I think this woman is approaching this experiment with a pretty slanted mindset and she doesn't seem like she wants to change her opinion at all. If you go into an experience expecting it to be bad I wouldn't be surprised if you find it awful, stressful, and in general everything you expect it to be. You get what you're looking for, right? Now, was it you thenewgreen where we had a discussion about guns on Hubski and another Hubskier offered to take you out shooting and you had a great time? Ugh I can't find it in search. Maybe it was mk or maybe one of you two will remember. (If not, then I'm going crazy.) Frankly, maybe it was on Reddit. That I thought was a good example of someone who had never picked up a gun, never fired one, wasn't particularly interested in the experience, but went with an open mind. I'm not saying you have to love shooting after you pick up a gun and give it a try, but it doesn't feel to me like this person is even giving it a shot. (Ha. Hardy-har-har, I amuse myself.) Edit: "In some way, I feel a certain vindication. I was right to protest Starbucks policy. Today, they have a woman with absolutely no firearms training and a Glock on her hip sitting within arm’s reach of small children, her hands shaking and adrenaline surging" I fail to see how this is vindication of the Starbucks policy. I don't think her shaking hands and surging adrenaline are going to cause her to whip out the gun and start shooting people. It doesn't make her any more dangerous than she already is, just as someone with a gun. I think in fact her lack of firearms training means that she may be less likely to pull out the gun than someone who is familiar with it. Let's be honest - if this woman gets in a situation where she needs to defend herself, do you think she is going to think fast enough to even rely on the gun? Am I arguing the wrong point, here, or something? I think what she is trying to protest is that she is a barely trained individual with a gun in a Starbucks, but adding on those extra details is...welll...fear-mongering.
Wasn't me. I've grown up around guns and shot plenty of them though. I'm a liberal that doesn't think that gun control is nearly as important as accessible mental health care and reducing disparity. I do think that having a gun for protection on the street is ridiculous. It's a stupid use of a gun as a tool. Unless you specifically train in these scenarios, chances are you are just going to make a bad situation much worse for yourself (even if you train, you might end up killing someone and regretting it). In almost every robbery, people are after money, not your life. In this day and age, the most valuable thing you'll have is your phone, and that's not worth shooting over. In my city, we have a publication where you can see the crime statistics. There are robberies every month. There hasn't been a homicide in years, and homicides by and large don't occur during robberies.