Gun people tend to fall in love with hoary old sayings. There's a lot of wisdom to be found in some old sayings, and a lot of nonsense to be found in other old sayings. What are some gun-related sayings that need to be taken out and shot? I'll put in a few:
- Beware the man with one gun/rifle/pistol; he probably knows how to use it.
- Not true now, if it ever was. People who are interested in guns are the ones who put in the time to learn how to use them. People who are interested in guns tend to acquire more than one, either for different purposes or simple interest. Having a bunch of guns doesn't make you competent, but having only one is a pretty good sign you haven't been "into" guns for very long, or have only a very causal level of interest.
- A pistol is for fighting your way back to your long gun.
- Nonsense in civilian gun world. If you can leave the situation, there's almost no circumstance under which it is prudent or wise to then voluntarily return with a long gun.
- Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
- Nobody gets to be actually-fast at anything by trying to be slow. And that includes firearms stuff. Slow-motion practice may be good for ingraining certain pathways of motion, but you have to try to go fast to go faster. People who are already fast may perform best by focusing on feeling smooth, but increases in speed require trying to increase speed.