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Politics : Bush-The Mastermind behind 9/11? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (4345)	12/8/2003 4:04:39 PM
From: Don Earl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20039

Ray OT, First, a few comments on the anti gun site. On his statement about firing 12 shots from a semi automatic in 2 seconds, about the only thing I can figure is he's been building plastic models in an unventilated room. It's the sort of comment one would expect from a person completely innocent of any factual research. It's just barely possible a person could pull a trigger 12 times in 2 seconds, but hitting anything intentionally in the process is pretty much out of the question. On the subject of civil lawsuits against manufacturers and retailers, I don't believe any person or company should be granted total immunity from a reasonable level of responsibility. If they can be shown to have acted with criminal intent, they should be sued and expect to lose. If criminal intent, or at a bare minimum criminal negligence, can't be shown at the outset, the attorneys should be tossed out of the courtroom on their rumps. <<<Do you think I would I appear more sincere if I bought (A) a concealable handgun or (B) a semi-automatic weapon?>>> I'm not sure if that's a serious question, but I'll take a shot at it as if it were (no pun intended). I think a lot depends on how good a marksman a person is and what function they need a gun to perform, plus how much time they have to practice. A hand gun is close to worthless past much over 30 feet unless you are gifted with a fair amount of natural talent and have a lot of time to practice. A baseball bat would probably serve you as well at the typical ranges a hand gun is effective, plus, the bat never runs out of ammo, never jams, and you don't have to remember to take it off safe. The shorter the barrel, the less accurate the weapon. A handgun is basically a compromise solution for persons who expect a high enough probability of being threatened at close range that the inconvenience of packing a pistol around may be justified. Your basic assault rifle is also a compromise between accuracy and mobility. If you're a reasonably good shot, you should be able to hit targets out to around 100 yards more often than you miss. The military automatic versions are for situations where there are so many targets that spraying the country side with lead is an advantage since the law of averages says if you just hold the trigger down, you're probably going to eventually hit something. IMO, the semi automatic versions available to civilians aren't attractive to anyone other than a collector. If you're not marksman enough to get the job done with one shot, having a 30 round clip is NOT going to improve your accuracy. For range and accuracy, a good hunting rifle is a better choice. If you're marksman enough to take mountain sheep at 600 yards with one shot, you can buy a rifle that will match your ability. If you're not a very good shot, don't have time to practice, and just want something for home defense, pick up a cheap 12 gauge and a few boxes of 000 shot, then shorten the barrel to the legal minimum and chop off the stock. You can put more lead in the air quicker than you could with a machine gun, and if you can hit a plant with a garden hose, that's about the skill level required. If you're in survivalist mode and want an alternative to firearms, one of the large caliber air rifles on the market might be worth considering. You can safely store as many pellets as you care to buy, and the rifles can be charged with a hand pump or scuba tank. The effective range is around 200 feet and there's no muzzle flash. For that matter, a cheapo Daisy BB gun is a good way to practice marksmanship at home. Stack a pile of old newspapers in a cardboard box, put it in the backyard, the basement or at the end of the hall, and you're all set. The mass produced pellets are cheap, it doesn't make any noise to speak of, and it's a good way for a novice to practice gun safety with a minimum amount of danger of putting the neighbors in harm's way. FWIW, while I generally agree with the NRA, their message is a little too wild eyed for my taste. On the flip side of the argument, the anti gun movement makes almost no sense at all, they just sort of make things up as they go along. My guess is the members of both sides are so completely lacking in social graces, the temptation of a normal person to do their part in cleaning up the gene pool might actually put them in danger. The NRA wants to be able to shoot back, and the anti gun nuts want to see their lessons in etiquette limited to getting their butts kicked.