• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

A Mess of OC Converts

denwego

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
276
Location
Houston, Texas, USA
imported post

For the past three weekends, I and a number of fellow graduate students have gone up into the mountains for target practice and to blow off steam after the beginning-of-the-fall rush for TAing. Aside from me and my fiancée, there's been one other guy who has been shooting for a while; four others had very little experience with guns, and two had never touched a gun before heading up with me.

After last week's outing, we went out to Red Robin for burgers and relaxation in air conditioning. We put the guns back in my apartment before going, so I strapped my XD45 back on my hip and my fiancée put her Bersa 380 on hers while the others washed their hands, etc. As I was doing this, one of my fellows came over and said, "OK, you've got me hooked on shooting, so I've been wanting to ask: how do you get a permit to carry a handgun like that?" I showed him my CHP and told him about the process of getting one, then followed that up by saying so long as you were carrying a pistol openly in a holster or such, you didn't need any permit in Colorado to do it. He was surprised, but happily so, and asked if he could wear my M1911A1 while we were out eating our burgers... and by now, everyone else was back in the room, and hearing this, all asked if they could do the same :cool:

So, sitting in Red Robin, we had a circular table with a XD45, a Bersa 380, two 1911s, a Colt SAA, and a Beretta 92FS, all out in plain sight without a lick of trouble from any "terrified masses." The waiter who was working are table got a great kick out of it, saying that he didn't know he was "going to work in 2007 and leaving work in 1880" with a big smile. The manager goes around all the time to see how people are doing in a working the crowd manner, so he recognized me as a regular and came over to say hello, saying "You brought the whole range with you today! And you guys came hungry, so that's great for us!"

After we had left, the conversation turned towards carrying for self-protection once again, and three fellows (the one who had been shooting before and two who hadn't) had decided that they were going to start carrying, with them all saying they were going to OC at least until they had permits and probably a great deal afterwards as well. Who would've thought it... grad students in liberal Boulder turning into a bunch of OCers? There's hope!

Edit - There are pictures of last week's shooting and the Red Robin OCing, but I won't be able to post them until tomorrow evening. Look for the update!
 

Wynder

State Researcher
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Messages
1,241
Location
Bear, Delaware, USA
imported post

STELLAR Job.

Glad to see that Red Robin is friendly towards OC as well -- got one close by to me. I may have to start patronizing them more often. :)
 

Reverend73

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
549
Location
Gainesville, VA
imported post

What is/was your major? I was a mechanical engineering major back in the late 90s at the University of Florida and in my estimation 85% of the faculty and students in the engineering field were "conservatives". This in one of the most liberal bastions in florida.
 
Top