[CJFusco]

Wow, I wish I discovered this thread earlier.

First, I must state that I am described as a Liberal, but I firmly believe in one's right to own firearms as a means of self-defense. If you take away the public's right to own handguns, then your situation changes from armed citizens and an armed crime component to unarmed citizens and an armed crime component.

I do have to admit that most of the people that own handguns are improperly trained in how to handle them. Hell, most cops are improperly trained...

...I grew up the son of a cop. Actually, to be fair, he was head of the Hartford County SWAT team for awhile and taught tactical firearms everywhere from the local Bristol Police Dept. to West Point Academy. To give you some idea of how respected he is in the weapons-training field, he is one of the handful of people that is still allowed to carry a concealed weapon onto an American commercial aircraft. I like to think of him as the real-life Jack Bauer, but not quite as cool.

Needless to say, my brother and I both got to handle some pretty impressive firearms. I personally own a Smith and Wesson .45 automatic and a Walther TPH .22 (not a very good gun, it jams even if you clean it every time), although I do not carry a firearm. My father actually used to administer the same tests to us that he administered to SWAT candidates. I can shoot in the 95 percentile.

My father has been shot once and shot at a number of times. A couple of those times he was off-duty and intervening in someone else's business. He was always lucky enough to have his trusty GLOCK model 27 9mm with him all those times.

Like I said, I don't carry right now. I don't have a permit, and where I live in CT is very safe. Where I live in Boston is another story, but my college campus isn't too much to worry about. There is the occasional shooting nearby (Ruggles station is nearby, and that particular station is on the Orange Line, which travels through Roxbury), but I feel pretty safe. The only time I felt threatened was once we "dropped" an empty can of beer out my friend's 2nd story window... and accidentially hit someone. The jock in question literally broke down the door and threatened us with a jackknife. I would have loved to see his face if he busted down the door and the first thing he saw was a shotgun pointed right at him. WhenI get my own place after school, however, I plan to buy a shotgun for the house and I will file for a weapons permit. I know my way around guns, I'm not jumpy with them, I respect the firearm. I was a Boy Scout, and Boy Scouts are always prepared.

That being said in my glove box is a CT/RI state map, a MA state map with a Boston sectional, a phillips srewdriver, a flathead screwdriver, a monkey wrench, a set of allen wrenches, a knife, my original throttle cam, a rearview mirror mounting kit, touch-up paint. In the door compartments are pens, and in the armrest are tapes by Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and Weezer. In the trunk are my not-yet-installed autocross springs.