Day 254: Extension chord

It’s Day 254 of The First Ohio Shutdown, Day 14 of That Curfew Thing and Day 190 of The Marxism Fundraiser.

Deb and I are fine today.

According to what’s printed on my Ohio Driver License, it expired on my birthday last summer — but it didn’t, actually, thanks to the Ohio General Assembly. In late March our legislature passed an extension, accommodating the governor’s WuFlu mess and granting us grace until later this year.

That grace period ended yesterday — but it didn’t, actually, thanks to the Ohio General Assembly, which recently extended the extension. Now my Ohio Driver License doesn’t expire until… wait for it… July 1, 2021.

Basically I enjoy an extra year without having to pay $25.75 in fees to the state bureaucracy. Deb gets almost eight bonus months. Since the expiration window stretches back to March, some folks have been granted almost 16 months’ grace.

The same extension applies to vehicle registrations, too — Ohio tags expiring between March 9th of this year and April 1st of next year also have ’til next July to be renewed.

I have a couple of observations about this apparent windfall.

First, deferring the collection of BMV revenue kicks The Great State of Ohio right in the purse. We can expect license and registration fees to go up next year. Mark that down.

Second, lots of us will be driving around with cards and plates that say they’ve expired but haven’t. In the unfortunate event that I get pulled over by an Ohio cop, it shouldn’t present a problem — but if that happens in another state, it’s by no means certain that Deputy Fife got the memo.

I know of one such instance personally. A young man got cited — in a neighboring state, only a few miles over the border — for driving on an expired license, several months after Ohio’s extension went into effect.

Anyone with a not-really-expired Ohio license or tags, especially if planning to travel beyond our borders, should carry a printout (or a screen capture on a smart phone) of the Ohio BMV language describing the extension. That may not keep Officer Obie from issuing a citation, but it should hold up in traffic court.

As for Deb and me, we’ll have to title and register Ernie sooner rather than later. I renewed the Bumper Bunker and Tacoma plates before the extended extension passed. Neither of us will be refreshing our Ohio Driver License this month, however.

Maybe early next year. By March, I expect.

During the four-plus years that I worked in the firearms business, I saw my share of panics and crises and inexplicable runs on product. It’s all part of the natural business cycle, when politics and culture combine with human nature to create shortages and long lines.

Anyone who’s worked a gun counter has seen it — but no one has ever seen the like of what’s happening now.

A friend recently visited the store where I used to work, and last night he sent me a few photographs. The showcases were all but empty. The long-gun racks behind the counter, where once we struggled to find a spot for every gun we had for sale, were almost bare, maybe a third full.

I knew things were bad, but the visuals really gave me pause.

When I showed the images to Deb she reacted with words like “spooky” and “scary.” I used a different word to describe the scene.

Validation.

See, there are people who pick up a box of ammo every time they drop in on a gun store, and if it’s priced well they buy two or three, maybe a case. Over the years they’ve heard liberals threaten gun bans, registration, “buybacks” and confiscation, and they believe the threats. These people saw what the State did after Katrina, and again during the “pandemic,” and they resolved to not let it happen to them, or their families, or their children.

When these people walk into a gun store now and confront what I saw in my friend’s photos, the sight is confirmation of their mindset, their preparation and their commitment to Liberty. And it’s a stern rebuke of everyone who’s ever called them “crazy,” “paranoid” and worse.

These people know what’s at stake. They know which side they’re on.

Deb, by the way, noticed something that I didn’t in one of the photos — my eyes went straight to a near-empty showcase, while she saw a placard atop a pile of utility-grade 9mm FMJ ammunition.

The marked price was $27.99 for 50 rounds. A year ago it was $8.99 a box.

Validation.

Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay free.

#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath

(Header image from our escape to Muskingum County in August.)