The United States allows private individuals to legally own firearms because it recognizes the potential legitimacy of armed resistance against the government. In the view of the founding fathers of the United States, since the revolution against British tyranny in 1776 succeeded because the colonists had guns, and since no one could guarantee that a new government would always abide by its contract with the people, the newly established democratic nation must guarantee the people's basic right to armed resistance against tyranny.
Americans view firearms as the last line of defense against violence. Although some shootings have a social impact, the number of deaths and injuries is negligible compared to war and oppressive regimes.
U.S. citizens or legal immigrants can keep manual or semi-automatic handguns in their homes, but Chicago is an exception. City regulations prohibit individuals from purchasing and owning handguns, but this doesn't apply to those outside the city. Some states have stricter gun laws, requiring a gun license, a waiting period after purchase, gun registration, and the requirement to lock the gun, among other requirements. States with more lenient gun laws generally allow individuals to purchase as many as they want, provided they pass a background check.
For the other three categories of controlled weapons, as long as state gun laws permit private ownership and the necessary paperwork is complete, individuals can own submachine guns, fully automatic rifles, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, machine guns, heavy machine guns, and suppressors. However, the application requirements are very strict, and fully automatic weapons are very expensive, so suppressors and short-barreled rifles are generally the more common choices.
Furthermore, because firearms do not require registration in some states and loss does not necessarily require reporting to the police, while some states require notification to the police within a reasonable timeframe, and others require reporting to the police. If a citizen takes sufficient precautions and the firearm is lost, resulting in serious consequences, the owner of the firearm is not legally liable.
Bullets can be purchased from gun shops, shooting ranges, sporting goods stores, some supermarkets, or online. Walmart is the largest bullet retailer.
Zhou Xuan wanted to play with the pistol again, but Li Junjie took it back and wouldn't give it to him again. His three men took several loops of nylon rope from the trunk and slung them across their bodies. Then each of them took out a machete, the blade of which was so shiny it looked very sharp.
Now it was time to start hiking. Zhou Xuan gave everyone a bag of inflatable tents to carry on their backs, which was fortunately the lightest piece of luggage they had.
Two of Li Junjie's three henchmen, both white, walked ahead to clear the way, followed by Fu Tianlai, while the black henchman brought up the rear. Because they were all armed, they were positioned in front and behind to prevent any unforeseen incidents.
The Wolf brothers also walked in front, carrying a large bag of items but still looking very strong. They were indeed powerful men. Although they were not as good as Zhou Xuan in diving, their physiques were much more robust.
All three girls looked beautiful on the outside, but their appearances were different from their inner selves. None of the three girls were spoiled, especially Fu Ying, who didn't show the slightest frown or look of being unable to bear it.
Zhou Xuan had a deep impression of Fu Ying. Back in China, Fang Zhicheng hired a gang of thugs, but instead of protecting Fu Ying, he ended up getting beaten up by Fu Ying. If someone judged Fu Ying based on her appearance, they would definitely suffer.
Fu Tianlai carried a compass and other items, measuring the general direction as he walked. There was actually no road; there were barely passable sections in the jungle. He then used a knife to cut away the thorns blocking his way, which slowed his progress considerably.
They walked on and off for an entire afternoon. What Fu Tian said was a six-hour journey had actually taken five hours, and they were still nowhere in sight. It was getting dark.
In the jungle, there's no need to keep going after dark, as it's easier to get lost.
After finding a slightly more spacious spot, Li Junjie and the others cleared the area and then cut some dry branches to start a fire, as fire is the best tool to keep wild animals away.
The black man then took out some food for everyone to share, mainly compressed biscuits and canned meat. Compressed biscuits are actually extremely unpalatable, but they are essential items in the wild because they are easy to carry.
Everyone had a water bottle. Zhou Xuan forced himself to swallow the compressed biscuits, then drank a few sips of water. They were indeed hard to swallow.
They rested around the campfire at night. Li Junjie and his three men took turns on duty for the first and second halves of the night. He guarded the first half of the night with one of the white men, while the other white man guarded the second half of the night with the black man.
Zhou Xuan was half asleep when he was woken up by the roars of wild animals. There were also many mosquitoes, and a bite would cause a big welt. After slapping his face and body a few times, he simply sat up. By the campfire, people were lying haphazardly.
About six or seven meters away, by the trees, the two men, one black and one white, were each watching the commotion outside.
Zhou Xuan felt a terrifying stillness. Occasionally, a wild beast's mournful cry would reach him, and only then would he realize that they were in a primeval forest.
While he was still in a daze, someone gently touched his waist. Zhou Xuan turned his head and saw that it was Fu Ying, who handed him a very delicate and pretty little green bottle.
Zhou Xuan took it and asked in surprise, "Miss Fu, what's this for?"
Fu Ying smiled and said in a low voice, "Spray some on exposed skin to prevent mosquito bites."
"Of course I want it," Zhou Xuan said without hesitation, quickly spraying it on his face and hands several times. He had used floral water when he was a child back home, but Fu Ying's was different. Floral water has a fragrance, but this stuff has no smell.
He felt much better after falling asleep again; this stuff really worked. The mosquitoes stopped bothering him. But when he woke up again, he was suddenly jolted awake by a gunshot!
When Zhou Xuan sat up abruptly, he saw that everyone had been awakened by the gunshot and were pulling out their weapons. Those who didn't have weapons picked up a piece of firewood from the ground and held it up in front of them for defense.
16977.com offers daily updates of fun mini-games waiting for you to discover!
Volume One: The First Budding Buds, Chapter Twenty-Four: The Cliff
After the gunshot rang out, the few people who had been awakened didn't panic. Then the black man on night watch whistled, dragged over a still-bleeding wild boar, and chuckled as he spoke.
The black man's marksmanship was quite good; this shot hit the wild boar right in the forehead. Wild boars have thick skin and flesh, so under normal circumstances, it's difficult to kill them with a single shot, and a wounded wild boar will fight back even more frantically.
Apart from Li Junjie and another white subordinate who got up and walked around a bit, the others didn't move. Hunting a wild boar in the forest is a normal thing.
Zhou Xuan was very interested. The wild boar weighed about 200 pounds, which was not small. The black man dragged the boar to the side, cut open its belly with a knife, removed its internal organs, cut off the meaty parts, and skinned it. Another white man then built a frame with wood and roasted the pork that the black man had cut off over the fire.
Zhou Xuan checked his watch; it was already 5 a.m. He wasn't sleepy, so he stood aside and watched the black man clean up the wild boar. The black man's technique seemed quite skilled. Because there was no water, most of the meat was thrown away, including the internal organs. Even so, the amount of meat cut off for grilling was no less than 100 jin (50 kg).
For nearly half an hour, the aroma of wild boar meat filled the air, making it impossible for anyone to sleep. The compressed biscuits they ate last night were making their stomachs churn, and the smell of wild boar meat made it impossible for them to fall asleep.
The white man roasting the pork took out a bag of salt from his bag, tore open the packaging, and then sprinkled the salt powder onto the wild boar meat on the rack. The salt powder mixed with the pork fat fell into the fire and sizzled.
When it was cooked, they cut it into small pieces with a knife. The other black man also finished cutting the wild boar meat, then cut a few tree branches, whittled them into small sticks about the length of chopsticks, sharpened one end, and then forked the meat pieces and distributed them to everyone.
The fire was huge and intense, and the roasted wild boar meat was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which was indeed delicious, especially considering that the group of people had been suffering from compressed biscuits all day.
Although they ate quite a lot, there was too much meat, and they didn't even get a third of it. In the end, the black man sealed the remaining wild boar meat in a plastic bag, put it in a bag and carried it on his back. Although it wouldn't taste as good as fresh meat if they roasted it later, it was still better than eating compressed biscuits and canned meat. There were still about 60 or 70 pounds of wild boar meat left, enough for at least a few meals.
By 6:30, it was already bright outside. The three men, one in black and one in white, put out the fire, and then each checked and packed their belongings before continuing their journey to their destination.
The road ahead became increasingly difficult, until eventually there was no road at all. They had to use machetes to cut through thorns and vines to carve out a path, which slowed their progress even further.
As Fu Tianlai walked, he looked around at the surroundings. He was a little hesitant, since it had been twenty years since he last came here. The general direction was correct, but the path he had taken twenty years ago was long gone.
They probably hadn't even made it ten miles in a day. They spent another night in the jungle, and then at noon on the third day, after emerging from a patch of lush vines, they suddenly saw a mountain peak in front of them, half of which was a sheer cliff.
Fu Tianlai was overjoyed and ran ahead to look around. There were more stone ridges in this area, and what lay in front of them was a giant stone forest that meandered like a dragon.
Fu Tianlai looked at it, then pulled out his dagger and started scraping a spot on a large, several-ton boulder that was protruding in front of him.
After a few strokes, the surface moss was scraped away, revealing a deeply engraved Chinese character "傅" (Fu).
Fu Tianlai exclaimed excitedly, "Found it! Found it!"
He paused, then pointed to the character and said to everyone, "I carved this character twenty years ago. Go four kilometers west from here and you'll reach the sinkhole!"
Fu Tianlai's words immediately energized the rest of the exhausted people. Apart from Fu Tianlai, no one else had ever been to the destination. Although they knew there was danger, the purpose of their trip was to go there, so how could they not be excited to hear that they were about to arrive?