As Detective Mills once wondered aloud without really wanting to know…what’s in the box?
I was told it would be something that I’d love and hate to have…both at the same time. My good friends at Red Hills Arms in Tallahassee told me about it when they got it as part of a batch if used guns. They told me it’s something I just had to see, so I rushed on over.
Inside the mysterious commemorative box was…a Smith & Wesson Model 66-2, Big Blue’s classic K-Frame .357 Magnum revolver. I own a few of these and I can tell you they’re great guns.
But this revolver is a little different. Its stainless steel beauty has been besmirched by an unfortunate symbol. A stain…a blot on the fabric of our freedom. This is no run-of-the-mill Model 66.
This is a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms Model 66. It was made to commemorate 50 years since the ATF first came into being at the end of Prohibition. You can see why I have mixed feelings. I love me some K-frames, but I’m no fan of the ATF.
Our friends at the bureau are not and never have been pro-gun. The idea of Smith & Wesson making this gun for sale to the very agents who enforce the laws and policies that restrict Americans’ civil rights is…conflicting.
Yes, I know, back in 1983, things were very different and S&W was making guns for just about everyone. In the grand scheme of things, this wheelgun isn’t really any different than the FBI stamped guns or the USSS guns they were making. It’s a classic Model 66-2. As a K-frame .357 Magnum revolver, this baby has everything that you want and nothing you don’t.
Smooth “Coke bottle” stocks and no freaking lock.
A wonderful, smooth-faced combat trigger plus adjustable white outline rear sights with the classic orange insert for the front sight.
This thing just screams 1980s duty revolver and I wouldn’t have any issue at all carrying it as a self-defense piece.
But back to the issue at hand. Why would someone want to own this now? Well, while it was made to commemorate the founding of the ATF, today it’s something of a historical curiosity. But more important, it can also be viewed now as a symbol of freedom triumphing over oppression.
Remember, this gun was never intended be owned by the common citizen. Back when it was made, the majority of the states were no/may issue with regard to carry permits. Today, half the country is constitutional carry and the US Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the Second Amendment is an inalienable individual right that belongs to the people, one that can be exercised both inside and outside the home.
Every day now, the needle moves more toward 2A freedom. A few states are still making desperate attempts to limit Second Amendment right, but they’re on the wrong side of history…and the law.
Why? Because Americans are increasingly exercising their Second Amendment rights and fighting to expand them. So, just because this wonderful revolver has an unfortunate blemish, there’s no reason at all it can’t be used as a tool of freedom.
It can still be used to keep criminals — and the forces of tyranny, if necessary — at bay.
