Do you own a gun?

[GregK]

But I sometimes wonder if I should explore getting one. I don't live in a huge city, but my city has 400,000 people. I'm very interested in what others have to say on the subject.

Toledo has 400K people??? holy crap I never knew that!!! seems like a small city

I think we need much stricter gun control here. And that idiot Michael Moore needs to stop with the lies. I have opened 2 bank accounts here in Michigan, and the people I work with all have bank accounts, and none of us got a gun.

[connoisseur series500]

But I sometimes wonder if I should explore getting one.  I don't live in a huge city, but my city has 400,000 people.  I'm very interested in what others have to say on the subject.

Toledo has 400K people??? holy crap I never knew that!!! seems like a small city

I think we need much stricter gun control here. And that idiot Michael Moore needs to stop with the lies. I have opened 2 bank accounts here in Michigan, and the people I work with all have bank accounts, and none of us got a gun.

Okay, how about 300-400,000 people, suburbs included of course?

I think that's the more accurate figure. We're including Sylvania, Holland, Monclova, Perrysburg, Oregon--all the outlying suburbs. I think it comes close to 400,000 people.

Ann Arbor is pretty big if you include all the prison population in Milan.

[GregK]

Ann Arbor is pretty big if you include all the prison population in Milan.

yes, lovely Milan (pronounced like the Italian city, of course), where the phrase "wrong side of the tracks" seems to have originated. The railroad tracks honestly divide the decent part from the outrageously ugly rundown barren part. Maybe guns would be ok if I had to live there....

[connoisseur series500]

Just don't pick up any hitchhikers while passing through.

[brownie]

When the French Army got hold of me to fight in the Algerian war back in the '6Os, I was given a Garand riflle, a leftover from WWII US Army supplies.

Did not trust the damn thing nor that colonial war.

With thousands of conscripts like me, no wonder we lost that war!

Hate the sight of people holding guns since.

[king ubu]

When the French Army got hold of me to fight in the Algerian war back in the '6Os, I was given a Garand riflle, a leftover from WWII US Army supplies.

Did not trust the damn thing nor that colonial war.

With thousands of conscripts like me, no wonder we lost that war!

Hate the sight of people holding guns since.

would have been hell if you'd won, no?

I never did own a gun, never shoot, and don't intend to do so.

Actually, in Switzerland, every male has to attend military service around age 20, serving at least 300 days, the first 100+ of which are what he has to do when 20, the other days being annual or bi-annual repetition courses. Quite a stupid system, though it fits our own dear myths. Costs a whole lotta money, and me being part of it, it does seem to be a huge waste. I am part of the military band, got my Selmer barisax for free (instead of a gun), which was the only reason really to go through all that shit. Musically, it's absolutely worthless, if you like (or even dare to play, yikes!) jazz (EEEEH!) you're already viewed as some subversive creep... which was my fate there, obviously... One huge waste!

sorry for going off-topic...

ubu

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

When the French Army got hold of me to fight in the Algerian war back in the '6Os, I was given a Garand riflle, a leftover from WWII US Army supplies.

Did not trust the damn thing nor that colonial war.

With thousands of conscripts like me, no wonder we lost that war!

Hate the sight of people holding guns since.

Hey, you could have been stuck with much worse than a Garand. What was the FLN using? Sounds like you were too young to have been involved in the Casbah campaign? Did you arrive in '60, '61 or '62? I've read shocking things about the FLN (at Phillipeville?)...and equally shocking things about the French methods (largely successful) used to route out FLN cells? An interesting case study in anti-terrorism operations that actually has some relevance to what is going on today. The question is, in pursuit of a despicable enemy, will the U.S. end up following the French down that same gruesome path? Some would probably argue that we already have.....but I don't think so. What do you think?

[brownie]

Hey, you could have been stuck with much worse than a Garand. What was the FLN using? Sounds like you were too young to have been involved in the Casbah campaign? Did you arrive in '60, '61 or '62? I've read shocking things about the FLN (at Phillipeville?)...and equally shocking things about the French methods (largely successful) used to route out FLN cells? An interesting case study in anti-terrorism operations that actually has some relevance to what is going on today. The question is, in pursuit of a despicable enemy, will the U.S. end up following the French down that same gruesome path? Some would probably argue that we already have.....but I don't think so. What do you think?

At the end of the war (1962) I saw WWI Lebel rifles - the very long one with those narrow bayonette sticking just above the gunmouth - being distributed to non-fighting soldiers. They were ashamed of being seen with those!

I went to Algeria right at the beginning of 1961. Ended my military career walking the streets near the Casbah to make sure the fascists OAS fighters would not kill too many natives.

My moment of glory during the war was when I and another soldier were assigned to arrest a French Army Colonel whose regiment had joined the anti-de Gaulle uprising in Algiers in April 1961. The colonel who knew he had taken the wrong route took this in a pretty dignified way. Strange moment! Strange war!

On the eve of my departure from Algiers harbour there was a goddamned awful explosion (from an OAS bomb) in the harbour at the early morning when the arab workers would gather in the hope of getting work at the docks. There were some 70 dead.

I left the country the following morning. There still was blood and bits of flesh all around.

[Brad]

I'm a no like Dan and Lon. Don't like 'em. Anti-NRA.

[Noj]

Don't have one, don't want one, don't need one, but have absolutely no opposition whatsover to responsible gun ownership and usage.

Ditto.

[connoisseur series500]

Hey, you could have been stuck with much worse than a Garand.    What was the FLN using?    Sounds like you were too young to have been involved in the Casbah campaign?  Did you arrive in '60, '61 or '62?  I've read shocking things about the FLN (at Phillipeville?)...and equally shocking things about the French methods (largely successful) used to route out FLN cells?  An interesting case study in anti-terrorism operations that actually has some relevance to what is going on today.  The question is, in pursuit of a despicable enemy, will the U.S. end up following the French down that same gruesome path?  Some would probably argue that we already have.....but I don't think so.  What do you think?

At the end of the war (1962) I saw WWI Lebel rifles - the very long one with those narrow bayonette sticking just above the gunmouth - being distributed to non-fighting soldiers. They were ashamed of being seen with those!

I went to Algeria right at the beginning of 1961. Ended my military career walking the streets near the Casbah to make sure the fascists OAS fighters would not kill too many natives.

My moment of glory during the war was when I and another soldier were assigned to arrest a French Army Colonel whose regiment had joined the anti-de Gaulle uprising in Algiers in April 1961. The colonel who knew he had taken the wrong route took this in a pretty dignified way. Strange moment! Strange war!

On the eve of my departure from Algiers harbour there was a goddamned awful explosion (from an OAS bomb) in the harbour at the early morning when the arab workers would gather in the hope of getting work at the docks. There were some 70 dead.

I left the country the following morning. There still was blood and bits of flesh all around.

Man, that war was a mess.

I used to live next door to a Frenchman who had served in the Algerian War as well. He didn't tell me too much about it; he was a gaduate of St. Cyr.

I read Alistair Horne's book on Algeria years ago. Don't remember much beyond the horrible slaughter on both sides. The French military was split internally and there was that coup against DeGaulle. The pied noir were indefatigable. Wasn't it Mendes-France who promised to get France out of Algeria?

And then there was that popular French paratroop general who would often make grand entrances for the Press by parachuting down in front of them. One time he miscalculated and landed in shark infested waters.

What was that slogan they had? "Algerie Francais, Algerie Francais..."

[JSngry]

Actually, I think I could enjoy target shooting as a hobby, at least in theory. But after having spent a night playing a 4 hour gig 3 feet in front of John Nitzinger's fully cranked amp w/o any earplugs (I was told he would be on the OTHER side of the stagee...), my hands tremble uncontrollably at even the hint of loud noises...

[brownie]

What was that slogan they had? "Algerie Francais, Algerie Francais..."

The slogan was 'Algerie francaise, Algerie francaise'.

Even de Gaulle pronounced it at least once when he travelled to Algeria after his return to power in 1958.

Pierre Mendes-France indeed turned against that war but was more vocal about it once he was not in power.

That war is still a mighty thorn under French feet.

[connoisseur series500]

That war is still a mighty thorn under French feet.

Algeria was the French Vietnam. Many of the French generals and commanders in the Algerian war also fought in Indochina.

Wasn't it Tunisia which was the bastion of stability next to Algeria? Then the FLN got involved over there, I believe. Forgot the name of that Tunisian leader who kept his country normal dispite the horrors next door.

[brownie]

Wasn't it Tunisia which was the bastion of stability next to Algeria? Then the FLN got involved over there, I believe. Forgot the name of that Tunisian leader who kept his country normal dispite the horrors next door.

Habib Bourguiba was the Tunisian leader. 'Le Combattant Supreme', the Supreme Warrior as he was referred to.

Tunisia served as groundbase for the Algerian Liberation Army during the Algerian War. At the end of the War in July 1962, that army led by Houari Boumedienne moved to Algeria. And Boumedienne took over power in 1965.

And the sad truth about Algeria is that the army is still in power there. And horror story keep coming out of the country although things seem to have cooled down there in the past few months.

Bourguiba died in 2000 after having been evicted by current Tunisian President Ben Ali.