The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > Hogan's Alley > Handguns: General Handgun Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old March 21, 2009, 03:41 PM   #1
HAMMER1DOWN
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 26, 2008
Location: Close Enough to Canada to say "EH!!"... MT
Posts: 418
explaining to an anti gun person

hi everyone i recently bought a .38 snub for my personal defense gun. Well, the other day i went to the store and i wore a t-shirt and jeans and had it strapped to my hip in a holster and as i was checking out the cashier ( a girl i went to school with) got all jittery and asked why i was carrying a gun in the store... all i said was that it wasn't illegal and that she should be happy because you never know when some thug will come by and want to make a withdrawl from the store. She replied by saying that by carrying a gun you can make yourself a target and that more people are watching you. All i could say before i left was that it was better that they target me rather than the cash register in front of you.

Have any of you encountered a similar facing of people who are anti-gun, this was a first and it was kinda embarassing for me.
HAMMER1DOWN is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 03:47 PM   #2
Masada
Member
 
Join Date: November 1, 2008
Posts: 32
I once told someone that I had to carry because the budget for the witness protection program was cut. Shut 'em up.
Masada is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 03:52 PM   #3
jdscholer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 23, 2008
Location: Jefferson State
Posts: 1,197
Concealed is mobetta. jd
__________________
"We're all dummies, just in different ways." Old Okie Philosopher
jdscholer is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 03:54 PM   #4
poptime
Member
 
Join Date: June 1, 2008
Location: foot of MT Rainier
Posts: 89
Doesn't sound to me like she was anti-gun. More like an opportunity to make a convert. And she is right, more people will watch you if you open carry.
poptime is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 03:54 PM   #5
jgcoastie
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 15, 2009
Location: Kodiak, Alaska
Posts: 2,118
Quote:
I once told someone that I had to carry because the budget for the witness protection program was cut.



Best response I've ever heard!!!!
__________________
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.
jgcoastie is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 03:59 PM   #6
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
I once told someone that I had to carry because the budget for the witness protection program was cut. Shut 'em up.
LOL. That's funny right there. I'll bet they went




OP:

I DON'T explain things to "anti"s. Fence sitters maybe, antis no. No body knows about my gun in public anyway. Open carry is illegal here and I wouldn't do it if I could. Do you REALLY want the BG targeting you instead of the cash register? I don't.
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:12 PM   #7
HAMMER1DOWN
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 26, 2008
Location: Close Enough to Canada to say "EH!!"... MT
Posts: 418
That day i carried open was the first time in a while that the weather was nice and i didn't feel that pulling my hoodie over my T was necessary and the cashier is an anti gun freak. During deer season she won't work because of all the hunters that come in with blood on their knees, shirts, pants, she just hates guns.
HAMMER1DOWN is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:12 PM   #8
Catfishman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 10, 2009
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 727
I think that a CCW should be well concealed. Guns make people nervous. People walking around in stores with guns in the wide open scares people and may turn people against us. It also desensitizes people to criminals who carry have a gun for a different purpose.

The girl got nervous and jittery because she thought you might kill her. It seems like a normal response to me.

If I can't carry without scaring people I won't carry.
Catfishman is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:15 PM   #9
#18indycolts
Junior member
 
Join Date: January 3, 2006
Location: Indpls
Posts: 1,159
last I checked we can still choose what we want, be for or against what we want and make our own decisions. Anti or pro whatever, they are allowed to have their own opinion.
#18indycolts is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:19 PM   #10
djohn
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 2009
Location: CT
Posts: 507
I never Had any see my gun ever because its a CCW and IF I am ever asked my response would be because its my constitutional right and my license permits me to do so.
djohn is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:21 PM   #11
Average Joe
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 29, 2005
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 1,323
I make sure mine is concealed, this way, I don't have to explain.
Average Joe is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:35 PM   #12
rotorhead41486
Junior Member
 
Join Date: January 25, 2009
Location: Mother Rucker, AL
Posts: 6
Give me 100 liberal anti-gunners a day and I will return to you 100 smiling gun-owners angry that they cant find any ammo at walmart.

I had a friend from Ireland visit. She was 34. Never EVER fired a handgun, rifle, shotgun, or even a FIREWORK because the IRA would use the gunpowder to produce explosives. Luckily, it was New Year's Eve and she was visiting me in Texas. She transitioned from "not understanding the concept of firing a handgun wildly and without purpose" to loading her own mags and dumping them just as fast. This was a woman who held the idea that certain firearms, save for rifles and whatnot, were useless and unnecessary. The idea was shed in an hour.

There is an entire spectrum of opinions on firearms, just as there is with any topic. Only those who care enough about something like an assault weapons ban (knock on wood) that dont want it to come to pass care enough to fight it. There are those in the middle of the road who may shoot a handgun a few times in their life and could care less what becomes of OUR hobby and, in many case (including mine) obsession. Its strange how those who live in a such a bubble of security, usually the wealthy in a gated community, are completely opposed to any form of firearm ownership. It's something they have never been exposed to or will have to deal with. But I can also guarantee that as soon as you are pulled from your Mercedes and struck over the head with a saturday-night special, you will begin to reconsider the necessity of what it means to defend yourself.

It amazes the HELL out of me that vice president joe biden *spits* is a competitive and very active trap and skeet sportsman and was the original drafter of the first assault weapons ban. Its basically a "as long as I can keep mine, I dont care what happens to those scary black rifles, only the military and the police should have them". The armed citizen is the premier form of law enforcement, crime deterrence, and personal protection.

It scares me at times to think about where we're going. Ignorance, it seems, prevails...

Now I'm all fired up....damnit

- jb -
rotorhead41486 is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:38 PM   #13
tshadow6
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 26, 2005
Posts: 619
explaining

I tell them "I respect your decision not to own a gun, please respect mine to be ready to defend my life and my family's lives." That is if the subject comes up. I always carry concealed and NEVER talk about it.

Last edited by tshadow6; March 21, 2009 at 10:40 PM. Reason: grammer
tshadow6 is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:51 PM   #14
armsmaster270
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 25, 2008
Location: California
Posts: 1,951
If the bad guy see's your gun he's just gonna come up behind you and put one in your head so you won't be trouble to him. Then he will take your gun as it's probably better than his. CCW is concealed.
__________________
http://www.armsmaster.net-a.googlepages.com
http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/f...aster270/Guns/
Retired LE, M.P., Sr. M.P. Investigator F.B.I. Trained Rangemaster/Firearms Instructor & Armorer, Presently Forensic Document Examiner for D.H.S.
armsmaster270 is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 04:55 PM   #15
Huey Long
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 22, 2008
Posts: 239
Quote:
Give me 100 liberal anti-gunners a day and I will return to you 100 smiling gun-owners angry that they cant find any ammo at walmart.
The best cure for hoplophobia is to take the victim plinking.
Huey Long is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 05:27 PM   #16
OL' MONN
Junior Member
 
Join Date: March 14, 2009
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 2
My Explanation Is

I might be the first one shot, but I will never be the second.

Can't remember who I heard it from.. but I never forgot it.
OL' MONN is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 05:39 PM   #17
Microgunner
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 6, 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 3,324
In Florida our CCW license requires the weapon be concealed from ordinary view, including telltale silhouettes. I was busted in Home Depot because someone noticed I was carrying a Kel-Tec P-11 in my back pocket. A police officer was waiting for me just outside the exit. He was very polite, took my pistol, unloaded it, asked for my ID & CCW and when he was satisfied returned everything to me. The Home Depot employees were all looking out the door and were shocked when I wasn't arrested and hauled away.
__________________
Proud NRA Benefactor Member

Last edited by Microgunner; March 21, 2009 at 05:49 PM.
Microgunner is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 07:56 PM   #18
Lost Sheep
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 24, 2009
Location: Anchorage Alaska
Posts: 3,341
When asked, "Why do you carry?"

I have been wondering about how I justify carrying a deadly weapon on my person for some time. That I do not have an answer that satisfies me completely is part of the reason I don't do it yet.

The snappy responses, "Because I can" or "It's my right" seem a bit too argumentative to be civil. The quips "Because a policeman is 1) too heavy 2) too large or 3) won't fit in my holster" or "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away" are just not very satisfying to most questioners, but do at least not close the door to further discussion.

“He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” - Luke 22:36 (King James Version) (caution: this is so out of context that the meaning is most likely the opposite of what it sounds like, read by itself)

“It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine (1737-1809), American Revolutionary, US Founding Father and Author (Not the best opening to generate a convert, but Paine and Thomas Jefferson and most of the founding fathers were in total agreement on this point)

Even if my right to own is not being questioned, the purpose for carrying, today, here, in this store or movie theater or soccer field is a tough one to answer and the answer I give depends on the questioner, and like all communication, what effect I want to produce in that person's (or any other witness') mind.

So, who is my audience?

A) myself
B) curious friends
C) curious strangers
D) anti-gun friends
E) anti-gun strangers (do I want to dismiss them, anger them or convert them to pro-gun?)

and what effect do I want to produce?

I'll think about it some more.

Lost Sheep.

P.S. Suzanne Gratia knows why she carries. What she doesn't know is why she left her .38 in the car in Luby's Restaurant's parking lot on March 14, 1997 in Kileen, Texas. As sure as any prediction ever can be made, her parents would have been alive on March 15th if she had carried on the 14th.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...37/ai_12634747
or, if the link does not work, paste this into your browser
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3197/is_n6_v37/ai_12634747

Last edited by Lost Sheep; March 23, 2009 at 02:37 AM. Reason: clarify (add "the 14th" the post script.
Lost Sheep is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 08:03 PM   #19
HippieMagic
Member
 
Join Date: February 26, 2009
Posts: 56
It is usually pretty simple. You can actually ask them their reason for being anti-gun and they normally don't have one. If they do have one you have the ability to pick it apart fairly easily and leave them answering "I don't really know I just don't like them" at which point a simple "Have you ever actually TRIED to fire one or were you just raised to hate them?" 90% of them have never touched or so much as seen one in person in my experience.

A little more talking in a VERY polite manner will generally get them to agree to shoot with you at least one time which honestly is all it ever takes. If they hated them they may still dislike them but they will understand more about them and their opinion is justified by experience and not hearsay... Most of the time it just opens their eyes and they realize it is actually fairly fun to plink around or have friendly little competitions. Most anti-gun people are actually just people who were misguided or fail to see the FUN side of handgun ownership... they usually just think of guns as tools of war and not like things you can play with to wind down from a rough week.
HippieMagic is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 08:42 PM   #20
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
The snappy responses, "Because I can" or "It's my right" seem a bit too argumentative to be civil.

Do you consider the implication that you are doing something wrong by carrying a gun to be "civil"? I don't. Carry for any friggin' reason you want to, or don't carry at all. It's nobodies business but yours. You don't have to explain it to anybody for any reason. Well, except to get the permit.

A Bic pen can be a deadly weapon. If you don't think so, try and see what happens when one without the ink cartridge gets jammed into somebody's carotid.

A pen isn't designed to kill, right? Guess what? Neither is a gun. It's one use among many.
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 09:12 PM   #21
vox rationis
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 15, 2007
Posts: 1,855
Quote:
If the bad guy see's your gun he's just gonna come up behind you and put one in your head so you won't be trouble to him. Then he will take your gun as it's probably better than his. CCW is concealed.
I totally agree. You give up a huge tactical advantage by carrying in the open.

Also with open carry, weapon retention training is mandatory in my opinion.
vox rationis is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 09:35 PM   #22
FyredUp
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 15, 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 673
Quote:
OL' MONN:

I might be the first one shot, but I will never be the second.
Is this really how this quote is supposed to go? Because if it is I guess it seems actually kind of stupid to me.
FyredUp is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 09:38 PM   #23
44 AMP
Staff
 
Join Date: March 11, 2006
Location: Upper US
Posts: 28,677
Lots of possibilities

And remember that there are people who really aren't "anti" they just don't know any better, and come off sounding like they are. "Why are you carrying a gun?" isn't pure hate filled anti, on the surface of it. Unfortunately, lots of people have been brainwashed to be apprehensive about someone carrying a gun unless they are wearing a uniform and a badge.

Personally, I would be much more apprehensive about someone carrying "concealed" (and "printing"), because you have to judge from their appearance how likely it is that they are one of the "good guys", or not. And appearances can be extremely misleading. One thing for sure, "bad guys" very, very, very seldom strap a handgun on their hip in plain sight and walk around town. Seems like they all try to carry concealed (and illegally so).

Quote:
If the bad guy see's your gun he's just gonna come up behind you and put one in your head so you won't be trouble to him.
If this were the case, wouldn't we have a huge number of dead cops out there? To me, this kind of argument is on the same level as someone saying you shouldn't keep a handgun for self defense, because the bad guy will just take it away from you and use it on you. Or that you, or a family member, are 47 times more likely to be shot if you keep a gun in the house.

While I'm sure these kinds of things have happened some where, some time, the place they happen most is in Hollywood "dramas" and the closed minds of the anti gunners.
__________________
All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.
44 AMP is offline  
Old March 21, 2009, 11:48 PM   #24
Catfishman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 10, 2009
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 727
Quote:
A pen isn't designed to kill, right? Guess what? Neither is a gun. It's one use among many.
This is a silly statement. A gun is specificly designed to kill. I don't understand the point. By the way, it is really hard to kill with a pen and really easy to kill with a gun.
If you are carrying a gun it is other people's business. If I own a restaurant and someone walks in with a .45 on their side I'll ask them if they are LE. If they aren't I'll tell them to leave. CC may be a right but business owners have property rights. Why would I take this stance? I have a business to run and I don't want you scaring my customers or my employees.

If people push the carry-thing to far there will be a backlash.

If someone's personality changes when they carry a gun they should leave it at home.
Catfishman is offline  
Old March 22, 2009, 04:55 AM   #25
Lost Sheep
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 24, 2009
Location: Anchorage Alaska
Posts: 3,341
Carry is Civil, Snide responses to hones questions are not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by peetzakilla
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lost Sheep
The snappy responses, "Because I can" or "It's my right" seem a bit too argumentative to be civil.
Do you consider the implication that you are doing something wrong by carrying a gun to be "civil"? I don't. Carry for any friggin' reason you want to, or don't carry at all. It's nobodies business but yours. You don't have to explain it to anybody for any reason. Well, except to get the permit
Pete,

I apologize, I must have been unclear. You misunderstood my post. The uncivil part is not the carrying, but the replies "Because I can" and "It's my right" could be construed as uncivil.

Note: Anticipating your next question, I care about how I am perceived because I am interested in maintaining a dialogue between my anti-gun friends and acquaintances any me. Annoying the opposition may be fun, but ultimately unproductive.

Lost Sheep
Lost Sheep is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:43 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.10505 seconds with 10 queries