Free Republic

A Royal Marine could receive the highest award for gallantry after he saved the lives of his comrades by throwing himself onto an exploding grenade in Afghanistan, it has been reported. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher amazingly survived the incident despite shrapnel peppering his helmet during the explosion. L/Cpl Croucher's backpack was thrown more than 30ft in the explosion His extraordinary courage, which could lead to a citation for the Victoria Cross, came after a tripwire booby-trap was stepped on during a nighttime mission outside the town of Sangin, Helmand province.

I posted the above link on a British forum and am debating the subject with a Floridian. His family fought on the Confederate side during your civil war and hes had/has relatives that were in the Klu Klux Klan during the 50s. He assures me that the KKK was/is a force for good, the lynchings were all of people who were guilty anyway so had it coming to them and that the crime rates went up after the KKK left and people could no longer leave all their doors unlocked, those were the good old days etc. Now, I'm not...

Britain's military is spending £11m equipping its top shots with the world's best sniper rifle. Weapon is lethal to 1,000 metresAt £23,000, the UK-made Accuracy International L96 is also the most expensive individual weapon ever issued. They are already in service in Afghanistan and more guns and marksmen are leaving for Helmand this weekend. It spells a turnaround in tactics. Sniping was being replaced by so-called smart weapons - laser or GPS guided, and claimed to be accurate within metres. But Nato commanders have found to their cost that air strikes and artillery can inflict so-called collateral damage, killing civilians...

Found a leaflet whilst tidying up and thought it might be informative. It didn't work when I tried to paste it, but I found it on the internet anyway. Here on FR its often a bone of contention regarding Brit's ability to defend ourselves at home - come to think, its a bone of contention in the UK. However, as this document shows, whilst the law might not be as steeped in our favour as some would like, its not quite the situation where we have to provide tea and cakes for the burglars that some think it is. There's...

My first posting - think I've done everything right but if not, feel free to delete, move, whatever's appropriate. Came across this site of a firm making 20mm rifles amongst others and found that here in the UK, they're still legal. OK,OK, it would entail me moving house because the ranges at which I could shoot one are 100miles+ away and I would have to spend a lot of my savings and I'm currently in between jobs, so not currently feasible. But the prospect of owning one did cross my mind...and they are tempting... Anyone own one of these/similar? What...