BatMasterson

Yes, but that's just a matter of bending a piece of spring steel wire in a rectangular spiral. I think many people are going to be capable of doing that. Even without a plastic printer, magazines are just stamped sheet metal, spot welded together. Anyone with a machine shop could make one. It's like trying to ban paint scrapers...

Think back to what we did with airliners after the 9-1-1 attacks. There was a call to arm pilots. Others objected. There was much hysteria about all the passengers getting sucked out through a bullet hole in the fuselage. Once the ridiculousness died down, cooler heads prevailed. And then we started giving pilots who volunteered specialized training to carry arms in the cockpit. We reinforced cockpit doors. And we added armed air marshals to the passenger cabins of some flights. And it's all worked! There have been no wrongful shootings or negative incidents with the guns, and air travel is safer because of it. The terrorists now know that they can't get away with the same kind of attack again. So how about we do the same thing with schools. Make classroom doors lockable from the inside and bulletproof, so that a shooter can't get to the kids. Allow teachers who volunteer, to receive specialized training to carry a gun in the school. And have an armed guard, if not in each school, maybe some who rotate amongst different schools, so that a shooter will never know which school might present a deadly force deterrent. And you advertise all this to dissuade potential shooters of the uselessness of trying. Simple, cheap, effective. Now let the hysteria begin. So we can get beyond it to what's reasonable, like we did with the airlines.

Good news: Dorner is now living a healthier lifestyle - he quit smoking this morning.

That's a neat idea. I'd hate to erase 'em though! I carve a notch down the side of my stick for every place I've hiked. Groups of 10. Several rows, representing hundreds of places. A notch can be an loosely-defined thing though. A week in one national park is one notch. And a 6-hour day hike while passing through someplace is also one notch.

That's 550 wrapped around the top, spend all day with your stick in hand - ya don't want any blisters! Your walking stick seems to have a little point on the end - what's that all about? I like a rubber tip on mine, but they wear out in a week hiking on rock, so I keep a spare in my backpack. I like the grip I get with that, as otherwise it can slip while you're trying to pole vault a muddy ditch or use it for support. That's a 1/2" hardened steel point, it threads into a steel 'cup' on the dirty end of the stick...they too get replaced when needed - which isn't very often. I find the sharp point actually gives ya a lot more 'traction' on steep trails & is especially useful on loose and or wet gravel type terrain...pretty handy in a bar fight too! Haulin' ass on a steep downgrade is much easier when the tip grabs anywhere ya put it...I've use rubber ends but after 12-16 hrs hiking I'm too tired to watch for good placement...simpler to grap & stab. Sounds like it would work well in a lot of situations. Handy for picking up trash too. But I spend a lot of time on solid rock, and I'm not sure about it there. Attached: The top end of my long-time walking stick. I thought about wrapping it in parachute cord like you did, to symbolize my love of skydiving. But I went with a more native materials look instead. The grip is wrapped in leather, with the ends held in place by sinew. And on top is a buffalo nickle representing the West which I love.

Fred, the murder rate with knives in the US is higher than the murder rate by all means in the UK. And I don't think gun control laws have any effect upon knife murders. Meanwhile, the number of successfull armed self defense stories in the US is also way higher than in other western developed nations. (Why exclude eastern nations?) Americans probably have a lot more fun recreating with guns than others too.

Or else he'll be fired for defying orders.

That's 550 wrapped around the top, spend all day with your stick in hand - ya don't want any blisters! Your walking stick seems to have a little point on the end - what's that all about? I like a rubber tip on mine, but they wear out in a week hiking on rock, so I keep a spare in my backpack. I like the grip I get with that, as otherwise it can slip while you're trying to pole vault a muddy ditch or use it for support.

That would be nice. But it's no longer reality. Copycats will keep popping up to do it again. And given the choice between school slaughters or armed officers, we should go with the armed officers. And when armed officers become the norm, the copycats won't try anymore because it's no longer possible to succeed.

Thank you, Frank.

More support for that view: Since Obama has been in office, more than 60 million gun background checks have been done. That's more than the entire population of the UK. That's 20% of the population of America. And yet with all those additional guns sold, crime rates are still going down. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/20130205_1998_2013_monthly_yearly_totals.pdf

H.R. 11: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d113:1:./temp/~bdGLuU::|/home/LegislativeData.php|

Old time thinking against men. What are little boys made of? Slugs and snails And puppy-dogs' tails, That's what little boys are made of. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice And everything nice, That's what little girls are made of.

A very subjective observation. Have you ever heard about the plastic ripcord? Yep. Add to that: Anti-wind blast handles. Belly band pilot chutes. Capewells. Flinger pack opening bands. Pack closure cones. There's a long list of parachute gear innovations which turned out to be bad ideas. Just because something is new and different, doesn't mean it's good. And that's true of both parachute gear and gun control.

How many patients should we sacrifice to shoddy unproven cures, while we search for one good one? What kind of patients, John? Any who would risk their lives to volunteer to test unproven drugs, Frank.