more gun nut links
A lot of gun nut sites are, understandably, country-centric, though you do see foreign gun nuts crop up -- I've seen Russians, French, and Italians on the sites I frequent. It's always interesting to compare notes with them, but I'd never encountered a gun owner from Nigeria before. But gunblogger Steve, at the Firearm Blog, recently got an email from one -- a guy named Emmanuel. According to Emmanuel, Nigeria "has a very strict Gun control law, but which licenses shotguns (Single, double-barrel, pump action and recently: semi-automatics) to responsible, respectable people (actually: who am I fooling: anyone with the money!)" He bought a Turkish semi-auto 12 gauge, but found himself with a problem. It came with a pistol grip, and he wanted a stock. Problem: NO GUN STORES IN NIGERIA. So he built his own, using a steel walking stick. Simple build, well thought out, nicely done; there are pics.
The self-defense video that all the gun nuts are buzzing about is this one, from Tucson, Arizona. Home invasions are on the rise there, and some of them have ended with murders. In some others, the homeowners have defended themselves successfully, but I don't think any of 'em have done so with the speed, style, and sheer capability of this guy. At least, not on camera.
The would-be invaders come in, most with pistols, one with a rifle, and get ready to attack -- and are repelled by gunfire from the homeowner, in AMAZINGLY short order. They flee so fast that only one of them bothers to get into the getaway car. It is actually rather like this. Incidentally, the homeowner only shot one of them, but when he shoots at the getaway car he gets an AMAZING grouping on the windshield.
To my knowledge, two of the robbers have been arrested, and the guy who was shot is believed to have fled to Mexico. Reportedly, the homeowner just happened to glance at his security camera and had his handgun loaded and accessible by the front door. And that is why "keep your guns unloaded and locked in the safe" laws suck. (I keep most of my guns unloaded and locked in the safe, sure. But not the ones I've designated "in case of zombies, break glass.")
The utility of "guns unloaded and locked in the safe" depends on who's going to be in your house. If you've got small children or other people who don't know/can't understand gun safety rules, then all guns should be unloaded and locked in the safe when not in use, because the chances of a small child or mentally disabled person finding them and having an accident are greater than a home invasion. But if everyone in the house understands gun safety (which any responsible gun owner is going to make damn good and sure of), then, yeah, having all the guns locked away and unloaded where it's gonna take you five, ten minutes to get to them in an emergency is kind of counter-productive.