TTAG resident war hero Jon Wayne Taylor (above left) spent a good part of yesterday teaching a gun muggle how to shoot various firearms. Linda (not her real name) is a former New Englander looking to join her Texas-born husband in a Lone Star State deer cull. Under Jon’s tutelage, Linda shot the .308 Blaser R8 bolt gun out to 100 yards, no sweat. Marlin .22 lever gun? All, day, long. But when I brought out my FN SCAR 16, it was no way José! I asked Linda why. She couldn’t articulate a reply. But it was clear that gun was beyond the pale.
As you can see from the pictures above, Jon coaxed Linda to come to grips with the SCAR. What is it with “assault rifles” that gives gun muggles the heebie jeebies? Is it the constant mainstream media-enabled drumbeat that they’re “weapons of war” that “don’t belong on our streets”? The fact that spree killers have (infrequently) used them to create carnage? Or the name itself? Why are [some] people OK with grandpa’s hunting gun but not an AR-15?
Because people don’t think for themselves. Once they do, they end up like Linda: Totally happy to shoot the dreaded ‘Assault Weapons (TM)’
Nope. She gave it all a good try, experienced it for herself, and at the end of the day, was not interested in doing it again.
Training failure. You should have handed her one in pink camo and she would have told you how cute it looked.
I’m lazy enough to prefer a semi-auto over an old-fashioned gun that requires me to cycle the bolt manually. But everyone has a right to their own preferences. While my wife used my AR-15 to shoot prairie dogs, her relatives on that hunting trip each brought out bolt guns. Go figure. To each his own.
What the Frak is a gun muggle? Really… Gun muggle? Harry Potter much? How bout anti gun Moron!
Because calling them a gun muggle is funny and not outright disrespectful. It is also a dead perfect on description of what some people actually know about guns.
“In the Harry Potter book series, a Muggle is a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born into the magical world. Muggles also do not have any magical blood. “
It also perfectly captures the sentiment of how they react to guns. Gun-muggles typically react the same way to guns, as Harry Potter muggles typically react to magic; negatively.
What the frack is “frack”? It is a made-up term (euphamism) from Battle Star Galactica to get “fuck” past the TV censors and make a point.
In Harry Potter the made-up term Muggle is used to describe persons who are not part of your special group/crowd/clique, but are otherwise benign, in other words not your enemy, but not necessarily your friend either. The term is so apt that it has become part of the lexicon and is often used to describe a non-threatening outsider.
Gun muggle is an extremely apt description of the vast majority of the population who have no real dog in this hun, but might be convinced either way.
As long as we can now put her in the “it’s not my style, but you do whatever you like” column I’ll consider your lesson successful.
Once an enemy, now a friend.
That isn’t the most important thing to take away from this though. At the end of the day, did she decide it was not for her, or at the end of the day did she decide it was not for anyone?
I think because too many people think the 2nd Amendment is for hunting and they all know you don’t need a “machine gun” to hunt with. Plus, most are too damn lazy to find out the truth, after all The Trace will tell them all they need to know.
A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.
I think (at least for some) it’s the perceived amount of power that the gun has (blame the media for this).
It took several range trips before I finally convinced my wife to shoot my Tavor… and that was only on a trip we took with my cousin and her husband to familiarize them both with various handguns, as they were both interested in pursuing their CCLs. After my cousin shot it, my wife figured she didn’t really have a choice anymore…
Her reaction… “Well, that’s not bad at all!”
I’ve read reports of “muggles” and others being exposed first hand to freedom and the 2nd Amendment for the first time with nearly always the same positive results. When the fear of the unknown and untruths are overcome regardless of the topic “progress” is achieved.
They are weapons of war.
Just like a lever action carbine and a flintlock musket are weapons of war… and a hatchet and a halberd and Hellfire.
And, at its start, the Internet. And triage medicine, and jet engines and M&Ms.
My Mosin was once a weapon of war. None of the fudds I’ve ever hunted with batted an eye when I dropped deer with it. But my AR10 is somehow “unfair.”
There’s no accounting for ignorance.
Well, not really.
The ones you mentioned were intended to be, and were used, in war “as-is.”
The AR-15 variant you can buy in Cabela’s is a derated version of the military weapon. It doesn’t have select fire and is semi auto only. This makes it actually *farther* from a weapon of war than the others you mention, in terms of its performance specs vs the one the military uses/used.
Select-fire and semi-automatic only makes a weapon not a weapon of war?
M1 Garand?
Not at all what I said.
The CMP M1 Garlands, the Winchester / Marlin / Rossi lever gun, the 1911 pistol, etc., all of which you can go out and purchase right now (depending on the state you live in) are functionally identical to their original military issue counterparts. In the case of the Garand, it likely actually *was* military issue.
The AR-15 type rifle you can buy in Cabela’s is *not* functionally equivalent to its military counterpart. It is derated, thanks to the removal of the select fire option.
The irony here is that what is often called an “assault weapon” has lesser functionality than the military original.
Select or semiautomatic or muzzle loading is irrelevant to this point.
Right you are, fair point.
You fail to mention the AR-15 type, which is not select fire, was never once, never, a weapon of war.
Actually it was. The early AR-15 was the precursor to the M16 and had select fire. Not available to the public.
After 1986 (fixed it)
AR-15 type. Type being the key word in his statement.
Thank you JJ!
Weapons are weapons. The “war” part, if you choose to mull it over, could mean those specific weapons were meant for military use and were manufactured to a certain spec for endurance and duty readiness. Some examples could include certain vehicles, full auto capability, types of ammunition, and explosive devices.
The gap between military and civilian weaponry capabilities are quite broad. Civilian weapons have been grossly and incorrectly mislabeled as weapons of war by persons wholly ignorant of firearms. No surprise there.
To further prove this mis-categorization, aesthetics and accessories are often used to equate civilian and military weapon functionality and capability — which is factually and functionally wholly incorrect.
So no, civilian weapons are not “weapons of war”. They are just weapons. Maybe we should stress than a distinction between “military” and “civilian” should be used when describing firearms to avoid confusion. Also, avoid the term “military style” — yet another irrelevant term the media and anti-gun legislators love to use incorrectly and often.
“Military style” – like those trendy designer combat boots.
I start them with a stock Ruger 10/22. Love at first sight and shot for all. Then I hand them the SR22 and show them how they are the very same gun. “Assault Weapon” fears dissuaded. It really is all about their messaging, and they are very good at it. But they (the left) depend upon their main constituents being Grubers.
Yep. 10/22 with irons is the place I start all my gun-curious friends. If all goes well we work up to an AR.
They think MSRs are very powerful. I’ve had people brace for recoil with my AK like it was a .375 H&H, and then get surprised/nearly knocked over by the 12ga Mossberg. Grandpas deer gun isnt scary looking like the AK.
The automatic rifle was designed to kill other people. What part of that don’t you understand?
So has every other significant firearm, ever.
I think all firearms, rifles included, were originally designed to kill people, usually in service of the state, and then used for hunting or sporting purposes afterwards. Fencing, wrestling, archery we’re all sports that practiced martial arts.
So is a sword.
First of all the discussion is about SEMI-auto, a distinction a lot of uninformed don’t get.
So was the mauser, which damn near every modern hunting gun is based off of. Hell so much so that my deer gun (should I actually ever get around to hunting deer with it) is an M38 Mauser. And there is no denying that mausers haven’t killed a whole lot of people.
Ironically, my deer/hog hunting rifles (if I ever am able to get around to deer or hog hunting) are 6.5 Grendel and .308 MSR.
As another poster mentioned, too lazy to operate a bolt.
Unfortunately, bolt-actions (granddads of those hundreds of hunting rifles) were designed with explicit purpose of killing human beings, too.
Even worse, a modern bolt-action is perilously close to fearsome, designed-for-assassins Sniper Rifle. Even daily rewatchings of “American Sniper” cant fix that.
I thought it was designed to extract, reload and come into battery automatically? Nothing about kill in that.
A couple years ago I was shooting with some family members of my wife, mostly her cousins or husbands of cousins, and among others one was an AR. One of the guys there shot it, but he was sweating profusely, and afterwards kept saying nervously “Don’t tell my wife.” Something about assault weapons indeed!
UGH, I can’t stand pussified men like that. It’s like some relationships have become the inverse of the way it used to be for women. Reminds me of the show “Downton Abbey” which takes place in the very early 20th century, and one of the female characters who is interested in politics is like, “So when is a woman supposed to have an opinion?” to which the old lady character replies, “When she’s married. And then her husband will tell her what her opinions are to be.”
Now it’s like the opposite with some men. Heaven forbid the guy like guns if the woman doesn’t.
“Don’t tell my wife.” – she already knows that the family balls are safely in her purse.
When so much awesome is concentrated in such a compact package it’s hard for some people to cope.
That’s what she said.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Really, i apologize.
Thank you for a wonderful laugh!
Ignorance feeds fear. They honestly think an AR is an M4. They see no difference in the two. I have Long Island family that grew up in the Bronx and never left. They don’t understand the difference even when I explain it to them. They look completely confused. It’s an almost impossible wall. They won’t shoot them or even look at them! They say they are pro 2nd and fine with handguns and “hunting rifles” even concealed carry. But black rifles with a pistol grip is not needed nor is anything holding more than ten rounds. They are half brainwashed. For NYC liberals they aren’t that bad I guess…you don’t pick your family.
You DO chose to keep them or not.
Making a huge mistake if you don’t scan the field of your potential relatives BEFOREHAND.
HEY – You young guys. Yah, you. The above post could be the single-most clairvoyant piece of advice that you will ever receive. If you think her family is whack… You’ll get what you pay for. Sometimes the paying never ends.
Sorry that this is so off-topic.
Some folks are just REALLY good at hidin the crazy until after the wedding… True story happened to a guy I know…
“YAR0892 says:
Some folks are just REALLY good at hidin the crazy until after the wedding… True story happened to a guy I know…”
Your brother in law?
” . . .They look completely confused. It’s an almost impossible wall. . .’
I think this is an example of the cultural isolation that develops from living in mega-cities. Life in those places is determined by high population density which directly translates into non-technical lifestyles. You have whole generations of families in which no one has any mechanical skills at all, can’t drive and have never owned a car. The most telling difference between them and us is that I’ve found that most people from this kind of background are very poor at even elementary mechanical problem solving. They simply have no experience at fixing things and, absent that, have fundamental problem understanding technical/mechanical design differences. To them, a gun is a gun.
The continuous pussification of the the American population. I find it ironic that Switzerland, where military service and weapons familiarization is mandatory, people don’t really have this aversion to firearms.
“Is it the constant mainstream media-enabled drumbeat that they’re “weapons of war” that “don’t belong on our streets”?”
Yes.
And they are NOT weapons of war, they just resemble them.
I got into an argument with someone with military experience that thought an AR on the street was a full auto and didn’t belong in civilian hands.
I had to send him several articles before he believed me.
I think most uninformed people think “Assault” type weapons are full auto.
During my searching about the history of the AR-15 I found that the firearms industry actually coined that term to boost sagging sales.
So we have them to blame for the way it turned out.
Actually, my understanding is the term was coined in the 80s by liberals wanting to ban the next gun after full autos. The gun industry adopted it after realizing how cool it sounded to boost sagging sales.
It is precisely the constant drum beat of the “Big Lie” by media interests and regressives that has uneducated (not stupid just not exposed to accurate information) individuals so twisted up on the topic of firearms.
Ignorance and perception. That is all.
I did the 10/22 swap from walnut to pistol grip tacticool in front of an anti acquaintance once obviously working toward the “why is one banned and the other not?” question.
The dude saw me make the swap and he fired before and after and still said the tacticool one was “deadlier” and “unsafe.”
So I guess it’s ignorance, perception and entrenched dumbassery. That guy probably drank a gallon of bleach and died since then.
I got permission from my wife to build an AR a couple of years ago. She’s tried to be supportive of my guns our entire marriage, but when I got everything assembled, sans barrel, she shut it down because she said it looked scary, that she thought it was going to look like our boys’ Marlin 60. That was the first time I’ve experienced that reaction from someone close to me. I backed off and have since gotten her to at least go shooting handguns with me. She liked it. Next step is to have her shoot a couple rifles and then maybe introduce her to shooting the AR. Just might be able to finish my build someday.
Dude, there’s just so much wrong in there.
Right on JWT!
Did you try telling her that until your build is complete, it is completely worthless and therefore wasted money? She may be so thrilled about a working AR in the house, but it beats a very expensive gun statue, which is basically what you have now.
I spent close to $1200 on my build. I couldn’t imagine my wife stopping me with only the barrel to go. Huge waste of money!
Huge waste of wife! Sorry.
“PERMISSION?” WTF and why would you ASK? You have her consult you before she buys chick BS/crap – shoes, clothing, makeup, candles, misc stinky weeds/potions/crap? Didn’t think so. FInd/buy a pair fella.
I got permission from my wife to build an AR a couple of years ago.
Why did you need to get “permission” from your wife to build a particular type of gun that you know is not anything dangerous? I mean what the hell is this with men having to “get permission” from a woman for something so incredibly stupid. It’s like having to get permission to buy a power tool or something. If it’s the cost I can understand, but otherwise it’s not anything more dangerous than any other gun.
She’s tried to be supportive of my guns our entire marriage, but when I got everything assembled, sans barrel, she shut it down because she said it looked scary, that she thought it was going to look like our boys’ Marlin 60.
And you just let her “shut it down” because she said it “looked scary?” You didn’t resist by pointing out how utterly ridiculous such logic is, and explain that it is no more dangerous than said Marlin 60 and that you are not going to get rid of it just because she thinks it looks scary?
That was the first time I’ve experienced that reaction from someone close to me. I backed off and have since gotten her to at least go shooting handguns with me. She liked it. Next step is to have her shoot a couple rifles and then maybe introduce her to shooting the AR. Just might be able to finish my build someday.
Grow some balls and assert yourself. It’s an AR-15 build, it’s not like she’s raising hell because you want to buy a motorcycle or start climbing mountains or something very dangerous that could harm you. She is being stupid.
Thanks for your input. It’s nice to know that people who don’t know me, my wife, or my specific circumstances could be so helpful. I wasn’t trying to throw my wife under the bus. I was trying to show that instances like this can be used an opportunity to educate people, especially loved ones, that are misguided when it comes to the gun. We also have a thing called a budget. Apparently permission was the wrong word. We are equal partners in our family and she agreed that allocating funds for the build fit inside our budget at the time. Flame on…
Disregard, just reread my original post, I do sound like a loser. Very poorly written. I am ashamed:( Moving on with my day.
For the record, I didn’t flame you. I just hate to see a build, especially one as near completion as yours sounds, remain incomplete. If all it’s missing is the barrel, there’s some great ones out there for under $200. For all the time and money you’ve already put in, not finishing for other than financial reasons seems like a big waste. On a budget? I get it; I built mine just like the Johnny Cash song “One Piece at a Time” over a few months. But if the only reason is because your wife is now uneasy about it, let her know you’d be coming out losing a lot of money with nothing to show for it if you can’t complete it. Shoot, even if you’ve built a “budget” AR, you’ve probably already spent $500-600 on it.
I just hate to see a build, especially one as near completion as yours sounds, remain incomplete. If all it’s missing is the barrel, there’s some great ones out there for under $200. For all the time and money you’ve already put in, not finishing for other than financial reasons seems like a big waste. On a budget? I get it; I built mine just like the Johnny Cash song “One Piece at a Time” over a few months. But if the only reason is because your wife is now uneasy about it, let her know you’d be coming out losing a lot of money with nothing to show for it if you can’t complete it. Shoot, even if you’ve built a “budget” AR, you’ve probably already spent $500-600 on it.
You two complainin that he ‘asked permission’ aren’t married are y’all?
Maybe he and his wife support each other and work together on stuff? Maybe they’re equal partners that make decisions like equals? Maybe y’all shouldn’t take a dude you only know as a screenname on a message board to task over a situation you know nothing about.
Can only go by what he wrote, but if it was as described, i.e. that his wife wouldn’t “let” him have the gun because it’s scary-looking, that is just stupid in the extreme.
Either get a divorce or grow a pair. What is with these “men?” Better to die alone then be with a woman you have to ask permission for on every thing. Man up bitches…
My comment is meant for all the men out there that are always asking their wife or worried about their wife whether they can buy this or that. Keep your money separate and buy what you fucking want to buy. Bunch of manginas….
I don’t mean to be disrespectful…but have you considered just manning the f@#k up and finishing the build? What’s you spouse going to do? Divorce you over an AR-15?
Jfly,
While I share some of the legitimate concerns mentioned above, I respect the way you value marital harmony and your willingness to sacrifice for it. I wish you well in your efforts to educate your wife, and hopefully your saint-like patience will win the day.
Amen. Well put.
” . . .but when I got everything assembled, sans barrel, she shut it down because she said it looked scary . . .”
I just don’t know what to say about this. Scheech.
The good news is that, with millions of people using ARs and AKs to hunt, in 30 years a “scary looking rifle” will literally be “grandpa’s hunting rifle”!
So tell us, John, what did she say after she fired the AR 15? It is, after all, a pussycat compared to the Blaser. Heck, just putting a .308 next to a .223 should tell them all they need to know!
One of my speeches at my Toastmasters club was on guns. I showed photos of a Ruger 556 and a Browning BAR. I explained that both loaded with a detachable magazines that could be replaced in seconds, that both fired only once with each pull of the trigger, and that the BAR is available in .338 Winchester Magnum, making it more than three times as powerful as the Ruger.
When I got done, three people openly vocalized their disbelief that the Ruger wasn’t a machine gun. I’m not sure I changed anybody’s mind. The gun grabbers have been very effective at brain washing.
I was at a range in California with my AR where an NRA class for women was being conducted. The instructor came over with a very cute young woman (early 20s) in tow. The instructor explained that the young woman was totally intrigued with my AR and wanted to know if she could handle it. Of course, I said yes, and proceeded to explain how it worked to this lady. The look she gave me suggested that anything I might have asked for at that point was possible! My wife, who was in the next bay, shooting her own AR and watching the proceedings, just looked at me, gave me a smile and rolled her eyes.
I’ve had the opposite experience…many times over. (more like Steve’s above) I’ve taken a lot of new shooters to the range and without fail they flock to and love the AR more than anything else. This includes my wife. It’s her favorite rifle to shoot and without an AR I would not get her to go to the range.
Things that never happened.
Why are some people so opposed to “military style” semi-auto rifles?
Drum roll …….. because they do not use their thinking brain. As I have been harping lately, they react based on fantasy and emotion. (I will avoid the altruism in this case.)
Hollywood fantasy and mainstream media fantasy tell us that military-style semi-auto rifles are a bane to society and a scourge to mankind, which is frightening! Must . not . look . at . scary . rifle. Must . not . touch . scary . rifle.
When fantasy and emotion rule your life, you are irrational: you do not operate in the real world.
Once the antis created the “assault weapon” misnomer to mislead the masses, the proggie press ran with it. Armalite’s initials was the cherry on the sundae for those who were bent on misleading the sheep. Legislation fixated on appearance drawn up by people with no functional firearms knowledge added fuel to the fire. So that brought us to where we are today, a ranch rifle is all good, while an MSR is the epitome of evil. Full of stupid……but it’s “for the children” ™
I should do a collage of pics with me talking to attractive women while I protectively hug my AK. There are so many of them I could probably do one of those tiny picture portrait things.
“What is it with “assault rifles” that gives gun muggles the heebie jeebies? Is it the constant mainstream media-enabled drumbeat that they’re “weapons of war” that “don’t belong on our streets”?”
Exactly this, and it’s deliberate.
Most “thinking” isn’t “thinking” as in A to B to C. People form impressions, senses of what something is like, based on simple experience of the thing with the feeling. Then, when the thing arrives, the associations get read in. Remember Pavlov?
So, “Guns, scary!” is deliberate. “Those guns, scary!” is deliberate. The adjectives they use, the way things are phrased, the association with *those people*, all deliberate. It’s an “assault weapon”, as the next round of badifying guns by association, after the “Saturday night special” attempt. All guns are equal, but some guns are more equal than others.
The game is to dirty up “those” guns by association, call them something else, and pick off a slice. Really why would you object to limiting the guns that only criminals use – those “Saturday night specials?” However, an inexpensive, reliable, easily carried handgun is really the epitome of self-defense for the otherwise defenseless. Really, the “Saturday night special” thing doesn’t hold up. But, the propaganda game isn’t to argue even those facts, but make the association: the single mother who has to live in a bad neighborhood, on her way home from her shift job really ought to be able to defend herself, too. Not just those suburban OFWGs who can afford big pickups and expensive guns.
So with “assault weapons.” Having been associated with psychos on a rampage, and tacticool mall ninjas, no self-respecting person wants to touch one, because: “I’m not like them.” You don’t even want to go with being a self-responsible citizen, because that’s been dirtied up with “militia”, “insurrectionist”, and “crazy.”
The right question is: “Who’s the black rifle equivalent of the single mother walking home from her shift job, who deserves to protect herself with a gun she can afford and carry?” You know, I think farmers and the like ought to be able to hold back the feral hog onslaught killing their way of life. “I kinda think a farmer ought to have something s/he can throw in the truck that’s enough gun for a pig, carries multiple shots, easy to re-aim. They’re going to look a bit like military hardware because some of these requirements are the same. The rest aren’t: you don’t do suppressive fire with pigs.”
One association that’s hard to get around, is exactly that the heirloom wood-stocked hunting rifle feels like granddad, and simpler times, omitting the emotional association with killing things. The polymer, space-age particle blaster has no association with home and safety, while it is associated with the terrible power they all enable.
“This is my hog gun. It doesn’t warp. All that checkered walnut is fine, and pretty, but it really doesn’t like the wet. The plastic gun holds up better, and it’s easier to hold when it’s wet, too.”
Yeah – my sister-in-law enjoyed shooting the VP9 and the 9mm Range Officer, but after 5 rounds through the AR handed it back to me and said no more. To be fair, it was an indoor range, and the AR does get kinda loud indoors, even with doubled-up hearing-pro.
Hollywood, the media, education, need I go on?
At some point in the mid 20th century, when the majority of Americans no longer had to worry about fighting off bandit gangs or comanche raiding parties in their front yard, the idea that the 2nd Amendment is “about hunting” was planted by nefarious political characters.
Slick Willy took this idea and sprinted with it. Then Pravda, I mean news media, spammed people with videos of full auto M16’s being fired in 2004 and shrieked, “You can buy these now! Oh the horror!” Throw in a gullible American public educated by a marxist education system, and you get the results we have today.
Guns are loud. Full-power rifles are louder. ARs are extra loud and frighten the horses. ARs and SCARs with their muzzle brakes are ultra stupid loud and scare the crap out of the sheep.
Besides, girls can’t operate.
An AR doesn’t startle my horses. They did jump pretty big when the neighbor kids hit a big pile of Tannerite just as I was putting them back in that pasture.
The stupid “Izzy” style brakes on the ban-compliant rifles do make them stupid loud. and I don’t think they do much for recoil either.
I have a Sig 522 that looks like an “assault weapon” but handles like a staple gun; I have an EoTech and magnifier on it. It’s one of my go-to rifles for new shooters because it has all of the looks of a scary “assault weapon” but it’s not scary at all, and the magnifier makes it easy for novices to shoot well at 50 yards. It’s been a good icebreaker and makes a nice stepping stone to shooting an AR or AK.
I’ve had a few people get uncomfortable when the AR comes out. I pop the upper off and hand them the lower. It breaks the spell to see the object of their fear in pieces, and I think it helps for them to handle the handly-bits without any (imagined) fear that it might “go off.” 🙂
Never thought about that before. Nice concept. I’ll keep that in the toolbag for the future. Thanks!
Yes, very nice idea, to “break down” the scary rifle into non-scary parts.
Yeah, that’s a great idea
Hey, my extended family is just the opposite. Everybody has been shooting ARs so long, at our last outing I brought my Anschutz .17 HMR bolt gun, and everybody kept trying to fire a second shot without working the bolt! Amusement was worth far more than I spent on ammo!
Oh I wouldn’t get all touchy feely with this…some folks lack a spine. In my 45years of lifting weights I often wondered why so many worked out like puzzies. Or why guys were afraid of talking to a good looking gal.Nothing ventured-nothing gained. I’ve only been at the gun thing for about 6years(after shooting 22’s and a small bore shotgun as a kid). Try it-you might like it…
Lots of good reasons given above, but one not mentioned is that “assault weapons” – or your garden variety AR15, Tavor, or SCAR are intensely mechanical in appearance. They have buttons and levers hanging off them all over the place. Add in a precision scope, with exposed turrets and the level of mechanical complexity increases, add a weapons light or bipod, etc..,…
Some folks are just intimidated by this complexity. Heck, there’s an entire family of jokes written about folks who can’t figure out how to set the time on their old-school VCRs. Compared to the simplicity of a bolt action, I can see why the decked-out semi-autos that we enjoy elicit a, “No way” response from the uninitiated – they just look too difficult to figure out.
We can make fun of these folks, insult them, or question their parentage – but many people share this attitude not just with guns, but with all other aspects of their lives. Doesn’t mean they are idiots or should be treated with contempt, just means they are wired differently. Now, if this technology makes them uneasy and as a result, they want to ban the guns – that’s different. But if they are enjoying the experience of shooting a bolt gun and don’t want to shoot an autoloader, what’s the problem? I’ve never shot a fine O/U shotgun either, and don’t really care to.
Maybe if you left the Ugg boot stock on the SCAR, she would’ve been more receptive to shooting it hehe.
It’s nothing more than a conditioned fear of shapes. It’s why Care Bears are rounded and fuzzy, and Ultron is angular and spiky.
FNORD!
I convinced a newbie, country club Republican to like so-called assault rifles. It wasn’t hard. We moved past emotions and discussed actual characteristics. The S&W M&P Sport was inexpensive to buy and to feed, accurate, lightweight, reliable, durable, didn’t have much recoil, and, a big plus for petit shooters, had an adjustable length of pull due to its stock. ARs are masters of utilitarianism.
Kudos to “Linda” for giving the firearms a try. And she looks good in the photos. But I would not have recommended that attire. Wouldn’t want a hot shell falling you-know-where! I’ve been hit by hot shells 50 times or more at the range.
I find the whole thing bizarre.
– As a young child I wiled away many pleasurable hours fiddling with the shotguns in my dad’s hardware store. My dad never told me guns were dangerous.
– While fiddling with the shotguns I sat on a stool in front of the shelf stock of dynamite. My dad never told me dynamite was dangerous.
– When I was about 12 I asked dad if I could use the electric bench grinder. He said: “Be careful. Don’t let your work get caught in the wheel. I saw a man killed by a bench grinder.” He watched me for 20 seconds grinding my little project; then walked away.
Seems incongruous; but I imagine my dad recognized that even a young child understood what would happen if he put a shell in a gun, cocked the hammer and pulled the bang switch. Even a child understood dynamite, caps and fuse (would be really quite entertaining.) What was NOT OBVIOUS to a kid was that a grinder could kill you if you got your work stuck in the wheel and it broke-up. Only these cases require explanation.
My wife and my friends significant others usually enjoy shooting the ‘Modern sporting rifles’. Its when we hand them the 12 guage that they are ‘one and done’. Side note: I have a ruger sr22 rifle with a red dot sight and a nice trigger (looks very similar to the ar15). I have never met a person that didnt love to shoot it… women especially.
Fear of perceived recoil because people don’t read up about guns before trying them out. Some combination of the media, not understanding the physics, etc. I had an SKS and a Hi Point 9 mm carbine before ever trying an AR. I was expecting at least the minimal recoil of the SKS based on the myth. Well, dumb me. The AR I tried was a piston-driven Ruger. There was literally no recoil at all. It was weird to have huge noise (indoor range with plugs and muffs but still huge noise) and no recoil. Daughter has shot shotguns and handguns up to 9mm but is afraid of the AR, and I really think it is the mistaken belief that because it looks “military”, it must be ueber-powerful. I have tried to convince her to rent a piston-AR so that she will see that the fear is groundless. One of these days she might.
Weird, I hear chicks dig scars.
Having used an M16 POS in some harry places, I dislike the AR Platform, Los for a scope is to high, if using a big bore the toe of the butt plate finds a home embedded in your shoulder, 30 round Mag makes it difficult to maintain prone for extended periods of time, muzzle blast can be disconcerting to people on either side of you, gets extremely dirty very fast, can jam easily when warm, Ammo use is finicky! prefer a shotgun {12 ga} with number 4 buck for up close and personnel, heavy & bulky for a Rabbit and varmint gun, Frame very noisy in brush county unless taped,
Felt recoil is minimal, shoot all day with little shoulder pain! More Ammo for weight,!
most people that shoot one for the first time think the Rifle is going to go nuts and turn them into killers! It looks scary and complicated!mind of its own don’t ya know, very few of the younger generation that live in cities are exposed to weapons as a positive, all they hear is the supposed evil these weapons do! therefore the equation reads that Guns are evil, ask a city kid where meat come from guess the major answer, {store}!
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