Anyone had an anti-gun family?

[alfon99]

Hi, well, I do. My Father is a proud gun owner, and has been all his life in contact with guns. He was introduced to guns when he was young, around 7 years old. In his twenties he formed part of a guerrilla here in Uruguay, during a civic-military dictatorship. He was a gun owner and his guns were taken away. That's my father. He introduced me to guns when I was 3 years old. But the rest of my family is a different story. At a very young age (4-5 years old) I first told my aunt that I had fired a gun. After that he always thought of my father as a psychopath. The fact of a kid (Responsible kid, and with complete adult supervision) shooting a gun, just couldn't get in her mind. I still can't get her to understand this. He wouldn't let my cousin, (who was like a brother to me) to come to the ranch where I lived.
This really hurt me. Of course my mother's family was raised in the city. Because honestly, could you ever think about living in a ranch in Uruguay, South America, without having at least ONE gun? It is indispensable to have a ranch gun. I was raised with 3 .22's, a 16 gauge and a 7x57. My father also had a .38 S&W revolver. You need guns when living in the country. In the city you will just need it in a HD situation, but in the country... almost everyday.

Sorry for any mistakes... remember english is not my native language.

 

[Kurt S.]

Just so you know, your english is better than mine. Most of my immediate family live in the southern US so everybody is cool with guns- except when I leave hundreds of .22 empties in my sister's back yard. She makes me clean them up. I don't have much contact with my relatives who live in non-gun-friendly parts of the USA so I don't know what to say.

 

[HammsBeer]

Your English is perfect. If you didn't tell us where you live I would have guessed the US.

My folks don't like guns, but my in-laws do so it's a trade off.

 

[ZVP]

My Daughter in law and her family are totally against guns. Ahe gers goose bumps wvwet time I mention guns It's awfull how scared she is of them!
BPDave

 

[au01st]

My parents were never against guns, just never saw the need; we were blind to reality living in the middle of suburbia. That changed in 2008. You know why. It started with a pistol for my dad, then one for my mom, then another, and another, and it kinda snowballed (when my mom allows that is).

I had some experience going hunting with friends, but never had guns of my own. I moved away for college and wound up living on a farm outside the main city. It became apparent that police response time was 5-10 minutes at best. I got what I needed for security while I was in school. When I graduated I got a job and was able to buy what I want as opposed to need. My latest want is an Ar-15 pistol that I can run .22 and try to get my Aunt to go shooting with me. She's a huge Walking Dead fan and doesn't see the humor in enjoying that show while not seeing any possible need for firearms for defense. For Christmas I got her a Walking Dead game that uses a plastic shotgun and hooks up to the TV so she can shoot zombies. She loves it. I'm building the bridge and hope to get her shooting zombie targets with .22 soon enough. After that, maybe a pistol of her own.

 

[tuj]

My father grew up with guns and hunting and had his own shotgun and hunted. Yet that was exactly the opposite of how he raised me; he and my mom were both against guns and didn't like me having gun magazines as a kid.

After I got into shooting as an adult, I took both of them shooting and they loved it.

 

[Elm Creek Smith]

Mom has an unreasonable fear of guns. Dad always had guns, and she loved him so she put up with it. Dad raised us shooting and having our own guns from an early age, and she loved him so she put up with it. Years after Dad passed on, one of her neighbors was murdered, executed, when she interrupted a burglary, and Mom insisted that either I or my brother had to stay with her until the murderers were caught. Her words were, "I can't stay in my house unless one of you comes and stays with me,...and bring your guns."

Well, we alternated nights until the criminals were caught and a few nights thereafter. Later, my brother went ahead and moved in with her, so there are plenty of guns in the house, again. She still won't touch them and asked me if it was legal for my brother to have so many guns and so much ammunition. Ignorance is a sad thing in a parent or anyone else for that matter.

ECS

 

[RussellC]

A+ on your English. My family has always seen guns as tools, coming from the south most everyone hunts/shoots, just typical behavior.

I am in my late 50's and have some Jewish friends the same age, who were raised by their grandparents. He told me that any talk of guns was met by straight faces and no response...those that raised him were scared to death of guns, remembering their parents being "de-armed" by the Nazis. They were terrified by them and wanted nothing to do with them. Even he, just from being raised by them, while not afraid of guns has absolutely no interest.

I was actually accosted by some man in walmart the other day as I stood looking in the ammo cabinet! He began going on about how I didnt need bullets to get game and neither did he....I explained I dont hunt. Then he launched into how much better it would be if we just trusted everyone and were honest with them... I explained that I target shoot, and I needed ammo for that.

He just walked away muttering. No idea why he wouldnt trust me to target shoot.

Russellc

 

[Dframe]

Yes my parents attitude about guns was negative. While not openly hostile to MY interest, it was made plain to me that they wern't welcome in my parents house. I was never even allowed to own a BB gun as a kid growing up.

 

[PJSprog]

While I have a few extended family members here and there who are not exactly pro-gun, the majority of my family - as well as my wife's family - have no problem with guns and gun ownership. My father hunted, and my mother's side of the family were all farmers and also hunted. As a teenager, my father even worked a summer job at the Winchester plant in Wood River, Illinois, where he would frequently be sent home with pockets full of ammo. My mother bought him a new 12ga shotgun one year as an anniversary present.

I do have friends and acquaintances who do not support private gun ownership, though. Still working on them...

...and your English is better than many who claim it as a first language, alfon99.

 

[Onward Allusion]

My EX-Wife. There's a reason why she's an EX. She was a rabid gun-hater when we were married. Made me ship my guns off to my parents for storage. Funny that in 1999 when folks were fearing Y2K, she had me go to my parents and bring back the AK's and ammo! Freaking hypocrite!!! Dang, I miss those AK's - Bulgarian SA-83's with the milled receivers.

My current wife's family with the exception of one brother-in-law (who is ex-Army) is fearful toward guns in general. My MIL says things like "why do you need a gun?". One SIL said to my wife when she found out that my wife shoots - "My gawd, who are you? I don't even know you?!" My other BIL asked me what I'd wanted for my B-Day the other day. My reply was - "you know, the normal stuff - guns, ammo, knives, flashlights, electronics gadgets..." Yeah, should have took a pic of his face. Deer in the headlight look. Good gawd . . .

My wife was completely unfamiliar with guns when we met. I hadn't shot, carried, or bought guns in close to 15 years at that time. I started up the hobby again in 2008, mostly because of the changing economy. The wife kept an open mind. Actually enjoyed shooting. I started her out slow. 22LR revolver to learn trigger control. Now she prefers DAO w/o any kind of external safeties. Heck, she shoots a 40 better than me! She now has a car gun, a house gun, and a carry gun... Yeah, she's a keeper. Now if I only can get my in-laws to convert over.

 

[Red Wind]

My Mom and Dad were both gun people. They owned multiple restaurants and guns for protection were part of the everyday working environment. I was brought up with a Colt Detective Special under every counter. My Mom was a better shot than my Dad. A real gun gal.

My 5 siblings are a mixed bag. The 2 Marine Corps brothers are both gunnies as you would expect. One of my 3 sisters is an anti gun leftist hoplophope. George McGovern is her political hero! The other 2 sisters are ambivalent,quite neutral on firearms and both firm Republicans.

No two families are alike on the gun issue,that is for sure. Best of good fortune in Uruguay. I hope to visit Montevideo and the surrounding area some day soon. My wife and I were in Buenos Aires in 1989 and intended to take the boat across the Rio de la Plata.

But time got the best of us. I will PM you when I finally get there. It will be within the next 12 months.

 

[mgmorden]

She still won't touch them and asked me if it was legal for my brother to have so many guns and so much ammunition.

Its amazing what some people think is illegal. My dad has always hunted and been around guns, but was never a "gun person" (ie, he strictly used them as a tool and never really paid much attention to gun culture).

A few years ago I went to sight in a rifle and put in a laser bore-sighter and he freaked out a) thinking that it was a laser sight and b) thinking that such things were illegal.

Sometimes people - even people who own guns - just haven't been exposed to much.

 

[JayMust]

My Mom was anti-handgun growing up (when she and her brother were teenagers he committed suicide with his pistol). So, while we all had rifles and shotguns growing up, no pistols were to be found. Now myself and two of my three siblings all have pistols to round out out collections.

On the other hand, my sister is all over the place on gun ownership these days . . .

 

[ahtoxa]

While my parents never cared much about guns, my mother became a supporter after I got into it. My dad's only mildly curious. I spend a lot as much time as I can out in the woods and she agrees that I should carry for protection from 2 and 4 legged creatures alike.

 

[mbopp]

My parents and grandparents lived in rural Pennsylvania and gun ownership was a fact of life.
My son is indifferent to shooting but my daughter and son in law are real antis. I can't even joke about buying our granddaughter a pink Cricket without them going off on me.

 

[alfon99]

Nice, PM me when you get here, It's really a nice place. If you have time you can come to Cerro Largo, in the country. My family has land here and we have really nice natural shooting ranges.

 

[Red Wind]

^ Thank you,Alfon. I will contact you. I see you are only about 250 miles or 5 hours away from Montevideo. Hopefully, it will come to pass.

 

[RCArms.com]

My Brother in law is completely anti-gun a d drank the liberal kool-aid years ago. No the in back with him.

However, I took my niece (his 25 year old daughter) to the range for the first time last year and she had a BLAST. Its always fun bringing a new shooter to the range.

 

[Speedo66]

I grew up in NYC, a decidedly anti gun place. My father was a WWII combat veteran, and had no further interest in guns. But they indulged my interest to the point of first allowing me a BB gun, then a .22, and then a range membership.

I introduced both my son and daughter to guns, and while my daughter is a pretty good shot, she has no real interest.

My son was taken target shooting and hunting, and still enjoys both, now with his own gun.

 

[texasgun]

talking about anti-gun:

I grew up in Germany and moved to this country back in 2005. My family (all in Germany) are as much of anti-gun as left-leaning/brainwashed Europeans can possibly be. They would disenfranchise me if they ever found out their son owned multiple guns

Seriously... coming out as "gay" would be easier than saying "I own guns" in my family....

 

[BigBL87]

I always thought my family was anti-gun. Recently I decided to buy a shotgun (still saving for it) and mentioned it to my parents. Much to my surprise, my mom asked me to take her shooting sometime when I shoot clays at the in-law's, and my dad really didn't seem to have an issue. He's a minister so it didn't surprise me that we never had guns growing up, most we ever had was a bb/air dart gun for strays. Then found out my sister has had her FOID for awhile and her boyfriend is taking concealed carry classes soon.

 

[Inebriated]

Two people, mom and aunt. They weren't actively anti, but expressed fear and discontent around guns. Fixed that pretty quickly, now they both have their own.

But really, I didn't even talk to a lot of my more extended family until it was known that we both all owned guns.

 

[Ignition Override]

ZVP: This might have a chance of making her at least to think, maybe when she is in a calm, happy mood. Plan to show her two/three small gun components which are Not recognizable as gun parts when the conversation is about other thing.

Read about some actual cases of self-defense which involved a gun type which you own, maybe home invasions depicted in the front of the NRA magazine.

If these components are from a handgun, maybe add just the slide to the chat, but keep barrel and main section hidden or in the car.
Let her know that when fully-assembled, this exact gun type allowed an alert woman from being raped or even killed. Possibly defended her child.

 

[AWorthyOpponent]

Parents raised me non-gun so to speak. Never spoke about them; was never around them. Wasn't until I went to the range with my now fiancé when I was 18 and rented a gun, then showed them pictures from the range, that I found out they had MULTIPLE. Excuse was "...didn't think you'd be interested"