PHeller wrote: I find it interesting how as our nation becomes less and less enthralled with hunting, it seemingly has replaced hunting with a fascination for guns, militarism, and all things "tactical".
this is what disturbs me about the current state of our society. It used to be you owned a gun to go procure your food or for the "sport" of shooting targets out on the range with pops or grandpa. now people like my uncle live to have assault rifles, hollow point armor piercing rounds, 50+ round mags, body armor, and everything else that we really have no use for. I understand the collecting of classic military weapons as some of them are super cool, but really who needs a full on automatic AK for anything? I would argue a shotgun or even a pistol a much better home defense tool.
I'm a gun owner, i consider myself responsible. I own a marlin 22 that i use for pest removal because we live in the woods. I own a 9mm for "home defense" that i've never taken out of it's place except to remove a raccoon from the yard that was going after my cat when i was out of .22LR bullets. I own a 12ga shotgun only because it belonged to my grandfather and i cherish the few things i've got that were his. My shotgun is at my parents house locked up, and the other 2 are safe in my house where my wife and i know where they are, and our 20 month old son has no idea where they are and they are where he could never get to them, way up high. I've been considering selling my 9mm and only having my .22 rifle on hand, but honestly i don't know the best way to go about selling it without having it fall into the hands of an irresponsible person.
I made sure i knew how to handle a gun before i bought one. I spent extensive range time with my above mentioned crazy uncle learning safety, how to shoot, how to transport, and how to care for a gun. I read the CCW book, although i will not get one. I do not need to carry a gun, I feel it should be left in my home and if there is somewhere to go where i feel it would benefit me to carry, I refuse to go there.
I consider my father in law to be the responsible old school gun owner. He owns his guns for hunting and only hunting. They stay locked up in a safe until he goes to hunt. His son, my brother in law, owns many handguns and rifles, and while he hunts as well, he has them all over the house "just in case" because he is paranoid about intruders. I put him in the "I hope he doesn't mistake his wife or child for an intruder one night when he's half awake" category.
My dad is on the total opposite end of the spectrum. He believes that guns should be illegal and have no place in modern society. He ignores the "if they're illegal the bad guys are still going to get them" argument and blindly says things like "make committing a crime with a gun an automatic life sentence" as if it will turn people off from using guns in an illegal manner. If someone is going to commit a crime with a gun they really don't care about consequences to begin with, so making armed robbery go from 5 or 10 years to life really won't change anything. I will agree with him on the account that for some people, like my uncle who i acknowledge is off his rocker, that the lust of firearms seems almost erotic in nature, as this stuff just gets him off. It's creepy the way he describes his guns.
I will not ever join the NRA. I do not want to be associated with them. I associate them with every "tactically obsessed" gun owner, and frankly guys like my uncle scare me. I fully expect him to snap one day with all the stuff that comes out of his mouth. He says if he ever goes off i'm safe, so at least i've got that going for me. Add to that all the political rhetoric that the NRA spews at election time just flat turns me off.
I think i've put it as well as i could without bringing anything inflammatory or political to the table. This is how i feel as what i believe to be a responsible gun owner.
http://www.justfactsdaily.com/five-fallacies-about-guns-and-violence
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