I use to always have a butterfly knife with me. I was really good at all the fun knife tricks you can do with a butterfly knife. I used it to open envelopes and cardboard boxes for the most part.

Now, I simply carry a cell phone for protection.

I don't know if Silk sheets would be ideal for home defense, but at least they aren't trying to get me to marry a millionaire this time.

I have an Chinese SKS carbine and a Czech CZ-52 pistol, which I initially got back in the mid-90s. At the time, I enjoyed target shooting with my then-roomie, who was a gun collector and he encouraged me to get my own firearms instead of always borrowing his when we went out to the local target range. The SKS came first since it was cheap (about $130 at the time) and later on I saved up and sprung for the pistol since it's what I'd really wanted to begin with.

I've held onto both over the years for home protection, even after I fell out of the habit of going to the shooting range. (Taking apart and cleaning guns after shooting was fun at first, but after the novelty wore off, it became something of a smelly, messy chore for me) However, even though I live fairly close to a somewhat dodgy neighborhood, I've decided that I don't want the guns anymore because I've developed a deeper Christian life over the past few years and am less comfortable with the concept of shooting someone over my possessions. A friend is saving up to buy the SKS from me, and I'm waiting for the next gun buyback program from the local police, at which time I'll redeem my pistol. I still have a knife in the house which'll be there if necessary, but that'll be it.

Besides, a sizeable fraction of the people who get shot by burglars get shot with their own guns, so owning a gun arguably makes you less safe in a dodgy neighborhood,

I have no horse in this race, but "redeeming" an old military workhorse of a pistol like a CZ-52 through the police is kind of sad. There's no doubt some collector out there that would be happy to take a weird gun like a 52 off of your hands. While it seemed like there were a billion of them on the market for a while, in reality there were only something like 200,000 of them ever made over 30 years of service, a whole lot of which were either scrapped or recycled for parts.

I'm not saying it'd be worth a whole lot...I just cringe when I see a firearm that someone has depended on in the field smelted.

Off topic, but 'redeemer' sounds like a great name for a handgun.

I appreciate the heads-up, Slack One. After a cursory look around online, I'm seeing that CZ-52's have jumped in price since I bought mine due to simple supply and demand. Now I'll need to look around a little further, then see about the best way of getting it sold.

I have never owned or even handled a CZ-52, but I gather that the 7.62x25 mm Tokarev cartridge it fires is remarkably high-velocity for a handgun, even in its most standard military loading, and may even be somewhat effective against body armor, if that matters to you. (Most center-fire rifles can do this, but few pistols.)

' The CZ 52 has a deep (front-to-back) but slim (side-to-side) grip, as well as a low "hump" which meets the web of the hand at the rear of the grip. These ergonomics cause the barrel and slide to sit rather high above the grip, resulting in very strong felt recoil.

The CZ 52 is also well known for its very sharp report and great amount of muzzle flash. Due to its muzzle energy, higher pressure FMJ ammunition fired from the CZ 52 pistol will penetrate even NIJ II rated ballistic vests,[4] or the PASGT helmet.[5]'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CZ_52

It's true that common modern criminals very rarely wear body armor, much less helmets. (Old-timey gangsters and "auto-bandits" of the Dillinger-type did frequently wear the bulky "bullet-proof" vests of the day.)

These days body armor and helmets are rarely encountered outside of a military context. I suppose in some sort of mass civil unrest or revolution of some kind (like in Egypt or Libya or Syria) the ability of a handgun to pierce armor might start to matter. This thing might be a "keeper" after all.

Interesting. I've never liked the odd grip angle on those guns. But yeah, see if you can get a collector to buy it.

I like revolvers. Just something about a six gun that works for me. Autoloaders are more for serious work, so to speak. A six gun is more for relaxed shooting these days, at least for me.

I was told by the gun shop owner I'd bought mine from that he was shooting through rocks with it, and for that reason, I should take more than the usual caution about being aware of what was behind any target I shoot at with it. I never tested his claim, but it does indeed have a huge muzzle flash, and at least a respectable amount of recoil, though I dunno if I would characterize it as 'very strong'.

Anyway, I have found a buyer for it without having to go very far....I found a firearm enthusiast at my workplace who asked me to let him get a first look at it before showing it elsewhere, so I want to give props and thanks to Slack One again for his most helpful advice.

Well, if you don't expect to ever need it, I hope you get a fair price for it. Spend it in good health.

Very cool, glad to help. I had a Chinese Tokarev knock-off in the same round for a while, and it is a hot number. I'm not sure if *every* surplus 7.62 Tokarev round you get will go around piercing body armor, but I'm sure some of it intended for use in submachine guns would probably be pretty fierce. They are noisy guns for sure, and do tunnel pretty far into sand dunes.