Month: July 2024

I caught this article;

 Grocery Stores Selling Ammunition Out of Vending Machines in Alabama and Oklahoma

I decided that I’m going to have to make a point of stopping next time I’m through the area.

I play a video game called Borderlands. In the game there are vending machines from which you can buy Ammo or weapons.

I never thought I’d see anything like it in real life. Yet, here we are. The contrast between California’s restrictive background checks to buy ammunition versus going to a vending machine in Alabama or Oklahoma is mind boggling.

I get excited walking into a Bass Pro outside California, where I’m able to comparison shop brands and prices. Then pick up several boxes of Ammo off the shelf put them in a cart and make my purchase without anyone batting an eye. 

The thought of a vending machine is damn near orgasmic.

I thought perhaps it was some kind of parody article but it’s the real deal.

Along the same lines, I saw a picture of a store someplace that I’d also like to visit. From the picture it looked like you could buy a carton of Marlboro Reds, a doughnut, cup of coffee, a Sixpack, rifle, and ammo at the same time.

I’d probably have to take a private moment just inside the front door.

Even as a kid in the Deep South you had to go to the gun store for guns and ammo, the liquor store for booze, and the grocery store for other things. When I got to California and found that you could buy booze at just about anyplace, even some pharmacies, and it didn’t matter if it was Sunday or not I thought it was truly progressive.

Walking into a store where literally everything could be purchased at once would blow my mind. Although there was a time when Sears Catalogues would sell you everything under the sun.

Being out of California and not being able to buy liquor in the grocery store is weird but I’ll take that over the regulations and taxes extant in California.

I’m not saying California is terrible and other places are perfect. It’s not that binary. I think it’s more a matter of choosing an acceptable level of taxes and regulations versus services rendered by the state for those fees and taxes, versus personal choice about restrictions or limitations on your personal freedoms.

Kind of like an HOA. Sure, you may love the house. But do you really want to deal with the HOA fining you because your grass is 1 millimeter too low, or the grease spot left on the street in front of your home by the garbage truck on a Tuesday, you didn’t get to cleaning up until Saturday? Do you want to be fined because you parked your boat in your drive way for one day packing up for a family trip?

Some HOAs are out of control and because you signed on, when you bought your beautiful house you’ve got to put up with it. 

Traditionally I have hated HOAs with passion and vigor, recently I’ve revised my opinion of HOAs due to my neighborhood. I still hate HOAs but I’ll admit they might be useful.

In contemplating moving, I have opened my search criteria to include HOAs whose fees are reasonable and for whom their responsibilities are limited to common areas. This slight change has opened up neighborhoods that I would previously have passed up even if the housing prices were bargain basement.

So for those of you who think I’m never learning or changing here’s an example.

All that being said, I wonder what other freedoms Oklahoma and Alabama have that I might not have in California. I wonder what their tax structures and employment is like. 

I’ve been looking at places that are kind to retirees. Places that have low or no taxes, who don’t regulate or tax the hell out of everything, and last but not least someplace where my car registration doesn’t cost $600 a freaking year.

(Ya know, my car is a 2019. The registration was right at $600 when I got it, and it’s still about $600 although the vehicle itself isn’t worth what it was when I got it. California charges registration fees based on value not weight. Makes sense if you think about it. Why charge a fee that assumes the individual should pay for their portion of wear & tear on the public roads. California can take more charging based on value of nice cars, and still not maintain the roads. I say that as someone whose been here a long time and remember smooth gleaming ribbons of freeways in good repair, instead of what we have today where a kidney belt might be advised.)

I’d also like lower medical insurance costs.  I’ve had no, none, zero, nada, major medical issues and am in good health. I’m not obese (okay, I could lose a few pounds) so I’d really like to know why medical insurance costs 1.5 X my mortgage payment.

That’s before even using it. I know the Doctors have to maintain their country club memberships, pay for their yachts, make alimony payments on their previous 2 wives, pay for their whore/mistress on the side and keep their current wife in diamonds and furs but come on. 

If you force people to choose between a roof and health insurance I’m betting most choose a roof over their heads.

I don’t think ammo vending machines are a good enough reason to move to a particular state. I do think a state having ammo vending machines is reason enough to look at other aspects of the state to see if it’s a place I might be happy and can afford to live in.

At the very least, Ammo tourism might be fun. I’d love to have a picture of me buying rounds from one of these things.