Gun magazines, yes; Vanity Fair, no

You can tell a lot about people by a quick look at their bookshelves.

And as of now I know what my high school geometry was for. The famous “If-Then” statement -- meaning that if you state something, then it follows that something else should be true, based on the preceding statement -- has finally come into play. I’ve waited a long time for this.                                                                                                                                        

Here’s my extrapolation: If bookshelves tell you about people, then the books and magazines for sale in that community tell you a lot about the community.

The grocery store where I shop is nice -- lots of hard-to-find items, wide aisles and helpful clerks.

But it has drastically trimmed its magazine selection, mostly women’s magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, Women’s Day, and even Vanity Fair. They’re gone.

There were empty spots on the magazine rack where these periodicals used to be just last week. Left untouched were:

·         Guns & Ammo

·         Gun Collector

·         AR-15

·         Shooting Times

·         Handguns

·         Trigger

·         and Combat Techniques

I asked a clerk what happened to all the other magazines.

 “You don’t like the type to buy Cosmo.”

Judging by the few other magazines that looked out of place next to Guns & Ammo, such as Weddings, I can only conclude that the neighborhood anti-fun crowd complained to the manager to get those other magazines off the shelves.

We had an example of this in Metro Detroit not too long ago. Remember that batty woman who wanted The Metro Times to stop putting its weekly paper in the Grosse Pointes because of the sex ads in the back?

I wonder if she made it up north to Royal Oak and went grocery shopping where I shop. Unlike most places, The Metro Times never had a rack at this store. Metro Parent does, though. Quite a difference. I know someone who worked there, once upon a time. She was … well, I’m sure she found a nice man with no spine to marry.

So this is my community, eh? A bunch of tough-guy magazine readers.

One wonders what they’re reading on the internet, assuming they can put their guns down long enough to work the mouse and keyboard. Takes two hands, you know.

I’m going to go shopping at this store next weekend and see if Cosmo et al have reappeared. If they haven’t, I’m shopping elsewhere.

I’ll follow up here next week.