The Liberal Gun Club Forum

Just curious about this. I’ll start:
I had a handgun that I carried often, but I sold it. The new one I’ll be getting in a week or so is mainly for hiking and road trips. For me, as a middle-aged woman, I see the gun as an equalizer. Protection mainly against opportunists. I truly doubt I will ever need it, but It will make me safer and more comfortable on the trails and highways. And, shooting a gun is fun!
What about you?

I own several (many) guns both handguns, shotguns, and long guns alike. I have many holsters to accommodate carry a variety of handguns, sometimes (usually) 2 or more at a time. I carry all the time/everywhere it is legal to do so.

In this day and age, when traveling city streets and being surrounded by people most of the time (my work is as a service tech) I am baffled by people who feel safe in public with no means of protecting themselves but their bare hands. When forced to be disarmed because I am working in a hospital, boardroom, city council chambers, college class rooms/auditoriums, etc. I feel "uncomfortable" and vulnerable because I am not armed and I feel that these kinds of places are high priority targets for the mass murderers we seem to be breeding like hotcakes now days.

Call it paranoia but I am completely outwardly calm no matter what. I just do not get on well with being disarmed at any time, for any reason.

VooDoo

Voodoo, I get it. These days the craziness is happening in places that would seem least likely. I would definitely prefer to be armed rather than unarmed if I’m in a grocery store and some wacko starts shooting. I have no illusions about “saving the day”, or going in to “combat” mode. No matter what kind of situation I’m in, armed or unarmed, I’ll do what I can, as safely as I can.
Btw, I work in a hospital, and I don’t find it unlikely at all that one day we could have an active shooter scenario.

The wack jobs seem to be targeting places they *know* no one can stop them---bars, schools, etc. It's only a matter of time before a hospital or city council chamber or boardroom gets shot up. The more likelt it is that no one is atmed the more likely it is to get hit eventually I believe.

Still, carrying is an awesome responsibility and I cannot conscientiously be contemptuous of folks who are not comfortable being armed. It's an intensely personal thing.

VooDoo

Protect myself and my property. And I carry 99.9% of the time.

Right on. I know trump likes to say “if a good guy had had a gun...”, but I don’t agree totally. In some situations, yes. But a shootout doesn’t sound right to me. If there is time to try a strategic shot, that’s cool. And like you mentioned, road rage is a real thing. I think we’re learning how to live in a society that has gone to a certain level of hell. One thing I know is that there are many, many armed people in this country, and they aren’t all my friends. I want to be ready.

I own guns because I like to reload. Got to have guns to shoot the ammo in.

VodoundaVinci said:

I feel "uncomfortable" and vulnerable because I am not armed ...

Ditto. I carry 100% of the time in Nevada unless I am going into a hospital, etc. When I fly to California, I disarm and then I am in downtown San Francisco where the homeless have changed A LOT in 5 years. Homeless people were formerly pretty tame in SF. Now with a big uptake in heavy drug use, you really do not feel 100% safe. I can sympathize with their plight - I even donate to the homeless fund in SF, but that does not mean all of them are safe to be around.

The same is true in San Jose. Last week I was up and outside in downtown San Jose around 5:30am. Some woman was just walking to work and two homeless guys were following her and shouting rude comments. It -really- pissed me off. I told them I had just called 911 and they better scoot, so they did. Why didn't the woman do this for herself? Simple, she was putting 100% of her energy into walking faster than the assholes following her. Why should she slow down to get her phone out.

I am not claiming their behavior had escalated to the point of drawing a firearm - it had not. But they were acting erratic enough that one could imagine it.

So I would rather have a society with polite police walking the streets and smiling. I don't live there. And yes, at 63 years old, I do feel a tiny bit vulnerable as I have written elsewhere. I don't like that, but it is the way it is.

Max129, I’m 59 and I know what you mean about feeling vulnerable. Hiking and road-tripping are tops. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve done less hiking because I don’t want to be out there as a woman alone, but I will go out there because I have every right to be there, and I love it!
I drove around the country twice last summer, and I had no problems. I did get nervous at times, and I would have felt a lot better armed. Next summer, I will be.

I own guns because I like to shoot stuff. Whether I carry will forever remain a mystery to most, as it should.

CDFingers

Can't carry in NJ. But if you study and learn martial arts, they cannot take that away from you, neither the state, nor the criminals.
Karate = "The Empty Hand".

I carry most of the time. It depends on where I am going since there are restrictions where I live - and I'm fine with that. I enjoy range time, but I enjoy it most as a family activity - sharing a lane at the local range with my wife or going to an outdoor state park range with my family and putting lots of small holes in paper.

We’ll be happy to have a gun when we need one, but the chances that we’ll need one are minuscule. And then the aftermath would be horrible. Hopefully we’ll make the right call if the chips are ever down.
I think shooting is fun, but man it’s an expensive hobby!

spirit4earth wrote: Sun Nov 11, 2018 9:36 pm We’ll be happy to have a gun when we need one, but the chances that we’ll need one are minuscule. And then the aftermath would be horrible. Hopefully we’ll make the right call if the chips are ever down.
I think shooting is fun, but man it’s an expensive hobby!

Quite a few folks on here reload, which keeps the running costs down. I have yet to take up that part of the hobby, but it's on the to do list. Purchasing C&R and/or military surplus arms also helped us keep the cost down and I like the historic significance. My eldest son was fascinated with WW2 history, particularly the Battle of Stalingrad. A Mosin-Nagant M91/30 wound up under the Christmas tree after he turned 18. Getting the cosmoline cleaned out of it and getting sighted in made for a fun father/son project and helped teach my son some basic skills. I think I paid just under $100 for it at the time - although that was six years ago. He still loves shooting that old rifle at every opportunity (so do I - when I can wrench it from him). I keep an eye out for ammo sales. Shooting .22 LR is also very addictive - and still pretty cheap. When we are at the range and the more expensive ammo runs low, we switch to the .22's.

As for chips being down and such, firearms can make a dangerous situation far worse unless a person is well trained and has muscle memory honed in from repeat practice.

Yeah, I agree. Living in AZ, one of the most gun-friendly states (Constitutional Carry), I CC’ed just for kicks -until I took the class to get my CCW license. Then I learned of the legal liabilities of actually having to shoot someone. Now the gun stays at home.

My guns are for sport and possibly hunting in some distant future. I reload. Every aspect of firearms fascinate and challenges me to grow. I simply do not see it as something I need for personal protection where I live. I respect that other people do but the average white guy in my state who OC’s at the Walmart?.. not so much.

Because I can and always have had guns in life growing up and as adult. Have license to carry and don't leave home without EDC as the crazies seem to out number the sane these days. I have camped and backpacked in western states for what seems like centuries at times - always armed.

My thoughts are congruent with those of Bisbee, as they so often seem to be. I do have a license to carry concealed since, in PA, there is no distinction between carry on your person or in your car, etc. One License to Carry Firearms covers the bases.

Given my current locale’s very low crime statistics and population density, I do not feel the need to carry regularly and I try hard to avoid the places where I might be unsafe. However, our farm is somewhat conspicuous and probably gives an impression of relative, if not absolute, affluence. Furthermore, the neighbors are not close by. As a result, I do have several firearms at the ready in appropriate places in the house. (I don’t really have to worry about over penetration).

I do carry on my evening jaunts to check the horses and to close up the chicken coop. ;-). Mostly this is in case of visitation by foxes, raccoons, or other small predators. Usually I pocket a small handgun. In cases where things have gone bump in the night, I bring a .410 pump.

And just like Bucolic, I also like to go skinny-dipping by moonlight...

Bisbee wrote: Mon Nov 12, 2018 9:14 pm And just like Bucolic, I also like to go skinny-dipping by moonlight...

TMI!

I was raised that adults carry weapons. When I converted, it became an article of my faith that I never stray too far from my "weapons of war".

I carry a weapon, simply, because the alternative is unthinkable.

When do I carry-- Whenever I am away from my house and property, as long as it is legal to do so. (no post offices, courthouses or federal buildings)

Why do I carry-- First, I am queerer than a 3 dollar bill, and have experienced an anti-LGBT hate crime. Second, go to the Southern Poverty Law center and look at their map of right wing hate groups. Third, our current president and the nut-so's that think they can do anything to anybody since he is president. Fourth, so I can go where I need to go without fear.

Hiker wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 12:08 pm When do I carry-- Whenever I am away from my house and property, as long as it is legal to do so. (no post offices, courthouses or federal buildings)

Why do I carry-- First, I am queerer than a 3 dollar bill, and have experienced an anti-LGBT hate crime. Second, go to the Southern Poverty Law center and look at their map of right wing hate groups. Third, our current president and the nut-so's that think they can do anything to anybody since he is president. Fourth, so I can go where I need to go without fear.

This. ^^^^^. Right on!

Shooting for fun putting lots of holes in paper and home protection, I'll get my CCW soon.
I'm on the same page as few here in the times and climate in the good ol' USofA are getting strange and the current CIC is an enabler for Hate Groups, Nuts and assorted freaks.
I'm getting older and handicapped (bad knee and back) so it's an equalizer...hope I never need it but I'm prepared.
I have experienced anti-Semitic hate crimes.

Neat questions, spirit4earth! I initially got into guns because of the political/social climate in the country, and the possibility of a disaster causing societal collapse (mainly earthquakes where I live, but add to that wildfires, unrest, and any number of other possibilites.) I have since found shooting at the range to be strangely meditative and calming.

Never been the target of a hate crime--sorry to hear that some of you here have been. I have, however, been called racial slurs and singled out in various ways due to my ethnicity, so I know the unique terror and dehumanization when such things happen. Combine that with my small physical stature, lack of athletic ability, and increasing negative effects of age, I have begun feeling safer knowing how to use a gun as a force of last resort.

Currently, I can't carry outside my house. Looking into what it will take to get a concealed carry permit.

In most all counties in LA? You’d have to get a job working as a security guard to qualify as the easiest path toward a carry license.