Gunfire and Strangers

I wish I knew where I first came across this observation so I could give credit where it's due.

Here's the difference between the country and the city.

In the country nobody gets excited about the sound of gunfire, but if you see a stranger you want to know what's going on.

In the city thousands of strangers pass by every day and no one is concerned. However, the sound of gunfire gets people's attention.

That is so true. I hear gunfire all the time. I'm far enough out in the country that people have rifle ranges in their backyards. It's normal. Most of us in the country even have a fair idea what caliber people are shooting. Yesterday, it was someone shooting a .22 rifle. The shots were fairly evenly spaced so he was doing some target shooting. In the fall it's the sound of shotguns for bird and rabbit hunters or the large caliber rifle fire of deer, moose, and bear hunters.

One November we were visiting my sister-in-law in Manhattan. Back home I'd been waking up to the sound of deer rifles in the morning. At first the sound of gunfire did not concern me too much when it woke me from my sleep. I was puzzled a bit because it sounded like a .45 semiautomatic handgun instead of a deer rifle. Then I fully woke up and realized that no one was deer hunting in Manhattan.

At that point I became more than a little concerned. I understood why city people freak at the sound of gunfire; someone is getting shot. That's a big difference from target shooting or hunting. While everyone around here has guns, we don't go around shooting at each other. That's just nuts.

-Sixbears