# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/81 "2015-01-26T20:21:27Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > My six healthy, bright, well-mannered children are living, breathing testament to my sense of personal responsibility. . Once you have more than two kids, you have left responsibility-land. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/82 "2015-01-26T20:42:07Z")
I have three kids. Maybe you shouldn’t procreate? ---
**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 26, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/83 "2015-01-26T20:45:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Once you have more than two kids, you have left responsibility-land. Fuck that shit. I have three kids, though admittedly we only planned for two; there’s such a thing as twins. But I make enough enough money to support my family without government or other assistance. Also, of my siblings, I have the most children; two of us are childless, one of my sisters has two, and the rest have only one. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/84 "2015-01-26T20:47:01Z")
I’m to the liberal side of center and own a 16 gauge pump shotgun and a .357 revolver. My gf is far to the liberal end of the spectrum and is a tiny bit uneasy about the guns. Last year the shotgun came in handy when we had a rabid fox in the yard, though, and she admits as much. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/85 "2015-01-26T20:47:12Z")
**Skald** , wondering why this wasn’t a poll… My wife and I consider ourselves conservative, but we’ve been living in and near San Francisco so we’re probably not all that conservative. Yes we own, only relatively recently though (I’m 53 and became an owner 10 years ago). I won’t inventory them all here. For most of my life I never owned a firearm, even during my 13 years in the military. I never shot besides during military qualifying and exercises. Boot camp was the first time I even touched a firearm. I’m a 1st generation veteran in my family. Didn’t grow up around guns. Dad was a professor, mom a homemaker and nurse. They never shot, and when I offered to take them and train them, they weren’t interested. I’m socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I listen to and consider all sides. I agree with the following statements: > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > 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. > [@picker](#): > > 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. > [@Chefguy](#): > > …have nothing against guns as a tool, have big problems with people toting them around, as I believe it to be unnecessarily provocative. > [@straight\_doped](#): > > .45 ACP because shooting twice is just silly. > [@kopek](#): > > I believe in God, guns and gay rights - which rules me out of truly being one side or the other. > [@Chefguy](#): > > A thread on conservatives who don’t own firearms might be interesting. I have stated in other threads that I’m wary of many gun owners’ skills and abilities to deploy a firearm during a threat situation. Training for gun owners has to be good and strong. And that’s a 2-way street, too - you all should be wary of my skills and abilities, because you don’t really know me and my skills. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/86 "2015-01-26T20:48:38Z")
I’m an FDR style liberal. I think anyone who is sane and not a felon who wants to own guns should be able to own them. I myself own two air guns. BB guns, but no real guns. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/87 "2015-01-26T20:48:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Fuck that shit. I agree with this too. ---
**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 26, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/88 "2015-01-26T20:50:32Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > **Skald** , wondering why this wasn’t a poll… Because polls stifle discussion. Besides, somebody would have complained about a dearth of options for conservatives, non-gun-owners, or parakeets to answer, and then I’d have had to go on a RhymerRant and threaten to murder people for being uppity and that would have mutated inevitably into a dicussion on whether Natalie Portman’s clavicles are prettier than Kristen Bell’s legs and frankly I couldn’t be arsed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/89 "2015-01-26T20:51:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Fuck that shit. I have three kids, though admittedly we only planned for two; there’s such a thing as twins. But I make enough enough money to support my family without government or other assistance. Well, sure. But _six_? You planned for two and had Quints on the second try? :dubious: ---
**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 26, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/90 "2015-01-26T20:52:41Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’m an FDR style liberal. I think anyone who is sane and not a felon who wants to own guns should be able to own them. I myself own two air guns. BB guns, but no real guns. You know something? The sexist pig part of me thinks that single women living alone – at least the ones I care about, which is like three – all need to own guns and be competent in their use. I’d be a lot happier if my younger sisters would learn how to use handguns. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/91 "2015-01-26T20:53:35Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Hey, not to get all schoolyard on ya, but this thread wasn’t meant to be any sort of debate. That’s why I opened it here rather than in GD. My interest in starting it was exactly what the thread title asks. “Discussion” then, rather than debate. And the point is not to go off topic and stick with exactly what the thread title asks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/92 "2015-01-26T20:54:24Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Besides, somebody would have complained about a dearth of options for conservatives, non-gun-owners, or parakeets to answer,. I noticed a complete lack of anything psittacine-related! How dare you! :mad: ---
**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:** [January 26, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/93 "2015-01-26T20:55:11Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > … and then I’d have had to go on a RhymerRant and threaten to murder people for being uppity and that would have mutated inevitably into a dicussion on whether Natalie Portman’s clavicles are prettier than Kristen Bell’s legs and frankly I couldn’t be arsed. Or you and I could just shoot the complainers. Oh, and Natalie Portman, by a mile. 😃 ---
**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 26, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/94 "2015-01-26T21:03:00Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Or you and I could just shoot the complainers. Oh, and Natalie Portman, by a mile. 😃 I do not shoot people. I have people shot. > [@DrDeth](#): > > I noticed a complete lack of anything psittacine-related! How dare you! :mad: It’s all over the OP, in a substitution cipher. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/95 "2015-01-26T21:09:45Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I do not shoot people. I have people shot. > > It’s all over the OP, in a substitution cipher. Ah, I translated it: "_E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed 'im to the perch 'e’d be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E’s off the twig! 'E’s kicked the bucket, 'e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisibile!!_ ---
**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 26, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/96 "2015-01-26T21:14:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ah, I translated it: "_E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed 'im to the perch 'e’d be pushing up the daisies! > 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E’s off the twig! > 'E’s kicked the bucket, 'e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisibile!!_ 😕 You think I’d write a code that, when translated, was not in Quenya? \* Have we met?\* ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/97 "2015-01-26T21:20:32Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > 😕 > > You think I’d write a code that, when translated, was not in Quenya? > \* > Have we met?\* There’s no word for parrot in Quenya. 😛 I had to use _Soval Pharë_. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/98 "2015-01-26T21:53:18Z")
Sure. I used to dabble at competitive handgun shooting. Still a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. J. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/99 "2015-01-26T22:33:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You know something? The sexist pig part of me thinks that single women living alone – at least the ones I care about, which is like three – all need to own guns and be competent in their use. I’d be a lot happier if my younger sisters would learn how to use handguns. My younger sister is a fed, and has guns supplied by them with her at all times, as well as training. I don’t worry about her personal safety, I worry about her boyfriend’s personal safety. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783/100 "2015-01-26T23:02:26Z")
Yes, I’m both a liberal and a gun nut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-self-proclaimed-liberals-who-own-guns-on-the-board/710783.md?page=6)