Gun owners with little knowledge?

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I think you can thank the antis and their lies- they keep trying to make it sound like anything besides a double barrel shotgun and a bolt action deer rifle are "assault weapons" and are therefore illegal. Factor in that there is a lot of misinformation out there from the gun people themselves, and you see the mess we are in.

On top of that, how many of you guys know your car as well as you know your guns? Sure, guns are dangerous- so are cars. Can you do oil changes, brake replacement, or transmission work? People often don't have the time or inclination to learn all about every machine or device in their lives. They just want them to work, and don't always know about the maintenance required. An SKS isn't going to come with a user's manual.

The fact is, many people have so little knowledge about guns that they don't even know the questions they need to ask to get started. Guns are intimidating for newbies, and when somebody musters the courage to register on a gun website and ask a question, they are often met with laughter or the usual "try the search function" responses.
 
I don't know how he got the gun, but there are legal ways he might have gotten it and not know a thing about it.

The comment that he couldn't tell "the old white dudes" at the counter would lead me to believe that he was a member of one minority or the other. One who at least felt that he would perhaps automatically be judged to be a criminal had he asked about something he thought was against the law.

It seems to me that in Malice, he saw someone more like himself than an "old white dude." Perhaps Malice is a member of the same minority or maybe just closer to his age, I don't know. Maybe Malice just looked "friendly" and the "old white dude" didn't.

I see this young man, with a baby in a stroller as someone who has suddenly realized that not only is he responsible for his own life, but for someone else's also. He may well not have had any idea that he could walk into a gun shop and buy a gun. When my wife moved here from Chicago, she didn't. Her first question upong going into a gun shop with me was "Is this LEAGAL?"

I don't see where this young fellow was guilty of anything but not knowing enough to not know, what he didn't know.
 
"he must have been one of those yankees that moved here" ball3006

must have been one of those Virginia Yankees. Definately not the Yankees from the Great State of Maine!!

sorry. cross thread posting but I couldn't resist....

cavman
 
CajunBass said:
When my wife moved here from Chicago, she didn't. Her first question upong going into a gun shop with me was "Is this LEAGAL?"
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I was walking through a spot in a National Forest in Northern California with two UC undergrad co-eds a few years back. Some people nearby had set up some kind of deer-like archery target and were shooting arrows at it. One of them said the exact same thing, "Is that LEGAL?"

Later, they thought it was "mean" when I mentioned that deer hunters went after bucks. Though I actually don't know much about it, and wondered myself when I said it just how common doe hunts are.
 
cavman said:
must have been one of those Virginia Yankees. Definately not the Yankees from the Great State of Maine!!
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I attended a college in Florida that attracted many students from all over the U.S. and the world. I thought it was interesting that no one I met from Virginia had a southern accent, while everyone from West Virginia did. Also, none of the Floridians had accents either, and one chick I knew who grew up in the Orlando area didn't think that Florida was a southern state. I thought when I heard that--that's pretty amusing considering there's a St. Andrew's cross on the flag!!!
 
You can't fault people for not knowing what they don't know.

I work with a guy who thought his MAK90's 30-round mag was illegal simply because it held 30 rounds. I had to politely explain to him that A) the AWB had sunsetted, so there were no restrictions on mag capacity in the first place, and B) the AWB never made possession of 30-rounders illegal.

He also said he had to go sign some form at the police station when his ex-wife sold his MAK without his permission because it was REGISTERED in his name and she sold it. Again, I had to politely explain that it wasn't registered (at least not in Indiana) and the form was probably a CYA thing in case the person she sold it to used it for illegal purposes. It wouldn't come back to haunt him has the last known legal owner.

I'm constantly explaing that "semi-auto" isn't evil at all; that there is no such thing as an assault rifle; that no firearm in the world can pass through an x-ray machine undetected; guns are not scary; only idiots would let the bad guy get close enough to take the firearm away and not shoot him (of course, I don't quite say it this way, but it makes them think); that no firearm in the world will go off by itself.

The list goes on, but you get the idea.

Who knows where people get their information. It's not my place to judge. I just want to make sure they make decisions based on the CORRECT information, not some media-hyped BS.
 
It's more likely that Malice's buddy just doesn't know much about guns, and may not know anyone who knows much about guns, but he's man enough to want to take responsibility for protecting his family. You and I know that what he should have done was go to a gun store, get some good advice from somebody, do a little research, maybe take a class or two, and then buy a gun he felt comfortable with.

That's easy to say from our high and lofty positions, isn't it? What probably happened was that the guy bought the gun from a friend of a friend, or someone he knows at work, who probably told the guy the SKS was illegal so he could gouge him on the price.

So he didn't go about it the right way, and he's got some learning to do, but being an ignorant man who's willing to learn is a hell of a lot better than being another one of the sheep.
 
Getting back to the original topic, there was a guy who came in back in December looking for a Remington 710 in 7mm. We had two of them, but in .270 and .30-06. I asked if it was for deer, and he said "Naw, just plinking."

I asked him why he wanted such a powerful cartridge if it's just for plinking, and he said it would be nice to have the extra range if you do your plinking at a mile or so. :scrutiny:

Besides, it's what the Marine snipers use, right? I did a double-take when he said that. I asked him if he wasn't getting the Model 700 action confused with the Model 710. Nope, not a chance. He said he was a Marine, got out a couple of years ago, and he was some sort of weapons maintenance specialist. He quickly rattled off a list of weapons he worked on, but none of them were rifles. His attitude was very smug, and it got worse when he found out that I was in the Army. I tried to ask very politely if he wasn't sure he was confusing the two rifles, and maybe the calibers, too. He insisted that the Remington 710 in 7mm is what the Marine snipers have been using for the last thirty years or so. He knew it for a fact, wouldn't allow me to suggest any other possibilities.

I let him look at the .30-06 710 we had. He gave it a once-over (with a deadly serious look on his face), worked the bolt a couple of times, and said "Yep, this is what they use." Then he handed it back to me and said "Wrong caliber, though." He acted dissapointed that we didn't have any 710's in 7mm, and had this real bad attitude, like he was the toughest guy on the block and I was an idiot for knowing nothing about guns. He turned and walked out of the store without saying another word to me. I guess I wasn't worthy of wasting his valuable time on.

But with a little diligent searching, I'm sure he'll eventually have his 7mm Remington 710 sniper rifle for plinking at ranges of a mile or so.

I think the Marines get theirs at Wal-Mart. :D
 
Yeah, yankees are horrible shots that know nothing about firearms or fighting. That is why the south won the war.
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Are we talking about "yankees" back then or "yankees" now?

Back then, Confederate forces had the upper hand in firepower until wartime production and importation of arms to the Yankees really got cranked up. Confederate forces also had the upper hand in skill with firearms until the Yankee forces included militia units from what were then western states (now considered the Midwest).

Now, it depends on where a yankee happens to be from and whether deer hunting is a common practice locally. The same seems to be true of the South. Gangstas don't seem to want to mess with us out here in the country.

I haven't read through the rest of the thread, but I think the guy was a doofus for saying he had a rifle he thought was illegal. Instead of going around thinking something's illegal, he should've checked about what is legal before aquiring a weapon. Unless he knew it was illegal and was "up to something". Or it's possible he had no rifle and was maybe fishing for info.
 
I myself am a West Virginia Yankee and I would pit the skills of any Mountaineer with a pistol or rifle against any Texas cowboy or southern bubba anyday. :evil:
 
PlayboyPenguin said:
West Virginia Yankee
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A what?! What are you from like... Wheeling or something?

Dude, first of all, we started the war with the south.

Secondly, we're not yankees and we're not southerners. We're hillbillies. This allows us the unique luxury of looking down on both of them.
 
A "West Virginia Yankee" is a Southerner who don't want to admit that at the time of the War of Northern Aggression, West VA was part of Virginia and was therefore part of the Confederacy. And believe it or not, "mountaineers", "Texas cowboys", and "southern bubbas" mostly come from the same general geneology which passed through the Appalachians- at different points- on the way west. Skill with a gun went with the territory for all. I've shot against Yankees and Southerners both in competitive matches... won some and lost some depending on who was having a good day. Being from one region or another don't make you any better or worse with a gun. It's experience that counts. And the ability to pass a knowledge from that experience on to others.

BTW, I read CajunBass's post and I think he's got a good idea of what happened too. But just don't go around saying you think you have something you shouldn't have. You could find yourself being raided for it.
 
Sorry, West Virginia is a yankee state. That is one of the main reasons why we are a state to begin with and not still part of Virginia. The west side of the mountains was much poorer and of different beliefs than the richer eastern side that joined the confederacy. :)

BTW- I am from Point Pleasnt, WV...Home of the MOTHMAN!!! :)
 
I see this young man, with a baby in a stroller as someone who has suddenly realized that not only is he responsible for his own life, but for someone else's also. He may well not have had any idea that he could walk into a gun shop and buy a gun.
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Let's not forget that. Everybody has to start somewhere. The worst thing we can do for the RKBA is to drive away newcomers by looking down our noses at them.
 
I attended a college in Florida that attracted many students from all over the U.S. and the world. I thought it was interesting that no one I met from Virginia had a southern accent, while everyone from West Virginia did. Also, none of the Floridians had accents either, and one chick I knew who grew up in the Orlando area didn't think that Florida was a southern state. I thought when I heard that--that's pretty amusing considering there's a St. Andrew's cross on the flag!!!
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Yup, FL's a Confederate state. But it's also a confusing state. The Southern part is at the north end... you go down to Ft. Lauderdale and you're back Up North... in Yankeeland. It's because so many Yankees retire down there... until they decide they don't like it there and move into my part of the country.

My sister briefly dated a guy from West Palm Beach, FL... he didn't have a southern accent either. Then his parents moved him here in the 3rd grade and the redneck kids beat him up every day. They were like "we don't like you; you don't talk like a southerner" and he's like "you idiot, I'm from 500miles south of you". When he got to be a teenager, his parents knew he didn't like local girls so they'd bug him... come in from the supermarket and tell him "we saw the cutest little girl (teenage, mind you) and thought you'd like her, until she opened her mouth..." Don't ask me what he was doing dating my sister then 'cause she's got the accent.
 
Sorry, West Virginia is a yankee state. That is one of the main reasons why we are a state to begin with and not still part of Virginia. The west side of the mountains was much poorer and of different beliefs than the richer eastern side that joined the confederacy.
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I had to look it up to be sure. The timeline I just looked at said those counties seceded from Virginia in 1861 and became a US state in 1863. The part that confused me into thinking all this happened after the war was that the WV state constitution was ratified in 1872.

BTW- I am from Point Pleasnt, WV...Home of the MOTHMAN!!!
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BTW, Have you ever heard of Belle Boyd? She was a Confederate spy from Point Pleasant in what's now WV. She became a Confederate operator, according to my sources, after fatally shooting a Yankee soldier in her home in Point Pleasant. Until she was captured, but for whatever reason, she and her yankee captor left and went to England where they were married. Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome...
 
I wouldn't say that. Both the M-16 and AK-47 ARE "assualt rifles": select-fire rifles chambered in a caliber smaller than the standard "battle rifle" (ie: FAL, M-14)...
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The term "assault rifle" comes from a word Adolf Hitler made up in 1944- "schturmgewehr" (sp?) for the select-fire capable Stg44. There are plenty of lookalikes which get labeled as "assault rifles" which do not offer the same features or rate of fire as the M-16 and AK-47, as well as the H&K MP5 and its variants. If you're comfortable using a term coined by the top Nazi madman which plays into the antis' semantics game, more power to you. I choose to call them "submachineguns/machineguns" and/or "select-fire capable rifles".

And FWIW, a weapon isn't an assault weapon until somebody assaults somebody with it. Until then, it's just something to have fun with, unless it's in military usage.
 
Kentuckians have the pleasure to have played both sides of the fence, and we shoot better than all of you'ns. :neener:
 
I don't know how he got the gun, but there are legal ways he might have gotten it and not know a thing about it.

The comment that he couldn't tell "the old white dudes" at the counter would lead me to believe that he was a member of one minority or the other. One who at least felt that he would perhaps automatically be judged to be a criminal had he asked about something he thought was against the law.
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You may be right, I'll admit being cynical at times. What stuck out to me was the guy acknowledging (albeit falsely) having something illegal, and not letting that stand in his way. You are absolutely correct, that he did nothing wrong, other than demonstrate his low regard for the law. I don't think people like this help our cause.
 
I've seen various people on the boards claim to have stuff that they don't believe is legit, or talk about plans that could be construed as illegal (at best). People seem to have a queer sense of security around people that they think may be their brothers.

BTW, us Yankees aren't all bad shots, and I am sick of people thinking we are all a bunch of anti-gun paranoid Brady supporters. And BTW, I LOVE the South, ALOT!
 
I don't mind people who are uninformed. What really gets to me are the people like Darth Ruger's customer--people who THINK they know what they're talking about.

There's nothing worse than a person who maintains he is an expert on everything even though it's clear that he has zero knowledge to go with his opinions. For some reason, guns seem to bring this type of behavior out in people more than most topics.
 
The term "assault weapon" refers to the legal fiction on the books from 1994 to 2004 and it does indeed play into the antis hands. "Assault rifle" , on the other hand, is a widely accepted and pretty-narrowly defined term (if used correctly) for a select-fire rifle chambered in an intermediate cartridge such as 7.62x39 or 5.56x45 with a detachable magazine and a pistol grip. A current-production Arsenal SAM-7 is neither an "assault weapon" (no such thing since 2004, at least federally) nor an "assault rifle", since it is semi-auto only. What is it then? A "semi-automatic rifle". One can then go on to explain that it is a semi-automatic version of an assault rifle.

"Machine gun" is too broad (especially if used in the sense the ATF uses it) and generally refers to a weapon with a heavier barrel, often with the capability of being belt-fed, and often in a full-power rifle cartridge. "Select-fire capable rifle" would include select-fire FALs and M14s, among other things, precisely the type of heavy-recoiling rifle with bulky ammunition that the assault rifle has largely replaced. As for the Nazi association, I guess we could call assault rifles submachineguns. But they would then be confused with select-fire and fully automatic weapons chambered in a pistol caliber. And it was how the Soviet Union originally referred to weapons of the AK type. Do we want them to be associated with Stalin, rather than Hitler? :)
 
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