Are you afraid to look at gun magazines?

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I live in So. CA, and generally don't have a hard time finding gun mags. People tend not to raise eyebrows much in the Southland, but the Bay Area... as stated before, you have a hard time finding gun mags anyway! It's almost a moot point for me, I subscribe to almost every mag I would buy at the newsstand. :cool:
 
Once, while on a flight, a lady sitting next to me noticed I was reading Big Bore Sixguns. She admitted she knew nothing of handguns then proceeded to talk my ears off. She wanted to see every picture and was full of questions. She even asked where she could get a copy of her own. I told her to ask her nearest bookstore to order one and not to expect to find one on the shelf. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that she is shooting these days.
 
The only place I can find SWAT magazine is at the local grocery store chain "Harris-Teeter;" an 'upscale' style store. The last one I bought, at checkout, the cashier, a girl about 20-21 (you know the type thin, blonde, nice ummm...well you know. :D ), said "I like the .45 but I've always wanted to shoot a Desert Eagle."

At that point, my wife was literally pushing me out the door saying "She's not shooting anything of yours." HAHAHAHA But, on the upside, the soccer Mom behind me was absolutely horrified at the cashier's comments.

More seriously. Never be afraid to read gun mags in public. We gunners have allowed the sheeple and the antis to make our weapons our "dirty little secrets." Screw them; they need to accomodate us...not us them. Dammit I'm going to Borders this morning, get me a mango smoothie and read Small Arms Review. :D
 
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Reading them in public...bother me? Naaah. I usually stand right there at the rack I took it off of (usually Shotgun News) and look at it to decide if I want to buy it.
The looks of others isn't what bothers me when looking at gun mags.
What bothers me is looking at the guns in the magazines which are normally well out of the affordable price range of the average American, which seems to be the main guns they talk about. Lots of nice pictures and write ups about $1500 guns...very little practical stuff for the average shooter and gun owner. That's what bugs me. That's why I don't subscribe to any of them.
 
Around here, Walmart and grocery stores stock gun magazines. In fact, one grocery store chain tends to have a better selection than some of the local bookstores. I've even seen the cashier thumbing through the magazine while waiting on the bag boy get the groceries loaded.
 
What bothers me is looking at the guns in the magazines which are normally well out of the affordable price range of the average American, which seems to be the main guns they talk about. Lots of nice pictures and write ups about $1500 guns...very little practical stuff for the average shooter and gun owner.
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Hey, Car & Driver road tests an inordinate amount of Ferraris, too.

This may be impractical, but how many reviews on used '98 Accords and Ruger P89's can you stomach in a given month?
 
I don't like gun mags much. There is so much info on the internet, why bother?
 
Don Gwinn makes a good point.

I don't make a big deal out of it, I'm kinda low profile anyway. I do have an instructor that is a shooter. I had him for a previous class and mutual interest came out. We just happened to be in the 'puter lab, Me looking at Black Hills web site, and he perusing Brownell's, last semester...kinda funny.

So we have exchanged magazines. In fact he has my latest issue of S.W.A.T. I just stuck in the brown folder with lab assignment I handed in...classmates probably wondered why he spent so much time reading a students work ( mine) while we took an on-line exam the other day. :)

No telling what I'm liable to get back in that folder...AH perhaps?
 
Around the time of Columbine, I was afraid to pick up gun magazines due to my age and that I might be equated to Eric and Dylan. Now I couldn't care less what people think, I participate in a completly legal, healthy, and safe sport.
 
The reasion people look at us funny when we're reading gun magazines is because everybody knows that gun owners are dumb-xxx, back-woods, red-necked, hillbillys that can't read or take a bath. (please people, this is only sarcasm) :rolleyes:
I carry a copy of Shot Gun News or a wholesalers flyer to read anytime I'm stuck somewhere waiting. The women waiting in the peditricians office use to really give me looks when reading in the waiting room. (You think Playboy is bad, thumb thru Cosmo or some other womans magazine):barf:
 
I carry a copy of Shot Gun News or a wholesalers flyer to read anytime I'm stuck somewhere waiting.
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You should'a seen the looks I received reading Shotgun News in the jury lounge at the US District Court in Tampa a couple of weeks ago. Especially since I read it with a pad of yellow sticky notes and a highlighter to mark all of the items I want to go back and check on.

For some reason, after making it through the entire voir dire as Juror #9, I was axed by one side or the other (never found out which), using one of their peremptory challenges.
 
My friend got harrassed for taking a gun magazine onto the plan..

I took like 6 gun catalogs on the plane, and yes, you do get unlimited peanuts when you do that :D

I also got a lot of comments from others who are pro.. I got a few comments from a guy who said "Glad to see young'ens getting into a sport like shootin.. it gives me hope!" Turns out he was a retired gun rag editor...

Gun magazines and gun catalogs on the plane, keeps the planes safe IMHO...
 
I don't read gun mags for the same reason I don't read Playboy. I get all excited and lust after things I can't afford.:p
 
I work in a very yuppie area and I love to read them at the bookstore. Sitting at a Starbuscks with a Shotgun News, and some gun mags. When i buy a mag they always seem to ask if I want a bag. I always tell the person that I would only want a bag if I was buying a fashion magazine or some metrosexual magazine.
 
Well, let's see...

I have NRA's "America's 1st Freedom", "Guns and Ammo", "Guns", and "American Hangunner" in my bag right now.

I like to have a variety to read on the plane while I'm commuting to work or home.

I even read them in the cockpit.:what:

I actually like having people see what I'm reading. I commute to work in my uniform which probably goes a long way to keeping people's mouths shut.
 
Nope, no problem reading gun magazines. Have read them on the plane, at my son's swim meets, etc. No one even notices.

Scott
 
So the average American can buy a car that costs tens of thousands of dollars, but can't afford a gun that costs $1500? hmm... seems quite the opposite to me...

Anyhow. I've never really read gun magazines.. maybe I should start? Whats the best all around gun magazine?
 
My first gun magazine purchase was at about age 14 or 15 I guess. I still have two of the annual magazines and I wince when I look back at the prices in the 50s and those of today.

My favorite thing was to always carry a SOF(Soldier of Fortune) and one or two gun magazines to read when travelling for the job. Part of my job was to keep up with firearms changed and keep my boss in Dee Cee apprised of any pertinent information about my findings.

For about 17 years I rode a commute bus from Napa County to downtown SF and return each day. When I was not asleep or looking at the scenery in Marin County and the GG Bridge I would be reading my collection of firearms magazines.

Prior to 9-11-01 I had to visit my father who as plagued with cancer and on the plane I would have my trusty magazines with me and as soon as we were airborne I would read an article or two. The few raised eyebrows did not bother me and a few rtimes I found an interested seatmate to discusss shooting with.

After 9-11 we did not fly until last April when we went to NYC and Hoboken, NJ to visit our son prior to his departure for Europe. In prepping for the trip, besides removing all my knives(I used to carry 4 or 5) from my carryon bags, I made sure I had the latest SOF and Guns and Ammo in my bag. It drew minor interest from the TSA Sicherheits Dienst Offizier but nothing was said. (On the return trip my factory packaged P-38 with spoon was confiscated)

For those that are having a hard time finding good magazines in SF, I will tell you where I used to get mine. George's Magazine's on 7th Street across from where the old Greyhound Bus was located. (between Market and Mission Sts) It is next to the alley across from the court house where the Ninth Circus presides. There was always a good number of firearms related magazines and SOF and a couple of other military style magazines as well.

Another place was just above the Tenderloin on a one way street heading West, just up a few blocks from the theatre district. I do not remember the street at the moment but the store was an International Newspaper place with all sorts of magazines as well.

When I travelled in Europe some years ago I bought German and French firearms and security/police type magazines to read on the trains and planes. Usually the locals would be very cautious when they would see me reading a local magazine. They did not know my ability(or lack thereof) in the language and were probably concerned that i was with the local police or somesuch.

BTW, if you think the regs in the US are bad read a French or German publication and see what they have to deal with.

Here in Central California the Raley's Supermarket has a reasonable collection of firearms and hunting and ourdoors magazines. When we were in business a couple of years back I would purchase about 40 to 70 dollars a month in reading material but now its usually limited to SOF and one, maybe two firearms magazines. Oh well, I am more or less retired now so I need to do something constructive with my time.:D
 
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I rarely read gun rags. The prime exception is when I fly! Concourse C of the Greater Cincinnati Airport has an excellent selection and I usually pick one up when flying Comair (Delta's regional airline).
 
Hog Rider,
I like the way you think.

I usually pick up what I want and pay at the cashier. I have no problem with what I read and if someone does, then they are sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. Generally, I don't care what other people in the mega book store or cashier thinks about what I read.

The only thing that annoys me about gun and hunting related magazines is that they are generally near the pornography. I guess the seller assumes that men that like the hunting, fishing, boating etc magazines also like skin mags.

I suppose I should just be content that they carry the gun mags that I like.

-Jim
 
Phil, thanks for the tips on newsstands downtown - I'll head down there today and see what I can find. :)
 
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