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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Guns On Indian Reservations


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Family member of mine was caught target shooting on the Pima rez. Confiscated all his guns, gave him a ticket with court date. The indian judge let him off with a warning and he left with his guns. I've heard of a few horror stories of carrying concealed in rez casinos but don't know if it was fact or internet chatter. Law was explained to me as it being ok to carry in car on highway but the moment one deviates into a gas station or convenience store one could be arrested.

 

A white person on the Apache rez is not treated very well. Leave you money and move on is the way they treat whites. Don't know of any examples but my guess is they'd throw the book at a non indian if they had a gun. A white getting pulled over for any reason on the Apache rez will have their car searched. Several years ago the Apaches first refused then later relented to a search and rescue team in to look for lost hunter.

 

I could write some real horror stories about people trying to get their stolen cars back that are found on reservations. The indian police might or might not get around to it. The FBI as of the early 70's would no longer bother with it unless it involved a violent car jacking. When I worked in Scottsdale in the late 60's through early 70's. A car theft victim had to hire a tow truck company that specialized in repossessions to recover their car if they were afraid to do it themselves. The majority of the thefts I had inside knowledge of. Cars were often stolen for just the tires then abandoned.

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I don't think the reservations can do much beyond confiscate stuff and harass white people. I encountered the racism from an Indian convenience store clerk in AZ. I could tell she utterly despised me, and there's no good reason for it. I wish the Indians would put down the beer cans, get an education, and do something with their lives other than hate whites and demand their lands back. I read that Indian kids who try to do well in school are called apples- "Red on the outside; white on the inside."

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I've heard about the apple moniker being used on the Pima rez. Pima teens are dropping out of school, forming gangs bullying apple teens and adults and creating problems, vandalism especially. Alcoholism, morbid obesity and diabetes is very prevalent among most Pima adults. I'm told but don't know for fact that most Pima female teens are pregnant or mothers by age 16. Corruption in the Pima tribal govt is rampant. One very wise thing the Pimas did was hire an experienced white police chief and Yaqui cops.

The Pima rez policeman are almost all Yaqui Indians and they are simply said mean and as tough as nails.The Yaquis are the only known tribe that never made official peace or reservation treaty. The Yaquis were wise enough in the late 1800's to see their gene pool being destroyed and more or less adopted a vagabond life style keeping their young healthy men alive.They avoided contact rather than fight with whites moving back and forth between Arizona and Northern Mexico.

 

In the late 80's a single term Az Congress woman after seeing first hand the squalor many Pimas were living in. Organized an effort with local contractors to donate labor and materials to build the Pimas decent homes. Most families selected by a lottery never had tile floors, electricity, septic tanks, toilets and indoor plumbing. The majority of the homes were destroyed in the first few weeks.The Pimas tore out wiring and plumbing. Sold it as copper scrap or traded it for alcohol..

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