Alcohol and guns... Very Serious

[MrDig]

I don't drink for a wide variety of reasons, the greatest being I am an Alcoholic. Even when I did drink I was usually not around firearms. Sitting in a Hunting Cabin was one time when guns and proximity got mixed. But once the Beer was out of the cooler, the guns were cased until the next moring. Break that rule and you were asked to leave and not invited back to the cabin.
I have had accidents with guns while STONE COLD SOBER (fortunatly the rule about pointing the gun in a safe direction prevented injury) and adding another component to increase the risk of accidents makes me nervous.
Do as you choose regarding this issue but I don't like having alcohol around guns, never have never will.

 

[Essex County]

It's all about personal control....

If your able to do both in a responsable manner, I don't see a problem. Some people should't do either. Essex

 

[Big Calhoun]

Jumping into this late, but IMO, it comes down to the individual. Do I go shooting after I've been drinking? Hell no!!!! Do I lock up the guns when I'm slamming back some Glennfiddich...depends...is there company over? Are there little pickneys running around? If it's just me and the misses and I'm having an evening cocktail, no. If there are other circumstances involved, quite possible.

I'd say about the only thing that changes when I have a drink is that I don't do any 'maintainence' functions once I'm a little tipsy...no cleaning, no press checks, no magazine tests, no nothing. The weapon would only be drawn if needed or when it's going back to it's resting place. But other than that...PARTY ON!!!!

 

[Afy]

Not worth mixing the two... I know from experience.

 

[The Amigo]

Guns and Alky

When I have a few i don't handle firearms as i wouldn't drive. If im drinking somewhere not home that does not mean ill leave my gun in the car since trouble seems to find u when u don't expect it. But to lock your guns seems ridiculous to me. Especially when predators actually target people that have been drinking. Then again I have a few 2 or 3 not a case of beer and mostly at home but the answer to the question if im at my porch having a drink my .380 stays in the pocket just in case.

 

[Soybomb]

I don't turn into an idiot when I drink so I don't lock up my guns, knives, and put nerf on the sharp corners of the house. If you decide to play william tell, juggle knives, or practice sprinting when you drink you might. Ymmv.

 

[heypete]

I generally drink no more than a single beer once or twice a week (hey, they say it's healthy for you!). This is in the privacy of my own home.

I'm 210lbs and 6ft tall (I could stand to lose about 20 pounds). A single beer doesn't have any measurable effect on me, and I readily passed my cop buddy's breathalyzer test when we were sitting around one time at his place. Those machines are kinda neat.

If I'm going to drink more than a single beer, I'll generally put the gun in its normal resting place (bedside drawer) until such time that I am suitably fit to carry it again (usually within 1-3 hours). When I drink, it's almost exclusively in the evening, so I usually end up going to sleep and I'm fine in the morning.

I certainly won't carry in public with any alcohol in my system. Well, maybe the scent of mouthwash on my breath, but certainly nothing that I imbibed.

 

[cwmcgu2]

My first few years of college were rought, binge drinking 3-4 nights a week. My grades didn't suffer, I actually studied harder so that I could go out and drink at night. I eventually had to look back on my lifestyle and make a serious change. My drinking caused me to put myself in dangerous situations that put me in some close calls with the law, caused me to hurt myself on a number of occasions, damage relationships with people close to me, and hurt the feelings of a number of women from my tendency to have one night stands. I had to look at the fact that some people can drink and control themselves at a reasonable level, even when drunk. Me on the other hand, I just lost control. Now a-days I will only have a few drinks with my girlfriend a few times a month. I don't go out with my fraternity brothers because I cannot control myself in a binge drinking enviroment. My guns are kept at my girlfriend's house where I almost always sleep and never come to my room in the fraternity house, doing otherwise in my mind would be criminal, reckless endangerment. My stress relief these days instead of a night of hard drinking, is a day of hard shooting. I've traded headaches for sore shoulders. I guess what I am trying to say is that I cannot be a gunowner and a heavy drinker, I simply do not have the responsibility when intoxicated. My choice, my faults.

 

[cold dead hands]

For the benefit of those who have responded, i say thank you.

I wish to make it clear that I do not drink heavily unless I have been invited to a party and even at that I maintain a minimum of control because I do not go anywhere without my guns. Evil does not rest because I am having a good time and I do not tell anyone that I carry. The way I see it is "no harm, no foul".

The other enviornment that I drink (heavily) in is my own home when my father comes over and we tie one on.

In neither of these instances do my arms get handled or played with. They are simply there for self defense. If some scumbag is trying to kick in my door while me and pops are having a good time then he's gonna get it. Even some boneheaded prosecutor is gonna have to give leeway on that account. If I am at the party and some drunk decides I need to injured then first comes the brandishing follewed by me demanding a path to the door and someone to call 911 because the police are there to protect us even in dubious situations like the one I just petitioned as being possible.

However, in my defense, if things at said party seem to be getting ugly I just head for the door before the problem escalates. Only when I feel that my future as a living being is threatened would I brandish and possibly use my firearm.

As was said, I "know myself", and all I wanted was some input from others.

If there is one person here that seems to have nailed it for me it is Biker. Words of wisdom in a really twisted sense. Cheers Biker!!!!

 

[Two Cold Soakers]

Okay, now that it's all settled, I've got a little story.

I was a good kid, but a little destructive. Alvays loved the car crash and blow-em-up war movies.

My dad had (this was in the early 1970's) a few of the NRA Introduction to Shooting pamphlets around the house. Pistol, rifle and shotgun. This was back when there were 10 rules of firearm safety.
If I recall correctly, rule #3 was "Alcohol and gunpowder don't mix"

For weeks I was trying to figure how to swipe a shot of dad's Seagram's to mix with a pile of Blue Dot without blowing my hand off. (there was a can under the workbench, by the bag of #9 shot)

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. I made it so my dad would be around while I was reading the NRA stuff, and asked.
He said that rule #3 meant don't get drunk and play with guns.

Soakers, destructo.

 

[cold dead hands]

hey soakers, one of my favorite science lessons from long ago was the story of how alcohol was "proofed" with gun powder. back to the thread.