How do you break the stereotype of gun owners?

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I am in graduate school (Microbiology);
I don't drive a truck;
I don't hunt/fish;
I date a liberal minority (who likes guns);
I am a libertarian/conservative (who dislikes both parties).

The only way I fit the "stereotype" is that I am white, raised on a farm, and have an NRA sticker on my car.
 
I believe the stereotypical gun owner is the same as an American. Race, religion, gender, background, political views are all very diverse.
 
Well, I am white, I like to hunt/fish/drink beer...

However:

I don't kiss my sister on the mouth.
I can both read and write...I can even spell on okkasion:)D)
I don't beat my wife(actually shes just my girlfriend, but don't beat her either)
This time next year I'll be college edumicated(BS in Marketing).
I have a very nice/complete set of pearly whites.
I only have one first name.
I don't eat road kill.
I don't drive a truck(but I do drive an SUV)
My shirts have sleeves(except at the gym)
If I ever uttered the words: G*t *r D*ne I give you permission to pistol whip me.
Oh, and I only wear camo when hunting and camping.
 
Stereotypes exist only in the minds of those who would subscribe to them ...

Seems to me that the stereotype of the American gun-owner is (1) a relatively recent phenomena (certainly post Korean War, probably came about during the '60s) and (2) a creation of the mainspring liberal media (television network news, the NY, Boston, Chicago and LA newspapers but quite possibly generated mostly by Time and Newsweek).

And most who would watch or read these media products might end up thinking only redneck white guys and criminals own guns.

Lots of Americans bought into this so-called stereotype, but for many of us, it didn't exist. Growing up, I thought everyone owned guns (and further, that at least half the families I knew (including my own) hunted and fished -- and my father, a college professor, was part of the academic community at a very large MidWestern state university).

If we believe there's a stereotype, we only serve to perpetuate it. For me, I don't acknowledge it.

At this point, I'm not so sure there really is a stereotype of the American gun-owner, only those who own guns, and those who are ignorant because they don't know gun-owners and/or are clueless about one of our most important rights.
 
Well, since we are all listing our credentials I guess I should-- especially since I am one of the few on this thread that was DEFENDING the poor, uneducated, white, slobs...



I:


-Have my Master's in Public Relations and Crisis Management.
-Have a Bachelor's in Literature
-Have a Bachelor's in Philosophy and Religion
-Have a Bachelor's in Biology
-Am a Chartered Market Technician
-Own a Registered Investment Advisory Firm
-Frat guy in college
-Will drink a beer with you if you offer me one
-Like Wine and actually buy cases for my collection
-Has never owned a truck, but have a jeep
-Has owned 2 BMW' and a Mercedes Roadster (like the Jeep better)
-Grew up in very rural Mississippi town
-Worked in the World Trade Center at one time
-My Daughter (if I ever have one) will be eligible to join The Mayflower Society. (that should shake things up)
-My Daughter (if I ever have one) will be eligible to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.
-My Daughter (if I ever have one) will be eiligible to join the Daughters of the Confederacy.
-Have all my teeth (never had a cavity)


-- John
 
Well lets see:
1. I have a Master's Degree in History and I am about to pursue my PhD in the same subject.
2. I actually want to teach in college.
3. I own more books that I can count primarily on Early American History
4. I attend church regularly
5. I am an avid football fan (go Cowboys and Sooners)
6. I love baseball (Poor, pitiful Texas Rangers fan)
7. I love classic rock music primarily anything by Rush
8. I like country music
9. I like classical music
10. I can sing (bass)
11. I love politics
12. I live in Texas and I am a proud Texan
13. I want to live in the country away from most people except my wife and my daughter.
14. I like most cats, can't stand large dogs, and love daschunds.
15. I haven't seen an animal I don't think is cute or beautiful
16. I believe in conserving our natural resources primarily water and I am a firm supporter of the National Park System
17. I believe that we are destined to have some form of universal health care system, although I am not sure how I feel about it.
18. I think both political parties are corrupt beyond repair
19. I don't think that any current politician has the remotest clue what the Founding Fathers think or thought nor do I think they really care.
20. I want to go hunting although I have really never been.
21. Sad movies make me cry
22. I am an unabashed patriot and I am very proud of the country I live in.
23. I love kids (I actually like Middle school kids)
24. I enjoy my daughter and I am very proud of her

In the words of Toby Keith "Hate me if you want to, love me if you can". Anti-gunners are the most hateful and arrogant people I have ever met and simply want to consolidate all power in the hands of an elite few.
Stonewall34
 
To state the obvious - the stereotypical gun owner doesn't exist. And if
(s)he did the stereotype would depend on the bias from which the viewer started. When I was a kid I believe the only two people in my neighborhood who didn't own guns were the school teacher/band director on the corner and the widow two houses down (and I am not sure of that). Guns and hunting were a way of life - at least on the West side of town - and violence whether committed with a gun or not was not an everyday phenomenon or at least not one that was in the news everyday.
 
To reply to the topic of the thread:

You'll have an idea of who these people are when they start to question you. Pinpoint what their hotbutton issues are and home in on those with a series of questions that will illuminate their need to be taken seriously by not being stereotyped.
Then, turn the same convo to gunowners.
 
Atheist.
Refuse to associate myself with political parties. Dislike the Republicans and Democrats equally.
Hookah smoker. (That's flavored tobacco in a water pipe for those of you that don't know. I'm not saying I break the gun-owner stereotype by using drugs)
Going to grad school for CAD-focused computer graphics in a year.
I work with virtual reality. (www.envision.purdue.edu)
May have a published research paper while I'm still an undergrad (keep an eye on the IEEE VR journal around March)
Huge graphics nerd.
I have a very small kitten (I am also working on photoshopping a very small pintle-mounted M2 to a picture of my very small kitten)
I used to be anti-gun.
I spend most of my money on music and home/car audio stuff.
I think gay rights are civil rights.
Illegal immigrants and people living in America that don't speak English do not bother me in the least.
Avid artist (drawing/painting)
Amateur photographer.
Prefer Formula 1 and ALMS to NASCAR. NASCAR is like watching freeway traffic, and the cars are horrible.
Don't like football, however am a big fan of baseball, bicycle racing, and curling.
Don't hunt, have no desire to.

And probably the biggest difference:

I really do NOT like AR-15s


9MM POWERED +P++P++PP++PPP++P LOADS
+1 for that. Its hillarious
 
Since the caricature of gun owners in America is based on spin let's look at the way they could describe me.

Born - TN
Race - White
Work In - Appalachia
Industry - Service
Marital Status - Divorced/Remarried
Children - 2
Kid's school - small SE college and small church school
Hunters in family - 1
Type of area - Rural
Drive - SUV
Hobbies - MMA and guns and knives

Now we could interpret that for them a little differently - I'm a physicist with multiple degrees (physics and geology). Published in refereed scientific journals. I used to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratories but have been working for a large engineering and sciences consulting firm in Oak Ride TN (DOE, EPA, USACE, NASA, DHS, etc.) for over a decade. My ancestors primarily came from Scotland, but I'm 1/8 Cherokee. My ex wife is a full professor in the Physics department at Vandy and my wife has graduate degrees/certifications as a Nurse Practioner/PT/Occupational Health Nurse (only one in the country). My son graduated from Vandy with a degree in Film and my daughter attends a local private school whose students consistently place in the top 1% of the nation academically. I'm a student of Tai Chi and teach firearms safety. We live on the eastern shore of the largest lake in the area and drive either a Prius hybrid or a RAV4. I don't watch NASCAR (although my Division Manager and her family are big fans) nor do I hunt, but I do watch the Food Network and will happily prepare anything my wife, the hunter, bags.

Perhaps they'd rather describe a buddy of ours. Born in Kentucky and educated there. Big, blond and strong. Deer hunts. Drives an SUV. Likes MMA. Happens to be a female graduate degreed environmental geologist working in Oak Ridge that's married to a BJJ instructor. Or ...

The stereotype is based on trying to demonize the group in question. They try to create caricatures of the group so people won't identify with them. This caricature is amusing really when you consider that NASCAR is (one of;)) the fastest growing spectator sport in the US, more people from all over the USA are moving to the SE making it the fastest growing part of the country and that shall-issue states are popping up faster than no-issue states. :D
 
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I do fit some of the stereotypes:

- White male, considerably overweight
- Conservative Republican

I blow away some of the others:

- Educated at a very prestigious east-coast university
- Have excellent spelling and grammar
- I don't hunt
- I don't drink
- I hate NASCAR
- I don't have a sticker of Calvin peeing on anything
- I drive a Toyota (and not a pickup truck)
- Basically an overgrown nerd who turned pro
 
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White (34 yo)
Married
Don’t hunt
Libertarian (somewhere in the middle)
Network Engineer for DoD contractor
Drive a Toyota Corolla
Only watch MMA and occasionally Professional Football
Never had sex with my sister :neener:
 
I like the thread it shows how different we all are and we all love guns.

Let's see...
I'm not white....I like to read..I'm in active duty stationed in Fort Hood, Texas
I Love it here and I bought my house here. Fluent in 2 languages, went to college didn't finish, didn't have the money.
I have never hunt..but I would like to go, don't smoke, rarely drink and when I drink is a couple of beers.
And of course I love shooting and I hate nascar, Love baseball though
I don't have a truck and i have been married for 5 years now,2 kids and she's not my sister. I guess I'm not the stereotype.. Have fun
 
Exalt the stereotype! Embrace it! Make it your identity!

When I walk to the curb and pick up my mail, I carry my AR15!

I clean my roof gutters with a shotgun!

Bumper sticker says, "I'd rather be shootin' Commies"!

I like Charlton Heston movies!

Oleg Volk's pro-gun shirts aren't "in your face" enough for me!

Immigration: If you can make it past the Army snipers, National Guard, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, 90 ft tall barrier fence, and Texans (shudder) then and only then are your bona fides proven and you can take the immigration tests.

I demand we arm everyone at High School football games to make it more interesting!

I like Charlton Heston movies!

I think I should start a church that takes wild guns out of a box and handles them!
 
5'4", 115lb girl. Am I on the right track?

It is a start.

Got any pictures of trucks, gun racks in trucks, dawgs, fishin' poles, farm ponds, rifle scabbards with a rifle in the scabbard, deer antlers over the fireplace...

You do know the words to the song Redneck, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer ...right?


Oh please tell me ya know what Tump, is and John Deere Green is one of the colors in the bathroom shower curtain ...

:D

I know , I stay in trouble around here.

Steve
 
Bazooka Joe71,

See my recent post here:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=306362

To sum up, it wasn't an argument that changed my mind, it was getting to know real gun people. Once I realized that they were decent, logical people just like everyone else, I started to see everything in a different light. I began to believe all the rational pro-gun arguments later, but what got me at first was realizing "These guys aren't going to hurt anybody, why shouldn't they be allowed to have guns?"
 
I'm a gun owner under deep cover. I teach at a church-related university which is probably full of hoplophobes. (I never talk about guns and shooting. Only on the internet!)

I drive two Volvos (but not at the same time; wifey uses the other). I listen to NPR.

I have lived in Muslim-majority countries (Egypt, Palestine and Indonesia) about 10 years of my life as an aid worker or university teacher.

Wonder if there's anyone up here in Northern Indiana like me that lurks around THR?

regards to all,

Paulus
 
Why should we have to segregate ourselves or try to self validate. It only goes to promote the elitist, holier than thou attitudes in every direction.

That being said, I drive a rusty old pick up truck with junk in the back. Its got a few stickers on it, one is a "Peace through superior firepower", another is a frog with a diving flag image in the background(I used to SCUBA dive), and the last one is an NRA/American Flag sticker. I'm only an apprentice electrician and I work in a chemical plant. I can't stand NASCAR but I do enjoy NHL, NBA, NFL, NCAA and MLB. Despite some of these "redneck" features, I believe in equal rights for all, even if I don't agree with their personal choices. I dislike universal health care but only because I dislike the thought of the government choosing my healthcare and charging me what they see fit. I've met and spoke with several muslims and have been inside a Mosque. I've studied the Qu'ran, Vedas and Mayanana Sutras. I don't care if you don't speak english, America has no official langauge anyways. I'm somewhat fluent in Spanish and try to talk to people in that language for the fun of it. What it all comes down to is i'm a proud American who likes to shoot stuff up real good. I tend to vote for whoever supports the traditional constitutional values to most. I drink beer, smoke cigars, eat bad food and thats just the way I like to live. If a guy wants to walk down the road wearing a pink t-shirt and girl's jeans holding hands with his boyfriend, then so be it. Just don't get mad at me if I like to shoot stuff up in the woods with an evil, high capacity magazine ammunition clip thingy rifle with attached bayonet and grenade launcher.
 
How do you break the stereotype?
You take them shooting. Seriously, they'll see that gun owners aren't lunatics, that they're (we're) reasonable rational people that just happen to have an extremely loud hobby.
 
I refuse to hunt. I do eat copious amounts of meat, though.

I won't be voting republican this year for various reasons. I definitely won't be voting Democrat, either.

I don't really like any sports at all. Soccer and hockey are mildly fun to watch but I'm not 'in' to it at all. I hate NASCAR with a passion. I actually think football sounds like a fun game, but I refuse to watch it because the commercial breaks are so frequent.

I live in the south and in general I think it's the best part of the country to live, but some aspects of culture down here bug me, and I don't apologize for it.

I use linux and would say I understand more about computers than the average person.
 
1. I thought she was my cousin.

2. Whiskey is made out of corn, and what could be more healthful?

3. She outweighs me by 70 lbs, so I don’t beat her, ‘cause it would only make her mad, and you will be in deep doo-doo if you ever call her ugly!

4. Nice truck, huh?

PS: I vote, pay taxes, and may have written the software you business depends upon.
 
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