Make gun owners the new PARIAH

[cherokeeprogressive]

72. You cannot look at me and know whether or not I own a gun. You're not likely to see me with it.

Because that is so, the first time you gaze upon my lovely face I'll just be... someone without a gun. So then, what? Will you stand at the end of the driveway of the range I go to and sneer at me as I enter? That's the only place you'll likely ever see me where there's even a chance I'll have a gun with me. In this instance carrying will mean nothing more sinister than transporting it from the trunk of my car, unloaded and probably in a case, from the parking lot to the range.

That's why the gun owner as smoker analogy doesn't work. Cigarettes were smoked openly, everywhere, always. Guns aren't like that. I've been to over 40 states and I can honestly say I've never seen anyone just carrying a gun. Never seen it. And I'm from southeast L.A. County even. I suppose now that you know I own a gun you can shun me, but otherwise if you were to meet me by happenstance in my every day life I'd neither have a gun or be the kind of person to talk about them. You might even like me even though I'd be harboring a terrible secret. I'm a gun owner (but I don't smoke).

How do you decide who to shun then? You're limited to your own family and friends. If you took this stance with them one and all, then it would be you, and them. A circle of them, with you looking in from the outside. I'm sure more than a few of them would say, one to the other, "HockeyMom's shunning me because I own a gun. Man that sucks. Hey you wanna come over for a barbeque on Saturday? Of course bring the kids dummy." Either that or you're sure enough of yourself that you believe each and every one of your family and friends would divest themselves of any and all firearms upon your demand.

You couldn't shun me though if we met on the street. You wouldn't know whether or not I own a gun.