If I remember my history correctly, I think we kicked a bunch of guys with red coats out of our country because we had firearms.

As for firearms in the home, I started handling rifles when I was 6 years old. The kids all knew were the gun room was and were told to stay out or else. Hell, the kids knew how to clear a weapon but mom was clueless. Later on after we moved, I had 6 long arms in my room and a 1911 in my desk with about 2000 rounds of ammo under my bed. Funny everybody in my family is still breathing, according to some ads on the TV a couple years ago my family and next door neighbors should have all been killed. Guns in the home aren't a problem when everybody's trained and respects them.

I haven't had any problems on the road, but I don't usually drive during rush hour or odd hours in the morning like my dad does. He's had to brandish the gun a couple of times(and a few time in our old neighborhood). The soccer mom trying to run him off the road and an idiot in the $50 pickup. We always had a handgun for long trips.

Oh the glovebox, a lighter, registration, title, fuses, pen, and now out of the car, in a 914

christ,

i ignored this thread, but since it was around for so long, attracting so much attention i thought i'd take a peek.

i have my opinion on the gun thing, and i have spoken with americans who feel it is their "god given right to have them". but these are just our own opinions based on our own experiences.

thats all they are.

statistics - these are what ever you (or some politcal party) want them to be, they are not factual.

crime - that will always be there, with or without guns, as long as theres criminals.

confrontation - confrontational people get into fights, i know this 'cause i have a friend that likes an argument.

victims - these are usually vulnerable people, elderly, women, kids, etc.

i do not know the reason crime has risen here, probably to do with the lack of police on the streets, and the highway.

what i do know is that we do not have a gun problem in the uk. the law didn't take the guns away. you could never carry a gun around with you. it was kept locked in a sturdy box in yer house. fer christ sake, the police have to keep the shotguns locked up in the back of their vehicles! you do not generally see coppers walking round with guns either.

in fact if you go to the airports in the uk after a major scare its really noticable when the police walk around with machine guns - not something we see often.

when i was in the states we stopped off the highway (florida) for a pee at a wash room. and the patrol offficer told us to move on when we went to rest on the grass - christ in the uk we don't have patrol officers guarding rest areas!

the point is you can be a victim of crime anywhere in the world. if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time. but imho, the odds are against it in the uk - and we have a gun ban.

btw - i didn't know that you could carry a gun in italy.

This is exactly why guns are problematic. Why in world would a soccer mom be trying to run your dad off the road? And the idiot in the pickup, is your dad doing something illegal or offensive and then use the gun as a "get out of jail free pass"? A few times in the old neighborhood? What is wrong with this picture? Most gun proponents posting here have never had to raise their gun, yet in this case, a single person did 2 times on the road and a "few" times in the old hood. Unluckly or just overly confident with gun?

Sweater914, I'm not singling out your dad here but just voicing my perception of the topic as a whole. Gun proponents are trying to convince us that guns are necessary for their very survival yet millions of us get by each day with not even a sling shot in our back pocket. If you feel the need to have a gun at home, and are willing to accept the staggering odds for a personal tragady, then by all means do it. I am very concerned about people packing guns in their cars and waving them around at people who cut them off on the road or flip the finger.

Like I read previously in this thread I believe that if a gun is around it increases the odds of a violent crime when tension flairs. I would like to see a breakdown of all gun related deaths and how they sort by category of "successful self-protection", "unarmed victim", and "accidental shooting".

Something illegal or offensive? I hope dad was trying to take out a bus stop full of people with his p/u if that's the case! On the other hand, if someone was taking swipes at me with a car, esp. over a minor and common mistake I would say they're playing for keeps. And yes, if they followed me home, came out and voiced intentions to get me, or run me over, and made a move for it, I could legally shoot them. And get away with it. And being a "gun owner" doesn't automatically make you the aggressor, what you're assuming is Mario Cuomo is right about us- we're the paranoid redneck stereotype.

Always a possibility, but do you think if you eliminate the guns, this would ever stop? I know of more people who Pack baseball bats and tire irons, and those aren't illegal - at least until you use them. Baseball bats and tire irons come out so often, it's a cliche.

What happens if you piss off a couple of guys who see you zipping around in the 911? Are you just gonna "talk it out?" Have you ever had anyone follow you around for a mistake you've made? Or perhaps been threatened by not one guy, but two guys? Ever had anyone loiter in front of your house at night for no reason, esp. if your family is inside? Now, what if you happened to be Female? Or physically disabled? Do they have as much of a chance in an altercation? And, I won't even go into hate crimes here.

Or do altercations never happen where you live?

Once again, possible. But then again, despite what the government is telling us, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for our own actions. I don't think anyone here is against severe punishment for using a firearm in an unwarranted tension situation. But, as re - iterated before, if not a gun, maybe a bat, kitchen knife? Those are just as bad. Some unpopular law banning my firearm isn't going to stop violence if the tension flairs, nor make it any safer for the recipients. There are always other means. Accidental shootings? Tragedy, but be responsible, don't leave your gun around. I'm not trying to make light of that issue, but for chrisssake, lock up your gun if you're gonna have one. That is a part of "responsible" ownership.

rjp

The only thing he was doing wrong with the soccer mom was driving the speed limit on a two lane road, and she was doing her best NASCAR imitation. With no shoulder and no way off the road.

The old neighborhood was out in the county and response time sucked. The juvenile deliquent was a known menace to the point that the sheriffs all knew the family by name. The street next to mine had 2 guys convicted for 1st degree murder.

We had people routinely trespass through the yard(with 4 wheelers), vandalize, steal wasn't the garden spot of the world. Definitely unlucky.

The gun is a tool and can be a very fun hobby when used properly. Some people are just put in situations and conditions not necessarily of their choosing that having a firearm seems like a pertinent precaution. Even though that's the last thing the individual wants to do. We'd all like to leave our doors unlocked and keys in the ingition but that's simply not the case anymore (if it ever was).

Thanks RANDY P

Randy,

Nice posting! Well said....

Sweater,

Living in any neighborhood like that you would need to have some sort of protection! A D-6 Cat comes to mind... :)

Joe

My wife accidently cut a guy off in traffic one day. So he pulled up along side of her car, lifted a gun up in his right hand, pointed it at my wife's head, smiled at her, and then sped off. She didn't get his liscense #.

My first reaction was anger, he should be put in jail for that, for a pretty long while.

It never entered my mind that because I have a right to own pistols, that that in anyway contributed to this incident.

All I know is that what he did was ALREADY illegal, and he should go to jail for it. Could someone please explain to me how what he did should have any bearing on my right to own guns? Seems to me he's the one that broke the law. Even if he had pulled the trigger, how would that have any bearing on my right to own a pistol? The fact that I'm a redneck from TN can't be changed, but I do know the difference between right and wrong. I just don't see the correlation....2 completely different issues. What he did was one thing, How does MY right to own a gun have anything to do with his behavior? If you're saying my right to own a gun contributes to crime, I find that a lapse in logic. This country has alot of crime, buy it's done some pretty good things for the world to. And in my humbled opinion, we're still the measuring stick for freedom in the world today.

Confused
David Cate

I thought this thread was about what's in your glovebox. A majority of the above posters have their heads in another very dark place, IMO.

:)

I keep a Carbon 15 .223 in mine, I figure if I have to shoot from the car then I am probably shooting in or at another car and I want something to go through it. Of coarse I also keep a .45 1911 and a pump shotgun in the boot but im kinda like that.

I believe this detour into road rage and weapons was very nicely detailed in the movie "L.A. Story". Highly recommended veiwing.

And I'll have a half-caf-low-fat-double-mocha-frappa-latte with a twist...

Ahh...movies! I like movies!

"Bowling for Columbine" is pretty good :)

P.S. I also carry a picture of George W. Bush in my glovebox...whenever i get cut off i pull it out and use it!

A Glock 26...fit's just right.

"I thought that, uh, I'd show you around town a little bit, you know, a few kind of secret places, a kind of a cultural tour of L.A."
"That's the first fifteen minutes. Then what?"
"All right, a cynic. First stop is six blocks from here."
"Why don't we walk?"
"Walk? A walk in L.A.?"

There's something just "right" about having a German gun in a German car, don't you think? I'm shopping for a decent P-38 in 9mm.

You DO have a PPKS that was "Made in West Germany" don't you? :) Not one of those "made under license in Alabama" models...:D

Hmmm. Now I'm worried. I think my SIG may have been assembled in Exeter, NH. But I still think the parts were forged in Eckenfoerde, Germany, although SIG is an originally Swiss company. Even H&K is based here in Sterling, VA. At least I only speak German to my car.

Robert and Richard,

While I was living in Berlin, the police sold off all of their Walther PP and PPK pistols when they moved over to HK units. Flooded the market and they were going for around $40 a hit the first year or so.

We went to the military "rod and gun club" and as military members were allowed to get the pick of the litter. Some were well used, with the blueing rubbed off from being pulled out of the holster often, while others were like new... Most were German production, while some were made in France.

Got my brother a mint PPK, which had to have been used by someone at a desk. Still in the orginal box, with manual and extra mag, like new with all serial numbers matching (including the box) for $80...

After coming home I found out what they were worth. Should have bought 100 of them...

Joe

I carry most of the above (with the exception of a heater); additionally a soft-socket for fragile aluminum lug-nuts.

Handguns were banned in the UK (exception: N. Ireland).

The latest government figures show gun crime has doubled since 1997.

So much for the Snowdrop campaign, and the stupid ban that only affected sports shooters.

Sorry for the rant, but it's a subject I feel very strongly about and I'm currently snowed in.