Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan told law students at Marquette University in Wisconsin that while she had no experience with guns before being tapped to the Supreme Court, since then Antonin Scalia has taken her hunting several times and she's found it to be great fun. "He made a huntress out of me. He insists I'm going to shoot myself an antelope." So far Kagan and Scalia have shot pheasant and quail, and they plan to go after bigger game out West this fall.Typically, New York City Jews do not have a lot of hands-on experience with guns, so when she recently told a synagogue about her hunting trips with Scalia her host at the synagogue was quite surprised. "You're Jewish," deadpanned Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg. "Yeah, but it turns out, it's kind of fun," said Kagan, laughing, who is (I kid you not) a graduate of Hunter College.
Guns as culture is something I have had the opportunity to explain to a lot of Jewish lawyers over the years. "It's like a southern bar mitzvah," I explain. "At 13 you get a .22 or a .410 shotgun or a .20 gauge. Even if you never hunt, in some parts of the south it's a family ritual -- a coming of age kind of thing." As soon as I say it this way, all opposition fades and understanding begins to grow..
As for Kagan, it seems like only yesterday that Fox News and everyone else on the right was saying she was going to grab everyones guns. Who knew it was going to be to go shooting?
- Related Link:
** The Liberal Case for Gun Ownership
2 comments:
I heard Rachel Maddow talk about her surprising enjoyment of shooting as well. Seems her spouse's sister is very big into NRA events, and has brought the two along for shooting -- in fact, their first date was at a range.
For me, two things changed my mind about guns: Living in the South, and being around hunting retriever culture.
I still think we need some sensible restrictions/regulations to keep arsenals out of the hands of crazy people (like the man who involved in the shooting in Tucson). But overall I think gun ownership is just find for us non-crazy people, myself included.
In the 80's I worked with quite a few Israeli Jews in my days at the National Cancer Institute. They did not hunt. But a friend of one of the scientists (both Jewish from Israel) came to my house to watch me hunt with the hawks, an annual thing I did. Both had the first name of Ofer too. The one who hunted (with shotguns) in Israel told me that the seasons were long an un-limited for small game and birds. I asked "Why is that" His reply: "Jews don't Hunt" I asked about the Arabs. He replied: "They are not allowed to own guns" That was a surprising answer from my American mind-sent.
The second commend really surprised me.
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