You can view the page at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/content/913-scuba-diving-shooting-sports.html
Article: SCUBA DIVING and the Shooting Sports.
- Thread starter Pod Diver Radio
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
I am a diver (SCUBA and apnea) in the US. Until the price of ammo went through the roof I was an avid shooter.
I think that it is an uninformed opinion that the shooting sports are violent activities. I own a gun and enjoy shooting, but I have never shot at anything besides paper and metal gongs.
Similar to diving, I find long range marksmanship to be a peaceful and meditative experience; breath control is the foundation for performance in both sports.
Like you mentioned, the gear maintenance and modification portion of both activities are also highly congruent.
I think that it is an uninformed opinion that the shooting sports are violent activities. I own a gun and enjoy shooting, but I have never shot at anything besides paper and metal gongs.
Similar to diving, I find long range marksmanship to be a peaceful and meditative experience; breath control is the foundation for performance in both sports.
Like you mentioned, the gear maintenance and modification portion of both activities are also highly congruent.
KMDD
New
Not to mention the similarities between little errors adding up leading to catastrophe or one big error ending things. If you are safe and responsible in handling firearms, it would seem to me that you are also have the personality traits that would be safe under water. And I am absolutely manic when it comes to firearm safety despite the fact I've only been shooting for 30 years without incident.
whippo
Registered
scuba diver and avid lover of guns... guns do not equal violent... i find shooting a very calming activity
Statick
Registered
As a Canadian who was partially raised in the UK and has a south-Asian ethnic background, I certainly enjoy diving, shooting and hunting. It's a love of the outdoors and also a bit of the practical use of various forms of "gear".
WGH
New
I love diving as a sport, I am a cave and deep diver and I love shooting as a sport, all types of pistol, rifle and shotgun for competition, hunting and sporting clays they both are all around great fun. Guns are tools just like my spare regulator or air tanks, with proper training for a responsible person guns in the USA are a right given to us in the Constitution by our founding fathers that we don't take lightly but unfortunately I consider a necessity because the police don't follow us around to prevent harm to my family or me and typically they come after the damage is done so, I prefer to prepare for the worst but pray that I never have the need to use my weapon for anything other than a sport.
A gun is no more dangerous than a hammer or a screw driver, it's in the hands of a bad person with evil intent to use either to hurt someone.
WGH
Houston, Texas
A gun is no more dangerous than a hammer or a screw driver, it's in the hands of a bad person with evil intent to use either to hurt someone.
WGH
Houston, Texas
soonerwink
Contributor
Scuba diving is an outdoor sport, so I thing it goes quite well with shooting sports. I run a large dive club here in Oklahoma and it seems that more than half of our members are also into shooting sports. It wouldn't suprise me if at our monthly meeting that more than half there have a conceal carry permit, including the women.
SIUegyptiandiver
Registered
I am not a competitive shooter (or Scuba Diver) but enjoy both sports/activities, including hunting. If it moves, is legal game, and tastes good....I eat it. I prefer to harvest my own food whether from my garden or my hunting property, and I am of the opinion that developing a food plot for deer and turkey is as productive as developing a garden where I grow my own vegetables for the table and for canning.
I own hand guns, rifles and shotguns. I reload my own ammunition for the hand guns, mainly due to the ever-increasing cost of "ball" ammo and because I got all the equipment and several years' supply of lead from my father, who also was a hand gunner. Sighting in a rifle or shotgun (even slugs for deer) is far less ammo-intensive than practicing with a hand gun, which requires frequent practice with hundreds of rounds to stay proficient.
I am also a Master Scuba Diver (NAUI's title, not mine) and soon to be a Divemaster. I find no inconsistencies with participating in both hobbies. Diving can be relaxing, challenging, engaging and a great way to spend time with family. Shooting sports offer all of the same benefits, in my humble opinion.
Shooting and gun ownership is in no way an inherently violent activity, any more than SCUBA Diving is. Guns CAN be used for hunting which some think of as a violent sport. OK I get that; disagree, but I understand the sentiment. SCUBA CAN be used for hunting...spear fishing, abalone gathering, seaweed collection, lobstering...yet (with the possible exception of spear fishing) few see these activities as "violent". For the diver who enjoys drifting, looking, and shooting nothing more than pictures and video, more power to you...I enjoy all those things too. But one can not deny that SCUBA offers the ability to harvest what the ocean offers in a way that non-divers do not share.
Similarly, shooting sports offer the option to shoot at nothing but paper, clay pigeons, melons and old cans. Shooting sports can, however, offer the chance to harvest what nature provides in a way that your average Wal-Mart shopper does not share. Is buying a pork chop, steak or frozen chicken a violent activity? Depends on how you look at it...SOMEONE killed that thing on your plate. Is gathering mushrooms or asparagus; picking tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers or beans violent? Depends on if you are the picker/gatherer or the plant I guess.
Many of the people with whom I dive are also gun advocates, though each for his/her own purposes. Being active and having hobbies are healthy past times. Choosing to experience nature as a hobby helps keep us connected to the world we live in. If you have never gone shooting, give it a try. If you have never been diving....well...why are you here?
I own hand guns, rifles and shotguns. I reload my own ammunition for the hand guns, mainly due to the ever-increasing cost of "ball" ammo and because I got all the equipment and several years' supply of lead from my father, who also was a hand gunner. Sighting in a rifle or shotgun (even slugs for deer) is far less ammo-intensive than practicing with a hand gun, which requires frequent practice with hundreds of rounds to stay proficient.
I am also a Master Scuba Diver (NAUI's title, not mine) and soon to be a Divemaster. I find no inconsistencies with participating in both hobbies. Diving can be relaxing, challenging, engaging and a great way to spend time with family. Shooting sports offer all of the same benefits, in my humble opinion.
Shooting and gun ownership is in no way an inherently violent activity, any more than SCUBA Diving is. Guns CAN be used for hunting which some think of as a violent sport. OK I get that; disagree, but I understand the sentiment. SCUBA CAN be used for hunting...spear fishing, abalone gathering, seaweed collection, lobstering...yet (with the possible exception of spear fishing) few see these activities as "violent". For the diver who enjoys drifting, looking, and shooting nothing more than pictures and video, more power to you...I enjoy all those things too. But one can not deny that SCUBA offers the ability to harvest what the ocean offers in a way that non-divers do not share.
Similarly, shooting sports offer the option to shoot at nothing but paper, clay pigeons, melons and old cans. Shooting sports can, however, offer the chance to harvest what nature provides in a way that your average Wal-Mart shopper does not share. Is buying a pork chop, steak or frozen chicken a violent activity? Depends on how you look at it...SOMEONE killed that thing on your plate. Is gathering mushrooms or asparagus; picking tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers or beans violent? Depends on if you are the picker/gatherer or the plant I guess.
Many of the people with whom I dive are also gun advocates, though each for his/her own purposes. Being active and having hobbies are healthy past times. Choosing to experience nature as a hobby helps keep us connected to the world we live in. If you have never gone shooting, give it a try. If you have never been diving....well...why are you here?
Russoft
Contributor
Guns and diving are my two "big" hobbies/sports. They both required courses (gun safety courses in Canada) and a large expenditure on the equipment needed to play. The technology is what fascinates me. I love learning how to disassemble the action of a new rifle and understand how it works. Now I'm buying cheap first stage regulators so I can take them apart and understand how they work. That said, target shooting is a very different experience from diving. There are some similarities I'm aware of, however: you can practice a life time and still get better at it, you need to be safe and that means being aware of yourself and other shooters, it is very much a quiet and solitary experience (at least form me), and the clean up after the activity is less fun and more work than the activity itself.
I'll echo the sentiments of others here: never shot at anyone with my guns. Never even been in a fist fight. The association between firearms and violence is largely made by bad Hollywood movies.
I'll echo the sentiments of others here: never shot at anyone with my guns. Never even been in a fist fight. The association between firearms and violence is largely made by bad Hollywood movies.
Scuba_tacoma
Registered
Diving is an extremely diverse sport that can be thrilling or relaxing. The person, type of diving and mother nature will determine the thrill factor of each dive. I think it is a little closed minded to call diving relaxing across the board. My personal experiences in diving has afforded relaxing, even boring and some thrilling diving that few people in the world will ever experience.
As for my connections to shooting sports, I am with most of y'all and I enjoy the outdoors. I like the competitiveness of shooting sports which I find fun but not really relaxing. I also like to spend time hunting outdoors which is mostly relaxing until an opportunity to take an animal. I also hunt underwater. I hunt because I love fish and the ocean, not to destroy the ocean. I only take the correct species of fish that are well over the legal limits. If I have any doubt about size or species then I do not shoot the fish. I have passed up way, way more fish than I have shot.
I think the connection between diving and shooting sports is due to many factors. People that love nature find ways to spend time outside which leads to diving and other outside activities. Divers also have some expendable income(with the exception of five professionals lol) that they spend on things that interest them, such as technical/mechanical equipment like diving gear and guns. Another connection I see with diving is with pilots. We have had lots of pilots and want to be pilots on our dive boat. I think this is because the some mindset that looks for adventure also likes the technical side of both activities.
As for the guns and violence, Russoft said it best.
"The association between firearms and violence is largely made by bad Hollywood movies."
(0
As for my connections to shooting sports, I am with most of y'all and I enjoy the outdoors. I like the competitiveness of shooting sports which I find fun but not really relaxing. I also like to spend time hunting outdoors which is mostly relaxing until an opportunity to take an animal. I also hunt underwater. I hunt because I love fish and the ocean, not to destroy the ocean. I only take the correct species of fish that are well over the legal limits. If I have any doubt about size or species then I do not shoot the fish. I have passed up way, way more fish than I have shot.
I think the connection between diving and shooting sports is due to many factors. People that love nature find ways to spend time outside which leads to diving and other outside activities. Divers also have some expendable income(with the exception of five professionals lol) that they spend on things that interest them, such as technical/mechanical equipment like diving gear and guns. Another connection I see with diving is with pilots. We have had lots of pilots and want to be pilots on our dive boat. I think this is because the some mindset that looks for adventure also likes the technical side of both activities.
As for the guns and violence, Russoft said it best.
"The association between firearms and violence is largely made by bad Hollywood movies."
(0
Similar threads
