I was watching a British crime documentary hosted by (apparently) a famous crime reporter named Fred Dinenage. He did a program on famous British criminals in the 20th century. Anyway, at one point he said he had never handled or fired a firearm in his life, and I got to thinking...I don't think I have ever known anyone who has not handled a gun in their life, especially males in their 60s, as Mr. Dinenage appears to be. It shows at least one big difference in our cultures. Is there anyone here who has never handles a gun? How many are comfortable around these powerful tools? Mr. Dinage, after he fired a weapon at a target at the National Firearms Center in Britain, said he was amazed at the powerful feeling he got when firing the revolver they gave him. They didn't go into detail as to caliber, but it appeared to be a fairly large (in physical size) revolver.
Knives seem to be the weapon of choice over here Smuggling guns would up the amount of gun usage, which is so far minimal, can only hope it never happens on a large scale The only gun I ever handled was a 'cap pistol'
I grew up in the city and the hunting culture, which IMHO leads to handling weapons of all sorts, never took root in me. Learning the history of the 2nd amendment, sinking growing old, has made me realize why it's so important that our forefathers recognized it. My own experience has therefore been limited to owning pellet guns.
I have never seen a gun hurt anyone but I seen people using guns hurt people. The gun in itself is not a danger and I know some older people who can not sleep with out a gun within arms reach. It is the equalizer for the old or crippled.
The closest I have been to a gun is in a museum, I have no interest in them and hope they never become commonplace in the UK. Yes we have knife crime as @Patsy Faye mentioned, but you can't easily carry out a mass killing with a knife. I did have a cap pistol as a child as well Patsy
They were fab weren't they As a child I loved going to the Imperial War Museum, just a short walk away from me, lots of lights and buttons to push on the exhibits I had to wait for the smartly dressed man on the door to turn his back so I could sneak in
Only around a .22 rifle. Started young with those, well supervised, by a grandmother. Never fired anything else, so far.
Militarily, I qualified with the M-14, M16, .45, M-60, 50's and pretty much sat on top of 5.56 mini-guns (as a door gunner) so yeah, I'm pretty comfortable around them but then again, it sort of depends on who is holding the weapon on how comfortable I am.
My parents lived in the country, and hunted for deer and elk each year, so they had hunting rifles. Both my mom and dad were excellent marksmen, and mom always told me the story of the depression, and the game warden would give them bullets for the rifles, and send them out to hunt deer for families that didn’t hunt and needed food. The warden knew my folks would not shoot at a deer unless they knew they could get a good shot and kill the deer, and not just wound it to wander off somewhere and die. The rifles were always put away, and I was raised (like most kids of my era) to NEVER touch a weapon, and to always assume that they were loaded. When I was in Junior High school, we were allowed to belong to the local rifle range, which was affiliated with the NRA, and was taught by returned veterans from WW2 or Korean War. We learned to shoot at targets with a .22 rifle with peep sights, and for my birthday, my Grandpa Bailey gave me his old .22 rifle for my own gun. That old rifle stayed with me all of my life, until we moved out here from Idaho , and then I left it with my son, who is keeping it for Robin to have some day when she is able to get it and bring it out here. When my kids were old enough to learn how to shoot, the .22 is what i used to teach them how to shoot a rifle, and it was good to have in case we had coyotes or other predators around when we lived in the country.
Very after a lifetime in the military and law enforcement and also being a die hard competitive shooter most of my life in combat style pistol matches plus half owner in 2 sporting goods stores in the past Yes very comfortable, they are part of my life honestly. In 2 hours I will be leaving for a match today I just heard about last night, our church even has a shooting team here. In my past I have been called to court as an expert firearms witness, I personally know NO ONE here that does not own firearms most all legally carry them and are licensed to do so as I am. Some years back when dad and I were carjacked coming home from his doctor and he lost an eye from being stabbed in it I stopped the situation from going any farther, I had both arms cut myself, also another attempted carjacking prevented with no injuries to anyone other than an apparent wet spot on the thugs pants. Both these were some years back in Dallas Texas. With today's climate being prepared .
I'll bet there are quite a few even here in the United States, among those who grew up in a large city, particularly one of those un-American cities where guns are banned, and among younger people, who have been taught, since kindergarten, that guns are inherently evil. Then, of course, there are entire countries where people do not have legal access to such weapons. It seems odd to me, kind of like people who never learned to swim, or who are afraid of trees, but that is becoming common, by design. A lot of people only see guns in movies, and I predict they'll be phased out of movies before long, as have people smoking cigarettes. If anyone smokes a cigarette in a movie these days, you can be sure that they will be the bad guy. When I was growing up, there was most always a shotgun, and sometimes a rifle, leaning up against the wall near the door (for foxes, weasels, and the like), and the other guns were in my parent's room. My only surprise, growing up, was that dad had a handgun because I hadn't seen that one until I came across it one day when I was being nosy. We went through the progression of toy guns, cap pistols, BB guns, .22 calibers, and so on, from being able to shoot with dad to be able to borrow one of the guns, to having my own.
Yes, I am comfortable around guns and was taught to respect them from a very early age. (I'm a Texan, so... ) My husband and all 5 of our kids have concealed carry permits; I have my own 38 revolver but I don't "carry." It's in my bedside table. I also have an old bolt action 22 rifle that my father gave me when I was about 12. I've pegged plenty of beer cans but never shot at a living thing. Lots of other assorted guns in our house, as is pretty common in the south.
I think I've mentioned it before but I don't carry either. When I'm up north, on my land, I'll carry a gun if I remember to bring it, but that has more to do with being able to shoot at targets, given that we have a hundred acres than because I really think I'll need it to defend myself from a bear or something. There is a bear who follows me around the woods but that's only because he knows I leave apples at my camera locations. Yeah, I know; that's why they say to never feed the bears.