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Thursday, August 29, 2013
History's Top Shot
Poor Chris Cerino. In addition to having a name that's its own elementary school nickname ("Chris Cerino ... the Chris-inator ... Chris-man...."), he was runner-up on Top Shot again. It was a little hard to watch, given that you could see he really wanted it a lot more than the younger, more laid-back Phil. But so it goes. Congratulations to Phil and all the competitors on a great season. Anyway, now that Top Shot may well have fired its own "last shot," I endorse this Slate post whole-heartedly, especially the part where it serves as an introduction a non-gun-owning liberal like me to healthy gun culture. It really is a great show and a ton of fun to watch. My full recommendation.
The trouble with Top Shot "as an introduction... to healthy gun culture" is that it seems to be entirely about target practice with a little dab of history. So it doesn't tell us much about the practical reasons people generally own guns: for hunting and self-protection (and on the loopier end, for the coming race war/ overthrow of a tyrannical government).
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a heavily gun-owning area, I don't think I knew any gun owners who owned firearms purely for the demonstration of their shooting skills. If using a gun had no more import than using longbows or an atlatl, then a compromise on the issue probably could be reached easily by requiring all the target practice to take place at certain designated places, where gun owners would have to store their guns at all times rather than keeping them in their vehicles, bedside drawers, and belt holsters.