On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:36:45 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 10, 5:05 pm, "SteveB" wrote:
I saw a clear full body picture of the Omaha shooter. Anyone who had a
concealed weapon and who could shoot decently could have lessened the
carnage. If you got a CCW, carry your weapon.

Steve

Dont you wonder, in your more lucid moments, late at night (if you
have them) thats there is something fundamentally wrong with a society
where the populace need to be armed to cope with the nuttier
members........

I know its historical for you people, wild west, Hollywood, etc
etc..something in your constitution, but don't you wonder WHY shopping
centre massacres are a almost weekly occurrence....

How do you cope with this, the paranoia of buying a bottle of milk? -
there MUST be some alternative besides being armed to the teeth...

Andrew VK3BFA.

If you were to visit, I think your impresssion would be very different
than the one you've formed from the sensational media and from a very
few but very vocal gun owners. Except for perhaps a few gang-infested
inner-city neighborhoods, the USA does not rattle with gunfire as the
media might lead you to believe. One might hear gunfire in the woods,
fields and wetlands during hunting season, not otherwise.

I live in a major metropolitan area, the Minneapols-St. Paul
(Minnesota) seven-county metro area. I have never in the 40 years
I've lived here seen a gun even brandished, much less fired, in any
public place other than a range. It is safe to go to any mall when it
is open. Children go to them routinely. Malls have security guards
to curb shoplifting, but they are very rarely armed.

Between 1% and 2% of the people in my state have CCW permits. Not all
that have permits actually carry routinely, frequently or even
occasionally. I have a permit but do not carry because I feel no
need to do so. I have the permit for two reasons. First reason is
convenience: the permit frees me from some pesky rules regarding
transport of my guns to and from shooting ranges. The second is in
the highly unlikely event of a major disaster like Katrina, when
people demonstrably get crazy. There was a thread on this NG after
Katrina re the question of whether or not it is moral to steal from
another in such a situation. The majority of posters thought it was
moral for the imprudent to steal from the prudent in such a situation.
Wow! I secured my carry permit shortly after that.

I regard the likelihood of an armed intrusion into my house as
vanishingly small. There hasn't been one in my community in 40 years
as far as I know.

I have guns for the same reason you have radios: because I enjoy
them. Shooting, like machining and welding, is a skill that can
always be improved but never can be completely mastered. The fun is
in the quest. I enjoy firing my guns reasonably well just as I enjoy
making a nice job of a tricky weld or machining something that fits oh
so nice. A correspondent and I frequently email photos of targets
back and forth. Our recent targets look a lot better than those of
only a year ago ... and next year's targets will be better yet. The
current challenge is to punch a hole in a dime at 100 meters with one
round. One fouling round and one wind-check round is permitted before
loading one round to fire for record. A miss or a nick flunks, don't
get another try-for-record until next range visit. Only a clean hole
completely surrounded by metal counts. When we accomplish that,
we'll then move out to 200 meters, and so on...

Accomplished long-range shooters put several rounds thru the same hole
at ranges considerably beyond 100 meters. We're not there ... yet.