What are gun owners supposed to be like, again?

[Dave Dembinski]

Got a call from a buddy today on the way home from church. Seems there was an urgent need for somebody to make an awul lot of noise and smoke, and I was being volunteered. Well, I've never been one to shirk my civic duty, so I grabbed a "Mega Pak" of 9mm, my CZ, and headed on over to the indoor range.

Now, I usually go there on Saturday mornings, right after it opens at 7:30. I'm usually up anyway, and it's generally only me, one or two old-timers, and maybe some cop coming off a graveyard shift. Relaxing, easy to get some serious D ) shooting done. So, when we got there today at 4:00 on a Sunday, you can imagine the culture shock.

I always hear on the TV how gun owners are supposed to be camo-wearing, white-supremacist backwoods types. Imagine my surprise when I was unable to find a single gun owner at the range! I found a gaggle of teen girls with Hi-Point carbines, three young African-American men dressed as though they'd come straight from church who were shooting chopped shotguns and a WASR, the requisite boyfriend/girlfriend pairs, and a few old-timers thrown in for spice.

Myself, I'm just your average everyday gun-owner. 3rd generation American of Polish, Syrian, and Italian ancestry. Olive skin, moustache, exactly the kind of person it gives airline-security types heart-failure to think about with a gun. Buddy is a white guy, but a recent law-school graduate who carries habitually. I got to thinking about all this, and I just have to wonder. What are gun owners supposed to be like, again?

 

[Boss Spearman]

You'll love this.
I was at my range one day last winter and some gentlemen from India came in to shoot. I'd seen one of them there several times by himself. This time he brought some friends. I saw him and thought "Cool, he's brought his buddies."

I'm getting ready to leave after my session and the range guy that checks me out says jokingly: "So were you the one that called 911?" I said "What are you talking about?" I also noticed a sheriff walking around the shop looking like "what a waste of time this is".


Some idiot customer in the shop area saw the Indians come in, and called 911 saying the range was under a terrorist attack!
I did not believe the guy when he told me that. I kept saying to him "You're sh*tting me!"
Idiots.

If I knew this guy and some of the African-Americans I frequently see at the range on a first name basis, I'd inform them they are not supposed to like guns.

 

[mmike87]

And the truth shall set us all free. That's the scene the liberals don't want you to see.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I worked a pistol shooting table at my gun club's annual turkey shoot today. People of every race, sex, age, creed, color, size, and nationality stopped by to shoot. Many of these people were shooting a handgun for the first time.

I love events like that, especially in an "anti-gun" state like Mass.

 

[XLMiguel]

I get out to the NRA range in Fairfax at least once, and usually twice a month. I'm always pleased to see the mix of sexes and ethnicities having fun. It seems a lot of the [non-white] ethincs are 'new' Americans. I am heartened (and at the same time, saddened) that folks from places where RKBA isn't allowed or very restricted seem to have a much better grasp and appreciation of why the 2nd A is so important compared to a lot of my native-born neighbors.

 

[jeanfor]

This is the typical stereotype....

Well, I have a number of my friends who are not republican but love their guns and will vote for a republican candidate to make sure no new gun laws are added.

I am the best proof. I came in 1985 from France...I became a US citizen and I have lived in this county for more than 20 years. I love guns and I finally moved out of NYC to PA and do enjoy the fact that I can carry in the Commonwealth of PA. My intent is to keep the fight for less gun laws and to make sure than my children and the children of my children still keep the right to carry.

It is a great privilege to be able to have guns and definitely increase your safety and your family's safety in a great way.

To conclude, I would say that I support any candidate supporting guns rights, not increasing my taxes, diminishing government, and protecting my basic rights in the United States. Also, we need to make sure that the United States does not get taken over by socialistic ideas like in Europe: France is the best example and they are finally waking up because of the riots. Yes the US is not a perfect place but the best place in the world. We have to make every effort to keep it that way and respect men and women who have made it possible.

 

[Stickjockey]

Lets see. The crowd I generally shoot with consists of:

one college student

one computer software guy (don't know exactly what he does, but it has to do with 'puters)

One ex-Xerox copier repair guy

One Chrysler customer service call center employee

one First Lieutenant from the Oregon National Guard's (IIRC)1249th Engineer Battalion

and li'l ol' me, a lowly commo agent for a regional airline.

 

[mustanger98]

My experience with gun owners is a mix as far as ages and professions, but across the board, all in my area are white Americans because that's the ethnic makeup of my county.

Many of the guys at the gun club/range are retired from a variety of careers.

Two guys my age... one I don't know what he does for a living, but he likes his 700 Remingtons. The other one's an assistant DA here who mostly shoots automatic pistols... 1911s. A couple more guys are military or former military.

Two ladies I got aquainted with somewhat... one's the club prez's wife and the other is the prez of the Ga. Sport Shooting Ass'n. Both of them shoot sillouette. (The prez shoots sillouette too and gave me some good information that helped my shooting.)

Most of the folks I shoot with enjoy a range of sports including HP and smallbore sillouette, military rifles, steel plate (pistols), bowling pins, benchrest, buffalo rifles, and a variety of other guns and matches. Most of us, when we have a match, we tend to like to make it fun regardless of where somebody else may be from. One day I was at the range and another guy was telling about how they brought a friend from Canada out to shoot an assortment of weapons and he thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the ladies I mentioned does the NRA's Women on Target programs... she says a lot of women who go through that program can't put a gun down when the day's shooting's done.

 

[chaim]

Yeah, I definately fit the "redneck gun owner" stereotypes-

-Mid-30s, white, beard, religious, joined the Army out of HS, etc. I work in a psychiatric hospital, have my bachelors degree in psychology, I am soon to enter grad school (probably first an MA in counseling then later a doctorate in clinical or counseling psychology), I'm an Orthodox Jew, and I've always lived in suburbia (well, I did live in a suburban part of a city before so I guess I technically lived in an urban area), etc...

-There is a guy at work I've talked to about guns, he is ex-Army, about to rejoin the Army NG as an officer, about to become a cop, a gun owner...and an Orthodox Jew.

-The buddy that got me back into guns a few years ago- Coast Guard vet, HS grad only, works average jobs, (sounds like part of the stereotype so far, right?), and black

-My best friend, and often shooting partner, salesman making in the 6 figures

-Several of my gun owning friends are lawyers, CPAs, rabbis, and Orthodox Jews.

Yup, so far I'm thinking the stereotype holds

 

[jeanfor]

The media likes stereotypes, because they can bring conflicts. There is nothing to gain for them to show a computer consultants with children who likes guns. They like to portrait the gun lovers as living in the woods in the middle of nowhere and not being too smart. In fact when you research, you 'll be surprise to find people from all walk of life who like to shoot guns and who are gun owners and that the media does not talk about it.

Same thing for me when I go to the range. People from all walk of life.

 

[Bridger]

This is the typical stereotype....

Well, I have a number of my friends who are not republican but love their guns and will vote for a republican candidate to make sure no new gun laws are added.

I am the best proof. I came in 1985 from France...I became a US citizen and I have lived in this county for more than 20 years. I love guns and I finally moved out of NYC to PA and do enjoy the fact that I can carry in the Commonwealth of PA. My intent is to keep the fight for less gun laws and to make sure than my children and the children of my children still keep the right to carry.

It is a great privilege to be able to have guns and definitely increase your safety and your family's safety in a great way.

To conclude, I would say that I support any candidate supporting guns rights, not increasing my taxes, diminishing government, and protecting my basic rights in the United States. Also, we need to make sure that the United States does not get taken over by socialistic ideas like in Europe: France is the best example and they are finally waking up because of the riots. Yes the US is not a perfect place but the best place in the world. We have to make every effort to keep it that way and respect men and women who have made it possible.

Hey, see you're in Milford. Where abouts do you shoot? I'm at the RT. 6 State Game Lands range about 20 minutes from Milford just about every weekend.

 

[TOADMAN]

I see a cross section of America at the ranges that I frequent!

 

[grizz5675]

I went to the range one day to find a church group which included the minister and a ley person as well as about 20 kids all taking turns on 3 semi automatic rifles.

 

[Technosavant]

I went to the range one day to find a church group which included the minister and a ley person as well as about 20 kids all taking turns on 3 semi automatic rifles.

I am a minister, and I love me some shootin'. Last week I preached on the need to be a servant, and one of my members (he's a lawyer) told me that he would serve, he just wasn't sure where he was needed. I told him that, knowing him and his spiritual gifts, his proper area of service was letting the preacher shoot his full auto Uzi.

I have seen some of the standard stereotypes at the range, but generally, most people are good, decent folk who have a great deal of intelligence and common sense.

The media loves the usual stereotype because it plays especially well to the usual liberal elitists- "these people are this way because they aren't that smart."

 

[grimjaw]

dogwielder, this wouldn't happen to be at a commercial range outside of Cleveland, would it, StoneWall? I noticed the same thing and was pleasantly surprised by it. People from all walks of life frequented that place. But Cleveland and NE Ohio are very ethnically diverse areas, and I would expect that now that I've lived there.

I think it depends on the area, but I've come to expect to see all kinds of things and people at the range. The public range I went to in Ohio would often have people in wheelchairs shooting (and most of them were excellent shots). There were two older black gentlemen who were regulars there, often came out to print large holes in small groups at 50 yards with muzzle loaders.

I'm hoping to get an old college friend of mine to shoot when she comes out in the spring, and take that back with her to the liberally-minded group she works with. Planting seeds . . .

jmm

 

[Standing Wolf]

While the leftist extremists jibber-jabber and legislate about so-called "diversity," the nation's shooters actually live it.

 

[silverlance]

most interesting guy i ever met

was a guy who was about 3 1/2 feet tall, wheelchair bound, only one good arm - some sort of severe birth defect - who was shooting a 22lr ruger mkii or something like that with his one good hand. did okay, too - nothing spectacular, but he was doing all right.

i think we need more hot wimmen and cute girls at the range i go to though ::

 

[natedog]

Skinny, long-haired white youth. I could easily pass for a hippy if I threw in a few "the man, man"s, "it's the corporations", or "anyone know where the nearest tofu joint is?" in my speech.

 

[TallPine]

I live in the woods in the middle of nowhere

 

[ron73644]

I guess rural Oklahoma doesn't do much to help change the standard stereo-type. Overalls, beards, work boots, ball caps, etc., but that's ok---ha.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Went to the gunshow in Austin recently, and was keeping my eye open for the same kind of thing.

Hispanics were pretty well represented at the show, and my overall impression was that most of them were buying either traditional hunting rifles or new pistols. I found it interesting that one of the white dealers knew enough Spanish to explain some of his products to the hispanic customers.

A surprising number of Asian customers, both clean-cut military types as well as wild-haired college-kid types (two of whom were out hunting for the best price on a Beretta 92 to match their Storm).

There were a reassuring number of folks in their 20's (yours truly included), so hopefully the interests are passing to the next generation. The young folks ran the gamut from high-and-tight to dreadlocked (with AK). I chatted for a while with a long-haired, bearded young chiropractor who'd just picked up a SU-16C, having outgrown his SKS.

Not too many women on their own (sadly), but a good number of women in mixed groups of friends, and the "Texas Girls' Guns" dealer seemed to be doing brisk business.

All in all, the least stereotypical gunshow I've been to, but then again, this is Austin.

 

[yorec]

They come in all shapes, sizes, ethnics, backgrounds, religions, and creeds... But they're all supposed to offer to take me shooting on a weekly basis - some of you guys are seriously derelict in your duties!!!

 

[Boss Spearman]

Skinny, long-haired white youth. I could easily pass for a hippy if I threw in a few "the man, man"s, "it's the corporations", or "anyone know where the nearest tofu joint is?" in my speech.

But the minute you mentioned being into firearms, everyone would know you're not a hippy.

 

[kjeff50cal]

Here's a picture of the Sharpshooters Challenge. The Chalenge is a benchrest event which any one with what he or she is an accurate rifle can partisipate. The organizer of the event is pictured (with dreds).... along with some of the shooters in the "open" event. There is also an Open event which the highly custom guns are put to the test. They shoot at a standard benchrest target at 100 yards in heats (open division then stock).



kjeff50cal
BTW I was the "Official Photographer" that day.

 

[jsalcedo]

The range I frequent has all types.

Most clean, friendly, respectful and considerate.

The bad ones really stick out like a sore thumb...not really looks but behavior.