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Best First Gun Purchase Justifications

Ninsho

Ninsho

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Heres the quandary: I applied for my LTC-A on the 2nd of this month, and it should be on the way. I've discussed my desire to purchase a firearm with my parents because I have this little issue of living 98% of the time on a college campus. My Mom is strongly against the idea of a gun in the house, and my Dad is pretty much in agreement. I think if I could convince my mom then my father will be an easy convert. I think its mostly ignorance and fear on my Moms part for not wanting a gun in the house but unless I can convert her I'm stuck for another three semesters.

The solution: What are your best (and maybe worst for fun?) justifications that you used for convincing a parent or significant other that about getting a firearm?
 
I did armed SPO work and had that as an excuse. I negotiated things by saying it was going to be locked away in a safe. Then I got a new law enforcement gig and bought a Preban AR-15 to train with for requalifications. They didn't like that despite the logic behind it so I simply moved out to avoid further arguments.

If your parents have the final say then you might have to do the same. In this case you will need to live off campus or get permission from the school.
 
Tell them you are going to compete with it. Then sign up for some courses and competitions.
 
First I would have to know why they are against it. If it is a fear issue try to ease their fears by agreeing to buy a safe or lock box with the firearm. If they are reassured of it being in a safe place when your away it may help. Maybe take your mom shooting, If she can see that guns are just inanimate objects that don't jump off the table and go bang all by themselves it may help, and she may just enjoy it.
If they are hardcore Anti gunners with Brady bunch type ideas, good luck! The only thing I can think of is do a search here I recall there was a link with best counter arguments to anti statements, but even if you find it most likely wouldn't help if they are true believers. Anyway, good luck with getting your license and your first firearm
 
Yeah, I would say get your Dad into it. If you can turn it into a manly Father/Son bonding experience, he'll go to bat for you against the female.
 
Ninsho said:
Heres the quandary: I applied for my LTC-A on the 2nd of this month, and it should be on the way. I've discussed my desire to purchase a firearm with my parents because I have this little issue of living 98% of the time on a college campus. My Mom is strongly against the idea of a gun in the house, and my Dad is pretty much in agreement. I think if I could convince my mom then my father will be an easy convert. I think its mostly ignorance and fear on my Moms part for not wanting a gun in the house but unless I can convert her I'm stuck for another three semesters.

The solution: What are your best (and maybe worst for fun?) justifications that you used for convincing a parent or significant other that about getting a firearm?
Click to expand...

One thing you could do.
Buy a safe. Buy a car safe. Buy other safety equipment even before buying a gun. This way they say that you are serious about owning a gun and very serious about gun safety.

Another thing someone mentioned is good. Competition.
For some reason my GF seem to be somewhat relieved by knowing that I used to compete on my college rifle team and that I practiced with IPSC shooters. I'm not sure why this makes her feel better but it does a little.

Another thing you could do (but hasn't seem to helped me much) is to tell them of stories of when it has been useful. I don't visit bad areas notorious for crime. However, if you search my name you'll find a thread about an incident that happened at home...where I never expected it to.

Most of my friends are against me having a gun at home and carrying a gun. Many of them are just ignorant and refuse to listen. Unfortunately the media has really given them a nice brainwash.

Bring both your mom and dad to the range.
I brought my mother and she enjoys it...though she still disagrees with me carrying and having a firearm at home. Weird.
 
I would start out with a rifle or shotgun, the word hand gun might turn them away even more. From there maybe get into target shooting, or trap/skeet.
 
Buy a safe. Put it in your room.

Buy a gun. Put it in the safe.

Don't ask; don't tell.

It's worked just fine for a million other things in your life so far. Why would this be any different. As a parent of adult children I can tell you that parents really appreciate having been kept out of the loop on some things.

Ken
 
Again as others have stated you need to get one of them out to range to experience shooting and learn a bit about safety and such. I converted my Mom on the first range trip.
 
One thing, is to tell them that it will be locked in a locked safe (gun lock + safe), and there will be no ammunition stored in your house. That way you can store the gun, and it won't be a danger to anyone if it decides to jump to life and start running off and killing people. I found that when I told my mom that I have a gun, but no ammo she sort of calmed down. I told her it is was because i enjoyed the sport, which does for some reason ease peoples minds.
 
I think your right Adam_MA. Buying a safe and the gun without asking would have been better, I would feel like a horrible person to 'Just Do It' now after it has been discussed. I was more on the path for that though, my mom initialized the discussion after I went for the LTC appointment.

Getting my dad involved might work, after the first time I went shooting my dad expressed interest in maybe going with me sometime. I don't think buying him a gun would win over my mom though, I think shes more afraid of him with a gun then me, my dad has done some pretty stupid stuff over a baseball game if you know what I mean.

I think the main reason is fear. I don't think shes opposed to me having it so much as me having it in her house. One fear was someone breaking in to get it (don't tell anyone its there mom). Thats the other thing against a rifle... a rifle safe would be even more expensive, and I need some way to keep the firearm from my two brothers as much as anyone else.

Thanks for all the replies so far!
 
Fsorrent said:
One thing, is to tell them that it will be locked in a locked safe (gun lock + safe), and there will be no ammunition stored in your house. That way you can store the gun, and it won't be a danger to anyone if it decides to jump to life and start running off and killing people. I found that when I told my mom that I have a gun, but no ammo she sort of calmed down. I told her it is was because i enjoyed the sport, which does for some reason ease peoples minds.
Click to expand...

Thats a pretty good idea, what do I do with my ammo though? One of the reasons I want the gun in the first place is to avoid spending a fortune for the ammo at the Range, I want to buy my .22s in bulk [smile].
 
It depends on your parents.
My parents are old school.
There is absolutely nothing that would allow them to be persuaded by their offspring for any reason.
 
Tough call. Depending on the repercussions, i'd also go for the "buy it, lock it up, begin practicing for bullseye competition" then if asked say "oh this thing? Ive had it for a long time!"

Thats what i did with my GF....started with a .22 pistol. Once she warmed up (read: ignored) to the fact that it was in the house and not jumping out of its box shooting things, i just started adding to the collection and imposed a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
 
Some are just scared of guns (probably because they have no personal use experience), so promising to keep it locked up and out of sight might be enough.

For some reason my GF seem to be somewhat relieved by knowing that I used to compete on my college rifle team and that I practiced with IPSC shooters. I'm not sure why this makes her feel better but it does a little.
Click to expand...

This is from hearing the anti-gunners too often say that "guns are made for one thing only: killing people". Believing this, they wonder why their kid wants to kill. Depending on the level of indoctrination, you may never convince them that no one wants to kill. For some, when the reason is competition, they can set their mind at ease that you don't want to kill. For the really lost causes, they will only think that the reason for competition is so that you can practice to kill better.

As a parent of adult children I can tell you that parents really appreciate having been kept out of the loop on some things.
Click to expand...
[laugh2]
 
KMaurer said:
Buy a safe. Put it in your room.

Buy a gun. Put it in the safe.

Don't ask; don't tell.

It's worked just fine for a million other things in your life so far. Why would this be any different. As a parent of adult children I can tell you that parents really appreciate having been kept out of the loop on some things.

Ken
Click to expand...

I agree with the first two parts... but when it comes to not telling your parents... don't mess with it.

Especially if you are going to be away at school almost all of the time. You now have a gun in a house with two people who do not know it is there... unsafe.

If they don't want you to own a gun... then you're effed, if you can convince them without causing harm to yourself or others... then you're a genius.

Just for fun... my 'worst' justification would be the Zombies... they just reanimated a heart, we're on our ways to an invasion.
 
Call it a target pistol or rifle. The Ruger Mark III 678 is listed as a Target Pistol. As others have said, take them to the range so they can see what it's like.
 
I'm more inclined to use ZI or SHTF as an excuse for the second, bigger gun. Right now I'm interested in .22 to get a lot of trigger time and try and build good habits.

Fsorrent said:
Buy your ammo on the way to the range, you can buy a brick of .22 for like $20, probably less. Store it elsewhere, just let her know it's nowhere near the rifle.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2033187&cp=2292627&view=all&sr=1&origkw=gun+cabinets&parentPage=family

check out this: It's a cheap alternative to an actual 300lb safe, just bolt it to the wall and its not going anywhere.
Click to expand...

That case might be a good alternative. My original plan was a small handgun safe bolted to the floor hidden in the back of my closet. It might help my cause to have the thing outside of my room, say in the basement, but I hear thats not a great habitat for a firearm.

I can kind of see not keeping ammo at home, I need to look back into that locker thing.. I may not be able to keep a firearm there but ammo might be ok.
 
When I got my LTC my dad told me before I could buy a gun I first needed a way to store it. When my Dad was in the army they stored the M16's in one locked room and the bolts in a separate locked container and the ammo was stored in an additional locked container (might have even been a different building). As far as my Dad is concerned anything less than that is improperly stored and there is absolutely no reason any civilian needs to carry a loaded gun.

I just laughed and said that's overkill and that my guns would be locked up. The day my rifle was shipped from the CMP I went to Dicks and purchased a hard case for the rifle to lock it up. I suppose technically the rifle was improperly stored for several hours between when FedEx dropped it off and I got home from work.

My dad was very interested in the rifle when it arrived and watch my progress as I cleaned the cosmo and refinished the wood. When I got a hand gun my dad was interested in checking it out also. When I said I wanted to get an AR-15 he said if I got one like the one he shot in the Army he'd come shooting with me. I still have yet to purchase an AR-15 for lack of money...

I no longer live at home but he still holds strong to the belief that guns should be stored inoperable and civilians have no need to own guns. He's only partially anti, while he doesn't think there is any reason why anyone outside of military and law enforcement should have guns he also doesn't think we should be prohibited from owning them.

My advice would be explain to your parents the safe storage requirements for firearms in this state and how you plan to comply with them. Then purchase a gun safe ( or cabinet or lock box) put it in your room. Then buy a gun bring it home and put it in the safe. Eventually it may peak their interest and if they ask about it, explain to them the 4 basic rules of firearm safety and then show'em what you got.
 
This is a tough road to hoe, especially if your parents are
full blown antis. If they won't accept you having guns
"unloaded and locked up in a safe" then it's going to
be a tough sell. A lot of the other suggestions in this
thread are good; especially if they're more misinformed
than they are "guh buh wuh! oh noes! its a gun!" There is a
considerable difference between people who are misinformed
and those who are pants-wetting hoplophobes.

Parents are a special case scenario, especially when you
live with them- essentially they "own" you while you live under
their roof. I didn't even want to get into that battle so I
just waited until I moved out of their house before further
cultivating my interest in firearms.

-Mike
 
Another suggestion might be to co-locate your guns/ammo
with someone you trust. If you have a trusted friend of yours that is an
LTC-A holder, it might be a lot simpler just to store your guns with
him/her until you escape.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
A lot of the other suggestions in this
thread are good; especially if they're more misinformed
than they are "guh buh wuh! oh noes! its a gun!" There is a
considerable difference between people who are misinformed
and those who are pants-wetting hoplophobes.
Click to expand...

Actually, at least some of the pants-wetting hoplophobes are that way because they don't know any better. I have a friend who was pretty afraid of guns when I first started getting interested in shooting. After I started talking to him about safety (both the mechanical features and training), a lot of his fears went away. At this point he's curious to handle my guns and see how they work. He hasn't agreed to a range trip yet, but I made it clear that the offer is always open, but I won't pressure him on it.

Of course, I have another friend who's a total moonbat who probably won't visit my home even if the guns are all locked up. If she doesn't calm down about that, I dunno if the friendship will continue, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
 

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