What Do You Call Yours?
Fairlane66
Member Posts: 335 ✭✭
My brother-in-law, now a little over 70, washed out of Air Force Officer Training School for medical reasons after just two weeks, but still fancies himself a fighter pilot or even a USMC DI. in general, he likes to adopt an R. Lee Ermey persona in public. A gun owner, he constantly and loudly refers to his firearms as "weapons." When he does, I watch the reactions of those nearby and more often than not detect a wince or a look of disapproval. That caused me to reflect on how we gun owners can hurt our own cause. Let me explain.
Consider these definitions from Websters.
Weapon - something (such as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy.
Gun - a portable firearm (such as a rifle or handgun).
Firearm - a mechanical devise from which a shot is discharged by gunpowder.
Of the three terms/definitions, which do you think comes across as the most aggressive or threatening, especially to anti-gun folks? I contend that the term "weapon" is a trigger for most snowflakes. So, rather than poke the anti-gunners or even the casual bystander, and draw a negative reaction that doubles down on their propensity to vote for anti-gun measures, why not just use a different term.
In general, I refer to the implements in my safe as firearms. If dealing with one in particular, I call it what it is—rifle, pistol, shotgun, or revolver. Around gun aficionados I often refer to a particular one by a pet name, like "Hey, check out this sweet Winchester." I intentionally avoid the term "weapon," although as a concealed carry advocate I'll use my pistol as a weapon if forced to.
Some may argue with this approach and say, "screw the snowflakes." However, I've learned not to poke the bear unnecessarily. While I'm a staunch Second Amendment advocate, when it comes to provoking opponents, I believe discretion is the better part of valor. As the great Rush Limbaugh was fond of saying, "Words mean things."
So, just wondering, what do you call yours? Weapons? Firearms? Gas pipes? What say you? Should we even care and does it even matter?
Comments
Usually I just call them all, guns.
And never,ever have I called one an assault rifle/weapon.
Couldn't care less what ignorant people believe.
If a person wants to be educated about guns, I'm all in.
Their ignorance is their problem, not mine.
Margaret Thatcher
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain
For the general public, firearm. When with family who all hunt we refer to a specific caliber such as my brother deer hunts with either the 35 or 30.06. Niece hunts with the .44. Sister-in-law hunts with a .270 and so on. Remington, Ruger, Winchester, etc. if we need to be more specific.
I had a one way discussion (I knew they could care less just me rant )
For years where I use to work retired 10yrs ago.
A lot of huntets , shooters and just gun owners
Not uncommon to see counless pickup trucks with guns hanging in racks in the back window
To make the story short the company decided no whepons allowed
So being the man I am, I headed to the front office
With a chip.on my shoulder
Ask W.Y.H. every thing in my car and yours is a whepon the tire iron The Golf clubs most of you have and do on even pulled out the box knife evey one in the shop was given
and ask if you use any thing on some one the judge is going to say you used a whepon to harm them
Company rep Reply you know as Good as we do the rule is a whepon which is a gunevery one knows that
the Entire conversation lasted anout 20 minutes with the only out come they knew. I was mad
They Even told me a story about a NY engineer who visited and interviewed for a job was scared to come in due to the guns in the parking. lot
They Would not listen or really just turned a deff ear to my version of what the courts called a whepon
It was Like me peeing in to the wind
More To the story but you get the basics
Oh they did take away all the box knifes except for the groips.like mine that had to have one them and years later no one could have one they had the boxes and packages pre opened by a supplier before coming to the plant
I tried to get more complaints but most were shrole so i dont know ifany one else did. And most all just kept their gun out of sight in their car trucks and chanced getingcaught
I don't care, because they don't matter.
I call them guns first then firearms second. I think gun would trigger a flake the quickest but any of the above would do the trick.
They most likely have no clue as to the many different items that could be classed as a weapon.
I sat on a jury once upon a time. One fellow used a mop handle to clobber his so called friend. The mop was considered a deadly weapon
Strange.......now that I think about it..…I usually refer to "them" by model number and caliber.
For example...…my grandfather's Model 61 Octagon barrel 22........or Gold Cup 45.
Works for me........😇🤠
I have always referred to then as firearms or guns. If there, God forbid, comes a day when I have to use one against another human being then at that point it will be considered a 'weapon'. I have lots of other tools that can be thought of the same way, hammers, axes, saws, knives, etc.
I'm the same way but I usually skip the caliber. "Model 10 revolver" or "The Beretta" or even "Dad's old shotgun".
🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
Gat
Heater
Roscoe
The problem is that we don't care enough, Alpine.
If we allow the antis to define the terms, all firearms will eventually be demonized as assault weapons. And the voting masses - knowing no better - will happily outlaw all of them.
As far as triggering snowflakes, I go out of my way for such pleasures.
I call them guns, and rarely firearms. Never use the term weapon when referring to a gun, knife, axe, etc. I call them what they are gun, knife, bayonet, ax, hammer, splitting maul, etc.
When I was in the army you were issued a rifle or a side arm, also known as weapons, you never referred to them as a gun. However I was assigned to a gun, I was in artillery and cannons are referred to as guns.
The military also considers anything over 60 caliber a cannon.
To get really confusing do you prefer the term, ammo, shells, rounds or bullets. Lol
Guns fire cartridges, which contain bullets. Unless the gun is a shotgun, in which case it fires shells loaded with pellets.
Something is not a weapon unless it's being used in a fight.
just guns
Mine are just guns, not weapons until used as such. Same with golf clubs, baseball bats, and hockey sticks.
This.
I do not loudly talk about my guns out in public….. 🙄
I call them by their given name. That's the only way they will pay attention.
Joe
Usually by it's caliber. Anything in 22 is called a 22 period. And so on. And everyone around my world has guns so no one throws owning them around like it's some kind of qualification of masculinity. I mean everybody has a long handle spade, a claw hammer and guns, so what?
I was waiting to get some lab work done and one of the guys,probably in his 50s,with a AK-47 tee shirt and an AR 15 tattoo on his forearm that went from his elbow to his wrist sat beside me.He starts a conversation with"What do you think about them trying to take our guns away? I replied 'I don't know anything about guns".He ask do you know what AR stands for? hoping I would say assault rifle.I said "If I remember correctly it stands for Armalite Rifle.The only thing I know about guns was from the Marine Corps,is that where you learned? He never replied.
Willie
"This is my rifle. This is my gun, one is fer shootin' and one is fer fun."
he dog
i was thinking along the same line, well maybe LOL
As i gave mine a name early on in life
My weapons use clips . . . and my guns use magazines.
I do have some rifles that use neither clips or magazines.
I also have some revolvers that don't use clips or magazines.
All of my pistols use magazines.
I am not that much into shotguns, but none of my shotguns use clips . . . although some have magazines.
Yes, I do have some rifles that use clips to load their magazines.
None of my pistols use clips to load their magazines.
Who's on first?
You say your BIL failed out of OTS after 2 weeks for a medical, but portrays himself as a DI? Did he actually serve any length of time before or after the OTS? If he did then he is a Vet, else he would be a poser imho but either way sounds like he wants people to be impressed that he is/was some kind of bad dude (can't use the correct word) that is a weapon himself…. I feel most folks that act that way are really just scared little pea shooters. Me and my guns do just fine without advertising much at all. I rarely even discuss this kind of stuff outside the forums unless I'm asked which does happen when I wear my GB swag….😁
elubsme, the first time I heard that was from my drill sgt. Ft, Knox 1963.
Yep! 1964 for me.
One of mine does.
I've called them firearms for many years. Depending on the person that says it, guns can have many meanings. I only call them weapons when used offensively and even then, only against people.
For knowledgeable firearm folk, I refer to make, model, caliber, or some variation of all of the above.
I seem to recall a old war movie from many years ago the instructor pointing out "you have a rifle" the big stuff like on a battle ship or artillery are called guns?