Have you lost any "friends" because of your interest in firearms?

Yes,
I had a friend whom I haven't spoken to in years, we parted ways after an argument involving gun control, mental health, and due process.
In all honesty, his attitude about guns was IMO, just a symptom of his needing to maintain a constant victim status, and his desire for control over other people was not limited to firearms.
His company grew tiresome, and I wasn't bothered in the least to lose it.
I've found that the kind of people who will avoid me simply because I own and enjoy firearms aren't the kind of people I can have a close friendship with, even aside from the gun issue. It indicates irrational fear, illogical thought processes, a dis acknowledgement of personal responsibility, a lack of willingness to research ones own facts, a motivation to control other human beings, and a misunderstanding and lack of appreciation of others' rights and freedoms.

Some of the older friends get ticked off at my downright belligerent defense of the RKBA and the NRA when they insist on trash talking both on Facebook and such. This has been offset by the absolutely fantastic gun culture that exists at my workplace...a prison! I have found corrections to be a gun friendly career choice and have made great friendships that often begin with a mutual interest in guns. So I guess my point is, if the other party can't respect your views, the friendship seems to fade into the background---so the best bet is to cultivate new ones with folks who share your interests.

Have you lost any "friends" because of your interest in firearms?

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Nope, not a single one. In fact, I have made a few because of it.

I do recall the reaction of a boy who worked for me 15, or so, years ago when he overheard me telling someone that I had gotten a good price on a 1000-round case of 5.56 ammo. He was horrified.

He asked what I could possibly want with that much ammunition (in a strangely accusatory way) and I told him that I was going to shoot it. I invited him to visit me on my ancestral farm and shoot some of it with me ("It is a lot of fun, Paul!"), but that was just too much for him to consider. Poor, benighted fellow.

Not really. There was one guy many years ago that was married to a friend of my wife's that would go out of his way to say that he hated handguns but he was never a "friend" even though my wife and his wanted us to be. I really don't have the time or the patience to try to talk to people like that.

Yep, but mostly because I didn't have the sense to keep the politics to appropriate times and places. I've also introduced some friends to shooting and gun ownership, so it's a net gain, but I do regret that I've caused some people discomfort.

Oh I've absolutely lost "friends" over the concept of guns and the 2nd amendment, although it's hardly just those two subjects that lead to philosophical rifts. I argued much more when I was younger.

The general ideas of individual liberty and freedom are pretty unassailable in my eyes, so any of the controversial personal freedom issues get me into trouble on occasion. It's why I'm usually more guarded on those subjects. We all know the major topics not to talk about unless you really want to risk getting into it, Guns, Religion, Abortion, Politics, Sexuality, Feminism and that's hardly all.

Even much more minor things, these days, like videogames, D&D, smoking & drinking, or just eating meat can get pretty heated if you encounter one of the increasingly numerous zealots out there... Some are zealots for guns too of course, and I think that's also a problem.

Guns happen to be one of the issues that I personally feel the most strongly about so it comes up the most often for me, and I'll always be quick to put in a good word about the right to carry, right to open carry, that anyone should get a gun, etc... But I've learned to do so carefully and in a respectful way. Going hard never gets the point across and just makes people harden their position.

If you know they're going to specifically have a bias against the NRA, why name drop the NRA? Just hit the high notes and leave the organizational politics off to the wayside. We vilify Moms Demand Action/Bloomberg and IMO rightfully so, but if someone name dropped them I still wouldn't just tear into them and make them dig in their heels. Maybe just say a little bit to open them up to the idea that cool people like target practice, being responsible for their own safety, hunting, or whatever you like doing.

Most people kinda like the idea of gun ownership or are at least willing to consider it when I present it gently, after I've known them for a period of time in which we've been on good terms, and in the light of a fun hobby and pastime rather than going the hardcore political route. I've even taken a few co-workers to the range, one of whom had never fired a gun and wound up liking it.

They weren't good friends, but yes. I will speak out when people spread anti-gun lies.

I've lost friends over other political views too. No big loss.

My best friend growing up, we reconnected years later on social media after I got my DD-214. Turns out, like most of my high school friends, we had both changed so much that we had very little in common. I noticed that I hadn't seen anything from him in awhile, and sure enough, he dropped me as a "friend." I can only assume it was due to my pro RKBA stance, since that's a lot of what I put on Facebook. That and my dogs.

I left a job because of it once. I used to chum up with the executive VP and the CEO. Drank their scotch , played cards and golf, They'd go to the range with me and shoot my guns etc. OK, not in that order but we were friends who shot a lot. CEO retired and the VP , my boss, got demoted to about a step above stable boy. After that I got a new boss. We referred to her as "the Democrat". My first review with her she told me I was not getting a raise and that if I wanted more money I could sell some of my guns. Decided that minute to leave that job. I found another job and quit . Soon afterward they realized what I did there. The production numbers nosedived within 2 weeks. The company lost contracts and the CEO, VP of ops and plant manager all got canned.

Nope. Being pro-RKBA is such a fundamental personal value upon which others are based that people who aren't never made the friend cut for many reasons.

I do have anti family members, though. While I haven't disowned them per se, there is no room for them in my life, either. My mother is one of 'em.

Yes, and I'm sort of glad. What is ironic is that one of the most angry of them showed up at our safety-selection course with his wife after she had been accosted while jogging in what she thought was a safe area in Tucson. He was semi-appreciative that i didn't tell the class what an <deleted> he had been a month earlier. His wife shot the heck out of a Glock 43 which she can carry while jogging.

Mostly lost them because I would not hand over piles of my reloads when they could not find any ammo to shoot in the last couple years. No real loss to me though!

In a round-about way, yes, but not in the manner the OP was thinking.

I've lost friends, some more like acquaintances, because I won't defend assault weapons, or I don't agree lockstep with their perceptions of the issue. I still have a few friends and acquaintances with whom we just don't discuss that particular issue (and we no longer go to the range together, either.) I lost a close friend of over a decade simply because I didn't like Sarah Palin and made some derogatory remarks about her-wasn't even gun related, but I never "disowned" or "unfriended" anyone because they didn't like guns (or because they like assault weapons).

No.

If they were anti-gun, or phobic of being around guns?

They stayed away from me, to the point we never became friends.

At 71 years old, all my lifelong friends are gun nuts too!!

rc

Subscribed.

It's too late for me to post anything articulate, so I'll postpone til later.

Interesting and relevant thread for me, and more so now/recently than in past decades.

Nope. My friends are more level headed and respectful of me as a total person not my hobbies. It's funny in a way but I have a picture of a woman that is kinda nutty with the vegan animal rights thing but she is shooting a Barrett, M1 Garand and a few handguns. She is the opposite of most liberal gun control geeks that think we only need hunting guns and not personal protection guns.

Usually its a combination of things. Its sort of like if I know someone isn't pro gun, were not going to agree on a lot more than just that issue. I have made a few friends while shooting... now if I could only find a girlfriend that way I'd be a happy man.

I haven’t lost any friends because of my interest in guns, but I did [unintentionally] cause my daughter to lose a childhood friend. When my daughter posted a Facebook picture of her firing an AR15, her friend replied with an anti-gun rant. I couldn’t restrain myself and replied to her rant; then my daughter did the same and they “Unfriended” each other and haven’t spoken since.

One of the reasons I broke up with an old gal was that she would not shut about the second amendment. I am turned off by activism even when I agree with it. Actually I am not a person who has friends but most of the people I associate with are gun people. There are a lot of people that I visit cordually with at gun shows, pawn and gun stores and on these forums.

no my friends are the firearms crowd, we were all country people and hunting and fishing were all ways. no social media or internet back then. probally have lost a few women over the years that might have been interested.

I put this in the category of politics. I have lost friends......and relatives, because of their liberal views. Including gun control.

I don't think I've ever actually met an "anti" in my life. I'm sure I've run across one at some time or the other but if I did, the subject didn't come up.

No, but I did have a lady at my job site who is from New York hear another friend and I talking. He was saying more about carrying everywhere than I usually care to share, and I got "caught" saying more than I would have liked about doing so. This woman was aghast, and I asked her if this revelation changed her opinion of me at all. She replied that it hasn't, and it has not seemed to since.