Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gun range newbie: A personal tale
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 01/17/2013 | Emily Babay

Posted on 01/17/2013 10:06:29 AM PST by Kid Shelleen

When reporting about guns, I'm often asked whether I've fired one myself.

"Just once," I'd reply, not elaborating to say I found my trip to a Virginia shooting range terrifying.

So when I was sent to see how gun shops and shooting ranges around Philadelphia were faring amid the debate over firearms, I was prepared for the same question.

But I wondered: Would shooting again change my ambivalence about guns? A Gallup poll found 47 percent of U.S. adults say they have a gun in their home or property.

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; guncontrol; secondamendment
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-60 next last
To: Kid Shelleen

Good article. Perhaps it needs a followup about the sheltered lives of journalists.


21 posted on 01/17/2013 10:47:28 AM PST by aimhigh ( Guns do not kill people. Planned Parenthood kills people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: crosshairs

I just happened to stop in at Gander Mountain today and they had a bunch of 9mm Remington UMC ammo in stock. They had 250 round mega packs for $79.99 apiece, and they also had boxes of 1000 loose rounds with no price visible. There was a guy walking around with one of those scan guns, so I asked him to check the price. He did, and he told me us that it was $149.99. Within 3 minutes, the 10 or so boxes that were sitting there were scooped up by shoppers standing within earshot. When I got to the front counter to pay, it rang up at $249.99. I told the guy that someone had price checked it for me at $149.99. Another Clerk told him no, it’s supposedto be the price that rang up. He changed the price anyway, so I got it for 15 cents per round.


22 posted on 01/17/2013 10:48:23 AM PST by RightFighter (It was all for nothing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

I’d like to see a video put together by an experienced shooter that shows the number of rounds that can be fired using 30 round magazines in 60 seconds versus the number of rounds that can be fired from 10 round magazines in 60 seconds.


23 posted on 01/17/2013 10:54:59 AM PST by RightFighter (It was all for nothing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

When I met my wife she was very anti-gun and had taught her kids (then 10 and 13) that guns were evil. The kids were very upset when we moved in together, with all my guns (I had quite a collection until my boat overturned) and have always given me a hard time about it (18 years now).
My wife now has her concealed carry license. Last night she asked when we can go to the range again. The kids are still uncomfortable around my guns though.
It has also kept me in line. Wifey told me I would leave this relationship one way - feet first. She is a very good shot.


24 posted on 01/17/2013 10:55:33 AM PST by TStro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: crosshairs
Who can go to the range now with ammo out of stock and skyrocketing in price?

Our local gun store is remodeling to expand their firing range. Demand is high.

25 posted on 01/17/2013 10:59:18 AM PST by Not A Snowbird (2 Corinthians 4:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

*


26 posted on 01/17/2013 11:01:21 AM PST by BunnySlippers (Yes, they have. Don't you read?I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NewJerseyJoe

P4L


27 posted on 01/17/2013 11:08:13 AM PST by NewJerseyJoe (Rat mantra: "Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
I am not one of them.

Then embrace your role as a sheep. But when the wolf comes to call, get behind cover, stay there and do not interfere or scream when the sheep dog(s) appear and dispatch the wolf with their firearms.

I am one of them.

28 posted on 01/17/2013 11:08:41 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Humans have eliminated natural selection. Morons are now a protected species. They breed and vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grobdriver

Well, maybe 40%.


29 posted on 01/17/2013 11:12:18 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ImJustAnotherOkie
You Ruger Mark fans, Gunblast.com has videos at the shot show for a new device enabling easy take down on this UN-maintainable beast.

I have a Ruger Mark II 22/45. Sure you can take it down easy, but getting it back together and firing is nearly impossible without the right knowledge.

In fact, there is a way if you put it together wrong you can't even get the gun apart again!

30 posted on 01/17/2013 11:19:41 AM PST by Last Dakotan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
Good find, Kid, though I think "fair" is a much mis-used word. I didn't think the article was so much "fair" as it was written by an anti-gun liberal gal who wanted to be perceived as "fair." At least she acknowleded her bias, I'll give her that.

The public comments at the site, presumably readers of this Philadelphia paper, were easily dominated by folks like us -- folks skeptical of gun control. Liberals are going to be very, very surprised when they learn that all the "masses" that supposedly agree with them, are imaginary, very much the same way that Al Franken and any Chicago mayor's "deciding balance of voters" are imaginary. Most of America is pro gun and anti-government tyranny -- but anti-gun anti-freedom pro-government liberals are so overrepresented in the MSM and pop culture, that it paints a false picture.

Reading public comments from average Americans at ALL MSM sites, whether it's the LA Times, the New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, Yahoo, CNN, even the Wasington Post -- the vast majority of media consumers -- not talking heads and celebraties, but regular Americans --the vast majority write and sound a lot like FReepers: sick of government tyranny, disgusted with MSM bias and Obama, and pro 2nd Amendment.

Our country is in better shape than we think, with smarter, more productive, and more moral people than we've been led to believe.

31 posted on 01/17/2013 11:20:13 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
Same here. Mrs. BS Roberts used to be very fearful of any firearm. Even my Remington Nylon 66 .22 unnerved her.

Fast forward to 2008...Der Fearless Leader gets elected. She asks me to start 'learnin' her and she gets her LTC and gets a S&W .38 Special and a Ruger MKII. She now loves our "range dates".

32 posted on 01/17/2013 11:31:38 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Humans have eliminated natural selection. Morons are now a protected species. They breed and vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts

That’s great. Ain’t nothing sexier than a women with a gun in her hand.


33 posted on 01/17/2013 11:35:26 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
My wife grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Her brother was shot in the leg for his bike growing up.

Note to self - do not let your bike grow up. Investigate whether is is a phenomenon that happens only in Brooklyn.

34 posted on 01/17/2013 11:35:49 AM PST by frithguild (You can call me Snippy the Anti-Freeper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Last Dakotan

I had a mark years ago. If this device existed then I would have kept it. It fits down in front of the rear sight to align those pieces for easy assembly. It’s been a while since I tore one down.


35 posted on 01/17/2013 11:40:08 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: frithguild
Note to self - do not let your bike grow up.


36 posted on 01/17/2013 11:42:56 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Humans have eliminated natural selection. Morons are now a protected species. They breed and vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: frithguild
My wife grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Her brother was shot in the leg for his bike growing up.

LOL! Ok, that's freak'n hysterical.

My dear departed 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Matthews, would laugh at this and say I deserved it. That I should have paid more attention to proper punctuation......She's right.

37 posted on 01/17/2013 11:46:04 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: 556x45; DBrow; Kid Shelleen; All
"I better understand where gun advocates come from when they describe people who shoot firearms recreationally, with no intent to aim a gun at a person.”

And ...

A reporter who bothered to become educated rather than babbling talk points, thats rare indeed.

With respect, my fellow FReepers ... this woman hasn't become "educated" just because she fired a Ruger semi-auto, and zilch in the story indicates that she has. For crying out loud, she remains so ignorant that she apparently thinks that the folks who shoot recreationally are to be distinguished as having "no intent to aim a gun at a person." What gun advocate DOES, other than someone in the military or law enforcement??? She's trying to say that this time at the firing range has enlightened her that gee, maybe now she'll believe "gun advocates" when they "describe people who shoot firearms recrationally" as having "no intent to aim a gun at a person"? INTENT?

I don't even see anywhere in the article that she even is educated enough to know that she was shooting a semi-automatic as opposed to a revolver, or the difference between a fully-automatic gun and a semi-auto.

I was a reporter for long enough and worked around the liberal MSM for long enough to recognize this for exactly what it is: a phoney-baloney "fair" report that this liberal reporter sincerely believes gives her credibility and unfortunately a lot of good folks are falling for it. Her going to the range and shooting this gun gives her no more crediblity about gun issues than my one-time experience sky-diving, as a reporter, gives me credibility reporting on skydiving.

38 posted on 01/17/2013 12:01:44 PM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: RightFighter

Someone posted a great video of a single target being hit by multiple shots in a time period, versus 5 targets being hit with multiple projectiles (shotgun pellets) in only 3 plus seconds.


39 posted on 01/17/2013 12:03:51 PM PST by ansel12 (Cruz said "conservatives trust Sarah Palin that if she says this guy is a conservative, that he is")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Another thing that nobody mentions in the magazine capacity hullaballoo is that limiting magazine size encourages using a higher caliber.

I carry a 9mm HK because it holds 15. If you limit me to 7, I might as well carry the Kimber 1911 .45. Fewer rounds, more damage.

SnakeDoc


40 posted on 01/17/2013 12:09:48 PM PST by SnakeDoctor ("I've shot people I like more for less." -- Raylan Givens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-60 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson