Mrs. Peel

Hey, if it makes her happy... that's fortunate! Vive la difference!

So what do you get her for Valentine's Day?

It's gorgeous, isn't it? The engraving really makes it special. Make sure you show her the pic!

Seriously, you're looking for a recommendation from ME?? Ohhhh, that's funny! I feel nothing but a tidal wave of pity for Mrs. Zeke - with her infinite patience which you manage to try daily.

Absolutely!! I'm glad this thread inspired you. Every year I buy myself a Christmas present and I say its "from my mom" because if she were still with us she'd make sure I had something pretty under the tree. That habit was inspired by the first Christmas after she passed - when my dad and brother bought me a "battery booster" and some other practical guy-type gift. Thoughtful, yes, but seriously depressing! So, you do what you gotta do to make yourself happy! There ya go! Go get it! Happy Valentine's Day.

TMI!!! Keep it clean now. Sheesh.

... sadly, I see your point! Romance has gotten complicated lately, huh? What a shame. I'd hate to be a single guy in this environment. It's cray-cray.

Awwwwww... geez, now you're making me well up... Remember that old expression: there's a lid for every pot!

Well, I realize this news won't mend your broken heart BUT...at least you're in demand... by someone. It certainly sounds like @Zeke is making a play for you!

Hey, wait a minute! I spent many nights on the phone for that NRA phone bank... I didn't get no stinkin' T-shirt! What the hell???

He gotcha there, Zeke! Glen is VERY active.

Funny story, years back (when I was young, thin and hot, LOL)... I was on business travel in Dallas. It was like another planet. Men wouldn't just open the door... Noooooo, they'd RUN to get the door, tip their hats, give you a big smile and a "howdy", flirt a little. It was VERY good for a girl's ego! I won't lie... relocation to TX crossed my mind!

High Exposure is a more single-minded Valentine's guy apparently. Guns, guns, guns!

Combining romance with investing? 10 points from the American judge for your creativity!

This, Gentlemen, is how it's done!

You're a HORRIBLE man! You, Matty, on the other hand... Well done! I'm sorry you've got the flu bug though. God, it's awful this year! Feel better soon, you and the kid.

Awkward.

Don't be sorry! Embrace your... ummm... fluidity. Hey... is Mrs. Zeke okay with this?

Ah, yes... and so it begins. The peanut gallery is already chiming in with their collective wisdom. @silverado427 @ChrisJM981 - for shame! Have you no romance in your souls? Tsk-tsk. Back to the training camp with the both of you!

I know the above title will be met with an immediate tidal wave of groaning, kvetching and general bitching from a certain segment of you. However, for those of you who are more evolved than the Neanderthals referenced above, this is a friendly reminder that Valentine's Day is this Wednesday... racing up oh-so-fast! But, there is still ample time to arrange thoughtful gestures --- dinner reservations, flowers, jewelry, chocolate, event tickets... whatever you think your honey would particularly enjoy. Why not step it up a little this year... make it extra-special? Remember: the phrase happy wife, happy life came about for very good reasons! You're most welcome!

Wow! That certainly shows you what the attitude is: discourage them from even applying. GOOD FOR YOU!!

Zeke is editing our posts now for errors? ZEKE??!! OMG!! Is there a chill in the air? Because I'm pretty sure Hell just froze over.

I must say, as others have noted, it seems you have an unusual number of questions about circumventing the system... but unless I've missed it, not a lot about "hey, what kind of gun do you recommend I get?" etc. So, I'm sure there's something bubbling under the surface - and you've piqued my curiosity, I'll give you that. My "spidey senses" are tingling! LOL. Now, I will say, when I first got into shooting, I was a bit worried about a lot of things too. My main fears were: What will these people be like? Are they the "gun nuts" I've heard about? (Yeah, I laugh about it now). My NRA instructor turned out to be a retired HS teacher... AND an ordained minister. A sweetheart! Since then, I've met shooters who were male and female... straight and gay.... republican, independent AND democrat... Christian, Jewish, Muslim and atheist... etc. Overwhelmingly they were all friendly and helpful and very forthcoming with good advice. I was also needlessly worried about all the legalities. As is turned out, if like myself, you have no disqualifying factors (felonies, DV convictions, adjudication for mental illness, etc.), you will be just fine! You might have to wait awhile for your FID/permits, but you'll get them eventually. My point is this: if you have some special situation that's prompting your legal concerns, instead of fishing around... you'd probably be better off asking just for the names of some local 2A attorneys and dealing with it privately. As knowledgeable and helpful as people are in this community, there's no substitute for advice from an attorney well-schooled in 2A issues. And, god forbid, on the slim chance you're trying to get advice on how to circumvent NJ's gun laws... I assure you, you won't find those answers here! People will bend over backwards to try to keep a noob like yourself OUT of trouble. I can say with high degree of confidence, they won't advise you on how to break the law! The 2A community understands that when people do stupid things with guns, it (unfortunately) makes all of us look bad!

Couldn't agree more! Deaths by shootings have trended downward for decades... and fall well below the other more common causes of death in the U.S. That's why the other phrase I despise is "gun violence epidemic" - first of all, "gun violence" implies that violence by gun is some highly unique crime (as though a career criminal wouldn't just as happily stab you death - violence is violence and its root cause is the violent offender)... and worse yet, by using the word "epidemic", it implies that the trend is moving sharply upward (the opposite, in fact, of where the multi-decade trend line has been). Look at the trend lines for deaths by opioids... calling that "the opioid epidemic" is actually quite accurate. Those cases are, in fact, skyrocketing. Words matter! Facts matter! The thing that makes me the most frustrated is that the organized 2A movement has not done a better job of messaging. Nearly ALL of the facts, trends and credible studies are in their favor - but they do a really poor job of getting that info out there, IMO.

And only a scant amount of these are prosecuted! It's a known problem that gangbangers will even dupe their own grandmother into making a gun purchase for them. What happens all too often is that local prosecutors don't want to "throw granny in jail" - so they don't prosecute the case, or they at least plea it down to practically nothing. And THAT is why straw purchases continue to be as prevalent as they are. Similarly, when ex-felons apply to get a gun and are (rightly so) rejected by the NICS check -- the prosecution of those cases (by the Feds) has been abysmally low as well. The fact is that there have been numerous large, credible crime studies that specifically studied the backgrounds of the people who committed crimes with a gun. These studies (by DOJ, large universities, criminal justice think tanks, etc.) are all remarkably similar in their findings. Typically, 70-90% are committed by ex-felons (typically about half of them while still on parole from the previous crime), about 3% are cops, less than 1% are legal gun owners - and the remaining fall into the "other" category (like people who got the gun illegally, perhaps had a long history of misdemeanors, etc.) I've seen the same basic "pie chart" across too many studies to think that it's not actually a true picture! That's why the phrase "common sense gun control" makes me batty!! How did we let these anti-2A zealots hijack that term? Trying to impact crime by going after the people least likely to commit it is actually the opposite of common sense! Aggressive prosecution of straw purchasers (and the criminals that put them up to it), aggressive prosecution of ex-felons who get caught in a NICS check, a serious re-examination of parole procedures, less plea bargains... and heavy, sustained investment in community programs that keep high-risk kids out of gangs... now THAT would be "common sense". When trying to solve a problem, you must address the obvious and largest root cause.