As I've been reading the thread about Trayvon Martin's murder, I have been reflecting a lot on gun ownership in the US.

I've never owned a gun. While I did shoot with my dad's BB gun a few times as a child, I have only touched a "real" gun once in my life. Recently, I have considered purchasing one, but only because I have been watching too many episodes of The Walking Dead. My dad wants me to have one, but I refuse. I won't buy one, even for the coming Zombie apocalypse. I'm better off with a huge can of pepper-spray and a baseball bat for self-defense. I don't hunt.

I don't like guns. I don't support the 2nd amendment as it currently stands. But ....

I know that some of our members are gun owners and collectors. I know that some members share my beliefs on gun ownership.

So, if you own a firearm, why?

If you don't own a firearm, why?

I learned to shoot a rifle when I was 8 yrs old. I would shoot tin cans off fence posts for target practice. I used to hunt deer and other critters with my father. But we always ate what we killed. We were self-sufficient locavores like Doomsday Preppers. We were "old -time pioneer" farmers.

Once I moved away from the farm, I never used a firearm again. There was no need for it.

Hubby and I have a few firearms. Growing up, he lived on a ranch and his family hunted big game and raised cattle, chickens, and pigs for their meat. He bow hunts these days; we just got back some delicious deer sausage, deer churizo, and deer teriyaki sticks from the buck he snagged last year.

I have a Smith and Wesson .357 revolver that holds six shots. I use the gun for shooting at pop cans and glass bottles at the range in the desert (which is an excellent method of stress relief for me ).

Hubby has a rifle that he used for hunting when he was a gun hunter and an old shotgun that he inherited from his grandfather. I'm not exactly sure what make and model these are. He also has a Glock 9mm handgun that he takes in case of a bad shot when bow hunting bears and moose (not that the 9mm would kill either of those, but it would scare them off).

I am a total city girl; never had guns growing up. When I first started hanging around my hubby, I was VERY nervous about being around guns because I had no education about them. I took a gun safety class that used to be offered by our local Sheriff's Dept, which was definitely a good idea for me.

I believe in the second amendment, as does hubby, and we are responsible gun owners. None of our guns are used for "home protection" because that's silly, and with small kids around, is just asking for trouble. All of our guns are kept unloaded with trigger locks; in a locked gun safe. The ammunition is kept separate from our guns, in the small safe where we keep our important documents and keepsakes. We never keep much ammunition around.

I don't think that regulating everything to death is the key to solving all of our problems. Just like we see when cities or states ban abortion clinics, women still continue to have abortions, usually not in a safe manner. People will still have guns, period. Marijuana is illegal (in most states) and yet people still find ways to get it. Not to make light of this horrible tragedy, but if George Zimmerman really wanted to kill all of the scary black kids in the neighborhood, he could have ran them over with his car, or killed them in another manner.

There isn't an easy answer to this problem, which is why we haven't solved it yet as a society. Maybe we should put more resources and work into treating nutcases like this douchebag Zimmerman.

I don't have any firearms. Growing up, my Grandfather did a lot of hunting to feed himself and his family, so I did learn how to use a rifle and handgun. I also can't hit the broadside of a barn at 5 paces.

Main reason I don't keep a firearm is that I am suicidal. Not actively, but i know the potential is there if I slip into the abyss again. Better to not have the temptation there.

Nope. Never had one myself.

Did the "hunter safety course" at about 14, as my dad went through a bird-hunting phase. Shot a bird once and felt like a complete shithead. Guns in the house all the time when I was growing up. (A whole bunch of which ended up on the streets after the house was burgled).

I don't have one because:

- Haven't needed it. So far so good.
- Don't hunt. (When I take my trip to Alaska one of these years, I'll reconsider at that time: protection from grizzlies).
- Don't want to shoot anyone.

That's about it. It's been a winning strategy almost fifty years now.

My father was a hunter and hunted deer every year of his life. When he passed away I inherited his shotgun. The only thing we’ve ever used the shotgun for is shooting skeet off the hill. I also have a .22 semi automatic handgun. I got the handgun because it’s small, and a lot easier to shoot than a shotgun. We live in the middle of BFE and once I found a black snake in the chicken run that was so big it was eating a full grown chicken. Having a gun has the potential to come in handy here.

I also like having the handgun for security. Like I said, we’re out in BFE and sometimes I’m here alone. I have had some pretty creepy people show up over here too when I was home alone and while I seriously doubt that I could ever actually shoot anyone with it, if I had too I could certainly scare someone away with it.

I kinda like to cut the crowd down to those that carry a loaded weapon (what is the use of carrying an empty one?), just have them at home, and those that will not have no use at all for them except to melt them all down and make something productive.

I have had access to weapons since I stated shooing .22s and .32 Special Colt my Great grandfather used when he was a leader of one of the county sheriff's posses. I went out with dad hunting 30.06 rifle, 12 ga for waterfoul etc. I was never a hunter, but we ate every piece of meat that man hunted or fished (dad was a killer fisherman).

After I turned 18, I joined the Army and spent 20 years with my name on a light duty machine gun (assault rifle) M16-A1 (doesn't have 3 shot burst lever only semi and full auto (30 bullets in about 2 seconds). Shot many other Army weapons, M-60 Light Machine Gun (at the time) M2HB (Ma Deuce Browning .50 cal MG used on tanks on vehicles), LAW, MAW, TOW, Mortar (also drove a Mortar and Pestle in the Drugstore), etc. I am very comfortable around weapons and around properly trained people who know how to treat weapons (as always loaded no matter what)...It can be quite a testosterone experience for a guy, and the gal soldiers really got a kick out of doing something so totally out of their experience like shooting a live anti tank rocket at an old tank and being able to watch the explosion and parts flying. My 2nd Ms SueDB is was a warrant officer helicopter pilot in the Panama invasion who is only one of two women ever awarded the Air Medal for daring do while under fire. UH-60 pilot - dropped off our folks in an area where there weren't supposed to be bad guys. The aircraft came under fire and the two women piloting the aircraft completed their mission regardless of the other guy firing at them....

Privately, I owned 2 .22 cal carbine/rifles and used those to teach my 3 children how to safely use a weapon, hit what you are shooting at, and having the guts to do what may be necessary (but you pray she will never need to cross that bridge). 1 dau, 2 sons when my daughter left, she knew all about guns, etc and had never touched one since. She works trying to raise money for charities in her town. She made a decision that her children won't be trained on guns or given realistic looks gun toys. We respect that. My 1st Son out - he got one of the .22s as part of my legacy to him. Now my second is getting ready to go. My other .22 will be going out shortly. I do have a old Mauser K98 rechambered to 30.06 left that was badly sportized. I keep it around as I live in the country and the power fails on occasion and a minimum security prison is about 5 miles away up in the woods.

Now my daughter worked for 5 years at a skeet range running the shop and tending the traps while in high school and so did #1 son. Daughter doesn't believe in them. Son went into the Air Force, so he had his M-16 A2 to play with. So you have in my family the person who knows everything about them especially shotguns and doesn't want anything to do with them. Then the folks like me and my sons that have a weapon at home with a safety lock on them. It sleeps in the CENSORED and is only brought out to shoot some cans/targets every couple of years.

Now, personal experience carrying a weapon. When I turned 21 I got a Concealed Weapons Permit CWP from the county sheriff and carried a .44 Mag in a panel behind the driver's seat and a Colt M1911 .45 ACP pistol for carry on me. I only had thoughts of using it once. There is a rule out here - if you have a gun you mean business. You don't pull out a gun and not use it. If you pull a gun use it, or walk away. It took me about 3 months of carrying that thing around and did some thinking. If I pulled it, I probably would have to use it. If I used it, I probably will kill someone (a .45 isn't pretty like the movies). I really don't feel like killing anyone. I have always been able to talk/reason etc myself out of situations successfully and decided I didn't want the baggage that killing someone carries. So, I sold both pistols and haven't had a use for one since.
A good friend of mine did pull his 9MM out to keep someone from stealing his vehicle and ended up in Oklahoma with a charge of attempted murder as the kids was clearly unarmed. My friend just shot him in the leg, but now had over 60 grand in legal - got the charges whittled down (discharging a firearm within the city limits etc). The judge gave him probation as the judge did "understand" but had to enforce the law. If he is a good boy and has NO other issues in ANY other state, his record will be cleared of the felony. He sold is guns.

I have mixed feelings about CC as the quality of training and nerve of the person behind the trigger is totally unknown making them highly dangerous. Would I pack a pistol again? No...
One of the guys when Gabby G was shot in Az was armed, but he made no difference and could have been tagged as the perp or accomplice with the ensuing leaded attention from the Polic--see gun? shoot first ask questions later - too many RWNJs Sov Cits and crap running amok.

Personally the yellow flag with the coiled snake just means Yellow - the color they are, and the pile of shit neatly coiled on the rag symbolizing well, shit. I wouldn't even insult the word idea to associate it with the birfers/RWNJs.

You will always find the "armed citizen" column in the NRA Magazine describing how weapons have kept people safe, but don't mention the 3 year old who got mommy's boyfriends gun from under the seat while they were in 7-11 and kill himself. The school girl who was shot by mommy and boyfriend leaving guns around. He took it to school. Or the brothers where one shot the other. Think about having to live with that accident the rest of your life because someone was being STUPID and you were just in the wrong place at the right time. ...

My mother is very anti-gun. Wouldn't even let us have toy guns. (So we built them out of other toys instead.) Her uncle Joe lived nearby and took it upon himself to teach all of us basic firearm safety.

I shot a .22 in the boy scouts. For a brief time before getting married I owned an Enfield rifle. Shot targets with it some, but not too often, mostly because it's not the cheapest weapon on the planet to shoot. Shortly before we had our daughter I sold the weapon and haven't owned one since. I've got nothing against guns, but I don't hunt and don't care that much about target shooting, so I don't see a need to take the risks inherent in keeping one in a house with children.

We do live on a military base, and many of our neighbors own firearms, so my children have taken firearms safety courses.

Firearms on a military base???? Say it isn't so Mike!

Heck some of those neighbors have their own complete Official Arms Room.

3 in the house, many in my history. Raised in a law enforcement family so a sidearm was perfectly normal to us. We also attended the National Police Pistol matches held here for many years since my dad was always involved in them through the MHP. Handled a bunch of different weapons in AF basic training, 3 different police academies and years of hunting in my youth. My kids are all familiar with weapons and aren't scared of them, although none of them have any interest in owning or using one. We own a shotgun that was given to us to "hold" several years ago by an ex-boyfriend of one of the daughters. A very old .22 rifle from my husband's granfather and a beautiful Ruger that was a gift to me from a friend who moved to the Great Frigid North, which necessitated a drive through Illinois. He was pretty concerned about having the gun in the car, and didn't really have a use for it, so it came to live at my house.

Personally, I have an affinity for plinking around but as far as I know, my husband has never pulld the trigger on any type of weapon in his life. I was taught how to shoot by the guy who held the National pistol title for many years, and we got to shoot pretty much any time we wanted at the MHP range. Skeet shooting too, but I always liked the handguns better. I hung on to very little of my police memorabilia other than a couple of patches and my badge, but I do have all of my marksmen rank bars. All of them the highest rank, thankyewverymuch.

"Never display a weapon unless you intend to fire it. Never fire a weapon unless you intend to hit your target. Never aim at a target unless you intend to kill it." Pretty good advice from my dad. If you display it, be prepared for someone to die.

Post removed.

I'm not gonna play in this thread anymore.

That’s the same advice I was given by my friend and police officer that taught me how to shoot. But I disagree with it. If you are trying to stop an attack, taking out a kneecap as opposed to a life works fine for me and I can run faster with two knees than someone else can with only one.

Not to be argumentative, but in the heat of the moment, your chances of hitting anything other than center body mass (except by sheer accident) are pretty much less than zero.

I will have to agree. ..... You don't shoot to wound. This other person is not here to give you kisses. We are considering the other person is armed with a weapon. Shooting him/her in the leg does nothing about the 15 rounds of 9MM coming your way from the "compassionately" wounded perp. This person is trying to kill you. Why give them second, third, fifteenth chances. Additionally, alcohol and other drugs can overstimulate a person (METH PCP etc) and can cause wound analgesia. They don't feel it until you have emptied your magazine. The .45 and .40 are popular as both especially the .45 will knock down what you shoot at - center mass. Save the fancy stuff for the TV shoot offs.

The other thing is with my medical training: I would be somewhat obligated after shooting someone, to try to patch them back up. That is one of the Medical folks dilemma. You are armed and can fire defending the facility or your patient, but if you wound the other guy. He will be on your fix-em list. Personally, I don't want to get near anyone I shot. They may still be alive and wanting to kill me.

My dad taught me to shoot when I was 10 or so, at a range at the Army base where he was stationed.

I believe in the 2nd Amendment, but not like the NRA fanatics do.

Whether or not I own guns is not something I advertise.

I don't own a pistol or a hunting weapon, figuring out that the first danger they would pose would be to me. I do have a whole-house alarm system. Unfortunately, it does not have motion detectors. Cats will not stay still when told, and their activities often involve fairly lofty perches.

A Colt 9mm with the clip hidden in a different location. It was an unsolicited birthday gift from a gun dealer cousin ~25 years ago. It hasn't seen action beyond occasional target practice and regular cleanings. I don't have nor want a carry license; it's too easy for confrontations to spiral tragically out of control.

When I had my relapse and had to go to the hospital twice, I was always asked if I had access to weapons. There is no second amendment here, though there are a lot of gun owners. I don't believe that I should have easy access to weapons. Not because I think I would hurt someone, even myself. But if I have easy access to weapons, then someone with my illness who is more inclined to harm themselves or others does too.

I believe that responsible firearm owners should be (as much as possible) left alone by the government (although to qualify that statement I supported the principle though not the implementation of the soon to be defunct long-gun registry in Canada). I also believe that rural areas are a far different environment for firearms than cities. I don't understand what certain Americans mean by "Second Amendment solutions" and I remain unsure that the people who scream them really even do. I also believe that a person who calls 911 and ignores their instruction to stay in the vehicle (and instead brings a weapon into a confrontation that results in a tragedy) is someone who is an extremely irresponsible firearms owner who at least morally (if not constitutionally) has forfeited the right to bear arms.

But, as I said, I do believe that plenty of people have legitimate reasons to have guns (particularly in rural areas but yes, even in urban areas) and are responsible in their care, storage and use. Canada though has much more stringent gun control than the United States. You can't own assault weapons period here and handguns are registered. We're having a national debate over whether a restaurant owner who through spices at a bugler should be prosecuted for assault. Though my instinct leans to fearing we may be too much in the opposite direction (I only have media reports of the case and the Prime Minister's reaction to go with not the crown's case), I prefer it as a national conversation about self-defense.

The second amendment is one very profound way that culturally the United States and Canada are vastly different. Gun regulation is for the most part accepted here, it is only a conversation about how much. A gun has very little cultural significance as a symbol of legitimate rebellion against tyranny and a method of defending rights, but then historically Canada had a very different path to nationhood than the United States.

I had a friend visit me from Antwerp years ago. My Dad took him hunting. My friend was horrified. Belgium had a ban on guns except air rifles.

I was too much of a knee-jerk liberal most of my life to be a gun owner. In my lifetime, my mother's best friend, husband and baby daughter were kidnapped in the middle of the night by escaped killers from Oregon who picked up a gun somehwhere along the way and shot the husband in the leg at one point; my brother's girlfriend's older sister was shot and killed by her boyfriend after a breakup and one of my mommy friends was shot by her estranged husband, with the kids playing in another room. Yet I don't feel threatened enough by my world to even consider owning a gun myself.

I think they are too easy a solution for whatever the problem at hand.

As Mikedunford said upthread, forbidding gun toys just makes the imagination a little better. Little boys will find a "gun" or sword in a wooden fpoon, a ftick, anything. I've never forbidden but boy, do I talk talk talk about safety. My Sprout was shot point blank in the throat with a BB gun once, so even though he has one, he only uses it when his friend whose father is a cop comes over and he is a nut for the rules.

We have a black powder pistol and a .22 rifle in the gun safe (hubby's toys). We go skeet shooting every spring at the Prado Olympic pistol range and I've shot a Bulldog .44 that almost ripped my thumb off.

It's amazing how powerful one feels with a sidearm in hand. Seriously, it's spooky powerful and it makes me not trust assholes who demand to carry one wherever they go.

My Father owned a rifle when I was young. I used to take it out at night and use the telescopic scope to look at the stars. That is the only interest I've ever had in Guns. Never even fired one.

Even BB guns are illegal here, due to really real terrorists running around. Most of our police force in unarmed. Frankly most of the time guns are not needed for law enforcement. Only a few policemen are armed, and if there is a bank robbery the call goes out and those guys rush to the scene of the crime. The advantage is that the robbers cannot get away from the special branch converging from all directions.

Yes we do have violent crime here, but the rate of armed robberies is extreamly low.

having a rifle on a farm is useful for a whole host of reasons. Guns in nearly every other situation outside of a shooting range is just asking for trouble. A friend of mine loves his gun but it never leaves the gun range.

Guns are for hurting and killing living things. They have no other purpose, and they should be respected for that. If you as a society are willing to have everyone have a gun then you as a society have to take the responsibility for the consequences of that. You have to spend money to train everyone to use and respect guns. You have to basicly mandate that the media does not make the populace more fearful, as a fearful populace will reach for the gun more. You have to tell people flat out that owning a gun does not make you more or less of a man. You have to accept that criminals will have guns and all that entails. The idea that "Oh criminals will be able to get guns anyway" is just not borne out in practice. Professional criminals will always have guns, yes, but the non professional guys won't.

Once, many moons ago, I was visiting a friend who is an avid gun nut. We were sitting in his living room and his ~10 year old son was seated in a chair holding one of his dad's handguns. He was casually fiddling with it with the barrel aimed directly at me. I told him not to point the gun at me. His reply? "It's not loaded." Wrong answer! Rule #1: Always treat a gun as if it is loaded even if you know it is not. Rule #2: Never point a gun in someone's direction unless you intend to shoot them. Many "accidental" gunshot wounds and deaths can be avoided by just following those two rules.

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Of course they're easy to get! They are a legal product to sell, buy and own in the United States. They're not just legal. Our Constitution specifically protects the individual's right to gun ownership. The Supreme Court upheld the individual right in DC v Heller just 3 years ago. If you don't like guns, don't own one. If you're afraid to handle a gun, don't. If you don't think the existing gun laws are stringent enough, work with your legislators to change the laws.

I don't have a comment on my personal gun ownership, but I am in favor of responsible gun ownership. I've said it before here. I think everyone should know how to use a rifle or shotgun, and be trained in gun safety, whether you own one or not. I think many gun deaths in this country are because of lack of training in gun safety. Lots of children's gun deaths would be avoided if all children knew the basic rule: "If you see a gun, Don't Touch. Tell a grown up." Guns aren't bad. Guns in the wrong hands are bad.

Edit: Alright, "JimBot's" rules are even more basic. Treat every gun like it's loaded and don't point one at anyone unless you're planning to kill them.

You can make the argument that guns don't kill people, people kill people whether they have a gun, a knife, and aluminum baseball bat. Cars don't kill people, but drivers controlling those cars do.

It isn't the gun, it is the person.

You can get into a whole argument here in the US about weapon registration. I would rather see each weapon serial numbered, test fired with the bullet/barrel markings recorded, and then sold to registered owners. This in no way restricts anyone's gun ownership and will from this point forward go a long way to tracing where a gun has been. Guns are serious things that I feel the people of the US have a right to ensure that any bullet recovered at a crime scene can be matched to a specific gun, sold to a specific person. It is a start for criminal investigators to follow.

You can follow the money or the guns to know which way the blow (cocaine) flows.