King, your comment: A whole new generation has grown up disengaged from the land and killing things as it sought shelter and jobs in the cities. nails it. The urbanization of society really has altered the culture. I grew up in New York City and still spend part of the year in Manhattan; the rest in a semi-rural environment. Manhattan's East Side is about as urban as it gets and my friends there are not innately anti-gun or anti-hunting, it's just that those activities are so alien that they cannot comprehend them. Gun-related activities are as strange to them as a steady diet of concerts, theatre, art galleries, openings, museums is to my rural neighbors. My rural neighbors are not oafs and my NY friends are not snobs - they are in two different worlds.
And these worlds are farther apart than ever. When I was young, my father's business friends hunted and fished the Maine Woods and the Adirondacks. That was quite common then - their counterparts today no longer do it.
I find that once their surprise is gotten over (often accompanied by nervous laughter) urbanites are receptive to rational discussion of the subject. It's worth the effort.
Hunting and shooting will survive for a very long time, it'll just keep getting more expensive and more difficult to do.
