Oldscout448

Sadly as a JROTC, the shooter, I refuse to use his name, probably had training. BTW, I have used both the AR-15 and the M-1 carbine. That's a WW2 era weapon. Both use detachable magazines ( 5,10,15, or 30 rounds) and have similar rates of fire. When the army stopped using them after the Korean conflict the surplus ammo was so cheap a number of manufacturers began producing inexpensive clones by the thousands. You could mail order the things from Sears untill '68. So again where were all the mass shootings then? What changed? I suspect there is no one answer

And now I hear from CNN that there were FOUR deputies waiting outside the school. Outrageous if true. I am looking for verification. Can some of you more computer savvy guys help me out?

As I understand it " regulated " in this context means to be " in good working order"

I was not attempting to make the absurd argument that a semi-auto would enable a person or even a group of people to go head to head with a government equipped with tanks and airpower. I'm sorry if I have given that impression. I do maintain however that have been, are, and will be circumstances that require the use or at least the threat of use of deadly force in order to preserve one's life and or freedom. These situations are thankfully rare but they nontheless exist. I personally have had two such incidents. I hope and pray that there will never be a third. I'm no Clint Eastwood. But neither will I bury my head in the sand and pretend that if I disarm everyone else will respond in kind. They won't, and I'm not going to be a sheep huddling helplessly and hoping the wolves pick off someone else tonight. I dont want a gun as good as the bad guys, when i am attacked I want a better one. The best one I can afford. I'm not interested in a," fair fight " I am interested in protecting my family and surviving until the police can get there.

The right for civil rights in the U.S. wasn't all non violent. Have you ever heard of the Deacons for Defense?

I have been unable to find my oa stuff from the '70s, so I can't quote exact numbers. But there was a fixed percentage of scouts that could be elected each year. I think it was 15 percent. So if you had 40 scouts in the troop you could elect a maximum of 6. It rarely made a difference anyway.

Three hours!? That's nuts! Good lord, how many candidates do you have? Last year we called out about 60 scouts in 40 minutes, and we thought our ceremony was pretty elaborate. As to the 50 percent rule I confess I never gave it much thought but I suppose it's there so they get a decent cross section of the troop voting a bun who is Worthy. Generally the OA rep and the scoutmaster emphasized that the election is important and strongly encouraged the scouts to attend. I can only remember one troop that didn't have 50%, needed something like four more boys and they asked us to wait while they made some quick phone calls we hung around for an extra half-hour and five of them showed up so we just had the election at the end of the meeting instead of at the beginning.

I posted this before, but I think it's pertinent here I had two sons two years apart both joined scouting when they turned11 and stayed till they were 18. both had in their own words a blast. both were elected Patrol leader, senior patrol leader, to rhe OA,and both count the time they spent in scouts as some of the best times of their life. One of the made eagle, the other managed to get to first class after five years. Different people, but both success stories.

"The boys have no real voice in BSA. other than walking away" No I guess they dont. And that is the real tragedy

Border wall all around the planet.... no, let's not go there this topic is more than a little crazy already

I would think you must be jesting , i mean come on " worms?!"except I remember IOLS training a few years back where the wood tools instructor refused to teach us how to use an axe or Hatchet. Saying that they were too dangerous for Scouts to use and that we should restrict Scouts and scouters to saws and splitting froes. In fact he didn't even have an axe or Hatchet at the site. I managed to keep quiet untill stated that a saw was always fasted than an ax. I offered to have a contest me and my ax vs: him and his saw. He declined. I later saw a Scout Troop from his district or the scouts for trying to split some small logs about 6in in diameter with an ax. Their technique consisted of placing the acts on top of the log taking a second log and beating the back of the axe head until the disappeared then they beat on the handle. I told him they're going to break the handle they told me they knew but it was the only way they were allowed to use the axes.

My but you have been hanging around the Girl Scouts haven't you? Btw, I was taught it's " I love white rabbits " three times.

Hmm, If we follow tradition you are supposed to go find a snipe in the woods not logs. But as you seem a decent fellow I suggest you just roast another marshmallow

Some days I wonder myself. I swear the hills weren't as steep 20 years ago. Ahh, make that 40 years ago. btw no need to go back to lurking. A difference of viewpoint is no reason to leave. Sure we all have opinions, some strongly held, and some here express them somewhat forcefully. I think you unknowingly hit a red button issue for many here. I admit being frustrated beyond words by parents who had much more free time, money,and were 20 years younger than I was and still utterly refused to do the slightest thing to help. I had one scout (a good kid) in my troop for three years and I never saw either one of his parents. They didn't even show up at courts of honor to clap for their son. Too busy with their golf game /bridge club /cocktail parties. I honestly wanted to smack them. After a while he stopped coming to courts of honor. Embarrassed I guess. Its hard to give your mother her pin when she won't ever come. Then he slowly stopped coming at all. I know, I know that's not you. I'm not saying it is. But all of the old timers here have stories like that and a lot of emotions got dredged up from the past by your posts. Hope this makes it a bit easier to understand. " throws another log on the fire just to make the sparks fly up "

I plead the 5th concerning other troops/ patrols, ice cream, etc. But I did end up marrying a Camp Fire girl I met at camp 43 years ago.

For what it's worth, my boys all four of them were homeschooled, started in 1990, finished in 2014. When we started we were the only homeschooling family in the troop so yeah it was a little odd for him not to have any friends from school so it took a little longer to break the ice and fit in. that seemed to the only real difference. Except that when they started singing silly songs from Veggie Tales at campfires the other Scouts had never heard them before bought my boys had made them up and consider them to be musical geniuses For the time we finished about a third of the troop was home-schooled. So at that point there was no difference whatsoever.

That's pretty much where I am. Sort of like watching them bulldoze your familys old farmhouse to make way for some new condos. You know that it's 180 years old, in bad shape and it doesnt belong to you anymore. But it's still too painful to watch. You would rather the memories of fun,love and laughter not be mixed with shattering beams and rubble to be trucked away to the landfill.

The summer storms at Philmont are indeed violent and sudden. 6400 ft is about the lowest elevation at the ranch. What is the density at 10,000? I think Baldy is 12,442 ft high

Ok, has an old Eagle Scout father of two Eagle Scouts and a professional cabinet maker the last 30 years this rather intrigues me. as I looked at the power tool guidelines if he's 14 years old he is allowed to use a drill I don't see why he can't use a drill in the Kreg Jig. If that's beyond his capabilities you could at least screw the screws in you can if he can't use a power screwdriver. The Scout or Scouts should be doing everything possible that they are allowed to do. The things they cannot do they should at least be acting as helpers for example If I were doing the cutting on a table saw I would have that Scout standing on the receiving end of the saw out feed table just picking up the pieces of wood and putting them in the appropriate piles. You should be doing the absolute minimum amount of work possible. As for the drawings I was turning out rough sketches at the age of 13 finished mechanical drafting by age 15 architectural work by 18 there's no reason he can't learn how to do this Oh by the way, a drawer isn't that hard it's basically a small box with a bottom

I stand corrected. Allow me to rephrase We seem to have adults who think that the troop exists for their fun and benefit rather than the scouts.

I've been down this road twice in the last 30 years. There's a lot I could say but I need to go to a meeting in 10 minutes so to sum up. We have adults here who think it's their Troop rather than the Scouts troop that's why they're acting like the world's oldest patrol leader I'm afraid your not going to change their minds. If I were in your shoes I take my boys and as many of the other Scouts as I could and run there's just no point in beating your head against a stone wall. And let the other Scouts know they're what they're getting is not scouting it's just some old guys who enjoy being in charge and are going to stay in charge as long as they can unless you can get them thrown out

Does this mean I need to memorize Beowulf? Or learn old English?

FOR THE HORDE!!!

My Dad loved Hogans Hero's , and he spent two years in France and Germany shooting at Nazis. Maybe he used the humor as a way of dealing with the horrors he saw as a young man. I don't know. But each to his own. "Adds a few more sticks of ash under the coffeepot"

For Scoutson #4 all the eagles were asked to sit in the seats closest to the center aisle. When he was asked to come forward all the eagles stood faced the aisle, and saluted as he walked by. It was especially meaningful as he has four older cousins and a brother saluting his achievement, and welcoming him into the "nest"