Quote from: ImagineKate on January 26, 2015, 10:14:09 AM
To me the term "gun nut" is almost as bad as "->-bleeped-<-" but whatever. Some people wear it as a badge of honor, some don't like it.
I am a gun owner, and I own rifles, shotguns and handguns. I even own one of those scary black AR-15 rifles. It has a scope on it so it's an even scarier sniper rifle.
I carry almost everywhere although I do not carry to work (yet) because I really haven't approached it with HR but we have others here who carry so I probably will.
And I am a trans woman. Well look at that! We come from everywhere, don't we?
I am also a libertarian. "Don't tread on anyone."
What I have found in my short time in the gun world is that it crosses all socio-economic boundaries. There are liberal gun owners and conservative ones as well. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, male, female, you name it. When I went through my training the classroom was about half male and half female and this is ultra-liberal Massachusetts. So it's definitely not a "guy thing" to want to own a gun. The only thing I see is that there are only 3 kinds of people: ones who are easily frightened by the mere sight of a gun even if lawfully carried and want them all banned, people who understand the meaning of self-defense in a life or death struggle, and some people who are still on the fence and uncertain.
What I do understand about all of this is that the right to defend your own life from being taken is just as profound a human right as being able to speak freely. That to me is the essence of the 2nd amendment. It's not about overthrowing the government. To overthrow the government in this country it's simple: we vote the bums out and get a new bunch of bums to govern us. The second amendment is also not about armies or state militias. Those will always be needed in times of riots and revolts.
The bill of rights covers people, individuals, not militias or the government themselves. It's about what you say, and preventing the government from unlawfully imprisoning you or depriving your other rights in the process, and as result allows a person to defend themselves from others who would do them harm.
last thing I wanted to say is about this assault weapons stuff. It just doesn't make sense to treat a .22 rifle with great fear and disdain because of the color of the gun or the stock or whether to can be carried over a shoulder or has a certain scope. It's just ludicrous. I almost want gun manufacturers to make guns that look cartoonish and silly just to show how absurd it really is. Make a .22 that looks like Marvin the Martians disintegrator pistol, like a toy. Would that make the anti-gun people happy knowing that it looked silly?
