Anti-gun family.

I grew up in a rural town, whole family owned guns, been around them all my life.
Being in such an urban area, I have met my share of people who think we have a waiting period in Oregon. Even more think you need a permit to even own a rifle, let alone a handgun.
Luckily we have quite a few open carrying folks.

i think its funny that my girlfriend fully tolerates guns but not cigars.

Whole family is very liberal and pretty anti-gun. My mom cant even stand looking at guns.. although my dad has luckily become really tolerant of my hobby.

My brother and I were a couple of years behind our cousins, on the gun front. We were 8 and 6 when we got back from overseas, and finally got the first trip to the gravel pit. I got my first BB gun that Christmas. Following year, brother got his first and I got an upgrade.

My dad showed me how to build a target box when I was six, so I could shoot my bb gun down the hall when it was raining outside. My mom would have to call cease fire occasionally to go to a bedroom

Not me, both mom and dad were competition shooters, dad was an 03xx Marine in 'Nam so I grew up w/ guns.

The first firearm i fired was a 1911, I was 8, and it was great. After that I got put on Shotguns

Though my mom to this day dislikes handguns

For my seventh birthday (about 1986) I was gifted what I recall was a BB\pellet rifle, a Daisy Powerline 760 or 880. It took quite some time to build up enough strength for my little arms to pump that up 10 times!
Safety orientation with the elders was brief, and I turned out to be remarkably responsible because I knew that irresponsibility would cost me.

Thought of consequence is unfortunately not required curriculum in our public school system, or so one may assume.
Something about a spoon and Rosie O'Donnell.
Vietnam veterans rarely say it was Agent Oranges fault!

Anti-gun Republican Mom and pro-gun LEO Democrat Dad (as a huge surpirsed, they divorced). I was allowed to get a .22LR rifle at 16, but after spending much of my 20's in MA/CA, it wasn't until my early 30's that we moved to OR and my wife was comfortable owning guns. In just a few years, I've got a nicely stocked safe.

I came from an anti home growing up, then married an anti, but now we're doing just fine (just this year Mrs. Tradja bought herself a nice Savage 110 .30-06 for deer). So, OP, be a responsible advocate and you'll be just fine.

My family was very anti-gun. Not to the point that I couldn't have toy guns or anything though.

I wasn't allowed to have a bb/pellet rifle even though my Uncle was going to buy me one. (A Benjamin too! *cry*) Luckily, most of our neighbors hunted and I was friends so I got to learn in "secret." (I don't think my parents cared as much as they didn't want any in the house.) I actually secretly bought a pellet rifle and kept it at a friend's house. I really enjoyed shooting and couldn't wait to get my own. I bought my first rifle at 18 and first handgun at 21. (Long time ago.)

About 5 years ago, my Uncle grabbed me at my cousin's 25th wedding anniversary. He reached into his car and pulled out a package for me. It was my Grandfather's Colt service snubbie. The family thought it was lost or he had sold it because nobody could find it when he died. My Uncle had grabbed it and hidden it because he wanted me to have it but knew my parents wouldn't allow it. (He died when I was 11, I got the pistol when I was 35.) You can imagine my surprise. It's not pretty but I can't describe what I felt when he gave it to me. It means a lot.

So far, I've converted about 8 "I'd NEVER shoot a gun" people. Seriously. I have friends that shoot now because I've taken them out with me. If I ever have a family of my own, I'll ensure they make their own choices on it.

I was raised in a pro-gun family. They must have been that way for a long time - I recently inherited my great-great-grandfather's Remington Rolling Block #2 rifle (in .32RF). When I was a teenager, we (me, my brother, and our dad) had an unspoken agreement to keep my Crosman 1377 pellet pistol and a supply of pellets by the front door for feral animal control.

Wife's family, though, is liberal and anti-gun. Her father is mostly ambivalent, doesn't see guns as evil, but feels no real compulsion to go out and buy one. Her mom, though, is generally anti-gun. She used to be rabidly anti-gun when my wife and I started dating, so that's an improvement (I think). Chewed my ass out once for bringing a .44 Magnum revolver into her house once, many years ago, but I think she's coming around to the realization that she's known me for eighteen years now and I haven't killed or accidentally shot anybody yet.

My wife's uncle (her mom's brother), though, is a real piece of work. He enlisted in the Army but then decided that guns were bad, so ran off to Canada. He lives in Vancouver, BC now, still not a Canadian citizen, but has now devoted his time to trying to get handguns banned in western Canada (as a start).

The wife was also ambivalent about guns when we were dating, but now she has a stainless Mk.II pistol and a 10/22 rifle, thinks people who use scopes are cheating, and goes about town with a Sig P226 in the car. She still doesn't care much for my ugly black FAL, though...

My mom still shoots possums off of the porch with a Ruger MKI. You can imagine how I grew up.

tribbles said:

About 5 years ago, my Uncle grabbed me at my cousin's 25th wedding anniversary. He reached into his car and pulled out a package for me. It was my Grandfather's Colt service snubbie. The family thought it was lost or he had sold it because nobody could find it when he died. My Uncle had grabbed it and hidden it because he wanted me to have it but knew my parents wouldn't allow it. (He died when I was 11, I got the pistol when I was 35.) You can imagine my surprise. It's not pretty but I can't describe what I felt when he gave it to me. It means a lot.

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This is a great story from a mixed pro/anti family. Thanks for putting this up.

I can only imagine -- a very memorable private moment with you and your uncle, indeed.

Father solidly pro and owned a few, but not rabid.
Mother mildly anti, but goes with the flow.
Me - well, I have "issues".

my mom asked why i need a shotgun and i tried every line....the constitution, showed her on the local police website that a convicted rapist lives down the street, self defense all of it. Shes seen too much of the liberal media though. If my dad was alive he wouldn't care, as long as im safe with them Funny thing was she didn't even know what a shotgun was until i showed her.

I was born with a slingshot in my hand...

I was supposed to born with a peace flag in my hand, like any other in my family, instead of a white flag in my mind I got a gun in my mind, I'm proud of it, proud that I will not be a victim of naivety.

My family is very pro-gun. My wife's family has had some bad experiences, including a cousin who had wounded himself repeatedly, an aunt who committed suicide, (she was schizophrenic,) and a brother in law with a peg leg following a shotgun MINUS the four rules. He's a walking (ok, limping) talking firearms safety course. Understandably, my mother in law is not at all a gun person. However despite all this, she still agrees that criminals will always get guns, and trying to legislate them out of existence is a foolish idea.

Hardcore anti-gun family. Extremely liberal (like me), but very opposed to anything having to do with firearms. Needless to say, they were not pleased when they learned I'd purchased a rifle. Even "Power Rangers" was too violent

I have talked them down from "arrest anyone who possesses one" to "live and let live but I still hate them".

You grew up in families? Gee man, some people get it ALL.

I saw a family. The Dean at the orphanage had one.

My mother used to be fanatically anti-gun... until she got hit upside the head and her purse taken. Too bad she lived in Chicago and couldn't have a gun. She recently moved to the suburbs and could own a gun now if she wanted to. Now she's only anti-gun. Ironically, she lives just around the corner from the Lane Bryant store where five women were murdered execution style recently. No CCW in Illinois, so they were just expected to die submissively.

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That happened 1 or 2 towns over from me. Oddly enough, I was out buying a gun that day and happened to overhear some cops in the store talking about it. Then, drove home along 80 right past that mall.

That happened 1 or 2 towns over from me. Oddly enough, I was out buying a gun that day and happened to overhear some cops in the store talking about it. Then, drove home along 80 right past that mall.

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Tinley Park, to be specific. There is, or used to be a mental hospital there.

If this had happened in a private home in a town where handguns were banned, and one of the women had shot the wouldbe murderer, saving them all, Barack Obama would have wanted her prosecuted for having the gun she used.

My mother wasn't anti-gun, but didn't like them. My dad and his brother were hunters, and my dad talked about the .22 he fiddled with and shot himself in the foot with when he was a kid in South Dakota. It's too bad that so many people hate things they don't understand. When a relative is killed in a car crash people don't hate cars or even drinking if the crash was caused by a drunk driver, but if someone is shot they hate guns.

My parents were never thrilled at the fact that I liked guns. Since I was small (I've been told) I would not play with any other toys except for toy guns. My parents were understanding and bought me a red ryder when I was 10, and Ive never recovered from the bug.

My parents didn't own any guns themselves, but my grandfather owned a lot and he was the one who introduced me to shooting. My parents let me shoot air rifles in the backyard, have airsoft fights (mom still finds yellow pellets in her garden) they bought me a Marlin 60 for christmas when I was 14, and a Sig P6 when I turned 21.

My mom has considered a gun for SD, but we never get further than discussion of it. I know my one aunt doesn't like guns, but is fine with my uncle's guns on display in the cabinet and with people owning them, she just doesn't want a part of it.

All-in-all my family is mostly pro or neutral, can't really recall any anti reactions in my family.