When it comes down to it....

[Godsgunman]

How's the saying go, "You may not like guns and you may not believe in God but when it comes down to it you'll be calling someone with a gun and praying they get there in time." I know I butchered the saying but it shows the mindset of alot of people unfortunately.
My wife isn't quite "anti-gun" but is very wishy washy about the subject and isn't a huge fan of my ownership of firearms. That is until they are needed. I have shared a story a while ago how her view changed suddenly when we heard a large "crash" in our house a few years ago. Well we just had another instance the other night where she was suddenly glad that I keep some guns in a bedside safe. About midnight we were just talking in bed and we hear our front door being shut. I quickly open the safe and grab my revolver and tell my wife to have the phone ready. Her first response to me was "I need a gun to!" Long story short, after listening quietly for movement and being able to see the majority of the house from the safety of our room I deemed it safe to check the doors. All the doors were securely locked and deadbolted and even the storm door was secured, so what had actually made the sound remains unknown although we know it was the same sound of the front door which is pretty distinctive. We do have children but they are to young to be playing with the door.
Anyways, long story to get to my point which is I truly believe that when it comes down to it everyone is pro-gun or at least "pro-survival" with a gun being one of the best options for surviving for most of us unless you are Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. Even some of the staunchest anti-gun proponents like our beloved Fienstein is still actually pro-gun, just not for the "common man". The real issue with the hardcore antis is not guns or "gun violence" or saving lives but control. Anyways, anyone else have stories of friends or loved ones who tend to lean towards the anti side but suddenly have had a wake up call?

 

[angrymike]

Butchered or not, you hit the nail on the head. Amazing how people become pro gun, pro God and learn to pray when the SHTF...........

 

[Ryanxia]

Ya things like that tend to switch people over to the other side. Unfortunately for many once they realize they need one, they're already screwed.

 

[Stress_Test]

Yes, I've concluded that sadly, there are many people out there who will never snap out of their naive mindset unless they suffer actual violence.

It's like the average driver; intellectually, he/she knows that car wrecks happen every day, but DEEP DOWN they don't believe it will actually happen to them.

It still blows my mind that people will earnestly say things like "why do you need a GUN, just call the police!"

:banghead:

 

[Stress_Test]

Oops, forgot to answer the OP's topic.

Several years back when the big tornado storms hit N. Alabama, the power was our for about 5 days. One of my brother's co-workers' wife was anti-gun, until that situation. Then she realized, with no lighting anywhere, and no phone service, having a gun can be a good thing

Phone lines were torn up in a lot of areas, and cell towers were either damaged or out of power once the battery backup ran down. Some towers did get up and running on generators, but for some people there was no phone service for a little while.

Kind of puts a kink in the whole "just call the police" survival plan, eh?

 

[km101]

You got it right. In an emergency people tend to revert to fundamental ideas. They are often glad to have a gun around more than a cell phone. And they tend to talk to their Maker more than they ever have in the past.

Another old saying: "There are no atheists in a foxhole." You tend to put more faith in God and guns when it is all on the line.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

OP you are exactly right! My family and most of my friends are fortunately pro-gun so I don't really need to explain my gun owning or carrying concealed to them.

Stress Test I live in N. Alabama also and I remember the tornadoes that tore up everything myself and all my family were largely unhurt, but the fact there was no power anywhere or phone service, gasoline, bags of ice, etc etc etc.

This reminds of a story from that time when my wife's mother who is VERY anti-gun asked if I could loan her a handgun for a few weeks. There had been several breakins and "looting" in the area that she lives in. She was afraid that someone would break in her house and she couldn't defend herself or call the police. I respectfully declined to to loan her a handgun but I did sleep in her living room armed for a few weeks. Guess it goes to show how ones beliefs or ideals can change with a serious/dangerous situation.

 

[wally]

Some towers did get up and running on generators,

After hurricane Ike some towers and railroad crossings were back on line with generators until the scumbags stole the generators!

 

[Stress_Test]

No surprise there. A co-worker nearly had his generator stolen but he happened to be awake that night and heard the fence rattle. The thugs took off when he swept the area with his spotlight. (he was armed by the way)

 

[PabloJ]

How's the saying go, "You may not like guns and you may not believe in God but when it comes down to it you'll be calling someone with a gun and praying they get there in time." I know I butchered the saying but it shows the mindset of alot of people unfortunately.
My wife isn't quite "anti-gun" but is very wishy washy about the subject and isn't a huge fan of my ownership of firearms. That is until they are needed. I have shared a story a while ago how her view changed suddenly when we heard a large "crash" in our house a few years ago. Well we just had another instance the other night where she was suddenly glad that I keep some guns in a bedside safe. About midnight we were just talking in bed and we hear our front door being shut. I quickly open the safe and grab my revolver and tell my wife to have the phone ready. Her first response to me was "I need a gun to!" Long story short, after listening quietly for movement and being able to see the majority of the house from the safety of our room I deemed it safe to check the doors. All the doors were securely locked and deadbolted and even the storm door was secured, so what had actually made the sound remains unknown although we know it was the same sound of the front door which is pretty distinctive. We do have children but they are to young to be playing with the door.
Anyways, long story to get to my point which is I truly believe that when it comes down to it everyone is pro-gun or at least "pro-survival" with a gun being one of the best options for surviving for most of us unless you are Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. Even some of the staunchest anti-gun proponents like our beloved Fienstein is still actually pro-gun, just not for the "common man". The real issue with the hardcore antis is not guns or "gun violence" or saving lives but control. Anyways, anyone else have stories of friends or loved ones who tend to lean towards the anti side but suddenly have had a wake up call?

Lot of well-educated elite do not feel comfortable with poor people with limited eduction to have guns in case they need to "reel them in".

Religion is very useful entity to the poor and underprivileged giving them hope for the future and helping them go on in their daily lives.

 

[Hardtarget]

About ten years ago a young lady at church called me. When she got home her back door was open. I went to her home, (very close), and took a look. I know...very dumb. I looked over, under, and in everything. All O.K. Never figured out how or why the door was open.

She is not really pro-gun but not really anti, either. She was just
'pro" enough to call me. I suggested she get herself a pistol.

Mark

 

[aarondhgraham]

Way back in the mid-80's,,,

Way back in the mid-80's,,,
I was married to a wonderful California girl,,,
Her Pop was a WW-II veteran and her mom carried a Beretta.

I was still in the service when we met,,,
Living in the barracks I had no firearms at that time.

Who would have thought she was a rabid anti-gun person.

I got out of the service and we got married,,,
On my first visit to my home town I unpacked my 1911,,,
She was adamant that the gun was not going to be loaded in our home.

So, I kept the mag loaded and the slide locked back,,,
She hated the fact that the gun was in the nightstand in our bedroom.

Did I mention that she was a police dispatcher?

I worked out of town 5 days a week,,,
I had tried unsuccessfully to teach her how to use the gun,,,
Then one day I got a frantic phone call that said "Get yourself home right now.

Our upstairs neighbor had gone off his rocker,,,
We lived in an old Federalist style apartment in downtown Sacramento,,,
He had a large piece of pipe and tried to batter his way into our apartment "to let the screaming woman out."

She was on the phone to her watch commander through 911,,,
He was trying to determine what kind of gun she had so he could help her load it,,,
In her panicked state she was not able to describe the gun well enough and therefore never got it loaded.

When the nutcase neighbor finally broke in all she could do was hide in the bathroom,,,
It took 13 minutes for her own cops to respond to the apartment,,,
They finally got there and arrested the intruder.

That next weekend she demanded that I teach her how to use the 1911,,,
It was way too much gun for her tastes so we went gun shopping,,,
We found one she liked which was a Ruger SP-101 in .22 LR,,,
I tried to get her to at least consider a .38 Special,,,
But she said the .22 didn't scare her as much,,,
She actually became very good with the gun.

It only took one bad event to change her mind about guns in the home.

Sadly for me, we divorced several years later,,,
She got that little Ruger in the settlement,,,
Dang but I miss that little revolver.

Aarond

.

 

[herrwalther]

My family that lives back in NY and parts of New England are all anti-ish people. They are among the "just call the police" and ostrich folk of it can't happen to me/relative/friend. They live in a very low crime town and don't see the need to be armed. Just the other day my parents asked me to give them classes on firearm safety.

I think what finally broke them out of their quiet little bubble was the uprise of meth labs in the area (within 200 miles). And we all know violence and drugs go hand in hand like...well violence and drugs.

 

[lpsharp88]

My fiance is kind of like that. She has said many times that "guns scare her", but there have been many instances that she seems to like them as well. A recent example was a week or two ago, her, her mother, and I were driving back to her house late at night (involves lots of dark, 2 lane roads), and we passed a couple hitchhikers. She quickly locks the doors and asks me if I have a gun, and sighs in relief when I confirm I do.

 

[Stress_Test]

My family that lives back in NY and parts of New England are all anti-ish people. They are among the "just call the police" and ostrich folk of it can't happen to me/relative/friend. They live in a very low crime town and don't see the need to be armed. Just the other day my parents asked me to give them classes on firearm safety.

The "low crime rate" and "nice area/neighborhood" mindset drives me nuts too.

Back when I was in high school, there was an incident in a "nice low-crime neighborhood" where a 17yo kid chopped his parents to death with an axe, then nearly beat his siblings to death with a hammer. One of my friends had a sister who knew the family, and she just so happened to show up at the house that night as the murderer was coming out the door. The only reason she's still alive is that she was a faster runner than the killer.

Google "Jeffery Franklin" if you want info on the story.


The whole "nice safe neighborhood" mindset is complete bull****. I've spent most of my life in a nice neighborhood in the nice part of town and plenty of horrible things still happen to people here too.