So the antis are kicking around this article. I’ll let you read the whole thing. First up this was written by a typical anti-gun person, meaning somebody who knows NOTHING about guns or gun laws*, so I take this with a grain of salt.
Still from the story two people are hiking through some White Mountain trails in New Hampshire (BTW I’ve hiked these very trails many times) and they encounter two guys one carrying “a large semi-automatic M16 type assault weapon”, and according to them at low ready rather than slung. Allegedly they asked if the gun was an airsoft replica and the answer was:
He said no and that the gun was “very real and very loaded.” He proudly opened the “magazine” and showed us it was full of cartridges about the size of my fingers.
yep
Who knows, if it was a semi-auto “M16 type gun” we’re talking an AR-15…and .223 is pretty small for rifle rounds. Or it was something that shoots “finger-sized” cartridges (which even the .308 rounds that an AR-10 or an FAL eats are smaller than my wife’s tiny fingers), either way their nomenclature and use of quotes around “Magazine” lead me to believe they know nothing about guns.
So let’s first have a peek at the facts as they’re presented. The guy is carrying a rifle in the New Hampshire national Forrest. So far no foul, open carry is legal there, and the law doesn’t make distinctions between handguns and long guns. The gun was allegedly carried “at the ready”. Now if true this is bad form. When carrying a handgun one must have a holster for it. Having a gun in hand can be considered a threat. I certainly would think that. Of course rifles don’t have holsters (some companies make “Scabbards” that carry the gun in a pouch on your back like a samurai sword) but the next best thing is a sling. Now with AR-15s the latest thing are the single-point tactical slings that carry the gun across your chest, and it can be steadied with a hand and appear to be in low ready. We’ll just leave that out there, if you’re going to carry a long gun, sling the weapon, or use one of thems scabbards.
Now let’s go over something these people didn’t discuss. Its the white mountains of New Hampshire. On the Lincoln Woods trail which is near by my family encountered a pair of Moose walking up the trail. Thankfully it wasn’t a cow with a calf, or a Bull in his rut so they posed no danger (still the fuckers are HUGE so even a docile one can be intimidating) but that’s not to say they can’t.
Furthermore those woods are home to Coyotes, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, and there have been attempts to re-introduce wolves. These things are a reason why I’m saving my pennies for “Project Bear Gun”, and certainly a rifle isn’t a bad idea either.
But let’s get to the bottom line. They hiked their hike. They took their pictures, they enjoyed their day. Nobody was hurt, and no laws were broken. But they really didn’t like seeing that icky gun (tho they were intimidated enough to speak with the guy carrying it).
These are the made-up problems of the antis. There isn’t any harm done, or and honest concern, hell there isn’t even any FEAR! (BTW I was in Boston once where a homeless person was having a psychotic episode and being very angry at shit that wasn’t there….I didn’t ask him about his life story, or his problems…I got away to a place he wasn’t. That’s what REAL concern looks like. The could have left the park, and they could have taken a different trail, nope they stayed on the trail with the guy with a gun…that says a LOT)
Nope, they just don’t like our life choices and wish we’d change them for their own personal consideration.
Nah, no thanks!
*BTW have you noticed that the people who don’t like Cafe Standards or speed limits or car import laws know a thing or two about cars? The people who are black civil rights activists know a lot about Jim Crow laws and the various laws and events in the Black civil rights movement. Drug lobbyists know about medicine, medical conditions, hospitals, and FDA testing requirements….but if you’re a gun control activist you don’t know an AR-15 from a 10/22, or a Colt 1911 from a Colt Python.
They were so intimidated and scared by this obviously unhinged wacko that they marched up to him and demanded to know what the hell he was doing?
Those words don’t mean what they seem to think they mean…
Yep, I was so terrified by the rouge elephant running down the streets that I ran from my house to feed him an apple and give him pat-pats.
Same idea
so i was walking in the woods last night carrying an m16 at low ready (really) and in the course of my two mile walk, i ran into two others… one with a rifle slung, and one with a rifle in his hands. Was I supposed to feel intimidated because their guns had bigger bullets?
It is deer season after all.
Dude? It’s hunting season; you don’t generally use a sling while hunting unless you’re hiking a long distance and don’t think you’ll run into anything. Hell, my bird hunting shotguns don’t even HAVE slings, which is typical; they tend to get in the way while wing shooting.
About your BTW, there: In all those examples (including the gun-control one), the knowledgeable people are the ones trying to lift restrictions. The overall pattern is that arguments to ban anything only work on the ignorant, because the knowledgeable understand that [insert item] isn’t the problem; people misusing [insert item] is.
If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t the pro-criminals just happy as little clams?
If they were ignorant they would realize they were wrong to blame inanimate objects. It’s an issue of control for them.
Yep, “Gun Control” is not about guns but about control. These same people will be clamoring for the knife in my pocket if they ever get to take the gun from my holster.
But NONE of you UNDERSTANDS! GUNS emit evil ASSUALT GUN RADIATION that causes perfectly innocent choir boys to turn into HARDENED KILLERS! Just think what BLACK ASSAULT MACHINE GUN ASSULT RIFLES do to our INNOCENT CHILDREN!
Rats, the tags didn’t show up…
I Still LOL’d
There are AR variants that take big-ass bullets. .50 Beowulf, .450 Bushmaster, and .458 SOCOM.
Those are finger sized bullets.
Well…they might be ‘finger-sized’ cartridges, in the sense that bullet-plus-case is the length of a finger.
I think a .223 compares well with my pinky. They might have small fingers…
Can’t anyone eyeball-estimate the length of an object? Or even use their thumb to compare it to an approximate inch?
Why do they not know how to identify fairly common and easy-to-pick-out firearms? Because anti-rights cultism thrives in an environment of ignorance. If they were to actually learn something about firearms, they might realize that “assault weapons” is a contrived phrase made to demonize specific firearms with specific, non-functionally-related, aesthetic features; or they might realize that magazines over a certain capacity are not really any different than magazines under that certain number; or cats and dogs might start lying down together; or whatnot.
You, I dare say, are a prime example of this happening.
Through their fear of firearms and the fear perpetrated by the anti-rights organizations, they refuse to learn anything, lest they be “infected” with the knowledge and have to abandon their old, bitterly-clung-to beliefs. Critical introspection is a bitch.