A recent phone conversation with my 17 year old daughter proceeded like this:
Me: “You did what?”
Daughter: “I shot a 7x6 bull elk today”
Me: “Are you sure?”
Daughter: “Mom…”
Me: “Did you count right?”
Daughter: “Mom...”
OK, I actually did believe her. But not because I am her mother and am required to believe her. No, I believed her because she has taken to hunting with a zealous obsession that may require therapy at some point in time. As I congratulated her and got off the telephone I began to wonder when this transformation occurred? When did our daughters actually turn into hunting junkies and how did it happen? When, exactly, did the universe tilt?
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As our daughters are now teenagers, we have found that their love for hunting only grows with each new experience. 2008 brought a beautiful muley buck for my youngest daughter. 2009 brought an intense mountain goat hunt and a trophy bull elk for my oldest daughter. Our home becomes a jumbled heap of camouflage, optics, ammunition and boots during these weeks. Family meals are replaced with protein bars and Gatorade. Sleep is minimal, homework is often done in the truck and no one could be happier. The girls are disappointed when the seasons close and they look forward to the next year. They take immense pride in outdoing their male counterparts and always have photos of their most recent hunts on hand for anyone who asks. Our mission is complete ... we raised hunting junkies. ...
It's a growing trend in Northern Nevada with more and more women arming themselves and getting concealed weapons permits. Kelly Main, a local CCW instructor with Armed and Safe, says her company taught more women than men last year, and the trend is across the country.
Main's classroom echoes the changes the Washoe County Sheriff's Office is seeing as well. The number of CCW permits issued to women more than doubled between 2007 and 2008. ...
Delaware State Police stopped Alvina Vansickle from purchasing a .22-caliber pistol for self-defense because she was too old and a woman, said Superintendent Col. Thomas MacLeish.
The outrage that followed led to the revelation that Delaware State Police had been keeping lists of gun buyers for years; state law requires them to destroy these records after 60 days. [emphasis added]
Without so much as a traffic ticket, the 81-year-old Lewes resident should have sailed through the mandatory state police background check when she tried to buy a Taurus revolver from Charlie Steele's Lewes gun shop last August.
Problems started after Steele made the required phone call to state police for approval of the firearms transaction.
An employee in the state police Firearms Transaction Approval Program noticed Vansickle's age and gender, and brought the sale to an immediate halt.
Alvina Vansickle should not have run afoul of common sense and common courtesy when she attempted to purchase a gun for self-protection.
Her outrageous treatment highlights how unfounded prejudicial practices in the application of state laws can be used to interfere with citizens' rights under the Second Amendment.
It also revealed a concealed sexist approach to gun ownership being administered by the state.
The 81-year-old Lewes resident, who had no criminal history to prevent the gun sale, had to wait nearly a week beyond the normal approval process time because an uninformed state police employee thought Vansickle was too old -- and even worse, a woman.
Since that day, Carol's attitudes have changed completely. Having moved to Phoenix permanently, she now runs classes teaching other female shooters how to hone their skills and heads a group called the Arizona Women's Shooting Association. Every time she leaves the house she reaches for her handbag, her keys and her gun.
I'm sure you've guessed why I wanted to come to their range. As soon as Sarah Palin's place on the Republican White House ticket was announced, pundits around the world picked over the apparent disparity between the Alaska governor's femininity and her handiness with a rifle.
And here, too, the lady shooters didn't conform to the stereotype of gun enthusiasts as rabid, wild-eyed survivalists. They'd laid on sandwiches and soda for me and chatted away about their children and careers. They were nice people.
Obama’s commitment to federally mandated pay equity stretches from the Rockies to Wall Street and beyond. And yet it seems to have eluded his United States Senate office. Compensation figures for his legislative staff reveal that Obama pays women just 83 cents for every dollar his men make.
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On average, Obama’s female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama’s campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1. In spite of this 17-cent gap between Obama’s rhetoric and reality, he chose to chide GOP presidential contender John McCain on this issue.
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On average, according to these data, women in John McCain’s office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, ceteris paribus, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart — while adding $10,726 to her annual income — by leaving Barack Obama’s office and going to work for John McCain.
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In short, these statistics suggest that John McCain is more than fair with his female employees, while Barack Obama — at the expense of the women who work for him — quietly perpetuates the very same pay-equity divide that he loudly denounces. Of all people, the Democratic standard bearer should understand that equal pay begins at home.
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