Posted on 12/12/2003 7:54:09 AM PST by jdege
Rebecca Thoman
Published December 12, 2003
A boy's Christmas wish list that includes BB or pellet guns is a parent's worst nightmare. One look at contemporary pellet guns, named and modeled after their grown-up counterparts, the Uzi semiautomatic or the Magnum .44, should convince any parent that these "toys" are not what they used to be.
Modern BB guns are nothing like the wooden-stock rifles of 1938, the kind yearned for by Ralphie in the holiday classic, "A Christmas Story." Eighty percent of BB guns on the market today attain muzzle velocities (the speed at which the projectile leaves the barrel of the gun) high enough to penetrate bone. More than half meet or exceed the muzzle velocity of pistols.
[...]
The newest fad in pellet guns is the airsoft replicas, realistic Glock and Beretta lookalikes. Replicgun.com, a Web site that sells these toys boasts, "the real thing without the danger." But consider these incidents:
[...]
Giving a child a toy gun that looks real could be placing him in danger, especially when these contemporary replicas look more like the semiautomatics assault rifles packed by street thugs than the hunting rifles of yesteryear.
According to Dr. Farideh Kioumehr-Dadsetan of the Internaional Health and Epidemiology Research Center, "Giving our kids toy guns and telling them to stay away from the real thing sends a mixed message."
She urges children and parents to swap their toy guns for other nonviolent options.
[...]
Dr. Rebecca Thoman is executive director of the St. Paul-based Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Yes, that's true. There is also great interest in the AirSoft full-scale replicas of military firearms such as submachinguns and assault rifles. Some of those replicas even feature realistic fully-automatic fire and can cost thousands of dollars. Like the paintball phenomenon in the U.S., there is an interest in such "action pursuit games" in the U.K., but they use the super-realistic AirSoft gear to sting one another. "Real" airguns in the U.K. (and probably in continental Europe) must be regulated to keep the muzzle velocity/energy below some stipulated level. As you pointed out, "enhancement" is possible, but probably carries a hefty penalty if you're caught with such contraband.
Become a member of an NRA affiliated gun club and get one from the Dept. of Civilian Marksmanship. It's cheap and easy!
Interestingly, A Christmas Story is based entirely on *one* chapter from Jean Shepherd's book "In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash". The chapter starts with an adult Shepherd ("Ralphie" is an autobiographical character) eating at some New York lunchcounter when he spots a woman wearing a button that reads: "Disarm the Toy Industry!" Inquiring about it, he is treated to a bitter diatribe about the evils of toy guns - which he tunes out in favor of reminiscing about the Red Ryder BB gun.
Might the writer of the article above have read that chapter and purloined the idea for a column? Perhaps, but there's no way to tell. Stupidity is, after all, timeless.
The Civilian Markmanship Program.
http://www.odcmp.com
They have them for sale as low as $400 for a rack grade
Springfield.
I never spent much time in the Lansing area. While I doubt it's anywhere near as liberal as Ann Arbor (is anything?), I expect it's influenced by the university culture. Apart from my college years, I spent most of my time in the western part of the state and further north during ski season. I sure would love some of that Michigan snow here in SE PA!
BBs & pellets are dangerous and bit too much just to drive off a dog - and I don't want to break out my .410 shotgun to get rid of the bums (too much noise)...
True. But if you've got a little room around the old estate, there is a way to get their attention....
When my kid was growing up, my policy was to let him have toy guns that fired a projectile foam dart or plastic pellet ammo, even water guns and super soakers, anything from which something really came out of the front end when that trigger was pulled- there was a lesson there. I wanted him to know there was a result in front, and that they were not just noisemakers that went *bang.*
It worked great until his grandparents [mom's side, naturally] decided to buy him a set of cowboy cap pistols. Fairly nice ones. Thankfully, he seemed to have picked up the lesson by then, and if he ever pointed one of them at another kid in play, I never caught him at it. He got his first serious rifle, a Number I Mark III Enfield SMLE, when he was 12. He can keep his shots on a six-gallon paint bucket with it at a quarter mile.
-archy-/-
Fine so long as you're not lefthanded, in which case the rifle with throw ejected empty brass into your nose, and you're better in the market for oner of the earlier pre-1964 Winchesters that ejects straight up, unhandy with a telescopic sight, but nicely suited for ambidextrous use.
I'm looking to buy an M-1 Garrand.
Swell rifles. The commercial reporos have not yet reached the level of manufacturing expertise and perfection reached by the wartime manufacturers after millions of units. You're probably looking at a cost of between $500 and $1000, depending on condition, collectors' desirability, match accuracy conditioning and other factors, but those from the Civilian Marksmanship Program are indeed a bargain.
Does anyone know where I can get a good one for not a whole lot of money?
Check the CMP sales prices as a guide, and watch for a target shooter upgrading from a service-grade Garand to a match-tuned rifle, or to an M14 or M16 match gun. That'll still be very servicable, to the standards of those issued to most soldiers, and fine for a beginning user or target shooter.
I want it because it's the rifle that won WWII, and it's a dandy weapon to shoot.
***The most perfect battle implement ever devised, *** per no less an authority than General George Patton, though his familiarity was limited with the tools of 1945 and before. It would be interesting to see if he'd have made the same observation after an introduction to the M1A2 Abrams tank, named for a tank battalion officer under Patton's command.
Targets only, of course.
So long as you all are fortunate, and no one decides to harm or kill you for your possessions or beliefs. I certainly hope that remains the case, but I would not bet my life or that of anyone for whom I care on it.
-archy-/-
Ok, motorcycle, mini-bike, computer camp, enrollment in the BSA, REAL shooting lessons at the local range, Martial arts class, etc.
Motorcycle!?! I can't think of anything more violent. Motorcycle riding is riskier than cigarette smoking. You'd be better off giving your child a carton of Marlboros.
Particularly the versions with the automatic weapons or antitank rocket launchers fitted.
Some of those off-road ATV riders can be a rough sort, too.
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