Corvettes (and other powerful cars) have no place on our roads!
I just returned from a long road trip to Georgia, during which I put about 1,200 miles on my lumbering Toyota Tundra.
During those roughly 22 hours of driving I saw a number of Chevy Corvettes, and each time I just cringed.
How can our public leaders allow those cars on the road?
Consider this: The base Corvette can jet from 0-60 in roughly 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of something north of 150 miles per hour. And higher-performance versions are available. All you need is the money to buy one of those things and you can be on the road, terrorizing the general public.
For example, in mid-June, according to an article in the Pasadena Citizen in Texas, a driver of a Corvette lost control of his car, and crashed into a building. His passenger was killed.
How many people do Corvettes kill each year? It’s hard to say, but there are thousands of those cars out there so you know it must be a bunch.
And yet these cars, which are admittedly gorgeous, are legal!
And Corvettes aren’t the only culprits. Every Ferrari is really fast, and therefore extremely dangerous. Many BMWs are fast, and the M versions are just ridiculous. The Mustang GT is another one. And there are all those HEMI-powered cars and trucks out there. It really makes my head spin.
I really can’t believe I was able to drive 1,200 miles over the past four days and not get killed. Even more amazing, in the few instances that I saw the aftermath of accidents (fender benders, fortunately), the vehicles involved were not high-performance sports cars. Usually they were lumbering trucks like mine. Clearly that was an anomaly.
OK, back to reality.
I was not at all surprised when Dan Casey wrote about the recent Virginia law change that says localities can’t set rules that prohibit the discharge of pneumatic guns (aka, air guns) on private property with the owner’s permission and providing that care is taken to prevent the projectile from leaving the property.
Dan came to me last week to ask about sources of air gun information. I figured he might as well get accurate information so I pointed him to Pyramyd Air, where I buy a bunch of my air gun gear and where you can find accurate performance information on hundreds of guns, from popular, affordable models to high-end, expensive specialty guns that only well-heeled enthusiasts would own. I figured Dan would, for his column, focus on one of those rare guns, and that’s what he did, picking out the powerful, .357 caliber, not-even-for-sale-yet, $1,300 Benjamin Rouge, of which so few will be out in public it will be more like a Ferrari than a Corvette.
So what’s the deal with this law that has Dan and, admittedly, others, nervous?
The change means that I no longer am relegated to practicing my air gun shooting on my 10-meter range in my basement (which probably was illegal under the old law, in which case I am not admitting to shooting my air guns in my basement, but rather bringing it up as a hypothetical situation). Now I can take my pellet trap (a stout wooden box filled with thick HVAC putty that would stop a .22 long rifle bullet, let alone a pellet) into my back yard, put the thing against my brick garage and practice safely and quietly at ranges out to 25 yards.
The worry, apparently, is that now a bunch of renegade air gun shooters are going to go crazy and it’s going to be a pneumatic-powered war zone out there.
Let me be straight about something: I am not a “gun nut,” as the term goes. I’m a gun and shooting enthusiast who believes in reasonable gun laws.
And I can understand why some folks might be wary of this change. Roanoke’s chief of police has been one of them, and that is understandable. Depending on public response to the change, it has the potential to cause more work for his troops. (The key word there being POTENTIAL.) For example, let’s say Nervous Nellie spots her neighbor in his back yard with a gun. She calls 911. An officer (or a bunch) will have to respond. After they find that no laws (or neighbors’ windows) are being broken they will be on their way. But that is time those officers could be doing something else — like enforcing the city ordinance that requires kids to wear bike helmets, the ignorance and ignoring of which will continue to be responsible for putting WAY MORE Roanoke kids in emergency rooms than the air gun law change will.
(Here’s another crazy thought: What if the air gun shooter tells Nervous Nellie what he’s going to be doing before he does it? Then she’ll know that she doesn’t have to call the cops.)
Could kids do stupid things with air guns? Yes. Unsupervised kids do stupid things. Always have. Always will. (The key word there being UNSUPERVISED.)
Air guns, even “kid” guns such as the ubiquitous Daisy Red Ryder, are NOT TOYS. Never have been. Never will be. They should be kept under lock and key just like other guns. Youth under 18 shooting air guns or any guns should always be supervised. ALWAYS. Casey cited CDC statistics on “pneumatic weapon” fatalities, of which there were reportedly 39 from 1900 to 2000. That is tragic. Again, these are NOT TOYS.
I have no issues with a reasonable discussion about this law change. Reasonable discussion is good.
What is not reasonable is to amp up the fear factor over this new law by focusing on the capabilities of an expensive, rare, hunting air gun, as Casey did. If one must focus on the capabilities of adult air guns (and, again, the reason they are called adult air guns is that they are NOT TOYS), why not focus instead on something like the Gamo or Crossman guns that are on shelves at Gander Mountain or Walmart? I promise you a bunch of those are in a bunch of homes (ideally in gun safes) in Roanoke. Here’s why not: They shoot tiny, .177 and .22 pellets at 1,000 feet per second, which is enough to penetrate a tin can but not enough to “drop a 200-pound wild boar at 50 yards,” as Casey wrote. So that’s not SCARY enough.
Casey also brought up the unsolved case of vandals shooting out windows of cars in Roanoke with air guns. The thing is, that was a CRIME committed by CRIMINALS! And even under the new law it will still be a CRIME committed by CRIMINALS. Connecting that crime spree to Regular Joe air gun owners and shooters such as myself is like connecting the above-referenced Corvette crash to regular Joe performance car owners and drivers. It is illogical, unfair and flat out wrong.
Is this law change going to have a bunch of people logging on to Pyramyd.com to order a Benjamin Rouge to shoot in the city? Not only no, but heck no. Will it lead to more air gun crimes like those perpetrated by Roanoke’s car window vandals? Not only no, but heck no.
Will it allow youth shooters to get some additional marksmanship and safe gun handling practice under the watchful eyes of mentors? I sure hope so.
July 5, 2011 - 11:34 AM
I have to completely agree with your assessment of the column. Nothing like taking the most extreme example and using that to base a piece over. I own 2 pneumatic weapons…both are those Crosman weapons you can get in Walmart, where we bought them. One is a CO2-powered pistol that fires either bb’s or pellets, and the other is a break-action rifle that fires pellets, both are the .177 caliber size. The pistol doesn’t pack too much of a punch, but I’ve used the rifle to eliminate a couple of groundhogs that posed a problem (after getting clearance from our local Sheriff).
Now that the new law is in effect, we have a target trap we shoot at from our deck, and we rest it on top of a large slab of limestone with a hillside right behind it to catch anything that misses the target. Our neighbors just down the road fire their traditional rifles, shotguns, and their muzzle-loader frequently on the weekends, presumably at targets in the field behind their house…but I’m not entirely sure. But I know that between the pneumatic and traditional firearms that are used in my community (a semi-rural residential community), safety is practiced and despite the many hundreds of rounds that have been fired near my home, I’ve yet to hear of any accidents because people are cautious with their approach.
I have a greater concern of mowing my yard and being hit by a speeding car.
What a bunch of liberal progressive bs. This is a free country were people are allowed to have things that make them happy. It may not be for you but you are not the protecter of the universe either. Its not the job of the goverment to regulate the people but the job of the people to regulate the goverment.
The last comment in no way was directed at the writer of this article but yet at the ones who wish to “transform” America.
Let’s be clear; I’m not anit-gun. Yes, my son has an air-rifle and we treat it like any other piece of sporting equipment and, like you point out, not like a toy. So you know where I am coming from.
But, Mark, unfortunately you forget to point out that the City of Roanoke has had an ordinance banning the use of air rifles in the City Limits since 1909, and Dan does point that out. Not saying I agree with it, but let’s get to bottom line. If this hasn’t been an issue for all of these years, why do we need a Commonwealth law to over-rule a local statute? I don’t think there has been a local outcry from City of Roanoke residents to have the ban lifted, has there been? If there had been, should it not have been addressed locally?
The City seemed fine dealing with this as they saw fit; I’m not a city resident and I would not agree with the ban, but there didn’t seem to be an issue as it stood. I agree with your position, in theory, but in the context of the circumstances of time and place, what would be the point? No one from Roanoke seemed to ask to have the local law changed, and no one seemed to ask City Council to remove it, did they?
As to Corvettes; never really cared for them myself. Don’t know, just never warmed up to them.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Casey ramping up sentiment about air guns. He is so vehemently anti-gun that few readers are suprised when he goes way out into left field to write such drivel. They just comsider the source and dismiss it as another one of DC’s many anti-gun rants. When he runs out of topic he usually goes for guns and/or republicans.
He has more readers in his mind that he does in actuality.
I predicted on his BLOG days ago that he would write exactly sucn an article. He didn’t disappoint.
Nothing will come of this!
Lakeshore Johnny — Point taken. I think maybe one reason it was never really thought about is that many people had no idea that the prohibition even existed. Which is to say I think a lot of illegal (but perfectly safe, non-disruptive) air gun plinking has probably been going on in Roanoke yards since 1909.
In fact, I was at an elderly gentleman’s house in Roanoke a few years ago and he wanted to demonstrate his sweet little Beeman R7 in his backyard range. I mentioned the prohibition and he was totally clueless. He went ahead and showed me his gun’s capabilities anyway.
As for Corvettes, I wasn’t a big fan until I got to drive them regularly when I was a parking valet in college!
Casey writes for a very specific crowd known as the ‘Danciples’. AKA Followers of Dan.
He likes to use extreme scenarios to make his point, because that is what extremist do.
I’ve been waiting on his article about airguns since he mentioned it the other day. I’m not surprised at what I read this morning.
Mark, right on the money, but you’re preaching to the choir. Casey is an idiot. When you’ve bested a fool, you’ve accomplished nothing.
Keep up the good work.
Walt
Nice twist! Bet you an danny boy don’t go to lunch together very often. I never agree with danny and don’t on this issue either BUT I would have concern if I lived with neighborhood ruffikins running down the alley popin windows and making other objects targets. Come to think of it, they have done that in Roanoke in recent times past so not much has changed. As the law is written it offers clear safegards and limitations. It’s OK by me, but then my neighbors are on the other side of the ridge. Matter of fact, one guy has a shooting range in his back yard which I do hear frequently. If his 7mm REM Mag don’t concern me I’m really not worried by an air gun.
Great assessment of the column Mark…. and I Love the Corvette analogy.
These are some of the things that make america great….freedom of speech, (although some don’t use it wisely!) and of course Corvettes and Air Guns!
Mark;
Thanks for countering Dan Casey’s (and Christian Trejbal’s) anti-gun point of view. They had led me to believe that the RTWN would not publish any point of view except theirs. This was confirmed by the refusal to allow our Gun Club logo to be used in any advertisements, because it includes a firearm in silhouette.
As to the ordinance outlawing air guns dating to 1909, I have a question: How long must a “wrong” law stay on the books in order to become “right?”
As for the corvette issue, don’t be jealous because you drive a cheap import. Cars don’t kill people, people kill people. There was an article about the 13 fatalities over this past 4th weekend. Not one of them was driving a vet. How many rice burners do you see flying around the streets doing twice the speed limit? Its the driver you have to worry about not the car.
Interesting comments on Corvettes and high powered air guns. I have had a Corvette for about seven years and never ever came remotely close to 150mph. And other than pro racers I don’t know a Vette driver who has. Stats are not that hard to come by if you would look. But I would guess that more fatal accidents occur with SUVS than Vettes. And I have a Durango SUV as well. Corvette owners will keep our cars under control and we promise not to shoot your eye out with a BB gun.
OK, this may take some of the fun out of all of this, but I have to admit that Dan and I actually get along just fine. Just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean you have to hate them. For example, behind all their blowhard hyperbole and posing, lots of our Democrat and Republican politicians are actually fast friends when they’re out of the public view.
But, as we all know, a nice thing about friendship is it makes it even easier to call your friends idiots when they deserve it. Which, in this case, tends to be often.
Mark, I have to admit that I thought had you had gone over to the “dark side” when I read the title to this article. We have butted heads over hunting issues before, but I thought you had really lost your grip on reality at first.LOL Great article and you make some valid points.Hope everyone that has an air gun, or any other for that matter, enjoys them and uses them as intended. The Caseys in this world are just looking for a chance to say “Told you so”, let’s not give it to them. Hope everyone is having a fun and safe summer.
Funnier still! How can one be a friend and an idiot at the same time? Does he feel you are an friend and an idiot as well? If so, “how does that make you feel”?
I don’t know, Mark; you seem to want to wiggle out of this with the “ignorance of the law” line, which as we all know is no excuse. Can we have our cake and eat it too? I don’t believe we can. If the reverse were true, would we be having the same conversation?
No one seems to like “big government” forcing these decisions on us, do we? So if the Commonwealth passed a statute banning air rifles in the City of Roanoke there would be a big outcry, wouldn’t there? And I would suppose, given the context of this article, that you’d be in the forefront of that outcry about how out of line such a statute would be. And such a move would be, indeed, “big government” over-stepping local authority setting local guidelines.
So here we have a local authority (the City of Roanoke) setting a local ordinance that the Commonwealth (big government) choses to over-rule, and yet we all seem to be ok with that? Why?
And, Mark, you’re ok with everyone breaking the previous 102 year old statute because, well, because “we didn’t know about it”?
So you’re ok with breaking some hunting or fishing regs, becasue, well becasue they are not easy to find or know? They’re buried in the handbook somewhere and, well, gee, I’ll have to read them when I pick up my permit?
Seems kind of weak.
Al – It must be sympathy!
Plottdogs – Good to know I had you going, if only for a second. It appears there is one reader who didn’t get it, or maybe he is also playing the satire card!
OK, I guess. After all, it’s about air guns not politics or associates. Wonder what’s the status of paint ball guns. They are “air” powered.
Lakeshore Johnny, all I got out of Mark’s post was that he was addressing your comment that the prohibition on shooting air guns hadn’t been an issue. No one was making a ruckus about it because they weren’t aware that there was anything to make a ruckus about. If they had been aware of the restriction, they might have spoke up. It wasn’t given as an excuse for breaking the law, rather an excuse for why there was no protesting of the law. Not a weak argument at all.
VT Hokie — You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Thanks. mt
Great story Mark! I knew DC would jump on this with both left feet. He is by no means an idiot.He is dumb like a fox. He writes his crap just to get a reaction from us, and we usually don’t let him down.If you ignore a hemroid it just seems to go away!
Corvettes don’t kill people — bad drivers do. There are idiots driving SUVs, minivans, and lumbering Tundras. Please get a clue before making such inane comments.
It was a suprise to me to find out that it has been against the law to shoot a pellet gun in my back yard (private property). A piece of plywood and a phone book and my old crossman .22 pump-up was the ticket.
I taught sisters, cousins, girlfriends, and friends how to shoot. Open the phone book and retrieve the pellets that were not damaged from being hit by another pellet and call it sustainability. Recycled the damaged pellets for ‘split shot’.
I believe I remember reading that there is/was once a law that required a vehicle to stop for chickens crossing the road. Has this been resinded or over-ruled by state law? Go ahead Casey, pretend to be a journalist and do some serious research and write about that. If you cannot find results on other silly and outdated laws, I will to show your journalistic abilities.
“OK, back to reality.”
I doubt that is even possible, you are too far gone. Outlaw buildings and our Corvettes won’t run in to them. If you feel terrorized by an automobile, then you should seek help. LOL
Well, really…you’re just an idiot! How about if it was the air guns that knocked people’s eyes out and it was the honest normal corvette owner under attack?
New law states corvette owners can only drive 25 yards at a time, can’t leave their own backyard because citizens are scared of them.
Give me a break! Its all in the person operating the particular device. You want to ban high-performance vehicles but speak out for air guns? I’m sorry, where is your home address? Believe it’s here in the US where we all once had freedom of choce, do we still?
what a ******!
It sounds like you are scared to drive, so I suggest you sell the “lumbering Tundra” and stop driving. Alternatively, you could take a driving course to learn how to really control a car – preferably in a Corvette. Maybe after you drive one you’ll understand that they are inherently SAFER than your lumbering Tundra because you have much better cotrol, handling and stopping capabilities. I find it interresting that you don’t utter a word about sport bikes. Anyone with (much less cash) can buy one of those and go 0-6 in 3 seconds or less and top out around 200 without the training to do so safely. Many times more idiots who do this are killed or injured than the FEW people who are killed in Corvettes. Come over to the Corvette Forum and say hi. I’m sure we have plenty of members in your area who would be happy to show you what wonderful and competent car the Corvette is. I’m on the other side of the country or I’d offer to show you myself. I’m mcm95403 on the forum, so PM me after you join (for free).
You are an absolute idiot and should have your driving privileges revoked.
I fell like slapping you
Corvette owner
Mark, I checked out the link to Pyramyd Air and it’s gonna cost me a bundle! If you are willing to spend the money, there are some nice air guns available. I have worn out 3 of the old crossman pump type since I was a kid, and that was a long time ago. I still think that the pump type is the way to go (variable power). Accuracy was always good but triggers and sights were fair to poor.
Pyramid Air gives specifications and reviews on their products and have quite a line up. I could not believe the advance in the quality of the sites and triggers over the past 45 years. I would bet that accuracy has also improved. This old man is gonna get one for himself as well as the nephew who shoots better than his Red Rider does.
You should do a regular feature on quality, although somewhat expensive air guns. Anyone who hasn’t tried one should check it out. It’s fun!
I have a 6 cylinder stock honda that eventually would do 140 mph, so what is your point with the corvettes and other sport cars.
On the Corvettes: This statement “How many people do Corvettes kill each year? It’s hard to say, but there are thousands of those cars out there so you know it must be a bunch.” is one of the most stunningly ill-informed and ridiculous statements I’ve seen in years! The FACT is that the Corvette is one of the lowest cost to insure of *any* car (i.e, in the top 10 lowest cost) *precisely* because the claim rates (i.e., accident rates) are so very LOW! The silly generalization that “they’re so powerful, lots of folks must be getting killed by them” is on par with a baseless claim like “all Toyota Tundras should be banned because they trucks and all truck as poor handling, so you know they must be causing lots of deadly accidents.”
BTW, if your real motivation is that you feel Corvettes should be banned because they are gas hogs, most Corvette drivers regularly see 30+ mpg at highway speed.
Oops — typos in the statement: “all Toyota Tundras should be banned because they trucks and all truck as poor handling, so you know they must be causing lots of deadly accidents” — should be “all Toyota Tundras should be banned because they are trucks and all truck are poor handling, so you know they must be causing lots of deadly accidents.”
“
Despite it being an “expensive, rare, hunting air gun” of which “so few will be out in public it will be more like a Ferrari than a Corvette.”, it looks like the image of the Benjamin Rogue .357 caliber air rifle is going to become a staple in the Dan Casey war against pneumatic rifles.
http://blogs.roanoke.com/dancasey/2011/07/n-c-teenager-killed-by-bb-gun-shot-to-the-head/
“How many people do Corvettes kill each year? It’s hard to say, but there are thousands of those cars out there so you know it must be a bunch.”
Pffft! Care to support this with some data? Or does this author love just throwing out ignorant, baseless statements? Corvettes can go fast, therefore, they must kill a lot of people, therefore they should be outlawed? Okay, well then I suppose activities like skydiving and bungee jumping should be outlawed to, because those activities are “so dangerous” they must kill a ton of people! =/
Your lumbering Toyota Tundra will go plenty fast enough to kill you and whoever else is riding with you or the in the vehicle in the crash with it… Maybe Toyota Tundras should be outlawed.
Sounds like someone has Corvette Envy. There’s a reason they are in the top 10 LEAST expensive cars to ensure, very few accidents with owner who are general very proud of their car and take very good care of it. Check your facts jerk.
This is genuinely one of the worst train’s of thought I’ve ever read. The writer says he owns a Toyota Tundra yet says Chevy Corvettes are dangerous. Yet the writer decided not to check his facts before writing such an asinine assumption about Corvettes.
FACT: Corvettes have the lowest insurance of all cars in the U.S. (based year for year) because the demographic of Corvette owners prove to have the fewest speeding tickets and the fewest at-fault accidents.
It’s insulting to think that we (the American people) should ban such amazing modern ingenuity because someone, such as the writer, doesn’t understand the difference between responsibility and inexperience. You think we should ban shovels too since they’ve been used to kill people and bury the bodies? You think we should put a stop to religion since people have killed over it? How about the people that drive OLD cars with no anti-lock brakes that can’t stop in time to not hit a pedestrian or other car. Are you going to force everyone to drive electric cars while you’re at it? After all, the emissions gas driven cars give out kill people all the time in closed spaces like garages.
Get real. Corvettes aren’t the threats. The writer of this article doesn’t care about freedom and therefore his ideal future of a ban-crazy society threatens our general freedoms as Americans. Why not just freeze Americans at birth. That will protect us from dying in any stupid accident that could possibly occur.
This blog post fails hard.
“All you need is the money to buy one of those things and you can be on the road, terrorizing the general public.” YOU ARE A MORON.
First, thanks to whomever posted this blog post (or part of it?) on a Corvette forum. You helped my traffic.
Second, read the FULL blog post.
Third, if, after reading the FULL blog post you still have trouble understanding the point…. my sympathies.
Oh so the lumbering gas hog Toyota Tundra is much safer and kills fewer people. Yes your probably lucky you didn’t kill some one while driving one of those under performing,ill handling trucks. Oh and why do you have a big truck,so you can haul the sheep back home? Most likely you want to raise your self esteem, so you think you need to be sitting higher up than others on the road trying to sooth your inadequacies.
So, what is your point Mark? Do tell?
Great article, maybe you can let your husband post one next time. Seriously where did your parents go wrong? How does a nancy pants, scared little boy like you get to write columns? You are the type of person who drives 5 mph under the speed limit impeding traffic and causing accidents. I will stay behind the sports car driver who has actual car control experience instead of the simple minded oaf like you who is baffled by the fact that intelligent individuals have designed incredible machines that have come a long way from the 60 year old technology in a body on frame truck like yours.
Of course at this point Im speaking gibberish to you, perhaps we should talk about sewing or gardening, something more akin to your tastes and femininity. Leave the world to those who can handle it and are not frightened and mystified by the machines that inhabit it.
Josh – My point is to read the full blog post. As in, entire. As in, whole. If you are still having trouble getting (understanding, interpreting ) it, maybe one of my regular readers — who actually can and do read the full posts, and do understand what they are reading — can help you out.
The people who are fuming over Mark’s comments regarding Corvettes are cracking me up, and scaring me a little bit at the same time.
Satire, people. Satire.
Mark’s post was meant to ridicule another columnist’s rant about the dangers of using air guns in the city. His remarks about the dangers of Corvettes were tongue-in-cheek. He wasn’t serious.
It wasn’t actually about cars at all. Period. You guys need to switch to decaf.
In addition to reading Mark’s ENTIRE blog post, also read the first 10 comments posted, by people who understood the point of the blog post. Post #10 is particularly insightful.
Anyone who took away from this that Mark has a problem with people driving Corvettes needs to work on their reading comprehension.
Can not believe that Corvette owners have no clue what sarcasm is???? LOL
I’m with Mark Taylor.
Ban Corvettes!
Ban Vipers, too!
@#49
For God’s sake don’t encourage them.
If you really want to be overwhelmed by how badly Mark’s blog post was misinterpreted, check out the posts over on the Corvette Forum:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-general/2870897-someone-thinks-corvettes-are-too-powerful.html
To be fair, quite a few of them tried to bring sanity to the discussion by pointing out the blog post was satire.
Sadly, those people were, by and large, ignored.
VT Hokie – I am cracking up. Thanks!
To be fair, I didn’t bluntly say SATIRE until fairly deep into the post with this line: “Connecting that crime spree to Regular Joe air gun owners and shooters such as myself is like connecting the above-referenced Corvette crash to regular Joe performance car owners and drivers. It is illogical, unfair and flat out wrong.”
And since I didn’t use the actual word satire or sarcasm, I suppose there was some risk of interpretation despite how obvious it seemed to most of us.
I just hope these guys don’t accidentally happen upon the http://www.theonion.com. It will blow their minds.
This is an overdue response to Mike on the suggestion of doing some additional writing from time to time on airguns. It’s a great idea as I’d love to do more airgun writing.
Maybe I can even get some loaner guns to review from time to time?
For what it’s worth, I recently won a Benjamin Marauder .22 pistol in a raffle. I don’t have the gun in hand yet but can’t wait to give it a try. I have a Marauder rifle in .25 and it is UNBELIEVABLE. (And I think TScottW will back me up on that one.)
Now time to head home. I wish the commute could be in a ‘Vette ZR1 but, alas, I’m stuck with the lumbering Tundra.
Another thing in the previous comments I just noticed. In comment # 6 I wrote that I wasn’t a big fan of Corvettes “until I drove one…” Which means I am a fan.
And which means these guys maybe don’t have reading comprehension issues. They just read the forum subject: “Some guy thinks Corvettes are too powerful” and nothing else before firing off their comments, my favorite of which is “I fell like slapping you.” I just can’t stop laughing at that one.
#53 Yes, Mark and his Marauder are unbelievable together! Shooting with him for a couple of hours has encouraged me to practice more. With the ability to shoot in Roanoke City now I have practiced at least 8 days out of the legal 14 days
That Marauder pistol looks sweet!! http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Benjamin_Marauder_PCP_Air_Pistol/2367 Congratulations Mark!!
“I just hope these guys don’t accidentally happen upon the http://www.theonion.com. It will blow their minds.”
Mark, if you have some spare minutes, you should check out The Onion facebook page. The comments that follow some of their posts are exactly like what happened with the corvette guys and your blog post….some people just don’t get it. It’s hilarious, and sad at the same time. I’ve never understood why someone would join The Onion’s FB page if they don’t know what The Onion is.
@#55
JEALOUS
If the author doesn’t feel safe sharing the road with us in our sports cars, I’m sure that all of the drivers in their Priuses and Focuses were feeling really safe, with the author “lumbering” around them in his 5500 pound Toyota Tundra truck. If there’s no logical reason for me, or anyone else, to have a sports car, then there’s no logical reason for someone to drive a 13-15 MPG behemoth on a 1200 mile road trip…..
(BTW, on a 1200 mile road trip like that, my Corvette will give me 31 MPG, SERIOUSLY!!)
Really hurts to be a liberal, doesn’t it??
I must agree with you on the dangers of allowing anyone, just anyone, to be able to go out and buy a Corvette. Not only are they dangerously powerful, but also, they ride so close to the ground. Even in the hands of a safe driver they probably accidentally maim and kill tens of thousands of opossums and armadillos annually. Even if they were operated safely, the low ground clearance will almost certainly result in severe injury to these innocent animals should it not be possible to swerve out of the way to miss them. At least with a higher ground clearance vehicle they would likely escape injury unless being run over by the wheel. Vehicles like these are just too destructive to be allowed.
Also, what about the emotional damage done to all the little children who are forced to witness the splattered little opossums and armadillos lying in the road. There is just too much destruction caused by these vehicles. At the age of just 16 years old, anyone can get a permit to operate one of these vehicles without ever having used one. This is insanity. Contact your elected representatives and write to your newspaper and demand action. Personally contact Dan Casey as with all his wisdom he will likely pick up on the issue as important as this and throw all his influence behind this worthy cause.
All those people writing in support of Corvettes are just wing nuts and don’t care about the destruction they are causing. Vehicles like these must be eliminated.
@#59 “At the age of just 16 years old, anyone can get a permit to operate one of these vehicles without ever having used one. ”
LMAO!!!!!
“….but also, they ride so close to the ground. Even in the hands of a safe driver they probably accidentally maim and kill tens of thousands of opossums and armadillos annually. Even if they were operated safely, the low ground clearance will almost certainly result in severe injury to these innocent animals should it not be possible to swerve out of the way to miss them.”
Kind of like Toyota Tundras, and all of those “short pedestrians” that get in your way, while trying to cross the street…….
Any vehicle can be deadly when puts in the wrong hands. It’s not the car, it’s the driver. Don’t scold the Corvette, because it can blow past your Tundra.
Sounds like someone is just jealous, a Honda can be just as dangerous as any muscle car. It really depends on the drivers, not the car. People that complain are usually not happy with what they have, I feel like that is what the underlying theme is.