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Let Freedom Ring,
Posted on 12/12/2011 9:58:57 AM PST by Between the Lines
Robin Natanel picks up a compact black pistol, barrel pointed down range. Gripping the gun with both hands, she raises the semi-automatic and methodically squeezes off five shots. If the target were a person's head or heart, he'd probably be dead.
Natanel is a Buddhist and self-avowed "spiritual person," a 53-year-old divorcee who lives alone in a liberal-leaning suburb near Boston. She's a tai chi instructor who invokes the benefits of meditation. And at least twice a month, she takes her German-made Walther PK380 to a shooting range and blazes away.
Natanel is one of a growing number of people in groups once considered anti-handgun - women, liberals, gays and college kids - who have been buying weapons. They are part of a national trend: Domestic handgun production and imports more than doubled over four years to about 4.6 million in 2009, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The surge has been propelled by shifting politics and demographics that have made it easier and more acceptable than at any time in 75 years for Americans to buy and carry handguns. Post-9/11 fears seem to be a factor, as are the pro-gun politicking of the National Rifle Association and the marketing, particularly to women, by handgun manufacturers. Events like the Dec. 8 fatal shootings on the Virginia Tech University campus reinforce a feeling that the world is an unsafe place, even as violent U.S. crime rates fall.
Two years ago, an ex-boyfriend broke into Natanel's house when she wasn't home. The police advised a restraining order. Instead, she bought pepper spray and programmed the local police number on her cellphone's speed dial.
"I was constantly terrified for my safety," she says.
Ultimately, she got the pistol.
Natanel found it was no trouble to purchase the Walther, a brand favored by movie superspy James Bond, or to locate experts to train her. Her circumstances won her a concealed-carry permit in a state with tough gun-control laws.
"I'd never considered a gun," Natanel says. "...I didn't think anyone should have them."
'Clear societal change'
Twenty years ago, 76 percent of women felt that way about handguns, and 68 percent of all people in the country were wary enough of firearms of any kind to tell Gallup pollsters that they backed laws more strictly limiting their sale. Then what Gallup calls "a clear societal change" began.
In October, a Gallup poll found record-low support for a handgun ban - at 26 percent among all responders and 31 percent among women.
The poll, which has tracked gun attitudes since 1959, documented a record-low 43 percent who favor making it more difficult to acquire guns and record-high numbers of women and Democrats saying there is a firearm at their home. Forty-seven percent said someone in the household owns at least one gun, the highest reading in 18 years.
Skeptics object
Americans who have acquired handguns for protection are living with "serious delusions," says Caroline Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. She contends that few are trained rigorously enough to deploy their weapons in the shock and heat of an attack, that they'll shoot innocent bystanders, and that more times than not their firearms will be turned against them.
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Let Freedom Ring,
Homosexuals with guns is a really dangerous combination. The males will use a gun to the head of every young boy—is that their game?
The more Sharia Law is talked about openly in this country, the more I predict gays will suddenly become believers in the Second Amendment.
Maybe if people become responsible for their own safety, they will start to see the virtues of individuality in other areas. It’s a start.
Even though my wife is trained, prepared, and equipped with a SIG 229 in 40, I think a woman that draws a firearm on a perp is enough to defer continued action. Especially if the woman is a red head. :-)
That would be interesting if it were true. Trouble is, it hasn't happened. But libs never let facts get in the way of any of their many agendas.
I just hope that their over-sized sense of self-entitlement doesn't affect the way they use their new weapons.
These reporters just won't even dare to mention the real reasons;
Obama's dreadnaught-like desire to destroy America and the rise in flash mob activities by the demographic that elected him in the first place.
“She contends that few are trained rigorously enough to deploy their weapons in the shock and heat of an attack, that they’ll shoot innocent bystanders, and that more times than not their firearms will be turned against them”
I forget now. Will that be before or after the streets run red with blood from a new “wild west”, etc, etc.?
It never seems to phase them for a second that their talking points are demonstrably false.
On a happier note, Mrs Pessimist has a PK380, just like the lady in the article. Nice little weapon!
And I just recently picked up a Commander sized Kimber like the one depicted. (Mine’s a Tac Pro 2, in 9mm though.)
“”Homosexuals with guns is a really dangerous combination. The males will use a gun to the head of every young boy—is that their game?””
If that is their “game” I doubt they would be purchasing legal handguns. Personally I don’t feel threatened by any of these groups owning handguns.
Good point!
I suspect that may be the tipping point that gets Islam expunged from our society. If they gain power sufficient to increase the subjugation and reprisals against the gay community, then the outcry will come from the Loony Lefties to defeat Islam. But not, I fear, until then.
“”These reporters just won’t even dare to mention the real reasons””
There seems to be a tone to the article that these types of people shouldn’t even consider owning handguns. Denial.
Well at least she has good taste....Love the PK380. One of my favorites.
The thing about tolerating the intolerant...it will come back to bite you.
I’m down to one adult child at home, with my wife and I. Both me and my dog are getting a bit long in the tooth. I never owned a firearm with small kids in the house because I didn’t feel I needed it, and I was afraid I’d slip and one of the kids would gain access.
So, now I’m starting to think about getting a gun. Couple of questions: What’s the best bang for the buck in a home protection firearm? (pun intended). And, what is the proper way to store said firearm for safety, yet accessibility in the event of a break in?
Given the mindset of liberals, I doubt that suddenly owning a gun will cause them to adhere strictly to Agenda 21 and off themselves.
Governments with guns are much more dangerous than homos.
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