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By Frank Williams

I ordered some paper targets for the pistol range from a seller on Amazon. They’re the type with a rectangular(ish) design that approximates a human silhouette. They cost a grand total of $15. And because they’re targets and they’re (roughly) “human shaped,” they’re being shipped to me via UPS and I’ll have to sign for them when they’re delivered . . .

The product description on Amazon includes the following:

WARNING: You must be 18 or older to purchase Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes. All Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes are shipped UPS and require an adult signature upon delivery. WARNING: Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes cannot be shipped to New York. Please check your State, County and City laws for restrictions before ordering Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes.

I can order $300 in kitchen knives or a chain saw and they’ll just dump the box by the front door and leave it. But for $15 worth of paper, I have to sign? To borrow a phrase from a former co-worker, that’s just re-DAMN-diculous!

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56 COMMENTS

  1. Wait, that cant be true right? You cant order human shaped targets in NY? What crazy nonsense is that…last time I checked the bulls-eye targets werent tooling up and attacking people. Maybe you should practice on a form that resembles your likely attacker?

  2. I don’t see why you men need to target shoot. You can quilt, play board games, and fund raise for Obama. Afterwards, you can go can shop for shoes, join dating clubs, and cook a vegetarian meal together. Such fun!

  3. So you’re complaining about Amazon’s human shaped target policy yet you still ordered the targets from Amazon. Is it Amazon that is “re-DMAN-diculous”, you or both? I’m guessing the author is a victim of our public education system.

    • Before boycotting an honest to God tax-paying business that employs actual people and isn’t taking Green subsidies, I personally will get all the facts as to whether Amazon is simply complying with certain local or state laws or if this is a personal opinion of Jeff Bezos. I suspect the first.

        • Not UPS, I’ve had plenty of human shaped and actual human picture targets delivered to my house without need for a signature from anyone. Also, while this could be state or local laws, buying these targets under this policy without finding out whose Tyranny it is, is still support for the Tyranny.

  4. Consider telling them its actually popsicle-shaped and they are just looking at them upside down.

    Your other option is to order Justin Beiber posters and just shoot at those. I am certain no signature is required for those….but there probably should be.

  5. “Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes cannot be shipped to New York. ”
    I’ve joked often about things not being available in gun ban areas. Fiction meet fact.

  6. I guess I can see the human form – a quad amputee, obese torso, removed neck, head reformed from surgery to conform to a square.

    Actually, I really see a spinning top.

    • Propane tank. Which can be a lot of fun when there is a bit left in them and you have the proper rifle….just sayin.

  7. I got a few of the “War is not the answer” yardsigns from someone and found that dove of peace perfect for sighting in my rifle. Free too. No sig required.

  8. I live in NY and I regularly buy both silhouette and FBI targets. I wonder if its an NYC thing or just Amazon being obnoxious?

    • I found a law in MA that says if your a club with a class A license you cannot use these targets, I cannot find a similar law for NY and did not bother with NYC.

  9. “WARNING: Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes cannot be shipped to New York.”

    Honest to God, I cannot figure out why ANYONE would want to live in New York. Or California. Or Illinois.

    • Because the “ANYONES” are getting free housing, free cell phones, food stamps and whatever else is those govts can give away on someone elses dime.

    • These are nice places to live, I’ve been to all of those states. The problem is they let people take over who have ruined the state with their laws.

    • I think you are mistaking the opinions New Yorkers as a whole with the unfortunate souls who live in New York City. Once you are out of the Five Boroughs its awful hard to find a liberal worth the name. Unfortunately the 8,244,910 people (as of June, 2011) or 42.35% of the state population live in the City and none of them are gonna vote a pro-2A politician into office. Especially considering that much more than 42% of the state income is downstate.

    • Why not order full-torso pix of Rosie O’Donnell? Don’t think she qualifies as human. Then again, you’d need a REALLY large-bore gun.

    • That’s what I do for shotgun patterning. It’s really cheap too but doesn’t work for ranges where the targets are mounted on carriers.

  10. “WARNING: Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes cannot be shipped to New York. Please check your State, County and City laws for restrictions before ordering Targets depicting Humans or Human Silhouettes.”

    Would shooting at pictures of human fetuses give liberals a conniption?

    While I have no desire to shoot at such targets, watching a Leftist’s head explode from the congnitive dissonance would be funny.

  11. I wonder if the zombie targets that are sold at sporting good stores qualify as human shape targets. lol. The FBI shoots at John Dillinger picture targets. Im going to have to look for another book seller, Amazon is getting to liberal for me.

    • At my local range, the range monkey/master would not allow me to shoot a zombie hog target, because it was in bad taste, or more likely since it was not sold by the range, he wanted to flex his awesomeness on me. Bad-guy targets are sold at the range, but a mythical zombie hog crosses the line?

      • Same here at one of our ranges. I pulled out the zombie targets and the range master told me those were a no-go along with any other silhouette targets. “What if the media were to show up and see people shooting those?” he asked. “Uh, the exposure would probably bring you more business,” I said.

  12. You really need to buy your targets elsewhere. I’m sure the NRA store has just about any target you could require.

  13. Actually, I prefer to think of it as a hand with the middle finger up, particularly if a liberal gun hater is looking at it.

  14. I was buying small and large paper plates at the store last week and the cashier told me I could only buy one size at a time because I might stack the smaller plates above the larger ones creating a human silhouette.

    How did she know I was on my way to the range?

  15. Face up to it: gun owners are a persecuted minority. Its time we acted in unison and boycott any business or person that engages in this kind of harassment and discrimination.

  16. One of the ranges around here (thankfully not the one I belong to) has banned targets with human faces. I find it completely ridiculous.

  17. A friend of mine once got around the no humanoid targets rule at his range by having a picture of Stalin blown up to poster size. He taped it up at 100 yards when the RO politely said “sir we don’t allow human-like targets here.” My friend reached into his range bag and handed the RO an academic journal article detailing the various atrocities green-lighted by Stalin during his “time in office”. My friend said, “read that and then try to tell me with a straight face that Josef Stalin meets the criteria for a decent human being”. The RO let it slide that time, probably because my friend was alone at the range.

    • I don’t think that Mittens Romney “meets the criteria for a decent human being”.

      What would be the reaction from (1) liberals (2) range owners (3) other gun owners

      if I shot at a picture of Mittens?

  18. Any over the top violent films or video games can,however be shipped to anywhere in the USA under the 1st amendment.Actually one could claim 1st amendment protection for distributing paper targets depicting actual public figures,although it might be a really stupid move since it would bring down a lot of heat.
    How about toilet paper with pictures of some of our favorites?

    • +1

      If they don’t like the second amendment, they can at least get behind the first amendment. These targets are copyrighted art after all.

    • +1

      Amazon is a marketplace. Yes, they fulfill many of the orders themselves, but they do not fulfill them all. In most cases Amazon is merely a broker, connecting would-be consumers with would-be sellers.

      When you look at listings for targets that are stocked and shipped by Amazon–and, yes, Amazon does in fact stock and ship silhouette targets themselves–they do not include any such warning.

  19. I moved to Florida from NYC years ago, hoping to escape prohibitions, but that was not to be the case. The County owned range in Miami-Dade county does not allow ANY target that depicts a life form. Shooters are forbidden from using targets that mimic deer, turkey, rats, muggers even zombies, wait, zombies are not a LIFE form…..guess what……. still banned…… Miami-Dade County Range patrons can only shoot at targets that look like TARGETS. I am thankful that the commercial ranges do not operate in lockstep with the government operation. Now where are my politico targets hiding?

  20. Hey- it’s CAMPAIGN season!
    Just stop by your favorite opposition candidate’s office and pick up FREE yard signs!
    Set at 25 yds, and sight in on say, “O”.
    Fun, and Free!

  21. “..targets depicting humans can not be sold in New York……..”

    That is probably just as well. The cops there might think they are innocent bystanders and shoot the crap out of them while the UPS man is delivering them.

  22. NY’s gun laws are bad enough. Let’s not get like the antis and make stuff up. I live in NY and have a full carry pistol license. I just ordered 1000 rounds of PDX-1 from Cabellas and it was delivered by UPS and left on my porch-no signature. I know of no NY law about targets that depict humans. Someone show it to me and I will retract this. If this was in fact on eBay it may have been the seller’s misunderstanding. Something smells fishy here.

  23. that is amusing…in somewhat gun-unfriendly IL, human shaped targets are no problems at gun ranges…although zombie targets have become popular…

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