It must have been the wine...
For those of you that don't know, I'm a professor, and am in my first year of a new job at a small college in VA. My colleagues are on the whole quite liberal, and I generally assume that they are anti-gun. I tend to keep both my politics and my hobby on the "down low" when I'm in a new job, until I get the lay of the land, especially since neither are germaine to the courses I teach.
I've been hanging out with a colleague from another department for a couple of months. I know that his politics are certainly well left of center. Last night we were eating dinner at another colleagues home, and somehow we got on the subject of kids and guns. My friend says something about "in my house kids just didn't touch the guns. We learned it as toddlers and we never violated it". He also volunteered that he really enjoyed target shooting as a kid, but wasn't into hunting. When we got a moment alone, I outed myself, told him about the competative shooting, my Dad's gun shop/indoor range and my airgun range in my house. I have to admit that he was a bit surprised, but didn't seem freaked out by it.
So we'll see if I can get him out to the range with me sometime soon.
Dr. A.