What I Learned from Shot Show, Besides Not to Move to Australia

I’m typing this from 30,000 feet on my way home from Vegas and Shot Show 2012. If you’ve never been to Shot Show just pick your favorite thing in the entire world (golf, shoes, video games, chocolate) and imagine an almost never ending array of that item. That is what Shot Show is like. Call it heaven on earth, if you will.

Besides trying out all of the new guns and wishing I was a billionaire so I could buy them all, one of the best parts of Shot Show is all of the interesting people you meet. I had a good, long conversation with Jeff Cooper’s wife and daughter and found out why the legendary Gunsite Ranch was where it was in Arizona. (Because Jeff and his dad used to explore the area back in the day in a Model T and he fell in love with the place.)

One of the most interesting people I met at Shot Show was a fellow from Australia who was asking me to help him choose a gun. Now, I’ve traveled all over the world however, I have not made it to Australia yet, so I wasn’t very familiar with Australia’s gun laws until now.

Get this…

In Australia you cannot have a gun with a barrel shorter than 4.72 inches. In other words, this guy was trying out all of the small concealed carry guns (and loving them) but he’s not allowed to have them in his own country.

Also, in Australia there is no concealed carry. And, when your gun is stored in your house it has to be in a safe, and the ammunition and the gun must be separate. And you’re going to love this: The police actually come out to your house and inspect that you have a safe and that you’re following all the rules. The guy told me that the police had come out to his house twice in the past several years.

When we got to the topic of rifles…

He told me that in 1996 there was a huge massacre by a crazy man and right after that, the government made everyone turn in their semi-automatic rifles. These days he told me it’s virtually impossible to get a semi-auto rifle unless you’re a police officer.

Now, I don’t know about you, but it’s these types of conversations that make me count my many blessings and make me very thankful for this country. Also, the part he told me about the rifles is especially scary, because the rifle is truly the last line of defense against an unjust government. And with the way things are headed in this country I’m thankful that I have my semi-auto rifles to protect my family if “Armageddon” ever comes.

On another note, he invited me down to Australia to go Kangaroo hunting with him. Supposedly, Kangaroo tastes pretty good. So maybe one of these days I’ll be writing to

you from Australia and I’ll have one of those cliché pictures of me standing next to my dead Kangaroo. (While singing that Kangaroo song – you know which one I’m talking about.)