As you grew up, how did you avoid siding with anti-gun thinking?

We only had a couple of guns around our house, and Dad kept them put up, but we were taught a very healthy respect for them. My grandfather was a food hunter, a throwback to the Depression days, when he killed small game for the dinner table. He taught me to hunt, and safely handle his rifles and shotguns.

When I got to high school, I took ROTC, and handling guns was normal, along with the safety rules. Veteran U.S. Army master sergeants abided no horse play. My history teachers tended to be pro-Constitution, and they taught that the document meant what was therein written.

If we had a rifle or pistol, it could be brought to school, kept at the ROTC armory, and then used at the indoor range after school. The ROTC instructors always had time to supervise students. Mostly there were .22's, since the range was only 25 yards, but we did see a few target revolvers.

As the twig is bent...

Question As you grew up, how did you avoid siding with anti-gun thinking?

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Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional!

I grew up in the 50s and simply enjoyed shooting. There was no pro or anti gun nonsense to deal with. People took responsibility for their actions and life was overall pretty simple. Just lump my sediments in with the older people here.

Ron

I grew up rural so guns and hunting were just part of life. Neither deified nor vilified. Had through an accident of fate I had come of age in an urban or suburban setting, things may have been much different.

What is interesting to me is fast things have changed, even in rural places. I passed my hunter's safety course at age 10. That fall, I was turned loose in the woods alone with a loaded firearm. All of my friends were granted the same freedom as well. This was 1990. If a parent did something like that now, CPS would be on them in the blink of an eye, even in back woods Vermont.

blarby said:

There was no "anti-gun", but then again, there wasn't any "pro-gun" either, as best I can recall it.

Just guns. Every house had 'em.

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Pretty much the way it was where I grew up. I don't recall hearing a conversation about "gun control" ever in my teens. But I do know my Dad was pretty anti-handgun (I think?) as he saw no purpose with them other than killing people and you could defend your home with a long gun. The other side of that coin is that my Dad would never have purchased a handgun as he viewed them as a luxury and unnecessary for hunting or sport shooting.

I was an Army brat. Guns were all over the place, of course. When I was a Cub Scout our adult troop leader, an Army captain, took us on a field trip. It was to visit his tank company which was in the field on maneuvers. This was in Germany. All sorts of guns - big & small there. (We got to ride in various tanks & armored personnel carriers.) I took an NRA class in gun safety & marksmanship when I was still in grade school. It was taught by G.I.s on an Army post. They came there after getting off work. They were still dressed in their fatigues. We boys & girls shot bolt action .22 target rifles on a very nice range and the Range Master called out firing line commands over a speaker from a tower. When we got there we'd go to a room where you'd pick out a rifle from one of the racks and a box of ammo, and then wait for the instructors to arrive. One of the nicest ranges I've ever shot on. Rifle ranges are the Army's bread & butter so they get em right. - - - After my Dad retired, we moved to a rural farm community. My cousin, brothers, and I had our own 22 rifles. We ranged in age from 8 to 13. Roamed all over the place, by ourselves, with our 22s. Shot targets and hunted small game. Became very good shots. (Wish I still had those young eyes !) Back in that time/place, guys in h.s. would bring our shotguns to school & have them in a window mounted rack in a pick-up or in a trunk of a car. (Didn't worry about them getting stolen, either. Why would someone steal one, we all had shotguns. Mostly Remington 870 pump guns.) They could then go duck & goose hunting immediately after school. Also guys would bring their rifles to shop class where they'd refinish the stocks. No big deal.
This was the way it was back in the late 70s and 80s. No school shootings (and no people drugged up on prescription psych meds). No cops in every school to 'prevent' an event less likely to happen than being struck by lightning. (Look up the 10 year stats). The idea of one of us misusing a gun was unthinkable. Guns were a tool and something that helped you do things you enjoyed, such as shooting and hunting. That was the way it was back then in America and for several hundred years before then. After 400 years of this being the way in America, what happened ? An agenda to disarm Americans, - that's what happened. ^*&^%&#$ that !

Aah hell...Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger & Tonto, The Cisco Kid & Poncho, Roy Rogers and Lash Larue raised me. It all started with radio then black & white TV then color TV.

I grew up in the 30's and 40's. Guns were a way of life in SW IN. Antigunners did not exist. There were no gun shops. Nearly every store sold guns and ammo, except during WW II. Nobody could get anything then.

I live in the mid west where there is a lot of farm ground and a lot of timber where there is a lot of hunting. We the farm kids grow up with guns and fishing I live with in 30 miles of 4 and three is with in 11 miles rivers. So we do NOT like it when people talk agents guns.

I was born in the early 1980's in a mostly liberal town where few people owned guns. I went to a shooting range at age 12 and enjoyed it. In my late teens I thought guns were neat, but didn't know much about the laws and politics. At this time I easily could have been lured into the anti gun camp.

At age 20 I was thinking about buying a gun and started doing research on the internet. This exposed me to the history and reasoning behind the 2nd amendment. I became aware that my state had the strictest gun laws in new england, but was not the safest state. The facts and logic of the pro gun side resonated with me and I understood how and why gun ownership is a fundamental right and not just a hobby.

So the two main things that helped me avoid becoming anti gun are
1. Early age interest and opportunity to go shooting.
2. Curiosity + internet access + the RKBA movement's online efforts.

Also I give special thanks to Oleg Volk's website a-human-right.com
His pictures and reasoning are very effective.

Recently a high official in the federal government said that people needed 'to be brainwashed to think differently about guns'.

How do the next generation come to learning about the use of firearms for sport and defense ?

Through the 'lowly' .22.

Hmmmmmm . . . . .


P.S. - guys, even if you can't find 22 ammo . . . get your kids into shooting. There is still the accurate Avanti target BB gun and good shooting pellet guns to train kids till if/when 22 rimfire becomes available again. And they have the big advantage of being able to be shot in your basement or backyard.

To qoute Public Enemy, "Don't Believe the Hype!"

I personally don't buy into the whole "public schools are out to eat our children" view. I think it is a very hard right belief and nothing in my professional or personal life would have me believe otherwise. That said, I went through the public school system and two professions often regarded as left leaning by some. I am only 37, so I was one of those that should have been "turned to the dark side." I became interested in firearms when I was 12-years-old. My dad hunted and had firearms when I was younger, but would typically be viewed as a Fudd. I was in high school during the 90's and remember sportsman and classmates who were very angry because one of the firearms the government decided needed to be restricted was the Norinco SKS and it was the deer rifle used by many deer hunters in my area. The AWB of 1994 angered more people, but many people were more or less concerned about their hunting pieces. I remember thinking that by the time I was in my 30's, the second amendment would have been removed from the constitution. My grandfather got me into surplus firearms and would let me field strip his Star and Luger pistols when I was younger. I didn't really get into "black rifles" until 2002. I bought my first stripped lower in 2004 and started building rifles at that time. That has developed into several firearms that I have built, I reload and I shoot all the time now.

My (single) mom was always "gun-shy" and didn't permit them into the house, but I don't think she was ever actually "anti-gun" (despite having been raised in NE.) We were allowed to play with cap and other toy guns as kids, but none that were actually "dangerous", such as BB guns. When my brother (a year younger than I) was about 14, she chanced it with a BB rifle for him for Christmas. Within a few weeks, he had it taken off of him by police for riding through a supermarket parking lot late at night with it over his shoulder. When they tried to return it to his/my mom, she declined to accept it back (she hadn't even known about the seizure until the LEO showed up at the door trying to return it a couple of weeks later.)

At fifteen, I joined the volunteer fire department in my town. It wasn't long before I knew law enforcement was more my line. As I followed the "gun scene", as it pertains to LE, I was also exposed to RTKBA issues as well.

To me, there never even was another side to the issue.

@ ol' scratch - check out the writings/interviews of Charlotte Iserbyt, formerly at the highest levels in the US Dept of Education. Check out the writings/interviews of John Taylor Gatto, former NYC and NY state teacher of the year.

Of course, its not about every teacher. My h.s. science teacher was a Marine Korean war vet (a medic in a unit that lost most of its men to enemy fire). When we went on the annual school field trip out in desert country, he'd strap on his 357 mag revolver stuffed with snake loads for the rattlesnakes. (Of course this was many, many years ago. Would never happen today.)

After investigating this for yourself, you may have a change in viewpoint about public 'schooling', however:

http://johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm

P.S. - interestingly enough, I've only gotten a few school teachers to read the above. Many don't want to think that what they had been taught about 'education' may have been a lie.

ol' scratch said:

I personally don't buy into the whole "public schools are out to eat our children" view. I think it is a very hard right belief and nothing in my professional or personal life would have me believe otherwise. That said, I went through the public school system and two professions often regarded as left leaning by some.

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Born in 1977 and reaching the age of some awareness in the 1990's didn't allow you to see the other side of the coin. I doubt you were aware of the 1994 AWB (unless you had a parent or respected relative who informed you) until internet access became common for regular people. In my opinion, there is a real push in the public school curiculum to train kids during their formative years to be againsts "negative forces" as mostly defined by the left leaning "education system". But who would dissagree that kids should be nudged away from negative forces, right? By the way, I have two brothers who are teachers and they would totally agree with your statement above.

Great thread -- nice to hear about all those with rural/small-town upbringings being unaware that anyone was "anti" gun. That's like being anti car or anti tractor.

I grew up in a suburban life - but always liked stories about guns and hunting. I learned that my dad hunted as a kid and convinced him to take me hunting. Dad didn't care much for hunting, but he indulged me, sat through an 8 hour hunter safety course, and took me out many Saturdays in the fall. We never killed much but I'll always be grateful that he took the time out of his schedule for me.

My parents were fine with long guns, but didn't care for handguns at all. Once I realized how important the right to keep and bear arms was, I quickly became pro gun in all circumstances. I grew up in the 90s and 2000s, btw. No one really taught me how to shoot, so I am looking forward to teaching my own son all the things I didn't get the privilege of learning.

i didnt have guns in the house growing up and they were really not talked about freely if at all i had a friend whos dad hunted and had guns and that is where i got my interest and most of my family is in fact anti gun but when they got on about guns and how bad they were i just left the room

I grew up in a borough of a major city, no guns in the house, and believed (well was taught to believe), that firearms were only for policemen and the military.

Even in high school, during government class (one of the few schools that still had such a class in HS), one teacher skipped right over the 2nd Amendment (a sub teacher - the principal - covered 2A as applying to the military only). The one neighbor who showed us kids his rifles (old rusted, pretty much non-functional relics) acted like he was showing us some big nasty secret ... that even having these things were "wrong".

Even in college - during debate class - we were randomly assigned partners and allowed to choose debate topics. The girl I was working with (a stunner) wanted to choose the 2A as a topic (I frankly would have agreed to anything she suggested). The professor summarily dismissed the topic as inappropriate for classroom debate, and told us to pick another.

One could not avoid anti-gun thinking - there were no alternatives. "Conform or be cast out" as the song from Rush goes...

wojownik - - - thanks for relating that. Many of us knew it was bad in some parts of the country, but not that bad

Did you grow up in NYC ? (Hope you don't mind my asking. You mentioned 'a borough'.) You state your location as 'the Old Dominion', are you in Virginia now ? A more 2A friendly place ?

The conditions you described are nothing short of pure Soviet style propaganda. Not even close to an even handed examination of facts and logical, open minded debate of the issues.

Quite chilling.

If pro 2A now, how was your thinking changed ?

Regards, - - -

To those who do not think the schools are preaching anti-gun propoganda, please explain how we hear of kids getting suspended/expelled for pointing fingers like a gun, chewing a pop tart into a gun, drawing a picture of a gun or wearing an NRA tshirt to school. I do not feel these are isolated incidences but more like criteria passed down, from the very top, to schools who receive federal money. It is brain washing and it is propoganda at the level where the kid's minds are the most impressionable. Washington wants to get rid of the 2nd amendment and they are doing it thru the public school system, one child at a time.

JVaughn....

Dad taught me gun safety and shooting early on. It was never a "big deal" in my house. Guns were a thing, just like knives and screwdrivers and clothes pins... Tools, nothing more. They were to be respected but not feared or treated as something taboo.

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Lest we forget....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ternps0JFwo&feature=player_detailpage

no antis that I knew of

Like many others here I grew up with family some of whom used or had used guns (military, hunting) for generations. Probably first shot a 22 with dad at age 5. Hunted with my own firearm at age 15.

In my community, hunting & shooting were just one of many sane activities or hobbies that normal people did in their spare time. The police didn't think any different.

The tide started slowly turning after a school shooting.

I'm 18, going to a public school. The crap we're spoon fed is unbelievable. I seriously fear for my generation. Anti gun beliefs are the norm, and are given as facts. I argue with teachers regularly. The only reason I'm not a sheep is because of my family teaching me right at a young age.

It was easy for me. I really don't anyone that is anti-gun, I live in the south.

i was raised on a farm and firearms were there ever since i can remember. no weatherbees or brownings, just evey day working guns. a few shotguns(sears bolt action 12ga shotgun, stevens single barrel and a neat 410 H&R) and a few rifles(1917 enfield 3006,old win 1894 3030 and a spanish 7mm mauser) with two pistols (a colt .45 auto and a H&R .22). the one thing that realy sticks out is that my younger brother was worked over by one of our bulls and dad ran to the house and came out to the field with the 1917 and shot it dead in the field. my brother survived and we ate a lot of hamburger that summer in 1951. i can,t remember ever hearing any antigun talk back then. eastbank.