JAB

I am moving my reply to the other thread because it makes more sense, there.

I'd bet that Reginald Denny wished he had taken that approach, too.

I am not saying I would run over the morons. I am saying I would drive right through, just like the white hatchback at the end of the video, and if they get bumped because they wouldn't move then they are in the wrong, not me. If they decide that they want to try and specifically block me by surrounding my car, etc. then it becomes a threat, just as you said.

'Just standing there' in the middle of the road is a whole, lot different than, 'just standing there,' on the sidewalk. These idiot protesters should have been arrested.

I fail to see how the thread I started - the subject of which is body cam footage being available to the public in order to hold officers accountable if they engage in unlawful or unethical behavior or to prove that the officer did not engage in such behavior - has to do with officers doing their jobs, keeping the peace and lawfully removing people who are creating a traffic hazard and potentially damaging other people's property. "Don't cuff someone and then have you and six of your fellow officers gather around and kick the crap out of them," and "Police should remember that they are public servants and should treat the general public in a professional, courteous manner," is a whole world away from, "Let people get away with anything and everything, don't arrest them and don't try to use reasonable, legal means to put a stop to it." Are you saying that officers cannot do their jobs without going outside the law, using excessive and unreasonable force and beating on people whether they deserve it or not? I have a hard time believing and I also have a hard time believing that the majority of officers really believe that, either. However, you were a cop and I wasn't so maybe most cops do believe that. I'd hate to think so, however.

Well, I think a 'great deal' would be if there were no cost or maybe a minimal processing fee (five or ten bucks) but for those who are likely to be around and have a permit long enough that they would end up spending more than $200 in their lifetime then it is pretty good, relatively speaking. Honestly, if a person can pay X amount and be good to go for the rest of his or her life then why can't the $115 we pay when originally applying be enough? Why does having $200 to shell out all at once make someone any more 'safe' to carry than someone who shells out $50 for a four year renewal, etc.? Is there some, magic database that costs $200 to access but that can show the state that you will never commit a crime or any violation that would make you ineligible for an HCP? Does it cost less to print an expiration date on a permit card than it does to print 'life time' or whatever? Truthfully, it probably costs the state a lot less to issue one time, lifetime permits. Honestly, it shows that the HCP system in TN is about making money for the state more than anything else.

I had no idea that a Husqvarna could be had for around $40, about the same price as an Estwing, etc. I thought they ran into roughly the same price ranges and the GBs, Wetterlings and son on. I just made a ring belt to carry gear when I am trail walking (I am not doing anything hardcore enough to feel justified to call it 'hiking', just yet) and am about to make a leather and brass ring axe/hatchet/tomahawk carrier for use with the belt and plan to make sheaths for a couple of hatchets and for my CRKT Woods Chogan tomahawk to carry as part of the belt system. Right now I honestly like the Woods Chogan far better than any hatchet or even small axe I have ever used but I have never owned a really high quality hatchet. Heck, the one I have right now is a Harbor Freight hatchet. I have done a lot to it to make it look much nicer as well as putting a good edge on it and it performs much better than I expected but the only thing it has over the Woods Chogan is that the shorter handle makes it easier to carry (but also, in turn, is probably part of the reason the Chogan performs better.) I might have to look in to one of those Husqvarnas, especially if I get more heavily into hatchet usage.

Two assailants approached an off-duty sheriff's deputy in Colorado. Based on my reading of the story they intended to rob him and probably didn't know he was a deputy. Anyhow, during the course of the incident one of the assailants was shot in the leg and arrested. Unfortunately, the deputy was also wounded. The really interesting thing in the story, however, is that one of the deputy's shots appears to have gone right down the barrel of a pistol being wielded by one of the assailants. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/deputy-fires-1-in-a-billion-shot-into-suspects-gun-barrel/ar-BBuldnh?ocid=ansmsnnews11

I am continually amazed at the interesting and informative videos that can be found on YouTube stuck in among the latest feud between two people of whom I have never heard or advice for applying mascara. I have skinned, broken down, trimmed and processed a deer by myself (never killed one - not for a lack of trying - but have butchered deer that I have been given) but I honestly don't believe I would have had any idea as to where to even start on a 'gator before watching this video. Now, that doesn't mean that I necessarily think I could do a good job of it even with the video but at least now I have some idea of the process involved. What may be the most interesting part, to me, is that they don't even gut the dang thing. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO SHOWS A REAL ANIMAL BEING BUTCHERED FOR FOOD. I CONSIDER THE 'GORE FACTOR' OF THE VIDEO TO BE QUITE LOW, ACTUALLY, BUT YMMV.

Cool. I applied back when the first big push to get the HCP hit (hard to believe it was eight years ago, now) and it very nearly took the entire three months for mine to arrive in the mail. As for waiting for a long time at the DMV, I am lucky enough to live fairly close to one of their offices that is fairly small, serves a couple of small towns and is rarely crowded. When I went in to renew this most recent time I didn't even sit in the waiting room at all. Walked up to the counter, filled out the paperwork at the counter, got processed, paid and was out of there. Of course it just so happened that I was in that area for a very early medical appointment, anyhow, so I went in there about ten minutes after they opened. The last time I renewed there it was the middle of the day. They gave me the paperwork and a clipboard, I went and sat in the lobby to fill out said paperwork and they called me up as I was finishing the last line or two of the paperwork. Now, I took my mom there when it was time to renew hers and it was a day that school was out so there were a lot of hopeful new drivers there to get licenses, etc. On top of that, their computers weren't working just right. I think it took a whole thirty minutes to get in and out that time - maybe forty five. Still, when renewal time comes again I will most likely go for the lifetime. If I had done it this time it would have still been $500. Not a bargain.

Ha! New from Hersheys, a confectioners tribute to the Tennessee Legislature - the SNAFUBAR. It is, of course, full of nuts as well as empty calories which really contribute nothing to the flavor, texture or nutritional value. As for the rest of the ingredients, like most of the legislation they pass, we really aren't sure what the hell is in there but regardless it is probably pretty useless. Sorry, your combining of 'SNAFU' and 'FUBAR' really struck me as funny. As for the birth date on the license, yeah, I thought it might be a mistake so when I went in person to renew my permit I asked about it. The lady at the counter told me that it isn't a mistake and that now driver's licenses expire (after eight years, of course) on the date that they were renewed/processed.

Just to add a little to the details: My renewed HCP arrived in the mail earlier this week. Unlike TN driver's licenses which now expire after an eight year period on the day they were renewed rather than on our birthday as was the case previously, my HCP - which previously expired in August of every four years - now expires on my birthday in June of 2021. Geez.

Must have been some confusion. I said that zombies change things because we would be dealing with hordes of attackers who would not be shooting back. What I meant by that was in that scenario I would value higher capacity over brute force plus one would be able to take their time a little more and go for head shots as one would not be worried about incoming fire (just incoming - hopefully Walking Dead style, fairly slow moving - corpses.)

Well, now, a 'zombie apocalypse' scenario changes things as we are now talking about hordes of assailants who would not be shooting back. I don't own a Beretta Neos but for that kind of situation I just might have to opt for a Neos with the carbine conversion kit. That is still only one gun - it just (easily?) converts from a pistol to a carbine and back, again. If we are talking about Walking Dead zombies then apparently a good bump on the head will take them out so .22LR should be enough and it would be fairly quiet. The biggest drawback would possibly be ammo reliability. As for ammo availability, if we are suspending disbelief enough to be fighting zombies then we can take it a little further and suspend disbelief enough to buy that .22LR ammo is still easy to find. Of course, being that the rule of law probably isn't going to apply in a zombie apocalypse maybe I would still go with the GP100 and simply make some kind of home-made 'buntline' type setup for it. Or maybe even do a self-build along the lines of a Serbu super-shorty. Heck, for that matter I'd probably try to locate a National Guard walker or two and pick up something with select fire. For dinosaurs are we talking Jurassic Park where there are just a few that have escaped or are we talking a full-on, global return to life? For the first scenario it might be interesting to see what my Mosin-Nagant would do. Of course, just because it might penetrate the skull of a T-Rex doesn't mean it would be effective. If you have ever seen a T Rex skull or full-sized model up close, they were quite large. Big enough that they could probably fit a 5 year old child in their mouth without having to chomp them into bites, first. It is possible/probable that T-Rex had some empty channels/chambers/air spaces in their skulls so it wouldn't be like you were trying to shoot through thick, solid bone. Their brain, however, was pretty small. In other words, hitting their head would be easy, penetrating the bone would be possible but hitting the brain would probably be quite difficult unless you knew exactly where to aim and got them to stand still while you did. So for the first scenario where there are just a few, isolated dinosaurs running loose I guess my Mosin-Nagant would work as long as I know exactly where to target. For the second scenario - worldwide return of dinosaurs - I'd say, "Take off and nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

You are probably right. In fact, as long as a 'permit', fees, jumping through hoops and so on are required to carry in this state then HCP holders should have the same rights/restrictions for carry as police officers - at least off duty police officers. The way it is now is downright stupid because even after all the background checks and so on, the state is basically saying that we are trustworthy enough to carry around the general public, including children, parents, teachers and others, in Walmart, at the gas station, in restaurants and walking down the sidewalk but stepping through the door of a school (or a government building - I find it sadly ironic that the driver's services centers where we go to renew our HCPs in person are posted) suddenly makes us dangerous and untrustworthy to carry around those same children, parents, teachers and others. There is absolutely no logic to that - not that I expect the government at any level to be logical..

I think my posting wasn't clear. I wasn't saying that I don't understand why private colleges are treated differently that public ones. Instead, I was saying that there should be absolutely no difference between how a private college is treated regarding this issue vs how any private business is treated. In other words, rather than laying out 'rules' stating that private colleges would need to come up with their own carry policy it should simply say that 'private colleges will be viewed the same under the law as any, other private business.' By that, I mean that the way I read the law it still seems that carry on a private campus is illlegal by default until and unless the college specifically creates a carry policy. Instead, the default should be that it is legal to carry there unless a policy is developed which restricts carry - just like any, other private business. I believe that if private colleges want to restrict or prohibit carry they should have to actually make the effort to do so rather than being off limits by default with the effort required only if they want to allow carry. My understanding is that before the change private colleges were treated just like any, other school - which is not the correct approach. Now, there are distinctions made between private and public colleges but it appears that private colleges are still viewed differently under the law than other private businesses. That is the part with which I take issue.

No question - my Ruger GP100 (or a similar, four inch barreled .357 revolver.) Four inch barrel is enough to get pretty good 'oomph' out of stout .357 loads while still being concealable. Being an overbuilt Ruger revolver, I wouldn't worry about shooting those stout loads out of it (I don't mean 'overdriven' loads, just good, stout loads.) I also believe that such a revolver would be capable of taking any wild game in the continental United States. In fact, unless I am mistaken, as part of the publicity for the roll out of the then new .357 Magnum cartridge and handgun, D.B. Wesson harvested every large game animal in the country with a .357 handgun - someone correct me if I am wrong. The .357 cartridge is also plenty capable of stopping two-legged predators. The revolver can also fire .38 Special and .38 +P ammo - which, honestly, would probably be plenty for the aforementioned two-legged predators. My decision is also influenced by the fact that .38 Special is the only ammo I have reloaded (and it is pretty easy to do.) Now, would I expect to survive a conflict with five or six armed, determined attackers armed 'only' with the GP100 and a few speed strips? Well, I guess that depends on what kind of cover I can find but honestly, no. However, Rambo fantasies aside, folks should ask themselves if they really think they would walk away from the same conflict - with the same amount of cover - with a semiauto pistol or even a shotgun or rifle. If so, those folks are certainly more of an 'operator' than I will ever be. Reality is that, generally speaking, numbers are going to win and five or six folks shooting at me are probably going to shut me down before even my 'low capacity' six shooter runs dry so I personally believe that the whole 'semiautos have greater ammo capacity' thing is a non-issue in such a situation. But, hey, that is just my choice.

If that is the case then it was probably intended to prevent a 'loophole' that might allow work-study students to carry. The idiots in Nashville probably didn't even stop to consider that some full-time employees might want to take the opportunity to further their own education as they are on a college campus on a daily basis, anyhow. Heck, full-time instructors with Masters degrees would, it seems, be disqualified even if they had completed course work and were only 'enrolled' to work on their doctoral thesis in order to gain a PhD.

I don't think anyone should tell them what they can or cannot do with their property. That doesn't mean I don't reserve the right to think that they are unbridled idiots.

I don't think it is that these individuals are 'just now' discovering guns. I do think, however, that the individuals among that group who are really cognizant of the need to be prepared for self defense or who even own, much less carry, a gun are probably the minority. Heck, the author of the opinion piece in the OP even says as much. I guess because (broadly speaking) the 'community' is more likely to be aligned with the left on other issues the whole 'anti-gun' ideology kind of comes with the package. The beauty is that if, as a 'community', the majority of such individuals could be convinced otherwise then that would likely greatly serve to erode the left's support base on gun control not only among LGBT individuals but also among others who might stand a greater chance of having their opinions swayed by individuals who are, otherwise, still going to be more left-leaning than by more conservative groups.

The ratio would probably go up at least a tiny bit more if those of the ages between 18 and 20 were factored out as one must be 21 to get an HCP. I don't know if that would take it to 1 in 7 but with those you mentioned being factored out, as well, 1 in 8 sounds like a pretty solid, scientific WAG.

Keep in mind, however, that much of the 'newer' .380 self defense ammo was developed just in the last decade or so and was developed with the P3AT as the test platform. In other words, such ammo was designed in response to the .380 pocket gun surge that was created by the P3AT (heck, it was popular enough that Ruger copied it) and in some cases virtually built from the ground up to work in the smallest .380 semiauto out there. I think that was a unique case because .380 wasn't all that popular in this country, before, so there wasn't a whole lot of choice before ammo companies responded to the then new demand. In some ways, it caused ammo companies that wanted a portion of the profits from selling .380 ammo to reinvent the wheel where .380 self defense bullets and loads were concerned. Full disclosure, though, I must admit I still mostly carry Hydra Shok in mine - it doesn't expand as well as some others in testing but seems to give some expansion and really good penetration plus when I first started carrying the P3AT it was about all I could find so it has been thoroughly function tested in mine. The situation is different with 9mm, however. There are already plenty of choices for SD ammo in 9mm on the market. There are even some that are supposed to be good for 'short barreled' pistols. My guess would be, however, that when such ammo was developed 'short barrel' meant a pistol that wasn't quite as large as a duty pistol, not micro 9 pocket pistols. Therefore, again - just guessing - I would imagine that none of those loads and bullets have been developed 'from the ground up' specifically with a micro 9 as the test platform and really - unlike .380 before the pocket .380 craze - as there is no dearth of 9mm SD ammo to choose from I would be surprised if ammo manufacturers expend the R&D time and money to do so in any, big way. Does this mean that a pocket 9 wouldn't still be more powerful than a pocket .380? Probably not - but due to bullets and loads having been designed specifically for micro .380 pistols I do believe that the 'end user' performance gap is probably a lot more narrow than one might think. Another factor is power for size. Honestly, I still believe that .380 is kind of pushing the reliability envelope in such small, lightweight guns, not to mention shootability. Heck, there is a reason I usually prefer my S&W 642 over the P3AT for pocket carry. Personally, I just don't know that I could truly trust an itty-bitty 9mm or my ability to not 'limp wrist' the little beastie under the kind of stress that fighting for my life would generate.

Very nice. I also have a question. Is it possible to get strips of Kydex that are made all in one length and the correct width for making a belt or did you have to cut several strips from a larger piece?

Late to the thread but you really should add some kind of thin, strong cordage/rope to the speargun and name the whole rig 'Scorpion'. You could engrave, "Get over here!" on one side and, "Scorpion Wins. Fatality!" on the other. Of course if you have never played Mortal Kombat then you will have no idea what the hell I am talking about.

I would have done that except those of us whose renewal dates fall between last April (when the change for a lifetime permit from $500 to $200 was passed) and next January (when the change officially takes place) are getting screwed over because if I renewed for lifetime now the price would still be $500. I really don't understand the need for the eight month delay except that it might make the state more $$$ from those who aren't aware of the change and get the lifetime before next January.