Complaints after Top Gear Stig shooting

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Dr.Kamiya said:
Far as gun safety goes Clarkson definitely knows what he's doing. Half a decade ago he did that Inventions series and shot every concievable sort of gun, and he did so with full safety gear including goggles and ear protection.
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I'm finding the Clarkson-apologetics here hilarious. It makes no difference whatsoever if he's shot guns before, he ignored one of the most basic tenets of gun safety.
 
I wasn't really paying attention to Clarkson's handling of gun, so I can't comment on it. James May looking down the barrel of a shot gun in the Polar special, however was incredible stupid. My Dad owns a couple of rifles, keeps them under lock and key and does clean them. He is very safety conscious and I doubt he would let me near one of them except in a shooting range seeing as I have no experience with them.

As far as the complaints go about shooting cardboard cut-outs of The Stig. In my mind, Ben Collins is a separate character from the Stig. At no point was Collins' name mentioned, only that The Stig had betrayed the show. To me, the shooting was nothing more than an opportunity for them to let of steam about The Stig. Hopefully, nothing more will need to be said about it. If it had been a cardboard cut-out of Ben Collins that they were shooting, I would have understood the complaints.
 
BerserkerCatSplat said:
I'm finding the Clarkson-apologetics here hilarious. It makes no difference whatsoever if he's shot guns before, he ignored one of the most basic tenets of gun safety.
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And as i said in my earlier story, the only rule (and a bit of luck) that stopped me from actually killing someone last month. I made 4 major mistakes and shot a bullet i did not aim by mistake, but because i wasnt hooning and the gun was pointed down a firing range, nobody was hurt. Guns are not like cars, shooting is not like a powerslide.
 
Mr. Nice said:
The differences between pointing a gun at your face and smoking in the studio are immense. Top Gear depicts exuberant driving, not dangerous driving, and again, the differences between exuberant driving and pointing a gun at your face are immense. Firearms safety is not and will never be "crap." Would you have been so entertained had Clarkson killed himself by having the gun go off when it was pointed at his head? By violating the rule of all guns are loaded, he made the assumption that his gun wouldn't fire because the safety was on and he hadn't chambered a round. This is an assumption that gets people killed while handling firearms every year.
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Top Gear depicts dangerous driving. Period. Powersliding on public roads, driving with a blown tyre, 2 or 3 supercars tailgating each other/in close formation, all these things are downright dangerous. However, I am sure proper precautions were taken before doing these bits, either through clever editing, closing of public roads or letting real stunt drivers doing the really ballsy bits. But is there a warning at the bottom of every "bit" that says "Note, the following takes place on closed public roads."

You assumed Clarkson broke a rule, he could've used a prop gun. Do you honestly think an intructor would've just let him cock about with a real gun?

I was entertained because I know for a fact that Clarkson couldn't have killed himself because this is the BBC, not some idiots filming on a camcorder, I am sure various health and safety forms were filled in, with instructors doing safety briefings and all precautions taken.

And, this is a joke at the end of the day. It was funny because Clarkson was doing things you were specifically not meant to do. Like all most jokes, this one used hyperbole.

Like I said, you're fine with certain jokes, yet when a joke hits close to home, you immediately tighten up and declare that this is your line and it can't be crossed. Smoking on TV is a serious issue, kids do look up to the hosts of Top Gear, some of them do want to be like Clarkson in a way. And they might take up smoking if they see smoking on Top Gear, that's why there's even a ban of cigarette sponsorships in sports. Now you may or may not agree with this reasoning, but it's just as valid as yours.
 
JasX said:
Top Gear depicts dangerous driving. Period. Powersliding on public roads, driving with a blown tyre, 2 or 3 supercars tailgating each other/in close formation, all these things are downright dangerous. However, I am sure proper precautions were taken before doing these bits, either through clever editing, closing of public roads or letting real stunt drivers doing the really ballsy bits. But is there a warning at the bottom of every "bit" that says "Note, the following takes place on closed public roads."
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Does not apply to guns.

You assumed Clarkson broke a rule, he could've used a prop gun. Do you honestly think an intructor would've just let him cock about with a real gun?
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Considering that the supposed "prop gun" was real, yes.

I was entertained because I know for a fact that Clarkson couldn't have killed himself because this is the BBC, not some idiots filming on a camcorder, I am sure various health and safety forms were filled in, with instructors doing safety briefings and all precautions taken.
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Anyone who points a gun at their head is taking the risk that it may go off and kill them. If cigarettes are banned because children might use them and develop cancer over a period of years, then at the very least pointing a handgun at your head should be banned, as that can kill you in a matter of seconds.
 
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LOL. I am a gun owner myself and I am a strong believer of gun safety.

Top Gear is not an educational or reality television program. It is not a documentary either. No. Top gear is a rehearsed and scripted program for the entertainment of mature audiences. Pretty much like Prison Break. To complain about a cast's "mishandling" of a gun during filiming of a show, which purpose is primarily for the purpose of entertainment is the same as complaining about this picture:
wentworth-miller-gun.jpg


The "mishandling" of a firearm in this episode of Top Gear was intentional. It was to stir controversy. And Top Gear is all about controversy. All kinds of controversies, from stereotyping, racism, to homophobia. If people find themselves offended by Top Gear, they should not watch it. End of story.

And what's funny is that nobody is complaining about the Top Gear's crew's lack of response to a real fire in the studio?
 
Mr. Nice said:
Anyone who points a gun at their head is taking the risk that it may go off and kill them.
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I know I'm behind by about three pages, but I'd like to mention that it is acceptable to point a shotgun at your head if your finger is in the chamber to ensue there's not a shell loaded, you're in the arctic, and you have to check to see if the barrel has iced over (as James did in the polar special).

Clarkson, on the other hand, is a moron. A loveable moron, but a moron nonetheless.
 
The gun safety discussion works because there's so little information in the original article it's not worth talking about =)

Anyways I'm not against gun safety in any way, just saying that if you look closely at the segment, it seems pretty clear (well to me anyways), that Clarkson's posing about is an example of "what not to do". He was even set in the background, against the instructor who was in the foreground showing how to do things properly, holding the gun with both arms and pointing it downrange. I suppose they could have shown him getting killed to make an even better example.
 
Gun safety? Remembered when James pointed the rifle barrel at his face during preparations for their trip to the North Pole? I wonder why nobody cause a big fuss over that one. Now when Jeremy does it, people wave their arms in the air and cry foul.

It was a stupid thing to do of course but TG does a lot of stupid things. It's not as if people don't know guns are dangerous before Jeremy did this. Good thing TG take risks and don't pander themselves to people nannying over everything they're doing.
 
TG shows potentially dangerous and deadly things ALL THE TIME. The whole "only point the gun at what you want to kill" and "its a deadly weapon" talk are very similar to when my driving instructor was impressing upon me how serious, and potentially dangerous a car can conceivably be. I know they're not quite the same (though a pile-up on highway 75 in Atlanta is more dangerous than ANY weapon of mass destruction) but really, settle down.

Mr. Nice just loves talking about guns.

This thread reminds me of the debate about what is and isn't acceptable to joke about. And I'm with George Carlin on this one, you can joke about ANYTHING. Otherwise you're a humorless so and so.
 
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Thing is, 'guns' and everything associated with it has a bad rep.
So when Clarkson cocks about, and some idiot sees it and shoots himself in the head after he tries to imitate it, every single anti-gun lobby the world over is gonna have a huge stick to beat the sames damn old horse with again......This is something gunlovers (like Mr. Nice) would like to avoid at all cost, wich I find totaly reasonable.

I realy can't give a fuck if some idiot shoots because he doesn't realise the dangers in the strange metal thing he is holding, Darwinisme indeed, but the whole shitstorm that would ensue, nobody wants or needs that.

Sure guns are beeing abused al the time on TV and in movies , but very few TV shows are under such scrutiny from all sorts of activist and lobby groups (aka professional complainers) then TopGear, hence the controversy.

I do not believe in censoring TopGear, if Jeremy wants to fool around with a gun, a car, or a nuclear weapon is all fine by me , its what makes Jeremys character Jeremy from TopGear, its all for laughs anyway, WE realise that, but mister-and-misses-complainsalot don't, and neither does the idiot who can't dicriminate between TV and reality.....
 
MattD1zzl3 said:
This is not true
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No, this is hyperbole


It think to learn to assess dangers with your common sense it's vital to see examples of right and wrong behaviour, Clarkson was quite clearly established as irresponsible earlier on in the shredding-the-tyres episode and his irresbonsible handling of the weapon was just a simple stylistic device (and a cheap laugh) to underline the importance of the safety training.
Living in an area of the world where I don't need firearms and not having any experience, I instantly recognized his behaviour as wrong and potentially dangerous, I'm sure I would have understood it when I was four years old as well...I'm scared of people who seem to encourage replacing common sense with overly-simplified safety slogans...;)
 
Rule 1 of firearm safety is "Disregard reality and make shit up even if you know it's not true"?

Anyway, without actually being there you can't know that they weren't using editing to slip a prop/deactivated weapon in there for the "Clarkson being an idiot" shots. And no offence to you enthusiastic amateurs here, but I'm sure the safety professionals they have on hand (not just the ones you see on screen but the many more that are required to be on hand and observing by health & safety laws) don't know any less than you do about these things.

But hay guise, did you see that time they set fire to a caravan? That was totally in disregard of fire safety guidelines!
 
The gun used was a Sig Sauer P226, well worn. It was marked for the shooting range, and it was the same gun that Clarkson later fired.

Edit: Thinking about this, it may have been a number of other P22#. That really doesn't matter though.
 
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GraemeH said:
But hay guise, did you see that time they set fire to a caravan? That was totally in disregard of fire safety guidelines!
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...or that time they violated restricted airport airspace in a carablimpvan. I'm sure their fine was huge.
 
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