The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

safetyfirst wrote:
Honestly, if I've got a 12g over my arm or a cz slung over my shoulder, most walkers would be happy to stop and have a chat, maybe even admire the gun.

If I had an AR I'd wager they'd think again about even approaching me. If they did feel safe enough to approach they'd probably presume I was army doing some training or something.

It's just a completely different kind of weapon in the public eye and I completely understand why.

You make an awful lot of presumptions to support your argument or the conversations that have only taken place in your own imagination....

Those that wish to see all guns banned make no distinction in their dogma. By convincing even other shooters that a difference exists in their "weapons" makes the dismantling of the sport so much easier..

ordnance wrote:

You can't hunt with an AR though.

You can get get them but not for hunting, walking around the fields here with an AR could get you in all sorts of trouble. :)

Yeah, the terminal kind.....

Honestly, expressing some common sense on here can really bring out the frothing at the mouth pro gun lobby at times.

I AM pro gun, just not religiously pro gun at the expense of everything else and blind to the realities of public perception!

Sorry, forgot the smiley.

What a shame, you were doing great up until that above.

Hey look I understand where you are coming from, all I am saying is that at the end of the day (besides it being dark outside) I don't think it matters what firearm you are carrying. I believe it's all down to how you would approach someone out walking if you felt the need to approach them or even just in passing if that's the case. It's all down to demeanour and body language on your part. If it were me meeting someone out walking I'd shoulder the rifle, give them a smile and a wave and greet them in a friendly tone.

If they were all snotty about me hunting I'd simply walk away, if they showed an interest in what I was doing, well I'd take that as an opportunity to try and impart a little knowledge and education if they were open to it. Given what I have read on here over the years, to the majority of the UK public a gun is a gun, most of them wouldn't recognise an AR from a bolt action anyway.

I find it a little sad that you label folks who don't see it your way as "frothing at the mouth pro gun lobby", but you see the thing is what you call "using common sense" I call keeping in the shadows lest you upset someone who might not agree with your choice of tool whilst carrying out a legal past time. But hey you're entitled to your opinion and I respect that and I do it without any labels attached.

ordnance wrote:Military style rifles are club only in Northern Ireland, as A/Ks and A/Rs were and still are the favourite firearm of terrorists here, the fear would be someone walking over the fields with that type of firearm could be mistaken by the security forces for a terrorist, which could basically lead to them being shot. On the plus side we can own handguns.

Ordnance, given your location friend I completely understand why one wouldn't want to be doing that

Sim, you're totally right about a lot of what you say, I was trying to describe the presumptions that would spring to mind in the casual passer by.

Like has been said though, I'm assuming a lot. Some of it is based on people's reactions on PR nights when they see the AR as compared to the 10/22, I've introduced a good 30-40 people who've never shot before to both guns and the way they approach them is radically different.

Some LOVE the AR and think it's way cool, not always the ones you'd expect either.

Others question why they turned up when they see the AR.

And sorry for being snarky, that wasn't cool. For some reason I always get heated up when browsing the forum in the bath.

safetyfirst wrote: For some reason I always get heated up when browsing the forum in the bath.

engage the cold tap

Can't do it. Not sure why. It just gets hotter and hotter until I have to get out.

That's what she said...

Snigger.

safetyfirst wrote:If I had an AR I'd wager they'd think again about even approaching me. If they did feel safe enough to approach they'd probably presume I was army doing some training or something.

No matter what firearm I was carrying, once they saw my belly they would know I wasn't armed forces. Police maybe