Confessions of a liberal gun owner
Except for shotguns (firing one feels like being punched by a prizefighter), I enjoy shooting. At the range where I practice, most of the staff knows me by sight if not by name. I’m the guy in the metrosexual eyeglasses and Ralph Lauren polo, and I ask a lot of questions: What’s the best way to maintain my sight picture with both eyes open? How do I clear a stove-piped round?
There is pleasure to be had in exercising one’s rights, learning something new in midlife and mastering the operation of a complex tool, which is one thing a gun is. But I won’t deny the seductive psychological power that firearms possess. I grew up playing shooting games, pretending to be Starsky or Hutch or one of the patrolmen on “Adam-12,” the two most boring TV cops in history…
There are a lot of reasons that a gun feels right in my hand, but I also own firearms to protect my family. I hope I never have to use one for this purpose, and I doubt I ever will. But I am my family’s last line of defense. I have chosen to meet this responsibility, in part, by being armed. It wasn’t a choice I made lightly. I am aware that, statistically speaking, a gun in the home represents a far greater danger to its inhabitants than to an intruder. But not every choice we make is data-driven. A lot comes from the gut.
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Nancy-man. My daughters shoot shotguns.
Still, as a liberal gun owner you are one step away from becoming a murderer. Yes it’s true.
Bishop on January 28, 2013 at 8:09 PM
I don’t know if I buy this guys brand of bullshinola…
catmman on January 28, 2013 at 8:18 PM
Longcat is long, and BS stat is BS.
Irritable Pundit on January 28, 2013 at 8:18 PM
You should try putting it up to your shoulder instead of your forehead.
But he does have a point..shotguns used to scare the hell out of me….until I was about in the 7th grade….
BigWyo on January 28, 2013 at 8:20 PM
Still a Liberal with a gun. Loathe the NRA? Think firearms are too easy to get?
WTF! The Second Amendment isn’t about making it hard to get a weapon. It is couched around an expectation that members of the “militia” … citizens at large .. would be armed.
And “Heavy Weapons like an AR-15″ … another WTF? You can’t even hunt deer with the darn thing in some places because it won’t put the deer down. Varmints, sure. All day long. But “Heavy Weapon” like a semi-auto AR?
JFC! What is this..some sort of tactic to say “I’m a Lib and I have a gun because, well, I saw once where I might be wrong and got one.” And then slandered them all from his fine little .380 (minimum self defense round) on up the chain of his “armory.”
Sheesh.
Well, he’s still young. Maybe he’ll mature some more.
ProfShadow on January 28, 2013 at 8:20 PM
A New Englander transplanted in Texas. The clash of ideologies must keep him off balance most of the time. I’m not so sure I would want to be next to him at a gun range.
HotAirian on January 28, 2013 at 8:20 PM
If he lives in Austin, Houston or DFW, he feels right at home…
catmman on January 28, 2013 at 8:23 PM
Epic wuss.
visions on January 28, 2013 at 8:27 PM
by the way, Justin Cronin’s books are awesome if you are into zombie apocalypse stories
commodore on January 28, 2013 at 8:27 PM
Jeez. Even when you folks are right you end up being wrong.
rogerb on January 28, 2013 at 8:32 PM
Notice it’s OK for him to think this way, but not me.
Typical liberal. Two sets of rules.
CurtZHP on January 28, 2013 at 8:51 PM
It started off interesting and I was thinking he actually had made an interesting intellectual and emotional journey but then I lol @ “but also heavy weaponry like the AR-15″. Way to lose all credibility in five words.
If a 5.56×45 is heavy weaponry, what exactly is a. 30-30 with 50% more KE or. 30-06 with more than twice the KE, you know, two of those standard deer rifles that liberals respect so much
deepdiver on January 28, 2013 at 9:04 PM
huh?
long_cat on January 28, 2013 at 9:05 PM
Lollerskates!
In a million years I never saw that coming.
Irritable Pundit on January 28, 2013 at 9:11 PM
FALSE!
The way that statistical study was done was like saying Silverware in your kitchen drawer makes you more likely to be burglerized, because every house ever burglerized had Silverware in the Kitchen Drawer.
jaydee_007 on January 28, 2013 at 9:18 PM
You are invited to try my .300 H&H Magnum any day.
jaydee_007 on January 28, 2013 at 9:24 PM
I think my trusty olde Mosin kicks as hard as a 12Ga. I’ll shoot 50 or so “skeet”, but only about 10 7.62x54R.
tom daschle concerned on January 28, 2013 at 9:28 PM
I’m with rogerb on this one. Too funny! Probably leaves his stinking finger in the trigger guard all the time too.
Bmore on January 28, 2013 at 9:30 PM
When I “do” skeet shooting (OK, I don’t really “do” skeet shooting, I “do” sporting clays), I can shoot my 12 gauge several hundred times in an afternoon with nothing more than a slightly sore shoulder the next morning. This guy serves to reinforce my stereotype of liberals being sissies.
stvnscott on January 28, 2013 at 9:34 PM
Oh, Justin. Don’t forget you might actually need it if us pesky conservatives ever recapture all the branches of government and start practicing the tyranny of less government.
TexAz on January 28, 2013 at 9:37 PM
He sounds like a decent sort, except for the obvious fact that if he believes in the 2nd Amendment, he’s obviously indifferent to the bloody murder of six year olds.
applebutter on January 28, 2013 at 9:44 PM
^This!
soundingboard on January 28, 2013 at 9:52 PM
Most of us know better than to piss off a prizefighter enough to know what being punched by one feels like.
James on January 28, 2013 at 10:01 PM
That is the money quote from this article. Freedom for me, but not for thee.
The à la carte politics that the author refers to is just another way of saying “I hold these beliefs, not because of any principle, but because these are freedoms that are important to me.” The rest of us poor saps, however, shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms. Why you ask? Because unlike this author, we don’t ask all those questions about how to use this “complex tool”.
The hilarious thing is this author is probably very conservative but holds onto liberal ideals because it makes them feel good. See, guns are icky, but necessary. Even mentioning the pipe dream of wishing there were “zero guns” in the world is contradicted by him mentioning his desire for his daughter to shoot to protect herself from rape. You can’t have it both ways!!!
This is the snapshot of not only the modern liberal but sadly many of those low-information voters out there. These people pick and choose the freedoms they deem necessary to live the life they want. However, they disregard all other freedoms they don’t agree with or don’t depend on while scolding other people who seek the same freedoms they enjoy.
Just another example, this author complains about how easy it was to buy a gun. At no time does the author say they avoided such situations or made an effort to purchase a gun in a safer manner. Because, of course, they are trustworthy. The rest of you are not.
Here’s a idea: How about the author allows the rest of us to enjoy the same freedoms they do and not tell us how to live our lives. You are free to buy your guns and handle them your way, and the rest of us will handle them my way. Don’t argue that a lack of safety somehow endangers you and therefore that gives you a right to tell me how to behave.
I see plenty of TERRIBLE drivers on the road every single day, yet I’m not able to insist on stricter driver training. Car accidents kill 35,000 people a year, where is all the outrage over a lack of qualifications for new drivers?
There are none, because liberals like their cars too
.
Flashwing on January 28, 2013 at 10:11 PM