Are many U.S. Olympic-type shooters anti-gun?

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MatthewVanitas

MatthewVanitas

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Random thought occurred to me while watching Rapid Fire Pistol practice at the range.

Among the Americans who compete (recreationally or competitively) in Olympic-type shooting sports, how many are anti-gun?

Speaking here of sports like Free Pistol, Running Boar, Biathlon, Three Position Rifle, etc.

Is there a lot of "AKs should be illegal because they can't compete in the Olympics", "They'll never come for my free pistol", or "Guns are my hobby, but they only belong on the shooting range" attitude in that crowd?

-MV
 
Over in the UK it is "Pistols should be illegal because they aren't in the olym... hey, oh wait, nevermind make them illegal anyway and our athletes can bugger off to some other country if they want to train to win gold."

If any brit wins a medal in an event that is banned in that country they should be stripped of their medal. Hell London is not worthy of hosting the games due to the obvious martial nature of many events. Like javelin, greco roman wrestling, marathon, shotput, judo and fencing.
 
I shoot at the National Training Center and have bumped into a fair share of Olympic shooters. I've never heard anything along those lines from any of the shooters on the US Olympic teams.

There is also a forum dedicated to international-style shooting competition, and in my (relatively light amount) of lurking there have not seen anything to indicate an anti-gun stance.
 
In past years I compeated in rapid fire, slow fire, standard pistol, center fire and air pistol. I never met a competitor at any level that favored gun control "for the masses." Fact is, they didn't favor gun control in any flavor.

I highly doubt that anything's changed today.
 
boofus said:
Over in the UK it is "Pistols should be illegal because they aren't in the olym... hey, oh wait, nevermind make them illegal anyway and our athletes can bugger off to some other country if they want to train to win gold."

If any brit wins a medal in an event that is banned in that country they should be stripped of their medal. Hell London is not worthy of hosting the games due to the obvious martial nature of many events. Like javelin, greco roman wrestling, marathon, shotput, judo and fencing.
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That is just plain offensive, have you any experience of life in London/GB, or are you just trying to be xenophobic without knowing really why?
 
In general, no, Olympic shooters are not anti-gun, in my experience. They may not be as pro-gun as me (Vermont-style concealed carry for all), but they're pro-gun enough.
 
I shoot at the National Training Center and have bumped into a fair share of Olympic shooters. I've never heard anything along those lines from any of the shooters on the US Olympic teams.



When I took a tour of the National Training Center, when we got to the shooting range, the guide was quick to explain that these shooters were "Not the NRA!".

She probably wasn't a shooter, though.

Mark
 
That is just plain offensive, have you any experience of life in London/GB, or are you just trying to be xenophobic without knowing really why?
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Well, truth is that Britain's Olympic shooters have to train outside of their own country. So exactly how is this being "xenophobic without really knowing why?"
 
real_name, for what it's worth, boofus is technically correct.

Almost all handguns have been banned. Our pistol teams do have to go to another country to shoot (Switzerland, IIRC).

The only way to get a civilian handgun is to buy something over a certain length, like the Browning Buckmark with the barrel and stock that makes it a rifle.

Okay, tell a lie, there is another way. Any banned guns can be allowed with a Section 5 Permit. From what I remember, it's the Secretary of State who is the only guy who can give them, and he's not exactly the most reasonable guy regarding any type of firearms.

(Feel free to take this with a truckload of salt, my firearms law is a bit rusty.)
 
baz said:
Well, truth is that Britain's Olympic shooters have to train outside of their own country. So exactly how is this being "xenophobic without really knowing why?"
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Yes. I am aware of that. I am English.

Read my post and Boofus's again. Substitute the word 'Brit' for Mexican or Black.
It was offensive to me that he said London doesn't deserve the Olympics.
 
Hell London is not worthy of hosting the games due to the obvious martial nature of many events. Like javelin, greco
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real_name I am not English. However when I was in London last year there were posters up "Phone beats gun". As I told my GF "I want to buy that phone". I was informed ( as always could be wrong ) that no self defense weapon was allowed to be carried, no pepper spray, no self defense knife, no kubaton etc... I was also informed (as always could be wrong) that self defense was not allowed under English law ( I still do not understand that one :confused: )

From my perspective the above comment is not about xenophobia it is about hoplophobia and the people who have it are the British goverment and the people who voted them into office.

I am sorry if you take offense I like England, had a wonderfull time and would love to go back ( The Imperial War Museums are fantistic as was the Tower of London ) but from an outsiders perspective it sure seems as if anything related to martial arts is limited/restricted/banned.

NukemJim
 
The olympics were the original war games and now they want to have them consist of ice dance and vollyball.
Sad...........you`ll notice the "war" type sports, archery, pistol, javlin, ect are rarely given more then a passing nod in the news unless the home team wins a metal. Then they MAY get moved to a small paragraph on page two of the sport section of the paper rather then being ignored as of no intrest to the rest of the country.
 
When I took a tour of the National Training Center, when we got to the shooting range, the guide was quick to explain that these shooters were "Not the NRA!".

She probably wasn't a shooter, though.
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The tour guides aren't exactly knowledgable. I overheard one saying something about "and this is where they practice for air pistol, and they use 17mm pellets."

Also, while the competitors may be pro-gun, the US Olympic Committee is not terribly keen on the shooting sports, unfortunately.

As I understand it, the NRA used to be the USA's governing body for the shooting sports, but several years ago the USOC started getting antsy about the NRA's supposedly "hardline" political views. As a result, the NRA spun off a new independant organization to be the governing body-USA Shooting, which is a purely competitive body and doesn't do much talking about political topics.

So, really, while the competitors themselves tend to be pro-gun, the USOC is paranoid beyond rationality about maintaining a squeaky clean, non-politicized image. If they could, they'd probably do away with the shooting sports altogether.

Which is why I think it's important to support the US Olympic shooting teams. While Free Pistol or Air Rifle aren't as sexy as IPSC or 3 Gun, for many people the only exposure they get to shooting is via watching the Olympics. If the shooting sports were to go out of the Olympics, we would lose more than one venue for exposing the non-shooting public to one aspect of the gun culture.
 
The olympics were the original war games and now they want to have them consist of ice dance and vollyball.
Sad...........you`ll notice the "war" type sports, archery, pistol, javlin, ect are rarely given more then a passing nod in the news unless the home team wins a metal. Then they MAY get moved to a small paragraph on page two of the sport section of the paper rather then being ignored as of no intrest to the rest of the country.
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Spandex and hard bodies are what bring in the television ratings.
 
One of the original events in the ancient Olympics in Greece was running 200 yards in full Hoplite (Heavy infantry) armor as was done during the famous Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. This was done so the Persian archers did not have much time to fire once the Greeks came within arrow range.

Just imagine running any distance in armor like this.:eek: (Yes they ran with the shield too.)

spartanset.jpg
 
Interesting in that here in Cali when you buy a handgun from a dealer, that gun has to be on an official approved list of handguns for purchase.

There is an exemption if the gun relates to Olympic sports. So for basically an anti state they do have a little bit of consideration for Olympic competition.
 
There is an exemption if the gun relates to Olympic sports. So for basically an anti state they do have a little bit of consideration for Olympic competition.
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That is a direct result of there being a handful of Olympic shooters in California. When CA originally passed their "assault weapons" ban, they defined and "assault pistol" as any pistol where the magazine is inserted in front of the trigger guard.

The idiots that drafted the legislation were thinking Tec-9, but didn't care that the ban also covered extremely high-end ($1200+) five-shot .22 target pistols.

When this was first pointed out to them by a young woman with Olympic aspirations, CA state congressman Don Peratta's* response to her was "if you want to shoot guns, move to Texas."

I actually wasn't aware that they had made concessions for target pistols. The CA congress must have had a brief moment of clarity.

*This would be the same Don Peratta who has been issued a concealed carry license. A Google search will turn up his "reason for wanting to carry" letter.
 
I have run into a few shotgun sports people (trap and skeet) that were elitists, and wanted everything but their mega-bucks shotguns banned (or at least wouldn't care).
 
Hey real_name, I don't want to speak for anyone else, but when I bash certain areas or people, it isn't because of the decent folks that leave there--but the few morons that make some rules.

I'll rail on California or England because the government may think people don't deserve to be free, insisting on coddling the predators--it does bear remembering that a lot of decent folks are caught behind enemy lines.

I think a lot of us here (and there) would be a bit happier if you could make the rules concerning firearm ownership in Great Britain! :)
 
I'm a member of USAS and shoot free pistol and 10 meter air pistol in local leagues. I have not run into any antis at our events.

As to what kinds of restrictions should be placed on the rest of you "commoners"; well, it takes a particularly manly man, a prince among pistoleros, to master the free pistol (some would say to handle the humiliation, but how could you tell the difference?). So perhaps not everyone has the right stuff to be admitted into that select and rarified circle.
-BothellBob
 
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