At the end of the day I'm thankful I live in a country that allows us to choose how to protect ourselves. Gun ownership is a very personal choice that comes with a lot of responsibility and I don't think less of anyone that is uncomfortable with it. Have a plan though, there are plenty of non-lethal ways to give one an edge in protecting themselves.



Forgot I had this pic of TNC's granny...



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Having thought it over, I suppose my plan would be to grab my Fender P-bass and go Sid Vicious on the intruder's ***!

 

I was just indirectly answering a question with a story.
But to answer your questions, for sure there are some cops who shouldn't have guns!
If a person in a responsible position such as a cop, who supposedly is trained to safely handle and store his weapon properly, can't be counted on to do so, how can your average red neck, skin head, or crack head, who's able to pass the background check, be expected to act any more responsibly?
I think there is more to it than just stricter gun controls. There is an allure with hand guns, perpetuated by many movies. Even fantasy movies like Matrix. I've watched people at the ranges and how they act when shooting. There is a psychological aspect to shooting hand guns that appeals to our more savage nature. For instance, archery and rifle ranges people always used circle targets, or animal silhouettes, it was only in hand gun ranges that people felt compelled to use human silhouettes.
I think if you could really promote and indoctrinate the serious side of gun ownership in a society, you could allow more liberal gun controls with a greater degree of safety, but if you simultaneously allow those liberal gun controls while at the same time promote their reckless and savage use, like is done in Hollywood, then those mixed signals will result in more misuses of hand guns. I liken it to smoking in the 60s and 70s when smoking was off offhandedly discouraged, but heavily portrayed and promoted on TV and in the movies, the result was millions of new smokers, especially the young and impressionable.
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It's a complicated subject, and I think everyone who has posted in this thread has made valid points.
I think the fundamental differences between the Canadian and American views boil down to this; We, as Canadians, want to keep our gun controls tight to try and restricted them from getting into the hands of those who might use them against use. You, as Americans, assume they already have them, and want to keep your gun controls loose so they don't get taken away from you, so you can protect yourself from those who already have them. . I think we are both right.

 

Many think that a plan is the answer. Although good to have a plan, its the planning process and reviewing it with your family that is most important.

Lots of good discussion to think about here. If you choose to have a weapon, get some training and educate yourself and family about firearm safety.

As to the OPs question...has anyone seen or tried the henry ar7 survival rifle or the new takedown version of the ruger 10/22? They look like they would travel well on the bike.

 

Dynobob, talk about having a plan...did you see the recent story from Georgia where the mother with 2 twin girls shot a burglar while they were trying to hide from him in a crawl space after he broke into the house? Part of the scenario was on a 911 call with her husband and the police department. Her husband had trained her how to use the pistol. Scary deal. One other weird deal was the fact that the burglar had tried to break in to another house in the area just a little bit earlier and was scared off by the homeowner. Apparently the guy didn't care if anyone was home or not at the houses he was breaking into, and that makes you wonder what other motives he had. Our discussions here have been more for the basic premise of having guns to dissuade an oppressive government, but this recent incident really points out the home defense aspect also.

Georgia mother who shot intruder inspires opponents of gun control | Fox News

And Bob...I don't know who's granny you displayed there. Mine carries a 17-shot 9mm Glock...LOL!

 

whats the average response time of a 911 call ? Isn't it something like 23 minutes ? If you live in the sticks like me its probably even longer.

Yeah, no thanks.

 

Old roomate had the survival rifle, wasn't having any issues with it firing remington ammo.

Average police response time in my area is over 30 minutes, about standard. Out here though things tend to get taken care of before they arrive

 

Yeah, like people at political rallies with weapons strapped to their legs, riders bragging about how they'd just shoot someone, and then the classic here in Delaware Ohio where former OSU player Stillwagon goes after a guy in a road rage thing. He pulls a sidearm and starts shooting at the guy after a 17 mile or more road thrash apparently on both parts. Instead of just blowing by the guy he had to make it a contest where others can be injured or killed. Respect.

I'm kind of doubting the founding fathers remotely envisioned what is going on now. It is one thing to be armed, it's another to block any sort of legislation that might just help keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. All any criminal would have to do is go to a gun show and buy a gun from a private individual. My friend bought an AK at a show. The seller just wanted to see his driver's license, nothing written, cash changes hands and my friend walks out with an AK. Any arms dealer would, at a minimum, lose their license doing that sort of thing.

Of course then there is also the case that arms sellers do not have any legal requirement to track inventory. There are a couple hundred THOUSAND "missing" firearms from dealers, but there is no law dealing with that - thank you NRA. There seems to be as much a drive by the NRA to make it hard to track any sort of gun other than the one that actually has the background check done - a check that is minimal in coverage to the point that some mentally unbalanced individual can slip under the radar.

At this point, it seems the NRA would be happy to see it all go back to the wild west days where everyone has to carry a gun. Yeah, that makes for some good freedom... being concerned that the next guy up the road may shoot you because he just doesn't care for the way you look.

I'm not anti-gun, as I said, I own one. Think about it. If pedophiles were as well tracked as guns you couldn't let your kids outside to play. If auto and driver licenses were kept track of like guns, deaths due to repeat DUIs and habitual offenders would radically increase. Every effort to try to keep guns out of criminal hands is defeated by the gun lobbies. Interstate tracking is virtually impossible. ATF has no funding to deal with issues and, believe it or not, are only allowed to check out a fire arms dealer once a year - no repeats allowed. What's that mean to the dealer that is willing to do business with criminals? Someone steals all of your guns and you're SOL, no way to even attempt to track them anywhere. Lose your guns in Columbus and they're sold at a show by a private individual in Cleveland, heck maybe even a dealer out the back door after his inspection.

Face it, with the sheer number of LEGAL gun owners, those registered, in the U.S. there is no way the government could ever attempt to take them. I wouldn't voluntarily let the government take mine and if they somehow did I'd be in touch with every friend I have to warn them. It would start a revolution. Besides the politicians wouldn't do it unless they got big cash contributions - they've proven that's the only motivation they have in any situation.

Just saying there's a whole lot more to what is going on than most realize in both directions.

 

So? Have we found a scabbard to mount on a KLX yet?

 

Like our own federal goverment knowingly allowing firearms to be purchased illegally and then to be smuggled out of the country into mexico to be used to murder united states border patrol agents ?

Yes i agree there is a whole lot more going on....