Were you ever anti-gun?

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Yep. From about 1990 to the fall of 2009, I wanted nothing to do with firearms. A long series of tyrannical events from our government caused me to do a COMPLETE 180° turn around September of '09.

Haven't looked back.
 
No, I was never anti-gun, but I was not pro-gun either.
It was not on my radar screen.

My father was a business exec and a born and bred city boy.

My grandfather was a skilled worker in the clothing trades.

They never had the time, the need, or the money to worry with things like guns during the great depression.

In the '60s my father acquired a couple of guns, first a 22 rifle then a shotgun.
This I believe was in response to what was euphemistically called 'urban unrest' of the times. By the '60s I was old enough to take an interest.

Since we knew nothing about guns a young man (good ol'boy) from my father's office introduced us to shooting.

My father was never a real member of the firearms community. He was just a prudent man who believed in being prepared. He added a handgun and a centerfire rifle in 30.06 to complete his 'utility' gun collection.
I bought my first gun used from a friend (a Security Six).
But I became more interested over time.
I also was one of those who were swept up in the first big expansion of the NRA under Carter and Knox (remember when the goal was to get from 1 million up to 3 million?)
 
Never anti-gun, but my views weren't logically consistent until I became an Anarcho-Capitalist.
 
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No guns allowed in my house as a kid. Not even a BB gun. Before I was 10 I wanted a .22 but no way was that gonna fly. I don't think my father was anti-gun. He didn't hunt. I saw old pictures of him with a revolver and a big stack of money but don't know what that was about.
I just think he was strict, but I was out secretely shooting other kids guns anyway.
Maybe I wanted to have a gun because somebody told me I couldn't have one.
I have NEVER been anti-gun and NEVER will be.
 
I used to be very anti-gun, and in my opinion it just goes to show the power of generational prejudice. I was born in the pacific northwest in a big city environment full of radical liberals. I'm still a radical but just not a liberal these days.

Ultimately I came around because of the personal responsibility/freedom angle. I wanted a world without violence, and saw a world without guns as being the same as a world without violence (THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO FIGHT!) and so I was anti-gun.

I ultimately came to realize that the gun collectors would necessarily be armed, and that the government would need to maintain a standing group of gun collectors to make sure no one ever got their guns back, and of course we'd still need a group of gun owners to defend our national borders and fight foreign wars so really a "world without guns" was just a world where I personally didn't have a gun but everyone with a higher station in society had a gun. Does that sound like a free and fair society? I am not the most eloquent man but all the arguments against gun ownership seem to be arguments against freedom itself.
 
I grew up as a military dependent (Air Force Brat) and was raised around guns. My dad hunted his entire life, his father was a hunting and fishing guide in south Louisiana. I got my first gun for my 7th birthday in 1961, a single shot Remington 514. My dad signed me up for a junior rifle club when I was nine years old and I shot .22LR 50' indoor match for three years until we transferred to France. My dad had mostly rifles and shotguns and took my brother and I hunting and shooting (and fishing) often.

I didn't realize (or care) until I was in my late teens that my dad was a Democrat and fairly liberal and still was a gun enthusiast. When my dad died in 2003, all but one of his five sons in law received one of his guns (#5 would get up and leave the room when we talked guns or hunting), his three grandsons each got one, his best friend and hunting buddy got his favorite shotgun and my brother and I inherited the remainder. My share was 18.

Not all Democrats, even liberal ones, hate guns. I was lucky to have such a great dad and upbringing and although we had a lot in common and I like to think that I turned out a lot like him, we rarely agreed on politics.

My son also inherited a love for guns and shooting.

After all my rambling I never did say that I have never been anti-gun!
 
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I was born in the pacific northwest in a big city environment full of radical liberals

And the salmon! Oh god, the salmon...I spent more time in elementary school learning about their stupid spawning cycle than grammar. My only salvation was the fact the outdoors made the Scouts such a prominent force that there was still a place to get an introduction to these sorts of things, even if only in rimfire.

TCB
 
I always liked guns, but for a while, I bought into the notion of sensible restraints on what kinds of defensive personal weapons ordinary folks should have. Then I had a bit of clear thought on the matter. There is no such thing as too good a weapon if someone is trying to do deadly harm to you and yours. If I am being assaulted, you're damned right I want an "assault weapon."

Of course the anti-gun contingent will always try to straw-man my position. Should I own a nuclear missile submarine under the Second Amendment? Probably I would not find one useful, seeing the scope and meaning of personal arms. Would probably ruffle the snob set at the yacht marina if I had one, though, and I'd like that. ;)
 
I wasnt antigun but I was a fudd. Having a whole box of ammo seemed wrong, having a case was extreme. Then one day you realize the second wasn't about hunting, one case of ammo isn't enough when there is none in the store, and guns are just tools. The antigun position doesnt pass scientific scrutiny, and is nothing but empty emotion. The government laws are stupid and arbitrary.
 
I was never anti-gun. I lusted for guns when I was in the 1st grade. But my interests were primarily hunting and casual shooting. I was pretty indifferent to the whole gun control discussion because I felt it didn't impact ME.

My Dad didn't like the modern military type guns and could see little practical use for one. But he did view them as fun to shoot, just not necessary for civilians. He was a big influence in my life and I felt that way for a while.

As I got older, I came to believe that you can't restrict something just because it looks "bad". I could see little practical difference between semi-auto shotguns or traditional semi-auto rifles and AR type rifles except for the detachable magazine and hunting rifles had those too. So called assault rifle restrictions went into effect and I felt restricting something like this would have little effect on crime and that was advertised as the purpose.

I came to believe that it is all about control of people like me and not crime. That is where I have a problem.
 
Yes and no. I grew up in the big city and my mother did not like those dangerous things. When I turned 16 we moved to 10 acres in the country, but none of my new friends were hunters.

At college the local VFW hosted 22 pistol shoots on campus. Only five rounds at a time, stand sideways, one arm out, no rapid fire and take a brake every few minutes to check the paper. Boring. One of my shooting "buddies" offered to let me shoot a box of 50 out of his revolver if I would clean it after. The outdoor range had a silhouette target way out there, probably 100 or 150 feet. He handed my a 4" blued revolver with wood grips. It was not very heavy, but the bullets were. I loaded six, lined up my sights, struggled with that double action pull and BOOM. Yep for the next 49 shots would flinch badly. I only hit the target half the time. I jerked the trigger so badly that some of my shots landed on my neighbors target, but like a teen being forced to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes by his father, I got through it. Oh but I was not done yet, remember I had agreed to clean it. The solvent stunk of ammonia. I had to clean it twice because I didn't do a good enough job the first time. After that I said that firearms were not for me.

My knowledge of guns came from the news and Hollywood which I know now were mostly wrong. My opinion of firearms enthusiasts were based on that one mule hole. While I wasn't fully anti gun, I mostly parroted the liberal politicians and probably sounded like Dana Carvey's prudish Church Lady. "Well I just don't see why anyone would need more than a ten round clip. You shoot the bad guy once and he drops dead, just like on TV." "Ordinary people should not be allowed to own an AR or AK. They spray bullets everywhere. It's true, I saw it on the news. The news showed a rifle firing full auto and the newscaster said it was an AR or AK. Clinton banned them, but now you can buy them again." After SandyHook I actually yelled at the TV "What the hell is a BushMaster and why is it killing so many kids." The only times I had ever heard of Glocks were when the news reported that some guy had shot himself in the butt, leg or foot. Therefore Glocks=unsafe. So as you can see I was a very low information voter.

Hunting and plinking were ok but evil black rifles and hi-cap striker fired handguns had as Bush 41 put it "No legitimate sporting use". So, I guess instead of anti I was more like a FUDD.

So what changed? First after 18 years of gun free marriage in our small quite town, methheads started causing problems. Breaking into cars, walking into peoples houses and taking stuff just a block away from our house. Second the Obama gun control push of early 2013. My wife said to me one day, "I think that we should get a gun."

As I researched firearms, safety and the whole political argument, I found that most of the antis were lying. I could never be told it, I had to discover the truth myself.
 
Grew up in a Union Mail Carrier's Democrat home (Grandpa was a Union miner) in Missouri and voted Dem from 83 to 88 but was always pro gun and loved to shoot. So much changed on the Dem Party agenda but the U.S. Constitution and guns in particular are the reason I haven't voted for a State or Federal Dem since 1988.
 
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Nobody in my family was ever anti-gun. I grew up learning gun safety and rifle shooting from age 5 onward. My father didn't have much respect for handguns, considering them too inaccurate to put food on the table but he got a close neighbor to teach me how to shoot a .22 revolver when I was 13 and I got many a jack rabbit with one. Several mink farms in North Dakota where we lived paid 20 cents apiece for even scrawny jack rabbits which they made into mink food so I was able to pay for my ammo by hunting rabbits and gophers (nickel apiece for gophers).

Shot Expert with an M1 Garand in Army basic training back in 1961 and maintained my Expert badge with the M14, M1 Carbine and finally the M16 throughout my 20 year Army career.

No, never anti-gun and still not to this day. I have a CCW permit, train extensively even at age 74 and diligently carry every day. In all these years, I have never knowingly (or to my knowledge, unknowingly) committed a criminal act but if guns are outlawed, then I will become a criminal before I'll give up the ones I currently own!

Jim
 
I was shooting at age 5. I never knew my father and my mother never fired a gun her entire life as far as I know. My grandmother probably never did either.
My maternal grandfather had guns. Several single shot and double shotguns, one 22 bolt single shot, and one plastic 22 revolver. He wasn't a gun person. He was a country boy. He had guns because they could be used to kill animals for food. I have no idea why he had that little pistol. I still have it. My most valuable gun is a Mossberg 20 g that can be purchased all day for $50. I could lose every gun I own and not worry about it...except that one.
 
Great stories. Enlightening and educational. Thanks for the glimpse into your journey to becoming a strong pro-gun supporter. Keep the stories coming.
 
Never.

HSO -- my wife is a vegan and appreciates "walking around with a one-man army" when we are out with the kids. Plus she shoots the 686 as well or better than I do.
 
Not raised to be anti-gun. My father was a military historian so I handled lots of firearms and such as a kid, had my own 22 when I was young, and really got in trouble when I did anything at all that was even a little unsafe.

However, I have to be honest here.

I won't go into all the stories of things I have seen just because I imagine it would bore readers here, but I am much more in favor of gun control now than I ever was before.

I am not anti-gun. But while I know many many people who are responsible owners, I have seen over the last few years a lot of people with serious firepower who are flat out dangerous to those around them, and I see a lot of people who really do not know how to handle their weapons and are unfamiliar with the law and yet many of them carry. The majority of people I know who carry are safe about it and do not brag about it. But a few of them......holy cow.....these people give gun owners a bad name and bad press.

So I am more than OK with requiring classes and possibly restricting certain weapons from private ownership by some people (kids, felons, the blind, etc.....).

This kind of thing would not leave anyone defenseless who was willing to invest some time to be serious and knowledgeable and would likely make the public safer.

I know there are lots of bad people out there and people often need to defend themselves with more than a bat or a locked door, so I want them to be able to do that. But the opposition I sometimes hear to any sort of restriction beyond the short CCW class is unwise, IMO.
 
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Nope, from as long as I remember, as a 5 yr old, I was around guns, and that was in NYC. My family, all 5 uncles and father were vets, hunted, and shot guns defending our country.
I was brought up with the knowledge that we fought to keep it.
 
No, I was never anti-gun. In fact, I was always fascinated by guns.

As a young boy, I retrieved a broken Garand stock from the dumpster behind the ROTC building at the college where my dad was on the faculty, and used it to play Army with my friends.

My parents were survivors of a Nazi occupation in Europe and therefore appreciated the need for guns. My dad bought me my first "real" gun, a surplus Italian Carcano, when I was about 14. I think he paid about $10 for it.
 
Those stories from those of you who were converted are great and very personal to each one of you. Thank you for sharing.



And on that note, this thread should serve as proof that anti's can be converted and that saying they cant be, is false.
 
Nope, My family started teaching me to shoot about the age of 8. I had my own firearms hanging in my room at the age of 13. Those days are long gone. lol
 
Always been pro gun. Also, pro shovel, pro axe and pro hammer.

Was given a bolt action Remington .22 LR when I was 10 years old and taught to respect tools. My Dad taught me to shoot. Along with my uncles, all WWII veterans. So, I had positive values instilled.
 
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