I may have turned one today!

[GulfCoast66]

This afternoon I was in our local hang out/small tavern with a few of our beer club guys. It is really an establishment owned by someone who loves drinking and serving beers. There are always over 200 different ones there. The regular beer club guys are apolitical as a group, and I am sure some of the guys may vote for Trump, but they do not talk about it. Plus we are a racially diverse group which I am sure keeps the hardcore Alt-right(racist) away.

An older man and his wife came in and we welcomed them like we do all strangers-very friendly. The owner was busy in the back so we helped him pick out his beer from the cooler. No Bud, Miller or anything like that here. He settled on a very good German beer while his wife had a wine. This is a very small place, one employee on a slow Sunday afternoon-the owner.

They ended up ordering some food and had another couple of beers, joining in our conversation on and off. By this time there were only about 5 of us left and he asked a question...Does anyone here know anything about guns? There was a brief silence and I told him I was a hunter and owned several guns, what can I help him with? He wanted a small pocket .380 and was wondering where the best place to get one was. I let him know I owned a handgun and told him where I purchased it. And I asked him why did he want one?

And here it came...he wanted to get one before Hillary bans them. And the statement sat on the room like a fart. But taking the advice I have read hear, I did not attack. I hurrmphed and asked him if he had heard that Obama was going to take his guns. He answered yes. And I stated that Obama had better get busy because he only has 3 months left. The guy actually chuckled. And then I informed him that the second amendment is respected in the Democratic Party Platform and Democratic Party(I actually said Democrats, but we have language purist here!). And that we are in favor of smart gun laws.

At this point one my buddies chimed in much to my surprise. He is the most blue collar of the bunch said he would not mind limiting AR-15's and such, which really did surprise me. Realize we are in the Orlando Metro area and the Pulse event really shook us. But I was still surprised as I do know he owns guns. But we had not talked politics and I do not know how he votes. We share a love for good food and beer.

So the guy out and asked me who I was voting for. Normally I would dodge that question in a bar, but the conversation had gone well so far and I told him that I had been a conservative republican most of my life but had come to realize it was all bullshit(the word I used) and I am now a Democrat and my vote was going to Hillary.

At that point his wife screwed her courage to the sticking point and exclaimed 'I am too'. The guy was surprised, he actually said 'you are?'. After a little more back and forth the guy stated 'Trump really is kind of scary, I don't know'. And the conversation then changed away from politics.

He and his wife stayed almost 2 hours and he shook all our hands on the way out and told us how much he enjoyed meeting us and asked if he could join us next week. You know the answer. Unless he votes early I may have another shot, although I think it may be a done deal. The best part of the day was his wife speaking up!

I am still smiling about it.

Oh, and early voting starts tomorrow in Florida. By this time tomorrow night Hillary will have my vote. Unless there are too many members of the Democratic Party in line in which case I will try another time.

Have a nice evening.