My order from El Paso Saddlery arrived Friday, and here’s their Tom Threepersons holster for the 3″ Model 65:
I was pleasantly surprised by their turnaround time: just over four weeks.
In other news, Leonard Embody, Cassidy Nicosia and Kurk Kirby have a new compatriot in David Walters.
Walters washed out of a correctional officer training program in 2005, but still wore their shirt while strutting around an Arizona Wal-Mart at 1:00 in the morning. He was openly carrying what looks to be a Taurus Millenium (edit: it was a Jennings 9mm.) in a cheap nylon holster. Apparently, he didn’t feel that he was receiving quite enough attention, and he removed and reholstered the gun at least twice in the presence of employees.
I can see them being a bit jittery.
He again drew the gun as he approached the register to check out, at which point the magazine ejected. He reached down to pick it up with his left hand. The gun, which was in his right hand, discharged into the ceiling.
He’s very fortunate that nobody around him was armed. One of the interviewees said, “I don’t know what I’d do if somebody had a gun and it went off in the store.” I do, and it wouldn’t have been pretty. There is absolutely no reason to draw a gun from its holster in public unless it is in self-defense. Anything else could (and should) be construed as a potential threat.
Fortunately, nobody was harmed. Mr. Walters is charged with numerous counts of reckless endangerment, and I hope they stick. This man deserves to be stripped of his guns, period.
No doubt, someone will come along to shriek about it, but the plain fact is this: there are things you can do that plainly prove you have neither the mindset or common sense to safely handle a firearm, and Mr. Walters did just that. A negligent discharge that endangers others is an unacceptable, unforgivable offense.
There is significant concealed-carry reform going through the wheels in Arizona, and incidents like this are a wet dream for the opposition. I guarantee that Governor Brewer will find a ton of email citing this event as a reason normal folks can’t be trusted to carry firearms. Notice that the first person interviewed for the video was the one saying, “you don’t need a gun to go to Wal-Mart.” A lot of people are likely to agree with her now.
In any case, Mr. Walters will be spending some time on Joe Arpaio’s turf. Perhaps he’ll get some sense ground into him.
This is what happens when folks think of guns as totem objects and “bling” rather than weapons of last resort. And the aftermath affects us all.
Last item: I was poring over some stats for NICS background checks, and here are some conclusions. Between November 2008 and April 2009, there were 8,097,103 checks run. This number only represents actual background checks through NICS. Add in multiple gun sales (which only entail one check), private sales, and sales in states where firearms permits bypass the NICS system, and the actual number of guns purchased is probably closer to 12 million.
And that’s likely a conservative estimate.
From November 2008 to the present, 19,449,325 checks have been performed, an increase of 53% over 1998, which is the first full year for which we have statistics. That’s at least 19,449,324 people not making fools out of themselves with firearms.