Getting a long-arms permit in NYC feels a bit like time-travel. You walk into this building built in 1948, which is in beautiful condition. A guard directs you down the stairs to a sub-lobby, which is all gleaming granite and with lightwells letting in the sun. Then you go down another set of stairs and suddenly you are in a 1940s horror film basement. Everything is institutional brown. The corridor twists suddenly and randomly, so that if someone is following you, it would be easy for them to hide. Exposed pipes snake across the ceiling.
Eventually, you find your way back to a wood door with “Rifle/Shotguns Permit Division.” Inside, are shiny new computers sitting on desks unchanged since 1950. There’s also a ledger book, which the clerk swears is new. I just wonder which year it belongs to.
You get finger-printed, have your picture made — despite having brought four passport photos as requested — and eventually get a shiny new permit.
Now to get the guns.
Weapons Specialists is a fantastic organization. The folks who run it are incredibly knowledgeable and willing to spend time with you to make certain that you are comfortable with the weapon. I loaded and test-fired three shotguns today with 1/4 charge ammunition.
I have learned some things that might be helpful in fiction.
- When putting down an animal, don’t put the muzzle directly on it or you risk creating a closed system which could blow the shell back up at you. That would be bad.
- Deer can’t see orange but they can see blue. Blue jeans stand out like neon.
- Birds can see orange.
Plus just the nuances of loading, dealing with the safety, and such. I got the guns safely dropped at the theater, introduced the cast to them and then ran away.
The theater uses real guns as props? Whoa. Then again, brandishing a rifle while warning patrons to turn off their cell phones might be worthwhile.
Yes. If a gun is fired onstage, it’s a real gun. Handguns can be modified to not emit a projectile, but they still put out fire and hot gas (and the danger of an accidental projectile still exists) but shotguns can’t be modified in the same way. Only the ammo can.
Birds and deer would’ve made a good team if they were sent out (by Simba?) to patrol for human intrusions!
There’s a story there, isn’t there?
Is this the same permit that is required to own a gun, or a special permit for stage use?
You were probably smart to run away after dropping off the gun. 🙂
It’s a special permit for stage use, but you have to jump through almost all the same hoops. I didn’t have to do a full fingerprint scan, but I think that’s about it.