Hey folks, 12-Gauge Chimp here. I've been wanting to talk about this topic for quite awhile now and I figured this is as good a time as any to do so.
The topic I want to speak about is stupid gun videos and why they irritate me.
Now, I love watching videos where folks go to the range to have fun with family and friends. Those I have no problem with and honestly love to see folks having fun. What I do have a problem with is the videos where the idiots behind the camera hand an inexperienced shooter or someone who's never fired a gun before a powerful gun. Whether it's a .50 cal Desert Eagle or some other type of heavy recoiling firearm, you just don't hand one of those guns to someone who has never shot a gun before or has no experience with heavy recoiling guns. You start them off with a .22 and work up to the bigger guns. What really pisses me off is when the person firing the gun gets hit with the heavy recoil and is in obvious pain while the person behind the camera is laughing their ass off. Then they wonder why the person doesn't want to fire a gun ever again. Honestly, I don't blame them for not wanting to be anywhere near a gun again because of their friend or family member's stupidity and carelessness. What also gets me is the folks who hand an inexperienced person a firearm with little to no instruction on how to properly hold it or operate it. There's plenty of videos on YouTube and other video sharing sites where guys will hand their loved ones or friends a gun, give them a very basic rundown on how to shoot it and then get pissed off when the folks break several range safety rules. Here's an idea, guys and gals, before you hand the new shooter a gun, give them a briefing in the four basic rules of gun safety. It's not that hard and doesn't take that much time to teach them.
Another type of video that irritates me is when shooters film themselves engaging in dangerous and idiotic behavior with their firearms.
These types of videos include,
1) People who have no business handling a gun, making what I call "I'm a badass gang member or street thug even though I live in the suburbs" type videos.
2) People who are obviously drunk and handling firearms when they really, really shouldn't be doing so.
3) Prank videos involving guns. (Really, guys? Why do you involve a gun in a prank?)
4) People who like to think of themselves as these 'elite' gun experts and showing themselves engaging in really poor shooting and gun handling activities. A lot of these types of videos include the person on camera wearing a mask of some kind in order to hide their face (probably to save themselves from ridicule from friends and family)
There's a few other types of videos I'm leaving off the list. Mostly because there aren't that many of them out there.
I see these videos all the time and it irritates me to no end. We gun owners get a lot of bad press from the media and the general public and I feel that it has a lot to do with these types of videos. Not all gun owners engage in this type of behavior, but that doesn't stop the general public and media from thinking we do. If you want to see exactly what I'm talking about for yourselves, go to YouTube and type in 'gun fails' in the search bar there. I guarantee there will be millions of results for these types of videos. Usually in compilation form because there are so many of them.
In the end, I sincerely ask you folks to please not engage in this type of behavior. As gun owners, we have the responsibility to have this public image as being mature, professional and knowledgeable adults while owning firearms and using them. We also have this responsibility to make sure we handle our firearms in a safe manner. We've got to show the media and anti-gunners that we're not all a bunch of immature morons who are compensating for something by owning a gun. Gun owners come in all races, religions, political affiliations, lifestyles and genders.We hold all sorts of jobs as well. Gun owners are all over the country, it's not just limited to one part of the country as some folks in the media would like you to believe.
As always, this is 12-Gauge Chimp signing off.
