“Firing a machine gun should be left to people who know what they’re doing.” – Beth Kassab in Machine-gun attraction trivializes firearms [via orlandosentinel.com]

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59 COMMENTS

    • If firing a machine gun should be left to people who know what they are doing than that means that military members will not be able to learn with full auto weapons because they do not know what they are doing since they are just learning sounds like a catch 22 to me.

      • Adding to your thought; once you’ve made it to that mountain they don’t just let you have your guns because now you’re considered a potential domestic terrorist. At the very least they feel your 2a rights should the rely on a PTSD screening.

  2. And how do those people”know what they are doing”? Because they have done it before. No one knows how to do anything until they actually do it. See how that works, Mz Kassab?

    • I kind of wish writing opinion pieces on gun-related subjects was left to people who knew something about guns.

      • I wish all opinion pieces were left to people who know something about the subject on which they’re opining. They’re just as informed about everything else as the are firearms.

      • Find extremely lucrative employment in a jurisdiction that allows NFA full-auto and relocate there…

        Fixed that for you.

  5. “Firing a machine gun should be left to people who know what they’re doing.”
    thats why we have instructors….

  6. Nice, you can’t read this chick’s little screed until you pay $12 for a subscription. Sweet little scam, honey. I’ll skip it.

  8. ““Firing a machine gun should be left to people who know what they’re doing.” – Beth Kassab

    I see you’ve never been in the military.

    • Apparently she believes this is innate knowledge only a select few are born with, that the rest of us will never have.

  11. The author of this piece would have us believe that ‘responsible gun owners ought to feel revulsion’ at this venue.

    Well then a real journalist ought to be ashamed to have her name attached to such a hyperbole laden piece of trashed being passed off as reporting.

    • Well, sure: I’d feel revulsion over being charged $100 to fire a gun – just about any gun. That’s worth about 2 hours of range time plus ammunition (and then some), shooting my own guns.

      • We have a similar place down here in Miami called “Lock & Load” – (http://lockandloadmiami.com/ if anyone is interested) – the pricing structure is similar. You will walk out of there a few hundred bucks poorer. It’s a tourist attraction though, and not really meant to cater to regular POTG – they target their marketing to the tourist segment. For us locals, it’s a place you bring your relatives from New York or overseas so they can shoot a select-fire rifle or three.

        Fun as all hell though, especially if said relatives are footing the bill 🙂

  12. As an American it is my right to ban what other people do in their free time, even if it has no effect on me whatsoever. Because Sandy Hook Ferguson! Children racism war on women! #gunsense

  13. Oh well…just another panty-wetting gun muggle who managed to putter through journo school on two functioning brain cells. I’d be willing to bet that she will happily tell you about her dad/brother/uncle/2nd cousin twice removed who is an “avid hunter” tho (and who coincidentally completely agrees with her) .

  14. Raising children should be left to those who know what they’re doing….so should voting…and publishing articles

  15. Not really a 2A issue, since the renters aren’t attempting to keep or bear the machine guns, and that right has already been seriously infringed for all of us.

  17. Ugh a “pro-gun” voice helping the anti-gunners. People like Ernie Meyers need to realize that helping anti-gunners does nothing to help the pro-gun cause.

    Also that these machine gun experiences are a gateway drug into the world of firearms.

  18. This must just go against the anti goal of keeping gun exposure down. My guess is that more than half of their clients aren’t gun owners of any kind, responsible or otherwise. As an experienced machine gunner (and shooter in general) I suspect that the methods the range officers have to employ to ensure that their inexperienced shooters stay safe would be horribly uncomfortable, albeit necessary. Good for them to select a high profile area not only to gain access to a high number of customers, but knowing full well that they were probably going to facing some resistance by the anti-gun establishment.

    • The range I mentioned in an above comment has extensive safety protocols in place for people operating their machine guns. Each and every customer has a range safety officer directly assigned to them, regardless of their prior credentials or experience. Whether you are serving/former military or a guy who has never touched a gun in their life, you have someone attached to you at all times. Even if it is your tenth time there, you have to go through the same safety class prior to your range time. Also, the RSO actually stabilizes you while you fire, again, regardless of your experience. You get to press the trigger, sure, but everything else from top to bottom is handled by the RSOs. The guns also are loaded with frangible ammunition.

  20. Her anti-freedom bigotry and disdain for the common man subtly surfaces throughout the piece, like pustules from a persistent infection. (Check out her youtube video bashing SYG, if you need to hear more. Although, that Cindy-Brady-missing-her-front-teeth-meets-Valley-Girl-cum-sorority-sister voice of hers is grating.)

    “Off the streets”, “plunk down”, “wannabe”, seriously? These are dog whistle tones intended to convey her distrust of and disgust with anyone who dares challenge his station in life. She smothers in smugness the hootin’ ‘n hollerin’ hoi polloi, whose travels and spending have put Orlando on the map. They are what afford her a fine living as a “journalist” covering the tourism beat for the Orlando Sentinel. Really, there was a time when the only attraction Orlando had was a thing called “Gatorland” and nobody had heard of Beth Kassab.

    Now she takes pot shots at the industry that supports her and the civil rights that protect her? How gauche. It’easy to mock and trivialize rights and freedoms when you’re blissfully unaware of the many ways in which you benefit from them.

  21. The good Ms. Kassab is a perfect example of “secondary ignorance” — not knowing that you don’t know. This is a common trait among cosmopolites. How many times have we had to listen to some twit give us instructions about something that they know absolutely nothing about? That’s Ms. Kassab. I’m sure she makes great sense to an audience that knows even less than she does. We’re outnumbered.

  22. Machine-gun attraction trivializes firearms

    I’m on the verge of an aneurysm trying to find the validity of the above statement. I guess they mean if people actual interact with select fire and regular guns, firearms will loose the invalid stigmata projected by the Mayor’s Moms.

  23. I have not read any solutions presented (yet) to flip her over. I would suggest that she is a prime candidate for MGA to offer to fly her down and educate her; start with the basics and work to full giggle, diplomatically and politly as to enhance the 2A side. Maybe she might have a come to Jesus moment and pursue a different tact with her opinions.That would be empowering.

  24. I already told my wife that when we go to Disney World and Universal Studios in February I am going to Machine Gun America because I want the experience. So raspberries! to you Ms. Kassab cause after I’m done I will know more about shooting a machine gun than you! The whole point of trying something you’ve never done before is adding to your trove of knowledge. Nope I won’t be an “expert”, but if you think about what you know how to do overall, it’s pretty amazing and you can see connections between what you’ve done a lot and what you’ve done a little or not at all. One human brain holds an immensely vast library of knowledge and you should never stop adding to that database because it is a true wonder to contemplate.

    Ms. Kassab, your type of mentality tries to place limits on people, kindly keep your projections of your own limitations to yourself and STFU.

  25. Firing a machine gun should be left to people who know what they’re doing.

    That all depends upon the imperative behind that should: is it a moral imperative, or a legal imperative?

    Morally? Sure. Firing a machine gun is a high-risk activity, and the one who chooses to do so bears the personal responsibility for that action (or, for instructing a 9-year-old girl in how to do so).

    Legally? …shall not be infringed.

  26. I always wonder how many requests they get to clean them? I miss my M60 and would love the chance to fire, dissassemble, clean, and fire one again. Ok im wierd but i spent a lot of time with a 60 covering my ass and I guess I got a little attached.

    • Not weird in the least. I’ve traded OCD cleanings for various gun goodies. As far as your attachment to a particular firearm, that behavior is understood, if not actively encouraged around here.

    • Oh, yea! I would gladly clean weapons for them! I love doing weapon maintenance, even when I don’t get to shoot them. OK, I’m a masochist. Get over it.

  28. How will people ever “know what they’re doing” unless they can learn how? i.e. access to training?

  30. If you have to put a BUT behind a statement that you support the Bill of Rights, you do NOT support the Bill of Rights.

  31. “Firing a machine gun should be left to people who know what they’re doing… Not novices who have a little energy and money left after a day at the Magic Kingdom and decide they want to blow away some zombies or gangsters before heading back to the hotel. ”

    So what other otherwise mundane activities else can we lump into that catagory, hmmm?

  32. Talking and making sense should be left to those that know what they are doing. This idiot should just shut his mouth.

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