Coincidentally(?)the Raleigh News and Observer featured a piece Sunday in the Lifestyle section on concealed carry and my husband and I were two of the four people featured. The article was actually more than fair to gun-owners.
When I showed a friend my new handgun, she told me she didn't trust herself with one, and because of that she didn't trust anyone else with a gun either. I suspect that reasoning is fairly prevalent amongst anti-gun types. Her boyfriend finally convinced her to go to the range and she liked it well enough that she lost her personal fear of guns along with her apprehension about others carrying them. Converting women on a one-by-one basis is a good way to overcome the fear and prejudice.
"When I showed a friend my new handgun, she told me she didn't trust herself with one, and because of that she didn't trust anyone else with a gun either."
That's part of the problem. Part 2 is "I'm OK, bub, but I don't know about YOU." These are what the "black rifle" crowd call the "Elmer Fudds" - the duck & deer hunters who don't like black rifles or concealed-carry.
They're a little harder to reach.
I really believe that women represent our best opportunity to produce "awakenings."
My own problem was that, while I had no qualms about supporting the 2nd amendment in theory, I had trouble trusting people with guns in practice. My first time at the range I wasn't sure that the guy next to me wasn't a total incompetent who would accidentally shoot me, or, even worse, some unstable wacko who would shoot me on purpose. But all it took was a few trips to reinforce my faith in people. I've been to the range dozens of times in the last couple of years, and not one incident. What I learned is that the average Joe (and Jane) can handle a firearm just fine, and most people really are trustworthy. In fact, my husband, who grew up in Finland, notes that Americans and guns are a natural combination. He is former SF, and one of his hobbies is to train civilians in the use of all types of firearms. He was amazed to find that every single American he's ever trained to use a handgun for the first time was immediately proficient. He says Americans are born with Colts in their hands. :)
"Operators wouldn't let an Observer reporter in..." For free! Woulda been no problem if he'd have paid the admission!
Photographers, however are rightly verbotin.
FWIW, my club just hosted its third Ladies Day at the Range this past Saturday, intended to introduce non-shooters to the shooting sports. We had all the disciplines represented: smallbore silhouette, 3-gun pistol, high power rifle, small bore pistol, air pistol, shotgun, IPSC, Cowboy, IDPA, you name it. With no media attention, save a 3 line blurb in the local paper's weekend section, we had 92 participants. Last year it was 73. All of them enjoyed the day; one woman, with her 17 year-old daughter, both of whom took their turns at smallbore rifle and pistol and 15 ft air pistol, mentioned that she didn't know there were so many different things to do with guns. There's no question that interest in firearms is growing among women.
We're now committed to making this an annual event, and planning for next year has already started.
God made man [and woman]; Sam Colt made them equal.
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
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JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-do-you-get-your-rights-back.html (10 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Kevin-
Coincidentally(?)the Raleigh News and Observer featured a piece Sunday in the Lifestyle section on concealed carry and my husband and I were two of the four people featured. The article was actually more than fair to gun-owners.
That must be this piece. You're right - it's quite fair. Thanks for the heads-up.
When I showed a friend my new handgun, she told me she didn't trust herself with one, and because of that she didn't trust anyone else with a gun either. I suspect that reasoning is fairly prevalent amongst anti-gun types. Her boyfriend finally convinced her to go to the range and she liked it well enough that she lost her personal fear of guns along with her apprehension about others carrying them. Converting women on a one-by-one basis is a good way to overcome the fear and prejudice.
"When I showed a friend my new handgun, she told me she didn't trust herself with one, and because of that she didn't trust anyone else with a gun either."
That's part of the problem. Part 2 is "I'm OK, bub, but I don't know about YOU." These are what the "black rifle" crowd call the "Elmer Fudds" - the duck & deer hunters who don't like black rifles or concealed-carry.
They're a little harder to reach.
I really believe that women represent our best opportunity to produce "awakenings."
You're probably right, Kevin.
My own problem was that, while I had no qualms about supporting the 2nd amendment in theory, I had trouble trusting people with guns in practice. My first time at the range I wasn't sure that the guy next to me wasn't a total incompetent who would accidentally shoot me, or, even worse, some unstable wacko who would shoot me on purpose. But all it took was a few trips to reinforce my faith in people. I've been to the range dozens of times in the last couple of years, and not one incident. What I learned is that the average Joe (and Jane) can handle a firearm just fine, and most people really are trustworthy. In fact, my husband, who grew up in Finland, notes that Americans and guns are a natural combination. He is former SF, and one of his hobbies is to train civilians in the use of all types of firearms. He was amazed to find that every single American he's ever trained to use a handgun for the first time was immediately proficient. He says Americans are born with Colts in their hands. :)
A fact their mothers find very uncomfortable, I bet! ;)
"Operators wouldn't let an Observer reporter in..." For free! Woulda been no problem if he'd have paid the admission!
Photographers, however are rightly verbotin.
FWIW, my club just hosted its third Ladies Day at the Range this past Saturday, intended to introduce non-shooters to the shooting sports. We had all the disciplines represented: smallbore silhouette, 3-gun pistol, high power rifle, small bore pistol, air pistol, shotgun, IPSC, Cowboy, IDPA, you name it. With no media attention, save a 3 line blurb in the local paper's weekend section, we had 92 participants. Last year it was 73. All of them enjoyed the day; one woman, with her 17 year-old daughter, both of whom took their turns at smallbore rifle and pistol and 15 ft air pistol, mentioned that she didn't know there were so many different things to do with guns. There's no question that interest in firearms is growing among women.
We're now committed to making this an annual event, and planning for next year has already started.
Homer, what's the name of your club? I think I'd like to raise the possibility of doing something like this at mine.
God made man [and woman]; Sam Colt made them equal.
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>