mjolnir

First off I'm NOT retarded , I realize that people hunt, camp and Jeep in the wilderness, because I do all of those things as well. I've also been dropped for weeks in the middle of nowhere doing ground surverys for the Department of Natural Resources. I've been in the backcountry for years of my life.

I do hunt so I've got a gun then. I also bring an over-under with me on some canoe trips because prairie chicken's and other phesants are tasty. But the only time I've needed a gun for defence in the backcountry was the two times I've been in Polar Bear territory, it was a rifle, and luckily I didn't have to use it.

Other than that, a can of Bear Mace (which I've succesfully used against BlackBear 3 times) and common sence seems to work well for me.

But hey if you think you can take out a Polar Bear or a Bull Moose in "rutt" with your Glock (or whatever handgun) go ahead, but make sure you pick out a nice pine box first. The right tool for the right job, and a handgun while usefull for defending against people is IMO useless in the backcounrty.

as for your Hills have Eyes people, you have a point there

RedneckJeep

I can tell you've not been wild boar hunting....at least not in south Georgia. I got news for you. You BETTER be takin a LARGE caliber revolver if you wanna live. I've BEEN in the middle of the woods treed by a hog that was in excess of 700 pounds. My buddy put three rounds from his 30.06 in his head. Went around and out the back. Their plating around their head is just too thick for most rifle fire. The only thing that brought him down was a round right between the eyes from my .44 Magnum. I had to shimmy down too damn close for that. There's actually no substitute for a large caliber handgun in some instances. I'm waitin to see what my S&W .50 cal revolver can do. I can promise you one shot from that pistol will put down a polar bear. You can draw and fire quicker than a rifle, too. They are also easier to carry. Follow along now and see if you can keep up. From bottom to top, .357 Magnum Rossi, .44 Magnum Ruger Super Blackhawk and on top is the S&W 500 Magnum .50 cal revolver. Trust me when I say that .357 is no small pistol, so you can use your imagination. For the rounds, left to right, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum and .500 Magnum .50 cal. Understand, that's not just a .50 cal round. It's a .50 cal MAGNUM round. I think the size comparison speaks for itself. I would much rather have that 500 ANY day of the week if I expected close encounters with ANY large animal that walks on the earth. And I do mean ANY.

mjolnir

I've hunted boar once, not in Georgia, no handguns, just a shotgun with slugs and a pike (like the midevil kind of pike, knife on a stick)

and you have a valid point, I never thought of that. So that's my learnin' for the day.

I really doubt it, it would have to be a damn accurate head shot and I don't think you'd get the chance/angle for it, but lets just hope niether one of us (more likely me) doesn't have to find out OK

yes, I've shot a .357, a .38 special and an old Germen Luger (not sure the caliber?) as far as handguns go. That 500 is a CANNON not a handgun

and I prefer a variety of animal specific non-handgun defence, but if I'm ever in south Georgia boar territory I'd gladly have you come with.


and I can't handle anymore debating, I'm outta this thread.

.

sixt7gt350

The .500 magnum is a wicked cartridge, but still a beauty of modern technology.

A .50 caliber muzzleloading pistol would be more akin to a cannon.

akonius

but you're a fish?!

Brisnut

Well said and I agree and understand you live in a more violent place, so guns are a necessary evil. You also have bears etc and a hunting culture we never had. I just like to point out there is a lot of information being used comparing other countries to the US that aren't comparable and are just not accurate. I'm not reaching across the globe to strip you of your guns, but we're not living in a spiraling out of control crime squallor as suggested in emails from fictitious police cheifs because of our low numbers of firearms either.
We like surfboards, fishing and vehicles more than guns. In 20 years camping with 4 offroad clubs I can't think of one occassion where guns amounted to more than a 5 minute mention around the campfires. I used a gun a few times as a teenager, shooting at rabbits with mates22 but found it boring in the end, we had more fun with pushbikes and at the beach. I've fired 9mm, 38, 45, 357, 44, 303 and even done some clay shooting with a 12ga, and been told regularly I'm not half a bad shot for someone who shoots so rarely, but it's just like a video game for me I guess, I would never bother buying a gun or competing.
Our strict laws aren't too strict to stop a farmer or security guard being armed when appropriate. We still have gun clubs and sport shooting. Criminals here need to fork out more cash to buy an illegal gun than legit owners pay for a legal one, so they don't bother other than a few dealer crimelord wannabees, so in general they abide by the laws more due to supply and demand, our borderwatch are pretty tight on anything illegal making it into the country.
We are pretty happy with our solution or we would have voted otherwise, implications that that makes us "unfree" are just silly from some who obviously allow constant fear of criminals/terrorists/government to control their lives.
I can see the use in a big pistol in the wild, when it's dark, you have a collapsed tent on top of you as a croc drags you by the leg to the river, I suspect a handgun might be more easy to use then a rifle or shotgun from your sleeping bag. We just try to avoid camping anywhere that may happen or sleep in the car.
The 60yo guy goes and shoots people at a Wendy's? I wonder what was his reason for being a gun owner, and assuming he was licenced why would an authority say "ok mate you are fit to own a gun"? Security guard perhaps? Olympic shooter? Self defense? Hunting? Wild Animal defense? Or just Constitutional right? It's a pity more is not known about many who do this sort of thing. Generally here those who do decide to go on a killing spree with a knife, pipe or cricketl bat tend to be a lot less successful or even likely to try.
What is the long term solution? Do you see it getting better with no change? If not what should you be changing, ot certainly would not be an overnight fix..............
I enjoy discussion as a learning process replying to sensible well worded logical replies like yours, unfortunately there seem to be a lot of extremist sheeple, who bleat out bullshit information they have been fed opposing any change and make the main cause look bad.

07JKX

my ak47 works pretty good... especially with tracers... cooks the meat before you get it home!

JKGirl

Rambo Granny

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Rambo Granny of Melbourne, Australia

Gun-toting granny Ava Estelle, 81, was so ticked-off when two thugs raped her 18-year-old granddaughter that she tracked the unsuspecting ex-cons down - - and shot off their testicles.

The old lady spent a week hunting those men down -- and when she found them, she took revenge on them in her own special way, said Melbourne police investigator Evan Delp. Then she took a taxi to the nearest police station, laid the gun on the sergeant's desk and told him as calm as could be: 'Those bastards will never rape anybody again, by God.'

Cops say convicted rapist and robber Davis Furth, 33, lost both his penis and his testicles when outraged Ava opened fire with a 9-mm pistol in the hotel room where he and former prison cell mate Stanley Thomas, 29, were holed up.

The wrinkled avenger also blew Thomas' testicles to kingdom come, but doctors managed to save his mangled penis, police said. The one guy, Thomas, didn't lose his manhood, but the doctor I talked to said he won't be using it the way he used to, Detective Delp told reporters. Both men are still in pretty bad shape, but I think they're just happy to be alive after what they've been through.

The Rambo Granny swung into action August 21 after her granddaughter Debbie was carjacked and raped in broad daylight by two knife-wielding creeps in a section of town bordering on skid row. "When I saw the look on my Debbie's face that night in the hospital, I decided I was going to go out and get those bastards myself 'cause I figured the Law would go easy on them," recalled the retired library worker. "And I wasn't scared of them, either-- because I've got me a gun and I've been shooting' all my life. And I wasn't dumb enough to turn it in when the law changed about owning one."

So, using a police artist's sketch of the suspects and Debbie's description of the sickos', Tough-as-nails Ava spent seven days prowling the wino-infested neighborhood where the crime took place till she spotted the ill fated rapists entering their flophouse hotel.

I knew it was them the minute I saw 'em, but I shot a picture of 'em anyway and took it back to Debbie and she said sure as hell, it was them, the oldster recalled.

So I went back to that hotel and found their room and knocked on the door and the minute the big one, , opened the door, I shot 'em right square between the legs, right where it would really hurt 'em most, you know.

Then I went in and shot the other one as he backed up pleading to me to spare him. Then I went down to the police station and turned myself in.

Now, baffled lawmen are trying to figure out exactly how to deal with the vigilante granny. What she did was wrong, and she broke the law, but it is difficult to throw an 81-year-old woman in prison, Det. Delp said, especially when 3 million people in the city want to nominate her for
Mayor

tbfreebird

I promise this is my last statement on the issues - unless asked...

From www.aic.gov.au - Handguns have made up the majority of firearm homicides in Australia in the past six years (see Figure 27). This has been increasing since the inception of the NHMP, and has remained steady in recent years. In 2006–07, 48 percent of firearm homicides were conducted with a handgun.
Handguns also make up the majority of firearm homicides in Canada and the United States (Li 2007; CIUS 2006).



Again from your governments own stats - reference above: Figure 1 shows that although there have been fluctuations from year to year, the number of homicide incidents has shown a steady decline since the inception of the NHMP in 1989. 2006–07 saw the second-lowest number of homicide incidents in the collection period.
As a rate per 100,000 per year, homicide incidents decreased from 1.9 in 1990–91 and 1992–93 to the second-lowest recorded rate, of 1.3, in 2006–07 (see Figure 1).

From hXXp://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm :
As a rate of TOTAL Homicde in the U.S.2007 - the rate was 1.23 (Total 3730.4 or Polulation 301,621,157)


Not sure I understand, Firearms involved in Homicides have risen since the inception of your gun control - yet you stated it is not the criminals that are bothering to get a gun?

Granny goes and gets a gun, takes care of a couple of would rapists… Does what the Australian police can not do… bet she's wishing her daughter had had one that night… I know I do and my prayers are with her for what she went through.


Me too! Help me understand where you get your facts. I want to understand if this is a data issue, or one perpetuated by the media, etc. It seem sthe U.S. gets an odd shake when it comes to analyzing data… Here again - The claim is that we have a ~50% of our poulation with guns and you have a ~5%. And yet the homcide rate is near identical...

But we are somehow in a violent, crazy society of gun toting loonies... Or at least that is what it seems is being said.

I guess I don't understand your assertion that we are in a violent society - and Australia is not - when the Homicide rate is (slightly) lower in the U.S.

SGT.