New member here, so take it easy on me. Some of you from AR15.com may recognize me.
Just wanted to relay a little experience I had yesterday at Costco in San Diego. I was wearing my NRA hat and walking by a guy in the parking lot loading stuff into the trunk of his car. He was also wearing his NRA hat and had an NRA sticker on the back window of his car. This guy was late middle aged and looked pretty normal, but when I said "Howdy" (literally) and gave him a little wave, he shrunk back like I had broke some taboo. He looked at me and looked directly at my hat and sort of froze. I walked by without saying anything else, but after I passed I had to look back over my shoulder to see if he was still mortified. He was.
I really don't know what to make of the whole experience except that if this is how we (gun owners) relate to each other we can't expect to win over too many converts. Maybe we need to initiate an NRA salute. Then when we see each other, we don't need to have any awkward downward glances or anything. I probably see 2 or 3 NRA hats a week, maybe more, at the grocery store etc. and I've decided to start giving some kind of salute. I don't really know what that's going to be just yet, but I refuse to be ashamed of being a gun owner anymore. Hopefully the salute will catch on, at least here in SD.
This is stupid, we're engaged in healthy, safe, purely lawful activity and many of us hide in the shadows pretending we don't own black plastic guns. Then when we see each other on the street and we shrivel like we're ashamed to associate with each other. If that's the case, we've already lost the battle.
Oh yeah, I rant a lot.
Just wanted to relay a little experience I had yesterday at Costco in San Diego. I was wearing my NRA hat and walking by a guy in the parking lot loading stuff into the trunk of his car. He was also wearing his NRA hat and had an NRA sticker on the back window of his car. This guy was late middle aged and looked pretty normal, but when I said "Howdy" (literally) and gave him a little wave, he shrunk back like I had broke some taboo. He looked at me and looked directly at my hat and sort of froze. I walked by without saying anything else, but after I passed I had to look back over my shoulder to see if he was still mortified. He was.
I really don't know what to make of the whole experience except that if this is how we (gun owners) relate to each other we can't expect to win over too many converts. Maybe we need to initiate an NRA salute. Then when we see each other, we don't need to have any awkward downward glances or anything. I probably see 2 or 3 NRA hats a week, maybe more, at the grocery store etc. and I've decided to start giving some kind of salute. I don't really know what that's going to be just yet, but I refuse to be ashamed of being a gun owner anymore. Hopefully the salute will catch on, at least here in SD.
This is stupid, we're engaged in healthy, safe, purely lawful activity and many of us hide in the shadows pretending we don't own black plastic guns. Then when we see each other on the street and we shrivel like we're ashamed to associate with each other. If that's the case, we've already lost the battle.
Oh yeah, I rant a lot.
