Trigger Happy World - Tucson Firearm Training

TRAINING WOMEN TO BECOME INFORMED,
CAPABLE AND CONFIDENT ABOUT FIREARMS
and Arizona Concealed Weapons Permit Eligible

Reflections on January 8

Details: Created on Wednesday, 04 January 2012 22:25

Everyone in Tucson likely recalls the moment they learned about the shootings at a local Safeway on January 8, 2011. I was driving home from the hair salon, listening to great music, enjoying that crisp and sunny Saturday morning. My cell phone rang. Maizie, my 19-year-old daughter, related in an urgent voice, “Have you seen the news?”

I responded with dread, knowing well the tenor of her voice when she’s upset: “No. What’s going on?”

“Someone shot Gabby Giffords in the head! Mom, Gabby Giffords is dead!”

“WHAT? Where? What are you talking about?”

Unable to understand the magnitude of what had occurred from Maizie’s panicked report, I raced home, turned on the news and began, like everyone else in town, keeping vigil to try and sort out what had happened - what was happening – who the shooter was – who else was dead or injured. I was heartened to learn that the media got the part about Giffords’ death wrong; deeply saddened to learn that such wasn’t the case concerning Judge John Roll, a wonderful human being and beloved local federal judge. As we learned of all the casualties, I became sickened, disgusted and angry, and grieving for our loss as a community.

Freedom

Details: Created on Saturday, 24 December 2011 00:00

Open carry is permitted where I live. Sometimes, after I finish up at the range, I wear my holstered .45 to various places on the way home (the convenience store, the gun store, the grocery store...). Sometimes people give me strange looks. If they do, I simply smile, hoping that in so doing I am normalizing the experience for them.

Shot Show 2010 Ricochet

Details: Created on Wednesday, 26 January 2011 00:00

Shot Show in Las Vegas was, in a word, overwhelming. There were about 50,000 people wandering through the Sands Convention Center and the male/female ratio was, I'd guess about 9.7 to .3. I went on a press pass that Alan Korwin ("the largest publisher of gun law books in the U.S.") kindly provided me, which meant that I got to hang out in the press room with lots of other inquisitive people.

Gun Show

Details: Created on Monday, 07 December 2009 00:00

Over the weekend I attended an enormous gun show. Gun shows fascinate me - a gathering of people, any one of whom I could probably strike up a conversation with and find something in common or learn something from, regardless of our respective backgrounds. I don't immediately realize how uncommon I am as a woman in this respect (although I suspect our numbers are growing). And generally, I find it amusing when people (men and women) think it's strange that I enjoy shooting or know as much as I do about firearms. I want them to understand that enjoying and appreciating firearms has nothing to do with gender. But, based on our interaction, I think they probably come to that conclusion on their own.

It’s Easier to Wear Slippers than to Carpet the World

Details: Created on Monday, 30 November 2009 00:00

Today, I was surfing gun control sites and landed at some site sponsored by the Brady campaign. I like to hang out in “enemy” territory because understanding is the first step to refuting an argument. (As my psychologist husband often says, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood" - not my favorite saying, especially when he is trying to counsel me in the middle of an argument; to which I generally reply "Shoot first, ask questions later," but I digress.)