I am reluctant to post this, but it came to me as a challenge from a group of anti's. I go to medical school in the "people's republic of Ann Arbor" which if any of you are familar with U of Michigan politics is a good description. The stares I get for my NRA bumper sticker would curdle milk. It amazes me in such a hunter friendly state (relatively) that the largest university is so freakin anti gun. So in the course of a frequent arguement on this subject one of my peers (from Harvard) asserted that any one who hunts is an uneducated, barbaric red neck. I found this obviously insulting and pushed her particularly on the unedeucated part. She asserted that most people who are into guns did not even graduate from high school. While I am not naive enough to judge a person's worth by their formal education level (as is so popular in the academic world), I know that her statement is not true. Well long story short she challenged me to pose this question in an online forum and informed me that "my eyes would be opened by the results."

What is the highest education level you've attained?

I have a Master of Science. And it's stupid to expect all people of a certain group (any kind) to be the same! And it's very stupid to believe that people without higher education are stupid!!

[ 10-25-2003, 23:36: Message edited by: Wachtel ]

I absolutely agree. The people at my school would be outraged if I were to stereotype all of them as unmotivated, pot smoking hippies because of their political leanings. But they can't understand why I become indignant when they make comments that make us out to be a homogeneous bunch of beer swilling buffoons.

[ 10-25-2003, 23:59: Message edited by: Anvil63 ]

M.D. I'm a medical school professor.

I know of at least 3 schools in the US where all of the students are certified gun lovers and all have graduated high school and are working on Bachelor's Degrees. The schools: Montgomery Community College, Murray State College, Lassen Community College. Oh I forgot Yavapai, Trinidad, Colorado School of Trades.

You should ask your Harvard Colleague if she has ever heard of William B. Ruger? I'm sure his love guns and his genius exceed even most here, and he was definitely a very astute business man and Entrapanuer (sp?). Sean

Prior to retirement I was a professor of Anthropology & Sociology.

Thanks everyone this is great. Keep it coming. I'm going to show all of the anti's the poll results and the replies.

Among my degrees is one in marketing. That said, let me just suggest that polling for education on an internet forum that requires reading skills, computer skills and probably computer ownership, probably skews the results "a little". LOL! Dutch.

Anvil, To help you even more... the problem is that most people are uneducated about hunting. I usually don't get upset when anti hunters go off. In fact I am about to finish my graduate work in biology/conservation and could show them thousands of research topics dedicated to ecological problems due to the erradication of hunting. I have to say I am not fond of many hunters ethics for I have seen many wild shots and chance shots taken esp. during archery season. One thing to ask an anti-hunter is how much they contributed to conservation/preservation of wildlife/wild lands annually, though I don't know it off the top of my head moneys brought in from purchase of license and contributions to organizations is quite astounding let alone the land being set aside for hunting (not being developed). Even if a hunter is going to kill an animal during hunting season they need to think of how many animals that benefit due to $$$ contributions over the years by hunters. Don't sweat their comments, if we all thought the same it'd be a boring world. Have a good one

Most gun owners are uneducated? It takes a real genius to make a statement like that. When I went to college, several of my firearms did, too. A couple of twin brothers from the fraternity next door were gun nuts, as well (also uneducated, I guess). We spent as much on cartridges as we did beer. Out of the three of us, two are doctors. I'm not one of them. I'm satisfied just knowing it all.]LOL

Some of the absolutely, most stupid, no commoon sense people I have ever met have masters degrees in one field or another. I think the problem is they spend too much time in school & not enough time in the real world.
Here in lies the problem. You can NOT teach these kind of people anything. Never try to interject facts & thought into a discusion, the liberal mindset is one of emotional reaction. You can never get around that.

[ 10-26-2003, 02:02: Message edited by: fredj338 ]

Anvil63:
I have a Doctorate.
Also have five colleagues that are avid hunters and or target shooters.
muck

BSc Electronics, MSc Management, I have a real management job in oil and gas and I'm an adjunct at Univ. Houston Downtown School of Business. I've been teaching part time for about 8 years total at Southern Ill. and then UH.

Ph. D. Organic Chemistry. NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry. There are a few other Ph. D.'s that hunt where I work, but it's uncommon enough on this side of the hallway that some people still think of it as novel. Someone will introduce me and point it out as if I'm nuts. things like that. Most of the guys with Master's or Bachelor's degrees at my company hunt.

H. C.

Currently retired, Bachelor Of Science Electrical Engineering, Graduate courses in Business Management.

B.B.A. in Accounting, J.D. (law degree), LL.M. in Taxation (LL.M. is a masters of law degree).

Regards,

Terry

P.S.
Ask your friend from Harvard if someone broke into her apartment and was going to rape and kill her, who would she rather come to her rescue? A limp-wristed Harvard graduate or a toothless hillbilly with his deer rifle?

[ 10-26-2003, 04:10: Message edited by: T.Carr ]

What a great poll. However, she may come up with an excuse to throw my vote out due to military background. BS in math from US Naval Academy with a Masters in Engineering Management. If she is an example of what the "Ivy Leagues" are putting out these days, it becomes much more clear to me why many lawyers turn out the way they do.

Captain, US Coast Guard, undergrad degree in Government from US Coast Guard Academy, Masters in Management from Fla Institute of Technology, Commanding Officer of 3 different Cutters. I am the NRA, have the NRA optional plates on my car.

Screw the self-proclaimed intelligencia...

BS Computational Mathematics and a MBA, the later with a 3.8 GPA well into my forties. It sounds like your friend has got her head so far into the clouds, that she doesn�t have a clue on what�s going on in the real world. She reminds me of the ancient Romans, sitting on their throngs all fat, happy and stupid, and never realizing their world was crumbling beneath them.
In our modern age have already seen concentration camps in Bosnia, the Rape and Murder, which occurred in Kuwait, and the bloodbath, which occurred in Rwanda, all countries which limited firearm ownership. Does she really think that the US is through with major wars? I believe we will eventually see a war on US soil, and then she can meet the real barbarians and dazzle them with her intelligence.

I have a BS, MBA and several professional designations. I have worked as an executive and now own a successful business and just sold another so that I'd have more time to shoot and hunt.

here's the problem with this poll, as earlier mentioned... even though someone is educated doesn't mean they are smart enough to be a gun owner. One of the biggest problems at the college I attend is the lack of common sense. If it isn't w/in a text book they cannot figure how to go about solving the problem. In fact one professor (graduate of Harvard- moleculer biology) is a complete idiot in how he hunts and his gun ethics. Trust me I was taught to shoot by guys with maybe an 8th grade education and I feel safe when shooting with them.

Thanks once again to everyone for replying, i will make sure she looks over the poll results online and reads every single comment to the very last detail so she will squirm in that uncomfortable way that only those that think they are better than everyone else do when they are proven WRONG! I am even present her with a bound edition of the comments to memorialize her stupidity. Honestly though, I have been a bit mean to this one because she was just such a fanatic. I have been able to convince about half a dozen moderate liberals that hunting is not a detrimental activity for the health of our wildlife . I continue to fight this fight at my ridiculously liberal school because I believe it is important to educate these intelligent yet ignorant people that hunting (properly managed) not only isn't harmful but is a major contributor to a state's conservation budget.

I will not stop.

All these snobby assed ivy-leaguers will continue to be confronted every time they come in opposition of a gun owner's rights in front of me

Carl J. Hammaker

Personally the simple fact that a mistake in the process of reloading and shooting can have such a devistating result culls about 90% of the people I would call uneducated.
BTW, I have a degree in Internet Technology and am 2 semesters away from a Bachelor's in Computer Science.... and I love firearms.

No Degrees but I am a dual qualified Ships Master and Marine Engineer, Maritime Management experience and semi-retired 4 years ago at 48 y.o.
Started shooting and hunting at about 10 y.o. while being raised in the bush.

I have a BSc (Hons), MSc, and PhD. I am a university professor... and I hunt!

jpb

Anvil63,
I doubt that poll results or opinions of the posters here are going to change her liberal mind.
I hope i'm wrong, but I doubt it. I commend your efforts none the less.

And the line about the toothless hillbilly with his deer rifle was a good point. Her answer to that would probably be, I'd call the police, they get paid to protect us. At least they would be able to complete the paper work and notify the next of kin.
Stepchild

Remember, typical liberals are more influenced by how they feel about something and rarely ever let the facts get in the way!!!
Good luck in your arguments...had many of them in my life, typically the best you can hope for is "OK then we just have to agree to disagree because you absolutely refuse to accept what has just been proven to you".....
PS...Is she at least cute? if not, don't bother...

Avionics Technician 2nd class USN, A.A. Electronics, B.S. Finance, M.B.A., 1.5 years left on my J.D. and I've taught myself how to reload.

BA Centre College, MBA University of Louisville, Have been fox hunting with Prince Charles... I guess if the Prince of Wales is an uneducated redneck I'm hanging with good company! (didn't he go to Oxford?)

Is Teddy Roosevelt a Redneck? Maybe, afterall he was a Republican...

Bill Clinton AND Al Gore claim to go duck hunting (yeah sure).

It would seem the your antagonist is the uneducated one. She apparently has done NO research into the purpose/reason and function of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. But I guess it takes more reasoning power than she is capable of. The Federalist/Anti-Federalist letters might be a good start. Hunting is NOT the reason for the 2nd Amendment - though she is probably unaware of that as well.

Although written from a trapping point of view this is a good article on the reasons for wildlife management.

http://www.wild-about-trapping.com/trappers_ed/trappers_ed_006_justifying_trapping.htm

[ 10-26-2003, 20:26: Message edited by: Vibe ]

BS in Chemistry with an MBA. Currently a VP of sales with an oil company.

Remember the quote of Ben Franklin, "Common sense is the least common of all senses". Never better words spoken when refering to the anti's.

Scout Master 54

Just voted and viewed the results: My, what an uneducated band of "Deliverance" extras we are. 34% of us have graduate degrees and 30% of us have undergrad degrees. I'm so ashamed! Yeah...right. DD, your antagonist fellow med student is the uneducated one. She has her head so far up her rectum (medical term, there) she doesn't know enough to come to the conclusion that just maybe some gunowners are as smart as she believes herself to be. Rock on!!

If you could drag her up here one weekend (about a 3 hour drive), my WIFE will (probably) let your friend try out HER firearms.
Of course my wife only has a HS diploma, to go with my Assoc. degree.

I have nothing fancy to share, but at least I helped the poll along with my little B.A. I'll probably go for an MBA in the next few years.

My father-in-law is an even bigger "nut" than I am, judging by the number of guns in his collection, and he's a PhD in Endocrinology and Prof Emeritus at a major Big 10 University.

EDIT: Dammit, I forgot to mention that he's a piker next to his Doc buddies. A few of them have bought farms in the country to use for deer hunting. They're the ones to watch out for...

Then there's there's my mother-in-law, what a nutcase redneck she must be. She's an retired teacher (2nd grade), not sure the degree. She'll blow off 200 rounds of 223 with a CZ Varmint in one afternoon.

We're all freaks. Lock the doors.

[ 10-27-2003, 10:35: Message edited by: Gonzo FreakPower ]

I have a BS degree in Management and learned to shoot from my father, who was a dentist, who learned to shoot from my grandfather, who was a small town physician. My daughter is in college, working on her degree, and I handed down the shooting skills to her, when she was only 12 years old. Hopefully, when she has children, she will continue the tradition.

Nashcat

BS Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado and an MBA in Finance from SMU, where I graduated 2nd in my class with a 4.0

Sorry, no college degree but 28 years experience in data processing from lead computer operator to telecommunications analyst in technical support.