Do you come from a non-gun family?

[JohnBT]

I'm from a gun family going back many generations on both sides. My father's parents gave me a BB rifle, fancy cleaning kit and wall rack for my 5th birthday. Dang, that was 56 years ago.

My uncle gave me .22 rifle for my birthday one year, a Marlin Mountie. When Ruger finally introduced the 10/22 I would look at them and try to imagine why I would ever want one. Never could think of a reason.

John

 

[Nordeste]

Valnar, you definitely are blessed to live in the US, in a lot of senses. But, particularly, in the sense I mention, your rights to self defense, gun rights, and certain freedoms you enjoy, that are embedded in your culture. Here in Europe, the "style" of our Governments is much more patronizing. We are free to vote every four years and kick them out if we don't like them, but put it this way, we do choose whoever is gonna tell us what to do , and unless they have HUGE demonstrations on the streets and big, big strikes, they won't listen. It's kind of a self-chosen dictatorship.

I've had American friends visiting me over here and were amazed at how we live, though, and felt it quite "safe" here (that was the word they used). They liked a lot of the features of our society, too, but I see big problems in our legislation. There's a general perception that criminals are more protected than law abiding citizens or the police. And that is one of those things I envy from your country. Over there, it's the cop or the law abiding citizen the one who gets looked after, despite those not gun-friendly towns or States.

19&41: Thank you!. Got it because I had one issued as my duty weapon some years ago and loved it. At 40oz, the thing is heavy as you well know, but that's part of her charm for me. I loved the trigger (and she'll come here with some trigger job done), the reliability and the way it tamed the 9mm cartridge. I have some sort of fascination for this pistol, similar to the one the BHP or 1911 fans have for theirs. IMHO it's the best semiauto ever done here, something that is quite agreed over here. Plan on keeping her for ever. Her name will be "La Noble Dama" (The Noble Lady) and I still have to decide on whether to engrave that on her or not... don't wanna ruin the looks of it. She won't be a carry piece. She's supposed to provide range fun and HD protection, and I'm planning on a G19 for carry in the near future.

 

[Nanook]

I do for the most part. Nobody else in my immediate family is a shooter. Nobody even owns a gun that I know of, except for one .380 handgun. And it's never shot.

I've always loved firearms, and I bought my first one as soon as I was legal. My father, who was in WWII, asked "What do you need that for?"

"I wanted it." was the answer, as it usually is. He never was into guns, although his eyes lit up when he saw a Garand I had back then. You could see him flashing back to qualifying with one.

I met up with other gun owners, read books, went to gun shows, and then the Internet has all the information you'd ever need about guns. Some of it's even true.

When my father and one of my brothers saw my reloading bench, the first thing they asked, almost in unison, was "Is that legal?"

I explained to them that it is indeed legal, and that they could buy books at B&N about it, along with magazines about the subject. It never occurred to them that you could load your own ammunition.