I'm not suggesting the NRA. I don't know the first thing about the NRA except that they have a lobby. I don't know what an Endowment Life Member is. It's none of my business.

I'm just asking who, what, when and where questions.

I think you are not seeing me as I am.
Like the Lady G I am quite comfortable with gun owners in The Villages. They have a lifetime of experiences handling weapons.

When I lived in Newark, I was a little more than worried.

What, whaaaaaat, I disagree. If you must have a firearm for home protection then a pistol grip pump action shotgun with an open choke is you best choice. It won't go through your wall and kill your neighbor when you miss your target like a rifle or hand gun will.

And I was worried as a visitor to Newark. I apologize.

Finally, someone who knows the topic. I have many current and former FBI friends. The majority use and recommend pump action shotguns for home defense. The sound of shotgun being racked is enough to scare off many would be thugs.

If you keep your firearms in a safe, I guess you don't have them for home defense.

AND extensive background check...

If you really want to read an in-depth analysis of the 2nd Amendment, try this: guncitedotcom/journals/reycrit.html (Change "dot" to ".")

It's titled "A CRITICAL GUIDE TO THE SECOND AMENDMENT"

too much arm chair anecdotal story telling here. The first hand experience/knowledge is easy to spot!

Yes, the sound of a shotgun racking a shell is thought provoking to say the least.

I have been in The Villages 5 years and there has NOT been a home invasion that I can think of. There have been some homes burgeled when no one was home, a few sneak thieves under doubtful circumstances, and a couple of domestic shootings.

In other words, nothing that required a pump shotgun, rifle, or pistol to be used in self defense.

Remember, also, those folks who have the rifle, shotgun, or pistol ready for use would most likely have them stolen in a burglary occuring when they are out of the house.

Actually there were 2 homes burgled during the night when the occupants were sleeping - just last year in a village south of 466.

I only heard of one - and it sounded very strange as the burglar supposedly cut the screen to a lanai door and two small dogs did not make any noise? Very suspicious sounding.

Anyhow, still there was no need for self defense.

For GA, I believe $75, a clean record, and no history of mental illness is all that is required for a concealed carry permit.

In 1979 in Marietta, the sheriff requested that I take a gun safety course despite having just moved from MA with a carry permit. I still have the GA permit - it has my thumbprint on it rather than a photo.

I am glad that there are fine people like DBussone who own and know how to shoot a gun and who have said they would protect us non gun owners. I am glad we have the choice. I am glad I live here and in the course of living here have changed my mind about some important issues...and still may continue to change my mind.

Today is NOT tomorrow...........yet.

Geez how time has changed, When I was ten yrs old after we lost my Father, My Mother
bough me a 12 gauge mossberg shot gun from Sears cost 29 dollars, I use to carry it on my shoulder through the streets, past schools up the mountain to hunt, nobody I mean nobody though anything was wrong,
Can you imagine if that was today, I probably would be taken away from her.
Where the heck are we headed ?

In the wrong direction.

We have been headed there for the last 20 years. With all the graphic detailed killing and violence toward man continuously in the movies and on television.
Before that time some things were left to the imagination. Then it was all out blood and guts and dismembering, slaughtering folks with guns and what ever else. The rotten foul language. The drug culture glorified by the same presenters.

Kids exposed to this from infancy and with the age of television no further than their living room.

The message? It is OK to kill and maim and murder and rape. Day after day.

The selective enforcement of our laws demonstrating that one can actually get away with murder, rape, grand larceny depending who you are.

Add to all the above the sports greats who do the dirty nasty drugs and beatings. Add to that the lawmakers in local and federal positions doing the same thing.

There IS NO mystery how we devolved into a violent, permissive anything society.

How does one prove lacking a history of mental illness?

Not that I need another gun...:ho:

With all this talk about rifles, how about a picture. I wanted something like I carried in the Army, which was a M-16. A couple of years ago I bought a Smith & Wesson MP 15-22, it shoots 22 LR via a 25 round magazine. It's semi-automatic, very smooth operation and light. I've added the scope and tripod, upgraded the stock, added the sling, upgraded the grip. Here it is.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/58...0/823/bkkd.jpg

Typically the best a state can do is check with its own mental health institutions to see if an individual has been under treatment at any time. There is no federal database that can be searched. Guess why - no not the NRA lobby - the states themselves refuse to provide the data. Go figure? Even states like MA. And quite honestly I'm glad they won't. Mental health patients face enough obstacles as it is without having their personal data hacked off another federal site. But I digress.

Very nice, John. She's a beauty. Do you use it for varmint hunting?

You have to take into consideration that many gun owners own multiple guns. One of the reasons that the number per 100 is so high is that we are wealthy country and many people can afford several guns. Some very wealthy gun owners may own hundreds of guns. That doesn't mean that 90 people out of every 100 own a gun.

I know it doesn't.
What is your hunch on how many people out of a hundred own guns?
There are 325 million people and 290 million guns. That much we know.

According to Pew Research about 40% of our households own guns.

Don't need or want your pity Mr Shrimpy. Your paranoia is obvious. If you shoot someone even in self defense be prepared to spend $75-$100K for your defense. There are many non lethal ways to deal with an intruder. My goal would be to scare the intruder off not kill them. Did you ever shoot someone? I haven't and never want to. I fear that would haunt me forever even in self defense.

Anecdotal, safety of one's arm chair verbiage does truly allow one to tell a story of any sort and predict what they would do or not. However in the absence of actually being an adrenal pumping fear for one's life or the life of a family member situation, almost all have no idea what their reaction would in fact be.

Here is a real story. Dog barking frantically at middle of the night. My daughter gets up to see what is up. Goes in family room to find someone cutting the screen on a window. She runs back to the bedroom gets her 12 gauge pump shotgun. Yells for the person to stop or be shot. The intruder places one leg inside the window. The dog raising hell has not slowed the person nor did the warning. Then she racked the gun and said he had until she counted to 3 before she shoots. Before hearing the end of the sentence he was gone in a flash.

Real life situation. The only difference between my daughter and me. I would have shot the intruder in the leg as he straddled the window.

Now back in the armchair. Why would an intruder to come forth with a hell raising dog barking away? Why would an intruder continue to try to enter after a verbal warning? NO FEAR......and why not? It is all hypothetical from this point.

So I chuckle when I hear what some here pontificate what they would do or not. YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!!! Hence training like insurance...ya never know is the only fact of life.

You are correct. No one really knows what they might do or, might be able to do. So do whatever helps you sleep at night.

When I was 16, I had to pay for my own driver's ed classes at a private driving school. I don't understand why taxpayers should have to pay to teach kids how to drive. Music class in my Jr High School was a joke. We sat and sang songs while the "teacher" played the piano. Art classes weren't much different. We considered, music, art and shop as a break from classes.
Now, I'm a musician and as such an artist. I am very much in favor of the arts, but the way they were being taught when I was in school was a joke. I can see paying for these kinds of subjects in school if the kids actually learned something about them. I never learned a thing about music in school. I took private lessons and taught myself.

I guess these last few posts point out differences in people's experiences and expectations. My son, for example, started playing the double bass in the 5th grade. He had the same classroom music instructor form then to end of high school, and their orchestra won awards all over the state. He didn't start taking lessons until he was a sophomore in high school. In fact, he didn't even get a bass of his own till then. The art and music programs in his school were excellent, as they were in my own.

As for guns vs wasp spray, I'm glad your daughter is okay, BTK. I personally would have gone with the wasp spray, especially since I don't have a gun. So I'm with Walter on that one.

The education opportunities for myself and our children and grandchildren were very, very good and included advanced placement courses and wonderful art and music classes that were not for deadbeats.

One of the things I find hard in The Villages is that we all seem to think that our area of the country does things or has things or experiences things in the same way as all other areas of the country..

I got into a heated argument with a retired New York Police officer who told me I was misinformed about the area of Ohio where I lived and the fact that it had one murder in twenty years with close to a hundred thousand in population.

We come with preconceived ideas because our experiences give us those ideas.

I was at first shocked and surprised to find people who had guns who didn't hunt, but the world is changing. I would rather the good guys have guns. And maybe someday I will too.

I had several neighbors (in GA, recently) with concealed carry permits and the only thing they did was pay $75.

I believe when you apply for a concealed carry permit they do a computer background check for a criminal record and whether you have been committed for mental illness.

I had NY, NH, PA and CT concealed carry permits when I moved to FL. Now I have FL CCW. My FL CCW is good in 32 states but not NY or CT. My point is every time I applied for a new State CCW I had to go through all the background checks and fingerprinting, pay a fee etc. The only class I had to take was the NRA Basic Firearms Class and it was good in all the States I applied to. The applications and fees are specific to each state. In Florida all I had to do was include a copy of my NY permit since that is where I came from and do the above stuff pay a fee and I got it in about 6 weeks. So if you think it an easy process I would tend to disagree.

What? It is NOT an easy process? You took the NRA Basic Course one time! You had to pay for background check and fingerprint fees in all the states. It cost you money but that was not a difficult thing as long as you had the money.

You did NOT have to take the NRA course each time nor demonstrate skill each time. You just had to fill out paperwork and pay a state fee.

As I stated before, any veteran with an honorable discharge can get the CCW by payng only for fingerprints and processing fee (around $125). Very easy process in Florida. Yes, I imagine there are the application forms and the computerized background check. No classes or shooting test required.

Each time I moved and applied for a CCW I took the course again - to brush up and to retain an appropriate knowledge base. Rules do vary by state and the best way to update ones self is to take the current course. My wife has done the same, as have others I know. Not all of us are the drooling blatherers some would like to think.

Graciegirl, you always make me smile!

Sounds as though you and the missus have done it right. I imagine some states have different rules and regulations about concealed carry - where and where not the pistol can be legally carried, etc.

Keep them all in the 10 ring!

Well I did have to drive to the Sheriff in PA twice each time I renewed. They only accept applications and issue in person. Ha.

My wife always does. Me, not as often. She is much the better shot with a pistol.

You bring up some reasonable points but they will not get much traction in this forum. I don't believe the problem is lack of safety training but instead anyone who can fog a mirror and has the financial resourses can buy as many firearms and ammunition as they want. I was an NRA member for a number of years but could no longer support their position on firearm sales.
I personally would have no problem with gun registration. Due to lobbying we cannot even have an intelligent discussion about it.