JAB

All of my carry guns are either DAO or DA/SA. My Ruger P95 and my CZ 82 both have the option of using a manual safety but, as they both also have the option of 'decocking' and carrying in DA/SA mode I do not carry them with the safety engaged. Having a DA pull for the first shot or being a DAO, to my thinking, makes them plenty safe without a safety. Heck, my 642 is DAO, I don't worry about it being 'safe' to carry and I don't think anyone would ever worry about a J-frame not having a manual safety so, to me, what's the difference? I would not carry a Glock or other, striker fired type pistol. I am sure they are plenty 'safe' if handled properly but I would not feel comfortable carrying one. Likewise, I don't think I would carry any gun 'cocked and locked'. Again, plenty of people do and have for some time - I'm just not sure that it is for me.

This is the only show I go to expecting that I might actually buy a gun and not just supplies, etc. There is one dealer - the guy whose tables are generally 'on the floor' (not against one of the walls) as you walk in the door. I believe he has a brick and mortar store but he brings a lot of merchandise to the show that he doesn't want to stock in the store for one reason or another. Sometimes it is because there is damage or the gun doesn't work but often the guns are simply cosmetically worn (but in fine, working order.) Others aren't even worn but are simply not 'big name' guns (I have seen many H&R revolvers in his cases.) Personally, I like guns that are 'shooters'. I don't, generally, buy 'collector' guns nor do I buy a gun to be a safe queen. Over the course of several of these shows, from that dealer I have bought: Shotguns (a Sears model bolt action with adjustable choke and a Savage 94C - both 20 gauge) : Handguns (an H&R 930 9 shot .22 revolver and a FIE Titan .25acp) : The H&R looked like this when I brought it home: but with a little Flitz and some elbow grease it turned out to be pretty nice: The Titan was for nostalgic reasons more than anything (my first handgun was a Titan .25 and it was stolen.) This is it lying on top of my P3AT for a size comparison : Finally, I have bought one rifle from that dealer, a Winchester 190: As I said, none of them are 'high dollar' guns but all are quite serviceable. The best part is that every, single one of them had price tags that were under $100. I honestly look forward to these shows much more than the RK shows as I rarely if ever see anything I would consider a 'reasonable price', much less a bargain, at the RK shows. I do like the RK shows for the availability of things like magazines, ammo, reloading supplies and the like but if I am looking to buy a gun (without anything too specific in mind) it will be the Maryville show all the way. I will say, though, that if that one dealer doesn't make it to the show then the Maryville one is pretty much a waste of time. Everything else is pretty much on par with the RK shows - there is just a lot less of it and no, real loading supply dealers, magazine dealers and so on.

I have the same impression when folks in other parts of the country talk about the 'average' prices of firearms in their area. These are forums I have belonged to for some time and forum members who are also long term members who I consider trustworthy. Some of these folks are occasionally seeing new prices that are lower than the average used prices (even at the best priced gun stores) in my part of TN. For that matter, I've seen better prices in other parts of TN than I generally see in my immediate area. If you really want your head to spin, read about some of the deals that guys in other states get on used guns at pawn shops. In my area, pawn shop pricing in used guns is markedly higher than the gun stores. I've never seen a used long gun in a pawn shop around here that I couldn't get a new one at Walmart for about the same price or, sometimes, even cheaper.

Okay, for a long time, now I have believed that TN law did not specifically declare that a person who uses deadly force in a self defense situation to be immune from civil liability. Instead, there seemed to be measures to 'dissuade' potential plaintiffs from bringing civil suits in such instances (in that if a defendant is found to have been justified in such use the court will award that defendant attorney fees, etc.) That is what my HCP instructor told us and discussions on this forum have reinforced that belief. While searching the Tennessee Code Annotated to find the exact wording of these methods of dissuasion, however, I was surprised to find not only what I expected to find but also a clear statement to the effect that someone who uses deadly force in self defense is immune to civil liability. Is this a recent addition to the law? Does it not really mean what it says - or does it simply mean that one must still 'prove' that deadly force was justified in civil court even if a police investigation or even a criminal lawsuit has already resulted in such a finding? I mean, TN law is often muddy but in this case the law specifically says, "...is immune from civil liability for the use of such force..." Hard to be more clear than that.

I have a little, lock blade pocket knife that has 'Bear Cat' printed on the blade. It looks similar to the style of Buck lock blades that used to be very popular (the kind that is fairly flat with wooden scales and brass-looking features) but the blade is only about an inch or so long. It is just an inexpensive pocket knife that my dad (who was a long haul truck driver at the time) found in the parking lot of a truck stop. I was a fairly little kid when he gave it to me and, as far as I was concerned, that cheap, little blade could have been Excalibur, itself. I used to carry it in my pocket a lot before I was old enough to carry bigger knives. When cancer claimed my father a decade ago, I decided that I wanted to do the eulogy at his funeral. The day of the funeral, as the time to leave for the funeral home loomed nearer, I began to wonder if I would be strong enough to get through delivering that eulogy. Thinking about that little knife, I pulled it out of the drawer where I kept it and dropped it in my pocket. I ended up clenching it in one hand while I delivered dad's eulogy. It brought me comfort and gave me the strength to get through the eulogy. I still have that little knife 'somewhere', although it might take me some time and looking to lay hands on it. I have other knives that have significance - including an authentic Hitler Youth knife that my WWII vet step grandfather brought back with him - but there is just something about the Bear Cat that seems almost magical, to my mind.

I've never tried eating the critters but I remember reading somewhere that fur trappers used to eat 'beaver steaks'. Basically, they would skin the tail and cook it like a steak. Supposed to be pretty good eating - and just about the only part of the animal worth eating.

I expect to see high 'luxury taxes' or whatever they want to call them placed on ammo, reloading components and so on. The recent spate of 'mass' shootings (and any more in the future - which are likely to occur due to already unstable people being made desperate by the current economy) will be used as partial justification. The idea will be that, "If prices were higher then mass murderers wouldn't be able to buy hundreds of rounds for use against innocent people. We're doing it for the children." I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen regardless of which anti-gun politician gets the "W" in a couple of weeks. That is also part of the reason I like to maintain a little 'nest egg' of ammo. Not thousands of rounds stored in PVC pipe under my lawn or anything but enough that I'm not going to be down to only one box on hand for my most often used calibers and maybe not even that much for others if such a tax is ever put into place. That is where Heller could come back to bite us all in the butt. Instead of finding that the 2A is intended (mainly) to give the People the means to defend against a tyrannical government as well as other reasons, the Supreme Court came at the issue purely from the angle of personal self defense. Taking a narrow view of the ruling, then, one could easily say that increasing ammo prices does not interfere with that purpose. After all, the antis would say, one doesn't really need hundreds (or thousands) of rounds to defend one's home against an intruder or one's life against an assailant. One box of ammo should be more than sufficient.

Under which anti-gun politician do you see that taking place, though? The one who is currently in office or the one who actually signed sweeping anti-gun legislation into effect in his state as governor? Oh, yeah, I forgot - he has explained all that, put our fears at rest and promised that he doesn't plan to do any such thing as president. We can all rest assured because politicians never lie and their words are a much more accurate indicator of their intentions than their past deeds. My thinking is that neither is a friend of gun owners. I don't think either will be 'coming for' guns we already own (yet) but I do believe it to be possible that either of them will make getting new ones (and the ammo to go with them) more difficult. If Romney is elected, I expect a lot of those folks who don't 'perceive' a threat to gun ownership to get blindsided. The best plan is probably to 'stock up' as much as is practical regardless of the results in November. Now, I'm not talking about burying crates of ARs and pallet loads of ammo in the back yard or anything but, for myself, I want a decent 'buffer' of ammo and/or reloading components to help feed my shooting habit for the next, few years if necessary.

I saw this story earlier. in fact, I started a thread about it on another forum to which I belong. I don't understand it, either. I mean, wasn't the relative aware that a Halloween party was going on? Wouldn't you stop before blasting something if you knew there were kids running around in Halloween costumes? Even beyond that, why the heck would someone go blasting away at anything non-threatening while there was a party going on and, presumably, kids running around? It isn't like a skunk rates real high on the 'deadly, dangerous wildlife' list. To be truthful, unless there was a problem with skunks destroying property, etc. I wouldn't shoot one in the first place. Heck, I think they are kind of fun to watch (from a distance.) I don't want sprayed but beyond that if it isn't hurting anything why go all Elmer Fudd on the little critter? And if one must, it isn't like it is necessary to have to draw a bead and blast away before a skunk can attack with it's deadly teeth and talons - at least take time to truly identify the target.

I hate IWB carry and honestly see no reason to try to do it, really. I am very warm natured so when the weather is cool enough I generally wear a t-shirt with an unbuttoned shirt, fleece vest or similar over it, anyway so I can 'shed' the outer garment if I am in a warm house. With such a setup and my build, I can hide pretty much any of my carry guns (even my Ruger P95) quite well in a good OWB holster. In warmer weather, I generally end up carrying one of my small guns (P3AT or 642) in a small, OWB holster that will hide even under just a long t-shirt or in a pocket holster. I have found that I can do a sort of pseudo-IWB carry for the P3AT on the rare occasions when I need deeper concealment and pocket carry won't work (like when I am going somewhere that I need to wear thin, dress slacks and a tucked in shirt.) On such occasions, I wear a very thin 'A-shirt' type undershirt tucked in under a belly band. I wear the belly band low enough that the grips of the little .380 ride just above my pants, pretty much in the same position as IWB carry. I can then tuck my dress shirt in over the belly band/pistol and it pretty much disappears. I don't know why this is so much more comfortable, for me, than an actual IWB holster but it is - and I'm still not sure that anything bigger than the P3AT would work.

People used to carry 'walking sticks' to deal with aggressive dogs (or, worse, aggressive people in some cases.) These weren't, necessarily 'canes' or walking aids and in some cases might only be about two feet or so long with either a natural 'buldge' at the end or a metal head added for extra weight/effectiveness. Something more along the lines of a true shillelagh - a club or cudgel - either carried in the hand or tucked through the belt. Of course, by carrying something that is long enough that it could be used as a walking aid you would both appear less suspicious (because you wouldn't be carrying around something for which the only purpose is a club/cudgel - which may actually be illegal) as well as increase the effective range. Carrying such a walking stick/cane - or even something longer like a hiking stick - might not be a bad idea. Such a stick has uses beyond being a walking aid or a weapon. Not that I wouldn't shoot a dog if I thought it was absolutely necessary but having other options is not a bad thing, IMO. Just a thought.

I was going to post that a safety on a lever action is like a screen door on a submarine - and you already had. I wouldn't refuse to buy one if I were looking for one and the safety was the only thing 'wrong' with it (and I do consider a safety on a lever action to be 'wrong' - but I put up with a safety on a SA revolver with my Heritage so it wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker) but I certainly wouldn't opt in favor of the safety if there were a choice.

Years ago I kind of enjoyed watching the Braves. Then there were all the player's strikes where millionaires were bitching about not getting paid enough for playing a damn game and that soured my stomach against major league baseball. Other than that, if I tried really, really hard I might be able to give less of a damn about sports than I do...nah, probably not. When I was a kid and dad was home (he was a long haul truck driver so he was away a lot) he never watched sports. Instead, on weekends when there was nothing but sports on he'd be outside 'working' on one of the cars (whether it needed it or not.) I guess that is why I never got into sports, myself - I was usually out there with him. I sure wish I'd picked up more about working on cars, though (truth be told I could do some work on older cars like we had back then but newer cars with all the computer stuff, nope.)

Very sad. I have to say, though, that tragic as this is if the father had clearly identified his target before firing then he and his son would be discussing an almost tragedy, today. I am sure the father is beating himself up over the same thing, though, so that is all I will say about it. Honestly, I don't mean that statement to be critical so much as I mean to say that it really makes me wonder how, if I found myself in such a situation, I would balance clearly identifying my target with not giving a potential intruder time to shoot me, first. Further, I really don't think that this part of the article was entirely appropriate: Unless I am mistaken, in the Connecticut case the son WAS an intruder (attempting to break into a neighbor's house) and the father shot after the son (wearing a mask) rushed him. Much more a justified (although tragic) shooting whereas the Chicago incident sounds like a simple case of tragically mistaken identity. Two different types of incident, IMO.

Personally, I like pic 1 and 2 just about equally - maybe leaning toward pic 2 just a little. Pic 2 might be something a professional photog wouldn't like, I don't know, but I like it and that is all that matters, to me.

Will not work. MaryAnne was hot. I saw a picture of her, somewhere, that was taken years after the series ended. Even older, the actress was still pretty cute. On the show, MaryAnne was the sweet, little 'guilty' pleasure - naive and innocent in a way but still a hottie that any red-blooded guy would want to sneak off behind a stand of palm trees with. The thought of Hillary in that role...I think I might be sick.

These are 'normal' people - each with his or her pre-existing attitudes, insecurities and characteristics - thrown into a situation that is anything but normal. IMO, human drama/character development is pretty much what makes the show and without that the show would pretty much suck. Any ol', mindless B movie can have second rate actors running around taking out zombies. That can even work for a short time, in some cases - although sometimes it becomes repetitive even in a feature film length movie. Try doing that for an entire season of a television show and I can sum the results up in one word...boooooring. Think about it this way - even 'Night of the Living Dead", the zombie movie that pretty much served as the template for the modern (non-voodoo) type zombie movie, was more about the human drama, how the characters reacted to their situation and how they worked together (or fought against each other) in the face of the horror they were up against. The zombies in that movie were largely a plot device used to set the stage. That doesn't mean you don't have to be careful which elements of the human drama you choose to bring into sharper focus. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED SEASON 2, YET I am probably not the only one who was a bit relieved when they finally killed Dale off. I got so sick of his moralizing and preaching. But maybe that was the point - maybe we were supposed to feel as exasperated with him as the rest of the group felt. Heck, even though Shane was not likeable, at all, by that point I was actually kind of pulling for him to go ahead and kill Dale when they confronted each other in the woods. Still, the whole 'Russel' dilemma was obviously intended to show that these characters are changing. Dale assumed that Glenn would stand with him to oppose offing Russel because, at the beginning of season one, Glenn probably would have - but he has changed. Dale was surprised that Rick was leaning toward offing Russel because - at the beginning of season one, Rick probably would never have allowed it, much less suggested it - but he has changed. Heck, even Herschel did a complete about face when he realized the truth of their situation. Good writers are able to show (via character's actions) rather than tell (via heavy-handed dialog) such things and the whole Russel dilemma - including the 'feelings' expressed - was part of that. In such a world, it is adapt/change or die. Dale didn't change much - and he died. I also think it was interesting how Andrea stood with Dale even though she thought Russel should be killed. It showed interesting development and loyalty to her friend (Dale) on her part.

When Daryl tried to stop the guys in Atlanta from taking Glenn, I thought he was 'the man'. When Daryl saved T-dog when the herd was passing by on the highway, I thought that Daryl was 'the man'. When he went out alone to try and bring Sophia home, I thought that Daryl was 'the man'. When he fell down that ravine not once but twice - not to mention killing one walker with a stick and pulling the crossbow bolt from his own side to kill another - climbed out on the third try then survived a head shot from a high powered rifle (okay, only a graze but still) - I thought Daryl was 'the man'. When he went running across a dark field at night, full tilt, did a flying tackle on a walker (trying to save Dale) and then killed the walker melee style, I was sure he was 'the man'. When he put Dale out of his misery because Rick couldn't do it (and not because Daryl didn't care but because he cared so much), I was even more sure that he was 'the man'. When he rode through the zombie attack on the farm on a motorcycle, stopping to shoot walkers along the way, and pretty much got out then went back into the thick of the zombies on a motorcycle to get Carol out (not to mention throwing in the smartass comment, "I haven't got all day,") then proceeded - on a motorcycle - to navigate their way through the walkers and to safety, only to end up riding point for Glenn, T-dog and the others back to rendezvous with Rick on the highway, there was no doubt. Then, when he was willing (and actually started mounting up) to ride a motorcycle back into the zombie hell of the farm, by himself, to try and bring Andrea out any residual doubt of his being 'the man' was burned from my mind. He might not be possessed of all the social graces, might not be PC in his words or thinking but if you are his friend or even just a member of his group who is willing to treat him as a fellow human being he'll pretty much face anything to try and save you, if need be - and there is a good chance that he will succeed. Yep, Daryl is 'the man'. Speaking of Andrea, I think that her new-found grit and ability earn her an honorable mention, here. Carol would have been toast without her and then she left the farm, on foot, and ran from zombies all night long, killing as many as she could along the way.

I have carried both. No contest. I'd go with the Rossi. Not only have I carried both but I actually had both in my carry rotation during the same time period. I have also owned a Rossi 461 which is simply the blued version. The 462 wasn't 'mine' (belonged to my wife's late father and she kept it when we seperated - she used it to pass her HCP class.) I have since traded both the 461 and the P11 away but for different reasons. I'll tell you my reasons and maybe that will help clarify my opinion: 1. I found the P11 difficult to shoot with even 'combat accuracy'. The long, rather stiff trigger pull had a lot to do with that. Also, the P11 (actually both of them - I sent the first one back to the factory and ended up with a replacement) requires a sort of strange 'triangular' sight picture where you put the front sight between and slightly above the rear sights (at least that is how I had to shoot it and I've read others talking about shooting it the same way.) My P11 (both of them, in fact) worked fine with the factory 10 round mag but never wanted to work just right with the factory 12 round mag. There are S&W mags (forget which series) which will allow you to carry a 15 rounder but they make the grips much, much longer. The size of the P11 meant that it was not a pocket gun, for me. I don't carry IWB so that meant carrying it OWB with a cover garment. I came to realize that with the same method of carry/concealment I could carry a Ruger P95 just about as well as I could carry the KT P11. I shoot the P95 a lot better plus it holds 15 rounds in a flush fit magazine and, being a typical Ruger, is built like the proverbial tank. I took my P11 to my favorite LGS, traded it for a used P95 and have not regretted it. 2. The only reason I traded the Rossi for a S&W 642 was that I had been carrying .38 +P in the Rossi and so decided that if I wasn't going to carry full on .357 ammo then I had might as well trade for a smaller/lighter revolver that I could pocket carry if I wanted to. Like the P11, for me the Rossi was not a pocket gun. It is more of a medium frame revolver and it has a six round cylinder. I disagree that it is harder to conceal than the P11 and I really don't get where people think the Rossi is 'bigger' than the P11. In fact, because of the short barrel, I found the Rossi easier to conceal. I carried it using the same, basic method as the P11 - OWB with a cover garment (carried it in a home-made holster.) Personally, I was a lot more accurate with the Rossi. In fact, I could usually keep all six from the Rossi on a B27 at 25 yards with about a medium rate of fire. I could sometimes keep all shots from the P11 on a B27 at that distance but usually not - and they were much more spread out than the Rossi when I did. I thought the trigger on the Rossi - while being a typical double-action trigger on a budget revolver- was still better (for me) than the trigger on the P11. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I should probably point out that I am more of a revolver guy, anyhow, and - all things being more or less equal - usually shoot revolvers better. People want to talk capacity, speed of reloading and so on. Okay. I will say that it probably depends on where you live but, honestly, unless street gangs are the norm in your daily life what real life, non-tacticool dreamworld situation are you going to handle with 10 9mm rounds that you aren't going to handle just as effectively with 6 .357 (or .38 +P) rounds? One caveat of which you should be aware is that it is much easier to find holsters to fit the P11 than the Rossi. I had a Fobus paddle that was made for a Taurus Millennium and it fit the P11 to a 'T' (Fobus makes holsters specifically for the P11 but the store was sold out of them and we found that the Millennium holster worked perfectly.) In the time I carried the 462 and then the 461, I never found an off the shelf holster to fit it. In fact, that is the reason I first got into making my own holsters - i couldn't see paying custom holster money for a holster to carry a gun that was less than $300 N.I.B. To illustrate how well the Rossi shoots, IMO, I will say that I once shot the Rossi 462 side by side with a friend's Ruger SP101 using the same loads. Believe it or not, I liked the Rossi better just from a shooting standpoint. The Ruger spat gases and material out of the cylinder gap onto my hand while the Rossi did not. (The 461 never spat on me, either.) The Rossi had less felt recoil and I shot both with more or less equal accuracy. Of course, the Ruger would probably outlast the Rossi if being heavily shot and so on. I would not mind owning another Rossi 461 or 462. In fact, it is likely that I will one day as I kind of miss the one I had. I think Academy sells a version with a three inch barrel and I've kind of had my eye on it but for carry the shorter barrel (like the one I had, before) would probably conceal easier. Chances are that I will never own another P11 and I don't miss it one bit. I really like my Kel Tec P3AT, too, (even though the S&W 642 has largely taken over pocket gun duty) so it isn't anything to do with a bias against Kel Tec. I will say, though, that I shoot even the diminutive P3AT better/more accurately than I ever shot the P11 because the trigger is different/better even though the sights are more rudimentary. I have heard that the trigger on a Kel Tec PF9 (which is slightly flatter/lighter than the P11 at the expense of less capacity) is more like the P3AT/P32 but I've never fired a PF9 so I wouldn't know. The P11 has 'second strike' capability while the P3AT/P32/PF9 do not. I don't have any direct comparison pictures between my P11 and either of the Rossi revolvers. However, I do have some pics of my P3AT with the P11 and some of the P3AT with one of the Rossi revolvers so maybe those will be of some use to you: The Rossi 462 with my P3AT (this was when my P3AT was still a first generation gun - I have since sent it back to the factory and Kel Tec built me a pretty much brand new second gen gun on my old, first gen frame but that doesn't really have any bearing, here, as it was still a first gen when the pics with the P11 were taken, as well.) The P3AT is a good bit more thin than the P11 so, as you can see in this pic, the Rossi isn't exactly super-thick even at the cylinder: and now the P3AT with the P11 (ignore the grips on the P3AT in this one - I was playing around with different things to change the grip size, etc. at the time and now only have a Hogue Handall, Jr. on it.) I wish I had some thickness comparison pics to show you but, unfortunately, I do not. If it helps, I can tell you that according to the Kel Tec site, the P11 is one inch wide while the second gen P3AT is .77 of an inch wide. For some reason, I am thinking that the first gen P3AT (like the one in the pics) was ever so slightly thinner than the second gen but I won't swear to it. At any rate, the second gen P3AT is just over 3/4 the thickness of the P11 and there wasn't that much difference in the first gen P3AT thickness. Maybe that give some idea of thicknesses of the Rossi 642 and the P11 anyhow. I hope that helps. ETA: I also believe that the Rossi offers a greater range of ammo selection. It can handle anything from low-end .38 target loads up to full on .357 loads. I even fired some of the Buffalo Bore 180 grain hardcast loads from the Rossi to see how it would do and it did just fine (I bought those mostly for my four inch Taurus but wanted to try them in the Rossi.) On the other hand, while Kel Tec says that it is okay to fire some +P in the P11, they do not rate them for regular +P shooting. Kel Tec also does not recommend shooting steel or aluminum cased ammo in their guns (as an aside, Ruger says the P95 can fire any SAAMI cartridge including steel, +P or whatever - another reason I like it better than the P11.) The only reason I stopped carrying .357 rounds in the Rossi was that I was concerned about the risk of over penetration in a public setting. It had absolutely nothing to do with the revolver's ability to handle .357. To be honest, the felt/perceived recoil from my S&W 642 firing .38 +P is much greater (sometimes to the point of being painful) than any full bore .357 round I ever fired from the Rossi (which never gave me any 'painful' recoil regardless of the load fired.)

Sitting at the intersection of Cedar Bluff and Peter's Road one day, waiting for the red light to go green, I saw a Toyota that looked newish - not brand new but the newest vehicle I've ever bought was more than five years old so a couple of years old is newish, to me - pull into an empty parking lot. There was a woman driving, a male in the passenger's seat and two dogs in the car. The guy - who was dressed like you would expect a 'homeless' person to be dressed - got out, retrieved a cardboard sign from the back seat, got one of the dogs out of the car (had it on a leash) and proceeded to walk to the median of the intersection to begin panhandling while the woman and the other dog waited in the car. I was there through a couple of cycles of the red light (anyone familiar with that light/intersection will understand) so I witnessed the entire series of events. It looked pretty obvious, to me, that the whole thing was a big scam and probably a regular routine for the guy and the woman. Of course, had I not seen them arrive, etc. I probably would have never noticed that she was sitting in the car waiting for him. I felt sorry for the dog for being demeaned by being used in such a manner.

I'm trying to find the negative side to that statement.

I think there are pros and cons to watching it weekly but I now live too far in the sticks to get cable (and think satellite is too expensive - plus at least one satellite provider no longer carries AMC, anyhow.) Therefore I have little choice but to wait until it comes out on DVD. Oh, well, at least that does have the advantage of not having to wait a week to find out what happens, not having to sit through commercials and so on. I recently bought Season 2 on DVD. I watched about half the season on a Friday night then finished the season up on the following Sunday night. Will probably go back and rewatch Season 1 (which I also have) and Season 2 soon.

Consider, though, that if the gun doesn't 'go bang' then the bullet will never leave the barrel - meaning that there is zero chance that it will hit your target. Therefore, going 'bang' is a prerequisite to hitting your target without which there is no way the target will be hit. Now, consider that you could slightly miss your 'target' (i.e. hit an assailant in the stomach instead of the heart, etc.) and still likely be effective. However, when it comes to the point that the only way to stop the threat is to shoot then a gun that doesn't 'go bang' will not be effective. Therefore, through the application of logic - due to 'hitting the target' being directly dependent on 'going bang' and due to the possibility that a poor hit could still be effective while an unfired bullet has no chance of bringing about the desired outcome, reliably 'going bang' is more important than extreme accuracy.

A buddy of mine worked with a guy who was originally from Australia. I talked with the Aussie once about beer and he said, "Foster's is kangaroo piss. Australians make Fosters to export and Victoria Bitter to drink."

Nope. When I originally got my HCP the folks at the West Knoxville office were professional and efficient (that office no longer does anything for HCPs - the only Knoxville DL station that deals with HCPs, now, is the one at the Strawberry Plains exit.) When I went to renew mine earlier this year, I used the Rockwood office. The folks there were downright pleasant and friendly. The lady at the counter even folded my receipt in a certain way so that it had a nice, neat little pocket then placed my old HCP into the pocket so I could easily keep the two together until my new card arrived.