Greetings From Maryland

I’ve been working and semi-living in Maryland for about a month now. By semi-living, I still own a house in New Hampshire and Yosemite Sam, Cooper (the basset hound), and my cat are there. I’m missing them all very much, but I’m no longer living in a motel. That’s an improvement.

During my month of semi-living here, I’ve done only one gunnie activity. I went down to the NRA Range in Virginia last Saturday. It’s a very nice range, although I wish it had more than fifteen lanes. I had to wait an hour and a half for an open lane and that got kinda old.

When you go there, you have to register. There’s a one-time $10.00 processing fee and you get a bar-coded, laminated card that marks you as a certified range user. The range-meisters make you complete a written range-safety test after you read a handout on range safety.

Sitting near the range counter, I was able to see many new people come to the range. Range-meisters ended up with quite a stack of tests. It warmed my heart to see that many more people join the range—although I’ll have to compete with them for range time (grrr).

When I finally got to shoot, the experience was great. A range safety officer makes sure that guns are always pointed down range. He had to dress down a college-aged dude who wasn’t practicing good muzzle control. I stayed until the range safety officer gave me a five minute warning. By the time I got my gun box closed, two new people were moving into my lane. That’s a quick turnaround.

I haven’t experienced any other gunnie goodness here. There was a gun show in Virginia my first weekend here, but that coincided with a bout of flu that left me lying in a camp cot (all I had to sleep on for over a week) hoping I would die and thus end the misery.

The next weekend there was another gun show in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. I couldn’t visit it because I flew back up to New Hampshire to see my husband, dog, and cat. Also, we brought a small truck load of furniture down to Maryland including a real bed. Yosemite Sam flew back.

Do I have an opinion about gun laws in Maryland? The laws are better than in Massachusetts, but a lot worse than they are in New Hampshire and Virginia. I plan on visiting a Maryland range this weekend and maybe a gun store. What I see there could be interesting. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

As you see in the previous post, Denise has decided to take a job position in the DC area and I'll be moving down there after I scrounge up a job. I resisted this for a long time, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. We will be keeping a residence in New Hampshire for the foreseeable future, because we need a relatively free place to shoot and recreate.

As Denise also mentioned, we are planning to move to Virginia at some point due to the better climate there for gun rights. But, related to that, I have a question for the DC area readers out there.

Is Maryland really worse than Virginia as far as gun rights are concerned?

Or more to the point, with the governor of Virginia pushing gun control and the Maryland legislature seeming to be less eager to pass gun control, are the long term prospects for gun rights actually better in Maryland?

Because, if it weren't for gun rights, we would choose to live in Maryland in a heartbeat. Taxes are lower and the commute is much shorter. The way I see it, Virginia is turning into a carbon copy of Maryland anyway. If this is the case, why should I spend an hour in traffic and make a considerable investment in a state that may end up just as poor for gun rights as Maryland. Also, did I mention those Virginia taxes.

Where Have I Been?

It's been too long since I posted here, but I have good reasons. In fact, this post will be short because of the situation I am now in. No it's not anything bad. No one has arrested, molested, or detested me. I take some of that back, there is some bad news mixed in with perhaps good news.

Okay enough obfuscation. Time to just let it out. My employer has been trying to get me to accept a promotion for a long time. I blogged about it in March 2007. They didn't succeed that time, but now they have.

My employer used a combination of arm-twisting and monetary persuasion. I am now in Maryland, but Yosemite Sam is still in New Hampshire. Nothing's wrong with our marriage, perish the thought. He will join me soon.

No, I haven't turned my back on gun rights and gun ownership. We are keeping our townhouse in New Hampshire as a vacation home and a place to shoot and keep some of our guns. Don't worry they are locked in an unobtanium safe guarded by Hercules himself. Seriously, they are secure.

Right now, I am in an apartment in Maryland. I am here because of the proximity to my employer. I am researching real estate and we plan to settle in Virginia where our beliefs garner more respect. Our townhouse in New Hampshire could become our "Fortress of Solitude" should Virginia ever change.

I haven't had Internet access for awhile at "home" and my employer combs through net usage data. So, I haven't been posting. Forgive me.

I'm still settling in after a time-consuming transition. But, I think things are stabilizing now. On the other hand, I miss my husband, I miss Cooper the wonder Basset, and even my cranky cat. Thank you for your patience.