Comments on: Just a nice story about a kid and his gun

By: lee

lee — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:02:36 +0000

Dirty Jobs Guy– What you wrote reminds me of something I thought about when I read the link to Theodore Dalrymple article a couple of posts ago. The liberal, p.c. mindset does not allow just having fun–no “hanging out.” No every minute of every day has to be FOR something. Kids can’t just enjoy school sports–they have to DO it becuase it is expected of them, it will look good on college applications, whatever. Of course, WINNING is not “important”–especially if the kid hasn’t got a ghost of a chance of winning. But as an adult, we are not allowed to hang out–in the 19th hole, the local pub, fishing with friends, etc. (One great aspect about learning to fly in Michigan–the crappy weather meant we wound up “hanging put” a lot, waiting for the weather to improve. But that was “okay” since technically, we were WAITING to do somehting productive.
Hanging out does us some good–it helps socialize us. It helps make us a cohesive group. It’s what adults (or teens) do when we get too old for recess. It can give us ideas. It can releive stress. It’s not all bad…

By: Kevin_B

Kevin_B — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:29:16 +0000

I’m not an American and have never handled a firearm (although I hope to one day – but in my country, guns are very strictly regulated), but I believe I have a glimmer of understanding of the skill, sportsmanship, fun and, dare I say it, art that goes into and comes out of handling and shooting firearms and marksmanship.

Also, a lot of skill and sometimes art goes into the actual construction of firearms. Certainly some of the older/ancient guns and even some of today’s guns are very beautiful, dare I say it, works of art as well as deadly tools.

By: Charles Martel

Charles Martel — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:08:50 +0000

“Shooters are taught to be responsible and in control. Being the master of a potentially deadly tool puts a lot of life in perspective. As a striving liberal, you depend on other peoples opinions, patronage and approval.”

Nicely, nicely put.

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:59:55 +0000

I guess, beefrank, that you “learned by doing”.

By: beefrank

beefrank — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:19:53 +0000

Bravo. I think there are more ‘James’ in Marin who swim against the current than locals would care to admit. As a Marin County high school and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo alumni I identified with the story. I grew up in Marin before the county went uber-blue. The political spectrum of my childhood friends ranged from card-carrying communists to Aussie rednecks (think Dundee). We hunted squirrels, birds and rabbits with our Wammo slingshots and target shot .22s and 20-gauge in the hills of southern Marin. Again, this was a time when Saturdays were reserved for backyard trash fires. I also had a makeshift archery range in my backyard which also was my bullpen. My introduction to the M-16 was at the Cal Poly ROTC training course one Saturday at the National Guard range near Cuesta Communitiy College. We were meticulously trained on every aspect of the M16, ‘a weapon designed to kill people’, learning to disassemble/assemble, clean, load clips and shoot at 75 yard targets in semi and full auto modes. The sight, sound and smell of twenty M16s firing downrange was hypnotic, At the end of the day, the final exercise was to expend the rest of the ammo because the instructors did not want to bring ammo back to campus so we were all given a few clips to shoot ‘at will’ downrange. I will never forget the experience of firing a thirty round mag full-auto from the hip kicking up dirt and shredding a paper target.

By: Wolf Howling

Wolf Howling — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:03:46 +0000

In the UK, their Olympic pistol team actually has to train overseas. Insanity.

By: DirtyJobsGuy

DirtyJobsGuy — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:45:37 +0000

My daughter shoots competitive archery which in Blue Connecticut is just one step below assault weapons. Our neighbor has a familiy of competitive rifle shooters and his daughter has a t-shirt that says
“I compete in an Olympic Sport but I can’t talk about it in school!”.

There are two worlds in the US today. The smaller but more vocal/arrogant crowd are the striving liberals. The other is the regular joe/Sarah Palin world. When we go to the archery range (where I’m guessing 75% are also gun shooters) the atmosphere is calm, friendly and welcoming. At more striving liberal events we go to (certain ski areas, musical performances, cocktail parties) everyone seems on edge. Maybe part of this is an attitude of self reliance. Shooters are taught to be responsible and in control. Being the master of a potentially deadly tool puts a lot of life in perspective. As a striving liberal, you depend on other peoples opinions, patronage and approval. Maybe they will all have nervous breakdowns and come back better, calmer people, but I doubt it