going to buy a rifle---advice?

[Riko]

As a non-American, I find this whole thread kinda funny and it makes me curious at the same time :)

I am tired of asking myself the same question all over again "what is it with Americans and their guns" so I'll just assume it's a historical thing/tradition :)

Much like the Dutch do iceskating, the Belgians love cycling etc I guess.

ps: talking about Belgium, any of you guys own a FN-weapon of some sort? (one of our most infamous export products)

[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by Riko

As a non-American, I find this whole thread kinda funny and it makes me curious at the same time :)

ps: talking about Belgium, any of you guys own a FN-weapon of some sort? (one of our most infamous export products)

I have a Savage 30-06 that was built in Belgium. It was one of thier lines that had a little fancier engraving and action in it.

Guns are like any other product. There are many different types of enthusiasts - collectors, sportsmen, defense, guys that learned everything they know on a playstation, and constitution owners (because its my right!).
To those that buy a 9mm pistol to defend their home - I say you haven't done much shooting and testing of your abilities to shoot under extenuating circumstances, and what a bullet does in with different materials. Paper targets at the gun range are NOT real life. If you really want to defend your home, and minimize potential risk to your family and neighbors, you'd have a shotgun under your bed, not something that is going to go through a couple walls and still have the ability to kill your daughter in the next room. Yes, a shotgun blast will go through two pieces of sheet rock, but it will only injure a person on the other side, not kill them. Plus I'd prefer to have the foot wide kill shot area rather than a 1/4 inch zone.....have you ever had the shakes when shooting? Makes it really hard to aim. How many of you will be calm if you actually had someone standing in your hallway? Anyone that says they will is a liar, and has probably never had their guns sights on something living.
The thought of protecting yourself with a gun is idealistic for 99% of people - it will NOT go down like it does in your head.

[shaunjohnson]

we'd prolly be safer with the old muskets you can imagine someone trying to draw that on you.

my mate has a small calibre air powered rifle, wonder if you could get larger ones that could be used for deer and such?
i'd imagine they would be cheaper to run?

hell..who am i to stur up a hornets nest here...my bad!!
it's your law to be allowed own one over there (as far as i know) so it's prolly what riko said, culture/history.

[redshift]

Originally Posted by JThiessen

How many of you will be calm if you actually had someone standing in your hallway? Anyone that says they will is a liar, and has probably never had their guns sights on something living.
The thought of protecting yourself with a gun is idealistic for 99% of people - it will NOT go down like it does in your head.

Now THAT is a very mature POV. Really needed to be said, thanks JT.

I am a big believer in constitutional rights. However these people that talk about taking on a gov't run amok, for example, are not living in the now.

To readers abroad, the right to bear arms was in fact built in EXPLICITLY for the people to protect themselves from a tyrannical gov't. The problem is, when the constitution was drafted, the people and the 'law' had a nice even playing field. There was no advantage on either side, it was musket vs. musket.

That is not at all the case anymore, the people have peashooters (and I don't care if we're talking 50 cal), the military/police have microwave weapons that will melt your skin off, sonic weapons that can make you physically sick, and a huge number of other toys that make any firearm look silly.

If it's home defense you're concerned with, anything bigger than a .38 is just going to make more noise. And anything that requires both hands, rifle or shotty, will be cumbersome and leave you one less hand for throwing heavy objects while you're unloading rounds... and for agility in extreme situations.

I have no love for guns, they are simply tools. This is from someone who knew how to reload .223 rounds at age 9. By the way I'm not bragging, it's hardly what I wanted to be doing while everyone else was outside playing...

I really like what you said there JT, more people would realize how unprepared they were just by doing a simple drill, or break-in simulation. Families have fire drills, no reason to not have a drill for an intruder. You may have the tools, but do you have the actual preparedness?