New York man wows at Virginia gun rally with 5-foot sniper rifle

NY POST ^ | 1/20/20

[DeathBeforeDishonor1]

A New Yorker toting a massive, military-grade sniper rifle may have been the biggest star of Monday’s pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va.

The enthusiast — identified by The Washington Post as Brandon Lewis, the owner of a shooting range in upstate Bergen, NY — drew stares and compliments with his .50-caliber Barrett M82A1 rifle, a semiautomatic piece that saw use by the American military beginning in the Gulf War.

“This sends a strong visual message,” Lewis told the paper, cradling the firearm and decked out in a helmet and bulletproof vest. “The government is not above us. They are us.”

Lewis said he made the drive down to The Old Dominion from the Empire State with his wife to show their support for the rights of gun owners.

“It’s a reminder to our politicians that the government is by the people and for the people,” he said, referring to the weapon, estimated to be about 5 feet in length. “It’s to draw attention.”

And draw attention it did, with many rally attendees and journalists tweeting out photos of Lewis and his long-gun.

“This range owner brought a whole ass Barrett 50. cal, amazing,” wrote user @alec_sears.

[Capt. Tom]

I carried a BAR in Basic Training probably because I was 5'5" and 107 lbs. Drill Sergeant also had me fire a M1 grenade round from the shoulder, carried bruises for a good while over that one.

I hope you were spared carrying, the BAR through the valley where they poured in the tear gas, and you had to stop, put on your gas mask, and carry the BAR up the slope with limited breathing capacity, to the top of the next hill, to remove the gas mask, and to get some fresh air. - Tom

[itsahoot]

I hope you were spared carrying, the BAR through the valley where they poured in the tear gas, and you had to stop, put on your gas mask, and carry the BAR up the slope

Nope, didn't do that, doubt I could have even if I wanted too.

I had a couple WW II Pilipinos as drill sgts and they were tough as boots and not much bigger than I was, but a whole lot tougher.

We did go into the gas house and waited until the filled it with CS then had to put on mask and clear it to get out, most managed to do that, a few couldn't.

Some of my memories may have even happened the way I remember them now, maybe not. 1956 was a long time ago and I can't even remember what I watched on TV last night.

[itsahoot]

I hope you were spared carrying, the BAR through the valley where they poured in the tear gas, and you had to stop, put on your gas mask, and carry the BAR up the slope

Nope, didn't do that, doubt I could have even if I wanted too.

I had a couple WW II Pilipinos as drill sgts and they were tough as boots and not much bigger than I was, but a whole lot tougher.

We did go into the gas house and waited until the filled it with CS then had to put on mask and clear it to get out, most managed to do that, a few couldn't.

Some of my memories may have even happened the way I remember them now, maybe not. 1956 was a long time ago and I can't even remember what I watched on TV last night.

[Svartalfiar]

IAC, these days, IMHO, not very smart to go public about owning such a gun...

If I remember correctly from another article, this is the guy that owns a gun shop. The Feds already know all about his machine guns and piles of 'sniper' rifles.

[Svartalfiar]

When shooting individual rounds, you didn't pull a trigger you used both thumbs to depress a butterfly mechanism to fire the single shot.

I assume you're talking about the M2. The butterfly trigger is used for full auto or single shot. The selector is a ring around the butt that you clipped onto a lever switch.

[Stentor]

OMG! Are you ever dating yourself!! :-)!!

Time has done that for me. I was 9 or 10 when that show came on.

John Russell was my favorite actor of that era. Was happy to see him in Pale Rider.

[archy]

How many 5 foot snipers are there?

Quite a few in Mexico.