I'm just looking for information from knowledgeable and informed people, and don't want to offend those who have the knowledge. If you are knowledgeable and informed, then you KNOW that every single citizen of the the US, (and every other nation) is in infinitely more danger from his own government than from the forces that government supposedly protects him against. Historically and statistically, this is truth. The evidence for this claim is online here: http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills I admit, I was being provocative, but what I wrote was far from "crap". Mindless conformity, now THAT's CRAP! The fact that you labeled it "crap" and quoted a _factual statement_ portion of my question out of context (just the part that offends you, and not the part that shows how true it is) indicates that you're part of the problem. Why didn't you just answer the question or keep your yapper shut? Are you a part of the victim disarmament effort, (should you be given the order)?Do you think the German public in the 1930s feared their police officers? Not enough. They were mindless sheep, just like the typical US citizen is today. Not a dime's worth of difference between them, and I'm one of less than a hundred people on this continent to have the experience to back that claim up. Owning drugs wasn't a crime before 1907 in the USA, an being Jewish wasn't illegal in Germany prior to 1933 (just frowned upon by the increasingly belligerant, scared, and uneducated public). Now, if you haven't violated anyone else's rights, that makes you INNOCENT OF WRONGDOING. This country has found its demonized scapegoat in drug users (and, like the Jews of Germany, there are enough of them to LOOT, and the public doesn't cry -or vote differently- when they go to the 'gulag' or get killed by stormtroopers). The Germans got their disarmament in 1938. We got our version steadily from '34, through '68, and '86 through the present and now it's too late...But hey, we've lost all ten of our Bill of Rights, and all you whining gunowners have ever done is occasionally whimper, and give a few dollars to the gun control organization known as the NRA that advocates that you vote for Republicans no matter what...even pro "gun control" "Republicans" (and that's even when there's a hardcore gun-right libertarian running against them -HA ha ha!). Or, if you've been working for the ATF, DEA, FBI, local police, (etc... ad nauseum), maybe you've even broken down people's doors and confiscated their private property (in direct violation of the Constitutional property rights you were sworn to protect) your damned selves.But hey, why should I ask people who use brute force to solve their problems to think? After all, it's easier to look the other way when the black markets you've created fluorish in spite of your attempts to defy the laws of nature, and the innocent families you've broken apart scream and cry.For those who don't want to be mindless thugs in service to an equally mindless police state, here are a few books, magazines, and online resources you might want to read, in addition to those in my signature:The Ominous Parallels - Leonard Peikoff - nonfictionThe New Prohibition - ed Bill Masters (Contains John Ross's "How Drug Laws Hurt Gunowners") http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills - Professor RJ Rummel's book "The Democratic Peace" which outlines the correlation to election loss / interference and mass murder by government, as well as the loss of freedom to the loss of quality of life. http://www.aynrand.org - a capitalist think tank (you see, laissez-faire capitalism is what we're supposed to have, here in the USA, but don't. Do you know the difference between that and socialism? Probably not, if you've been voting for demopublicans your whole life.)Unintended Consequences - John Ross - mix of fiction and nonfiction -historical fiction - the ultimate philosophical defense of the right to keep and bear arms.Nation of Cowards -also a good nonfiction book that tells the truth, also from accurate press.Don't bitch to me if you're some kind of obediant anti-individualist socialist pile of crap. I don't care if you're upset because I've insulted your stormtrooper philosophy.Any cop who tries to steal a US citizen's gun is no better than a common theif and deserves to die like one. Badge or no badge, a man is judged by his actions. The fact that nazi stormtroopers had the blessing of their government didn't give them the moral right to take their citizens guns, and the same holds true for America's own version of those stormtroopers.Or do you think Lon Horiuchi was justified in shooting Vicki Weaver in the head?If so, then you have nothing in common with any of the decent people on this board.It is to the decent people on this board, that I speak to. The ones who understand that 1) police will happily serve gun grabbers, drug warriors, and other property-rights violators, so long as the votes are there... and 2) that it is the duty of all responsible Americans to be armed to prevent democide, as well as other repugnant invasions of our freedom.I am armed, as the bare minimum thing that I can do to stand up for freedom, before I can save up enough money to win freedom through electoral politics.Shame on all you unthinking storm troopers among us. ...What goes around comes around....Now can anyone answer my perfectly reasonable question? Does anyone use a shell-collector. If you're a jackbooted nazi thug, imagine that I only want to know the answer to this question so I don't pollute the environment with my spent shell casings, and that I'm as fat, lazy, and irresponsible as you are, and therefore don't want to bend over to pick the shells up.-Jake