Posted on 06/14/2016 6:35:59 PM PDT by digger48
It feels like a bazooka — and sounds like a cannon.
One day after 49 people were killed in the Orlando shooting, I traveled to Philadelphia to better understand the firepower of military-style assault weapons and, hopefully, explain their appeal to gun lovers.
But mostly, I was just terrified.
Many gun shops turned down our request to fire and discuss the AR-15, a style of semi-automatic rifle popular with mass killers such as San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook and similar to the Sig Sauer MCX rifle used by Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen.
Killers in mass shootings used AR-15, thanks to NRA But Frank Stelmach of Double Tap Shooting Range and Gun Shop invited me, videographer Michael Sheridan and reporter Adam Shrier to come down. Stelmach is not like many gun lovers. He admires his weaponry, yes, and has difficulty explaining why law-abiding citizens need a gun that can empty a 40-round clip in less than five seconds. But he also hates the idea that “bad people” get a hold of a gun like this and use it to kill without difficulty.
“There should be expanded background checks — extending into your family, friends and associates,” he said. “And there should be a mental health screening. In Europe, if you want to buy a gun, you have to see a doctor (for a psychiatric examination) to see if something’s not right.”
Gersh Kuntzman works with gun ghop owner Frank Stelmach on how to handle the AR-15. Gersh Kuntzman works with gun ghop owner Frank Stelmach on how to handle the AR-15. Stelmach, who opened his shop six years ago after a career in law enforcement in Europe, even calls for government officials to take away guns from some owners — something very few gun advocates support.
He also said he never sells a gun to someone who “looks a little bit funny,” and he claimed he had prevented many guns from getting into the wrong hands because the would-be purchaser “asked stupid questions” like, “What happens to me if the gun is stolen?”
But very few gun shop owners do anything close to Stelmach’s sniff test — and he acknowledged how easy it is to find another gun shop owner willing to make the sale.
Very easy. In fact, as Philadelphia Daily News columnist Helen Ubinas showed today, you can get a military weapon in seven minutes in this country.
Richard Cohen: American insanity: Assault rifles for all Stelmach doesn’t think it should be easy. But he thinks it should be allowed.
He loves the AR-15 for cops, soldiers, hunters and target shooters. “It’s fun to shoot something like that,” he said.
Not in my hands. I’ve shot pistols before, but never something like an AR-15. Squeeze lightly on the trigger and the resulting explosion of firepower is humbling and deafening (even with ear protection).
The recoil bruised my shoulder. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary case of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable.
Even in semi-automatic mode, it is very simple to squeeze off two dozen rounds before you even know what has happened. In fully automatic mode, it doesn’t take any imagination to see dozens of bodies falling in front of your barrel.
All it takes is the will to do it.
Forty nine people can be gone in 60 seconds.
Is “KUNTZMAN” transitioning?
Bless his little snowflake heart.
5.56mm
The AR or any other .223 is a great plinker and varmint rifle because it doesn’t have a lot of recoil. I shoot a Ruger Mini-14. It is very accurate and easy to get a close grouping. I have also fired a 1903 Springfield. It does kick, but if the shooter knows how to properly shoulder it, it is no big deal.
I would like to see this goof try a Taurus Judge loaded with 45 long colt rounds. Probably send him to a mental institution.
Shooting it was pure joy. Almost no recoil. Amazingly accurate.
Yeah, it was loud -- It was a freaking rifle.
I sold it to a friend many years ago and have regretted ever since.
He probably would have run off to Mexico to avoid the draft.
...brass shell casings...as they flew past my face. Huh? Did he have his head on the wrong side of the gun?
Someone should nominate this fecal floater for the Pulitzer in fiction ...
ROTFLMAO! Archive it before the editors get a whiff of it!
CC
Naw, fools like this author are living on Magic Thinking. It’s why they lie so prolifically.
Oh dear lord above!
Back in basic we called the M-16 the ‘Sproing’ gun, because that was because the spring was the loudest thing we would hear when firing it.
Now if you want LOUD, then you should shoot a Lee Enfield in .303. My friend was sighting one in and a dead tree fell over from the shock wave from the rifle. That was a funny sight I must admit too.
“The recoil bruised my shoulder.”
Are you f-ing kidding me? You can fire an AR-15 with the butt of the rifle on your gonads and fell only mild discomfort. What are his shoulders made out of, wet toilet tissue?
All edits have been sanitized and locked down. Guess WIKI didn’t approve.
What? I've fired one and it was fun, nice crack sound to it.
What a bedwetting wuss. Also, screw this gunshop owner! I wish I lived close to him so I could not shop at his store.
“The recoil bruised my shoulder.”
What a pussy! My Remington 700 SPS .308 kicks more than that!!! Sad that I’m a girl and I’m more of a man than this pathetic weasel is.
If it’s that scary for you to fire, I suggest you don’t. Leave it to real men (and women) who are capable non-whiners. And in the future, maybe focus your reporting on things you can handle, fashion, the looming kale shortage, etc.
Kuntzman is obviously a homosexual liberal Jew with zip firearm experience
But can you imagine having that last name?
Oh dear!!!
{*** spit ***}
They are working toward a total information ban, it seems, at Wiki. The truth about the columnist lasted less than 24 hours.
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