I have.. with one shot. When I caught up with it.. a knife. The rifle I used was 900 foot pounds. The deer I shot was a yearling. The hit was just below the skull, and stopped in the frontal lobe. I shot from a hide about 30 feet from her. She ran for a bit. No more then an elk with a heart shot.
I needed that deer. Weather was changing, my traps weren't working well and fishing was poor. I was deep in back country. It would have taken 3 to 5 days to get out. More if I was malnourished. That deer fed me well for a few days. I was 14 years old.

Rob? I know you are giving your best effort to discredit me. I know you think I called you a fanatic. I also know I tried to clear that up with you.
I amend that. You may not be a fanatic.. But.. You are acting fanatically, or as a little boy would act.
Do everyone a favor? Go pound sand til you get your attitude right.

Ummmm... Nope.

Hmmmm.. Paranoia issues?

Nope.. You are mistaken. If you are out in public? Your right to privacy is restricted to private places. Someone can legally photograph you and publish those photos. However.. If it pisses you off enough? You can take civil action. Which can cost a great deal of money to defend yourself from.
So if I photograph you in public? I would try to ingratiate you with my work and tell you why I want to publish it.

Yup.. in a way.. legally, you have a point. Public domain is public domain. However.. Civilly? It is different.

Not that photographing children is wrong.. As a photographer and videographer, I have taken candids of people in public. I find it to be a subject that I can't repeat in a studio. However.. If I piss someone off? Enough to talk to a lawyer? Then it becomes public. Then it becomes threatening to my financial state. If I was a perv? The subject matter on my camera could be subject to scrutiny.
So.. If I am walking around on a beach with a camera? I would be pretty careful about what I photographed.

These days?
Some of those rifles have always been viable weapons. I had a spring loaded 22 for years that would bring down small to medium game. It was a b!tch to carry into the back country though. Weighing nearly as much as a firearm and ammunition. The advantage? I could carry lots more ammunition and the report would be less noticeable. Hell.. with a good shot? I could kill a deer with that weapon.. I have.
So.. I often went without either, if I did not have a pack animal. Relying on traps and other methods.

So.. Are you pissed because your hobby is threatened? Or your right to defend yourself is threatened? Or your right to defend your country is threatened?

I feel free to ask that in separate terms.. Since you asked me if it always means 'self defense'.

Which one is most important? Or which is the least important?

Edit... By the way? A sling.. can take you down. Split a skull from 10 yards as well as a firearm. As primitive a tool as it is.. It is a pretty effective one. A much more compact weapon then any gun and ammunition is everywhere

Nope.. It doesn't.. Not in the least. I have shot many targets in my time. Enjoyed it too.

I also enjoyed my training with a multitude of firearms. Including the Remington 700, Remington 870, Ruger Mini 14 and Glock 9mm. I was trained by a war vet and retired cop, who I work with to this day.
I also enjoyed a collection of antique weapons, including a Henry, some British arms, some pocket pistols, a war era 1911 Colt 45, a Colt model 1855 and a model 90 Winchester.... Which happened to be my favorite plinking rifle.

I have also been paid to guide hunters in the Sierra's and Cascades. Taking deer, elk, bear and cougar. Much of it? Was just north of where our Marines did their cold weather training.. I lived there for months with no resupply.. nothing I didn't take. I have spent a significant part of my life in the wilderness and surviving by the gun and sometimes..without.

I also enjoy riding motorcycles on mountain roads at full throttle, and building rally cars that can handle a 40' hairpin entering at 60+ miles an hour.

So?

I stopped some of those hobbies and practices.. Soon after I hit a deer with a Moto Guzzi doing about 70 miles an hour. The deer died and I ate it. The bike was never the same. I came out without a scratch.

The topic we are supposed to be speaking of. Is the gun problem.
Remember? It was about 20 somethin pages back.


The last time I brought up my feelings or experience... One of you accused me of ill behavior. If I had a propensity to take things as personally as some of you.. I would be insulted... with random comments about being a commie, an idiot or talking out of my @ss.....
Fortunately? I am pretty flexible and can argue a point from any point.. If I have a sound premise. I also consider the source.. So no harm is done.
So.. What the f@ck do you guys want from me now?

Just because my ex can? Does not mean she does.
Should she ever be in a deadly confrontation and find a firearm of opportunity? I am sure she would use it very effectively if she got over the thought of killing another. If it meant her child? Maybe. If it meant her life.. Who knows.
She has been under the duress of some scary things in her life.. As I have. Stuff that wants you having deadly force by the pull of a trigger.
However.. I know in my heart of hearts. She will never surrender her right to not live in that fear.

They did not realise what was happening.. until I brought attention to it. He may have spent the day there.. doing what he was doing.. He was trying to blend.. and was pointing his camera 'at times' to less innocuous subjects. But I had noticed that the viewfinder was either not entirely white or entirely black when he did that.

Entirely white meaning that the nightmode was on.. Entirely black meaning that the camera was off.

By the by....I have no children of my own. Both my niece and nephew though.. I consider them to be of my own. They are adults now. However? That does not prevent me from being aware.

No doubt about that! My ex wife... The first time she shot a long gun (or any firearm for that matter...).. My favorite hunting rifle of the time, since I grew up hunting in thick overgrowth - a pre 64, Model 94. She hit a 4 inch target at 75 yards consistently.. Not one miss for a magazine.
I also had a British Enfield .303 that day... We set out at better then 100 yards.. She could hit a dollar size target.. and naturally understood the trajectory sight, windage...
She shot at least as well as I did and in ways? Much better if you take in to account that it was her first time.
I won't even go into her shooting side arms, and shotguns...
Many thought me a natural when teaching me as a kid. I first learned recurve bow. then compound.. Shotgun, then long gun.. etc.. The first time I shot a hand gun? I was lucky to hit a bullet with the side of a barn at 8 yards.
There was slings when I was in single digit age.. you know.. the ones with corded leather and a stone in a pouch you swing..and slingshot. Both of which I had actually taken more game with then my first rifle.

I swear..She picked it up in an afternoon!

Agreed.. I approached a guy once on a community beach at a lake up in Washington State. He thought he was being somewhat surreptitious while shooting footage of children playing in the water. That was all he was doing.. was apparently there alone. A pot bellied balding guy wearing a speedo shooting pictures exclusively of pre-adolescent children that clearly did not know him... He tended to stand out from the norm.

I asked him if he was an acquaintance of the children. He retorted that it was none of my business and wasn't doing anything illegal.. Or maybe he used the word 'wrong'... He seemed to be resistant to me getting a good look at the camera and viewfinder, dropping it to his side and turning away from me. Probably because I was making eye contact with it rather then him.

Seeing as I had experience with buying, selling, and implementing video equipment in it's raw form, for video surveillance, I recognised it to be an older Sony Nightshot model with a filter adaptor attached to the lens. The CCD on these cameras is very sensitive to natural infrared and gives the appearance of being able to see through thin clingy cloth when used with a combination of filters and in 'night' mode during day light. I know that while playing with one of the first ones on the market during evaluation of the ccd, which were often sent to us by the manufacturer. I was able to make out the image of the edges and some of the pictures of a newspaper under a layer of cotton t-shirt without using any filters. That was 10 years ago.

I replied to the guy.. You're right. It isn't my business, but can the images on that camera sustain the scrutiny of the children's parents or the police? Maybe a civil case? Can you sustain the possible publicity? What do you do for a living? Are you married? Do you have children of your own?

He didn't answer me.. Just quickly walked to a van as I followed... Nearly dropping the camera in the dirt a few times trying to work the controls. Got in the van and drove away. I noticed him looking at me through the mirror, while I was memorizing his plate number.

I called the local police non-emergency number and they said that although it was awfully suspicious and seedy... There is nothing legally they could do. I asked if the call was a matter of record though.. They said it was.

Don't forget your somewhat abnormal use of capital letters, punctuation and emoticons!

As a public service only.. I need to clarify this.

That's Ohioan for 'toilet'

Actually.. Other then the fact that she thinks I am.. I ain't worth all that much. Luckily? What I think is not all that important.... huh?

Ummm... Either stop smoking or back off of those benzo's before you hurt somebody.

Yup.. with any luck..Your forehead will be resting on the 'Z' key... So the rest of us will know you are resting.

Huh? Who? Me?

Well.. Sleep typing is an acquired skill worth noting.

I've got my better half. Which happens to live in Ohio.

Sometimes we collectively wonder if you are out long before that!

I see your point.. Yet, for your effort? You have my nomination.