Are You Comfortable Around Guns?

Discussion in 'Guns & Weapons' started by Don Alaska, Mar 6, 2019.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Oh, okay. You spoke of hearing an Army-style weapon, so I was wondering.
     
    #136
  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I guess if it looks scary it should be banned. Under some definitions, a semi-auto .22 rimfire is a "military-style weapon". I get it now.
     
    #137
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  3. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    uhmmmmmm....you can put grips and other additions on guns to make them look scary (or cool, depending how you look at it) Semi auto still shoots one bullet at a time, right? It is not an Uzi.
     
    #138
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  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I love the term "Assault Weapon." It's a meaningless word that no one can define intended to negate the use for self-defense.

    I can see the encounter now...
    Robber: "Your money or your life."
    Victim: "Hold on. I brought the wrong gun, unless you'll let me assault you. Otherwise, I gotta run home and get my Defense Weapon. Sorry. It's government...nomasayin?"
     
    #139
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  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    The same government that seeks to ban Americans from possessing what they refer to as "assault weapons" supplies far more powerful weaponry to people in other countries, referring to it as "defensive weapons".
     
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  6. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    I found the sculpture:
    https://news.un.org/en/audio/2016/05/612182
     
    #141
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  7. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    I am very comfortable around guns if they are all in my possession. The one holding the gun makes the rules.
     
    #142
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  8. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Again I refer to Tom Gresham. He said an assault RIFLE is a military weapon as it has a selector switch. The anti-gunners use the term assault WEAPON so they can make it whatever they want; even a knife could be an "assault weapon" as it can be used to assault someone. Most of the time, the anti-gunners don't know the difference and go by appearance, not function.
     
    #143
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  9. Tex Dennis

    Tex Dennis Veteran Member
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    When I read a post as I just did, and the poster referred to my gun culture and can't understand that I take it as they wish that when dad and I were attacked I should have not fought back and just perished and died.
     
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  10. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Tex, Tom lives in England and isn't familiar with living in a "gun culture" as in the USA. I don't believe he'd ever wish you to perish and die.
     
    #145
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  11. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    I'm no longer comfortable using a gun for practice like I use to be. Although we both paid for gun safety class with a well trained retired Army Ranger. I don't have the confidence I did. I'm too old I guess.
     
    #146
  12. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Too old??? My wife is 74 and can still load/shoot her 9mm handgun. But, sooner or later, that will end. Just hope that it's later, but her hands can no longer hold something very long.
     
    #147
  13. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    After last 3 years of health problems no shooting practice ,I lost confidence I guess. Mainly its my vision that tends to make me dizzy at times. Not a good idea for someone with partial vision loss to be shooting.
     
    #148
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  14. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I did a lot of shooting when I was a kid. When I was about twelve, I graduated from a BB gun to a .22 rifle, and later a 30-30. Plus, I could use my dad's guns with permission. A loaded shotgun was leaning up against the wall by the front door for varmints, and he had a WW2 German rifle that he used for deer hunting. Although he served in the Pacific, he came home from the war with a German rifle. There was probably some trading going on. He owned a handgun but I wasn't even allowed to look at it, let alone shoot it. Actually, I'm not sure about that because I never even thought to ask. Given that I only saw it once or twice, I figured he had it stashed away somewhere in his room, and I can't remember being in my parents' room more than a few times, once when a cat that I had let in the upstairs window, where my bedroom was, made her way downstairs and had a litter of kittens on my parents' bed. Mom wouldn't allow animals in the house but, fortunately, she had a sense of humor. She also knew who to blame.

    I bought a handgun while I was living in California, but never once fired it. After more than ten years of never even firing a weapon, I was recruited to be a part of the SWAT team in a city for which we were contracted for EMS services. They needed some paramedics to be part of the team, the idea being that they would eventually either train police officers to become paramedics or paramedics to become police officers, the latter of which was the more practical, given that the length of training necessary to become a paramedic is much longer than that to become a cop.

    Anyhow, we had to qualify with an evil assault rifle, and I found that I did as well as at least half of the cops who were qualifying. I was never called upon to use it since our use of it was to be entirely defensive and, in practice, we were kept around the corner until all of the exciting stuff was over with. We trained for situations in which we might have to enter a scene that might still be dangerous, but that never came up. I went out on a few calls with the SWAT team, but not in such dire situations. Most of the other paramedics who were recruited for the program became certified police officers but I was hired by a college as program chairman of their EMT department, so I didn't continue with it. I did manage the shooting part of it quite well, however.

    More recently, I'll do some shooting on my land up north sometimes during the summer. They just opened a gun range here, so I might check it out sometime. There never seem to be any cars there so I don't know what their hours are or what it's all about. Other than the police range, I have never been to a gun range. It might be that most people around here have places where they can go and shoot, without the need for a gun range, although maybe it'll do better next winter. It takes a while for people around here to notice or start patronizing a new business.
     
    #149
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2022
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  15. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Interesting story. We were members of a gun club here but that was 10 years ago.
     
    #150

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