We might have expected something like this from Fox News. Or The Washington Times. Some reporter finds a handful of not-so-stereotypical gun owners at a firing range and puts out a story about liberal, female, minority participants.
Except this story came from CNN. And what a beaut.
"Our society and climate is changing," Laronya Day of California told the network's reporter. "It's just better to be prepared for your own safety and protection. That's how we feel."
Welcome to flyover country, Mrs. Day. Or at least welcome to much of the thinking around here.
Who says the gun ranges are full of only unreconstructed types with Confederate flags on their trucks and country music inside those trucks? Well, actually, the women interviewed for this particular story said those men frequent their ranges, too. But . . . .
"I'm a Mexican woman in a same-sex relationship," one woman said. "I need to feel safe. I need to feel protected. And right now the laws and the things that are going on don't make me feel safe and don't make me feel protected."
And the men who she was afraid might treat her with less than welcoming looks and even words? "They're like, 'Hey, you're doing well, but can I show you something that might help you more?'"
Being a crazy gun nut--or, as you might also put it, an average American--doesn't always fit into the usual narrative. And those interviewed say they feel like they're being pulled in different directions, politically. (Do they side with the party that protects gun owners? Or do they vote with the party that vows to protect their other rights, such as same-sex marriages, etc.?)
But data from Harvard, according to CNN, say more than half of new gun owners are likely to be women. And if you read the news, you know why.