I belonged to a gun club back in the 70's. The only thing that got more folks to the range (trap, mostly) was the week before dove season, and folks wanted to sharpen their skills. Politics never entered into it, nor did race, or prepping. Or alcohol. We didn't even drink beers when the firing line was live. How times have changed.
I had an 88 year old woman point a loaded pistol at me. All she intended to do was show it to me. Thankfully she didn't have the strength to actually fire it. I got it away from her and turned it over to her daughter, and she died peacefully in her sleep 6 years later.
I've been on many military training ranges and can say that they are the most orderly, rule-based, rigidly-restricted places imaginable. The guys who run them (Army MOS 093x) are a special breed, with leather lungs and a fanatical love of discipline.
Why? Because when you have a hundred testosterone-fueled young guys (often new to the military) around you, each one carrying a loaded automatic rifle, you don't want any nonsense.
For most of its history the NRA was all about gun safety, marksmanship, and competition. In the 1970s the nuts took over and have reigned ever since. I've always enjoyed guns, respected them, and even now when I don't have them read about their history, ballistics, and other related topics. A gun nut isn't always someone who worships guns and figures the Second Amendment is a sacred commandment to be a violent asshole. That amendment was included to keep the Southern colonies from bolting; it's meaning is based on the slave patrols, the assumption that the planters' class must be assuaged to keep the Revolution united.
The fire-eaters claim the 2nd Amendment isn't about deer hunting but about keeping the federal government in line. It was included to keep the blacks in line and for no other reason. I still enjoy shooting at aluminum cans with a .22 or missing clay pigeons with a shotgun. It's fun, it's a challenge; but it isn't the backbone of this or any other country.
No.
Holyshit, no.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
I belonged to a gun club back in the 70's. The only thing that got more folks to the range (trap, mostly) was the week before dove season, and folks wanted to sharpen their skills. Politics never entered into it, nor did race, or prepping. Or alcohol. We didn't even drink beers when the firing line was live. How times have changed.
Welcome to the NRA's wet dream.
I had a guy with Parkinson's, and he had severe muscle tremors. He can't hold the gun properly
The implications of that. It hadn't occurred to me before.
I had an 88 year old woman point a loaded pistol at me. All she intended to do was show it to me. Thankfully she didn't have the strength to actually fire it. I got it away from her and turned it over to her daughter, and she died peacefully in her sleep 6 years later.
I've been on many military training ranges and can say that they are the most orderly, rule-based, rigidly-restricted places imaginable. The guys who run them (Army MOS 093x) are a special breed, with leather lungs and a fanatical love of discipline.
Why? Because when you have a hundred testosterone-fueled young guys (often new to the military) around you, each one carrying a loaded automatic rifle, you don't want any nonsense.
For most of its history the NRA was all about gun safety, marksmanship, and competition. In the 1970s the nuts took over and have reigned ever since. I've always enjoyed guns, respected them, and even now when I don't have them read about their history, ballistics, and other related topics. A gun nut isn't always someone who worships guns and figures the Second Amendment is a sacred commandment to be a violent asshole. That amendment was included to keep the Southern colonies from bolting; it's meaning is based on the slave patrols, the assumption that the planters' class must be assuaged to keep the Revolution united.
The fire-eaters claim the 2nd Amendment isn't about deer hunting but about keeping the federal government in line. It was included to keep the blacks in line and for no other reason. I still enjoy shooting at aluminum cans with a .22 or missing clay pigeons with a shotgun. It's fun, it's a challenge; but it isn't the backbone of this or any other country.
*oukes*
The shooting sports are yet another thing the Right Wing has ruined.