If you don’t, no need to reply telling me you don’t. I live in the woods with some critters. I live pretty far from neighbors/police so having a gun gives me peace of mind. I also hunt and consider myself a gun hobbiest. I enjoy shooting targets, cleaning/organizing, reloading and earning food with guns.
The state requires me to. I keep them locked in a safe for most of the time.
I have guns for the same reason I have fishing rods and a bow. I enjoy it, and there’s some satisfaction in being able to hunt or fish for a meal yourself. I didn’t grow up getting to shoot much aside from a few rare afternoons out with a .22 when dad had time. While I fished a lot, didn’t really get into shooting or hunting until after college. I started small game hunting with friends who would go out. While I had a lot of catching up to do, since I hadn’t grown up hunting like they did, I eventually figured out how to clean game without making too much of a disaster of it. I enjoyed the independence of it, knowing more about the whole process and being able to do more for myself. Taught myself to tie flies, eventually started reloading my own ammo, then got further down the rabbit hole to casting bullets. For my leverguns with oversized bores (30-30 and 45-70), rolling my own ammo has been the best way for me to get decent accuracy. I have firearms because they’re useful tools, and it’s just darned fun to know that I cast the bullet that was loaded over the powder I measured, in the brass casing I trimmed and resized, and it hit the target waaay out there down range right where I wanted it to go.
Need: no I do not
Want: pew pew explosions :DD
Do not want: sometimes I have the longing for death, also I’d be anxious about it being stolen and used for un-cool things, also seems expensive, also passive discomfort around a killing tool
Trump, the second coming.
Guns make the police in my area more polite. That was thing I witnessed following the Ukraine revolution as well. Marshal law is more costly on an armed unwilling population.
I also hunt as part of our wild life management where I live.
Its also something that as a maker I love to tinker and build stuff for. Just one of those because you can kind of things
I recently moved and got rid of mine. However, I used to live in a really rough neighborhood. A lot of heavy drug use. Most folks were good people when sober, but when high, they don’t think logically, and bad mixes can cause aggression. Thankfully never had to shoot anyone, but police were called a few times with guns at the ready in case things escalated before police arrived. My mom still lives in that area, so I left her with a 38 special, a 20 guage shotgun, and a habit of calling the police the moment anything feels off in the neighborhood.
I carried a CCW for years and finally gave it up because it’s a huge hassle to always have to be aware of. It’s a presence that doesn’t give me comfort, it made me always aware of its presence and that’s not how I want to experience the world. I would go back to carrying if I move to a more rural area again with less chance of immediate response of emergency services or other people.
I am pro gun control, but if I was in the USA, I’d have a gun. No sense being caught without one when the bad guy appears with one.
You can be pro gun control and still own a gun.
I think we can all agree, people with felony convictions shouldn’t be allowed to own a gun for example.
Depends on the felony and there should be path to restore the right IMHO.
Mostly, I enjoy target shooting as a hobby. Hunting is big in my area as both deer and feral hogs need to be culled.
I also feel there’s a greater chance of widespread civil unrest than most people understand, and that folks in my area will likely have to defend themselves to some extent if it breaks out. For various reasons, the people who are most important to me aren’t likely to be prepared for that, so I figure I should be ready to some extent.
Florida
Fair
I didn’t ever want one until Trump threatened Canada and now I’m getting licenced. Just in case. That and winter survival training refresher. Hadn’t done any of that since Scouts long ago.
I’d still die but maybe I last 20 minutes longer.
I’ve been called the f word a few times since the election so I’m not going to become some homophobe’s victim
Based
I can’t upvote you enough!
“I can’t believe those DEI types will resort to political violence.”
*I wonder how many racists even know what DEI stands for
Delicious edible icecream
This. I’m not into violence, but the Republicans are getting scary and they have a lot of weapons. It’d be easier to reconcile my issues with violence if I had to shoot someone than it’d be to reconcile the issues I’d have if I wasn’t able to fight them trying to hurt me or my family.
Plus target shooting is fun.
Makes sense to me.
Good for you. Laws are nice, but sometimes firepower is the best option for securing your rights - especially if you live in a country where DEI is sneered at.
Im American. All the people who think the laws were never meant to apply to them already have more guns than I have friends. And when they die, their likely rotten kids will get them. I can either accept that I live in a country where only terrible people have guns(this includes the cops). Or I could do something about it and take my sefety into my own hands. Really simple choice at the end of the day.
Yeah thats a reasonable rationale.
Shooting clay pigeons on the farm is fun, and sometimes a pest needs taking care of.
Everyone I hook up with always asks if I have protection so I figure I might as well get some. 🤷♂️
Don’t forget that you’re supposed to use that protection during sex
Sex Pistols.
For when you’re gonna bang.
Keep them lubed!
Firearms for defense are for eliminating an imminent threat. Over a year ago now, I estimated that an imminent threat of some kind was not out of the question. I didn’t know exactly what then, but I could feel it in my bones. I live in a reasonably safe almost rural area; my estimation was based on the political climate. I am sad to say that I am only more certain now that I will need to eliminate an imminent threat at some point.
Although I didn’t know what an imminent threat would look like, I felt it was important to have a firearm then because if you wait until you need a gun, it’s way too late. I wanted to acquire, practice, make sure everything was working properly, practice, take classes, practice, get the right holster, practice, get comfortable, practice, stock up on ammo, and did I mention practice?
