From reading the forums, it seems that many people here come from family backgrounds where firearms are accepted and safety/shooting is taught early on. Did anybody here grow up with an anti-firearms family? I did.
My first exposure to firearms was when I was around 8. I grew up in rural Connecticut, and would always hang out with one of my best friends at his house. One day my buddy asked his dad to show us his hunting rifles, so he took us downstairs and opened the gun safe. I remember that as my first time seeing guns in person. His father told us in no uncertain terms that guns were not toys, and that if we ever came across one to never touch it and tell an adult immediately. I took away from that my first big safety lesson and a healthy respect of firearms. I went home later that day and told my mom what I had learned; she was mortified and forbid me from seeing my buddy again-- I was forbidden from going to his house and he was no longer welcome in my parents' home.
In high school I joined the local police explorers troop, and part of the program was firearms safety training at the range. Again, my parents were strongly against me going to the range, but I reasoned with them that since it was with police officers it was okay, and they agreed to let me go. The rest of high school and college came and went, and now at age 25 I just received my LTC a couple of months ago. They do not know, and I don't intend on telling them. I've tried over the years to convince them that states with less gun control have less violent crime, that guns are used by law abiding citizens to defend themselves, and that criminals who use guns in violent crimes usually obtain them illegally anyway. But my parents just point to the school shootings and other examples of gun crime, and say "this is why all guns need to be banned."
Ironically enough, I have two older cousins who are also firearms enthusiasts and small business owners. Their business has actually been robbed a couple of times, and both times were thwarted because they drew their firearms in self-defense. According to my cousin, the most recent time, a crackhead came in brandishing a knife and demanded cash from the register. He changed his tune real quick when the shotgun came out from under the counter. Despite this, the rest of my family is still anti-gun and I distinctly remember our relatives trying to tell my cousin that he should've just reasoned with the guy and handed over the cash.
My first exposure to firearms was when I was around 8. I grew up in rural Connecticut, and would always hang out with one of my best friends at his house. One day my buddy asked his dad to show us his hunting rifles, so he took us downstairs and opened the gun safe. I remember that as my first time seeing guns in person. His father told us in no uncertain terms that guns were not toys, and that if we ever came across one to never touch it and tell an adult immediately. I took away from that my first big safety lesson and a healthy respect of firearms. I went home later that day and told my mom what I had learned; she was mortified and forbid me from seeing my buddy again-- I was forbidden from going to his house and he was no longer welcome in my parents' home.
In high school I joined the local police explorers troop, and part of the program was firearms safety training at the range. Again, my parents were strongly against me going to the range, but I reasoned with them that since it was with police officers it was okay, and they agreed to let me go. The rest of high school and college came and went, and now at age 25 I just received my LTC a couple of months ago. They do not know, and I don't intend on telling them. I've tried over the years to convince them that states with less gun control have less violent crime, that guns are used by law abiding citizens to defend themselves, and that criminals who use guns in violent crimes usually obtain them illegally anyway. But my parents just point to the school shootings and other examples of gun crime, and say "this is why all guns need to be banned."
Ironically enough, I have two older cousins who are also firearms enthusiasts and small business owners. Their business has actually been robbed a couple of times, and both times were thwarted because they drew their firearms in self-defense. According to my cousin, the most recent time, a crackhead came in brandishing a knife and demanded cash from the register. He changed his tune real quick when the shotgun came out from under the counter. Despite this, the rest of my family is still anti-gun and I distinctly remember our relatives trying to tell my cousin that he should've just reasoned with the guy and handed over the cash.