Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
I'm a bit 'twixt and between' myself. I don't like that anyone can buy a 'saturday night special' virtually from the local hardware shop sure. Until recently, i've owned no less than one rifle at any time since i was 16 years old [got a 2nd-hand single shot Ruger .22 rimfire as a Birthday present] and i'd had an air rifle prior to that since before i was 10. But i was bought up 'in the sticks', guns were part of our very existence. Now it'd be considered 'child abuse' to bring kids up that way, even in the bush i suppose. So until recently I've had a gun handy for almost half a century, during which time i did ~30 years part-time Military Service where i ran range practices and gave countless weapons lessons from Browning pistol to M60 machine gun. What did that teach me? This: most ppl shouldn't be allowed near a gun without doing a serious weapons course and be required to join a gun club with a range suitable for their weapon of choice and do a minimum of two supervised qualification shoots annually to maintain proficiency and keep their weapons licence. How would that suggestion go down in the Panhandle? Not well i reckon. Having let my civvie shooter's licence and gun club membership go i can no longer legally have a gun in my home. I still feel slightly naked without one honestly, but .... it's all for 'the greater good'.
Well then I guess my 7 guns, 4 rifles and 1000 .223 rounds is a little much for home protection But no fear, I only fired 3 of those guns (so far) and haven't shoot them for over 10 years. What's important is that I still remember the training I took when I got my CSL 20 years ago; so if the world is going to ****, I'm prepare. The problem with guns in an area that have no restriction is that many people don't take it seriously and act carefully around it. We get "accidental* shooting" at least once a year and countless stupid acts that put the "2nd admendment" to shame. The "RIGHT to bear arms" really needs to be changed to "it's a PRIVILEGE to bear arms," so people don't take it for granted.

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