I will assume from your readership of this page that you are anti-gun
(or you might refer to yourself as pro-gun-control). This is ok.
I offer a firm handshake in friendship, and hope we might have a moment
of civil discourse. This is not always the case; emotions run high on
both sides of the argument.
Let me say first off that I do not think you are ill-informed, ignorant
or stupid. Instead, I will assume you have considered gun ownership
for yourself, and for your own good reasons opted out. I support your
decision - in my opinion no one who is uncomfortable around guns should
own or operate them. This is why I don't harp on people to go shooting
with me; those that are interested will ask. We all have to honor our
rational decisions and gut instincts.
Common misconceptions
Perhaps by airing out some common stereotypes we can come to a greater understanding of each other.
Misconceptions on the Pro-Gun side
All antis are 'gun-grabbers' (ie, you want to take away all our guns of every type). I suspect this is not true. You probably think some guns are ok for some purposes in the hands of some people. Target shooters, or maybe hunters, for example (not trying to put words in your mouth, though).
All antis are pointy-headed innalekshuls living in la-la academia. Some anti's are likely academics; most of you are probably not. I have small collection of guns and I am a Ph.D. student.
All antis are Liberals, or at least Democrats. While statistically speaking this might be true, there are certainly conservatives who do not own and would not own guns.
All anti's are closet Marxists. Sorry about this one; there are some kooks out there.
Misconceptions on the Anti-Gun side
All gun people are kooks. Yes, there are fringies
in every collection of people. Gun fringies tend to be of the UFO /
Black Helicopter / Vast Governmental-Masonic Conspiracy type. They are
a minority, and I tend to killfile them with my newsreader.
Only a paranoid would want to carry a concealed
weapon. Most people who qualify for and are issued a concealed
carry permit are people you would never suspect of carrying (and that's
the idea). In my CHL class there were about 20 people: one bar owner,
one fire chief, one extremely elderly woman who shot very well, one
young married couple, 15 or so people that might be your plumber or a
construction foreman. The one guy that was borderline kooky was this
gung-ho security guard guy and he was not well-received by the "normals"
in the class or the instructor. You know the type: wannabe military,
home-made sticker on his truck said "Desert Fox", all big talk. I think
anti-gun folks think all gun folks are like that, and that's not the case.
All gun people are right-wingers. There are plenty of
moderates, a few liberals and a bunch of libertarians in the gun camp.
My favorite example of the across-the-board draw of shooting is the
Pink Pistols, a gun club for
gay folks.
I don't know if this page helps or hurts; I hope it will help gun people and non-gun people to get along better, and respect each others' opinions and rights.
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