December 27, 2011

"But when I'm shooting a gun, I guess I feel empowered, and empowerment is sexy."

So says a woman, so isn't it adorable? From a very silly CBSnews.com article about women and guns and how "feminine" and "girly girl" they feel. Replete with New Age nonsense:
"I'm a yoga instructor, I work at a vegan bakery — and I also like to shoot guns.... Yoga's Zen-like quality can be applied to shooting guns in a lot of ways... Shooting guns takes focus, concentration, and it doesn't always have to be about violence."
Imagine a man going on in a similar fashion about guns making him feel "sexy" and "empowered" in some "Zen-like" way.

93 comments:

bagoh20 said...

Men just don't talk about it.

bagoh20 said...

If I was a woman, I would never feel safe alone without a gun. To be at the mercy of half the population's good will is a scary thought. To be a woman with children and no gun...forget about it.

With that said, a penis is also a poor substitute.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Like Samurai and Katanas?

chickelit said...

bagoh20 said...
Men just don't talk about it.

Hell, John Lennon sang about it: link.

Instant karma got him in the end, though.

Lipperman said...

Confronted with a thug who means to harm, a gun is the great equalizer.
If that security makes her feel empowered or sexy, who am I to argue?

DADvocate said...

Talk to a soldier, son. There's excitement there to be firing off the bigger guns especially. Sexual excitement even.

On Christmas day, I saw my nephew who had finished a tour in Afghanistan a couple of months ago. He's in artillery. It wasn't any big deal to him. The enemy shooting rockets into his encampment was a big deal.

CachorroQuente said...

Sometimes women sing about guns too.

Cheryl Wheeler is wonderful both live and on recording.

edutcher said...

The Blonde's father made sure she knew how to handle firearms as well as learning judo.

I've never heard her say anything like, "sexy", or, "empowered", but, one night when she still lived in da 'hood and a cop saw a light on in her brother's place and went to investigate, he came face to face with You Know Who with a .45 in her hand. When he announced himself as a policeman (the place was dark), she replied, "Unless I see some ID, I'll shoot you dead",

He very quickly complied. Nothing girly about it.

PS The woman in the story has seen too many of her boyfriend's girls-in-bikinis-with-automatic-weapons videos.

AmPowerBlog said...

A "vegan bakery." Sheesh.

Bender said...

Real empowerment means not talking about how empowered you now feel.

Kelly from Georgia said...

I love shooting. At anything. Period.

Kelly

Penny said...

I have a GREAT idea! What if half of us hang onto the guns we have, and the other half of us hang on to the guns we wish we had?

Freud, bless his soul...

Believed there was no reason to pay the rifle salesman nor the yoga instructor in order to get what is our due quite naturally.

traditionalguy said...

Of course shooting long guns has a sexual component for normal men.

When we aim our piece at the target and hit the ten ring, we know that we have done our job.

Men especially like using target rifles with the heavier and thicker barrels.

jamboree said...

A lot of guys do feel sexy and empowered when they shoot, it doesn't matter what they "go on" about.

There is a mystique about guns; it's only natural this woman is going to put it through her vegan filter and come out with an empowerment vocabulary. Maybe it'll be like all the blue staters moving to Montana. Everywhere yoga moms will infiltrate the shooting ranges until they are ruined for the regulars.

bagoh20 said...

It doesn't just make you *feel* empowered - you are.

dunce said...

Most of these comments were on the psyche of gun owners as though owning a gun totally defined them, yet the only gun owner in the article was such an airhead that in the interest of public safety she should probably be denied the right based on her weirdness.

rcommal said...

A "vegan bakery." Sheesh.

I must say I also found this interesting, specifically from a technical standpoint.

rcommal said...

As for the gun-owning motif:

We empower the guns. The guns don't empower us.

Under no circumstances should it ever be otherwise, and so we teach our son (a gun-shooter, and a responsible one, already).

And so should it be in general.

/one of the rare occasions I'll ever be flatly both proscriptive and prescriptive: but it's only because I know I'm 100% right on this one

rcommal said...

We also empower a whole range of other tools, and they not us. Make no mistake: It's extremely important to grasp the distinction. That distinction is the pin on which responsibility turns, and without which accountability cannot reliably exist.

Kirk Parker said...

I wouldn't know about sexy empowerment, but zen??? Heck yeah!

Anonymous said...

Archery is a formal discipline within Zen. I don't see any reason why shooting can't be Zen.

I think it's great that CBS is featuring a vegan yogic shooter. One of the big journalistic lies in the gun debate is that it is a left against right issue. It's not, it's urban versus everybody else.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JHapp said...

"I'm a yoga instructor, I work at a vegan bakery — and I also like to BLANK.... Yoga's Zen-like quality can be applied to BLANK in a lot of ways... BLANK takes focus, concentration, and it doesn't always have to be about violence."

Donna B. said...

A politically correct article about shooting... stress that it's women, stress that they are all properly licensed, stress that it's for sport, stress that it's a hobby.

And it's zen-like!

The scariest part is that for at least one of them, it's an antidote for her obsession with her children.

Should I worry about her children or just feel sorry for them?

caplight45 said...

Just feel sorry for them. Hopeless.

Scott M said...

We also empower a whole range of other tools, and they not us.

I get far more excited about a new table saw blade or a new jig for the router table than I do about the G19 I wear just about every single day. Guns are only a mystery to those that know next to nothing about them.

Hagar said...

Shooting and reloading both are activities that require good hand-eye coordination in which women tend to do better than men.

And you can have fun, pick up a little pin money, and enjoy a little schadenfreude on the weekend, raiding the men's silhouette shooting event.

Joe Schmoe said...

The NYT has an article that is critical of concealed carry in NC. Seems to me that this could be spin to either divert attention from Fast-n-Furious or support the ATF/DOJ attempts at stricter gun control.

KCFleming said...

Didja ever notice that girls (and women) can't do sound effects?

A girl will say pih-CHOO pih-CHOO to imitate gunfire.

A boy will, well, sound like a gun. They make great explosion sounds, too.

But, to fit with the modern news style book, the girls do it better.

Scott M said...

Guns are only a mystery to those that know next to nothing about them.

It just occurred to me how utterly ridiculous that statement is.

KCFleming said...

Not true, Scott. Few things have the totemic power of guns to those unexposed, treated as if they were alive.

I was that way myself.

Not all things unknown are a mystery. How books are made? Yawn.

Scott M said...

Not all things unknown are a mystery. How books are made? Yawn.

Well, now we're down to mysteries versus interesting mysteries. I usually try to be a bit more precise in my use of the Queen's lingo, but my original contention is the linguistic equivalent of a Mobius strip.

Unknown said...

I found the 'vegan bakery' thing quite interesting. Does there exist a bakery that makes its bread out of meat? In particular, might there be a bakery that makes its bread out of bacon?

Curious George said...

" Pogo said...
Didja ever notice that girls (and women) can't do sound effects?"

But did you notice that all the women in the embedded video practice vocal fry, except the black woman shooting instructor?

Tank said...

I enjoy shooting. I'm guessing most men, and many women, do. It's fun. Certainly at every class or range I've been to, everyone seems to be having a good time, including beginners, women, etc.

What I feel about it when using a weapon is respectfull. I know what they can do, and sometimes can't do.

I want to be able to use one if I need it {and as a 150 lb 58 year old I might], but I don't want to make any mistakes. They're hard to take back.

Respect.

caplight45 said...

@Jess
I suspect a vegan bakery uses no animal fats as shortening and maybe no eggs either.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

I don't know from sexy or empowered, but shooting is pure Zen. Anybody can point a gun downrange, but it takes a calm,clear mind to squeeze the trigger at the precise moment connecting eye, hand, and target.

Hey Crack! New Age Alert, you ignorant fool.

MadisonMan said...

My Dad's cousin -- who turns 100 this year -- had a sweet blue steel Colt pistol for her glove compartment. Her Uncle gave it to her saying no woman drove around South Carolina at night without a gun in her car.

Don't think she ever shot it, though, so I guess she was sadly unempowered.

Brian Brown said...

I work at a vegan bakery

I'm sorry, a what?

MadisonMan said...

vegan bakery

I wonder.

I suppose a cookie or brownie or donut might be okay. But the lack of butter? No croissant-type dough? That's a huge void.

Scott M said...

I suppose a cookie or brownie or donut might be okay.

How do you make a cookie without milk?

Big Mike said...

You can make a cookie without milk -- I'm sure there's a recipe somewhere for making a cookie without milk.

You just can't eat it without milk.

The Crack Emcee said...

Imagine a man going on in a similar fashion about guns making him feel "sexy" and "empowered" in some "Zen-like" way.

Yeah - "Happiness is a warm gun" - that would be hilarious. On the other hand, he was a hippie, so it doesn't exactly count.

Better to stick to comments on acceptance,...

Scott M said...

Imagine a man going on in a similar fashion about guns making him feel "sexy" and "empowered" in some "Zen-like" way.

I've never studied "zen" to understand it's meaning enough to know if it's happened to me or not. I've zoned out on night-time guard duty before. Does that count?

What some would call "zen" just sounds a lot like concentrating on the task at hand to me. Certainly, hitting a man-sized target at 500 meters requires concentration, but I don't know if it requires "zen".

chuck said...

Give those ladies a cigar.

Shanna said...

You can make a cookie without milk -- I'm sure there's a recipe somewhere for making a cookie without milk.

There are lots of cookies that don't require milk, but they do require lots of butter. I guess Vegans use fake butter and animal fats. And maybe soy milk?

kk said...

I own a bakery and I make precisely two products that are vegan - Italian bread and sourdough bread. Everything else - sandwich bread, cookies, marshmallows, pie crusts, etc have butter, buttermilk, milk, eggs, gelatin and/or lard in them. Occasionally I get requests to veganify my recipes, but I refuse to do it because 1) it would involve using ingredients like margarine, which I object to on principle and 2) it would result in an inferior product. I refuse to bastardize my product to indulge your neurosis.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Scott M said...

Certainly, hitting a man-sized target at 500 meters requires concentration, but I don't know if it requires "zen".


Bingo. Sounds like you've committed Zen without knowing it. I don't claim to be an expert, but Zen isn't religion, and it's barely philosophy. It's mind-body discipline. It's learning how to exist in the present, which is the only real time. Ram Dass gave a great example. When you're driving your car, you're listening to the radio, talking to people in the car, thinking about what you need to do at work. Somehow you get where you're going without killing anybody. The part of your mind that drives just drove. The classic exercise of Zen is zazen, sitting just to sit. You hand over control to the part of your mind that sits, and give the rest of it the day off. If you can do that when you're shooting, or playing golf, or facing cancer, you will do them better.

Toad Trend said...

Women shooting guns is sexy.

Women talking about shooting guns is sexy.

And refreshing. Because I've had it up to my eyeballs hearing women (girly men too) and their irrational fear of firearms.

Freud was right I think.

Michael said...

You don't shoot guns; you shoot things with guns. You fire guns. Actually, you fire rifles or pistols. The Army and Navy have guns.

Toad Trend said...

"Real empowerment means not talking about how empowered you now feel."

Yep, its that security/insecurity thing. Drawing attention to oneself consistently would indicate the latter.

Toad Trend said...

"You don't shoot guns; you shoot things with guns. You fire guns."

A knack for the obvious is a critical skill, no?

Scott M said...

Actually, you fire rifles or pistols. The Army and Navy have guns.

Point of order. A shotgun is not a rifle.

Scott M said...

Drawing attention to oneself consistently would indicate the latter.

You've summed up my feelings about rap in fewer syllables than I've ever managed. "Rap sucks" doesn't quite cover all the nuances of why it, indeed, sucks.

Toad Trend said...

""Rap sucks" doesn't quite cover all the nuances of why it, indeed, sucks."

Scott, I concur, rap is just crap without the 'c'....ok, bring on all the culture warriors that are gonna explain to us the value of rap as 'street' communication. Never mind the glorification of guns, drugs, sex, violence against women and law enforcement.

Other than that its perfectly fine, right???

The Crack Emcee said...

Scott M,

I've never studied "zen" to understand it's meaning enough to know if it's happened to me or not. I've zoned out on night-time guard duty before. Does that count?

Atta boy - and yes.

Beats than the alternative,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Don't Tread 2012,

Scott, I concur, rap is just crap without the 'c'....ok, bring on all the culture warriors that are gonna explain to us the value of rap as 'street' communication. Never mind the glorification of guns, drugs, sex, violence against women and law enforcement.

Other than that its perfectly fine, right???


You guys are both full of shit. Who gives a fuck about "the glorification of guns, drugs, sex, violence against women and law enforcement." Glenn Reynolds promotes guns every day. Drugs are used everywhere in this country. Sex is the sales tool de Jour. Violence is a given of life - and women, many times, deserve a beating. (Thinking all men aren't going to deliver it because you made some pussy laws is delusional) and law enforcement? Three words: Fast and Furious.

You guys are hypocrites, blaming the messengers.

Which is exactly what hypocrites do, BTW. Thinking is not a strong suit:

A genre of music, by definition, can't be bad,...

Scott M said...

I'm not full of shit, Crack. My mention of rap came on the heels of this statement.

"Real empowerment means not talking about how empowered you now feel."

Rap acts and their constant referencing of themselves and their prowess in this or that activity, within the lyrics of their cuts, fall into that category.

Toad Trend said...

"You guys are both full of shit."

Pot, meet kettle. Takes one to know one, eh Crack???

Your response was entirely predictable. Straining to equate rap's common themes with websites and other vagaries is weak. The 'see, they do it too' is so adolescent.

The Crack Emcee said...

Scott M and Don't Tread 2012,

You guys should cut it out because both of your statements just keep re-enforcing the impression of how ignorant you are of Rap music. If you don't like Gangsta Rap then fine, but that ain't "Rap music" and even Gangsta is good if you look at like you would gangster movies like The Godfather and whatnot.

But, of course, your minds are so clouded, by conventional wisdom, reality might have a hard time getting through,...

And to Scott M - there was NO REASON for Rap music to be brought into this conversation. I told you:

You expose yourself, man,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Don't Tread 2012,

The 'see, they do it too' is so adolescent.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying rap comments on all of it - the good, the bad, and the ugly - but you blame the form rather than yourselves for letting such a piss poor excuse for a society emerge.

The best part of all this criticism is, I know, Rappers don't give a fuck what you think,..because you're the one THEY BLAME for allowing it to be so fucked up in the first place.

Us Against Them - you just can't help yourselves,...

Scott M said...

Us Against Them - you just can't help yourselves,...

I can't stand country either, Crack. I suppose that makes me responsible for society's ills as well, but, frankly, I don't really give a fuck. I don't like the music form, don't listen to it, and don't buy it. Just like rap.

Hip hop is another matter and I was truly as saddened at Heavy D's loss as I will be when Neil Peart goes tits up. See how little you know me?

bbkingfish said...

There's no need for men to go on about how "sexy" and "empowered" guns make them feel. If they denied it, no one would believe them anyway.

That guns have some supra-rational appeal to a big swath of male America is so obvious that it doesn't bear much discussion.

The Crack Emcee said...

What are you going to do? Maybe we need to recognize that music is not compatible with the highest values of the public schools of the United States

From Ann's other thread. And no, good or bad, it's not music's job to do anything but be good.

Scott M,

I can't stand country either, Crack. I suppose that makes me responsible for society's ills as well, but, frankly, I don't really give a fuck. I don't like the music form, don't listen to it, and don't buy it. Just like rap.

Then here's a trick for you - BLAME YOURSELF. First because you don't know what you're talking about - you've got the whole thing backwards:

Hip-Hop is culture.

Heavy D made Rap music - so you like Rap and despise Hip-Hop. That's a statement that's understandable. There are many aspects of Hip-Hop culture I dislike, but Rap music? That makes no sense.

I'm pretty sure Don't Tread 2012 is trying to say the same thing - ignorantly.

I'm glad you brought up Heavy D,...

Clear?

Scott M said...

Heavy D made Rap music - so you like Rap and despise Hip-Hop. That's a statement that's understandable. There are many aspects of Hip-Hop culture I dislike, but Rap music? That makes no sense.

You misunderstood, possibly that's what makes no sense. I LOVED hip hop from roughly the mid-80's through roughly the mid-90's. The community, the culture, the fashion, the dancing, all of it. All were every bit as redeeming as any other form of music I enjoyed or continue to enjoy.

Rap...not so much. Maybe some of the ground-breaking stuff way, way back early 80's, but not much. When rap artists stray back into hip hop, I give it a listen.

The Crack Emcee said...

Scott, now you're talking gibberish to hide your ignorance - you start off describing culture:

I LOVED hip hop from roughly the mid-80's through roughly the mid-90's. The community, the culture, the fashion, the dancing, all of it.

Here's where you have a problem: What were they dancing to? Rap music - even you know it:

All were every bit as redeeming as any other form of music I enjoyed or continue to enjoy.

Rap...not so much.

Bullshit - you like Heavy D, so you like Rap Music, but you don't like where Hip-Hop, the culture's, gone. Listen to yourself:

Maybe some of the ground-breaking stuff way, way back early 80's, but not much. When rap artists stray back into hip hop, I give it a listen.

That should read, "When rap artists get stuck in hip hop, I tune them out." That would mean you might like Gospel Rap, or Heavy D, or A Tribe Called Quest, or a particular song, but have no interest in what Hip-Hop culture's currently pimping as a lifestyle.

That, I can agree with.

Paul said...

Yes I shoot a gun for enjoyment,and to keep up my skill in case a nutjob decides to rob/murder/maim/etc.. me or my family.

But 'empowerment'? Geeze what stupidity.

Scott M said...

I'll cede the point, Crack, that you think you know what I'm talking about.

The Crack Emcee said...

Scott M,

I'll cede the point, Crack, that you think you know what I'm talking about.

Pride is such a silly emotion - I know exactly what you're talking about:

Hip-Hop culture started out with a light, festive atmosphere - until politics, then gangsta, and then materialism, infiltrated it's thinking - and, now, you don't like it anymore.

Completely understandable and, to a large extent, I agree.

Rap music, on the other hand, has nothing to do with any of that. It still is light and festive, or political, gangsta, materialistic, thoughtful, stupid, atheistic or believing, feminist or not, or really anything else. It's music. You just have to find the bands/artists that do what you enjoy.

It's as easy as saying "The Crack Emcee hates NewAge - but likes a few Enya songs."

I like lots of music from shitty cultures. Rastafarian is one of the most evil and racist cultures on the planet - but I Iove Reggae, it's Gospel music. (Most white people have no idea what they're listening to, there, either,..."Babylon will fall" is predicting/demanding/calling for the end of white culture) Music has no boundaries.

This'll make a good topic for a blog post,...

The Crack Emcee said...

I ran across this while looking for something else.

Thought it was relevant,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Here's another, commenting on the uglier intersection of music and culture,...

Methadras said...

Professor, have you ever shot a gun before? Weapon use, specifically gun use is only sexy and empowering if it gets you laid.

rcommal said...

Oh, wow. I didn't know about that documentary. I'd like to see it, too. I really enjoy A Tribe Called Quest.

The Crack Emcee said...

rcommal,

Oh, wow. I didn't know about that documentary. I'd like to see it, too. I really enjoy A Tribe Called Quest.

So did I. It's very sad, with a few twists I wasn't expecting at all.

Oh - and if you order it through my blog, you help me out as well. It's getting to be like that, I guess,...

mariner said...

The Crack Emcee,
Yeah - "Happiness is a warm gun" - that would be hilarious.

Well, I HATE it when my gun gets cold.

Big Mike said...

Zen is good for target shooting. Don't know whether it helps when the target is bigger that you are, stronger than you are, and shooting back.

Sigivald said...

Jess said: I found the 'vegan bakery' thing quite interesting. Does there exist a bakery that makes its bread out of meat? In particular, might there be a bakery that makes its bread out of bacon?

Vegan, not vegetarian.

Vegetarian bread is easy (indeed, without trying, it's hard to find bread that isn't vegetarian).

Bread (or other baked goods) without milk or butter or honey or eggs, however... rather harder.

(Especially making good baked goods without those ...)

Andy Johnson said...

I think that -everyone- who wants a gun should have one.

I also think that -everyone- who has a gun should 1) practice with it frequently, more than once a month and 2) always-always-always practice safety with a gun. There is NO SUCH THING as an unloaded gun until you verify that fact.

Given all of that, I like the S&W "Governor" for home defense... It fires both a .410 and a .45 round. Both types of ammo will slow-deter-remove a threat. You must also be aware that drywall will not stop a solid round... Be Safe...Use with care...

An armed society is a polite society...The ability to return fire does wonders for peaceful relations.

Denton said...

When I do it right, shooting really is a Zen-like experience. I concentrate to the point that there is nothing but the sights and the target. I tighten my trigger squeeze, and then, as if by magic, the gun goes off. You probably have to experience it to understand.

I don't know that I feel more empowered or more manly, but I definitely do enjoy what I'm doing. It's a stress reliever somehow, and it requires such concentration that none of the worries of the day intrude. That, plus some of the nicest people you'll ever meet are at the range.

Cincinnatus said...

If you want to ask a woman about guns, ask a woman who knows guns.

Ernst Stavro Blofeld said...

Shooting from the bench requires a state of relaxed concentration. You get into a state of mind, go through a routine--inhale, exhale, trigger slack, trigger break, bang--and if you do it well you get into a state of flow.

docweasel said...

@bagoh20 Depends on where you live. I live in a suburb of Tampa, I take my 2 year old daughter and 5 year son old for walks (with her in a stroller and him ranging far and wide around us on his bike or scooter) after dark and I never feel any fear, no one has ever molested me in any way, not even verbally, and I've never even _heard_ of any violence locally, although I'm sure there may be some, somewhere.

Sorry, I'm as conservative as anyone, but I wouldn't have a gun in the house with kids, not unless I lived out in the boonies where a cop couldn't respond in 20 mins or less. I just don't believe the risk is warrented, and fears of muggings and home invasions are overblown. I'm glad there are gun rights, but I'm a little sad to see women chasing what I feel like is a false masculinity thing. My husband doesn't drive a large car either, so there may be that inadequacy and penis envy thing happening.

DADvocate said...

I take my 2 year old daughter and 5 year son old for walks (with her in a stroller and him ranging far and wide around us on his bike or scooter)

Make sure he wears a helmet. In 2007, 9 kids 1 to 14 died from accidental handgun discharge and 68 (of more if I missed a category) died from "pedal cyclist" accidents. Approximately 90% of the deaths are due to head injuries. (CDC numbers)

The Crack Emcee said...

Oh Jeez, leave it to the InstaDuMBent himself to call out the Yes, shooting's like Zen! crowd. Next will be the Raw milk is like caviar! contingent.

When it comes to the goofier NewAge shit, the man never fails to be an embarrassment, I tell you,...

Lou Gots said...

The applicability of Zen meditation and discipline to competitive shooting is well-known.

Any accomplished shooter who has read Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the4 Art of Archery knows all about this.

Back in the late 1960's when I was shooting 3-position international-style smallbore rifle in college, I became turned o to Zen discipline. I found that Herrigel was describing almost exactly what I was experiencing with my rifle, and that this was very close to what champion shooters, Olympians and their coaches, were saying in the books I was reading on advanced marksmanship.

The Zen shooting experience consiste of losing oneself in the unity of the mind and body and rifle and the bullet and the target. Some of it is obvious, as in breathing discipline, and in a simultaneous detachment and awareness of time, and light, and shapes--of ones own body, being aware of the oxygen content of one's own blood. After a time, I added an awareness of the internal parts of my rifle, sensing how the parts of the trigger-sear-bolt system functioned. Added to the is experiencing it all as a spectator, and not a participant. Then it all came together, and in Herrigel's words, "It shoots." It is quite uncanny, there being absolutely no conscious decision that the shot be fired at that instant.

I don't shoot 3-position any more, but now in retirement I have found time to get back into at least smallbore silhouette. Sometimes, not always, as in the old days,the Zen emptying of concentration into detachment comes into play again. The shooter and the rifle and the target all become one, time goes away, and, as Eugen Herrigel put it, "It shoots."

rcommal said...

Sorry, I'm as conservative as anyone, but I wouldn't have a gun in the house with kids,

What's your stance on power tools?

Not to mention excellent (and appropriately very sharp) kitchen knives?

Also, gas ranges? Lawn mowers? Weed whackers?

And a whole number of electronics.

traditionalguy said...

Lou Gotts makes a good point. Competitive shooting includes breath controlled sighting moments when more than conscious self control seems to take over. But that has to be experienced.

rcommal said...

Also, a whole array of hand tools, some as old as 160 years. Man, those suckers are amazing (if you doubt it, think of all that was built before the advent of electricity). But many of them are damn sharp and damnably dangerous. What to do--what to do--what to DO?--if there are children in the vicinity (urban environment or not)?

---

I will say this: Thanks for clarifying. Because I agree with you: Your young 'uns ought never be near tools posing potential danger, of any type, on account of their old 'uns not getting that the profound danger lies not in the tools but rather the people.

rcommal said...

And please keep your untrained young 'uns--untrained both in terms of tools and also hard boundaries and limits--away from mine.

Denton said...

The whole discussion seems to take on a dimension heavily influenced by people who learned all they know about guns by watching TV and going to the movies, and who project their own fears and biases on people who enjoy shooting.

In real life, shooting is a lot more like playing bridge or golf than it is like the wild West. It's honing a skill, like shooting baskets, plus a generally very pleasant social interaction. Well run shooting ranges are quite safe and orderly, and people behave well and pick up their own litter.

Hitting the "groove" and putting 5 rounds into a half inch at 100 yards is simply challenging, fun, and a good reason to get outdoors.

Self protection? Yeah, I suppose that comes along in the bargain. Chances are you'll never need a defensive weapon. But if you ever do, you will need it rather badly. The choice to carry or not to carry is highly personal, and I have no quarrel with people on either side of the question.

rcommal said...

My husband doesn't drive a large car either, so there may be that inadequacy and penis envy thing happening.

This is the bit, in particular, that set me off in terms of commenting publicly (as opposed to just keeping my thoughts to myself). It's too easy, too stupid, and--above all--too late '70s/early '80s for me. I just don't think I have to suck up that sort of BS anymore. It's been decades now. And I don't, anymore.

Kirk Parker said...

Andy J.,

Oh, dear, now S&W has a clone of "The Judge" so we have to hear even more about this pathetic marvel of modern marketing over suitability? Spare me, if you want a revolver just buy a .38sp or .44sp--now you've got a perfectly suitable self-defense handgun and you can still buy shotshells in those calibers for anti-snake use, which is really all .410 out of short barrel is good for anyway.

Scott M said...

Shooting from the bench requires a state of relaxed concentration.

I have never understood this part of sport shooting. It may be the way I was raised (no ranges involved, mostly backcountry training) or my experience in the military, but sitting at a nice table with your weapon secured by vice grips just doesn't appeal to me at all.