From a safety standpoint "Just a .22" is a bad point of view to have - a .22 bullet is dangerous and should be treated just as seriously as any other gun.
However, when it comes to the original complaint here, there is some justification.
.22LR operates at a very low pressure, and has pretty much no recoil. The pressure issue often means that receivers for the weapons can be made with cheaper, less strong materials (which is fine given the working pressure of the round they're shooting), and the scopes often don't need to be the best because they don't need to stand up to the extreme recoil of larger centerfire rounds.
IE, a scope that might work well for ages on a .22LR might be thrown off zero if mated to a .30-06.
Also, the limited effective range means that most .22LR's will be shot at a MAXIMUM of 100yards, and even that is rare. I pretty much never see anyone at the range shooting them over 50 yards. At those distances optical clarity and the like simply aren't as important as someone with a centerfire shooting at 300+ yards.
So basically, I have .22's, I like them, and I shoot them a lot. From the safety standpoint, they're real guns, and you better treat them that way, but from a cost and investment standpoint, I do see some validity in the "just a .22" side of things
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