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I’m One of Those Anti-Gun People Who Just Bought His First Firearm
thetruthaboutguns.com/ ^ | 4/4/2020 | Ilya

Posted on 04/05/2020 12:33:45 PM PDT by rktman

Ilya from Michigan writes . . .

If you’d have met me three weeks ago, you’d unequivocally know my stance on guns. I was not only against the ownership of AR-15s, I was in the minority of folks who thought all private gun ownership should be illegal.

Fast forward to today: I own a GLOCK 19 Gen5.

I’m still in a bit of disbelief that there is a dangerous weapon in my house: one that more frequently contributes to accidental deaths, violent homicides, and suicides, rather than the romanticized personal protection experiences.

What happened? The world changed overnight and my opinion…evolved.

I’ve always been a strongly opinionated person, but I pride myself on the idea that my beliefs are loosely held. Strong opinions are great, but what you don’t want is to be egotistically blinded by them. I don’t want to be held hostage by a belief that is no longer valid, given new information. My views before

I live a pretty privileged existence. My family lives in one of the most affluent communities in Michigan. Everyone in the neighborhood leaves their doors open with bikes on the front lawn. Rarely do we worry about anything being stolen, let alone violent crime. I wasn’t born with this privilege, but worked really hard to get where I am.

Circumstances shape people’s understanding of the world, and my situation highly influenced my views on gun ownership. There was no argument, be it constitutional, personal protection, safety, hunting, or anything else that would change my mind and stop me from logically deconstructing your argument.

(Excerpt) Read more at thetruthaboutguns.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: 2a; 2ndamendment; banglist; isawthelight; kaba; michigan; nra; ohnowigetit; secondamendment
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To: Blood of Tyrants

GOOD PLAN, imo, though I recommend a DOUBLE-BARREL or a PUMP 12 or 20 gauge shotgun as a FIRST firearm, as either are EASY to master.

Yours, TMN78247


121 posted on 04/06/2020 12:36:20 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: TMN78247

Too much gun for a woman with no firearms experience. Maybe one in 28 ga or .410.


122 posted on 04/06/2020 4:46:33 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (A socalist is someone that wants everything you have except your job.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Depends on the woman, my 5’ 5”, 122# cousin competently shoots a 20-gauge “feather-light” FRANCHI. - Maria is ADDICTED to quail & dove hunting.
(She usually out-shoots me, too.)

Yours, TMN78247


123 posted on 04/06/2020 4:57:05 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

SORRY. I hit the “post” button before I said that Maria says that most any woman who can carry a baby about is strong enough to shoot a “GRRL-size” 20 gauge, though a 16 or a 12 may be “too much gun”..

Maria is TRYING to get my VERY PETITE (5’0” & about 80#) lady interested in bird hunting, so that she has another female to hunt with. = Fwiw, her husband (Tom G.) would be happier, too. = CHUCKLE.
(So far, “D” shows little interest in bird hunting, though she IS going with me to Africa to hunt next year.= Before I’m too old & “stove up” to hunt, I want to take a Cape Buff & hopefully, a Leopard.)

Yours, TMN78247


124 posted on 04/06/2020 5:07:54 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: A Navy Vet

Gee, I think that, in spite of your bitching and complaining, she figured out that she needs a gun.

To borrow some words from the President, “it would help if you were more positive”.


125 posted on 04/06/2020 5:14:26 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle ( The Great Wall of Trump ---- 100% sealing of the border. Coming soon.)
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To: TMN78247

Good luck on your hunt. What do you plan on using on the Cape buffalo?


126 posted on 04/06/2020 5:24:34 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (A socalist is someone that wants everything you have except your job.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Presuming that the current “rules” stay in force & the local Game Department won’t let me use my XB for Cape Buff, the rifle will be my Remington Model 760 that Jessie at JES “reformatted” for me from .30-06 to 9.3x62mm.
(My friend, “Guide Girl”, has taken TWO Cape Buffalo bulls with her EXCALIBUR.= Her first Buff was hit through the lungs at about 35M, grunted once, took 4 steps & “went over on his nose”. = “GG” said, “He never wiggled after that.”)

Fyi, I have a XB that will shoot in one side & out the other side of a Cape Buff at a 30 degree angle.
(I’ve killed TWO huge feral bulls with my XB.- One was about 1800# & “mostly Brahma”. = BOTH “were converted into hamburger” & given to the Prince William County food bank.)

yours, satx


127 posted on 04/06/2020 7:43:15 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: TMN78247

“a person’s FIRST firearm should be a double-barrel or pump shotgun AND that the new owner should get PROFESSIONAL TRAINING to store, maintain, load & operate their new shotgun SAFELY.”

Your rules seem...I don’t know, outside my experience.

The first weapon I fired was a 12-guage. I was five. At least one of the older men around had come to Oklahoma in a covered wagon. We hunted rabbits and quail with shotguns and squirrels with 22s.

In JROTC at 13 I fired the 1911, the M-1, and the BAR under the supervision of active duty sergeants. As soon as I was 18, I ran right down and got a Marlin 30-30 lever action.

In the Navy it was 1911s, M-14s, M-60s, and the Browning M-2.

Three score and four years after my first experience, I still have not shot anyone accidentally.

I don’t really understand why professional training is required for safe gun handling. In my day, it was just something that men did, and elders passed it down to the young.


128 posted on 04/06/2020 7:57:35 PM PDT by dsc (As for the foundations of the Catholic faith, this pontificate is an outrage to reason.)
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To: dsc

Amen, generations of pre-teen boys managed to handle magazine-fed repeating rifles safely with nothing more than a 10-minute demonstration. I know because I was one of them. The idea that firearms are some mysterious implement that require extensive, expensive professional training to operate safely is absurd.


129 posted on 04/06/2020 8:05:44 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach, said one woman.)
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To: rktman

There was no argument, be it constitutional, personal protection, safety, hunting, or anything else that would change my mind and stop me from logically deconstructing your argument.

****************

What’s really said: There was no argument that the person wouldn’t bat aside with lies, propaganda spewed as truth and hard leftist indoc.


130 posted on 04/06/2020 8:16:11 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: dsc; Trailerpark Badass

Fwiw, I was trained in all sorts of weapons by my grandfather, father & 2 uncles (My Uncle Lawford was a senior OK Game Warden & taught me to shoot his 3.5” barreled Model 27 S&W at age 13.) BUT in 2020 MOST “Newbies”, who want to buy a first gun, have NOBODY in their family who hunts and/or is expert with ANY firearm.
(Btw, my boyhood HERO was Texas Ranger Robert “RED” Arnold, who was called: “THE LAW in East Texas” & was my Sunday School teacher for 3 years.)

Thus, my belief in PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, IF the new gun-buyer is NOT as lucky as the 3 of us were.

Yours, TMN78247
USAMPR, Retired


131 posted on 04/06/2020 8:23:22 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: dsc; Trailerpark Badass

Fwiw, I was trained in all sorts of weapons by my grandfather, father & 2 uncles (My Uncle Lawford was a senior OK Game Warden & taught me to shoot his 3.5” barreled Model 27 S&W at age 13.) BUT in 2020 MOST “Newbies”, who want to buy a first gun, have NOBODY in their family who hunts and/or is expert with ANY firearm.
(Btw, my boyhood HERO was Texas Ranger Robert “RED” Arnold, who was called: “THE LAW in East Texas” & was my Sunday School teacher for 3 years.)

Note: I was once, long ago, a Black Hat at USAMPS & close to HALF of our MP trainees had NEVER even fired a BB gun, much less ay regular firearm.

Thus, my belief in PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, IF the new gun-buyer is NOT as lucky as the 3 of us were.

Yours, TMN78247
USAMPR, Retired


132 posted on 04/06/2020 8:30:07 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: dsc; Trailerpark Badass

Fwiw, I was trained in all sorts of weapons by my grandfather, father & 2 uncles (My Uncle Lawford was a senior OK Game Warden & taught me to shoot his 3.5” barreled Model 27 S&W at age 13.) BUT in 2020 MOST “Newbies”, who want to buy a first gun, have NOBODY in their family who hunts and/or is expert with ANY firearm.
(Btw, my boyhood HERO was Texas Ranger Robert “RED” Arnold, who was called: “THE LAW in East Texas” & was my Sunday School teacher for 3 years.)

Note: I was once, long ago, a Black Hat at USAMPS & close to HALF of our MP trainees had NEVER even fired a BB gun, much less ay regular firearm.

Thus, my belief in PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, IF the new gun-buyer is NOT as lucky as the 3 of us were.

Yours, TMN78247
USAMPR, Retired


133 posted on 04/06/2020 8:35:44 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: dsc

Fwiw, I was an Army Rangemaster for over 2 decades & in my experience, “the younger generation” is NOT experienced in firearms & at USAMPS, when I was on the faculty, about HALF of our MP trainees had NEVER even held a firearm of any kind.

In 2020, “Newbies”, who want to buy a FIRST firearm, NEED PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, imo, as the VAST majority of them are NOT as lucky as you, Trailerpark Baddass & I were to have gun-owning men in their family to teach them shooting/safe handling/hunting.

Btw, my “boyhood heroes were Texas Ranger Robert “Red” Arnold (THE LAW in East Texas) & Ranger CPT M.T. Gonzaullas, called “THE LONE WOLF”.= “Ranger Arnold” taught me in Sunday School & (when I was a little lad) I often sat in the lap of “The Lone Wolf”.
(Given the 2 famous Rangers who I “worshiped”, I didn’t have a prayer of NOT growing up to be a LEO.)

Just my OPINION, TMN78247
USAMPR, Retired


134 posted on 04/06/2020 8:51:32 PM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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To: rktman
I’ve always been a strongly opinionated person, but I pride myself on the idea that my beliefs are loosely held.

Never wrong, just "evolved."

135 posted on 04/07/2020 5:45:12 AM PDT by gogeo (The left prides themselves on being tolerant, but they can't even be civil.)
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To: TMN78247

Looks like your keyboard was set for four round bursts. LOL!:-)


136 posted on 04/07/2020 8:04:03 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: gogeo

The more I see on this, the more I believe this person is flexible but maybe not in a good way. Maybe more “evolved” than I am. Some could say this person could be easily swayed. Still thinkin’ take the gun back and get a refund.


137 posted on 04/07/2020 8:06:51 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: rktman

Yes. Strong opinions are only warranted when empowered by well thought out positions. She would be “Often wrong, but seldom in doubt.”


138 posted on 04/07/2020 9:09:59 AM PDT by gogeo (The left prides themselves on being tolerant, but they can't even be civil.)
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To: gogeo

He. If the header is an indicator. And if the author isn’t a ‘transformer’.


139 posted on 04/07/2020 9:37:15 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: rktman

SORRY about that. = I kept getting “automated messages” that my posts were NOT being posted, so I kept trying to get the posts to “show up”..

Yours, TMN78247


140 posted on 04/07/2020 10:10:12 AM PDT by TMN78247 ("VICTORY or DEATH", William Barrett Travis, LtCol, comdt., Fortress of the Alamo, Bejar, 1836)
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