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I was thinking, and the only useful weapon martial art there is anymore is marksmanship. It's more than just point and shoot, there is footwork involved, stances, steady hands, timing, knowing how to breath and aim. Hell, most people who claim to know how to shoot doesn't know how to effectivly move in a ready stance.

Why arn't there more schools teaching this useful art? The only one I know of is several states away, and dreadfully expensive.

Alot of people don't realise that Firearms training is a valid and respectible martial art, and that our highly trained soldiers are some of the best martial artists in the world.

Have you ever heard that a sharp knife is safer than a dull one? Same applies for firearms. A person who is trained in the use of firearms is alot safer and levelheaded then some moron who bought a pistol.

I was thinking to myself about fighting. I practice fencing and kendo, and that's fun, but would never be used in a real life or death situation. I also practice Judo, Aikido and kickboxing, and that coupled with my size makes me a great scrapper. However, when the s**t hits the fan, and riots are breaking out or we have terrorists shooting up the place, our fists are not going to save you. Everyone is going to look for the guy on his roof with an SKS and several thousand rounds of 7.62x39 armor piercing ammuntion.

For one thing, al those stories of kids getting into their parents guns and shooting themselves are because those kids were never raised around guns. I was brought up my entire life with my dad cleaning a shotgun in front of me, or having a cabinet full of combat rifles in the basement. My dad never made it a secret that he had firearms, but he also cautioned me about them. He tought me how to clean, load, fire and strip firearms, as well as how to safely use them. It is valuable information that everyone should be familiar with.

Even when working with bb and paintball guns, I am always the safety freak. If one of my friends pulls out a pistol, be it a .22, 9x19 or even an arisoft, I'm always the first to remove the clip, clear the breach and examine the barrel before handling it.

Knowledge is better than regulation.

Well, Martial Artists are supposed to be the constantly paranoid type anyway, right?

Anyway, I'm not paranoid. I hunt, mostly with a bow though. I also enjoy target shooting. My family never leaves a loaded gun anywhere, and keeps them all locked up, even though there is nobody under 16 in the family.

I agree that there are too many gun crimes, however, I'm against pistols. A pistol is nothing but trouble, and 90% of gun crimes are comitted with pistols. They should just keep a tight regulation on pistols, because you really don't need them. A shotgun is the most effective thing for home defence, and a rifle is the best for any other situation. The only thing I can think of a pistol being good for outside of the military is having a large caliber revolver on your hip when bowhunting. I don't know about the UK, but there is some pretty big bears in Michigan.

However, guns get a bad rep. Many people practice fencing, kendo, kenjitsu, escrima, ect. I figure, if you are going to learn how to use a weapon, you might as well learn how to use one that's useful. A sword will never save your a**.

Hahaha... Turn on the news and look at the chaos that is going on in the Big Easy. Tell me, which guys are keeping their homes from being looted? That's right, the old man on his porch with a shotgun.

Actually the guy on his porch was keeping his home, they interviewed him on the news. He even was getting along with the military.

I'm talking more of a survivalist standpoint. It may seem like fantasy when you live in a tightly regulated country, sheltered subdivision or city. However, there are places where a good rifle and skill with said weapon means survival. Third world countries have children training with a trusty AK or SKS, knowing that they will need to use it in the future.

Basically, the gun is the ultimate self defence. It may be hard in the UK, but in Amerieca almost anyone with a clean record can carry a concealed firearm, and the ultimate home invasion protection is a twelve guage pump. Just as an expert martial artist trains and does cerimony for his combat skill, a marksman must know how to properly aim, fire, maintain and move with a firearm.

People need to know that there is more to guns than point and click.

Well of course. I simply meant that our wars are fought with the gun, not the sword. I always carry a knife on me, and I know how to use it to some extent. Pugilism will always be useful when there are no weapons. However, 99% of the combat that goes on now-a-days is with guns.

Yeah yeah I hate it when I'm out on a saturday night and somebody starts laying down supression fire with a heavy machine gun, makes me wanna break out the AK. But what I really hate are those damn car bombs, so what I do is if a car wont stop when it drives past my house is I fill it full of holes... and I gotta pass through at least three war zones on the way to work, its terrible, anybody woulda thought I lived in downtown Bahgdad... and those damn looters man, bagged me three just last week