[Leica] Dog wrangling - guns, kids, and saying "cheese"

[walt at waltjohnson.com (Walt Johnson)]

Frank

To anyone not familiar with the terminology it could be just about any 
thing that goes bang. Just because a group of people get together and 
poke holes in paper does not mean their weapons are sport shooters.  
M14's, M16's, AK47's and at one time M-1's were appropriately called 
assault rifles. ( although I can't remember if the Marine Corps called 
them that in the 60's) The government calls them assault rifles, the 
military calls them assault rifles and I seriously doubt me calling them 
assault rifles makes me wrong. I'll bet the fellow Princess Di was 
killed with called them assault rifles as well.

As far as versatility and accuracy are concerned, who knows. I'd gladly 
pick up a .308  bolt-action sporter if the "bad guy" was three or four 
hundred yards away getting ready to act like Rambo. All the flat 
shooting, small bore and high velocity weapons are good up close. My 
preference would be to stay as far away as possible from folks who 
didn't like me. Let them get too close and 12 ga. Winchester pump works 
quite well. Additionally. I don't think I insulted competitive shooters. 
I competed in the Marines about 100 years ago with rifles and pistols. 
One thing though, These folks Kyle is working on seem a bit round the 
bend to me. Posing with their "sporters" while kids run around and play 
with the dogs?  There is momma with her Glock while dad gets ready to 
protect the family with his AK47? 

As far as your statement defining an assault weapon? Who knows? Maybe 
it's sport when the victim is paper or tin and assault when the victim 
bleeds. I for one don/t find the idea of blowing holes in animals sport 
but many will argue that. I do think bullfighting is a sport though and 
that might put me in the minority.

Walt

Frank F. Farmer wrote:

> Walt,
>
> I usually don't get into these discussions.  But you are really . . . 
> wrong.  True, there are a whole lot of gun nuts out there.  But, I 
> defy to you define an "assault" weapon.  To me, it would be a weapon 
> used while conducting an assault.  That is the only reliable 
> definition.  As to a "sport shooter" I think the same standard might 
> apply.
>
> On Oct 19, 2006, at 5:50 PM, Walt Johnson wrote:
>
>> Anyone who owns an assault rifle and claims to be a sport shooter has 
>> no real idea of sport.
>
>
> Many members of the United States Practical Shooting Association or 
> USPSA (the US branch of the International Practical Shooting 
> Confederation or IPSC) would disagree with you.  There are shooting 
> sport matches ALL OVER THE WORLD that use a variety of pistols, 
> shotguns and rifles.   Further, the single most commonly used rifle 
> for USPSA/IPSC events is some variant of the AR-15/M-16 "assault 
> rifle."   The competitors use them for the same reasons the army or 
> police do.  They are accurate and are very versatile weapons.  One is 
> able to almost instantaneously switch from iron sights to short range 
> optics to long range optics.  They are light, compact and they use the 
> inexpensive and accurate .223 (5.56mm) cartridge.  They are also easy 
> to work on, easy to attach a bi-pod to and easy to interchange parts, 
> should one break.  They are very easily customized and there are 
> virtually unlimited options one could add to get some sort of 
> competitive advantage available from countless manufacturers.
>
> Having competed in a number of these matches, I can say wholeheartedly 
> that I see far more sportsmanship in these competitions than I see in 
> the headlines coming out of football or baseball or even the world cup 
> last year.  Your statement that an "assault rifle" cannot be a "sport 
> shooter" is just plain wrong.  So, for future reference, I'd read up a 
> bit more before throwing insults to folks who compete in these events.
>
> Finally, are there people out there who use these weapons 
> inappropriately?  Absolutely.  Should they be punished to the full 
> extent of the law.  Again, absolutely.  However, legitimate sporting 
> events often use these guns for just that - sport.
>
> Take care,
>
> Frank Farmer
> Jackson, Miss.
>
>
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