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The corollary to this rule is that if someone writes to express unhappiness with a feature, ad or picture, that person, who took the time to write, probably represents a dozen or so other people who were also exercised, but who didn't register their complaint. Kristen Reinhardt, a reader engaged and thoughtful enough to have written before, cites a picture which, after some careful review, should have run with a better caption that it did. That said, I do think Ms. Reinhardt was perhaps more annoyed by the "nice manicure" than she needs to be. When I first went through Bob Campbell's pictures for the feature, I raised an eyebrow myself, and drummed my short, stubby fingers on the desk. Would I recommend the combination of long nails and a semi-auto? Probably not. Paxton Quigley has long cited well-maintained manicures as an argument for the use of revolvers over semi-autos. On the other (equally stubby and short-nailed) hand, there are probably lots and lots of women out there, some reading this magazine and some not, who balance things as disparate as apples and oranges, careers and home life, children and book clubs, and, yes, even manicures and semi-autos. So, I ran the photos because it seemed extremely plausible to me that someone out there, with a "nice manicure" is struggling with mastery of the semi-auto-maybe even a .45-and is either learning to adapt or considering some changes, either to her gun or nails. Women can, of course, handle guns under a number of adverse conditions, if they have training. A lot of advanced training, often labeled "practical," involves stressful, adverse conditions to which a shooter is not accustomed. I don't know of any that involve Lee Press On Nails, but maybe it would be more "practical" than a Mosambique Drill. I suspect if Ms. Reinhardt had met Bob Campbell's friend at the range she might have inquired if the manicure didn't get in the way of the shooting, they would have chatted and that would have been that. Magazines, even the web versions, are not completely interactive yet, however. "Perception is reality" someone smartly observed. The reality we have always strived to maintain in W&G is that a lot of different women can handle a lot of different guns. We pride ourselves on the real women that populate our pages. There are real men in these pages, as I want to assure Heidi Crowley, our other correspondent this month. The man in the Mag-na-port ad is Larry Kelly, founder of the company, and I have no doubt he shot the elephant pictured with his Mag-na-ported .handgun, a process he invented. Unlike Ms. Crowley, I don't even shoot quail or pheasant. The only thing I ever wanted to shoot was a home invader, and he left pretty quickly after being informed of my intentions. A Mag-na-ported handgun would not be ideal for upland birds, but if the ad had depicted that scene, I assume there would have been no objection from Ms. Crowley, Which, unfortunately, leads us back to perception. On those occasions when we have run hunting stories of any kind, I get a few letters. In the early days of the magazine I got more, but now two is the average per hunting feature. By my formula cited above, that means 12 to 24 readers object to all hunting stories. Because it's important to us to tell all women gunowners' stories, while concentrating on that which is most important to the majority-self-defense-there will always be a few hunting features in these pages. And .any number of other features covering things which are not of particular interest to particular individuals. The "ad department" Ms. Crowley questions, is also, largely, me. And the ad department is happy to have Mag-na-port in our pages. Not only do they make quality products (including the Pro-port system for shotguns which is also featured in their ads), but Larry and his wife Barb are nice people, and so are their daughter Donna Wilson and son Ken Kelly, who now runs the company. Their ads have appeared in our pages for years, and, I hope, will continue to do so. All our advertisers, whether or not a particular reader buys their products or services, help to support the magazine. They literally underwrite much of the cost of producing the magazine, and by extension, other work that the Second Amendment Foundation does. There have been a few times when I have passed on ads, and one case in which I told an advertiser I would run the ad, but send the letters of complaint directly to him, which I did. If we begin to draw lines over appearance and which type of game is acceptable and which isn't, we are taking a big step back. It's a dangerous step, too, as it aides those who have long sought to divide and conquer. And, it also confuses those who have no real stake in gun ownership-those who often turn the public policy and political tide. So, I agree to disagree with both Ms. Reinhardt and Ms. Crowley, and trust they-and all our readers-approve of that limited form of democracy.
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By
Peggy Tartaro,
