[flatfourone]

Hi there,

I'm a 34 year-old married father of a new baby girl and I live in Portland Oregon. I work as a graphic designer for an ad agency. I am fairly new to gun-ownership and the whole "scene" or whatever it's called and I am just curious to know if I am unusual in the sense that I have a creative profession and am not a strict Republican. Basically, I'd like to know if, from your experience, gun-owners are stereotyped as being blue-collar conservatives. Is there a lot of diversity among gun owners? I imagine there must be since so many Americans own guns. Again, I'm just curious. THANKS!

 

[raevan]

I have never considered my self a Republican, however I have found myself voting that way because all the Demecrats available lately have been antigun

 

[tsp45acp]

I was a Dem for 20+ yrs until I got into handguns. (Bought my first handgun when I was 37 yrs old) Now I am a Republican due to what MY priorities are. Yes, I am a one dimensional voter. 2cnd amen. is what I vote for. I work everyday, so I can afford health insur. I work everyday so I can afford (though I don't like to) to pay higher taxes. I can deal with almost anything either side if the isle throws at me EXCEPT taking away my guns and freedom. All of the present Dem prez candidates scare the h$ll out of me. Not entirely thrilled with any of the Repub candidates either, but they're closer to what I value.


Getting down off my soapbox now. Flame away. Tracy

 

[1shotneeded]

I am a southern CA surfer and High School Teacher. I also work in the Technology field.

Guns are my right as an American. No one will take my guns as my father went to war three times to defeat tyranny as a US Marine. I don't much care what people think of me and my stand on issues and believe me in the teaching profession there are many that say I should not be allowed a gun at all.

I train with my gun and have a trainer teaching me tactical shooting so I can defend my girls at home. I teach them to shoot so they can defend them selfs. (they each have a handgun) The Gov is no longer protecting our borders and crime is over the top here in So Cal. so as a good American i will do the job needed to be done.

I have never voted for a Dem, as they do not hold the values I do, and the Rep Party has LEFT ME, so im kinda left out in the cold right now.

My most important issues are 2nd amendment and border protection/shutdown.

My collar right now is white, but I do have some blue shirts too :wink:

May God continue to bless America :flag:

 

[CopperKnight]

I lean too far to be a Republican. I find myself voting Libertarian much of the time. I don't know which color to call my collar, but I'm definitely conservative.

 

[longtooth]

I guess this focused on the political end more than the white colar/blue collar.

I too am a single issue voter. If we loose the right to bear arms all others are gone shortly there after.

Find myself voting Rep. more than any. Have voted Lib. in some local & state elections.

I am a bivocational baptist preacher. White colar on the ministry end.
Bi-vocational means I have to work a job too the rest of my living. That is definately blue colar.

Texas preachers carry too.
Deacons, piano players, & couple of our ladies.
We dont intend to be willing victims.

 

[fiddletown]

Okay, let's have a look at some of the folks I've shot with.

The guys at my IPSC club included a fellow who was a lawyer but became a tavern owner, a printer, a pediatrician and ER physician, and a number of engineers in the high tech world.

My first class at Gunsite (Defensive Pistol) included an electrical engineer, a college student and an orthopedic surgeon.

My second class at Gunsite (General Rifle) included a veterinarian and a maxillofacial surgeon. One of the instructors for that class had a degree in business from Yale.

My shooting buddies at my trap club include a lawyer, an engineer recently retired from Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, a high school math teacher, a couple of software consultants, a mechanical engineer, an executive pilot, a successful real estate developer and a CFO of a high tech company.

Jeff Cooper, of course, was a graduate of Stanford and a prolific and thoughtful author.

I have recently retired after practicing law for over 30 years. For almost 15 years before my retirement, I was a senior lawyer and an officer of a Fortune 200 Corporation.

Of course, my shooting buddies also include a contractor or two, an owner of a trucking company a retired machinist, etc. But in my personal experience many shooter are in white collar, professional and technical occupations.

The shooters I know, however, tend to be politically conservative. We tend to believe that individuals need to be responsible for their actions and making their way in the world. We tend to believe in personal freedom -- which includes both the freedom to succeed and to fail. We tend to believe that actions have consequences and that we should bear or enjoy, as the case may be, the consequences of our actions. We tend to believe in self reliance. We are also patriotic.

I think most the the shooters I know identify more with Republican or Libertarian ideology and values than with Democrat ideology and values (such as they are). And many are, at least to some extent, one issue (pro-gun) voters.

 

[msjdgman]

I would classify myself as a grey collared worker. Not a true blue collar guy since I`ve been a business owner, but for the last 15 yrs I`ve been in mid management type positions. The guys I hang with and are shooters vary from trash haulers to doctors. Even one of the judges around here (related to me) is a gun owner and shooter.

I tend to be an independant voter, but recently I`ve become very attentive to 2A concerns and vote for the candidate who will support 2A issues.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

I was a Dem for 20+ yrs until I got into handguns. (Bought my first handgun when I was 37 yrs old) Now I am a Republican due to what MY priorities are. Yes, I am a one dimensional voter. 2cnd amen. is what I vote for. I work everyday, so I can afford health insur. I work everyday so I can afford (though I don't like to) to pay higher taxes. I can deal with almost anything either side if the isle throws at me EXCEPT taking away my guns and freedom. All of the present Dem prez candidates scare the h$ll out of me. Not entirely thrilled with any of the Repub candidates either, but they're closer to what I value.


Getting down off my soapbox now. Flame away. Tracy

I couldn't have said that better...+1

 

[QCATrader]

I guess I'm an Independent that leans towards Republicans, but I pay close attention to issues, especially when related to firearms.

I'm also a retired industrial software consultant that has traveled the world most of my life, an accomplished stained glass artist and most recently a wood carver now that I have more time.

I retired last year at 61 when I completed my cancer treatments so I could enjoy the rest of my life, and my wife and I are doing just that in sunny Arizona.

The folks I hang with range from truck drivers to pastors, so I guess I too fit well into that "Gray Collar" group. A fine mixture of like minded American patriots.

 

[1shotneeded]

Ok flatfourone,

Did you get your question answered?
What do you think?

 

[dogdollar]

To me, the gun control issue, outside of being a personal interest to me, is also a fair indication of ANY politicians overall makeup.
After all, he or she has had to have resolved whether they trust the people of this country to manage having the right to the physical power of firearms. If they don't, it's a pretty good indication to me that they also don't believe those same people can be trusted with the much greater responsibility of guiding the course of their own country, either.
DD

 

[fiddletown]

It also suits the politician to encourage members of the general the public to lose confidence in their own abilities to cope and manage their own affairs. It furthers that goal to try to convince ordinary people that they can not manage, and therefore should not expect to be trusted with, the power offered by possession of firearms. And what's particularly discouraging is that so many folks are so eager to lap up that bilge.

 

[Synergy]

Flatfourone-
Ownership of guns, do not determine your political lines. I read on another forum there are gay gun clubs. Typically gays are the most left/liberal minded. Go Figure. The irony of gun ownership is "owners" regardless of income, "collar" status, race, age, or gender will come to an epiphany and often understand that the politicians attack on our 2nd amendment rights are not justified. The attack is on both sides of the card, dems are 100% against guns, some reps flip-flop and support the AWB.

I see this at work as a fireman in a ghetto in California, We have the most stringent gun laws in the nation. In the last week a gang war started and there have been 20+ individual shootings, over 6 dead with 20 injured, using everything from 9mm to 7.62. How are the unjustified gun laws in California stopping the gang shootings? Plain and simple they are not. Cops know this, People living in the projects know this, Gun owners know this. Politicians are clueless.

 

[TraderJack]

I grew up around guns of all types and kinds. Pop was an avid collector. Our collection was stolen about the time I went off to college and I wasn't around guns much, except for the service, for a long time.

I voted my conscience and thought Kennedy was the best thing since sliced bread. And after Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter I was really disillusioned about politics. When Reagan came on the scene I wasn't interested.

I was very, very busy running everyday, producing television and 'industrial video'. Very creative stuff, if I do say so.
It wasn't until the Iran-Contra hearings that I sat up and took notice about politics again.

I'll have to admit that Reagan opened my eyes to the truth about the difference between liberals and conservatives, and the truth about the differences between Democrats and Republicans.

I started to restock Dad's collection just before he passed on. Never approached his inventory, but I'm OK with it. I own guns because I'm fond of them. They remind me of my Pop. I own guns because I'm a crack shot with several weapons. I own guns because it's my right to do so.

Sure owning a gun is part of our Constitution and it's part of our heritage of being a nation of riflemen, but it's much more than that. Owning a gun is how modern man can define his sense of place in the world, he can protect his family and his property, and he can enjoy the sense of community with his fellow gun owners. Owning a gun is a great responsibility.

I really don't think that folks gave the 2nd Amendment much thought until crazy people in the government started talking about 'gun control' and shouting that guns are a problem and we need to do something! But in the present political climate, gun owners need to stand tall in the saddle and be prepared to fight to keep our rights.

I've heard it said that when you're young you should be liberal and altruistic. If you weren't you had no heart.
And, when you grow old you will become conservative because of the wealth you've worked so hard for and your desire to fight to keep it.
If you weren't you had no brains.

I'm proud to be a gun owner and proud to be a conservative.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

I am a Computer Systems Engineer/Security Engineer.

I am a 60 year old independent conservative southerner that was raised with a gun in my hand and taught to be self sufficent and self thinking.

I do not believe in voting for a party, but for issues and people that best represent my point of view on the issues. It just happens that the republicans have been the ones that have fit that bill the last few years! But I have never voted a straight party ticket!

 

[drollerindy]

I believe most gun owners tend to be responsible, self-reliant, and honest.
Responsible, because if you get careless with a gun, you will likely shoot yourself.
Self-reliant, because most of us have realized that "when seconds count, the police are at least minutes away." That is, if your life is endangered, it is up to you to save it.
Honest, because most any gun will shoot more accurately than most of us can hold. When the bullet hole is not in the center of the bullseye, it is our fault and no amount of whining will change that fact.
Whining is for irresponsible people who want others to take care of them and want to avoid the consequences of their actions.

If these characteristics are limited to blue-collar, conservative, Republicans, mores the pity.

Doug

 

[1shotneeded]

Flatfourone is gone guys.

he did not get his template answer to his high school or college question so we will never hear from him again.

...