But seriously, folks, it does you no good to own a weapon if you don’t 1) train, and 2) have it accessible. You will not perform up to the level of your need, you will perform down to the level of your training.

HK, in the future, when someone claims we’re all just a batch of knee-jerk libs on this blog, can we just refer them to this thread? :-)

To chime in on the excellent issues Advocatus raises: yes, they should all be registered, why not? All gun owners should be trained to use them, and trained prior to getting the registration. The gendarmes should never be able to come in and check whether you’ve secured your weapons properly, can you imagine the abuse?

WVState answers your last 2 questions: get a shotgun. It is the best home protection weapon there is (i.e. capacity and ammo should be limited). There are a whole lot more steroidally or hormonally or drug-induced aggressive nutcases to abuse something like an AK-47 than law-abiding homeowners seeking to protect children. I actually know a guy who has several AK-47s. He is a scary guy too.

When my daughter was small, I was home alone. She was in her baby bed by the front door. A drugged out whack job started trying to jimmy the front door open, and he was armed. I was in a fluffy pink nightie, and was trying new exotic hairdos. Well, I grabbed my shotgun. It was loaded and in a safe, convenient place. I had practiced with it many times. I stood to the side of the front door, and waited. I was going to blow his head off. Lucky for him, he couldn’t get the front door open. He started to skulk around the perimeter of the house, trying the windows, I followed him w/ the shotgun from the inside (and this gave me time to call 911). He ended up at the backdoor and so did I w/ my shotgun, but the cops came before he was able to gain entry and I turned him into lace. The cops were laughing at me in the pink w/ the shotgun, but the indignity was bearable. I never even broke a sweat. And I never thought for a second that my baby was in jeopardy.

Ban insane weapons & ammo. Make training mandatory for the good ones. Buy shotguns and German Shepherds.

Can someone tell me in what way Treasurer Perdue can affect the operation of Marshall University, such that he could be accused of demanding favors? Can he stop the flow of money to the college? Cut off funding for something? Go badmouth the school somewhere?

This is the issue that makes me wonder why the feds would be investigating Perdue. Even i he walked in and asked for a grade change, if he has nothing of value to offer in exchange, then it’s not a crime. The college might be able to fire the dean, but it’s not a crime.

As for Emily attending class, someone really needs to teach Ry Rivard how college works. Or maybe both of the Charleston newspapers should quit replacing experienced reporters with kids right out of college.

Probably the DM has just latched onto this as the one Democrat they can try to shovel dirt on, and they will keep dragging that tidbit up, again and again.

Have you ever heard of a permit holder’s poor marksmanship taking out anybody unintentionally?

I don’t think putting more restrictions on the people that arm themselves legally puts more pressure on criminals.