From: ddoyle9570@aol.com
Date: Wed Oct 09 2002 - 11:50:33 PDT
In a message dated 10/9/2002 9:09:06 AM Eastern Standard Time, shoop19@brick.net writes:
> Hold on dude.....all my armor was issued with
> weapons.......all of them. The
> issued items are listed in the operator manual
Jon,
You and Steve both pointed this out to me, thanks. I learned something new (any day one doesn't is a wasted day).
A buddy of mine said I wasn't making clear my position. I will summarize.
In my opinion, a live weapon is great at a shoot or a reenactment....a gas firing 50 is nothing after using a real M2HB.
BUT, at a Military Vehicle event (convention, rally, show), there is no place, or justification, in my mind, for a LIVE weapon or ammunition. A dummy will fill the rifle rack just as well, and safer. For the spectator genuinely interested in the weapons, invite then to the next reenactment, gun show, or your home.
Are the majority of guys who have live weapons safety conscientious? Of course, or their life expectancy wouldn't be very long. But this is an area where there is virtually no margin for error.
In my example should the kid who grabbed the gun and began shooting been disciplined? Of course, and he was. But if it had been a live weapon, and live ammo, that wouldn't have mattered much.
I used to think that the idea of disconnecting battery cables was ridicules. I pulled the engine stop, put the transmission in neutral, that should be adequate. Then one day at a display my buddies and I had wandered over to the food tent, when I heard one of my trucks roar to life. A kid in the driver's seat. Thankfully it was in neutral.
Had it been in gear, the lecture I gave him and his dad about not touching other people's stuff wouldn't have mattered much to those standing in front of the truck. Now, undoing those cables isn't so much work after all.
Non-firing weapons at shows fall in the same category to me...relatively cheap insurance.
Regards,
David Doyle
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