Russian school kids rewarded with small arms training (courtesy dofiga.net)

The irrepressible DrVino emailed TTAG central a link to a Russian internet story wherein we learn that “Reuters photographer Eduard Kornienko visited Cadet school named after General AP Ermolova located in the north-west region of the Russian city of Stavropol. The reward for good grades for students cadet school name Yermolov Stavropol becomes involved in the field outputs. During these two-day trips out of town cadets sleep in camp, engaged in physical training, learn to handle small arms.” Meanwhile, American schools have a “zero tolerance” policy for kids who chew Pop Tarts into the shape of a gun. With Cold War 2.0 warming-up (or cooling down or whatever), have we become, relative the Russians anyway, a nation of wimps? While we have over a million combat-tested vets, are anti-gunners degrading America’s moxie?

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94 COMMENTS

    • Agreed.

      And what’s interesting is how women say the image of women in pop culture and the media has caused young girls to strive to attain a physical look that is unhealthy or unobtainable for most.

      I’d also argue that pop culture and the media has been promoting metrosexual men as being attractive and successful for so long that now young boys are trying to emulate that “ideal” either as a social norm or in the hopes of scoring.

      I mean think about it… a few decades ago, movie stars were like John Wayne. Singers were like Johnny Cash.

      Nowadays we have Michael Cera and Justin Bieber.

      Especially with so many more boys growing up without a dad now, public male role models being less masculine has had to have an impact.

      So no… I don’t think this is a gun thing. The feeling about guns is a symptom of the problem which is the indoctrination of our youth.

      In my opinion, all young girls should feel beautiful in their own skin and all boys should feel like it’s ok to be boys.

      • Nicely put, Bear. Gunphobia is largely a media-driven fear. We’re told to fear what we don’t understand and certain folks listen. The lack of manliness (metrosexuals, gender neutrality BS) can, in part, be attributed to an equivalent lack of responsibility. Social programs place day to day responsibilities on the government rather than the citizen. It’s easy to become a non-man when you don’t have to do anything or look out for anyone other than yourself. And yes, we’re quickly becoming a nation of wusses. Yes, I know they’re relatively few in number, pop culture notwithstanding, but few is still too many.

      • I don’t know about all that. I do think that both men and women are being told at a young age that they are victims. Victims of teasing, of bullying, of discrimination, etc. Our culture has fully embraced the state of being a perpetual victim of something, instead of a culture of independent, strong-willed persons.

        And that’s a real shame.

    • All to get ready for “in case of invasion, prepare for a nationwide lockdown and shelter in place.”

      /sarc off

  3. I remember going to camp in Cub Scouts and getting to shoot .22 rifles. We were all thrilled. Learned to carry the rifles, et cetera. Apparently (from when I served as a Cub Scout leader 40+ years later with my own son) Cub Scouts don’t fire .22s any longer, that’s reserved for Boy Scouts. There’s nothing to be afraid of, no more than with archery or obstacle courses or the rest of Scout activities, you know. It makes sense, it’s part of being a boy. I 100% support BSA. They do great work on a shoestring!

  4. Simple answer.

    Could you imagine Piers Morgan and Diane Feinstein in a cage match with Vladimir Putin and Ivan Drago?

    Yeah….That’s how they see us.

  5. Which comes first: being anti-gun or being a wimp? I think Libtards are wimps first; then they develop an anti-gun mentality as a way to rationalize their cowardice.

    • This.

      The “politically correct” foster a culture of wimps, who in turn fear guns, because they were never exposed to them, and never taught their importance in a free society.

      Good call on the “rationalize their cowardice” bit. Many times have I seen anti-gunners immediately resort to taking shots at your manhood when confronted with raw facts in an argument. They have no rationale, so they dismiss guns as “beneath” them.

    • Very true, but they are trying to covert other people as well. So to the extent the libtard “brand” gain market share they are making us a nation that rewards Iran billions $ for flipping us the finger.

    • Yes – and this is why I teach my (3) girls that if someone hits you or is mean to you – you don’t just come running to Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes – you just gotta work it out yourself.

      Stand up strong and do what needs doing…

      • Exactly this. Kids need to fight! You learn about boundaries, critical thinking, the consequence of words and actions and a myriad of other lessons from simple playground dust ups.

    • I don’t know about that. I’m a wimp (nearsighted, non-athletic and I got my ass kicked every time I stood up to a bully when I was younger.) I own and train with firearms and knives because I KNOW I can’t fight my way out of a paper bag. If I want to have a chance against a criminal or thug, I NEED a weapon and I need to know how to use it!
      On the other hand, maybe some anti-gunners are so confident that they only need their bare hands that they look down on gun ownership. (I think such people are fools, but that’s another story.)
      Anyway, some of us gunnies were wimps first, too!

  7. Regrettably, yes. It’s the consequence of having such a secure society, in the sense that we haven’t been seriously invaded by a land army in a LONG time. When entire generations have grown up ignorant of war or hardship, all of a sudden Utopia seems like a good idea.

    “We haven’t lost a war in x number of years, so why do we need guns/military/ civil arms? ” says the ignorant commoner. We see this happening now in Israel even: despite still being bordered by nations which want it erased from existence, there’s a gun control movement in fricking Isreal. Why? Because the last serious war was in the 1970s, and enough time has passed that the memory of being invaded by people wanting them dead has now been confined to the old crones.

    • We have not won a war in decades.
      But those never took place on our soil, so we did not have to struggle, anguish and sacrifice – so it’s become as remote and meaningless as the nightly sports scores.

  8. Yes. In 1995 when I was in high school, trap shooting with a 12 gauge was part of the Agriculture class. Then Columbine happened. If trap shooting was still taught in school our modern society might not be so gun shy.

  9. That really depends on the type of warfare being fought. As far as ground troops invading a country; yes, we are definitely becoming a lot softer and Russia will have an edge. However, with the increased use of drones and our video game obsessed youth, we are really training them for the future of warfare where it will be fought with remote controls instead of kicking in doors.

    • Until the Russians or ChiComs pop an EMP nuke or three over the country, at which point the power grid collapses and you are back to rough men with guns. As Orwell said, “men can be highly civilized only while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them.”

      • That is very true and I am not at all advocating that we are heading in the right direction. I will be prepared, along with the readers of this blog. The anti-gun crowd will be in a world of hurt if any of those scenarios were to happen and I don’t think I would lend them arms because they brought it upon themselves. Thin out the heard I say and let the strong and free willing survive.

    • No war ever has been or can be won from a computer console. You can reduce the enemies assets this way, restrict his movements and ect but you can only finally beat him by going house to house and bush to bush and that requires strong, brave men.

    • Russia has become pretty good at hacking our drones. Anyone who thinks drones are the future is sadly mistaken.

  10. It’s not just the anti-gun part, it seems like there’s an effort to pussify all aspects of male culture.
    Shit, they even ruined flannel! the manliest of fabrics! What chance in hell did gun ownership have?

  11. The anti-gun culture isn’t the cause of the American wussification–it’s a symptom. The cause is much deeper and not something I have time to get into.

  12. People are anti-gun because they are wimps. The 60-70s hippie movement stated that “all we need is love” but the premise failed to acknowledge that discipline is love. The movement failed to discipline their children because “we love them too much.” We are now dealing with those children who have been taught to hug and make up and that loving someone means to give them what they want.

  14. A nation of de-horned men ruled by women who’s authority we don’t dare question less we be called sexist.

  15. We have long said that a gun nut’s gun is a prosthetic penis, and the size of the gun is a good idea of how small the gun nut’s penis actually is. This is why we advocate for small, low-capacity, easily-concealable handguns. Nobody needs large weapons of war.

    Unfortunately, Georgia’s #GunsEverywhere bill has no #gunsense and will lead to more people bringing more #OogaBoogaGuns into more locations like churches. We all know from historical experience that nobody ever wants to kill religious people for any reason, so nobody needs to bring a gun to church. This is why we have started a $50 million grassroots campaign to #DemandAction to eliminate the small guns that can be brought anywhere.

    • So are you trying to “[eliminate] small guns that can be brought everywhere,” or are you “[advocating] for small, low-capacity, easily-concealable handguns?”

        • I understand the joke. My point was that the post contradicts itself.

          First, he states “This is why we advocate for small, low-capacity, easily-concealable handguns.”

          Then, he says “This is why we have started a $50 million grassroots campaign to #DemandAction to eliminate the small guns that can be brought anywhere.”

          My question was intended to point out the contradictory nature of his satirical post.

          Unless that contradiction was intended to illustrate the double standard nature of the anti-gunners, in which case it makes sense.

          But I doubt that Shannon Watts or her ilk would ever be caught saying “This is why we advocate for small, low-capacity, easily-concealable handguns.” Hence my confusion.

    • I’m looking at buying a little Sig P938 for summer carry. I guess that means I’m packing a pound of pork down there (assuming an inverse relationship between weapon size and “gun” size, to use the Marine boot camp etymology.)

  17. “…are anti-gunners degrading America’s moxie?”

    Yes. And the civilian disarmament movement is just one wing of the effort. “Ban the bomb,” “make love, not war,” etc. are all products of the US Communist Party. Pacifying America is part of old Soviet efforts to undermine America. These efforts to pacify America continued apace even after the USSR fell apart. I’m not saying that the garden variety American Progressive is knowingly plotting the downfall of America, but the useful idiots have internalized these ideas with absolutely no clue how they have been bread and led through generations.

  18. Yep a nation of wimps, pussies & girl-boys. I see it at the gym all the time. It seems like ONE unisex mindset where typical boys behavior is actively discouraged. I still don’t believe we could be conquered by an outside force with many millions of gun owners.

  19. There’s a reason the Civilian Marksmanship Program was established in the first place. Fortunately, the accounts of the Program’s death are greatly exaggerated. However, executive orders like the ones from August of 2013 (and the attitudes and ignorance that produce them) don’t help.

  20. We are definitely becoming a nation of wimps. The lockdown / shelter in place / wait for help mentality is prevalent in schools and urban centers. I have yet to see a more effective strategy to stop an active shooter than to immediately return fire. Instead, we have a host of gun free zones and victim rich environments. Sad.

    • It all started with the use of the term “first responder” to refer to the police, fire or EMS. It sent a message that tells people to be passive. Back in the not so distanct past you were the first responder because you were there. That response may have been limited to calling for help but it still left you as part of the process. The police et al, were the second responders.

      I think much of the antigun sentiment that exists is a proudct rather than a cause of the first responder syndrome. That is why there are many converts to gun ownership. When the personalized SHTF they realize that life isn’t like the movies where cavalry arrives in the nick of time.

  21. Not cherishing our freedom makes us a nation of wimps. If we valued our freedom unconditionally, we’d be prepared to fight whoever wants to take it, however we could. Guns are just a way to affect the odds.

    If we’re prepared to be overrun and ruled by anyone, whether it be the Bureau of Land Management or the People’s Liberation Army (that’s China), we don’t need guns, and all the guns in the world might not help if we’re prepared to don the yoke.

    People who understand how precious their freedom is (and how fleeting it can be), arm themselves. People who don’t (and don’t), don’t.

  22. Deffinately a nation of victims.

    What has made Americans for the most part “wimps” is men being encouraged to be more sensitive and to be more femenine and being encouraged to dress like a 13 year old girl. That is what has made us a nation of whimps.

  23. Yes it does. A wimp is a state of mind that bullies and thugs can sense and then you become a victim. A wimp is someone who let’s fear rule his life. He doesn’t own a gun because he fears that having the power of ‘instantaneous’ death is too much for him to control. He has given over his wellbeing to a master. The master might be in the form of a local thug, an international terrorist, or a despot. God save us.

  24. Maybe not per se, but the mindset that anti-gunners have in general certainly does lead down that path. If you aren’t willing to defend yourself with equal force, then you don’t have the intestinal fortitude to get the job done. Not everyone is wired that way, and that’s fine. Just don’t force others to bend to your level.

  25. Weaklings, yes. That is sadly the status quo nowadays. A good way to check is to offer them a range trip, if they get scared even at the tought of holding a gun, then you have your answer.

    I remember an incident a couple of years ago in class. I was drawing a riflestock (the stock itself) and someone in class saw it and freaked out, shouting: “He is crazy, he’s gonna kill us all”.

    Suddenly remembered that because of the post.

  26. No question. The whole anti-gun culture is based on desperation and fear, which leads the antis into abandoning logic for misinformation that better suits the agenda they’re desperate for. In other words, the antis are pooping their freaking pants over guns. But the pop-tart gun thing isn’t desperation, or fear, or anything like that. That is sheer, bloody-minded stupidity, an urge to get guns off the minds of people, make them feel that guns are taboo. It isn’t even that that makes people want to change a deaf child’s name because they make a gun motion in the sign language name. That is just pure… I can’t even find words for that.

  27. Sadly, I think the anti gun culture is a by product of a much larger culture that has made more and more Americans wimps. We have many spoiled, unrealistic, and allergic to hard work people that drive this trend. They expect free phones, free healthcare, an unrealistic living standard without having to put one erg of effort forth. They want everything easy and if it isn’t easy or given to them, it’s because someone is out to screw them. It’s not a healthy mindset, but it is a convenient, comfortable, and rationalizing mindset that make them feel better. The anti gun culture shares this trait. Ban the object is easy, change the nature of an emotionally driven, critical thinking hindered person is hard. They’ll yell at you, call you things that may make you feel bad because they don’t want to do the hard work. CSGV will never go to south Chicago to call out the culture because they’d get called racist or ignored. So since it isn’t easy to change the hearts and minds, they go for the easy route. Pass a law, feel good about yourself, in their mind problem solved no matter what actually happens.

  28. I’d go with ‘yes’ myself. Gun control is, as we all know, more about the control than the guns. Extensive gun control makes you reliant on the state for protection. And to quote a well established truth: When seconds count the police are only minutes away.’ Not to mention that when only the state has the power they have free reign to use it upon you when ever they feel like it.

  29. Bigtime. We’re making ourselves vulnerable, because Anti-gun Liberal panzies do not see anything outside of their little media-created world. In my day, we learned about firearms from the time we were young. I learned to shoot in the Boy Scouts at a young age.

  31. “The reward for good grades for students cadet school name Yermolov Stavropol becomes involved in the field outputs.”

    Does that sentence make very little sense, or did I just have a stroke?

  32. This article totally nails it. They are training better and getting stronger as we grow weaker. We feminize are men, and women, and say its better to cower in a ball, or run and hide instead of stand and Fight. Its not even about Manliness vs. feminity, its about mentality. I would bet on most Russian women could probably kick the shit out of most American men. Its evolution. The weak die at the hands of the strong. And we wont e the strong for long. Nukes wont be around forever. Nukes will eventually be either banned, or mitigated with some other new not yet known technology. Then the US will be invaded by Russia and China, and are weak, liberal, feminine society will be helpless. What we need to do is be like our western ancestors, the Spartans, Vikings, and Romans. Children, all children, even the women start training for war at age 7. Imagine tying to shoot up a school were the children are all trained to rush you in a human wave attack with whatever happens to be in their hand at the time, you may be able to kill 2-3 but then you’ll be beaten and stabbed to death.

  33. Well TTAG did feature a story about a woman completly losing her shit after finding an unloaded AR in the back of a rental car. Not to mention a fairly steady stream of lockdown of the day in the daily digest.

      • My fav comment from that article went along the lines of:

        “Wait you’re saying it had an optic on it? I don’t remember seeing any optic 🙂 “

  34. I believe less than 1% of the US has served in the military since Sept 11 2001, with so few stepping up to defend our freedom no wonder why we have so many wimps. I know that figure does not account for all the veterans that served before that day. But still bet it’s less than 10%. It’s a 100% volunteer force and we have plenty of LEO’s and Firemen, even EMS out there serving local and national level too. But most take life here in the US as a given not something worth fighting for.Look at congress how few have ever served, then you have those like Ryan that tell us the military has a “generous” retirement and benefit plan. Even the most senior enlisted are selling out the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines speaking in front of congress supporting cutting pay to keep buying from defense contractors. We will always have brave young people stepping up to do their duty but without the country behind them supporting them it will be for a lost cause.

    • I would appreciate it if you could post evidence (a link, news story, etc.) on which senior enlisted personnel testified before Congress about cutting pay to afford contractor deals. I’m retired USAF but must have missed it.

      I do have to say that Ryan lost all of my support though…

  35. No, anti-gun culture does not make us a nation of wimps. Soccer mom culture makes us a nation of wimps.

  36. Participation trophies, special snowflakes, calling anything that offends you bullying….

    I dont think it has as much to do with guns but the basic foundation of us as a people.

    • Yes. The factors you cite are all part of the leftist/collectivist world view that is the root of most of our problems.

  38. No, it makes us a nation known for its wimps.
    ETA: due to the massive amount of NSFW, can we please not link to Dofiga?

  40. Like everything else we are 50-50 nation. 50% of the male populaton has been feminized and the 50% maintians traditional male interests. I think this is true even for the millenials. with a population of 300 million 50% is a large number and we could easily field a WWII sized force.

    • +1. Sure there is a whiny entitlement culture thats infects many of our youth. But the whiny half gets more of the press. Our population has moved into the cities and the burbs so of course are kids aren’t as “tough” as their parents and grandparents. But, I still see lots of kids involved in sports, the scouts, outdoor clubs, volunteering etc. There is still a “strong” mindset out there that doesn’t get much press. Our obsolete centrally controlled school system is not doing are kids any favors, though.

  41. I wouldn’t ay it makes us a nation of wimps, exactly. A nation of victims, definitely.

    But, there are still Americans here, as opposed to bleating sheep.

  42. It’s already being pronounced “U-wuss-A” as a joke now, no wonder the Russians are getting all power hungry 🙁

  44. Anti-gun culture is just a part of it. There are so many reasons that we as a nation is becoming sissified.

    Example: I particularly remember one morning at the range while I was still a active duty Marine. We were getting off the bus when I stopped to let a straggler out of his seat. I then heard “Move bitch!” coming from behind me. I turn around to see a Lcpl mean mugging me and gesturing towards the door. I’m a nice guy and it is early so I just turned around and explained what I was doing. He then goes on to say “I don’t give a fuck” and “fucking move cunt!”. I remember yanking up the kid and screaming something along the lines of how he should not only respect me as a CPL but as another man. He then had the galls to tell me if I didn’t let him go, he was going to have his command contact mine. I called his bluff and gave him a good one on the chin. Never got in trouble for that and I’m sure that little shit learned some respect. But the reason I shared this story was what he said. Instead of taking responsibility for his lack of respect, he immediately though of ‘tattle telling’ and having his command fight his fights.

  45. Wimps, not necessarily. Examples of the consequences of poor understanding of statistics and empirical evidence with a penchant for a hidden class system, yes.

  47. Do we really want to emulate Russia though? Granted, I hope to God we choose a more effective and saavy leader next time around, but if Putin were running for president here, I wouldn’t vote for him.

    And the government doesn’t need to expose us to firearms or the concept of self defense (or national defense) as children. There are lots of us who were introduced to firearms by our parents and to national defense when we signed up. We get by just fine.

  48. Nation of Wimps…. Yes
    But the anti-gun culture is only partly to blame. And I would say a very small part.

    I believe that our male culture is being de-masculinized. Let me explain… Bullying is wrong, but we are so afraid of the perception of being a bully that even being aggressive in any way is labeled as such. My sister posted on facebook 3 things you can’t say to young boys. It was a scientific study. You are not supposed to say, “don’t act like a pu$$y, or a little girl” (because that never gives young men/older boys incentive to stop being weak, it only damages their self-esteem and exacerbates the issue, you can’t say, “suck it up” (because we should be able to express our sensitive feelings without fear of being judged weak), and last but not least you can’t say,“be a man” to a male teen (because it doesn’t let them discover their own sexual identity).

    Any perception of masculinity is deemed bad. Everyone gets a trophy. Scoring a touchdown in football or a goal in soccer and winning a game isn’t considered a success for hard work, it is considered putting down the other kids (even though they didn’t work as hard in practice, or God forbid you have a kid on the team with genetics of a super athlete that runs over the other littler kids and we then admonish him for the ability he was born with and his desire to succeed).

    I DO NOT define a wimp based on physical ability or strength or constitution. I’ve met some very tough individuals in 25 years of the military who were not that physically impressive. It takes a special kind of toughness to enter a prison block as a female during a riot and take control. It takes a special kind of toughness for a person in a wheelchair with blisters on their hands playing basketball to say no to that drug dealer when he tries selling in his neighborhood.

    It is our culture with Oprah and Ellen and PhDs in child physc, and our schools that teach everyone that it is ‘OK’ to be mediocre and that if anyone tries to hurt their feelings (even if they really aren’t, they just accomplished something you didn’t because they worked for it) it is bad.

    We ARE becoming a Nation of Wimps. The perfect example is 9/11/2001. Everyone was on board with going over and kicking some terrorist ass. They hit us and we were going to beat the crap out of them. Now when we see poor helpless Afghan kids we feel bad and want to give them money and apologize for bombing their homes (even though their fathers/uncles were terrorists and making bomb in the house). We apologize and refer to Iraq as a mistake (even though Sadam was an evil SOB who killed thousands and thousands with chemicals and was caught red-handed multiple time giving weapons to terrorists , including chemical weapons to Hamas a month prior to our invasion— everyone forgets that one).

    We love the tough guy movies and the Marvel Heroes, but in reality if someone really did slap an a$$hole for disrespecting our girl, everyone would be mortified.

  49. Wait a minute… There is no Internet in Russia. The Internet is a CIA conspiracy and Russia will have no part of it!

    So this “Russian Internet story” has to be fiction!

  50. If there were more “men” left in this country, what would they do? We shipped most of those jobs overseas. There is a lot going on that got us to where we are now.

  51. What “anti-gun” culture…??? There are a few, not many, that are actually “anti-gun”…if ANY other nation on the planet Earth, want to come and invade the U.S.A, let them come, then the world will find out whether the citizens are a bunch of “wimps”…

  52. This comparison makes no sense. You’re talking about a Russian cadet school, i.e. a school specifically geared towards kids who want to make a military career. Overall, Russian society is much more anti-gun than US, and this applies to schools as well.

    • I like a lot of what’s being said in the comments here. But there is something important that has been neglected. Wimp culture in America is strong, and that promotes anti-weapon mentality. Objectively, mainstream American culture is wimpy and promotes such attitudes of weakness. But relatively, we’re not wimps at all. No other first-world state has as strong a gun culture as we do. Individuals are freer to own weapons and defend themselves in certain areas of the USA than in any other developed country on earth. We don’t have enough freedom to be responsible for our own safety, but we have more than they do in other places. This culture of liberty is why I love this country and want to live in it, in the states within it that still allow freedom. If it wasn’t for the better protection of freedoms and rights in the USA, I’d probably move to New Zealand or some other nice small country. The only nations with comparable firearms freedom are places like Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. Limited government, sure, but also very limited freedom for individuals in general. The post show a picture of Russian youths. Their experience in armament is likely limited to their participation in the Russian militarism machine. Are Russian individuals, or citizens of almost any other state, as free as Arizonans to personally keep and bear arms? Not at all.

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