I grew up with guns in the house. Notice I said guns — plural. We had rifles, handguns, shotguns, you name it. I was raised to respect guns and appreciate their value. I was educated on my second amendment right to own firearms and taught from a young age how to safely handle a firearm and to properly care for a firearm. I was taught marksmanship and respect for these tools. I can load and unload most styles of guns, I can dismantle and reassemble all the firearms I own. I clean them regularly and spend time keeping them well-maintained.
When I turned 18, I applied for a concealed carry permit in my home state of Alabama. When I received my permit, the fact that I could now carry a firearm in my purse as a young woman living on my own made me feel safer. It made me feel like I had some control over what happened to me and that I wasn't helpless.
It empowered me as a woman to feel safe in my own home and within my day-to-day life.
My freshman year at a major university, my home was broken into. It scared me, and I found solace knowing that I had a way to protect myself even when locks and doors couldn't. By sophomore year, I decided I could use a roommate, and a girl I met in a chemistry lab was eager to fill the position. She was from the Carolinas and had been raised in a liberal home. I came from conservative parents and found that conservative values lined up with my own. I had voted for now-President Donald Trump my first election and was unsure how we would get along.
We discussed many things, and she liked where I lived and we had become friends fairly quickly, so I decided we could get along. Before we signed the paperwork, however, I felt it was important to disclose to her the I kept firearms in the house. She told me she didn't like guns, but she would be OK with them as long as they were kept in my room.
We agreed to the terms and moved in together. After almost two years of housing together I found out that she supported a gun ban and, being a black belt in some martial art I could never remember the name of, she stated that she didn't see why anyone needed a gun.
We had conversations sporadically about firearms, but it was never really an issue until I purchased my AR-15, A gun widely misunderstood nationally and demonized within the media.
She became agitated and entered into a heated discussion about my new firearm. I tried to explain how the gun worked and dispelled every myth she used as ammunition about the gun, but she couldn't be satisfied. Every time I answered a lie she had been told by the media about the firearm with a fact, she changed tactics and eventually shut down and refused to talk about it anymore.
I gave her some time, and after a few days, I came up with an idea. I offered to take her out to shoot firearms, and explain how they worked. She reluctantly agreed, and we scheduled a date to go to the range.
The day arrived, and me along with my boyfriend, another avid hunter and marksman set out to educate her on firearms. After we went through the safety procedures associated with firearms, where to point them, how they work, and how to handle them, we sent a few rounds through a small, .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle. After she watched us for some time, she decided she wanted to try them out. She sent a few rounds through the firearm, then after deciding they weren't so scary, she tried different rifles I had as well as some handguns and a shotgun.
Even after being angered by my ownership of an AR-15, she ended up sending several rounds through the gun she had hated weeks earlier.
At the end of the day, she informed me that "guns aren't so bad" and "I kinda liked the shotgun."
It was amazing the complete turn-around and change I saw in my roommate just by taking the day to educate her on the way they worked and gun safety. I was able to dispel many myths she was led to believe without screams or arguments and it was honestly refreshing to be able to share my point of view without judgment.
By respecting her fears, and educating her on my passion, we were able to come to a clear understanding of what the other person needed and each other's concerns, and honestly, that's the way things should be.
