An old song got me to thinking,,,

A

aarondhgraham

New member
I'm dating myself but I remember hearing this song on the radio as a kid,,,
I would strap on my Roy Rogers gear and head out to play,,,
Mom would laugh and sing the main line as I left.

Don't take your guns to town,,,

Years (too many) ago when I first started carrying a handgun on a regular basis,,,
I thought of this song the first time I stepped out the door armed,,,
The time was 1968 and the place was Oklahoma City, OK,,,
I don't think it was legal but everyone I knew carried,,,
So I did as well.

Just why did I want to carry a handgun back then,,,
To be truthful I wasn't thinking about SD or the 2nd amendment.

I was probably thinking more along the lines of,,,
I am an armed and dangerous man,,,
Mess with me at your own peril.

In 1970 I went into the Air Force so that stopped,,,
In 1975 I survived an armed robbery,,,
My attitude changed immediately.

Since 1975 I have carried some type of firearm,,,
Not always legally but I've always had one on me or in near proximity.

Now, being armed is as natural to me as breathing,,,
I left California to come back to a state where I could carry legally.

When I lost my wallet a few months back I also lost my Oklahoma CWL,,,
Not having that piece of plastic on me was not comfortable at all,,,
Waiting for the replacement card was agonizingly slow,,,
And because I now have "something to lose",,,
I didn't carry for that 5 long weeks.

I found myself staying home more than normal,,,
I am thinking I had indoctrinated myself to fear normal life.

This wasn't a life altering epiphany type of thing,,,
My brand new CWL arrived last week,,,
I'm happily carrying a pistol again.

This was just a bit of retrospective thinking,,,
Inspired by a Johnny Cash song I hadn't heard in years.

Any of you good folk ever think about then versus now?

Aarond
 
When I returned from Viet Nam to civilian life in 1968, . . . I felt basically naked without a firearm.

Ohio was without CHL at the time, . . . but it had a law that allowed it if you were willing to prove your "need" if you were arrested.

I lived under that for the next few decades, . . . carrying only when I felt a definite, . . . "need" for it.

I am much more comfortable now with my CHL that has been renewed once, . . .

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Hello Dwight,,,

It's odd that you said that,,,
I felt basically naked without a firearm.
Click to expand...
My Uncle told me the same thing about when he came back from Korea.

My experience upon returning was somewhat the opposite,,,
I was extremely happy to not be carrying that revolver,,,
At that time I had no more interest in being armed.

Then I got mugged.

I now live in small town America,,,
Violent crime is not unheard of here,,,
But it's so rare as to be an exceptional event.

The past 5 weeks I didn't feel fear without my pistol,,,
I simply felt lopsided without the weight of it in my pocket.

I'm glad to be back as an armed curmudgeon again.

Aarond
 
Carrying w/o paper

Is it confession time?

I have on many occasions gone armed without the appropriate paperwork; most often in NYC, where, for all intents and purposes, such paperwork is virtually unobtainable.

I weighed the odds of needing the gun against the odds of being discovered carrying it, and I made my choices and took my chances.

I am currently licensed in my home state, plus I have a non-resident license from Florida; between the two I can legally carry in, at last count, some 37 states. But NY and NJ are not among them. However, when I'm in NYC (e.g., walking my dog in Riverside Park at night) I might still take the chance, but across the Hudson in the Garbage -- oops! I mean Garden -- State, or anywhere else without reciprocity, I wouldn't dare!

P.S. The greatest "gun song" ever is "Big Iron" by Marty Robbins. "There was 40 feet between them when they stopped to make their play. And the swiftness of the Ranger is still talked about today. Oh, Red might've gone on livin', but he made one fatal slip, when he tried to match the Ranger with the Big Iron on his hip."
 
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Not so much confession time,,,

As a reflection on why I started carrying a gun in the first place.

Honestly I now believe that SD was the farthest thing from my mind at first,,,
I think it was just so I could feel like a man, with a gun in my pocket.

I remember that great song Ringolevio,,,
I grew up listening to "Gunfighter Trail Songs and Ballads".

You blended two verses though,,,

There was forty feet between them when they stopped to make their play
And the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today
Texas Red had not cleared leather fore a bullet fairly ripped
And the ranger's aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered round
There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground
Oh he might have went on living but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip

Aasrond

.
 
Don't forget the lyrics!

aarondhgraham:
I remember that great song Ringolevio,,,
I grew up listening to "Gunfighter Trail Songs and Ballads".

You blended two verses though,,,
Click to expand...

Touché! And congrats for picking up on that.

Chalk that up to literary license. I did it deliberately, although I neglected to insert an ellipsis (...). I thought that particular non-sequential little (pardon the expression) snatch best conveyed the flavor of the song.

What a great lyric, eh? And a great story!

And these particular lines
Texas Red had not cleared leather 'fore a bullet fairly ripped,
And the Ranger's aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip
serve as a great illustration and reminder of Col. Jeff Cooper's motto, Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas!
 
Translate "had not cleared leather fore a bullet fairly ripped"

Hello all and sorry for bumping up this old thread.

I got here by google search for an answer to a question about that song, Big Iron. The culmination of the song is not clear to me, since English is not my native language. I hope someone will explain what does "had not cleared leather fore a bullet fairly ripped" mean.
I do not understand
  1. what is "leather fore",
  2. what thing that bullet "ripped",
  3. who fired that bullet.

I think that clearing "leather fore" is connected to taking a gun out of a holster and the bullet fired by the ranger "ripped" that holster. That makes no sense, since the ranger did not miss and hitting a holster is a miss. Or maybe the ranger fired more than once?

Update
I found out that the troubling line is spelled in another way:
"Texas Red had not cleared leather 'fore a bullet fairly ripped".
Note the apostrophe. 'fore becomes before and the answers are
  1. what is "leather fore" = "leather, before"
  2. what thing that bullet "ripped" = clothes of Texas Red
  3. who fired that bullet = the ranger
Maybe I have got the right answers.
And I have another question.
What does "to clear a leather" mean?
 
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How interesting,,,

"Texas Red had not cleared leather" means that Texas Red did not get his gun out of the holster.

"fore a bullet fairly ripped" would have been more correct if the author had said "Before a bullet fairly ripped",,,
But that wouldn't have sounded as well in the song.

This is difficult to translate/explain,,,
"Fairly ripped" refers to the speed of the ranger's bullet,,,

"Ripping along" is a slang phrase that means to be going fast,,,
"Fairly Ripped" simply means it came at Texas Red so quickly he had no time to draw and shoot.

I believe Marty Robbins (the songwriter) was trying to find words to fit the meter (rhythm) of the music.

A literal translation of the line would go something like:
Texas red did not have time to draw his pistol before the Rangers bullet came towards him at a great speed.

Loses a bit of musical magic there. ;)

I hope this helps.

Aarond
 
I need to go back and read...Did we credit the late, great, Marty Robbins?

As to confession time, I've been carrying some kind of firearm since my early teens in inner-city Houston where I thought I might have need of it. Well before any CHL provision, of course.

Never worried about it as an adult. In Texas in those days if you were a law-abiding citizen who was able to call upon his local LEO to vouch for him/her, the law pretty much ignored your carrying even where it was technically illegal.

I have carried both in NYC and in Chicago, also feeling I'd rather be unprepared to face the law rather than some street punk(s). Never been to NJ and don't have plans to go.

I now work for the DoD in a federal enclave and I'm not willing to chance losing my job over it so I have learned not to feel quite so naked as I go to work unarmed.

Best,

Will

PS: Re my first question, we didn't. Johnny Cash covered the Marty Robbins song but it was a hit with Robbins' first release, as well.
 
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I think the song was "Ruby" by Kenny Rogers. ( Edit: Ooops, my bad, it was a Cash song.)

I don't know who it was by, but I liked, "the Song of Big John." He was the 142nd fastest gun in the west, and while the 141st was looking for him, he was looking for 143. It was hilarious.

I did like "The Sheriff" by ELP though:--lyrics--
http://www.lyricstime.com/emerson-lake-palmer-the-sheriff-lyrics.html

Some of you have talked about the concerns I had while reading what Iraqvet wrote in, Castle Law in PA, Recent Arrest, under Law and Civil Rights. Weapons can have a powerful effect and change us in more ways then one. Unfortunately not everyone realizes that before it's too late. No luxury of a childs game with "take backs" here.
 
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Carryin'.

Gee. I've been "carrying", "packing" or going heeled since the tender age of 13 when my brother, who was in the Army Security Unit, gave me an old S&W Break-Top in .32 S&W. Along with the gun he gave me this notice: " If I ever hear of you "flashing" this or showing off with it, I'll come back, take the gun & kick your a..! And if I hear of you letting somebody get hurt and not using it, I'll come back, take the gun & kick your a.." I was raised in the City of Brotherly Love so his words were taken to heart. The weight of the weapon is not nearly as heavy as the responsablity of carring. Oh, by the way I still have my Marty Robbins cassette:Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs!! And I still remember my brothers words, after 56 years.
 
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