I’m curious to see how ownership of firearms breaks down on this Board, as between Americans and non-Americans.
Purely unscientific, etc. Just humour me.
- I’m not from the US and I have never owned or handled a firearm
- I’m not from the US and I have handled firearms without owning any (eg gun range; target practice with a friend’s gun)
- I’m not from the US and I have owned a firearm in the past, but not currently
- I’m not from the US and I currently own between 1 and 5 firearms
- I’m not from the US and I currently own more than 5 firearms
- I’m from the US and I have never owned or handled a firearm.
- I’m from the US and I have handled firearms without owning any (eg gun range; target practice with a friend’s gun)
- I’m from the US and I have owned a firearm in the past, but not currently
- I’m from the US and I currently own between 1 and 5 firearms
- I’m from the US and I currently own more than 5 firearms
- I’m from the US but I lost all my firearms in that tragic boating accident
- I’m from the US. Who are you and why are you asking these questions? May be better for your health to just move along.
I was allowed (once) to fire a blank from a .303 rifle when in my school’s cadet force. That was quite enough for me. Not being a country boy or a country-house posho, I’ve had neither need nor opportunity to go near a gun since, and long may that continue.
I occasionally find myself needing to kill an injured or sick (rabies) wild animal. I own a shotgun. Once every 3-5 years I shoot it, clean it, then put it away.
When my brother died his widow gave me his revolver. Either my (now) ex or her boyfriend stole it.
I have fired a handgun, as a non-USAer. But I was in Las Vegas at the time so possibly cheating.
I haven’t touched a gun in the UK, but know plenty of people who have, through having been clay pigeon shooting, which seems like a reasonably popular corporate day out.
In case anyone’s wondering, I ticked the “Non-US never owned, but have handled” category. Grew up in the country and went plinking a few times with a buddy, who had a .22.
U.S. citizen. I grew up in Wisconsin, an area with a very strong hunting tradition; my father owned a rifle for deer hunting, and a shotgun for small game, but I had no interest in it, and never went hunting or fired one of my dad’s guns.
About 25 years ago, while on a corporate retreat, I went skeet shooting; that was the one and only time I’ve ever fired a gun.
U.S. citizen. I own lots of guns and ammo. A few dozen of the former and over 50K of the latter.
I used to go regularly to the range with some of my gun owning friends. Still go occasionally.
I put that I don’t own any guns as I don’t own any functional guns. I have my great great grandfather’s gun from the civil war and my grandfather’s gun from WWII. Both of which the gunsmith said, “Never try to fire these.”
I own a Ruger model 77 Mark II scoped rifle in 7.62x39mm. Wife has a Mossberg 30-06 scoped rifle. I also have a .22 cal Ruger Mark III target pistol and the most awesome Ruger 57 handgun in 5.7x28mm. A .22 cal Benjamin air rifle if that counts.
American here. I have owned and operated firearms for over 50 years. Long before they became the self-motivated murder machines they are now. (/sarcasm)
I don’t kill things and haven’t for many years. Most of my guns are for target shooting. A few are for protection of self and/or family (including pets, of course.) A number were purchased just because they are old, or weird, or both. For instance, I own 3 pistols that are over 100 years old and one that is 96 y.o.
Back in the day I owned several pistols & a shotgun. And carried various bigger weapons for Uncle Sam. Eventually sold all my stuff after it fell into disuse. Have no interest in getting more now, but also have no aversion to the idea if there was a reason to do so.
I’ve been plinking a few times. Mostly .22s, but also a 1911 style .45, and a .38/.357 revolver. Mostly I found it boring. Putting holes in paper didn’t do anything for me. Cans and stuff that would fly around was a bit more entertaining, but not for long. Truthfully, I’d rather play a shooter video game than go shooting. Just not a hobby for me.
I did have a few guns in the house for a long time when a friend moved out of the US to a place he couldn’t take them, but I never owned them or used them when I possessed them. When I had a kid I found somebody else to take them who occasionally takes them to the range.
From the US. I’m not sure how many guns I own. I think its somewhere around a dozen.
Oh, yes, that reminds me: I suppose I should add this. I own what is technically a reproduction of a Mauser “broomhandle” C96 pistol. Said reproduction was used as the “donor” to create a replica of Han Solo’s blaster pistol from the Star Wars films (much as how the actual movie prop was made), which was given to me as a gift by some friends.
As far as I can tell, parts of the firing mechanism were removed, and it’s thus a non-functional gun; I have no idea how easy (or even possible) it would be to return it to functional status.
I have an interest in antique firearms. I own replica flintlock and caplock muskets (because I would be afraid to shoot real ones that old), and a fancy engraved Model 1851 Navy Revolver (cap and ball).
I also have a bunch of WWI and WWII era rifles. They are all in good condition despite their age so I shoot the ones I can get ammo for (anyone know where I can get some ammo for a WWII era Japanese type 99 rifle?). I have a .22 rifle from the 1920s that belonged to my father.
I have a modern(ish) .22 target pistol, and a .44 magnum revolver (basically Dirty Harry’s gun) but I really don’t have much of an interest in modern firearms. I might pick up an M-14 at some point but I don’t have any interest in any rifle more modern than that. I’m much more interested in getting a WWII British SMLE.
I shot rifles in the Boy Scouts and I took a pistol class in college. When I went to visit my Texan roommate in college his father took us to a rifle range. I looked like a hippie freak, so I think he thought I would be allergic to guns. I said “cool” and shot away.
However suicide runs in my family, and I sure as hell am not going to own a gun. And I’ve never felt the lack in over 70 years.
My late husband was a hunter and owned quite a few guns, about 20-ish, as I recall. Since this is a community property state, I guess I owned them, too. After he died, I sold them all.
Only two were handguns. One of those was a .457 Magnum. The other one I found after he died, and it wasn’t with the other guns. It was a .38 and it was in a scrunched up paper sack at the back of one of the bottom desk drawers in his office. The receipt was in the bag, and he had bought it about a year before he died. He had many health problems over our whole marriage, and when I saw that gun, I wondered…
The long guns which my father owned were from the 1950s, and he’d bought them when he was a young man. When I was born, he stored them at my grandmother’s house, as he didn’t want guns in the house with young children.
When my sister and I got old enough that accidents became less of an issue, he retrieved the guns, and started hunting again. That lasted until 30 years ago, when my sister (who was still living with our parents) had a baby; once again, my dad didn’t want guns in the house with a small child, and he stored them at a friend’s house for a few years, until eventually deciding that he was done with hunting, and sold them.
I was raised around guns to some extent. My father had grown up in a small town/semi-rural area and had hunted and done some fur-trapping as a kid. So even though he ceased hunting as an adult, he has always owned a few and went target shooting and did his own re-loads as a minor hobby of sorts. I learned the very stripped-down basics on how to handle and fire them and probably have shot most of his over the years (I think the only exception was the shotgun he owned for awhile). However I’ve never owned one myself and the last time I was at a gun range was probably when I was 19 or 20.