such a book wouldn't last a semester in a public school library in the Wild West these days.
Beyond This Horizon (1942), one of RAH's first novels.
Nice analysis and comments. I still remember reading that Heinlein book...
Instead of dueling pistols, today we use lawyers! :-)
Here's a thought from Jeff Snyder that surely gives one pause to think:
TO BAN GUNS...
...because criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless, and that the law will permit them to have only such rights and liberties as the lawless will allow... For society does not control crime, ever, by forcing the law-abiding to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of criminals. Society controls crime by forcing the criminals to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of the law-abiding. (Jeff Snyder)
Actually, I have met some obnoxious, loud-mouthed, louts at the gunrange. They seem to be self-acknowledged experts on everything.
Actually, if I recall the Heinlein book correctly, everyone wore guns, but it was almost a ceremonial thing. Many had worn guns for most of their long lives but never had occasion to use them.
The point was, they were there, and, as one dude remarked to me about my 100 pound black dog, "That dawg would make you think twice." The guns made people think twice.
It was Heinlein's point that being armed made for a more peaceful society.
A .44 Colt? I guess there were some in .44 S&W, but wasn't the .45 Colt much, much more common. These days it would be hard to say which caliber it would be, but I would still go with a Colt caliber, .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP). Ballistics are similar to the old .45 Colt, now called the "Long Colt". It got 'er done then, it can git 'er done now.
"A relative handful of well-armed and motivated citizens can hold even the most powerful military forces at bay."
Shoot, sometimes you don't even need a 'handful" Sometimes one skinny kid will do:
CASAMENTO, ANTHONY
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company D, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division.
Place and date: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
Entered service at: Brooklyn, New York. Date and place of
Birth: 16 November 1920, Brooklyn, New York. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands, in action against the enemy Japanese forces on 1 November 1942. Serving as a leader of a machine gun section, Corporal Casamento directed his unit to advance along a ridge near the Matanikau River where they engaged the enemy. He positioned his section to provide covering fire for two flanking units and to provide direct support for the main force of his company which was behind him. During the course of this engagement, all members of his section were either killed or severely wounded and he himself suffered multiple, grievous wounds. Nonetheless, Corporal Casamento continued to provide critical supporting fire for the attack and in defense of his position. Following the loss of all effective personnel, he set up, loaded, and manned his unit's machine gun. tenaciously holding the enemy forces at bay. Corporal Casamento single-handedly engaged and destroyed one machine gun emplacement to his front and took under fire the other emplacement on the flank. Despite the heat and ferocity of the engagement, he continued to man his weapon and repeatedly repulsed multiple assaults by the enemy forces, thereby protecting the flanks of the adjoining companies and holding his position until the arrival of his main attacking force. Corporal Casamento's courageous fighting spirit, heroic conduct, and unwavering dedication to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
RIP Mr. Casamento
Well ... let's not get too carried away.
The sniping of random people from a concealed position in the trunk of an automobile is going to be nearly the perfect crime whenever it occurs.
Malvo, if I recall correctly, had allowed some ballistic evidence to be found at a crime scene unrelated to the sniping that made him a suspect.
If those two killers had confined their activities to just sniping randomly and had chosen a wider geographic area, and finally had allowed a cooling off period between every three or four snipings, we might still be looking for them.
Many serial killers have longer strings of murders and lasted so long because they had no connection to their victims. For that same reason, the victims had no reason to fear attack and no opportunity to answer it.
The reason such crimes don't occur very frequently is because it is extremely irrational.