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.
Any other veterans wondering what the hell this girlyman is talking about? I’ll bet he’d think a .22 was like an 8 inch howitzer.
Kuntzman is living in lala land and should stay there.
“***speechless***”
Every single line of this dreck infuriates me.
It’s written in Bizarro world. And I will make it a mission to ensure that this “gun store” loses every customer it has.
What gender does this person identify as?
You spelled the author’s name wrong. That’s Kuntzman with a C and no Z.
Extreme faggotry.
Pajama Boi is like John Wayne compared to Gertz.
I’d like to let this sissy fire my 1903 Springfield.
He’s just a liar. His assignment is to lie. He gets paid to lie. Everyone who has ever handled a firearm knows he is a liar. This is aimed at scaring women, and nothing more.
The AR-15 doesn’t have a full automatic mode.
“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.”
OMG!
,,,,, it’s like music to my ears ,,, lock and load ,,, rock and roll !!!!!
What kind of manly name is GERSH KUNTZMAN?
Transsexual, or naturally defective?
What an unqualified reporter! He needs to fire a heavier caliber like .45-70 to be able to make a judgment about recoil. Even further, check out the price of 40 round magazines and then estimate how many people have them. And, as always, he never asks why there wasn’t a good guy with a gun there inside the building. Better yet, why weren’t there multiple armed attendees?
This efin moron has no idea what a bomb, bazooka or a cannon sound like. But to use PTSD to describe his feelings is the height of wimpiness. My six year old niece could kick his girly boy ass and then laugh at his ptsd.
What an ...oh you know the rest.
Try “ bump fire ar15 video “ on your search engine .
Fair to say the author has never heard artillery.
The AR-15 doesn’t have a full automatic mode.
***********
And it kicks like a 10/22... this isn’t journalism it’s just an attempt to get a certain class of arms banned by first scaring the stupid and uninformed.
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