perforating stereotypes

In the space of as many days, Jay G. and Breda successfully blew two fallacious stereotypes often employed by hoplophobes and anti-rights advocates right out of the water.

Stereotype the First: Gun-owners are all white, overweight, unkempt, poorly-dressed, uneducated anglo-saxon males with decided redneck, racist, sexist, and right-wing-extremist views.

The Reality: Not so much.

I was thinking about the events of the past week or so, when it dawned on me. Because of this “gun thing”, I personally have interacted with the following people in the span of less than one week:

– Several nationally known Emergency Medical care professionals
– A female Asian-American* who works in Boston’s financial district
– An honest-to-goodness rocket scientist
– An internet security guru
– A gay gun nut
– An unemployed Jewish Mason
– A Russian immigrant
– A Marine Biologist
– A teacher

All of these people have gotten together with me because we share one thing in common: we’re all firm believers in the right to keep and bear arms.

Not so much at all.

As I stood outside the pharmacy on Main Street in Blogorado, watching as an honest-to-goodness tumbleweed rolled by, I noticed something kind of lovely and remarkable – there we all were, an amputee [female] librarian, a gay man from the Northwest, a retired globehopping Navy guy, a Lear jet pilot, a Texan in a kilt, a couple of Nerds from New Mexico, and a young woman who castrates calves – all brought together by the most unlikely of things, an apparatus designed to hurl little lumps of lead at high speeds.

Stereotype the Second: Guns are “bad news” for women.

The Reality: Not so much.

Despite hearing all of these reasons from other women, I have yet to meet anyone who was more afraid of guns than I was. I was deeply, irrationally afraid. My first trip to the range left me shaken, in tears, and somewhat ashamed.

Some time after that, though, my own stubbornness made me try again. I refused to let this…thing, this small metal object, get the best of me. I practiced at the range as often I could but probably more importantly, I thought a lot during that time. I questioned everything I believed about guns. I read gun blogs. I listened to new ideas. I saw myself in a whole new way. And as if by magic, the less ignorant I became about guns, the more my fear dissolved.

When I could honestly declare my hoplophobia well and truly conquered, there was this wild elation – I found myself feeling stronger and more free. “I can do this!” I thought. “Yay me!”

Not so much at all.

Leah Madachik, a firearms trainer at Sherwin, is not so different from Adoryan. She grew up in a household without guns, partly because her grandfather shot himself.

“I was terrified of guns before I got involved with them,” Madachik said.

Madachik first worked with Sherwin as a model. Then, some of the guys who worked there took her to the shooting range so she could better understand what she was modeling. Now, she’s comfortable with guns. She teaches the class needed to carry a concealed weapon and carries a handgun herself.

Madachik assured Adoryan that the best way to beat fear was with knowledge.

“It’s very easy to overcome that fear, though,” she told Adoryan. “The more you know about it, the less afraid somebody is going to be of it.”

In all honesty, I do not expect these examples of the fallacious nature of their stereotypes to dissuade anti-rights bigots from continuing to use them – in fact, I sincerely hope hoplophobes continue to allow their prejudices to color their view of pro-rights Americans. However, for any American concerned with facts, as so many pro-rights activists are, and as so many average Americans are, examples like these show just how weak and fallacious the positions of those who wish to disarm us really are.

So, to all of the anti-rights bigots out there, please, continue projecting your own fears and shortcomings on other peaceful, private, law-abiding, non-stereotypable Americans. Please, continue trying to paint us with a broad brush, when no such typification is possible. Please, continue to view the world through your own narrow minds and self-blindered vision.

You are doing yourselves more damage than we could ever hope to.