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Hi guys. Greetings from Irkutsk (In Siberia), Russia. I left home on the morning of the 4th, and arrived a few hours ago (morning of the 6th). I'm here until the 19th. The flight from Atlanta to Moscow was uneventful, but early in the 6 hour flight from Moscow to Irkutsk, I pulled out a copy of American Handgunner and started as usual with the front page, reading everything, including the same ads I've read in every issue for months.
The feller sitting next to me saw it right away, and I noticed a reactions, but couldn't tell what it was, revulsion or interest. Turned out it was interest. He was fascinated. He had enough questions about guns and gun culture to last for 4 hours. His English was surprisingly good, and he was easy and fun to talk to. He wanted to know about 2 things: He's heard of all this unbelievable wealth in the US and wanted to know what extravagances we enjoy. I hated to break the news to him that I don't have any of that wealth he's heard about, and don't know anyone personally that has it. I only see it on TV, but still he was amused at things like automatic sprinklers, lap pools, $400 haircuts, $50 hamburgers, and stuff like that.
Second, he has heard that the streets in the US run with blood because everyone has all these guns and, well... we shoot each other as a past time, I guess. He's heard that stepping outside your door after dark will certainly result in a holdup within seconds, and that we all live in gated communities with bars on the windows, but none of it helps with the rampant crime. That was difficult to refute, because it has been so ingrained in him, but he was glad to hear the reality of it. It was hard to leave politics out of it, but I avoided the issue completely. You know, gubmint control of their subjects and all. I didn't want to turn the guy off.
He had questions about calibers, actions, various safety mechanisms, shooting facilities, and especially the social aspects of carrying a gun. He also wanted to know about nearly every accessory advertised in the ads. He was especially impressed with Crimson Trace, and the EAA and Kahr girls.
I felt a little self conscious doing all this gun talk on board a foreign airline, but he seemed to think it was fine. Being a domestic flight and not international, it might have been that no one else within the surrounding seats understood English.
Anyhow, I ended up just giving him the copy, and if it's the current one, I'll get a replacement when I get home. I really don't know what issue it was. It was the one where Ayoob was on about Ike Clanton. and Conner was plugging cool little trinketry gadgets. Is that the current issue? Anyone know?
The feller sitting next to me saw it right away, and I noticed a reactions, but couldn't tell what it was, revulsion or interest. Turned out it was interest. He was fascinated. He had enough questions about guns and gun culture to last for 4 hours. His English was surprisingly good, and he was easy and fun to talk to. He wanted to know about 2 things: He's heard of all this unbelievable wealth in the US and wanted to know what extravagances we enjoy. I hated to break the news to him that I don't have any of that wealth he's heard about, and don't know anyone personally that has it. I only see it on TV, but still he was amused at things like automatic sprinklers, lap pools, $400 haircuts, $50 hamburgers, and stuff like that.
Second, he has heard that the streets in the US run with blood because everyone has all these guns and, well... we shoot each other as a past time, I guess. He's heard that stepping outside your door after dark will certainly result in a holdup within seconds, and that we all live in gated communities with bars on the windows, but none of it helps with the rampant crime. That was difficult to refute, because it has been so ingrained in him, but he was glad to hear the reality of it. It was hard to leave politics out of it, but I avoided the issue completely. You know, gubmint control of their subjects and all. I didn't want to turn the guy off.
He had questions about calibers, actions, various safety mechanisms, shooting facilities, and especially the social aspects of carrying a gun. He also wanted to know about nearly every accessory advertised in the ads. He was especially impressed with Crimson Trace, and the EAA and Kahr girls.
I felt a little self conscious doing all this gun talk on board a foreign airline, but he seemed to think it was fine. Being a domestic flight and not international, it might have been that no one else within the surrounding seats understood English.
Anyhow, I ended up just giving him the copy, and if it's the current one, I'll get a replacement when I get home. I really don't know what issue it was. It was the one where Ayoob was on about Ike Clanton. and Conner was plugging cool little trinketry gadgets. Is that the current issue? Anyone know?
