Re: [MV] Military Only Zone-Response

From: Ryan Gill (rmgill@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Oct 08 2002 - 21:32:21 PDT


At 10:14 PM -0400 10/8/02, ddoyle9570@aol.com wrote:
>
>In case number one, fellow with a lot of experience is walking
>around in uniform with his side arm in its holster. At the end of
>the show as he is packing up, he discovered he had accidentally
>replaced his non-gun with his live, loaded M1911A1. And had been
>walking around armed all day.

We need to get you together with the Re-enactors that don't like MVs
because they're so paranoid that someone's going to get run over. You
guys can plan the most amazingly safe and boring event that doesn't
have any real guns or MVs. It'll be a collection of photos that
people look at and static displays that don't run.

>In case number two, a fellow walks away from his beautifully kitted
>out jeep. A kid about 12 or so, ignored momentarily by his parent,
>climbs in and is immediately drawn to the dummy 45, and picks it up
>and proceeds to start "shooting" the other spectators.

Sounds like the kid needs to be turned over someone's knee if you ask
me. Running up, picking up someone's rifle and turning it on someone
is not something that any kid should be doing.

If some kid ran into our camp and grabbed my No4 enfield off of the
Dingo, I'd be grabbing it back and chasing the kid out of the camp. I
caught one kid climbing into a friend's ferret and followed him back
to his parents. I like kids. I'll give them rides, but they need to
be kept on a short leash. If they run over the line, the parents are
the ones that are responsible, not the owner.

>Now what if these two events had been one? How much "interesting
>display" would that have been worth?

These two things are totally unrelated. That same kid could run past
a barrier at an airshow and eat a prop in the face, run under a tank
that's rolling past or any number of things. One could just as easily
say that no kinds should be at MV shows.

>Absurd, I don't think so. Maybe you are super cautious, you seem to
>be, but accidents can and will happen, even to the best. How many
>accidents can the hobby afford, how many can you afford?
>
>The guy who walked around armed all day...a dear friend of mine, and
>the event safety officer. Only weapon not checked, his own (now we
>have two, and they check each other). The kid doing the "shooting",
>his dad is a militaria collector, who preaches "don't point guns at
>anything you don't want to shoot." But accidents do happen.

The fellow with the live .45 doesn't bother me. I walk around in real
life with a live and loaded 9mm. The sky doesn't fall. Your friend
who was walking around with the live .45 wasn't playing cowboy with
people was he?

First event when I went into the field with live weapons and blanks
had saw me checking my ammo multiple times, is this really a set of
blanks? hmmm yep.

Our unit checked our blanks as a group. Loaded them too. We also work
together to

>Another time I will tell you about the reenactment that the weapons
>check turned up live ammo just before going into battle, or the MV
>show where a vendor was selling live blank ammo to a group of ten
>year old boys.

That's why you have ammo checks. That's also why you have ground
guides. Even so, things could go wrong. That's why you make a good
faith effort and do your best.

>You have the right to disagree with rules, and lobby to change them,
>or run your own event with your own rules. You even have the right,
>protected by the weapons of our forefathers and current citizens to
>say folk like me are being absurd. But from what I have seen, we
>are simply being cautious.

I also have a right to not go to re-enacting events that aren't MV
friendly. Believe me there are some that are like that. FIG is
looking that way if you ask me. Don't throw the baby out with the
bath water is all I say. Use caution, don't use fear.

-- 
Ryan Gill              rmgill@SPAMmindspring.com
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'60 Daimler Ferret '42 Daimler Dingo '42 Humber MkIV (1/3)
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