rdsmith3

Ha ha. So true. My wife has one of those purses, too. She anticipated my argument by pre-emptively mentioning the guns and accessories. Really, I have no problem with getting the vacuum, but I just don't want to spend a lot of money on a high-priced piece of plastic that won't last very long. I expect that my Remington and Walther will be handed down to my kids some day.

In recent months I have purchased a Remington 870, Walther PPQ, lights, ammo, gun cabinet, cleaning kits, more ammo, range membership, more ammo, targets, ammo cases, magazines, eye protection, ear protection, and so on. You get the picture. You understand. The other day, my wife mentioned that we need a new vacuum. We were looking at Sears. She really liked the $600 Dyson DC41. What! A vacuum costs $600?! She did slyly mention that we should get a good quality one, just like I would get a good quality gun. So, anyone have any experience with these? Are they really worth the $? We do have a good sized house with three kids and three pets.

This is all I could find in the PPQ manual (obviously they tell you to use the correct caliber, as indicated on the barrel)

There are a lot of reasons. First, I like to play with my kids, such as wrestling on the floor with them. Second, we also have teens who do not drive yet, and I am always driving them places. On a Saturday, I might be in and out of the house 10 times -- swimming lessons, field hockey practice, friends house, etc. I'd have to put the gun away every time I ran out of the house. Third, my wife is very uncomfortable with guns. This is all new to both of us. I bought a shotgun in December and a handgun in February. She is one of those people who thinks a gun can go off all by itself. I pulled my shotgun out of the safe one day. My son wanted to look at it (the curious 5 year old). I said, OK, I have to unload it first. My wife was shocked. "you mean it's loaded!?" I said, "Yes, it's not much good for home defense if it's not loaded." She gave me "the look" that all men know about.

I probably will get one at some point.

This I do. I let my 5 year old, and the older kids, handle the gun if they want, to take the curiosity away. But I keep emphasizing with the 5 year old that he must never touch it if I am not around, and he should tell mommy or daddy. I just want to prepare him in case I forget some day, and also take away the novelty.

I think this is where you may be going off track. It is not true that everyone's idea of what's wrong is different. We most likely agree that rape is wrong. We most likely agree that premeditated murder is wrong. We most likely agree that stealing is wrong. Our laws are based on morality. Moreover, whether you like it or not, our laws used to be based on an absolute moral code. Unfortunately, the trend in recent decades is to base laws on relative morality, which ultimately leads to no morals at all. In this case, yes, it is probably legal. But that does not make it morally right. It may not be illegal to be outrageously selfish, but it is morally wrong. You say they are not hurting anyone, but that is not correct. He is hurting his wife and kids. When we marry, we make a commitment to someone. When we have kids, it makes the commitment even more necessary. (As full disclosure, I am divorced and remarried, but my first wife has some substance abuse issues and was abusive to the kids. I understand that stuff happens in life and people get divorced.) So this guy has broken his commitment to his wife and to his kids. IMO, when the family breaks down, society breaks down. When we condone a person's completely selfish pursuit of happiness, at the expense of his own family, then we have some serious issues with our society. We do not have an unlimited moral right to do whatever makes us feel good. Our spouses and our children are not disposable items.

This is why it is creepy. It was not a relationship between peers. We have to be able to trust our teachers because they are in a position of responsibility, authority, and leadership. Also, the guy's daughter goes to the same high school. How embarrassing is this for that poor kid?

Our Boxer with her Christmas present. (Stuffed toy only last an hour with her.)

Thanks. I have given a lot of thought to this. I am open to input if my thinking is off base. First, my primary HD weapon is a shotgun. Second, I would not carry while at home for a variety of reasons, mostly because we always have a lot of kids in the house. Third, at night time, while I am asleep, it seems that it would be faster to grab the handgun from a secure spot and go with it, than to put a holster on and then grab the gun. (This is assuming the shotgun is not available for some reason.)

If there were specific threats, the police have to take it seriously. But where are the parents? We have teens in our family. We monitor what they do on Facebook -- what they post, who their friends are, etc. For example, we noticed one dumb kid posting on FB that his parents were going to be away, and he was having a party. So we didn't allow our son to go. Another time our daughter showed us that a classmate of hers talked about killing herself on FB, so we called the police. Parents cannot ignore what their kids are doing. Teens will do stupid things.

My alarm is connected to Cablevision VOIP, and it works fine. Cell service is very spotty in my house. The biggest problem with VOIP is that you're screwed if the power happens to be out. Your alarm system has battery backup, but your cable modem probably does not.

I have a good sized house and I have been an ADT customer for at least 5 years. I am pretty happy with them. I believe they have offices that are reasonably local to me (Parsippany) whereas Brinks was down in south Jersey. I have wireless monitors on all first floor and basement windows and doors, and two glass breakage monitors. So that's maybe 16 windows and three doors? I also have smoke and CO, and motion detectors. I think I am paying about $50/month for monitoring, but I believe they recently notified me of a price increase. The only downside (and this is nothing against ADT) is that in the summer we cannot have the first floor windows open. There are some tradeoffs with having extra security.

I have no affiliation with NGG. My understanding is that the main guy, Bill, invented a ballistic undergear garment product for LEOs and others that need it. It protects the femoral artery. http://nogamesgear.com/pro-shop/index.php Then he branched out into training.

I read your post on this. Thanks.

CDM makes some nice clamps, but I have been waiting for a while. The BMT clamp might be what you are looking for: http://www.cdmgear.com/store.html

Yes, this Hot Deals forum is costing me too much money!

That's why I said "somewhat." I am having conversations with her. It is a long process. I told her that she needs to do whatever she has to do -- scratch, kick, press in a guy's eyeballs, jab his throat with a car key -- because it is better than the alternative of being raped or killed. She looked horrified, but I told her that she must not be a victim.

Also, I forgot to mention that Matt adjusted the rear sight on my Walther PPQ 9 mm. It was actually shooting a little bit left -- it wasn't just me.

I went to a basic handgun training class last night (2/27) that was conducted by NGG and held at the Morris County Police & Fire Academy. They have a nice indoor range there. NGG has a facebook page but I cannot access FB from work. I think this is the link for the FB page but I will have to check later. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/NO-GAMES-GEAR/322075978573 The instructors are current or former LEOs, also NRA certified. I believe the lead instructor, Bill, does firearms training for NJSP. Both instructors were very good. There were only four of us in the class, so we got a lot of their time. The class was very worthwhile for me. It was oriented towards home/personal defense. Despite their vocation, the instructors were very candid about what to do in protecting your home, with a lot of common sense. Because it was a basic class, we started in the classroom with the basic concepts of being a responsible firearms owner, and basic rules for handling a firearm. We moved to the range and covered some basics on having an athletic stance, having gun ready, and the importance of moving. We did a lot of dry firing before we touched the ammo. When we started using live ammo, we were mostly shooting at a distance of 5 yards, which is appropriate given their focus on home defense. We also practiced getting quicker and smoother with double taps and combat reloading. Finally, we worked on identifying threats by shooting at the targets if they moved toward us after confronting them. It was great training for this novice, and I am now more confident in my abilities to defend my family with a weapon.

I know you're being somewhat facetious, but the pepper spray is for a teenage girl who will soon have her driver's license. (Oh, yeah, another teenage driver on my insurance.) It is ridiculous how the laws in this state are so slanted in favor of criminals, and encourage people to be passive victims.

Not to mention the environmental crimes you would be prosecuted for.

Amazon would not ship me this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003C7WBCS/ref=oh_o06_s00_i00_details but they did ship me this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002E6RERU/ref=oh_o05_s00_i00_details There is some difference that makes the first one illegal, and the second one legal, in NJ. Anyone?

I just saw this. I stopped by around 1:30 and it was a two hour wait. No thanks. I'm happy for their success, but they need to expand soon.

or buy 1/3 of it per month.