Chelleology

Scott and I had been talking about it for several months and we finally did it on Tuesday night.  We bought a new gun.  This on will be mine and Scott will be getting his next month.  While we already have one handgun (a little .22) and two shotguns, we felt like we needed to make our first move at defiance.  Our next move will be to get our permits to carry.  Knowing the statements Obama has made in the past about gun ownership, his votes on the issue and the fact that he believes in socialism, we felt it was best we act out before it’s too late.

The new gun is perfect for me.  In fact, out of all the guns I have handled, this one felt the most comfortable and the most natural to me.  It’s a cute little Ruger .32 single action revolver.  It has finger grooves on the handle so my fingers can settle into the grooves like a hand fits into a glove.  The revolver is not so light that it will kick really bad but it’s not too heavy for me to aim for long periods of time.  We heard there was an indoor shooting range nearby so I can practice shooting in the winter.  The outdoor range a few miles from here is perfect in the summer but handling metal in the winter is a little tricky.  Frostbite anyone?  I’m really excited at the prospect of shooting again.  It has been quite sometime and I’m a little rusty.

My excitement was quickly diminished when I had to take over an hour of abuse on a message board.  For the past three years, I have spent gobs of time chatting on a political message board.  While I was one of a dozen conservatives on the board, I still had fun pointing out to the holes in the liberal poster’s beliefs/policies.  The conservatives have always banded together on the boards when the debates got really heated.  We’ve always had each other’s backs.  But on Tuesday night, the conservatives weren’t there.  I guess I picked a lousy time to pick a fight.

I logged onto the board and announced that I was the proud owner of a new gun.  Some of the staunch liberals on the board made their snide comments and left.  These are typically the people who post and run for fear of conflict.  Then someone asked me why.  As any gun owner knows, this is a set up question.  There is no good answer.  You say for protection and they start foaming at the mouth and saying that it’s more likely a robber would pop off a shot at me first before I would hit him, blah, blah, blah.  You say you fear the government and it’s “you’re a whacko”.  So, I gave the answer that happened to be the most true and the most likely to be accepted.  I said “Not that I need a reason but… one it’s my right to own a gun and I’m exercising that right and two I enjoy shooting as a hobby.”  Almost instantaneously the redneck comments came out.  I wasn’t the least bit surprised.  One poster said that she hopped I was more responsible with my gun than her neighbors.  She went on to explain three people were shot in front of her house.  I said “OMG.  There’s a lot of action in your neighborhood”.  THEY GOT ME!  That one sentence and they got me.  I was told that my response was cavalier and uncompassionate.  Um, no.  I was simply stating a fact.  When a shooting happens, an ambulance shows up, the police show up, neighbors come out of their house.  What do you call that?  Action?  I was not being insensitive.  I was also told that I was making fun of her neighborhood.  Now where did I say that?  After multiple explanations and clarifications of what I said, they just continued to twist my words.  Apparently, if you’re losing a debate, take something innocent your opponent says and twist it to suit your needs to prove that you’re right.

After three years of trying to sell the conservative argument I feel like I have wasted my time.  There are people you are just never going to get to understand things like the second amendment, smaller government and lower taxes.  In the past year of working campaigns I have learned that getting people to think about the issues is not through a message board but through consistently talking about the issues to those you see every day.  Talking politics at work has gotten such a bad name almost like you should be ashamed of who you are and what you believe.  But I’ve reached quite a few people just talking about my beliefs around the proverbial water cooler.  I talk to my friends, even ones that lean left.  In fact, one told me the other night that I talked her in to voting for the first time in her life.  She said I made her think about the issues and to look at each candidate carefully.  It feels good to know that I’ve at least touched a few but they weren’t people on the board.  I wonder why that is.