[MT2008]

I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about...

"Berettas, H&Ks, Desert Eagles, AR-15s, etc...SUCK!"

"9mm is for kids and women. You're not a real man if you don't like .45 ACP."

...and so on. I'm really getting tried of the "gun experts" on IMFDB who think their choice is superior to everyone else's.

The reason I bring this up is because Brian just deleted that discussion on the Beretta 92-series page that Smithy started, and I thought about how bad that discussion made us look. I understand that everyone has guns they like and guns they don't like, and everyone is entitled to their opinion about what they think is best. But there's a point where it starts to sound like arrogance and lowers the civility of discourse on this site. We've crossed that line on IMFDB a few too many times now.

And often, I notice that most of the people trumpeting their gun or putting down someone else's tend to be either (1.) people shitting on a popular brand for the sake of drawing attention to themselves, or (2.) people who are pretty much echoing what's been said a million times already (i.e. "Desert Eagles are for idiots", "H&K thinks we suck and hate us", etc.)

Let me remind y'all of something (because it's amazing how often this is forgotten):

(1.) In America, firearms are a consumer product that anyone who is over 18 and law-abiding can purchase. 80 million people in this country own them. If you think you are special, or that you qualify as an expert, simply because you happen to own guns, then you need to be knocked down a peg or two: YOU AREN'T. You're not an expert on guns any more than someone who happens to have enough money to buy a Mustang qualifies as an expert on fast cars.

(2.) Everyone has a right to purchase and shoot firearms that may not be practical, or that may seem overpriced, without being called an idiot. For example, the Desert Eagle has become a running joke amongst gun owners because (1.) it's ridiculously expensive, and (2.) it has almost no practical uses. So the natural assumption is, "Everyone who buys Desert Eagles must be a loser with an inferiority complex." I don't own and probably never will own one, but I understand the Desert Eagle's appeal, and it's legit. Yes, there seem to be a lot of people who want them because of movies like "The Matrix". So what? Isn't that how the S&W Model 29 became popular? Wanting to buy a gun because you saw it in a movie doesn't make someone an idiot, either. There may be better, more practical uses of money, but buying consumer products that are used in movies is pretty much tradition in America, or any other free-market society.

(3.) Nobody's gun is going to appeal to everyone. I like SIGs, but I understand that some people have valid reasons for not liking them (you need big hands to grip them, the slide releases suck, and every SIG made since the P229 was introduced is a bit top-heavy). There are people who hate H&K USPs because they don't like the triggers or the mag releases, but I know some people who really like them and shoot well with them. Why is "to each his own" such a hard concept to grasp?

There, got that off my chest. Long story short, can we PLEASE agree to end the bullshit gun debates on this site?