Are stereotypes EVER accurate?

I recently received an email from a gun club in Frisco that I frequent inviting me to attend a presentation regarding a bill now pending in our legislature that would do away with any restrictions* on carrying a gun in Texas.  No more classroom training, no familiarization with Texas liability laws, no proficiency exam, nothing.  Just buy a gun and strap it on.  YeeHaw!

It was that knee-jerk "YeeHaw" that got me to thinking.  When most of us think of people carrying guns we often imagine some toothless bubba with a beer in one hand and a gun in the other.  I don't fit that profile, but am I the rule or the exception?  I checked.... 

If you were to look under the jackets of many businessmen in just my zipcode, for example, you might find a high quality, well maintained firearm.  The statistics say it isn't uncommon.

And inside the purses of a surprising number of well coiffed ladies you'll likely find a nice 9mm handgun in its own little pocket.  Women handgun owners are a fast growing market.

In fact, my zipcode in Collin County, just north of Dallas, has about 85,000 residents (including children), and 3,853 of them are licensed to carry.  In fact we're the 6th most heavily armed zipcode in the state.  And by "armed" I mean licensed to carry a concealed handgun.  There is NO restriction* on keeping any kind of handgun, rifle, or shotgun in your home or your car.  Factoring that in I can only imagine how heavily armed we might be.

I went on to check the other top 25 Texas zipcodes with the highest number of concealed carry handgun license holders and found that they, too, were from areas with a fair demographic mix of all income groups, races, genders, etc.  I've visited many and don't remember seeing any toothless, knuckledragging, beer swilling bubbas stumbling down the streets.  They were just average looking people driving average cars, going about their business.

My point is, stereotypes of gun owners are no more accurate than that of all Mexicans being murderers, all Blacks being on welfare, or all politicians being crooks.  Umm...well...3 out of 4 ain't bad.  *wink*

S

*Unless you're a felon, have a restraining order against you, and a few other specific disqualifiers.

I'm not a "joiner"

I had a fun day yesterday at the Frisco Gun Club.  I thought the Dallas Gun Club was nice (that's where I took shooting lessons once from the guy who was the "hunt master" (?) on the estate of The Earl of Something-Or-Other in Scotland), but I think this place could give it a run for it's money.

Ahh....nothing like "Hard Liquor and Handgun Night" at the club with the family.

I remember after a day of shooting sporting clays at the Dallas Gun Club a few years ago I was impressed enough I thought I would join.  I went online and filled out the membership application, then was instructed to send it in along with $5,000 and they would see if my nose was stuck sufficiently high enough into the stratosphere to warrant them talking to me any further.  

POP!  *the sound of my bubble bursting*

I seem to have a knack for taking my thinly papered wallet to places that require a personal financial statement be submitted prior to entry. 

When I was still in high school researching which colleges I wanted to go to I decided on the University of Hawaii.  At the time they didn't have any out-of-state tuition, so it sounded affordable.  

Then my dad asked how I was going to get to Hawaii, and then home again for the summer?  I said, "No prob....I'll just fly."  He asked, "On who's dime?"

Umm....  it was about then that Texas Tech, located in beautiful picturesque West Texas, rose to the top of my list....

That's "Diamond Head on the Plains" on the horizon, left.

Then when I was in college I saw a story in Life magazine (?) about an experiment at Vassar College in NY whereby they would begin admitting a few males to the previously all-girls school.   I wanted to be one of those select few.

  
Go Vassar!

I went so far as to write them and ask for an application and a catalogue.  They sent the application, but said I would have to fill it out and send it back with a $50 application fee (times were simpler then) before they would send me the catalogue.  I'm guessing I wasn't the only guy making that same request.

As it would have been challenging for me to scrape together $5 at the time, much less $50, my experience at Vassar was brief....and all in my head.  :)

Now that I think about it, I'm just gonna pay per visit to the Frisco Gun Club....no membership for me.  Groucho Marx might have been on to something when he said, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."  

I do have my standards, you know.  :)

S