Andi, I hope you can find something you're comfortable with, but if you don't, remember they are celebrating you, not your shoes.

Tep, I hope you get something soon, including a new job.

Shir, congrats on no more braces!

Pix, you're doing a good thing with the rescue dogs. Hold on to that. I hope you're safely ensconced on the East Coast now.

Congratulations, Maria!

I live around the corner from a gun store. It still startles me every time I notice it. Where I grew up, most people just didn't have guns. Guns were for cops and criminals, or really scared people. Having a gun store just sitting there between an antique store and a Subway just seems weird to me, even after living here for three years. (I've asked my parents, and neither of them has ever handled a gun. I doubt that my grandparents ever did, either, except while in the army.)

Congratulations Maria!

Congrats, Maria! So good to hear that.

Thank you for all of your answers - despite my framing of the matter, my question wasn't political. It's just that it's rare for a rifle here not to be an assault rifle, as hunting is something that no more than few dozens do. I apologize if my question was triggery. I guess I am triggered by this topic more than I thought I'd be. I guess it's the burnout of living in the Middle East, but nothing wears me out and saddens me more than useless killing that could have been prevented.

In better news, finished buying all the things for my birthday picnic night tomorrow (which will be held right after Pride in Jerusalem, where I volunteer every year. Buffistas in J-city are invited, of course). Others will bring other food, but I'm gonna make fancy fruit salad and two kinds of blintzes, one of them with chocolate ganache. Nom.

Jews in America aren't really part of the gun culture. Their ancestors were probably expressly forbidden from owning guns in the old country, and they couldn't hunt, because the meat needed to be handled in a kosher manner.

Andi, I hope you can find something you're comfortable with, but if you don't, remember they are celebrating you, not your shoes.

Thanks, all of you, for the encouragement. I knew you would have my back in my quest for sanity here.

Jews in America aren't really part of the gun culture. Their ancestors were probably expressly forbidden from owning guns in the old country, and they couldn't hunt, because the meat needed to be handled in a kosher manner.

Plus, historically, Jews have been much more likely to live in cities rather than in rural areas. In the early 1900s, there were several different programs that tried to get Jews to move to small towns out west, but none of them were all that successful.

The more-casual handling of guns and rifles is a rural/small town thing, I think. Psychologically, I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of people tie guns/rifles into that mythical "simpler times" that unhappy people think will make everything better. Plus the whole harkening back to the "frontier/free man/self-sufficient" mythos that America loves.

Posted in Beep Me, but... I GOT THE JOB! Just waiting for background check to be completed.

That is great news! We all knew you could do it.

Shir has naked teeth, pass it on! Glad to hear the tin grins are gone for ya. Enjoy getting used to the naked teeth. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY early.

WRT guns, my dad is a big gun nut. So I grew up a bit with them, and have some of my own. Target shooting is one of the few sports I can do, not that I'm any good with them (not bad, just no sharp shooter. I hit the target at 100 yards... might be the edge of the paper, but I hit the paper!) My mom HATES guns. She loves telling how every time dad dragged her to go shooting, she would out shoot him every time. Last time my dad came out to CA, we went to the gun range with my BIL (the Marine Sniper). Rented pistols. Dad got a little .22 he has at home, so he was comfy with the weapon. BIL tried something he hadn't shot before. I had my revolver. Dad couldn't hit any target farther than 10' away from him, and the 10' ones were hit/miss. He blamed the gun. "oh, this rented thing. The barrel must be shot out of it. Doesn't hold the target at all...blah blah blah". BIL, being the wiseass that he is, says "let me see", takes the gun before dad can say anything, loads the clip, and rapid fires the whole clip to the 50 yard targets (drop targets) and makes the whole line fall. Hands the gun back and says, "nah, it seems to shoot just fine" and goes back to shooting his pistol, but with a BIG grin on his face. Yeah. entertaining on one level, and dealing with humiliated dad on another. So the assessment that most folks can shot shit here in US, I'd agree with that.