As a California resident, I had to make some fast decisions on handguns before the first of this year. For those who don't know, there's a red-tape/corrupt system set up as of January 1, 2001 that keeps residents from buying guns that aren't on an approved list. Supposedly, these guns were subjected to "safety" drop testing, although it seems as if now the testing may have gone by the wayside, and they're just gouging the manufacturers for the testing fee. I'm happy with the guns I got: A Taurus .38 special (model 85) snubnose stainless for home defense and a Browning BuckMark .22. I'm happy to see that they're on the approved list now, although when I got them they weren't. Of course, because it's the government, they felt no need to let people know what they were testing (surprise, surprise!). I would have liked to have chosen guns that definitely aren't being submitted for approval and won't ever be on the list. (That's within the limits of my budget, of course.) Anyway, it just hit me that I may never--as a California resident--be able to buy a Colt Peacemaker .45, since Colt is not playing the approval game--and this single action may not p*** their idiotic drop test anyway. (That's ***uming they're still even doing the test.) The only way I could get one would be to find a private seller who could sell me one through an FFL dealer (that's the one loophole). Yeah, I know, you're going to tell me to move out of California. I can't, and actually, y'all should be glad there are still some of us here keeping the antis from totally taking over. Thanks! Rex
