Do you think that soldiers from gun-liberal countries, who had the opportunity to practice while they were growing up, would be better at handling and using their firearms than soldiers from countries like China where access to firearms is strictly controlled?
Any soldiers here who can comment on whether you feel this is true? Have you tried shooting with colleagues from other Western/NATO/FVEY countries? How do you think their shooting and weapons handling compared to yours?
It would also be interesting to see what the statewide difference would be, e.g. a strong 2A state vs. one with lots of restrictions.
But, a lot of people who grew up with guns and think they know how to handle them properly…don’t.
From the police academy, I think they would rather have a class of recruits who never touched a gun over a class who “grew up with guns”…too many bad habits to break. Sure some who “grew up with guns” will actually have learned right and be good, but…too many will have too many bad habits to break before setting good habits.
Also, if you’re talking war between nation-states, individual rifle marksmanship is probably pretty darn far down the list of things that matter to the outcome
I guess I could have been more clear. I have no soldier experience shooting alongside soldiers from other countries.
I do have experience relating to the last line of “It would also be interesting to see what the statewide difference would be, e.g. a strong 2A state vs. one with lots of restrictions.”
I also have experience relating to " who had the opportunity to practice while they were growing up, would be better at handling and using their firearms" both as a student in various classes (includong professional setting) as well as an instructor of people who did/did not already have home grown firearm experience
So I replied using that
You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to though
It all depends on the training. If the training is military style training it is all well and good. If it wasn’t military training it has to be unlearned and sometimes the unlearning can be just as hard or harder and time consuming as the learning.
The NRA was founded after the Civil War because so many men coming into military service had little/no experience with firearms. As such, it was felt that battlefield effectiveness was hampered by the lack of experience in both handling and marksmanship. The NRA sought to implement a single manual of arms which would be a solid precursor to military training. Remember, this was in the days when nearly every county had a militia subject to being called up for local needs as well as state/national defense.
That being said, todays weapon systems are certainly more complicated and multi-capable. Overcoming bad habits is much harder than starting with a blank slate. Today’s battlefield tactics and weaponry have also expanded far beyond riflery between massed forces.
It doesn’t matter what previous weapons experience you have. But I prefer people with limited or no experience. That way I can teach them how to shoot properly and not have to break any bad habits that they have developed.
My experience in BCT/AIT was Yes, those of us that came from environments where guns and hunting was common were absolutely better at handling firearms and better at hiding/moving stealth.
I don’t see any relation between growing up between guns and shooting skills.
I can say this, based on almost 6 years of observation being between hundreds of students with different backgrounds.
If you know what the firearm is used for and you are willing to use it, handling, skills, proficiency and efficiency come pretty quick. You can be a gun master or guru if you want, even you never saw and touch any firearm in your childhood.
I also see how my kids differ. Two sons grew up in the same environment. Born in Europe, never saw and touch any real gun until 2018 when I started my firearm journey.
One son is not interested in guns, he owns one, but doesn’t do much about it.
My other son is attending training classes every month, visiting local range whenever he has a time. He discusses self defense, tactics and all firearm related subjects with me almost everyday.
Both sons know they get a full support from me and any help needed.
I’m also a good example of being good soldier risen in liberal Country without access to firearm. I’m just too old to be such soldier here…
So… As you can see - you can have a great soldiers, fully skilled with firearm handling and operating without former background.
I believe at one point in time in our country this made a big diffeterence on the battlefield, and in the handling of firearms. Now with the more high tech equipment and firesrms, I feel that previous experience is a help in the handlimg and safety. I also think that those that have hunting are betterat E AND E.
I think that depends on the definition of growing up with the 2A.
As others have posted, experience hunting and moving around in the outdoors has some very transferable physical abilities and skills for frontline foot soldiers.
Going out and emptying magazines into old TVs and appliances probably doesn’t translate as well into being a good soldier.
There are a lot of examples of nations who encouraged children to develop military skills and then fielded highly skilled armies. But there are also lots of examples of nations throwing a bunch of inexperienced peasants together and succeeding as well. There are a lot of variables to consider especially as technology plays an ever larger roll in the battlefield.
About 10 years ago I was working in Germany. One of the locals on my team was a former German Army sniper. We ended up making multiple visits to a local range and did some distance shooting. He was impressive. He told me during his time in the service he interacted frequently with several NATO countries and said they maintained fairly high shooting standards. When I worked in Rio de Janeiro the only locals I knew with guns were corrupt cops and gang bangers. We didn’t socialize. Shot with some South Korean army-types while in Seoul. Most were fairly good. Made a few trips to the DMZ - the North Koreans seem pretty well armed (their rifles all looked shiny and new). In Scotland I participated in several “guided” pheasant hunts with some of the locals near my village. On most of the hunts I managed to bag somewhat above the average bird count. From the standpoint of weapons, fairly standardized (except that one guy with the $30K over-under who outshot me every time. The one place I have been with the widest disparity in all aspects of fireams is the good ole’ USofA.
