I'm not comfortable around guns. Yet I understand in today's World guns are almost as much a necessity for protection and safety as the alarm systems so many people install in their homes. My Honey and I don't have a gun in our home...and we won't have one. But all three of my daughters and SIL's have registered guns and they practice at the shooting ranges...they all believe in protecting their children and homes...and I understand perfectly but pray they will never have to use those guns for those reasons. It's a very different World now from the one I grew up in when we could leave our homes and cars unlocked. I used to have a 22 rifle that I shot squirrels and rabbits with....and my mom made some delicious meals with what I shot. I can't imagine shooting a person but I know I would do it in a heart beat if it meant saving the life of one of my family members. I'll never own one again but I can sure understand why others do.
@Babs Hunt I don't have any guns now. I live in a fairly secure place that has the best locks on doors and window. I do have a nice baseball bat and also an old billy club as well as a stun gun. My 4 cell mag flashlight could cause a bit of cranial discomfort also. I am all electric, no gas. so no worries discharging some high voltage electricity should it become necessary. Also my closest (well armed) neighbor and I have a wireless connection that just requires a press of a button. I also have a super loud megaphone with siren that I keep by my bed. I have never pointed a gun at another human and certainly hope that never becomes necessary. Like you I would do what I have to do.
@Faye Fox We used to have a baseball bat but somewhere along the line one of our 11 grandchildren took it home with them so no more baseball bat. I've gotten so used to trusting God to keep us safe that I really can't say that we have much more than His hedge of protection around us, our home and our families...which seems to be working just fine.
I am perfectly comfortable with firearms. My hunting was with a 12 gauge double for ducks on Long Island sound. There were some .22 rifles and a 47-70 Trap Door vintage 1883. In the Naval Reserve I was on the rifle team where we fired Springfields and on one occasion we got to fire M-1s. On active duty I only once handled a .38 Colt when I was assigned to fetch a prisoner from the jail in Binghamton NY and bring him to the brig at the Brooklyn Navy yard. My wife will not go near a gun. I always remember the Chief in boot camp who said "never point a gun at anyone unless you are going to shoot him, and then get him quick before he gets you".
@Herb Sutton I greatly like your entire post. Taken aback some by your wife's feelings about guns. however. Does she fear guns, or is she psychologically against them for other reasons? My in-laws both have voiced grave concern over my interest in firearms. In fact, hearing of that while I was dating their daughter, who was 28, they questioned seriously her wisdom in befriending a "gun nut". They truly believe their existence is safer, regardless of circumstances, so long as they are not armed! They firmly believe an armed psychotic will not harm an unarmed person! Such thinking confounds my ability to understand them. Contrast this with a little story: My father in law, driving their van returning home with a pizza, with me riding on the passenger side, encountered a pick-up traveling the opposite direction, from which several beer bottles were hurled at our van as the truck passed us. Several hit the front, missing the windshield, fortunately, but causing several unsightly dents. Father in law immediately stopped, exited cursing and waving his arm at the departing vehicle. I wondered quietly, what if......what if this bunch of hooligans, undoubtedly armed, turned around to pursue us? We were UNARMED! Reaching our house, FIL, still shaking with anger and rage, told the ladies what had happened, finishing with, "If I'da had a rifle, I'da shot out his tires!" That coming from a professed anti-gun person! Frank
I think that a lot of people base their opposition to gun ownership on a realization that they could not themselves be trusted to use a gun responsibly.
I did not grow up around guns. I think my father and my older brother would rabbit hunt and pheasant hunt when we lived in Indiana, but I have no memory of it other than biting into shot once when we had rabbit for dinner. I swore if I ever ate anything I shot with a shotgun, I'd run a metal detector over it before cooking it...but I've never really hunted. We never had handguns around. I first started shooting handguns in my mid 30s when my boss got into the sport. We would go to a range at lunchtime. I have 5 siblings...4 boys and 2 girls. My older brother hunted a little when he was younger but never in his adult years. He was never "into guns" for sport. I like to shoot for sport but have never hunted. My next younger brother has hunted a lot on local farms but was never into sport shooting. My youngest brother has not had any interest in it whatsoever...neither have the sisters. I got my NRA Instructor Certificate maybe 15 years or so ago. I'm not a marksmanship instructor, just qualified to teach classroom stuff that in Virginia meets the training requirement to get a Conceal Handgun Permit. I lived near the NRA range at HQ in Fairfax, Virginia, and used to go there 2-3 times a week and practice (it's open to the public.) It's a very nice facility, but it got way too crowded to mess with in my last years up there. I was lucky to have access to it when it was a more casual place to hang out. In Virginia you can Open Carry without a permit as long as you are of age and can legally own a firearm. Virginia has "Shall Issue" for conceal carry, meaning if you meet the training requirement and pass a background check, the government must issue your CHP...the applicant does not provide a reason (a lobby group I belong to got that enacted not long after I got into the sport.) I also belonged to a group who would have Open Carry events in Northern Virginia. Those of us who open carry would get together for lunches, dinners, picnics, Adopt-A-Highway events, etc. It's funny, no one except gun owners really notices when someone around them has a gun on their hip except for kids, because adults have their heads in the clouds and kids are eye-level with your waist. There's a big debate in "the community" whether open carry or conceal carry is appropriate (tactical, governmental and social issues on both sides of the argument.) I find it interesting that as the number of armed citizens has gone up, not only has the rate of violence gone down, but the actual number of murders has as well. I believe it was around 2010 or so when the number of homicides in the U.S. hit its lowest point since FBI stats were kept starting in 1960 or so...and that's with a 70% increase in population since then and with homicides in inner cities skyrocketing. That means that the rest of the country has become that much safer.
I did not start shooting until I was in my mid 30s. I will admit that after I became involved in the sport and was more frequently around gun owners, my trust and respect for the average guy on the street went way up. It is a community full of people I would trust any day of the week. It's comforting to know they are out there. I've been to many a rally and many an event (been lobbying at the state capitol for many years, worked the membership booth at gun shows & events, etc), and have seen my share of those who oppose gun ownership. Fear and projection rule their lives.
I joined the NRA once but I wasn't convinced that they were doing anything useful, so I didn't renew.
I have three guns, none of which I'm happy with. My grandfather's single-shot 10 gauge intimidates me. I've never fired it. I also have a 22 bolt action rifle and a 22 S&W revolver. I want guns with more stopping power, maybe a pump 12 gauge and a 9mm handgun. I was thinking about the criticism of police for not shooting to disable instead of kill. If Someone were coming at me I wouldn't shoot to wound. In a frenzied state they could just keep coming. I understand the police protocol. I've tried to teach my friend Carol about a stand down with a gun. I tell her that to threaten someone, hold the gun aimed at their heads. It's very intimidating. I tell her that if she has to shoot, aim at the center of the chest and shoot until they go down. I'm not trained with guns. For any that are, am I on the right track?
You are not alone in that opinion. The state-level group I work with (Virginia Citizens Defense League) is regarded as being one of the more highly effective in the nation. You likely have heard of Gun Owners of America, another nationwide group (Larry Pratt is their top guy.) They are headquartered in Springfield VA, and are regarded as being more aggressive in defending rights without compromise than the NRA. There's an undercurrent of tension in the community regarding the NRA and how effectively (or not) they use their power...but their power certainly outweighs any other group. There's also an undercurrent of tension between factions within the community: open carry vs conceal carry; hunters vs self-defense folks. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) is likely the group with the least compromise in their stance; after all, they know up close & personal what disarming the citizenry is for.
Well four years a Marine, another 7 as armed security police for the DoD,and I lifetime hunter I do have some experience. There are a couple here who are real aficionados As far as I know there has been a firearm of some sort in my families homes since 1638 when my great ancestor was fined three shillings by the town of Milton Ma. for not having a musket to drill with.. Tell Carol, that she will never point a weapon as another person unless she is fully committed to pulling the trigger. As far as I am concerned a .22 revolver is good only for snakes and the trap line. Pistols in my mind, while being good street defense weapons, are not the best at home defense. Shotguns, short barreled shotguns. Point and shoot, very simple. The load? Buckshot! Bird may not penetrate heavy clothing, slug will penetrate, probable over penetrate, one clean hole,. At home defense range, maximum maybe thirty feet, most likely much shorter,buckshot will barely escape the wad, leaving a very tight pattern,expanding even as it enters the body. Buckshot creates what is called a rathole wound. tight entry pattern with 15 to twenty pellets expanding creating a separate wound for each pellet, hard and time consuming to close all the bleeders. A woman would probably be happy with a twenty gauge
During the 21 1/2 years I was divorced, I met some ladies that wouldn't even look at a gun let alone handle one. Then, I met/married my wife and she has absolutely no problem having, handling and shooting her 9mm S & W or her Ruger 10-22 rifle. She helps me reload the 9mm clips as well. I guess, being married to a lady like this, I'm lucky. That is, compared to how other women/wives feel about guns.
I was actually a member of that group for a couple of years but the Maine contingent - Gun Owners of Maine - seemed to be, to gun owners, what Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell are to Republicans. Although I liked everything I heard from the national group, the Maine group was all about compromise, and that's not something you can compromise on. As for shooting to disarm or to wound, very few people are capable of doing such a thing in a real-world situation. Trying to shoot the gun out of someone's hand, as they used to do in television Westerns, someone would be certain to miss, and then you have to worry about where that bullet is going, or what innocent person might be hit by it. I have qualified on a gun range with a city SWAT team, and I was as good as at least half of them. Like the rest of us, most of these people can work their entire career without ever firing at an actual person, and things generally go very fast in real-life situations, or so I am told.