Jonnin

  I thought at first gat was another typo, first time I heard that one.   On that note, she is tied to a known author who probably has some cash, I think we have a buyer for the infamous "member" revolver (I will spare everyone by not linking that thing again).

  That was my point --- if you want legal activity to stop, a few arrests will get the message across PDQ.

I agree.   I encounter a number of leos at the range, and they all say they are the vast minority, that most of their peers are not gun people so much as people who carry one as another tool for their job...       I sort of read your earlier statement to mean their age and environment or something excused their opinion, but if you did not mean it that way, its all good. 

Welcome, its good to have you!   I am bored at work today so I will give you a bunch of random nonsense in hopes some of it helps without overwhelming.  If it seems like too much, stop reading, you won't hurt my feelings :)   First, you have to understand the purpose of the gun you buy.   A .22 target pistol is great for shooting paper at the range, not so good for self defense (usually a bit big and the bullet fired is weak, lacking momentum and energy), while a magnum lightweight snub nosed revolver might be your pick for self defense, its not a lot of fun to shoot 250 times in a row at the range due to fatigue from recoil and ammo price).  I highly recommend that most shooters do get a .22 to practice and play with, for fun, and a different pistol for defense, if possible, though you will still want to practice with both.   Next, do not let people dictate what you like or what to buy.  There are pushy salesmen and internet fanboys who will push brand X at you and tell you anything else is garbage.   The second someone tells you they know what you need, put your hand over your wallet, nod and smile, and excuse yourself, make for the door (virtual or real).   Revolvers can be awesome, and if you prefer them, go with it.  My wife has moved to revolvers, and now carries a ruger gp100 with a greatly reduced set of springs that make the trigger pull quite light.   Before that she had a high capacity 22 magnum revolver, 8 shots I think.  Just be sure to try a variety of autos before you decide.  While most revolvers are more or less similar, autos have a lot more variation that make big differences.     All handguns are compromises of a set of features that include: size and weight capacity power (relative momentum or energy of the cartridge that is fired) grip/comfort/ergonomics cost & ammo cost per round trigger pull recoil   and maybe a few more.  What you want to do is figure out which of those matter most TO YOU.    And lastly, pull the trigger on the gun you are looking at a few times.  Ask before doing this: some guns do not need to be "dry fired" (trigger tested) and some clerks or stores frown upon it.   But do not buy until you have tested the trigger: make it a deal breaker.    For a semi-automatic, you have to pull the slide back and let go to test the trigger properly, on many models, a few you can just pull it.  Revolvers, unless single action, just pull it.  (Single action, you must pull the hammer back before you can fire it, usually with your thumb or your other hand).    Of all the variables when buying a gun, this one is the most overlooked by new shooters yet one of the most important (its as important as the ergonomics, for sure) to long term enjoyment from the purchase.   As you test it, ask yourself "can I do this 50-100 times in a row without pain or extreme fatigue?".   If not, you will have limited practice sessions, and those are very important if you are considering using and carrying a gun for personal protection.   As with my wife's gp, the trigger can be adjusted on many models, so delay the purchase and research if that is the case --- someone already did it, if it can be done, unless you happened across a model that just came out less than a week ago or something.    Good luck, ask lots of questions, spend once, trust me as someone who did not follow that advice a few times, sadly...

  Why, its one of at least 5 goofs in the page where the spell checker / grammar machine and the author all combined still could not produce a valid statement.   The whole thing reads like it was written by an ESL or a computer that parsed the web and assembled the story using AI.

I am sort of hoping that christie gets too entangled in this bridge incident to make a go of it.   I do not have a lot of patience for him; he has done a few things that were good and praiseworthy but just as many facepalms.  He might be a good guy to have in a major crisis,  but in general he is more left than right and prone to random acts of government.   And, he is anti gun.

  If the leos are to be excused for injecting their personal bias into their routines, then my respect for the law and its enforcers becomes next to zero.   That is true no matter what the issue --- whether its guns or racism or anything else.   Its going to happen --  no one can go thru life without some bias --- but it can't be excused away.  Depending on circumstances,  at the very least the biased officer needs a few days of unpaid leave to meditate on his mistakes.

  I have ZERO problem with someone calling the cops out to check on some moron that is walking around with a rifle.  None at all.  Fine.  But I have a SERIOUS problem if said person complies with the leos, is doing nothing illegal, is not bothering anyone, and STILL they trump up a charge of creating a disturbance or something because there was no other "crime" to be found --- In my little world, that is INFRINGEMENT via harassment.  Basically the powers that be are saying "that is legal, but to discourage it, you are under arrest anyway".

The 22 issue has really shown the true colors of many of the gun show vendors and others.  I have used the opportunity to memorize some faces, names, and businesses that will never see another cent of my money.   Folks that before, I might have bought a gun from, or gear, or other items, as soon as I see that $75 box of 22LR I walk away.    I have skipped the last 3 shows entirely, have about decided that apart from just a small # of honest guys the gun industry is full of dishonorable and dishonest folks.   Not that I did not know it before, but I did not realize just how bad it was --- i used to think the little, local folks were just unable to get the better wholesale prices and had to run a little higher, and I felt compelled to buy a few things from them here & there to ensure that local shops stay open.  Not anymore.  The heck with those people, they can all go out of business as far as I am concerned.

you have to define digital currency.   You have crypto coins, which vary from somewhat safe (still too new to have been hacked??) to the risky (total scams).  You have credit cards and paypal and so on.  You have fake money (there are not enough real $ bills of all the denominations combined to give *everyone* their entire *net worth* in actual cash if everyone liquidated at once.   All these and more are "digital" money, some safer than others.  For that matter, your stocks and bonds and more are digital too --- most folks do not get actual certificates anymore.     Basically, we have the capability to ensure that "digital" money is more or less hack and scam proof --- from time to time someone hacks the system but for the most part, it stays safe and even when it is rascaled the end owner is not hurt as the overseeing entity takes the loss.     3) There are all sorts of implants.  My wife is likely to have one soon, as she is on a nasty drug called baclafin (spelling?) that, when it reaches a certain point, is often administered from an implant.  There are tons of others from fake knees to pacemakers and more.  It does not *have* to mean some sort of RFID or other ID.   ACA is the size of wikipedia nearly, it has sections on EVERYTHING even remotely related to health.    4) That leads to my next point.  We do not NEED implanted RFID end of times OMG its satan chips for currency.  Cell phones FIT THE BILL.  It can be traced and tell the tracer where you currently are.  Many have cameras that can be tapped as well.  It can be used for money via the web.   The only thing missing is it is not inserted into your body, yet.   People willingly haul these things around, knowing that it gives the govt and businesses 100% privacy invasion of their life.   We don't need a govt mandate to insert a tracer or ID, we just need moar angry birdz to trick people into BUYING the item and happily carrying it around 24/7.    Chew on that for a while and get back to me.

fegs are utilitarian but solid pistols for the most part.   A little rough but reliable and inexpensive (usually).

All I will say is that modern consumer electronics are designed to fail at an alarming rate.   Used, new,  brand --- none of it matters much right now.  Its all made the same way by the same people and it has about an 85% chance for something major to fail within 5 years.  The days of running a machine for 10+ years are mostly gone (sometimes you get lucky, but odds are against).   So get the best deal on the machine that can do what you need it to do, invest in a backup,  and mentally mark the purchase as disposable.   That makes a refurb a bit of a ????? to me.   It could mean that the machine already suffered a failure and was repaired, but does that make it more? or less? likely to fail again?   I would say its going to be about as safe as a new machine in that regard.  In that case, look to see if they have any sort of warranty on the thing.  Presumably anything bad was replaced with new, so it should have some sort of protection....   if not, get a cheap new machine.   If you know how and have some parts already (forget using 8 year old parts) maybe build something.

Ah, new york.  Even children know of it, even children in other countries.  What a city ...  a place where the mayor of that one town can get on national, even world, television just by flapping his jaws.   Is it any wonder that such an important person, the leader of that entire CITY, is known across the globe?  Of course not!   There are times when I suspect more people across the globe could name the glorious leader of NY than the current supreme court justices or congressional leaders.  Because the leaders of that ghetto all have a napoleon complex or something that they have to extend their authority beyond the borders of their town in some strange attempt to influence how the rest of the world lives.  I mean, when is the last time you saw the mayor of LA on national TV or making an ass of himself? Or any of the thousands of other mayors who are, instead of trying to be president of the USA, stick to running their city without bothering the rest of the world?   Bloomer is the worst of a bad lot --- he is not even leader of the ghetto any longer, and STILL feels compelled to get on TV.

Cz makes quality products.  It says something that 3 or 4 clones (or more?) are on the market, though the cz brand is not super pricy.    A light, high cap cz?   The cz 82 or 83 (the 82 is milsurp, the 83 is new production but may be gone or going away) in 9x18 or 380 is very well liked.  A great deal of its popularity is the quality to price point on the 82 -- it was (maybe still is) right at 200 for a well made gun.   I liked it, but sold mine as I liked my makarov better and did not want to make ammo for the 82.  If you happen to be left handed, this becomes a top pick.   However, the cz rami is about the same size and is a full 9mm, and that is my favorite of their lineup.  10 round flush mag or 13 round extended, in a smallish but comfortable frame.   This is my go-to large pistol choice (its all relative, but this is the biggest pistol I carry).  I cannot say enough good things about this pistol.  

  All the stock market really is now is legalized gambling with oddly named poker chips.   It is a murky reflection of the real economy because real money is tied up in it,  a LOT of real money.  And here again we have mysterious effects.... because people believe the market matters, the market matters.  Because of that belief, investors do things that effect big businesses which effect the economy.     So what you said is true,  but while the market does not really represent the GDP or unemployment or even the true value of an individual company, it still matters due to the perceptions and real effects caused by them.

  Its a strange position.  The public statements from the job often have more effect on the economy than the actual deeds.  I think if the person just randomly changed the interest rate by 0.1 % or less (either direction), without any news interviews or econbabble,  it would be very interesting to watch.   But what is scary is when *nothing changed* but the person did a brief interview or made a couple of statements and the stocks jump around....   That was the problem with bernake.  He kept flapping his gums on TV when he should have stayed home. 

I have never even been close to bitten by one, and encountered many.   If left alone, it will leave you alone, so getting bit means either going out of your way to aggravate one or stepping on one.  Can't really avoid stepping on something you did not see and the darn things have really good camo in the dark or woods or leaves.   Dunno about the potency but the worthless wiki says even a loaded bite is rarely that dangerous and often the crofab is avoided as the cure can be as risky as the venom.   Whatever that is worth.

  Or, we need to get past the idea that doing something legal is a crime anyway because it offended or startled someone.

Except here, it is not compromise.  Again, if they vote that one down, the next one will be just as bad.  There is an infinite supply of idiots waiting on the sidelines to be picked for these jobs.   The choice, again, is to vote for one of em, or vote for none of em.  And voting against all of them is not, at this time, a great plan.   That means leaving the fed in limbo, which causes backlash in all sorts of areas --- from businesses wanting to hire, to the stock market and other markets, which have ripple effects on unemployment and consumer confidence (or whatever the term is for willingness to spend money) and dozens of other things.      We can argue the necessity or evil or whatever of the fed but ATM the fed is reality, and it has a big influence in a lot of pies. We can argue that leaving it without a leader is a good conservative thing to do, but @ what costs?! We can argue that constant rejection of appointees will send a message and get a moderate pick, but for a 1 year left lame duck that is not gonna happen.   Again, what "choice" or "compromise" are you talking about?  There is no positive outcome from any of the choices.  Letting one of them into the position seems to me to be the least damaging choice.   I dislike our senators but in their place, I might have done the same (cant say 100% as there is always more to the story that the public can get).

Not as cut and dried as some moron trying to make a point.  Here (from the story) we have a guy that owns a GUN SHOP in THAT MALL an has A GUN.  Transporting your goods to and from your store or carrying goods that could be bought in said store into another shop in the same complex should not justify any charges at all.   Possibly not the brightest thing to do, but not worthy of news nor arrest.   Or are they really going to uphold this and claim that *anyone* who buys from his shop and carries the goods on to other stores is a criminal??

Fight the fights that matter.  Throw this loon out and another similar loon will be appointed while those who *constantly* vote against *every* offering will earn nothing but bad publicity and bad press.   The one in charge of the appointments is the problem.... fix that, and you fix all the little peons.   Granted, running the fed is a bigger peon than most, but at the end of the day, what can the fed person do?  Raise and lower rates ... well they can't go much lower, really, --- most of the rest of it is propping up the falling house of cards by trying to avoid spooking the market which in turn spooks businesses and they stop hiring ... oh, wait!    Honestly, it can't get much worse than now without a serious breakdown, and even the most idiotic obama supporter will avoid *that* if possible. 

the 8th is fundamentally flawed.  While all of them have some degree of language in the way (subjective interpretations) --- the use of the term "cruel and unusual" leaves everything totally open to debate.   I could easily write you an essay that "proves" that locking someone in a cage for life is "cruel".   I could do the same for the death penalty --- and with some creativity, probably *any* punishment that you can dream up, I can probably write a convincing piece of junk that states why your proposed method is "cruel" or "unusual".   Much like assault now means "waved a fist at from 100 yards away",  torture now means "causes discomfort".   Likewise, "cruel and unusual" simply means "punishment exceeding a tongue lashing".   as to what I believe,  It depends.   For non citizens caught red-handed in an act of mass murder, I support using any means that does not maim the individual to extract information that could save thousands of lives.   So if some nut plants a nuke and then gets caught,  and we need to know where the bomb is,  yea, I can support waterboarding, or truth drugs, or hypnosis,  or lack of sleep and similar methods.  The hard torture, though, has to be off limits --- the barbaric stuff like red hot nails into the knees or simply pulling their arm off slowly sorts of things are a no-go.  (However, I quite support the use of the latter in cases where an individual catches another individual in a horrible act such as raping their preteen daughter) and would let the person go free if I were on the jury.

Its a neat device.  Magnifying glass would do the same in a fraction the weight/space, though.  

Its bitter cold but there is about 0.000000000001 inches of ice and snow here (I am within about 5 min of the airport).   However they predicted snow and ice, so maybe the flight schedules were in limbo for a while?    I do not know anything about the actual flights but I see nothing *at this moment* that would prevent them. 

and supposedly you can have it counterbored (?) which is basically a gunsmith cuts a new crown and then new rifling down the last bit of the barrel (not the whole way) which can give "decent" accuracy to a worn out gun.    As for getting it clean, just be careful to not do more harm than good.    Also, expectations....  what ammo are you shooting?  What groups are you getting?   If its under 2 moa and surplus ammo, that may be all you can do.