RobertNashville

There are also internal screens that can be pretty effective and not detract from the exterior look of the building...at the very least, considering the apparently small size of their inventory; a couple of good gun safes and decent security system should have been enough to stop a smash and grab robbery like this one appears to be.

I'm not without compassion for the store and their losses but my word...awfully lackluster security for a store that carries firearms!  The firearms in my home are much better protected than what they had.

I like this setup!   Do you have any filtration on the water and if so, what do you use?  I ask because I've been considering doing something like this (albeit on a smaller scale) and have been looking at barrels designed for catching rain water off the roof that have filters included that, among other things, filter out the granules that come off the shingles.  My intent would be to use for both drinking (after passing through my Big Berky) and perhaps other uses where filtering wouldn't be as big of a concern.   Thanks in advance for any info!

My first 10MM was a Cold Double Eagle and I've owned a few 1911s in 10MM since then.   I love 1911s and I love 10MM Auto as a cartridge but my experience with the combination is that the 1911 is just not well suited for the 10MM; this seems to be especially true with Colt's offerings (my Dan Wesson is an exception). Even considering some very expensive 1911s in 10MM, the best 10MM handgun I've owned for overall shooting is my G20.

Thanks for taking the time to respond in more detail (even though I hate the news).  After reading his email I can understand the business reasons for closing including the shift in how  most of us buy our stuff, the neighborhood the facility is in and I've wondered for some time if they would move and build a new, state-of-the art training facility as their current building is very much showing its age but I never thought they would close down.   There are many places to train but few trainers of the qualifications of Tom Givens or most of his trainers for that matter.  I've shifted my training $$$ between Tactical Response and Rangemaster (and they seem to have a symbiotic relationship anyway) so I've managed to take several classes at RM including Massad Ayoob's MAG20 course. Even thought I don't get there often I feel like I'm losing an old friend (which seems to be a reoccurring theme as I get older).  :sadwave:

I wonder if my Berky would take care of the toxin they were worried about?    I can probably get by about two weeks with the water I have on hand (assuming no rain during that time).

Rangemaster is a great place to train and Tom is a great instructor.  As to the story, I think someone is pulling your leg (or at least I hope so).   Tom and Lynn already travel extensively to do training all over the country; they couldn't be gone much more than they already are so this story doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, neither their website nor their Facebook page says anything about them closing.   All that to say...I'm finding this story doubtful and I hope it turns out to be false.   

Well then he should have sued for an apology rather than $! LOL

Yes but he would be disappointed in what he would get out of my estate! LOL

  I generally trust jury decisions but this decision was quite a departure from the norm.   No one can deny that Ventura is a public figure and as such has very little protection from defamation, slander and libel - the bar for these has been pretty high when it comes to public figures and a lot of what is said about politicians and celebrities on public forums like TGO would probably be actionable if that bar wasn't as high as it was. ;)   I'll trust the jury/court in this case but nothing is going to change my opinion of Ventura; I, like a lot of people, thought he was a pile of crap long before Kyle ever said anything about him and Venture continuing a lawsuit against Kyle's widow just makes the pile bigger but doesn't change the substance.   Edit: Fixed it for myself! LOL

Actually, the mover to electronic medical records began many years before Obummer and his Obamacare although I don't know when the "firearm" question was first introduced.  In any case, I'm not answering the question if I'm asked...what my Dr puts down in his record is up to her. ;)

For whatever service Jesee Venture did for the country he has my thanks as does Chris Kyle as do all who have taken the oath and worn the uniform but I suggest looking at what each has done after their service...   When I look at what Venture has done after that service I see a no-talent actor, narcissistic conspiracy theory nutcase of a man who seems to enjoy filing lawsuits (this one was not his first)…a man who has said that he has lost his patriotism and that "I will never stand for a national anthem again. I will turn my back and I will raise a fist".  He has also vowed to apply for Mexican citizenship so that he can live there more months of the year.  Apparently his loss of patriotism and disgust with America does not prevent him from trying to profit from America’s court system   When I look at Chris Kyle after his service I see a man who poured his live (and lost his life) trying to help other veterans. His book, in which Venture claims he was slandered, was written to fund Kyle’s charity (and as I understand it, that is where all the profits have gone). A man who, at least outwardly, exhibited true concern for others rather than how to enrich himself.   Even if everything Venture said was true and he was slandered, only an asshole of ponderous proportions takes it out on the widow and child Chris Kyle left behind - continuing the lawsuit after Kyle’s death was a childish and reprehensible thing to do no matter what Kyle may or may not have done/said. I’m not suggesting that Kyle is perfect; I’m not even saying Venture wasn’t slandered (although I will always think it childish of him to file a lawsuit) but from my perspective, one is a little boy in an old man’s body who cares little for anyone or anything but himself and the other is a man, perhaps a man with many flaws, who tried to live a life of service to those who needed it.    Unfortunately, it’s only the dirt bag America-hating narcissist that is still with us which is pretty sad.

Well, let me put on my grandpa hat here a moment and just tell you what I'd tell my own grandson if he came to me with this situation... From everything you've said here I know that there is no damn way either of you is remotely ready for marriage, to each other or anyone else.  Further, that you would could come onto a public forum, ask a question like this and explain the details and after all the (surprisingly :) ) good advice you've received think that "counseling" is in any way a reasonable response to what has happened I find pretty incredible and sad.   I'm not trying to be mean here but damn...you asked for advice and got some really good advice; do yourself a favor and take the advice to heart. I wish you well...I really do.

and 45 is WAY better than 40 but 10MM is better than all of them.

I contribute time and money to pro-firearm organizations...I VOTE...I have gone to DC more than once and my local state rep, senator as well as my U.S. Rep hear from me regularly (they even call me back sometimes)...unless I become independently wealthy and no longer need to work a job I doubt that I can do much more.   So....my question to you is what exactly do you think folks should be doing? As has been stated already, I think we've see some significant gains both nationally and in TN. That said, I'm as tired of the incrementalism we see from the current worthless Republican establishment in TN as anyone and the stuff we've gotten out of Haslam and company since he took office has been pretty pathetic but at least we are moving in the right direction and I have no reason to think we won't continue to do so.

I see your point. I suppose that if I'm ever asked I'll probably just lie.  I don't like to lie but if someone is going to ask me a question, the answer to which is none of their business, I'm not going to lose any sleep over lying to them. ;) If I had could hold character long enough I'd love to do something like this to someone who asks me a question that they have no damn business asking; enjoy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cpzLxYnpG4

Thanks for the update...if you haven't left her already WHY THE HELL NOT???   I'm not going to pontificate about who is most at fault here as frankly, I don't care and it's immaterial anyway because it's abundantly clear to me (and I think just about the rest of the forum) that your relationship with this girl needs to end immediately.  Let her and her bitcoin boyfriend have at it...it sounds like they are perfect for each other.

Maybe your fiancée is complicit and maybe not; that is something that obviously needs to be considered and acted on if necessary. That said, my gut tells me she is the cause of the problem and I'd consider finding this out while she is your fiancée to be a blessing in that at least you aren't married to her yet.   Moving on, whether she is or isn’t complicit, I would suggest that you absolutely cannot assume that this guy won’t follow through on his threat. In my opinion, anyone who is willing to make such threats is mentally off kilter enough to act on the threats even if your fiancée dumps you or you her and he knows it...you have to take him seriously and prepare.   As others have said above, report this guy to police, both your local agency and the agency closest to where he lives (assuming you can nail that down). Keep detailed records and gather evidence. That may all be a waste of time but if this guy every tries to make good on his threats such evidence/records will be worth its weight in gold.

You know...while I think the decision was a good one, I've never quite understood why this issue (doctors asking patients about their firearm ownership) cause so many so much irritation.  My doctor has never asked me but if he/she ever did I simply wouldn't answer.   Anybody can "ask" anything they want...I can answer or not as I chose...therefore I don't really see a problem. Or am I missing something??? :shrug:

Regardless of the issue they proclaim to be doing it for, I have absolutely no sympathy for "agitators" or "activists" who, in the name of a "cause", are purposely provocative when it's really done only for their own self-aggrandizement (or financial enrichment).   The only reason I care at all about this case and about Voldemort at all is that it wastes my and your tax money every time a law enforcement officer or court has to deal with him.   One of these days he is going to screw-up and either significantly break the law and face the consequences or he will be shot by a LEO or armed citizen who believe they have to protect themselves.   "In-your-face" tactics are almost never appropriate and are seldom effective...more often than not such tactics as those employed by Voldemort and his ilk only serve to harm the very cause they claim to be supportive of.

This is a topic I've been considering for a while now; not for "grandpa" or an elderly parent because they are already gone...I've been thinking about it for myself.   I know from dealing with my mom who passed just over a year ago just how difficult it is to even take keys away from a parent who has no business driving, let alone taking their firearms (not that my mom had any).  We finally convinced my mom that she should no longer drive but where we had the most difficulty was with regards to her finances - she exhibited signs of dementia for several years but we had no legal way to stop her.  Her banks, etc. would not talk to us, of course, and when we went to court her doctor was absolutely unwilling to say that she was in any way incompetent to handle her own affairs (we assumed over fear of being sued but we'll never know).  Anyway, taking legal guardianship proved impossible so, over a period of 10 years or so, we watched as my mom fell victim to scam after scam squandering tens of thousands of dollars until she all she had left was her SS necessitating myself, my sister and my brother stepping in to take care of her both financially and, eventually, physically.  Of course by then, she was so ill that even she realized that she needed us to to that for her.   In the case of firearms and the elderly; tell me who most NEEDS the protection of a firearm if not those who are in their later years?  If two or three (or even one) thugs break into your home and you are in your 60s or 70s or 80s are you going to survive a physical confrontation with them?  I'd say likely not...the firearm, to borrow a phrase, is the great equalizer in those situations. Reality tells me that for personal protection, I need my firearm now, at nearly 60, more than I did when I was 30.   Anyway, dealing with these issues are, as was noted above, almost without an answer - you just do what you can do when it's right to do it.  I trust my much younger sister and brother to have that conversation with me when the time comes (assuming I don't check out before I get that bad).

I'm really, really glad for the happy ending here! My hound was a rescue and I'm sure he was someone's beloved pet before he came into my life as he is well trained, fixed, etc.  The rescue organization and I assumed he got away from his owners following some interesting scent (as bassets are want to do) and may have traveled so far that he didn't know how to get back home.  In any case, he is now part of my family.   He was not microchipped and if he had been he would likely have had a very different outcome (as would I)...I had him chipped within his first week in my care as was my other hound. Microchipping is not expensive; around $75 which I consider to be among my least expensive and potentially most rewarding investment.

No; a slightly less than 2 year old Basset Hound (a rescue)! Funny you should ask thought...many years ago I had an English Springer Spaniel; I lived in Washington at the time (stationed at the Trident submarine base in Bangor, WA.)

The percentage of income that goes toward housing is not a magic figure. The point is that if you are spending more than 25-30% of your net income toward housing then you likely won't have enough left over for other necessities; especially the necessity of saving (both for emergencies and for retirement).  Whether you are middle class or not is not  really the point, in my opinion...for me the question is if you are happy where you are financially (note; "happy" in this context doesn't mean complacent). If you are comfortable where you are (even if you want to do better), meeting your basic needs and a few "wants" and are saving enough then what difference does a label make?  

With proper documentation that it was used, and where and by whom it might be worth $800 to someone...without that documentation it's about $10 worth of metal and paint and maybe a few dollars for the work of making it into a sign. ;)