An article in Marie Claire

[Viajero YVR]

Just noticed this article on my MSN homepage...

http://lifestyle.msn.com/mindbodyan...rticlemc.aspx?cp-documentid=4799146&GT1=10013

An unexpected source for a pro gun report.

 

[Frank Exchange Of Views]

I was just reading this one and did not see this as being particularly supportive despite what seemed to be a "good start."

Perhaps I misunderstood Ms Liston's concluding comments?

 

[PAshooter]

Interesting article.

We often hear of an anti turned pro. Seldom do we hear of a pro turned anti.

Brainwashing works, I guess.

"As for a gun, I've come to believe that not having it and not feeling like I need it is, by far, the best way to be."

Wait until she gets mugged in the anti paradise of Manhattan. She'll be reaching for a gun that's not there. If she's lucky and survives, my guess is she'll hightail it back to the U.S. of A.

 

[Viajero YVR]

I just reread the article and see that it was me that misunderstood her closing comments, and it wasn't as positive as I first thought.
I think it still gives women with an open mind some food for thought regarding self defense.

 

[jlbraun]

"If anything, my willingness to be vulnerable makes me stronger"

Baa! :banghead:

"My boyfriend relished the feeling of imminent danger, insisting on wearing tactical batons and mace on his belt loops — even at weddings — and choosing aisle seats at the movies "in case someone busts in and attacks us.""

Don't know what to say to that other than there's a line between being prepared and being paranoid. I would say that the line is at the point where your "preparedness" starts impinging on things that you used to enjoy, or your responsibilities to other people. Doesn't look like her BF crossed that line, really.

 

[PAshooter]

Stronger, and - perhaps - dead.

Baaa! :banghead:

 

[Don Gwinn]

WOW . . . . that's a lot of issues. Maybe she's not, but she describes herself as a real mess.

 

[The Canuck]

My wife subscribes to that magazine. I wonder if she'll bring up the article or not. I would be interested in hearing her take on this woman's view.

Just so you know, she is trying to convince me that "her" 6"bbl S&W 586 would be a great carry gun should we get "Shall Issue" (Concealed or other
) Carry Permits up here.

 

[torpid]

I realized I no longer needed a gun to feel powerful. If anything, my willingness to be vulnerable makes me stronger. My newfound ability to live in the moment, rather than in perpetual, agitated anticipation — and dread at maybe having to put a bullet into someone — gives me more joy.

There's a well-known saying in the pro-gun world: "It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." I understand why that makes sense — as long as it's referring to umbrellas and tampons. As for a gun, I've come to believe that not having it and not feeling like I need it is, by far, the best way to be.

If she had the gun to feel powerful she had the wrong attitude.

Not having a gun and not feeling like you need it is fine.
Having a gun and not feeling like you need it is fine.

Having a gun when you need it is fine.
Not having a gun when you need it is not fine.

There are many threads here from folks who had staunchly anti-gun neighbors knocking on their doors in times of crisis asking to borrow a gun (like a cup of sugar).

That proudly blissful aura of vulnerability sure seems to feel different when it actually feels... vulnerable.

 

[The Canuck]

Wierdest double post I have ever had...

 

[K-Romulus]

Another "progressive intellectual" finds her niche in the world.

This part sums it up:

My gun knowledge was a novelty to my fellow paralegals, mostly women who came from Connecticut, New Jersey, and Long Island. I'm not sure if it was the widening of their eyes when I told stories about shooting, their nervous laughter, their sidelong glances at each other, or all three, but I began to realize that my experiences with weapons were not exactly the norm.

The norm for where? New York City's tri-state-area middle and upper classes, that's where.

I grew up in the lower and working-class areas of Brooklyn through the late 1980's, and there were plenty of people there who knew about guns. I would say it was "the norm" for that crowd.

And what she says about NYC "progressive intellectuals" is NOT the norm for the rest of America.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I realized I no longer needed a gun to feel powerful.

That's a good thing, except that such a revelation does not negate the usefulness of having one when it's needed. I don't feel any more or less powerful without one, but I do feel more capable with a firearm.

The woman has issues, for sure.

 

[cbsbyte]

Its pretty well written article with some very subtle hints of satire laced throughout. I believe she has a strong dislike of Texas, traditional values, and is ashamed of her family for being who they are. She yearned for freedom from the male dominated homestead, to lofty ivory towers, and Star bucks lattes of NYC. She sounds as if she was always an anti, but decided to hide her true feelings from her family until she moved out of Texas. She is obviously ridiculing her heritage, by the way she describes her family, hometown, Texas etc in the article. Basically she is writing to her liberal audience, and qualifying their views they share on the "rest" of America.

 

[swingset]

Idiot, now a defenseless idiot.

 

[AlaskaErik]

If anything, my willingness to be vulnerable makes me stronger.

I'll never understand this type of thinking. Would anyone think they are stronger if they disconnect their smoke detectors, get rid of their fire extinguishers and stop wearing seat belts? Because they're sure as hell more vulnerable at that point.

 

[Finch]

As for a gun, I've come to believe that not having it and not feeling like I need it is, by far, the best way to be.

Right. In an effort to mimic this kind of "ignorance-is-bliss" line of thinking I'm going to cut out my seat belts. Then, assuming I have decent luck and good fortune, I shall be without an accident for a significant amount of time. Then I can write an article in some obscure magazine about how we don't need seat belts because I never had the use for one. Then I will criticize and make subtle insults against those who don't see it my way. I figure it would go something like this:

Being a seatbelt wearing man gave me security and insurance against death and serious injury in a society where seat belts are viewed as "feminine."

One of my fondest memories was a gift I received for St. Patrick’s Day. My Roommate gave me one of those fuzzy seatbelt covers, you know, the ones that prevent the chafing of your neck. I was hoping for a Tree-Frog steering wheel cover, but beggars can’t be choosers I guess. In retrospect, it was better than his gifts from years past: nothing. The timing was perfect, for I had just got my license back after it being suspended for reckless endangerment.

Every time I would get in my car, a safe car by most standards, I would strap my self in my metal combustion powered enclosure. Complete with its fuzzy Anti-Chafe device. The seatbelt was grey, and with all things considered, it worked reasonable well. But as time went by I began to wonder. For many a years I navigated those roads, all without ever needing that strip of simple nylon. I started to feel that a seatbelt wasn’t even needed. After all I was never in an accident.

 

[bogie]

1) at least she is essentially acknowledging that she is doing the denial thing... That's a step...

2) Betcha she was dating someone from THR or TFL...

Who lives in Texas?

 

[ozwyn]

I feel sorry for the author.

 

[romma]

"If anything, my willingness to be vulnerable makes me stronger"

And just maybe dead...

 

[AJ Dual]

cbsbyte nailed it:

Its pretty well written article with some very subtle hints of satire laced throughout. I believe she has a strong dislike of Texas, traditional values, and is ashamed of her family for being who they are. She yearned for freedom from the male dominated homestead, to lofty ivory towers, and Star bucks lattes of NYC. She sounds as if she was always an anti, but decided to hide her true feelings from her family until she moved out of Texas. She is obviously ridiculing her heritage, by the way she describes her family, hometown, Texas etc in the article. Basically she is writing to her liberal audience, and qualifying their views they share on the "rest" of America.

This isn't really an anti-gun article, or a gun article at all.

Short version:

The author views herself as a .alt/bohemian sort of woman. (i.e. Emphasis on Doc Martin's and selling thongs to transvestites) She despises the wider Southwestern/Texan culture and attitudes in which she is immersed. She views firearms as a source of empowerment within that culture. She does not come right out and say so, but she felt that the incongruity of the "little .alt/bohemian girl with a gun" put what she assumes is the average male Texan off-balance.

Unfortunately, the author still despises the culture and she decides to leave. Firearms ownership and giving it up is merely a metaphor for giving up on the culture, and the added freedom of no longer expending any energy trying to cope with it. The embarrasment amongst her new chosen peer group when she relates tales of gun use only solidifies this.

Her positive portrayal of firearms ownership is simply self-justification for it's incongruity with her newfound lifestyle. a.k.a. "I was only a gun-owner because that's what a Texas feminist has to do!"

The end.

This is really just your basic "fish out of water" story, with mild elements of a mildly satirical anti-"Red State" diatribe, laid out as what the author fancies as her own personal growth.

 

[akodo]

sounds like a pack of lies to me, too many internal inconsistencies

We later realized there'd been another gun under the passenger seat all along — the semiautomatic that, at the time, my parents thought they'd lost

That doesn't sound like any responsible gun owners I know, the lost part anyways

Despite having never fired a gun, she got a near-perfect score on the shooting test.

How does a responsible gun owning family allow someone in and around gun to have never fired one? And if they do so decide (maybe daughter just isn't interested so you just teach 'don't touch, finger off trigger, etc' but never shoot) how do they then not go to 'What you are going for your CCW? well, we better go out and do some shooting so you know what to expect!' and instead let her take the CCW with zero gun experience?

the idea of the entire family cleaning their guns together on a Sunday afternoon

This idea is just silly to me. Only non-gunners believe that all gun owners just get out their guns and start polishing em and cleaning them. It's like your dishes, you don't just pull them out of the cupboard and wash them, you cook something, then you wash them. Us gunners would go out shooting sunday afternoon, then clean em sunday night!


Packing a gun made me feel like a law-abiding version of Thelma or Louise. The power was exhilarating, something I couldn't find through any other means.

definately not a healthy attitude imho