My parents were a left coast hippies, my father was a Vietnam vet who bailed shortly after i was born.
My mother followed generally with Democrat party, she was not as anti as the current crop of left wingers but she had no use for guns, she had little understanding besides they were dangerous and should be "controlled", as a child I was not allowed toy guns. With goal of a more peaceful future, misguided thought but not a malicious intent.
I followed along with my families political bend through my teenage years, but I always had a libertarian drive,
When I was 20 (about 20 years ago) my maternal grandfather died, he had his deceased brothers nylon 66, I had always seen it hanging on the wall and I wanted it.
I was in Georgia at the time and I will never forget the laugh I got when I called the sheriff's office to ask about transferring the registration on my grandfather's 22. All of my gun knolege up to this point was from tv and Movies.
To the range I went with the yellow plastic box of remington ammo from the 70's or 80's, at home I had figured out how to load and unload it, cycle rounds through the chamber. How to use the sights safety etc. This was before I had Internet, and information could be at your fingertips.
I will never forget how nervous I was for that first trigger pull, I did not know what to expect, after that shot I cycled the charging handle expecting to eject the spent brass. And I was completely baffled when a live round came out, looked at the bullet still in the case, looked at the hole in the paper. Looked back at the bullet still in the case. Very confused.
The next round the spent brass bounced off the lane partition and hit me, and I figured it out. I had discovered semi-auto! Wow this thing is cool!
For the next few months I shott that thing just about every weekend, I am a particularly gifted mechanic I love machines, love science, the intricate parts, the cleaning, figuring them out, loved it, loved trying for ever decreasing group sizes, I soon mounted a cheap scope on it and had a blast! Within a year I had a 10-22, a 1911, and an AR-15. (No bayo lug, flash hider, 10rd mag, all the other ban years crap) I read magazines and books leaned what I could, a few years after that I was reloading and an NRA member with a concealed carry permit.
About 5 years later my aging former hippy mother had a run in with an aggressive pan handler. Nothing happened but the event left her vulnerable feeling, she had watched my progressing into the gun world, and had seen how it could be a fun and safe hobby if done right, not long after she got a j frame .38 and a concealed carry permit of her own.
2011 I was sitting in my suv in a parking lot, my girlfriend was standing in my open doorway, I was trying to decide if I could carry into a Resturant that served alcohol, drivers door was open, my hosted P3AT in hand when a armed man in black clothing wearing a ski mask came running up behind her, it was august in Florida, no reason to wear long sleeves, or a ski mask. Or run up to people gun in hand. I shot him right over my girlfriends head, fortunately he survived, and now resides at tax payers expense. To this day that was the most stressful moment of my life, but me and mine walked away unharmed from a dangerous situation. Self defense and the tools to make it happen are a natural right.
Today I am a lifetime NRA member, right leaning libertarian, my pregnant wife's permit will get here any day now, my gun collection will only fit in the largest of safes. And my step son just got a bolt action 22lr savage rascal for Christmas, he loves it and can recite the 4 rules on comand.
I think our best strategy is to introduce as many as possible to the shooting sports, empathize safety, be truthful honest and have fun, having a guide is what was missing in my life to help me into the shooting sports, once guns are demistified for the average person and they can see how laws affect real people who are already safe and responsible the anti-gun folk will have a much harder time plowing us under. We may even get more shooting buddies.
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