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Re: [at-l] Questions, questions, questions....

Jim Owen wrote:

[...]

>                    I'd suggest that you go to Section 6b of the 
> Thruhiker Papers at URL: 
> http://www.circumtech.com/outdoors/thruhikingpapers/part6b.html

I second that recommendation. Anyone considering carrying
a firearm should think *long* and *hard* about Jim's seven
reasons for not carrying, and must be able to address each
in an intelligent and rational fashion. 

> Now I'm gonna tell you something you don't want to hear - I'd rather 
> by far face your big dog than a gun in the hands of a nervous amateur. 
> The dog is easily handled - a nervous amateur with a gun is the 
> deadliest combination you'll ever run into. But that doesn't mean that
> the nervous amateur is "safe".  It just means that no one else 
> is.  Keep in mind that if you're talking about thruhiking, people fall 
> into 2 general categories - they're either friendly or they just want 
> to be left alone.  

If you replace "amateur" with "tyro," I'd concur completely.
I've read too many horror stories of nervous "professionals"
with guns to grant them any respect by default.

> For the most part the dog will scare off people who are friendly 
> and a few of those who might wish you harm.  But I think the 
> friends you lost might be the two women in the Shenandoah last 
> year - am I right? And they had a dog with them.  Neither a gun 
> nor a dog would have done them any good.  That's a flat statement 
> that I'm gonna let stand as is.  If you want details on why that's 
> so, get back to me privately. 

"Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than
owning a guitar makes you a musician." -- Jeff Cooper

[...]

-- 
mfuller@somtel.com, Northern Franklin County, Maine
The Constitution is the white man's ghost shirt. }>:-/> --->
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