I missed Mike Ward's account of his first gun show, posted at Richmond.com a few weeks ago. It's an amusing account, if only because Ward went into the show with such trepidation, but seems to have actually enjoyed himself. He explains the process which led him to consider purchasing a firearm:

Although I grew up in Upstate New York, where half the kids caught a mysterious flu the first day of deer hunting season every year, I was never a big fan of guns. This stance softened when I got “Duck Hunt” for Nintendo, and further slipped when I saw “A Christmas Story” and Santa brought me my own Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and “this thing that tells time.”

Flash forward to last year when I moved into my first real house. In the woods. My house-warming gift to myself was a BB pistol and safety glasses to scare away raccoons and Jehovah’s Witnesses who didn’t knock before entering. It all had me thinking: Maybe it’s time to move up to the big leagues, to show reverence for my fertile hunting ground roots, and to pack some real heat.

Ward wound up not buying a gun because he forgot to bring his second form of ID. I made the same mistake last year, and had to come back the next day to make the purchase.

Mike Ward blogs at Underblog.

[Welcome to the Gun Show! - Richmond.com]