Pastor: Come to church, bring your guns...
A friend of mine forwarded this article: "We're doing this just like we were having a church picnic," said Pastor Ken Pagano of New Bethel Church, describing what he calls, an "open carry celebration."It's an interesting way to promote awareness of the "gun culture" among those who may not realize that it exists. When I went to Boomershoot this year, I took along a new shooter with me -- someone who had shot before, occasionally, but not in a long time and not for fun. One of the things they expressed to me about the process of getting a rifle set up for Boomershoot was that, once you started talking about guns, it was as if everyone around you suddenly clicked a box in their head that said "It's ok to talk about guns around this person", and suddenly there are a lot of people showing interest. I think there is a kind of ... social restraint that many gun owners practice habitually. A restraint that reflects the media's constant angry attacks on gun owners, and the perceived general social attitude towards us. We don't talk about guns with just anyone, even if we are completely willing to open up on the topic with other gunnies. Since this person was relatively new to the whole idea, it was an eye-opening experience to suddenly see everyone around them in a new light. And I can't help but think that we need more people to have this experience, to learn and to understand that normal folks, ordinary people, have and use guns for fun. That the media stereotype is only a stereotype. |
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