Usdk wrote:
Where could he afford to buy this shit? That gear is expensive!
Credit card.
Monotheist wrote:
Yeah I don't see the difficulty of keeping it loaded with safety on and out of reach of a small child. I keep mine on top of my closet on a shelf which is about 8-9 feet high. I have to stretch to pick it up so I don't see a child being able to get to it easily.
Safeties can fail and children can do surprising things.
(My father tried the same thing and I got to his Playboy magazines anyway ^_^)
Azelma wrote:
Word count: 1523. So, given his claims at reading it in about 45 seconds...Aestu reads at an astonishing 2030 words per minute. The average human can read at 250-300 wpm. So I think what we've learned is that Aestu may be the fastest reader in history, or he simply skims most things, or both. Regardless, the side effect is that his comprehension is absolute dogshit.
Mediocrities try to find fault with everyone above their level. You think that I am not average, therefore, I must be full of it. Right? So in your brain, everyone who is good is average. Mediocrity incarnate.
Obviously I have better critical thinking skills than you and a far broader knowledge base. So clearly I am reading something.
Skilled readers can modulate their pace. I can scan even faster than I did with that passage, but that would cost a lot of comprehension. I sometimes find it necessary to spend many minutes on a single paragraph. It is the same mental habit that people develop naturally with examining objects visually.
The passage you linked was not dense or complex, it was written at an elementary school level. That's not a negative reflection on MM, just saying, it doesn't take long to read something that simple.
Usdk wrote:
The reason I picked a shotgun is because the loud sound it makes when you cock it, and the almost universal understanding of the connotations of that sound. That's the deterrent. A bowstring? I feel like you're fucking with me, even though bow shooting is awesome.
So like Fanta said. You want to be a badass. No rational defense strategy here, just playing with guns because you think they're cool. Brandishing a weapon in that manner is incredibly stupid for many reasons.
Your intent, obviously, is to intimidate an invader. To make him afraid.
The problem is, fear makes people unpredictable, and unpredictable people are dangerous. Is he going to run, or is he going to rush you? Is he going to draw his weapon and rake the house? Is he going to start a fire, or look for a human shield? Is he going to call his buddy and have him catch you unawares?
As I said - most criminals do not use guns in their crimes and do not want to draw because doing so is an aggravating offense. But if the criminal has reason to fear for his life, drawing on you and risking getting shot or life in prison is much more attractive than you shooting him in the back.
When you throw in variables that are not knowable to you such as the invader's sanity, intoxication, armament, training and numbers, the truth of the matter is you have
absolutely no idea what he will do when he hears you cock your shotgun.
And no, "well if he knows what's good for him he'll run" is not a valid response. There's a lot of assumptions in that cute little phrase. Maybe he doesn't know what's good for him, and maybe you don't either. It's entirely possible the invader is even crazier than you are. Never get in a fight with someone crazier than you are: you can't win against someone who cares more about killing you than staying alive.
Never draw a weapon unless you are prepared to use it. And if you are prepared to use it, then you use it when the opportunity presents itself. Now if you don't have the balls to do that, then you aren't as tough as you think. And the appropriate strategy for you, even more so than most people, is to lock yourself in your closet and wait for the invader to leave.
In conclusion, what I just described, is the thought process common to people who aren't stupid, crazy or a coward trying to play badass. One considers all the risks then does what seems to offer the best chance of survival, whether it's cool or not.
