Weapons availability

[old pudd fisher]

In the early 1970’s my wife and I were awakened by a phone call by a neighbor after 2:00am. The neighbor had returned from the night shift at work and saw a vehicle parked in our private drive and two individuals in ski masks at the side yard of our home in his headlights. Needless to say I was on high alert and got a firearm and went out the side door while my wife called the Sheriff. I had the two individuals spread out on the lawn at gun point by the time my neighbor also came over armed. Four more phone calls to the Sheriff were made over an hour plus before law enforcement arrived. The two perps had a record and were on parole for burglary and had knives, tools, rope and stolen goods in their vehicle.
Several years later I joined the Sheriff Reserve and for many years had a Concealed Carry Permit. In 1986 during Christmas shopping at Fred Coop’s coin shop in the Central City Mall I purchased several gold coins for Christmas gifts. When I left the store two males were sitting on a planter outside of the coin store. I shopped at several other stores in the next hour, each time I came outside of a store the same two males were sitting outside the store. When I left the mall I saw the same two males behind me in the reflection of the exit door. Imagine the surprise they had when they opened the driver’s side door of my car and saw a Colt 357mag up close and personal. They took off running and I would guess they set a new world record in the 100 yard dash at the time.
I own firearms for a number of reasons. First it is my “Civil Right”, second it is for the same reason I own a fire extinguisher “just in case in need it”.

My 9mm sure saved my wife and I from a home intruder about 15 years ago at 2:00 am when we lived in La Mirada. I think he beat your crooks 100 yd dash record.

[DEVOREFLYER]

Good for you. Sure makes the heart pound, doesn't it! Oh, and about four turns through the laundry to get the brown spots out of your shorts too.

[cutbait]

This guy calls me a fanatic and says "no name calling here"...

Then says our facts are inaccurate to be debated intelligently, yet has not disproven one, nor has he supplied one of his own.

Another Lib speaking from emotion without a fountation to back up the spewed BS...

[cutbait]

It was a 300 lb boar taken in Paso robles....

I enjoy reloads, enjoy shooting, enjoy the outdoors, enjoy watching my wife and kids shoot.. From dove to skeet to any target...

Not saying what and how many, but 30/06, 22's of all kinds, 3 12'ers, .300 savage, .270, AR, Mosin Nagants, M-1, Enfield, SKS, still looking or a 20g.. etc etc.. not much of a hand gun type..

IMO hand guns are made for one purpose,, that purpose isn't for me

[Marley]

The Brady Institute is about one thing and one thing only, and that's to remove all guns from the hands of all Americans. To quote them tips your hand far away from any semblance of a balanced discussion. There is a reason the founders backed up the First Amendment with the Second Amendment, and that reason lies within the strength of an armed populace. The right to keep and bear arms is Constitutionally protected, and that was recently affirmed by SCOTUS. Thank God they got that one right.

[old pudd fisher]

Good for you. Sure makes the heart pound, doesn't it! Oh, and about four turns through the laundry to get the brown spots out of your shorts too.

Thanks 'DEVOREFLYER' but I think he was the one that needed some laundry done, he was a big boy and no match for me.

[pcuser]

Those 'facts' were put out by gunowners.org. Think they might have a bias? There are 215 footnotes. How long would it take for you to track down and confirm or prove false all that. Even if they were put out by an unbiased group, it would bog one down for a long time. That's part of why biased groups try to overload their side of an argument with a skattergun attack. They intend to make it difficult to stay on message. I raised a very small number of considerations when I started this thread. The other side immediately threw up this and more when they felt their side of the question threatened...

[DEVOREFLYER]

"MY SIDE" is never threatened! We have the Constitution behind us, the 2nd Amendment is a "Civil Right" that can not be taken away from us. The facts are in fact "The facts", however you and your ilk can't handle the truth even when it is clearly before you. So coming from you every group or individual that does not agree with your agenda has a bias. Arn't you just special. I and others here are still waiting for your facts and footnotes. If you were serious about the truth you would have read the artical and checked the footnotes for accuracy. However you chose to just throw bombs at it. Don't let the facts bog you down as that report has been out since 2004 and has had plenty of time to be rebuked if anything was false in it.

[DEVOREFLYER]

This is from the NRA annual meeting closing remarks back in 1999, referring to the complaints that some had that the NRA should not proceed to have its scheduled convention in Denver out of sensitivity to the fact that the Columbine shootings had occurred near the convention site.

Strangely enough, the only video excerpt I can find of the speech was through an episode of the Daily Show, where John Stewart apologizes for initially feeding the flame post-Columbine and apologizes to Charlton Heston, saying that Heston was right with this speech:

America must stop this predictable pattern of reaction. When an isolated, terrible event occurs, our phones ring, demanding that the NRA explain the inexplicable.

Why us? Because their story needs a villain. They want us to play the heavy in their drama of packaged grief, to provide riveting programming to run between commercials for cars and cat food.

The dirty secret of this day and age is that political gain and media ratings all too often bloom upon fresh graves.

I remember a better day, when no one dared politicize or profiteer on trauma, We kept a respectful distance then, as NRA has tried to do now. Simply being silent is so often the right thing to do.

But today, carnage comes with a catchy title, splashy graphics, regular promos and a reactionary package of legislation. Reporters perch like vultures on the balconies of hotels for a hundred miles around. Cameras jockey for shocking angles, as news anchors race to drench their microphones in the tears of victims.

Injury, shock, grief and despair shouldn't be "brought-to-you by sponsors." That's pornography. It trivializes the tragedy, it abuses vulnerable people, and maybe worst of all, it makes the unspeakable seem commonplace.

And we're often cast as the villain.

That is not our role in American society, and we will not be forced to play it. Our mission is to remain a steady beacon of strength and support for the Second Amendment, even if it has no other friend on the planet. We cannot let tragedy lay waste to the most rare and hard-won human right in history

A nation cannot gain safety by giving up freedom. This truth is older than our country Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety Ben Franklin said that.

If you like your freedoms of speech and of religion, freedom from search and seizure, freedom of the press and of privacy, to assemble and to redress grievances, then you'd better give them that eternal bodyguard called the Second Amendment. The individual right to bear arms is freedom's insurance policy, not just for your children but for infinite generations to come.

That is its singular, sacred beauty, and why we preserve it so fiercely.

Link to closing remarks in their entirety: http://www.nrawinningteam.com/meeting99/hestsp2.html

Link to short clip of the closing remarks, where John Stewart apologizes to Heston: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/th...meland-edition (starts at around the 7:15 mark of the video)

Heston's remarks in 1999 could have not been clearer and they mean even more today. http://www.nrawinningteam.com/meeting99/hestsp2.html

[Viejo]

There was a graphic posted on Facebook that said, "65 million gun owners did not commit a massacre today". I live in an isolated area and my neighbors are all retired cops, firefighters and all are veterans. Typical response time for any public agency is a long time. There is a small but prominent sign on the dirt road in. "Security provided by Mr. Smith & Wesson, Mr. Colt and Mr Ruger".