Reporter Visits a Gun Range - Shoots an AR - What Happened Next ....

[Flopsweat]

My kids (18 and 15 at the time) convinced me to go with them late last summer for a short vacation in Yacolt. One of the things we did was go down to Florence and rent quads for the day and we went duning at the Oregon Dunes. I hafta say, that was some serious fun! My 15 yoa daughter and my ex tended to keep to the slower side (although my daughter did open up her rig quite a few times), but my 18 yoa son and I were never below 7/8 throttle the whole day. We would race each other for over a mile along the shoreline, STG we hit close to 60 mph on the flats! Tree-bashing through the dune scrub brush was also a real hit! At one point, we overheated two of the machines and had to wait them out to cool down enough to continue on. Hella fun!

If you were on a quad capable of 60 in the sand, 7/8 throttle would be not for the faint-hearted. Let me know when you are healed up enough and we'll take you riding if you want.

 

[sobo]

If you were on a quad capable of 60 in the sand, 7/8 throttle would be not for the faint-hearted. Let me know when you are healed up enough and we'll take you riding if you want.

I remember looking down on one run and my speedometer read 58 mph. I thought that was exhilarating! My son was still pulling away from me!

 

[CamoDeafie]

My dad chartered a desert tour outside Palm Springs in a 6 seat dune buggy about 15, 20 years ago... we all rode in it. Going 75mph on the rocky desert with as much jarring as riding a car on the I5... which is to say..
"What obstacles/bumps?". Sure we could feel it rise and drop but that was about it. Most excitement was from seeing the floor blur by under the expanded mesh of the buggy and feeling the warm dry air hitting our faces at 75mph

 

[Flopsweat]

I remember looking down on one run and my speedometer read 58 mph. I thought that was exhilarating! My son was still pulling away from me!

Mine top at around 60 and 65. One is geared lower for trail riding. Anything over 50 on a trail (a wide , straight trail) is downright scary the first few times. Sliding around trees in the woods and jumping dunes never gets old.

 

[Rkangel]

I'm guessing they didn't let him rent the F-15 and nukes that day.

Quite a lot of back-handed comments and editorializing in the article that clearly intended to cast a questionable light on firearms and the business. I will never understand why businesses keep agreeing to do interviews with hostile reporters. The reporter will always have the control of the narrative and make changes to the context. Never do interviews with reporters.

This used to happen a lot back in my paintball days. We did several charity events with and for police officers, EMTs, and firefighters. The local paper wanted to cover the story and sent out reporters. Despite the charity and involvement of first responders, the paper still quoted out of context, and stuck in jabs and digs and references to para-military survivalists that colored the entire article. Again, my advice is to never do interviews with reporters.

 

[CLT65]

Who here has ever taken a first-time shooter to the range, and heard this kind of reaction from them? I haven't, not even from a kid.

he wrote that article with the implicent intent to portray firearms in a negative light

I fully expect that you are right. I suspect that he actually enjoyed the experience, but felt the need to "balance" his article, making himself look like a complete ninny in the process, but appealing to all the soccer moms out there.

There is a very specific goal among the gun-control folks, to demonize the AR15 specifically. They want people to believe that it's something more than just a rifle; a death ray of some kind.

People who know guns and understand things like ballistics know that it really is just a rifle. It's a well designed/evolved platform that is generally quite accurate, reliable, and ergonomic, while simple and modular. As far as what it does though, it's just a rifle. Compared to the average hunting rifle, it shoots a lower-powered, low recoiling bullet, the same as smaller hunting rifles made for shooting small game. It shoots them one at a time, from a standard box magazine, just like any other rifle using a detachable magazine.

What they want the ignorant masses to believe is that it's something more, something especially scary and dangerous. This article advances that narrative. Here is how they want the masses to see the AR:

 

[Flopsweat]

Who here has ever taken a first-time shooter to the range, and heard this kind of reaction from them? I haven't, not even from a kid.

I fully expect that you are right. I suspect that he actually enjoyed the experience, but felt the need to "balance" his article, making himself look like a complete ninny in the process, but appealing to all the soccer moms out there.

There is a very specific goal among the gun-control folks, to demonize the AR15 specifically. They want people to believe that it's something more than just a rifle; a death ray of some kind.

People who know guns and understand things like ballistics know that it really is just a rifle. It's a well designed/evolved platform that is generally quite accurate, reliable, and ergonomic, while simple and modular. As far as what it does though, it's just a rifle. Compared to the average hunting rifle, it shoots a lower-powered, low recoiling bullet, the same as smaller hunting rifles made for shooting small game. It shoots them one at a time, from a standard box magazine, just like any other rifle using a detachable magazine.

What they want the ignorant masses to believe is that it's something more, something especially scary and dangerous. This article advances that narrative. Here is how they want the masses to see the AR:

I've taught a lot of young people to shoot. Once in a while you'll have one who is genuinely afraid to shoot the gun. If you're gentle and patient they get over it quickly. I've probably taught over 1,000 people to shoot by now (instructor and RSO) and absolutely no one has had that reaction.

 

[Mikej]

I've probably taught over 1,000 people to shoot by now (instructor and RSO) and absolutely no one has had that reaction.

I would suspect that the reason no one had that reaction was because they WANTED to try it. I wonder what the percentages would be if a "Man on the Street" asked a few hundred passersby if they, having never shot a gun before, would like to shoot a gun? The writer of the article shot a gun for a job.I have a feeling he was writing the article in his head well before the actual shooting took place.

 

[Flopsweat]

I would suspect that the reason no one had that reaction was because they WANTED to try it. I wonder what the percentages would be if a "Man on the Street" asked a few hundred passersby if they, having never shot a gun before, would like to to shoot a gun? The writer of the article shot a gun for a job.I have a feeling he was writing the article in his head well before the actual shooting took place.

Yeah but he's still a pussy.

 

[bivy53]

Seems he should have retrieved his balls from the boyfriend 's purse before leaving for the range.

 

[joken]

Sissy boy

 

[Dungannon]

My eight year old grandson took two shots with the .308 before deciding the .223 was more his speed. He's 12 now and I have to limit him and the others to 20 rounds each so there is ammo left for me!

 

[CLRTR999]

Who here has ever taken a first-time shooter to the range, and heard this kind of reaction from them? I haven't, not even from a kid.

I fully expect that you are right. I suspect that he actually enjoyed the experience, but felt the need to "balance" his article, making himself look like a complete ninny in the process, but appealing to all the soccer moms out there.

There is a very specific goal among the gun-control folks, to demonize the AR15 specifically. They want people to believe that it's something more than just a rifle; a death ray of some kind.

People who know guns and understand things like ballistics know that it really is just a rifle. It's a well designed/evolved platform that is generally quite accurate, reliable, and ergonomic, while simple and modular. As far as what it does though, it's just a rifle. Compared to the average hunting rifle, it shoots a lower-powered, low recoiling bullet, the same as smaller hunting rifles made for shooting small game. It shoots them one at a time, from a standard box magazine, just like any other rifle using a detachable magazine.

What they want the ignorant masses to believe is that it's something more, something especially scary and dangerous. This article advances that narrative. Here is how they want the masses to see the AR:

I suspect that if the range officer had secretively handed him an AR with a 22LR conversion that nothing in the text of his article would have changed.

 

[red442joe]

"Suspect" is not how you spell "am certain".

Joe

 

[tac]

This was total c*ap when it first appeared a couple of years back. Now it as been massaged to fit into the current world scenario by unscrupulous editing, and regurgitated as 'new'.

It was, back then, utter s*ite, and remains so. How anybody with two braincells to rub together could believe ANY of it is beyond my comprehension. Mrs tac read part of it and then walked off. She has a VERY dim view of the often over-exaggerated reporting styles that dominate news-rooms and press in the US of A, and this article, written by another kind of 'article', did nothing to alter her opinion. I'd remind those of you who might not already know that HER handgun of choice was a 4" Model 29, and the only thing that put her off shooting my .45-70 Govt Contender were the awful issue sights.

This young man has NEVER fired any kind of firearm before, although he HAS shot an air-rifle, and knows how to use open sights The load is a 500gr RN lead over 55gr of Triple 7 - an attention-getter for many people. Look at his face after firing the first shot -

 

[P7M13]

You can tell Thompson had a lot of shooting experience with his trigger control.

Look at his face after firing the first shot -

...as he immediately proceeds to load another round.

 

[Tony617]

True story for me.

I had never owned and AR15 until late 2011. I did buy a Maverick 88 12 gauge shotgun and shot cases of 12 gauge rounds at the time. I did not have the money to buy an AR15 at the time and price of shotgun rounds for either 00 or #4 buckshot was very cheap at the time.

I bought an Armalite AR15 and took it home, read the manual, took it apart and throughly cleaned it and lubed it. I took my AR15 apart a few times and put back together a few times as well just to be sure I memorized how take it apart.

Later on I took my AR to an indoor gun range shot 150 rounds through without any issues. The recoil was so mild compared to a pump action 12 gauge shotgun.

I then took my AR home and thoroughly cleaned it. Probably over cleaned it when it was new. Now I run few patches through with solvent, run a dry patch though and put back in my safe. I do a thorough cleaning every 500 rounds or so now.

 

[3MTA3]

True story for me.

I had never owned and AR15 until late 2011. I did buy a Maverick 88 12 gauge shotgun and shot cases of 12 gauge rounds at the time. I did not have the money to buy an AR15 at the time and price of shotgun rounds for either 00 or #4 buckshot was very cheap at the time.

I bought an Armalite AR15 and took it home, read the manual, took it apart and throughly cleaned it and lubed it. I took my AR15 apart a few times and put back together a few times as well just to be sure I memorized how take it apart.

Later on I took my AR to an indoor gun range shot 150 rounds through without any issues. The recoil was so mild compared to a pump action 12 gauge shotgun.

I then took my AR home and thoroughly cleaned it. Probably over cleaned it when it was new. Now I run few patches through with solvent, run a dry patch though and put back in my safe. I do a thorough cleaning every 500 rounds or so now.

Doesn't the manual have a warning about screaming like a girl* and soiling yourself every time you pull the trigger?

* apologies that was a sexist comment **
** not only sexist, but I assumed a binary gender and failed to use the current approved pronoun as of five minutes ago. I should have said "like a liberal anti gun reporter" instead.

You may feel free to turn me over the the nearest self authorized Karen for cancellation at any time.

 

[bivy53]

Doesn't the manual have a warning about screaming like a girl* and soiling yourself every time you pull the trigger?

* apologies that was a sexist comment **
** not only sexist, but I assumed a binary gender and failed to use the current approved pronoun as of five minutes ago. I should have said "like a liberal anti gun reporter" instead.

You may feel free to turn me over the the nearest self authorized Karen for cancellation at any time.

I'm Sure that by now you can't say Karen either. That 5 minutes has passed as well.

 

[CRBMoA]

I have been offending people for over 50 years. Not really sure what all the fuss is about?