# Do we have any self-proclaimed liberals who own guns on the board? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783 "2015-01-24T19:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/1 "2015-01-24T19:18:33Z")
I am just idly wondering. And this isn’t a gotcha thread. I’m fairly liberal on social issues (pro-choice, pro-marriage equality, etc), but I do not oppose individual gun ownership; I just think there should be straining requirements. I own handguns, a couple of hunting rifles, and one shotgun. But that’s just me. Liberals, how many of you own guns, particularly handguns? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/2 "2015-01-24T19:43:20Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/3 "2015-01-24T20:11:06Z")
We have a .22. Does that count as a gun? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/4 "2015-01-24T20:11:22Z")
I don’t now, but I have. I favor some restrictions, but not outright bans except for assault weapons. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/5 "2015-01-24T20:16:12Z")
I’ve got a Sig P226 for target and home defense. And I’m pretty darn liberal. Well, maybe liberal-tarian. But I’m cool with reasonable measures of gun ownership regulation and licensure. The default state should, IMO, be gun ownership allowable for all, but with fairly strict training, licensure and mental health/background check evaluation. And nobody needs full auto anything, or to build their own armory. A little restraint and less big money interests (NRA, I’m looking at you) on both sides would go a long way towards reasonable accomodation for all. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/6 "2015-01-24T20:23:41Z")
Well, does a black-powder cap-and-ball antique count? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/7 "2015-01-24T20:24:51Z")
Yep. Not for self-defense – it’s a family heirloom (WW1-WW2 era pistol). It’s fully functional – I took it to the range several years ago – but we don’t own any ammunition for it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/8 "2015-01-24T20:27:22Z")
Me. We own three .22s and want to eventually add at least one pistol a d a shotgun. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/9 "2015-01-24T20:33:02Z")
I own handguns and rifles. l have concealed carry permit. My family owns several businesses. Luckily I have never had to use them, but robbery is always a possibility because of the amount of cash would-be thieves know I may be carrying. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/10 "2015-01-24T20:47:15Z")
We had one when we lived in a rural mountain area (mountain lions, bears, wild pigs, oh my). Don’t have one now. Urban area. Small children. Different life right now. Kinda sucks. Miss the rural. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/11 "2015-01-24T20:47:58Z")
My politics and my hobbies have never aligned very well. ETA yes to all three categories: shotgun, rifle, handgun. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/12 "2015-01-24T20:50:45Z")
I have a .22 and a shotgun and I’m a pro-life, pro-social safety net liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/13 "2015-01-24T21:08:28Z")
Me. I own a Smith & Wesson 686 .357, seven rounds, with a 4" barrel. I got it for camping and hiking. I’m a European-style socialist. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/14 "2015-01-24T21:28:20Z")
Oh, I sold all that stuff Years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/15 "2015-01-24T21:29:20Z")
Sure, but I grew up in Alaska. Fewer than I used to have. Used to have over the years: 4" Smith Model 28 .357, Hi-Standard 22 with interchangeable barrels, an original M1911 A1, Mossberg 12 ga pump, Remington 300 H&H magnum rifle, JC Higgins (Sears; not sure who actually made it) 22 bolt action tube-feed rifle, 22/410 single shot over/under, a Sig Mosquito 22 auto, and a 1890s model 32 caliber lever action. Through turnover and actions beyond my control, I now just have the JC Higgins and the Sig. I’m a liberal, have nothing against guns as a tool, have big problems with people toting them around, as I believe it to be unnecessarily provocative. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/16 "2015-01-24T21:32:21Z")
I grew up hunting (though not very successfully). I have a shotgun and a .22 rifle. I enjoy skeet shooting a lot, and might consider hunting again. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/17 "2015-01-24T22:10:49Z")
When I was sixteen, I asked my father for a pellet rifle for Christmas, so I could shoot tin cans in the back yard. When I came down the stairs on Christmas morning, I did indeed find a gun under the tree. But not the BB gun I had asked for; for reasons never elucidated, but I suspect arising out of some vague father to son passing-of-the-torch business, he had given me his Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun. Not _exactly_ the sort of thing I could use to plink Coke cans in the back yard, but the sentiment was nice.\* I still own that - having shot it probably three times in the three decades since then. Nevertheless, you couldn’t pay me enough to get rid of it. And I have been shooting with friends who own Glock and Sig Sauer handguns, and it’s a lot of fun. I have no animus toward guns _per se_; I have a lot of animus towards gun nuts who fetishize their substitute phalluses, and think that _any_ sort of reasonable regulation of guns is TYRANNY! I’m with **picker** on this - we should treat guns like we treat cars; before you’re allowed to use one in public, you must demonstrate that you can do so competently and safely. I’m a life-long liberal Democrat, but only because the U.S. doesn’t have a decent social democratic party. \*The story does have a sequel - after years of ribbing, the whole thing having become a family story, my Dad surprised me one Christmas by giving me the pellet gun I had asked for all those years ago. My Dad is great. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/18 "2015-01-24T22:16:31Z")
Yes. 357 and 44 magnum as far as handguns. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/19 "2015-01-24T22:37:34Z")
Black powder flintlock rifle for historical demonstration purposes only. I’ve never fired a ball out of the thing and have no plans to. I’m quite liberal but do not oppose very well regulated private ownership of most guns. On the other hand I think there are probably far too many guns lying around in people’s homes than are necessary. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/20 "2015-01-24T22:44:47Z")
Yes. I have an HK-91, a .357, 3 9mm and a .22 I also believe in strong gun control legislation, and think that the right to bear arms is not guaranteed by the Constitution. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783.md?page=2)