The College Age Groups View on Guns

Status
Not open for further replies.
I am a professor in a graduate program at a small university and have been involved in shooting and hunting for a long time. I am an NRA certified firearms instructor and a hunter safety education instructor.

The graduate program I am a part of has a large number of female graduate students. All of our students spend a lot of time with us in the classroom and in clinical settings and all know of my interests. Usually every year 2 or 3of the students would ask to go out to do some shooting with handguns and I would take them along to the range with me.

A few years ago a few of our female students asked to go shooting, then a few more, then several more, and I decided to run an NRA Basic Pistol class for them, ended up with 20 signed up, had to turn away 6 because I wanted to make sure we had adequate supervision on the range (10 of my fellow hunter safety education instructors helped out on range day). My students have dubbed this "Girls With Guns" and we now run it every April.:cool:

I have been surprised at what seems to me the surge in interest over the last 3 to 4 years among these young female graduate students (ages 22 to 27) in learning how to use a handgun. I don't know if this is something widespread or just going on in my little corner of the world.

Lately the male students in the group have started mumbling about discrimination, so we may have to add a "Boys With Bullets" subgroup to the pistol class. :)

Great bunch of kids. It is an honor to work with them. They give me optimism for the future.
 
Many of my friends are pro-gun, some people on campus are... Most of the anti-gunners are just ignorant.

One of them thought that if a charity center removed their "NO GUN" signs, that gangsters and children/teen would be able to legally carry guns onto the property, despite the fact that I pointed out you have to have a permit and be 21 to get this permit.
 
24 and i have been shooting since i was 8.

i think the reason for the comments made by the older posters, is more misconception then anything else.
think about it, how often do they hang out with lots of college students?
 
I've bought 12 guns since I've turned 18 and I've been given 8 as gifts. Most of my friends have at least a few guns, although most of my co-workers are quite open about stating their views as to how firearms are abominations and how NOBODY should have a gun EVER, except the police and military... :rolleyes:
 
Also, enough trash about our teachers that grew up in the 60s.

My physics teacher is a hippie, pony-tail and all. He even said once that it's dangerous to say that religion/school/country X is best, because that's how wars get started. I'm inclined to agree.

However, he did bring up in class his bewilderment at the fact that UK cops don't generally go armed. IIRC, he said that when they arrest someone, they probably have to say, "Wait here so I can go and get my gun."
 
Actually in the UK -I was there is 2004- most all of the police are armed now, and many of them move around in 2-6 man teams with half of the team members lugging MP5s. This was the reality in London...

The image of the cheerful unarmed and pleasant bobbies is largely one of the past. Perhaps 25-33% of British police are still unarmed, but the rest are armed with something, at least a pistol, more often than not an MP-5...

If you ever go to the UK, particularly London, you will see a LOT of armed police.
 
Young people are responsible for the popularity of assault weapons. Old people are responsible for the popularity of assault weapons bans. :D
 
I didn't grow up in a huge pro-gun house. My mom is cautiously indifferent. Dad is a former Marine and strongly believes in every part of the Constitution, especially the 2A. He's just not interested enough to own or shoot often.
The Boy Scouts gave me my first shooting experience. Inherited my first guns at 16, bought my first rifle at 19, first handgun at 21. I currently have 6 working guns and 4 more that are either antiques or just need a good cleaning.
I have a lot of friends who own and enjoy shooting. Most are guys I grew up with from MD, some I met in college, some since college. We didn't all get into it at the same time, but as we all grew up, we all decided for our own reasons to start exercising our rights. The common factor seems to be fairly religious upbringing (go to church on sundays; nothing extreme) at least one parent who served in the military, and parents who instilled good values in us. We were the kids who had curfews when everyone else was out all night drinking and doing drugs. We never got in real trouble. Since then, we've all taken to the stuff 22year olds do. We have jobs, college degrees, well exercised livers, and at least 2 guns (thats the least in anyone's collection). We didn't get together because we were all gun nuts.

Also, for those who say their kids' friends are anti-gun, it probably depends on age. When I was in middle school, I thought gun registration was a good idea, i thought training classes should be mandatory and believed many of the other gun myths out there. It wasn't because of liberal teachers or liberal parents or fear of guns. It was because my mind was still thinking on simple terms. At that point in my mental development, guns were often involved in crime, so less guns would make less crime. Law abiding gun owners had nothing to fear from registration right? the government is trustworthy. Needless to say I've learned.
But cut the kids some slack. take them shooting and teach them the truth slowly in ways they can understand. Thats how my dad taught me about the Constitution and lead me to my current political beliefs. I'm a staunch conservative, believe in small government and large freedom. some call me extreme. I don't care.
Point is, there seems to be a disturbing lack of faith in my generation coming from the older folks. Not just about guns, but about everything. Even in this thread, lots of my peers are posting what should be welcome news about young people being pro-gun, and there are still comments from the old timers about the future being doomed by leftist teachers and fearful sheep.
 
As compared to the how many millions of facebook subscribers who aren't members?

The OP is a gun guy or he wouldn't be here. Gun folk tend to hang in crowds that accept or at least tolerate guns not crowds full of antis.
Click to expand...

You must have missed part of my post. Yes I am pro gun, but the survey was not done of just the pro gun groups of facebook. I simply searched for words like "firearm" and "gun control" and browsed to see what was out there. The NRA had 6000 members and SCCC has 21000ish. The biggest anti groups are in the 400s and many of the members are gunnies who are just there to harass the anti's. There may be a lot of neutral people I'll give you that, but there are certainly a lot of gunnies and they are way more vocal than I think many of them get credit for. And the anti's are strangely silent...
 
Heck, I'm 15 ;), and I love the shooting sports and Hunting with my Grandpa! He has done a great job at teaching me how to become a responsible young man when it comes to firearm safety :D.

I also try to do a little recruiting now and then to some of my friends who are more uneducated then I am...So far I've got a couple of my friends interested into it, and hopefully MORE to follow :).
 
hi there, I'm 22, have been shooting since I could hold a gun.
My father got me started with gun ownership, but at the point when I had more questions that he had answers, he was wise enough to find some of his friends who did have the answers for me, and time to go to the range. I have been shooting at least 2-5 times a week for the last 5 years, rain or shine, own a small collection of firearms, I OC, and I have turned on numerous young people to responsible gun handling and ownership.
I have a group of like 30 friends in which that is our purpose. We invite people to come shooting for the first time, or most anyone who wants to go. The thing we have found is the same thing I've heard on THR a ton of times, it is not guns that scare people, it's the fear of the unknown. Once we take away that excuse with proper knowledge, the 4 rules and a few words on responsibility, they ALLWAYS want to come out with us again.

The people our age just need good friends and mentors, like I had growing up, to teach them all about guns, once the unknown quality of guns disappears, so does the fear of them; it turns to respect.

thank you for reading
 
I'm a 22 year-old Democrat whose first priority is the preservation of my Second Amendment rights. I go to a major university, and am a member of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. I'm taking my CCW class in three weeks and working 35 hours per week while taking 17 hours in school so I can make some money to buy some more "endangered" firearms.

I own an AK-47, two AR-15s, a Mosin-Nagant, and a Sig Sauer handgun and am fully able to and do act completely responsibly with them in spite of the amount of stress inflicted upon me by my schedule. Imagine that!
 
I'm 22, I have 3 friends that I have been shooting with recently, all my age. My first experience with guns was with a group of peers and an AK, I consider this the moment I became pro gun. I think most people my age are just sitting on the fence, or more simply, have not considered their rights. As previously mentioned "anti" folks are better left alone while those undecided will more than likely listen to a voice of reason.

Not to sound negative but this board is not very attractive to the younger demographic. I consider myself to be an oddity, not due to an interest in arms, but I relate better to older folks. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the other members my age are pretty much the same way.

Thats right I called ya'll old :evil:
 
I'm 23, a college student in CA. Didn't own guns growing up; I had to go against family sentiment and general opinion where I was, and play catch-up to build my knowledge base and skill set as I went.

My first gun was a Mosin-Nagant M38 carbine that I kept in the closet "in case things get weird".

My second gun was a Winchester 1300 defender pump, which I kept by my bed, "in case those damn collection agents come back, still thinking the last tenants still live here".

Third gun was a Sig P226, which was intended to be a duty weapon.

Fourth gun was a Taurus .357 snubby. Because I felt like it. I guess that makes me a collector...


From what I can see, my generation is something of a mixed bag. It varies a lot by geography; not only which state, but vastly more important, urban, suburban, or rural.

A few of my friends shoot, and the rest are indifferent. I don't know anyone my age who's actually anti-gun, but I don't know that many people (and tend not to associate with anti-gun people, anyway).

Something that is often overlooked is that my generation has a pretty strong apathetic streak. Most of my friends... don't really give a damn about anything. The few that do, care about making enough money to pay rent, and that's about it. Maybe I'm just not hanging around with the right folks, but ideology isn't their thing. No crusaders here, that I can see, and that includes me.
 
I am twenty. I am a proud gun owner and shooter.

Not to mention martial arts too.

I am also a writer. And I am just a college student too.

My goal in life is not only to educate people, but keep traditions alive. After all, if we are supposed to just forget the sacrifices our ancestors made, why do we need history teachers?
 
From my college experience so far a third are it's split into thirds. there are pro, anti, and indifferent. But few of the pro people I've talked to beleive i the second as a absolute right. They are pro to a certain extent but aren't so sure about things like machine guns. very few understand the second ammendment from a historical view, and very few even know why it is in the constitution.
 
I've been lurking this thread kinda all day.. I'm a grad student and a little bit older than most of my academic peers.. I've discussed this subject with a good many of them as well as a few faculty with whom I have a good enough relationship. And it's a mixed bag of opinions.

Most of the Petroleum Eng's are all about things that go bang and things that are expensive, so guns fit nicely into their mindframe. Also, it helps that alot of them grew up on and around rigs, in and around deer blinds and hunting camps. Of course that's generalising.

Many of the "science" people are, in general, very liberal and a few are "already against the next war". Although, I have gone to the range with a couple of my colleagues on a few occasions. People outside my field are as varied in opinions as the fields they study themselves.

I have noticed that most of your poli sci, comms, english, philosophy types tend to be more anti than pro but not all.

The thing that gets me is that there's this over-arching philosophy that college students are "kids" and "kids" shouldn't go around packing and most certainly have no business carrying a "gun" to school.. After all, kids that come to school with guns always have evil intentions and "what would you need to have a gun for, anyways? We have security people all over the place" This mindset is pervasive not only within the faculty and the administration but amoung an alarming percentage of the student body itself as well. I've talked to many students about their view of their self defense and how they provide for it and such. Most give it so little thought that they have a hard time even talking about providing for their own defense. Most of the guys think they'll turn into Chuck Norris and most of the girls will show me their cell phones.

It's scary..

Today I saw the "Security Patrol" walking down the hallway. He was at least 80, with a degenerative back, probably cataracts in both eyes, a side arm, a reaction time that might be measured in minutes ir hours and a great personality. I thought to myself, "So that's the guy that's going to drop the bad guy who comes charging in with a shotgun??" and I couldn't help but laugh to myself. I shared my opinion of the "security guard" and most of them concurred with the utter ridiculousness of that sight.
 
I'm 22 myself. I have always liked guns, ever since my grandpa let me have at some cans with a Daisy air rifle at his house one summer day.

I have always been a supporter of guns and gun rights. Also, I have always been interested in learning more, reading books, magazines and such.

I used to be the range officer at a large Boy Scout camp, tought over 1000 boys how to shoot straight and safe in 8 weeks and loved every minute of it.

Unfortunetly, I have also always been subject to ridicule and harrassment by school officials and parents of some of my friends. I was called into the office many a time to talk about "why I'm reading that", "why I talk to my friends about guns at lunch" and even "why I feel the need to wear a camo t shirt".

Once I was even given detention because I refused to write a letter to a movie studio begging them for less gun usage in thier films (the assighnment was a persuasive leter) that was going to be mailed to them, with my name on it! This was in 6th grade by the way.

Today, I'm proud to say I'm an Eagle Scout, full time firefighter/paramedic, NRA member, own "a few" weapons and don't have as so much as a speeding ticket on my wrap sheet. That's more than most of my "educators" can say.
 
I am 19 and I am very Pro-Gun, most of the people in my area are also Pro-Gun or at least Gun tolerant. From what I can tell the College age crowd are largly Pro-Gun or at least Gun tolerant even though I live about 45 to 60 minutes from Virginia Tech and the actions of that day are still talked about. There still is the few people who Strong Anti-Gun, but I have found that they are very much misinformed about guns, I have actually been witness to the conversion of a person who was a advocate of making all firearms illegal to a advocate of the true meaning of the 2nd Amendment. But there also a large hunting community here but most of the hunters or in their 30 or older. I think that it largly depends what type of influeces a person had when they were growing up as to whether or not they will be Pro-Gun or Anti-Gun. But that is just my 2 cents.
 
I'm 20 and have several friends who own guns. I also have several more who enjoy going shooting with me any chance they can. The problem is that most of them are very ignorant of the legalities of gun ownership/use and the very serious potential problems facing gun owners in the near future. Many of them are in the mindset that they can buy a gun now, so why would it ever be any different?

I was shooting with a good friend a few months back. He owns a couple firearms, but we were shooting my AK. We were doing everything safely and by the books, when he says "Why is it legal for us to own things like this?" I was furious.

I talk guns with people every chance I get, but it is very hard to make people realize that their rights are at stake. I have gotten several peers into shooting, but most are still in the mentality that nobody could ever take away the guns. :banghead:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
  • Locked
College kids wear gun holsters to protest bans on concealed carry
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
cyclopsshooter
C
H
  • Locked
Every liberal on my college campus seems to be pro-gun.
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
141
Views
5K
hso
hso
F
  • Locked
Student Group Wants More Guns on Campus
Replies
2
Views
468
Larry Ashcraft
Larry Ashcraft
D
  • Locked
The Brady Group Believes that SCCC Is Funded.
2
Replies
47
Views
2K
Soybomb
S
W
  • Locked
12 States Now Considering Allowing Campus Carry
2
Replies
26
Views
1K
thekomet
T
Back
Top