The Liberal Gun Nut

Who would have guessed that I, Mr. Liberal from "Up North," would have come to love handguns? I know, I know, it's shocking to me as well. In any case, the journey started, I suppose, many years ago with boyish curiosity about the mysterious power that guns posses. Laying dormant for years under a patina of knee-jerk anti-gun sentiments (now known for the anti-violence sentiments that they truly were) my interest re-emerged late last year.

Inexplicably, I started to research handguns on the Internet. Glock, Walther, Kel-Tec and SigArms became names with which I was intimate. Caliber was no longer a descriptive term used to define value, but a measurement of specific size and power. 9mm., .38, .40S&W, 357 Magnum. I knew what double-action, backstrap and 1911 meant. I entered a new world.

On Christmas morning, I opened a gift from Mary Beth to find a $35 gift certificate from Shoot Straight in Tampa. Not coincidentally, this particular amount was the exact price for a month's membership at the range. I was on my way. Being the cautious type, I thought I better get some lessons before I headed out to blow my fingers off -- or worse. So, Kelly (who also got a $35 gift certificate) and I signed up for an N.R.A. (yeah, that N.R.A.) course at The Indoor Shooting Company, a nearby range. (One nice thing about Florida is that with the liberal gun laws, there are gun stores and ranges all over the place.) After our lessons, I took my first trip to the range. I felt as if I had moved to a country where I didn't speak the language. Men, women, kids -- all buying, shooting and admiring guns! We're not in Boston anymore, Toto.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I LOVE handguns! I've only shot a few times, but I'm hooked. I'm not sure whether I want a Glock 19 (shown above) or the smaller Glock 26. In Florida, I can get a permit to carry the darn thing with me wherever I go. How cool is that? For my Concealed Weapon license, all I need do is take a course (done), get fingerprinted (doing next week) and pass a background check (do the words "been there, done that" mean anything to you?) As a teacher, I've been checked out so many times I feel like the library's copy of Harry Potter.

Perhaps I'll write more one day about the thinking that has gone into this dramatic turnaround, but for now, let's just leave it alone and scratch our heads regarding how to label a Kennedy-loving, Obama-supporting, 9mm packing, 45 year-old white male. If you think of anything that fits, let me know.