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.
Wonder how “he” would react to my 338 Lapua?
It is good for the entire country this man doesnt own guns.
The left will lie as they are ordered. They are all filth.
Try a Mosin Nagant M44 for a kick.
or felt incoming
I have a Trapdoor carbine that will just about remove ones teeth when fired and makes the 03' a breath of fresh air. I made the mistake of firing it rapidly after a dismount and will not do it again unless I have a solid shoulder set.
Where was his face to get the shells to fly by? He’s lying, I doubt he even did this. Smokeless might have an ammonia smell up close but not sulfur- no sulfur in smokeless.
Anybody can lie. I picked up a 105 Howitzer and I was surprised how easy it was to aim. I looked for the trigger and did not find it, the instructor said I had to pull a lanyard. Whomp! Quite a kick but not as bad as I had expected. The instructor pointed and said watch! Two seconds after I pulled the lanyard, way over the hills, a barn just BURST into matchsticks. I didn’t even hear the BOOM for five seconds!
Shell casing flying past his face means he shot left handed, or he is lying.
The sound being so loud means the range owner neglected to give ear plugs or muffs, or he is lying.
The lack of recoil in an AR-15 means the has a serious physical ailment that makes him bruise when a butterfly lands on him, or he is lying.
Guess which way I am leaning...
Sounds even more horrifying when the bad guy has one aimed at you and you aren’t allowed to have any, because you might disturb the peace.
This is why global warming is such a big issue. Too many damn snowflakes.
I web searched images of: girl AR-15. Didn’t see Kuntzman.
Saw a lot of girls firing AR-15s. In swimsuits. Grinning.
Kuntzman may be trying to scare women, but only made himself the most girlieman posterboy.
BTW, Kuntzy, more and more woman are arming and getting carry permits.
What a Friggin Pussy. Yes, I said Pussy. Sue me.
Yes...but in his social set he can dine out forever with the story getting more lurid and ridiculous with each retelling.
He actually went into the lions den “and it was horrible, just horrible, too horrible for words.... Let me tell you...and the bruises...OMG!... The bruises and....”
That’s just another form of porn for progressives. They eat up all those “victim narratives”.
He is now a bona fide gun expert in the world in which he lives.
His problem is that nowadays NO ONE is THAT stupid.
God help this guy if he ever has to harvest his own meat.
Heck, when SHTF he will probably just be eaten by a deer.
>>I’d like to let this sissy fire my 1903 Springfield.
I’d pay money to see that. I’d pay more money to see the same with some of the other calibers discussed.
No duh. A 30-06 lets you know you pulled the trigger. Even a 30-30. How about a 12 gauge :)
That was like a cross between a John Semmens parody article and something from The Onion. If the writer is actually that much of a loser he needs to go drown himself immediately. Don’t use up any more oxygen.
lol I sold my Browning BAR Sporter in 30.06 to buy an AR because the recoil on the AR was next to nothing by comparison.
Another Northeast girly-man journalist talking through his Easter bonnet. Of course, Bill O’Reilly stated tonight that “heavy weapons” like the AR-15 should be banned.
We are talked down to by insufferable know-it-alls who in reality are nothing but clueless loudmouths.
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