By Travis Pike
As a NRA-ordained firearms instructor I have had the ability to really see the diversity in gun ownership. I’ve also gotten to see a surprising amount of anti-gun sentiment. I also get lasered a lot and the profit margins are basically nonexistent so you better just enjoy teaching. But the purpose here isn’t to point out the flaws and idiosyncrasies of being a firearms trainer; the topic is the diversity in those seeking firearms training. Anecdotes don’t equate to scientific proof, but I can’t be the only firearms trainer out there to notice this trend.
From our positions as instructors, we can be the most reliable witnesses regarding the different people entering the firearms world. The mainstream media, those Moms who are always Demanding Action, and the 80’s goatee-equipped Ladd Everitt of the Coalition for some BS or other will proclaim gun owners are all fat, white, conservative males who are racist, misogynist, homophobic, and probably speciests too. But as someone who has been providing the training required for concealed carry here in Florida, I’ve had a front row view of those looking to ‘tool up.’
The Good
The best news is that the people looking to get their concealed carry permits is a very diverse group. Will they carry every day? Probably not, but maybe 10% of them will. Maybe the rest will at least carry occasionally. Either way, they are at least interested and invested enough to get some form of training and to get their concealed carry permit.
Exactly how diverse are they? These days it seems I have about as many women as I do men. Actually if I split my students from this year (2015), 40 percent of my students are females. Of all my students, 10% are minority women.
Minority men make up about 20 percent of my students and 100 percent of my minority students are black. This may be for a few reasons. First, I live in northwest Florida, and we have a smaller population density than most of the rest of the state. Our census reads like this; 55.0% White 40.1% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.4% Asian and 2.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race is 2.2% of the population.
Here’s the breakdown of my students:
White males 40%
Black Males 20%
White females 30%
Black females 10%
Clearly the majority of my students are white, but there’s been a steady rise in the number of minorities attending my courses.
Coming up soon I have a seven person class scheduled with four black students. This will be the first minority majority class session. I’m not a sociologist, but it seems that after my first two black students (a personal friend and former coworker along with his 20-something nephew) more and more minorities are interested in taking the course. I think this is due to word of mouth from my friend and his nephew that there is an instructor in town.
I’d only ever advertised on gun forums and in my favorite gun stores. These places are perfect to reach People of the Gun, but not so much for those just looking for a gun for self defense and carry, not as a hobby. I learned I could advertise in different parts of town and attract a wider variety of clientele. Social media in particular has been the primary factor in attracting a more diverse group of people.
The Bad
My dreams of uniting people of all creeds, races, and other categories under the mantle of personal freedom and gun-owning bliss have been dashed. I’ve come to see there are a lot of people who believe in self-defense. But a lot of them also believe in limited gun rights.
Most of my classes stay on track, but during breaks I get asked a lot of different questions. As you’d expect, GLOCK vs Smith & Wesson, what’s the best holster, etc. Sometimes, though, I get ‘political’ questions. I hear — primarily from women — that ‘assault’ weapons should be banned. I hear that no one needs more than ten rounds. Some wonder who needs anything more than a revolver. I lend guns to students who haven’t purchased one yet; a variety of pocket .380s, revolvers, small autos, big autos, etc.
I’m asked if these guns are registered, or where you go to register a new gun. Many are surprised to learn they don’t have to register a gun. Sometimes they can’t believe you don’t have to tell the government you own guns. I had one lady swear up and down that ‘assault’ rifles had to be registered.
Now remember, I’m providing a customer service and I don’t want the experience to turn them away from guns. So, needless to say, I have become quite good at being personable while correcting misconceptions and bad information while trying to turn people toward the side of freedom.
The Ugly
I’ve only run into outright racism once. The class was over and I was filling out the certificates. One of the ladies who was anti-‘assault rifle’, pro background checks, and pro registration came up to me and asked if I was really giving a certificate to a young black man who was in the class. While on the range he had loaded and made ready before he got on the line. A simple mistake for someone new to guns and range etiquette…no big deal. My assistant instructor spotted the mistake and had him unload and show clear.
I told the woman yes, the young man had passed, handed her the certificate and she headed on her way. It didn’t occur to me at first that she asked because he was black, had long hair, and wore a baggy shirt. I has assumed she thought he should fail for the mistake on the range. My assistant said she wasn’t near the line at the time he made the mistake, she had left the range after checking out with the AI and went to wait in the classroom.
The End
So take this for what it is. A series of anecdotes isn’t conclusive, but in my opinion the stereotype of gun owners as the fat, old, white racist, women-hating, conservative men is quickly fading. In fact if more instructors took to advertising outside of traditional gun stores and forums, the diversity in their classes would grow significantly. I have taken flyers to my local women’s club, our park has a notice board, and several restaurants that allow advertisements for small businesses.
I’m hoping more women — and more people all races — seek to take their personal protection into their own hands. Hopefully these people will take gun ownership seriously and perhaps see the threat to and slow reduction of their own freedoms. I’m an optimist, though, and I know most of my students won’t suddenly become overnight 2A absolutists. If I have one student who votes a bit differently than they would have before they took my course, I count that as a win.
People are so full of statist propaganda, freedom becomes an abstract concept. ‘Of course’ guns have to be registered. How would you own one without asking permission first?
Good for them and for you though. Chipping away.
My question is, how did we get this bad this far? Or has it always been this way?
Things got this far as a result of the long term whittling down of civics taught in high schools. There’s a reason the elite don’t want citizens to understand how government works or what their rights are: it makes it easier to subvert government and deprive us of our rights.
Yuri Bezmenov had some very interesting things to say on that topic.
How did it get this way……
….because probably every one of his students went through 12 years of primary school and maybe another 4-8 years of university level indoctrination lead by leftists….
…and then our society swims 24/7 in a sea of leftism pumped in from all directions…media, art, TV, film, papers
“… how did we get this bad this far? Or has it always been this way?”
I have had the same questions myself. I believe I have a fairly good answer based on history.
No, it hasn’t always been this way. The push for the “supremacy of the state” started subtly in the late 1800s. It gained serious momentum around 1910. And then really took off in the 1930s with another serge in the 1960s and again in the 1990s.
As far as I can tell, all of this seems to coincide with the rise of “intellectuals” and fabulously wealthy “superiors”. Prior to the late 1800s, pretty much everyone worked very hard to survive: they didn’t have time to attend universities nor promote any philosophy and almost no one had amassed a giant fortune to foster the idea that they were superior to everyone else. As more and more people attain the credentials to claim “intellectual” status or massive bank accounts to claim “superior” status, we have seen things go downhill. You could probably assign politicians to either class based on their particulars and the fact that they managed to win a popular vote.
The core problem: a group of people declare themselves to be better than everyone else because of their intelligence, education, business/professional skills, political office, and/or huge bank account. Having declared themselves better than the masses, they then feel entitled to have separate rules for themselves and the station to control the “inferior” masses who are incapable of doing what is best for themselves or their “betters”. Compounding matters, the “inferior” masses don’t have the resources to even recognize what their “betters” are doing much less mount a coordinated and effective response.
The only reason that we are seeing the recent (over the last 10 years or so) level of pushback, in my opinion, is because of the Internet. Prior to the Internet, our “betters” could make false/misleading claims because there was no cheap/easy way to refute them. Furthermore, there was no cheap/easy way to publicize corrections to false/misleading claims. And, there was no cheap/easy way to mount a coordinated response to such false/misleading claims. Of course the Internet has changed all of that — and for the better. That is why gun control efforts are on the ropes in much of the nation. Time will tell if we can turn the tide completely.
The Internet has changed everything. Much like the printing press, the firearm, and the automobile. (The list is long)
Somethings alter the world forever. The Internet is one of those things.
Thanks for the response. I always got the feeling that sometime between the civil war and 1920 shit went off the rails somewhere, but I could never put my finger on what.
Agreed on the internet. I remember being a kid and watching Clinton sign the Fed ‘AW’ ban. All you could do was shout at the TV back then. Now when we shout, we get heard, at least by other gun nuts.
We are essentially talking right now. I think its great. Ive talked to thousands of gun owners online over the years, its not perfect, in fact most of the time its a total cluster___ but when the word needs to go out, it does.
When I first mentioned that I had some guns to my dad (late convert originally from New York) he asked in alarm “Are they registered?!?” I said “With who?”
A military buddy of mine recently moved to here (Texas) from NoCali and asked me, “Where do I take my guns to get registered?”
I laughed and said, “We don’t have that Commie crap here, remember that come voting time.”
He is a hard working, pro freedom guy though, so it was a late round draft pick.
Have you noticed news stories about guns that the reporter (outside of NY,NJ etc.) will often throw in that the self defender’s gun was registered or “licensed” maybe making that assumption if the person was a CCW or if the cop told the reporter the gun was legally owned. Therefor assuming that if it was legal, it must have been “registered”.
“Are they registered?!?” I said “With who?”
When you purchase through an FFL that ATF form 4473 is kept essentially forever and the ATF can come and inspect them at their pleasure. Just sayin’.
Keep that in mind next time you draw the signs for your anti-whatever-gun-control-bill rally. I’ve noticed that a lot of the time, pro-gun organizations tend to emphasize the registration aspect of things (e.g. in Washington, “UBC leads to gun registration” was a popular talking points). But when you’re addressing the wide audience, they don’t understand why it’s a bad thing, and many of them actually think it’s a good thing. And so when the first argument they hear is registration, they’ll shrug and write you off as a “crazy gun nut” and won’t even bother to listen to anything else you may have to say on the matter.
I guess it’s true what the Nazis said. Repeat a lie often enough… When the first thing the media has to report on in any ‘gun-related’ event is the ‘legality’ of the gun (e.g. Registered or not), it should be no surprise that the average joe thinks all guns must be registered. It’s also quite likely that you’re dealing with a lot of snow-bunnies who come down from the ‘New’ states (Jersey and York). My mom, who lives in statist Chicago inside statist Illinois thought that all states had FOID cards and couldn’t understand what a Concealed Carry License did.
I thought Michael Jackon said that. “She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one”
“Where do you register your gun?” Same place you register your vacuum cleaner and hair dryer. I would just tell them that’s what the warranty card is for.
Two thoughts:
1. I’m not at all surprised that it was the statist who was the racist
2. I am hopeful that a lot of what you lump under “The Bad” will be self-correcting, as the people who hold such views, and go through your class, are introduced to the reality of gun culture, and find themselves reevaluating their policy views.
I try, I really do. I also have a class to run, and I try to be professional enough to start and end the class on time. But quite a few stand around afterwards for discussion.
Some of the most racist guys I’ve worked with? Massholes.
You know, I always hear about these “inbreeding, racist southerners”, but I’ve visited the northeast quite a bit. And there are some seriously racist, sweatsuit wearing, freaking yokels in NY and Mass.
So true. It’s amazing how nasty people can be to each other even in my more rural home area of NY. I would argue that even though there is a lot of racism to be seen, it’s more just about how much people hate other people than one specific type of person.
I have described my upbringing on here before and hope to dispel the myth that we are all “good ole boys”.
When I was a teenager, we visited my uncle in Mankato, MN. Besides ice fishing, the only thing I remember about that trip was my uncle asking me how it was living in Atlanta with all the blacks. Until that moment, I never thought about it. I am not sure if he was such a racist or he just assumed I was and was trying to make me feel comfortable. I think he realized he failed when he saw the blank stare on my face.
A relative, an AF wife who has lived all over the US and Europe, once showed me a S&W .357 and confided that it was a special one, since (whispering) “it’s not registered”! Took me quite awhile to convince her there was no such thing as registration in TX, falls into the “who cares” category. And with all those opportunities, I hope you’re asking what they think registration might be able to accomplish. I have never heard anyone come up with a rational answer besides my own, “it’ll make it easier to confiscate them.”
Since we no longer have mandatory “permits” here, fewer people are taking the formal class, but my weekly shooting clinic is doing well and generates a class now and then.
Very few blacks or Mexicans here in NE Wyoming, but quite a few AmerInd folks. I can’t remember if I’ve ever had any of them in my classes. I don’t concern myself with that, and don’t keep any records. Women comprise more than half of my students and, so far, all of the gun range clinic participants.
I do need to advertise. For a long time I filled as many classes as I wanted to give, just by word of mouth, but I don’t get out as much now as I used to. It’s not any sort of “business” for me, just something I do to help encourage people to take responsibility for themselves and their safety, but in order to do that I need to make sure more people know it is available.
Thank you for sharing your observations, Mr. Pike.
I don’t know Florida law, but the Illinois Concealed Carry statute requires that the training include information on state and federal laws regarding purchasing, owning and transporting firearms, in addition to the concealed carry statute itself. A lot of misconceptions are cleared up when this information is presented in an organized manner.
The fact is, there are so many gun control laws in various states that people are bound to get confused, especially in a place like Florida that has so many immigrants from other states.
The Florida course has to include the legal dos-and-don’ts of concealed carry and firearms purchasing and ownership.
Another long-time instructor here (approaching two decades teaching NRA, and more recently USRA, Appleseed, and other non-NRA coursework). Agree on all points. Still not as many minorities coming out in Illinois as you’re seeing, but it is growing.
I will say one thing we implemented which most profoundly changed the makeup of our classes was the “Buy One, Get One Half Price” deal. The number of females doubled in our courses almost overnight with this and we’re getting more college age and twenty-somethings as well. Guys can be cheap (gun owners in particular). While I guy might not want to spend two or three hundred bucks to train up his wife or girlfriend (but we don’t recommend bringing both to the same class), for half that many guys will go ahead and bring the missus. Or their son(s) and/or daughter(s).
If you are a trainer and you’re looking to increase the numbers of women, younger folks and minorities, I’d encourage you to consider a BOGO program.
John
The base fee for my NRA basic pistol class is $50. I have a standing offer that if someone wants to bring 4 other people, their fee is nothing. Since I only accept five students at a time for a novice class, that gets the job done quickly. The fee is a little more for the two “personal protection” classes, but I offer the same deal.
But, in fact I often charge only for the materials, and have taught the full class to individuals or pairs many times over the last ten years. My purpose is to teach the basics, and encourage people to practice and seek more training as they gain confidence and experience.
I love how much weight registration has.
Oh noes a gunzor!!!
It’s okay, the number on the side is on a sheet of paper in a folder in some bureaucrats office 500 miles away.
Oh, okay then. Phew, that was scary for a minute.
My guns are all registered. Each one was carefully inspected and wrapped to keep it from scratching or being scratched in transport and checked out at a cash register. For each, I have a register receipt, proving each is registered.
I did inherit some guns as well, and my father really took care of his. He used his often, but all were cleaned and oiled. For each, he also kept his register receipts, so even those I received as a gift, are registered.
“I’m asked if these guns are registered, or where you go to register a new gun. Many are surprised to learn they don’t have to register a gun. Sometimes they can’t believe you don’t have to tell the government you own guns.”
Not at all surprised. A few years back someone broke into my truck, in my driveway, and grabbed a shotgun off the floor of the backseat.
I reported the crime. The investigating state trooper asked me if the gun was registered. I told him “no…Pennsylvania doesn’t have a firearms registration requirement.” he actually got belligerent with me, until he radioed in to his watch commander and discovered that he was in fact an idiot.
As a first generation asian american, i can vouch for our inherent understanding of the benefits of the 2nd amendment. It seems that for many of us, increasing prosperity and a desire to protect your family and property goes hand-in-hand. We didn’t invest several years, and buckets of sweat and tears to migrate (legally, of course) to this faraway land just to have everything you’ve strived for taken away by some cracked up gangbanger. Or even taken away by some coke sniffing soccer mom. 🙂
I don’t doubt it at all. We all remember the Korean neighborhoods defending their own during the LA Riots. Glad to have you.
Go to any range in the bay area and you will see asians well represented. If I was a fledgeling crook I would not attempt a robbery at an asian owned business.
Seconded. I get the feel that Asians, due to the somewhat prolific martial arts entertainment pervading our culture, tend to have very little to no problems with the idea of using force for self-protection, and it’s easy to equate gun ownership as the modern equivalent of learning kung fu.
The NRA doesn’t “ordain” anything. The use of the word “ordain” with the NRA fits the agenda of the anti’s. We should not be using “ordain” with anything “NRA.”
Maybe it was sarcasm that I didn’t pick up?
Yeah, maybe it was a bad attempt at it, but it was a comment on the way Antis see the NRA,
No, most of us got it.
I’ve been toying with whether or not to get my NRA instructor certification. This article has inched my closer to doing so.
And for the record, I’m a middle-aged black man who isn’t fat. 😀
I’m small, but the guy who introduced me to guns is pretty substantial. He always says to me, “It’s not fat, it’s tactical padding.”
Bullet proofing. Everyone chants that mantra of self defense loads having to penetrate so far and no further to be good. Most of those touted self defense loads would run out of steam before they got to anything vital in me.
“Tactical Padding.” Working on it but it’ll take a while to get to +P rating. Where’s my beer and bacon?
I have definitely noticed the diversity trend, and I would say it’s for the better. I took my carry permit class last fall, and our class was over 50% women with elderly, people in their 20’s including a black couple and a Persian couple. I have even noticed pro gun clothing and stickers like “protected by S & W” on women’s cars and a Japanese-American couple I met on vacation with
NRA ball caps on.
And apart from one or two snide comments about George Zimmerman, the class was eager to learn!
And I admit that I grew up in TN and I didn’t know that you don’t have to register guns in TN, and I didn’t know going into the class that there is no concealed carry law here. We issue ” handgun carry permits”, and how you choose to carry is your choice… that blew my mind at the time but since then I have learned a heck of a lot.
My CWFL class here in Miami was five people, none of whom were OFWG. Young Latin guys of varying builds. Instructor was Latino, as well.
I’m currently learning from/producing some short films for a local tactical firearms instructor. Most of his classes have a pretty diverse student body. Latin, black, OFWG, even a born-and-bred Frenchman limited surety agent who was a dead ringer for Jean Reno in the movie León.
The more diverse, the better. It’s too easy for the opposition to pigeonhole us as racists. Let’s make it not easy.
When I went to get my permit, the class was held in a community center in the black part of town. (no range requirement) Literally 200 people in the class. Me and 4 others (2 male, 2 female) were the only white folks in the class.
After the class when the instructor was handing out the certs, he asked what I thought. I said it was a great class and made a crack along the lines of “so much for guns being an OFWG thing. He laughed and said he does 3 classes a week averaging 150 students per class, 95% black. That blew my mind.
So yeah, getting out of the gun shop and into the neighborhoods where legal gun ownership is needed most will definitely help bring in more minority business as an instructor.
I think lawful gun ownership in minority communities is the best way to make all neighborhoods safer.
Also with more gun ownership there is a chance to convert more into “people of the gun” who may start behaving and voting that way.
It’s a win win for everyone in my book
The liberal media wants you to believe in the “OFWG” only gun owner stereotype… But it’s far from true, people of all types own and carry guns.
I’ve had an antigun zealot try to throw in my face,” Why do more white people own gun, if it’s not a racial thing?”
My answer,”Because there are more white people. Other racial groups are called ‘minorities’ for a reason…”
They just deflected to another point about feelings or children or something emotionally based, naturally, of course.
I think the misunderstanding about registration also comes from all the cop shows on TV. Let’s face it, NYPD Blue, the Streets of San Francisco, and the others set in Baltimore, LA, Chicago, even Dirty Harry all work because they are set in high crime cities of registration states where only outlaws and cops have guns. The actor-cops always check to see if the suspect’s gun is registered. So life imitates art and people just assume the TV show is correct.
My CCW class was taught by a woman, and had many women and minority students. At one of the indoor ranges I go to, most of the one-on-one lessons are for female students, both black and white, with both male and female instructors. At the other indoor range, which allows mid and high powered rifles, I was the OWG sighting in an SKS and on one side of me, a young black man with dreads was teaching a pair of young black ladies how to fire his AK. On the other side of me a couple young white guys were sighting in an AR. Everyone seemed to be having a good time of it with their respective evil, black, unregistered assault rifle.
Guns are registered…that’s why you have to fill out a 4473…now while they might not know exactly what you have but they do know you own a gun….that’s why after they call it in and say proceed they write down another number on the form and that’s the transaction id
Any of you instructors ever considered taking an AR15 to you class/range (pink AR if possible)? Defuse the confusion on what an AR is vs an M15or the mythical “assault weapon”. Is not scary. Is not full auto and that full auto is stupid anyhow. That AR is superior to a handgun or shotgun for in home defense. Defines their rights under the 2nd at least as much as a handgun.
The lady who swore “Assault weapons” needed to be registered probably was conflating, as usual, “assault weapons” with “machine guns”, and mixing in a little bit of GCA 68 and FOPA 86. So that’s probably what she “meant”, but didn’t get.
A friend’s roommate went on a diatribe about how myself (and my friend) are both “criminals” because our “guns aren’t registered”.
Tried to reason with her, stating that “there is no mechanism or procedure to register guns in Colorado, or federally” — she wouldn’t believe it. Not on a speaking basis now.
Of course, she moved here a few months ago from… yep. California. How could anything be different than how it is in California?!
“Adamantly ignorant.”
For what it’s worth, all females, and one minority female – but I think the “I reject your reality and substitute my own” is the issue here.
As for the girl who was complaining about the ‘black guy getting his cert’ – crazy, but I’ve seen that too, but usually only from very uhh “select”, “special” people.
Yep. People keep telling those POTG that live in CA, me included, to move from the slave state to a free state. Guess what? The california types moving out are mostly not POTG and they’re bringing their ideas and votes with them.
Yep plenty of minority folks(most black) getting CC south of Chicago. And at gun stores and ranges. I’ve pretty much given up talking politics and why voting odumbo screws you out of your 2A rights. There isn’t any real choice in Cook county anyway…
My wife is a minority and she loves shooting. Sometimes she goes to the range without me! She also has a Native American friend that shoots with us occasionally.
One of my coworkers I shoot with is a minority lesbian.
We’re a regular rainbow poster child of diversity shooting team.
Just the other day at the range, there was a couple in the lane next to me, black male and white female. After they finished and left, the next couple to rent the lane was a white male and black female!
I’ve seen lots of racism and homophobia here and on my local gun forum. It’s extremely frustrating and saddens me to see these scumbags share my love of firearms. I feel dirty by association. That’s why I lash out at them, hopefully the casual observer can see that those types are not entirely welcome in the gun community.
Forgot to add, a Vietnamese-American coworker has been asking me tips on zeroing his AR15, too.
When a mixed race male homosexual couple and their children had an open carry event at a Richmond California star bucks the reaction from open minded liberal California was to ban open carry of firearms. It was homosexual law makers who had this law passed. As a black gun owner I,m more concerned about homosexuals who want to confiscation firearms than I am law abiding gun owners who happen to dislike minorities. It’s not old white men who are working to disarm Americans. It’s the white “liberal” who wants to deny the people their right to self-defense. Besides the Pink Pistol group did any gay person or group come out of the closet to defend the civil rights of these gay gun owners? As a former native Californian now living in a southern state I’m a free gun owner. In liberal California you can have gay sex but you can not use a firearm or posses one. California will become a slave state.
Thanks Travis, great article. It’s been great to see the growing diversity in shooting here in PA. I reference both the diversity of people as well as the diversity of firearms! Good to hear the same trend elsewhere.
There are a few problems here:
1) You assume everyone needs to be or wants to be 2A absolutists. I doubt most, if not all of you, are “absolutist” enough. Most that discussion is along the lines of a pissing contest, and I’m not a fan.
2) “Votes different”? It depends. I have a friend who is die-hard Democrat and yet he votes very pro-gun. It depends on what you mean here.
Most of the problem is #1. The gun culture/crowd “eats its own” often because it tries to say everyone has to believe the same. We can all be pro-gun and do that in a different matter, just as someone who is pro-Linux doesn’t have to use your favorite distribution of Linux, and someone who is pro-tobacco doesn’t have to smoke it to be considered tobacco absolutist.
I think if we stop being narrow minded and narrowly focused and allow for a little bit of disagreement, I think we’ll stop eating our own and start seeing more people join our ranks, because no one wants to join a group of jerks or elitists.
Case in point, I know some people who have called me not pro-2A because I believe in background checks. However, I also believe I should be allowed to concealed carry a Glock 18, something they say they don’t agree with because “no one needs a machine gun.” Seriously, it has got to stop. You can be pro-gun without being so pro-gun that you believe a working 105mm howitzer is what every kid should get for their 10th birthday 🙂
Great… Now I want a 105mm howitzer for my B-Day.
More 10 year old girls would still die falling off a birthday pony than would die from a 105mm howitzer.
Wait…I’m not done. Why do you trust Barack Obama with the entire arsenal of the free world but you don’t trust me with a 10 year old owning a Howitzer?
Serious question.
By vote different I do not mean political parties, I mean pro gun votes regardless of party.
systemd is anti-choice, therefore anti-liberty, therefore anti-gun.
Slackware FTW! ~
Before I bought my gun, I was talking to a buddy about it. He said he had a EAA .45. I asked him what he wanted for it. He said “I can’t sell it to you because it’s not registered”. Now I didn’t even own a gun at the time and I knew guns needn’t be registered. Where did this all start?
A lesson on the limits of diversity learned by the flight instruction community:
Don’t train students with Arabic names who specify they only want to learn to load and shoot the gun, not holster, unload or clean it.
What about non-Arabic students with similar demands?
It’s a joke… What a tough room!
Hasn’t this writing been published before? I swear I’ve read this before and a number of the comments too.
I hope not,
Just as music has brought people together firearms will be the next bridge to bring people together. The oath keepers guarding a bakery owned by a black woman. Racially integrated open carry groups in Michigan and Texas. These are small examples. But you have to start somewhere. As more people learn about the history of self-defense they will come around the the GOA and NRA way of thinking. I talk about this history with my co workers and family.
One of my friends owns guns and has grown up around them in New Hampshire (and even interned with Sig Sauer for a while) but whenever he comes to my apartment in VA and checks out all my stuff, he never fails to insist that my 22 round Glock magazine *must* be illegal. That feeling that every gun and every thing about a gun must be registered with the gov or it’s probably illegal is pretty deeply ingrained in people who don’t even realize it.
Yep you can thank the media for that indoctrination coupled with statist indoctrination in our schools. Plus humanity’s inherent nature to just do what they are told never questioning a single thing whether on the left or right.
Even when I was in High Scool a decade ago when taking a civics class they pretty much skipped over the 2nd Amendment except for some snarky anti comments.
Comments are closed.