[at-l] Natural Disasters...

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 02:12 PM 9/7/2005 -0700, Sloetoe wrote:
>3) I need a decent firearm, wit' lots o' bullets for to shoot.
>Ain't done that neither.

I don't mean to start anything but this probably will anyway.

I've been through a "disaster" (NE Ice Storm of '98). Not the scale of 
Katrina but then there hasn't been anything the scale of Katrina before, at 
least in my lifetime. We were among the lucky ones only without power for a 
week. Many others went as much as several months without power with the 
majority out for 4-5 weeks. There was no mandatory evacuation but quite a 
few people ended up in shelters because it was January and they had no 
heat. The roads were closed for about a week while they cleaned up the 
debris that blocked many roads, some longer because of flooding that then 
froze and blocked the roads with blocks of river ice. As one of the 
emergency management people I had a police and military lines pass so I was 
able to get out as soon as I cleared my driveway enough to get to the road. 
There were National Guard troops posted to enforce the no driving ban and 
to stop traffic from going down blocked roads. They weren't carrying 
firearms. Maybe they had them in their vehicles, I don't know, but they 
weren't "carrying" them. Nor did I even think about carrying a gun. I don't 
own one anyway, haven't had one for about 40 years since I sold my 22 
Marlin when I went in the Army. Nobody was looting, nobody was shooting at 
anyone. As people talked about what they needed, generators topped the list 
followed by food and water. No one even mentioned guns or ammunition. So 
what gives with needing a gun? I just don't understand that.