I have discovered the Ask An American subreddit and it is a gold mine*
-
4 8 15 16 23 42replied to 4 8 15 16 23 42 last edited by
this is America. you can twirl those things on your fingers and fire them wildly in the air like Yosemite Sam if you want
in fact, you're legally required to, its in the constitution
-
Jason Lefkowitzreplied to 4 8 15 16 23 42 last edited by
@Taweret It's charming that they think they have to go to a shooting range to do that, rather than just knocking on the door of any random house
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to 4 8 15 16 23 42 last edited by
@Taweret The Royal Hawaiian Shooting Club - of which I was a member for a year - used to substantially fund itself by advertising this experience _specifically to Japanese tourists_, with the entire event held entirely in Japanese, and with these hilariously overbuilt guns with little .22 actions inside them. xD
Seeing their poster and saying, "I have _got_ to do this" and actually doing so is how I joined the club. I still have my membership pin. xD
(Sadly, they're gone - combination of COVID and rising rents. )
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@Taweret OH I forgot the funniest part
so the guns are actual guns (even if they're silly .22s beefed up to look like Big American movie guns) but even with that AND the safety lesson they'd four-corner tie them to the stalls. You had plenty of freedom to aim - really, it made it harder to aim well because of those stupid cables - but it was impossible to, you know, point the gun anywhere but downrange.
anyway it was hilarious and I'm sad it's gone xD
-
unlofl [Promoted Toot]replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to unlofl [Promoted Toot] last edited by
-
Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@moira @unlofl @Taweret They're definitely out there. I have some experience with this one, a big tacticool-looking AR-15 that is really just an elaborate plastic shell wrapped around Mossberg's .22 caliber "Plinkster."
(As a bonus, you can't clean the gun itself without first entirely taking apart the plastic shell, which is an enormous pain in the ass.)
-
unlofl [Promoted Toot]replied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by
@jalefkowit @moira @Taweret but but but... aren't there just conversion kits for that, so it's still a normal rifle you can clean?!
P.s. I kinda want an MP5 in .22, for absolutely no good reason whatsoever
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to unlofl [Promoted Toot] last edited by
@unlofl @jalefkowit @Taweret I donāt think you understand how much these are Japanese tourists
remember, _individual rounds_ are licensed in Japan
_individual rounds_.
which made the subgroup of little old japanese ladies firing giant macho guns all the more adorable of course butā¦ Iām honestly glad they only had .22s to deal with xD
to the rangeās credit they were all very clean and the sights were well calibrated - since thereās no recoil worth mentioning, if you aimed decently, you would hit the target, and they did, and everyone had a good time ^_^
-
unlofl [Promoted Toot]replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@moira @jalefkowit @Taweret I have a sig p322 and love it for this reason, feels like cheating, just "pew!pew!pew!" from 0.3 football fields and they all hit.
But licensing individual rounds... I guess I've heard of that, but god damn... assuming you have all the stuff legally, what do you do after shooting at the range? Sign some kind of attestation? "I discharged 53 rounds and am now in possession of 47 rounds"
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to unlofl [Promoted Toot] last edited by
@unlofl @jalefkowit @Taweret I suppose I should say āregisteredā since itās technically slightly different and _if_ youāre able to get permission to do that then - yes. That is what you do.
Trying to remember the details but their customs people went after one of their own olympic shooting team members when she came back from some competition with like the wrong number of rounds.
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@unlofl @jalefkowit @Taweret And gods forbid you find an old sword somewhere. The police take that shit _very seriously_ and you basically are automatically a suspect.
-
unlofl [Promoted Toot]replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@moira @jalefkowit @Taweret what?! Are there no machetes or any random large blades around?
US knife laws are dumb when you dig into it, but at least the courts don't take them very seriously without an actual alleged crime. You know, we just use them to manufacture parole violations to fuck certain people.
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to unlofl [Promoted Toot] last edited by
@unlofl @jalefkowit @Taweret There are but they're classified differently. It's about old Samurai class stuff as much (or more) as the utility as a weapon.
I knew they took it real seriously but I didn't have any kind of personal experience with it. Then I saw a video from another westerner in Japan where they discovered - buried and in bad condition - an old sword at their house's construction site. (1/2)
-
Solarbird :flag_cascadia:replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@unlofl @jalefkowit @Taweret And the crew just _stopped_ and backed the fuck out of there. She was like "can't we just take it to the police?" and they were like "no! no no no! do NOT touch it. they have to come here and take it."
the police showed up and ended up questioning everybody for a while, including her, until they were satisfied it was an actual accidental find. Then they checked to see whether it had historical value, decided not, and had it destroyed. (I don't know how that part works at all.)
Anyway yeah that's what it's like in general as far as I can tell (having no personal experience) when a sword or gun _or round_ is involved. (2/2)
-
unlofl [Promoted Toot]replied to Solarbird :flag_cascadia: last edited by
@moira @jalefkowit @Taweret meanwhile, the last time I was in an American airport, it was plastered with signs about "please for the love of fuck do not bring a gun on the plane by accident were begging you! Please double check you didn't forget about a random gun you left in your bag we know those things are just all over the place!"
-
Jason Lefkowitzreplied to unlofl [Promoted Toot] last edited by
@unlofl @moira @Taweret I still remember the ad I saw ten years ago for a handy plastic box to let you keep a pistol in the shower.
The madness of gun culture - Just Well Mixed
I like guns. But the gun culture frightens me
Just Well Mixed (jasonlefkowitz.net)