Unholstering For A Gun Selfie In The Wild.

Barmcd said:

I subscribe to Paul Harrell's advice that you can't have a negligent discharge if you aren't handling your gun. I'm talking about out in public, not at the range or you home. I don't even like to talk about my weapon in public. I have breakfast every Friday with a group of up to 15 guys, before we go to the range, and I've never seen any of them handle their carry gun.

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Good thing Mr. Harrell has never been photographed while handling a gun, then!

I'm surprised at this thread, honestly. All of us who carry end up handling our guns multiple times a day. Anyone not capable of safely dealing with that routine task - whether necessary or not - has no business being around guns to begin with.

.38 Special said:

Good thing Mr. Harrell has never been photographed while handling a gun, then!

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I recently found him on YouTube. He is on the list of folks I find a bit cringe worthy. I always find Ayoob the same way. Both maybe great guys and definitely forgot more about guns and SD than I'll ever know.... but they both come off as cringey to me. Lol . Maybe the delivery. Whereas Miculek, Hickok and even Vickers and Shrek and some others come off as more humble and normal. Lol.

crestoncowboy said:

I recently found him on YouTube. He is on the list of folks I find a bit cringe worthy. I always find Ayoob the same way. Both maybe great guys and definitely forgot more about guns and SD than I'll ever know.... but they both come off as cringey to me. Lol . Maybe the delivery. Whereas Miculek, Hickok and even Vickers and Shrek and some others come off as more humble and normal. Lol.

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Funny, he is one of the few I can pay any attention to. I really like his direct style and dry humor, as compared with the endless word salad so typical of such stuff. Each to his own, of course, and my post about him was meant as a joke.

.38 Special said:

Funny, he is one of the few I can pay any attention to. I really like his direct style and dry humor, as compared with the endless word salad so typical of such stuff. Each to his own, of course, and my post about him was meant as a joke.

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Yeah I know.

And I subscribed so I wish him the best and did my part to help him out. Lol.

Idk. Ive always bashed my lifting buddies for the Facebook selfies and such. I just find it disturbing and a good bit narcissistic. Lol.

Like I said, as far as the gun handling part its no different than cleaning it or admiring a nice old gun or car. Its the selfie part I hate. Lol

My gun is a tool. I’m not in the habit of taking selfies with it or photos of it, but hey, it’s also a tool and not a sacred magic death ray, so if I feel the need to take a photo of it, I will.

crestoncowboy said:

Taking a selfie in itself is bad enough. Vanity smurf was a hated joke 40 years ago. Now its embraced by twerking bimbos and narcissistic men alike.

I've been a powerlifter and at times moved into the body building world. I'm embarrassed for the folks I see begging for attention. Lol.

If others take your picture... good. Don't do selfies...... much less gun selfies

As far as gun handling what difference does it make. No different than cleaning your gun. And if you are sending a picture of your holster or you with a trophy buck then whatever. But doing the whole sitting the phone on a shelf and using the timer to pose like a 15 year old on tik-tok.....get a life and some self respect. Lol

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The OP did not say he was going to take a selfie. He said he was going to take a picture of his gun.

I am not a fan of selfies either, but an interesting gun is an interesting gun. Kind of like a dog picture. Everyone likes a good dog picture.

The Night Rider said:

I don't see the difference between that and playing with a loaded gun. I know this is going to come out wrong but to me it normalizes handling your gun when you don't need to.

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We've come full circle in this thread.

"Normalizes?" Is a firearm such a mystical thing that it should only be handled when "you need to?" Do you use your kitchen's gas range when you really don't need to cook something to eat? Do you stay out of your car or truck and not drive anywhere if you don't really "need" to go anywhere?

I'm far more comfortable handling a loaded firearm when I'm by myself that I am driving in one of my motor vehicles on any type of public road. By myself, handling a firearm, it's all me. Driving on one of our busy arterials, a state highway or the interstate, while I can be confident in my own focus and abilities, I have zero control over the hundreds of other drivers on the road

We have entered the realm of way over-thinking some things.

Geez, and 80 posts before the N-word (narcissistic) crept in. Sorry, bud, but no one is including smiling pics of themselves and their muscles with their guns. Just good ol' Mother Nature and our favorite gear. Hardly narcissistic, and there's been no evidence that anyone has been playing with their loaded gun while they had it out to snap a photo.

The Night Rider said:

I disagree.

Cleaning your gun is necessary.

Pulling your gun out of the holster just to take a picture is IMO unnecessary administrative handling.

I don't see the difference between that and playing with a loaded gun. I know this is going to come out wrong but to me it normalizes handling your gun when you don't need to.

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All sorts of folks take pictures of the objects of their hobbies. Cannon folks, dog show folks, sword folks...

To me, the complaint is sort of like arguing that people shouldn't put Corvette pictures on the Corvette website because someone once crashed a Corvette.

The Night Rider said:

There was no complaint. I don't particularly care if you post pictures of guns. I don't care if you pull your gun out in Time Square to take a picture of it. It's just not something that I think is a good idea so I'm not going to do it

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And that's fair, insofar as it applies to you. It's just that you're right on the border of calling out folks who do enjoy it, so you're getting a bit of blowback.

There is nothing wrong with photographing your guns. There is nothing wrong with photographing them in wild so long that open displays are legal. As noted above, follow all the appropriate safety rules. That photography is involved changes nothing about the laws or safety rules. No judgment on why you want to do it so long as you are safe and legal.

There's a lot of talk about handling a gun only when you "need" to or not handling it "unnecessarily". Surely I'm not the only one that takes guns out of the safe from time to time just to handle them and admire them. Surely when we go to a friends house, or a friend comes over to ours who shares the same interests, we show each other new purchases and handle them and maybe even covet them a little. None of that is necessary, and none of it is a problem.
For some folks, guns are tools that exist to serve a purpose and nothing more. I would venture that for most of us here, they are exponentially more than that.
They are our main hobby, our passion, something that brings us a great deal of joy.
We enjoy taking photos of them and enjoy looking at photos taken by folks who are like minded.
As long as it is done safely in a controlled environment, I really don't care what anyone thinks about it. Obviously I, nor anyone else who has posted, is condoning unsafe behavior or show off selfies.

ilbob said:

I am not a fan of selfies either, but an interesting gun is an interesting gun. Kind of like a dog picture. Everyone likes a good dog picture.

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Okay, how about this one? That's my custom .308 Norma Magnum from Montana Rifle Company and our dog, Ruger with the xray eyes.

Or this one? That's my wife with her then new Ruger American Rimfire and our dog, Ruger sitting on the tailgate of our truck. We were just about ready to go out and shoot some ground squirrels.

Unfortunately, we lost our beloved Ruger Dog last year. We still miss him.

The Night Rider said:

There was no complaint. I don't particularly care if you post pictures of guns. I don't care if you pull your gun out in Time Square to take a picture of it. It's just not something that I think is a good idea so I'm not going to do it

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"...so I'm not going to do it." Don't you mean, you're not going to do it anymore?
You just did it again on Thursday of last week:


Yeah maybe YOU should stop, or cut back, on taking a picture of your handgun on every single hike you go on. It does seem a little overboard to do it every single week.

Edited to add, I see that was an older pic linked above, we have to go back to October 11th to see you taking pics of your holstered pistol.

But my comments still stand, maybe YOU should stop doing that and worry about yourself.

Go for it as long as you are comfortable handling your gun safely, just don't do it in front of other people. The thing is that people are always going to take the opportunity to high horse you on morality even if they don't believe that there's anything danger. As long as you are comfortable doing so with the people who are around you.

Old Dog said:

We've come full circle in this thread.

"Normalizes?" Is a firearm such a mystical thing that it should only be handled when "you need to?" Do you use your kitchen's gas range when you really don't need to cook something to eat? Do you stay out of your car or truck and not drive anywhere if you don't really "need" to go anywhere?

I'm far more comfortable handling a loaded firearm when I'm by myself that I am driving in one of my motor vehicles on any type of public road. By myself, handling a firearm, it's all me. Driving on one of our busy arterials, a state highway or the interstate, while I can be confident in my own focus and abilities, I have zero control over the hundreds of other drivers on the road

We have entered the realm of way over-thinking some things.

Geez, and 80 posts before the N-word (narcissistic) crept in. Sorry, bud, but no one is including smiling pics of themselves and their muscles with their guns. Just good ol' Mother Nature and our favorite gear. Hardly narcissistic, and there's been no evidence that anyone has been playing with their loaded gun while they had it out to snap a photo.

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Then its not a "selfie". The gun isn't taking the picture. A selfie is a picture of ones self.

If the title were "is it ok to pull your gun in public for some firearm photography" then answers may be different. A "selfie" by definition has ones "self" in it.

A birdwatchers takes pictures of birds. They don't take selfies of birds. Same for cars or guns.

Selfies are indeed narcissistic in 99.999% of cases and in 100% of cases on social media.

crestoncowboy said:

Then its not a "selfie". The gun isn't taking the picture. A selfie is a picture of ones self.

If the title were "is it ok to pull your gun in public for some firearm photography" then answers may be different. A "selfie" by definition has ones "self" in it.

A birdwatchers takes pictures of birds. They don't take selfies of birds. Same for cars or guns.

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Indeed. We established the what the thread was about early on, and here's what the OP asked:

The Night Rider said:

I'm just curious what you guys think about taking your gun out of your holster to take a picture of it?

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crestoncowboy said:

Selfies are indeed narcissistic in 99.999% of cases and in 100% of cases on social media.

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Not a fan myself, nor have I ever engaged in the practice, but in the context of this thread, as I noted, no one is taking pictures of themselves. (I have taken pictures of cigars with my hand in the photo holding the cigar, but I don't consider that a "selfie."

Gratuitous doggie pic:

The Night Rider said:

Dude, you and I are highly unlikely to ever meet in this life. Why does it bother you so much that I'm uncomfortable taking my gun out of the holster just to take a picture of it?

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It doesn't bother me at all if you're uncomfortable taking your handgun out of its holster for a photograph.

Yet you were the original poster and my last post was a response to another member speaking to the definition of "selfie" and pointing out that what the discussion was about was gun photos, not narcissistic silliness on FB, X, Instagram, Tik Tok or whatever....

Frankly, if you're not comfortable doing what we've been talking about, that means that you actually think consciously about what you do, which is a good indicator you probably will never fall victim to complacency as some gun-owners/gun-carriers are known to do. It's all good, man, I had no intention to come across as being critical of your decision.

This horse seems ........ dead.
But I will say that I enjoy the thread about guns and outdoors that started all of this. To say that showing the gun you took outdoors is a "requirement" of the thread may be a little overblown. I would encourage you to keep posting your outdoors pics - maybe with your "stock" photo. They are very good and I think everyone enjoys them. I know I do (but it's not my thread).

Old Dog said:

Indeed. We established the what the thread was about early on, and here's what the OP asked:



Not a fan myself, nor have I ever engaged in the practice, but in the context of this thread, as I noted, no one is taking pictures of themselves. (I have taken pictures of cigars with my hand in the photo holding the cigar, but I don't consider that a "selfie."

Gratuitous doggie pic:
View attachment 1179087

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I agree. Back before kids I had two d300s and I took pictures of everything. Just not me. Lol. I just read the title of "unholster my gun to take a selfie" as "that guy" who is setting up his timer to take a "selfie" holding his gun like Winston Churchill with his 45 or Bonnie with her 30-06. Lol.

And having 2 teen age daughters.... I'm shown so many cringy selfies that my mind automatically goes there. Lol