"It'll stop anything short of an elephant!"

I was at my first gun and knife show Saturday. Why? Curiosity, I reckon. You see I'm a southerner. We grew up with guns. We learned to use and respect them at a very early age.  Daddy gave me my first shotgun when I was eight years old, so for me, taking a deep breath of air in the autumn without the smell of gunsmoke is like breathing at the beach without smelling salt air.

I have long had an interest in firearms.  The shear mechanics of a well designed and manufactured pistol or long gun is like a work of art. Since the Chinese invented gunpowder the design of firearms has been paramount to our evolving civilization. Perhaps no other invention has had a greater impact on life as we know it.

The Ladson Gun and Knife show allowed me the chance to reacquaint myself with guns. I was not prepared to see such a huge display of firepower. There were literally hundreds of guns as well as several hundred customers for the show and sales event. Guns were of all kinds: small handguns, hunting rifles, and assault style rifles. There were shotguns, too,  many with beautifully engraved pheasant and quail with some inlaid with gold.

I overheard fragments of conversations.

"How many shots does it hold?" a young professional-looking man asked.

"Six, and it'll stop anything short of an elephant."

A vendor held an ominous looking black shotgun and operated the action. "Hear that sound?" he said. "When they hear that they will usually run before you have a chance to shoot 'em!"

"It'll drop an elk at a thousand yards."

There were quite a few law enforcement people around, all of whom were armed. Some folks in plain clothes were carrying pistols on their belts as well. But the only confrontational comments I heard were those expressing the virtues of particular guns.  "A 1911 Colt 45 is much better than a Barretta nine millimeter!" "I'll take a Remington over a Winchester any day!" My oldest son carried a Baretta in Iraq, but as a petty officer in the Navy I had to use a .45 Colt.

There were some interesting antique guns from WWII and earlier, but the most common rifle on display was the assault-style rifle. A true assault rifle, which an American military combatant carries, is a fully automatic weapon.  It fires as long as you pull the trigger back. The assault-style rifles available to the public are semi-automatic; the trigger must be pulled for each shot.  Actually, hunting rifles are probably just as lethal and have greater range but don't have the large cartridge capacity.

I was quite surprised at the number of people buying guns. Why? Are we expecting an armed invasion? Are some planning an armed insurrection or another revolution? Is the second amendment to the Constitution in danger of being repealed? Perhaps they're just good old boys who like to collect guns? I'm reminded of a recent television interview in which rapper/actor L. L. Cool J. said that we had to have our guns in case of a tyrannical regime.

It was a good show, but I don't think I'll be back...something about that many people with all those guns just make me feel uneasy.