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A Lived Experience: AR-15 Wokesanity
The geniuses at The Babylon Bee could not have done a better job. As a reporter ventured to Vermont’s first ever indoor gun range…wait a minute. Hold the phone! How does the ‘Freedom and Unity’ state, a constitutional carry state that allows permitless concealed carry (PC) and open carry (OC), never have an indoor gun range until June 2021? I’m floored by that revelation, but I digress. A topic for another day.
I’ll give the reporter an ounce of credibility for even showing up for this experience but the piece is laced with liberal nuance, revealing an undercurrent of bias from the get-go. Cue eye-roll – not shocked. This is no more obvious than his hyperbolic description of firing the “beast” that is the AR-15.
Reporter "rattled" after firing AR-15 at Vermont's first indoor gun range: "It felt like a meteor had struck the earth in front of me. A deep shock wave coursed through my body, the recoil rippling through my arms and right shoulder with astounding power." https://t.co/7q7h9lqcmO pic.twitter.com/1jP6nepsSA
— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) August 5, 2021
Since I’ve been told by my betters that lived experience is now truth, I guess I’ll let this reporter wallow in the comfort of his own delusion. But whose lived experience do we settle on? When others’ lived experiences run contradictory, it seems only the powerful decide what’s true despite the evidence.
I could regale you with stories of frail, 90-pound septuagenarians or red-pilled anti-gunner liberals waking up to defund the police policies or even heart transplant recipients fearful of recoil asking for rifle training.
I could bore you to tears with calibers, ballistic coefficients, impact force calculations, etc. Instead, I’ll offer up video evidence of a different lived experience. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is this video worth? Priceless!
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Published in General
Well, he was right, then.
Shooting on the line next to Mosin is comparable to shooting next to 81mm mortar if done under cover. ;-)
The Bee weighs in.
thanks @charlotte – My gold medal of the week beating the Bee to the presses ;-)
Hopefully the range had baffling on the walls so the sounds doesn’t fill the entire building . . .
Dr Jill caught Ol’ Joe watching this video and took his smart phone away.
The effects of firing a gun are relative. I have put thousands of rounds down range with all of my various guns. However, I usually start off my 1911 with a .22 adapter slide on it. It gives me a chance to get comfortable with the pistol before I shoot the more expensive .45 ACP rounds through it. I would much rather warm up cheaply than waste rounds. The transition of firing the .45s after 50 or so .22s is initially a shock, no matter how many times I have done it. Even loading the .45 magazine feels a little intimidating. Everything is relative. On the other hand, if I start my shooting off with my S&W 629 firing “bear thumper” .44 mags the transition to the 1911 feels like a pussy cat.
If that reporter had never fired a gun before, it is likely his experience had a lot more to do with the noise than the actual recoil which is negligible in an AR-15 which shoots what we most often refer to as a “mouse round.” However, perception is reality, and his perception was of deadly power. Probably a few more trips to the range and he would be wanting to fire an ’06 next. It kind of grows on you.
Imagination is a powerful thing. The reporter imagined he would be terrified, so he was terrified. By the time I fired the shotgun, I’d been plinking with .22s for three years.
I told Grandma when I came back inside that if she ever needed to fire the gun in self-defense, she should put the butt against the wall. She said that that was exactly what Grandpap had told her.
I got to shoot an AR-15 as a total newbie and lightweight woman attending Hillsdale College’s Shooting Sports Camp for Couples (don’t bother looking it up, you can’t get in. It’s perpetually sold out). Now, this took place at an outdoor range and was the last firearm I had the opportunity to try. Up to that point we’d been shooting 9mm pistols (mostly S&W), revolvers, and 12 gauge shotguns. The AR-15 was a blast! My favorite of every make/model firearm we tried. No recoil and a satisfying ‘plink’ as we knocked over the metal targets. Fantastic! I want one.
Whatever you do, don’t hand that reporter a shotgun! Poor baby.
Don’t hand him Grandma’s, anyway. The stock was a handmade replacement, whittled by someone unfamiliar with the principles of recoil amelioration.
I have a bit of a contrarian view on this. There is a big, big difference between shooting a rifle indoors and shooting one inside the close confines of an indoor range.
Personally, I loathe shooting rifles indoors, and will go out of my way to avoid it.
I blame the range owners for setting this reporter up to fail.
I can imagine that’s the case. I didn’t enjoy shooting after Mr. C and I joined a range. Certainly not as much as outdoor at Hillsdale.
The ranges I go to require hearing protection.
Who’d shoot an AR-15 at an indoor range anyway?
Anyone who wants to, legally anyway.
The depth of our experiences don’t translate to most newcomers to firearms and there are a lot of new firearms owners today. Where else do you recommend they shoot? Yes an outdoor range is more suitable for rifle shooting. I do not know Vermont’s outdoor range availability, but I do know if they are purchasing firearms in any number of large cities, an indoor range is probably their only option.
To some extent I see @kevincreighton point, comment #41 – we are to encourage safety and a long-lasting love affair with the shooting experience. There is some culpability on the range owner to provide the most positive experience possible – it’s a bad business model otherwise. But I am inclined to think this reporter would not have given a good faith review of his AR-15 experience no matter how much the owner prepared him mentally.
I only meant that there’s not much point shooting a rifle on a 25 yard range.
Depends on how you want to use it.
I want to use it to kill people who are coming to harm me and mine. The farther away the better. At 25 yards, I’ll use pistols. I won’t miss.
But if your only available weapon is a rifle, knowing how to use it is a valuable skill. Even at 25 yards.