Gun fanatics?

[Stevil]

As a kid, i thought guns were cool. I owned a slug gun and did some spotlight shooting of possums and cats with a 0.22. I've also shot magpies with a shot gun and done some skeet shooting. At school we had an outing where we when to a gun club and fired off all sorts of guns, including a 0.308 and a pistol.

As an adult, i don't see much use for guns. We would be better off if guns weren't in circulation.

[Whitney]

This is a riddle right?  ???

Maybe you thought you were in the gun thread?  ??? ???

He's already posted in the gun thread, I think this is a cock-up, we'll see

I merged it into the gun thread.

[Awolf26]

As a kid, i thought guns were cool. I owned a slug gun and did some spotlight shooting of possums and cats with a 0.22. I've also shot magpies with a shot gun and done some skeet shooting. At school we had an outing where we when to a gun club and fired off all sorts of guns, including a 0.308 and a pistol.

As an adult, i don't see much use for guns. We would be better off if guns weren't in circulation.

I agree with this. As a child/teen I did a lot of hunting and skeet shooting. I still enjoy skeet shooting and I still own two hunting guns. However, I am currently of the view that guns are too accessible. I could privately sell my 22 to anyone I wanted right now, not knowing him/her at all. This happens daily in the more rural areas.

As it sits, I feel like the majority (not all) of people that feel they need guns (paranoid) are the last people I would want to own a gun.

As a side note, there are reports of a shooter on Virginia Tech campus. Sounds like a false alarm, but we'll see.

[Jephthah]

No riddles, my connection timed-out and not being computer savvy weird stuff happened when I signed back in.

Many gun owners are killed by their own guns.  But, like flying a plane, if you don't know what you're doing someone is bound to get hurt.  If you know your stuff it can be a rewarding hobby - and maybe save your life.

[Stevil]

Many gun owners are killed by their own guns.  But, like flying a plane, if you don't know what you're doing someone is bound to get hurt.  If you know your stuff it can be a rewarding hobby - and maybe save your life.

Not just gun owners, but also their kids end up shooting themselves. Quite alot of people also get killied in hunting accidents, evidently people seem to look like deer through gun sights.

In terms of saving your life, your gun should be locked up, with the ammunition locked up seperately, so if you are in a hurry it won't be much use. If you are in a dangerous country like South Africa, Zimbabwe or USA and you are worried enough to own a gun for protection, I would suggest the best thing is to move to a safer country.
There are many great hobbies you could pick up. If you like shooting then I think you would take nicely to photography.
Reason why I am against guns as a hobbie is more that guns get stolen and then used for crime.

[Evilbeagle]

" Id like a Glock 18 and a Heckler Koch MP5 oh and a Plasma Pulse Rifle in the 40 Megawatt range. "

Gun shop owner: Just what you see here, Buddy.

Unfortunately the UK has some strict laws on gun control.

We are not even allowed replicas nowadays.

[DeterminedJuliet]

I do not like guns and I would never want one in my house.
But each to their own, I guess. As long as they're responsible.

[Gawen]

I have:
A Heckler & Koch G3 .308/7,62mm semi auto (that many years ago I had to point at two jerks because they decided they would like to rough me up).
Two Colt semi autos in .45 (11,25mm)
A Ruger 2245 in .22/5,56mm
A Beretta M24 in .22
A Stevens bolt action rifle in .22 (was my fathers and older than myself)
A Mossberg 12ga shotgun
An Ithaca 12.ga shotgun (my daughter wants to buy this one)
A Mauser K98 8mm (made during the war)
A crossbow
and a Sten semi auto 9mm

I'm 56 years old and have only had to point a gun at someone once. During the decade of the 1980's I was a licensed firearms dealer. My entire family shoots and we have never had an injury nor caused injury to someone else due to a firearm. I've never had one stolen. I've taught Junior Rifle Marksmanship to adolescences (12 years to 18 years old) and taught Hunter Safety. I don't hunt or shoot with people who have been drinking or under the influence of whatever. I'm not a member of the NRA. And I won't be drawn into a pro/anti gun debate.

[Medusa]

I have:
A Heckler & Koch G3 .308/7,62mm semi auto (that many years ago I had to point at two jerks because they decided they would like to rough me up).
Two Colt semi autos in .45 (11,25mm)
A Ruger 2245 in .22/5,56mm
A Beretta M24 in .22
A Stevens bolt action rifle in .22 (was my fathers and older than myself)
A Mossberg 12ga shotgun
An Ithaca 12.ga shotgun (my daughter wants to buy this one)
A Mauser K98 8mm (made during the war)
A crossbow
and a Sten semi auto 9mm

I'm 56 years old and have only had to point a gun at someone once. During the decade of the 1980's I was a licensed firearms dealer. My entire family shoots and we have never had an injury nor caused injury to someone else due to a firearm. I've never had one stolen. I've taught Junior Rifle Marksmanship to adolescences (12 years to 18 years old) and taught Hunter Safety. I don't hunt or shoot with people who have been drinking or under the influence of whatever. I'm not a member of the NRA. And I won't be drawn into a pro/anti gun debate.

Do you have those guns mainly as a displayed collection or for other reasons?

[Stevil]

It's interesting to me, I've had this debate in a Catholic forum and virtually everyone opposed me. They all want guns, think it is a human right. But they are completely opposed to condoms.

I keep thinking of little 12 year old Jonny sitting at home in front of the TV playing with a pistol and Jane aged 13 also in front of TV playing with an unopened condom. Catholic dad comes home from work and sees them, immeadiatly flies into a fit of rage, races over to Jane grabs the condom and screams at her about how dangerous it is and tells her he wished she would be more responsible like Jonny.

Anyway, I thought it must be an American thing, and was wondering how people would tackle the subject on HAF. Seems a bit more balanced here, certainly no propaganda images of guys with guns lining up outside a school being happy to read a sign about no guns allowed.

[Gawen]

Do you have those guns mainly as a displayed collection or for other reasons?

I guess "other reasons" because none of my firearms are displayed.

[Gawen]

I keep thinking of little 12 year old Jonny sitting at home in front of the TV playing with a pistol...

Because Jonny's parents, sadly, are idiots.


Some other thoughts...
My daughter was 7 and my son was 5 when they went shooting with me the first time. Yeah, I can hear a collective gasp. It was drilled and drilled and drilled into their heads on firearm safety. Everything went off nicely and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

Now, my son (23 and doesn't own a firearm) pretty much doesn't care for shooting and when he does he likes to shoot skeet. My daughter (25 and wants a shotgun) loves to shoot and is very very good at it. Neither are afraid of firearms and both know precisely what happens when one doesn't follow firearms safety etiquette.

For me, shooting is a really great stress reliever. The mental drain when focusing really hard is considerable. And shooting is to see how straight/accurate I can shoot. When working up a load (gunspeak for making accurate ammo), I've been known to take a lunch and shoot at the range all day, taking a shot every ten minutes. No drinking or eating anything with sugars or caffeine. There's a science behind it, not just the gun and the bullet; it's that melding of man and machine. Consider the winter Olympic biathlon; where competitors ski and ski and ski and then have to shoot the rifles they carry. How they can do this is way beyond me. I have much admiration for this sport and the athletes.

In a way (arguably) shooting is like golf. I'm trying to hit (shoot) this ball (bullet) into a hole (make a hole in the center of a target) from yards away. How many times must I do this to hit the center? When I DO hit the center, I've just made a hole in one (pun intended).

[Tank]

Some other thoughts...
My daughter was 7 and my son was 5 when they went shooting with me the first time. Yeah, I can hear a collective gasp. It was drilled and drilled and drilled into their heads on firearm safety. Everything went off nicely and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

I think kids should be introduced to everything they will encounter in adult life as soon as they behave in an appropriate manner to what they are being taught. In the USA guns are a fact of life. Hiding kids from such things as if they did not exist would be inappropriate.

[Gawen]

Some other thoughts...
My daughter was 7 and my son was 5 when they went shooting with me the first time. Yeah, I can hear a collective gasp. It was drilled and drilled and drilled into their heads on firearm safety. Everything went off nicely and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

I think kids should be introduced to everything they will encounter in adult life as soon as they behave in an appropriate manner to what they are being taught. In the USA guns are a fact of life. Hiding kids from such things as if they did not exist would be inappropriate.

I agree for the most part. There are a lot of variables in this mix, though.

[Stevil]

I think kids should be introduced to everything they will encounter in adult life as soon as they behave in an appropriate manner to what they are being taught. In the USA guns are a fact of life. Hiding kids from such things as if they did not exist would be inappropriate.

Curiosity killed the cat.
If you want to have a gun in the house then you must introduce the kids to it, educate them and let them shoot it a few times. they need to respect it and know how dangerous it is.
When I got my firearms license as part of the requirements we had to look at some photos of what happens when people get shot.