Time to get a gun?

Chicago Tribune ^ | 09/06/2005 | Eric Zorn

[Jack Wilson]

Time to get a gun? Along with our powerlessness against nature and the fecklessness of the government's response to a crisis, a third frightening aspect to the tragedy of New Orleans has been the breakdown of civilization in the disaster zone that accompanied the snapping of the so-called thin blue line.

Among the questions it prompts in my mind is one that is old and unresolved: Should I own a firearm?.

Thirteen years ago, when Los Angeles was up for grabs during the rioting that followed the acquittal of police officers charged in the Rodney King beating, the images of shopkeepers unprotected by police staving off looters with rifles knocked me off my comfortable anti-gun perch. Who wouldn't want a firearm under those circumstances? And who knows where such circumstances will occur next? .

It's hard to bring this up again without sounding like one of those cackling vigilantes who would gladly shoot someone swiping a bicycle out of his carport, or one of those basement-bunker survivalists besotted by paranoia..

I resisted back in 1992 and still rely on 9-1-1 and a pitching wedge under the bed to protect my family. But the rapid descent from crisis to chaos to anarchy in New Orleans was another reminder that paranoia can come to look like prudence in hindsight.

[mylife]

I dont think many newbies to the subject understand the array of shotgun loads

[TheMom]

*LOL*

Details, details . . .

[VeniVidiVici]

Thanks, guys. I like to shoot, and am pretty good at it, and while I'm comfortable around handguns I've only been shooting them for a few years. I do have an assortment to choose from should the need arise!

The shotgun was something I've been thinking about getting and finally decided to "pull the trigger" on it this week. I need to get it to the range and try out a variety of rounds.

I should just take some defensive classes so I can get a feel for different scenarios. I belong to a club, just need to get more active in it.

[Major_Risktaker]

I was a Firefighter in DC during the riots of 68 Not one window was broken in Washington's Chinatown.

The idiots burned and looted their own neighborhood down around 14th & U St. N.W. and that area came back around 30 years later.

D.C. after the riots, 1968

[mylife]

Train Train Train

[Eaker]

Im hoping to shoot that very 50 BMG this weekend L0L

Run a few round through a 45.70 with a brass butt-plate.

That will make the .50BMG feel smooth!

First round, concentrate on hitting the Earth in front of the target as this will get you prepared. It is a shove not a kick. The next round you will be ready and shoot at the X.

Belt and suspenders are highly recommended.

[mylife]

Ive shot 50 bmg before but not as a scoped rig.

Yer right, feel it an walkit in

[Chode]

if you feel the need to announce yourself, do it by throwing something into the room to draw their attention AWAY from you...

[Horatio Gates]

Thanks for what you do as a LEO.

How'd you know? My birthday is August 10th.

Leo for Sept 6th: Your social life is just delicious if you take the time to reconnect with anyone you may have lost touch with in the whirl of the last few days. Make sure you catch up on everything in their lives, and fill them in on yours, too.

btw I like my mini-14 at the house. The kids already know to keep their heads down.

[oldenuff2no]

I have a pump 45LC. I had to play with it a bit to get it to function perfectly. It's a copy of a rifle made in the late 1800's but stoked with my hollow point hand loads, 11 in the tube, I love it as a home defense weapon. I can put 11 45 slugs into anything under 50 yards in less than 6 seconds.
I'm a gun smith and I have three safes full of guns. The best way to take them out is with with one of my 1000 yard rifles. These rifles will hold an 8" group at 800 yards set up on a bi-pod and bagged in. At that range they don't even know where it came from.

[mylife]

45 L5 is a sweet camp load.

I like 308 for the tree line

I guess I just want folks to know that the only cures all/ends all is the individual and thier choice of tools

[papertyger]

I like 308 for the tree line

Ya know, I dearly love that thouroughbred with the fat tube of mine, but if I were in the position of some of those poor Gulf Coasters, I'd have to break out the old .303 POS.

It ain't pretty, and it won't shoot holes in holes, it won't do anything better than something else I own, but it does everything better than anything else I own.

[mylife]

Its a rockin round

[Cobra64]

You should be very proud of your daughter! She must be really tough shooting a Glock (9mm or a .40?) in a polymer frame. Lot's of kick. I've always had steel framed pistols for my wife and kids. Less muzzle-rise and kick.

BTW, she may want to cradle her left palm under the grip for stability, and keep her thumb away from the trigger and trigger guard. (imo)

[ExSoldier]

LOL I do have one of his books...the one on Sucker Punches... Some of it is viable stuff, but I'd sooner rely on my Aikido for hand to hand contact and my 45 for anything more distant and still deadly.

[tennmountainman]

My Brother who is Ex Military says I need a pistol and a shotgun. Sounds like enough for me.
However, 18 sounds much better!

[Cobra64]

At a minimum, I'd start with this:

http://www.sigarms.com/products/classicpersonalsize-models.asp?product_id=42

[ChefKeith]

and a pitching wedge under the bed to protect my family.

Never bring a flog (cow pasture pool) club to a gun fight.

[tennmountainman]

Thanks Cobra,
The P232 looks pretty good . There is a dealer about 30 miles away.

[youthgonewild]

Liberals gave up on gun control. It's a losing issue and not really compatible with individual liberties.