They're ugly as fuck, but after having shot one I may very well join the crowd of fanboys. Sweet!

The one I rented was a Glock 19, a mid-sized 9mm, so the comparison to my Springfield would be as fair as possible. First of all, let me say that the gun was filthy (note to BSR, maybe clean the rentals more often?), it didn’t lock back on the last shot, and while chambering the first round it jammed consistently throughout a box of 50 reloads bought at the range for $22 (the policy is you have to buy the ammo there if you rent; I know, they have to make their money one way or the other, but 22 bucks for 50 reloads?!?).

All this aside, the gun was sweeet to shoot. I liked it a lot! I shot it much better than my XDm, not to mention the Ruger, which I can’t seem to get a grip on at all; I’m still lucky to hit the paper, so I cleaned it out good once I got home and will leave in the box until it gets time for a trade-in. And guess what? Chances are it’ll be a Glock. But don’t tell my wife.

Fuck Valentine's Day!

Occupy Valentines Day: Celebrate Love, Not Commerce
An Occupy V-Day Tumblr makes the point that it’s wonderful to celebrate love, but it shouldn’t depend on buying certain products for the perfect experience.
February 13, 2012 |

The morally vacant, inexplicably beloved Don Draper memorably said, “What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.”

Valentine’s Day, so inextricably tied to commerce, bears this notion out well.

But this Valentine’s Day has been “occupied.” Samhita Mukhopadhyay, executive editor of Feministing, has started the Occupy V-Day Tumblr, whose mission is to show that, “Celebrating love and romance is a wonderful thing, but it shouldn’t depend on buying certain products for the perfect experience…or on your gender, sexuality, race, class status or marital status.”

“Down with couple-talism!” the site commands, and below, a photo of Rachel Maddow leaning against a kitchen counter is accompanied by the following romantic sentiment, “Hey girl, why spend money … when we could spend our time dismantling the romance industrial complex?”

The most pernicious effects of Valentine’s Day, Mukhopadhyay says, occur “through heteronormativity, which assumes male dominance, female subservience, and traditional ideas of courtship.” A big part of the Occupy V Day project is to provide examples of love that defy the straight, white romances that dominate advertising and media. Loving relationships of all kinds are shared and celebrated. One poster will celebrate Valentine’s Day with her 15-year-old cousin. Another bought two of her friends vibrators and Inga Muscio’s book Cunt to “celebrate our gorgeous female friendships and revel in the power of ourselves.”

A woman says of her sister, “I have never known a love like this before.” There’s a quote by The Rumpus’s Emily Rapp celebrating female friendships: “Friendships between women are often the deepest and most profound love stories.” An image of one “platonic girlfriend” kissing another says, “She’s Straight. I’m Queer. Who the fuck cares.” A couple holding hands on a beach say,”Our relationship isn’t perfect. But we have a happy and healthy love. So, why does it matter to you what color we are?” A woman, in bed with her partner, holds a sign that reads, “The best gifts my partner ever gave me were Forgiveness and Unconditional Support of my dreams. (Oh, and all those orgasms.)” Jill Filipovic, of the blog Feministe, bears a sign pointing out, “Love is beautiful. Compulsory heterosexuality + commercialized romance are not.”

Ultimately, the site tries to separate love from the larger cultural and economic forces that have warped and shunted the eternal feeling into a rigid, commercial, politically expedient form.

Mukhopadhyay says, “Less people are getting married than ever, traditional gender roles have shifted, women are making substantial financial gains, gay marriage legislation is passing.” The new meaning of love is, in total, “one of the biggest questions of our generations.”

Oh yeah, that gnashing sound you’re hearing is Rick Santorum grinding his teeth.