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.

If I moved out to the country I'd probably get a rifle. My dad hunted, as do several other members of my family. I'd certainly consider hunting, too. Given how much the deer have munched my garden this year, I'd roast a self-harvested venison loin with considerable relish. (Well, probably with a brown cheese sauce and lingonberries, actually.) But I'd want lessons in safe handling, a secure place to keep the rifle, and so forth.

ETA: Hunting culture was huge in my home town when I was a kid. The opening day of deer season was an excused absence at school, and all the stores had "deer widow" specials for the women who were, in theory, staying at home while their menfolk hunted.

Hunting culture was huge in my home town when I was a kid. The opening day of deer season was an excused absence at school, and all the stores had "deer widow" specials for the women who were, in theory, staying at home while their menfolk hunted.

And certain weekends in town were bound to have trucks going through with a deer strapped to the hood/fender/trunk. Not to mention bird season.

cereal:

So the gun debate is in large part urban/rural, ie, something of a class thing.

Jews in America aren't really part of the gun culture.

Then I guess my family was true to stereotype, whereas DH's was true to the rural life stereotype, since he grew up with guns and his side of the family has a bunch of gun enthusiasts. My FiL has a several rifles on a gun rack in his house, but I notice that neither of my kids is interested in it.

I went for an unexpected drive through the country today. I was trying to get to this environmental center where they have exhibits about local plants and wildlife, and a bird refuge. My GPS directed me somewhere completely wrong. I'm not entirely sure where I ended up, but getting there involved a whole lot of driving through several miles of farmland, followed by a clump of about 20 houses, a church, and a few trailers, and then back to farmland, repeated several times. Eventually the GPS had me turn off the paved road, and then, on a dirt road where all I could see were a house, a trailer, a couple of rusted-out cars, and a whole lot of trees, it said that I was at the environmental center. Well, I suppose that I could have learned something about plants there, but I wasn't sure whose land I was on, or whether I was allowed to be there, so I turned around and came home.

My guess is that's why the issue is so "hot:, Connie. Just one of our omnipresent divides.

So the gun debate is in large part urban/rural, ie, something of a class thing.

I am not sure we really have a "gun debate" in the full sense of the word. What we have (it seems to me) is that the gun manufacturers are trying to make (continue making) a shitload of $$. Their best way of dealing with that is to sell more and more guns to people.

1) Rural communities have a different set of problems than urban communities with respect to gun violence, but there are a lot of fatalities and injuries in rural communities as well. We just don't hear about them as much in mainstream media.

2) The vast majority of gun owners either are responsible or want responsible regulation. Something like 85% of NRA members. The crazy laws that are in force in many states are because of the fringe element who advocate arming (some) people to the teeth and not really promoting responsibility.

So, I was just in the large multi-stall restroom. The lady already there was obviously having an unhappy day. I did not see her, she did not see me. She left her stall, did her washing up, then headed to the door. She paused and said, "To whomever is in here, I'm sorry for the smell, but I can't help it," and was out the door.

As I understand Miss Manners, one just ignores the inevitable biological issues related to restrooms. If the lady hadn't scurried out, was I expected to reply? I wouldn't have, in any case.