FREAKED OUT by guns

K

Kazaam

New member
Just kidding, I'm not freaked out by firearms. Seems like most people who haven't used one are, though. Which brings me to these questions:

Were any of you freaked out the first time you shot a gun?

I put off going to the range with my buddy for quite a while simply because I was kind of nervous about all the stuff I've heard on the news about shooting deaths. When I got to the range, I was probably even more freaked out since I started hearing gunshots (never heard one up until then) lol. After I started shooting, I thought it was the coolest thing ever and that's how I found these forums.

Were any of you freaked out about the first gun you brought into your home?

So now that I've had some experience with guns, I'm obviously not freaked out about them. So naturally I want to get a handgun. HOWEVER...I keep getting heat from everyone telling me all of these random statistics about most firearms deaths being from the persons own gun, higher rates of suicide amongst gun owners, about no matter how careful you are "it only needs to happen once" and a bunch of other things.

I do know owning a firearm is a large responsibility, which I'm confident I can handle, but I'm curious about your (first) experiences with firearms.
 
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My father started me shooting when I was six.
Only remember being very enthusiastic.
Firearms in safe hands have never freaked me out.
 
I was a little hesitant the first time I went shooting, but that was just me expecting the recoil to be much worse than it was. I also felt nervous the first couple times I carried a DA gun with a round chambered but got over it pretty quickly.
 
I can't really say I ever remember the "first gun brought into [my] home"!

They simply have just been there. For as long as my memory serves, there have been guns in nearly every home of every person I have ever known.

My whole family has hunted, shot trap, and generally just used guns for everday life since before my birth. Nearly every friend I have ever known, excluding my college years, have owned guns.

To this day, it is the norm to expect a firearm in nearly every vehicle in my town durring fall seasons.

I remember graduating HS in the eighties, where in October, the majority of the trucks in the parking lot had rifles. We would finish football practice then head out for the last few hours of daylight looking for a deer, elk, bear, coyote, moose.

Even today, if we are planning on going out to check cows on the BLM, we always toss in a rifle. Never know what you might see.

It is interesting to me to hear stories like yours, where people don't have access to guns and never have even touched them.
 
I take newbies to the range all the time,,,

I take newbies to the range all the time,,,
Since they have shown some interest in guns,,,
I figure it's my job to not allow any silliness to happen.

Only once have I had anyone freak out on me.

It was typical sorority girl silliness,,,
She fired one shot from a .22 SA revolver,,,
Then did that little stepping dance like she was on hot coals.

She didn't drop the gun but it almost left her grip.

My first thought was to yell at her but better sense prevailed,,,
I took the gun from her, unloaded it, and set it on the shooting table.

Then in my calmest voice I explained to her that she was acting irrational,,,
She had watched while I fired two cylinders through the revolver,,,
She had dry-fired at least that many times on empty shells,,,
So there was no sane reason for her to act that way.

In short I shamed her a little bit,,,
I did tell her to quit acting like a stereotypical sorority girl,,,
And act like the competent and capable sorority sister she proclaimed to be.

It worked.

She settled down and we had a great afternoon,,,
She later told her grandfather about me taking her to the range,,,
Now she packs the old style Ruger SP-101 in .22 that her grandfather gave her.

I want her pistol dangit!

The first pistol I ever fired was my grandfathers snubnose .38 of some ilk,,,
I was 5 years old and knew "everything" about guns and shooting,,,
After all I had been watching Roy Rogers shoot his for years. :D

Aarond

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The time between the first time I shot a gun and when I started owning guns was over a decade. First shot a shotgun, during a hunter's safety course when I was about 12, then I got my first gun when I was about 25. Even though I grew up in a non-gun family neither was scary, just exciting.
 
I think I was born with a gun in my hand (sic). Guns were always there for as long as I can remember. The thing that freaked me out was when I started buying guns for myself and realized how cheap they were. I took home my first Colt 45 (MK IV Series 80 with the deep dark polished bluing) and was incredulous at the $379 price tag (1984) on it. New Mini-14s were 250ish! I started buying guns as fast as I could because I had the feeling they would go up.

But freaked out scared? Naah, Dad took care of all that. God bless him for that.
 
I was raised around hunting and guns so it was just second nature to shoot for me I've always had a liking for guns whether for sporting or recreational use.

@ Aarond Kudos for taking newbies out and showing them the sport and safe handling of firearms.
 
Dad got me my first gun, a shotgun, when I was 9. Single shot H&R Topper Jr. 20 gauge. Was very excited to shoot it, never freaked out because my Dad taught me how to use it safely and what to expect when it went bang. I killed supper many times back then with that shotgun. Still have it.
 
She made my day !!!

I can appreciate what you are saying and have become fairly good at spotting those that are freaked out, at our hunter safety classes. I often refer to it as "De-Horning the Devil" and work hard at putting students at ease, comfortable and secure.

Can relate many stories but the one that stands out is a young woman that took forever to pull the trigger on a .50 M/L and after she did, shed a few tears. Previously she refused to shoot at the shotgun and rifle stations but I got her to shoot the M/L ..... :D

Be Safe !!!
 
If you meet a person who is really paranoid about guns , be a MAN and politely suggest they get some professional help .Find a progun psychologist.

I was born during WWII .As kids we played cowboys and Indians and we played war.We all knew veterans and didn't have the crazy anti-gun nonsense like today. I learned to shoot at 7 or 8 and was able to differenciate between a toy gun and a real gun .I've been shooting ever since !:p
 
I grew up with guns so no, I wasn't freaked out either shooting them or having them in my home. Proper handling, knowledge and respect takes most of the freak out factor away from people in my opinion.
 
My compliments to you school.

My ELEMENTARY school principal asked me to bring a gun to school
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That is excellent as we have not had much luck in our area. If you were given a choice of what to bring, I feel you made the right one. .... ;)


Be Safe !!!
 
my angle on it is people freaked out by guns do so out of ignorance of some sort. What theyre realy afraid of is the unkown. The young kid cant see whats in his closet at night, and hes told things that suggest theres a boogeyman in there waiting to get him so hed better stay in bed. instead of turning on the light to see for himself he lets his immagination run wild and so his fear grows. Its The same thing here to some extent they absorb whats projected by the media and allow their fear and disgust to wax more and more rather than coming into the light where all can be seen. My dad started me bird hunting at 8 y/o but i did not have a gun for myself until i was around 18 i believe. no ive never fliped over guns theyve been part of my life all this time.
 
I have taken 4 people to the range who did not like guns. They were all completely ignorant about guns. These were all intelligent people and to a person they all thought that the gun could spontaneously discharge. They all left the range interested in coming again. All 4 own pistols now.
 
Were any of you freaked out the first time you shot a gun?
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No.

Were any of you freaked out about the first gun you brought into your home?
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And no. I was very exited about both. Still am. Did not grow up around guns, but I've always liked them, and as an adult I really like shooting/hunting:D
 
I've no idea.

I've no memory of either event as both were early enough that I have no memories of them. I know that by age 5 I was an avid (albeit very poor) shooter, but I have no idea when I started.

Note that I started my own son shooting at age 4.
 
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