tng27

You can shoot .223 at Range USA on Saturdays - if that helps

This is obviously a contentious issue. What I want to comment on is the level of civility and intelligence (mostly ) with which it has been discussed. After reading forums on the Chattanooga and Memphis newspapers sites, I can only conclude that members here are superior in both intellect and debating skills but then we knew that. It also proves that gunowners are not crazy yahoos!

I agree with OhShoot as well. If I were a real pessimist, I'd say by the time my grandson is 21, the US will be just like the UK et al and the 2nd amendment will be history or at best its interpretation will be nothing like we know now. I fear for our country more every day.

Tennessee Senate fails to approve bill to close handgun-carry records : Mid-South : Memphis Commercial Appeal

Well this was a NY Times article after all. Where does personal responsibility fall in their list of important characteristics?

There are a lot of people on the CA website that are illogical.

How could they be more scared? If you've read any of the comments in our states newspapers re gun legislation, you know we're practically overrun with sheep already.

BryanG and 56Fordguy should co-captain the debate team! If you two have the energy, go on over to the Commercial Appeal website - there are several people there who need your tutelage especially as it pertains to the 2A

Re allowing the business to post: Why are restaurants forced to adhere to the no-smoking laws? Because it's politically correct and the anti-smokers caused enough of a ruckus to get it done. There was no respect for private property rights in that case. Unfortuately, we aren't politically correct (yet). We can protest on the sidewalk all we want but all we'll get is bad publicity and the media will further fan the flames. I like the cards - let economics work - until the first time an HCP holder is attacked in a restaurant that's posted and sues them. Now, having said all of that, I don't think there are enough of us to have a real impact except perhaps in the smaller municipalities. For whatever perverse reason, as we all know, people are convinced that the 2nd amendment is less equal than others. There' the rub.

One Repub voted no. Our very own Lamar 27 Democrats and 1 Independent-Socialist Vote Yes - Glock Talk

Think you'll find this interesting. For some perverse reason, I've been reading gun control threads on the Daily Kos (know thine enemy). I was somewhat surprised since you get truly both sides of the issue with, in many cases, a surprising lack of emotional outbursts. Be sure to look at the comments - that's the interesting part Daily Kos: Why gun owners don't trust us

Once this starts, it never stops. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/mar/26/chattanooga-neighbors-take-aim-another-gun-range/?local

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/mar/08/griscom-unusual-legislative-priorities/?opinioncolumns I'll give Griscom this - the guy is relentless. He apparently never tires of listening to himself right or wrong.

Thanks for the link - missed that one. The process obviously can be improved but the numbers don't seem to indicate it's a large problem.

1. I wonder who wrote this as it was unsigned. 2. Really. Is there any documentation to support this? "we do know that inspections of these records by citizens and the news media have uncovered serious problems with the permit process. Journalists have used these records to prove the Department of Safety was issuing permits to convicted felons and renewing permits to felons convicted since getting their permits. These records also helped to uncover the fact that the department had not been checking the criminal backgrounds of applicants as the law requires." 3. Anybody who believes the Commercial Appeal put up a searchable database solely to serve the public - well I have a really nice bridge in the Sahara - interested? Even if it remains public record, why does the CA feel they should take it upon themselves to provide this "service". 4. What are they going to license next? Rock gardening? Will there be demands for a database for that? Simply because the state decides to license something doesn't necessarily mean that licensees information should become public record. I think the whole notion of "public record" needs to be reexamined. It's being abused. The continuous stream of crap makes my head want to explode.

www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/mar/01/crisis-mexico/?opiniontimes "Many Americans believe our nation’s most troublesome issue with Mexico is illegal immigration. In reality, it’s something far more sinister: a war on Mexico’s government by the country’s increasingly powerful and deadly violent drug cartels. The cartels, ironically, are armed chiefly by American gun stores operating under our disastrously lax regulation. But while gun sales here could easily be tightened, and should be, Mexico’s war with its narco-state gangs is a far more difficult problem — one that threatens spill-over effects and critical foreign policy issues in the United States. Last year more than 6,000 Mexicans were killed — some first cruelly tortured and maimed, others beheaded — in drug-related violence. To put than number in perspective, contrast it with the 4,251 American soldiers killed in six years of war in Iraq. Mexican drug gangs now use rocket-propelled grenades, rapid-fire assault rifles and bombs. They’ve infiltrated municipal and state police forces and the army to get intelligence. They attack heavily armed convoys guarding the travel of regional governors, and they boldly assassinate high-ranking military officials and the top staff of the country’s drug czars. Just as they have grown and expanded their wars from turf fights with rival cartels into full-scale battles with government troops, they’ve also expanded their criminal reach into extortion of businesses and citizens, and the establishment of Mafia-style tax systems on their frightened subjects. Just across the border from El Paso, Texas, teachers in Ciudad Juarez, for instance, were threatened with death at Christmas if they didn’t surrender their annual holiday bonuses. A General Motors distributorship in one mid-size city reportedly paid extortion for months at a time. A municipal police chief was warned last week that policemen under his charge would be systematically killed every day until he resigned. He immediately resigned. That was hardly surprising given the seemingly irrepressible level of violence. Though it is spreading, most of the violence presently occurs in three of the biggest Mexican states along the 2,000 mile border with the United States. Mexico’s three biggest drug cartels focus their control there to guard their trafficking routes. That traffic flows both ways: 90 percent of the cocaine in the U.S. comes through Mexico, and 90 percent of the firearms those gangs use to control their turf, terrorize citizens and fight federal forces flows back across the border from the United States. The growing threat from Mexico’s drug war has understandably become a serious concern for America’s foreign and domestic policy experts. Retired general Barry McCaffrey wrote recently that Mexico could become a failed state, and a narco-state, within a decade. CIA director Michael Hayden has classified Mexico as a challenge for the Unites States equal in significance to Iran. Much more than drug use, criminal activity and spill-over violence is at stake for the United States. Mexico is America’s third largest trading partner, third largest source of oil, and a huge supplier of natural gas. Mexico’s failure would threaten business ties. It also would spur a wave of refugees across our southern border. Mexico, in fact, must now be counted as one of President Obama’s largest and most immediate foreign policy and domestic issues. Like all the other large problems now on his plate, it has reached a crisis point at least partly through the neglect of the prior administration. Still, it can’t be ignored any longer." Yes it's bad in Mexico but will somebody please let me know the next time Sportsman's Warehouse has a sale on RPG's?

Well that pretty much answers my question. RangeUSA staff did seem friendlier and I'm going back to be fingerprinted!

Range USA and RangeMaster - both looked like good facilities. I'd appreciate hearing opinions from regular shooters. Thanks

you would find one of the best 2nd amendment arguments I've ever seen here of all places - from a self-avowed screaming liberal no less take the time - it's worth it http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4...152/392/496931