Does your immediate family own any sort of working firearm?

[jenn-]

No. Dh has a healthy respect/knowledge of guns from being former military but they terrify me. Now, this may be b/c I am woefully ignorant of how to shoot one, carry one safely..basically any of that good zombie apocalypse gun know-how. Dh wants to take me shooting sometime in the future but I'm so afraid. I'm also incredibly accident-prone. I imagine I'd shoot myself or someone else by mistake within a few minutes! It's just probably better for everyone if I stay away from guns!

 

For the record, I'm not necessarily against guns. If someone wants to own one and fire it, go for it, as long as they aren't a careless moron about it.

I grew up around guns, but I still stomped my feet when DH brought his grandfather's rifle home.

 

Then he bought DD a pretty pink .22 rifle to learn on (in retrospect we probably should have gone with a traditionally colored one). Then the boys got airsoft guns. Dh would take them out with his dad to shoot at the farm. After two years of asking if I wanted to come, I finally agreed. Now I am breaking in my own gun.

 

If you are really interested in becoming a safe gun handler, even if you still wouldn't want them in the house, maybe a trip to a real shooting range with your would help. I say a real range because some people just throw together a bench and place some targets in a field and call it a range. A good one will have safety requirements and employees to help.

[OhanaBee]

No.  I don't have a problem with them, but we've never felt the need.

 

I think dh had an air rifle years ago to deal with a critter problem.  Then we moved back to the city and I'm pretty sure he gave it to our nephew.

[Amy in NH]

My dh is a trained 4-H shooting sports instructor for pistol, rifle, and shotgun.  Ds has a pellet rifle he uses for target practice on our property, and dh sometimes takes the kids to the range for target shooting.  Living in a rural area we've had to use the rifle a couple of times to protect our livestock, but before we moved here there was no reason for gun use/ownership other than for recreation.  Tbh, before we lived here I would have preferred not to have any in the house; I am a pacifist and guns make me anxious.

 

I wanted to add how dismayed I was when looking for a pellet rifle to purchase as a gift for ds that the only thing I could find were firearms that look like assault weapons. 

[mom2jjka]

Owning a gun was never something we considered, but DH inherited his grandfather's hunting rifles when he passed away.  (Grandfather used to take DH hunting when he was a boy - so there is sentimental value for DH.)   Our children do not even know that we have them, and we do not have ammo for them, but we still bought trigger locks just to be safe.  

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

No.  Probably never.  I don't see a need to have a gun for anything except hunting or protection from wild animals in remote areas, and neither of those will ever likely apply.  There is no way I would have firearms in a house with children.

[Clear Creek]

Yes. We have guns for hunting, pest control, and personal protection. The guns are in a locked safe (not a display case, but a safe) and also have trigger locks. They are not stored loaded, but I can load one pretty quickly if needed.

 

We live out in the boonies and do not have a local police department. If I have an emergency and dial 911, it is a minimum of a 15 minute response time since the call has to be forwarded from the call center at a nearby town to the county sheriff, who will then come out my way if he is not busy with another emergency. It was actually a LEO who recommended we keep a firearm in our home for personal protection.

[Saddlemomma]

Yes. We have guns for hunting, pest control, and personal protection. The guns are in a locked safe (not a display case, but a safe) and also have trigger locks. They are not stored loaded, but I can load one pretty quickly if needed.

 

We live out in the boonies and do not have a local police department. If I have an emergency and dial 911, it is a minimum of a 15 minute response time since the call has to be forwarded from the call center at a nearby town to the county sheriff, who will then come out my way if he is not busy with another emergency. It was actually a LEO who recommended we keep a firearm in our home for personal protection.

 

Same here.  It would take about 20 mins. for law enforcement to get to us.

 

[Runningmom80]

hell no

Same.

[Joanne]

My 1st ex owned one before I met him, but "got rid of it" after he put it to his head contemplating suicide early in his sobriety - before we even dated. I do not know if he and his wife have any now. The kids would tell me if I asked, but I try to avoid putting them in awkward spots with regard to co-parenting.

 

My 2nd ex came into the marriage born and raised in East Texas, and a former Houston Police Officer. He had guns, gained more when his Dad died. I was always a bit uncomfortable with it. I got rid of them after he expressed a suicide intent with a plan to use a gun. He's still mad at me about it - I still don't care about the mad.

 

I don't think my oldest has one? I could ask, I suppose.

 

We do not have any in my home. I am terribly torn about the issue. One day, I consider taking cc classes and getting a gun. The next, I am very anti-gun.

 

I think that the gun culture in the US and Texas especially is so pervasive and profound that people can't make informed, reasonable decisions. I think the gun culture is very irrational and bizarre.

 

[creekland]

I've never had any sort of desire for cc.  The only time I've ever even used a handgun was back in my AF training.  That was many moons ago.

[Momling]

No! I don't even know of anyone in my social circle who does. It'd be pretty unusual here in our smallish artsy college town, though in the more rural areas in our county, hunting is pretty popular.

[Tap]

Yes we do and they are used.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

Growing up, we did. They were kept on Grandma's farm because no one needs them in town.

[creekland]

No! I don't even know of anyone in my social circle who does. It'd be pretty unusual here in our smallish artsy college town, though in the more rural areas in our county, hunting is pretty popular.

 

I'd have to think hard to come up with folks in my social circle who didn't.  Perhaps some who live in town, but many of those hunt (or have hubbies who do), so I know they have them.

 

Our public school, like many others around, give the first day of rifle deer season off as a holiday.  They're pretty lenient with excused absences after that first day too - as long as the student isn't failing.

[Susan in TN]

Marshmallow guns don't count, do they? :)

 

We do have a sword and bow and arrows.

 

Here's a funny story...we were at a university "fun day" and they had this bow/arrow game where you try to shoot the floating ball out of the stream of air that was keeping it up. Our younger kids stood in line waiting and watching as university student after student completely failed to hit the ball. Then my kids - 5yo, 8yo, 9yo, and 11yo had their turns and each hit the ball on their first tries. The guy running the game kind of laughed and said, "you all must be scouts". Yep. :D

[Wabi Sabi]

No, we don't own a gun, and for that matter, I've never even held or touched one in my life. 

When I was a kid my dad had several antique rifles that used to belong to his grandfather, but they were in the attic inaccessible to children. They hadn't been fired in decades, and none of us know if they even worked. When my father died my mother did something with them- took them to the police station, I think. 

That said, I'm not 100% anti-gun. I've never hunted, but I am mildly interested in it, and I would consider owning a hunting rifle if I ever had someone to teach me how to hunt. 

A handgun, however? Nope. Not in my home.