No. I kind of wish I wanted one, if that makes any sense. I know a couple collectors who talk about them the same way I talk about strategy games, mechanical keyboards or fried chicken sandwiches. I like when people like small details and craftsmanship in a certain area.
I think you’re good; @tomchick wants to get a feel for the QT3 community and you’re definitely a part of it!
Here in Canada and have never own a gun. Of my close group of friends only one owns a gun and he’s a avid hunter.
I have kids in the home and statistics are clear: a gun in the house is quite a bit more dangerous to kids through accident or suicide than a criminal home invasion is. I enjoy firing guns as a recreational activity, but I haven’t done so for a couple of decades. I should get one my gun-toting work buddies to take me out to the range.
Here in a Canadian big city. And I have no interest in guns or gun ownership.
I only know one person here who owns guns, and he spent years in the US training as a paramedic and hanging out with cops so he picked up the culture. Montreal has had a few major gun violence incidents (school shootings at the École Polytechnique and at Dawson College) in the past, and is dealing with an upswing lately in gang-driven gun violence. It all makes me wish Canada was even tougher on firearms.
I put in just enough effort to get a rifle shootin’ merit badge in Boy Scouts. It did take a lot of effort because my marksboyship needed improvement. The rifles were owned by a camp, though. I’ve never owned a gun and don’t plan to anytime soon.
A few years ago my wife went with some visiting Bulgarian coworkers to a gun range to show off our freedoms. It sounded like they all had a terrific time, but we never got around to going back.
My dad wound up with grandpa’s old hunting shotgun. But to my knowledge he’s never been hunting, and neither have I. I suppose I’ll wind up with that shotgun eventually, because there’s no way my sister wants one. But getting a gun requires the kind of lifestyle-hobby investment I’d rather have sunk into guitars or VR crap or Star Wars Armada junk. Plus I don’t want to worry about dealing with a bad day with a sad Ernest Hemingway impression or find my kid fucked around with one and found out how Brandon Lee died.
Last summer my neighborhood dealt with some civic unrest. There were nights then when I wondered how comforting owning a gun would have been. But we wound up clutching security blankets instead, and it turned out that we only needed blankets, nothing stronger.
As a young adolescent (say, age 13 or 14) I had a pretty good, high-powered air-gun/bb/pellet gun. Which was fun, but didn’t get nearly as much use as I probably made it sound like it’d get on my birthday wish list…
But then I did get a .22 rifle when I was 14 also. Which I used for some target shooting and stuff, but that was it.
I have shot guns plenty of times. Some friends of my parents took me trap shooting with them back when I was a young lad, so I’ve fired a 20-guage shotgun (which has a gentler recoil). And more recently I’ve fired rented or borrowed handguns at a target shooting range here in Northern Virginia.
And that being said, I just don’t have any interest in owning a gun. I do get the appeal, for sure. I just don’t do enough of the things (hunting, targets) that would make it sensible for me to have one.
I don’t own a gun. I do own a variety of baseball bats, one of which I keep in our bedroom.
That’s what my dad did. I should get something like that, but it’s such a quiet neighborhood.
Our neighborhood isn’t quiet, but as long as my neighbors keep leaving their keys in their cars and leaving those juicy catalytic converters parked on the street, there’s no need for thieves to resort to home invasions.
:(
Nope. Went to a firing range once in NYC and shot off some rounds at targets once or twice, but I certainly wouldn’t want to own a gun.
Way back in the early 90s the company I worked for held a weekend team building exercise in Quantico, VA. Put us in a 2 day, white collar fluffy version of basic training. DI’s woke us up at 4 AM, yelled at us while making the cots, and threw bullets on the floor and screamed as we fumbled them into ammo clips.
I did get to shoot an M16 and a grenade launcher (!) at the target range. Shot it at the husk of President Ford’s former presidential limo. That was neat. I don’t think I could obtain a grenade launcher license in NJ, alas…
I have a .22 pistol that my wife’s late father owned for target practice. So I have a gun but I’ve never bought a gun or had the intent to. I keep meaning to take it target shooting but haven’t gotten around to it.
Random CSB, my wife is pretty skilled with a rifle because she took riflery in high school. In San Francisco if you can believe it. Lowell High School in SF used to have a rifle range in the basement below the theater.
I know a guy who always keeps a 7 iron handy.
It’s something I’ve given thought to. I do have some basic discipline, having gone through basic training, but it was shoot 10 rounds before weather called it off.
With the way things are going, and the stakes personally, I’ve thought about it though. My parents got one when their anti-left paranoia increased to a certain amount. That said, I know enough about guns to know that having one probably wouldn’t do me all that much good.
Absolutely not. Guns in the house are far more likely to bring harm to family members than ever be used for self defense and with a moody sixteen year old in the house it would be criminally negligent for me to have one around.
Melt all the guns.
And you left because that is abusive shit that never should have been allowed in the workplace?
Nah, I was amused. The entire trip was voluntary, and I was gonna leave in 36 hours, and knew I’d never enlist.
No guns for me. No need or desire to own one.
I have used guns before as a “recreational activity” AKA shooting targets at gun ranges. Fired a Thompson sub-machine gun full auto. It’s a bit of an adrenaline rush.
Should have put this in P&R anyway, Tom. As shown by many of the comments so far, it’s tough to answer the “why/why not” without getting people’s political hackles up.
So, trying to avoid that, I’ll just say yes, I own a variety of guns. Guns are like golf clubs, you need different ones for different purposes, so one doesn’t cut the mustard if you are a firearm hobbyist or hunter (and you’ll obviously accumulate many if you consider yourself a collector). I have a particular fondness for Swedish Mausers (the “newest” one I own was manufactured in 1914), but I own more modern guns as well.
Shooting is neck-and-neck with video games as my favorite hobby. If I could afford the time, I’d shoot every day. I also find it a great way to relieve stress, because between safety awareness, form, breath control, trigger control, and everything else necessary to shoot safely and well, it takes all of my thoughts & I completely forget my other worries while I’m on the range. When I go check a pistol target & find I put all of my shots into a ragged hole, or I ring the 700m gong with all five rounds in my Mauser with iron sights, I’m happy about that accomplishment for hours. I still brag about going 10-for-10 on bowling pins at 50 yards with a handgun during a Fun Shoot, and that was about five years ago.
I seem to have led a rougher life than most of you, because several times I have been in fear of my life, unable to flee (even though that’s usually not a requirement, check your local laws), & had to arm myself. Didn’t have to shoot anyone, but I was prepared to in each of those particular circumstances. Most of those were when I lived in shitty neighborhoods as broke student. Only one has been since I fled to the distant suburbs 20 years ago.
I have two, beautiful custom over/under shotguns and a really old Ruger 10/.22. I inherited these from my Dad along with a Mossberg and a couple of pistols that I quickly sold. The Ruger is the same one I learned to shoot with as a kid.