Then what happens for most normal people is they grow up. Guns stop being an important part of their lives just like the toy soldiers do.For those of us who grow up in “gun cultures” where firearms are merely another tool and fact of life, getting your first gun may consist of getting a pint-sized .22-caliber single shot rifle almost as long as you are tall when you are a child. It is a simple and expected rite of passage that is a mark of growing expectations, trust, and new-found maturity.
We’re generally accompanied by an experienced and patient relative — a father, grandfather, aunt, or older sibling — and the time we spend with those first firearms fills us with nostalgia in later years. The adventures spent afield plinking at cans and paper targets or hunting is remembered as much or more for the bonding and the fellowship as it is for the experience of shooting a gun itself.
Not so for a small minority though, who grow more and more attached to their guns. Some of them, suspecting something is wrong with their obsession, become gun rights fanatics as a way of justifying it. At that point, all connection with reality is lost.
These are the folks Romney was begging for votes over the weekend. The irony is there really are not that many votes there. The passionate ones who turn up for the NRA convention and write pro-gun blogs are actually a small minority of the gun owners at large. The membership of the NRA is only a few million, smaller than many large cities, and most of them according to some reports are anything but gun-rights fanatics.
What's your opinion? Could the vocal brashness of their message combined with tremendous monetary support from the gun manufacturers fool people into thinking they're stronger than they are, as a voting block I mean?
Wouldn't many gun owners turn their back on Romney for his obvious flip-flopping on gun issues, or his support of big business, or his anti-women positions or just because of his personal wealth?
I think so, what's your opinion?
mikeb302000;
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, Bobby the Confederate Wanker; now there's a guy I would definitely NOT want advocating for my position on anything. Greg Camp will love him though, they both like to play dressup with their costumes and teh gunz.
This link (http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/304143.php) will give the uninitiated a little taste of Bobby Badass Owens at his most seditious.
A paragon of gunzloonery, that's our boy, bobby.
Mikeb, you have a strange view of gun owners. I'm sure that you find it comforting to believe that owning and carrying guns is a holdover behavior from youth, but the reality is quite different. But ask yourself these questions: How do you expect us to listen to you when you have so little respect for us? How do you expect us to be willing to find common ground with you when you believe us to suffer from a psychological aberration?
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, Greg, I have a lot of respect for you and the others who are passionate about safety and training. I'm concerned about the ones you keep ignoring, who less worthy of respect than yourself, create problems for us all.
DeleteI appreciate your comment. What I wish you'd recognize is that the problem people are rare. I can't support burdening good people for the faults of the tiny few.
DeleteListen up. I too believe that putting limits on everyone for the actions of the tiny few is unacceptable. But we have the tech out there right now to identify more of them. But that info has to be entered into the system to be effective.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is this, everyone is law abiding until they are not. In reality everyone is a potential bomb just waiting for the right trigger, everyone and nobody is excluded. Some have a short fuse, most well not so much. But its how someone reacts to a potential situation. That reaction is as much as teaching and/or life training as you can get. Those that can get thru life in the most trying times without that fuse being lit have a better way to deal with negatives or have a harmless outlet for them.
Everyone is different, sometimes you can tell just by the way someone writes something how they may interact with a stressful situation. Sometimes its how they verbalize. How they reason. How they drive and so on.
Also it can be seen on just how much value someone puts on their own life. Do they consistently take big risks, unnecessary risks. Do things that are a danger to themselves as well as others. These people I wouldn't want around me with or without a gun.
On the other hand I have seen things in other people that others would view as risky but I have given them a huge responsibility and they take it on with the professionalism and with great decision making that would exceed even my expectations. At the same time I have seen the cool calm and collected fall apart from the slightest pressure. Most of the time I can read a person as I have had many work with me and for me. And a few have fell apart just because I wouldn't trust them with certain responsibilities, thus proving why I wouldn't trust them in the first place.
But more to the point, since this blog is about guns, I will give you an example. A family member, an in-law to be exact that most of the family thought to be a hothead. I seen a blowhard but not a dangerous person as he didn't fit any of the above categories. Brash in his talk, rough house in play, loud person. I took it upon myself to train him and get him licensed to carry. He told me that he would just kick-ass if he were threatened. Really? I asked if he thought he could kick mine. He said sure, if I wasn't wearing that Colt! I asked if he knew who else could be wearing if he tried to "kick ass". That made him think, so much so that he got his permit and carries everyday, everywhere. But here is the good part, it made him softer, gentle and took the brash straight away from him. He is too worried to get in trouble even if he swatted a fly and I doubt seriously that he could even pull the trigger in self defense. He drives slower, is the most polite person, walks off from an argument and wont even let an argument get started. That sidearm is his biggest governor you could ever imagine. And I told him that if he ever took it off, I would KICK HIS ASS!
There are some cool calm a collected that I would consider arming in any manor. Those are the ones that generally have a short fuse.
I have formed opinions on the regular posters on here, altho a better opinion would be made in person as to whether or not I would arm and have around me.
Good story about your in-law. But, you don't think that's typical do you?
DeleteThere are some cool calm a collected that I WOULDN'T consider arming in any manor. Those are the ones that generally have a short fuse.
ReplyDeleteThats would not, not would or should, my bad!
Having to employ people that have to carry arms with and around me, I can get a good read on a persons reaction fairly quickly. Each person is different in his own way and I have found a lot of guys that are close to my in-law. But that in-law is but one example.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing typical in what I do, but I guess it is for me and the guys that choose to work in this field. So weeding out green-horns that wont cut it can be done before any harm comes to them or me and the other guys.
A "typical" average run of the mill normal guy or girl could carry arms all day and you wouldnt ever know about it. They are not afraid, but not shy. They are polite but out spoken and some what opinionated but not arguemenitive. Their heads are up and aware of whats going on around them, no blinders. Their sense of humor is limited and disappears on duty. This is the same person with or without arms. They will do steps to stay out of trouble but if you back them into a corner with no choice left, will stand up for themselves. Those I trust the most. These types whether in my field, oil field, construction worker or banker, really all walks of life, have the permits to carry. This is a typical person.
The shy quiet types wont carry and are afraid if you say boo. Head down, wont look you in the eye and doesnt speak loud enough to understand. Timid types are no threat to anyone but themselves as they make themselves a target.
The ones that strut around, everyone is out of step but them and like to get to close to you while speaking loud enough to hurt your ears have a short fuse. Too much self confidence and will degrade anyone that doesnt agree with them are dangerous to others. They are the ones that likly wont care to train or get permitted. Authority is just a hurdle or an obstruction for them. Those are the ones to avoid. Armed or not, these are the types that will blow without warning.
So really while there isnt a typical so to speak, there are types. And catagories in types. And they all seem to seek out the same type to befriend.