World War Z - Now they don't have any guns to shoot the zombies!

[Sammich]

As much as I hate to say it... do I? Whatever, but yes, guns are the opposite of toys. But we've had toy guns for decades... *ponders this* The difference is that within the past 20-30 years guns have moved from being viewed as tools to the current generation of using guns as gangsta fashion accessories or symbols of being a "rebel". Ask anyone that lived in the 40s, 50s and 60s about how guns were treated back when they were kids and you will get a distinctly different answer than if you asked kids today. It wasn't unusual for 12 or 13 year olds to get their first guns or even uncommon for high schoolers to leave rifles or shotguns in their cars while parked on campus so they could go hunting or target shooting after school got out. Getting a toy gun back then was no different than if you got a toy capentry set. It was just a part of normal life; dad teaching his kids how to safely handle firearms was just like him teaching them how to drive. Move foward today and you see a completely different culture that is taught to fear guns and even gun owners. Most of the population no longer lives in rural type areas or even participates in hunting so their exposure to firearms is limited to video games and movies. This is why there are so many accidental shootings or kids flipping out and shooting up schools. What was once just a schoolyard fistfight has now been escalated to mass shootings by screwed in the head kids taught by the media that being a psychopath is the cool thing to do.

[blind2d]

Wow... thank you very much for that insight. Excellent points, and well made. I salute you sir.

[Danny]

The difference is that within the past 20-30 years guns have moved from being viewed as tools to the current generation of using guns as gangsta fashion accessories or symbols of being a "rebel". Ask anyone that lived in the 40s, 50s and 60s about how guns were treated back when they were kids and you will get a distinctly different answer than if you asked kids today. It wasn't unusual for 12 or 13 year olds to get their first guns or even uncommon for high schoolers to leave rifles or shotguns in their cars while parked on campus so they could go hunting or target shooting after school got out. Getting a toy gun back then was no different than if you got a toy capentry set. It was just a part of normal life; dad teaching his kids how to safely handle firearms was just like him teaching them how to drive. Move foward today and you see a completely different culture that is taught to fear guns and even gun owners. Most of the population no longer lives in rural type areas or even participates in hunting so their exposure to firearms is limited to video games and movies. This is why there are so many accidental shootings or kids flipping out and shooting up schools. What was once just a schoolyard fistfight has now been escalated to mass shootings by screwed in the head kids taught by the media that being a psychopath is the cool thing to do. yeah pretty much. I mean i dislike guns on the whole, but really only because of the people who can get there hands on them. Look at the origin of them outside of warfare, the next step up from hunting with a bow or crossbow. A tool a man uses when he heads out into the woods to kill a deer or something to feed the family or something. something you equated with a survival knife or good boots, not with a sword or a garrotte wire. The kicker there is you see that in vieogames now more than television! Think of games like gun or red dead. they shot a lot of men in those games, but how did you make a living otherwise? you went out into the forest, spied yourself a deer, grabbed the rifle and BANG! walked up and skinned it for meat and leathers. Conversely you also have games that glorify this as sport like the god awful cabella games where they just kill stuff for fun- but my own views on trophy hunting is not the point here. What is the point is that tvs- and movies in this case- show guns as the same thing all the time "its the thing a man uses to kill another man" now i dont like guns but i know thats not the only reason they exist. it just happens to be the only reason shown for the most part in the media. -as for the columbine thing, thats just the same as christianity in the news, something else im not too fond of, but thats based on my own opinion, not the media, because like with that religion the only news that grabs headlines with guns is the bad news. you always hear about the pedophile priest, not the one working to feed the poor. you always hear about the kid committing a school shooting, but not the camper saving his kids from a bear yknow? To be honest i would say in modern horror the zombie films glorify themselves as gun porn and are probably the worst offenders in the genre upon reflection. hell look at every romero film bar day and its got some posse with rifles. I dunno, maybe its my recent experiences with dead island and rereading the zombie survival guide and watching shaun of the dead but the overuse of guns in zombie films seems more of a commentary on us as media consumers and producers than dawn ever said about mass consumerism in the 70's. We seem to look into these fantastical events and the holy bullet is the answer to everything. and that answer is violence, bangs and generally being loud and obnoxious. Then again that could also be because im english not american when i think about that. In stuff like left 4 dead and resident evil the abundance of firearms makes it very separate for me. ive never touched a gun in real life or seen one. but in things like left 4 dead 2 and dead island something like a cricket bat or baseball bat is something i can equate to in a more believable way so the sheer violence of the ordeals seems more poignant than another gun totin' "pop pop pop watch the nigga drop" as so eloquently put by dr dre or nickitina, i forget which, sort of experience which is completely unrelatable to me. Then theres the zombie film enthusiast in me just thinking "guns make to much noise! chain swarm! chaaaiin swaaarrrmmmm!!" that and aside from the portion with the soldier who was 'old before his time' theres really little to no use of firearms IN world war z at all.

[Wyldwraith]

Nothing wrong with guns or private ownership/use of guns.... ...So long as the individuals in possession of them are required to demonstrate a capacity for safely using them. That's where the problem is. Instead of being rational, gun control nuts continue to scream and force more and more barriers into place between law-abiding individuals and the purchase of a firearm. Instead, they should be directing that energy toward regulation of usage and incentives for safe use with corresponding deterrents for poor choices involving the use of firearms. As a previous poster pointed out, for generations we taught our children to respect guns for their capacity to kill and to be safe and responsible when using them. The result? For generations the majority of gun owners behaved in a safe and responsible manner. Conversely, gun control advocate efforts to remove access to firearms has resulted in entire generations growing up with no practical understanding of, or respect for firearms. So it's no surprise that our most recent generation(s) treat guns like status symbols and afford them no more respect than a plastic soda bottle. Did we somehow become a vastly more savage and/or stupid species in the span of 40yrs? Of course not. What we're seeing is nothing more than another example of the bloody fallout caused by Prohibitionist efforts against a part of American life that Americans simply will not part with, the law be damned. Guns don't kill people, the resultant inexperience and complete lack of respect for guns engendered by gun control advocacy kills people. I'm sure everyone's heard or read some version of the "Wild West rhetoric" used by such gun control advocates. However, a closer examination of history as it really was and not as certain special interests choose to rewrite it as for their own purposes, reveals that when damned near everyone was part of a culture where almost everyone had access to and familiarity with firearms, the proportional homicide figures were VASTLY LOWER than those of today. How can this be, when guns have continued to develop in terms of greater and greater killing power via increased accuracy, reliability, rates of fire and muzzle velocities? The question answers itself. Ie: When our society considered educating the next generation in the proper use of and respect for firearms to be a critical responsibility, the result was vastly fewer individuals with the lack of understanding of and respect for firearms of the sort that commit the overwhelming majority of crimes involving firearms-related violence. Can blame the media and video game developers all you like, but you need look no further for those responsible for tragedies like Columbine than the nearest (and loudest) gun control zealots. They are, after all, the ones responsible for the fact that the majority of individuals in the Free World are growing up with no familiarity with and respect for firearms.

[Rottedfreak]

Movie news: Masses walked out of World War Z yesterday and this reporter had the opportunity to ask why "It's just not the same when they point their fingers go 'bam bam' and a zombie keels over dead."

[bassman]

These days they don't need real guns, blanks, or pyrotechnics at all. Use fake guns and add the shots in post with a dab of cgi. Or electric guns. Or just cut in a frame of white....

[EvilNed]

Can't they go the Spielberg route and have them all toting walkie-talkies?

[blind2d]

Ned's got a good idea there. PS: This post marks the number of posts that is equal to my year of birth. Not that that's important.

[Sammich]

Can blame the media and video game developers all you like, but you need look no further for those responsible for tragedies like Columbine than the nearest (and loudest) gun control zealots. They are, after all, the ones responsible for the fact that the majority of individuals in the Free World are growing up with no familiarity with and respect for firearms. I do place partial blame on tv, movies and videogames for not only glorifying but promoting irresponsible and unsafe gun handling. I used to work at a shooting range and it was downright scary how unsafe the Call of Duty/Counterstrike armchair seal team generals were. I am not talking about kids either, some of these guys were in their mid 30s, never shot or even held a gun and wanted to rent a .44 mag to show their girlfriends how "macho" they were. The running joke among the employees was whenever some videogame warrior elite know-it-all showed up and asked to shoot a "deagle" the response was "no, you can't shoot a dog here!". Don't get me wrong, if someone showed a true interest in shooting, beyond just trying to relive some COD wet dream, we took time out to help them and answer all of the questions we could. The most memorable of these types of incidents was after one of these mr. machomans who found he couldn't handle the muzzle blast, the recoil or hit the broadside of the barn with the .44 was humiliated after his girlfriend who didn't try to replicate the "cool" movie shooting styles was able to keep all of the rounds in center of mass. IIRC she eventually became a member of the range, bought her own firearms and was a regular shooter, all of which she did without mr. machoman. Columbine had little to do with being caused by gun control. Bad parenting, kids not taught how to deal with personal problems, and the over prescription of ADD/HD type drugs all played a huge part in why those 2 kids committed the shooting.

[Mike70]

ok. which one of you haters of running zombies went all the way to eastern europe and stole all their guns? hmmmm? anyone? unfortunate that this thread seems to be turning into yet another asinine gun control argument.

[EvilNed]

Do you guys know what Walkie-talkies are called in france? Talkie-walkies.

[shootemindehead]

Columbine had little to do with being caused by gun control. Bad parenting, kids not taught how to deal with personal problems, and the over prescription of ADD/HD type drugs all played a huge part in why those 2 kids committed the shooting. ...and easy access to firearms.

[Sammich]

...and easy access to firearms. ...and easy access to firearms. Incorrect. As I stated before guns where MUCH MORE easily available 30 years ago, yet this type of mass killing carried out by kids was unheard of. These kids didn't just walk into a local 7-11 and buy the guns, they had to find someone to do a what is called a "strawman sale". This is when a person who is otherwise not legally able to purchase or own a firearm has someone who will, under false pretenses, buy the firearm for them. They had people of adult age- 18 get the guns for them. Something has changed in the U.S. society and it has nothing to do with the availability of firearms.

[Rancid Carcass]

As I stated before guns where MUCH MORE easily available 30 years ago, yet this type of mass killing carried out by kids was unheard of. Don't forget 30 years ago we didn't have the same mass-media coverage that we have today. Now we've round the clock news channels with so many different ways of collecting news stories that any old Tom, Dick and Harry with a camera phone can 'phone-it-in', so small, remote new items are getting coverage that 30 years ago wouldn't have. I think that in all probability crime rates haven't changed a great deal over the years, it's just with this blanket coverage we're more aware of what's going on in every nook and cranny in every corner of the world than ever before. Hmm... well how about that - looks like Diary of the Dead was right all along!

[Ragnarr]

Some complete douche-nozzles chose to crash their car into a group of pedestrians, killing or injuring most of them. We really need new government legislation that makes it much more difficult if not impossible for people to purchase, rent or own cars. ...I need a drink.