"Mainstream" firearm owners

In fact some of the most logical, educated, and common sense arguments I have ever heard have been in opposition to gun control right here on TFL.
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Do you believe that it's a coincidence that you, as a member of a pro-gun forum, would find arguments that seem "logical, educated, and common sense" to you on that forum?

I would bet that members of an anti-gun forum find the anti-gun arguments on their forum just as "logical, educated, and common sense" to them as the pro-gun arguments here are to you.
 
I would bet that members of an anti-gun forum find the anti-gun arguments on their forum just as "logical, educated, and common sense" to them as the pro-gun arguments here are to you.
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I have yet to find an Anti- whose argument for strict gun control could not be reduced to it's emotional base.
 
jimbob86 said:
I have yet to find an Anti- whose argument for strict gun control could not be reduced to it's emotional base.
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In your perspective. But no doubt our opposition likes their arguments as much as we like our own. And if you don't think that to our opposition many of our arguments don't appear emotional, you're deluding yourself.

We're all really good at "preaching to the choir." But we need to accept the fact that many of those arguments supporting gun rights we think so highly of aren't necessarily making a lot of headway with our opposition. Maybe we need to make more of an effort to ask why and figure out how we can be doing better.
 
Tucker said:
I fit the stereotype pretty well actually
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Stereotypes often exist for good reason. Gun shows in my part of the country, Northern Ohio, featuring the population approximately half of whom are overweight, over 60, and wear plaid shirts. It is as if there is a factory somewhere overusing that mold.
 
I have yet to find an Anti- whose argument for strict gun control could not be reduced to it's emotional base.
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Bingo, every time I have a debate with someone over gun control and present to them irrefutable and logical arguments they fall back on something that sounds a lot like "but those poor people at that mass shooting". And I usually fire back with something like "and if a good guy had been there with a gun maybe it wouldn't have happened." At which point they usually get flustered and say something sarcastic.
 
Bingo, every time I have a debate with someone over gun control and present to them irrefutable and logical arguments they fall back on something that sounds a lot like "but those poor people at that mass shooting". And I usually fire back with something like "and if a good guy had been there with a gun maybe it wouldn't have happened." At which point they usually get flustered and say something sarcastic.
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The only arguement I have ever used that always works is the fact that gun control and abolshiment doesn't actually reduce violent crime and doesn't eliminate guns from the criminal eliment. The point is it doesn't work. Everything else is up in the air.

The one above, that you use, has been turned on me in a reasonable and logical fasion that can not be completly dismissed.

Don't for a second think that we are seen as anything but illogical and empassioned by our enemies, and understand that yes, they have grounds for it.

Or are you not emotionally charged as you support the 2nd Amendment? I know that I am pretty darn emotional about my right to keep and bare arms, about my choice to be able to defend my person and my rights and, yes, I fear having that taken away from me.

What's more is we have plenty of our own doofuses and outright idiots cluttering up our cause, just as they have theirs.

And FYI, the reason they get sarcastic and walk away is that you've just made yourself look like an armchair commando. The average anti understands "flight" not "fight" and tend to disparage or disregard anyone who says diffrent.
 
Eventually, people will realize that "liberal" and "anti" are not synonyms.
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Can't come soon enough to suit me. Not because I'm all that liberal, but because the unfairness of pigeonholing cuts both ways. "Liberal" and "conservative" are not dirty words any more than "Protestant" and "Buddhist" are.

I've been watching politics, and voting, for a very long time, so long that you had to be twenty-one when I cast my first vote. I've seen all the infighting, the McCarthy years, Watergate, Chappaquidick, all of it. I have never seen more knee-jerk, oppositional, idiotic political division than what we have now.

Don't try to jam my elderly butt into one of your damn categories. I'm old and white and a Democrat and a gun owner and a devotee of the First AND Second Amendments and impatient with idiots and conspiracy theorists and a widower and a dog owner and a Tennesseean and ugly, and on and on. I'm lots of things, but I am me and not some freakin' stereotype.

I extend that courtesy to others and I expect it to be shown to me.
 
You do realize that you're gathering data from gun owners who are literate enough and enthusiastic enough to participate in an internet forum, which has about 7,000 active members out of over 100,000,000 gun owners in the US? That means that less than 7 out of every 100,000 gun owners are participating on this forum.
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You do realize that the whole purpose of this thread is for our own edification and not intended as any formal data gathering attempt on my part?
 
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Easy, there, gang.... take deep breaths... smile... :)

The whole point of this thread is that we are all on the same side, and it's ok if we're otherwise different. Heck, it's more than OK, it's something to celebrate. How dull it would be to talk only to clones of ourselves. ;)
 
I don't think I am typical either. I grew up with my dad in law enforcement, so guns were a tool that he had all over the place for protection. All guns are loaded and ready to shoot.

I started hunting about 34 years ago. It was fun, and I like the meat. The meat is still my favorite part of the sport. All of our children hunt, and have guns for self protection. None are fat or wear camo.

I have been married to the same man (first class gunsmith and avid hunter) for 32 years, drive a mini van, own a little S&W .22 that belonged to my dad, have a pink AR that my husband built for me, and a S&W 19 that my son customized for me.

I consider myself first a wife and mother, then a person who has guns for protection and putting food on the table. Keeping the neighbor dogs out of my chickens is another goal. I am smart, but not a collage graduate. I love animals and nature. I love God and freedom. I believe in being prepared and self reliant, but don't consider myself to be a prepper. As far as the over weight thing, let's not go there. I don't advertize that I have guns, but I don't hide the fact if someone asks. And I don't trust the government.
 
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Gender.
Age (approxamate)
Race.
Types of firearms owned and for what purposes (just a general overview, nobody has to be specific)
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Male
25 almost 26
About 3/4 German and 1/4 Italian. Some family was over here as early as 1700, other parts of t family were here as recently as my grandfather.

I am a lot of thing; I am married, going on 4 years now; I have a daughter who is about to turn 2, I work full time for a Xerox affiliate managing part and supplies inventory, I also am going to school for business; hoping to eventually earn my MBA (assuming finances work out.) I work out three times a week with weights, running, and a punching bag, I was a somewhat succesful powerlifter in high school despite being only 5'8. I did Tae Kwon Do for two years and came away with some moderate tournament victories but decided I was just too short to make good use of a martial art that relies on kicks mostly. So now I practice a couple different boxing moves and combos.

My interest in firearms started around 2007. I have been shooting guns since I was 6 (my mothers whole family are from the country and my grandfather is a guns other) but I wasn't really all that interested until my grandfather gifted to me a beautiful sporterized Mauser based on a WWI Gewehr that hadn't been fired in years.

Currently I own that rifle, which I use to hunt and target shoot (not past 100 meters yet) a Ruger MKII I use for plinking and "training" on the cheap and a Mossberg 500 for home defense and for shooting clays (quite unsuccessfully actually, it's an 18" barreled pump gun.) I also write a little historical fiction as well as cook and I read a lot. I always have a book going, 99% nonfiction, mostly history or analytical books, though I do mix a novel in every on e and a while to spice things up.

The next two firearms I want to get are a "real" caliber pistol (probably a G19 or a S&W M&P9 and a .22 rifle. After that my next desires will be an AR and an entry level 1911. Though I gotta say, I'm pretty stricken with the 1911 as of late. Might have to make one a bachors degree present... :( I'm thinking a Ruger SR1911 might be nice...

I'm an odd mix of intellectual and "tough guy." For example, I could list off for you the population size, Main exports of, capital of, major roadways of just about any western country... In 1492! I have also broken my hand punching someone in the face in my younger days. I look pretty rough on the exterior but I try my best to be quite and respectful of others as well as humble.

What else... I love nice suits, craft beer, wine, I love to grill and I cannot get enough of my daughter.

So do I fit your stereotype? On the way to hunt or shoot I kind of do; at work you would never know I was anything but some guy. Or if I was out with my wife.
 
6'4" 260lbs. College educated former Middle School educator that had a rare opportunity to retired at 40 years old which was a while ago. Financially independent I do not flaunt my finances at all. I try to travel well under the what is now called the swagger radar. I have never believed in being flamboyant.
 
Or are you not emotionally charged as you support the 2nd Amendment? I know that I am pretty darn emotional about my right to keep and bare arms, about my choice to be able to defend my person and my rights and, yes, I fear having that taken away from me.
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Yes I do get quite hacked off at people who go past the point of agreeing with gun control to actively supporting it. The people who just agree with it I feel I can win over, one being my girlfriend. After Newtown she was all about gun control. Once I got her to see why an AWB or hi cap mag ban would not have stopped what happened that day she gave in. Plus my AK74 is her favorite gun, scared I'm going to come home one day to find it in pink furniture :eek:
 
FITS THE STEREOTYPE :
Male,
white,
short hair,
Former Marine grunt/Current Army Reservist,
mid-50’s,
NRA Life Member
raised in Texas,
generally drive a pick-up or similar (when in the US)

build/buy/collect any gun from muzzle-loaders to registered machineguns and all in between - dozens of handguns and EBR's

FITS NO STEREOTYPE :
Asian wife
Practicing Buddhist (requirement of in-laws)
Raised a Unitarian by anti-gun parents
BS Mechanical Engineering (Tau Beta Pi) / Masters International Management (all self-financed, GI Bill, or academic scholarships)
Currently running a business in Japan w/100% Japanese clients (read/speak Japanese at professional level)
Fluent enough in Spanish, German, and Mandarin to travel in respective countries without problems
Excessively physically fit – run 3 – 4 days a week and cross-fit type workouts on the off days.

Will never have an abortion, marry a gay man, nor take drugs so I see no reason why these activities should not be legal – none of my business.
 
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... ^ He is, The Most Interesting Man in the World...

Sorry couldn't help myself. Tejicano that is quite impressive, Semper Fi brother
 
FITS THE STEREOTYPE :
Male,
white,
short hair,
Former Marine grunt/Current Army Reservist,
mid-50’s,
NRA Life Member
raised in Texas,
generally drive a pick-up or similar (when in the US)

build/buy/collect any gun from muzzle-loaders to registered machineguns and
FITS NO STEREOTYPE :
Asian wife
Practicing Buddhist (requirement of in-laws)
Raised a Unitarian by anti-gun parents
BS Mechanical Engineering (Tau Beta Pi) / Masters International Management (all self-financed, GI Bill, or academic scholarships)
Currently running a business in Japan w/100% Japanese clients (read/speak Japanese at professional level)
Fluent enough in Spanish, German, and Mandarin to travel in respective countries without problems
Excessively physically fit – run 3 – 4 days a week and cross-fit type workouts on the off days.

Will never have an abortion, marry a gay man, nor take drugs so I see no reason why these activities should not be legal – none of my business.
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WOW! Color me impressed.
 
Soory - my intention was not to impress anybody. Frankly, I was a bit embarrassed to write it all down.

My point was to show how their stupid stereotype generally has no basis in reality.
 
I probably don't fit the stereotype but...

...most gun owners really don't.
I am,
A college grad with a BFA, majored in painting and while I think of myself as an artist I don't make enough money with it to make a living so I supplement my income with a full time job a a supervisor in a local manufacturing plant.
I grew up in rural Maine and was surrounded by firearms, hunting and fishing but I do not hunt and fish. I do love firearms though and have a gas going out and target practicing with my family and friends. I also enjoy collecting firearms and want one of each!
Other hobbies are guitar playing, disc golf, darts, bike riding, and model railroading. I don't think of my drawing and painting as a hobby, more of an avocation.
Politically I think of myself as pretty liberal except for guns which for some reason some think all gun owners are conservative. I just don't see gun ownership as being either liberal or conservative. My friends and family who are gun owners run the gamut insofar as political and social views with most leaning to the left for the most part.
 
I was a typical gun owner in 1999. I owned two guns, rarely shot, had hunted a little. Then I discovered the internet. But even then I was normal until I joined TFL, they ruined me. So now I'm a stark raving lunatic that stands to get described as possessing an arsenal if I ever get arrested.

But seriously, I probably fit the stereotype pretty well. Middle aged, white, conservative most of the time, ex-military, flag on a pole, etc...

ETA: Thinking more on this, and it really doesn't matter. We are of course diverse. When the media wants to interview a gun owner though, they will pick their idiot. Further, gun ownership is still largely a white middle class thing, the internet finds a more diverse pool, but my experiences at gun shows and gun rights events shows to me a depressing lack of what the world at large considers diversity. I'm 38, recently met my first two gun shop owner that weren't white guys. One is a black gun selling prepper, an under-represented demographic if there ever was and the other has vanity plates on his BMW to tell the world he is Sikh, probably to stay one step ahead of local bigots who go turban=derp!
 
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I'm a white college graduate in my thirties and my wife is in her twenties. Unless we plan on crossing the border into the rights-violating states next door (NY and MA), I don't think we ever leave the house without a firearm. I'm often in a suit and tie. When I'm dressed up, I carry light. If I'm out in the woods, I carry heavy. My wife only carries "pretty" revolvers :rolleyes: and usually in her purse. The point is that we are vigilant and responsible firearm owners who don't look peculiar.

We go to church and are somewhere between libertarian and conservative, but into what stereotype do really we fit? If it's the stereotype of freedom-loving Americans who prefer to keep our persons, property, and community safe; then I think that's a good thing.
 
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