Let me start with a disclaimer: I know I don’t have many posts, but that doesn’t make me stupid or misinformed. You don’t know me, and you don’t know what I do and don’t know about firearms. The same goes for 99% of the members here, and I like that. I’m wearing my flame suit, and I haven’t been here long, but I’ve got to make an attempt at uniting everyone a little. Sorry, but I love this site already, and I just want to try and make it a little better, and maybe bigger. Ok, here we go.
:meeting:
I’m 100% on board for giving potential buyers and first time AR owners a head’s-up on what rifle brands they might not want to consider and what to look out for so they can make an informed decision and be happy (and safe!) with their purchase. BUT, the deep rooted hateful and affected talk about certain firearm brands that I constantly run into here boggles my mind. That kind of talk does nothing but piss off owners of those brands, thus alienating a part of our brotherhood. Yes, our brotherhood. I said it, and you either already do, or will, understand what I’m talking about.
We are ALL gun owners and enthusiasts, regardless of what it is you do with your guns, so we MUST stand together. Whether you’re running 1,000 rounds a week through your shiny old carbine at the bad guys or you get your factory-tight Barbie doll out of the safe once a year and take it to the range just to get it dirty, we are all equal, we are all entitled to our activity, and we are all in the same boat. We all love guns, and we all love the privileges that allow us to enjoy using them. What many here fail to realize is that they could learn something quite valuable from the hunting community. You see, as many of you who are hunters already know, we are all in a “fraternity” of sorts, and our rights as hunters are protected by no one but us hunters. Therefore, we stand together. We stick up for one another. We get each others’ backs. We defend our rights. Even if someone likes to hunt a different way than you, or prefers a different game animal, or hunts a legal way you don’t approve of, we ignore the differences and simply settle on the fact that we are one. If somebody I know wants to pay $299 for a crappy .30-06 and try their hand at whitetail hunting- great, more power to them. I’ll support their decision and help them any way I can and will keep my damn mouth shut about their rifle’s quality unless they ask. And even then, I’m not going to tell them they bought a piece of shit and must be slow. They are another soldier in my army for the war against the anti’s.
Enough about hunting. But if you think that we, as gun enthusiasts, are not in the crosshairs of the anti’s as much as hunters, you’re dead wrong. That’s what I don’t understand about this site. Everyone is always so damn hateful towards certain brands (and only a few really) and they really don’t give a damn who’s toes they step on during one of their many rants about how shitty “XYZ Rifles” are and how stupid you must be if you own one. What they don’t seem to realize is that if there are 250 owners of that particular rifle brand on this site, reading the hate posts, that’s 250 people that are now pissed and butt hurt that ANOTHER GUN ENTHUSIAST said their beloved rifle is no better than a boat anchor and they’re a dipshit for buying one. On top of that, most of these threads are closed with no warning or explanation before any kind of worthwhile discussion can take place. What is this, Russia?? Dammit.
This does nothing but create divisions between our ranks and segregate us into many smaller, less powerful groups of gun owners that are pitted against each other only to eventually be overpowered by the anti’s. There are much more effective and less antagonistic ways of informing people here what rifle brands are good, and what rifle brands are not so good. I know this is the “professional carbine site” but the fact is, not everyone here is using their gun for duty. In fact, I’d venture to say the vast majority of members here do not. And honestly, there’s probably a good percentage of those members that do claim to be high-speed special forces bullet-flingers that actually sit at a desk all day every day and haven’t ever been in a combat situation. Whatever- that’s the internet for you. My point is, no, it really doesn’t usually matter if your rifle won’t hold up to sustained heavy firing or isn’t staked on the receiver extension if you’re just owning it as a collector. Look, I know there are lots of other guys here that agree with me based on the posts I’ve been reading lately. I’m not trying to piss anybody off or step on any toes, or pretend like I’m some big swinging-dick internet tough guy that’s only been here a month and feels like he owns the place. In these tumultuous times with anti’s around every corner we simply CANNOT AFFORD to be at each others’ throats and must stand together as one and support our beloved hobby and constitutional rights!!
Rant over. :big_boss:
