USMC M1 Carbines in the Pacific

[painter777]

By far, most of the U.S. troopies had never seen a real firearm before being in the military. The idea of the U.S. being a "nation of riflemen" is a myth.

Again more Off Topic BS...
Someone should have told Admiral Yamamoto about the myth.
If you can understand them here are some facts for you.

Civilian Gun Ownership In The 1940’s,

United States long gun ownership was about as common as it is today. However, remember that the United States population was approximately 140 million, with just under 45 million families.
While most heads of families had at least a .22, a shotgun and a “deer rifle,” and it was common practice for other family members to own one or more long guns.

Judging by surviving examples, there were approximately 220 million long guns in circulation, indicating approximately five long guns per household.
More realistically, a typical household either had no long guns or somewhere between six and eight.

Again judging by surviving examples and the observed “mortality rate,” there were some sixty million handguns in private citizens hands.

To Sum it up:

US Population: ~140 million
Households: ~45 million families
Long guns in circulation: ~220 million approximately five long guns per household
Hand Guns: ~60 million owned by private citizens
Population of 140 million with under 45 million families
Total Est Arms: 280 million

More factors:
PROFILE OF US SERVICEMEN (1941-1945)
38.8% (6,332,000) of U.S. servicemen and all servicewomen were volunteers
61.2% (11,535,000) were draftees
Overseas service: 73% served overseas
Total Served: 17,867,000
Non-combat jobs: 38.8% of enlisted personnel had rear echelon assignments—administrative, support, or manual labor.

I would assume some 'Troopies' not chosen to be a rifleman, may have other skills best used in a rear echelon position. Such as a Doctor, Surgeon, Intelligence.. etc.

Maybe the letter Admiral Yamamoto sent to Ryoichi Sasakawa best sums up the situation in mainland America:
"To invade the United States would prove most difficult because behind every blade of grass is an American with a rifle."

England had banned all guns, and gun ownership by the populace; years prior to the pending invasion of their mainland by Germany.
The United States had to provide guns, weapons and support in World War II to England in part because of that ban.

My local Rifle club was established roughly pre~1917 to promote shooting for citizens, servicemen and even boy scouts.

DCM: The Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) was created by the U.S. Congress as part of the 1903 War Department Appropriations Act. The original purpose was to provide civilians an opportunity to learn and practice marksmanship skills so they would be skilled marksmen if later called on to serve in the U.S. military.

NRA: After being granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17, 1871, the NRA was founded. The NRA's interest in promoting the shooting sports among America's youth began in 1903 when NRA Secretary Albert S. Jones urged the establishment of rifle clubs at all major colleges, universities and military academies. By 1906, NRA's youth program was in full swing.

Shooting at the Summer Olympics: Started in 1896.

Figure in the private shooting clubs, college, high school, 4h, boy scouts... etc. There were hundreds if not thousands of shooting organizations prior to WWI and WWII.

Hunting:
And while our 'Troopies' were away, during July of 1941 to June 1942 there were enough gun toting Americans that spent $15,359,194.00 million on State Deer hunting Licenses and Federal Duck stamps fees. This from DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE report for the 1941-42 season.
During the 1941-1942 Michigan Deer hunting season nearly 850,000 licenses were sold. While the States population was 5,472,000 million.
So 15.5 % of Michigan residents were hunting deer with their 850,000 Deer rifles !

I don't believe they were all throwing rocks.

https://www.fws.gov/news/Historic/Ne.../19430731b.pdf

So Sunray chew on this a while and throw back some facts, not some Troll like reply.