Gun Owners, Why Do You Own Guns?

[4Ryan6]

My reasons for gun ownership are totally home defense, I live out in the country in a high crime area, most of the crimes are drug related ending in killing the victims, in some worst cases over less than 20 dollars.

What has this world come to, when someone would be killed for less than 20 dollars!

That's a Travesty!

Worse was that couple were older and really couldn't defend themselves, why kill them?

If the robbers had wore a mask why would they need to be killed, just pure evil mean behind those actions!

To make things worse we have 2 gangs in the closest county and 3 gangs in the neighboring county, some of the gang members commit crimes as part of their gang initiations.

So to me owning guns for home defense is a No Brainer!

That's why I have them and why they were purchased, what about you?

 

[4Ryan6]

My reasons for gun ownership are totally home defense, I live out in the country in a high crime area, most of the crimes are drug related ending in killing the victims, in some worst cases over less than 20 dollars.

What has this world come to, when someone would be killed for less than 20 dollars!

That's a Travesty!

Worse was that couple were older and really couldn't defend themselves, why kill them?

If the robbers had wore a mask why would they need to be killed, just pure evil mean behind those actions!

To make things worse we have 2 gangs in the closest county and 3 gangs in the neighboring county, some of the gang members commit crimes as part of their gang initiations.

So to me owning guns for home defense is a No Brainer!

That's why I have them and why they were purchased, what about you?

I hate guns period and would never ever own one.You have the police to back you up in case you need it.Poor excuse to own guns!

I'm happy for you that you have obviously that much trust in law enforcement, it didn't help the couple that were killed in their home.

Maybe one day you'll get to talk to them face to face and share your gun views.

I live 30 minutes away from the fastest response by law enforcement or ambulance, honestly I wouldn't want to have to live with actually shooting and killing someone, but if it becomes necessary I will.

Even the police them selves suggested we get a gun for protection out where we live, so is who comes to your door carrying a gun good or bad, it's not the gun that's the problem Marv it's who's carrying it.

 

[4Ryan6]

.Poor excuse to own guns!

This is a great dichotomy.
On the one hand, they claim to live in the greatest country in the world with lots of freedom and stuff. (freedom supposed to allow them to carry a weapon)
On the other hand, they can not move without their arms, because listening them, they live in a more dangerous place than Syria, with three gangs by street.

I've never seen a gun except through a window, I've never needed it.
If I "need" a weapon to leave or to stay home, I would not feel free. But besieged.

I don't know where you live but it must be like Shangrilah or Zanadu, the US was basically carved out by the gun, it's always been a part of our history.

When you speak of freedom do you really understand what it takes to have that, and the cost of it, and are you really free yourself, or is your freedom just an illusion?

 

[gropouce]

Oh, I'm sorry I must provide you with proof to back my story up. But, since you asked enjoy. As far as your statement that if he had firearms it would've meant more deaths, you may want to first note that I didn't say anyone was killed. However, had the homeowner had firearms and was prepared there may have been the death of a few thugs. The victims were lucky this time, but other victims are not so lucky.

As far as your other statement about why pay taxes for cops, remember this. The nature of the police force is reactive, not proactive. If you wish to roll over and give in to thugs and wait for the police to arrive that is your prerogative. However, it is within my constitutional right to bear arms and protect myself. If you don't like guns don't own them, but you do not have the right to decide for me.

No need to be condescending to me.
We can easily express different opinions and remain courteous.
I don't want to decide for you, since i don't really care on what's going on in your country about guns.
I don't understand how you can proclaim (i'm not sure on that word, sorry) your freedom and need so many guns for your safety.

And i don't agree on the role of the police.
Maybe because in my country, the police service also have a preventive role.

(arrogant? really? you can add stinky smokin' surrender if you love preconceptions.)

Speaking of which, if you're anti-gun why did you answer a post directed toward gun owners?

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/impd-make-arrest-in-sexual-assault-home-robbery-near-79th-street-and-college-ave

When the entrance is free, you cannot choose your public.
If you want a private discussion, find another place.
I'm not anti-guns, or pro-guns, because both of those ideas are stupid. And IMO, the arguments of both parties are crooked.

I've read the article you linked.
Well, that's horrible... but you know you can find safer place to live. I'll be glad to show you around my area.
You think this wouldn't happened if the father had guns.
I think the robbers wouldn't have come in if they didn't have guns.

I don't know where you live but it must be like Shangrilah or Zanadu, the US was basically carved out by the gun, it's always been a part of our history.

When you speak of freedom do you really understand what it takes to have that, and the cost of it, and are you really free yourself, or is your freedom just an illusion?

I don't understand the questionable allusions on my place of residence, but nevermind.
Yes, weapons are part of the history of many countries who fought for their freedom.
I do not need a history lesson.
But it is only in your country that people think they still have to fight for their freedom.
I return you to your question: are you really free or is it just an illusion?
I prefer the idea of an idyllic world where no one has weapon, than a world where everyone has at least one weapon.
Because people would be less nervous, I think peace would be much more easily achievable.

again; i'm not what you call a "anti-guns". I know some people are fond of hunting or stuff like that and i'm ok with this.
But i think there are borders that must not been crossed concerning firearms, and i'll be worried if i were you.

 

[4Ryan6]

I don't know where you live but it must be like Shangrilah or Zanadu, the US was basically carved out by the gun, it's always been a part of our history.

When you speak of freedom do you really understand what it takes to have that, and the cost of it, and are you really free yourself, or is your freedom just an illusion?

I don't understand the questionable allusions on my place of residence, but nevermind.
Yes, weapons are part of the history of many countries who fought for their freedom.
I do not need a history lesson.
But it is only in your country that people think they still have to fight for their freedom.
I return you to your question: are you really free or is it just an illusion?
I prefer the idea of an idyllic world where no one has weapon, than a world where everyone has at least one weapon.
Because people would be less nervous, I think peace would be much more easily achievable.

again; i'm not what you call a "anti-guns". I know some people are fond of hunting or stuff like that and i'm ok with this.
But i think there are borders that must not been crossed concerning firearms, and i'll be worried if i were you.

Mainly that you must live in a protective bubble society, the only reason your logic suits you, is you haven't had any reason to own a gun for protection of home or family.

Do you actually think guns will just suddenly disappear from the planet and no one of bad intention will have one, if those firearm borders you mention were never crossed, we could still be hunting with bows and arrows or spears, even though they were also used to kill humans as well.

Actually the thread title is, Gun Owners, Why Do You Own Guns?

Wouldn't the better option be to start your own thread?

Because you will never talk a gun from someones possession, an we gun owners will never convince you to own one, nor do we really care if you do!

 

[4Ryan6]

Sometimes guns seem so intimidating and maybe all these mass shootings happening aren't helping how a gun is viewed.

Even if guns were 100% outlawed the criminals would still get their hands on them if the gun was still in existence, because they would simply steal it.

So this illusion of a perfect world where guns are a thing of the past, is just that an illusion.

We have to deal with what we have surrounding us whether it's good or bad.

I've already said I own guns for home defense, it would be great if there was no crime where I live!

There was a time when I was a child we never locked the door even at night, everyone got along, no homes were broken into, no one murdered in their sleep.

Unfortunately it's not that way anymore, and the massive amount of the population using illegal drugs has a lot to do with it.

We have problems today we did not have in the past and they're not just going to go away.

IMO every man and woman has the responsibility to protect their family or live the rest of your life with the consequences!

 

[gropouce]

Actually the thread title is, Gun Owners, Why Do You Own Guns?

Wouldn't the better option be to start your own thread?

Because you will never talk a gun from someones possession, an we gun owners will never convince you to own one, nor do we really care if you do!

Well, i'm sorry for being here.
I did not realize that this thread was a meeting for simple transcription of stupid arguments of the NRA.
I was dumb to believe you were looking for a dialogue, and i was underestimating your narrow-mindedness.
Believe me or not: i don't have guns and i can protect my family.
it seems that if you need guns to protect them: you failed your mission of finding a nice place to live.

I do not see how your discussions will succeed if you fight like spoiled hysterical children to keep the right to have his little gun while complaining against armed attacks your countrymen are suffering.
But it's not my problem.
I'm outtie.

 

[Saga Lout]

You're quite right, Ry - they can't be disinvented after all this time and the bad guys are the ones that won't hand theirs in if an amnesty was called. That didn't work in England when they had a one month knife amnesty.

You have a point about drugs because the need for money for the next high leads to violent crime but drugs can't be disinvented either. Legalised - possibly but that's perhaps for another thread but I can never help wondering if violent video games can't be a partial cause of the school shootings. Todays kids are detached and distanced from the reality of killing while they can sit in the comfort of their own bedrooms and wipe out the opposition - some of whom they may have "named" with those of schoolmates they don't like or get on with. Result as you say - Dad's 9mm.

I'm glad Gropouce lives in a quiet area but if he agreed with me over anything, it might be that he wouldn't walk the streets of some of the Banlieue de Paris after dark. To say much more about that is probably anti-Islamic so I'm keeping quiet as to specifics. That leads us on to the reality that many countries, specifically yours, his and mine, are paying for the sins of the forefathers in their colonial activities when we have a disaffected minority in our midst and, more recently, a Fifth Column preparing itself for the next skirmish.

Some days, I'm glad I'm nearly 67.

 

[4Ryan6]

You're quite right, Ry - they can't be disinvented after all this time and the bad guys are the ones that won't hand theirs in if an amnesty was called. That didn't work in England when they had a one month knife amnesty.

You have a point about drugs because the need for money for the next high leads to violent crime but drugs can't be disinvented either. Legalised - possibly but that's perhaps for another thread but I can never help wondering if violent video games can't be a partial cause of the school shootings. Todays kids are detached and distanced from the reality of killing while they can sit in the comfort of their own bedrooms and wipe out the opposition - some of whom they may have "named" with those of schoolmates they don't like or get on with. Result as you say - Dad's 9mm.

I'm glad Gropouce lives in a quiet area but if he agreed with me over anything, it might be that he wouldn't walk the streets of some of the Banlieue de Paris after dark. To say much more about that is probably anti-Islamic so I'm keeping quiet as to specifics. That leads us on to the reality that many countries, specifically yours, his and mine, are paying for the sins of the forefathers in their colonial activities when we have a disaffected minority in our midst and, more recently, a Fifth Column preparing itself for the next skirmish.

Some days, I'm glad I'm nearly 67.

When you take drug element and mix that into gaming with some of the extremely violent games designed around stealing cars and killing police and innocent victims, like Grand Theft Auto, IMO that is a recipe for disaster.

That could be inflating the crime levels of today in the US simply by repeated gaming using those type games and drug use together could make someone loose touch with reality.

What may seem alright in a game you can reset and start over with a drug clouded mind is not alright in life in the outside world.

This rampant type shooting spree in actual reality even has non gun owners now buying guns themselves in some situations.

So is society creating their own monsters?

 

[riser]

I'm more along the lines that instant gratification couple with moral and ethical decay leads to the higher crime along wither higher unemployment. I find games more of a release over an inspiration to do things. Though, some people get that idea and think they can do that out there.. but those people likely already had issues. Everyone thinks of something at some point, it's the person who acts on it that is the issue.

Case in point, the TSA shooter: police did a mental health check on it and deemed him ok when he moved to LA from Pennsylvania. What really is mental health anyhow?

At my friend's house warming party last night. His 9 year old son comes up to me, recites this long historical thing and asks me a question about Egyptian lore. 5 minutes later he comes back with another statement and follows it up with a question. The kid seems normal.. then they tell me he suffers from mental health: what used to be known as Asperger's and he has issues but he has a photographic memory. If he sees or reads something, he can instantly remember it. Not a bad thing to have I guess.. except he does act out in violence at times. You wouldn't know it by meeting him, listening to him, and watching a 9 year old kid play.

 

[Saga Lout]

Not sure about your Police but most of ours are totally unqualified to decide who's mentally it and who isn't. Personally I'd only decide on how easy it was to rile the subject.

Asperger's sufferers are closet geniuses but only until someone finds the key to the closet and releases the mind to blossom but as you say, Riser, it's easy to misjudge. One reason I don't judge at all, another being I'm not qualified either.

I'm not familiar with those particular games, Ry but in my PC fixing business I come across a lot of families where the kids are banged up in a upstairs room hour after hour playing war games - totally de-sensitised to the reality of being in real conflict. Suggest they watch Discovery History for the real thing and they say "boring" without even taking their eyes off the screen.

In our childhood we had plastic Colt 45s and one of us was Gene Autry and the other Jimmy Stewart but someone how we grew up knowing if someone bashed John Wayne over the head with a barstool, he wouldn't really get up and carry on fighting. Kids today don't have that handle on the factua., Worrying for the future?

 

[4Ryan6]

We started with home made rubber band guns!

So guns are owned for self protection reasons, (on your person), home defense, hunting, and I do know some that have used guns as target use only, they're experts at target shooting trap shooting, skeet shooting, but have never shot anything living.

So there are also reasons to own a gun besides violence.

Olympic Biathlon competitors may fall into that same category.

 

[riser]

Competition shooting is hard. People don't realize how much goes into that, how much practice, etc.

From making each round on your own, testing them, verifying every little factor, and testing under multiple conditions to know which of your own custom round to use on the day of competition. On top of that, you have to move into your technique, concentration, and a thousand more factors.

I pay attention to a former military sniper's training course. He goes around the country offering courses to teach you to engage moving targets up to 1,500 meters. He's been featured on the History Channel for his 1 mile kill shot.

I'm trying to find a decent three gun course, which is generally a hand gun, a shotgun, and a rifle, where you go through the course engaging a variety of targets. The hardest part is the running a short distance, picking up one of the firearms and trying to shoot within seconds. Your breathing throws off your aim significantly when breathing heavily.

The last training course I had attended, we had to run backwards while shooting a target accuracy. I recall how difficult it really was compared to what I had thought prior to attempting.

 

[Beachnative]

The question was asked "why do you own guns?"
Simple I enjoyed shooting with my father as a kid. He gave me his 1895 Colt .45 prior to my first marriage, sorta like saying I'm no longer a kid. I sold the 22 Winchester he gave me because the wife was dead set about having no firearms in the house and I had to give the .45 to my sister to hold. We got divorced and now my present wife doesn't care if we have one in the house or not so the .45 is back in my posession.......The bummer is I took it to a gun show and the value was all over the place from $9000 to $60,000. Personally I thought some were smoking the wacky weed!
It's only worth what someone is willing to pay and nobody offered cash only trade. A guy with a moutain of Glocks said he would give me 20 Glocks for it. To me this is a family heirloom because it was the wedding gift from my mother to my father in 1952 and I still have the bill of sale when she bought it. Call me a sentimental sap but that is one reason why I have a gun in my house.

 

[4Ryan6]

I was the M14 instructor on our ship we were having a gun shoot off the fantail but it was for the 45cal pistol, another gunner was the pistol instructor so I was in the gun shack servicing the pistols after firing.

My Chief over our division came in the gun shack and instructed me to put all the pistols back in the armory, get 2 M14s you load 20rnds in the gun you use and 10rnds in the other and get back to the fantail ASAP.

What's this about Chief?

We're going to get you qualified for the Shark Squad today, you're going to be shooting against the Captain of the ship.

I want 100% from you, don't you hold back because he is the Captain, I'll be out there waiting on you.

I was so nervous my kneecaps were jumping, I was loading the magazines with a sheer dread, just thinking who I was going to be shooting against in just a few minutes.

At sea the most highly respected on the entire ship was the Captain, it's a similar reference to a General on a battlefield.

I handed the Captain his M14, our M14s had slings on them I had already adjusted mine so I could put my arm through the sling then swing your arm back around and over the top and grasp the gun, which tightened the sling to your arm and helped stabilize the gun.

It was a common practice at sea because you are on a moving platform, you have to counter the ships movements of pitch and yaw every stable element you can take advantage of in your upper body is absolutely essential, as your legs are countering the movement of the ship and bringing you back on target.

My impression of the Captain was that he knew everything, how else could he become the Captain of the ship, when I first realized he did not know everything, was when he did not sling his rifle, unusual but maybe he is so good of a shot he doesn't have to, even more intimidation.

We were cruising in open water about 5 knots and they threw a sealed empty can over the side of the ship, and the Captain fired first when the can was in view at the fantail, he missed, and the can was so close you could have tossed a rock and hit it, he fired 5 more times and missed every time.

I fired my first shot when the can was about 30' behind the ship, I hit that can with every shot as it was jumping in and out of the water from the hits, the can was about 200' behind the ship when the last shot hit it, by then the waves were making it visible for only short instances.

I stopped firing and the crew broke out behind us screaming and yelling cheers.

The Captain looked at my Chief and said, " This man is not on the Shark Squad?" Chief said "No" Captain said, "He is Now!"

My proudest memory of my Naval service!

For those of you that don't know, the Shark Squad was a group of gunners called to the bridge wings and other elevated firing points during a man overboard, or swim call, to protect those in the water from shark attacks, it was our responsibility to kill the sharks, which by the way ruined Jaws for me!

This story is 100% truth.

It can sometimes be hard enough to fire from a completely stable platform, but moving and firing is difficult beyond difficult, it takes a lot of practice and skill.

Part of why I own guns is the military training I received regarding respect for them, and how to handle them and take care of them, always treat a gun as if it is loaded, never assume, or take someones word, always check, and always make sure the barrel is clear of obstructions.

 

[riser]

The question was asked "why do you own guns?"
Simple I enjoyed shooting with my father as a kid. He gave me his 1895 Colt .45 prior to my first marriage, sorta like saying I'm no longer a kid. I sold the 22 Winchester he gave me because the wife was dead set about having no firearms in the house and I had to give the .45 to my sister to hold. We got divorced and now my present wife doesn't care if we have one in the house or not so the .45 is back in my posession.......The bummer is I took it to a gun show and the value was all over the place from $9000 to $60,000. Personally I thought some were smoking the wacky weed!
It's only worth what someone is willing to pay and nobody offered cash only trade. A guy with a moutain of Glocks said he would give me 20 Glocks for it. To me this is a family heirloom because it was the wedding gift from my mother to my father in 1952 and I still have the bill of sale when she bought it. Call me a sentimental sap but that is one reason why I have a gun in my house.

Keep that thing. In the south, guns are family heirlooms. Why? They last. A gun is a very, very simple tool and as long as basic maintenance is performed, they'll last forever.

That's why that gun is worth so much. It's old, people didn't maintain them, and they're just cool. Much more craftsmanship went into that gun that any commercially produced and sold in a store today. It really is a work of art without even seeing the thing.

Just like an old car, etc. Except the gun is easy to care for and it provides the thought.. I'm sure you can still see your father holding the gun in his hand. That's part of it..

Which you bring up a really good point. My firearms, I bought each of them with considerable amount of thought on that. Heirlooms. I wanted to make sure they would last and would be worthwhile. Sure, I could have bought a basic firearm but instead I tend to buy higher qualify.

Would you rather have a basic car without any bells and whistles, or a fully loaded car? The fully loaded one and that's the route I take because I do plan on passing these down as heirlooms some day.

 

[Beachnative]

The question was asked "why do you own guns?"
Simple I enjoyed shooting with my father as a kid. He gave me his 1895 Colt .45 prior to my first marriage, sorta like saying I'm no longer a kid. I sold the 22 Winchester he gave me because the wife was dead set about having no firearms in the house and I had to give the .45 to my sister to hold. We got divorced and now my present wife doesn't care if we have one in the house or not so the .45 is back in my posession.......The bummer is I took it to a gun show and the value was all over the place from $9000 to $60,000. Personally I thought some were smoking the wacky weed!
It's only worth what someone is willing to pay and nobody offered cash only trade. A guy with a moutain of Glocks said he would give me 20 Glocks for it. To me this is a family heirloom because it was the wedding gift from my mother to my father in 1952 and I still have the bill of sale when she bought it. Call me a sentimental sap but that is one reason why I have a gun in my house.

Keep that thing. In the south, guns are family heirlooms. Why? They last. A gun is a very, very simple tool and as long as basic maintenance is performed, they'll last forever.

That's why that gun is worth so much. It's old, people didn't maintain them, and they're just cool. Much more craftsmanship went into that gun that any commercially produced and sold in a store today. It really is a work of art without even seeing the thing.

Just like an old car, etc. Except the gun is easy to care for and it provides the thought.. I'm sure you can still see your father holding the gun in his hand. That's part of it..

Which you bring up a really good point. My firearms, I bought each of them with considerable amount of thought on that. Heirlooms. I wanted to make sure they would last and would be worthwhile. Sure, I could have bought a basic firearm but instead I tend to buy higher qualify.

Would you rather have a basic car without any bells and whistles, or a fully loaded car? The fully loaded one and that's the route I take because I do plan on passing these down as heirlooms some day.

I have to tell you that the gun show I brought it to there was one dealer that specialized in old Colts and when I pulled it out of a paper bag this guy nearly had a heart attack. It's nickel plated,engraved and has ivory handgrips. When he saw the US Army stamped on the barrel he was excited but after seeing the SAA stamped on the side he became getting real nervous. I asked what it was worth? He asked if he could look at it sitting down and about 10 people started watching and pointing.

A few people left and he finally said it was worth $5000 for the gun and $500 for the engraving, the buy behind me started coughing and the dealer changed his tune saying it was worth $7500 for the gun and $2500 for the engraving.... I left and walked around. I guess word spread because I had a few gun dealers say to me "Hey you're the guy with the Colt right?" They'd make an offer and I'd decline.
Right before I walked outside the guy that coughed while talking to the Colt dealer approached me and asked if he could see it again. I said sure and before he could ask I put it in his hands.
He said " you have no idea what you have do you?"
"sure and old Colt." I replied.
He told me after I left the dealer the dealer said it was ashame that someone like me has a gun like that and it could be worth up to $60,000.
I asked him why he was telling me this and his response was priceless " I'm a retired Ohio state trooper and I've been honest my whole life. I thought you should know the honest truth what was told to me."..."Get an insurance policy on this thing, ASAP or at least put it in a safe-deposit box."

Times are tougher now but not tough enough to sell it.....

 

[riser]

Dealers are business people too. They're trying to make a dollar. If you ever watch any kind of Pawn Shop store, they have to make a profit too. As you noted earlier, the reality is someone has to be willing to pay that amount for it to make it worth that much. You went to an open expo and some of those guys might be small time dealers and they'll take advantage of you if they can. Your best bet is to really take it in someone and have someone appraise it as opposed to have someone trying to buy it from you.

I have an old dagger from WWII. I know its value is around $10,000 and probably more because of the condition it's in compared to any existing dagger like it. I've had dealers tell me its worth about $500 but they'd give me $600. They're all about making a buck like everyone else.

It's like owning a priceless painting. You don't really appreciate it if you don't know much about it. That's what the dealer was thinking.. you don't know what you have and in the gun world it isn't any different. Some people buy old cars just to have them while others buy them and drive them until they're trashed. One man's garage is another man's treasure.

 

[4Ryan6]

Wow! Great story Ryan, thank you for sharing. And, thank you for your service. I mean that.

Thanks OMG, There were good times and bad, I prefer to remember the good!

We were making high speed torpedo runs at the USS Forrestall, running about 30 knots, and when the command to make the turn came, we lost bridge steering control, they had to immediately call after steering to take control and turn the ship.

A good friend of mine was on duty at the time in after steering, and he took control of steering and saved the ship, he was quite the hero for some time!

If we had rammed the side of the Forrestall at 30 knots, I would not be here because our ships forward guns powder and projectile magazines were up front, along with the ships fuel tanks we could survive a small collision but not 30 knots!

Our ship the Richard E. Kraus, was basically a floating explosive package, there were very few places we could take a hit and survive.

So that's a bad incident but a good memory!

 

[4Ryan6]

I asked him why he was telling me this and his response was priceless " I'm a retired Ohio state trooper and I've been honest my whole life. I thought you should know the honest truth what was told to me."..."Get an insurance policy on this thing, ASAP or at least put it in a safe-deposit box."

It's nice to hear there are still good people in this world, I truly hope you took his advice.

 

[4Ryan6]

Right, my collection was also stolen by trained cats last year after the mouse incident. Wink wink

I'm still not against guns or having them.. even after having some jack ass try to blow his head off within 4 feet of me with a .44 magnum revolver.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jul/05/sheriff-shooting-at-coal-creek-armory-was/

He fired more than a few shots. He was in lane 1, I was in lane 3. He was shooting a scary clown target. I was there about 45 minutes, he was there well before me. I recall he hadn't shot a full 50 rounds, more likely 25 rounds. He was shooting one shot every 1-3 minutes and taking a break every couple shots.

I didn't suspect anything at first. He was dressed normal, taking slow aim and shots. It's a powerful gun and he was a smaller person. I figured his frequent breaks were to rest his hands and get used to shooting.. not that he was contemplating shooting himself.

I sped up his mind to shoot himself though. As I finished shooting 100 rounds, I took my 2 empty boxes past lane 1 to the barrel to drop my used targets and empty boxes off. As I turned around, he was aiming down range. I was trying to gauge how well of a shot he was since he was shooting at 21 feet.. But something was wrong! It was hot.. he was.. had been wearing shorts. His shorts and boxers were around his ankles, bare ass hanging out. I quickly moved to my lane to grab my cell and head to the front office.. my own mistake is that I shot all my ammo, had an unloaded firearm, and was within a few feet of this guy. As I grabbed my cell, I turned for the range exit and glanced his way and he had shot himself in the head. His mistake was looking up too much and the .44 magnum round exited to the right of his nose, under his eye. He fell backwards, doing what I had thought were his death throes. He was looking at me but not focusing on me. I thought at first the gun kicked back and hit him in the face. I looked closer thinking I should help him and yell for help.. when I realized his shot himself. Fortunately, the gun was far away from him and he wasn't going anywhere. One for lacking empathy for others, I told him I couldn't help him and went to the front office to report what happened.

Before I was even able to leave the range, he was almost done with surgery. He lost his tongue, shattered his jaw, and had a massive concussion. He lived.

That was quite the experience to be a witness to, did it affect you after the fact, or did your lack of empathy see you through?

 

[4Ryan6]

There's no doubt why some own guns, a friend dropped by yesterday that has the hunting rights to the land we're on, he has bagged 8 bucks so far this mating season and it doesn't look like it's even scratched the surface of what's running today, even in the middle of the day.

It's pretty bad around my area right now regarding the deer population and mating season, they run anytime of the day and that's outside their normal habits, just missed a buck crossing the road 2 days ago.

My friend hunts with gun and bow, I've considered picking up a compound bow myself solely for target practice and to gain experience with it.

 

[riser]

I was fine walking away. I had to stay 2 or 2.5 hours afterwards filling out paperwork, having my statement recorded, and sat there while they reviewed video. I had some things I needed to do that day too.
The guy wanted to shoot himself. I'm not going to argue that or feel sorry for the guy. Everyone's actions are their own regardless. I'm only thankful that he didn't decide to take a dry run on me. 😉

I'm considering picking up a compound bow too. I've been looking them over.. I only want to buy one once, not get struck constantly upgrading, etc. In the past when I've shot them, I did well with them so I think it would be fun. I can practice easily around my house without any concern should I miss or a shot skip off the ground.

 

[4Ryan6]

This is what I've got my eye on in the shadow series.

http://www.beararcheryproducts.com/...289628433&mc_cid=6163f215e1&mc_eid=cf1bbe3209

 

[riser]

That's nice.. except I'm not sure what to compare it to. My bow friends even argue over which is better. It shoots a damn arrow. Whatever makes that the easiest and quietest, I'm happy with. Something that wouldn't be bad for a lot of practice and the occasional hunt. I need to find a bow place around here and check it out.

Plus they're priced very well. That's the range I was looking at too.

 

[No2rdame]

Check this out. A crossbow upper for the AR-15 platform. It literally snaps right on in. Too cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chscJyx2GKU

They lost me when they were describing the whisker biscuit. My mind kind of wandered elsewhere. On a separate note, this make me realize I really need to get at AR. Very versatile platform.