The 1911 in my life, is very much like my Christian religious beliefs in that sense. They're relics, of my past and those of my father. He's still using his regularly. I still know where mine is, but it's a keepsake, and not something I carry around with me.I couldn't resist adding the further parallel that "...people who are not believers spend a lot more time analyzing it and protesting it than is really warranted, thus proving it has a secret hold on their hearts, too," because I can't resist lobbing a verbal cherry bomb when I get the chance.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Friday, July 27, 2012
Losing My Religion...
Quellist draws parallels between 1911 fandom and one's family religion...
They don't protest so vigorously because it has a hold on their hearts; it's because a claim that it's the best is an affront to the hold that [firearm du jour] has on their heart.
ReplyDelete"How dare you claim the 1911 is the best firearm out there! Why can't you see that JMB was not the messiah, and was just a wise man! Gaston Glock is the true messiah!!"
Follow the gourd!!
No, follow the shoe!!
"...I can't resist lobbing a verbal cherry bomb when I get the chance."
ReplyDeleteArmamants, Chapter Two, verses, 9 - 21...
"And St. Attila raised the Handgrenade up on high, saying "Oh Lord, Bless this Thy handngrenade that with it thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy..."
Sort of like the fuss most ex-smokers make. "Don't do that shit around me!!!" (subtext: Or I will demand you give me a pack that I can smoke all of it right here because I desperately need some rich, rich nicotine in my blood right now and I'm desperately craving it)
ReplyDeleteSo you used to be a Catholic/Lutheran/Baptist and now you are a Scientologist. And that's fine. Really.
ReplyDeleteSt. attila. piffle. What a dolt. His teacher had to make him write on his slate 500 times; "Pillage first, THEN burn, Pillage first, THEN burn...."
ReplyDeleteFirst day Tam linkage? I'm delighted- and your comment was very perceptive. I got the writing itch at 3am, got up, booted up and created a long-overdue new blog just to get that down in print.
ReplyDeleteQ-
Heresy! She's a Witch! Burn Her!
ReplyDeleteOr build a Bridge out of her.
Eh, I've logged a LOT of time with the 1911. It works well with all the applications I put it in. There are lots of guns AS good as the 1911s I have, but really none that are so much better than the 1911 to warrant replacing it.
ReplyDeleteNow on the other hand I pocket-carried a J-Frame for years...but I felt the need to move heaven and earth to get around Massachusetts' stupid laws to get a Kahr PM45.
For everything I used the J-Frame for, the Kahr is better with the exception of weight which is worth the trade.
Just how I see things. If it was worth spending more money on a better gun, I'd have done it.
Weer'd,
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you even felt compelled to type any of that here, where the conversation is extremely "meta" and hasn't touched at all on the technicalities of firearms at all, is kind of telling.
Is there something you'd like to confess, my child? ;)
I was kind of tempted to predict that even the most analogous, metacontextual discussion of the 1911 would bring out the "Well, actually..." crowd on both sides, but I didn't want to spoil the fun. Thanks, Weerd! I owe myself a Diet Dew.
ReplyDeleteMy real attachment to the Gospel of 1911 became ultimately financial by acquiring the Relics of Ed Brown, now I need plenty in my offering plate to keep and sustain the Archbishopric. Still, I must arm the Deacons with Sigs and Smiths.
ReplyDeleteThought provoking for me as granddad oversaw my religious instruction as a child and introduced me to the 1911.
ReplyDeleteIf John Browning sits at the right hand of God, does that make Gaston Glock the Anti-Christ?
ReplyDeleteRob (Trebor)
And now I'm looking for a suitably fancy Reliquary in which to house the Sainted Relics, and from which I can withdraw them when I must make an appeal to St. Browning.
ReplyDeleteThe Signitory artifacts of New Hampshire share housing in a sub-labyrinth with the cattle-topped creature-guardian.
I'm kind of in the "God Fearing Gentile" phase of the 1911 religion- I admire the system, but am not quite willing to undergo a full conversion just yet.
ReplyDeleteIf John is a saint, what the heck was Sam Colt and more importantly Rollin White?
ReplyDeleteI worship at the house of the wheel gunners. We're like the Jews, we've just been around longer. John Browningians are the Christians, and that must make Glockers the...muslims or we could call them mormons, either is equally offensive, for a plastic gun toter.
-Rob
Ummm... John M. Browning, the greatest American gunsmith/designer ever, was born into a Mormon family. That the company is/was in Ogden, Utah is no coincidence.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Christian and the grandson of WW2 vets/survivors who carried the 1911 in harms way. I'm generally a fan of Mr. Browning and several of his designs. See above, but the Holy Bible says Jesus sits at God's right hand.
Really, the only reason I never could wrap my mind around a Glock is they don't fit my hand. To choose a sidearm with a grip ill fitted to ones hand might qualify as a type of sacrilege.
"Is there something you'd like to confess, my child? ;)"
ReplyDeleteyes Tam, I think John Browning was the best inventor the world has ever seen, and iffen I was to use the restroom directly after him I would probably have noted the scent of warm apple pie lingering from his excrement!
Ahh, I feel better now