American Gun Ownership Highest In 18 Years

[garbon]

[Malthus]

"You can never be too safe," he said.

Over the course of 90 minutes, the police encouraged them to adopt a view of the world that was, in essence, the default view of police officers: Keep your head on a swivel. Constantly triage potential threats. Incessantly toggle through angles of escape and plans of attack.

That is my default. I am not paranoid, just too much of a negative person.
When traveling abroad, where I can't conceal carry, it goes into overdrive. For example, I struggled when we met at a bar in London and I ended up with my back to the entrance, but I did study every beer bottle, pint glass and bar stool as potential weapons. 

As a Canadian, that just strikes me as utterly bizarre. I've never carried a weapon in a city at least. In the woods, sometimes, purely because of pesky bears.

You have not walked the streets of an American city, or a middle eastern country either. Or had China steal all your personal info while terrorist groups are wanting to kill you.

Actually, I spent a season working in Israel ... does that count? Mind you, where were plenty of cute teenaged girls with assault rifles and Uzis around. 

I've been through a few US cities - I even survived taking the train through Newark!  Mind you, I was not bold enough to actually walk the streets in NJ. 

[garbon]

"You can never be too safe," he said.

Over the course of 90 minutes, the police encouraged them to adopt a view of the world that was, in essence, the default view of police officers: Keep your head on a swivel. Constantly triage potential threats. Incessantly toggle through angles of escape and plans of attack.

That is my default. I am not paranoid, just too much of a negative person.
When traveling abroad, where I can't conceal carry, it goes into overdrive. For example, I struggled when we met at a bar in London and I ended up with my back to the entrance, but I did study every beer bottle, pint glass and bar stool as potential weapons. 

As a Canadian, that just strikes me as utterly bizarre. I've never carried a weapon in a city at least. In the woods, sometimes, purely because of pesky bears.

You have not walked the streets of an American city, or a middle eastern country either. Or had China steal all your personal info while terrorist groups are wanting to kill you.

Actually, I spent a season working in Israel ... does that count? Mind you, where were plenty of cute teenaged girls with assault rifles and Uzis around. 

I've been through a few US cities - I even survived taking the train through Newark!  Mind you, I was not bold enough to actually walk the streets in NJ. 

You might mean 'not stupid enough' rather than bold.

[The Minsky Moment]

I've been through a few US cities - I even survived taking the train through Newark!  Mind you, I was not bold enough to actually walk the streets in NJ. 

I've walked through Newark a number of times with nothing more dangerous than a stylus.  Never even occurred to me to case flight routes 

Is there something about conceal carrying that turns people into paranoid wusses?

[lustindarkness]

I've been through a few US cities - I even survived taking the train through Newark!  Mind you, I was not bold enough to actually walk the streets in NJ. 

I've walked through Newark a number of times with nothing more dangerous than a stylus.  Never even occurred to me to case flight routes 

Is there something about conceal carrying that turns people into paranoid wusses?

I don't think so, I will guess most were already paranoid wusses.

[lustindarkness]

Hey! Wait a minute.

[Caliga]

I've been through a few US cities - I even survived taking the train through Newark!  Mind you, I was not bold enough to actually walk the streets in NJ. 

Walking the streets in New Jersey is perfectly fine, enjoyable even.  I mean, assuming you like talking to prostitutes.

[DGuller]

They're a bore to talk to, they're only interested in one thing.   

[garbon]

They're a bore to talk to, they're only interested in one thing.   

Would that be that thing?

[Malthus]

They're a bore to talk to, they're only interested in one thing.   

Would that be that thing?

Given it's DGuller, I assume it's "please get my accounting work done on time". 

[derspiess]

Finally shot that .22 single action revolver (I guess it's supposed to be like a Colt replica) last weekend.  Nice pistol for plinking.  Didn't think I could have that much fun with a revolver.

[Valmy]

Finally shot that .22 single action revolver (I guess it's supposed to be like a Colt replica) last weekend.  Nice pistol for plinking.  Didn't think I could have that much fun with a revolver.

It doesn't make you feel like you are shooting down Confederate cavalrymen with your Remington 1858?

[derspiess]

Finally shot that .22 single action revolver (I guess it's supposed to be like a Colt replica) last weekend.  Nice pistol for plinking.  Didn't think I could have that much fun with a revolver.

It doesn't make you feel like you are shooting down Confederate cavalrymen with your Remington 1858?

No.  Maybe I should draw faces on those tin cans.

[Syt]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/25/reports-2-dead-hesston-kansas-workplace-shooting/80954886/

Three dead plus shooter after Kansas shootings; 14 injured

Three people have died in a series of shootings at three sites near Hesston, Kansas, including a lawn care products factory, authorities said Thursday night.

The alleged shooter also died after a confrontation with law enforcement at the Excel Industries plant, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said during a Thursday night news conference.

Walton said all the dead were shot inside Excel Industries and a total of 14 were injured in the shootings, 10 of them critically.

The shooter, an employee of Excel, was armed with a long gun and a handgun, the sheriff said. Police killed the suspect when he began firing on officers, who received the first call about the shooting shortly before 5 p.m. local time. The shooter was dead by 5:23 p.m., Walton said.

The company employs 1,000 people and about 150 of them were on the job at the time, according to Walton.

One shooting took place in Newton, Kansas, with someone in a vehicle suffering a gunshot wound to the shoulder, Walton said. Another person was shot in the leg at another site, Walton said. One person was shot in the parking lot of the Excel site and the remainder inside the factory, Walton said.

There are about four or five crime scenes in Newton, Harvey County, and Excel in Hesston, Walton said.

One witness told KAKE television that the alleged shooter carried what looked to be an AK-47 assault rifle.

Marty Pierce told the news organization he heard his co-workers yelling "fire" and that he narrowly missed being hit.

"They were saying, 'Fire, fire,'" Pierce said. "We didn't know they were getting shot."

Hesston College nearby was on lockdown in the wake of the incident, Walton said.

"This is just a horrible incident that's happened here ... please bear with us as we try to get through this," Walton said. "There's going to be a lot of sad people before this is all over."

Hesston is about 36 miles northwest of Wichita.

Excel Industries is a family-owned business that was founded in 1960, according to the Kansas City Star. The company is a leading maker of turf-care products and distributes its mowing products through Hustler Turf Equipment and BigDog Mower product lines, according to the company's website.

And then there was the Kalamazoo shooting, of course:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/in-kalamazoo-another-mass-shooting/470253/

A Shooting in Kalamazoo

At least six people are dead, and a 45-year-old suspect is in custody.

On Saturday night, a gunman in Kalamazoo, Michigan, drove around in his car killing people at random in a spree that spanned several hours and left at least six victims dead.

"The rampage began about 6 p.m. Saturday outside an apartment complex on the eastern edge of the Kalamazoo County, where a woman was shot multiple times and seriously wounded," the Washington Post reported. "A little more than four hours later and 15 miles away, a father and son were fatally shot while looking at vehicles at a car dealership. Fifteen minutes after that, five people — including a 14-year-old girl — were gunned down in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant."

Said a police spokesman, "We have 9, 10, 11 shell casings at each of these scenes." Police arrested a 45-year-old man with no known criminal history for the murders.

The motive for the shootings is unknown.

Over the last decade there have been more than 200 mass killings in the United States, using the FBI threshold of four or more victims in a single incident. "Well-known images from Newtown, Aurora and Virginia Tech capture the nation's attention," USA Today reported in a thorough investigation into the phenomenon, "but similar bloody scenes happen with alarming frequency and much less scrutiny." Still, mass killings account for just 1 percent of murders nationally.

A majority begin with domestic disputes. Most victims know their killers. But the earliest reports from Kalamazoo suggest that most or all of Sunday's victims did not know the killer or one another. Like the D.C. sniper killings of 2002, the seeming randomness of the murders has many in the community and beyond on edge.

On Reddit, a commenter wrote that despite being on the other side of the state,  "what I can't get out of my head is all the endless times my dad used to take me out at night (because no annoying sales guys) to look at cars at the local dealerships. It was always kinda peaceful, well lit lot, only ones there. Something so vivid in my head, a good memory with dad, bonding experience kinda thing, talking cars. Ugh. I want to say I can't imagine. But the problem is I can, I absolutely can imagine this all way too clearly. Sometimes my mom came along too, probably would've been the one to stay in the car. Fuck this. People should not have to fear living their lives, just stepping out of their home, going to a car dealership..."

Said another:

Ever since the Batman shooter, my wife has been terrified about going to the movies on midnight screenings or opening day. We generally wait a week or two after movies come out before going to see them and even then we go during the week. Like how sad is that? We can't even go to something as simple as the movies without fear of being shot. The most recent Lafayette one nearly drove her to never set foot in a theater again.

On YikYak, students at Western Michigan University expressed their gratitude to police for apprehending a suspect so quickly, and complained that administrators at their Kalamazoo campus didn't send out an alert to warn them about the gunman in town:



Crime has fallen dramatically in the last couple decades. But these killings can't help but stoke anxiety many feel as they watch the unlucky few who are devastated by them. The suspect's name and photograph are publicly available, but at this stage don't add anything to the story. So I've chosen to exclude them, lest others get the idea that they can get their name and face before the public if only they slaughter fellow humans. I don't know if denying infamy would reduce mass killings.

But isn't it worth trying?

[derspiess]

Shot a 12-gauge yesterday for the first time in my life.  The hunting load was easy enough to shoot but the hotter & heavier shot self defense loads had a ridiculous kick.  Still fun to shoot-- shredded anything you shot.