I don’t really feel it necessary to constantly explain my position on the matter to anti-gunners. I honestly don’t give a flying fuck if the OP or anyone else doesn’t think anyone needs to own one. That opinion doesn’t necessitate me constantly justifying my difference of opinion.
Clear enough?
Haven’t we had enough threads on this already? Seriously, if you’ve been on this board for a while now and you don’t grasp why people feel differently on the matter, then it is a personal issue on your end, and again, NO ONE needs to constantly explain this to you.
I don’t own a gun. I own guns. I grew up in rural Idaho, and everyone I knew had guns, usually on a rack in the back window of the pickup. I got a rifle for my 12th birthday, and a pistol for my 18th. The shotguns were just sitting in the corner of the closet (Gun safe? What’s a gun safe?). I bought another pistol and aquired several rifles from relatives. I haven’t been out shooting for years, but I still own most of them. I have a gun because I grew up in a gun culture, and part of that culture has stayed with me. Incidentally, my father drilled all us boys on gun safety and made sure we took them seriously before he let us roll out the door with them. A lot of my current peace and love friends are are shocked to learn I own guns. I am not exactly a macho man. I’m a children’s librarian.
I also have several guns, which I don’t get to shoot often enough. I have a couple of pistols, my old hunting rifle, and my late father-in-all-but-fact’s hunting rifle, which he bought with his separation money from the WWII Navy. Why do I have them? I enjoy target shooting and just plain plinking, and, while I haven’t been hunting in years, I want to again walk through the woods with his rifle, and remember the times we had back when.
I responded because the people who keep demanding this sort of thing need to PLEASE get over themselves and wake up to the realization that other people are not required to justify their every difference of opinion with YOU. That if the 10,856,742,903 other threads on this subject haven’t provided this answer, the fact of the matter is that you’re not really interested in knowing WHY other people own guns, you’re only interested in demanding that they justify themselves to your satisfaction. Which circles back to that whole getting over yourself thing.
One of my jobs (psychic advisor/fortune teller) puts me in close contact with people that are not the most mentally stable or law-abiding. A number of those clients have criminal records. Sometimes I pass along information I get from them to the appropriate legal authorities For that reason I have a concealed handgun license and do carry in situtations where I am legally allowed to do so. I also have several shotguns for security reasons in my shops where they can easily be grabbed or fired fromy underneath desks or counters. Those are the practical security weapons. And I think skeet shooting is a great sport and a good way to reduce tension. Now about the rifles, like River Hippie, I enjoy the gadget aspect of the things. I would love to collect operational sniper rifles of the world just because, but cannot for economic reasons.
I’m not sure how we could easily have an accident with gun and ammo stored separately, for starters, and never handled except during a deer hunting weekend.
We’ve had two car accidents. We live in a rental house with questionable wiring and natural gas fixtures. We’re in a blizzard-prone and tornado-prone area. We live one block from a major train line that regularly carries hazardous/flammable materials in and out of Chicago.
Keeping a food-acquisition tool stashed is not high on our risk level.
No, it isn’t just a question. You’re deliberately ignoring my point. Why do you need to know this and why hasn’t that ‘need’ already been fulfilled by the (literally) hundreds of other threads that we have had on this topic? Please, justify your question.
I treat time at the range the same way I treat yoga class. I focus on my breathing, and after a bit I can get into a meditative state where it’s me and the target, or me and the mat… working my body to perform a specific set of movements in a cleaner, stronger way. I do the same thing with archery (the outdoor rifle range here is unmanned, so I’m not comfortable going alone; archery I can go at home).
We have four guns in the house - a revolver, which is mostly mine for target shooting, a 9mm semi, which is my husband’s target shooting weapon, “our” rifle (which is totally mine), and a shotgun that came from somewhere. I don’t think we even HAVE any ammo at the moment, unless you count the handful of rounds that are hiding under things in the garage from the box that fell when we were moving. When I go to the range, I usually stop by the store on the way, and only buy as much as I’m going to shoot. It’s really unlikely anyone is going to get hurt with any of my guns, unless you club someone with them.
I also like to go shooting with my dad. We don’t have a lot we agree on, and when we go visit my parents, my dad and I can go to the range and bond without having to actually talk, and my husband can make both my father and I happy by doing something with my father, again without having to actually talk to him.
So, for me, it’s a recreation thing, not a home safety thing. It’s not all that different from having a (really expensive) basketball.
I’m not really sure what your point is. That we don’t need to talk about this because anti-gun people need to get over themselves?
I think your making a lot of assumptions here. One, I’m not anti-gun. I’m pretty much neutral. Two, as I stated in the OP, there was too much back and forth going on in the threads I did read about the subject. People were arguing over this and that detail. Honestly, I didn’t read that many of them. Why would you assume I did?
I created this thread for the purpose of hearing soley from gun owners. I’m in no mood to debate the subject. I simply want to hear what people have to say. Again, it’s just a question.
IMO it’s insurance. I’ve had insurance against theft for years and never used it, but I still renew every year.
While the likelihood of a home invasion by drug crazed bikies is remote, it’s not impossible, and a pump action shotgun is “insurance”.
What is your alternative?
Calling the police only works if they arrive soon enough to save you. Otherwise, it’s begging for your life, and good luck with that!