Danger Rane

What kind of legal philosophy do you recommend in this instance? The failure of some of these businesses to take responsible precautions to deter/slow down/prevent these types of thefts is just gas on the fire for the anti gun folks, it's not going to help our cause.

The gun stores with nothing but glass storefronts getting hit and loosing 20-30 guns at a time doesn't help the situation you are describing. I actually wouldn't mind seeing some regulation requiring better security at these places since they aren't responsible enough to enact it themselves.

If the $300k price range you mentioned is for land alone you might have some options for decent acreage. You might look into Chapel Hill and Culleoka. They are still kind of small town feel but starting to grow. As for snobby dogs needing grooming yes there are plenty of those out here (unfortunately my wife has one) so she should have no problem finding work grooming. There are even a couple ladies around that have tiny trailers they tow to people's homes to groom, and charge a premium for it. You mentioned being handy, there will be plenty of side work available as the majority of the people moving to middle TN don't seem to know or want to do things for themselves. I make decent money working as a handyman on the side, it's almost cringeworthy how simple some of the tasks are that people pay me to do. If people spent a little more time studying at the University of YouTube they could save themselves a lot of money.

If I left my truck gun laying out on the dash with nothing but a piece of glass between it and a potential thief people would call me stupid, and rightly so. I'm not sure why it's any different for the gun shops that just have glass doors and glass cases, especially with how frequently these heists are occurring with similar MO. I'm not usually one in favor of more rules/regulations/laws/etc but at some point enough is enough, all these guns are going straight to the street for nefarious intent.

Keeping in mind that churches (especially large ones) can often be as risk averse as any business, I interpreted John's comment about the LEO type training to be a wind out of the sails argument/solution for those that would not want to implement security teams due to possible legal risk involved. Havinging helped a couple churches establish and implement similar security protocols I can say that their biggest concern is usually the perceived risk of a churchgoer dropping/loosing a firearm that a child could pick up or someone accidentally shooting someone. Believe it or not many pastors and church administrators are not gun people, some are, but most I have encountered are not, so they often have to be educated. With the uptick in these types of attacks maybe some will educate themselves and be more open to reasonable security measures. My dad is a pastor of a small church in California and he has been carrying in the pulpit for years. He said that he has the best view in the house from the pulpit and he shoots/trains regularly to maintain proficiency. He takes being the shepard of the flock seriously in many ways. I know the Warrior Poet personally and I can assure you that he does not think that everyone needs to have LEO training to carry a gun, though as a firearms instructor he obviously feels passionate about people bettering themselves through training if possible. I don't think anyone can argue with the benefits of that.

Any reports on the method of entry? Hopefully not another glass front store with no security bars.

That's impressive. I just upgraded to an iPhone 7 so I guess I need to start practicing your lighting suggestions, thanks.

David I have to ask, what are you using to get pictures of this quality? I'm guessing a real camera of some sort, not the phone variety?

If it's making a ring on the brass on some and ripping others in the same place I would recommend he disassemble and check the chamber for abnormalities. I would also chamber a round and extract it without firing to see if it leaves this ring before or after case expansion. Did he buy this new or was it previously owned? If new I agree with your recommendation, send it back and DD will make it right.

I should query the OP whether he wants to know what I think is the best or what I think is the best that I can afford I recently had the opportunity to shoot a Nighthawk 1911 in 9mm that made my pants tight in weird ways and gave me the warm fuzzies like a teenager copping his first feel. But alas, I have 4 kids so that gun won't be in my budget this side of who knows how many years of college. As for what I think is best that I can also afford; a G17 Gen 4 for full size, a G19 Gen 3or4 midsize, and a Kahr for compact/single stack. As to the why....I'm a fan of Glock for their affordability, shoot-ability, reliability, ease of maintenance, ease of upgrades, etc, etc, etc. I'm also a fan of having a work gun that I don't give any thought to it getting banged around. While I do have a few safe queens that I'm proud of, none of my Glocks are in that category, and I don't think I've ever spent more than $500 on any of my Glocks. I mentioned the Kahr as my preference for compact 9mm. While I do like the single stack Glocks I like the Kahr in that size a bit better, and I like the Kahr trigger a lot better. I have the MK9 which is a great shooter for that size, but the all steel construction makes it pretty heavy/awkward to pocket carry at times.

Not sure if this qualifies for this thread as I don't have any pics to add and I technically wasn't the one doing the shooting, but I would be remiss not to mention a shooting event that occurred this weekend at Strategic Edge in Chapel Hill. Strategic Edge hosted a group called A Soldier's Child Foundation which is comprised of Gold Star kids of various ages (there were 9-20year olds at the range) that come together from around the country and hang out together and participate in various outdoor activities. I had honestly never heard of the group before this, but it's worth reading up on. They are out of Murfreesboro as best I can tell and have a lot of their gatherings based out of the Deer Run Camp. Anyway, seeing these kids come out to the range, some of whom had never shot before, was truely awesome! They shot everything from .22 pistols, ARs, recurve bows, shotguns, all the way up to a bolt action .50 cal! I think the joy on their faces was equally matched by that of the range members that brought their own guns and ammo out for the kids to shoot. There were some truely amazing guns on the line, and the kids got to shoot as much or as little as they wanted. There were several that even hit the 1000yrd target with the .50 and a couple long range rigs. While the kids may or may not have realized that they were experiencing a once in a lifetime opportunity that many firearms enthusiasts would have paid dearly for, it was sobering to contemplate the sacrifice and loss that these kids and their families had experienced. As you can imagine there were certainly some underlying emotions at play, probably just as much for the volunteers that participated. I'm just glad to know that there are organizations out there like A Soldier's Child that are trying to enrich and brighten the lives of these youth that we all owe a dept of gratitude for.

Welcome to the group!

Nothing wrong in my mind about carrying that 1911, bare bones or not. But since you are asking about a compact 9mm I'm guessing you are not wanting to carry the size/weight of the 1911, is that correct? So the next hurdle would be whatever your budget is. If at all possible I would keep the .45 and the ammo reserve you have for it, and buy yourself a compact 9 and start building your reserve for that. Either way, welcome to TGO!

I think you made my point. Who's going to look at their friend's gun that he is clearly proud of and talk crap about it? The conversation would likely have gone differently had your Beretta not been the opener. Back in 1987/1988 while the Beretta was in acceptance testing my with the military, several NSW operators were injured due to slides breaking and the back of the slide coming off the gun striking them in the face. As a result NSW as a whole went away from the Berreta and went with the Sig. Non-SOF Navy and the rest of the services went with the Beretta, but only after an engineering change to prevent further injuries. If you remove the left side grip panel of your Beretta you will see a penny sized circle that sits right below the slide. A portion of this circle rides in a slot in the slide and will prevent the rear of the slide from coming of the frame if/when there is a slide breakage, which usually only happened at a very high round count. A round count beyond what most service members and civilian users will reach. If you note, the Brigadier model is substantially reinforced in the troublesome slide area. To be clear, I think the Beretta is a very accurate gun in single action, and I have shot more rounds than I can count through several of them. I have had some malfunctions with them, but as I said it an earlier post, they were environmental related. If they had been even reasonably clean, which was impossible at the time, I have no doubt that they would have performed flawlessly. The Berettas are not my cup of tea, but I would never put down someone that had one, as it will most likely serve them well. Not that my opinion should matter to anyone at all, just as yours does not matter to me, but I am happy that you like your Beretta. With as many options as we have, no one should have a gun they don't like. My only reason for engaging with you at all in this thread was your antagonistic approach and responses. While I don't care about your opinion I do take issue with your attitude which is why I responded in kind.

And their opinion on the M9 was?

Awesome! I sincerely appreciate your son's service. I will note that unless he is in MARSOC he probably doesn't have a choice in his handgun selection like I mentioned above, and one of the excellent traits about Marines is they make do and accomplish the mission, even under less than favorable conditions and often with antiquated equipment compared to the rest of the services. It does not surprise me that you know many SEALs, but it does surprise me that you have the view of the M9 that you have if you talk firearms with them very often. I encourage you to ask them about NSW's opinion on the M9 and then please share with the group.

That's a very presumptuous, uninformed, and ignorant comment to make (fake news). Have you actually talked with many military personnel that have routinely had their M9s in the sand and swamps that had great things to say about them? Just because someone is in the military and carries an M9 does not mean it gets used, and certainly does not mean it sees harsh conditions, aside from dust bunny accumulation in a holster. Hell, less than 10-15% of the military even work in harsh conditions, especially in the last 15 years. I think it is telling that the units that have discretionary funding and authority to test, choose, and purchase nonstandard sidearms started going away from the M9 as far back as 2005. While many of their support personnel still carry M9s, the guys getting down and dirty in the sand and swamps have been carrying Glocks for years. Next time you run into SEAL ask them why they won't touch a Beretta and instead use MK25s (Sig226) and Glock 19s. Your trolling skills suck, at least put some effort in.

Just curious what your end game is with this post? You asked for people's opinions but are responding to their responses like a dick. I don't think anyone here is trying to talk you into a Glock. You asked for opinions and people are giving them. Regardless of the topic (Glocks, 9mm vs .45, Kardashians) your methodology here is flawed and rude. Im happy for you that all your guns are great, and I'm happy that mine are great for me......what's the problem with that?

This is an instance of beauty in the eye of the beholder, I love the way my Glocks look; plain, black, simple lines.......and they work, every time I pull the trigger. I've used Glocks, Sigs, and Berettas extensively overseas, and I've had several environmental induced malfunctions with Sigs and Berettas, but not the Glocks. Don't get me wrong, these were tough conditions that would have choked out most weapon systems, but the Glocks kept chugging, even grittier than a wet SEAL rolled in sand. As for esthetics, while I have nothing per say against the look of most Sigs, I dislike the look of most Berettas, and pretty much all H&K handguns. Thankfully, the beauty of Americas' great gun culture is that it is a cornucopia of options, so even though we may not agree on which ones we favor, we can all walk away with a lighter wallet and a bang stick we can be proud of.

Following, as I'm curious too. I've been very pleased with my other Vortex products.

That's a great idea! Visual training aids work a lot better for most than just saying "don't put your booger pickers up there".

We have enjoyed Rock City and Ruby Falls on a couple of our visits to Chattanooga. Both involve walking but nothing strenuous. http://www.seerockcity.com/ http://www.rubyfalls.com/

Prayers sent for your little guy.

Me thinks Bilzerian should stick to poker and coked up instagram models.

I was not at all surprised by the Seahawks and Steelers dong this, but the Titans.....didn't see that coming. The whole thing is a disgrace. They obviously need to think a bit about what the "N" in that little NFL logo on their uniform represents.