# Why do gunowners own guns only because "they have the right to"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 24, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825 "2012-02-24T11:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/61 "2012-02-24T17:11:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Damn good example-thank you. And one [more](http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/hours-after-norfolk-city-hall-visit-gun-advocate-detained#comment-664207): > [@](#): > > Danladi Moore – whom the city paid $10,000 in July to avoid litigation after being stopped by police for suspected weapons violations – was charged with trespassing at the downtown entertainment complex Tuesday night. > > The 24-year-old Hampton resident said police told him to leave because he had a gun. Moore said he refused because the law allows him to display a weapon in public places. He said he was handcuffed, charged and led out of the building. > > Norfolk police spokesman Officer Chris Amos confirmed that a summons was issued but declined to comment further. > > Waterside receives city funding but is officially owned by a private entity, Waterside Associates, whose partners include the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said NRHA assistant executive director John Kownack. Its policy prohibits weapons, yet weapons are not included on a list of prohibitions posted at Waterside’s entrances, he added. Charges of trespassing were later dismissed with a judge’s commnet that open carry of a weapon was absolutely legal. > [@](#): > > Moore was ecstatic. > > “I had a hard time sleeping last night,” he said. “This has been a very stressful thing. It was a great relief to hear the judge dismiss the charges.” > > Moore had several previous run-ins with the Norfolk police while carrying a gun in a holster. After he was detained downtown in 2007 for standing outside the Bank of America building with a gun, the city paid him $10,000 to avoid a lawsuit. > > In September, he was detained while trying to ride a Hampton Roads Transit bus. > > A month later, after he and other gun -rights activists spoke to the City Council, he was arrested at Waterside. Moore said he will sue for the bus and Waterside incidents. > > “The police think they can do this to me, but they can’t,” he said. “Someone has to answer for this.” I don’t know if there was any racial component to this, but Moore is black. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/62 "2012-02-24T17:15:42Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > “Why do you need something like that?” Any time justification of ownership, especially when the word “need” is used, comes up, you can be sure that person is an anti. My default answer is that in case I’m ever burglarized by a musk ox, I want to be ready. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/63 "2012-02-24T17:16:23Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > It’s another case of people doing something to demonstrate their rights. It’s something they wouldn’t normally do if the right didn’t need defending. If someone here says that, if it weren’t for the need to protect the rights of gun owners they wouldn’t bother with guns at all, then I guess I’d take them at their word(barring previous postings that contradict this position, of course). Does anyone here care to state that this is the reason they own guns? ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/64 "2012-02-24T17:18:33Z")
Well, I’m one rabid anti-gun person who has become slightly less so due to people explaining why they have guns. I’ve lived in urban/suburban areas of Southen CA all my life, and in my experience the main thing people do with guns here is commit crimes; given that, I saw no real reason for them to be allowed. However, it was pointed out on the Dope that people in more rural areas may actually hunt for food, and that for poor rural folk this might be their only affordable source of meat. I honestly did not know that people still did this anymore; I thought that all hunting was only for sport. Also, they mentioned that a gun can be useful in keeping predators away from herd animals, or for dispatching a wounded/diseased animal when taking them to the vet to do it is impractical. I still think that all firearms should be banned in cities. But I do understand now that “a gun is a tool, not just an instrument of murder” is sometimes accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/65 "2012-02-24T17:19:38Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > My default answer is that in case I’m ever burglarized by a musk ox, I want to be ready. Might I assume that the word has gotten around, and that musk ox harassment has dropped to a tolerable minimum? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/66 "2012-02-24T17:22:26Z")
It is the reason that I own certain guns. Every gun I own I bought for a purpose. Some for hunting. Some for self-defense. Some for target shooting. Some exactly because they are the ones that antis are most intent on banning. Those in the last group were purchased to exercise and demonstrate my right to possess them despite the intense desire some folks have to suppress that right. One example from that group is a Polish AK-clone. I test fired it when I bought it and it has sat in the gun cabinet ever since…five or six years now. AK’s, in and of themselves, aren’t of intense interest to me. Saying “Nyahh-Nyah!” to anti’s is. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/67 "2012-02-24T17:30:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If someone here says that, if it weren’t for the need to protect the rights of gun owners they wouldn’t bother with guns at all, then I guess I’d take them at their word(barring previous postings that contradict this position, of course). > Does anyone here care to state that this is the reason they own guns? I’ll let others speak for themselves, but there’s a long history of gun owners being questioned about their choices. Much like the history of Jews with people asking questions about why Jews do certain things outside of the mainstream, or asking a black person about why they do certain things, or asking a nursing mother why she feels the need to do that in public. The pattern recognition engine that is the human mind kicks in and the questioner, regardless of their intention, finds themselves lumped in with anti-semites, racists, or boob-o-phobes. If you don’t have a need to know why someone owns a gun, then stifle your curiosity, or be prepared to accept whatever answer you may get. Idle curiosity which resembles pointed curiosity may sometimes get pointed answers. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/68 "2012-02-24T17:35:10Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > I’ll let others speak for themselves, but there’s a long history of gun owners being questioned about their choices. Much like the history of Jews with people asking questions about why Jews do certain things outside of the mainstream, or asking a black person about why they do certain things, or asking a nursing mother why she feels the need to do that in public. The pattern recognition engine that is the human mind kicks in and the questioner, regardless of their intention, finds themselves lumped in with anti-semites, racists, or boob-o-phobes. > > If you don’t have a need to know why someone owns a gun, then stifle your curiosity, or be prepared to accept whatever answer you may get. Idle curiosity which resembles pointed curiosity may sometimes get pointed answers. > > Enjoy, > Steven Why don’t you, on this message board dedicated to fighting ignorance, give us a list of questions people shouldn’t ask unless they can show a proper “need to know”? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/69 "2012-02-24T17:35:15Z")
I own guns because they are a part of my culture and heritage. I like to hunt and target shoot. I like guns because they are well made tools and once you buy them their value rarely ever goes down. I have a couple rifles that I have never even shot once yet and I could not give you an acurate count of the weapons in my house without taking a count, at least a dozen. I also believe that shooting and proper gun safety and handling are desireable skills to have. Guns are also part of my community. The local school scholarship foundation dinner and auction was held last week to raise money for scholarships and one item that drew a lot of bidding attention was a pink handled AK-47. The dinner and auction was held in the high school gymnasium, was attended by our state senator, and the idea of auctioning guns off on school property didn’t raise one eyebrow. Gun ownership is perfectly normal where I live. At about one minute in, the pink AK-47: [http://www.dailyastorian.com/multimedia/videos/knappa-schools-foundation-auction/youtube\_2a51af64-5691-11e1-89c1-0019bb2963f4.html](http://www.dailyastorian.com/multimedia/videos/knappa-schools-foundation-auction/youtube_2a51af64-5691-11e1-89c1-0019bb2963f4.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/70 "2012-02-24T17:39:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Might I assume that the word has gotten around, and that musk ox harassment has dropped to a tolerable minimum? You’d think so. But just as they start to calm down, the finback whales start making trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/71 "2012-02-24T17:44:48Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I own guns because they are a part of my culture and heritage. I like to hunt and target shoot. I like guns because they are well made tools and once you buy them their value rarely ever goes down. I have a couple rifles that I have never even shot once yet and I could not give you an acurate count of the weapons in my house without taking a count, at least a dozen. I also believe that shooting and proper gun safety and handling are desireable skills to have. > > Guns are also part of my community. The local school scholarship foundation dinner and auction was held last week to raise money for scholarships and one item that drew a lot of bidding attention was a pink handled AK-47. The dinner and auction was held in the high school gymnasium, was attended by our state senator, and the idea of auctioning guns off on school property didn’t raise one eyebrow. > > Gun ownership is perfectly normal where I live. At about one minute in, the pink AK-47: > > [http://www.dailyastorian.com/multimedia/videos/knappa-schools-foundation-auction/youtube\_2a51af64-5691-11e1-89c1-0019bb2963f4.html](http://www.dailyastorian.com/multimedia/videos/knappa-schools-foundation-auction/youtube_2a51af64-5691-11e1-89c1-0019bb2963f4.html) Good answer, and…dayumm! That’s a cute gun. Cupid would be proud to wield such a weapon. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/72 "2012-02-24T17:46:31Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You’d think so. But just as they start to calm down, the finback whales start making trouble. What are the current regs on harpoon ownership and display? ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/73 "2012-02-24T17:54:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why don’t you, on this message board dedicated to fighting ignorance, give us a list of questions people shouldn’t ask unless they can show a proper “need to know”? Why do you vote? Why do you pray? Why do you touch yourself? Why do you eat meat? Why do you shower? Why do you engage in oral sex? If this is one’s approach with strangers when they are honestly curious, they should not be surprised that they get the brush off more often than not. If this is their approach with friends and those they know well, the brush off is sending a message. The person being queried doesn’t trust you. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/74 "2012-02-24T18:03:53Z")
> [@Hbns](#): > > Why do you vote? **To elect people that support my views.** > Why do you pray? **I don’t.** > Why do you touch yourself? **Sometimes I itch, sometimes I masturbate. Sometimes both.** > Why do you eat meat? **It tastes good.** > Why do you shower? **The bathtub is too small to comfortably bathe.** > Why do you engage in oral sex? **It tastes good.** > > If this is one’s approach with strangers when they are honestly curious, they should not be surprised that they get the brush off more often than not. If this is their approach with friends and those they know well, the brush off is sending a message. The person being queried doesn’t trust you. Bold answers mine. And what is your opinion of those that ask such questions on a message board like this one? Are the polls in IMHO and Cafe Society too intrusive for your tastes? ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/75 "2012-02-24T18:13:04Z")
Sometimes it’s a terse response and sometimes it’s an effort to steer the conversation to the political aspects of gun ownership. Even if someone can’t understand using a gun for hunting, fun, or self-defense, they might be made to understand why some of us think an armed citizenry is an important safeguard for liberty. Guns are so much a part of my life and so normal that the question always sounds bizarre to my ears. It’s like asking why I own a toothbrush. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/76 "2012-02-24T18:25:44Z")
I treat people who ask “why do you NEED gun x” (or any gun whatsoever) as being anti-gun people because over 25+ years of gun ownership and use I have never, under any circumstances, had someone in real life ask me such a question who upon further conversation did not unambiguously reveal that they were in fact anti-gun. In hundreds or more of instances (discussions, debates, casual conversation, etc.) Therefore, I don’t need a double-blind peer-reviewed study to back it up before I become naturally suspicious. That having been said, I am also very often (but not nearly as much) asked “why do you need” with respect to my swords. One conversation I had recently at work became surreal - I was showing some photos of my swords, and someone came up to say: Them: “Why do you **NEED** all those swords?” Me: “I don’t need them, I want them. Except for the ones I fight with. Those I need.” Them: “Isn’t a sword really stupid to fight with? Shouldn’t you have a gun instead?” Me: “I fight as a martial art. I have lots of guns for both sport and protection.” Them: “Oh, I don’t like guns. I wish Obama would just ban them all so we wouldn’t have to worry every time we drop our kids off at school.” Me: (sighing) “OK. … What do you think Obama would think about all my swords?” Them: “I don’t know…probably they should be banned too. I don’t see why anyone would NEED them. … kids could get hurt.” At that point, I deemed the conversation to be beyond all hope of intelligence. But it’s an example, if extreme, of the “why do you NEED” mentality at work. Please note that the “why do you NEED” reaction is not synonymous with being anti-gun. Many anti-gun positions have at least a sound and logical basis, or kernel of reason to them. “Why do you NEED” does not. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/77 "2012-02-24T18:26:05Z")
I doubt any gunowner saying this owns guns ONLY because ‘they have a right to’. They just aren’t wanting to get into a long discussion about their reason for owning something they have the right to own. Basically, it’s a leading question that’s been used by anti-gun types in the past as a Gotcha! If you say ‘I like to hunt’, then that gets a certain response from anti-gun types ranging from ‘oh, you like to kill Bambi’ to ‘there is no need to kill animals with a gun when you can just go to the supermarket and buy meat’. If you just like to shoot you get other responses (mainly the ones I hear are ‘why…that doesn’t sound fun to me’ or ‘that’s kind of stupid and dangerous’). Same with if you answer it’s for home protection…lot’s of responses to that as well, generally fairly condescending and negative coming from anti-gun folks, which, let’s be honest here, are the only ones who would ASK this question in the first place. Folks who like guns or own guns pretty much already know all the reasons someone would want to own one. We love the smell of gun oil in the morning…it smells like victory… 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/78 "2012-02-24T18:26:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Bold answers mine. And what is your opinion of those that ask such questions on a message board like this one? Are the polls in IMHO and Cafe Society too intrusive for your tastes? I don’t see any of your answers being that far removed from: Because I can. To shoot stuff. I like the smell of hot gun oil. As for message boards? I am the guy answering polls with MYOB if it is an option, or whatever choice I think goes against the grain. I feel no sense of anonymity on the internet. Those that want my honest opinion will, as in everyday life, have to earn my respect and trust. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/79 "2012-02-24T18:31:00Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#): > > Even if someone can’t understand using a gun for hunting, fun, or self-defense, they might be made to understand why some of us think an armed citizenry is an important safeguard for liberty. To be honest, it’s that last reason I have so much trouble with, and I tend to think people who argue seriously about it are slightly off their nut (which includes a very close friend of mine whose opinion I greatly trust on most matters but gets a little wild-eyed about the possibility of needing a gun to fight back against a tyrannical government). It’s something I understand intellectually, particularly when reading up on American history, but even despite the lunacy in Washington, I’ve simply never felt that it’s something that may be necessary in the near future. My own worldview has never encompassed the idea of needing to protect myself from my own government with violent weapons. It’s just too abstract for me. I _get_ protection from burglars, I _get_ hunting, I even get sport shooting. But arming yourself explicitly for the purpose of defending yourself from the government seems about as practical as me readying myself for the day the Millennium Falcon swoops down from the sky and Luke Skywalker tells me I’m to be the next great Jedi. That all said, I generally don’t have any serious issue with gun ownership for whatever reason, and ever since I heard the analogy that having a gun in the house is just as sensible as having a fire extinguisher in the house, I’ve intended to own one and take safety courses. It generally has not been a high priority, though. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825/80 "2012-02-24T18:36:21Z")
…another thing is that “why do you NEED” smacks of a certain level of intolerance, when asked in the way in which it typically is asked. One can spin the question into an innocent “just finding the facts, ma’am” question, but come on. In real life it’s typically asked in the same tone and with the same facial expressions and body language as “why don’t you go to church?,” “why don’t you eat meat?,” “why don’t you like men?,” or “why did you buy a motorcycle?” People who really give a flying fuck about your personal decisions and who aren’t just asking the question as a lead-in to judgment ask questions in very different ways, and I don’t need a citation to prove real life. Anyone who doesn’t know or hasn’t experienced this at least once in real life should probably retire to a cabin in the woods and finish their manifesto against 21st-centuray society. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gunowners-own-guns-only-because-they-have-the-right-to/613825.md?page=5)