Scary NRA Militia types?!!

[pixelfrog]

Hi All,

I was on a beautiful hike this past saturday morning on the Bluffs Springs Trail in the Sups. The Temperature cooperated, the sun was behind clouds, there was a nice breeze and of course anyone who's been out there knows the scenery is increadible.

The only weird thing about the hike was on the way back to the trailhead at the end of my hike probably within a half mile of the peralta trailhead, I ran into these two guys that were all suited up for war games or something. Camo, Knives strapped to gear suspenders, a pistol at the older man's side who had so much facial hair, you could barely see his face.

As I passed them with my hiking poles out the older guy said to me all suprised, "Ski Poles?!!!" I quickly explained they helped the old knees on the way down after I noticed he had a gun at his side. I pretty much smiled and nodded then continued on my way.

Now I'm all for everyone's right to bear arms and all, but seeing this kind of freaked me out. I know it's legal to carry handguns in Arizona and that's fine, but I was thinking there isn't a very large reason to carry a gun out there, especially if you are with another full grown adult male.

I have no idea what their reason would be for bringing those types of weopons out there, and the whole incident was a bit disturbing. I was glad that I encountered these yahoo's close to the trailhead. Anyone else run into any of these gun toting militia type weirdo's?

Paul

[Jim]

I feel like some need to go back and read the original post so we can stop trying to troll each other. Not to pick on the original poster, but his post basically reads like someone who is a city dweller, or "urban", and was simply made uncomfortable by someone who dressed in a manner he was intimidated by, and who had a beard, which he also found intimidating. He even refers to the incident, way, way back in 2002, as "disturbing". I've never been disturbed by hunters, and while I did not see these particular men, the fact that they spoke to the poster suggests they were not a threat to him, and that they were just hunters or scouting to hunt. Even if they were just guys playing dress up, that interaction as described really doesn't sound like they were trying to intimidate the poster, or were hostile to him. It really sounds like it was all a problem he had with them.

Now, I could also be wrong, but the early responses don't exactly look like the kind of thing a "conservative" would say to people carrying guns. Remarks about small genitals and large egos were made, and then stereo types were brought up, and....

Now, I tend to think most more conservative people aren't ever going to question the legitimacy of someone carrying a gun, and we've had plenty of post 2002 threads about such subjects. In a fairly recent thread, one member even chastised another member for wanting to carry due to a specific species of wildlife, only to have a person killed by that species in a Prescott campground, days later. Point: who cares why someone carries, they can, and they do.

[Alston_Neal]

Jim_H
To be clear I have seldom hiked without my Beretta or Ruger or in some very rare cases camped with my AK47. But nobody would know that since I don't openly show my weapons. I have some "liberal" friends that own firearms and have no problems and I have some very "conservative " friends that never have or will own firearms. So the whole liberal/conservative BS is just another red herring to point fingers at other folks. And on that note why doesn't anyone besides me and Joe use their real names here? I find it very odd. Because really all of this is nothing more than some 4 Chan chatroom BS.

[Jim]

Jim is my real name. My username hasn't changed in maybe 13 or 14 years now.

Why don't most people use their full legal name on a publicly available website where anyone from anywhere in the world can access it? Really? Is that serious question or a troll? You're confused about that? Wow! And I thought this thread from 2002 was dated! I'm being serious here. Do you just not pay attention to the world or culture around you at all? Someone who doesn't like you can find your business and home address in less than 5 minutes. Do you not see that as a risk? Do you not get that there are crazy people who you might not ever see post here that could read your posts and get angry at you? Yeah, the probability is low, but I also don't do 90 MPH on Ina Rd without a seat belt. Why take that chance?

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-tren ... ownership/
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-tren ... uns-02-14/

I know you want to use sophistry to rationalize away what pretty much most people know to be true on average, and most data shows, but that kind of "personal experience" is just absurd.

And, since you seemed to take issue with HikeAZ on the source, Pew Research is a fairly well respected source for data. Also, both his source and mine quantify on party affiliation, as a well as independent. Liberal Democrats or those identifying as such who are non-gun owners have the lowest rate of saying gun ownership as a right is essential to their freedom, Conservative Republicans are the inverse at the highest. While you can take issue with that being from 2017, and I don't know how much has changed in the last 7 years, personal anecdote really isn't a valid source.

After close to 22 years, I wonder if in all the pages of this thread, if anyone ever asked the OP if he realized that he was basically just intimated by someone due to how they dressed and their beard. Everyone started attacking the various aspects of guns. Did anyone ever say ask if he thought about talking to them? This kind of feels like a thread that was birthed because someone felt bullied. Not that they were, but they just felt that way.

Back in 2011 or 2012, in Oro Valley I saw what was probably an 70 to 80 year old man leaning into his trunk putting groceries in while he had a gun holstered on his hip. I do remember laughing that I am sure it made him feel better, but given that someone could run up to me and knock me out with a brick into my trunk before I would notice, I'm sure the same could have happened to him. However, if this guy was 40, had on camo and a beard, that kind of display might have caused an entire thread over guns.

[Alston_Neal]

Oh I'm sorry was some of this addressed to me? I guess in this day and age FB for example, people tend to communicate more as humans. Such as I know who you are, what you do, where you live, what your family and friends look like, etc. etc. For example a search for Jim H in the Marana area didn't result in anything. Apparently H is not a common surname. I tried Jim H, James H, Jimmy H, Jimbo H. I even tried Jesus H, that got me a lot of hits. But hey that's what trolls do. Maybe we should go target shooting sometime.

[Pivo]

@Alston_Neal
You forgot to search for 'Jimma'. I loved when Jimmy Johnson was announced at Texas Stadium as 'Jimma' Johnson.

[hikeaz]

@Alston_Neal
Did you see at the bottom it shows the poll was conducted by Pew Research? https://www.pewresearch.org/about/ The respondents self-identified for the poll.