Why does half of the gun community want to be "tactical"?

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Why is half the gun community out there playing Tactical?

Because the other half of us is too busy at home replying to inane threads on the internet.

:neener::p:neener:

Just kidding. I love you guys. I'm just poking fun at us.
 
I'm a new member here, but an old shooter and a lifelong bike rider I'm not an outlaw,Hell's Angel or Bandido, but I've been riding long enough to remember people locking their doors when I pulled beside them. 20 years ago or so.bikes became fashionable. Pretty soon all sorts of accountants, lawyers, yuppie,CEO'S,mild mannered milquetoasts, and puddknockers soon started riding , and believed that ownership of a bike bought them a lifetime membership in the Let's dress like a Pirate club. leathered out in 100 degree weather, chaps always,bandannas, stick on tatoos you name it. they're acting it all out But when they get around real bikers, THEY KNOW!! WE KNOW!! Same thing with the tactikewl amatuer rambo crowd. It's all playacting and even though I find it annoying I don't lose sleep over it. I do understand your reluctance for gunowners to be associated with or painted with the same brush as these paper tigers,It's extremely disrespectful of them to pose as something their not. But this is the U.S.A. ,and every FOOL has a right to PROVE their an IDIOT!! The best way to combat this stereotype is to be yourself, a responsible gunowner. One day they"ll {A} grow up,{B} find someone who takes their toys away from them and inserts them some place most unpleasently , or most likely{C} find another Kewl fad to follow somewhere down the line..........Ray
 
Wow, I think this thread burned out about 4 pages back.

Let me start off by saying this, I own a Tactical Hostler (I got tired of my PT-92 dragging my pants down when I carried it), and I own Realtree camouflage (end of season sale at Wally World).

I think that it's always the vocal minority that gets the attention. The Tactical Guy with his over accessorizing, The Hunters who deck themselves out in Realtree and might kill one Deer all season, The Cowboys with the Rhinestone Gunbelts, and The Glock Fanboys (of all the gun owners I know IRL, 2 own and carry Glocks).

Does their opinion of me matter, no, does mine of them matter, nope. To each their own.
 
Magno said:
I recently bought a 590A1 and was showing it to a friend of mine who knows next to nothing about guns. When I told him my plans for putting wooden furniture and a Garand sling on it, he all but shouted to me "You can't do that! It's a tactical shotgun! You'll ruin it!"

The fact that this was coming from someone who was not a gun owner or user made it difficult for me to come up with an appropriate arguement. I tried to explain to him that just because a gun had ugly black plastic on it didn't make it tactical, but in his ignorance he tried to convince me that I was being stupid. He seemed to be under the impression that since the nylon stock was lighter than the wood one (my a$$), that this is what made it tactical. He even went so far as to state that I would be taking away from the functionality of the weapon by doing this. The whole exchange reeked of elitism on his part as if he knew better than me, which is what really peeves me the most. That's the last time I ever show him one of my guns.
Click to expand...

There's definitely elitism on both sides of this debate. Some people think that it is stupid to hang every accessory off an AR-15, and others see no reason to own a bolt-action rifle or O/U shotgun. I think it has gotted better (especially the first set), but I hate to see the Second Amendment community divided like that.

Me, I try not to discriminate. I love them all--semiauto handguns and revolvers, blue and walnut lever rifles and AR-15s with all the accessories.
 
At my range, we have a number of types:

Group 1: Old guys who show up at the range at 9am, fire 10 shots over the course of 4 hours, and spend the next 2 hours cleaning their rifle. In between shots, they use their spotting scopes to spy on other peoples' groups.

Group 2: We have these guys who participate in SASS competitions who dress up like cowboys and pretend like they are in the Wild West. They even have fake signposts pointing toward "Tombstone", "Dodge City", etc. that they have set up in their shooting areas.

Group 3: Guys dressed up in their BDUs shooting their ARs, various SBRs and silenced firearms, etc. They may be shooting for groups or they might be doing some sort of "tactical" drill.

Group 4: People dressed in regular clothes just out to have a good time. They might have brought their wife, friend, or kid along to enjoy a day of shooting.

Now, I could pick apart any of these four groups. What is the point in spending all day at the range to fire a half box of ammo? Maybe they should focus on their own shooting instead of watching everyone else. Why do grown men dress up like cowboys? Surely they know that they aren't in the Wild West. What are these tactical guys training for? Zombies, Communist Invasion? And why is that "normal looking" guy shooting his scoped 7mm magnum at a target set up 25 meters away, and why does he need to let his barrel cool after each shot at 25 meters? I have no idea, but I have actually shot next to all of these types and it didn't bother me in the least because they were all safe, friendly and respectful. I wonder what they think of me? One day I might be shooting my Savage Mark II and the next weekend I might decide to take out a couple of my AR15s. Yes, one even sports a quadrail, an eotech and a forward grip... Hey, I'm not planning on going on any raids but who knows when you might find yourself in a tactical situation :what:

At least I know that none of these guys are sending checks to Handgun Control or lobbying their congressman to pass some knee-jerk magazine capacity laws. We need as many friends as we can get. It doesn't do us any good to splinter our cause.
 
I come from the WWII surplus crowd. Always keeps the conversations interesting between us, at any rate.

what it comes down to for me, is that I don't have a problem with people who are into tactical stuff (although it often warrants a stifled laugh from me), but when they start to diss my antique or antique-style firearms, I get ticked off. I mean heck, I don't walk up to someone with a pistol-gripped 870 and tell him how much my trench gun can kick the crap out of him. What gives him the right to do that to me?
Click to expand...

This...TIMES 9000.
 
JW2 said:
At my range, we have a number of types:

Group 1: Old guys who show up at the range at 9am, fire 10 shots over the course of 4 hours, and spend the next 2 hours cleaning their rifle. In between shots, they use their spotting scopes to spy on other peoples' groups.

Group 2: We have these guys who participate in SASS competitions who dress up like cowboys and pretend like they are in the Wild West. They even have fake signposts pointing toward "Tombstone", "Dodge City", etc. that they have set up in their shooting areas.

Group 3: Guys dressed up in their BDUs shooting their ARs, various SBRs and silenced firearms, etc. They may be shooting for groups or they might be doing some sort of "tactical" drill.

Group 4: People dressed in regular clothes just out to have a good time. They might have brought their wife, friend, or kid along to enjoy a day of shooting.

Now, I could pick apart any of these four groups. What is the point in spending all day at the range to fire a half box of ammo? Maybe they should focus on their own shooting instead of watching everyone else. Why do grown men dress up like cowboys? Surely they know that they aren't in the Wild West. What are these tactical guys training for? Zombies, Communist Invasion? And why is that "normal looking" guy shooting his scoped 7mm magnum at a target set up 25 meters away, and why does he need to let his barrel cool after each shot at 25 meters? I have no idea, but I have actually shot next to all of these types and it didn't bother me in the least because they were all safe, friendly and respectful. I wonder what they think of me? One day I might be shooting my Savage Mark II and the next weekend I might decide to take out a couple of my AR15s. Yes, one even sports a quadrail, an eotech and a forward grip... Hey, I'm not planning on going on any raids but who knows when you might find yourself in a tactical situation :what:

At least I know that none of these guys are sending checks to Handgun Control or lobbying their congressman to pass some knee-jerk magazine capacity laws. We need as many friends as we can get. It doesn't do us any good to splinter our cause.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Not everybody shoots the same way, or dresses the same way, or enjoys the same type of shooting. So who cares if they do things different from you.

What I find more ironic is that the thing now actually is less people being "tacticool" and more people trying to make fun of people for being "tacticool". Like the cool thing to do is make fun of people trying to be cool.

But to answer the question, "Why are being trying to be "tactical?" which I assume is to mean dress up in fatigues and camo, have attachments like foregrips and leg drop holsters, etc? Well they do that because the enjoy it. Why do you watch war movies, or action movies? Because you like them.

There is more irony in this thread too. I'm not going to call anybody out, but even people in this thread have mentioned things, that if others saw them wearing/shooting/doing, would think they you were trying to be "tacticool", yet posted here and then posted your reasoning why it is different. It isn't different. It is exactly the same. You buying it "because it was on sale" means you still wanted to buy it.
 
This is just humor
but why not use those new olympic electronic shot thingy's they have been talking about and use them this way.
Kick out the old folks from walking the malls or have matches from like midnight till 4 am or so. The winner every month wins a Job offer!

Just think! Agent Tom hurry to fountain area wild kids stealing coins from fountain, over! Think fast the no shoots are little old ladys or are they?
 
I may as well get in on this too...

I guess at the end of the day if we asked people from either side of this debate why it is that they choose to pursue a shooting hobby they would both give the same answer: because it makes them happy.
As for "tacticool" people giving shooting a bad name, a guy duded up in his ACU's with three knives, a survival kit, and a gun with 2,000,000 rounds of spare ammo is no more damaging to the gun cause than hunting videos that show impact shots. Videos of animals "suffering" at the hands of a hunter is just as bad to someone on the fence as seeing a video of some over-the-top mall ninja punching paper with his AK.
We have to remember that we are all fighting the same fight.
S.
 
Because it's fun.

Because some of us aren't seen as worthy enough by the government to be allowed to be part of uncle sam's elite.

Because we're all a part of the militia.

Because some of us live in dangerous places.

Take your pick.
 
No. As long as they aren't being unsafe, they can look however they want and exercise their rights.

Look at it this way. Even in the army we have people with gear fetishes, buying all kinds of silly accessories they have no idea how to use.

I am not worried about the image. I am more worried about people thinking we have to be ashamed of and HIDE our RKBA. If people are overly enthusiastic, this is to our advantage. We are not in the position where we can have hyphenated gun owners. We need them all.
 
I enjoy watching those guys at the range,sweating their ass-off in BLACK tactical pants and tac-vest,, I asked a "tacticool" guy one day when he had served as he looked quite young,he responded I haven't yet,but im going to airborne-rangers training this fall,, ummm dont you have to BE in the army and THEN apply for "airborne ranger" training or can anybody (including women,children) get in there ??
 
Slots can go to different places. For instance, some of our contracted Cadets can go to Sapper, Ranger whatever school sends us a slot. What you consider a "child" may be a contracted Officer Cadet.
Not sure if women can go, but there is a way to earn the badge as a Combat Patch for women.
 
I asked a "tacticool" guy one day when he had served as he looked quite young
Click to expand...

So, you were naive enough to assume someone at a gun club was in the service because he wore some gear he purchased at Galls? Or were you trolling to just be an instigator.

I tell you what, I am glad that at my range no one gives anyone crap for what they wear or how they act other than range rules. I am glad that I do not have to deal with the judgmental, Im better than you type that this place seems to be crawling with lately.

Middle Road at the best. Maybe the new website logo should come with a new name.
 
I have to say, I was on the recieving end of a lot of flack from some of the older guys at the range I went to when I lived in upstate NY, based on what I wore and whatnot.

Though I suppose I had it coming, I was one of the rare young people that came out regularly, *and* I had a habit of showing up wearing less coat in the winter than most. Not to mention showing up on a motorcycle quite often. (Even in a drizzle, which apparently meant they figured out the nutty kid quite quickly:evil:)

Guess I brought on the ribbing myself by being different. Should I go trade in my motorcycles for a Toyota Camry now to blend in? :confused:


:D

(Really, I am partially ashamed to be posting here again, but this many pages this quickly? Not that I'm a part of the problem or anything...)
 
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