Never owned a gun, never will.

[LuckyCharms]

I only shot a gun once in my life, and that was shooting at some bottles with a shotgun for 15 minutes. Didn't see the attraction.

I've been within 25 yards of a gunfight with pistols between two guys in an alley. That event did not make we want to purchase a gun.

As a male when I was younger, I was on the verge of being sexually assaulted by a big guy who was older than me as I was walking under an underpass by some railroad tracks. I kicked him in the nuts, he released his grip on me and dropped to his knees. I punched him in the face, and ran. That event did not make me want to buy a gun.

Also when I was much younger, another older guy essentially kidnapped me and tried to shove me into a car trunk. I screamed and raised my feet as he tried for a few minutes to slam the trunk hood down. He finally gave up and ran. That event did not make me want to buy a gun.

I've been verbally assaulted by drunks itching for a fight. I talked them down. Those events did not make me want to buy a gun.

I was small when I was younger. Now I am big and muscular. But I am 59 years old and arthritic. I'm sure that I have very limited self-defense skills. I would most likely get my clock cleaned in a fight. These facts do not make me want to buy a gun.

I do not live in the safest of towns. For a population of 100,000 or so, there is a lot of gang and drug activity, and a disproportionate amount of violent crimes. This does not make me want to buy a gun.

I've gone 59 years without one. I spend zero time worrying about the fact that I don't have one. The way I look at it, it I have to resort to buying one, which is against my nature, then I need to make some changes in my life to eliminate the need for one.

Your mileage may vary.

[canfeild123]

1. You can always

talk a threat down and should never need a use for a gun. If I need a gun I'm calling the police for help.

You are exactly right. If you EVER need a gun your life choices need re examined.

[LuckyCharms]

2. It's kind of strange when I look back on my life...

I've been through some hairy shit, but to be honest, I am scared to death of guns. I have no qualms about saying that...they scare the hell out of me.

[Dave Starsky]

8. Me too.

I have a gun, but to me it feels like having custody of The One Ring.

[LuckyCharms]

9. Have you ever seen the video of that cop...

who is giving a demonstration of guns to a classroom of children?

I'm going from memory here, but he actually manages to shoot himself in the leg I think in front of all of these kids while he is talking about gun safety.

That is what would happen to me.

[Dave Starsky]

16. Was the cop's name Bernard P. Fife?

[LuckyCharms]

17. LOL...yes close to this. I found the video...

Looks like it was a classroom of adults instead of kids.

[Dave Starsky]

20. That is simultaneously terrifying and hilarious.

He's lucky he didn't kill somebody.

My favorite YouTube comment: "He saw a black guy was holding a gun, and he panicked."

[Hassin Bin Sober]

43. This one cracks me up every time

I think this guy is some big deal in the shooting community (for lack of a better phrase).

This was at the range where my freeper gun nut sister in law shoots.

[LuckyCharms]

52. LOL...I try not to laugh, but I can't help it.

[Egnever]

51. OMG!

that is freaking priceless. Right after he says he is the only one qualified to handle the gun.

Pretty solid statement that even when trained guns are fucking dangerous.

[LuckyCharms]

3. PS, welcome to DU, canfeild123

[Fla Dem]

39. I think if you grew up in rural America, on a farm or in the wilderness I can see the need.

Pistols and long guns should be all there is a need for. There is hunting and varmint killing. If you're out on the range and confronted by a rattle snake, I guess you need a gun to protect yourself. Many people do subsist on venison. I don't see the need myself, but I do recognize the culture.

[hunter]

61. Rattlesnakes? I've had plenty of encounters with those. Nothing to get the guns out for.

If rattlesnakes are far from the house and animal pens we leave them alone. Shooting any rattlesnake you see isn't likely to reduce the population. They are generally shy creatures and useful because they eat rodent pests. I was careless once and got bit by one, fortunately its fangs didn't penetrate my boot.

Rabid wildlife is something to worry about, and the ground squirrels around my parent's old farm, and my brother's, can be reservoirs for the plague. It's maybe more gruesome than shooting them, but most farmers simply poison ground squirrels. We never did, and my brother doesn't, because we've always worried about our dogs. All our dogs are from the animal shelters and there are always a few idiots among them who might mess with a bait station. (My brother once had a dog who tried to eat the mice off one of those sticky traps... that was a mess.)

Coyotes, bears, cougars, and wild pigs generally mind their own business. People can be a lot more dangerous than wild animals but I don't feel any need to arm myself against them either.

[trixie2]

67. I grew up in a family of hunter who ate the meat

We were taught gun safety young and often. None of the guns were assembled in off season and the ammo was locked up separately. The guns were either kept in a gun locker at a gun range or during hunting season, disassembled locked behind a false wall somewhere that only my parents knew of.

My brother continued to hunt and would donate the meat to a food pantry. He and his wife belonged to a skeet shooting club and their guns were kept at the club locked up. As his kids grew they wanted him to stop hunting and he did. He no longer owns any guns. I have shot skeet as a youth but had all the safety equipment, glasses, vest, hat, ear protection.., we shot at the range where they had a very safe setup. I haven't shot a gun in 30 years and have never owned a gun except for a BB gun.

No one owns guns except, I guess, the soldiers in the family. The soldiers never have their guns outside of the base.

My dad would bring a gun when we would camp in the UP for bears are prevalent.

The people that scare me are those that keep a loaded gun in the house for "protection". We made sure that our kids never went to a house with guns.

[Wwcd]

4. I feel the same as you do. Never owned one, never wanted one,

never felt I'd be any safer with one or ever really thought about guns at all.

Its only purpose is to kill something.
I guess if I lived in the wilderness I may need a gun.
But that's it.

[LuckyCharms]

5. I was just pondering that...

I would probably own one if I lived far out in the country where I had to worry about wild animals, or where the police could not arrive in a reasonable amount of time. I can't think of too many other compelling reasons to own one, in my case anyway.

[Aristus]

6. In my opinion, "I'm a responsible, law-abiding gun-owner, but..."

is essentially no different than "I'm not racist, but..."

It's a form of self-delusion among people who don't want to think of themselves as part of the problem.

Don't own a gun. Never have; never will.

[LuckyCharms]

7. I tend to agree.

"Self-delusion" is a good term here.

You know, I think that a lot of these people do not realize how difficult physical conflict actually is. Many people that are professionally trained in self-defense or the use of firearms are taking their chances in conflict, let alone the average Joe/Jane who somehow think that a gun will automatically get them out of a bad situation.

As the people who are truly educated in martial arts/self-defense say...the only solution to a physical conflict is not to have one. do what you have to do to avoid it, even if that means running away.

I'll tell you what else scares me besides guns...any type of bladed weapon. If I was ever in that type of situation, my only choice would be to RUN! Same with a gun...I would run, and I'm not ashamed to say it lol.

[Aristus]

10. I think it was either the same day or the same week as Sandy Hook.

Some guy in China went on a rampage and attacked 31 people with a knife. Body count: Zero.

You have to get up close and personal with a knife, and his intended victims kept running away. So when I hear NRA types using idiocy as a form of equivalence ("Why don't we just ban knives, then?), I just do this:

[LuckyCharms]

11. Yep...another one that I've been seeing a lot of lately...

"What's to stop someone from driving a car into some people? We don't make cars illegal, do we"?

[loyalsister]

71. To that I say

The car and driver are each licensed.
They have to be renewed, safety inspections are required, the use of a car is subject to regulations which include a possibility of criminal prosecution.

[Marengo]

33. Yang Qingpei killed 19 on September 29, 2016 in his home village with a knife. On 18 September...

2015, as many as 50 mostly Han coal miners killed by multiple attackers armed with knives in Xinjiang. I have many more examples, so let’s not pretend it doesn’t happen.

[Arkansas Granny]

12. Like you, I've never owned a gun and never desired to own a gun.

I am a 71 year old woman who lives alone. I have never felt a need for a gun or been in a situation that would have been made better by having a gun.

I have no problem with responsible gun owners, I just don't want to be one.

[Iggo]

13. Love the last sentence.

I'm kinda like you. Fifty-six and never had the desire or the need.

[LuckyCharms]

15. .

[BigmanPigman]

38. Me too, but I am 55.

No one in my family, 3 generations, never did. I think a lot has to do with how you were raised.

[ananda]

14. Same here.

There is only one thing a gun is designed to do: kill.

Period.

I want to live in a gun-free area.

[LuckyCharms]

18. .

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. More than half the people who don't own a gun now could see themselves doing so in the future.

[LuckyCharms]

21. Do you have a link for that?

I'm not doubting you, but I would be interested in reading about that. Thanks.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Yes.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/

It's a stat that's interesting to me and I think helps explain why people who want change when it comes to regulating guns sometimes feel outnumbered, even though gun owners are a minority. People who don't own guns but see themselves as possibly owning one someday also want to keep their options open.

[LuckyCharms]

23. OK thanks. I'll look at it, but that does not change my opinion

that many people view guns as a cure all for self protection. I have no use for thoughts like that. The best protective device is the mind. But as I said in my OP, your mileage may vary.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

24. Oh, I wasn't trying to change your opinion.

For some, guns can be a valuable part of self-protection. For others, they're not. Some people might consider them someday. Mileage absolutely varies; everyone's experience is important but not the absolute.

[LuckyCharms]

26. Do you know many people who have fired a gun at someone in self-defense...

and killed or injured them? Or otherwise stopped the offending activity with a gun?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

29. A couple who have done the latter.

[LuckyCharms]

30. Did they have a gun pointed at them when this happened?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

34. One, no; don't know about the others.

[hunter]

35. "a valuable part of self-protection..."

That's delusional.

Even people who are supposedly trained to use a gun in "self defense" fuck up more often than not.

Once the guns come out everything is FUBAR.

[tavernier]

25. Nor I.

I’m was a home health nurse and had to walk into some of the worst neighborhoods in Miami. When approached, I just stated who I was and what person I was going to visit... and usually at that point I was escorted to the door.

[melm00se]

27. That is your choice (and I respect it)

but not the choice of ~61 million of your fellow Americans

[LuckyCharms]

28. How many people do you know that have used a gun for self-defense?

[safeinOhio]

36. Lived out in the country and used one to

defend against a dog attack. Cant talk to a dog

[LuckyCharms]

37. Agree.

I think i would own one if I lived in a very rural area.

[safeinOhio]

66. If you are in by the time the street

lights come on, don’t go places you shouldn’t and stay away from from triangle affairs, you should be fine.

[melm00se]

41. Not everyone

owns a gun primarily for self-defense, that's just a sideshow to owning a firearm.

I, personally, own several for different shooting disciplines.

[logosoco]

31. I have made it 53 years without one.

Possibly if I had had one I would not be here as there were times long ago when I was not sure life was worth living.

There is a gun in my house. Up in the attic which is NOT easy to access. I have never touched it. My husband got it when his dad passed away. His dad got it as payment from someone for work he did on their car. It came with a jar of assorted bullets. My husband is not even sure if any if them fit this gun.

I imagine it is dirty and rusty by now. It has been up there almost 25 years.
Maybe my husband keeps it in case of a zombie apocalypse!

[G_j]

32. same...nt

[sinkingfeeling]

40. Me neither. I'm 70 and was actually threatened for video taping illegal

underage drinking by bar bouncers about 25 years ago.

[Stonepounder]

42. Never owned a gun, can't imagine a situation where I ever would.

I dislike guns intensely. They are not allowed in my house under any circumstances.

When one of my kids wanted to move back in with us following his divorce we told him he was welcome, his guns were not. He keeps them at one of his brothers (in a gun safe). He's welcome to go hunting and fishing, but no guns in my house.

We have friends who live in the mountains of New Mexico. They need a few guns. She walked out to get in her truck to go into town one morning and found a cougar considering her for breakfast.

I don't have a problem with responsible gun owners. I do have a problem with gun nuts. Or the ones who claim that 'the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun'. (Imagine, a 'bad guy with a gun', BG, starts shooting. A 'good guy with a gun', GG, decides to be a hero and starts shooting back. Now 'another good guy with a gun', AGG, sees two guys shooting and decides to get in on the action. Who does he shoot at? The cops arrive and see THREE guys shooting. Your assignment is to write a 500 word essay on who walks alive and why.

[leftieNanner]

44. I have the best kind of "gun"

at home. It's a GS#90.

That's a 90 pound German Shepherd Dog named Riley who loves me above all else and who would protect me from any threat! (As a matter of fact, my husband came home late from a business trip one night when I was already asleep. Riley went OFF on him as he opened the front door. Once the dog recognized who it was, it was all good.)

And as a side benefit, he is a cuddle bunny and he gets me out walking every day.

[FakeNoose]

45. We have to convince the gun lovers that we don't want to take away their guns

... Well, maybe we do but that's not what needs to happen in this country. I've never owned a gun, never gone hunting, never been in a gang or robbed a bank. Here's my point: we have to start somewhere. We have to outlaw ownership of military-style assault rifles in this country. There's no reason for any American citizen (also non-citizens) to own or use such weapons.

Military assault weapons should be banned immediately, along with parts and ammo. Notify everyone on record that they have a certain amount of time to turn in the weapon to law enforcement. Yes I know that many of them won't do it, but we have to start somewhere. Make it illegal for people to own, conceal or sell them. In a few years the AR-15s and other assault weapons will be harder to get and harder to conceal from the law.

Eventually these military weapons should be confiscated but not until after the right-wing nut jobs finally settle down and realize that we're not going to take away their OTHER guns. Emotions and fears are running so high right now that it doesn't seem possible for the actual confiscation to happen for many years. Hopefully today's kids will grow up to be sensible adults unlike their parents and grandparents, and they'll be ready to cooperate with an effective solution.

We have to start somewhere and we have to do it now. Ban the sale and distribution of military assault rifles immediately. Put the NRA out of business or at least make it impossible for them to channel illegal money to the Trussian-GOP.

[Vinca]

46. I owned one when I was a police officer (when dinosaurs roamed the earth).

After I left the force it went back into its box and sat on a shelf for the better part of 2 decades. I finally sold it through a licensed dealer so a background check would be done on the buyers. There just didn't seem to be any reason to keep it. I feel sorry for the people who are so paranoid and afraid of their shadows they have to arm themselves to the hilt. In the end, it's more likely than not the gun owner's family will suffer a loss - accident or suicide - rather than a bad guy breaking into their house.

[NRaleighLiberal]

47. Same here

[Vanessa Rose]

48. No guns for me

I am a 69 year old female, live alone out in the country outside of Portland, Oregon. I have never had a gun and never will. I will not use an instrument of death under any circumstances.

I grew up in the suburbs. No one in my extended family has ever had guns. No one hunts. In my current life, I have good fencing, a gate, three big dogs (and cats, goats and llamas.). And I have friends.

My ex-husband brought a handgun into our marriage. I made him hide it and told him I never wanted to see it. When we were getting divorced, he got it out and was cleaning it. I moved out the next day.

I think we should have Canada’s system. No handguns at all, no weapons of war. Military weapons for the military only. Weapons allowed for law enforcement. Only hunting rifles allowed for the general population.

My two cents. Oh, and I’m new here, although I’ve been following DU since Bush.

[LuckyCharms]

49. Welcome to DU! n/t

[Vanessa Rose]

65. Thank you

Thank you. I love DU. It’s my go to page for news and cogent commentary.

[Paladin]

50. I've owned a number of guns over the years.

But that ownership has never prevented me from being a strong proponent of effective gun control measures, and a critic of organizations like the NRA.

[hunter]

53. I don't let anyone I'd care to shoot live in my head.

Guns add nothing to my sense of security.

I live in a city with a great deal of gun violence, much greater than most of the U.S.A.. I've witnessed it up close on multiple occasions. When our children were small we lived in a rougher part of town because that was all we could afford. I'd play with them on the floor of the back bedroom whenever I heard gunshots outside. I once encountered a stranger holding a gun on our back porch, hiding from the police who were out front looking for him. Another time I saw a police officer shoot a man. One time a stray bullet hit some equipment on a nearby power pole and it exploded in a shower of sparks. Our next door neighbor's son had been shot to death in a drug deal gone bad. It was that kind of place.

Guns seem to be one of the only thing burglars here are interested in. The gangsters buy their home electronics at Best Buy same as everyone else, and they're the ones distributing drugs wholesale so they don't care what's in your medicine cabinet. But guns are valuable to them. Any tells of gun love are an invitation for them to break into your house. There was a burglary a few years ago where the guys broke into the house, opened the garage door, and drove their truck in, closing the door behind them. That gave them time to load an entire closet-sized gun safe onto their truck. A neighbor saw them drive off, but didn't think there was anything unusual about it at the time. It wasn't reported how many guns were in the safe. So yes, even "responsible" gun owners contribute to this nation's gun problem.

When I was a young man I was rather reckless and too often found myself in rough situations. I've been threatened by bad guys holding guns, and I have a knife scar on my arm. I've been knocked down by armed police officers for no more offense than sleeping in my car. When I was working for a student housing slum lord I was asked to paint over the bloody aftermath of a gun suicide. The carpets had already been removed, thank God, and I can report Kilz primer works wonders. (This landlord painted all the walls of his apartments the same color as spray-can Kilz to minimize his painting expenses. Any horror could be covered up in minutes, simply scrape and spray...)

I've never been in a situation where me holding a gun might have improved the outcome. It's not that I'm incompetent with guns, it's simply my experience that once the guns come out everything is random and FUBAR.

[joanbarnes]

54. You are far BRAVER than anyone who needs a gun for courage.

[LuckyCharms]

56. Thank you for saying that, but I'm far from brave.

I'm literally afraid of guns. I don't trust myself, or any human really, to use them safely.

I think the mind is the best defense, rather than the body. My home is not like a locked safe or anything, but I have set it up so I would definitely hear and have plenty of warning if someone was trying to break in.

If that were to happen, I also have a plan. My only concern would be the safety of myself and my family. I have a blunt force weapon under my bed, and I also have a hiding spot. I would take my weapon and my family, and go to that spot. At that point, they can steal whatever they want, as long a they get in and out quickly. I don't own anything that is worth losing my life over.

[extvbroadcaster]

55. Me either

I never owned a gun until my father passed away. I inherited his 22 rifle. I have never shot it. I wanted to keep it in the family, I remember when he would hunt with it. Up until then, I saw no reason to have a gun, even living in rotten neighbourhoods in Atlanta. I had a baseball bat for home defense.

[jb5150]

57. I don't currently own a gun,

but I have in the past, and I don't rule out owning one in the future, but I support waiting periods, background checks, the banning of certain military-style weapons and high capacity magazines, and any other restrictions that will reduce gun violence.

[DaDeacon]

58. This is where the debate gets stuck...

Gun owners don't care that you don't want to own a gun, "your loss" to many of them. The request for a reduction in ownership for weapons of any kind is not going to be won by waving around your "lack of understanding", to the other side. I am a progressive, I am for reproductive rights, I am all about minority representation, and yes gun ownership ( if so desired). Tell me how far a conversation on reproductive will go if the other side starts with "I can' t understand why a woman would ever not want to have a baby..." It would be a non-starter, right? I'm not saying I don't understand your position but I'm not sure who it was for. I want us as progressives to move this ball forward on better control and a better background checks because I can tell you the right is clueless. The other side is NOT here for a conversation that starts with the absolutes "Take them all away" or "Why do you need that." My questions for many of you is what's the best "baby step" for a gun/weapon control in your opinion.

[Iggo]

59. But they come to the argument with their own absolute: Second Amendment, so fuck you.

[DaDeacon]

60. that's true, sometimes but...

that's why I asked what would be your first baby step for the other side to take.

[Iggo]

62. We've been coming to them with baby steps for years.

[DaDeacon]

64. yes we have

on a progressive site, I just thought I would see a diversity of ideas ...

[Skittles]

70. start by considering the NRA a fucking TERRORIST organziation

[aikoaiko]

63. YMMV -exactly correct.

I support the RKBA and persons right not to.

[jmg257]

68. Grew up the son of a Marine...around guns my whole life. Like shooting them

like owning them, used to like collecting them - especially M1 Garands, Carbines and other WW1/2 militaria.

Handguns are a blast too. Carried one for a few years as a cop,and once as a a body guard.
Also carried in my deli for a few years.


Also like trap shooting...really like a nice over/under.

Taught my son how to shoot early- he likes shooting a Savage .22, and pistols on occasion.

Taught others how to shoot handguns a few times...great fun.

People like lots of different things, for lots different reasons.

Environment and experience likely play a role.