Why is everything based on Defense?

Very few folks needed to lock their doors until color tvs became commonplace.
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I have to politely disagree. Folks didn't have to lock their doors because most parent USED to teach their kids right from freaking wrong...and put a belt on their a$$ when they messed up. Now they get a time out or some bogus crap. They grow up having no respect for themselves or for others.

We used to settle our problems with fists after school...now they shoot the school up, along with as many folks as they can. There was just as much stuff to steal, most of us knew it was wrong. They know it's wrong today too...they just don't give a rat's butt. Those kids grow into adults, and still don't give a crap....pretty much think they can do as they please. Sad but true.
 
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I have noticed over the years that we no longer see guns for the pure enjoyment of shooting. Everything, especially in advertisment for new guns, is either tactical or for somekind of other defensive purpose.

The firearms manufactureres don't make handguns for target shooting or hunting anymore, that seems to be put on the backburner. Just about every magazine writes about the latest plastic auto and how it will hold a hundred rounds of ammo. It has rails for flashlights and other doodads that are needed when the bad guy comes. They act like there is a bad guy lurking behind every bush and unless you have the latest in tactical gear, he will get you.

Even on the forums, talk of home defense or on the road protection is a top post. Let's face it, 90% of the people who own guns will never be in a situation where one is needed. That is not to say that we shouldn't prepare for such an occasion, it simply means that we should not spend all of our time worrying about whether or not we will see daylight tomorrow morning.

When I used to buy guns (when they still made quality products), I bought them not only to use, but the beauty of the craftsmanship. It always amazed me that something so useful could be so beautiful to behold. Now all I see is plastic (with mold lines) and cheap products at high prices. I kind of miss the old days. End Quote:

Gun are made for an offensive role... military and LE, they spend the money, tons of money and GUNS… i.e. colt, glock, sig, browning, and so on. The role the gun plays to the military/LE bleeds into the civilian world.

Civilians follow that lead, they want the high power automatic that the military or police use, i'm sure you see threads discuss movie characters carrying a certain weapon, i remember everyone running out buying dirty harry's 44 magnum when the movie hit the screen before all the auto's came out.

The CCW people are part of the big business; just the thought of someone trying something against them or in their presences is all about money. Gun accessories like flashlights, laser sights, extras mags, holsters, back up weapon, and more weapons.

How can anyone buy a weapon to just target shoot, there has to be something after that for them buying a GUN or two. So the first step is home defense, and then CCW. Big Business... keep them wanting more.

Don't get me wrong, its not a waste of time, great hobby, and training is important if you own or carry a GUN, plus its FUN. Hitting bull-eyes all day gets boring, and the thought of being ready to react is invigorating.

Then we got the training videos, big money business, i read threads and people talk about a well-known instructors videos about pistol training. All these training camps retreats have all kind of course to take, its part of the business.

GUNS are a great sport, like fishing, you can take it to all kind of heights. Going to target shoot is like fishing at a pond.
 
I refuse to simply refer to all of my guns as "weapons." But some people just use that term for all guns.
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All guns ARE weapons, but not all weapons are guns. But besides guns being weapons they can be so much more too. So I think I see where you are coming from, it's that you do not like to think of your guns are "mere weapons" with nothing more to offer?
 
Not all guns are weapons. Some guns are made primarily to be useful as weapons, but some are obviously never intended to be used as weapons and therefore it's sort of silly to call them weapons.

Here's an example of a gun that is clearly not intended to be a weapon. It wouldn't even make a good club.

sam50.gif
 
I plink with my so called combat weapons all the time----just stickin it in some leather and carrying it around all day---well that's no fun.
 
I'm another one of the "why not both?" crowd. The only reason I wouldn't buy a firearm useful for both recreation and defense would be cost (.22LR suits my budget a bit better than .45ACP and 5.56!) Then again, I view shooting as a "martial sport." To me, shooting began as a way to make war/defend (I'm in the military), but also turned into a good sport.
 
I was just looking over those 50-year old gun ("Guns") magazines this morning. There were articles on hunting, target shooting, the police (combat type shooting) and military subjects. So I would have to say the subject matter was fairly wide. And there was just as much controversy about the subject matter as there is now, especially on the hunting subjects. Fast Draw and Quick Draw were very popular activities at the time and that was just as controversial as anything else. One letter writer complained about the cover photo on another issue of someone dressed up like Wild Bill Hickcup (their spelling!) and how it made other shooters look.

What was missing, however, were lots of articles on new guns. People seemed to be a lot poorer then or something. There were huge advertisements for surplus military firearms and that no doubt depressed the new gun market. But I just don't think people were as likely to spend lots of money on guns. However, the really new wave of guns was another 15 or 20 years away.

There was an article on the team getting ready for the Squaw Valley winter olympics. Did you know the rifle team were using .243 Winchester rifles?
 
What was missing, however, were lots of articles on new guns.
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My recollection may not be all that reliable, but I'm not sure there were all that many new ones. Put another way, the frequency of new product introductions seemed a lot lower than it is today.

I remember when the Remington Nylon 66 and Savage 110 rifles came out around fifty years ago, and the Winchester Model 88 some years before, but as I recall, there weren't that many really new developments in rifles very often back then, except for some new big game cartridges.

In handguns, the S&W Model 39 and Colt Commander were still the latest in semi-autos, and they had both been on the market for a while. The newest Browning semi-auto dated back to 1935. The Colts and Hi-Standards were well entrenched among rimfires and there weren't too many really new ones. Ruger had been around for a while. The Whitney Wolverine came and went. Most revolver developments involved new calibers or new chamberings.

Some new autoloading shotguns were introduced in the mid 50s, but if I recall correctly, most were variations on traditional themes, the Browning Double Automatic being a notable exception.

Contrast that with today: A new semi-automatic pistol seems to come out every couple or three months. I cannot keep up wit them or with the black rifles, and I choose not to try.

The above, along with the inaccuracies in it that result from diminished recall, shows my age, but it may address the comment.
 
boring

I have noticed over the years that we no longer see guns for the pure enjoyment of shooting.
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I beg to disagree. While I do agree that the emphasis has drifted to SD/HD/Combat, there are some of us who still shoot because it is fun and for the most part what we do has no "practical" purpose. That's why I also disagree with the idea that hitting the bullseye all day is boring. Not yet it ain't (not that I can do it all day). My guns in some one else's hands may become weapons, for me they are sporting goods.
Pete
 
I likewise disagree. I still imagine that most of the people at the ranges are there just because they enjoy shooting. There are several shooting sports that are only distantly related to self-defense. I still say related, because, just like fencing, it still all has to do with weapons. Mind you, some of it has evolved to the point where it is a little hard to believe but it is the same with fencing. I believe a fishing rod is more lethal than a fencing foil. But there is also a school of fencing (if you can call it that) that deals in historical weapons, too, just the way gun fanciers go in for action shooting of one sort or another.

Some magazine editor wrote that they stopped covering certain shooting events because they were boring (The NRA still covers boring things). Likewise, they stopped having articles about your local police department because they were pretty much all the same.

I might note that in the old magazines the .45 auto had not yet reached its full maturity, so to speak, and lots of people apparently still took the Colt SAA as a serious defense weapon, possibly because it was very popular at the time for quick draw and that was the day of the adult western on television. But I also note that shotguns even then were awfully expensive compared to most other firearms. And people were already complaining that guns weren't made as well as they used to be. Sometimes a comment might suddenly make some particular firearm the gun to have because it had some feature that no longer appeared on current models, much as people here seem to regret that S&W revolvers no longer have pinned barrels and recessed cylinders. Some "combat shooter" proclaimed the newer short action S&W revolvers were inferior to the older long action double action S&Ws, thereby creating a demand for the older revolvers and I'm sure that not a few swore they would never buy one of the new models.

By the way, the Dardick was covered in one of the articles. That was the future, then.
 
I'm a single female living alone - and I decided that I'd like to spend (what seemed to me initially) a gazillion bucks on a gun to keep in the house for self-defense purposes - rather than spend a gazillion bucks to install a security system (so that I can sit around and wait for the cops if something happens).

So I bought my first gun, a Model 51 revolver, and keep it loaded beside my bed. But the very first thing I absolutely could not wait to do after purchasing it was take it to the range today and spend another gazillion bucks emptying bullets into paper targets. Not even the ones shaped like bad guys - just regular, bulls-eye targets. And I have not had so much fun in a long time. :)

Truth be told, it isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things. But it is more expensive than what I would ordinarily spend on any other hobby. The self-defense aspect just made it a more justifiable expenditure for me.

Proud to be a new member of the gun-owners club :) I am thrilled that something so practical can also be a great delight to own and practice with.
 
new

Stilss:
And I have not had so much fun in a long time.
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Isn't that the truth. Welcome to the wonderful world of paper punching.
Target shooting is the most relaxing thing that I do.
Pete
 
Proud to be a new member of the gun-owners club I am thrilled that something so practical can also be a great delight to own and practice with.
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Indeed it is, and welcome to the forum...as well as the shooting sports.:D I was raised around guns, so the fun aspect came well before the SD part did. It's just a lot of freakin' fun to "kill" those paper plates...used to keep a pack in my truck, and stop at the old sand pits almost every day after work. Put many rounds through my .45s and .22s there...and had a blast.:cool:
 
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