to go into the fifth grade permanently. There was the choice. Should I stay on the road marked fourth grade or did I fork off into the fifth grade? I chose the latter. For the rest of my school days, I was always one grade ahead and graduated after 11 years, instead of 12. Was it a good or bad choice?
I was not ready for college by any means and lived in the area containing the general offices and main plants of five tire companies. I had just turned 17 and after graduation, went to the office of one of the tire companies. I took the test required, scored high and told I could have my choice of any job. They then looked at my birth date and informed me they could only hire people who were at least 18 years of age. There’s a reason there somewhere and I soon found it.
Another Change
A construction company was hiring order boys and I got the job. The salesman would write up the orders and we would go all over the building to fill the orders and bring them to the shipping department where they would be delivered the next day on a fleet of eight bright red Reo trucks.
Because of this job I met a fellow who would become a lifelong friend and he introduced me to the best gun shops and gun shows. His name was John also and is now a retired LEO living in Florida. Because of him I bought my first .22 Marlin 39A and soon followed it with the .22 Ruger Single-Six. Then came the .38-40 Colt SAA, .45 Colt SAA, .357 Blackhawk Flat-Top, .44 Magnum Blackhawk Flat-Top and others. At the time I kept a running gun tab at Boyle’s Gun Shop.
The second thing happened after I had been there a few months. The boss came to me and said, “I want you to be foreman of the men charged with unloading everything that comes into the building.” I’m just 17 and was asked to be the foreman of men, the youngest of which was about 32. These men were all black working for minimum wage as there were few real opportunities for black men yet in the 1950s.
I was told my job would be to assign them to their various tasks and just stand there with a clipboard to check off everything. I was only 17 but smart enough to realize these guys were not going to work for me if I didn’t do anything but stand there with a pencil.
So I worked right alongside of them and two things happened: I gained their respect and with hard work, built myself up to the point I could pick up 500-lb. bars of pig lead or put a 200-lb. keg of nails on my shoulder and walk up three flights of stairs and back down again. Now I can barely pick up a fork and forget stairs.
John’s first centerfire sixgun and first Colt Single Action was a 4-3/4″ .38-40 purchased in 1956,
followed by the first 2nd Generation Colt Single Action to appear in his area, a 7-1/2″ .45 Colt.
Another Road
I was working hard every day, paying my Mom room and board, buying everything I needed for myself and definitely buying guns. I was as happy as happy could be.
It was my habit to go to church with my mother. The church had a large youth group but no one ever approached me. I found out later it was because I looked older and my Mom, who had been a teenage bride, teenage mother and teenage widow all in the space of less than two years, was now in her late 30s. She looked younger and I looked older so they thought I was married — to my mother!
One particular morning my mom wasn’t feeling well and I arrived at church early where an usher put me into a Sunday school class. At the same time, there was a young girl who went to church with her father on the other side of town. This particular day she and her father had an argument so she came to my church. She normally only came to the Sunday night youth group but when the usher shoved me into Sunday school class, there she was.
Up to this time I had no time for girls. All my expendable money went for guns and shooting. I had never dated through high school and this young blonde made a real mistake — she paid attention to me. One look at her and I was totally smitten by the young girl who now is known as Diamond Dot. Was it coincidence we both wound up in the same spot at the same time? We were married the following February, now going on 62 years ago.
Hook Of Kismet
We were both earning about $200 a month and wanted to have a family. This meant Dot would have to quit her job and we would have to live on half this amount. I loved my job but had to find something different. How was this going to happen?
We had been out shopping on a hot Saturday afternoon and decided to stop by the apartment to put the milk and meat in the refrigerator. In the 1950s many cars were set up so you could start it, remove the key from the ignition and it would still keep running.
I did a very stupid thing — I took the key out, left the motor running and handed the keys to Dot. I don’t have the slightest idea why I would leave the car running since we didn’t have air conditioning anyhow. Dot placed the milk and meat into the refrigerator, came back out and I asked her for the keys. I could tell by the look on her face what just happened. The car was running and the keys were in the locked apartment!
The back door of our apartment opened onto a balcony-type porch about 10 feet off the ground so we rarely locked it. All I had to do was shinny up the porch post, go in the back door and retrieve my keys. I could still shinny in those days.
As I got up to the banister and prepared to step over, I put my foot on a clothesline hook to help me over. I was wearing moccasins and the sharpened hook went into the bottom of my foot. Blood was flowing, so I wrapped it in a towel, retrieved the keys, went back out to the car and had Dot drive me to the hospital to get bandaged and a tetanus shot. I was told I would have to be off work for at least a week. Was there a reason for all of this?
Reasons
I found out on Monday morning when Dot called me from her office at the factory to tell me they were hiring. Since I was now over the age of 18, I was hired making three times what I had been making. Now we could start a family of our own. If Dot had not left the keys in the apartment perhaps none of this would’ve happened.
The downside to my new job was unlike the one I loved, I hated every minute in the place. I worked the night shift six days a week and there was simply no joy in going to work — but as I have tried to teach my children and grandchildren, there are things in this life we do, not because we want to, but simply because we have to.
I dreaded going to work and my only thought was “Why am I here?” Was there really a reason? Had I taken the wrong fork in the road?
A year after the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of Americans’ right to carry guns in public, the issuance of permits to carry guns has skyrocketed in the Garden State.
In 2021, the year before the ruling, 631 gun-carry permits were issued in New Jersey. That number went up to 19,933 in 2023, a 3,000% increase, according to recently released data by the Attorney General’s Office.
The data further shows a stark hike in the number applications for permits to carry that were processed right after the Supreme Court decision at the end of June 2022. The decision struck down a New York law that required citizens to prove they had “proper cause” to carry a handgun. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas said the New York law violated the Constitution’s “right to keep and bear arms.”
New Jersey had similar restrictions before the court’s decision. Residents here seeking permission to carry a gun had to demonstrate they faced “specific threats or previous attacks” that present a danger to their life and can’t be avoided any other way.
While there were only 42 applications processed in June 2022, that number went up to 381 in July 2022; 1,334 in August 2022; and 2,099 in October 2022. Click here to see the data dashboard.
And the numbers keep going up. In January 2024 there were 2,475 applications processed, roughly four times the amount of permits issued in in 2021, and the largest amount seen in single month since the Supreme Court made its landmark decision.
Data on permit to carry applications was made public by the Attorney General’s Office in a effort to make the public aware about how many guns are out there in the state, the state office said in a statement.
“Transparency is a key component to enhancing public safety. The data available in this dashboard allows its users to gain an understanding of where in New Jersey the applications for permits to carry firearms is increasing,” Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
Platkin also announced that “Gun Free Zone” decals are available to New Jersey businesses that want to prohibit firearms on their property.
“The decals can help ensure the increase in people carrying guns doesn’t lead to a higher rate of shootings and gun deaths like those experienced in states with less-protective gun laws than New Jersey,” Platkin added.
Where in NJ are applications for permits to carry are increasing?
At the Shore, Monmouth and Ocean counties saw the most permit-to-carry applications of all counties in the state. Between July 2022 and February 2024, Ocean and Monmouth processed 3,358 and 3,108 applications, respectively.
Sussex and Warren were the counties that registered the most applications per capita, with 76 and 72 processed applications per 10,000 residents, respectively.
Conversely, Mercer and Hudson counties had the lowest rate in the same period, with only 18 and 11 applications per 10,000 residents, respectively.
Categories
Guarantee This Is A Lowball Guestimate
Even at that, it’s more than all the militaries on Earth, combined.
Seeing what’s been going on at the Southern Border the last few years, I’m thinking that a whole bunch of them are going to start coming out of closets and dressers here very shortly.
Especially the ones that the government has no idea even exist.
After five days of deliberations, a jury in New York on Friday held the National Rifle Association liable for financial mismanagement and found that Wayne LaPierre, the group’s former CEO, corruptly ran the nation’s most prominent gun rights group.
LaPierre and a senior executive at the NRA must pay a combined $6.35 million “for abusing the system and breaking our laws,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the lawsuit against the organization, said following the verdict.
The jury determined that LaPierre’s violation of his duties cost the NRA $5.4 million in damages, though he already repaid more than $1 million to the organization. He must pay $4.35 million, the New York Attorney General’s Office said.
LaPierre, staring forward with his hands clasped in his lap, sat in the first row of the gallery while the jury read the verdict. He did not speak to the press upon leaving the courthouse Friday.
The New York Attorney General’s Office sued the NRA and its senior management in 2020, claiming they misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal benefits — including private jets, family vacations and luxury goods. The accusations came at the end of a three-year investigation into the NRA, which is registered in New York as a nonprofit charitable corporation.
The jurors, who began deliberating on Feb. 16, were asked to weigh transactions like hair and makeup for LaPierre’s wife, payments or speaking fees to board members, and contracts with favored vendors willing to pay kickbacks.
LaPierre announced his resignation from the organization on Jan. 5, days before the start of the trial, citing health reasons, according to the NRA.
The lawsuit alleged that LaPierre filled executive positions at the NRA with unqualified loyalists in order to maintain control and conceal self-dealing, including co-defendants John Frazer, corporate secretary and general counsel, and Woody Phillips, the former chief financial officer and treasurer, the attorney general’s lawsuit said. The three of them stand accused of breaching the trust of donors by using charitable money for luxury travel, private planes and five-star hotels, along with entering into multimillion-dollar contracts with favored vendors willing to pay.
The jury found that Frazer and Phillips were liable for violating their duties to the organization. Philips was ordered to pay $2 million in damages, the attorney general’s office said.
The jury also found that the NRA failed to properly administer charitable funds and violated state whistleblower protections, the office said. Frazer and the NRA were also found liable for making false statements on the NRA’s regulatory filings, the office said.
The jury found that there was not enough evidence to provide cause for removing Frazer as secretary of the NRA.
James said the verdict is a “major victory” for her office and the people of New York and that LaPierre and the NRA “are finally being held accountable for this rampant corruption and self-dealing.”
“In New York, you cannot get away with corruption and greed, no matter how powerful or influential you think you may be,” she said in a statement on X. “Everyone, even the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, must play by the same rules.”
The NRA said the verdict confirmed that it was “victimized” by former vendors and fiduciaries “who abused the trust placed in them.”
“We appreciate the service of the jury and the opportunity to present evidence about the positive direction of the NRA today,” NRA President Charles Cotton said in a statement, adding that NRA members “should be heartened by the NRA’s commitment to best practices.”
“To the extent there were control violations, they were acted upon immediately by the NRA Board beginning in summer 2018,” the statement continued.
The next phase of the proceedings will be a bench trial in which Justice Joel Cohen is expected to rule on any final remedies against the defendants, the NRA said.
A fourth defendant, former NRA operations director Joshua Powell, settled civil claims of fraud and abuse brought by James prior to the start of the trial.
As part of his settlement, Powell admitted he breached his fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and obedience by using the NRA’s charitable assets for his own benefit and the benefit of his family. He also admitted he failed to administer the charitable assets entrusted to his care properly.
During closing statements on Feb. 15, LaPierre’s lawyer argued the lawsuit was politically motivated and that he “acted in good faith and with honesty, sincerity and intention,” according to The Associated Press.
The state told jurors that the NRA and its executives were “caught with their hand in the cookie jar” and were trying to deflect, while the NRA’s lawyer said that any corruption was committed against, not by, the group, according to the AP.
Lawyers for Frazer and Phillips told jurors their clients acted in good faith and in the best interests of the NRA, the AP reported. Phillips’ lawyer said his client “doesn’t deserve to be made penniless,” according to the AP.
James’ lawsuit seeks to recoup lost assets and permanently ban LaPierre and the others from serving on any charitable boards in New York. Powell accepted that ban as part of his settlement agreement. He also agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution and to testify against LaPierre and others at trial.
The lawsuit additionally seeks an independent monitor to oversee the NRA’s finances.
The NRA tried to file bankruptcy in 2021 but a federal judge rejected its petition, saying, “The NRA did not file the bankruptcy petition in good faith.”
LaPierre previously said the New York attorney general’s lawsuit was an “unconstitutional, premeditated attack aiming to dismantle and destroy the NRA — the fiercest defender of America’s freedom at the ballot box for decades.”
In 2020, following the attorney general’s filing of the suit, an NRA spokesperson said in a statement that at the time that LaPierre was “required to travel private for security purposes, in accordance with NRA Board policy,” and that he was “asked by the NRA’s former advertising agency to incur certain wardrobe expenses given his enormous public profile.”
A man in San Antonio shot and killed two alleged robbers Friday afternoon at the ATM of a Chase Bank.
The incident occurred about 1 p.m., Fox News noted.
The man went to the ATM and saw two suspects approaching him and he believed they were trying to rob him, KBTX reported.
He shot both alleged robbers, killing them. Both suspects were in their 20s.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said, “It was a robbery that didn’t go well for the robbers.”
Breitbart News reported that a concealed carry permit holder in Chicago shot and killed an alleged rooftop burglar Thursday at 10:40 p.m.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.