Winchester
Winchester is 150 years old this year. "so what?" you're probably thinking. and I suppose I might too if I'd lived here my whole life. but I didn't, and part of my indoctrination into the United States and UnitedStatesians was reading hundreds of Westerns (books about cowboys in a West that never was) and reading dozens and dozens of stories about hunting, pamphlets and articles about gun safety and gun maintenance. please don't think anyone forced those on me, I gravitated to them at libraries I found available wherever we lived that month, and they were in dozens of magazines I had available in libraries and stores and by mail. as well as I could tell, guns were just a part of life, and Winchester was one of the names that made up the gun world. so for me, it was fun this year to read about the founding of Winchester and how it came to be a "household word" and supplied rifles and ammunition in several of our wars. later in my life I was (and still am) amazed at how many of my friends think guns are A Bad Thing and that we the people need to be protected from guns and that people who like guns must be Bad People. hunh! well, as far as I know, I'm not and my guns aren't. if this were mathematics, that would prove something, but it isn't and of course it does not. but anyway, there you have it. growing up, and growing into UnitedStatesianness, I came under the influence of people who loved and respected guns, and so I do. and I appreciate Winchester, and am damn glad they still make the Model 94 30-30 carbine. hurray for me! and for Winchester!
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