Not rolling out naked...

[DigitalBuddha]

  You didn't think we were rolling out naked, did ya?

Magpul showing off the FMG-9 concept folding gun. Old news, but since such a hit I dug up the tape and am bringing this vid in full HD.

A world of pain! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=enzlTEysYVU

[RighteousDude]

I can't see why I'd want a shoulder stock on a handgun and never want a light source directly in front of my body, but it's cute.

[DigitalBuddha]

I can't see why I'd want a shoulder stock on a handgun and never want a light source directly in front of my body, but it's cute.

One reason for the "light source directly in front of my body" is because there is a tendency, when holding the light in another hand other than your "gun hand" to point the light in one direction while looking around, and your gun hand goes in another direction (very common mistake). When you see a person, with your light, who could shoot at you, by the time you get your gun trained on him from where your gun hand was, you're dead.

Navy Seals as well as most police, as an example, when using a hand gun and a light held in the hand, use the "turret method;" the light is held in the fist like you were going to stab with it, but horizontal, and your gun hand rest on the light hand moving together like a turret...



There is also this turret method that I am personally not a fan of...

[Caesar dude]

Dunno why any dude would be a "fan" of any the above!

[DigitalBuddha]

Dunno why any dude would be a "fan" of any the above!

This.........

[RighteousDude]

One reason for the "light source directly in front of my body" is because there is a tendency, when holding the light in another hand other than your "gun hand" to point the light in one direction while looking around, and your gun hand goes in another direction (very common mistake).

"Follow the light with the sights", and practice is all it takes to master the technique. I don't know about anyone else, but if a bad guy with flashlight and a gun wants to ruin my night, I'm throwing some rounds at that fucking light.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

I cautiously throw my two cents in.

I get the 'cool' factor, hell I wouldn't mind getting to play around with a 76mm shoulder fired mortar. I also understand self defense, keeping a pistol or shotgun for home defense is not exactly wrong. Then I also totally get the sports around shooting, hunting is something I no longer do, but there is something natural about it, a connection to our evolution.

But what I don't get is the idolatrous worship of weapons some people have for them. I find the 31st verse of the Tao covers how I feel about guns pretty well.

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.
From a translation by S. Mitchell

[meekon5]

What Gun? No wait haven't I been here before? What day is this?

[DigitalBuddha]

What Gun? No wait haven't I been here before? What day is this?

You mean, vagina, I mean, you know this female form?

[milnie]

Sadly not intimately

[DigitalBuddha]

Sadly not intimately

Coitus? 

[Hominid]

I cautiously throw my two cents in.

I get the 'cool' factor, hell I wouldn't mind getting to play around with a 76mm shoulder fired mortar. I also understand self defense, keeping a pistol or shotgun for home defense is not exactly wrong. Then I also totally get the sports around shooting, hunting is something I no longer do, but there is something natural about it, a connection to our evolution.

But what I don't get is the idolatrous worship of weapons some people have for them. I find the 31st verse of the Tao covers how I feel about guns pretty well.

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.
From a translation by S. Mitchell

Can't say I know any soldiers who aren't in love with killing technology. As well, I can't say I know of any spiritual/sage-like man who is (or wants to be) intimately familiar with killing technology.  Aren't they mutually exclusive? I get your point; weapons of destruction should ONLY ever be a last choice. But it's not how the war culture works.  Since the dawn of time, our best technology has always gone into warfare, quickly followed by the soldiers who love using it.

But then, what do I know?

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

Well, pretty much my whole family is full of war veterans, myself included, and while I would say we were all first class soldiers and skilled at the job, I can not say any of us had any love for war. We are just uniquely able to cope with the challenges of war making, and thus it made more sense for us to serve than to let less well equipped individuals go in our stead. I go so you don't have to, if I could stop it I would, but I can take your place and give you the chance to avoid it. That's the thinking I had and I know my father and grandfathers had.

There is something about being in a war zone that I can not quite describe, it is very close to the edge of life and death, that gritty place where life becomes hyper real, it is exciting to the umth degree. That and the sense of unity you share with your fellow soldiers is nothing you can find in the civilian world, when you hold your buddies life in your hands and he holds yours, and the amount of altruistic love you share with each other is mind bending.

All that said

A true worrier hates war, his primary focus is to end war, he doesn't chose his battles he seeks merely to end them.

One last qualifier, not every member of the military is a true worrier, there are douchebags and dicks in the military, but the worriers try to thin them out, killers and assholes don't make good soldiers.

[Hominid]

Very insightful response, thanks... you make some great points.

[RighteousDude]

there are douchebags and dicks in the military

That was my experience. Four years then FIGMO and never looked back.