If there is one place you don’t want people ‘Dog-Fighting Mad,’ it’s the gun range. Yet it’s easy to understand that kind of response from an American patriot like Allen West who is watching his own Second Amendment rights being violated right before his eyes.

Former Congressman Allen West, who sits on the Board of Directors for the National Rifle Association, had a first-hand experience on Easter Eve when this infringement on his Second Amendment rights really hit home.

In a land where we are guaranteed the “Right To Keep And Bear Arms” adding a $20 part to his own legally-purchased gun would require a $200 tax, a 10 month wait, and make his currently-legal gun illegal while he waits. This is what Mr. West had to say, and I suspect he’ll have plenty more to say when he meets with President Trump at the Atlanta NRA meeting later this month.

So how did I seek to spend last Saturday prior to Resurrection Day? Like any good American, at the shooting range. So I hopped in the vehicle and headed over to Ft. Worth’s Defender Outdoors to fire my Smith and Wesson MP .40cal and my new F1 .223 carbine pistol. I was joined by some dear friends: former Army Paratroopers, oh-58D Kiowa Warrior combat pilots, and the family of one of those pilots, Will Williamson and his wife, Jennifer, who was an 82d Airborne JAG officer. Just gotta tell ya — I absolutely love this F1 .223, and after shooting I decided to do some enhancements.

I wanted to add on a vertical front barrel grip and a single point sling. No problem on the sling, but to my chagrin, I learned about a REALLY stupid – no — stuck on stupid government rule. Ya see, if I had gone forward and added the vertical front barrel grip, my .223 carbine pistol would then be classified as an SBR (Short Barrel Rifle). Now get this, I would offer that this firearm’s maximum effective range is 50 yards, not meters mind you. It may have a further range, but chances are you will not effectively engage your target. The reason being is that the F1 .223 is a carbine pistol, it does not have a long barrel, and therefore it’s not a rifle. So what government idiot came up with the idea that adding a grip somehow changes the effectiveness of the weapon…oh yeah, if you put on a traditional stock that will also make it an SBR.

The Second Amendment is very clear…”shall not be infringed”. So here is what I would have had to do, because if I’d placed the vertical front barrel grip on my F1 it would then be illegal. Now, ain’t that damn funny, illegals can come all up into our Republic and find sanctuary in many locales. But if I put a vertical grip onto my firearm, which I as a law-abiding American legally purchased, some fool has decided it is illegal. Someone explain to me the sense in that? Doggone chuckleheads.

The gunsmith at Defender Outdoors explained to me that the simple $19.99 vertical barrel grip would necessitate my going to the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) website to download a “tax stamp” form. I would be required to fill out this form, and get this, submit a payment of $200, to have the application for the $19.99 vertical barrel grip emplaced. And to add insult to injury, the current wait time for a tax stamp is 10 months, so the firearm that I lawfully and legally purchased would be illegal for 10 months. So, what does that mean? Someone is going to deport my F1 .223 carbine pistol? Sadly, Defender Outdoors would find themselves in trouble if they allowed me to show up and fire my firearm without my having the “tax stamp.”

My decision was to have the horizontal front barrel grip added to my F1 .223 carbine pistol. Yes, I thought the same thing, how stupid? There’s no change in the range effectiveness of the weapon.”