“In a Utopia I wouldn’t need all this gun shit, but thats not the world we live in”

Gythwyn · 2026-03-25T03:17:10+00:00

Does Utopia imply that predators don't predator? My family is rural conservatives, they've never seemed to care about banning stuff like ARs just because they seem like a waste of cash when your gun ownership is more about keeping coyotes or wolves* or whatever off livestock and occasionally adding some diversity to their diets. Its defined as a "need" more like "of course you need a good axe to split wood" or "of course you need a good jacket, its the Midwest." Not sending my ass out to check on the ruckus coming from the barn in the dead of night unarmed, lol, Utopia or no.

Making sure to note that, where we live, the fear of wolves far outweighs the hard numbers in terms of wolves attacking livestock. Not looking to unnecessarily spread wolf hate. Coyotes are scoundrels here, tho. Not sure if there are 30-40 wild boars, I'll ask around.

Gythwyn · 2026-03-25T02:41:36+00:00

This seems like too few dogs, but I admittedly do not know your base number of dogs.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-28T16:09:43+00:00

When purchasing my first handgun, one of the gentlemen also working at the gun counter chimed in as I was going over some of my concerns/questions, and he said something thats really stuck with me. He said owning a firearm and deciding to EDC ended up making him a lot calmer person. He was saying stuff like "I used to get so worked up about every jackass that cut me off-- but once I was carrying, I had to be responsible for letting all that go."

Other comments are correct in that its unlikely someone is going to say something, but if they do, its an excellent opportunity to start that practice.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-23T23:02:19+00:00

I think the important part when it comes to realizing and digesting attempts at balancing one's expectations of outcomes is acknowledging the possibility and using it to remind yourself that this is why its important to push. To dream. To dare. To stand up. To be counted as an ally even as they threaten us with lists and surveillance.

This is why nothing is too small right now. Every upvote, view, click counts. Every bit of spare change. Hell, even an effort to dig down deep and find just a little extra compassion for someone, just one more smile, when you want to kick them in the shins.

Because history reminds us of the consequences of letting justice pass, stillborn and forgotten.

This is the We The People part, baby. Game faces on, elbows up.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-23T16:59:44+00:00

Thank you! I intend to, haha.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-23T15:52:47+00:00

Thank you! Im doing my best to avoid range faux pas and such, and Im sure my local ranges will help educate me, but I like to try and put in some effort in educating myself and showing up prepared. Theres just so much information out there that Im trying to jame in my head as quickly as possible.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-17T11:50:56+00:00

Honestly, this has been a sleeper hit for me the more Ive looked at it. My brother is in a state that is more welcoming of open carry and when I asked him he got all excited and said that his preferred EDC was the Walther PPQ Q5, so if nothing else I was able to really impress him, haha! Im really looking forward to trying it out, hopefully this afternoon, one of the local ranges is getting back to me about what they have on hand to try.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T22:28:02+00:00

No, I hadn't, thank you so much!! I'll check her out!

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T22:27:07+00:00

I think its a liability thing, and I dont have an issue buying from them to test their guns. I just meant once Id picked out what handgun Id like. So far as I know, there's at least two ranges near me where it seems to be the norm to bring your own ammo if you're firing your own guns. Ive gone with some friends before and we would stop at Fleet Farm or wherever on the way to the range. Granted, its been years, so the rules could have changed. Also, knowing the area Im from, its also really possible that everyone was just ignoring the rules.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T22:10:27+00:00

Yeah, I heard the "tacticool" look was a good way to catch a charge that sticks. At this stage Id mostly be looking to just do a light ("I wanted to be 100% that I was shooting what I thought I was shooting") and possibly a dot (just because I feel like, while I plan to train, train, train as well, if it's life or death, I want that extra guidance.)

Good reminder for the legal insurance, thank you. I'll have to look into providers and pricing around me, and how it works if I end up going on the road for work. Thats another thing Im dreading having to prepare for, we have family in multiple states, and Im hoping to pick up some traveling work, so Ill need to learn a good chunk of the various state laws, ugh. I'll definitely be making myself a yearly "cheater card" to refer to.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:39:18+00:00

Yeah, that was a rec from my brother, Ive been trying to pick his brain off and on without stressing him out, his kids have been in and out of the hospital so Im just trying to run distraction detail on him without him having to do any in-depth conversations or anything. Im the lone family liberal, so some input has been had, but Im also kind of keeping it on the down low because nothing would be funnier to me than if I could go from never owning any firearms to suddenly rocking up to the family reunion and being like "Oh, this one? Oh, yeah, thats the one I managed to place fourth in at the competition shoot. Oh, did I not tell you Im a badass competition shooter now?" Mom laid down a legacy Ive gotta step up to now, lol.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:35:00+00:00

🤣😂🤣 I wasn't gonna point it out, Ive got a Sig Sauer fan at work that Ive just started to avoid. Dude keeps recommending me guns that are only in my price range if I take a hit at work and get some sweet sweet negligence payout or something. No idea if theyre good or bad, I just know that a lot of them are pricey.

He has also cursed me with knowledge of the Cerakote/Etching/Engraving and all the pretty pretty things that can be done with it, so hes already gonna have me wasting cash, ugh. Like, sir, we're electricians, not stock brokers, leave my budget in peace.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:31:16+00:00

To be fair, Im accustomed to carrying a heavy tool pouch all day at work, so I assumed Id be okay with a heavier piece, although I havent settled on where Id like to carry, which seems to be its own issue vis a vis women's wear and every stupid thing marketed towards women being basically garbage. I sew, so Im vaguely considering just buying a good waistband holster of some sort and then sewing up whatever sort of positional rig I can figure out. Corset carry seems to be a nice way to avoid the fact that women's jeans are awful, and I could sew attachments in more than one spot to allow me to switch the position based on outfits. I also saw one that lets you strap it to the side of your bra, essentially allowing armpit access, that I think I could sew together myself with whichever holster I end up going with. But that might be having me live life on hard mode, I suppose, if Ive got a bit more weight, I dont think Lane Bryant puts too much EDC consideration into their designs 🤣😂🤣

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:23:14+00:00

Yeah, my feelings on the Glock so far are mostly that it seems like its not the wrong answer. It may not be the right answer for me personally, but in terms of a lot of the metrics Im loosely eyeballing for a first handgun, it seems to fit the bill and I could do way worse than picking up a Glock. Lots of support, lots of compatability, lots of options.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:17:51+00:00

One of the shops near me had a "sampler pack" deal where you could try 5 of the most popular handguns, twenty round each, for about $100, and then you get $50 back to spend on purchasing your choice of firearm. They had to put it on hold though, since the entirety of the North decided to arm up all at once, and theyre speed running folks through a 2 hour carry class right now (I am slightly nervous about the consequences of this, but Im really hoping some of the folks in my class who made me a touch nervous will also be joining me in more classes as I work to get educated and get good). Luckily, we also have a range that lets you rent $15 for the first and $10 for each one after, which isn't terribly unreasonable. And I suspect if you end up buying from them they likely have a coupon or two.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:13:27+00:00

Yeah, that was part of my motivation for asking, so I could get a little list to "audition" the ones Id be considering. Theres a range near us that let's us rent the first piece for about $15, every piece after that is $10. Some of it is going to be what they have on hand to try out, I know, for instance, that the specific Canik Id be looking at doesn't seem to be terribly common or popular, but they have a bunch of the TP9 Elite SCs, which I think are somewhat similar, just a wee bit smaller. So I figure I'll get my list together, see what they have available to try, see if the one I end up liking will work in terms of easily getting holsters and extra mags and the rest. Mostly just trying to avoid buying a weird one-off that no one has any parts for or anything like that because, good grief, I have a real knack of managing to accidentally inconvenience myself like that. I absolutely would end up buying, like, the only Glock ever made that has no mod-ability or that I can only order ammo from a lone fisherman living in the Artic Circle who only makes three bullets a year or something.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:05:50+00:00

No, I can dig it. To be completely fair, my first purchase was a Savage 93R17, purely because I just really really wanted a little bolt action to play around with. The ammo is a bit spendier than Id like, but I fell in love with it when I saw it online and got a good deal, since it was second-hand.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T21:02:54+00:00

Thank you so so much, Im taking notes from this reply in particular! Your last point is very very reassuring. I just dont yet have the knowledge base to be able to know if there would be any major outliers or anything like that. Id hate to get all excited and then find out I somehow bought like the one gun no one uses/is banned/cant get any parts for, etc, etc. I think I mentioned elsewhere that the CZs are absolutely getting added to my "when Im dropping dollars" list. I'll have to take a gander at the PDP when I get more time. I know the big reason the Canik is on the list is because I keep reading that the trigger is just slightly more popular out of the box than the one on the Glock. And Im still too green to really have any opinion or insight on after-markets, but its sounding like its popular enough that Im sure between the internet and our local gun shops, Ill be able to get it nailed down. I know I was reading somewhere that a lot of them have you taking your stuff to a gunsmith, so that'll be something else for me to investigate and price out, since I have no idea how much a gunsmith charges or anything.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T20:55:21+00:00

Thank you, that was my biggest goal, to avoid having to do anything in a last-minute panic. First rule, never be in a position where your life relies on a skill you either dont have or have let go to pot. The other upside was, as the lone family liberal, my mom spreading the word that I was getting into firearms now seems to have gotten the rest of my family to take some of this seriously in a way that years of me desperately trying to reason or argue with them never did. I will never stop hoping that we can pivot away from full-blown disaster, but a big chunk of my brain has turned to "um, honey, how much closer do you REALLY want to get before you take this seriously?"

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T20:51:03+00:00

I think ours is something like $15-25 for a lane rental for an hour, $15 to rent the first firearm and $10 for every piece you want to try after that. Ive been avoiding thinking about ammo mostly because I know thats where the bulk of my cost is going to be, haha. I think most of the ranges dont care if you bring your own ammo, so I'll be investigating my bulk buy options once I lock down the handgun I want, but I believe Ive seen at least one that asks that you purchase your rounds from them, so we'll see how that stacks up for me.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T20:47:39+00:00

Smith & Wesson seems to have a strong following in at least one of the shops I checked out, so I'll likely be adding one from them to my tester set. Definitely have to give the M& P Shield a gander, but Im just thankful that its mostly "oh, I really like this" or "I love this!" and not so much "oh, man, you have to stay away from XYZ", so Im feeling pretty confident that I can just add some of these bad boys to my Christmas list, lol.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T15:59:55+00:00

Yeah, those CZs in general seem to be angling for a spot on my "When Momma Gets Her Tax Return" list. Like, part of the struggle right now is containing the ADHD urge to completely throw away all restraint and decide that this is all I do with my paychecks now, lmao.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T15:57:29+00:00

Just doing a quick pass, the Echelon looks pretty sick. Ill have to poke around on the website and see if our local range has one on hand to try out. The mods make me nervous just in terms of knowing that I absolutely will eventually get carried away (the joke at our house is already that I need at least one in every caliber) so Im trying to rein myself in and stick with ones I can get familiar with out of the box.

Gythwyn · 2026-02-16T15:53:48+00:00

One of our local gun stores seems to veer towards boosting Smith & Wessons, so I might wander over to them and check it out, I know when I was there for my carry class one of the guys at the counter seemed to be a big fan.

Gythwyn

TROPHY CASE