It’s hard to know where to start with this one. We could start at the end (1:35), with an assortment of rifles lying on the ground pointing in the general direction of the area where the pistoleros were showing their stuff moments before. Or we could back it up a bit and watch “Alex” swing his handgun like a scythe (1:25). Or further back, to where headstrong851 and his BFF Chris “debate” whether or not the Desert Eagle is still loaded (1:13), as the newbie walks around without removing the magazine or checking the chamber. (Where did that gun go anyway?) But let’s focus on the bigger picture: the complete lack of eye, ear, head and body protection.
Charles Darwin
Editorial: Is Anti-Gun Culture Lowering Boys’ Reading Skills?
I don’t know about you, but I’m a boy. Well, I was one, back in the day. I played guns all the time, perfecting the art of finger shooting, quick draw and dying while diving in a pool. I watched a lot of gun TV: The Rifleman, The WIld, Wild West, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and more. My favorite movies featured gunplay. And I read a lot of books about war, cowboys and Indians, hunting, spies and exploration. (NB: The Hardy Boys were pussies.) As TTAG’s Brad Kozak pointed out in a recent editorial, the gun gestalt taught me a lot about right and wrong. Today, Gun Culture for Boys™ is still thriving. There’s a huge range of Nerf and Airsoft guns and any number of hyper-violent, hyper-realistic video games. Rap music is suffused with romantic gun references. Still, something’s missing: gun-celebratory novels. At literacy levels below Tom Clancy (yes there is such a thing), boy’s books about gunplay are awfully thin on the ground. Is that a major contributory factor for falling levels of pre-adult male literacy?
