I was five years old the first time I ever got behind the trigger, and from that moment on I was hooked. My mother and father set me up with a little .410 and had me tentatively hold on to the stock and barrel and point it at a water balloon 10 yards away. I did not exactly know what I was doing but I sure was excited. The moment I released the trigger (granted my eyes were closed) I heard my parents cheering and congratulating their future Annie Oakley. Ever since then I would become accustomed to wearing camouflage, slinging a .12 gauge over my shoulder, and heading out to go take on the next challenge. It was not just my personal preference, but it was just the world I grew up in.
My home is adorned with trophies, and no I do not mean the plastic gold ones you get at a soccer game. There are antlers, birds, and other miscellaneous taxidermied animals. This was just normal for me, I never gave it a second guess, and I actually thought it was strange when I would visit a friend's house that was lacking the same adornment. We truly are products of our society, and for myself, I was a product of gun clubs, pheasant hunts, and bird dogs (of which we have six). This world led me to my first jobs (working at a few gun clubs) and some of my best friends. By the time I was in high school I knew for being the "country girl" who was from a farm and who shot things on the weekend, and I loved it. I embraced it, even when I was called a horse every day (aren't high schoolers just so creative??). It wasn't until my freshman year of College that I realized this world I have been so familiar and comfortable with was not one many people knew even existed.
On my first day in the fall of the freshman year, we were asked to give our name, year, and a fun fact about ourselves. My fun fact always used to be I love to clay shoot so naturally, that was the fun fact I used in this first class. Little did I know it would cause the whole room to look at me strangely and my professor ask, "What's that?" (also little did I know this professor was extremely liberal and was pro-gun control...guess how well we got along...) but that's a different story altogether. Ever since that day, I would be hesitant to mention that I loved to shoot because the association with guns automatically makes people take a step back and look at you differently. Suddenly being the country girl from upstate New York was no longer my cute personality description, but rather a negative attribute that made me look less worldly and hick-like.
The word "Gun" in college can be equated to "Hillary Clinton" on a shooting range...it doesn't make a lot of people feel practically comfortable. My university is comprised of a lot of Long Island, Manhattan, Suburban CT, and New Jersey natives who are not all that familiar with gun safety and gun practice making that topic one they try to avoid, which also makes me feel awkward since I simply can't relate. People have a huge fear of them because they are something they are not familiar with and that is truly unfortunate. I believe most people should have at least basic knowledge of gun safety (let alone firearm operation) that way they would be able to make a situation safe if they were to ever encounter one.
Other than the multitude of people I have met in college who are not familiar with guns, I have actually met a few people in college that have the same interests as me. I find that the stereotype given to us college-aged-gun-loving-Americans is not at all true and people should be more open to learning about those whose backgrounds don't involve competitive cheerleading or dance. I am proud of my background and my bubble, and hopefully, more people will be able to step out of their comfort zone and who knows maybe one day even step onto the gun range, after learning about proper safety procedures of course.
