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I have known some very nice people in the shooting hobby. I have also sat next to some self important idiots. I sat next to a retired MI state police idiot who thought every thing he did was walking on water. What a fool. He would yell out put it thorough the same hole when he had a good shot. Then walk around like he was in a class trying to tell others what they need to do. He needs to go in to the middle of Detroit and yell the N word. I think the idiots stand out much more than the nice guys.
With all due respect, you live in Texas, and I live in Seattle Washington. I'm actually originally from rural Texas, so I know where you're coming from. Seattle Washington is not like anything you would ever experience in Texas. Not even Austin or New Braunfels breeds anything close to the number of snobs that are commonplace in cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Portland etc. It's a whole nother level of douchebaggery if you get me. Things like shooting sports or fishing are not activities for the poor and areas like this.
Also, another poster commented about how a lot of people that partake in shooting sports are politically charged. Nowhere is this more true than in extremely liberal cities. I think a lot of these angry old men are just sour because they're perpetually surrounded by bleeding-heart liberals they absolutely despise. I think a lot of these guys feel so threatened in their day-to-day lives that they sorta carry a guilty-until-proven-innocent attitude. For the life of me, I don't know why some of these people would ever live here. I live here because of my career, but I'm more the Republic-light/libertarian type. Most the good old boy types that I grew up with would be absolutely consumed by this place. I tend to believe a lot of the older guys i run into that are so bitter are people that are actually from this area that remember a time before it basically turned into another San Francisco.
I grew up in Indiana (very gun friendly) and now live in Chicago (very gun unfriendly) and have not experienced the same. Quite the opposite, in fact, the only gun-culture rudeness I've experienced was in the former. In Indiana, it's pretty easy to obtain a gun and there are plenty of ranges and gun shows to go to. I had a handful of unpleasant experience with other Indiana shooters - not a lot, but a few. Some passive aggression from bullseye pistol shooters glaring over at my lane because I was shooting a loud magnum, for example. Or the time I got shoulder-checked in a gun show with no apology whatsoever. I'm not one to cry racism but as the only non-White in the show it's hard to call it anything else.
In liberal Chicago I have to drive just outside the city limits to shoot, but the customers at that range are unfailingly polite and friendly. The surly old guy, paranoid and/or racist wacko factor is nonexistent here. Not to say it was prevalent in Indiana, but it did exist.
I think it's because in some areas hunters constantly see their "way of life" under threat. I lived in Montana and Wyoming and that was a constant complaint. Everything from wolves, to liberals, and anyone from outside the area was destroying their way of life. A lot of them also acted like they depended on hunting to sustain them and did not treat it like it was a hobby. Because of these paranoid beliefs they didn't ever invite other people to hunt with them or know where they hunted. So my experience with ******* hunters was paranoid *******s.
With fishing it was overwhelmingly rich flyfishers when I lived in Montana and their guides. Very snooty people.
While I would agree that there are lots of people with money who act like this, the people I mentioned in the first paragraph were usually those without a lot of money.
It's sad, but there are lots of lousy outdoor enthusiasts out there. Luckily a few of us are decent.
I'm from CO and have lived in CA for quite some time. First, paranoid isn't a lot of what you are seeing. My experience was that we didn't post our land until a lot of the out of town city types started to trash our land. Driving through fences, shooting insulators off our electric fences, leaving their trash. Shooting signs. Just p*ssing off the locals.
Now fast forward to S Cal hunting and fishing. Just the sheer volume of people here make people stay hush. That and the internet. Post a favorite spot on the web and it will be covered with people the next day. A lot of these people are just ignorant to the culture and a lot of them just don't care about the locals. They are takers.
Some of the nicest people I've met are local hunters/fishermen but only a fool gives out that information to random strangers. Too many people, too few spots.
Mountain bikers are generally friendly unless a road geek is part of their pack....
I'm a avid veteran so I can easily pick them out...... Also I came off Dirt bikes in 1991
Dirt bike riders are much different.....
Too much ego ruins the fun...
just relax and have fun
Try running a tri-bike with a bunch of roadies It's not as bad as it used to be but you'd think you were invisible to the kit roadie types. The one good thing the tour did is showing roadies in a TT stage.
Last edited by 1AngryTaxPayer; 05-10-2017 at 10:42 AM..
. Some passive aggression from bullseye pistol shooters glaring over at my lane because I was shooting a loud magnum, for example. Or the time I got shoulder-checked in a gun show with no apology whatsoever.
This is about the only time I get an odd look from other shooters - when I was sighting in my .270, the muzzle blast scared the sh*t out of the guys in the next lane over and they got a little grumpy every time I pulled the trigger. Outside that, it's a pretty good group. I'm looking forward to zeroing the .308's I just bought, that should be fun.
I'm from CO and have lived in CA for quite some time. First, paranoid isn't a lot of what you are seeing. My experience was that we didn't post our land until a lot of the out of town city types started to trash our land. Driving through fences, shooting insulators off our electric fences, leaving their trash. Shooting signs. Just p*ssing off the locals.
Now fast forward to S Cal hunting and fishing. Just the sheer volume of people here make people stay hush. That and the internet. Post a favorite spot on the web and it will be covered with people the next day. A lot of these people are just ignorant to the culture and a lot of them just don't care about the locals. They are takers.
Some of the nicest people I've met are local hunters/fishermen but only a fool gives out that information to random strangers. Too many people, too few spots.
I was hardly a random stranger, I live there seven years. I get keeping a place private but people took it too far. And the assault on their way of life mentality was exaggerated. I've found that a lot fewer people hunt, even in Wyoming and Montana, than Outdoor Life would like you to believe. I do like hunting but I am fed up with the mentality of a lot of hunters.
I was hardly a random stranger, I live there seven years. I get keeping a place private but people took it too far. And the assault on their way of life mentality was exaggerated. I've found that a lot fewer people hunt, even in Wyoming and Montana, than Outdoor Life would like you to believe. I do like hunting but I am fed up with the mentality of a lot of hunters.
I don't think it's the same in States with lots of public land.
Arizona is a "Constitutional Carry" state. Permits are optional in Arizona. I've obtained one for reciprocity purposes with 38 other states. Not that I have any intention of leaving Arizona. It also allows you to enter establishments that serve alcohol as many restaurants do provided you don't consume any. Without a CCW you can't enter those establishments at all unless there's a dire emergency. You can even go to a bar under those same conditions. But who goes to a bar and doesn't drink? Doesn't affect me though I stay out of bars. Kinda' weird though, most people drive to a bar, drink and then drive home. I don't know what's riskier? Having a gun in a bar in the event that a drunken brawl breaks out or driving home with a few drinks under your belt afterward?
The other advantage of having a CCW is not having to undergo the NICS check when buying a firearm. Some people have been delayed for a few hours and sometimes days.
Property taxes out here are about 1/8th of what I was paying in Westchester County and I'm living in a much nicer house in a much better neighborhood to boot. It's amazing how much better your quality of life improves once you're out of that God awful State of New York.
No helmet laws out here either, they only require some form of eye protection. I don't have a motorcycle so I guess that makes sense?
I'm a native Arizonan and I have a sister who lives in Long Island, NY, she grew up here but moved to New York in the late 1990s, her husband is originally from New York. He is very pro-Second Amendment and when he purchased a handgun last year, he told me about all the steps he had to go through, with some stupid things he had to go through, like show a reason to keep a weapon. He jokingly said something like the reason I would have given them was "It's my Second Amendment Right".. why else would you want to purchase a handgun, other than to protect yourself?
I don't know about rifles, but my sister also said that getting a handgun in New York City is even tougher, mainly because there are too many short-tempered people in the city and there could be too many shootings. I've never been there and I don't know how true that is, but I have heard other people say that a lot residents in the Manhattan area tend to be jerks and probably cannot be trusted with a handgun, which is a shame, because jerks/criminals will most likely be the ones to carry a weapon, not necessarily a handgun, but other items that can be used as weapons, like knives.
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It's not as bad as it used to be but you'd think you were invisible to the kit roadie types. The one good thing the tour did is showing roadies in a TT stage.
