I'll write more than a little bit, and write it as well as I can. Hope someone found it an interesting read. I'll bake in some cultural things to spice it up.
My name is Mikko (male). I'm in my late 20's and I'm a gunoholic (Ok, not quite, but they sure are interesting!). I live in Sweden (not to be confused with Switzerland) which is extremely left wing with socialized-healthcare and highest taxrates in the world.
Ever since I was a kid I was interested in machines and technology. LEGO was a favourite, as well as model planes. Firearms always fascinated me, and I to this day don't know quite why. Perhaps it is the LONG history they have, their engineering, their purposes, their involvement in the most serious of businesses.
When I was about 12 I found an issue of "Combat Handguns", an imported american handgun magazine at the local supermarket. With my big fascination I picked it up, much to my mom's dismay. In this country, having anything like a firearm fascination that is unrelated to olympic sports shooting or using it as a tool for hunting, is considered strange and a bit mentally ill. One is considered a bit like a neo-nazi maybe, but not at all as severe. It just isn't considered to be a sign of a healthy mind. So, you might imagine it is not the kind of thing you normally tell people or talk about.
Of course, the gun interest is out there. Plenty of guys, especially of the gaming generations who used all kinds of guns in virtual reality have an interest in it, and to them one can talk and relate this interest with/to.
Gun ownership is strictly licensed (it's quite a hassle) to active sports shooters and hunters, and is constantly re-evaluated every few years. I.e. if you don't attend the shooting club events now and then, you'll be out of a license and be forced to sell your guns. Guns are also perhaps 50% more expensive than in USA and to have them at home, one must purchase a weapons storage locker for several hundred dollars.
Despite all this, I'm considering taking up target/sports shooting and getting myself a .22LR and 9mm.
My only experience with firearms is airsoft replicas (They are awesome - operate roughly like the real deal, yet one can shoot people with it without anyone getting hurt). I've read, over the years, a mammoth amount of literature, forums, reports.. I have a large craving for learning more (and it isn't just limited to this topic). I love to read discussions about 9mm vs .45 (caliber wars) and other related things.
Despite my long fascination with firearms, I was actually very anti-gun politically. The US seemed like an insane place with guns everywhere. Oh the danger! Many years online and getting past the 'local conditioning' that guns are bad bad bad, I think I more or less have started to take a more reasonable approach:
1. If guns really are not saturated everywhere, there can be a benefit to keep them as banned as possible. Some criminals will still have them, but the number really will be limited. There will be less crimes and suicides of passion, less firearm related accidents and so forth. On the downside, no gun sports, less chance to oppose tyranny (even if it's just small-time resistance with guns), guns can't be used to protect yourself or to deter crime, and so you must in many cases rely completely on the very imperfect, inadequate police.
2. If guns are saturating the place (like in the USA), it is very foolish to not allow or encourage people to take them with them when they go out. That's when they would do the MOST good, deterring violence and crime. And all this 'gun-free zone' stuff is illogical - that is where the most violent massacres are most likely to take place (and we have proof of that). So in many states in the USA, you have the worst combo - tons of guns saturating the place, giving any criminal quick and easy access to go off doing naughty things, and people who can own guns but not use them in meaningful ways to fight back. The middle road is the worst. If the place is saturated, including the criminals, then at least let the guns do some good instead of just having so many disadvantages.
That was quite a rant. I wonder how long the posts can be? moving on to my gun interests and preferences:
I think 9mm is an ideal cartridge (not counting some relatively new ones like 5.7mm FN). It is medium everything. Medium recoil, relatively flat shooting, medium cartridge weight, medium grips, medium weight, medium penetration, medium damage, medium flash, medium noise. In this case, I think middle of the road does provide the most flexible all-round package for the most amount of people. By all means, if one is strong and big, and/or with exceptional shooting skill, a dual stack .45 is even better.
Autoloaders are the most interesting. Revolvers are only interesting if very small and 'back-up-ish'. I love all steel guns as well as the cutting edge plastic guns. If I bought a gun for an emotional, pleasure reason, it would be all steel.
If I get into shooting sports and end up with a few handguns, it will probably be a Ruger MKIII with 1911 grip angle and a CZ-75B.
Thanks for reading!
many others as well, but a guy has to know his limits for collecting-shooting
Sotomayor says the same as Obama but she also doesn't think the 2nd applies to individuals. 