steve1

Yes, it's quite clear that there is absolutely no link at all between TV/computer violence and violence in the real world. Sorry, Steve, your vision is false. The majority of violence continues to be felons killing felons. I need to see stronger evidence that this to convince me otherwise. The problem is it is hard to do exact research on this sort of thing. What did it take thirty years before we had conclusive evidence that smoking causes cancer and other problems. I think anyone who has any common sense can put two and two together and figure out if a kid watches little else but violence it is going to have an impact on his behavior.

Murder rates in the US doubled between 1960 and 1976, the year of the first violent video game. Murder rates continued to increase at a much slower rate until it maxed out in 1993. In 1994 the first first person shooter video game called Doom was released. Since then we have seen murder rates consistently decline while video games continued to get increasingly more realistic, immersive, and violent. .......................................................... Couldn't that change have something to do with other factors. Do these statistics really mean anything at all? Are you saying we need more violent video games and then violence will decrease? I think there are flimsy statics out there to prove about anything.

But why is it just as silly? .................................................................... I can see a very direct link between violence seen over and over on video games or T.V. and violent behavior in kids. I thought Albert Bandura proved the link between observing violence and aggression. Remember the Bobo doll experiment. I read a book recently called, (On Killing). The author was a former Army Ranger who became a clinical psychologist. The author states that it is very hard to train someone to kill another person. But with the proper training it can be done. There is chapter after chapter detailing how it is easier for soldiers and police to kill after spending hours in video game like training. He went on to state that kids are being desensitized to death and violence, in the same manner a soldier or policeman is, when they spend hour after hour playing violent video games. These games are so real that kids often have a hard time sleeping after. Their heart rate remains very high for a long while after. I'm not a research nut. Perhaps there isn't a ton of hard evidence out there yet, but I'm convinced that seein violence (even on TV or Video games) does have an impact. I grew up watching violence once in a while on TV. I loved shows like Bonnanza, Gun Smoke, and wrestling. You've got to admit that the realism to shows like that are a far cry from what kids are watching now.....

I work in a town that is prone to extreme violence. This place had the highest per capita murder rate in the entire U.S. when I came to work here. The violent crime statistics haven't dropped much in the 25 years I've worked here. Many people say that things are even worse now. There's been a huge increase in gang activity. Guess what? Guns are seldom used. In most cases it is a knife or baseball bat that is killing people. Perhaps we should have a statistics expert add up all the damn baseball bats and knives that are in America. Maybe we should even ban the sport of baseball....I would certainly feel safer then.

............................................................. Since when is looking for a cause and effect silly? If a person thinks that the availability of guns are the cause, I'm willing to listen. I may not fully agree, but I don't think their opinion is silly.

But don't you think the problem is a whole lot deeper than America's so called addiction to guns! Seems to me that a gun is a tool, not the real problem. Why are people ending up, murdering each other? If you look at how many kids are raised in America, it's really not to hard to figure out, in my opinion. The prison system is full of people who have been abandoned, abused, and neglected, since birth. Not only that, but violence has been modeled for them, by whoever raises them over and over again in their own home. Many turn to gangs because they have little or no family. Many kids grow up being raised by a TV set or violent video games. Many have no hope. I think all that factors into this greatly. It isn't just a simple matter of.... "they had a gun and that must be the problem!". This has been argued many times on here....

Ya know what the best thing about wearing 'Frenchies' is ??? The chicks just love 'em! .............................................................. That's the real reason that I own two pair of them! Sometimes I wear them to the bar when I haven't even been jumping....

I was wondering....Can you shoot buckshot through a rifled barrel without damage.... This brings up another thought. I've heard you can't shoot steel shot through some of the older smooth barrels. I had an old Winchester shotgun and was told you can't shoot steel shot through those old barrels. Can anyone give some info. on that? Things are just getting too complicated these days....

Steve1: I shouldn't be hunting in that low of a temperature, and plan on keeping the gun clean, so reliability shouldn't be an issue (I'm hoping). . Pump shotguns work great in any kind of weather. I don't think you will be sorry with that 870. I had the fancy 870 model when I was a kid. I sold it, many years ago. I was always sorry about that. So I bought an express model later. It works just as well as it's fancy big brother, for half the price. I wish It pointed a little faster, but maybe I just need practice....

I think the short barrel, you are talking about, is improved cylinder. That way you can shoot slugs out of it too. I've read that you should have an improved cylinder choke, if you want to shoot slugs and not damage your barrel. Let me know if I am wrong on this. I have shot slugs through a full choke barrel and it seemed to work okay....without any noticeable damage. For close range work, an improved cylinder should be fine for buckshot too. Your pattern should be tight enough. Keep your long barrel for pheasants and ducks. I have choke tubes for both barrels that I use on my 870. I usually use full choke for pheasants and ducks, (on the longer barrel). I've never used the pistol grips that are available. I don't think I'd want them. I have a short twenty inch barrel for my 870. It has front and rear sights on it. I've killed turkeys out to almost 50 yards with it. I use an extra full choke for turkey hunting. Even though it is short and handy, it will reach way out there....

...................................................................... I always wondered if Twardo was D.B. Cooper! I wonder if we can turn him in for the reward.... I always liked my Frenchies. I still have my old ones from back in the 70's. I bought another almost new pair from a second hand store, a while back. I plan to use them for jumping my new, old, para-commander (one of these days). I got a standup, last time. Not bad for an old fat guy! I couldn't have done it in tennis shoes....

What a huge problem this is! It makes me sick! It's a good thing that people are finally taking off their rose colored glasses and looking at this....

I hunt with a guy who has a shorter barrel on his Remington pump shotgun. I'm not sure what model it is. It's not an 870. But man, does it point nice. You throw it up, and it lines up perfect and fast. He usually nocks a bird down before I can even line up on it with my 28 inch barrel. I've seen over and unders that line up just as nice. Automatics have less recoil. It's nice not to worry about working a pump. I've seen a lot of them jam up in cold weather though. It's not much fun to end up with a single shot shotgun, when you need another shot or two. Sometimes we hunt ducks and pheasants in below zero weather. So, that is something to consider....

I've got an 870 Express model, that I use on pheasants. We live close to North Dakota. I bought mine for $200. about ten years back. I have a short barrel with sights for home defense and turkey hunting. For pheasants and ducks I have a 28 inch barrel. To tell you the truth, the 28 inch barrel seems a little too long for me. That gun doesn't point fast enough. I think it might be better with a 26 inch barrel. Pheasants get up fast, and you need a fast pointing shotgun. Some of the over and unders are really nice. They usually cost more money though....

You're right. I thought there was something funny looking about that C-119. I guess I never heard of a C-82 until now....Shows you what I know about airplanes....Can anyone give us a history lesson on this?

I wonder if para-troops were still jumping the old T-7 canopies back in 1953? I guess the openning shock was brutal. That's a great picture of a C-119. I had around ten jumps out of them. The army was still jumping them in the early 70's.....

................................................................. Actually this is close to home. I'm counseling kids today who will be going to the kid's funeral, who was playing Russian Roullette. The cop who shot it out with the bankrobber lives a few hundred yards away from my house. He dodged four bullets. One of them shot out his tire. I guess the other incidents are far away. It just seems like people are becoming more desperate. I know a lot of people who are out of work, or scrambling to hang onto what they own. I wonder if government intervention is helping much of anything or will it make things worse in the long run.....I guess that's been argued a lot lately.....

Exactly right! I heard tankers once used these with a curved barrel. They could shoot out of their turret without exposing themselves. I guess barrel life was really short....

I've fired a grease gun in S. F. training. I really didn't like them much. Maybe they would be okay in the right situation. I'vew also fired a Thompson sub machinegun some. I remember walking guard duty, one night with one. I always thought they would be cool to own. But to tell you the truth, I didn't like it much either. A Thompson is heavier than you would think. We even shot a B.A.R. Can't say I liked it much either. It was really heavy, quite a bit of recoil, and fired slowly on full auto. A real dinousaur compared to the modern weaponry today. I know these are really old weapons, but there are still plenty of them left in the world today. In Special Forces you might have to train people on whatever weapons they had available. These might be left over from previous wars. So, that was why we trained with them....

Are people getting more desperate in America due to the economic down turn? I work in a small town in Montana. Last weekend there was a 17 year old who blew his brains out, here, playing Russian Roullette. A couple days later a guy robbed a bank in North Dakota, and shot it out with police near the town where I live. He ended up killing himself with a bullet in the head. Then I read another story in the paper, last night, of another guy in Eastern Montana. He'd lost his job, and he was hiding out in a farmers barn. Yes, he was a little crazy. When the cops were called he pointed a gun at the cop and the cop promptly shot him twice in the chest. With his last dieing breath, he said, thank you. My brother lives and works near Bend, Oregon. He says he knows of people who once had a nice home. Some are now living in the woods, due to job loss. People are fighting for even minimum wage jobs. Are these signs of the times? Kind of depressing to think about, isn't it.....

A 24 ft. round reserve saved me twice. The first one, I got a standup under it, and I figured I liked that reserve fine. The second cut away, I had different 24 ft. reserve. It was modified different and I was oscilating wildly, all the way down. About the only way it was steerable was to point you into the wind. I landed in tennis shoes, in a big rock pile. Sprained both my ankles. I was on crutches for a couple of weeks...

In the right situation, the UZI could be the most lethal. It wouldn't be worth much for long range use. At one time, I was told that the the Israeli Uzi was the best designed sub-machine gun made. But that was 40 years ago. I imagine there are plenty of better ones out there, now. An UZI might work fine for spraying down the inside of a small room or cave. I'd much rather have an M-16 (with soft points) for all around use, but for really up close work a shorter barrelled weapon would be easier to point quickly. I wonder what Lou Diamond's perspective is on this. He's way more up to date on all this, than I am. He's used many of these weapons in combat....

I work as a counselor, therapist, in a really tough school. I've probably been there way too long...(25 years). I've been feeling really burned out lately. One of the ways I used to recharge was just spending time with my kids. It truly gives meaning to your life....I knew I was helping them, when I did that, and it helped me too..... Now, I'm looking forward to grand kids. I knew a guy once who had grandkids. He said he used to pick the "little darlings" up on Friday, and then take the little "Sons a Bitches" home on Monday. It's not easy raising kids....

Sorry for your loss, Sparky! It's sad to lose another of the great ones in our sport. I never jumped at Elsinore (during the 70's), but it was the place all of us wanted to jump at someday....

I think home-schooling may be a great alternative for some kids and parents, and a terrible idea for others. You made a good point when you said that the success of all this depends on the parents. I've seen some home-schooling scenarios where the parents weren't spending much time teaching, helping, or overseeing anything. Sometimes kids end up a couple years behind because their parents weren't doing their job in educating their child. Some kids spend a couple years home doing little or nothing, then when they do return to school they are way behind. No, this isn't always the case, but I have seen scenarios similiar to this. I have a friend who home schooled his kids. Actually his wife did. He had five daughters. A couple of them are now in their late 20's. They are all still living at home. They wear long dresses, and spend much of the time reading the bible. Socially they don't seem to be doing well. But on the flip side....I have seen many success stories in home schooling. Many kids are bullied beyond what even an animal should endure. Some kids are being led down the wrong path by the wrong kind of kids. If that was happening to my kids, and if I couldn't find a decent school, I'd home school them too. I've worked in a tough public school for 25 years. I know that our schools have huge problems. To tell you the truth, I would never send my kids to school here. In many ways it is not a good environment. I know that many people think that if the damn people, who work in a school,,,, would just do their job, there wouldn't be this problem. I could go on and on about this subject. I know many many good teachers and administrators who are getting out of the profession, because they are dealing with so much B.S. They are up against a lot. Each day they working at a very difficult, stressful, job, and getting little, if any appreciation for it.... And yes, we can all tell stories about a worthless teacher or administrator who should have never entered the profession. Maybe it should be easier to fire people like that....