Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Gun Prejudice
This is not a "carp about the media" post.
The Geek has up a great post about his kid's friends not being able to play over at his house because their parents had found out that there were guns in his residence. Needless to say, read it, it is goddamn hilarious. I cannot match the Geek as far as spinning a good yarn.
But the post got me thinking about the normal prejudice one runs into every day. My mother is a great lady and supports the 2nd amendment just like my father. Occasionally, she will even go pop some .22's with us. But, if she found out I carried, that would freak the crap out of her. Additionally, I live in a shall-issue state but do not have a permit. If you want a good knock down on that one, Publicola and Xrql are duking it out, as usual.
Additionally, I have a friend whose girlfriend is really loathe to fraternize with me in my own domicile. No I don't hit on her when I'm gnarly drunk. When she comes over, I collect all of the guns, knives, etc. and put them in one room and lock the door. I don't carry when the woman is over (except for a knife or two.) All this to no avail. The mere fact that there are firearms in the place makes her completely uncomfortable. There is also the fact that I have an airgun range set up in my hallway, which is fairly hard to hide, and once in awhile said friend tries to get her to shoot a pellet gun, which immediately wants to make her go home.
Another example is my brother's girlfriend. She stayed with him over the summer and knew before hand that I was a shooter. That was cool until my brother bought me the Guns & Ammo AR-15 book that came out midsummer (and I'm sorry he wasted the money on such a useless gift, I mean that was BAD). Once she found out I owned an "assault weapon", and a pre-ban to boot, she started asking my brother the typical questions: "Why does anybody need an assault weapon? Those have no sporting purpose? Is brother on the edge of going on a kill crazy rampage, the likes of which will not be seen until Hmong hunting season in Wisconsin?"
I personally try to take an incremental approach to people nowadays. Yes, if a liberal really pisses me off I start yelling about how the 1938 Act was unconstitutional. Generally, though, I like to take a step at a time with people and make sure they remain comfortable. Some people, like my buddy's girlfriend, will never be comfortable though so I just try to stash them and make like I'm normal.
Seriously, she sits at the table and will only walk to the bathroom; and that only if it is absolutely necessary.
The Geek has up a great post about his kid's friends not being able to play over at his house because their parents had found out that there were guns in his residence. Needless to say, read it, it is goddamn hilarious. I cannot match the Geek as far as spinning a good yarn.
But the post got me thinking about the normal prejudice one runs into every day. My mother is a great lady and supports the 2nd amendment just like my father. Occasionally, she will even go pop some .22's with us. But, if she found out I carried, that would freak the crap out of her. Additionally, I live in a shall-issue state but do not have a permit. If you want a good knock down on that one, Publicola and Xrql are duking it out, as usual.
Additionally, I have a friend whose girlfriend is really loathe to fraternize with me in my own domicile. No I don't hit on her when I'm gnarly drunk. When she comes over, I collect all of the guns, knives, etc. and put them in one room and lock the door. I don't carry when the woman is over (except for a knife or two.) All this to no avail. The mere fact that there are firearms in the place makes her completely uncomfortable. There is also the fact that I have an airgun range set up in my hallway, which is fairly hard to hide, and once in awhile said friend tries to get her to shoot a pellet gun, which immediately wants to make her go home.
Another example is my brother's girlfriend. She stayed with him over the summer and knew before hand that I was a shooter. That was cool until my brother bought me the Guns & Ammo AR-15 book that came out midsummer (and I'm sorry he wasted the money on such a useless gift, I mean that was BAD). Once she found out I owned an "assault weapon", and a pre-ban to boot, she started asking my brother the typical questions: "Why does anybody need an assault weapon? Those have no sporting purpose? Is brother on the edge of going on a kill crazy rampage, the likes of which will not be seen until Hmong hunting season in Wisconsin?"
I personally try to take an incremental approach to people nowadays. Yes, if a liberal really pisses me off I start yelling about how the 1938 Act was unconstitutional. Generally, though, I like to take a step at a time with people and make sure they remain comfortable. Some people, like my buddy's girlfriend, will never be comfortable though so I just try to stash them and make like I'm normal.
Seriously, she sits at the table and will only walk to the bathroom; and that only if it is absolutely necessary.
