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The Only Article About Guns You Need to Read Today

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kirkspencer12/19/2012 7:34:30 pm PST

re: #45 Gus

I’ve lived in Colorado for over 20 years. I always assume anyone can have a gun. I remember hitch hiking in NJ and once this dude who picked me up was like “I always give hitch hikers a ride” and that he wasn’t worried. And there was this Silver .45 in holster next to steering wheel. We were like, OK. I was with a friend and we actually thought that was cool. Oh well, got to where we were going. 1978.

In another discussion an acquaintance pointed out that in the 1930s, the Corps at Texas A&M were required to keep their (working) rifle in their dorms and there were no problems of note. (there were problems. Just not what you’d expect given these days’ experiences.)

I’ve come to believe it - and our similar Colorado experience - lies in the urban/rural division. In rural areas firearms are used and used a fair amount. The people who had them and were around them knew what they could do - they hunted, they saw dead rats and coyotes and deer and pheasants and all the rest. You could also take the time to shoot in a lot of places, learning to use them and teaching your kids, without worrying about the bullets traveling into the house next door or even just down the street. Well, you did, but you had plenty of places to go where you didn’t.

As we get more urban there are fewer and fewer calls for the use of a threshing flail or a firearm. They become symbols, they become hobbies. Not tools but toys.

Just my suspicion, I guess.