When folks call guns...

[Bill Schwab]

I really hate it when people call a gun a weapon.  I guess I view my guns as tools of the hobby, like golf clubs, I did not buy them to be a weapon.  Sure they can be used as a weapon, but so can a steak knife.  Col. Cooper, please forgive me.

Bill

[ErikW]

Me too! Not such much anymore, but it really used to irk me. (Of course, I used to not shoot at "human" targets either.) Maybe the next time an RO says, "You are clear to handle your weapon," I'll produce a can of pepper spray. No, a box cutter, that's it!

[Detlef]

yeah, I guess we omitted *You are clear to handle your weapon* from the list of undocumented range commands... It's one that always makes me smile and think back of my (good ole') days at Gunsite and ThunderRanch...

--Detlef

[Chriss Grube]

Bill,

Sorry but that's what it is, a weapon. When they designed them they were for killing and putting game on the table. We apapted them to toys for a game. The knife, club and bow and arrows are the same thing. A gun or firearm is just a specific weapon. We try to down play everything to please the anti-gun crowd and be PC. I miss the days of a spade being a spade and not having to apologize for it!

[ErikW]

Calling my gun a weapon is a logical leap you are making. It was designed and built for one thing only. I've never shot anybody with it, shot at anybody with it, pointed it at anybody, or kept or carried it with the possibility it might be used to shoot somebody.

Now I might have another firearm that has been used for one or more of those purposes, and you could call that a weapon. But guns used strictly for recreation or competition are tools or toys or equipment.

Do you think anybody refers to a javelin throwers' equipment as a weapon? To a trap shooter's equipment as a weapon? What makes a competition handgun so different from a competition shotgun or javelin that you have to call it a weapon?

Calling all guns weapons is like calling all men and women breeders. After all, they were designed and made only for reproduction.

BTW, I drive an automobile, not a horseless carriage. It's another adaptation from the original design.

(Edited by Erik Warren at 7:52 pm on Dec. 14, 2001)

[2alpha]

When we start thinking we must call our weapons something else we're falling into the pc liberal gun grabbers trap.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling your pistol a weapon, you may choose to use it in competition but it's still a DEADLY weapon.  We have ICBM's with nuclear warheads on them ready to go, since they haven't killed anyone yet what should we call them? We are only using them as a detterent so by pc reasoning they're not weapons? Bull#$$t.

It's a weapon and deserves the respect that term brings to it. It's damn sure not a toy.

JJ

[Bill Schwab]

I am not at all trying to be PC, I think along the same lines as Erik on this... I've never heard anyone refer to a bow & arrow as a weapon, even though that was what they were originally designed as, why must weapon be labeled to my guns, especially if I never intend to use them for that purpose.  

I respect my guns, and do not view them as toys, I view them as tools that COULD be used as a weapons, much the same way I could use my car as a weapon.

I often have wondered if calling guns weapons is reinforced by those who have been in the military (I was Army infantry).  In the Army when they said "Go get your weapon" they didn't mean the Mortar, they meant the M16.

Bill

[EricW]

I'm really burnt out the "weapon" stuff, but I'm burnt out on all the commando/tactical/assault/combat crap too.  I will save my rant for a later post.  (It's gonna be a doozy..)

E

[Flexmoney]

Main Entry: [1]weap·on

Pronunciation: 'we-p&n

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English wepen, from Old English w[AE]pen; akin to Old High German wAffan weapon, Old Norse vApn

Date: before 12th century

1 : something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy

2 : a means of contending against another

[Flexmoney]

Main Entry: [1]gun

Pronunciation: 'g&n

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English gonne, gunne

Date: 14th century

1 a : a piece of ordnance usually with high muzzle velocity and comparatively flat trajectory b : a portable firearm (as a rifle or handgun) c : a device that throws a projectile

2 a : a discharge of a gun especially as a salute or signal b : a signal marking a beginning or ending

3 a : HUNTER b : GUNMAN

4 : something suggesting a gun in shape or function

5 : THROTTLE

- gunned /'g&nd/ adjective

- under the gun : under pressure or attack

[bonedaddy]

I have never served in the military.  But, I do consider all my guns, knives, forearms, elbows, ect. to be weapons.  I have always believed that a weapon was a special kind of tool.  A tool for defense when  a nefarious person tries to do me or my loved ones harm.

It's OK to see your gun as a piece of sporting equipment.  I understand guys who don't like all the "tactical talk"  and "Rambo BS" that we sometimes see.   I don't care for it either.  In todays society, gun toting guys like us can seem kinda scary to those who don't understand.  It is best if we keep a kind and civil appearance.   The truth is my guns ARE weapons.  And I do want to learn the best way to employ them for self defence.   What I don't want to do is look or sound like Rambo while I am doing it.

  My wife just looked over my shoulder.   She read, grimaced, and said, " if they can kill you they are weapons".  

There you have it, bonemomma knows her weapons

[Flexmoney]

man...the ultimate weapon.

[Avalanche]

My, I should not type this, thought is: money would then be a weapon also.

[bonedaddy]

Bill, maybe you didn't intend to start such an interesting discussion in semantics, but thank you.  It really does give one a reason to ponder.  Money indeed!  Or Man, as Kyle suggests.  Or perhaps the human tongue?  

[Bill Schwab]

bonedaddy,

No I didn't intend for it to lead this way.  Instead I was wondering what most of us on this site thought about the use of the word weapon.

Bill

[bonedaddy]

   Bill, I'm really not opposed to the use of the word weapon, as it applies to our firearms in a match setting.  Given our practical roots, and all.  I understand though, that it does have a bit of a "hostile" ring to it.  And some competitors may not see the firearm as a weapon at all,  under these circumstances.   So if they want don't want me to call it a weapon, I'll happily comply.  

    Funny, I was pondering the question this afternoon on the range and I realized something.   I never shoot all my ammo during practice.  I always keep half a mag or so to get me back to the house.   Maybe that's the real test of how we view our roscoes.   If a guy doesn't mind walking back home with no ammo, he probably just see's his piece  as a gun.  

"Does the shooter understand the course of fire?"

     (shooter nods)

"You may load your weapon,  and let the hostilities commence"  

       What ever you call it, have fun!

                       Sam

[Chriss Grube]

Flex is almost right. Man using his brain. If you want to get technical just about anything can and has been adapted in to some sort of makeshift weapon. Personally I don't care what you call it. Just don't try to take them away!

[Flexmoney]

"Flex is almost right"

...I missed it by  ___ that much

...ok, would you believe _____________ that much?

[svshooter]

I really got a good laugh at bonedaddy's last post and DO consider my "roscoe" a weapon, even though my competition gun is not used or carried for self defense.

(Edited by svshooter at 7:23 pm on Jan. 1, 2002)

(Edited by svshooter at 7:32 pm on Jan. 1, 2002)