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Old June 3, 2013, 06:10 PM   #51
Closing The Gap
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Location: Las Vegas Nevada
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Gender.
Male

Age
40

Race
American

Types of firearms owned and for what purposes (just a general overview, nobody has to be specific)

Several semi auto pistols (poly,alloy,steel) for target/plinking with my wife and 2 sons. Several semi auto rifles AK's, several .22's for target/plinking with my wife and 2 sons. A couple shotguns in various gauges and action types for killing clays with my wife and 2 sons. Milsurp bolt action rifles for target/plinking with my wife and 2 sons. I have my eye on about a dozen other firearms but am trying to show self control.

And then whatever else you feel or think does or doesn't fit the sterotype.

I grew up in a staunchly Democratic anti gun household. I am an agnostic. I home educate my sons. We consider ourselves life learners. My wife is finishing her masters degree while working outside of the home. I am not formally educated although I was in all the gifted/advanced programs in grade school. I have operated an Adult Entertainment business from home for the past 8 years. I also ran my own businesses prior to that. I am self taught in most things. We as a family are not hunters but recently have started on a path leading us there.

I drink Tito's Handmade Vodka and craft beer. Although only once every couple months. I used to own a newer Mustang GT and Cadillac but sold them both last year and bought a used Honda CRV and used Ford Focus for myself and my wife to drive. We also used to own a 3000 sq ft home in historic Beverly Green near the Stratosphere in Las Vegas but sold it and currently rent a 1400 sq ft home in rural Michigan while my wife finishes her degree. We have decided that having a big house and nice cars are meaningless. What matters is the time spent together with our boys.

I don't think any of this is a stereotype but it is the story of my type.


Edit: I forgot to add I have really long hair and listen to death metal but no beard(at the moment).
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Old June 3, 2013, 06:36 PM   #52
Glenn E. Meyer
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My description is in my sig line - being an academic shooter.

I am atypical as compared to the stereotype.
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Old June 3, 2013, 07:20 PM   #53
2ndsojourn
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White male
60
Civil Engineer
Agnostic
Navy vet
Grew up in semi-rural Philly suburbs. Plenty of plinking, varmint, pheasant and deer hunting on our & neighboring properties. Shot .22 competition in high school. Qualified expert w/ M-16 and .45 in the Navy.

I still have my shotgun and two rifles from my younger years. I inherited several collectable rifles and handguns from my grandfather and father, and I've since acquired a few more for home and self defense.

I haven't hunted in over 20 years and I've only been going to a firing range occasionally for the past three years or so.

The only black plastic gun I have is a G19.
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Old June 3, 2013, 11:40 PM   #54
JMP
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Location: Wyoming
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38
atheist
married for 15 years to a vegetarian
I lean waaaay to the left on politics
I own well over 50 rifles but only one EBR (LR-308) and shoot twice a week, minimum
I only own two pistols but my wife has 30+
college educated
in good shape (probably due to my wife's diet, if it was up to me I'd eat ice cream for every meal)
both my wife and me have our CCPs, her idea
house is paid for

This might be a bad thing to say on here but I voted for Obama twice and I like him

Edit:
I just bought my first camo last month for my first time turkey hunting. Now that the season is over, the camo is put away and won't come out until next turkey season. I don't like camo for everyday use.
I've been hunting since I was 12, and do some guiding in the fall for antelope and deer.
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Old June 4, 2013, 12:52 AM   #55
Ben Towe
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White male, 28 years of age, 6'4" tall and 345 pounds. Scotch Irish descent. I smoke like a freight train and chew tobacco regularly. At one time I had a Duck Dynasty style beard and hair (long before it was cool) but now I keep it high and tight with a well trimmed Van Dyke. I farm and have at various times been a truck driver. Assisted in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, first by moving FEMA trailers and then with cleanup. I drive a souped up Dodge Cummins pickup and I speak with a heavy Southern/Appalachian accent and vocabulary. I also wear bib overalls, boots and a sleeveless t shirt most all of the time. If you stopped reading there or you simply met me on the street I would certainly appear to meet the stereotype. The rest of the story is this:

I have a genius level IQ, I am a voracious reader and have read thousands of books and countless articles and papers. I am extremely mechanically inclined and can work on most anything. My religious, political and social views are expansive and fit no conventional definition. For example, while I generally vote Republican, I think the party's position on some things is foolish and in the long term untenable. I think the War on Drugs is an exercise in idiocy, I couldn't care less about gay marriage or abortion. Attempts to legislate morality are doomed to fail. I believe government spending needs to be cut by at least 65% now, not in 10 or 15 years. I think that is the only way out of this hole.

There is much more but you get the idea. Few people actually fit a stereotype if you get to know them.

Edit: As far as guns, I have everything, but pistols and long range rifles are my real passion. Next project is building an AR in .50 Beowulf.
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Old June 4, 2013, 01:07 AM   #56
Justice06RR
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I think many Anti's probably view gun owners as the caucausian male, 20-65yrs old, possibly living in the country or rural areas, and maybe uncivilized.

You know, the "From my cold dead hands" type, or the typical hunter, Southerner, or retired Veteran.

Maybe like those guys from Duck Dynasty:



The truth is so much more farther from that. We are a wide variety of individuals from different origins and lifestyles. From the young male or female in their 20's, to mothers and fathers in their 30's, to young Veterans and LEO's, teachers, nurses, and much more.

As for myself, I'm a single male in my early 30's of Asian decent. I've been working in the medical field for more than a decade and also have an engineering degree. I shoot competition-type events like 3-Gun and IDPA (not so much now due to the ammo shortage). I live in a very big city in Central FL, ride a motorcycle, and am also a skater.
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Old June 4, 2013, 08:45 AM   #57
wayneinFL
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Types of firearms owned and for what purposes (just a general overview, nobody has to be specific)

I have a little bit of everything, and not just for me, but the kids, too. I have a few ARs, lots of handguns, bolt action hunting rifles. I collect military rifles. Have 22 rifles and shotguns, too.

And then whatever else you feel or think does or doesn't fit the sterotype.

I probably fit the stereotype, being middle aged, white, and male. I think you're going to see a lot of that on an internet forum. People who are really INTO guns probably do fit that demographic. There are a lot of gun owners who aren't fanatics- housewives who own a firearm for self defense, or the guy who doesn't pick up a gun except for hunting season. You don;t see them on firearms forums.

But I suppose I don't exactly fit the stereotype, because a lot of people are surprised to find out I own a gun at all, let alone owning probably a hundred of them. I'm clean cut, mild mannered, wear glasses, have an MBA majoring in project management, been working at a telecommunications company for 15 years. I don't look anything like the guys on Duck Dynasty.
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Old June 4, 2013, 02:10 PM   #58
Frank Ettin
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I'm a 65 year old, white male retired lawyer.

I didn't become involved with guns and shooting until late in life. Although I was interested in guns as a kid, I'm a city boy. It wasn't until my mid 40s that I started shooting by taking a short, introductory handgun class. If you'll look at my profile you'll see that I made up for lost time pretty well.

My wife (married 28 years) and I live in the suburbs now. Own our home. We don't have kids but have a cat.

I worked as a lawyer in the corporate world for over 30 years -- including a bunch of years as a vice president of a Fortune 200 company.

Like good food, good wine and European performance cars. While I'm a fiscal conservative I tend to be liberal and broad minded on social issues -- but still believe that people need to bear the natural consequences of their acts and decisions.
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Last edited by Frank Ettin; June 4, 2013 at 09:31 PM. Reason: correct typo
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Old June 4, 2013, 02:26 PM   #59
MLeake
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I'm a 45 year old pilot, learned to fly in the Navy, and have since flown for airline, charter, and contract gigs.

I'm college educated; my parents were college educated (in Boston, yet both now live elsewhere and both have carry permits). My sister has graduate level degrees, and is on the executive staff of a major university. She doesn't shoot, but has no objections to me or my parents doing so.

My wife is college educated, with dual bachelor's degrees (Pre-Vet/Animal Sciences and Bachelor of Science in Nursing). She shoots a little, but does not carry. Her father is an avid hunter, rifle, shotgun, black powder, and bow. (Farmer, with a BS in some agricultural science or another.) Her mother doesn't shoot, as far as I know, but obviously has no objections to firearms.

I have one child. He is still too young for shooting lessons (infants can't quite get the right grip). In a few years, though...

I began shooting pellet rifles around age 9, rimfire handguns around age 15, and centerfire handguns at age 19. I took up rifle shooting as a junior officer in the Navy, because I thought I might someday wish I were more familiar with AR pattern rifles if I did not train myself.

I'm also fairly heavily into martial arts, and have been for a couple decades.
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Old June 4, 2013, 03:56 PM   #60
Jay24bal
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I'll play...

In some regards I fit the "stereotype" pretty well:

1. 6'1" and 240 pounds, so not exactly "slim."
2. 27 year-old white male.
3. Generally rather conservative on both social as well as fiscal government policy.
4. Christian.
5. Drive a pick-up truck daily even though my job does not require it (I do a lot of home repairs as well as being a hunter so the bed comes in handy about once a month for me).
6. I do occasionally wear camo when not in the field, although it is a function of them being old clothes that I wear on weekends for yardwork and such.
7. If you saw my basement, I would look like a gun nut as I have two safes full of guns (bolt action rifles, semi-auto EBRs, military surplus rifles, pump and semi-auto shotguns, most handguns are semi-auto, but there are a couple revolvers mixed in), I handload ammo so I have a workbench and supplies, and I have a shelf full of camo and duck decoys.
8. If you know me, you know I am outspoken in support of the 2A.
9. I carry daily.
10. I do love Copenhagen Southern Blend...

In other ways, I do not:

1. Very short crew cut, (I get asked a lot if I am a police officer or veteran, but I am not), no facial hair.
2. Did not grow up around guns, gained interest on my own once I was old enough to buy them myself. I grew up in suburbia where guns are not part of everyday life. At least to my knowledge, there is not a gun to be found in my parents' house.
3. I sell software for a living and interact with two "traditionally white-collared" industries depending on the product: large accounting firms and private country clubs.
4. I volunteer and help coach a youth baseball team in the summer (I played college baseball) even though I do not have children yet.
5. I am a college graduate, and spent 2 years in full-time study in law school before I decided I did not want to do that for 40 years.
6. I am a competitive amateur golfer and I spend a lot of time at various tournaments and in country-club settings and fit in quite well.
7. Married to my grade school sweetheart (yes, you read that correctly as we started dating in 8th grade) who is a tiny little woman and does not have a interest in guns although she does know how to handle them safely and use one if she must.

When people do find out that I have an interest in guns and that I hunt, most are surprised for some reason, but generally those are people that do not know me very well. Maybe it is why I enjoy sales, but I feel that everyone is different and can not fit into one mold. Every person has a different personality, preferences, history, hopes and dreams, and a different outlook on life, you just need to get to know them and go from there. I feel as comfortable sitting down with the Managing Partner of Big 4 CPA firm as I do the "good-'ole boys" at the range or in deer camp. While we all have these labels we like to attach to ourselves, we are all so much more complicated than that.
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Old June 4, 2013, 06:27 PM   #61
RBid
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Posts: 1,059
Gender: male
Age: 36
Race: white
physical build: 6'2", 185-- athletic & fit.
religion: no
education: yes
politics: I believe in minimal government, and that what government we have should serve the People.
Types of firearms owned/specific purpose: 3 handguns. My firearms are for carry, home defense, defense of freedom, and recreation.

What I feel does not fit the stereotype: I'm articulate, patient, considerate, understanding, and tolerant.
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Last edited by RBid; June 4, 2013 at 10:09 PM.
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Old June 4, 2013, 07:01 PM   #62
Art Eatman
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White male, almost 79, gettin' decrepit. Pretty good track record as a professional engineer.

Been a shooter/hunter since 1940. Kinda got into the habit.

I did the gun show table thing for about thirty years. Never got a bad check from any customer--which oughta say something about the sorta people who go to gun shows.
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Old June 4, 2013, 07:45 PM   #63
JerryM
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I admit that in most photos I see the guys look pretty scroungy, and red neckish. Camos and tattoos don't help either.

Jerry
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Old June 4, 2013, 08:06 PM   #64
baddarryl
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This sounds like a dating website! Lol!

45, White, College Educated, working blue collar but a business owner, a few pistols, a deer rifle an AR and a couple of shotguns and .22's. I shoot for fun, competition, teach my kids, hunt (some), and carry daily.

Politically Libertarian, agnostic, no military or LE, play music (metal), surf, don't drink or drug, semi fit.

Last edited by baddarryl; June 4, 2013 at 08:13 PM.
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Old June 4, 2013, 08:36 PM   #65
cannonfire
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White male. 25 years old. Center-Left Libertarian. College educated. Former Marine.

I'm into semi autos and milsurps.

My girlfriend is only with me because of my dog and my PS-90. She told me so...
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Old June 4, 2013, 08:55 PM   #66
shouldazagged
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White male going on 76, widowed for seventeen years. Kept getting married till I got it right, found the love of my life on the third try, and never looked for another one after she died. Retired five years. Master's degree. Agnostic, but if I were anything religious it probably be would be one of the Native American religions that believe everything--animals, plants, water, stone, even an occasional Kardashian--has a spirit under one Great Spirit,.

Lifelong Democrat, but have voted for some Republicans over the years. I've grown increasingly cynical about politics since Watergate but believe voting is not a privilege but an obligation. Definitely believe in the sanctity of the First and Second Amendments. Pretty centrist views generally, but liberal on some issues and conservative on others. What I'm not is agreeable to being categorized. Pigeonholes are little prisons.

I've hunted since I was a kid but haven't been able to for some time due to physical problems. Never made enough money (working in state-funded mental health) to own a lot of guns at any one time and now am down to only four: a .38 Special J-frame EDC I've carried daily for almost thirteen years, a Model 10-5 as my house gun, an ancient Stevens 12 gauge side-by-side and a Marlin 39A.

I got my concealed carry license soon after Kentucky became a shall-issue state, never carried before it was legal. I pocket-carry the J-frame with the old +P FBI load; and since I'm a little old man with gray hair and a short white beard, and walk with a cane, nobody figures me to be armed. That's fine with me.

I have a long-held motto: God deliver me from humorless devotees of any cause. I'm mistrustful of the ones Tom Servo calls the doctrinaire type, whether pro- or anti-gun. Dedicated conspiracy theorists alternately amuse and sadden me. Mostly amuse. But if you can't laugh at yourself, I don't trust you.
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Old June 4, 2013, 10:13 PM   #67
RBid
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Quote:
"...but if I were anything religious it probably be would be one of the Native American religions that believe everything--animals, plants, water, stone, even an occasional Kardashian--has a spirit..."
shouldazagged,

With all due respect to my father-in-law-to-be, you are probably my favorite living person over 70. That was gold, sir.


to all other participants, with a special nod to the OP:
This is my favorite TFL topic in quite awhile, which I think is actually saying a lot.
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Old June 4, 2013, 10:14 PM   #68
spanishjames
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I definitely don't fit the stereotype.

American/Hispanic/Latino
38
Married father of five
Born and raised in Chicago, in the Suburbs now
Conservative, NRA, ISRA member
BSA Scoutmaster
I enjoy all things outdoors, am a political junkie, and the only sport I like is Boxing.
I like guns for home protection, and for punching paper at the range, though I'd love to shoot tin cans, bowling pins, metal targets, etc., out in the country someday. I've never hunted.

I've been told I look like a cross between these two guys: (minus the dogs and the mustache)


I see all types of people at the local gun shops and ranges. Young women, older women with their husbands, guys with basketball jerseys and droopy pants, guys in suits, of all sizes and colors. The only type I rarely see are the ones from the anti-gun propaganda pushers.
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Old June 5, 2013, 01:04 AM   #69
Sport45
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The average American firearm owner is pretty much just the average American.

The average TFL member isn't necessarily the same as the average firearm owner since a small minority of firearm owners are members here or any other internet forum.
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Old June 5, 2013, 05:33 AM   #70
BigTex308
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Re: "Mainstream" firearm owners

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sport45 View Post
The average American firearm owner is pretty much just the average American.

The average TFL member isn't necessarily the same as the average firearm owner since a small minority of firearm owners are members here or any other internet forum.
Bingo.

uploadfromtaptalk1370428407049.jpg



Ike
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Old June 5, 2013, 03:24 PM   #71
Obambulate
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What has to scare the gun grabbers are the demographic changes in the shooting community. A larger and larger percentage of new shooters are coming from very non-traditional places...women, and especially minority women, are among the fastest-growing segments of gun owners. Also, seniors and other adults who didn't grow up around guns are another demographic that is coming into the gun culture as the economy teeters.

The gun grabbers are losing their base and the scare tactics no longer work when the public increasingly has training and experience with guns. They see through the lies and the ignorance of politicos.
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Old June 5, 2013, 04:00 PM   #72
arch308
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I must agree that the demographic is changing. Seems everytime I go to the range lately I see families, Mom and Dad teaching their kids to shoot. Also seeing more women of all ages. I think it is awesome!
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Old June 5, 2013, 05:33 PM   #73
RBid
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Quote:
What has to scare the gun grabbers are the demographic changes in the shooting community.
Many of them are stating that the demographic isn't changing. In my State, Ceasefire Oregon put up a blog post saying that "people who are keeping track" know that the gun buying frenzy was almost entirely existing buyers, rather than new ones. I found this amusing, for 2 reasons: 1) I was operating an LGS for a group during the frenzy, and 2) I am aware that Ceasefire Oregon does not actually have a mechanism through which they can keep track of who is or is not buying firearms.

If I had to guess, I'd say that about 40% of the people I saw during the frenzy were first time buyers. Part of this may have had to do with where I was working, but I would not be surprised to hear that things were similar, elsewhere.
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Old June 5, 2013, 06:39 PM   #74
gaseousclay
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Me: half Japanese, half euro mutt
- born and raised in Japan (dad is a military vet)
- fiscal conservative, social liberal
- 41, married with 2 month old child
- college educated
- currently only own 2 rifles. A browning a-bolt and a Winchester 9422. I plan to gradually increase my collection to include shotguns, handguns and more rifles.
- wife hates guns but lets me have them because she knows I enjoy them.

So no, I don't represent the mainstream gun owner, mainly because of the criticisms I get being an evil liberal
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Old June 5, 2013, 07:17 PM   #75
RBid
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Quote:
mainly because of the criticisms I get being an evil liberal
Eventually, people will realize that "liberal" and "anti" are not synonyms.
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