How many were raised to be anti-gun?

[jsalcedo]

When I was growing up there were no guns in the house.

My dad was a Vietnam vet and I knew he grew up with them
but it really wasn't spoken of in our home.

My mother would not allow me to have toy guns (not even a star trek phaser and I was forbidden to watch violent TV shows.

The only point of view I ever heard was how guns were evil
and nasty and how no one should have them.

It was confusing to see some of my friends playing cops and robbers and shoooting BBguns at old cans.

I can't say I ever had a strong opinion either way until I was about 14 and began reading Mack Bolan Books by Don Pendleton
and I got a hold of a copy of Soldier of Fortune.

From that point on I was a gun enthusiast much to the chagrin of my family (I was even put in therapy) to try to correct it....


Has anyone else experienced this and overcome the anti-gun upbringing or has it pretty much been gung-ho all the way?

 

[Coffee357]

I voted "my own decission" because there was no "it depends".
The toy gun thing was a non-issue and we did play cowboys and indians with the neighbors. (cops and robbers, soldiers,ect.) - I did grow up watching westerns and war movies and there were a couple shotguns and a .22 rifle in the house. My dad took me out shooting for the first time when I was around 9(?). My mother absolutely, positively, hated (and hates) guns. So it depends. I did wind up with none of my 3 brothers being anti's, though, so I guess my dad won . Think the difference was that my dad grew up in a very small town, hunting, fishing and farming whereas my mother grew up in the big city. Love 'em both but I take after my pa!

Coffee

 

[Kahr carrier]

Nope luckily Pops grew up in the country and guns were tools to him and a recreational pass time for him .

 

[Kharn]

My mom refused to let my brother and I have gun or weapon-shaped toys or violent video games (we werent even allowed Super Soakers for a while, due to how gun-like they looked), but my dad didnt care what I made in his woodshop as long as I didnt use any of the expensive wood (so I had lots of wooden guns). Every summer I'd go to Boy Scout camp and would shoot a whole lot of .22 and 12ga, and would come back asking for a .22 or 12ga, but my mom wouldnt have any of it (for fear my brother or I would shoot the other one), my dad just followed her lead and said no guns, even though he would shoot better than my brother or I could (he was an assistant Scoutmaster and always came to camp with us).

Now that I took the iniative by going out and buying my own, my dad helps me in the shop working on them and will come shooting occasionally. I even got my mom to help me make a tactical sling for my AR15 because her older sewing machine couldnt handle the velcro and webbing, and I'm not allowed to use her expensive one, so she did all the sewing for me.

I think my mom is now more afraid of my pocket knife than my guns, since she doesnt seem to have a problem with me walking from my room to the shop (2nd floor to basement) carrying my guns, but she hates it when I use my CRKT to cut anything due to how fast I can flick it out.

My parents have also made chasing the UPS lady down a family activity, since I'm usually at work when she tries to drop off my latest C&R acquisition. They spent the last 3 days trying to catch her while she was trying to deliver my Sistema. They make me so proud.

Kharn

 

[Kreed]

My dad never liked guns...

My dad never liked guns, and told my brother and I so. But he still allowed us to form our own views and by thirteen we had our first Daisy BB guns, and it's been all downhill from there.

Even when we accidentally put a hole in the next-door neighbor's window from bustin' up models in the backyard, the BB guns stayed, although we had to come up with the cash to fix it. The neighbor, being a good ol' boy, just laughed and that was that. Ahh, the good ol' days...

Of course, growing up in semi-rural florida in the late 70s also helped. Lots of open land and lots of kids our age who knew a lot more than we did, had much greater inventories, and had no problems with letting us try out their various shootin' irons.

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

I was kind of raised inbetween. I had tons of toy guns, cap guns, disc shooters, a rubber dart cross bow. And I had some BB guns thanks to my brother. But I was never told rules about them, I just picked up all the natural rules as I went. Though shooting the phonebook with metal darts with the pump gun in the hall way was not my idea... We didn't have any real guns, at least not that I knew of. My dad left quite early in my life, so if he had one, I never had a chance to see it, doubtful though.

Now, when I tell my mother I have guns, she just asks why. Eventhough she has been robbed twice in her home, she doesn't get the whole protect yourself thing, she thinks the cops that take 1-3 hours to get there will somehow do that job.

 

[Dorrin79]

My household, growing up, was as gun-neutral a house as you could hope to find. My parents didn't own any guns, but neither were they antis. I had toy guns, water guns, etc. from a young age, and got my first airgun (a Crossman 760) when I turned 8.

My dad is still gun-neutral to this day (when I told him about my last gun purchase, his response was a bored "that's nice...")

My mom, on the other hand, has become very pro-gun (and very much the libertarian) as she has gotten older. Right after my parents divorced, she got a handgun (a Beretta Jetfire) and was one of the first people in Texas to get a CHL under the new law. These days, she owns almost as many guns as I do. We try to go shooting together at least twice a year.

 

[gbelleh]

My parents were anti-gun, but not so vehemently that I couldn't have toy guns, but it did take some persuasion to get them.

Now my parents are actually somewhat interested in my guns and I go shooting pretty regularly with my dad (who will probably buy his first gun soon).

 

[Logistar]

Cap guns... BB guns.... as soon as I was around 9 years old I was given a Mossberg .22 Bolt Action rifle followed by a .410 a couple of years later. I loved to shoot - just never cared much about shooting animals. (I have a story about that.)

- We depended on guns for food. I guess you could say I grew up pro-gun.

The ODD thing is that my Dad ALWAYS carried a small pistol on every "vacation" we went on as I grew up. - That was before CCW was legal here. Today, he NEVER has a gun on him and he never bothered to get his CCW.. (Of course, if I take a trip with him, I always pack two!)

Logistar

 

[geekWithA.45]

My Mom Was Neurotic...

And my Dad detested guns, but he always held that guns where a personal, constitutionally protected option, and he supported me.

 

[synoptic]

My parents are both pro gun, but not really enthusiasts. My dad used to go shoot a lot more when we was in the Army, but now that he's an old man (44) he hasn't been in a while. Both my parents enjoy shooting but just don't take the time to go out to the range. Even though they were pro-gun, I didn't have my first BB rifle until I was 14 and my first .22 I got when I was 19

 

[CZ-75]

Anti-gun, yet conservative environment.

Mom now owns a gun. Amazing what being robbed at gunpoint will do to your attitude. She used what little restitution money she got to buy a .357.

 

[Blackhawk]

No pressure one way or another.

 

[cuchulainn]

My parents were ambivalent about guns, but certainly not anti-gun. The only real gun in my house was a souvenir Mauser (IIRC) that my dad brought back from WWII -- it had no firing pin...my dad said the army said it had to be removed before he could bring it back (I wish I knew what happened to it. I think my dad sold it -- it wasn't in the house after he died.) Late in life, my dad had a job as a security guard, and he carried a sidarm for that, though it never came home.

I had a bb-gun and one of those little muskets that shot cork balls and plenty of cap guns, etc. I had access to real guns -- I grew up in the country, and plenty of my acquantances had guns. When I bought my own guns, there certainly was no family crisis, though I was out of the house by then.

My only regret about their ambivalence was that I not only was left on my own to form opinions about guns, I was on my own to learn about safety. I was a smart kid, and pretty much followed the rules instinctively (well, maybe not the finger rule), but it would have been better if I'd been formally introduced. I don't blame them -- it's not that they were opposed to training me; it's more that they simply didn't think to do it.

Along those lines, I recently had a conversation with a friend who is on the mild side of anti (more dislike than political activism). I suggested that even if she doesn't like guns in her house, when her son gets to a certain age, she should have a mutual friend (who's an NRA instructor) give him some lessons in safety. To my surprise, she not only agreed, but said she'd already spoken to the mutual friend about that.

Now, if more gun-abivalent or mildly-anti parents would at least recognize that guns are here and that it's a good idea to be realisitic...

 

[PATH]

My mama didn't want guns in the house. Pa was in the army 33 years and liked guns but mama had the last word. I took after my father and am now an official gunoholic. I can't get enough. Mama still doesn't like guns but says nothing about my packing when I visit. I am also trying to "corrupt" the nieces and nephews with a love of firearms.

 

[Gnull]

My family was always sort of pro gun. My dad has always been decidedly pro-gun(he had an AR-10, M1 Carbine, and several sporting pistols - I never did find out which ones exactly) and was a devout target shooter(didn't like hunting), and believed in personal protection. When my folks were still married my Mom shot, and my dad still swears to this day that she was a better shot than he was. However, my mom never shot a gun, or even owned one after they were divorced. I did live with my mother, but despite not owning any firearms, she was pretty neutral to the affair. We were also always allowed to have toy guns, cap guns, and dart-guns, etc. I was also allowed to participate in organizations like Scouts and Cadets when I was younger, which would involve summertime range visits(which was always my favorite part).

However, just last year my dad got rid of his guns. Due to registration problems under the Canadian gun "registrartion" boondogle, and such. He still openly regrets the descision to get rid of them, especially the M1 Carbine.

 

[Brian Maffei]

Guns and hunting, but no RKBA talk.

 

[BerettaNut92]

Raised as an LA Republican. Guns are ok only if you want to use them for sport. 8" knives for cooking are ok but 2" knives for utility aren't.

 

[Greg L]

Very anti household (active HCI supporters ) growing up. No toy guns that looked anything like a real one (squirt guns and star trek phasers were ok though), so I ran around with a stick of some sort in my hands for many years. Mom cried when she found out that I actually had ammo for the rifles that were locked up in the safe (I was 32 at the time).

It took 10 years in the Army to get the full auto bug out of my system. Still a gunaholic though.

Greg

 

[RNS]

RNS

Interesting. I have never thought about it before. Growing up, my parents never said a word about guns. We all had toy guns and my brother two shotguns hanging on the wall, so I guese my parents didn't care.

 

[Freedom in theSkies]

Mom was opposed to guns all the way and still is to this day.
Dad never had guns in the house, but was career military, so he used them.
I pestered my parents so much when I was a kid that they bought me a Crosman 1400 pellet rifle for my 10th birthday. I just got worse after that... On my 16th birthday I got a Firearms Aquisition Certificate. The enthusiasm waned when I was in my 20s' but I suppose I'm an official gun nut now...

- Still have that old pellet gun too!

 

[ball3006]

My Dad pounded into my head....

that old military rifles were junk and it took me along time to get over this first impression.....better late than never.....chris3

 

[Schuey2002]

Guns and hunting, but no RKBA talk.

This describes my upbringing to a "T"..

 

[Sindawe]

Anti-gun household

Both my parents were against private ownership of firearms, even though my father was a marksman in the Army and my mother used to target shoot as a teenager. Both were resistant to my playing with toy guns as a child, and my mother did forbid me from watching Kung Fu on the tube as it was too violent. I've always found it amusing that even at the age of 9 I was clued into the fact that Kang only kicked butt when he had no other choice, and that facet was totaly missed by my mother.

She still is not happy that I have firearms in my home, and worries that the 'evil gun rays' they emit are gonna make me go shoot up the neighborhood.

 

[scottgun]

My dad had the shotguns passed down from grandpa, the 22 from when he was a kid and a .3006 from Korean war era. No hand guns. I got to learn about guns pretty young, and went on special missions with my bb gun and also plinked cans endlessly. I think it makes a difference being introduced at a young age. Oh yeah, mom has always hated guns.