I am pretty happy never having to worry about getting shot too. Same crappy management and overtaxation as Massachusetts, without the crappy weather or Red Sox fans

Management = higher quality of life. We do have the best schools in the country.

Our governor is awesome, probably best in the country. Hope he runs for President in a few years.

MA is mid-pack for taxation among the states.

Worst weather this year in my 50 year history. Won't stop raining. It's like Portland here. Poured today. and last week, and week before.

The Red Sox suck from what I understand. Who cares about sports teams?

Turn off the news.

What Bill Said. Turn off your TV and facestagram machine

Having the ability to return fire is different than actually returning fire . Just like keyboard commandos when you are actually in the situation many I suspect cower in fear and soil their shorts . I'm not trying to be funny but it takes real courage and a cool head to return fire and hit the intended target vs. innocent bystanders . It's easy to do in a video game or while bragging with your buddies , in real life situations not so much . I have plenty of guns and have run scenarios in my head of defending my family if need be , but I'm not 100 % sure I could do it . I hope I'm never put to the test . But I go to the range to stay sharp just in case .

Respectful question for Afterburn - I believe you are a Nam vet so well qualified to answer - does turning off the emotion occur over time or can it happen in a flash? I'm not a combat vet so have no understanding of what you had to go through.

That is only comforting until you realize the chance of dying in a mass shooting is added to the odds of dying in a car crash.

Thank you.

I've been ridiculously involved in local political advocacy over the last 2.5 years, but to date it has been about fighting re-zoning (city trying to re-zone all single family house neighborhoods to apartments) and historic preservation (trying to get my neighborhood designated as a historic district). Have also been getting involved in issues of demolition of affordable housing. This stuff takes up about 30 hours each week. Not found the personal bandwidth yet to wade deeply into the public safety fight, but have been helping city council candidates who believe in more policing of criminal behavior rather than molly-coddling. I think after next spring I might have time.

I think I'll take the SW442 to the local gun shop and see what they'll do for part trade on a G26. Of course I could carry the Detonics but it is sooo heavy.

Maybe get a good gunsmith to work on the trigger of the 442, it is a bit stiff and is a long pull out of the box. I go down and talk to my "representatives" regularly, to no avail. They really don't give a damn.

Shaun, doubt your governor is way better than the worst in the country, which we have here. You also have the advantage of a vanishingly small population of illegal aliens, so you can't really compare public education or percentage below the poverty line, though I must confess I have no idea what you may mean with the higher quality of life thing.

I don't worry about my safety at all, not in the least. I do worry about my son and daughter because I KNOW that as teachers they WILL sacrifice their bodies to save their students.

Much of my anxiety is rooted in living by the rules and systematically being screwed by the rules. I'd love to say "no more Mr Nice Guy" but that's just not my way.

I’m more worried about sharks. With lasers.

OK, so you have the chances of dying in a mass shooting, plus the chances of dying in a car crash, plus the chances of being killed by sharks with lasers. Nobody is going to get out of this alive!

They're rioting in Africa,
They're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida,
And Texas needs rain

The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles;
Italians hate Yugoslavs,
South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don't like anybody very much!

But we can be tranquil
And thankful and proud,
For man's been endowed
With a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain
That some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off,
And we will all be blown away!

They're rioting in Africa,
There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man!

Only if we all move to MA!:D

I think a guy here got killed or chomped on by a shark in August.

A regular shark or a laser shark?

It was a shark who conceal-carried a laser but didn’t feel the need to use it.

Always loved that from the Kingston Trio.

Well, that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about....