I recently came back from a trip to the east coast. I was there to see my cousin graduate from high school. My aunt, uncle and cousin live in Washington DC, so we spend a few days there and then went down to Atlantic City for a couple days. We had a wonderful time, but spending some time out east made me appreciate home. Don’t get me wrong, the east coast is beautiful, and Washington DC is amazing and full of history, but it’s a different world out there.
I haven’t been to DC in about 15 years. When you’ve been somewhere as a kid, then you go back as an adult, it’s like the first time, because you have a completely different perspective. The first thing that struck me was how claustrophobic that city is. There are a lot of people, in a very small area, compared to where I live, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where we’re very spread out. It was a little uncomfortable, but it wasn’t the biggest culture shock…
The biggest culture shock about Washington DC was their gun laws. Pretty much take all of Colorado gun laws, and turn them up-side down. It’s basically full of CAN’T's. You can’t apply for any type of permit or license to carry a gun. You can’t have a “high capacity” magazine (more than 10 cartridges). You can’t have a fully automatic firearm or suppressors (aka, any fun). You can’t have a taser or stun-gun. And finally, the only way you can transport a gun through Washington DC is unloaded, and neither the gun nor the ammo can be accessible to the passenger compartment.
When people live in an environment with their gun freedoms suppressed like this, they become ignorant about guns, because people assume if the government restricts guns, guns must be evil. They have no idea of the rich gun community in other parts of the country. They don’t understand how the sport enriches people’s lives, young and old. I was at the range with A Girl and A Gun the other day, and I watched a 7 year old girl fall in love with shooting, and see her confidence grow with every shot. I feel sorry for those who cannot see past the anti-gun rhetoric, but I have to admit, it does make me proud to live in a state like Colorado.
