Chicks and guns
Lissa takes her handgun carry permit class. It seemed to come with a side of pro-gun indoctrination. I tend to think that instructors should be as matter of fact about gun issues as they can be without all the preachy political stuff. After all, not everyone coming to the class may agree with your politics.
March 20th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Since when is reciting American history “indoctrination”? Frankly, I am very surprised that you are taking this stance. A good part of the class is learning the applicable laws. Knowing the history behind those laws aids in understanding them. How and why we came to have the 2nd Amendment is very relevant part of the lesson, I would think. The instructor spent no time politicking other than to say that if we like our guns and want to be able to keep them, we would be wise to learn and obey the laws, and cast our informed votes wisely. The only political talk came from other students during breaks, there were a few there who were quite vocal.
And here I thought you would have thought it was cool that over half the class was female.
March 20th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
One thing about gun nuts is we tend to get all gun nutty and a lot of folks don’t like that.
And of course I liked the fact it was over half female, hence chicks and guns.
March 20th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
A gun owner who doesn’t oppose gun restrictions is a worse enemy to the cause then the most ardent antigunner.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
One thing about gun nuts is we tend to get all gun nutty and a lot of folks don’t like that.
Of course, “a lot of folks” can suck it. If I have to put up with their inane “American Idol” BS, then they have to put up with gun nuttery.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
As a Lefty and a gun owner/target shooting enthusiast, her description of the class sounds fine. I’m also all for a better acquaintance with American history, too.
Now, if the instructor had gone off on a blatantly anti-Obama rant or wandered far afield and preached other various right-wing culture war causes celebres totally unrelated to guns, simply assuming his audience would agree, that I would have an issue with.
Sounds like that lady blogger assumes all Democrats are anti-gun; another fallacy.
But Uncle is right in that it’s probably best to stick to technique, technology, and tactics in these kinds of classes and not stray too far from those core topics. Such an instructor is already among gun owners (obviously) who ostensibly believe in maximizing their right to “keep and bear” arms, or else why take the class?
March 20th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
As an instructor I’ve kept it pretty generic, not getting into current politics. We certainly do mention the undeniable fact that the second amendment has been under assault. I’m planning an NRA pistol class right now and I intend to pass out copies of “In Search of The Second Amendment”. No proselytizing required. Just the facts.
March 21st, 2009 at 11:25 am
My classes have been suddenly full since last October. I started asking for a show of hands of those people who had heard of the DC gun case in the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court decision holding that the Second Amendment is an individual right. I was aghast at how few hands went up. These are people who own a gun, many by recent purchase, they are getting a CCW, and they had no idea there was a landmark Second Amendment case in the works.
I am not about to let my students leave my class without a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of pistol shooting, methods of concealed carry, weapons laws and the law of self defense, AND a little bit of current political knowledge about gun rights and the efforts of the anti-guns nuts to take those rights away from us. After all, whether they admit it or not, it is a purely political concern on their part that has simulated them just recently to purchase a gun and to take my class.
I have gotten the occasional comment in my student evaluations the I should “lose the politics.” That is extremely rare, however. It is either one or none out of an average class size of 40 (at least 5 NRA certified instructors for a class of that size).
Most of the students do agree with my politics and are glad to have the information I provide. Many email me later with questions of where to locate additional information. For those who do not agree, I ask them why they own a gun. I want to know why they want a CCW if they are so unconcerned about losing that right.
One thing I don’t do, however, is spend a lot of time on politics. There just isn’t enough time to teach all the practical gun knowledge and still talk very much about politics. But a small amount, perhaps 15 minutes out of an 9-hour class, is good IMHO.
March 21st, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Mainstream media tries to explain the increase in gun-ownership as a sign of the economic times. I believe we Americans, as a people, have an instinct to react when we sense our collective rights are endangered, even if subtly and indirectly. Even if we don’t exercise our constutitional privileges, we do not take lightly our rights being chipped away.
With regard to gun rights, we’re in a “use it or lose it” situation. There is no mistaking that the rights of gun-owners are under siege by the current Federal administration, and I see the surge of new gun-owners (not only carry permit holders) as a reaction to the threat of anti-gun legislation, regardless of political views.
I’ve always leaned voting Democrat as the lesser of two evils, but the recent blatant attack of FUD, misinformation and lies on the 2nd Amendment has certainly made me readjust my political views. It’s not about gun-nuttery, it’s about my duty as a citizen to defend our Constitution and way of life. Truth is the best defense against propaganda, and the more the word gets out, the better.
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:21 am
As Flash wrote, many people, even those taking a gun permit class, are generally clueless that many politicians and those in officialdom do NOT want them to exercise their right to carry the means of self-defense and work to restrict or deny that right. I do think it should be presented in a gun carry permit class that CHOOSING to carry the means to self-defense is a basic human RIGHT which is under “assault” by the ruling elite class in media and politics. The logical conclusion is that the former be shunned and the latter removed.