“The national debate over firearms regulation is often presented as a battle of extremes: those who view any effort to tighten gun laws as an infringement of rights versus those who see guns as a menace to society,” writer Susan Saulny writes at nytimes.com. “But gun owners like Michael Kundu come from a largely unexplored middle ground — a place of nuance and contradiction.” Unexplored because you can’t count on one hand the kind of people Ms. Saulny has somehow managed to unearth for her expose. To wit: “Mr. Kundu is a master marksman from rural Washington who owns pistols and assault rifles for self-defense, all while claiming to detest the presence of guns in his life and in the broader American culture. ‘I’d love to see all guns destroyed,’ he said. “But I’m not giving up mine first.” It gets worse . . .
Other gun owners interviewed for this article expressed similar reservations, citing their enjoyment of hunting or of introducing family members to the sport while expressing support for stricter gun control legislation. Mr. Kundu, for instance, supports a ban on the kind of assault weapon that he owns, a rifle manufactured by Panther Arms.
OK then. Anyone else?
Kay H. Wilson, a blogger in Waco, Tex., who recently wrote a post about her “love-hate relationship with guns,” said, “We need people to speak up.” Ms. Wilson describes herself as “a pretty good dang shot” when she practices her aim at a family farm in West Texas, but also said, “I’m no lover of the personal handgun.”
While she and her husband, Richard, have a gun in their suburban home for personal protection, they store it and the bullets in separate rooms. And Ms. Wilson acknowledges that she would sooner throw her cat at an intruder than shoot someone. The gun does not make her feel safer.
Ban assault cats! But seriously, where did Susan find these people? And yes, there are more.
Sonia Wolff, a novelist in Los Angeles, felt compelled to buy a pistol a few years ago for self-defense, a decision she wrote about in The Los Angeles Times. “I had never wanted a gun,” the introduction states. “Now I own a Smith & Wesson revolver. Why?”
The short answer, she said in an interview, was, “When push comes to shove, I’d rather have one.”
But she added, “If I had my way in the best of all worlds, nobody would have a gun.”
Any more? All done. Nope.
John Flores and Patricia Speed, a married couple in San Francisco, own two 9-millimeter handguns and a Winchester Model 70 rifle because they have recently come to enjoy shooting at ranges. They say they enjoy the concentration it takes to be a good marksman and find the practice relaxing.
But as first-time gun owners, they say they were shocked by how easily they bought the guns and feel uncomfortable about storing them — even unloaded in a locked safe — in their home.
“It freaked me out how easy it was to buy a gun,” said Ms. Speed, 30, a graphic designer. “I think it’s harder to get an iPhone than it is a gun. Now I’m a gun owner who believes there needs to be way more regulation.”
This fear and self-loathing reminds of nothing so much as the members of my tribe who’d dressed Preppy and spoke like Thurston Howell III to hide their Jewish roots.
Anyway, if I may sum this up: I want a gun but people like me shouldn’t have one. And that includes you. Is that really what we’re up against?
This ruling, such as it is, hangs on Peruta surviving.
A bit too early for champaign, unless an expert can tell us that releasing this ruling so close to the March 26th deadline for filings in the motions to intervene in Peruta is somehow a strong hint that there will be no en banc in Peruta. Somehow, I doubt it, but it would be nice to be wrong.
What rocks did these people come out from under?
Easy answer to their lack of comfort around guns: Get.Rid.Of.Them.
Also, in regards to the iPhone being harder to get, I’d rather buy guns/ammo than waste my money on a over designed waste of energy.
You’d feel different if you got one. You can read TTAG on it, and post too! Among many other things.
Can you read “Lord of the Flies” on it?……
Yes
I miss phones with a rotary dial–those things did one job well without all the fuss.
I have an Android phone. It has better performance than an iPhone 5 except it entered the market over a year before. iPhones are like Glocks. All the “cool” people have them even though there are better products out there.
No, NO! You point the small end at your face and push the little crescent thingy away from you!
Kay H. Wilson, a blogger in Waco, Tex. “While she and her husband, Richard, have a gun in their suburban home for personal protection, they store it and the bullets in separate rooms. And Ms. Wilson acknowledges that she would sooner throw her cat at an intruder than shoot someone.”
-Are you freaking kidding me? These people vote?
“It freaked me out how easy it was to buy a gun,” said Ms. Speed, 30, a graphic designer. “I think it’s harder to get an iPhone than it is a gun. Now I’m a gun owner who believes there needs to be way more regulation.”
-How easy it was…. to get a gun in CA? wow….just..wow.
-What planted are these people from? I would love to go there for a visit…
meant *what planet*
Unadulterated, unfathomable, incoherent babble!
JUST IMO:
If the wake up call only rings loud enough when an armed resistance is required, it will be too late.
At that point you will have stood by silently while laws were passed and ratified that will make anyone raising a firearm in defense of their constitutional rights an unlawful combatant or terrorist. Making it 100% legal to kill, detain and deport you without ever seeing a court room.
Asking if a R.R. or Waco is required, assumes defeat. If you feel that you don’t see enough people outraged against these attempts to disarm america now, you have to go on the verbal offensive now, 110%, to wake up the Americans (gun owners or not) still asleep.
If you renewed your annual GOA/SAF/NRA membership this year, go LIFE today. Pay for your family member, friend or neighbor that was on the fence when you asked him about signing up for an annual membership. That 50-100 bucks you spend on someone else becoming a member today, will payoff 10x than any membership after the next WACO.
IMO, membership numbers have a much bigger impact today than the $ dollars these organizations need to overturn any laws after they pass. Sign up 50 new members now, instead of donating $1000 next year.
Don’t care about all the methods of the NRA employed in the past, consider that they are constantly in the media because politicians and MSM consider them a threat to their agendas. They have the track record to ruin someones political career. That is the pressure we need, now. I don’t think anyone wants to choose between the NRA or another WACO as the preferred method to try and protect our rights.
Bombard your facebook, twitter, forums, email groups with these constant attempts to undermine the building blocks of this country. Don’t come off as a lunatic, just continue to point out the endless hypocrisy and misleading information campaigns. Focus on
the constitutional issues,
the false information,
the lies,
the MSM ignoring facts,
the stories that MSM won’t broadcast,
the flaws in published propaganda,
the constant inclusion of suicides in statistics,
the attempts to silent and blackmail LEOs speaking against these laws,
If you can’t find enough material on this site.
I recommend heading to reddit.com
Need daily DGU reports: http://www.reddit.com/r/dgu/
Need info not in MSM:
http://www.reddit.com/r/progun/
or
http://www.reddit.com/r/gunpolitics/
If you lose a few facebook friends over it, so be it. If only 10% of your friends repost it, it will be worth it.
Don’t let up.
If you see another state than your own propose new laws, write a quick email anyway. At this point volume counts.
Make use of
http://www.congress.org/
or
http://www.ruger.com/micros/advocacy/
or
http://cqrcengage.com/smith-wesson/app/write-a-letter?2&engagementId=777
The Hollywood style, successful, armed resistance against the “man” looks entertaining in video games and movies but will not happen on a grant scale while our rights are only being slowly dissolved.
No offense but we are, as a whole, too comfortable with our 1st world lifestyle to all of the sudden choose a path of risking our family’s life on a daily basis while we are cut of from ATM’s, HVAC, facebook, MCD and comfy beds.
If it were to be an overnight violent assault on our freedoms, alas RedDawn, American’s will rise to the occasion but everyone realizes that, so it will continue to be a slow assault. A little amendment, a little extension, a little broader interpretation……until it is too late.
Look at history, people were not disarmed and suppressed in the same week…it was a deliberate long term process.
Anyone not awake yet, can’t be ignored, we need to wake them up now.
We do not want, under any circumstances, this fight for everyone’s unalienable rights to turn violent. History is quickly forgotten and often considered in a fast-forward fashion. The civil war was not over in a couple months, the civil rights movement didn’t come by a handful of casualties, or any other struggles that turned violent in our countries past. It took a very long time and lots of suffering of many individuals before we ended up at the concluding summary paragraph in our history books, noting the successful end of that struggle.
Considering a Ruby Ridge or Wako as the required wake-up call is simply not the train of thought we should have at this point.
We need to continue to think more proactive, preempting anything, by any means, to keep America from seeing another RR or Wako like disaster on TV.
EVERY Caliber!
You can’t have enough ammo because you can’t have enough guns~
looks like they tried to find the two fattest people possible to ensure that even self-hating gun owners fit the stereotype as bumbling lardasses
In my line of work, I have noted a very strong correlation between obesity and emotional personality basis. In fact I have come to conclude that people who are significantly overweight are always so because they either fear loss of self control (the resistant/stubborn type) or they fear everything (the irrationally over-emotional type).
It doesn’t surprise me that the two pictured above have the body type that goes with the latter; that personality type tends to see nothing wrong with complete contradictions because they think with their feelings, and feelings are, by nature, mutually exclusive with logic.
In other words, this type of person makes no sense, and they never will – because they literally just cannot think that way. Their brains are wired wrong for it. But they’ll swear up and down till they’re blue in the face that they make perfect sense, and think logically and rationally.
I used to have a job trying to help people like his lose weight. I stopped trying to help them lose weight a long time ago. It’s hopeless, because they cannot think, and they cannot control themselves. (At least the stubborn ones have self control, even if they do take it too far and turn it into stubborn.)
For the record, I have noted that overweight people who are roundish tend to be emotional thinkers, and the ones who are stocky and squarish tend to be the stubborn types. They have more logical capacity, but are still ultimately driven by fear.
So yes, sadly… this type of person not only exists, they are rather common in the United States these days. You might have noticed.
After personally being misrepresented by my own local media, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a few pissed off families in that rags market right now.
The folks in the photo should have bought a treadmill instead of guns.
You notice that other non-contradiction that the media does not want to touch: people who do not own firearms but are against disarmament. A very large group to be sure.
That is a curious thing, because they don’t touch that, but they lurv them some heteros who are in favor of gay rights, don’t they?
Did not have his Ritalin today. Couldn’t get the bottle open.
Well, I’ll cop to the idea that in a perfect world, nobody would ever need a gun. I should also mention that in this perfect world, topless supermodels would patrol the streets on unicorns and all public libraries would have 70 different beers on tap.
Sadly, we don’t live anywhere close to a perfect world. In the real world, evil exists. There are people out there who want what you have, see nothing wrong with hurting you to get it, and don’t care whether or not your pacifistic worldview acommodates them. People who choose not to live by the sword can still die by it. If they’re okay with that arrangement, fine by me, but they’d best keep their personal values the hell off of my God-given rights.
Perhaps I would not need a gun, but I would certainly want one. Just love target shooting too much.
An article like this should be a surprise to none of us.
I , without a trace of sarcasm, genuinely believe people like Kay Wilson are the new mainstream American gun owner. People who own guns, enjoy them, and yet have not one iota of hesitation in supporting more regulations.
Evidence? I bring you the 2012 Election for Exhibit 1.Between 2008 and 2012 Obama sold more guns in Americas heartland then even the ATF could manage to pitch to drug cartels. Millions of guns, millions of boxes of ammo, and a resurgent interest in CCW and firearms training are the immediate result.
One would think that Obama would be unilaterally crushed by an army of gun owning voters come Nov 2012. Naturally, that didnt happen; because a majority of those record gun buyers are people like Kay.
Exhibit 2 ; the membership stats.The NRA boasts a 4 million member roll. The estimated number of gun owners in America is 90 million. Not even 10% of gun owners can be bothered to join the NRA; or more accurately, the organizations principles are in direct opposition to the “New Mainstream Gun Owners” desire for increased gun control.
The Prosecution Rests.
Get the Kleenex and drain the wine bottle gents and gals of TTAG. Lord knows I will be.
For people who are shocked at how easy it is, I think it is because these people come from states with over bearing, inefficient bureaucracies. They want gun purchasers to under go a background check, but cannot fathom that such a check can be run in 30 seconds. When it takes 18 months to get a pistol permit in NY, how can it be that a computerized background check is practically instant?
Being a refugee from NJ, I was shocked how easy it was to buy a gun in PA when I moved there. But since I’m a normal, logical, rational, self-reliant and confident American, I was thrilled with how easy it was. As it should be.
My Westchester county, New York target shooting only permit took 18 months and cost 400 bucks. My Pennsylvania CCW permit cost 26 bucks and I had it in my hand in five days, including the time it took to snail mail it in and for them to snail mail it back!
God bless PA!
What is that “heirloom rifle that has not been fired since he was a boy” (from the source) that he’s holding in that photo? There’s a closeup here.
I can’t help but think there was either some creative writing/interviewing going on for this, or there were a few people that somehow were networked together that made it easy on the writer. It’d be like me griping that it just bothers me to no end to have a bottle of Macallan sitting in my house. It is a delicious whisky, but I’m troubled by how much I enjoy the flavor. And I’m shocked how easy it was to purchase. I’m so troubled, I keep it and the glasses in separate rooms.
Brenneke Black Magic Magnum slugs 200
Federal Premium Vital-Shok Ammunition 12 Gauge 2-3/4″ Buffered 00 Copper Plated Buckshot 12 Pellets Box of 5 x 200
Barnes VOR-TX Ammunition 30-06 Springfield 168 Grain Tipped Triple-Shock X Bullet Boat Tail Lead-Free Box of 20 x 20
Black Hills Ammunition 223 Remington 77 Grain Sierra MatchKing Hollow Point Box of 50 x 60
Federal Premium Vital-Shok Ammunition 375 H&H Magnum 250 Grain Speer Trophy Bonded Bear Claw box of 5 x 30
You can’t have enough ammo because if you want it, it’s labelled “Out of Stock. No Backorder.”
The NYT finds insane, mentally and emotionally unstable people to support their irrational and morally bankrupt agenda. And touts it as normal. Business as usual.
To the people in this NYT article, do this nation a favor and shoot yourselves with the guns you hate owning so much.
Sloth is just one symptom of a weak mind. But, a big one.
They really are paranoid. But even before 9/11, and long since, the Hating Left in this country was more worried about patriotic Americans, Southern Baptists, veterans, and of course gun owners, than they were worried about Islamofacists flying planes into office towers, or setting of the suitcase you-know-what in Manhattan.
If we’re more dangerous in their minds to the country than people who actually attacked us, either the LA Times and their pals have put their collective brains in a blender, or they’ve got their own diabolical plans for the country.
…because there is no such thing as “enough” practice.
Question of the Day: What Will It Take to Wake-Up Gun Owners?
Apparently, a stake in the heart of the 2nd Amendment. And then it will be too late – no amount of CPR will resuscitate it. Gun owners who are awake now must act – being vigilant isn’t sufficient.
9mm
.45 acp
12 gauge 23/4 and 3 inch bird and buck shot of various #
30-06
.22
.357
You can’t have enough ammo because . . . of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Shooting makes me happy, it is my life, and when necessary it imbues me with the skills and abilities to protect my liberty.
RF this is part of the Bloomberg Obama pact trying to divide gun owners this is NOT really happening BUT they are trying to forge a rift. We must stand united.
Didnt the poll show that MOST of the socalled decline was from the libtard democrat side and that conservative ownership was relatively unchanged over the decades percentage wise? If you must have a reduction of firearms ownership from a certain demographic, I could not think of a better one.
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
That is one fine woman….what was that about a Glock?
Naming this guy a hypocrite, doesn’t begin to cut it. The only word that i think comes close to describe this two faced liar is tartouffe.
Nothing will wake this country up. Not before it’s too late.
We are soundly, happily asleep in our beds; ignorant of the knowledge that the house is burning down around us.
In 5 years this is going to be a very different country.
[The short answer, she said in an interview, was, “When push comes to shove, I’d rather have one.”
But she added, “If I had my way in the best of all worlds, nobody would have a gun.”]
Selfishness and a misplaced idealism is the root of this group of folks.
Would it be great to live in a world free of violence, with no need of guns? Sure, but given the reality of human nature, and our propensity to hurt/kill each other in pursuit of what we want, regular people like me are always going to need a weapon, including a gun, to protect ourselves from bad guy/girl X.
The other prevailing attitude of people in the article seems to be, “It’s OK for me to own it, but those OTHER people… no.” Common sense regulation against the mentally ill and felons already exist, people. We don’t get to sort out people’s gun ownership based upon their religion, political preference, or God forbid, race / ethnicity.
Since they are using the “number of households” as the standard, let us not forget that there has been a significant number of new households added that are the result of divorce over the past 40 years. The number of people have dropped “per household” due to this social event. This is how politicians making the argument that “household income” has been stagnant or dropped over the past 40 years, but the “per capita” income has increased significantly. If you have a household of two parents (each making $40k), one working teen (making $5k), and an underage child, that’s $85k for the “household” – but if they divorce, then each household only makes $40-45k – cutting “household income” in half. Even if they each got a $10k raise, they would be reported as having a 25% drop in income for the “household.” Apply that same logic to the article – if only one “household” keeps the gun, then there is a 50% drop in “number of households with a firearm” – which is what the NYT article is stating. If five divorces happen to firearms holding households, but 3 of the 10 don’t go out and get a gun, then there is a 30% drop in “households with firearms.” Read some of Thomas Sowell’s works on economic fallacies for more information. However, I am fairly sure this is the trick they are using to push the storyline.
That looked like a TON of fun. I gotta find one of these near me.
the conclusion of the study “The high level of gun ownership in the United States — nearly one in three Americans personally own a gun and nearly half of households do…”
(in the implication sections)
did the Times misread the study?
Would I have a gun even if they weren’t useful for self-defense? Yes. Guns have a lot of legitimate uses, some of which are just plain fun.
Amazing how fast people become hypocrites when it comes to their own well-being isn’t it? “I need to fully protect myself but everyone else should do something less violent.”
All the news that makes me spit.
I don’t want to have any guns taken away from anyone (within reason, my reason) but there is a solution to this. Take all the guns away from the criminals, every one of them, then we can talk about taking my guns. Oh, take their knives, bats, and any other weapon the criminals have as well. In fact, lets not have any criminals at all, then we can talk about my guns.
Self-loathing morons are imposing their will on us normal people. This must stop.
Moon Faced Assasin of Liberty!
I was going to read all the posts below but, …
I keep thinking about giving a 17 year old a weapon (GUN, tank, or other means) and march them to a position to fire and kill enemy then, make sure I take that away after you get back, lol. Yep that can really happen in today’s military. There is no debate for common sense humans.
BH 5.56 55gr varmint loads, 69gr target loads.
BH 9mm 147gr jhp, 147gr fmj.
BH 45acp 230gr fmj.
You can never have enough ammo because practice and competition take many rounds to be successful.
Any ammo I want? I want all future production of ammo to go to me. All of it. I will hold it hostage until gun control is officially declared dead.
Oh, and one box of 7.65×25 Borchardt.
You can never have enough ammo because DHS is buying it all.
The new white guilt?
Chicago-land politics 101. More proof this has less to do with saving lives and all about political agenda’s
Always wanted one,but now that I reload .45acp,I am looking forward to the Charter Arms version with a 2.2 inch barrel,5 round cylinder,full combat grip,will be a great big bore revolver.The only thing I wish that they would add to the inventory is a DAO model,I have a.38 special Undercover DAO,really like it,like the way it carries in a iwb holster,plus the fact it is hammerless.The .44special round is a good round,but it is too hard to find,and when you do it is high,but the .45acp is a tad better round,just add a Tuff speed strip in the pocket and you have a great ccw.
I looked an IDPA place near me, but looks like they don’t allow photo or video. Too bad… I’d probably want video of myself doing the exercises just because being able to watch your own movements can help you improve on things you don’t notice in the moment of shooting. Maybe once I convince a buddy to come with me…
NO TO ASHLEY JUDD
Regular (full) container ship delivery of S&B 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .45 ACP, and 7.62x54R non-corrosive. Storage space at the Port of Seattle. Regular container delivery by train of Remington Golden Saber in 9mm, .357 Magnum, and .45 ACP. Also on the train would be containers of Federal 12 gauge 00 buck with the flite control wad, and some Federal 5.56 55 grain FMJ. As before, storage would be at the Port.
The above is a mixture of self defense and practice ammo for the guns I and my brother own. As we acquired different guns, the shipments would be tweaked to suit our needs, of course.
As for the sentence, you can never have enough ammo because happiness is a warm gun.
Buys AR, gets noticed, gets outed, backpedals furiously. Sort of brings to mind the old joke about fat girls and mopeds…
Gun ownership is exploding and near ubiquitous in “conservative” areas. Access to guns is ubiquitous, except for “law abiding” people in certain cities.
The NYT never likes to scrutinize sources that agree with their worldview, regardless of the subject. They’ve been caught in this sort of thing before… and will be caught again. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because those of us who have caught the NYT out on their reporting before won’t ever trust it again, and for the liberal toffs who style themselves as urban sophisticates, who would never be seen reading an actual source of facts on icky guns… the NYT can do no wrong, ever, in any way. For them, reading the NYT is like being seen drinking “fair trade, organic coffee,” – it’s a way to reinforce their unctuous, preening self-image.
So if you have a complaint, talk to the moose.
My “bedside pistol” has a light/laser combo on it as well as a suppressor. The light is a Streamlight with a rocker select switch and a constant on switch. I would prefer to keep both hands on my pistol and switch on the light with the index finger on my support hand. I live alone so anyone in my house at night is a POTENTIAL threat. I am a believer of target ID and have no intention of shooting someone in my house unless I have no other choice. I will illuminate them with the muzzle pointed directly at them. If said individual decides to leave, I’m good with that. If not, then so be it. YMMV.
My primary EDC is a 1911 without a rail and I keep a separate light on me.
Best in the West is an awesome range, for any in the Austin area. Even if you are coming from further away, its worth the drive. Nice ranges, nice folks running the place. My personal range of choice.
I’d love to go shooting with you sometime, Tyler.
I own and wear camo when I’m out in the woods or maybe at the range, but because the clothing is comfortable first and just happens to be done in camo print.
Quite honestly, if it were not for my wife I would probably still be wearing my comfortable jeans from 1996. Well, my wife and my waistline.
Just bought my 3rd Hi Point, I have a 9mm a 380 and now a 45 I love them all I have never, I mean never had a jamming problem with my 9, or my 380, and I will let you know about my 45 when I go to the range this week. Hi point is great for the money and I will support them and the brand.
It’s easy to think one’s own point of view is “common sense” and “perfectly logical and rational” regardless of how irrational, unreasonable and ridiculous it actually is.
When you see the world through your emotions, your thinking will be emotional. Emotions are, by nature, irrational and illogical. Emotions and logic are mutually exclusive. That fact is why we have two brain hemispheres, and why the rational and logical one is NOT in charge of the emotions!
The fact is, a gun is an object, and an inanimate one at that. It does nothing unless acted upon by a person. Therefore, and gun cannot do anything of it’s own accord; certainly none of my handguns or rifles ever picked itself up, loaded itself, took it’s safety off, and then aimed itself at something and pulled its own trigger.
Guns don’t kill people. Just like hammers don’t drive nails. But guns can be used by people to kill… just like hammers can be used by people to drive nails. But without the people to cause the action to take place… nothing happens. Because hey, they’re both inanimate objects! Imagine that.
But logic always fails to sway the afraid. They are, after all, running away from reason by embracing and thinking through the emotional lens of their fears. And because they cannot see that fact, they can rarely be swayed. But it’s definitely worth continuing to try. After all, overcome the fear of the unknown by making whatever it is known and normal, and that fear goes away.
Where did she find these people?
Ten will get you fifty it was either inside her pill crazed head, or her bosses hired them.