Peace

glad you seized the opportunity to speak up!

Longtime member.  They do have a "garage sale" two or three times a year.  If you are a deal hunter,... camp out for the garage sale.  caaraaazy deals.\\   ** edit - garage sales are for members only.  Membership is great.  REI is a co-op, so as a member, you are a shareholder... so to speak.

Yeaaaaaaahhhh!!  glad you are home and made it through.  Take it easy, move around a bit, and eat clean food!     Best wishes of full healing for you!

    agreed.        To each his own.  For each of us, the number of firearms and type of carry can cross over from asset to liability depending on our own personal preparedness... SA, SA, SA.... so much better to put distance between yourself and a perceived threat.  If, on the other hand, you are jumped, retaining 3 firearms on your person ... while trying to create distance... (ala,.. avoiding being knocked unconscious, etc. ) ... is a tall order.

irons cowitnessed to an aimpoint pro.  both up/on all the time.  

What the what!!??    Is this person ok?  Do they still have a middle finger?   story!?  :)   oh yeah... If that's a 300Blk, that's a big finger.

aaaaha ha haha!  ... a young man's strength paired with an old man's knowledge.  

... for a few years after college, I got paid to use my ears.  Even now, I put in ear plugs every. single. time. I step on an airplane.  Any loud noises = plugs.  You cannot repair hearing damage... no matter what some supplement sales-pitch says.   Among my peers, my ears were absolutely average or worse.  I had a lot of years growing up using shotguns, 4 wheelers, and circular saws without hearing protection.    During and even long after college, for kicks sometimes we would sit around and play known frequency sine waves over the monitors to see who had the most sensitive hearing.  There are some freaks out there who have never, ever, ever heard so much as a loud fart.  Needless to say, they can hear like dogs.  I hear like an old (er than I am) man.  :)

^^^ Ding! Ding! Ding!  Dolomite speaks truth.  While your body can "Switch" pathways on and off, it cannot deny, defy, or otherwise alter the laws of physics.  The cilia in your inner ear are tiny, tiny, tiny.... and ther effect of loud concussive noises on them are somewhat (sort-of) comparable to a tornador or hurricaine hitting trees.  bad things.   FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereocilia_(inner_ear)   If the inter-webs says it, it must be true.

     There's a POTUS buried on the Capital grounds,... and that's not something you see every day.  :)   The food in the Bi-Centennial Mall Shed building is fantastic... from BBQ to pizza to greek to SLOCO sandwich shop (owner/chef won "chopped").  You are also right beside Germantown.  There are good eats in Germantown (Monell's... family style... go hungry... and go easy on the first few courses!  .... Red Bycycle has great coffee and crepes).

been wanting to get my tech license....  - don't know why I am putting it off.  I guess I need to join up with the area Ham group.

also  http://www.opticsplanet.com/aimpoint-carbine-optic-2moa-red-dot-sight.html   you might be able to find one close to your price range.  It is a no-frills aimpoint RDS.  1 year battery life.  Simple goodness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEZBkv2m8fM   Bill Geissele.  ... and his wife....  simple, effective, humble.  wow.

  Ha!  I get it, but I also look at the law of large numbers... and the reality of the lowest common denominator.  At the event, folks will be giddy, school-boyish, and handling/trying out every firearm and piece of gear they can get their hands on.  With 50-70k folks rolling through, the likelyhood of someone boneheading an ND is (unfortunately) decent.  I wish it weren't so....   I absolutely hear where you are coming from.  It's a compromise, and as long as they have a good number of armed security personel, I'll be fine with it.

***edit... irrelevant, deleted.  carry on.

Are you guys logging into nra.org to register?     **edit... got it.  nraam.org

welcome...  there are some good folks "in" here.

sorry I missed you guys - I'm sure it was a good time.

"Don't worry kids, being able to think and act for yourself is a huge responsibility - too much for you to handle.  Simple items, such as canned food, can cause you to spontaniously loose your humanity.  We understand how terrifying this is, so  we will keep your humanity under lock and key for you, and you can experience it at pre-determined times with close supervision.  You are welcome."

Red Lantern.  Wow.  That's an every-day big bowl of Wheaties right there.  Good on them.  I sent them a "thanks for doing that" on their web-form.

OK, it is an awful primary plan, but don't think that I'm not aware of every potential "tool" when I am in a GFZ.   -ever been hit upside the head with a 1lb steel can?   :)  I bet it makes changing a mag a little tough.  ha ha ..     ... you're right though,... terrible that we are so passive and timid that some administrators advocate nothing more than this for a 1st line of defense.       **edit:  The bright spot in this is that someone is talking about empowering cornered, threatened students.  We may be in a sad state of affairs, but if you lay it right, any conversation about empowering students and faculty is a good first brick.

That's also a very pretty prize table.  

I saw one sitting on the counter at Outpost Armory.  I would probably go for the other known brand that uses off-the-shelf components ( i think Midway, etc. is carrying it).  IIRC, that version has the app that shows each hit and flashes your last hit on target.

love the pics - looks like a ton of fun.  Thanks for your service, and the next time you see your buddy who's still at it, tell him I said thanks to him as well.

I dunno... I kind of like it.  - except for the slide-mounted safety.  :)