Have you ever taken a foreigner to a gun show?

[DRNewcomb]

As a holdover from my former job, I still sometimes act as a sponsor and tour guide for foreign naval officers attending a US Navy technical school. Today we went to a gun show. Before we went in. I gave them a little briefing about what to expect, the rules and the fact that gun shows are politically controversial in some quarters (even if around here they're as common as garden shows). It's not the first time I've taken foreign military students to a gun show. They're always amazed. Some are thrilled, some are horrified. They always ask the same question, "Are these guns real?" They are looking at a room of civilians casually browsing through a hall with more guns than they have ever seen anywhere other than maybe in their national military arsenal. It's a lot for them to wrap their heads around all at once. It's a culture shock.

I also try to get them out to the range during their stay in the US. All of them have trained with their nations' military weapons. They really get a kick out of shooting the Ruger Old Army with its complicated loading and huge cloud of smoke.

 

[timeout]

As a holdover from my former job, I still sometimes act as a sponsor and tour guide for foreign naval officers attending a US Navy technical school. Today we went to a gun show. Before we went in. I gave them a little briefing about what to expect, the rules and the fact that gun shows are politically controversial in some quarters (even if around here they're as common as garden shows). It's not the first time I've taken foreign military students to a gun show. They're always amazed. Some are thrilled, some are horrified. They always ask the same question, "Are these guns real?" They are looking at a room of civilians casually browsing through a hall with more guns than they have ever seen anywhere other than maybe in their national military arsenal. It's a lot for them to wrap their heads around all at once. It's a culture shock.

I also try to get them out to the range during their stay in the US. All of them have trained with their nations' military weapons. They really get a kick out of shooting the Ruger Old Army with its complicated loading and huge cloud of smoke.

Gotta love the Ruger Old Army packed full of Triple F black powder. They are a hoot to shoot and actually shoot pretty well. Cleaning, well not so much fun..........

 

[dcali]

Want to see culture shock? Go to the Cody Firearms Experience (in Cody, WY) during the summer and watch the foreign tourists gawk at their gatling gun. It's worth a trip just to watch their reactions. (near a damn good firearms museum too).

https://codyfirearmsexperience.com/

 

[Geno C]

I have. We used to get student workers from Asian countries and one summer we had these 4 Chinese work for us. 2 of them were guys one 20 the other 21. Turned out the younger one had his dad thrown in jail for illegally possessing a gun. He said it was a common shotgun and he got 3 years in prison for it.
I took these guys to my house one week when we were in my hometown and showed them my gun room and took them to the range to shoot a few things. Pistols got their attention most. When I took them to a gun store I thought I was going to have to hold their mouths shut! I thought they might explode when I took them into a gunshow. These guys had hardly ever seen a gun in person much less a sports area full of them that they could touch if the wanted. I bought a nice 1911 that day just to show them that we could. About blew their minds.

 

[swd]

Years ago one of my best friends had 2 cousins come in from Italy for a few weeks. We didn't have time to take them to a gun show but we did take them shooting. They were smiles from ear to ear the whole time and took lots of pictures to show their friends at home.

 

[biggen0_8]

I got to do this back in 2007, with a gentleman who is a native preacher from Myanmar, a country which has a very oppressive government.

I took him to the Indy 1500 show, one of the largest east of the Mississippi.

He was actually scared, because he was constantly looking for the military/police to show up. Again and again he would point at someone and ask, "is he police?" He just could not grasp the idea that we could own and carry and shoot them freely.

Where he came from you can go to prison for simply expressing your disagreement with the government.

Some snowflakes need to think about that.

But he also was just as amazed when we took him to the grocery store. An entire row of cereal choices and meat choices and drinks, was something he had never seen. When I purchased a supersized drink at McDonalds he said, "oh American sized huh?"

We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world.

 

[Brians356]

I've exposed three different foreign business associates to guns and shooting. Their gratitude in each case was touching.

One was from Japan, who said he had never laid hands on a real gun. So I brought my custom varmint rifle, a loaded round, and a fired case to the office to let him handle them (no chance for going shooting) and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

The other two were from Germany and Sweden, and I took them each in turn out to a desert box canyon on public land (getting there in 4WD was half the thrill) to shoot various handguns, rifles, and shotguns at targets and clay birds. They both took to shooting like ducks to water, and displayed considerable concentration and natural ability. The German since became a naturalized citizen and now has his own arsenal.

I got as least as big a kick as they did out of the experiences.
-

 

[Brians356]

I got to do this back in 2007, with a gentleman who is a native preacher from Myanmar, a country which has a very oppressive government.

I took him to the Indy 1500 show, one of the largest east of the Mississippi.

He was actually scared, because he was constantly looking for the military/police to show up. Again and again he would point at someone and ask, "is he police?" He just could not grasp the idea that we could own and carry and shoot them freely.

Where he came from you can go to prison for simply expressing your disagreement with the government.

Some snowflakes need to think about that.

But he also was just as amazed when we took him to the grocery store. An entire row of cereal choices and meat choices and drinks, was something he had never seen. When I purchased a supersized drink at McDonalds he said, "oh American sized huh?"

We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world.

A guy I grew up with joined the Peace Corps after HS and lived in India for a couple of years. It was as big a shock for him returning home and entering a supermarket as it was to land in the squalor of India.
-

 

[spclark]

We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world.

Yes we are.

What's more worrisome is what's behind why we're hated for what we represent, that the freedom to be able to do the things many here take for granted are 'off limits' to such a large percentage of the world's population.

 

[JFM33]

I was working a gun show in Alamagordo,NM in the early 90's and some Germans from White Sands saw the HK 91 for sale. I told him to go ahead and pick it up. He couldn't believe it . He kept asking if he could buy it,because it's his battle rifle? I told him if he was an American sure.
He still couldn't believe I would sell it and asked "why are you selling it".
I told him every American has at least 2 and I didn't need this one.

John

 

[B_Thomas]

High school exchange student from Hong Kong. Took him to a pistol range back in 2008. He loved it. He ended up becoming a police officer back home in Hong Kong.

 

[Brians356]

I was working a gun show in Alamagordo,NM in the early 90's and some Germans from White Sands saw the HK 91 for sale. I told him to go ahead and pick it up. He couldn't believe it . He kept asking if he could buy it,because it's his battle rifle? I told him if he was an American sure.
He still couldn't believe I would sell it and asked "why are you selling it".
I told him every American has at least 2 and I didn't need this one.

John

Too much freedom, too fast, can disorient and disturb someone in bondage. It's almost pitiful the way foreigners react to as stark an example of our freedom (and responsibility) as our simple open possession and bearing of firearms.
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[jonbearman]

I had a Chinese engineer over here at Kodak and he was running out of cigarettes so I offered to give him 4 packs for one pack of Chinese ones just to keep. He couldn't believe I could afford to give him so many packs for one.I also told him all about our freedoms such as having many children which he told me they are only allowed to have one girl. If you have another one you have to pay a hefty tax or off to a home for girls. He also couldn't believe all the gun pictures I had and he asked if I could own one ,I told him hell I own over a hundred back in those days. he didn't know what to day when I told him every other house has a firearm in their bedroom.