Earlier this week, our friend David Reeder at RECOILweb.com wrote an editorial titled The Terrifying Truth About Shooting an AR-15. This post was a response to NY Daily News reporter Gersh Kuntzman, who published an article earlier this month about his experience firing an AR-15 for the first time. In his article, Kuntzman wrote:

“Squeeze lightly on the trigger and the resulting explosion of firepower is humbling and deafening (even with ear protection).

The recoil bruised my shoulder, which can happen if you don’t know what you’re doing. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary form of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable.”

Kuntzman, left, could barely contain his terror while shooting an AR-15.

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After reading a few sentences, we found ourselves wondering, is this guy for real? But, alas, there's no satire to be found in Kuntzman's article. He's evidently very serious about his traumatic and terrifying experience at a supervised firing range. Frankly, it's incredible he survived unscathed.

It appears that Kuntzman later received some complaints about his use of the term PTSD, as he posted a brief apology, stating “I regret the inarticulate use of the term to describe my in-the-moment impression of the gun's firepower”. However, he then went on to write an inflammatory follow-up article complaining about all the “angry mail” he received as a result of his first article.

RECOIL's hilarious response to this traumatized “journalist” is definitely worth a read. Here's a link to the full article on RECOILweb.com.

Written by Patrick McCarthy