RE: James Castilla

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danprkr

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There is the sticky at the top of the general discussions page originally started by James Castilla titled "im an anti w/ questions." His last posting to the thread was on June 19, 2003, 01:38 AM, and the last posting on the thread at all was on January 15, 2004, 09:43 PM. What I'm curious about is, do we know what became of James? If so did we change his mind? Is he still lurking undecided?

Just curious.
 
All I could find was his join date. Which of course does no good in answering this. I will send a PM out just for grins, and see what happens. As near as I can tell his last posting was 2006 so he was around for a while anyway.
 
Yes, all, I'm still around. :D

Many things have happened and changed since I started that thread. Before I go into them, I'll also state that I'm also surprised for the 99.999999999% positive response I got. the .000000001% guff was a PM from someone called Model of 1905 that apparently won't receive PMs back. Oh well, no harm done.

The past seven years have been interesting in the whole gun-hobby area. I went shooting, obviously. I went again. I bought a Ruger 10/22 from a friend who never used it anymore, and began trying to hit targets, rather than blast away at old appliances and soda cans like the first couple of times. I got good enough that I could hit a baseball-sized target at 50 yards, and "promoted" myself to an SKS back when Yugoslavian ones were $150 and ammo was $3/20.

As time went by and things changed I ended up selling off both of them --hard times, and rent needed paying. A close call with a neighbor's place almost being burglarized pushed me to buy an Argentinian 1911, but I never shot it much since it kept tearing the skin near the base of my thumb up. Sat mostly on the bedside table for a couple of years.

Then, around Thanksgiving of 2008, in two separate instances, my fiancee and my brother had close calls with.. bad people. Neither were armed, but fortunately neither were the other people. My brother and I then decided it might be best if we got carry permits, much to the chagrin of my fiancee. We both did, and I traded the 1911 for a CZ P01. Ammo is less expensive, but it holds more, and it's a lot more comfortable to shoot. I carry now whenever I can, isn't often though because I work at an airport.

Anyway, I've been dropping by and just reading more than anything else, not feeling much need to log in. A friend I have on another forum brought this thread to my attention, so I thought "what the hell." :)

Best wishes.

PS danprkr, I didn't receive your PM, if you sent one.
 
Glad you changed your mind. Do you think that knowing what you know now that you could talk someone else whose against guns into trying one?
 
Nice to see you back, glad you like that P01. I've got a PCR that's been perfect in every way except its less than superb trigger. Oh well, it'll smooth out eventually.
 
"Glad you changed your mind. Do you think that knowing what you know now that you could talk someone else whose against guns into trying one? "

As I've said before, I don't try to change other people's beliefs, only to understand them. If someone genuinely asks, I'll talk to them about it, but until then discretion is the word.
 
I just started reading that thread recently too. Whodathunkit that the "Anti w/questions" would have come around and even got a CCW permit. Still nice to see someone have a view on an issue, but willing to keep an open ear and really listen to the other side.

Have a beer on me!
 
James,

Yes I sent a PM, but who knows where it went once entered into the cyber ether. Anyway, I just curious since it was such an old sticky what had become of it. Had no real point, just read the thread one day, and wondered what had happened.

Enjoy your shooting.

Dan
 
Oh yeah- If you have the spare cash for one, you should do yourself a favor and pick up a Kadet Kit for your P01. They are pretty expensive, about as expensive as some other good .22 pistols, but they are extremely reliable and very accurate, and will allow you to use your pistol as is for lots of extra practice and recreational shooting. Lots of fun to bounce around empty shotgun shells with one.

Will pay for itself very quickly if you can spend a few afternoons at the range.
 
This is a great story. An intelligent person with an open mind. Let me try to understand where you're coming from instead of "Guns Bad You're Bad" or "You Don't Like Guns You're Stupid". I think if more people who are "Anti Gun" would try shooting and more of us "Gun People" would go that extra mile to introduce them to it the chasm between us would narrow. Glad for you James, don't forget to practice, it's important.
 
It has to be a horrible experience to realize that you can't help yourself or someone else when it matters the most, and I would rather not have someone "come over to our side" due to becoming a statistic or having a bad real life experience. While we can't apologize for those that prey upon our own, we can neither for those that believe that we don't need to defend ourselves from those that prey upon us.

The only good thing about these kinds of incidents is that you can walk away unscathed, tell us about them, and hopefully it won't happen (to you) again.



Kris
 
I agree with the previous post but IMO there are SOME people that I fear have the survival instinct bread out of them or something.:banghead: Seems Darwin is the only cure for stupid.:D
 
And there are some who, even with this flaw, we still take upon ourselves to defend, because their other traits are worth preserving. ;)
 
As I was reading the original sticky'd thread I was impressed with many of the replies and the logic disseminated therein. Even in James' original post I got the feeling that he was fairly open minded individual and there was hope.

It seems that all that is required is calm/collected argument targeted to each individual criticism of firearms ownership.

It seems that three things are in play here that help anti's "see the light"
1. The realization that statistics and practical data do NOT show correlation with gun control laws and reduced crime.
2. When a person first engages in recreational shooting and realizes the HUGE amount of JOY it brings to people once they're assured that there ARE effective means/rules to allow SAFE shooting.
3. Once someone realizes, due to a personal experience (or that of a friend or loved one), that there IS a serious and surprisingly high incidence of situations that may actually NEED a means of defense from violent attack.

I have been robbed at gun point before! It SUCKS, believe me. I thought I might die, I got lucky. In fact, I was at work, in a retail store in an UPPER CLASS suburb 10-15 miles outside of Detroit. I was 20 years old, the only male on premises with several women (who were completely freaked out), kept my cool and had to personally "deal with" the bad guy. The funny thing is, I would not have even been legally allowed to own a handgun let alone carry the thing at that age.

While I don't live in fear of that happening again, I know it can. I wish there were a way to communicate to "armed robbery virgins" how serious of a thing it is and how surprisingly likely it is for this sort of thing to happen.
 
I do not mind that some people hate guns. I do not mind that some people hate me because I have guns. I do not feel compelled to hate them, or demand that they own and use guns. I DO mind that some of them insist on stepping on my MY rights regarding gun ownership, carry, and use. I just wish we could all just get out of the way of each other, and cut each other slack regarding each other's freedoms. But, as long as some refuse to do that, the fight goes on, without end.
 
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