Rather recently, I have discovered a hobby I think I can keep up for more than a few months. And it's been an excellent time for me to bond with my father, who got me into actually shooting for the first time.
I'm also curious as to what the gun fanatics out there own. Perhaps you could post a list or tell us a few, a wish, first gun you shot, bought, you know.
At the current time I don't have any firearms in my possession, however, in the past I have and I have my eye on some new ones. The last firearm I owned was a Ruger P95 and for the price it was pretty damn good. The polymer lower felt more plastic and cheap but it was solid and didn't crack or damage easily. I also had a cheap HiPoint compact 9mm - these are pieces of junk but you get what you pay for and they only run about $150 brand new. I drool over my friend's HK MK23 often. I have my sights on a Sig P250 9mm and a Remington 887 Nitro Mag Tactical but cash flow has not allowed these transactions to take place as of yet. I also fantasize about owning a Rock River Arms Pro-Series Government model AR-15, a Remington 700 SPS Tactical and a Winchester 1894 High Grade 30-30.
I need to get back into shooting again as I haven't done it in years and I'm sure I'm very rusty.
I had a Ruger 9 mm at one point when I was in my early 20s. My gf at the time was considering police work (she did k-9 training). Needless to say we had it locked in a case with the key somewhere else. Which was good. I tried to go for it in a fit of Lesbian cat fight. She thought my head would do good to get fresh air via the window pane. I decided she needed some air in her head via the bullet. We settled for some tussling on a pull out couch and some choking to settle the situation. It's really quite funny now when I look back on it.
I shouldn't have ownership of a firearm. I make rash decisions. I mean I've slapped a person simply because they asked me to. Who knows what other dumb stuff I would do with a gun. :-\
Quote from: Medusa on August 03, 2011, 08:36:21 AM
I mean I've slapped a person simply because they asked me to. Who knows what other dumb stuff I would do with a gun. :-\
I think most people can tell the difference between a slap and a gun shot! And if you couldn't then your not going to be the sort of person who is going to care about the difference anyway.
Quote from: Tank on August 03, 2011, 08:40:59 AM
Quote from: Medusa on August 03, 2011, 08:36:21 AM
I mean I've slapped a person simply because they asked me to. Who knows what other dumb stuff I would do with a gun. :-\
I think most people can tell the difference between a slap and a gun shot! And if you couldn't then your not going to be the sort of person who is going to care about the difference anyway.
True. I'm Bi Polar. At my worst I was cycling every 20 minutes a different emotion. And I could go from it would be good to pile drive the semi truck in front of me to it would be a good idea if I go pray. Some poeple should not have guns. That would be me. But I do think they are a great thing for others!
Quote from: Medusa on August 03, 2011, 08:43:30 AM
Quote from: Tank on August 03, 2011, 08:40:59 AM
Quote from: Medusa on August 03, 2011, 08:36:21 AM
I mean I've slapped a person simply because they asked me to. Who knows what other dumb stuff I would do with a gun. :-\
I think most people can tell the difference between a slap and a gun shot! And if you couldn't then your not going to be the sort of person who is going to care about the difference anyway.
True. I'm Bi Polar. At my worst I was cycling every 20 minutes a different emotion. And I could go from it would be good to pile drive the semi truck in front of me to it would be a good idea if I go pray. Some poeple should not have guns. That would be me. But I do think they are a great thing for others!
I agree that some people should not have guns. There were periods during 2009 when if I had had access to a gun I may well not be here now.
Quote from: Medusa on August 03, 2011, 08:43:30 AM
Quote from: Tank on August 03, 2011, 08:40:59 AM
Quote from: Medusa on August 03, 2011, 08:36:21 AM
I mean I've slapped a person simply because they asked me to. Who knows what other dumb stuff I would do with a gun. :-\
I think most people can tell the difference between a slap and a gun shot! And if you couldn't then your not going to be the sort of person who is going to care about the difference anyway.
ue. I'm Bi Polar. At my worst I was cycling every 20 minutes a different emotion. And I could go from it would be good to pile drive the semi truck in front of me to it would be a good idea if I go pray. Some poeple should not have guns. That would be me. But I do think they are a great thing for others!
I am not bipolar but think you have a good point
Guns and religion can be dangerous for self and others when some one has a severe mental illness
And how do we know about either?
I like potato guns!
I used to have an air gun (not lethal, but can blind a person) when I was young.
My Father bought me a Ruger 10/22 when I was about thirteen. My Mom didn't approve and told him to return it, but Dad put his foot down. I got to keep the gun and Dad got to sleep on the couch.
My Father bought me a Ruger 10/22 when I was about thirteen. My Mom didn't approve and told him to return it, but Dad put his foot down. I got to keep the gun and Dad got to sleep on the couch.
I have a couple of airguns and I made sure all my kids had a go with them so they at least had a feeling for what the real thing is capable of. My son joined the air cadets and learned to shoot proprerly there, he got his marksmans badge.
Thing is a gun is more likly to kill its owner than anybody else.
Quote from: Tank on August 04, 2011, 07:52:34 AM
I have a couple of airguns and I made sure all my kids had a go with them so they at least had a feeling for what the real thing is capable of. My son joined the air cadets and learned to shoot proprerly there, he got his marksmans badge.
Thing is a gun is more likly to kill its owner than anybody else.
That's why I liked having my german shepard and rotti instead. In my neighborhood people are more scared of the dogs then the guns.
This is a riddle right? ???
Maybe you thought you were in the gun thread? ??? ???
:-\
Quote from: Medusa on August 04, 2011, 08:29:30 AM
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 :D
Quote from: Medusa on August 04, 2011, 08:28:03 AM
Quote from: Tank on August 04, 2011, 07:52:34 AM
I have a couple of airguns and I made sure all my kids had a go with them so they at least had a feeling for what the real thing is capable of. My son joined the air cadets and learned to shoot proprerly there, he got his marksmans badge.
Thing is a gun is more likly to kill its owner than anybody else.
That's why I liked having my german shepard and rotti instead. In my neighborhood people are more scared of the dogs then the guns.
Well dogs can't be reasoned with, they are unpredictable and can rip your nuts off. Not the sort of combination any normal man would go near! Similar to some women with PMT (boy am I going to get kicked for that!) ;D
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.
Quote from: Tank on August 04, 2011, 08:32:33 AM
Quote from: Medusa on August 04, 2011, 08:29:30 AM
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 :D
I merged it into the gun thread.
Quote from: Stevil on August 04, 2011, 09:44:27 AM
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.
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.
Quote from: Jephthah on August 05, 2011, 04:57:13 AM
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.
" 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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Gawen on August 06, 2011, 02:44:30 AM
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?
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.
Quote from: Medusa
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.
Quote from: Stevil
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).
Quote from: Gawen on August 06, 2011, 01:39:30 PM
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.
Quote from: Tank on August 06, 2011, 01:47:54 PM
Quote from: Gawen on August 06, 2011, 01:39:30 PM
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.
Quote from: Tank on August 06, 2011, 01:47:54 PM
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.
Quote from: Tank on August 06, 2011, 01:47:54 PM
In the USA guns are a fact of life.
Guns are not a fact of life in the US...the average person can go their whole life without needing to touch one and most will never have one pointed at them.
Even for home defense the average person is better off remembering 911 than trying to pretend they are a hero. An exception may exist for people who live in the ghetto or rural areas where police response times are lengthy. Where I live they respond in less than 5 minutes for non-emergencies like strange sounds in the alley....I could hide for at least that long if someone was in my house.
If I felt the need to protect myself I'd probably have better luck with a well trained large dog than a gun; and the dog couldn't be turned against me.
Quote from: Whitney on August 06, 2011, 08:43:46 PM
Quote from: Tank on August 06, 2011, 01:47:54 PM
In the USA guns are a fact of life.
Guns are not a fact of life in the US...the average person can go their whole life without needing to touch one and most will never have one pointed at them.
It is possible, Whitney, that Tank meant just what he said, and I'd have to agree with him. A person in the US may never ever touch a gun, let alone be on the muzzle side of it, but guns, like religion are a fact of life for every US citizen, even those prohibited them. Every constitutional point or Bill of Rights is a fact of life for US citizens whether they don't know what either of the papers say or come into some sort of contact with the papers points.
It could depend upon your perspective. Living in Los Angeles, guns is not only a part of our lives..it's a part of our children's lives as well. :(
I have owned quite a few firearms over the years, and although I have never pointed one at another human, they did give a sense of security. My family in general is heavily into firearms. Do I believe the 2nd amendment was written to be read as-is? Yes. Do I believe the founding fathers would have ever imagined firearms would ever cause the problems they have caused in this country? No. If they could see the country the way it is now, would they have still written the 2nd amendment the way they did? Never.
There is an irresponsible view toward firearms in this country. I would love to see more stringent gun laws to keep idiots from having access to them. It should be difficult to get a firearm, and firearm crime penalties should be very steep. Just my .02