Holy Crap CrappieKeith, all eleven pages... eleven pages of the same ol' argument that's been raging for the last few decades.
If I hadn't started following this thread on the day of the original post, and had to start from the beginning today, I'd have clicked away somewhere around mid-third page. You have more fortitude than me my friend.
I'll never forget an experience I had in northern(ish) Minnesota one time several years ago. I was on my way up to the family lake home in the Backus/Pine River/Longville area and had stopped late at one of those back-woods Bar & Grill/Bait Shop/Gas Pump type places for a beer. The bartender was a big burly biker type... he handed me a beer and told me to drink up 'cause he was getting ready to close. So, about half way through my beer, three drunken local types come waltzing in wanting beers. The bartender tells 'em he's already counted down the till and he's done serving for the night. A bit of an argument breaks out, with the tree drunks insisting he'll serve 'em or they'll bust his head open (or some such). Next thing I know the bartender slams what appears to be a 4-inch S&W 686 .357 Magnum on the bar and tells the tree drunks they've got 10 seconds to hit the door (beer is now coming out my nose). Not more than 2 seconds later all three of those drunken locals had pulled their own handguns and slammed them on the bar (and I'm no longer looking to see what make/model they are). So while the four of them are staring down, I calmly set my beer on the bar, get up from the stool and start backing my way towards the door as I placed my hand on the butt of my own pistol. It was like 4, maybe 5, backwards steps for me to reach the door, but it felt like I was never gonna' get there. Just as I get to the door all four of 'em break out laughing... those a$$ holes were just havin' fun with the tourist.
So anyway, they offer to buy me a beer, which I accepted. The five of us are sittin' there drinking the beer, and their still giggling about the practical joke they'd just pulled on me. I just couldn't resist... right smack in the middle of their giggling, and as I was drinking from the bottle, I slowly un-holstered my pistol and laid it on the bar... We had about 15-20 seconds of dead silence in the bar that night.
