• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    16
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t agree with the thesis of this article. I do not like 4-H taking NRA money and I think 8 is too young, but I have no issue in general with kids participating in shooting sports. Learning to shoot skeet or targets is not going to lead to mass shootings. That is not what is normalizing guns. Also, shooting sports generally use rifles (and not AR-15s) while most mass shootings are done with handguns. As far as I can see, shooting sports are not all that different from archery. I don’t think archery is going to lead to killing either.

    Shooting sports are one of the more legitimate uses of guns. They are not what is glorifying guns and making a gun culture in America.

    • ZeroCool@feddit.chOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Shooting sports are one of the more legitimate uses of guns. They are not what is glorifying guns

      Gun sports absolutely glorify guns. Are you trolling right now? Jesus christ.

      • curiousaur@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        No, they don’t. It’s a sport. It’s in the Olympics.

        Carrying rifles in cases to the range, putting on your protective gear and learning all the safety procedures, then learning proper stances and target shooting teaches respect for guns.

        This is coming from someone who took shooting sports through 4-H starting at like 10, and doesn’t own a single gun today. It really is like archery or any other sport. I enjoy archery more and went on to be a 4-H archery instructor for a while.

      • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I have absolutely no problem with people using guns in a target shooting type of way.

        Or in other responsible types of ways, like properly managed hunting or where there are things like moose and polar and grizzly bears. Guns are tools.

        I don’t like guns, but I understand. Gun nuts are the problem, as are guns as tools that are only designed to kill humans. I can even understand why people would want to shoot an assault rifle or other weapon of war.

        It just needs to be controlled.

        The worst part is that I would really like to spend an afternoon blowing shit up. Go to someplace fun. Learn about the process. Then push the pluger.

        The problem is that that’s actually well controlled. Enough so that I can’t really find a good way to experience it outside of a construction project in my past.

        • TechyDad@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’ve often wondered if weapons like AR-15s should be only allowed to be owned by gun ranges and similar setups. You’d go in, rent an AR-15 for a certain period of time, get a safety lesson on how to use it, and then go to a shooting range where targets have been set up for you to shoot at.

          When you’re done, you turn the weapon back in and go on your way. The gun range locks it up and is responsible for it. If an employee makes off with the gun and shoots someone, the gun range is liable. If the guns aren’t locked up properly and someone breaks in and steals it, the gun range is liable.

          There would be regular checks to make sure the gun range was compliant with safety procedures. Kind of like what restaurants go through to make sure that they are storing food properly.

          This would allow people to fire weapons like an AR-15 in a safe manner with minimal risk that this gun would be used for a mass shooting.

          Of course, given the current Supreme Court makeup, I fully expect that this would be deemed unconstitutional.

        • ZeroCool@feddit.chOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yes. Sports glorify said activity. Football glorifies football and basketball glorifies basketball. This is an extremely simple concept. You should not be struggling this much to grasp it.

        • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          10
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Since this thread is getting irrational, and Lemmy is pretty toxic in this way, I’ll reply up here and take my down votes to agree with you.

          ZeroCool needs to stop trying to be offended and actually read what you’re saying.

          Of course archery doesn’t glorify bows and arrows. It may glorify archery, but there is nothing wrong with archery unless you are using it for evil.

          Edit: ahh as predicted. Can we please be more understanding and less obstinate?

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            11
            ·
            1 year ago

            I think if people want to argue that shooting sports glorify guns, they have to then say that the Olympics glorifies guns, because the Olympics features shooting sports. And you’re not going to get to the Olympic level of shooting sports unless you start practicing as a kid.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think 8 is too young. I think kids need to be exposed to responsible gun use long before they see irresponsible gun use in fiction.

      The problem isn’t the “glorification” of guns as others have suggested. The problem is normalization of criminal gun use. Responsible gun use should be depicted as the rule, not the rare exception. A kid should not be seeing a gang member or white supremacist murdering a cop on TV before she has been taught the four rules and how to handle a BB gun.