[clubsoda22]

So, I'm over my friends house for dinner as he just got back from a fairly distant college for thanksgiving break and i'm chatting with his mother. She asks if i'm liking college. I tell her it's a great school but the crime problem is out of hand. I told her i would probably get a property adjacent to the campus sometime after next year so i don't have to deal with the BS inherent with living in a dorm.

She responds: "that's a dangerous area, how will you provide for your security living off campus?"

To which i respond: "in a manner far superior to the usless rent-a-cops on campus...think about it, how would I provide for MY security?"

She looks confused, my friends dad laughs and says: "Guns, lots of guns...come to think of it, he'll probably have the safest property in the city."

It was right about then when she remembered what my hobbies were.

I dunno, maybe i'm not open enough about my hobby, i've only been best friends with her son since elementary school. Got me wondering.

-------------------------------------------

I was talking to my girlfriend of 6 months, who was before that a friend of mine over a year (and still is of course) about last weeks raiding of my room by the forces of campus safety.

"Why did they raid your room?" She asked

"They were looking for guns," i responded. "I made a comment about how students should be able to defend themselves in the wake of the several armed muggings on campus and a rent-a-cop took what i said way out of context."

"That's silly," she laughed. "You don't even own a gun!"

Right then it hit me that perhaps in my area gun ownership is so taboo that i make a habbit of not really talking about my involvement in the shooting sports except around other shooters.

"Actually....I own four, a shotgun and three pistols, but they are at home, so it was wothless of them to search my dorm room."

There was a long pause "WHAT?!" It seems she didn't have a clue and is actually a complete hoplophobe (someone with an irrational fear of inanimate objects). Looks like i'll have to convert her from the dark side.

At least i have many success stories as far as converts go. My best friend (as mentioned above) was very anti-gun, that is, until i gave him the facts and took him shooting. Now him and his brother are both very pro-gun and like to go shooting with me as often as possible. Amazing how that works.

-------------------------------------------

So, as far as everyone else goes: Does your sport being a social taboo in many areas ake you reluctant to even bring it up?

[BluesBear]

I rarely just come out and say it. Not because I am ashamed nor do I worry/care what others will think of me. (But then you can tell that from my posts) But because I just don't like to tell many people about my personal stuff. It's none of their business.

But among people I feel reasonably comfortable around I will drop subtle hints that gun people will get and blissninnies won't.

I found out that my eye doc shoots a little when I told him that I need a new prescription so I could see my sights and my target. He picked up on it right away.

[Checkman]

When I was in my early twenties I was very tight-lipped about it. I was actually worried that people might have a "negative image" of me. I cared more about what folks thought of me. Now I'm thirty-five and I will go out of my way to tell the antis and sheeple. I try to do it in a reasonable and "non-threatening" manner,but I still tell them. It's fun to watch their reactions. Baaaa :evil:

[Preacherman]

I have a whole lot of fun... Being a pastor, I take the opportunity several times a year to preach about personal responsibility. Needless to say, this includes taking responsibility for the life God has given us, and protecting / defending / safeguarding it by all necessary means. I've raffled off guns every year for Church fund-raisers, and shoot regularly with local law enforcement - in fact, for the past year, I've worked full-time in law enforcement as a Chaplain! I've also got half-a-dozen fellow ministers into the shooting sports, and rather rattled my Bishop last year when I asked his permission to form a shooting league for our ministers. (To his credit, he gave permission - "just so long as you're not using my photograph as targets!" :D )

This also leads to fun with law enforcement... I was driving around recently and passed a drunk man rolling around on a bridge over the Red River. I called 911 to report it, and they put me through to the local PD. As usual, the controller asked for my name and cellphone number. As soon as I gave it, she said "Oh, you're that shootin' pastor from (name of town)!" :D Also, when the local Sheriff's Department did their most recent re-qualification, I was top scorer... led to all sorts of mutterings about "not inviting outside Chaplains to shoot with us - they have special assistance from above!" :D

The funniest thing yet was when the armorer at work was asked to fix a problem M16 and replied "I'm too busy now - see the Chaplain, he'll sort it out in no time!" :D

[dav]

clubsoda22 wrote:
So, as far as everyone else goes: Does your sport being a social taboo in many areas ake you reluctant to even bring it up?I'm afraid that is what being in Kali is like. I have an indoor range a block from my work, and want to get co-workers to go there at lunch with me.

But my work is extremely touchy about "controversial" subjects even being discussed at work, and have very strict rules about guns and ammo on company property. Since there is very little on-street parking, this makes it very difficult to obey their rules and still go shooting at lunch.

I haven't offended anyone at work yet (that I know of), but I'm still very careful who I discuss firearms and shooting with while at work. :banghead:

[WvaBill]

I put a gun on for a trip to the supermarket in rural WV yet met purtier 1/2 is often suprised when she finds out I am carrying while we are shopping, eating out, etc.

I think people who don't think about self protection kinda put the info about our hobbies/habits out of mind. Not intentionally, they simply consider from their POV. I saw a lot of that during the D.C. area shooting spree of Mohammed/malvo.

[CB900F]

Fella's;

My, how the times have changed. I attended a large public urban high school in a western state - several decades ago. I brought guns to school.
I shot my guns in school. I shot other guns in school. I was educated in the field stripping & reassembly of fully automatic weapons - in school - public school. M-3's, BAR's, 1911's, M-1's etc. Also learned about mortars & other neat stuff.

Our school had a junior ROTC program, with an active indoor rifle range in the basement of the school. And I made the rifle team. All males, unless medically exempted, had to sucessfully complete at least one year of the ROTC program. But since they were willing to let me use a Remington 40X-B & give me lots of free ammo, I stayed in for the whole enchilada.

Sure, there were fist fights & other altercations in & around the school, but actual deadly violence? Didn't happen.

The nice thing is, my son attended the same school & also went the course in the ROTC program. The rifle range is gone, though after the school was informed that they were in violation of their contract with the U.S. Army because of it's lack, that may be corrected.

The kid does have over 250 documented firings of the ROTC dept's mountain howitzer though, at football games. If you saw the made-for-TV 'Crazy Horse', you saw him fire the gun. That movie was made in about 95 or 96 I think.

So, do I tell people I shoot? Yeah, I do, if the circumstances seem appropriate. But I don't push it either.

900F

[JohnKSa]

The social taboo doesn't bother me a bit.

Making myself a target for burglary does...

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

The social taboo doesn't bother me a bit. Making myself a target for burglary does....

I would add to that most eloquent assertion

Becoming a target in general, ...or in some less enlightened locales...becoming a target of LE.

[Archie]

I'm a Federal lawman type, so I'm always armed at work anyhow. I'm one of the best shooters in the area, and my colleages ask how I can do that sort of thing. Well,....... You'd think that folks who carry guns would have more experience. Wrong.

My other job is as a preacher. Up until recently I was pastor of a small church and use illustrations from shooting regularly. It's amazing how much proper shooting techniques apply to life in general and the practise of Christianity.

Aside from that, firearms are my (secular) passion. I can no more hide my interest in firearms than I can hide my excitement about being on good terms with the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.

[Preacherman]

Tell you what, Archie, you and I can write the Theology of Tactical Truth, and open a whole new chapter in Christianity! :D

[LiquidTension]

I couldn't care less what people think of my hobby. I don't advertise the fact that I have guns because I don't want the wrong people to overhear and decide that my house is a good place to steal weapons from.

[Skunkabilly]

Tell you what, Archie, you and I can write the Theology of Tactical Truth, and open a whole new chapter in Christianity!


"Now take your chest rig and your SHTF pack, and if you don't have a Beretta 92G with carbon fiber grips, sell your Royal Robbins 5.11 Tactical pants and buy one." Skunky 9:19

[Devonai]

Hoplophobe and Hoplophile refer specifically to weapons, which are by default inanimate objects (not counting pitbulls, tossed cats, etc) but the terms are limited to weapons. IIRC it comes from the Greek Hoplite.

[James Bondrock]

"The social taboo doesn't bother me a bit.

Making myself a target for burglary does..."




This is why I have no stickers on my vehicle, no apparel with gun maker logos on it, no "Trespassers will be shot" sign on my front door ;) , etc. It is for safety and security reasons. I do not want to be a target for burglary or robbery. If my vehicle is broken into, it is a simple matter to get my registration, find out where I live and go there to steal the rest of my stuff. Or I might be followed home ... :uhoh: :eek:

[clubsoda22]

you're right, jeff cooper coined the term.

[TonyB]

Preacherman and Archie....I shoot with a couple of minister friends and people from my church........with God and Guns in common we are pretty much unstoppable......:D
I tell friends and co=workers that I shoot...but anybody else could probably figure it out anyway.......if they think I'm a nut because of it,at least they'll leave me alone.......most LEOs I know are shooters and wouldn't go out of their way to harrass a regular guy who shoots......A neighbor called the cops a couple of times when I was shooting in my back yard...they showd up...saw everything was safe...said"have a good day" and left.......:cool:

[Series 70]

Our close friends all know that we shoot and carry. Most of them shoot and a couple will probably get their carry permits over the winter.

At my last job, my boss was a shooter. We organized a company-paid day at the range for our group. A good, safe time was had by all. Other groups were jealous.

I've only been at my current job a short time, and the subject has not come up. One of the ladies has two old national guard qualification targets up on her wall, with an impressive set of holes through them. If the subject comes up, I'm always honest about being a shooter, but I won't usually bring it up myself.

[45+]

Years ago a friend of mine was a teacher at a Junior (2 year) College. He began to "home school" his children for a number of reasons (yes, that is legal in Texas). He told his boss, his co-workers, the attendance office in our "Independent School District", his family, his friends, and most people he met casually. It could have cost him his job, his friends, etc. Edited to add [but he continued to tell people what he was doing. ]
Some of those people have a different attitude about home schooling because they know this man and his family.

There are many believers in Jesus on this board. They contribute and you know they are believers, and they are dedicated gun nuts with some good counsel to offer. Maybe that influences how you feel about believers in general.

Jerry Patterson, Texas Land Commissioner, is open and vocal of his CHL support, and recently I read an article in which he encouraged folks who fly to LEGALLY (NOTE THAT WORD) take their guns with them in their luggage so that airline employees in airports will realize that it is not crazy or illegal (he says they usually have to call a supervisor to see if it is okay). Could his guns be stolen? Yes. Could people decide not to vote for him next election? Yes. Could it influence others to see those of us with CHL's as responsible citizens? Yes. Is there personal risk involved? Yes.

Was there personal risk involved for the drafters of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Yes.

If your neighbors who only get gun info from the 6 O'Clock News never see a law-abibing CHL'er, why would they change their mind about who we are? Another current thread is about what the NRA is doing about gun control, and we all need to remember that we ARE the NRA. If we law-abiding citizens hide our 2nd Ammendment beliefs in the closet, why should our neighbors change their opinion of the 2nd Ammendment and ccw? Kennedy and Company are very vocal about what they believe (or say they believe). Do you want people to only hear what they have to say about the subject?

It appears to me that Charlton Heston expended what personal political "capital" he had in the fight for 2nd Ammendment rights in a very visible way. God bless him for his courage and commitment.

I apologize if this is "preachy", but those who won and kept these rights for us took a stand knowing the risks. And those at Lexington and Normandy and Chosen Resevoir and a thousand other places gave much more than many of us will be asked to risk.

[keyhole]

We have several ministers in the local club. We also try to alternate the matches so that they can make some of them. ( some are held on Sundays, and others on Saturdays). Glad to have all of them on board!