JAB

  This has even scarier implications than what you mentioned.  Think of a scenario where the current or a future regime administration decides that you aren't voting the 'right' way.  All that need be done is to scour your phone records, etc. to find an instance or two of you breaking some obscure but felony-level law.  Wa-la, instant felon with a side dish of losing your voting rights forever.  Rinse and repeat a few thousand times and you could easily sabotage the opposition's ability to gain votes.  What better way to 'fix' subsequent elections?   People can holler about tin foil hats all they want but in a world where a government agency (the IRS) has been caught red-handed playing political favorites I say that the people who are out of touch with reality are the ones who deny the possibility.

To me, it isn't an issue of having, 'something to hide.'  Instead, privacy is an issue of personal liberty.  Personally, I'd rather live in a society where there is even as much as a 5% chance that I will be killed by a terrorist than live in a society where there is a 100% chance that Big Brother is constantly looking over my shoulder and privacy is dead.

Excerpted rom the article:     [sarcasm] Yep, sounds like another one of them blood-thirsty gun nuts, just waiting for her chance to shoot someone. :panic: [/sarcasm]

Oh, and I meant to say, "Nice shotgun, Steve32!"

  Nice write-ups but you left out one.  "All plastic" shells.  These aren't seen very often, anymore, but (like the paper ones) there are probably still some floating around.  When I first got a shotgun (late '80s) these were very common.  In fact, the first box or two of shells I got for my old single shot 12 gauge were all-plastics.  I got it for Christmas when I was 16 so that would have been 1987.  Unlike the plastic hulls that have either 'high brass' or 'low brass' rims, these were made almost entirely of plastic.  The primer was metal, of course.   Here is a link to a pic of an "all-plastic" shotgun shell:   http://www.oldammo.com/WinchesterPlastic.jpg

  And (on the television show, at least) a bad-ass redneck with a crossbow, a big knife, even bigger cajones and tracking skills who, once he decides you are his friend, is loyal to a fault - even to the point of being willing to ride alone, on a motorcycle, back into the midst of a full-on herd to try and save a member of the group even though that group member had recently [accidentally] shot him in the head with a rifle.

  I don't think it is legal for coyote, either.  Oh Shoot got the official word and that indicates that buckshot is not legal for hunting anything in Tennessee.       Further, coyote are considered 'game' in Tennessee.  If you double-check the regs, they are listed among 'furbearers' and hunting methods/equipment used to take them must comply with the regs for furbearers.  Now, there is no official season for taking coyote (open year round) and no bag limit but TN still has to find a way to make money off of hunting them includes them in 'small game'.

  Hey, man, no offense - just giving you a hard time trying to help you be sure to be prepared for all those potential variables.

    Apparently, some country 'artist' did a cover of "I Remember You" a few years back.  For some reason, I am thinking it was Taylor Swift and that it was a live cover but I can't be sure - I don't listen to the bubblegum pop with steel guitar that passes for modern, mainstream country and haven't ever since Garth Brooks and his contemporaries ruined the genre.  I do remember hearing that cover, though.   I am sure it was covered as a 'country' song some years back, though, because I remember seeing Sebastian Bach on a reality show where they took 'former' stars from other genres and let them compete to be the next country star.  In the first episode, they all had to pick a country song to sing (to inmates at a prison.)  As "I Remember You" had been covered by a country artist and had received at least some play on country stations, Sebastian Bach was able to get away with choosing that to be the 'country' song he performed.  Not surprisingly, he did the best job at 'covering' his chosen song in that challenge.  So I guess, in a way, Sebastian Bach had already decided that "I Remember You" works as a country song (or, at least, vetted the decision.)   Oh, and Shooter Jennings is really good.  I got to see him at the TVA&I Fair in Knoxville a few years back and he/his band sounded great live, too.   Even more than Shooter Jennings, though, I can't figure out why Chris Knight isn't more well known.  Another 'modern country' artist I like is Jamey Johnson.

  Nah, nothing against high capacity.  It is just that I look at it as a 'quality vs. quantity' issue.  Personally, I feel that 00 Buckshot offers better stopping potential (quality) for a close quarters, home invasion scenario than an AR so, for me, the quantity isn't as much of an issue.  That is just my approach.     But that Barret only has a ten round magazine.  Would you really want to depend on something with such a low ammo capacity for survival? :cool:  What if, while attempting to survive, you run into a group of trained grizzlies wearing armor?  Gotta be ready for those potential variables, no matter how unlikely! :pleased:

  But that Barret only has a ten round magazine.  Would you really want to depend on something with such a low ammo capacity for survival? :cool:

  I don't know - I'm thinking a huge WALMART stamp that would be at least 50% as wide as the average box of ammo and a comparably sized price stamp.  Yeah, I guess a really industrious reseller could still cover that up but   A. it would be pretty obvious and B. it would mean they would have to spend the time and energy to cover it up   Now, I realize it would also meant that someone would have to take the time/energy to put the stamp on in the first place but that could just be part of the duties for their sporting goods employees - and a stamp would be much quicker and take less effort than putting stickers over the stamps.

  So, just what kind of ninja death squads have you pissed off that, after you blow a couple of them away with a shotgun, the rest will keep coming after you?   If you are more comfortable with a higher capacity HD weapon then that is a personal decision and that is your right.  For myself, however, I just have trouble believing that - even if the intruder in question isn't killed - getting shot with a round or two of 00 buckshot wouldn't effectively deter an intruder and dissuade any fellows who may be with him from continuing their attempts to enter.

  Federal auto match may well be my favorite of the 'bulk pack' stuff.  Hopefully I'll get to head to Rockwood this evening after work.  Double hopefully, maybe they'll have some left.  If so, they'll have two or three fewer when I get done.

  You mean CCI bulk packs?  I have heard that some Walmart locations stock them but don't recall ever seeing those at any of my local Walmart stores.  Maybe you just meant the 'regular' (50 or 100 round) boxes - the local WMs do stock those.  Well, theoretically, at least.  I haven't seen any in a long time.

  My first handgun was also a Titan .25.  Got it as a gift from my mom for my 18th birthday (that would have been 1989.)  She bought it at the Sweetwater Flea Market (when folks still sold handguns at flea markets) for $50 and it was like new, in the box with manual and other papers.  It shot great and was reliable - despite the fact that I wasn't aware of how important keeping a gun - especially a semiauto - cleaned and lubed is.  Unfortunately, it disappeared from my mom's house - I am almost certain that one of my sticky fingered relatives took it.  I bought another one like it a year or so ago just for the nostalgia and because I always enjoyed shooting the little thing.   The first handgun I bought for myself was a later model (serial number is in a range that were built around 1976) Colt Police Positive.  I still have it and doubt I will ever part with it  for a couple of reasons.  One reason is that it was my first revolver and my first handgun in a 'real' defensive cartridge.  Another reason is that it is my only Colt.  Perhaps the biggest reason, however, is the source from which I got it.  See, the father of a good friend of mine (actually, I consider his dad a friend, too) owned it before me.  He had slipped on some ice and fell onto concrete stairs, breaking his neck.  He actually regained some mobility but was never going to be able to shoot, again.  They weren't necessarily just itching to sell the Colt but when he and my friend found out that the only handgun I had for HD was my Titan .25 they offered to sell it to me at 'buddy price'.  See, while attendign UT, I lived on East Fifth in Knoxville, just off of Magnolia, at my grandmother's house - not the best or safest neighborhood.  My buddy knew how bad things could get in that neighborhood because, at the time, he was a special deputy who worked night security at the Knoxville Zoo (which is only a few blocks away from where I lived.)  As I was in college at the time, I would have had a hard time affording 'full price' on a decent revolver and certainly on such a nice Colt.    It wasn't too long after buying it that I called upon the Colt to help me dissuade three guys who were attempting to break down our front door in the middle of the night.  One look at the business end of that six shooter and they high-tailed it, never to return.    My friend's dad has since passed and I don't even shoot the Colt all that much, anymore.  Every time I shoot it or even look at it, though, I am reminded of how the two of them put concern for my safety and ability to protect myself over getting the full price that the Colt might have brought.  I am also reminded of how the presence of that .38 (and, I think, my obvious willingness to use it) along with the barking of the little chihuahua I had at the time (her barking woke me up), quite possibly saved my life and the life of my grandmother.  Yeah, there isn't a lot that could get that one away from me.

  I think that is the real problem with the pawnshops I have hit.  They aren't going to negotiate much on price because they know someone who doesn't know any better than to pay their jacked-up price will be in there within a day or two.

  Mom and pops, mostly in smaller towns (Sweetwater, Madisonville, Lenoir City, Loudon, etc.) but have been in a couple in Knoxville.

  The thing is, I did.  As far back as last summer, I was telling family members that I had a feeling there was another ammo shortage coming and that this time it would include .22LR.  Even then, I sat out to build an onhand supply of .22LR (mostly bulk packs.)  Because of that, I didn't exactly get caught with my pants down - but I am still kicking myself.   My problem is that I was too picky.  For some reason, it seems that the only bulk pack ammo I was finding at the local Walmart locations and many of the sporting goods stores was the Remington 225 packs.  For some reason, Federal and Winchester bulk packs were not as prevalent - and this was months before the ammo craze.  I haven't had the best of luck with Remington bulk in the past (more 'duds' than any other brand and less accurate) so I only picked up one or two of those.  Well, at some point I read on one forum that Remington had improved that ammo so I opened one of the boxes to test it out and found that, indeed, the ammo seemed to ignite more consistently and was even a bit more accurate, at least from my handguns.  I decided to start buying a couple of boxes here and there to shore up my .22LR supply.  Unfortunately, that was about the time the shortage hit.  So, while I am not 'hurting' for .22LR ammo, I certainly don't have enough to shoot as much as I was, before.   As an aside to all of this, I still have to wonder why Winchester and Federal bulk pack .22LR ammo seemed to become scarce last summer.  I also have to wonder if there was some kind of interruption in the supply, back then, that contributed to the current .22LR scarcity.

  It seems like there was some or another movie/show I saw (can't remember exactly what) where - sort of like the OP referenced from 'Men in Black' - rather than keeping every 'conspiracy', etc. hush hush, printing the 'truth' in tabloids was seen as the best way to ensure that no one would believe it even if someone found out and revealed the 'truth' to the general public.

  Yeah, when we first got there (and waited for about an hour to get a table) I wasn't just nuts about the 'touristy' nature of LuLu's but the live music they had the night we went was great and the atmosphere after they started playing was good.  It ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.  It wouldn't be on my 'must go' list but if I were going to be in Gulf Shores long enough I would go back.   For those who don't know, the 'Lulu' of 'Lulu's' is Lucy 'Lulu' Buffet - Jimmy Buffet's sister.  Naturally, the menu features her version of a Cheeseburger in Paradise, among other things.

  That seems to be absolutely true.  My problem is that I have been in multiple pawnshops in various cities in East Tennessee and the story is always the same.  Things like that RG I mentioned earlier or similar pricing.  Also, I have (on occasion, but not always) asked, "How much could you knock off that price," and it is usually no more than five or ten bucks, if that - leaving the price still ridiculously high.  Usually, though, the response I get is that the sticker price is not very flexible because, "Oh, I've gotta have that out of it to make my money back."

  Another interesting facet that kind of goes along with 'jury nullification' is that a judge can set aside a 'guilty' verdict if he/she doesn't believe the evidence in the case supports such a verdict.  However, a judge cannot set aside a 'not guilty' verdict even if the defendant clearly broke the law.  IANAL but to my understanding, that is at least one way a jury can 'nullify' - by finding a defendant 'not guilty' even if there is no doubt he/she broke the law due to a belief on the part of the jury that the law, itself, is unjust OR a belief that the defendant broke the law but did so for a 'good reason' or was justified in doing so by extenuating circumstances and, therefore, should not be punished.

Just think - you are now as 'close' to 50 as you are to 30.   I turn 42 later this month.  I am closer to 50 than I am to 30.

  Hmmm...there is a place called Bahama Bob's (I should have mentioned that one, before - it is quite tasty and, like King Neptune's, is one of our 'must go' places when in Gulf Shores.)  Just a little hole in the wall - the back of the restaurant faces onto the beach - that I think of as a really good 'lunch' place.  Pretty laid back with people walking right up off of the beach to eat.  There isn't a lot of parking so that can be a PITA but well worth it, IMO.  They have really good po' boys.  I have had a fried oyster po' boy there that was excellent.  I think that is the only place in Gulf Shores where I have had fried oysters.  When we have eaten at Bahama Bob's, they also had good fried crawfish tails.   Here is a link to the website for King Neptune's:   http://www.kingneptuneseafoodrestaurant.com/     and this is a link to the website for Bahama Bob's:   http://www.bahamabobs.com/