I have a target pistol because I enjoy target shooting (which I do at a shooting range). As I said, target shooting can be much like playing golf.

As to the prevalence of guns in the United States, there is not much that can be done about that. Unfortunately, they're already out there, all too often in the hands of a relatively small percentage of paranoid, self-appointed super-patriots who have some half-assed notion that if the U. S. government turns tyrannical, they will man the barricades, overwhelm the government, and "keep America free!!" Fat chance when the government possesses tanks, fighter jets, bombers, nuclear weapons….

The gun nuts make a helluvalot of noise for their numbers, and they are obviously delusional. But short of amending the Constitution (rescind the Second Amendment), we're stuck with it being legal to possess firearms.

The Second Amendment was written for a different time, which no longer pertains.

Target shooting, as I say, I do for sport. The same with fencing. Other that good exercise and general enjoyment, it has no practical value. The days are long gone when gentlemen would settle disputes by meeting at six a.m. in the Bois de Boulogne accompanied by their seconds to engage in an "affair of honor" (try to shish-kabob each other).

With thrust, parry, riposte, and counter-attack, fencing is like a sort of high-speed chess as far as tactics is concerned. Totally impractical, but heaps of fun!

Don Firth

P. S. Heard tell about a thirteen-year-old girl in Alaska who was out berry-picking one day when suddenly this huge Kodiak rears up out of the bushes. She grabbed the .22 pistol she had in her berry basket and shot the thing. It stood there for a moment, then fell over like a tree, dead.

Damned lucky shot. It had it's mouth open, roaring at her, and the .22 bullet went into its soft palette and into its brain!