[Closed] The Gun Shop

Is this a telly programme? or just gun shops in general

Telly program thats just been on.

Saw 5 minutes and couldn't watch it. Too much of a freak show.

The mother teaching her 9yr old how to shoot..
😐
FFS.

I thought it was interesting...the chief of police spoke some sense, as did the father who was on at the end.

Disclaimer before I begin - I own guns. I shoot small furry animals and eat them. I am, therefore, pro gun ownership, I suppose.

However.....

I was in Nashville, with time to kill over a weekend, so I took myself to a "sports store" to kill some time. Look at bike stuff, see if there were any interesting outdoor things to look at. That sort of stuff. I stumbled across the gun section. I knew this, as there was a mirror.

In front of said mirror was a twenty-something man with in one hand a Magnum, and in the other hand, a Desert Eagle. He was posing with them. Looking at himself in the mirror.

Then, he turned to his friend, brandishing the Desert Eagle, and said, "I think this one is more 'me', y'know."

I wanted to pummel him in to the ground.

Guns aren't the problem. I'd never kill a person with mine, just lovely rabbits, pheasants and the like. The problem is the culture that allows a gun to be a fashion accessory. The culture that makes them "normal". I know that my gun ownership is very much abnormal, and I'm fine with that.

Would hate to put in the situation do I buy a gun or not. Its truly an arms race.

Another TV show showing how dense Americans are, I'll pass thanks.

Some Americans. Not all.

What I don't get is why is there never any of these armed people about when some guy starts shooting?

It is considered sensible to bring your kids up in the US with some gun training. You can buy kids guns and teach them how to respect it and have good safety knowledge, obviously how to shoot them too. Seems quite sensible to me.

Used to do a lot of shooting myself flashy. Targets, not furry things. But guns are serious shit, and treated as such, and locked up, in gun clubs

Just watching this on +1 and it's insane!

The idea that you can stroll in off the street and buy a semi-automatic assault rifle is absolute madness!!! WTF does anyone need an assault rifle for? 😯

The guys in the shop are pedding fear to sell guns. Banging on about 'domestic terrorism'. in Shitsville, Idaho or wherever? The paranoia is ridiculous!

You can buy kids guns and teach them how to respect it and have good safety knowledge, obviously how to shoot them too. Seems quite sensible to me.

It is considered sensible to bring your kids up in the US with some gun training. You can buy kids guns and teach them how to respect it and have good safety knowledge, obviously how to shoot them too.

Seems harsh to shoot your kids.

The idea that you can stroll in off the street and buy a semi-automatic assault rifle is absolute madness!!! WTF. Do you need an assault rifle for?

Because it matches your eyes. Look in the mirror...

Agree with you on this, I have to say,

guns are serious shit, and treated as such

Terrifying amount of paranoia on display there! The genie is out of the bottle with America tho. Shame.

It's a bit like Brexit carnage but with deaths, moronic small minded idiots who can't/won't/too stupid to see the much bigger picture.

madness

Hand guns are designed for a single purpose... to kill people

Gun murder stats

"How the US compares: The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 - the most recent year for comparable statistics - was nearly 30 times that in the UK, at 2.9 per 100,000 compared with just 0.1."

Guns are not readily available or common in the uk. It seems in the States there are guns everywhere.

Scary program. I am full of fear .. i am going to buy a gun. You come into my house i will shoot you.
Bad guys have a gun so i am going to have a gun.

You shoot at bad guy, you miss, bad guy kills you
You shoot at bad guy, you hit, bad guy kills you
Better to just hide under the bed ??

Hand guns are designed for a single purpose... to kill people

Nope, they are used for sport too.

I have no interest, it's their gig, their situation, their law to change.

Somewhere in the states there must be a person that sees another way.......

Until then carry on and live with the consequence, families of America, I've more empathy for people battling prejudice closer to home.

The mother teaching her 9yr old how to shoot..

FFS.

I was appalled too, I had to wait until I was 11. That's an age when you are that young!

9? That's ridiculous I had my own by then.

Nope, they are used for sport too.

It is considered sensible to bring your kids up in the US with some gun training.

Not by most of the parents I know.

It looked like insecure, bullied and low self esteem people basically buying self esteem.

If I had a gun saved at me I would be calling 911.

I've fired a number of calibre guns. I'd keep one if I needed it for hunting, farm work etc. I've absuletely no desire to hold, touch or shoot one again though. Horrible scary things.

I watched the programme. I wonder how many of the customers would have the balls to actually shoot someone. Those kids firing at targets, or the adults for that matter seemed to take a long while to pull the trigger. I doubt you'd have the luxury of time if you were shooting at the bad guys they all fear so much.

To me it just seems that you'd die with a gun in your hand.

Or the gun turned on you.

The problem in the States is that there are 500,000 guns in circulation. By all means restrict sales going forward, but wtf do you do about half a billion guns already out there?

From that point of view I can understand the fear that drives people to go down the self defence argument, however flawed.

I work with an American who travels to the UK to work. I asked him in the passing if he was packing heat ? 😯 No obviously I'm not he said but I'm licenced to carry at home. His gun goes on with the rest of his clothes in the morning and never leaves his side. In the rented apartment where he lives and shares with two others, he has 17 handguns, 3 assault rifles (one fitted with a thermal scope) two combat shotguns and a hunting rifle. This collection is for home dee-fence apparently. I asked him if he'd considered moving somewhere where he felt less threatened.

I watched the program last night. That young girl with part of her head missing broke my heart.I have relatives in the US. It's a completely foreign culture joined by a common language.

I'd move.

D.

This collection is for home dee-fence apparently.

better locks on your windows just isn't as sexy as an M-16

I watched bits of it, I guess it was always going to be very one-sided and a bit of a freak show. I really don't understand how the woman at the start (buying a gun because in a road rage incident the other driver had shown her his gun) would feel safer with a gun, it's in now way a deterrent to such behaviour and if anything is just likely to escalate things.
As for the woman with kids asking one of them what plan B was "should mommy go down" I mean wtf.

Davesport, does your college feel less safe in the UK?

hora - Member

It looked like insecure, bullied and low self esteem people basically buying self esteem.
.

And those are probably the people the documentary makers wanted you to see. There was a common thread running through the show.

If I had a gun saved at me I would be calling 911.

Then you'd be dead. Doubly so if you lived anywhere remote or rural. How many people here keep a cricket bat or something somewhere in the house or the ubiquitous maglite torch in the car for self defense? I think America's gun laws are insane but the behavior of the people who live there is pretty understandable under the circumstances.

If I lived there or in Canada I would definitely have a gun. Better looking at it than looking for it.

better locks on your windows

just doesn't cut the mustard when you have nutters in your neighbourhood with:

17 handguns, 3 assault rifles (one fitted with a thermal scope) two combat shotguns and a hunting rifle.

When I have invited African business visitors to my home thay have all expressed shock at our lack of security. They can't believe we live with the house open to the street, no 10' high wall with broken glass or electric wires, no huge steel gate and security man, no mad alsatian, no more than a wood front door with one lock. "Where is your security?" they all ask.

This gives me an insight into what an amazingly safe place Britain and most of Europe is and makes me understand why Africans, Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis are so desperate to get into the country. Even when they do succeed and are dumped in a freezing Victorian house or a damp 70s tower block they must feel relief that at last, they are safe from being shot or dragged outside and hanged from a lamp post.

Its a cultural thing, which is pretty difficult to change.

But we did manage to change the culture of drink driving here in the UK.

Yeah, but the drug addict that breaks in to steal your telly isn't going to come to your neighbourhood tooled up with all that is he?
In the programme most of the handguns were north of $300. (one girl turned down some lessons on how to use her new deadly tool because she'd already spent $500 on a gun and some rounds that she was going to struggle to explain to her husband) drug addicts are going to spend that on getting out of their heads, not buying a gun...

edit: mind you this is the US we're talking about, so I guess anything is possible 😆

better locks and window security would probably do more to assuage their fears TBH

I've not seen the show but my wife is American. One of her uncles has a licence to conceal. He's a dentist. He carries a gun everywhere, all the time. I don't believe he's ever had call to use it or been in a situation where it would be vaguely useful. Yet he feels his need to have a gun is so great that he won't even go on planes because he can't have his gun on him. Goodness knows where he goes on holiday within driving distance of Minnesota that isn't just like Minnesota.

But the thing is the rest of his family, which is fairly big, think it's weird. I think most Americans aren't pro gun, but a small and very vocal minority have kept gun ownership legal. So it's not the norm, but it is portrayed as the norm by those in favour of it.

Yet he feels his need to have a gun is so great that he won't even go on planes because he can't have his gun on him.

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You can see how ingrained the gun is in their culture - when they have an 'ordinary citizen' going on the rampage and shooting and killing three or four people in the next town, it still doesn't compute that free access to firearms can end up multiplying the danger. The response of the gun shop owner is that more 'ordinary citizens' need to be armed in case one of the 'good guys' they armed previously loses the plot.

As for having the conversation with your tiny son about what to do if your mommy gets shot dead by burglars, seriously screwed up.

@rickmeister

Davesport, does your college feel less safe in the UK?

The father of the wounded girl spoke well, but they (and us) are getting in to a two party camp on every subject, "if you are not with us, you are against us"

The gun shop staff seemed like ok guys and really concerned with what was happening. yes they are making money but they have bills to pay as well.

but those poor, scared people.

The gun shop staff seemed like ok guys and really concerned with what was happening. yes they are making money but they have bills to pay as well.

They seemed very down to earth and were not interested in hyping up and fetishising the guns which is something non gun owners in the U.K. Tend to do. They were very calm, observant with the new customers and very hot on safety.
I grew up with guns and worked in the trade so understood exactly what they were about from a very early age, that's why the thread a few months back on here with grown men verbally masterbating over what fantasy weapon they wanted for killing intruders made me cringe. I expect the same people are up in arms about gun use in the U.S. 🙄

That said the U.S. Obviously has a problem that is never going to go away or reduce down to acceptable levels. Maybe it could be done? But like our love affair with the motor car and hatred of cyclists it takes strong political will and a couple of generations for things to change for the better.