Author's note; This post is about Guns!
This originally started out as a comment over at StreetProphets. I thought I was making a confession, but everybody there thought that this had high comedic value ... oh well!!!
Well... at least I thought I was being bad ... really, in the literal sense of the word! However, to my very right wing friends ... well, you decide! (You asked for letters. I hope email counts. I am only using 1st names to protect the innocent. All of these transactions occured at my client company, really!)
-- more under the flip ---
So, I get this email 1st thing in the morning, from Tomasz. Tomasz, is an extreme right-wing yahoo. He posted this to the entire corporation. (Startups are kinda like dysfunctional families ... really, they are!)
So, Tomasz begins all of this by saying the following:
If you think you’re safe, think again...
http://www.youtube.com/...
Sheesh! I tell you what! This is entirely predictable. Most of the right-wing thought revolves entirely around paranoia. So, I decide to have me some fun! (To fill you in, I have been cajoling Tomasz quite some time now to just go ahead and purchase a handgun.) My reply is as follows:
Hello Tomasz;
I have been able to pick a regular tumbler lock in 30 seconds or less for years. This bump thingie is pretty impressive in that it takes a bump key, and virtually no skill in order to successfully pick a lock. Check out the PDF attachment. It has all the technical details on 'bumping'. Perhaps for your families security, you oughta get one of these: http://www.glock.com/
I really do not think it would be too difficult to convince your wife that you should get one of these. Plus, it is your 2nd amendment right!
You see, I am really being pretty bad. By the way, I do own two guns, a 7mm Spanish Civil War Mauser, and a .22 cal Winchester with a 4x20 zoom scope. They are both well oiled, and kept in storage. Even the children do not know I have these weapons. Now, to continue, Tomasz responds as follows:
Fully agree. With this baby I can even leave my door wide open.
ok... I can guess that he completely agrees with me. I thought I had done my 'damage for the day' when along comes the following email, from Ed. Now, Ed is really another one of my very right-wing conservative friends. His email just blew me away. But, given my experience, it really is pretty much par for the course!
Thx, Tomasz. Everyone should appreciate the tip (and IMHO it deserves a wider audience). Yeah, info about lock bumping has been around a while but only recently becoming more widely known. (What surprises me is that it’s taken so long to disseminate.) And if you happen to look more closely at the YouTube page to which you linked, you may have noticed a WHOLE BUNCH of "how-to" tutorials posted on the same subject (which kinda makes that mealy-mouthed, holier-than-thou statements by the newscaster in your video pretty much meaningless – LOL).
I also thought the advice from the news team (and the guy they interviewed) was pretty lame – though completely in line with current politically correct thinking. If you’re at home, and you want to depend on your home alarm system to save you and your family when someone is actually breaking in, you have my best wishes. For myself, I’m sticking with old-fashioned approaches that have been handed down in the family from generation to generation (bseg).
Start with something small. Here's a .45 (fits nicely in a bedside table drawer, and not too much kick for the ladies). There ain't much around with more power in handguns.
But I consider a handgun a last-defense solution (which is why my wife has it). Long before anyone gets near the bedroom, you should have something to stop them just as they’re coming in the front door. My choice is a .12 gauge shotgun filled with double-ought buck – enough to stop about anything. I’m not alone in this opinion. Here are a couple of screen grabs from a poll on one site:
[Notice that there are actually a few weenies – that 1% - who "would not consider" any weapon for home security.]
The Mossberg 935 is a great choice in a pump action 12 gauge defender. You can check it out here: http://www.mossberg.com/ And you can buy it from Wal-Mart [hey, you can lots of your basic home protection products at Wal-Mart] here: http://www.walmart.com/...
I do recommend keeping the ammo in an easily accessible drawer ONLY if there are no children in, or regularly visiting, the home; otherwise store it in a secure location – but one that will let you load at least 2 rounds in 60 seconds or less. Now when you start to get SERIOUS about home defense (like, say, you move to East Palo Alto), you might want to consider something heavier. For a nice selection of .50 caliber products for home defense, look here: http://www.barrettrifles.com/ and especially at this model (like my old ma deuce in the Corps):
http://www.barrettrifles.com/...
http://www.barrettrifles.com/...
And, of course, if you plan on moving to any location in the greater Miami area, you’re gonna want to find something even sturdier:
When I replied to Tomasz, it was a personal reply. That is how I pretty much reply to everything. Ed, sent his email, (broadcast to the entire company) about 20 minutes after I replied to Tomasz. Therefore, Ed could in no way know about my reply to Tomasz.
I thought I was being very bad, (cajoling Tom into purchasing a weapon). But... I guess it depends on whose point of view eh?