GIVE US BACK OUR GUNS

I think my biggest problem with guns
is myself.
I keep thinking about getting a shotgun.
My mrs uncle is a gun fanatic.
Has a number of shotguns and hunting rifles and is always inviting me out.
But I dont think I trust myself enough at this time.
Ive told the mrs when the girls are at the age when boyfriends are on the radar then I will deffo be an owner.
Nothing says dont mess around with my daughter like a dad who is oiling the shotgun with a manic look in his eye the first time you meet him........

 

Interesting choice of words that possibly belies your personal opinion. Why do you consider him a fanatic rather than an enthusiast? People generally don't expect anything unpleasant from an "enthusiast" however when you call someone a "fanatic" it's a very powerful word, usually used with intention to convey dangerous tendancies and questionable moral/ethical beliefs...

 

Absolutely no issue with the calibre or size of the weapon, so long as it's single shot or semi-automatic. Anyone who's been involved with firearms to any great degree will tell you that size is more often irrelevant once you get above .22

There's a reason why most military organisations issue 9mm handguns rather than beasts such as 10mm Omegas, or .50 Desert Eagles. They're overkill. You can achieve the assault/defence job just as well with a smaller caliber weapon, and the bigger handguns have the disadvantages of being heavy, cumbersome, more recoil (making it harder and take longer to re-aim for a second shot) and being able to carry fewer rounds in a magazine - all making them less suitable as an offensive/defensive weapon. So the idea that bigger caliber weapons are more dangerous is a falsehood - once you get above .22 I think it's fair to say all calibers are equally lethal (not saying that you couldn't kill someone with a .22 though!), so the idea of restricting or not allowing a .45 Colt or .50 Desert Eagle is effectively redundant.

Personally, I used to shoot a Ruger .22 target pistol (amongst others).

The .22 Ruger was the most accurate of all of them - a beautiful piece of engineering and technically the most challenging to use, because even the tiniest input (breathing, pulse, etc.) had an effect on the .22 bullet's trajectory. I fired all sorts in addition to this, from 9mm, .357 and .44 Magnum, 38 Special, .45 etc. etc. - without a shadow of a doubt none were as difficult to hone your skills with as the Ruger.

So bigger caliber handguns are fine, albeit less challenging to master at the higher end than the smaller .22 target pistols. If you're allowing 9mm and above, I think there would be little material difference between allowing 9mm and .45 etc. from a "public safety" perspective.

 

Miles off the mark jim.
I simply typed fan and missed the autocorrect.
Simply because im lazy and fan was quicker to type than enthusiast.

But.
Thinking about it I may have been spot on.
Two days ago he was telling me about some land he has permission to shoot on.
It includes a long tree lined drive.
He said he had tried driving along this drive, with his gun on his lap, and was shooting pheasant while on the move.
So he does drive bys!
I think your opinion on fanatical and mine are different.
Although I can agree with some of what you say, I tend to see the term as quoted here - (ie a fan being shortened from fanatic)
"Fan - the Oxford dictionary and other sources define it as a shortened version of the word fanatic. The word first become popular in reference to baseball enthusiasts. (Fanatic itself, introduced into English around 1550, means "marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion".
If I said someone was fanatical about bikes would the response be the same?

 

Whats a map?
Hang on. Found it. Its one of those things google do.

 

Wow.
They sound great.
Far better than my backup plan of blind luck or divine intervention.

 

The clue is on the forum name:

Non-bike > Off Topic

If all you want to read is bike-related stuff then just don't click on message threads on the non-bike section. Simples

 

Ok let's address this.

Derek Bird used a shotgun and a .22 rifle - both of which are work tools for farming/forestry/vermin control. The misuse of potentially dangerous equipment/suppies made available with trust to specific tradespeople is risk in all walks of life. Shall we look at Harold Shipman? He used equipment and materials made available to him through his work to murder far more people than some gun killings.

As for the boy killed in the nighttime cull - that was an accident. Plain and simple. No different to that poor sod who was trapped and cooked to death in an industrial oven or the people killed in the pub in Scotland when the helicopter fell out of the sky. Don't hear anyone calling for ovens or helicopters to be more strictly controlled/banned.