doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Does it belong?

It is not illegal in the UK to shoot and drink. Mind you, if there was an accident and you were considered by the police to be intoxicated, I wouldn't give you much chance in retaining your shotgun certificate or firearms license.

As has been said, on a days driven shooting here it is usual to find an alcoholic accompaniment to elevenses. Bull shot, sloe gin or even a slowgasm (mixture of sloe gin and champagne; try it, its very refreshing) is not unusual. Then at lunch a drink before the meal, with wine during it and even sometimes, a glass of port at the end, with a cigar. Now these are pretty special days for me and not necessarily the norm. On my regular, less smart, shoot someone will pull out a hip flask with sloe gin or the Kings ginger for a quick nip between the second and third drives and there will be sherry or wine at lunch. Maybe port at Christmas.

All this probably reads as if we are soaked in alcohol and waving our 100 year old fine English shotguns around with abandon. But I have shot in the UK, Europe and the Americas with judges, chief constables, justices of the peace, members of parliament, chiefs of defence staff, global business chairmen as well as farmers, estate agents, policemen, builders, wage slaves and all sorts. Never once in 50 years shooting have I seen anyone behave irresponsibly or dangerously with a gun in their allegedly alcoholic hand. That's not to say that accidents have and will continue to happen, but it has not been my experience nor that of others I have shot with.

Please note I am not being judgmental. I am merely recounting personal experience.

Tim

My own experience has been much like Tim's, though perhaps more like his 'regular less smart' days!

It is also interesting (and perhaps pertinent) that insurance premiums against shooting accidents are very low (in the UK anyway) - which is due to the insurance industry's acceptance that the risks of accidents (= claims) are very low.

Tim and John: The main problem here in the US is that we have a schizophrenia about alcohol. The 21st amendment does not establish any national standard. Any sort of actual appreciation education on the subject is blocked by the prohibitionists. Public discourse on any issue in the US is now heavily censored, the 'zero tolerance' idiots have sway, and the phrase 'alcohol was involved' when discussing an accident is used like alcohol has a mind of it's own.

Yet, advertising revenue mostly from crap like Bud Lite and Coors keeps the sports programs on TV. The various government entities tax both the ingredients and the products, and then they tax the tax. They depend on the revenue. Kids are bombarded with images of people having fun drinking limp American beer and then told the stuff is evil. We have a 'government warning' on the containers because our government is so concerned about us. They accept the tax though.

The DUI racket is big business. 'Wretches hang so jurymen may dine' has never been more true than with the DUI scam. I drive better at .08% than a lot of what I see on the road stone sober, especially the over 80 crowd who have their licenses renewed automatically by mail, the teenagers, and the soccer moms on their telephones. But heaven forbid anything bad happens even when someone else is at fault and I blow .08%. Then I'm a criminal.

We are out of our collective mind here about alcohol.

There is a major difference between an accident due to DUI an and an accident involving a shooter who has been drinking.

With the DUI accident, even a repeat offender far over the limit and driving with a suspended licence will be the only target of blame.

When a gun accident involving alcohol occurs, the entire shooting fraternity and the entire Right to Keep and Bear Arms will be blamed.

We are indeed out of our collective minds about alcohol here, but the concerted demonization of guns is even more insane.

The antis will use ANY opportunity to present gun owners in a bad light. This is apparent to anyone paying attention to what was attempted by liberals after the Newtown tragedy.
I can see the headlines now. "Drunken Gun Nut Goes on a Rampage and Shoots fellow Hunter". I enjoy drinks around the campfire as much as anyone but I personally would not hunt with a group that drank while shooting.
Jim

You're (almost typed "your", but but your lessons in proper grammar stuck) on to something here keith. Gun owners are demonized at large for the acts of a few. That is why it is so imperative to set a good example and see to it that it is scrupulously followed.

Now go ahead and call me shitbag...

You're a shitbag. Just kidding nca, I know I should save kidding around for down in misfires.

guess I left the door open for that one craig, but for the record, the invitation was for keith.

nca225, in the course of the past few weeks, you have attempted to come slithering back here after saying some of the crudest things imaginable about my daughters. You refused to delete those remarks when I told you to.

Now you are back pretending to be contrite, and just another decent guy here to discuss doubleguns in a civil manner. Nice try.

At the same time, you also engaged in a campaign to slander me and paint me as being dishonest. You have falsely accused me of threatening you, even as you told us I risked getting punched in the nose. I'm still wondering when you'd like to try. Perhaps you don't want to punch me in the nose because you feel sorry for me since you called me weak, a crybaby, a retarded child who is so inept that my co-workers must carry me, etc. Or maybe you are simply a coward who can be anything he wants to pretend to be when he is hiding behind a computer keyboard.

You doubled down on your filthy remarks about my daughters saying you were glad you made the insults because of my reaction to them. You quickly returned to your old habit of hurling insults at me, and now have the temerity to blame me for making you do it. You have totally danced away from your anti-Second Amendment stance which you unwisely brought to a firearms discussion forum. You have again attempted to defend your actions by neglecting to say that the mud-slinging which led up to your filthy degenerate escalation was a two-way street. I never had a problem with that... you hurling insults directly at me. I just countered in kind, and remind you that it was your incessant lies and anti-gun commentary that took us to that place. You alone chose to drag my family into it. You took it to the lowest place imaginable. You refused to delete it. You lowered the bar into the cesspool. You chose your path.

A shitbag is merely a container. You are the filthy slimy contents. Thanks for the invitation. You did indeed leave the door open... wide open. A fool could see inside, and your call today for censorship in the "Checking Out" thread is most revealing.

Definitely some stuff here that needs moving to Misfires. And we were working hard at having a polite, intelligent discussion about alcohol and shooting, and how our British cousins take a somewhat different view of it than the "zero tolerance" policy we follow in this country.