ABC News apparently has a regular feature titled, ‘What Would You Do?’ It’s a kind of Candid Camera arrangement with actors creating uncomfortable public situations. The hook is seeing how members of the general public react to them. In this case, a father’s buying a gun for his son on his seventh birthday at a San Antonio gun store when a woman walks up and objects to the impropriety of it all. Dad, junior and nosey Nancy are all actors (as is the salesman). As reader Chris J. (who alerted us to this little gem) wrote, “surprisingly it was not the usual ABC fare. Overall it was pretty good, even if, as I suspect, they cherry picked the most negative reaction they found to the AK.” Agree?

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56 COMMENTS

  1. “… surprisingly it was not the usual ABC fare.”

    Indeed. I stopped watching news or feature reports on any of the ‘lying-trio’ of networks, so it is both curious & interesting that NBC and now ABC are doing this.

    “… they cherry picked the most negative reaction they found to the AK.”

    Of course they would. Otherwise those ‘news media’ folk would loose their libtard street creds. 😉

  2. Who would be rude enough to provide their unsolicited opinion that way? Be happy the kid gets a 10/22 to learn with. What’s the big deal? This is why people don’t listen to what television news tries to program them with.

      • I don’t see any problem with it. I would happily recommend a 10/22 as a first gun, especially for a young shooter.

        • Enuz, you are correct, the Ruger 10/22 is an excellent first gun. They are accurate, rugged, well built, have an excellent safety and parts are readily available. Both my children learned how to shoot ,and firearm safety on one. My Daughter went on years later to competing in women’s skeet and trap events. It is a myth that they have to learn on a single shot bolt action, any good firearms instructor can quickly teach safety on an autoloader.

      • Then I’m going to guess you disagree with my 9 YO Granddaughter having a AR or my 12 yo grandson with one. BTW both were doing 5″ groups at 50 yards, looks like the airsoft training is paying off for trigger control.

      • Gunr, let me guess – because it forces you to fully load the magazine, and then fire as fast as possible, right?

    • Who are you talking about? WWYD takes to the streets to hit nerves on controversial issues. The whole point of the show, really, is to get people pissed one way or the other. Gay rights, fat people, drunk moms, bike thieves, whatever; if people will get riled up about it, they’ll do it.

      It’s a great show, though you have to wonder how many times they run the cameras to get the few scenes they pass on.

      • A great show? It’s a totally lame show. Candid camera was 10x better than WWYD!

      • ” Gay rights, fat people, drunk moms, bike thieves, whatever; if people will get riled up about it, they’ll do it.”

        Drunk moms can be… fun.

        🙂

  4. Oh man I was going to take one for the team-I quit watching WWYD when everything became gay,interracial couples and stupid crap like this. And since I doubt any of this is “reality” I wonder how JohnQ. doesn’t get his azz kicked by angry folk. How dare you not applaud when 2 cowboys kiss in a BBQ joint! Seriously -objections in a GUN STORE?

  5. Seems to me that the more the hoplophobes try to convey such stunts the more foolish they look.

    Recall the Bloomberg video of the Ex breaking into the woman’s home and taking her child; ends in a bang. Most people seemed to react: ‘Too bad she didn’t have a gun!’

    • I’m not shocked at all. JQ just goes after opinions. It would be fun if he’d do the same stunt, in, say, Baltimore — this is about what he probably expected in Texas.

    • Yeah, I was pretty surprised ABC put this together and aired it. I think we all guffawed at the “assault rifle” bit, as well that guy’s comments about an AK-47 not being useful because–apparently–you can’t use it for hunting or self-defense.

      • In the guys’s defense I think he was saying the kid didn’t need it for self defense. Circumstances very, but I think that is a distinction reasonable people (of the gun) can disagree over.

  7. When I witnessed pro-gun people defending not only guns, but parents raising a child, on ABC programming, I cried tears of joy. Never in my life would I imagine seeing such content on ABC. Doesn’t this snippet go against everything they stand for?

    • Seems to me to be just another actor. See the bit where he explains that there is no use for AK-47.
      Tin foil: softening for future AWB.

      • Yea he probably was an actor they planted after they didn’t get any of the reactions they wanted. Who would wear a bunch of Texas gear go into a Texas gun shop and go on about how an AK has no practical pourpose?

  9. Must admit I declined to even watch this…if they’re all actors, they’re mouthing someone’s agenda [judging from the fact it’s MSM it’s PROBABLY not much I’m interested in hearing…], probably someone behind several layers of corporate bullet proof doors, so what’s the point? Plus I have a natural aversion to Buttinskys anyway. Follow the money, follow the agenda, etc. Not much to see here, I assume… 🙁

  10. Always gonna find a fudd if you hangout long enough (sometimes not very long 😉 ), but overall, this was awesome. This isnt really a surprising reaction though considering the location, would be curious to see a few episodes each in a different places.

  11. I was shocked that they aired it in a good light. But the pistol they called a 40 caliber glock was actually an m and p 40 cal. And assault rifle really? The fudd ticked me off a little but overall pretty good light

  12. The was some of the worst acting I have ever seen. Couldn’t last past the first two sentences out of the woman’s mouth.

  13. I do all can to avoid people who are Buttinsky’s. If I wanted to buy an AK for my son to use, I would borrow an AK from a friend for him to try out. I am not one to buy guns I have never fired a similar model; so I am going to teach my son to shoot first, buy later. Then I would order the gun online so I don’t have anyone interfering with me teaching my son to select a weapon.

  14. It is staged folks-like auction hunters finding hyper valuable stuff every week or American pickers getting any kind of deal after the whole nation knows ’em. Like I said if it was all real I’d expect JQ to get his butt kicked. Entertainment for the masses. BTW I see a big change in folks attitudes about guns-the whole .gov ain’t protecting you in case of civil strife or illegal alien invasion( or jihad jimi from Tennessee)…so sad to hear about #5.

  15. I’ve actually been in a similar position. I have wallpaper on my computer of my son shooting. One of our people from our Europe office jaw hit the floor.

    Solution?

    We took her shooting. 🙂

  16. Beginning of show: All guns are disabled.

    Why?

    End of show: Kid goes to range and shoots gun.

    Or does he?

  17. I was at a gun show standing in line to buy some ammo. Guy behind me starts talking about buying his young daughter a .22. My response: Awesome. Then we started talking guns. Cause it was a gun show.

  18. While I’ll defend your right to the death to keep and bear arms, I don’t think an AK-47, or a 40 cal handgun is a good choice to start a kid out on.
    Give him a “Cricket”, if you can find something to shoot in it.

    • My 5 yo son has an easier time with my wife’s AR than with the 10/22; it just fits him better, and neither has unmanageable recoil for him. A cricket might be even better, but, then, that is a special purpose gun that I’d have to go out and buy for, essentially, no other purpose than to teach him to shoot. Why do that when he can shoot the AR just fine?

  20. A nice little bonus for our side’s “image” was that the pro-gun customers were of varied ages, ethnicities, and sexes.

  21. Another reality TV spin and set to injure firearms, a soft intrusion method. There is currently a move to demonize the AK series firearms with the argument they are useless for anything other than terrorism and killing humans. As an AK owner it pisses me off to no end. I have no reason to be nice regarding these sneaky corporate programs.

  22. I think the piece showed the gun store customers as intelligent people making valid points. It’s excellent that anti-gunners heard that teaching children responsible gun use is the best way to prevent shooting accidents among children. It’s much better than portraying gun proponents as ignorant, irresponsible rednecks. I also think the guy who made the AK comment was saying the AK47 wasn’t necessary for that age kid for hunting or self-defense. I don’t think he was saying the AK wasn’t useful for ANYONE for hunting or self-defense. Besides, he wasn’t being a Buttinsky about it … He was making his comment privately (or so he thought) to the gun store employee. I thought it showed the gun culture in a positive light.

  23. I made it to the 1:24 mark and decided to not waste any more time. I never thought there could be actors worse than Steven Segal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

  24. Got my first gun at eight, a Ithaca single-shot lever .22. Still have it and used it to teach my children and nieces and nephews gun safety. As far as the ABC dramatic gun store saga, I’d tell the woman to mind her own damned business.

  25. Was interesting to watch. Some cringy moments there of course as well. I think we all agree that by responsibly exposing your children to firearms at a young age and teaching them the proper responsibility/safety, you remove the stigma and mystery behind what they are seeing on TV (and everywhere else) every single day, and put them in a safer position to responsibly handle firearms for the remainder of their lives – which goes hand in hand with the rest of the parenting we provide regarding the sanctity of life, our freedoms and the responsibilities that come with those freedoms, as well as our role as members of society, and the laws that govern us. The antis think by saying ‘bad bad’ that somehow that is going to create a safer mindset or environment for the child, but all they do is exactly the opposite. Kids see guns every day. It’s up to us as parents to responsibly show them the truth behind what they are seeing and not create a stigma/mystery for them, that they may one day try to explore on their own, with no supervision, no guidance, no responsibility, no direction. By and large, it’s not the kid who grew up with guns who ends up doing something irresponsible (or worse) with them, it’s the usually the kid who didn’t…

  26. I have a simple response for those who “get all up in mah grill” —
    “No one cares what you think.”

  27. Mr. AK-47 is obviously a ” I believe in the Second Amendment but…” kinda guy. While I agree it may not be the best first rifle, his arguments about hunting and self defense sound like…well…I believe in the Second Amendment but…

  28. I know Nardis Gun Range. It is an LGS. Very professionally operated. If a real buttinsky had done this in reality (not staged), they would have promptly, firmly, but politely been shown the door by the management. I found great restraint, yet courteousness on the part of the Texans in the store. This is a a hallmark of born and bred Texans, otherwise known as “Texas Friendly”.

    • Yes, and they (almost) all made their points very well. The fellow in the Longhorns cap made the least sense to me. Outstanding job, Texas!

      • The only excuse I can make for him is that he spent too much time in Austin and drank the Kool-Aid.

  29. Looks like a lot of people here lost track of the point. ABC did a remarkably good job presenting this. They let the dissenters make a complete statement about why they thought the woman was incorrect rather than chopping it up to make them sound wacky. And they all came across very well rather than sounding like redneck hillbillies. Really, selective negative editing is what I’d expect from the MSM “news” in this situation so I’m rather pleasantly surprised.

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