response 125 of 196:

Oct 31 03:27 UTC 2003

Until I was 14, we had a real gun in the house only once.  A raccoon 
had invaded our attic.  The World War II vet down the street made my 
dad borrow his handgun.  Dad put it away somewhere, put the ammunition 
somewhere else, sternly warned my brother and I that if he even had an 
inkling that we might have had a notion to look for either, our lives 
as we knew them would change dramatically, and then called some county 
animal control place, who dealt with the raccoon.

Dad was something of a conscientous objector when drafted in the 
Korean War, and as a result was a medic.  He told me once he refused 
to carry a gun.  However, he never made any attempt to pass that kind 
of attitude on to my brother and I.  When I was 14, he bought a .22, 
took us out in the woods somewhere to shoot tin cans, and then we 
never used the gun again.  My dad was and is an enigma to me in many 
ways, and this is one.

Otherwise, my childhood experience with guns was exactly what Rane 
described.

I did successfully blow up many caps at a time with a hammer.  I don't 
think I ever got the whole roll to go off at once.

My son has toy water guns, and has (or has had) pop guns and the like.

I got his brother a BB gun when he was 8, I think, and lectured him 
heavy-handedly about using it in a strictly safe manner.  I'll get 
John one, too, probably when he's 8, and deliver the same lectures.  I 
expected to get my stepson a .22 when he turned 12, but then the 
divorce happened.  I expect to get my son a .22 at about that age, and 
get him instruction on how to use it at the local conservation club.  

I consider guns to be an excellent means of teaching discipline and 
care.  Kids know that a gun is "real", and that they are dangerous.  
They're dangerous in a controllable way, though; more so than cars.

response 127 of 196:

Oct 31 10:52 UTC 2003

We trap raccoons and release them somewhere else (probably to starve).

response 129 of 196:

Oct 31 17:13 UTC 2003

We saw someone last year drive to the community garden area near Eberwhite
woods to release a raccoon from a trap.  That one won't starve.  We biked our
groundhog to Parker Mill.  It was not happy.

response 131 of 196:

Oct 31 18:38 UTC 2003

bastard raccoons, PESTS!!! i mean look at what they're doing
to the ozone, all of the nuclear testing, and oil spills
that they cause.


THEY SHOULD ALL DIE.

response 133 of 196:

Nov 1 02:01 UTC 2003

People are doing a lot more physical harm to raccoons than are raccoons to
people.  We just did not want them eating all the grapes, or ruining them
before they were ripe, or living in the chimney with their families.

People can be pretty horendous, nasty, and vicious to all creatures.

response 135 of 196:

Nov 1 03:32 UTC 2003

I grew up with guns.  I can remember going out in the woods and shooting my
dads .22 revolver at the age of 5 or 6.  I learned at an early age to respect
guns because of this.  As a kid I was never curious about the guns, and
thinking back I remember that they were locked up ina cabinet, and even though
I was a curious kid I would have *never* so muched as looked at the guns
without my dad around.  We would reload ammo with my uncle too.

My Dad is quite the enthusiest, but not a gun 'nut'

I had my first .22 semi-auto rifle at about age 12.  Oh, one other weird
thing, we were never allowed to have BB guns.

I still keep all my guns at my folks place, since my dad has a shooting range
and a vault.  Though I did receive a shotgun as a gift from my folks a couple
years ago that I keep at my house, unassembled in a box, and I have no ammmo
for it. ;-)

response 137 of 196:

Nov 2 10:27 UTC 2003

i i am trained t use/implement certian tools for a specific result and 
an event transpires in which the use of these tools is the *shortest* 
peaceful (!!!) solution, that is the solution i have alwyas taken.
  
waht i am trained/taught to use wil apply 24/7/365.25 - believe it.
  
fwiw, those who didn;t lost everytime.
  
bru is being persucuted for having competence. *wrong*!!

response 139 of 196:

Nov 2 18:40 UTC 2003

132

so do bible-barfer retards like you, stink-o.

response 141 of 196:

Nov 2 21:37 UTC 2003

Any discipline that bru should have gotten for that incident, should have
happened immediately afterward. NOT several months later. And if he hired in
with a 1 year probation period, it should stay 1-year for him.

response 143 of 196:

Nov 2 23:25 UTC 2003

Re #141:  I'm with you on both of those.

response 145 of 196:

Nov 3 00:46 UTC 2003

Exactly - OOCQ = Out of Context Quote. That "misused his tool" comment is
perfect for such an item.

response 147 of 196:

Nov 3 15:46 UTC 2003

I think some people in this item have been kind of hard on a guy who just
lost his job.

response 149 of 196:

Nov 3 19:48 UTC 2003

Re #147: the guy laid out his actions and problems here for all to read,
inviting others to comment. I do not see that there is any reason why
people should withhold their observations because they may be "hard on a
guy". In fact, what some might take as "hard" comments could be more
valuable to the guy than just commiserating pap.