Were you anti-gun before you were pro?

[VERT]

Pro. Grew up with guns. Didn't understand the 2nd as well as now. That comes with age and experience. But I have been a shooter ant not just a gun owner since I was old enough to hd a rifle.

My my wife was Anti. That was one topic I have never compromised on. Took a while but she is now firmly Pro. Still thinks some restrictions are OK but I feel her opinion is typical of the majority of gun owners.

 

[venenoindy]

My mom did not like guns and my dad did not care either way but the rest of my family and specially my grandfather had guns, not until I was 22 that I purchase my very own handgun. The thing is that I grew up in a police state were only police and bad guys can have guns and my family and I experience things that I don't wish even on my worst enemy, the majority in my family are hard working honest people that all they wanted was to protect their families and themselves but unfortunately you had to do wherever you had to do. It's is a horrible feeling to see your family in a situation were you are at the mercy of the bad guys and there is nothing you can do to protect them also the sense of uncertainty when you leave your house and what you may encounter (evil) and there is nothing you can do to protect yourself, having the ability to protect yourself and your family is priceless.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I was always pro long gun but listened to the Saturday night special crap the left was selling in the sixties, until I voiced that opinion to ol' Pop. He sat down and explained to me what was going on in clear and calm terms. It took several more years for me to want a handgun, but now I have a small collection of mostly utilitarian sidearms. And a couple of bar bee que guns

 

[MisterChester]

I was ambivalent, probably more so ignorant in my youth. I grew up in NJ so the gun culture was pretty non-existent. I grew up in a Democrat household, but my family in general are populist blue dog democrats. Guns were just not really an issue to begin with.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

My mom hated guns. She hated anything that was dangerous and almost everything was dangerous to her (God rest her soul). The first time I remember shooting anything was when we went out to visit relatives in Oklahoma--trying to shoot prairie dogs (of course we didn't get any of 'em). We thought it was great! But mom said no...but my uncle said yes and sent my brother and I BB guns for Christmas one year. She didn't think it was funny but she let us keep them.

Between then and about the Clinton administration, I had nothing against them, just never got interested. But it was that AWB that got me fired up about them and bought that SKS I've still got. I never really considered carrying until sometime in the mid to late '90's. And since then, my interests have only grown.

 

[JB357Mag]

​NO!!!!!

 

[rugertoter]

I never really thought about guns one way or the other...until I got robbed at gunpoint, while I was on my way to get my physical for the service.

 

[Dundee]

Guilty, I was anti until my conversion. Never had the opportunity to be around them until my father took me to a club in the Evansville area and we shot trap. That is still one of my fondest memories of my father. That's when my conversion began.

 

[1861navy]

I was never against guns, but for many years I told myself I'm never going to buy one. When I was little guns were always around but they were shotguns or black powder. Those are the guns I learned on, and the only ones I thought I would ever need. As I grew up I realized that, the world isn't pretty, and I can't/shouldn't always rely on reason or martial arts for my self defense.

 

[dyerwatcher]

I grew up in an anti gun family. Shot my first rifle in Boy Scouts and have been hooked ever since.

 

[xM3RC1L3SS1x]

I had owned but never really looked at it as pro-gun or anti-gun until the last handful of years. Pro-gun now (obviously).

 

[Scuba591]

I never really thought much about firearms until about 7 years ago. Since then, I've inherited some and bought several more. I am now taking a more active role in ownership, improving my skills and knowledge... I am also becoming more interested in where I spend my $$ as it relates to the business' stance of 2nd A rights.

 

[jamil]

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. So far the statistics are about what I expected, that most gun owners seem to have always been pro-gun. About 2 in 11 were "ambivalent".

I knew there'd probably be one or two "anti-gun" gun owners in the poll, but I'm a little surprised that there are 5 so far. My thoughts were that people who are anti-gun probably don't have much exposure to pro-gun folks.

I think a lot of anti-gun people can be open to the facts, but who will share the facts for them to hear? Without hearing the voice of pro-gun people, the anti-gun media machine is all they hear. Also, we're most easily marginalized when we're silent or belligerent towards our opponents.

I also wonder how much more effective those who were either anti-gun, or ambivalent towards guns might be than pro-gun people as pro-gun apologists. I think it's an advantage to be where someone's been to help them be where you are.

I wonder if this poll would have about the same statistics among all gun owners. I suspect most of the new shooters becoming pro-gun are the ambivalent ones. I'd love to see higher numbers of anti-gun people becoming pro-gun, because that means we're winning the argument.

 

[JetGirl]

I think it's an advantage to be where someone's been to help them be where ...

Probably so.

 

[Lebowski]

I was uneducated and ignorant at some points of my life (mostly Junior High and High School)

Little kid Lebowski: Had a BB gun since I was like 9 or 10. Used it all the time. I had a lot of cans in my room that served as 'trophies' and paper plate targets. I was a good shot with it.

High School Lebowski: Guns are dumb. Why would you need a gun? In that Bowling for Columbine movie Michael Moore said you an get a gun for free at a bank. Too many people have guns! Guns kill!

19-20 year old Lebowksi: Lived in Bloomington. The dude who lived above me in my apartment complex was a nice guy, he worked at the winery and would give me a bottle of wine from time to time if I asked, made for nice evenings when I had the lady over. (Since I was underage and couldn't buy it myself..) Him and I sorta became friends, talked about computer stuff and one day he showed me his gun that he carried. He had his LTCH. We briefly spoke about guns.

20-21 year old Lebowski: Got gifted my first gun, a Ruger MKI from a relative because I was now living out west in the desert working on a wildlife refuge and orchard. This is also the first times I really got to go shooting, as we could just drive five minutes into the desert and shoot into the side of a mesa at a makeshift range. One of the dudes I worked with had several rifles, and one of the guys who would do tractor work and what not on the property would meet us out there and bring a grill, beer, and all of his guns too. (I'm aware now that the combination of all of this isn't ideal, but it was fun at the time!) I had a lot of fun shooting a lot of different type of guns in a relaxed setting in the desert. We grilled out hamburgers and shared a few beers with co workers. It was a lot of fun. After that we'd go once or twice a month. Here I also went hunting for the first time, succesfully killing two turkeys, half dozen or so rabbits and maybe a racoon. Turkey and rabbits were of course eaten. Learned how to clean them. Raccoons were a nuisance. Went coyote hunting and that was very eerie. The guy we went with had a coyote caller device, it was just the sound of rabbits being mauled and them screaming. It worked. You could hear their howls get closer and closer until it felt like they were 50 yards away or so. Never spotted them, but damn, they were close.

24 year old Lebowski: Bought my first gun for myself, a S&W 4566TSW. It was an early birthday present to myself.

26 year old Lebowski: INGO member, NRA member, LTCH holder, owner of multiple guns and eager to go to the range. I've got a high stress tech based job and also maintain an industry related forum. When I'm at the range none of this is on my mind and I'm 100% focused on what I am doing there. It's rewarding to see improvement in grouping and it makes for a nice evening. I'd like to eventually, maybe, get into competition shooting and would like to do some more long distance target shooting with my rifle, though sadly have not yet taken it to a proper range as the one closest to me has been closed all season for maintenance so far. It has a 200 (or 300, I forget) yard range. After I get on paper at that distance I may join a near-ish gun club that has a 500 yard range.

 

[beararms1776]

Always been pro. Ever since Marvel the Mustang and cap guns.

 

[marv]

Guns have alwawy been a fact of life.

 

[Joseph]

I was interested but in my house there was not any. My dad lost his eye sight when he was sixteen in 1957 in a hunting accident involing a friend of hid and a accidental discharge when he was removing them from the car loaded.so i really never had them In The house...hard to teach kids how to shoot if you cant see lol. But I asked him when I was ten if I could get a bb gun and he began to teach me about safety and how he lost his eye sight and why, he explained it was not an issue with the gun it was not following proper firearm safety. I was not for or against the original assault weapons ban when I was a kid I just figured if you cant do it in ten rounds you probably should not own a firearm. But over time I have become more and more pro gun especially when learning why the founders put it into the bill of rights. Just as much a matter of protection for you as it is a protection from government. Now I own many firearms and will never have enough firearms or enough ammo lol. Im a paper shooter I really dont hunt anymore but certianly do not think as some liberals would have you think that hunting is the only reason to own a gun.

 

[Motorhead302]

Both of my parents shot bowling pins in a club, and carried. i started shooting when i was 4, with mom's beretta .22 short. guns were always around, and always a part of life.

 

[Captain Bligh]

I grew up in a hunting family. I have always viewed guns as just another tool...like a fishing pole or golf club.