Do not not think that just because you are in a small town you won't see this stuff happen, and it is likely to become much more frequent in the future. In my small city (pop 250,000, 300 miles from Seattle), gangs are responsible for 80% of all crimes. Almost all of them come from the heavily populated West Coast urban areas like Seattle and Southern California, as well as from Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, etc.
This is a very interesting summary of gangs and how they operate. It is the young wanna-be members, those on probation, who do most of the shootings. They have no remorse and they intend to prove their value to the gang. The gangs bring in the meth, the meth addicts the users, the users smash car windows and break into homes looking for money for their next fix. Quite a vicious circle, and one that is really hard to stop. Facing down a desperate meth addict can be extremely challenging for the average homeowner.....
http://spokanecares.org/gang-crime.php
There are certain rough sections of Spokane that I would have walked through unarmed and unafraid twenty years ago. Not any more.....And don’t think that being 200 miles away from Washington DC or Baltimore will keep them out of your sleepy little Virginia community. I suspect that they have already arrived. Daily carry, even at home, and stay vigilant. And speaking of Big Gang Shootouts, maybe it is time to watch all of Justified, to get your mind into the methods of ruthless country drug lords. It is a terrific show BTW, with a very high body count.

- A5A326FC-AD40-4336-BF56-E928BE7474C7.jpeg (68.18 KiB) Viewed 1492 times
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Justified_-_Season_1
John Davies
Spokane WA