Is society pushing guns out?

[Hugo]

The times they are a changin'. For the better in that more people are enjoying shooting sports and waking up to concealed carry and self defense. One step at a time folks.

 

[Kind of Blued]

I lived in Arvada Colorado from 99 to 03, I think that the negative impressions of firearms and their owners are partly the result of to many people who aren't responsible.

I'm in Arvada now, and I know what you're talking about. I think that's a pretty widespread problem, but especially out here with lots of lonely, wide-open spaces.

Passers-by will never think of the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of rounds that have been sent downrange safely and responsibly. They'll notice, and remember the one round of 12GA birdshot that some jerk put through a "Falling Rocks" sign, just like the countless justifiable self-defense shootings per year will never make the news.

 

[Wesson Smith]

When I was a kid, you could ride across town, on your bicycle with a .22 across your handlebars. Nobody would say a thing.

We did the same thing. I lived in the Appalachian foothills as a young crumb cruncher, and nearly every summer day we packed bologna sammitches, YooHoo and some Redman chaw in our sacks, strapped a .22 to the back of the sack and headed for the hills for a full day of critter plinkin'. Without a doubt, some of the very best times of my entire life.

 

[Dirtpile]

It's not so much society in general but the product of ever more pervasive media fear mongering and rising crime rates. Which conveniently enough for the anti's leads to even more media fear mongering.
Couple that with the general pussification of society and the asinine legislation that foundered it and has been foundered by it you have a dangerous decline.
A few decades ago you could get in a fight at school and only get sent home for the day. Nowadays you get charged with assault and sent to Juvie for a year or two. Lots of the older members hers probably remember when they could legally shoot in their own back yards (space permitting of course) and now there aren't many places left where you can do that.
It definitely doesn't help that as a species we're getting dumber. The gene pool could use some Chlorine.

 

[CoRoMo]

I no longer see guns being sold...

• At Kmart
• At Sears
• At many Wal Marts
• At corner drug stores
• At most all hardware stores
• At most all western wear/farm & ranch stores

Maybe there is some validity to this "pushing guns out" perception.

 

[BHP FAN]

Quote:
When I was a kid, you could ride across town, on your bicycle with a .22 across your handlebars. Nobody would say a thing.

We did the same thing. I lived in the Appalachian foothills as a young crumb cruncher, and nearly every summer day we packed bologna sammitches, YooHoo and some Redman chaw in our sacks, strapped a .22 to the back of the sack and headed for the hills for a full day of critter plinkin'. Without a doubt, some of the very best times of my entire life.
__________________
"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber"

- Sir Winston Churchill

We'd head down to the river bar and shoot pheasant.pluck 'em and cook 'em right there on the river bar.Good times.

 

[rfwobbly]

Society is NOT doing anything. Socialist liberals ARE.

As part of their anti-gun agenda, the small but vocal liberal core of the Dem party has made it their agenda. With the help of the teacher's unions, these guys are implanting the message in kids minds that "guns are bad". This, while subjects such as the US Constitution and personal responsibility are being avoided.

I see this every year when I take my Scout troop for our annual shooting outing. Parents (who do not own guns) reel at the thought of little Johnny being shot and raise objections. Even parents have now been trained to give that "guns are dangerous" knee-jerk reaction. Our troop's leaders find as much to teach the parents as the kids. And guess what? In ten years of these outings no one has been shot and everyone had so much fun they can't wait to get to summer camp so they can shoot some more.

This is why the Socialist liberals are so much against Boy Scouts of America. It probably has little to do with gays. After all what parent who thought about it twice would send their boy into the deep woods with an avowed homosexual? No, it's because 75% of the people now shooting had one of their first shooting experiences through Boy Scouts. So the plan is, eliminate the BSA and eliminate 75% of the US shooters.

If you really want to defeat this mentality, then sign up with a Scout group, Sunday school group, or any other youth organization and take them all shooting. In my experience most ranges will give organized youth groups free range time and free coaching just to make sure our youth have the experience. And the kids love it !!

 

[servantofinari]

f you really want to defeat this mentality, then sign up with a Scout group,

I was in the scouts for a year, my experience with the jerks who ran it and the ones who where in it was so bad I just left.

 

[rightside]

My son and daughter were and are shooting, started at age five.......like when I started....I taught a scout group a few years ago...All liberal.......qwestioned everthing...

 

[kilo729]

The Taboo is fear caused by ignorance. A little education should clear it right up

When I was in high school not all that long ago. 15 years now I got into a fight at school. After the principal got through chewing my rear out he told me that I would be suspended for a week. {I am going somewhere with this}. He asked me about the farm my family owned north of town. He wanted to know if we had any turkeys on it. I spent my 4 days while I was kicked out of school turkey hunting with the high school principal.

That is awesome dude.

 

[jbkebert]

I was really lucky growing up. My dad did not deer hunt, he actually quit hunting when I was around 14-15 or so. My older brother and I tried deer hunting with archery gear. We had no idea what to do and were eating tag sandwiches for 3 years. The computer lab teacher started taking me and my borther bow hunting and showed us the ropes. I think that is why I have tried to carry that on. When we teach hunter safety classes willing instructors take one or two student per class hunting. So if 6 instructors are will anywhere from 6-12 kids get their names drawn to go hunting with an instructor. I remember how frustrated I was stumbling through learning to hunt. If we can take a kid and his parent hunting and teach them how it goes miles to making them hunters for life. Many new hunters go out for a year or two and get frustrated and quit. I am no expert at the art of hunting but what I can do is give pointers, and steer them in the right direction.

 

[KarenTOC]

I no longer see guns being sold...

At Kmart
At Sears
At many Wal Marts
At corner drug stores
At most all hardware stores
At most all western wear/farm & ranch stores

Maybe there is some validity to this "pushing guns out" perception.

Today at work I asked my 29-year old female coworker "want to see my new toy?" I showed her a picture of a Baby Browning.

She gasped, bug-eyed, jumped back, did a modified Fred Sandford chest grab, and said OH MY GOD! I imagine if she ever saw a real gun on display in a store, she'd faint.

Is there a word for "fear of a photo of a gun?"

 

[Bookworm]

"Is society pushing guns out?"

Yes. It is only getting worse. Sure, Heller affirmed an individual right to keep guns in the home but that decision was already watered down by DC refusing to license semi-autos, and requiring them to be locked up anyhow. Heller has done absolutely nothing for ANY court case whatsoever.

They have begun disarming thousands of veterans experienced in urban warfare because they have received counseling or something due to either shooting BGs or seeing their friends and brothers killed before their eyes. They are stripping misdemeanants from 2a rights, and disarming others involved in divorces or custody battles.

The supreme court recently issued an order allowing police to search and confiscate the weapons of anyone whom they think might be armed and dangerous, regardless of whether or not they were even under suspicion of committing any crime, never mind warrants or probable cause.

The assault weapon bans are again being introduced to the public to preview how it floats, as well as various ammo infringements. The same with body armor. Permits and licenses are rampant, expensive, and subjective.

Cities and their governments point to any shooting as an excuse to "crack down" on criminals and guns and further restrict gun ownership.

No-knock warrants are issued increasingly for "police safety" when the homeowner is "known to possess a firearm".

President Obama and his entire team were anti-gun activists. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the democratic leadership are also left wing liberals who would love to do anything to control the masses. There are no checks at all to what the federal government does - and that includes the supreme court which has abandoned its role from protecting the rights of the little guy and into rubber-stamping whatever congress and the presidency do.

Here in PA, one open carry activist handed out flyers NEAR a park where Obama was campaigning - and even after the prosecutor acknowledged that he had a right to carry, case law supporting the citizen, he was arrested anyhow. Apparently his constitutional rights were subject to police whim at the time.

Apparently the best the average hardworking citizen can do is pick up a gun or two from a private sale for home defense and otherwise mind your own business. The last thing you should want is for the government to know you possess a firearm, even if it is "legal".

Is it truly "getting better" as some state? I don't think so, a handful of meaningless victories aside.

 

[Nicky Santoro]

Is society pushing guns out?

I don't believe it is society in general, but rather a noisy minority who are getting media coverage out of all proportion to their numbers.

 

[yokel]

It's my fervent hope that certain ethnic group's unqualified support of the Second Amendment takes off in a big way and real soon...

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/...3591218683948/

Whites to be U.S. minority by 2042

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Whites will become a minority in the United States as early as 2042, a Census Bureau report to be released Thursday projects.

Census Bureau demographer Grayson Vincent told the Detroit Free Press that's about a decade earlier than previously forecast as the point at which all Americans will be minorities.

The report will show that by 2050, non-Hispanic whites, who now represent two-thirds of the U.S. population, will number 203 million out of the nation's estimated 439 million people, the newspaper said.

In addition, the number of Hispanics will likely triple by 2050 to 133 million, while the black population is projected to reach 66 million and the Asian segment of the population will be about 41 million, the report said. The American Indian and Alaska Natives population will reach about 9 million.

We're clearly doomed and defeated if it does not.

Liberty is a blessing that must be secured and if one generation fails to properly secure liberty, other generations will neither reap liberty's blessings, nor have the opportunity to secure it for themselves or their posterity.

 

[Bill_Rights]

Be open about guns and shooting!

I will take Ed Ames prescription.

now I was the problem. I was doing what they had done, was letting guns stay taboo in my social circle. So I started talking to people. I started conversations. I also started telling friends things like, "I'm going to the range next Saturday at 2PM... if you want to do some shooting just show up and look for me." I didn't push it, but I didn't hide it.

There have been three general outcomes.
1) I have discovered existing shooters who were already part of my social circle but never opened up.
2) I have introduced new people to shooting, in some cases creating new shooters, in others at least demystifying and clearing away misconceptions.
3) I have been the "undeniably sane person" who turns out to be a gun owner and opens the eyes of a few antis. In one case that worked out to my benefit to the tune of a free gun when the anti's gun-owning family member died and they turned to me for disposal advice (they wanted to take it to the police....I gave them a locking case, told them the laws, told them it was worth $$$, and offered to buy it...a day later they said "it should be with someone who will enjoy it" and gave it to me -- it is one of my range regulars).

A few of my coworkers and I were talking the other day and, because I brought up shooting, we are now organizing an office-wide range day in a few weeks. We have about 15 people lined up to go so far and might reach double that...a good many totally new shooters... no, it isn't an official company event, but it is positive contact that never would've happened if I hadn't started a conversation about owning guns and shooting.

It's up to you to start the conversations....and it is a risk...but there are rewards too.

My baby-step experience so far is wimpier. I brought the subject up with my brother and his wife, only to find out that they were already actually thinking of getting some guns for HD and wanted to take CHP/CCW classes AND his wife (hi! Sis-in-law, if you're reading) had had a real life home invasion scare years ago in which she went for her roommate's pistol. So that was an "Ames encounter of the First Kind". A good thing.

 

[metallic]

Is there a word for "fear of a photo of a gun?"

Hoplophotophobia?

 

[rojocorsa]

I have always determined that if in modern day (as in today) it is socially acceptable for a homosexual to openly claim they are gay, then it should also be acceptable for my to display my fondness of my hobby/passion?

Aren't we now supposedly living in an open and egalitarian society?
Then why have a grudge against responsible gun owners?

 

[EHL]

I definitly think it is. Mentioning a firearm around workplace is grounds for possible termination just because somebody may find them "offensive". Also, I think the media has been tossing around the poll that 56% of Americans support a new AWB. We're clearly in the minority. Keep in mind that there are many gun owners that don't support 2nd amendment rights, just so long as their hunting shotguns and rifles aren't messed with, they could care less about any other use for firearms. It's sad.

 

[Zak Smith]

Mentioning a firearm around workplace is grounds for possible termination just because somebody may find them "offensive".

I've worked in large corporations in the high-tech industry for the last ten years and have not found this to be true.

 

[Zak Smith]

Mentioning a firearm around workplace is grounds for possible termination just because somebody may find them "offensive".

I've worked in large corporations in the high-tech industry for the last ten year and have not found this to be true.

 

[EHL]

good for you Zack. I had a friend get fired because he mentioned that he went shooting down at the range. Somebody filed a complaint to HR and said they felt like it was "intimidating" hearing somebody talk about their use of firearms and they wanted for management to "do something about it". He got the pink slip since he was "creating a hostile work environment".

 

[BHP FAN]

good for you Zack. I had a friend get fired because he mentioned that he went shooting down at the range. Somebody filed a complaint to HR and said they felt like it was "intimidating" hearing somebody talk about their use of firearms and they wanted for management to "do something about it". He got the pink slip since he was "creating a hostile work environment...''

I had the same thing happen at my work, HR takes that ''touchy feely'' stuff real seriously.

 

[Ed Ames]

I think gun owners and homosexuals have a lot in common actually.

You can say it's socially acceptable for a homosexual to be open, but get real... half the people on this forum got angry reading that sentence ("gun owners and homosexuals") and we all know it.

The issue, in both cases, is Social Deviance. As in, "Sociology 101", the deviation (difference from normal) of the individual. Humans are very sensitive to perceived Social Deviance. They react violently to unfamiliar styles of dress, appearance, and lifestyle. Humans aren't alone - animals routinely ostracize and kill deviant members of their own species.

If you are in a place where guns are normal you aren't a deviant for being a gun-user and it is no big deal to talk about guns. If you are in a place where homosexuality is normal, again you aren't a deviant for being a homosexual and it's no big deal to talk about homosexuality.

What about everywhere else?

We hear stories about ROTC students suspended or expelled, shooters fired for saying they went shooting, homosexuals beaten, children kicked out of their homes, people being ridiculed constantly, jobs lost, friends lost...we hear many stories not just about gun owners and homosexuals, but about immigrants, atheists, muslims, nerds, and everyone else who is just a bit too different. A bit too deviant.

That's what keeps minorities in the closet. Homosexuals, gun owners, pastafarians, mensa members, you name it - fear of punishment for being social deviants. It takes a lot of courage to expose your deviance. To tell someone that may have power over you, "I am an atheist", or "I own a handgun." To start a conversation you know can cost you everything humans value -- friends, family, income, and place in society.

There are huge, very real, pressures keeping us from exposing ourselves. I said before we needed to talk about guns more often, but at the same time I don't want to sugar coat the fact that those conversations can have harmful consequences. This is the real world and not everything has the Hollywood, "I came out and everything was fine forever after" ending. Sometimes Matthew Shepard is tortured and murdered for being gay.

The question is, is there any possible reward?

One reward, and this is something the homosexual community has been counting on for 25+ years now, is that familiarity reduces the perception of deviance. That's the theory behind open carry rallies and the like ... by repeatedly exposing people to something considered deviant, you acclimatize them to the behavior and they start to see it as normal. Gun owners need to do more of that. So do atheists and sikh and a whole bunch of other deviant groups.

There are other benefits. You find that others you know share similar interests but wouldn't start the conversation. You...well, I'm repeating myself now.

If we want to keep our 2A rights we need to be realistic about what we are...deviants (why? IMO because of those old foggies I mentioned before that didn't talk about their guns)...and we need to start looking at other groups who have faced the situation we are in. Outsider groups who have made inroads towards acceptance as normal. Homosexuals have walked that road and we could do a lot worse than using what has worked for them.

 

[crazy-mp]

It seems to me that the younger generation is much more pro gun than the baby boomers

I hadn't thought about that much but it seems you are right, for the most part. It seems like the older generations only have a few guns mabey 3-7 while each younger generation buys more guns. Mabey it has something to do with only getting what you need or have to have, some of the lessons passed down from the Great Depression?