What does your family think about shooting?

My oldest daughter may be unwrapping a stripped lower for her sweet sixteen next month with more parts to follow as she achieves certain goals (get a job, pass her license test, etc.). My younger daughter will probably be making her first trip out to the range in the next few weeks. Plan is to get them both familiar with shooting, farming and cooking. Just may be a skill set that will be in demand 20 years from now.

You're absolutely right about the skill set we'll need in 20 years[wink]
I also respect fathers who teach their daughters to shoot instead of saying something like "it's not for young ladies". My Dad was the one who got me familiar with guns (airguns, of course, as we were not allowed to have real ones). I have all reasons to thank him for it!
 
I've always had an interest in guns since I was a wee child. Always had to have the newest toy guns growing up. And as I got older, middle school, high school... the toy guns got more realistic... enter the BB guns and air rifles and then Airsoft guns...

As the guns got more realistic my mother started to really hate the fact that I had them around. She'd lecture me on how guns are bad... how people only do bad things with them... A few times she'd even go as far as taking them all away from my room while I was at school and hiding them from me (which didn't work since I knew all of her hiding places [smile] not to mention there were just too many for her to hide!)

Anyhow... that was a long time ago. Fast forward 10+ years... and now my brother and I both have our LTC's and are quickly amassing our firearms collections... and my mom seems to not only not care... but she loves going to the range with us. And you can bet she feels safer with us around with our firearms even though she doesn't say it (there have been a couple of attempted robberies at her house in the distant past).

What changed her view on guns? No idea. Once in a while she still says no one should own guns. Yet... once in a while she'll complain that we never ask her to go to the range! [rolleyes]

My dad is fine with guns. At least he never had a problem with me having them around in any form, toys or not. He was in the Taiwan military... not sure if that has anything to do with it. I'd say he's indifferent.

Sister... she's on her university's pistol team. [smile] So she likes to shoot. And isn't against the 2A. But she's not the kind of person who would carry at all. She may get her LTC in the future after she turns 21... but it won't be high on her list of to-do's. Who knows. I'm actually thinking of buying her a nice .22 pistol as a graduation present... you know... to "encourage" her to get her LTC [wink]

Brother... well, like me, he's got a nice collection going... and we're always checking up on the other one to make sure we're not too far behind [smile] Love it.

Rest of the extended family is either indifferent... or is cool with it. My uncle was also in the Taiwan military so he actually had a good time checking out our AR15's last time they visited... and talking guns for a bit. Then him and my aunt were fine with my brother and I taking our younger cousins out to the range. Having heard this, my other cousins now want to go shooting next time they're in town. [grin]

Friends... have all gone shooting with me already... numerous times. None have taken the step to get a license... but none are against it at all.

Coworkers... many have gone shooting with me... all know I'm a gun owner... haven't met any real antis at work... usually the first reaction was "can you take me shooting?"... hehe.
 
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My wife hates the smell of Shooters Choice and Brake Cleaner. Beyond that she loves it as it gets me out of the house and out of her hair.
 
My wife went from a no guns in the house wife to getting her LTC...and going to NES shoots.

Both adult sons have LTC's.

All my grandkids (those over 5 yo, so far) love it and have their own guns.

My 83 yo mother couldn't care. My 83 yo D-Day vet dad, says he has no desire to ever shoot a gun again. I'll accept that.
 
My Wife has her own guns now and has a LTC. 35 years ago I got her into it by taking a ride every Sat. to a different gun shop. I would pick out a gun shop that was at least 50 miles away and find a real nice restaurant close to it. There's nothing better than taking a long ride and finding a nice gun in a little out of the way gun shop.
 
I actually don't know anyone in my family or friends or coworkers who don't like shooting or are against the sporting aspect of it. Even the most liberal wack job that I work with doesn't see a problem with it. Well, not until she is in the voting booth anyway.
 
my mothers side was a family of hunters so i always spent alot of time shooting and hunting with my grandpa and uncle bob.my mom has her LTC and loves to go shooting with me and she keeps begging me to take her hunting with me. my father tolerats guns but he' suppports the gun grabbers,it's wierd my mom is the consertive and my father is a liberal.
 
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You're absolutely right about the skill set we'll need in 20 years[wink]
I also respect fathers who teach their daughters to shoot instead of saying something like "it's not for young ladies". My Dad was the one who got me familiar with guns (airguns, of course, as we were not allowed to have real ones). I have all reasons to thank him for it!

As soon as I found out my wife was preggo...I went out and bought a chipmunk. Didn't know what we were having until they came into the world.

I've talked with her her whole life...and can't wait to take her shooting. She's only five now, but askes all the time when I'm going to take her.

She's a bit on the hard part of listening...so I keep telling her, when you can show me that you'll listen to me, we'll start with a BB gun. I do this in hopes that she'll get it sometime soon. I was six when my grandfather trusted me with a BB gun and a .22.

She see's the gun in the safe when she's downstairs with me. She'll look at it and say, "Daddy, that's my gun, I can't touch it now, but when I'm older I can, right?" I just tell her that she's right, and I can't wait until we can do this together. She just smiles... Makes me smile.

Now that I have a second one...we have a pink Cricket at BPS...my wife and daughter saw it...and I think that when my wife's permit comes in, I'm going t make her buy it as the first gun she bought...and the first one to her little girl.
 
My wife hates the smell of cleaning solvents and the smell after shooting, but she loves to go to the range and shoot her own firearm, which she also carries for PP...
 
My wife has absolutely no interest in shooting. She also doesn't say much about it. Mutual agreement. I ask nothing about new looking jewelry, cloths, shoes, etc' and she mentions nothing about what may come out of the basement. [smile]

It's a great thing. Then again, I'm pretty sure we're broke. [thinking]
 
As soon as I found out my wife was preggo...I went out and bought a chipmunk. Didn't know what we were having until they came into the world.

I've talked with her her whole life...and can't wait to take her shooting. She's only five now, but askes all the time when I'm going to take her.

She's a bit on the hard part of listening...so I keep telling her, when you can show me that you'll listen to me, we'll start with a BB gun.

Thanks for a nice post.
I didn't really understand about the chipmunk: did you actually buy one, or it's just an expression?[wink]
Dad started to buy me toy guns, tanks, airplanes, etc when I was an infant. I remember asking him for a plastic copy of AK-47, which was making pretty realistic sound as you pull the trigger, and he gave me one for for my fifth B-day [grin] Then I remember going with Dad and brother to the local range and shooting airguns, and how much effort it took me to hold one.
Now I probably understand better how he was feeling teaching me shooting.
 
My wife is pretty indifferent about guns; she may come to an Appleseed shoot this year, but I won't push her - that'd be the fastest way to get her to say no. I am a bit too rabid on the subject of Second Amendment rights for her, so I need to tone it down a bit.

Mother? Freaked out when I bought my first guns while still living at home and made me keep them locked up. And the year before last, I took her to the range with me and my niece and FINALLY got her to shoot. She liked it, too. Alas, most of my guns are too heavy for her these days as she's a bit frail.

Dad? Never managed to get him to go shooting with me before his death. One thing I will always regret.

Older brother? Just not interested and couldn't care. Strange... he got a bunch of NRA small-bore medals when he was in summer camp when he was a kid... which made ME want to shoot riflery at summer camp, too.

Older Sister? Heh. Got a lecture on how I was "opening [my]self up to the path of violence by owning guns". Yes, that's a direct quote. She's cool with the next two paragraphs, though.

Niece (sister's daughter): Loves her crazy Uncle Ross for teaching her to shoot and can't wait to get a rifle of her own... which will happen when she's out from under my sister's roof. Has been to three Appleseed shoots.

Nephew (sister's son): Loves his crazy Uncle Ross for teaching him to shoot and got a rifle of his own for his last birthday. Has also been to an Appleseed shoot. (his fiancee shoots, too, and wants to go into law enforcement - city cop first, and then apply to the FBI)

Cousins: One's a retired Navy armorer (do I need to say more?) and the other is in the CG reserve. Both have been to the sandbox.

Friends? Well... best friend was the one who went with me to buy my very first gun... and just traded it back to me for a Model 66 after I'd sold it to him 15 years ago. Other friends range from seriously indifferent to "When do we get to go shooting together?".
 
Since I started on the forum and getting gun magazines to the house the wife thinks I'm some Sick Bastard. When I get her out on the range and she shoots a couple of guns I think she'll enjoy it and understand all the fuss....[rolleyes]
 
My family?

You have got to be kidding. They're ALL Veterans to start with (Mom was even in the Coast Guard in WW2, and before that, as a civilian, taught Navy Pilots how to fly). We ALL own firearms, even my daughter. We all hunt, or used to hunt, except Mom. My father and I used to shoot competition. Highpower, Handgun Shilouette and Bench Rest for him, Smallbore, Skeet and Bench Rest for me. We've both been on Guard Unit Teams, he was on the State Team for about 10 years. Every Year he went to Camp Perry.

Dad owned a gun business and has been making ammo since before I was born. We still do gun shows together, selling ammo.

The girlfriend is a hunter, and from a hunting family. They all know how to shoot. Her sister isn't so big into it, but she tolerates it. The girlfriend's grandsons are DEEP into it, and have both done 2 Appleseeds. One loves my M14, the other my Dragunov (Romanian).

My granddaughters are 3 and 4 1/2, and will be shooting soon. I'm another getting a couple of Crickets or Chipmunks. I'll have them using that until they can hold up a 10/22 Ruger, and I've 6 of those. Their parents are pretty cool with it, but my daughter in law and son in law are both from shooting families as well, and my son in law is a Garand lover.

My Ex even was into it, but, she too is a Veteran. She was a recreational shooter, the kind to go and blow off some .22 ammo from her handgun. She was a deadly shot when Active Duty. I could tell some stories you wouldn't believe, but were most certainly true.
 
Older Sister? Heh. Got a lecture on how I was "opening [my]self up to the path of violence by owning guns". Yes, that's a direct quote. She's cool with the next two paragraphs, though.

So the old retort of: "are you opening yourself up to the path of prostitution by having a vagina?" wouldn't have gone down well then I suppose? [wink]
 
So the old retort of: "are you opening yourself up to the path of prostitution by having a vagina?" wouldn't have gone down well then I suppose? [wink]
Had I thought of that back in 1981, I'd have used it. I thought that she was seriously nuts. She's the type that will never understand that when you carry a gun, you get MORE meek and polite, not arrogant and nutso. Hey, we're talking child of the 60's here. Hippie city.

Funny... in spite of her politics, I love her deeply and would do almost anything for her.* Hey, she's my sister!



*except give up my guns, of course!
 
My family, Dad vet, was into guns. (Mom wouldn't let him have them in the
house)
Brother,vet, into guns, we even talk about it with each other.
Me, also vet,into guns.
Mom no way anti. Then again she is pretty much anti everything
anyways.
Hubby, vet, hunts, into guns.
Son,vet, hunts, into guns.
Father in law, vet, was into guns and hunted. (no longer with us.)
Mother in law, she has her LTC.
One of Glenn's sister's has LTC, and is married to an even bigger gun
nut than us.
Yup the list goes on and on.[laugh]
 
My parents think I'll probably kill myself or someone will accidently kill me.

My sister stated, "Mom and Dad won't allow us to have guns!." (She's 2 years older).

My grandmother never needs to know.
 
You have got to be kidding. They're ALL Veterans to start with (Mom was even in the Coast Guard in WW2, and before that, as a civilian, taught Navy Pilots how to fly).
With my family, I see a pretty strange picture. My grandma was a combat medic during WW2, and she disliked guns. My grandpa was WW2 veteran and served for 25 years in Soviet Army, and he wasn't into guns at all. The only person who loved shooting was my Dad, who hadn't fought at any war. Don't know, maybe people who were exposed to fighting or gun violence before they had a chance to shoot for fun see things differently... [thinking]
 
A friend of my family - he was our optometrist for decades, and is now retired - is a veteran of the Pacific Theatre in WWII. Guadalcanal, etc. I had sent him some of the pix that are coming out of Iraq - not combat related, but showing our troops - and he emailed me back that he doesn't want to see anything like that, as it gives him flashbacks and nightmares.

Over SIXTY YEARS later.

I don't know what kind of action he saw - hell, I never even knew he was a vet until a year or two ago as he never talked about it! It must have been ferocious if he's still seeing it in his nightmares. I've read about the war in the Pacific, of course... but you vets know that I don't have any clue what it's like to have been in combat. I can't.

But I honor his request.

Although... interestingly enough, I just got an email from him about Second Amendment rights! I'll have to talk with Harry again and see what I can send him other than humor and uh... other stuff. [wink]
 
Well, Yelena, considering that some of my really good friends and my son have done a tour in Iraq, escorting convoys (one of the most dangerous jobs in a combat zone, BTW) and they still shoot as much or more than before, I would have to say that is odd. One guy even shot an insurgent with a scoped M16A2, insttead of his .50 cal MG, and he still sees images of the insurgent's face. Of course, he has comfort in knowing exactly who he saved, another friend. The insurgent was about to shoot another troop with an RPG. One 5.56 round ended that.
 
Nickle, I think Yelena's key point was that the people she mentioned were exposed to combat before shooting for fun. I'm sure your son shot for fun long before he was old enough to join up.
 
I'm not sure how my family will react, as I haven't mentioned it yet. This past weekend was the first time I'd seen them since I got my license. The subject didn't really come up. I don't think they'll have a problem with gun ownership in general. My grandfather used to shoot squirrels that ate his birdseed with his 410 (that I hope to inherit some day far in the future) until the Police Chief stopped by and told him that he really shouldn't do that any more. I'm sure my mom will worry about safety issues just like she has with anything I've ever done.
 
My side of the family (from VA) always had guns with many being veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. All shot before they served and continued to do so after they served. Many also open carried as well. Almost all hunted. Everyone knew how to use a gun (male or female).

Most of my wife's side of the family (all from MA), think guns are dangerous and should not be owned or used under any circumstances.

Luckily for me, my wife does not share their opinion.
 
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Well, Yelena, considering that some of my really good friends and my son have done a tour in Iraq, escorting convoys (one of the most dangerous jobs in a combat zone, BTW) and they still shoot as much or more than before, I would have to say that is odd. One guy even shot an insurgent with a scoped M16A2, insttead of his .50 cal MG, and he still sees images of the insurgent's face. Of course, he has comfort in knowing exactly who he saved, another friend. The insurgent was about to shoot another troop with an RPG. One 5.56 round ended that.

Our son who also has been to Iraq, still shoots, and enjoys it also. Now there are other things that do bother him.
 
Dad was a strong hunter & shooting advocate; member of 4 different clubs & police instructor. Late older brother hunter & shot, as do older & younger sisters. Mom couldn't care less, but didn't discourage it all.
My wife hasn't tried it, but if I can get a sitter for the 3 little ones she might; fully believes in 2A. My 10yo son shoots and wants me to take him bird hunting this fall.

so all in all, I'd say we're a pretty pro gun family.
 
My wife (fyi originally Yulia from Baku) likes to go to the range with me. She shoots everything. Even at a lightweight 5'2" her favorite is the 1911.

JuliaShootingColt1.jpg


She's taken the NRA required class (twice!) but hasn't bothered to submit her LTC application yet. Gotta get on her case over that...
 
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