Does It Attract The Wrong Kind Of Attention

[Chuhhuniban]

I had a thought (rare occurence) yesterday as I was driving back from the range. I was stopped at a traffic light behind a relatively new pickup truck, all clean and shiny, with a Colt blue-vinyl logo decal and an NRA decal on the back window. Nice looking rig and judging by the indicators of affiliation, probably somebody I could talk to at the very least.

A few blocks later, he turned into the parking area of large shopping center.

I drive a 1999 Tahoe. It's clean and shiny too. The only decal on it relates to dogs (specifically Rhodesion Ridgebacks). I sometimes go to the mall he turned into. I carry a weapon in my vehicle (and have done so since shortly after the invention of dirt). The weapon is secured out of sight in a vehiclular weapons safe (under the forward edge of the driver's seat and which is unlocked when I am in the vehicle and locked when I get out), so I have never actually been concerned about it.

Now, my thought was (two actually): Does the trucker's obvious affection for and probable ownership of firearms confir any additional safety on him and his family by making a Goblin more reluctant to choose him over me (i.e., does advertising work)?

Then, does that same advertising work to his disadvantage at the Mall (which is posted against carrying firearms in accordance with Arizona law) or the local movie multi-plex by making his truck a more attractive target for a break-in than mine? Since there is likely to be something of relative value and ease of sale in it.

In other words, what might we gain or lose by advertising our membership in the gun community?

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

I've always thought it was not a good idea to bring attention to yourself, espcially when concerning guns. Its nice to be a proud member of the NRA and everything, but the guy driving behind you, and the goobers going to the mall just don't need to know IMO

Off the subject, but what the heck is a Rhodesion Ridgeback?

 

[hrgrisso]

Ridgebacks are...

SCARY FREAKING DOGS! My cousin breeds them. Her stud, not the most friendly animal in the world, I've seen him break chains. Of course I wasn't looking too closely since I was running for my life!

Beautiful and lethal. If I'm not mistaken, they were initially used for and bred for lion hunting in Africa.

 

[exar]

Rhodesion Ridgeback?

It's a beast of a dog. Back OT, I could probably deal with putting a NRA sticker on my truck(since down here everyone has 'em and they don't mean squat) but one of my co-workers has a huge HK decal on his truck window. Most people have no idea what that means but it only takes one idiot to ruin your day. Personally, no stickers are going on my truck. Concealed means concealed.

 

[koja48]

I opt to not advertise that there just may be a firearm in the vehicle & thus increase the odds of a break in. Stealth mode is my preference.

 

[Tequila jake]

BJ 71,

Yes, it's true that Rhodesian Ridgebacks were used to hunt lions in Africa. Their name comes from a ridge of stiff hair down the middle of their backs. How scary are they? When people in Rhodesia put signs in their yards saying "Guard Dog On Duty," BGs still broke into their houses. When they put up signs saying "Rhodesian Ridgeback On Duty," nobody broke into their houses anymore. 'Nuff said?

Crash

 

[kfranz]

In other words, what might we gain or lose by advertising our membership in the gun community?

It will deter some that would consider making what was yours theirs and attract others.

Be the grey man.

 

[DMK]

I don't worry so much about bad guys. My gun's on my person, not in my car. Of course, someone could break in for a look anyway.

I worry more about some rabid anti-gun freak slashing my tires while I'm inside.

I had a friend of mine who had someone pour something caustic on the hood of his really nice car while it was parked, ruining the paint. There was no reason anyone could think of except that it was either accidental, someone was jealous of the car or someone didn't agree with the stickers on his car. We'll probably never know for sure.

 

[Chuhhuniban]

What is a Rhodesian Ridgeback? Boy, will you ever be sorry you asked that. It is probably the only topic on which I can rant longer than on Colts.

Here's a great summary web site: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/rhodesianridgeback.htm

And here is my late "little" guy (he was smaller than his associate by 5 pounds):


I don't think they are scary dogs, folks. I have raised and trained RRs for 30+ years and I have never had one attack anybody and only one that was even vaguely dog aggressive. They do work on lions, however, because I haven't had a lion in the yard in thirty years. They were hunting dogs at one time, but mostly they are companion animals like an Irish Wolfhound or a Deerhound now. In Boer South Africa, when a child was born, they often put a puppy in the crib with the newborn. By the time the child was a toddler, the dog was grown and was inseparable from the kid and would lay down his life to protect the kid (not from people, mostly they lived on farms, but from animals like jackals, hyenas and such). There is a picture in a breed book of a one room school house in SA with maybe twenty kids in it (of varying ages) and beside each one on the floor is a Ridgeback.

That said, they aren't for first-time dog owners. They are, in the breed fanciers gentle phrase, "willful." Anybody who wants more can PM me.

George

 

[falling leaves]

I read a lot about how the fight against gun control is a cultural battle. The consensus seems to be that we have to expand the number of people in (and associated/familiar with) the community of responsible gun owners to make a real difference in politics. To do this we need as much good exposure as we can get. A responsibly driven car is a rolling bill board, with a huge local veiwership. That is why you see so many businesses advertised on the sides of minivans and trucks. Then, every week, somebody starts a thread here about how stickers on their car make them a target and they are afraid of what the bad people will do because of said sticker.

I am more than willing to risk some nut job smashing up my truck because of the NRA sticker to have even one person see it on there and think about it for a minute. If a weapon is ever left in the car (very rare) it is in a safe. I have insurance for a reason. I've been thinking of putting "... shall not be infringed." in big white letters across the back window just to make sure everyone knows where I stand. Absolutely anything that were to happen to the car would just be more fuel for me to use to pull the fence sitters and lazy, occasional voters into our corner.

I do make sure I drive nice though, so as not to send the wrong impression to the soccer moms

 

[TangSafetyM77]

I can speak from experience

When moving cross country returning to my home state of Texas from the West Coast, I took everything I didn't trust to the moving company with me in my SUV. This of course included guns and ammo, but also the family dog, the wedding albums, that kind of thing. I had to put on my roof-top carrier to fit some of the items because I had a pretty full load and wanted the dog to be able to have some room in the back. I was super careful all the way home. I stayed at motels where I could back my truck up right to the door. I made it back to Texas and the next day my truck was broken into at a Luby's cafeteria in broad daylight. They got me for 9 rifles and shotguns. The guns were in hardcases and hidden under blankets in an alarmed truck. The responding officer pointed out that my out of state plates plus the sticker is what made my truck a target. I had no stickers on my truck and I asked him what he was talking about. I had a small GLOCK sticker on that old plastic roof-top carrier. I rarely used it in the past, mostly for skis. I had forgotten about that sticker. The officer said that kind of stuff attracts smash and grabs. His comment was that these guys hit the mother-lode on my truck. BLEND IN!

 

[chris in va]

I think it just 'gives away your position' so to speak. I had a sticker on my truck for a while, but took it off after I got to thinking about it.

Granted those 'Got Sig?' stickers are pretty slick...

 

[CWL]

Announcing yourself also makes your vehicle subject to vandalism by anti-gun people.

 

[Declaration Day]

There's a LOT of pickup trucks here in Michigan, and to see one without an NRA sticker seems to be the exception.

 

[wooderson]

I won't let people with "W the President"/etc. stickers merge onto the highway in front of me (or, more broadly, I'm simply not my usual kind driver-self when I've been in a position to see the sticker).

So, yeah, I could conceivably see where an NRA sticker could attract unwanted attention.

 

[Majic]

The smash and grabbers first have to see something they deem worth stealing. They know they may not have much time so they are not about to waste it by breaking into something hoping they may find something. If that was true then parking lots would be full of glass and you would see quite a few empty cars with the trunk lids up everytime you come out of a store.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Live in fear of criminals? Not since I left the People's Republic of California, thanks all the same.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Not all types of "advertising" will be understood by the general public. There are some pretty clever ones out there that can only be recognized by other firearm owners.

 

[Threeband]

I like to keep a low profile.
Seems I've read that security experts advise clients to avoid ANY bumperstickers, etc. You never know what's going to set off a nut-job.

No stickers on my truck. Wife's car has one of those magnetic "support our troops" things.

Frankly, here in the Glorious People's Republic, I'm not even sure about the LEOs. This is from one of my other postings:
-------------------------------
A guy from Pennsylvania called in to the Ron Smith talk show on WBAL (google him: he's the best thing going here) with this horror story: Guy has a Pennsylvania permit, but being law-savvy, he NEVER carries in Maryland. He got pulled over by a MD trooper, who runs the routine computer check.

Computer has him RED-FLAGGED because of the carry permit.

Trooper demands to know if he's carrying. Guy politely explains that he isn't: he knows and obeys the law. Trooper asks to search his car. Guy knows his rights, he politely refuses.

More cops arrive. Pennsylvanian is told they are getting a search warrent. They can and will keep him right there on the side of the road for as long as it takes, but they WILL get the warrent, and they WILL search his car. After a while, he gives in and surrenders his constitutional rights, and the cops procede with their unreasonable search, finding nothing, of course.

----------------------

So my NRA stickers go on my shooting box, not my vehicles.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I like seeing gunny stickers on cars and trucks but I don't have any on my truck or car. If I could pack the vehicle with me I'd consider it but I don't want to come out to a parking lot and find my vehicle broken into because some pea-brain thought there's a good chance of a weapon being inside.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

If a nutjob, by definition a nut, is going to explode, it might not be a bumper sticker that sets them off. It might be a lack of stickers, license plate frames, the color of your car, fuzzy dice, suction cup animals on the rear window, the birds flying overhead, or because a puppy somewhere in Europe died. Nutjobs exist and they are unavoidable.

 

[Thain]

It depends on the sticker, I'd say, and your enviroment. Here in Michigan, an NRA sticker... the small circular ones of the logo... just mean "I'm a deer hunter."

A sticker of, say, the Smith and Wesson, HK, or Sig Sauer logo would be unrecognized by most non-gunners. The unwashed might mistake it for a band or something.

"This Car Protected by .45 ACP" or "Keep Honking I'm Reloading" are askign for trouble... from antis, from theives, from cops. Just trouble.

But, in any case, my wife's Grateful Dead stickers take up too much of the bumper real estate.

 

[Hardtarget]

The only sticker on my truck is a life flight sticker. I even took the Ford factory "Sport" sticker off .
Mark.

 

[kjeff50cal]

TangSafetyM77, the Glock sticker may or may not have contributed to your misfortune, but the out-of-state plates and car carrier would have sealed your fate. There are alot of BGs that prey on vehicles with the above items.

BTW, I had a nut job light into me just because I had an Air Borne (air freight) cap on because he claimed he served in the 101st Air Borne . He wanted my cap. He didn't get it .

 

[22-rimfire]

I want no advertising on my vehicles. No NRA stickers, no protected by Smith & Wesson, no Bush or kerry or any candidate stickers, no dog of the month, no car dealer stuff, no nothin!