"I don't eat bait," now that's funny! As far as shrimp are concerned, I've never known anything that can be that ugly and taste that good. Often referred to around here a "Cockroaches of the Sea."

I use and like "Darktable" and I believe that it's still a free download. Not the most user friendly, but not ridiculous either

The using of any opportunity available to chip away at the 2nd Amendment is precisely what I was referring to when I said they should be ashamed of using such horrific events to promote their tunnel visioned political agenda. They say they want to do something about school shootings, but what they really want is to take down the second amendment at any cost and follow their fantasy of a world with no guns. It simply can't happen and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

Wow, what an offensive and stupid statement to make! Not only does your statement and it's punctuation show your stupidity, but I'd bet your all for abortion rights. I guess it's okay to kill children in the womb, as long as it's not a with a gun! I've said this before and I'm going to say it again, even if we stopped the future sale of all firearms, there are still literally millions of them already out there. Do you really think that all the guns in existence can be collected and destroyed? Man, what a pipe dream fantasy that is to be sure! Can we at least deal with reality rather then your wishful fantasies? Do you really believe that everyone is going to simply turn their guns in, just because you want them to do so?

Frankly, you liberal extremists are delusional on this whole subject and all you see is the prize that you have been after for years, taking down the 2nd Amendment at any cost. Frankly, I think you should be ashamed of using these horrible events as political fodder to suit your own agenda, rather than trying to do something that might actually help prevent these things from happening, especially to our children. Yeah, if there were no guns, no one would get shot, but come on really? I mean really? Maybe try to think a little bit for a change, rather than be lead around by your nose ring by your political agendas and other leftist fanatics!

First off, having guns locked up by the army or ROTC, as in your example, is hardly having "total access." It is in fact government controlled access and one of the primary purposes of the well regulated militia in the 2nd amendment is that it needs to be separated from the federal government. However, I guess tunnel vision doesn't allow you to see that, especially when your purpose in life is to have the government run every aspect of it for you.

You also stated that we have trained police responsible for keeping our schools safe. While I am in favor of a strong police force and putting resource officers in our schools is a step in the right direction, it also appears to be rather obvious that it's just not enough or we wouldn't even be having this conversation. I stand by my statement that we need to harden security at these soft target rich locations and that this would by far be the most effective immediate response. As far as one way in and one way out being a problem for the Fire Marshall, it's not difficult to lock a door to outside access and still use it for an emergency exit. Have you never seen the push bar type locks used on many doors, in many places, for this very purpose? Geese, have you ever even been in a public building?

All in all, I think your statement that "If the "trained" police are afraid to go up against an AR-15, why would you expect a teacher to do it" may well be the most naive and/or stupid statement I've ever heard! In the first place, if they are afraid as you imply, it is not of the AR-15, but the active shooter no matter what firearm he or she chooses to use. Frankly, when many teachers have unexpectedly ended up in an active shooter situation they have apparently used their own bodies in a heroic effort to try to shield their students.
Do you really think they wouldn't rather be able to shoot back and possibly end the threat? No one here is asking any teacher or anyone else for that matter to carry a gun if they are not comfortable and capable of doing so. However, there are those that are both willing and capable and they could at least have a chance of stopping some nut job shooter if they have the tools available. In fact, it's already happened many times, yet you seem to want them to be completely defenseless and wait for the police to get there to protect them? I'm not trying to point fault at the police here, but when seconds count, the police are minutes away and that's just the reality of the situation. Honestly, the possibility of an immediate, lethal responsible can also help by being a deterrant, as these nut jobs are looking for easy targets that can't fight back in the first place.

On another note, I simply don't understand what you talking about when you referred to "Gun Insurance" and have no idea how that might help this situation. My guns are currently insured against loss, fire, and theft. However, I think your referring to something else entirely. Honestly, if somehow my purchasing "Gun Insurance" can prevent other school shootings, I'd be willing to look into it.

As, for your statistics and conclusions from them, I have to say that the parameters are far too subjective to draw any meaningful conculsions. Looks like yet another attempt to manipulate statistics to suit your personal and political agendas. So, blow that smoke elsewhere as your conclusions are laughable at best!

To those that continue to say that the 2nd Amendment's statement about a "Well Regulated Militia" is acceptable, but that we should still ban military type rifles, just what do you expect a well regulated militia to use? I think there is a good argument to be made that primarily because of this single statement, military type firearms must be available to individual citizens. Do you expect a militia to stand up against a force equipped with full automatic weapons, while they can only have single shot rifles? Maybe better than a sharp stick, but to have a chance there needs to be some parity in available weaponry for a militia to even exist. The founding fathers saw enough need for this to include it in the amendment to protect from tyrannical government as well as defend against invasion, riots, etc. It's really no different now than it was then and really boils down to the fact that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

Yeah, we need to do something about these needless and repulsive shooting's, especially in our schools and other soft target/no gun areas, but taking the tools away from those that might actually be able to stop this sort of needless violence is a self defeating if not ridiculous proposition.

I said it earlier in this thread and I'm going to say it again now, the only thing that will have an immediate effect on these nut jobs and needless shootings is to harden security at these soft target, no gun areas, especially our schools. We need to protect those that can't protect themselves, especially our children! Until we take measures to protect ourselves, we will be at serious risk, but instead we insist that the gun is the problem and think we can actually eliminate them from the equation. How foolish and naive can we possibly be? Let's please try to do something that will actually make a difference rather than use these repulsive and needless events to try to promote long time political agendas.

The problem with trying to have a real discussion with someone that has a very liberal mindset is that they can never see past their own agenda and even consider the other side of an issue. It's simply eyes on the prize and they will say or do anything that helps them achieve their goal which is generally power and control over others to make them conform to what they feel is way things should be in their fantasy world. Reality, equality, freedom, and even common sense have no place in this liberal mindset. It's truly a sick and broken world we now live in! Lord help us all.

I'd try to either scan them with a photo quality scanner or possibly find a way to back-light the actual slide and use a macro lens to get close ups of the actual slide rather than take a picture of an LCD screen. You could also get an old slide projector and photograph the image it projects. Personally, I took the scanner route and have been very satisfied with the results, however, it is a very slow process and most of the older slides also need some work to color correct, etc. Good luck and good shooting to you and yours!

Apparently the Supreme Court sees it differently and has already ruled that the 2nd amendment does indeed apply to individuals.

I hate to make corrections, but .22 LR does not have the highest muzzle velocity of any commercially available ammo. In fact far from it with most rimfire rounds in the range of 1200 to 1400 FPS. The .223 rounds used in most military style rifles is near double that.

However, you make an interesting point about the leverguns. While my Marlin .22 levergun, with a full barrel length tubular magazine, might hold nearly 30 rounds of .22 short, it's more in the range of 18 or 19 with the standard .22 LR's. Still a hoot to shoot and can indeed be cycled pretty darn quickly.

If we really want to stop school shootings, then we have to realize that all of our schools are prime targets for this type of attack. These nut jobs are looking for easy targets that don't fight back and provide the most shocking and newsworthy results and reactions. Therefore, we need to harden our security in all our schools. Geese, it's come out now in the Texas school shooting that the door wasn't even locked and they don't even seem to know if there was a resource officer or security guard on duty. This is unacceptable in my eyes and we need to do better going forward. Frankly, it will probably never happen because we don't want to admit that it's needed, but there needs to be only one monitored way in or out and an armed guard outside and another one inside this access point. If possible a perimeter security fence should be employed as well with a check point at the gate. There also needs to be metal detectors and everyone that enters needs to be screened. These measures would make a real difference, but no one really wants to admit they are needed or wants to spend the money needed to provide this type of security. Until we all accept that we are vulnerable and take tactical measures to protect these soft targets, schools and our children are going to be in danger regardless of any sort of gun laws and regulations. There are just so many guns already out there that even if we ban the future sales of all guns, these nut jobs are still going to be able to get them if they really want them.

I think that government funds should be appropriated for this type of security at all our schools and even though it would be a monumental and expensive task, it would be money well spent! Maybe we should even consider having National Guard personnel take up some of these defensive positions on a regular basis. In any case, I think that the defensive hardening of security for these target rich areas is our best course of action and the sooner the better. Instead we will probably just continue to blame the tools of the offenders and make no real progress at all. Lord help us please!

The quoted post is one of the most intelligent posts I've read on this subject! This problem is indeed cultural and is a direct result of our overall decline in family values, lack of respect for others, vanishing religious beliefs, entirely too graphic video games that promote violence, and even the news media that sensationalizes everything to the point that it seems normal. These are trying times and getting worse all the time and desperate people do desperate things. Frankly, mental health in general is walking a tite-rope in today's society and we are seeing the negative results more and more often. Unfortunately, the increase in mass shootings and hate crimes are a direct result of this and there is little that can be done to promote immediate results.

Anyway, the knee jerk reaction is always to put more gun control in place and I understand how many feel that this could help. However, everyone needs to remember that there are millions of gun owners out there that have never and will never shoot anyone by accident or on purpose. The people that commit these autrocities are a miniscule percentage of those that own guns and anyone that truly believes that we can eliminate all guns is well beyond naive to say the least! It is also a falsehood to believe that only hunters own and use guns, as there are many recreational aspects of shooting sports as well. The "Assualt Rifle" is also a bit of a misnomer in that anything used to attack someone can be tagged with the word "Assualt." However, it has been popularized into what is most commonly defined as a military styled, semi-automatic rifle, with a large magazine capacity. These type rifles are the most commonly owned guns in the world with literally millions and millions of them already out there. Do we really think that banning the sale of these type weapons or once again banning high capacity magazines is really going to prevent some nutcase from shooting innocent people? That horse has already left the barn and long ago for that matter! Do we really think that we can go out and collect all the existing guns out there? Even if we do manage to somehow collect all the existing semi-auto weapons, do we really believe that these nut jobs aren't going to find another way to kill innocent people? Somehow we all need to keep open minds and look into real solutions rather than just put the blame on the guns used.

A gun is a tool nothing else, and it's the shooter that decides what to shoot and is responsible for the end result. Frankly, there is a solution, but it's not going to happen and many will think I'm crazy just for mentioning it and that is to arm everyone or at least those capable of handling a firearm safely and effectively! To quote Robert Heinlein: "An armed society is a polite society." Frankly, there is a simple and undeniable truth in that statement! We simply have to find a way to eliminate the easy target rich places these nut jobs chose to do their dirty work like schools, churches, etc. There have already been numerous cases of an armed citizen or security guard that have acted to stop these individuals and saved many lives in the process. In my eyes, this is a good thing and if you really think about it the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. While I too hate that it's come to this and we can't feel safe anywhere anymore, it has become a fact of life and we need to at least try to protect those that can't protect themselves, especially our children. At least in my mind, guns in the hands of good people is really good thing and certainly one of the few things that has even a chance to stop these mass shooting.

Meanwhile, we also need to look into finding more ways to find these offenders prior to their going off on a shooting spree and it's obvious we are not doing a very good job as it stands. How many times now have they, after the fact, found direct evidence of their intentions on the social media platforms that should have thrown up flags and started investigation of many of these offenders. We also need to do a better job of raising our children to respect others and respect life in general, but that will only help future generations. All in all, there are no simple solutions here, but we obviously need to do something. So, let's please proceed with sensible thought and not knee-jerk reactions.

Man, that is strange! Do these things possibly collect data on your usage, preferences, etc, that possibly has to be transmitted to the internet during start up? Is there any other way to test the WiFi will this is going on?

Strange that two different systems have trouble losing your WiFi connection. Any chance the problem is in your WiFi system instead?

I agree that the hybrids, especially the "Plug-in Hybrids" are probably the best bet, at least for now. Being able to run full electric, then switch to gas powered is a big plus in my eyes. Having both systems is indeed the best of both worlds and the two could compliment each other for quite some time to come. However, the electrical range capability on currently offered plug-ins appears to be rather limited and is going to have to make some real improvement before I make the leap. I also agree that all EV batteries should be made to be replaceable, as they do indeed wear out. If Tesla's batteries are not replaceable, I will never be a customer no matter how good they are otherwise.