CNN - A Girl and Her Guns - a good read

[Curmudgeon]

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/...uns/?hpt=hp_c2

Coming to grips with guns

Heidi Lender had never liked guns, nor had she ever had to confront her distaste for them. She didn’t even know anyone who owned a gun growing up and never had fired anything more powerful than a BB gun.

Lender started dating a guy whose secret hobby was collecting them. He was respectful of Lender’s not wanting to see his guns around the house and kept his guns hidden, but he did sleep with a gun by his pillow.

Lender and her boyfriend decided to try to have children together, and she decided she needed to come to an understanding about his draw to them and her abhorrence of them. Two years ago she took self-portraits posing with a variety of guns. She then was unsure what the next development for the project was and put it to bed.

When she heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December, she knew what she needed to do as a next step in her exploration into guns, as well as finish this project.

Heidi Lender visited a gun range for the first time in 2012 with her own targets – portraits of herself.

More at link, above.

[CenterTree]

A mag-less machine gun?



I enjoy photography, but it seems that some photographers are just "out there".

[ShooterInPA1]

A mag-less machine gun?



I enjoy photography, but it seems that some photographers are just "out there".

It's a shocker that she doesn't have a boyfriend/s

[Curmudgeon]

It's a shocker that she doesn't have a boyfriend/s

Are you kidding me? She even brings her own bag. What a sport!

[Don Quixote]

She certainly is a talented photographer.

I don't think I get the point of the story. It boils down to "I hate guns, I did an art project, it was fun to shoot them, I hate guns still.... Oh and my ex boyfriend likes guns cause he is a country bumpkin who grew up on a farm and can't see how they are associated with violence"

The End

[Gold-Leader]

Read that this morning. It was an interesting read and the pictures were pretty interesting as well haha

[Curmudgeon]

She certainly is a talented photographer.

I don't think I get the point of the story. It boils down to "I hate guns, I did an artct, it was fun to shoot them, I hate guns still.... Oh and my ex boyfriend likes guns cause he is a country bumpkin who grew up on a farm and can't see how they are associated with violence"

The End

Interesting take, I guess. It looks to me like she went into it with a relatively closed and made-up mind, but checked it out anyway and discovered she had some things to learn.

I don't see that she is a complete convert, I don't expect that. But she was able to make some statements that she (probably) couldn't or wouldn't have made before, like...

“I don’t think it’s as simple as if guns didn’t exist the world would be a better place,” she said. “There would still be irresponsible people with another weapon.”

Sounds to me like she's struggling against her anti-gun programming to admit that guns aren't the problem and banning them isn't the answer. I expect to see things like this from pro 2A sources, but it's been a little hard to find in the main stream media. I think it takes balls for someone like her to come forward with this, and I for one am glad to see something like that on CNN.

My .02

[Don Quixote]

I.

Sounds to me like she's struggling against her anti-gun programming to admit that guns aren't the problem and banning them isn't the answer. I expect to see things like this from pro 2A sources, but it's been a little hard to find in the main stream media. I think it takes balls for someone like her to come forward with this, and I for one am glad to see something like that on CNN.

My .02

I was kind of being tongue in cheek, but what rubs me the wrong way is that it seems more like a statement of "I tried it, it's sort of fun, I still think it's wrong, and now I have some experience to back it up."

Maybe it is just a bias on my part, maybe I am reading too much into it, but it was my gut reaction.

All in all though, interesting and visually appealing. Photography is a bit of a hobby of mine.

[internet troll]

It's almost like there is Freudian aspect to her story. None of the pictures had her face as if she does not want to associated with firearms and is embarrassed to be seen with them. In the process she developed at least a slight attraction to guns and firearms.

Then when she did finally go to the range, It's almost as if she had a self loathing because she was forcing herself to confront a life time of conditioning and fear of guns. Taking self portraits and shooting them encapsulates this aspect her perception. Who knows, maybe she is symbolically killing off her old life and fears in the process as she continues her progression towards understanding why her ex boyfriend and so many others have a respect for guns and increasing her own understanding of the mentality that most gun owners take own guns seriously and with purpose.

She says her opinion of guns did not change, but I think she is still lying to herself. She had broken up with her boyfriend before going to the range, and it sounds like she is still evolving realizing that guns are not just all about violence.

"I don’t think it’s as simple as if guns didn’t exist the world would be a better place,” she said. “There would still be irresponsible people with another weapon.”’ Shows that she is getting it. I think Curmudgeon is right and she is fighting back against a lifetime of programming by actually getting out and shooting. She is doing what a lot of "know it all" antis won't/fear/refuse to do, facing her fear and opening her mind to the concept that there is more to the argument than "guns are bad, mkay".

Interesting story.

[Emptymag]

Well, THAT was weird.

She certainly is a talented photographer.

I don't think I get the point of the story. It boils down to "I hate guns, I did an art project, it was fun to shoot them, I hate guns still.... Oh and my ex boyfriend likes guns cause he is a country bumpkin who grew up on a farm and can't see how they are associated with violence"

The End

I came away with much the same.