  We describe a complete volume limited sample of nearby active galaxies
selected by their 14-195keV luminosity, and outline its rationale for studying
the mechanisms regulating gas inflow and outflow. We describe also a
complementary sample of inactive galaxies, selected to match the AGN host
galaxy properties. The active sample appears to have no bias in terms of AGN
type, the only difference being the neutral absorbing column which is two
orders of magnitude greater for the Seyfert 2s. In the luminosity range spanned
by the sample, log L_{14-195keV} [erg/s] = 42.4-43.7, the optically obscured
and X-ray absorbed fractions are 50-65%. The similarity of these fractions to
more distant spectroscopic AGN samples, although over a limited luminosity
range, suggests that the torus does not strongly evolve with redshift. Our
sample confirms that X-ray unabsorbed Seyfert 2s are rare, comprising not more
than a few percent of the Seyfert 2 population. At higher luminosities, the
optically obscured fraction decreases (as expected for the increasing dust
sublimation radius), but the X-ray absorbed fraction changes little. We argue
that the cold X-ray absorption in these Seyfert 1s can be accounted for by
neutral gas in clouds that also contribute to the broad line region (BLR)
emission; and suggest that a geometrically thick neutral gas torus co-exists
with the BLR and bridges the gap to the dusty torus.
