Tactical, Zombies and the Modern Sporting Rifle

Here we are on the eve of the 143^rd Annual Meetings of the National Rifle Association. Those in attendance will be prowling the show floor looking for anything related to zombies, the modern sporting rifle (MSR) or that has tactical as an adjective. While products and gear that fall into these categories can be useful, to many their perceived practicality is diminished through their association with these politically correct (PC) terms.

Those who know me understand and accept that I am not a PC individual. I view political correctness as the cure for common sense. It is simply a delusional notion, perpetuated by the weak, that suggests feelings should never be hurt.

The word tactical, as it relates to weaponry, is a combat or battlefield term. Its use as an adjective to describe present day guns, ammunition and accessories is nothing more than a PC way of identifying these items as tools of a fighter. A tactical rifle, pistol, knife or even clothing is a rifle, pistol, knife or clothing made for fighting. If that hurts someone’s feelings, squirt guns are still readily available.

A zombie is a mythical being but gun owners and gun writers speak of them like they are as real and as evil as politicians. The zombie craze is real but it is not driven by fear of the undead. It is nothing more than a PC way of celebrating the fact that some humans who have gone bad need killing. We can write about and speak openly about shooting a zombie in the head but if you allude to the same action against a rapist or murderer, you’ll be looked at as an unmannerly sort.

And lastly, we have the Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR.) This term was coined by National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) to make the AR 15 sound less evil. Some marketing specialist, probably getting paid way too much, thought that if the AR initials could be kicked to the curb the AR 15 would no longer be referred to as an assault rifle. The AR 15 is older than the Ford Mustang, the Apple computer and the Shamwow; it is not modern and calling it something it’s not, does not change the fact that it was and is the best fighting rifle and most versatile rifle ever created.

I’m guilty of using the word tactical in my writings and I’m also guilty of talking about killing zombies but I have never used the MSR acronym or the term modern sporting rifle to describe anything. If you’ve seen these words in one of my articles you can rest assured an editor stepped in. I’ll not make excuses for the use of the first two terms but I will submit that the PC gun owning culture has adopted them like they were orphaned misfits without a valid social security number or a healthcare plan they thought they could keep.

I’ll also submit to you that there are only three kinds of guns: fun guns, fighting guns and hunting guns. If necessary, all these guns can be effectively used in a tactical manner. I’ll also submit there is only one type of zombie and that’s a human-gone-bad (HGB) with the intent to kill or harm the innocent. If in a fight and several body shots from your fun, fighting or hunting gun fail to stop that HGB, I would advise your next shot go to the cranial vault. (Zombie hunting experts advise that is the proper protocol.)

Non-gun owners already consider gun owners to be politically incorrect. If you think using words like tactical, zombie and modern sporting rifle are going to change their perception of us, your common sense affliction has already been cured.

As a side note, I leave tomorrow for the NRA Annual Meetings. I’ll be the guy in the hat, walking among the other 80,000 gun owners, looking for fun and hunting guns I cannot live without. I’ll also be looking for fighting guns, like the AR, that I can use to stop bad guys. I hope you can join me and your fellow gun owning Americans who will be there in all their tactical splendor.