I see there is a movie of "The A Team", a show that IMO caused a lot of

[old mark]

irrational anti gun sentiment when it was showing on TV, maybe partly responsible for the idiotic AWB. Just wondering if you think it had this effect and if it will repeat.

This is just a theory of mine, but I believe many people get their "knowledge" of guns from this type of programming...of course, it is all wrong.


mark

[virginia mountainman]

1. you know that was amazing...

Especially, I don't think anyone ever got killed on it..

[old mark]

Right!!! they each fired hundreds of rounds - from guns with 30 round magazines

and NO ONE ever got killed!!!! It was truly amazing!


mark

[GreenStormCloud]

13. I don't remember ever seening them replace a spent magazine.

Sort of like the old kid westerns where the six-shooters never had to be reloaded.

[Hoopla Phil]

29. Happened once, as part of a gag. Someone was yelling at B.A. for more "clips"

during a firefight. Well, B.A. had been hypnotized and conditioned to fall asleep (for air transport cause of his fear of flying)at the work Eclipse. So the gag was to yell for more "clips" and B.A. falls asleep during a firefight.

[petronius]

19. I would think that would actually discourage anti-gun sentiment

After watching the A-Team for a few hours, nobody could possibly believe guns were dangerous. (On the other hand, it would lead you to believe that every car that so much as bumped another was going to immediately explode...)

[Nailzberg]

23. I always got the impression they were purposely not killing people.

Sure, they were going up against bad guys, usually some kinda outfit putting the squeeze on some regular joes. But they were also innocent men framed for a crime they didn't commit. Going around killing civilians, even if the civilians happened to be villains, that kinda vigilante justice would have brought even more heat to the manhunt to capture them, and certainly wouldn't have helped them clear their names as they would be painted as cold blooded killers.

At least that's always how I saw it.

[old mark]

8. delete-dupe.

[ManiacJoe]

17. That was one of the studio's rules for the show.

No one was allowed to be shot. So I was told ages ago....

[izquierdista]

2. It's like the Flintstones

Educated, rational people recognize them as fictional entertainment; right-wing morons think they are documentaries.

[msongs]

3. now if gun owners would just stop killing people with their guns.... nt

[east texas lib]

5. I will if you will...

You first.

[cowman]

6. Thats got to be the most

asinine statement from you yet. I've owned guns for years and I have yet to kill someone in my civillian life.

[old mark]

9. What would be the point of having a gun then? nt

[rrneck]

10. That was an A-Team post.

Drove by, shot, and missed.

[SteveM]

26. HA! na

[Euromutt]

11. And if only you'd stop beating your spouse

What's that? You can't stop beating your spouse because you never started? Well, isn't that funny; well over 99.9% of legal gun owners have never started killing people either!

[Callisto32]

12. Broad brush is BROOOOOAD.

[east texas lib]

14. I would've just used a seining net.

It's so much more efficient.:D

[jazzhound]

18. The Undisputed Empress of Factose Intolerance

http://wikiality.wikia.com/Factose_Intolerance

[east texas lib]

4. I'll say one thing, those guys couldn't hit jack shit with a mini-14...

I thought MaGyver was worse. OK, two things.;-)

[TlalocW]

7. If it makes you feel any better

Knight Rider did a two hour made for tv movie where it was set in the future with a new car that was going to replace KITT until they put KITT's CPU into it because the new car's CPU was fault where guns were outlawed, and the police hated it because they had ineffectual stun guns, and true to NRA's warnings, only the criminals had guns.

Alas, it was pretty republican in its talking points. It also had Quayle as president (seen in a news cast talking about Operation Tropical Storm), and at the end when the bad guys are going to be frozen instead of put in prison, the guard remarks that he needs to unfreeze and release, "Some guy named Manson."

TlalocW

[Ready4Change]

15. A-Team and GI Joe.

Both the old A-Team series and the GI Joe kids cartoon intentionally never killed anyone. In spite of all the gun fire, explosions and vehicular wrecks, everyone always survived, both good and bad guys. In my opinion, that's something that both pro and anti gun camps should object too, (albeit for different reasons.)

[Caliman73]

16. I don't know about that.

Guns were okay I think until Black and Brown people started using them in the inner cities and suburbs. Until then if white people used them to kill as many Injuns or Messikans as they needed to, that was okay.

[RamboLiberal]

20. Personally I think Miami Vice

had a lot to do with the attraction for the TEC-9, MAC-10, street-sweeper-shotgun and other "cool" looking guns gaining some street popularity. Plus the cool looking Sonny Crockett shoulder holster that Galco sells to this day labeled as the Miami Classic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_in_Miami_Vice

This newspaper article says Miami Vice is the major determinant of assault weapon fashion at that time in the 80's.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19890922&id=_lMeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EcgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3247,3960003

And on Miami Vice people got blown away with guns - though of course never the 2 stars - they always magically came back next week after being shot.

[S_B_Jackson]

21. Don't forget the Bren-10!

Looks cool, but it's performance fell far short of it's hype.

[one-eyed fat man]

27. Expensive single shot!

Dornhaus and Dixon, makers of the Bren Ten went belly up after no one seemed to be able to produce magazines for the thing. The gun, based on the CZ-75 design, got a lot of hype from Jeff Cooper and the parent case for the cartridge was .30 Remington. The magazines are still rarer than the gun is.

If Colt hadn't brought the Delta Elite in 1985 Norma would have been stuck with tons of 10mm ammo and no viable gun to fire it in.

[Euromutt]

22. If so, it didn't do a good job of it

After all, the standard weapon of Hannibal's bunch was the Ruger Mini-14, which notably avoided being classed as a so-called "assault weapon." Admittedly, the series may have helped foster the misapprehension that so-called "assault weapons" are capable of firing on automatic, since the main characters used semi-auto-only Mini-14s (to make it easier to transport them to filming locations in various states) which then had sounds effects of automatic fire dubbed in in post-production.

[old mark]

24. I have always thought that the show led to the AWB for the very reasons

you state...people thought those terrible black rifles were full auto spray and pray banger guns that anyone could buy at a gun show. (Where ALL the nasty guns come from according to TV.)

It really helped established the biased and ignorant anti-gun positions we see so much of here-and elsewhere in some Democratic circles.

At least that is my very humble opinion.

(I used to collect similar guns just for that reason - people thought they looked scarey.)

mark

[Caliman73]

25. There is a select fire Mini 14

The AC-556 was designed for military and police use and capable of selective fire. Not that it makes a difference to the post you wrote, but just wanted to put it out there. The sound effects were very cheesy in that production.

[one-eyed fat man]

28. The Mini-14

and the AC556 both have a reputation of rivaling the AK-47 for accuracy, if not reliability. If you find one that fires shot groups at a 100 meters you can keep on a #3 washtub, they are a "tack driver"!

[benEzra]

30. As a (former) mini-14 owner, I am officially entitled to post this...

Diagnostic target:







I do have to say that the new mini's (580-series and up) are reportedly much more accurate than the older ones. Mine was a 188-series Ranch Rifle, and the accuracy was atrocious (5.5" groups at 100 yards).

[krispos42]

31. *snort*

lol

[spin]

32. Looks a lot like the diagnostic target used for handguns ...

Often when I look at a handgun belonging to an experienced and expert shooter, I find the adjustable sights are centered. If I look at the sights of a handgun that belongs to an newbie, I find the sights are considerably offset to the right or left.