Well, it makes very little difference to these folks, but I will state it for record. I have many firearms of many different kinds. At one time, I could have supplied a Finnish infantry company with their Mosins. Even today I have enough that I supplied ammo to some folks just after Katrina - because they asked. I have revolvers, autos, semi-autos, bolt actions, break actions, and have rifles, pistols, and shotguns.
I also teach my son respect for all races. Both in public and, more importantly, in private. We raise our son to accept all people at face value (this does mean, of course, that if the guy looks like a bum, you accept that he is a bum unless he proves otherwise, but that is for his safety). He will go to a local public school that is racially mixed. He will be taught to address all of his elders with respect, regardless of race.
The key here is that our children will be taught very little about race directly, because we don't want the focus to be on race. They will see by the way we relate to people of all races the correct way to relate. They will hear our words in private and know that there is but one face, not two. (Believe it or not, such is very common in south Mississippi, where race relations are probably far better here than in many other parts of the nation).
After Katrina, folks were helped regardless of their skin. We grilled for hours the contents of our freezer and made the grilled chicken and beef available to any neighbor, and we live in a mixed-race neighborhood (pretty solidly middle-class, admittedly).
If these guys want to call me a racist, well, I live in Mississippi and am white, so I'm called that anyway. Reality may be unimportant, but I will know how my family is raised. And when I die and my list of sins is compiled against me, hatred for my neighbor will not be one of them.
Ash
. I love irony, especially when someone oblivious to it is the one saying it.
