Calm down lol it is only a bit of fun. But having said that please do not forget they were at a shooting show. I do not know if you went but there was one side of the building devoted to showing what responsible people shooters are then in the other side we had folk dresses up like SAS throwing flash bangs. You are free to correct me but is that the image you think should be portrayed? I saw men walking around the show with what for all know could have been air soft or real guns....I cant tell the difference by looking at them can you? I also saw a woman in normal every day attire with what looked like a Glock or a Sig strapped to high thigh as a clear fashion accessory....now was that a real gun....who knows.....was the show a public event...yes....should you display such items in public???.......I would call that bad manners.
I saw kids taking part , yes good to see them doing it but as you mention computer games I wonder how many kids play 18 rated computer games, it doesn't make it right. When I was a kid I was in the ATC and was taught never to use anything that looked remotely like a gun in any other way than you would do a real gun, that included de-activated drill 303s. Also and this will make you chuckle, when I was in the RAF i actually did my passing out parade with a wooden SLR stock with a piece of black painted pipe screwed to it and a bayonet on the end....as did the rest of my flight. Even those bits of crap had to be treated as you would a real rifle, had to be guarded when we went to lunch and locked in the armoury at end of play. Stupid I thought at the time, but the message was dont ever forget its a rifle and those looking at you never can tell if it is real or not.
If the airsofters want to do their thing fine, they I agree certainly spend cash on what they do and yes looks just like the real thing.....that is my point. If they want to promote there chosen pastime then do it in a responsible manner at an airsoft event.
Thanks for your post. I
was getting a bit fed up with the bandwagon of airsoft baiting on this thread, especially on top of the general whining about the show, but at the same time, I do understand where the uneasiness is coming from. What you say about your induction to guns is close enough to my own experience to ring totally true. My point, I suppose, is that we're missing the opportunity of creating links with a parallel community of people with similar interests to our own if we concentrate on the differences and not the things we have in common and if we not only refuse to communicate with them but choose to point the finger of scorn at them.
I've said in another post that I don't see why anyone should be concerned to see people with guns at a gun show, and can recall times and places, many of them recent albeit not in this country, where hunters have carried their guns openly in all sorts of public places without anyone giving a hoot.
As for manners, personally, I'd distinguish between "manners" which in my book is treating others as you would wish to be treated, and "etiquette" which is a specific code of behaviour which often seems primarily intended to embarrass, and thereby exclude, those not in the know. By this definition, the fully togged-up airsofters at the show were offending against the etiquette of the "country sports", whose practitioners responded by mocking or glaring at them, which I why I suggested it was less than polite!
To take another tack, we all know shooters who have "all the gear and no idea", and perhaps at times we've been there ourselves -full of enthusiasm, well-kitted up (we think), but unknowingly ridiculous. In such circumstances, the people who make a positive difference are the ones who come forward to help, inform, guide and encourage. Me, I'd rather be one of them.
Anyway, I think I've said all I have to say on the subject, and I've no particular axe to grind for airsoft, I just don't like seeing any group of legitimate gun owners stigmatised, and think shooters should be the very last people to indulge in such nonsense.