New generation of gun owners...

[garand4life]

As was visiting my favorite gun shop this past weekend, enjoying some post holiday catching up and an odd encounter made me worry. Two young guys, no more than 22 came into the store inquiring about several guns. That is not really what worries me. What bothered me was what they were looking for. Obviously the current buzz with high school and college age are video games namely Modern Warfare 2, in this case. The first guy was trying wanting to buy an AR  because he saw how "cool" this gun was when he "F***ed up" people in the game. The second wanted to buy an AK for approximately the same reason. It worries me that this new generation of gun owners and potential gun owners are getting into the sport based off a fantasy rooted in a virtual world were there are no consequences for mishandling a gun. I asked the first why he was wanting to drop over $1500 for a gun on his first purchase and his response was so shocking, "I can hit anything with it and if someone screws with me I want to take care it." Needless to say no one was selling to this guy at this shop. After they left I talked with my armorer for about another 45 minutes waiting for a price on a G32 then headed up to Cabelas only to fin the same to nut jobs asking about the same hardware.
Just to put this in perspective from where I'm coming from. I am a Video game fan myself. But I know too many younger new gun owners who are infatuated with buying a gun because of a video game and don't fully understand what it means to own a gun for protection. It worries me that these are going to be the "dark side of the force".

[fightingquaker13]

I had the same experience in Austin a few years back. A couple of young banger types came into a Jumbo Sports and wanted to buy shotgun shells for a twelve. Asked what they wanted, they just said they wanted something cheap that would F something up. I sincerly hope the clerk sold them #9 as you know where it was going. One problem with the decline of our hunting heritage is that kids who want to start shooting won't have the same steadying influence that our parents and grandparents gave us to keep us from doing somethig stupid when we were young and dumb. Buying a gun and even getting a CCW doesn't make you responsible. That's a cultral thing from friends and family. I hope Beavis and Butthead make the right friends because family has clearly not done its job.
FQ13

[MikeBjerum]

The computer geeks of the 80's and 90's sold business on the value of solitare on business computers because it taught mouse skills.  They continued with this train of thought with all video and computer games because it taught eye/hand cordination and rapid thought.  Now we have a generation, or two, that thinks they understand hunting, fishing and shooting, because they have played it on computers and video.

I am also a person that gets ridiculed because I feel the desensitation to death and destruction that current entertainment and video is bad.  I am not about taking it all away, but it needs to be taught that there is a difference between life and make beleive.

Guns are not bad on their own, and they are not harmless either.  They are just like the food in your refrigerator, the beer at the bar and the car in the driveway.  Guns need education and instruction tied to them, and the users need to be self controlled and responsible for their actions.

[twyacht]

Sadly there is a "maturity" level that is much lower in most of today's "kids". I've seen first hand, even intervened, with the same age group at the Pembroke Range, they rented a "Glock" cause, Glocks are cool,.....and demonstrated absolute lack of any training, or safety.

Myself and another fellow shooter I didn't even know, intervened. Nothing breaks your own session, when you have to keep an eye on where THEIR muzzle is pointing. (see Range Horror Stories here in the archives).

They see an AR/AK, Glock, the latest whizbang laser gripped whatever, go to YouTube, and want it. Damn the NRA, their a bunch of militia, gun totin, rednecks,,,,these "kids" can't even quote the 2nd Amendment, except "It means I can buy a gun"....

The don't have the temperament, maturity, or even fundamental training to make me feel safe around them.

Hmmmm, I feel the same way about young out of the box yacht captains also,.....

[tombogan03884]

 Put in a way they can't argue with, point out that just because they can kick but on "Need 4 Speed" doesn't mean they can drive.

[Sponsor]

[Texas_Bryan]

Well let's not just single out the video games now, ya'll know better than that.  It's the complete debasing of the modern youth's world.  They just don't have to grow up.  They don't experience the real world and havn't been through enough life experiences to learn maturaty.  Movies were the video games of yesteryeay and people didn't go buy SA Colts and talk like they were insane.  When I'm in the real world I'm mature, I have to be, when I'm with friends during and appropriate time from play, I allow myself to be less mature.  Kids now a days don't understand that there's a time or play and its not all the time and not on all subjects.  Like I always say, most of the world's problem come from kids not being hit enough or too much.

I promise you all that as a young person, 22, who knows he's not a certifiably mature adult, that I make sure to maintain a very professional stance around those that aren't of the gun community.  And do my best to teach mature and responsible ownership to interested friends and family.

[Timothy]

Keep doing what you're doing Byran,  it's working and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders....but you're the exception, not the rule!

[fullautovalmet76]

OK. Everyone take a deep breath now. Now exhale. And listen to FullAuto's trip down memory lane....

I can remember a time in the not too distant past  (<20 years) I would have received very dirty looks and insults for bringing an AK to a shooting range. There were many there who were in 'Nam, or Korea, whose daddy fought the "Japs" and "Krauts" in WWII. They did not care for that Commie rifle and, and, and, they hated the M-16 too! These were the Fudds that did not want any of that rapid fire, draw from the holster, shootin' games either.

To them, my generation (X) were a bunch of slackers who could not find our butts with both hands. On top of all that, they said all we wanted to do was go to the mall and play video games- video games were going to be the ruin of the nation...

Keep in mind today tens of thousand twenty somthings are in the sandbox putting their lives on the line for the concept of freedom...And it is this generation that has been exposed to the most video games than any prior generation.....There are some who probably should not have a rifle but I can think of a few 50 - 60 year olds who should not have guns either.


Relax and don't be a Fudd.....

[garand4life]

Having several close friends in the Army and USMC I have great respect for their character and courage. I am specifically speaking of 21-27 year olds who haven't the inclination to serve in the defense of their country unless it's in high definition with 5.1 surround sound. The idiots I encountered are a product of the same bullsh** programming that the military is bad but Grand Theft Auto is a good role model. They have no concept of reality. I have known people who go into the military with these same unrealistic expectations of blowing things up with MGs and AT4s but don't understand that there is a higher responsibility to the uniform and the constitution. One reason that I disagree with the belief that if the President tries to turn the military on the people of the US they will follow orders legal or not. I'm 25, I bought my first handgun the day I turned 21. And it scares me to see some of these "kids" going out and buying a gun who have no training other than Xbox and youtube.

[twyacht]

FullAuto, and garand, you both have valid and spot on posts.

I am a Gen "X"er, we were the largest group of latchkey kids to grow up with the highest divorce rates and mothers going to work outside the home. I had to take care of my little sister after school until my mother came home from work. Do neglect this responsibility was met with swift and blinding a** whoopings...

We had Atari's and the birth of the "video game arcades"....Granted there was not the technology available for virtual reality, hi-def, linked PS3's, etc,..

but there was as FullAuto posted, a large group of my friends that just got high, slacked and were losers, BUT as with any group, exceptions.

garand posted about the 20 somethings in the military, THEY are the exception to the group we laugh at during "man on the street" interviews with 20 somethings that can't identify 1 Supreme Court Justice, the SECDEF, or SECSTATE,

Remember those are the grass eaters that are voting also....

The kids I intervened with violating 9 out of 10 pistol range protocols, are not the ones defending this country.

and so it goes....

I think we're all on the same page here...