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.
I was being a bit sarcastic. On the other hand, we should reinstitute laws against sodomy.
An all too common mode of thinking (and one which originated with the gun-grabbers). The BEST way to handle children and guns in the same household is the TRAIN the children (and yes, even toddlers can be trained).
I grew up in the country. There were no "gun safes" (or similar storage for firearms). ALL firearms were readily available and KEPT LOADED AT ALL TIMES. When I was about four, my dad took me out in the back pasture and "let me shoot" his guns (mostly what I did was pull the trigger). Followed by the lecture about "guns are not toys", "don't fool with'em unless I'm there", etc. He did the same with my younger brother when he hit the same age. Worked just fine.
And ALL the families in that community taught THEIR kids the exact same way. In the entire time I lived there ('til college), there was NEVER a "child with gun" safety issue. The ONLY one I was aware of was one young fellow who leaned his shotgun on a fence while climbing over (while hunting)....went off...lost his arm. But THAT incident had taken place fifty years before.
Hopefully at the state level, I presume. The federal government has no authority to legislate on morality.
Yeah, they've been trying to make that argument for years. I think they've lost that one.
The federal government has no authority to legislate on morality.””
Morality isn’t the issue. The spreading of infectious disesases is the issue and what it is doing to the public health.
Perhaps YOU might not want them lighting up every one who comes to the door....
Perhaps YOU might not want them lighting up every one who comes to the door....
Okay, on reflection, I can think of an exception. I wouldn't want him lighting up the guy who comes every couple of months to top up my LP tank....
Not necessary. A $5.00 nylon buttcuff works just fine, and a slightly more expensive one, better built, works even better. Hit the link below for a demonstration.
Get the Thunder Ranch training video, a good flashlight, and some ammo for practice, practice, practice.
One of the jurors from the case is a personal acquaintance of mine, and he informs me that the jury pretty much saw him the same way. However, the creeps who killed him [after he threw a tantrum when they mocked his flirting with them] were also scum of not much more social worth, and had they not killed Shepard, they'd very likely have found another weak victim.
Think of it as evolution in action.
Infidel! Homosexuality is an insult and affront to the teachings of the Prophet [PBUH] and a direct attack on Islam itself [except when it's done by a Muslum] Your rejection of the One True Faith places you in apostasy, and there can be but one just outcome!
I KEEL YOU! [Oh, and Merry Christmas!] [ /Achmed ]
LOL!!!!
So should we ban them from using all firearms because of something they may do?
wastedyards, according to Neoliberal, I believe that he thinks that gays would use guns to force boys to have sex with them. I guess because of crimes committed with guns, we should ban them -- along with knives, fire or anything else that can be used to force someone to do something.
Sorry, NeoLib, but you are wrong. You have a hatred of gays, and feel sorry for you (and if you have a son or daughter who comes out of the closet, for them), but I'm glad that I have friends who are gay. My gay friends are conservative or LIBERTARIAN. (Just like conservative actors, most conservative gays are in the closet.)
No, posting depraved fantasies is YOUR game. Go get help, starting with better training as a shill. Better yet, go back to guard duty - you should never have been allowed to work a keyboard.
I agree with you... he has a depraved fantasy!! Somehow I feel sorry for him.
I agree...I didn’t say Matthew was a Rhodes Scholar, but he didn’t need to be killed.
True AIDS is a killer...but I'm not going to anti-gay because of AIDS. As I told my boys to practice safe sex.
You should redirect your comments to the homophobic boys the icon of the gay community, Mr. Sandusky, took care of. I lived in the bay area of San Fran and watched the molestation of boys for more than a few years. It was a game to them. The “gay” community referred to the young boys as twinks.
When you work for too many years with the CA dept of Public Health, you learn more about the disgusting “lifestyle” then you care to recall. I’m glad you are comfortable with being a homophile. Good luck with it. I have to ponder what other kinds of friends you have. Are you in the GLBT alliance? For the record, “gays” vote 90% democrat.
True AIDS is a killer...but I’m not going to anti-gay because of AIDS. As I told my boys to practice safe sex.””
Code for my sons are practicing homosexuals? Good job Dad. Perhaps a result of your homophilic tendencies?
Lets see... I have 2 friends of mine who are recovering ALCHOLICS, so should I stop seeing them because they were drunks? Lets see, my personal mechanic (and a good friend)was a drug user, should I stop going to is business because he was a drug user?
Are you in the GLBT alliance?
Nope!
For the record, “gays” vote 90% democrat.
Thank you. My gay friends are part of the 10% who vote GOP or 3rd party (if GOP candidate is a RINO).
Now, since you been on the dole (as a CA dept of Public Health employee), I think you need to go out and find some decent gays and talk to them. I never been an employee of the government, but you been.
My congratulations to your friends who have recovered. Your homosexual brothers should do likewise. And, for the record, alcoholics and druggies do not infect other people—that is the big issue with male homos—infecting other people with a dozen diseases. Somebody has to work for public health, and trust me, it is not a glamorous or easy job, but male homosexuals are without parallel in their disgusting methods of disease transmission. Suggested reading for you: “The Gift.”
RE: #105
Really? Was that abount of snarkiness necessary?
Archy has been around FR forever and I thought I knew a lot about military history until I started reading his posts.
Was there maybe too much info for a newby shooter? Possibly.
Was any of the information incorrect or bad?
Absolutely not.
If I were to boil his post all down, I’d say read Jeff Cooper’s “Art of the Rifle” and then practice practice practice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.