People who used to like guns who are now haters.

First and foremost, I cannot express the gratitude I have for you and all the others who served and/or continue to serve this nation. You are the reason I can sit here and type at all.

Weird shift in personality. I would expect he had some type of experience or something that changed his mind maybe. That drastic a shift...must have been something big. May have been part of some type of rehab/psych thing to get over what ever issues led him to treat you and your mother so bad (assuming he has gotten better).

I know I went the opposite from gun hater to know owning 2 evil AR's and a few other firearms. Mine was gradual and a result of me moving from Western NY to NC and seeing a different side of the world beyond liberal bias.

When you emailed him with the other address did you needle him a bit to back up that stance with some reasoning?



Sorry to hear about the relationship strain though man. That sucks.

"I emailed him to ask about it and he wouldn't respond to that address so I emailed from my HAM license call sign addy and he responded because he didn't know who I was."

Sorry guy but your Dad doesn't really give a crap about you. If he did, he would have been supporting you and your accomplishments. We all wish it wasn't this way, but it is. Congratulations on your many successes. You have made a bright future for yourself.

Thanx, Russ

P.S. Sorry if I'm off topic but it needed to be said.

May be he is really talking about the man he was, and projecting that on everyone else.

First and foremost, thank you for putting your life on the line for this country.

At the risk of sounding trite, it is not about the guns or gun owners.

People sometimes have radical shifts thinking as a result of something that they have experienced in their lives or with a loved one. I'm not talking about someone who was brought up in a city like Chicago who thinks that all guns are evil. I'm referring to the person similar to your father in your example. Someone who once enjoyed something and now absolutely can't stand it. I could go deeper, but I won't.

Sniper X
People who used to like guns who are now haters.

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I've known a few guys who had been in the service and came out with a very negative view of firearms. For them, the gun became the psychological token to project all the emotional problems and trauma they suffered in those years.

But I've known far more antis who joined our ranks. Including myself!

Stroke ?

This may be far off the mark (I'm not medical or a shrink) but when my dad suddenly changed long held believes it was diagnosed that he'd had a minor stroke which, of course, may kill portions of the brain. Depending on which portion and how big of a portion, it may change patterns, behavior and/or ideas. Sometimes strokes are very hard to determine by a loved one unless the victim mentions that he/she felt a pain in the head suddenly or worse, passed out.

Gour, I didn't needle him but I did throw in a slight rib, I wrote that if the Sniper X email addy made people "feel uneasy" they were welcome to contact me at [email protected] he never did though.

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Nice. yeah I have known few folks who went that polar opposite. My own beginning hatred was due to ignorance. I had never really been exposed to them beyond media, etc. My own grandfather, who gave me his firearms one before he pass and one after, was not a huge fan after the army (to his credit though he fought in the 609th tank destroyer battalion and his first action was freeing Bastogne, it just got more fun for him after that). He had seen his share of death, but he was not a raving anti. Just not particularly enthused.

Do you know if his anti stance was a light switch (less than 12 months) change or maybe a gradual overtime thing? You mentioned an anti wife, so I wonder if he was anti after or before. he may have been partial before her then she somewhat nailed it down.

I am sure it hurts not having your dad on your side but you have a lot to be proud of in yourself. Sounds like a heck of a career.

Congrats
Had a bunch of friends who went to SFQC and to sniper, graduating is quite an accomplishment. I was in 82nd Avn, for most of my time in, and quite frankly pilots are the most spoiled bunch of officers in the military, hell HQ hacks have it harder most days than pilots, and then don't forget the mentality between REMF who never leave the wire (your FOBbits) and someone who does. Now he has a wife that is telling him what to say/do and sponging his retirement. Sad that he chose some woman over his blood. Well, sad to say the grandkids probably won't ever know their grandpa.

Well, if you stopped speaking because of the way he treated your mother and you, it doesn't sound like this is a man whose psyche is "okay"... Just a thought...

Sniper X;
Its not people (plural) in your case it's one person (singular).

Best of luck.

I think he is jealous to tell the truth because he always use to say how incredible he though the Special Forces guys were in Viet Nam... I remember him also telling someone he was very jealous because I ended up being a scratch golfer while in the Army as well.

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Sounds like he's angry because you did what he couldn't. Envy can eat you up.

It sometimes happens...Remember Barry Goldwater? He went kinda liberal in his dotage.
Joe

No head shrinker here, but I've observed anecdotally that disapointments over not receiving what you felt was your due (job, raise, benefits, gratitude, etc...) can really eat a person up with resentment.

I'll speculate that one of the roots of modern day "liberalism" is a belief that the "system" (employer, government, family, God... ?) owes you something. And you subscribe to their core ideas, you'll buy whatever faulty ideas your "team" is sellin and jump on the band wagon with gusto.

I find myself unable to relate to most liberals, as I don't subscribe to such ideas.

It sounds like he is just a bitter old man.

You are the product of a marriage in which he failed. So he doesn't like you. Apparently he even failed on marriage number two.

He had a good military career, you had a great career. He resents you for your accomplishments. Finishing sniper school is way cool.

You are involved with stuff, and probably have friends. Heck, you probably have HAM radio buddies and are tied in with that world. He probably sits at home watching Oprah Winprey, so he resents you again.

You probably have accomplished dozens of other things in life that he hasn't, so maybe he is just sitting around, bitter, stewing in his own resentments.

I'm sorry for you, but maybe you should be the better man and forgive him in your own heart. Good luck to you.
Mauserguy

If I may be so bold, I think it's apparent that your dad never cared for his erstwhile family, and is now full of envy, which inevitably leads to hatred that spreads to all of your interests. Don't waste any more time on him. I've had to disown envious family members myself (they're envious of everybody, not just me), and while it's a sad thing to have to do, generally speaking, I feel a lot better because I no longer have to associate with people who don't like me and whom I don't like. Such relationships, even when "blood" is involved, are toxic to the core and only add stress to one's life.

Anyway, it seems that turning anti-gun is thankfully a lot rarer than turning pro-gun, sort of like how turning "liberal" (I use the term loosely) is rarer than turning "conservative" as one gets older. The usual direction of transformation, sometimes gradual and sometimes abrupt, has to do with one's idealism about embracing peace and rejecting violence becoming tempered by the realities one faces during the course of life, and the increased pragmatism that usually results. For example, we might learn not to demonize inanimate objects like guns, and that these tools can be used for good as well as evil. Changing in the other direction, though, is kind of perplexing to me. Most such cases, aside from hate by association as described above, are probably the result of a traumatic event that has such a strong effect on one's emotions that it permanently shifts one's perspective back toward one's pure ideals (such ideals exist on both ends of the spectrum, of course). The only other thing strong enough, in my opinion, would be a profound sense of betrayal by something one used to believe in.

Maybe when you graduated sniper school he had to face something about you that he was unwilling to accept, that you could put the crosshairs on a live human being, and squeeze the trigger. Serious business and not everyone can handle that reality.

As to the subject, I don't think I know anyone who got beyond childhood liking guns that, in adulthood, turned to an anti-gun person.... I know some who don't have guns, mostly because their mate doesn't want them around...

I bet there are some out there that have turned to hating guns because of some horrible gun related incident that hit too close to home... and no doubt some are 'convinced by the data' to turn to not liking them... but I think most go the other way once they experience guns for themselves..

As to Sniper X- Let him be who he is, you be who you are. Don't try to convince him of anything, and if someday he wants to talk to you, be open to it if you can.

SniperX, has something gun related has happened to your father or a close friend of his in the last few years? Like a robbery, death, or something?

My dad who was in the Army in the '50s raised my brother and myself on guns for hunting when we were young. However, he always told us guns were bad and he hated handguns. My brother went on to the Army in the '80s and I stayed a civilian.

We really don't talk guns with him, even though he still owns a few. He'd prefer fishing and football over anything else.

Doesn't bother me really since he and I talk only about every ten years anyway but it is weird.

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Obviously it does bother you enough to air your dirty laundry about it.

It sounds like he is just a bitter old man.

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Yep. And this sort of thing can happen with a variety of subjects, not just firearms. People find God and Lose God in their later years. Some change political parties. Some take an interest in subjects that they would not have thought twice about in their younger lives.

Mauser Guy may be right. It may not be a gun issue at all, but an interpersonal issue between the two of you.