I agree the community as a whole tends to trivialize women. I used to be a rifle instructor in AZ and I found that teaching women was far easier than teaching men. Guys shown up wanting to prove how much they know, and it's a lot more work to teach them when you first have to demonstrate that they in fact do not shoot all that well and need to unlearn a lot of bad habits.

Women on the other hand, come with open minds and with out the massive ego, and even if they've learned some bad habits, they are much more amenable to trying something different.

I'd rather teach a female than a male any day of the week.

----

We also tend to trivialize people who are more socially liberal than the stereotypical gun owner. There are believe it or not a lot of liberals out there who own, shoot and even concealed carry handguns on a regular basis.

We tend to forget that during the civil rights era in the 1960s the NAACP was a big supporter and promoter of gun rights as it was very much a civil rights issue.

Coming from South Dakota where a concealed carry permit was $5 (although I think it recently went to $10) and took about 3 days to process, to VA and then DC, where the total cost of training, permit, finger print fees, etc is north of $200, In think it is still very much a civil rights issue, given that the high permit costs limit access to individuals with lower incomes, and blacks and hispanics are over represented in the lower income category.

I've also noted a sharp upsurge in my wife's even more liberal friends (mostly female) expressing an interest in buying self defense handguns, trying different handguns and asking for instruction in using a handgun for self defense. That's largely in response to the increased tensions that are evident with protesters and all sides of the issues we're seeing in the paper every day. In some cases they perceive a direct threat, and in some cases they perceive threats to neighbors and friends.

Which is to say that gun rights, self defense and concealed carry are once again seeing an upsurge among liberals. And of course we all run the risk of alienating that interest and losing that political support if we persist in bashing liberals on general principle. We need to consider that when it comes to guns we may actually have common cause and common concerns with a good many of those left leaning folks given the current social climate.