Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Good Lord, Richard, I'm not upset - the day is long past when that particular southern breeze could upset me. I was simply making an observation. :-) On 6/24/06 9:44 PM, "Richard" <richard-lists@imagecraft.com> wrote: > B.D. I'd be upset too except I know where the "delete" key is. :-) > > At 06:33 PM 6/24/2006, you wrote: > >> So once again, we read a thousand words of MJS's opinions on a subject, >> only >> to be told the rest of us should confine our opinions on the same subject >> to >> the Forum? >> It would be funny, were it not so sad.... >> >> >> On 6/24/06 7:56 PM, "Marc James Small" <msmall@aya.yale.edu> wrote: >> >>> At 04:39 PM 6/24/06 -0400, Jim Shulman wrote: >>>> I understand that's the whole point of this project--that gun >> ownership is a >>>> lot more "normal" than most of us non-owners would imagine. While the >> usual >>>> media image of a gun owner is some wild-eyed fanatic living in a garret, >>>> Kyle is showing otherwise--that it's as ubiquitous as owning a Toro >>>> riding >>>> mower or Veg-o-matic. >>>> >>>> That's not to say more desirable than owning the mower or Popeil >> items--he's >>>> not making judgments about that--but it is rather remarkable in that >>>> he's >>>> putting faces on what had been anonymity. >>> >>> A number of us on the LUG are gun owners. I don't hunt but I do target >>> shoot on occasion. (My rifle is a 1909 Argentine Mauser rechambered to >>> .30 >>> - '06 I picked up years back from my Secretary's father as part of a fee. >>> I had a 3X-9X by 30mm scope mounted on it -- the scope was made by the >>> Arsenal folks in the Ukraine, the guys who gave us those Contax RF >>> clones, >>> the Kiev cameras, for so many years -- it even has the oblate triune >>> sphere >>> logo on it.) I don't own it for intimdiation, I don't own it for >>> machismo, >>> I don't own it for self-defense (though my wife came equipped with a.22 >>> Ruger target pistol along with a whole aresenal, so our differences tend >>> to >>> be VERY peacefully resolved <he grins> -- but, then, she is a Michigan >>> farmer by origin and grew up around guns much more so than I did.) I do >>> take my rifle out every couple of years with a couple of boxes of >>> 280-grain >>> ammunition (have to use the high-power rounds as there is the barrel is a >>> tad larger than the regulation .30 - '06 one, tehcnically it's a 7.62mm >>> round in an 8mm barrel, though the actual measurements are a bit >> different.. >>> >>> There were no firearms in my house when I was growing up but my father >>> was >>> retired from the Army and had commanded an anti-aircraft battery in >>> Alaska >>> in combat during the Second World War. I learned to shoot when I was 12 >>> and taught marksmanship when I was a Boy Scout camp staff member and >>> later >>> as a Scoutmaster (along with teaching campcraft, pioneering, map work and >>> orienteering, first aid, lifesaving and so forth). I consistently shot >>> Marksman in the Army, generally on the M1 or M14 or M16 but on occasion >>> on >>> the M1911A1 .45 automatic or on a substitute such as a .22 target pistol. >>> The Army allowed me to fire a LOT of weapons from small-bore rifles and >>> pistols up through 81mm and 4.2" mortars to 90mm and 105mm tank guns and >>> even 105mm and 155mm and, on a few occasions, 8" howitzers. I never had >>> a >>> desire to own a gun despite an intense interest in military history: >>> during most of my time, I was much more concerned with the maintenance >>> cycles and MTBF for, say, the M1 tank or the CUCV than I was on popping >>> off >>> rounds downrange. >>> >>> I own a gun just because I own a gun. Very few of my friends know that I >>> own a gun and that my wife has an arsenal that would choke the average >>> pawn >>> shop. We do not belong to the NRA or the like, we do not have >>> bumper-stickers on our cars (well, at election time, I generally sport >>> something along the lines of OCTAVIA JOHNSON FOR SHERIFF or the like), we >>> do not go to demonstrations. I know a bunch of other gun owners who are >>> much of a sort with my pattern, and I suspect that most US gun owners >>> just >>> own guns and so be it. It is not the central part of our lives, it is >>> just >>> something we do and, yes, my wife came equipped with a riding mower which >>> seems a bit of an overkill on my small yard and I tend to do my cooking >>> on >>> cast iron. The only Cuisinart I use is our coffee maker, though I prefer >>> to grind the beans in a Krups grinder proving that even a mild >>> techno-geek >>> can go low-tech on occasion. (I do have my late mother's Cuisinart >>> processer but my wife simply refuses to use it, preferring the old ways >>> of >>> doing it by hand. We are having strip steaks and blanched asparagus and >>> a >>> bottle of Chilean red wine in a few minutes: we do eat simply but well!) >>> >>> USian citizens have rights derived from the common sovereignity and >>> expressed in our Constitution. The Bible does not provide any "rights" >>> to >>> Chirstians as Paul makes clear that anyone saved -- and he does not >>> restrict this to "Christians", interestingly -- is saved but through the >>> infinite Grace of God. We Christians do have a lot of obligations, most >>> of >>> which we miss -- how many of us have ever gone down to Skid Row on >>> Thanksgiving Morning and brought it a couple of hungover street folks >>> for a >>> meal in the haven of our home? -- but at the same time we have no >>> guarantees with Christ other than that if we throw ourselves >>> wholeheartedly >>> into his service, we shall earn His happiness. But, again, there are >>> only >>> the haziest of guarantees in the Bible and I get fidgety when folks start >>> talking about a "God-given right" to bear firearms. The right came from >>> the forefathers when they developed our common polity by drafting the >>> Constitution, and is only as strong as we make it. (I can discuss Second >>> Amendment rights all day long but, as I note below, that is not a proper >>> topic for discussion on the LUG., so contact me off-List, as I am not a >>> member of the Forum.) >>> >>> We can argue the radical fringes all we want but that probably belongs on >>> the Forum and not on the LUG itself as we would soon be discussing ALL of >>> the radical fringe elements and then we'd be into the sort of general >>> donnybrook which makes my Riley blood elated but which causes my Hielan' >>> ancestors to roll over in their graves at the wasting of a good fight on >>> something which cannot be resolved. So, the Forum is probably the place >>> for the discussion of the social aspects of firearm ownership, while a >>> discussion of these fine pictures is, of course, at the heart of the LUG. >>> >>> Sorry to have rattled on so long, but I am responding in fine to a bunch >>> of >>> comments from other members and just wanted you guys to realize that >>> there >>> are gun owners on the LUG -- for that matter, our Senior Member, was >>> taught >>> BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship) by William Tell shortly before he did that >>> magnificent book of combat photographs taken during the Wars of the >>> Roses, >>> though I don't know that Ted has ever owned a firearm. >>> >>> Marc >>> >>> msmall@aya.yale.edu >>> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > // richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me directly, please > use richard at imagecraft.com) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information