RANGER AGAINST WAR: Battle Rattle for the Catwalk <

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Battle Rattle for the Catwalk


All boys love liberty, till experience convinces them
they are not so fit to govern themselves as they imagined.

-- Samuel Johnson


Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism
--George Washington

_________

My last installment from October's Gun & Ammo, promise.

One must really love something beyond the firearms themselves to swallow this garbage about "accessorizing correctly." Get a load of the little camo flag top dead center of the 2nd Amendment-happy blokes' body armor.


Why must citizens have tactical combat rigs, anyway? And why tactical classes and assault fire schools? Who are these people planning on shooting? If they become victims of a home invasion, are they planning to fire and maneuver against the perpetrators?


Ranger loves firearms as aesthetic pieces and collects historical weapons. This is my life's expertise, but people like Mssrs. Sweeney and Fortier in the photo have turned the word "gunny" into a scary and unsavory concept.


Yes, the 2nd Amendment gives the U.S. citizen the right to possess firearms, even those of a military nature, but is this pseudo-military posture that of the average gunowner?


Ranger often wonders why these tactical types so often are not combat veterans, themselves?

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14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was in the ANG 68 to 73 myself and there were a lot of people like this but they didn't go to Nam. One of the people I knew from those days calles out of the blue and wants to know I want to go paint balling with bunch guys from the unit and sure if I could have real bullets. They never called me after that. I'm really good with pistol,rifle, and shotgun (trap) but I don't own any but things like this and my govt. make me wonder if maybe I shouldn't.
jo6pac
PS they wouldn't even join Blackwater.

Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 3:22:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

jo,

I've often thought that during deer season, several hundred armed persons should be turned loose in the woods to counter-hunt the hunters, just to keep it interesting. That would eliminate the sportsmen, for sure.

Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 3:35:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That for sure, friends in N. Calif go hunting a few weeks before the season with blessing from FG because after that you put your life in danger from the crazies. I remember going fly fishing with the brother over a few days and when the first shots rang out, the brother looked at me and we slowly got out of the stream and packed up and left the high sierra. I like your idea.
jo6pac
Good luck this season

Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 4:03:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

"I remember going fly fishing with the brother over a few days..."

It's great that you take minority members out of the inner city for a fishing trip. Too bad the possibility of a High Sierra drive-by truncated the thing.

Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 4:50:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry, he's by brother by blood and a great person.
jo6pac

Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 9:50:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

i am with you ranger. and jo, i have never, ever, been anything but revulsed by paintball. my son received his first .22 at the age of nine, and his first single shot .410 shotgun at 11. he has never owned or been given a toy gun. it was something i refuse to have associated with play. guns are fine tools for the taking of life. they can be needed weapons for defense. they are not objects of play in any circumstance.

i have told ranger about one of my prize possessions. it is a brace of matched .32 cal french flintlock dueling pistols. they are gorgeous with ivory, silver and brass appointments on the burled walnut stocks. the balance and fit to hand of them is so perfect that even folks with no weapons experience bring them to eye level as soon as they pick them up. it is almost like the weapons possess the power to impel motion. they also have three tiny lines of inlay on the top of the barrell, right down the sight line of two silver and one bright gold that force the eye right up to the sight and the target.

despite being smoothbores that shoot round balls, one can pop a pimple off a gnat's ass at 40 paces.

they are beautiful, elegant, and deadly.

i still hunt, not nearly as much as i used to do. my hunts lately have been done with muzzle loaders, open sights, but always, with respect for the object of the hunt, and love of nature. just the way i was taught as a boy.

Monday, October 1, 2007 at 9:58:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

MB,

And what did that gnat's ass ever do to you that you'd wanna shoot it off, eh? have you really thought this out? :)

to jo6pac: How does one b/c blood bros. in this day of AIDS and Hep C? I myself am afraid to engage in the honored blood bros. ceremony of yore.

Monday, October 1, 2007 at 5:34:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Who are these people planning on shooting?" Don't you know, Ranger? With the armaments bestowed on them by the Second Amendment to your constitution, they will repel any evil government that sends Apaches, Abramses, and Thunderbolts to impose socialism on them. Greetings from Quebec, where the citizenry is in revolt against excessively liberal (i.e. too lax) gun control laws.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 9:28:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Axel,

That's the absurdity, isn't it? No matter how big of a bore your weapon has, you're not much of a match for the Abrams, eh?

Re. your Quebecois revolt against liberal gun laws, I'd be interested in you perspective. . .

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 2:00:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

Axel,

Doesn't it seem as though we're imposing socialism on Iraq? Isn't that what oil revenue sharing amounts to?

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 5:23:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ranger: Heh, that depends on who does the sharing, and with whom. Depriving a country of essential services in order to pump up a power elite somewhere else is hardly socialism.

Lisa: Sorry I can't expand on the question here. I can see both sides on the gun issue and no-one, to my knowledge, has come up with a satisfactory idea.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 11:27:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

Axel,

Point well-taken re. the socialism aspect.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 8:30:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That photo isn't from a real magazine, is it? Making the outdoor life more appealing to todays softer male?

Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 12:36:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

anon,

From Gun & Ammo--as real as it gets.

You've got it right. I believe there's a clause in the Second Amendment about making gun ownership more appealing to the metrosexual crowd. . .

Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 7:23:00 AM GMT-5  

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