They don’t usually outright say it, but some make it clear in other ways.
Like showing up at the range in full combat gear. Dude, simma downa!
I don’t think this is an actual case of that. I have a few friends that get kitted out with plate carriers and night vision for the range and it’s just LARPing. No different than ren faire people showing up to the faire in steel plate when obviously there isn’t some sword fight that’s about to break out at the fairgrounds.
It’s dorky but generally not malicious.
It is very different than ren faire people showing up in military gear obsolete for hundreds of years, you can kill an entire crowd of people with an assault rifle in seconds, a person carrying around a murder weapon of that spontaneous ability to catastrophically induce violence isn’t “LARPing” they are normalizing carrying around a murder weapon and being utterly obsessed with it which even if their motivations are innocent provides a nice big smokescreen of normalcy for the Kyle Rittenhouses of the world to hide behind.
I am not even making an argument against guns here, I am just pointing out how much more lame and uncool this is than ren faire or LARPing stuff .
you can kill an entire crowd of people with an assault rifle in seconds
You’ve never fired a gun, have you? There is a massive amount of misinformation out there, and that’s not how any modern firearms made for the civilian market (including AR-15s) operate.
they are normalizing carrying around a murder weapon and being utterly obsessed with it
How so? We are talking about people who like to wear gear when they go to the range for fun. Thinking it would be fun to wear a bulletproof vest at the range or wearing NODs so you can shoot at night doesn’t imply any of those things.
even if their motivations are innocent provides a nice big smokescreen of normalcy for the Kyle Rittenhouses of the world to hide behind
How? A range trip isn’t “normalizing” anything nefarious regardless of what you choose to wear to the range. It’s just a range trip.
I am just pointing out how much more lame and uncool this is than ren faire or LARPing stuff
I don’t wear gear to the range but I know folks who do, and also go to faire and belong to a group who likes to fight with foam swords. From my perspective, it’s really the same deal. Dorky/nerdy people who like to dress up for fun. IMO it’s worth giving your fellow humans the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming the worst.