Sigh..Just Had a Debate with my SFIL

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Buy him a gift subscription membership to the NRA and subscribe him to 1st Freedom, just for the the other side of things.

Seriously I would just ignore him but I would tell him I would be happy to provide him opposing views and research if he is truly interested in finding the truth. Otherwise I'd ask him to just drop it.
 
Warman, the idea from wvshooter to buy some "nasty" gun like an AK and tell him about it, instead of arguing his B.S. is actually a very good idea. Taking action will get his respect, and that is the only way to get him to agree with the truth here. That is one of the traits of these older ex military folks who are anti gun. They only respect people who DON'T argue with them, and instead take action anyway. You mention how ironic it is that he is anti gun/anti citizen liberty even though he is ex military. It is because of the mindset that government drums into it's employees that government is the solution and citizens are dangerous.
 
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

I had a brother who was as anti-gun as they get. For some reason, we started debating whether Charlton Heaston was a good guy or not, and I pointed out to him that Heaston was the only Hollywood actor to march with Martin Luther King, and for some reason, it broke through to my brother that things were not as they seem. Now he sounds eager to shoot, if we can ever get together on the same coast.

My point? Sometimes the single point that changes everything, doesn't have anything directly to do with the main point!

- - - Yoda
 
awesome insight everybody - thank you! Really a lot of ideas I would never think of. You know what it was, first he got on my wife and I about drinking bottled water and how it is destroying the earth, then the hybrid cars now guns. I just had enough. I do think that now he is retired, he has too much time on his hands and has selected me as his fix for debate. I'm more the type that thinks things through before I act so my decisions are usually final unless I just screw up.
Anyway, my favorites are buying an automatic weapon, getting him an NRA membership or maybe when I see him dress in fatigues, holsters and the whole thing.

I really found the insight amazing about old military guys/government employed. Fits him to a "T".

Thanks again - great posts!
 
I have learned that debate arises from the uncertainties surrounding an issue.

If your FIL has no uncertainty, then either you study and learn his make up so you can ask the right question to cause that uncertainty or you accept that he is who he is...

After that you have to decide how to deal with him, remember this is the person you kids will call grandpa, or not if they never see him.
 
"After that you have to decide how to deal with him, remember this is the person you kids will call grandpa, or not if they never see him."

Shadow 7D, what exactly are you suggesting that he do with his step father in law?

Kidding of course....
 
I've been accused, maybe even justly of going a little far here, this is not one of those time; I was simply saying that some family provide you the motivation to maintain a long distance relationship and maintain it well, thus ensuring it and those others involved stay far away, but if he want to take his SFIL out to the garden to help grow some tulips, I'm sure that they would have a pleasant afternoon.
 
One time he bragged about sending $50 to the brady's handgun control. I excused myself, left the room, came back from the den with an envelope and a donation to the NRA for $150.
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Greatness, I would do that.
 
FWIW I'm not terribly fond of my sister in law either. Her views on many political subjects, including the 2nd amendment, border on asinine. My mother in law... several times I've told my husband he must be the anti-Christ because his mother is the beast. But, I continue to visit, I continue to phone letting them know how he is doing when overseas. You see, I made a vow to take the guy for better or for worse... and that included his family.

It's been a frustrating road but it's had it's rewards, like the time they finished a meal and I was able to tell them they had just devoured Bambi covered with brown gravy. Oddly enough, my father in law softened his anti-hunting stance shortly after.
 
warman, you mentioned the key, he is trying to base a rational debate on emotion. He is simply trying to get you to argue emotion. Most anti's and liberals know this will always be futile for you. It is impossible to rationalize emotions.

So just thank him for the concern.
 
I'd say, "Bill, after talking to you, I realize I need to buy an AK-47 before the left wingers decide it's too dangerous for me to have one. Thanks for the the conversation !"

Seriously.

Then, depending on what type of guy he is, I might, might take him shooting sometime.......maybe........
 
trust me it doesnt help i do the same thing with my sister 3-4 times a year

btw prius? why? im getting a custom plate for by lifted 1989 for bronco with a v8 (16mpg highway heck yeah) that says "8aprius"
 
I have found it best not to discuss certain topics - guns, politics, and religion are at the top of the list, unless I know someone who already agrees with me.

It's just so highly unlikely that you are going to change anyone's mind that it just ends up being a waste of time. And, even if you do persuade someone, so what?

I just remind myself that it takes two to tango. You can either poke someone with a figurative stick, or you can choose not to participate/advance the discussion. You really do have a choice.
 
no offense, but, WHAT THE HELL you doing hanging out and exchanging emails with SFIL??? don't you have some better things to do? like attending another class? :) :D
 
Officers'Wife said:
like the time they finished a meal and I was able to tell them they had just devoured Bambi covered with brown gravy. Oddly enough, my father in law softened his anti-hunting stance shortly after.
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I literally loled over that. Epic! :D
 
My mother in law is like that, too.

I taught my boys the basics on firearm safety with BB guns. So during one of her "visits" I grabbed the kids and the BB guns and took them shooting, much to the dismay of my wife being left behind with her mother. Of course the first thing she says is, "Oh dear Lord, you own a gun?", to which I replied, "No, I don't own a gun .... I own several guns.".

Yeah, I got an earful from the missus later that night .... we won't go there. My ears still ring when I think of that evening.


Kris
 
I feel your pain. For Christmas year before last, my dad gave me a book, and gave it to me in front of the whole family. The title? "Our Declining Moral Values," or something equivalent to that, from Jimmy Carter. Oh, and my dad had written inside the cover that Mr. Carter was a "seer and a sage," and that our country would do well to heed his warnings... Honestly, I'm still not over it. I REALLY think I'm gonna buy him a copy of Glenn Beck's "Arguing with Idiots" book for Christmas this year. Really.

We're in the South, so I don't get much flak about having a gun. Concealed carry is not discussed, b/c I never tell them. My BIL knows, and doesn't care.

If I were in your position, I'd be frustrated as well, but I guess if I'm honest, I'd bite my tongue and move on...
 
It truly perplexes me how military or vets can be anti-gun. Almost as much as church-goers vote for Democrats.
 
Hi MarineOne,

When my husband had his second furlough we stayed at Dad's place, a medium size farm in northern Indiana. When the in-laws visited (without telling us) my Dad, brother and husband just came in from hunting deer. Having their pride of Illinois son come in with two other men, all armed to the teeth with black powder weapons and large hunting knives set the tone for our future relationship.

Three years later FIL has learned tolerance, at least when there is molasses cured venison ham in the smokehouse, MIL and I have a (unspoken) 'don't talk- don't argue' agreement and SIL... *sigh* Since I was taught if I didn't have anything nice to say to say nothing at all I won't even mention my SIL's name.

I just wonder what is going to happen when my oldest is 11 and out of respect for my uncle I insist she learn to make a bow and arrow and kill a deer with the weapon. While nearly every visit from or to the in-laws I wonder if I'm going to need sutures from biting my tongue the one I feel sorry for is my husband who is caught squarely in the middle.

In the end, my in laws are not going to change their opinions and have realized they are not going to change ours. I'm not about to waste time trying. The phrase that works best seems to be simply that their son and grandchildren are being raised in a home that reflects our opinions on history, hunting and self-reliance. They can make son and grandchildren comfortable with their presence or only see their criticism. For the sake of peace and out of respect of the father of my children I try very hard not to rock the boat.
 
You used the terms "gun show loophole" and "academic studies."

Gun show loophole - Meh..."anti-gun" rhetoric.

Academic studies - "Academic" by whose standard?

It has also been shown that "disarming the public" solves nothing (in terms of crime) and can actually aid in increasing crime rates.

As others have said, shake your head a bit and go on your way. After all, some comments just arent worth the breath used to make them.
 
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