Hello there. I'm a Dutch national, but I married an American and I've been living in Washington state for almost five years. I am not, as yet, a gun owner, not in the least place because Washington state law requires resident non-US citizens to get an Alien Firearms License (I know, it sounds like something you need to own a Martian heat ray or something) before they can so much as handle a firearm; the requirements for the AFL, unfortunately include things that the Dutch representation refuses to provide, so it was less hassle to simply wait until I got my US citizenship.
Well, that time is almost upon me; I have my naturalization ceremony coming Tuesday, and I intend to celebrate by hitting a range on the way home, renting a weapon or two, and exercising my newly acquired RKBA. I guess I'll file my application for a CPL (concealed pistol license) while I'm at it (right after I register to vote); not that I have any pressing need to carry in public, but it'll allow to side-step the waiting period associated with background checks.
I do feel the need to have a weapon or two for home defense purposes. I've got a 17 month-old boy, and my protective instincts are asserting themselves. Now, I live in a very safe town (fewer shooitngs here than there were in my home town in the Netherlands, tighter gun laws notwithstanding), but we had a major storm last December which knocked out the power in a wide swathe of the Puget Sound area. My neighborhood was only without power for nine hours (it took days to restore power in most places, and weeks in the rest), but during that time the emergency services had their hands seriously full. Now, we get storms like that every couple of years, and if next time some unscrupulous type wants to exploit in the worst possible way the strain the cops are under, I'd like to be prepared.
So aside from reading the collected works of Massad Ayoob, I've been doing market research (as much as one can without being able to legally handle a firearm) and the M&P currently tops my short list of candidates, because it combines a number of characteristics which no other readily available pistol seems to have. So I joined up to gather information and tips on this weapon.
Where my politics are concerned, according to the World's Smallest Political Quiz (I can't link yet, but look up theadvocates dot org if you're interested) I'm right on the corner of "Centrist," "Liberal" and "Libertarian." Right now, I support Bill Richardson for president; you may not like his positions on all the issues, but he's solidly pro-Second Amendment (as am I), and I think that that's the overriding question on a forum like this.
My handle is the slang term for members of my old regiment (when I was doing my national service in the Royal Netherlands Army in '93-'94), the Regiment Infanterie Chassé. My avatar is the regimental emblem of a "Burgundian cross," part of the coat of arms of the guy the regiment was named after: Lt. Gen. Baron David Chassé, who was one of the Dutch commanders at Waterloo.
Well, that time is almost upon me; I have my naturalization ceremony coming Tuesday, and I intend to celebrate by hitting a range on the way home, renting a weapon or two, and exercising my newly acquired RKBA. I guess I'll file my application for a CPL (concealed pistol license) while I'm at it (right after I register to vote); not that I have any pressing need to carry in public, but it'll allow to side-step the waiting period associated with background checks.
I do feel the need to have a weapon or two for home defense purposes. I've got a 17 month-old boy, and my protective instincts are asserting themselves. Now, I live in a very safe town (fewer shooitngs here than there were in my home town in the Netherlands, tighter gun laws notwithstanding), but we had a major storm last December which knocked out the power in a wide swathe of the Puget Sound area. My neighborhood was only without power for nine hours (it took days to restore power in most places, and weeks in the rest), but during that time the emergency services had their hands seriously full. Now, we get storms like that every couple of years, and if next time some unscrupulous type wants to exploit in the worst possible way the strain the cops are under, I'd like to be prepared.
So aside from reading the collected works of Massad Ayoob, I've been doing market research (as much as one can without being able to legally handle a firearm) and the M&P currently tops my short list of candidates, because it combines a number of characteristics which no other readily available pistol seems to have. So I joined up to gather information and tips on this weapon.
Where my politics are concerned, according to the World's Smallest Political Quiz (I can't link yet, but look up theadvocates dot org if you're interested) I'm right on the corner of "Centrist," "Liberal" and "Libertarian." Right now, I support Bill Richardson for president; you may not like his positions on all the issues, but he's solidly pro-Second Amendment (as am I), and I think that that's the overriding question on a forum like this.
My handle is the slang term for members of my old regiment (when I was doing my national service in the Royal Netherlands Army in '93-'94), the Regiment Infanterie Chassé. My avatar is the regimental emblem of a "Burgundian cross," part of the coat of arms of the guy the regiment was named after: Lt. Gen. Baron David Chassé, who was one of the Dutch commanders at Waterloo.