# A poll about gun ownership : US and non-US posters **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807 "2023-05-09T15:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/21 "2023-05-09T17:14:49Z")
From the UK: I fired a handgun and an AK47 at a firing range in Cambodia nearly 20 years ago. I’ve also been clay pigeon shooting in the UK a couple of times. There’s actually a real gun shop right next to where I live, but I’ve never been inside. I’m not sure if I would even be allowed entry without owning a gun licence. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/22 "2023-05-09T17:16:49Z")
I shot .22 rifles at Boy Scout camp, as well as some target practice with an old .22 rifle my Dad had been given as a teenager. And I went trap shooting once as a company team building event. ---
**Author:** ![theater\_in\_a\_crowded\_fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@theater\_in\_a\_crowded\_fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theater_in_a_crowded_fire)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/23 "2023-05-09T17:22:59Z")
From the US. I grew up out in the sticks with plenty of room for shooting. My dad and I would often target shoot or shoot skeet in the backyard. There wasn’t much of a hunting tradition in our family and dad was never a hunter so I just never picked it up but I’ve enjoyed eating my share of game from friends who do hunt. Today I live in a small town with no where nearby to shoot and so I haven’t actually fired a gun in years. I inherited most of my father’s guns (a couple of rifles, a couple of shotguns and a pistol) but they’re all in locked cases and haven’t been used since he passed. I should probably just sell them, but they have a lot of sentimental value and I don’t think any are particularly valuable. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/24 "2023-05-09T17:54:48Z")
I’m a US citizen. I own 12 guns. Two where gifts, 10 inherited. The last 3 times I’ve used a gun is to make enough noise to scare a bear away that was stalking our house. I did buy a .22 air rifle. It operates under scuba tank pressures (talking 3000psi) it’s very fun to target shoot and requires a special compressor to get that kind of psi. It is crazy accurate, but not as powerful as a .22 firearm, but is respected as a gun with the same rules. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/25 "2023-05-09T18:14:59Z")
Picked “US - owned in the past but not currently”. Technically I owned one for a short time as I inherited my dad’s Sears .22 plinking rifle. It had been sitting in an backyard shed during the 5 years between my father and mother’s deaths. It was so rusted and the barrel looked bent, I doubted it was safe to fire. So I just surrendered it for destruction ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/26 "2023-05-09T18:18:15Z")
I still have nightmares about that boating accident. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/27 "2023-05-09T18:36:52Z")
I grew up shooting, started as a young’un at age 6. I now own my own. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/28 "2023-05-09T18:44:35Z")
Grew up with dad and grandparents with gun collections, and have shot dozens of different handguns and rifles, most of them old antiques from past WW1 or WW2 time frame. As an adult, I’ve been skeet shooting or target shooting a few times. I’ve never owned and probably never will own any guns, especially now that I have kids in the house. Scary hindsight…my dad used to sleep every night with a loaded unlocked handgun tucked under the mattress. My brother and I knew not to play with it, but damn, talk about a tragedy waiting to happen. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/29 "2023-05-09T18:45:04Z")
I’m from Germany and have never owned a firearm, but in my time there was still a draft here and I did 15 months of service in the Bundeswehr (1987-88) and of course fired arms there (only practicing, mind you. G3, Uzi, pistol and bazooka). So I chose option #3, though I’ve never fired a gun in private. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/30 "2023-05-09T18:45:48Z")
I have an old single shot .22 rifle my Dad bought me, and my old service pistol. I was gonna sell the pistol, but I was offered peanuts (you can only sell a gun to a dealer in CA, so they have you over a barrel). I was born here. I also have Canadian Citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/31 "2023-05-09T18:59:54Z")
I’m from the US, but I don’t live there now. I’ve only ever handled a gun once, and that was in my 20s when I did live in the US, but on a visit to Canada (shooting tin cans on a relative’s farm). It was a novelty, but not a particularly interesting one. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/32 "2023-05-09T19:15:33Z")
I’m from the US and own 8. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/33 "2023-05-09T19:18:56Z")
My dad enjoyed hunting when he was a younger man so he had a couple of hunting rifles and shotgun in a rack in the basement. I never got the bug, never wanted to go hunting, never wanted to play cops and robbers with the boomsticks. I never handled any of those guns, loaded or unloaded. I have been to a shooting range a couple of times (shooting handguns, I’ve still never fired a rifle (though I just remembered we did skeet shooting at a company outing (LL Bean) so I have fired a shotgun; I’m not sure if a skeet shotgun is the same as a whatever else shotgun, but there you go)). Gotta say, not impressed. I didn’t find it fun in the least. ---
**Author:** ![Sooner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sooner/32/7875_2.png) [@Sooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sooner)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/34 "2023-05-09T19:29:29Z")
When I was in the Air Force I spent a day on the firing range in basic training, then every couple years afterwards I had to fire 25 rounds from a M-16 (nobody cared if I hit anything). That is the only time I have ever fired a weapon, just never had any interest. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/35 "2023-05-09T19:35:16Z")
I’m from the US, I grew up in a rural Midwestern area where gun ownership was common and we had guns in the house. I had a parent who regularly carried. For hunter’s safety class I had to fire a 4-10 and that’s the only time I ever touched a gun. My preferred method of hunting was archery but I never even got around to killing anything, I just liked shooting at targets. Since my Mom threatened to shoot me with a gun, I’ve generally not wanted them in my house, also with my history of depression, etc and now that I have a young child, that’s an extra hell no. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/36 "2023-05-09T19:47:23Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’m not sure if a skeet shotgun is the same as a whatever else shotgun Every time I have ever gone skeet shooting it’s been with a basic “whatever else” shotgun, something like a [Remington 870](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Model_870). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/37 "2023-05-09T19:57:23Z")
I’ve only ever shot a BB gun (at a Girl Scout camp), so I’m assuming that it doesn’t count? I was pretty good btw (won the competition), but it was completely boring to me and have had no desire in the 60 or so years since to shoot anything at all. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/38 "2023-05-09T20:11:42Z")
American - never owned, but have gone to the range with friends who have loaned me a firearm. Among such friends, Doper @Billy_Rubin took me out a-shootin’ one fine day and allowed me to sample his nice selection. Haven’t heard from him in years, though. Occasionally I consider a .38 revolver, but never followed through on buying one. I always have other things I seem to want more. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/39 "2023-05-09T20:13:55Z")
American - never owned, but have had range time with pistols and rifles. Not a bad shot either, just never felt the need to actually own a firearm. ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807/40 "2023-05-09T20:18:01Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > 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. My first reflexive vote was to say I’ve never owned or handled a firearm, but then this post reminded me that yes, I did once fire a .22 rifle. My then-boyfriend owned it but as we lived in the city it never saw the light of day. But now I recall that he once brought it with him on a camping trip with his gaggle of friends and cajoled me into trying it once. That was almost 40 years ago but I guess I can’t say I’ve never done it. I don’t want to ever do it again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-gun-ownership-us-and-non-us-posters/983807.md?page=3)