Watched the show and thought it was well done. I never watched the series before, but will keep an eye on it in the future.
Nice “machine gun” CrafterMan!
Did she call it a machine gun? LOL. 
Yep, it’s a manually-operated machine gun with a cyclic rate of about 2 shots per minute.
So what is Ken’s job? How does he homeschool his son and make a living?
No “dark sided” rants? How could a reality “lifestyle swap” show be worth it’s salt without one of those?
Pretty good series, and this was one of the better episodes in my opinion. I have to give respect to the lady, as most fervent gun control activists would never be willing to go through that kind of experience; and it seemed like she kept a pretty open mind throughout the whole thing.
Your friend did a great job, though I would have preferred that he handled the debate with the anti-gun group differently (especially in regards to the argument that guns are somehow equivalent to cancer or health epidemics). However, it is easy for me to say that when I don’t have cameras or three emotionally charged women to stare down. I also thought it an unusual wardrobe choice when the son wore a shirt that looked to be a smiley face with a bullet hole in the forehead.
You do show up briefly, sans hat if I recall correctly. Also, she did say you were shooting a machine gun.
Pass along my thank you to him for opening his doors like that, if you don’t mind. I enjoyed watching the program.
LOL!
Well, it IS a machine, and it is a GUN!
Guess it’s a good thing there were no airliners or oil refinery’s nearby. 
And as usual with anti gunners, they never mention the SOB who shot her friend, it’s always the firearm. I’ve never yet seen a case where everyone campaigns for stricter sentencing laws. If the Brady Bunch put their funds into that it might have an effect.
But I do admire the lady for her participation.
My husband pointed you out for me. I had written down the name of the gun and he knew exactly what it was (I had no clue). So when he saw the gun he said, “There’s your message board guy!” But you weren’t wearing the hat so I wondered a bit. Anyway, good show. I thought everyone handled themselves well and I especially liked that Pia took the time to talk with someone who was able to save himself and his family by having a firearm.
Would it be a copyright violation for the relevant segment to be posted on Youtube?
Perhaps a direct link would not be advisable. It certainly is under 30 seconds and should fall under fair usage.
Mods, can a 2-5 second clip of a show be linked to?
More tidbits of info:
For the day shoot, the production crew consisted of four people (producer, assistant producer, camera man, and sound guy). The producer, camera man, and sound guy took turns shooting the .50 BMG. They had a blast.
When I was packing up to leave, the assistant producer asked me if the ammo for the .50 was expensive. I replied, “Yea, kinda. But I think we only shot around $60 worth.” She then handed me $60. :eek:
They never offered to pay for the .308 ammo I shot through the FAL. But that’s O.K. … I was extremely grateful that they paid me for the .50 ammo. I never expected that!
Rumor has it that the show will again air on the following dates:
- Friday, July 4th 10pm Central/11 pm Eastern
- Sunday, July 6th 10pm Central/11 pm Eastern
And I still haven’t seen the damn thing.
It’s on the iTunes store, btw. I just downloaded it, actually, before stumbling on this thread. I’ve been interested in seeing this episode, having married a gun enthusiast in an area that’s very anti-gun. (He’s from Texas)
Watching the part where she holds the gun for the first time, my husband said I looked at the first gun I ever held like that, like it might explode in my hand–which is basically what I was taught growing up. But, my husband’s a cop, so living with guns in the house was something I was going to need to adjust to. I had a very similar journey to her, going from fear to going to a range for fun. I think your friend did an excellent job with education.
Hmm…looks like someone uploaded it to YouTube. Your part, anyway…
In an odd twist of fate, I found out today that my sister actually knows the gun control woman (Pia?) that was the “star” of this episode. She is a friend of a friend of hers (my sister teaches junior high in Brockton, MA, the town Pia is from) and has taken a couple of her aerobics classes, and she helped choreograph a dance my sister and her coworkers did for a school talent show.
You weren’t shooting at a cat, were you?
I’d love to shoot one of those! 50 Calibers kick ass.
That 50 cal was a sniper rifle, though, not a machine gun, right? One quick hijack of a query: she said it was a safe environment, but what was stopping the bullets that missed? All I could see was a treeline.
I’ve just read this review and it sounnds like an interesting programme. Alas, it’s most unlikely to be bradcast over here.
Notice that the episode is (finally) up on hulu.com. Go and watch it if you still haven’t seen it Crafter_Man. It’s free with minor commercials.
Your friend and Pia seemed to hit it off. I was hoping for a flash forward where they get married and have 8 gun toting tots. Suspect that geographical and urban/rural differences will nix that whole idea though.
It’s restricted to America only, alas.
I was hoping this thread would resurface. I saw this show several days ago and couldn’t find a thread to it on the Board.
You were the guy shooting the .50 BMG? Fucking awesome. What kind of a license do you have to have to own one of those mothers? Any chance you could tell us, approximately, what one costs?
That was an incredible bit of TV. A person who is a total gun banner, and freaks out on her first shotgun shot, finds out that she is actually pretty good at shooting.
A town near me wants to reduce gun violence by sitting in a circle and singing “Kumbaya”. Good luck with that against the gangs selling drugs in competition with each other.