I’ve been enjoying a blogging hiatus, but when I spotted this link to Heidi Yewman’s Ms. Magazine Blog series titled ‘My Month with A Gun’, I decided to interrupt my hiatus and weigh in with my two cents.
Ms. Yewman is a career anti-gun activist, from Vancouver, WA, she’s doesn’t like guns or people owning guns, but for some strange reason she’s decided to buy a gun, get a concealed carry permit and wander around town with a gun on her hip:
My hands are shaking; my adrenaline is surging.
No, it’s not from the latte I just inhaled or because this is the first time in two years I’ve been in a Starbucks since declaring a boycott on its open-carry gun policy.
What’s got me jittery this morning is the 9mm Glock that’s holstered on my hip. Me, lead gun policy protester at the 2010 Starbuck’s shareholder meeting. Me, a board member of the Brady Campaign. Me, the author of a book about the impact of gun violence, Beyond the Bullet.
Yes, I bought a handgun and will carry it everywhere I go over the next 30 days. I have four rules: Carry it with me at all times, follow the laws of my state, only do what is minimally required for permits, licensing, purchasing and carrying, and finally be prepared to use it for protecting myself at home or in public.
Pardon me while I cringe for moment.
There are four basic rules of firearm safety:
- All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. Always keep your gun pointed in safe direction and for those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.
- Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for the majority of inadvertent discharges.
- Clearly identify your target, what is in line with it and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you haven’t positively identified. (Note to Joe Biden.)
Personally, I would add a fifth rule which is: Don’t do anything really stupid. Like handling a firearm while under the influence of drugs or alcohol or walking around with a gun on your hip when you don’t the slightest clue about how safety handle a it much less how to actually shoot.
Ms. Yewman is as Jonn Lilyea notes “one of those anti-gun nuts who think they can make a point by acting like their perception of people they don’t understand.”
Unfortunately, for her and her readers, her perception is well detached from reality. She seems to think she’s just like everyone else — walking around with a gun on her hip and absolutely no training.
Well, she couldn’t be more wrong! While I understand she’s trying to prove a point, which seems to be any law-abiding, irresponsible idiot in Washington state can get pistol permit and buy a handgun without having to complete even the most basic firearms training. Something no responsible gun owner would ever do or endorse.
Ms. Yewman may be complying with the letter of law, but she’s also overlooking the tremendous moral and ethical responsibilities that come with owning and carrying a firearm — responsibilities most gun owners taken very seriously. The fact is responsible gun owners invest considerable amounts of time and money in training, unlike Ms. Yewman.
Bottom line: Walking with a gun on your hip without having completed even the most basic of firearms safety training is the height of irresponsibility and not something The NRA or any responsible gun owner would ever endorse or encourage. Simply put, Ms. Yewman is a danger to herself and others. Neither she, nor anyone else for that matter, should be walking with a gun on their hip without having completed at the very least a basic firearm safety class.
I agree with Mr. Lilyea, Ms. Yewman is an irresponsible twit; who I sincerely hope doesn’t accidentally shoot herself or someone else because of her own stupidity.
I personally think the whole article was made up. Too many of the details were wrong for it to be a credible real experience of acquiring a handgun in Washington state.
I would bet money, now that she has been exposed, the series will end with Part I.
I don’t think it was necessarily made up, but some of the details that are left out give the inunitiated reader the wrong impression.
E.g., her description of getting her CC permit gives the impression that, after paying her fee and giving her prints, she walked out with the permit that same day. “It was faster than getting a dog license.” Yeah, Bovine Scat. Lasy I knew, it takes 2-4 weeks here in WA between applying for, and receipt of, your permit. And I’m unaware of ANY jurisdiction in the US where people have to give fingerprints and get a criminal background check fopr a dog license.
And her friendly neighborhood gun dealer “Tony” told her the Glock “has no external safety feature.” Besides the fact that that is just plain wrong (he Glock’s external safety feature is smack dab in the middle of the trigger face), why on Earth did Miss Scared-Spitless-of-Guns go ahead and buy a gun with “no external safety” anyways?
I think her desire to prove her “point” has overridden any efforts at doing good journalism.
And her point seems to be, “I’m an idiot with a gun; therefore, everyone with a gun is also an idiot.”
I know Heidi and everything in the article is true. I have lived without a gun since I left my parents’ home and I would never own one, but other people make other choices. Every one of your five basic safety rules is great – so why do reform advocates encounter such vitriolic opposition when they try to make commonsense rules into law?
It’s very nice that you are well-trained and safety-conscious. Is there any chance you would be willing to work to keep guns out of the hands of people who aren’t? Right now, lots of folks with no skills, no training, no sense and a very belligerant attitude have concealed carry permits and/or AR-15s.