Can we trust those who know we have guns?

[Solitar]

We've all read numerous news reports and TFL discussions where "friends", relatives, and acquaintances have used guns against gun owners -- not the guns themselves but the ownership or possession of them as legal revenge or just plain anti-gun confiscation.

Those who don't like us or our gun habits can, for instance, use fire codes against us. They can restrict the amount of ammo in a business such as What Fort Worth did to Cheaper than Dirt or in our homes. If a fire chief or one of his/her lieutenants learn we have "a lot" of powder and ammo they can make life difficult for us. Note the above link is about having more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. How many of us personally have more than that?

Concealed carry, especially if the lists are public, can be used by anti-gunners to catch us carrying in the wrong place (post office) or in a wrong manner (some states prohibit the gun being visible). Nail us with a felony and our legal ownership days are over.

Restraining orders and accusations of domestic violence can be used by disgruntled spouses or kids to make us give up our guns -- at least temporarily. If we are then caught in possession, then there is another potential felony against us. Then there are cases of kids telling a teacher or school counselor that "mommy and daddy have guns at home". Oh boy. Here we go with "recovered memories". When you come home the house as been searched, the guns are gone, the kids are in a foster home, and you are on your way to jail or at least some "counseling" (which then can be used against your CCW permit).

Unfounded accusations of illegal "assault weapons" or "dangerous devices" can be enough "reasonable cause" for a search of our persons, homes, outbuildings or businesses. Who among us can honestly say we have nothing the anti-gun press or anti-gun police or prosecutor could use against us? Here is a related experience.

Do you remember the poor fellow having a medical emergency during which the paramedics noticed his guns in his home. There followed a search, home damage, confiscation, and a feeding frenzy by the anti-gun press about all his "military" weapons. He was a federally licensed collector. Here is the link to the TFL discussion.
Can you trust the firefighters, paramedics and cops who enter your home to "help you" and who then notice some guns and ammo (those rifles Tamara has behind a door and Illuminatus has on a guitar rack). We've localities where "safe storage laws" can be used against us.

Are the above just paranoid ravings?
I am afraid not.
Too many of my gun-owning friends have expressed the same concerns.

[C.R.Sam]

Beware of the blissninnies. Some know not what they do and others bear malice toward us.

Pick you friends carefully.

Sam

[coati]

You didn't mention some of the things that have been brought up on TFL before like allowing a doctor to know you are a gun owner, or any sort of life or property insurance company.

There are things that don't need to be told, yet I don't like having to be circumspect about my 2nd amendment rights.

I'm a stickler about junk mail lists. Having my neighbors get some gun junk mail by accident (like I get theirs, at times) isn't a good thing.

[Oleg Volk]

And the rule is.............socialize within your own species. My home is barely large enough to fit even a fraction of good, deserving people who are my friends...why waste the space and oxygen by dealing with those who aren't good enough? Don't date antis, don't invite them into yor homes.

[Jetfire]

coati, i live in an extremely gun-unfriendly place, and i've somehow managed to get on various firearms-related junk mail lists. i often get junk mail intended for my neighbors, so i can only assume that they get my junk mail from time to time. i wonder what they think

[fmjcafe]

Loose lips sink ships.The fewer people that know what you have,the better.

[Christopher II]

Not for me. I refuse to act like my lifestyle is something to be ashamed of. Everybody I meet, unless they turn out to be a total brainwipe, learns that I'm a gun owner, competitive shooter, and self-defense advocate withing the first twenty minutes of meeting me. If that has consequences, so be it. I'm one of the good guys, and good guys shouldn't hide.

- Chris

[PKAY]

My wife and I went to a Neighborhood Watch meeting two years ago down the street at one of my neighbor's home. It was in the early evening and two uniformed local LEOs were present to provide useful information about burglar proofing one's home as well as respond to questions regarding crime statistics in and around our immediate area. Following the presentation and Q&A, and as the officers were about to leave, I asked one about an article I read in the local paper concerning black and whites now being equipped with surplus M16s. I asked if they were select fire or restricted to semiauto. The officer's response was, "Only you would ask that question" with a wink and a knowing smile. I had never met him before in my life. Apparently he knew a helluva lot more about me than I did him! To be fair, my next door neighbor was the former dispatcher for the PD and her son was and still is a uniformed officer. She and her husband were gun owners and knew that I was too from prior conversations. Guess the word got around.

[MikeK]

I'm with Christopher II. I don't hide it - may not bring it up in a conversation within 20 minutes though. I have an NRA decal on the front door of my home and on my vehicle.

I'm self-employed and my main customer is a major religious organization. At least one department is definitely anti-gun (autographed pictures with an employee and Sarah Brady on the wall). I hate to enter that office. On the other hand, another group that deals with Eastern Europe is pro-gun and I have discussed shotgun purchases with them. Not that I know much about shotguns. Have been shooting with some customers and discuss guns with many of them.

I got into homemade t-shirts for a while. Mainly gun themes. It has resulted in some interesting conversations, all pro-gun, with some people that I would not view as pro-gun from first impressions. Now that it's getting warmer I may have to do a few more.

I do have freinds who are anti, but it's usually half of a couple. I don't worry about them turning me in - otherwise they wouldn't be my freinds.

I think hiding your gun ownership in the closet is just what the antis are after. Stigmatization, evil, bad vibes - however you want to say it.

I'm a GUN owner and PROUD of it! But I'm not telling anyone how much ammunition I have.

[DMK]

I agree with what the others said here. Choose your friends and aquaintences carefully. Use common sense. Keep your firearms secured but easily accessed. Paramedics or other visitors wouldn't find my firearms, and nobody is getting to them without breaking and entering or illegal search. That's just basic security.

But, if somebody is out to get you, they don't need to use your ownership of guns against you. There are millions of other ways to make somebody's life miserable.

I don't hide the fact that I own firearms like it's some dirty secret. If somebody asks me if I own a gun, I say "Yea! Come on over and I'll let you shoot it too. It's fun!" We need to beat this bad press thing. You're not going to do it by hiding in shadows.

[ctdonath]

I assume people WILL find out, and they usually do.

I also figure that the gov't already knows - between the yellow forms and state CCW permit - so I take it to the extreme: Class III and C&R registration, making it clear (1) to me that they DO know without question, and (2) to them that I am serious about this and have gone to great lengths to comply with BS regulations.

In fact, in an age where you are increasingly "guilty until proven innocent" and convicted felons practically have more rights than I (upstanding citizen) do, Class III + C&R permits make me a card-carrying good guy: I'm so upstanding that the gov't, through active evaluation, has declared I am trustworthy enough to own remarkably dangerous weapons and have battle rifles shipped to my door with almost no documentation (and that kept by me, not them). If, after all that, they still don't trust me...we have a very serious problem.

[gorlitsa]

I don't technically own any guns yet (yet! ) so all I can show off is my knowledge learned from TFL. I've found that almost every male and about 1/3 of the girls who I bring up the issue around reacts well.

I don't bring up the issue to people I don't know too well, but I have no qualms discussing guns when others are around. If they think I'm nuts and get scared, I'd rather not be friends with them anyway.

[The Plainsman]

I hear what you're saying and I certainly wouldn't dispute it, but I reckon I fall in the same group as Chris II and the others. I figure that if I'm going to promote shooting and firearms ownership to non-shooters, I need to come across as one of those "gun folks" who is a nice guy. Having said that, I don't know how to do that without at least suggesting that I own guns and shoot them.

OTOH - I sometimes get nervous when the topic of guns comes up among folks with whom I am not acquainted and know nothing about. When I get tagged as a gun owner and shooter, I'm wondering who among the group is a burglar and/or a raging anti-gunner, looking for a likely target. Then I think - "hmmmm, I reckon I better check my ammo supply and make sure everything is loaded and ready to go."

[fmjcafe]

Loose lips sink ships.The fewer people that know what you have,the better.

I didn`t mean that I hide the fact that I am a gun owner or mean to imply that I am ashamed of being a gun owner.I wear my NRA and Molon Labe hat and have pro RKBA messages on my truck.

I am more then happy to talk about guns and shooting with anyone that is interested, however, I don`t necessarily talk about my collection or reveal the amount of ammo I have stored with casual aquaintences.I consider that to be priveledged information to be shared with a select few close friends and family members.

[dZ]

what frosts my flakes is when someone that knows that you are a gun owner
decides to "out you" in a casual conversation with other folkes

[Crimper-D]

But I've been in a couple of block parties where there were loud derogitory remarks being 'Opinionatd' about Gun Ownership... Now I know who the local 'Anti's' are...the loud ones at least

The closest I've been to being "outed" in public was the one fool who wonderd 'loudly'aloud in a social gathering what the device was on my custom-designed ballcap was = (outline of scope crosshairs complete with red dot ) I staired her down and anounced just as loudly that it was a "Celtic Cross"

Dummy responded : "Oh! I didn't know you were Irish!"

"I'm NOT!"

Subdued mirth from her husband

[nralife]

...and don't forget that the people ripping you off are usually people who have been in your house or know you. I do believe that statistics will bear that out. I'm not saying fellow gun owners do that, but the least amount of people knowing your business is best.


Joe

[Jamie Young]

I had a roommate live with me that was totally freaked out by guns. I never brought them out when they were around and kept them out of sight. He was severly disturbed by the fact I was "Making Bullets" when I opened up My Dillon 550B.


Molon Labe

Another one of My friends was afraid to touch any of My stuff because he thought (knowing Me) that I would have everything booby trapped Spread rumors like that around and less people will mess with your stuff. My whole house is rigged with explosives and My front yard has land mines so people stay away.

[coonan357]

the neighbor kid ( wannabe gangbanger) asking me what the blinking light was next to my front door , I looked at him and said your worst nightmare. that was the end of that , then one day he saw me loading my rifle bag into the truck and started asking questions i told him he asks too many questions and if something where to happen to my house hes first suspect .my other neighbor ( older gentleman ) asked me since he used to work with me and knew my hobby where he could get a old shot gun cleaned and looked at . I cleaned it and looked it over for him, he then asked about where to get a gun card , I gave him the info , he watches over my house when I am gone on the road . some neighbors you can trust and others you can't .

[40ozflatfoot]

When out in the wilds of humanity, you never know when you will encounter a snake. When that happens, do what you would do if you encountered a rattlesnake, or a cottonmouth in the wild: back off and give it plenty of room. Otherwise, shoot to kill, and don't miss.

One problem I see over and over is the carelessness with which people keep information about others. A close friend and shooting buddy could inadvertently reveal your status as a gun owner to a co-worker, say, in hearing distance of a rabid gun-grabber. Talking about guns and gun related subjects in public, or even at a private gathering, could end up in some gun owner getting hurt...maybe even losing his guns forever. I know I wouldn't want to be party to that or anything like it.

I have only one answer to anyone that asks me if I own guns, even those that knew me at the range I used to frequent. When someone asks me if I own any guns, I reply, "Doesn't everybody?" with a shocked expression. Usually works.

[WyldOne]

I wonder if people's responses have anything to do with where we live?

For example, I'm petrified to even mutter the word "gun" at work, for fear someone may hear and...ugh. I was a little nervous when I got a mailing from GOAL a while ago, and it clearly stated on the outside package, Gun Owners Action League. Yikes!! Shhhh! What if my neighbors see? What if my landlord finds out?? But I'm in Boston; I have to assume that if I were in, for example, Texas, I wouldn't have the same concerns.

If I ever get to the "gun owning" stage, I imagine my roommates and my boyfriend would know, and that's it.

[TheBluesMan]

Originally posted by dZ:
what frosts my flakes is when someone that knows that you are a gun owner decides to "out you" in a casual conversation with other folkes.

I have a relative (also a gun owner) who does that on occasion. He usually says something like, "It's just a matter of time 'til Dave climbs up on his roof and starts shooting everything that moves."

This type of behavior is baffling to me and believe it or not, I am usually at a loss for words when this happens. I have thus far resisted the urge to jokingly reply with, "Yeah, and I'll be starting with you."

The problem is that it is difficult in such a situation to go into an explanation of how I believe that life is a precious gift from God, and that I keep guns to defend the lives of my family and myself.

I need a "one-liner" reply to put him in his place.

[SpyGuy]

I need a "one-liner" reply to put him in his place.

This one usually works in a number of like situations: "Oh when are you going to grow up?"

[nralife]

Like someone on this forum recommended a while back, when the anti-gunners start harassing you at work, say quite loudly: "you are not honoring my lifestyle and diversity!" LOL

This works when being hassled by veggie types too. Play the PC card on them!



Joe

[WyldOne]

"It's just a matter of time 'til Dave climbs up on his roof and starts shooting everything that moves."

"Nope, just anyone who threatens my life or my family."

When I went to the police station to pick up an application, the cop said to me, "Just don't go shootin' anyone". (Um? LOL ya dweeb.) All I said was, "I won't unless I have to." <--And I made sure to smile. We won't discuss what I wanted desperately to say.