A very nice email from a retired Michigan State Trooper

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(Posted with permission)

I stumbled across your site today, and was delighted with your articles and photos of guns. Many of our personal tastes in firearms overlap, but I suppose it's difficult not to enjoy solid classics. I'm a retired MI state trooper and am currently a firearms/personal defense instructor. Although most folks show up at range sessions with currently-produced handguns, I'm always happiest when somebody breaks out "Grandpa's gun.” I've seen war-trophy Walthers, Lugers, and Tokarevs, as well as military-issue 1911s that came home with mustered-out doughboys. My recent favorite was a Colt Pocket Positive in .32 S&W Long that was alleged to have been the carry weapon of a Purple Gang associate. The client was an elderly lady and had never known her mother even owned a firearm. She didn't find about her parents having operated a speak-easy during Prohibition until after her mother's death. What can be cooler than finding your stodgy old parents had colorful pasts?

I used to have a patrol partner at the Detroit Freeway Post who carried a Colt hammerless Officer's .380 as an off-duty/backup handgun. He still carries it as a retirement piece, and he could have chosen much worse. I prefer the Remington m51 in .380, myself, but generally carry larger stuff despite being old and broken-down. The fact is, a lot of folks carry vintage handguns and are very well served by them.

Please keep up the good work, your site is very enjoyable.

Take care,

Mike Stamm, Paw Paw MI

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