I’m inclined to agree with you: shooting a firearm at the range is not sufficient for reacting to a violent situation. You need scenarios, to practice and feel what would happen (and fail through) all the various situations that occur when confronted with the unexpected.

I don’t know if it’s a healthy by-product, but it can never hurt to hear more about what the .223 round does to a human body. There were papers released in the wake of the 5.56s debut on the battlefield (functionally, it’s the same round, only a little bigger and with a hotter powder load than a .223). The words…

Why, yes!

Truth be told, once I saw him, I’d approach him from an off-angle (hand on my sidearm), and question him from close range about what the hell he’s doing (where the length of his weapon would be a disadvantage). I still don’t like that, because there’s that moment of approach where I don’t know his intentions, and then…

NEGATIVE, Ghost Rider! I posted this earlier up, but a modern civil war would not be a clean cut ‘us versus them,’ ‘Union versus Confederate’ conflict. It would be like every other modern civil war right now: a series of different militia groups, some pushed so far to the right and the left that they look the same,…

It also misses the point of what an American, modern civil war would be with such militias: just look at Syria. It would be a free-for-all gang war, with all these little militias performing hit-and-run attacks, kidnappings, bombings, carving out turf, getting into pissing matches with the police and federal…

Oh, don’t worry: you’re right across the Bay from Oakland! They have their share of gun nuts, there.

Which is moderately amusing to me, frankly (I’m not a fan of the Black Blocs or the Trumpists...well, obviously not the Trumpists...should we call them Trumpistas?). And then, it becomes unnerving, because we are having raging street fights in American cities.

No, I got you: I do the same thing in hypothetical arguments (especially face-to-face: leads to some awkward conversations). The best (worst?...best?) part of it is, it’s not even about them being threatened personally. It’s that they have to protect this innocent flower of Anglo-Saxon womanhood being threatened by…

It’s tragic, is what it is. We see what groups of people (especially entitled white people) do with firearms. Any escalation that involves weapons is bad stuff. There are ways to de-escalate things, but that certainly doesn’t mean rolling over and being passive.

It should. Your chances of being killed by an ISIS terrorist is very low. But there are a lot of people here in the country absorbing this stuff. And they are heavily armed.

Exactly! And a ‘good guy with a gun’ is still an unknown factor. If I’m in a Starbucks, with my concealed service weapon, and I see someone in line with a visible holstered weapon, and I know this person is not a LEO (we do not carry visible weapons without a badge somewhere on us identifying ourselves), all I know…

Hold up there! I will be the first to say that the right-wing gun obsession has gone far out of control, and is a dangerous undercurrent in the country waiting to explode. But that is a FAR jump from saying we need to organize militias!

I noticed that: the consistent hitting on the ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘theirs.’ It’s not just enough to call us leftists or progressives: we are a faceless, nameless horde now. This sort of dehumanization of the opposition, especially in regards to groups that employ force, is a red flag. And it’s going to get worse: I…

There can be no love where there is no appreciation for alternative swimming techniques.

Every time I look at her, all I can think is:

I’d be content to just float on an inner tube with said tail while drinking a margarita.

Drowning! With style!

This was a fun article and desperately needed at that. Everything has been doom and gloom, and this one made me smile (no small feat these days). You’re a heroine for indulging your inner Ariel!