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March 21, 2009, 03:41 PM | #1 |
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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. |
March 21, 2009, 03:47 PM | #2 |
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I once told someone that I had to carry because the budget for the witness protection program was cut. Shut 'em up.
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March 21, 2009, 03:52 PM | #3 |
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Concealed is mobetta. jd
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March 21, 2009, 03:54 PM | #4 |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 03:54 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
Best response I've ever heard!!!!
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March 21, 2009, 03:59 PM | #6 | |
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Quote:
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.
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March 21, 2009, 04:12 PM | #7 |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 04:12 PM | #8 |
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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. |
March 21, 2009, 04:15 PM | #9 |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 04:19 PM | #10 |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 04:21 PM | #11 |
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I make sure mine is concealed, this way, I don't have to explain.
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March 21, 2009, 04:35 PM | #12 |
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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 - |
March 21, 2009, 04:38 PM | #13 |
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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 |
March 21, 2009, 04:51 PM | #14 |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 04:55 PM | #15 | |
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Quote:
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March 21, 2009, 05:27 PM | #16 |
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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. |
March 21, 2009, 05:39 PM | #17 |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 07:56 PM | #18 |
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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. |
March 21, 2009, 08:03 PM | #19 |
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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. |
March 21, 2009, 08:42 PM | #20 | |
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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.
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March 21, 2009, 09:12 PM | #21 | |
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Also with open carry, weapon retention training is mandatory in my opinion. |
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March 21, 2009, 09:35 PM | #22 | |
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March 21, 2009, 09:38 PM | #23 | |
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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:
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.
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March 21, 2009, 11:48 PM | #24 | |
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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. |
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March 22, 2009, 04:55 AM | #25 | ||
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Carry is Civil, Snide responses to hones questions are not.
Quote:
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 |
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