[Leica] IMG: Tina's "Tea Party" reunion propaganda photo

[imra at iol.ie (Douglas Barry)]

You may have bought your Leica M3 in Ireland, Larry, but thanks to our 
sensible gun laws here, you wouldn't have been able to buy a gun.
I liked Tina's picture which worked for me.

On your own points, I've travelled all over Europe and am baffled by your 
comments about airport security. Those people are with the army/police and, 
as I presume you're happy to be covered in the US by your own army/police, 
I'm wondering what has spurred your question about their levels of 
responsibility with their weapons. I'm as happy to see them as I would be 
unhappy to think of lax laws allowing various gun obsessive wingnuts 
parading around with both concealed paranoia & carries, and endangering me.

Douglas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <lrzeitlin at aol.com>
To: <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 8:54 PM
Subject: [Leica] IMG: Tina's "Tea Party" reunion propaganda photo


> Don't over react to guns. They are common in rural America. There are far 
> more guns in the US than there are Leicas, Nikon, Canons, and all other 
> fine cameras combined. The gun culture is alive and well not only in the 
> south but in the North West, the mid-Atlantic states and in New England. 
> The next time you take a drive on a cross country highway stop in at a 
> Cabella's or a Bass Pro sporting goods store. You will see enough guns on 
> display to arm a regiment and enough ammunition to stock a medium sized 
> rebellion. Schools are even closed during deer hunting season in much of 
> Pennsylvania. A successful hunt is the key to a well fed holiday season. 
> New York City even hosted the Bannerman warehouse until it moved up the 
> Hudson to Pollopel Island. Bannerman and family were merchants who bought 
> up most of the military surplus from the Civil War, the Spanish-American 
> war and WW I. Most of the world's rebellions until the outbreak of WW 2 
> used Bannerman supplied weapons. My father even had a Sears Roebuck sized 
> catalog of Bannerman's arms available for resale.
>
> When I was a boy the country was much less urban than it is now. In rural 
> communities gun ownership was accepted as a fact of life. Most families 
> owned at least two guns, a shotgun for hunting and a 22 cal. rifle for the 
> kids to plink around with. Most high schools had rifle teams, usually 
> subsidized by the Army. Indeed an armed population was considered the key 
> to national defense. What enemy would attack a country with a well armed 
> citizenry? The NRA, rather than being dedicated to supporting the Second 
> Amendment, was an advocate of teaching marksmanship in schools.
>
> I currently own three guns, a shotgun, a rifle, and a handgun. My favorite 
> is a Browning semi-automatic 22 rifle, also John Browning's favorite gun. 
> It is beautiful, a true work of art. I bought it on sight 40 years ago. I 
> lusted after that gun more than I ever lusted after a Leica camera. It has 
> appreciated in price more than twenty times the price I paid.
> <http://www.basspro.com/Browning-SemiAuto-Grade-I-22-LR-Rifle/product/102
> 17873/>
>
> I was taught to shoot as a ten year old at a YMCA camp by a German doctor 
> who had served as in infantryman under the Kaiser during WW I. At one time 
> I was even capable of shooting a bullet through the center of a cigarette, 
> end on, at 50 ft. I shake too much now and my vision isn't what it used to 
> be.
>
> The prevalence of arms has a low correlation with gun murder rates. 
> Vermont and New Hampshire are the U.S. states with the highest per capita 
> gun ownership, minimum regulatory requirements, and also the lowest rates 
> of gun homicides. What really disturbs me is traveling through Europe and 
> the Middle East and seeing all those young military types in airports and 
> wandering the streets with fully armed large magazine assault rifles slung 
> over their backs. How responsible are they? You guys who are appalled at 
> seeing weapons, think about that.
>
> Now about Tina's picture of a "Tea Party" family reunion. This may be a 
> minority opinion but I think it is a poorly composed, unsharp, snapshot of 
> a family at a dinner table with one person handing a gun to another. Just 
> a bad picture. Peter is right is stating that prudent gun handling 
> practices are being violated. The is no indication that it is a "Tea 
> Party" meeting at all. Even Tina's  original title on her web site does 
> not identify it as such. This picture is far below Tina's usual standard 
> and I suspect was titled and posted only to evoke comment. And you can 
> see. It did.
>
> Larry Z
>
>
>
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