If even gold medal Olympic shooting competitors can hit the wrong target..

[Pert_UK]

how can it possibly be safe or sensible to allow widespread, unrestricted access to firearms with no mandated basic safety or accuracy training?

"American Matthew Emmons fired at the wrong target in the men's 50m rifle three-position target event to gift the gold medal to China's Jia Zhanbo.

Emmons was three points ahead as he took his last shot, but got a rare zero for shooting at the target of Christian Planer in the next lane. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics_2004/shooting/3588308.stm

[roguevalley]

1. he's Alaskan. GO ALASKA!

[Jack_DeLeon]

2. To be fair...

he probably hit what he was aiming at.

[minavasht]

3. To be honest

I've shot others' targets too. I don't know how the olimpic range is set, but on the one I used to shoot back then the lines were less than a meter wide. And at 50 m. the targets don't have those convenient sliding ropes. No numbers above the targets too. If you change your position, you have to figure again which target is yours.
In real live this is hardly an issue - you shoot the guy with the biggest gun shooting at you.
Oh, and in the army I used to shoot at the targets of my less accurate friends, so they can qualify. Does it count?

[gatlingforme]

4. You are assuming Mr. Emmons is perfect then, Jack had it right

he was probably aiming at the target he was shooting, just happened to be wrong target. Also, I believe plenty of other examples can be used with your presumptions then, i.e. collateral damage, police officer misfiring, etc... Why do these groups have guns and are trained yet mistakes happen?? I do not see a valid argument here. Your premise is flawed.

[Pert_UK]

5. I'm not assuming anything of the sort.......

I'm assuming that he's had more training and practise than nearly anyone in the world and yet he still managed to make a huge mistake.

So what chance do the rest of us have of getting it right?

I could also say, "If policemen are stupid enough to play Russian roulette with guns, given all their training, can we really believe that anybody can be trusted with guns?"

However, my arguments are getting less strong and more playful....

"A Greek soldier guarding an Olympic facility in Athens has been shot dead after apparently playing a game of Russian roulette with a policeman, security sources said.

...It appeared that a prank had gone wrong while the pair were playing with a service revolver containing a single bullet, the sources added.

The 25-year-old soldier was shot in the forehead."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1183278.ht...

[slackmaster]

6. "Huge mistake"?

He hit one paper target instead of another paper target.

His "huge mistake" has no negative consequences other than to his own score. Nobody got hurt.

As for the Greek soldier's death from Russian roulette, that's just plain stupidity in action.

It looks like registration is required to view the article, but I'd wager there was alcohol involved.

[gatlingforme]

7. Good point It was a controlled setting too, as you said.

[gatlingforme]

8. Well a friend of mine who -- was -- a police officer was shot

execution style while he had two guns on him. Those guns were not used or taken out of the holster while he was being shot -- . He took three bullets and two went to his head.

now according to your argument I can ask "why do police officers need firearms when they never use them." ?

In any case, I like playful arguments....LOL

[Vladimir]

9. Good question

a better question would be: can an unarmed police force keep law and order effectively? The UK proves, without a shadow of a doubt, the answer to be yes.

[gatlingforme]

10. Yes, and Japan has it this way as well. In the US however,

I can't imagine our officers w/o guns.

[slackmaster]

11. I would add a caveat to the end of your last sentence

"...in the UK."

[FatSlob]

14. Then why are they starting to arm themselves?

[Vladimir]

16. The police officers are actually

resisting moves by the UK's mentally challanged and authoritarian government to arm them, and bobbies are in fact not arming themselves. The UK of course has rapid response teams for dealing with armed criminals. The excuses for arming the wider police force have mostly to do with the war on terror afaik...

[FatSlob]

18. Ahh, thank you for the info.

Much obliged.

[LibLabUK]

19. Hmm

"resisting moves by the UK's mentally challanged and authoritarian government to arm them"

I've never seen any calls by the government for arming the police here. I know that once a year the Police Federation poll their members on whether they think they should be armed and they always have an overwhelming majority say "No".

Infact, up until about 1990, any police office here could qualify and carry (the "Pink Card"), but that's all changed with firearms becoming a specialised unit with the police forces.

[Vladimir]

21. I understood Blunkett was in favour of arming

the police force with guns, but you are right and I was wrong. He was advocating arming them with dart guns. Teach me to read...

[LibLabUK]

22. Hehe..

Yeah, they're pushing the TASER, but that's still only for Armed Response Units and not your everyday bobby on the beat. The only reason they're pushing this is because of a couple of shootings where cops were forced to shoot people weilding fake guns or non-gun weapons. A Non-lethal weapon other than OC is needed, and TASER might be it.

[MrBenchley]

17. Not so, fat slob, not so...

Koresh forbid one of our trigger-happy chums ever have anything remotely approaching a fact...

"Police Federation figures show 78% of police officers do not want to carry guns, compared to 79% in 1995.
Federation chairman Jan Berry said: "Once again this result proves that, in spite of huge risks and dangers police officers face, they acknowledge the vital importance of policing by consent, in partnership with the communities they serve.
"They recognise that openly carrying guns would fundamentally change their relationship with the public.
The Police Federation said there were currently only 5,700 officers trained to use guns, compared with 6,500 five years ago."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3019133.stm

[Endangered Specie]

12. Might do better if the targets were randomly selected audience members?

:shrug:

[slackmaster]

13. Let me help you with your joke design

It would have been funnier if you had worked in something about the US Postal Service sponsoring the shooting team.

[MrBenchley]

15. Don't quit your day job, slack....

[Township75]

23. MrBenchley = Mailman

.

[MrBenchley]

24. Another non-humorist heard from....

[skippythwndrdog]

27. Here's another non-humorist we all know well.

[MrBenchley]

28. Not so skippy...

He's the laughable sort of shitheel who's stupid enough to swallow every bit of RKBA horseshit right wingers ladle out....

Can you imagine somebody so dumb that they believe that crap?

[skippythwndrdog]

29. I have trouble believing anyone would writte that drivel.

[MrBenchley]

30. Gee, skippy, some weeks all I have to do

is repeat the crap that ignorant gun loonies are saying over at places like highroadrage.com....

[Township75]

31. It was a non-humor post...

you likely are a mailman.

[MrBenchley]

32. And it showed....

"you likely are a mailman"
Well, wrong again...but then it's not like you've come within shouting distance of anything true up til now.

[Township75]

33. Ohh, I'm so sorry...

""you likely are a mailman"
Well, wrong again..."

I didn't know you got fired. I guess that is why you can make posts all day.

[MrBenchley]

34. Guess again, town....

It's not like you ever post anything true anyway....

[gatlingforme]

25. I thought your joke was funny, "Don't quit your day job, slack..." that

was funny.! I liked that. What a stinker comment. FUNNY!!!LOL (sarcasm)

[Endangered Specie]

20. That wouldnt work too well, theyd always show up late and get DQed.

[gatlingforme]

26. LOL

[mbnd45]

35. Why do you care anyway?

You're in England, where you don't have "unrestricted" access to firearms. Why don't you worry about your own country and stop worrying about ours.

[MrBenchley]

36. Like a little burst of sunshine...

[Pert_UK]

37. Woo! Way to smack me down there!

Nothing like addressing the content of the comment and refuting someone's argument, is there?

"mbnd45, you're pResident is a lying, incompetent imbecile!"
"What do you know, Pert_UK, you're British!"

Well hush my mouth.

Heh heh heh...

P.