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The Atlanta Pink Pistols
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straightshooter
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 187
Location: Lawrenceville, GA
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 Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:30 am Post subject: Carrying a Pistol is like Crossdressing... sort of. |
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I'm a member of another forum where a member asked if it was possible to become too comfortable while crossdressing. Do we get so comfortable that we stop caring what other people think of us when they see us? Does the feeling that everybody is staring at us fade away?
I don't go out crossdressed, really... so I thought I had no answer. Then I realized that I did have an answer, because carrying a pistol gave me almost the same feelings.
Here's my response:
| Quote: | If I had the forms and the clothes and the makeup like you do, I'd be comfortable out as a female.
I send mixed messages when I'm out. I don't mean to. I just do it because I don't have the time or money to devote to passing 100%, so I am content to be a pretty male for now. I wear girl jeans and a female jacket, and I have long hair, which I sometimes wear up and sometimes wear down. I realize I just look like an effeminate male when I'm out this way, but I'm okay with that. If I had the time and money, I'd certainly try to pass as well as I could, but since it's not practical for me to really pass right now, I'd rather look like a pretty boy than a hot tranny mess.
I actually do understand a bit of your pain, not from crossdressing but from being a licensed pistol carrier. Many days, I wear a small, well-hidden snubnose .38 revolver. Nobody knows it's there, so I don't draw stares or cause a stir. Some days my pants are too tight to wear a gun hidden inside the waistband, and I'm not wearing boots big enough to conceal my pistol. On those days, I carry openly on my hip, and as long as I'm carrying openly, there's no reason for me to carry my tiny revolver, so I carry a full size 1911 or XD.
My radar instantly goes on. I'm not ashamed of dressing in female clothing OR carrying a gun, but I do worry about what other people think of me. My head is constanly on a swivel. I'm looking around, noticing everybody and everything. Most people don't even notice it, honestly. I don't know how they could miss a big honking pistol on my belt, but one thing I've learned that applies to both CDing and pistol toting is that people are so absorbed in what they're doing that they don't really take a good, close look at the people around them.
Those who do notice the pistol mostly ignore it, just as they mostly seem to ignore my female clothing. Oddly enough, though I don't look like a cop at all, many of them just assume that I must be a policeman, since in their mind, the only person who would carry a gun and not be ashamed of it is a law enforcement officer. Once again, this goes to show that if you seem comfortable and natural doing what you're doing, whether it's crossdressing or pistol toting, people are more likely to assume that what you're doing is okay. If you act suspicious while carrying a gun, you're going to scare people. If you act weird or self-conscious while crossdressing, then you're going to draw negative attention to yourself, because people can sense that you're nervous.
Occasionally, somebody spots my gun and is disturbed, scared, or offended by it. Some of them shy away, and others confront me. In ALL cases where I encounter somebody who doesn't like what I'm doing, I try to be as polite, kind, and nonthreatening as I can. I want to be an ambassador for legally licensed gun toters, just as I want to be an ambassardor for the LGBTQ community. The more nice and pleasant you are, the more likely people are to accept your potentially controversial behavior. |
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Atlanta Pink Pistols Member
GeorgiaCarry.Org Member
GA Firearms License
03 Federal Firearms License |
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Gunssmoke
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 62
Location: Atlanta -northern suburbs
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:14 am Post subject: open carry |
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I recently open carried a 9mm pistol in a hip holster on an absurdly-wide tactical belt.
While wearing my spandex road bicycling outfit and helmet.
Over 30 miles up and down the public roads, being passed by hundreds of cars. Walking the bikes across a busy intersection right in front of a cop car waiting for the red light. All with a big honking semi-auto jutting out of a Kydex holster.
And we even ate at a restaurant. Where families with kids were eating! And some of the parents and some of the kids even saw the gun. One guy even asked what kind it was.
Yeah, it felt weird at first. For most of the day, actually. Until dinner was over at least.
Why? Because I didn't look like a cop that day. Normally when I open carry I'm dressed at least office casual, like a plainclothes cop or detective might wear. But I don't think anybody would mistake me or my bicycle for a cop, not that day.
Still, I had no negative encounters and one positive one, with that curious diner. So I'll do it again when I ride.
(P.S. The pistol is as much for protection against dogs than criminals. All dogs like to bark at cyclists, but some actually try to rip chunks out of your leg. If that happens, I'm going to fire a warning shot at Rex's head. I'm probably going to miss, but the noise ought to be enough to end the attack.)
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"Gun Free Zones" are really Victim Disarmament Zones. Pistol Permit holders should be able to legally carry anywhere that criminals and crazies might carry illegally. |
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