The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: jaybet on April 17, 2015, 06:26:29 AM
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Just an observation....
So many times I'm out or online and I'd like to get a hat, shirt, etc. I start looking at gun-oriented stuff, and 90% of it I wouldn't buy. A lot of it is cool, maybe has a nice company logo or a saying that's great or whatever, but then on the other side there's a giant AR, maybe dripping in blood, or a skull with knives, or some other obnoxious graphic that portrays a penchant for violence or, at the least, suggests that the wearer is a budding nut job.
I would love to see more tasteful gun-oriented merch that looks good and could maybe start a sane conversation with a non-gunner, and help the cause. The angry stuff is ok, but we've got too many eagles, arrows, guns skulls, bones, crosshairs, etc. and it's not helping the image.
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My Glock lanyard that I used for work keys was nice in that regard. Non-threatening and I found a lot of shooters at work who wouldn't have come forward had they not seen the Glock logo. I'd love a S&W one.
At one company where I worked in a 'cube land', I put a small silhouette ram on top of my cubical wall and found some fellow IHMSA shooters that way.
I think we do need to, in a low-key, non-threatening way, identify ourselves to the public. I've gotten nothing but positive comments. The anti's, I guess, steer a wide birth. But then I currently work in a VERY conservative church, where everyone owns a gun as far as I can tell.
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I know what you mean Jay. I hardly ever buy any firearm related clothing but I did pick up a nice non threatening Ruger T-shirt. I don't have any of the "flaming skull with a knife in it" type of things.
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Carhartt shirts, coats and Wrangler Jeans, a General Dynamics, Detroit Tigers and a welding company ball caps and not much more!
I did buy a small molle pack for a one/two day BOB recently. That's my first tacticool anything....it's jet black though so you can't see the molle straps unless you're sitting with it in your lap..
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I have a closet full of T-shirts from the matches I shot in my younger years, most from the same period I taught public high school, and many have never been worn.... I do wear ball caps, from matches like the Ft Benning 3 gun that are clearly marked US Army Marksmanship Unit, and am proud to wear the "Delta" marked North Carolina Tactical match shirts, but unless you know what it is, you haven't a clue... Sure Fire hats, Trijicon and LaRue Tactical "sniper" bumper sticker is about it, along with an American flag decal... of course the Romney/Ryan sticker is still there....
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I pass on most stuff unless it's free! We used to wait until the last afternoon of the NRA convention and pick up a lot of stuff free. The company people gave it away rather than have to pack it up and send it back!
Richard
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The only "gun" decals on my truck is an NRA Life decal....which says "gun guy" but doesn't really advertise that there may be a target for theft like the Glock and Ruger decals I removed several years ago.
As for clothing, I wear Browning caps mostly (most places don't sell clothing to fit my girth, I wear a size larger than normal for CCW reasons), but so does 2/3 of every other guy in south Ga. I think I still have a Bushnell cap that has a Glock hat pin stuck in it. I have a couple of caps with the range/club name of my good friend's former public (now private) shooting range.
I use Craftsman and Harbor Freight tool bags for range gear and bug-out-bags, and don't have any tacticool gear other than a black AR rifle case I got for Christmas a few years ago.
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Wake up and smell the stats. You no longer represent "average gun owners".
This does.
https://www.facebook.com/GunsandLace
http://www.womenshooters.com/
http://www.acclaimsubscriptions.com/usa/magazines/women-and-guns.php
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=women+and+guns&qpvt=women+and+guns&qpvt=women+and+guns&FORM=IGRE
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Wake up and smell the stats. You no longer represent "average gun owners".
This does.
https://www.facebook.com/GunsandLace
http://www.womenshooters.com/
http://www.acclaimsubscriptions.com/usa/magazines/women-and-guns.php
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=women+and+guns&qpvt=women+and+guns&qpvt=women+and+guns&FORM=IGRE
It's a blessing. I don't think any thing will do more to insure the continued preservation of the 2A than the many women who are becoming advocates.
I follow several women shooters on FB and Twitter, including Our Own Red :D.
Many are getting into competition and doing very well.
It has been an under represented demographic in gun ownership and it will only broaden (no pun intended) our support base.
Some remarkable women out there....all to young for me :(
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And it makes ranges a hell of a lot more scenic ! ;D
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I have a nice supply of T-shirts from some of the recent NRA meetings but I never wear them away from home. No stickers on my truck either, both say GUN in truck or on person. I feel it increases the chance both will draw the wrong kind of attention.