What's up with all this Zombie talk?

[C5rider]

I just got back into guns after a few decades and I noted a lot of folks mentioning "Zombies". I shrugged it off, thinking that they were just using them as a way of bantering about shooting. I noted several paper targets with them printed on them and figured that it was just a way of putting a humanoid figure on a target while trying to remain politically correct. I mean, putting an image of an actual person on there wouldn't be right but who would argue about a "Zombie?"

After reading several posts (with the SHTF theme), I started to think that those "funny" humanoid figures were more for real practice, should the worst ever happen. Not necessarily Zombies, but maybe folks who were really strung out and looking to get food/whatever by any means.

Then, I ran across some websites that were really advocating that folks were going to come back from the dead!

I'm trying to figure out if these guys are simply trying to spice up their shooting and have their own version of fun in the process or, if they're preparing for anything from the appocolypse to the Second Coming! What say you all?

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I think - hope! - that it is just a playful metaphor for a "SHTF" situation. I am sure no one actually believes in "zombies." This need not necessarily be some kind of "doomsday," "apocalypse" or "TEOTWAWKI" scenario. "SHTF" can be any situation in which there is an absence of normal services, e.g., the aftermath of a hurricane or other natural disaster, where no law and order are present and you must survive on your own until it can be restored. The possibility of having to defend yourself against looters is not unrealistic.

 

[Hardware]

FWIW...
http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-actually-happen.html

But yes, zombies are a way to talk about using your firearms on a harmless target. And some people just like zombie movies, books, whatever.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

To be honest I think its a bit dorky. And that comes from a 14 year old who still liked Star Wars up until 11

But, each to their own. It is a way to talk about the weapons' "blow-the-crap-out-of-the-homeinvader/terrorist/governmentdeathsquad" potential. There is a part of all of us that wants something cool and powerful that can do that-even though many of us except some of our brave servicemen, LEO officers, and a handful of others with some sort of actual combat experience, would not be able to handle a situation like that, nor is it a plausible situation.
It seems more productive to talk about the weapons in terms of what they will actually do-which most on this forum do, which us unlike many others and a main reason why I came here. Honestly, all the talk of "zombies" "shtf" "home-defense" just helps the antis portray us as a bunch of gun-toting savages wishing for an end of the world scenario so that we can just go blow the living hell out of everyone and everything we see

 

[Sam1911]

There is an undercurrent at times that suggests "Zombies" is code-speak for other, less acceptable potential enemies.

1) "UN Blue-helmet Soldiers" in some nightmare scenario wherein our President has ceded authority to a global world government and they're coming to enforce a policy of civilian disarmament. Or something like that.

2) City folks, driven from their hives by hunger and civil unrest in a post-apocalyptic/natural disaster world, and invading all the good folks in the country to take their guns, wimmin, and dried beans.

3) Black, yellow, tan, red, purple, green (or whatever) folks from south of the border, the inner cities, overseas, Canada, etc. who are coming to ... whatever ... and we've got to defend our homes and "way of life" against their human wave onslaught by force of arms.

In other words, the dreaded/hoped-for end of the world as we know it that will finally prove that we were right to hoard guns and crates of ammo 'cause we'll be able to go out in a blaze of glory with a bubba'd SKS in each hand.

Most of the time, though, it's just horror-movie fantasy stuff which is so popular in a young society with a lot of time on its hands. The urge to kill "people" without all the messy social issues that normally entails.

Neither is welcome here at THR, and putting zombies in a thread title or question is a guaranteed way to have a thread closed immediately.

 

[22-rimfire]

Sam1911 just about summed it up from my limited zombie experience.

 

[ZCORR Jay]

It's basically just an every man for himself, minimulist survival, no where is safe situation.

 

[ball3006]

You have not seen my former mother in law........................chris3

 

[h-word]

I use zombie targets because my daughter likes them. No metaphor or insinuations.

I think it's mostly an internet and video game thing with the popularity of zombie games and movies. Kinda like how when the Counter Strike game came out and all the kids were running around discussing the effectiveness of "Deagles" and "AWMs"

 

[atblis]

I use it as a joke. People ask me what could I possibly need all those guns for, or why I need a particular "evil" looking gun. I tell them it's for the great zombie apocalypse that will soon be upon us. I need hicap mags because Zombies don't wait for you to reload. etc. etc. Basically it's a nice way of telling them to <deleted>. Generally the question is asked by "enlightened" people of north eastern origin. It's easy to tell from their tone of voice that it's not really a question.

 

[Frozen North]

I think Sam summed it up quite nicely. Its either a PC way to talk about killing people, or mostly just geeks who like movies like zombieland too much. One is harmless, one is not. It is tough to separate them.

There seems to be a shortage of Rambo wanna bees, Mall Ninjas, and macho chest thumpers on this forum. I would suspect this is a product of THR moderating policies. This forum is definitely less troll ridden than most other gun forums.

 

[Red Cent]

http://carolinashootersforum.com/showthread.php?t=91620

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Some generations like shooting Nazis, other generations like shooting Zombies?

Makes me wonder, in the '50's and '60's, were people putting pics of Hitler or Stalin up to shoot holes in?

FYI, I have heard of campus wide "zombie wars" being played by students of various colleges. Using Nerf "guns", of course, but basically a week of young adults playing pseudo-wargames...


No, I doubt most people seriously believe in zombie movies. Tounge-in-cheek doesn't always come through well on the internet?

 

[Nar]

I feel like i should put my .02 in. MY friends and i enjoy zombie movies, games and even a good book if it can be found. we are not by any means mall ninjas, I don't think a single one of us has a "tacticool" gun. I know we were never serious about zombies. To us to just gave us the goal of being able to consistently hit a plate sized target at a good range. I had also used it to get some people into shooting. I do not advocate mall-ninja-hood. but i do like the idea of my friends having the skill set to defend them self. But that is just me, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some people with other ideas about it.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Yeah, some people use Zombie as codeword for pastyface honkies or whomever irks them, but there are a lot of folks who use zombie to mean zombie, and fictionally not literally.

There's enough ambiguity to it that "What's up with all this Zombie talk?" is a legitimate question.

I mean I actually have VHS or DVD of zombie movies from "Night of the Living Dead", "Dawn...." and "Day...." through "Return of the...." and on to "Shaun...." and "Zombieland" As well as 1950s and 1960s end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it books like "Not This August" (Russian invasion) and "I Am Legend" (vampire-like plague) and movies like "Last Man on Earth" ("I Am Legend") and "Panic in Year Zero" (LA gets nuked). It's a popular scifi genre and brings up the question, what would you do in that situation?

What I wonder about are the folks who talk about defense against "goblins" when it's those Orcs you really need to worry about.

 

[danprkr]

For me - fun. I have a blast letting kids shoot at zombie targets, and they love it because it's more fun than plain old bulls eyes.

 

[yeti]

If there is one lesson we can take away from Correia's Monster Hunters, it is not all Orcs are bad and zombies have no redeeming social value at all.

 

[ironhead7544]

Parasites and fungi are known to use mind control to reproduce.

 

[TexasRifleman]

As Sam said, it's a pretty much surefire way to close a thread.

Now that it's been explained and folks have had a chance to weigh in on it, it's that time