Gun Culture Demographics - Who Are We?

[hso]

This is a "break the Antis' stereotype" poll wrt education.

multple undergrad and some post grad education (minor problem with "authority" seemed to interfere with my PhD and a couple of Masters), 15 years with large infamous international company , fed gov before that, second family with wife and 1 daughter, son from first, house on lake, recycle, hybrid car, miniSUV, backpacking/whitewater background, wine/whisky/food fan, season ticket holder to theater and symphony as well as bluegrass and jazz festivals and I organize defensive firearms courses in ET

All that and 8,000 rounds of ammo on hand (conservatively).

That should mess with their heads!!!

 

[Checkman]

Married, two children, B.A. in Liberal Arts (History), Army veteran, currently working as a full-time city police officer.

I do like to drink beer and I've been known to say Y'All once in awhile.

 

[Hokkmike]

BS, M-Ed, + credits. Been going to school ALL my life. Call me "the life-long learner"!

 

[Limeyfellow]

BSc (Hons) in Archaeological Sciences here is as far as I could get though I would love to take a Masters in underwater archaeology but my money won't allow that. Also have five A Levels thrown in but they hardly count. I also find it nigh impossible to explain to US businesses the British educational system, after all how you supposed to explain when they only won't to know your GPA score when such things don't exist where I came from.

 

[44AMP]

Level of Schooling and Degrees

Is a very poor way of determining the "education" of an individual. I have known some titled people who couldn't pour **** out of a boot following directions printed on the bottom of the heel.

My Grandfather never went to high school, but my senior English teacher said he was one of the most educated men he had ever met. And he said it if front of the whole class! A farmer most of his life, Justice of the Peace for 25 years, and Tax Assessor for 40 years after that. He had his 70 year pin in the Masonic Lodge. His personal library rivaled (or exceeded) the public library in the nearest city. And the only reason he wasn't the Town Supervisor was that he wouldn't run. He wouldn't run because if he became Supervisor, he would have to attend County meetings 40 miles away. He never learned to drive a car (but there was none better with a team), and didn't want to be dependant on someone else to take him to the meetings.

Formal education (schooling) is no measure of intelligence. All a degree indicates is that you didn't fail. Nothing more. Today there is an absurd amount of overemphasis on degrees, as a "standard" for being competent to do a certain job. A piece of paper on your wall is a status symbol, but it proves nothing in real life.

No, I don't have a degree, but I am not jealous. I chose my path in life, at least as far as schooling. I walked away from a scholarship, to go into the Army at a time when people were still skipping to Canada to escape service. After I got out, I was too busy making a living and raising a family to go back to school, and did not use ANY GI benefits (and after 10 years, they expired anyway). The pursuit of money has never been particularly important to me. If I have enough for what I want, then I have enough.

I have spent the last 25 years working with Special Nuclear Material. I am well trained (educated) in Nuclear Safety, Industrial Safety, Chemical management, and a host of other things that 90+% of Americans neither know nor care about.

I have more than one firearm for each year I have been walking this planet, and intend to aquire as many others as strikes my fancy. I am not a "typical" gun owner. I am not a "typical" anything. I almost always fall at one end or the other of the bell curve, and that suits me just fine.

Firearms enthusiasts are found at every social, economic, and educational level. The only thing "typical" about any of us is that we enjoy owning and using firearms, and that we have a right to do so.

 

[glassman]

DEMOGRAPHICS

58 y/o, married 26 yrs (to the same woman), one son. Ex navy aviation ordnanceman, viet nam vet. Bachelor's degree, 2 associate's degrees. Work as an operating room nurse. Rekindled interest in range shooting after a long time away and loving it.

 

[thumper723]

Oh god! An AO with guns.. RUN!

Just kidding.

 

[Elza]

Viet Nam era vet, Tech school, Fed Emp., (I’m lucky: I love my job), Married 31 years (to the same woman!!), one son, 2 real cars plus my coveted Datsun Roadster, not enough guns or ammo, along with 2 dogs, 5 cats, 5 ferrets, and 2 rats.

 

[BADUNAME13]

2 years higher Edumakation. (Left Ole Miss after realising I just wanted to enlist.) (Marine)

Also am an EMT.

I didn't vote b/c I couldn't vote for both.

 

[murph50]

In 2nd year of college I realized it was all BS for me. I quit college and spent the next 26 years making a decent living and having a blast as a professional drummer.
In the early 90's my wife and I started a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility. I now do wildlife control for a living and do lectures all over the state and the nation regarding many aspects of wildlife with an emphasis on urban wildlife issues. Never had anybody ask for a college degree. I am an eternal student ,I just don't believe that school is the way to become educated for me. Have always made a good living,raised a family,been with same wife 31 years and still having a blast.
My method has basically been:
Do what you want to do
Figure out how to make money doing it
I'm 56 years old and that method has worked so far

 

[bigun15]

17 year old high school junior. I've got my '91 Toyota Celica and a job at a local grocery store. A's and B's and have a girlfriend for the spare time. Not the media's poster boy.

 

[Green Lantern]

Overall, compared with the rest of the world, who are we? Do we fit in with the media stereotypes? The guy wearing the wifebeater sitting in front of the mobile home on the seat from a 1983 transcamaro, swilling a PBR and waving gap-toothed at passersby at 11:00 am... The mohawked nutjob packing a half-dozen guns, looking for a target... Or are we the guy next door?

Who are you?

I hope this poll is just one of a series..."schooling" is just one small part of what "makes" someone. Is there some unknown rule of nature to say that a guy with a Doctorate CAN'T be wearing the wifebeater sitting in front of the mobile home on the seat from a 1983 transcamaro, swilling a PBR and waving gap-toothed at passersby at 11:00 am???

Anyhow, did some college with the idea of getting into pharmacy school. But the more I WORKED in a pharmacy at the same time, the more I realized that I liked the "risk" level of being a Pharmacy Tech a lot more than the risk level of being the PHARMACIST.

And at the time the nearest school was a good six hours away. If anything defines me it's loyalty to family - I didn't want to uproot and leave them behind for 6 years... :-/

 

[glassman]

THUMPER

Hey thumper..read your blog and got a kick out of it. Must be hard going from beaters back to fixed wing...keep grabbing for the collective that ain't there! I was with VA-23 aboard the Oriskany (now at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico posing as a reef) and later part of a P-3 crew in VP-56 out of Pax River. Best of luck to you and thanks for your service.

 

[gbran]

I'm middle-aged, well educated, fairly well off and have all my teeth.

 

[rb4browns]

Interesting Thread

I'm a libertarian/conservative Orthodox Jew with a bachelors degree from UC Berkeley. I love busting stereotypes

 

[rayman]

2 year degree for me. Wife has masters degree & liberal Democrat. 2 kids and drive toyotas.

 

[razorburn]

I made pretty much the same poll a while back, with around 600 votes. You can find it quickly with a search. And just to contribute, BS in microbiology will be finished in 6 weeks, then a masters pa program starts in fall.

 

[Ala Dan]

Some college, now in work force~!

 

[strambo]

"BS" degree , married, 32 yo, sometimes citizen, sometimes soldier. I think it is a good poll in that it only measures one thing. A series would be good to establish a THR gun owner demographic...formal education level would just be one small aspect of that.

Gender, income level, marital status, criminal background, military experience, training level (firearms), among others would be interesting as well.

It won't matter in the end though...once all the data is compiled (main frames whirring to life) the result will no doubt be: Caucasion male, 30-40yo, GED, resident south of the Mason-Dixon line, poor dental history and collector of beer cans and auto part lawn ornaments.

 

[scurtis_34471]

I am 36 years old. My wife is 38. We have two daughters, 2 and 9. We both have English, B.A. degrees from Atlantic Union College in Lancaster, MA. We both taught English in China for one year and in South Korea for two years. My wife has been a homemaker for the last 9 years. I have a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix. I've worked in IT since 1999 and am currently a Data Warehouse Architect with a large national medical company. We live in a smallish, but nicely decorated house in a very middle-class neighborhood. Several of my neighbors are police officers and school teachers. My wife drives an Acura MDX. I drive a VW Jetta 1.8T. We are Episcopalian. Our oldest daughter attends church school.

 

[tsteven1]

48, A.A.S. Degree in ElectroMechanics. 3 Great kids. Single and gardening. One pickup truck. 3 pistols, 2 rifles. Aspire to hog hunt this year. Served with pride as a young man in the U.S. Army. I love America. Physical limitation on right side. Texas CHL.

 

[akolleth]

Masters in education, now teaching convicted juveniles in a prison in Ohio.

 

[rogerjames]

35, Master's Degree in Physical Therapy, work about 50hrs/week, not much time to shoot. Engaged, 12 yr old step daughter. 2 bedroom condo with not much room to safely store long guns so I don't currently own any. :banghead:

 

[deadin]

The guy wearing the wifebeater sitting in front of the mobile home on the seat from a 1983 transcamaro, swilling a PBR and waving gap-toothed at passersby at 11:00 am... The mohawked nutjob packing a half-dozen guns, looking for a target

And just how does level of education correlate to the above list?
Are you implying that if you’re educated, you can’t be any of your examples?

 

[Mauserguy]

44AMP makes an interesting, and correct, point that sometimes education does not indicate an individuals level of education. To add to his examples, my own father is a high school drop out, but in the Navy, durring the big one, he taught himself higher level mathematics. Even today the old man can calculate steam pressure curves for triple expansion engines, or whatever that stuff is.

Also, my grandfather dropped out of elementary school but never stopped reading and learning. He was one of the wisest people I ever met, and a WWI veteran.

Lastly, I cannot tell you how many nit-wits I have met over the years with degrees. Frankly, I think that a modern college degree is an indication that somebody had the opportunity to learn, not that they actually acquired knowledge and understanding.
Cheers,
Mauserguy