Seems to me that this is just a discussion about firearms' terminology.
How exactly are they dividing and conquering while we're discussing terminology?
Disagree. This thread has evolved much the same as the current thread regarding training currently running in the same sub-forum. People are settling into camps. Note that many, if not most, of the terms and phrases listed herein that people take issue with are most common to those who are either new in the world of shooting and gun-owning,
or those who simply don't associate in a larger circle of more knowledgeable, experienced gun-owners, shooters or reloaders.
Face it, the entertainment industry (movies, television, popular novels, comics -- er, "graphic novels) and the mainstream media have been allowed to frame much of the verbiage associated with firearms for the past hundred and fifty years or so -- going back to the "penny dreadfuls" and dime novels in the 1700s, 1800s and through the 20th century. Seems many in the gun world simply accept a lot of these terms and phrases and perpetuate them ...
We come in here and poke fun at or get downright cranky with those who we disagree. The 2A absolutists disparage the Fudds and the moderates ("What part of
infringe do you not understand?" "The Second Amendment is
my carry permit" "The Second Amendment isn't about duck hunting!"); the experienced shooters often patronize and shut down the neophytes by telling them this is the way it is without telling them why; many of these same experienced folks do the same to newbies or those who use a term they don't like or because they don't speak the same language
yet; everyone mocks the "tacticool" guys and the wannabe "operators;" the liberals who've discovered the joys of firearms and shooting aren't allowed any time to develop their political views, they're shouted down and shut down with cliches and truisms and rarely return to forum-land, which should be a safe place to express views and obtain information (but isn't, really) ...
I have personally witnessed or had related to me, far too many occasions where people who wanted to get into shooting sports or recreational shooting were totally turned off by the entrenched attitudes of some in the community; having been part of the gun forums on the internet since 2002, I can bear witness to everything I've related above. I quit a gun club run by old white guys after seeing attitudes and hearing comments about young people and minorities. I've see positively abhorrent behavior demonstrated toward women, young people and minorities by staff in gun shops.
We
are our own worst enemies, and we continue to turn away more new shooters and gun-owners than we bring in. If you disagree, I suggest you're wearing rose-colored glasses.