How Times Have Changed

[maintenanceguy 510]

When I was a kid, Dad had a closet full of guns. Not a safe, a closet. Some of the nicest ones were in hard cases, most in socks, a few weren't in anything at all. I never thought of guns as odd, or something taboo that I should sneak a peak at. If I wanted to see one, dad got it out and let me look at it. It was just no big deal. In grade school we talked about guns and it no teacher complained. Some of the teachers joined in the conversation.

 

A handgun was kept in Dad's underwear drawer - loaded. Another hidden in the kitchen - also loaded. A few more in the closet.

 

I grew up on a farm and would take out my dad's 22 to shoot every afternoon by myself from the time I was probably 12. I got my own 22 at 14. We hunted rabbits, quail, deer, squirrels, and more. Guns were just not a big deal. We kept a 20 gauge shotgun behind the pickup seat all the time with a coffee cans of shells next to it.

 

My mom once got pulled over for speeding with that same shotgun in the back seat of her car. The officer never asked why it was there.

 

In grade school, half the boys in the class were out during deer week. A few of the girls were too. In high school, lots of kids took the week off but a few would hunt in the morning before school and come to school with shotguns in our cars and pickup trucks. Nobody called the police. After school, they would return to hunting.

 

Everybody I knew owned firearms. You'd visit somebody and a shotgun would be on the kitchen table getting cleaned or standing in the corner of the dining room. Nobody thought a thing about it.

 

And now we tell our kids not to tell anybody that dad has a gun - it's our dirty secret. We worry incessantly whether or not we need to separate the ammo from the firearm when it's locked in the trunk. We don't want to offend the neighbors. We worry that the police might inform our employers that we're applying to buy another gun. We think owning a gun is such a dirty secret that we worry what would happen if they combine our FID and drivers license and the people at the DMV find out we own guns.

 

That's nuts! 23% of NJ homes have guns! That means there are lots of other people on your street, in your apartment complex, who teach at your kids school, who are on the same sports team as you, who you work with that own guns too. And they're all hiding it from you while you hide it from them.

 

Repeat after me: "I will not be ashamed. I will be proud to exercise all of my rights. It's not dirty. It's not bad. I will not be ashamed any more!"

 

If you aren't afraid to share your hobby with others. If you act like it's normal and safe, and responsible to own guns, the people you know who respect you might just start to believe it is normal, safe, and responsible - because it is normal, safe, and responsible.

 

This year, if you take two friends shooting who have never done it before - you might make a supporter out of enough people to turn the tide. If we hide like it's a dirty secret, we'll succeed in convincing everyone else that it is.

[djg0770 481]

Yeah, I finally had enough this year. The NRA's Stand and Fight bumper sticker is now proudly attached to my vehicle.

[olderguy 0]

Same here. We would get off the school bus during hunting season with bandoliers of shells and our shotguns over our shoulders so that we could go hunting after school at another friends place. Teachers would open their trunks to compare equipment.

 

We would take our guns to school other times of the year to work on them in shop. They were in our lockers for days, most of the time unlocked.

 

In grammar school, we would take our cap guns to class and the teachers would take away our caps and give them back at the end of the day so we wouldn't be interrupting the class.

 

Last year my Grandson was suspended from school for two days until he could bring a note from a shrink that he wasn't a danger to himself or others for making a "finger gun".

 

I have taken only two people shooting and got them VERY interested. Time to do more!

[ruger9 0]

I'm originally from Ohio, I could have written the OP myself.

 

It's a little harder to "stand and fight" in the PRNJ, but we must. There is no alternative but to leave, leave it for the vultures.

[pbkid6974 1]

I wish it was like that when i was in school. But i don't hide my guns from anyone. My pistol is always loaded tucked between the mattress and the frame and until i finish my ar my Garand sits next to my bed ready to go along with my shotgun. The rest are in my closet. I have helped a couple guys i work with and my mom get their fid. and I'm working on a few friends at the moment. Don't be ashamed and keep fighting

[usnmars 136]

I agree but also realize the gun culture has fundamentally changed. Think of this, on this forum..... How many gun owners actually hunt any more, how many gun owners realize that a firearm is a tool. The gun culture has evolved from the days of using a gun to put meat on the table, or have an afternoon out with the guys shooting skeet. Now the gun culture has morphed into a culture of obsessing about home defense, CCW, and the boogey man in the dark. When you go to the range you see people running around shooting steel targets and are happy when the hit the target and hear a "ping." What ever happened to shooting for accuracy, not just to hit your targets. The gun culture has evolved immensely, to the point that it is almost unrecognizable from what it was say maybe 20 years ago. There are many aspects of the "modern" gun culture which is actually hurting us. Tactitards for example. What ever happened to just going to the range to have fun, is there a need to dress like a call of duty reject to go to the range. People do not understand that firearms owners are under a microscope today, we must make the outsiders that have never shot or been around firearms realize that we are normal people. Do we really want to fit into a stereotypical image, especially when we are all being scrutinized? So yes, as a gun owner I see that the gun culture has changed immensely, but I feel it isn’t for the better.

[Midwest 28]

Great post!

[Lalo 13]

I wish we still lived in those times. Perhaps there are some states that still follow similar practice. Makes me want to move out on NJ.

[brocglock23 4]

I'm not ashamed. I talk to anyone who will listen. I've done my fair share of convincing people to get their FIDs. Even if you don't buy anything at first. I tell them just to get it so you can buy something if the need ever arises. Great post.

[H.M. Murdock 0]

my Garand sits next to my bed ready to go

 

Damn dude, that's hard-core.

 

I completetly agree with the sentiments expressed in this thread. It's a huge part of America that is being discarded along with the rest of our customs, values and freedoms that defined our nation for so long.

 

All those expert marksmen that will never go shooting because one of their parents had an irrational fear of firearms. I shoot for them!

[dtown223 12]

Tactitards..

Lmao

[pbkid6974 1]

Damn dude, that's hard-core.

 

I completetly agree with the sentiments expressed in this thread. It's a huge part of America that is being discarded along with the rest of our customs, values and freedoms that defined our nation for so long.

 

All those expert marksmen that will never go shooting because one of their parents had an irrational fear of firearms. I shoot for them!

 

not really. its the best option i have for an effective rifle at this point. although it kinda makes me feel like clint eastwood in gran torino...

[Combat Auto 174]

You will never appease the anti's...Stand and Fight is the correct attitude.

[Combat Auto 174]

I agree but also realize the gun culture has fundamentally changed. Think of this, on this forum..... How many gun owners actually hunt any more, how many gun owners realize that a firearm is a tool. The gun culture has evolved from the days of using a gun to put meat on the table, or have an afternoon out with the guys shooting skeet. Now the gun culture has morphed into a culture of obsessing about home defense, CCW, and the boogey man in the dark. When you go to the range you see people running around shooting steel targets and are happy when the hit the target and hear a "ping." What ever happened to shooting for accuracy, not just to hit your targets. The gun culture has evolved immensely, to the point that it is almost unrecognizable from what it was say maybe 20 years ago. There are many aspects of the "modern" gun culture which is actually hurting us. Tactitards for example. What ever happened to just going to the range to have fun, is there a need to dress like a call of duty reject to go to the range. People do not understand that firearms owners are under a microscope today, we must make the outsiders that have never shot or been around firearms realize that we are normal people. Do we really want to fit into a stereotypical image, especially when we are all being scrutinized? So yes, as a gun owner I see that the gun culture has changed immensely, but I feel it isn’t for the better.

I don't agree with much of what you imply...Why should I (or anyone) "appoligize" cause I don't hunt but i shoot USPSA and Bullsye?...And do you really think if the tactitards walk the line it will appease the anties? Really?....The people in America have spoken by buying up years worth of gun and amo inventory (and the resulting success in the Senate)...This is not Australia, this is not Europe...We are (mostly) independet, relatively free-spirited Americans! That Stand and Fight slogan from the NRA hit it out of the park! (you may want to adapt it ;-))...(Just an aside: of course what I just said does not necessairly apply to NJ per se - but rather the USA in the aggregate)...And I must admit, with all the newbies running into the sport there is a higher level of risk at the range - but you can blame the Anti's for this.

[H.M. Murdock 0]

not really. its the best option i have for an effective rifle at this point. although it kinda makes me feel like clint eastwood in gran torino...

 

Haha, get off my lawn

 

If we could possess them I might keep a M1 carbine at the ready for self defense. I utilize a pistol and spray gun myself

[JrzyGuy30 0]

Repeat after me: "I will not be ashamed. I will be proud to exercise all of my rights. It's not dirty. It's not bad. I will not be ashamed any more!"

 

If you aren't afraid to share your hobby with others. If you act like it's normal and safe, and responsible to own guns, the people you know who respect you might just start to believe it is normal, safe, and responsible - because it is normal, safe, and responsible.

 

This year, if you take two friends shooting who have never done it before - you might make a supporter out of enough people to turn the tide. If we hide like it's a dirty secret, we'll succeed in convincing everyone else that it is.

 

This! I just got my neighbor to apply for his FID and he will be purchasing his first firearm after he receives his FID. Looking to convert at least one if not two more people.. took a year though to get him over, especially with the damn media killing the progun mood.

[maintenanceguy 510]

This! I just got my neighbor to apply for his FID and he will be purchasing his first firearm after he receives his FID. Looking to convert at least one if not two more people.. took a year though to get him over, especially with the damn media killing the progun mood.

\

 

good for you. What has proven to be the most effective way to get people into a church? Have church members invite a friend. It seems that that probably applies here too.

[JrzyGuy30 0]

\

 

good for you. What has proven to be the most effective way to get people into a church? Have church members invite a friend. It seems that that probably applies here too.

 

I think it was a combination of showing him the firearms I own a showing him out it works, and sending him pro 2a articles/arguments and then discussing real world related issues casually in conversation and having him realize how he would not want to be in the situation unarmed if it was him. I also had him poke around and he found out more people than he realized own guns, even his father! Lol

[NJPatriot 0]

This! I just got my neighbor to apply for his FID and he will be purchasing his first firearm after he receives his FID. Looking to convert at least one if not two more people.. took a year though to get him over, especially with the damn media killing the progun mood.

My wife started the process 2 weeks ago and my 2 daugthers will start the process in June

[AlDente67 563]

Got into a long debate with an aquantance who emigrated from the UK to Australia. He likes to parrot the statistics he dredged up from somewhere...130 (more or less) gun-related deaths in the UK last year versus 12,000 in the US. I corrected him on the US figure, but on paper, the difference is still quite significant.

 

So in his mind, no guns = no deaths (except for those really unlucky 130 people, I suppose). He doesn't factor in any other casualties from knives, clubs, fists, car accidents, and on and on. In his worldview, all criminals would turn in their guns if a law was passed.

All Americans are walking around shooting up the neighborhood.

If guns were outlawed, as in his country (either one), nobody would ever get killed or maimed or robbed, as utopia would settle in.

Nobody needs to hunt for food, as all food is readily available at the store.

Sport should be golfing.

 

And don't try to mention drug crime, as it is a red herring in his view. Forget about gang banging in Camden. All gun-related deaths are a result of the soccer moms shooting out over parking spaces at the mall. So those 8,000+ yearly deaths in a nation of over 300 million people MUST be stopped.

 

I should mention that he is also a staunch proponent of carbon taxation to stop the oceans from rising. But since Australia is one of the few places to actually slip that concept into reality, he is the only one in the debate who has to fork over part of his salary to the gov't. Delicious irony.

[nitrospaz9 10]

I've turned 3 friends onto guns and have been teaching my 13 year old nephew proper gun safety for years. First with air soft, then metal bb's, and finally with a Henry lever .22. I know when he gets to be 18 he'll sign up for his FID. I'm even bringing his step father around. This Saturday I will be taking another friend that's wanted to shoot all his life but his family were a bunch of liberals. Maybe that'll be one more owner lol

[Fawkesguy 57]

23% of NJ homes have guns!

 

Great post, but I'm wondering where you got this number from. Nearly 1 in 4 NJ households have a gun? I was under the impression it was more like 1 in 10 or a bit less.

[BierGut 0]

I agree but also realize the gun culture has fundamentally changed. Think of this, on this forum..... How many gun owners actually hunt any more, how many gun owners realize that a firearm is a tool. The gun culture has evolved from the days of using a gun to put meat on the table, or have an afternoon out with the guys shooting skeet. Now the gun culture has morphed into a culture of obsessing about home defense, CCW, and the boogey man in the dark. When you go to the range you see people running around shooting steel targets and are happy when the hit the target and hear a "ping." What ever happened to shooting for accuracy, not just to hit your targets. The gun culture has evolved immensely, to the point that it is almost unrecognizable from what it was say maybe 20 years ago. There are many aspects of the "modern" gun culture which is actually hurting us. Tactitards for example. What ever happened to just going to the range to have fun, is there a need to dress like a call of duty reject to go to the range. People do not understand that firearms owners are under a microscope today, we must make the outsiders that have never shot or been around firearms realize that we are normal people. Do we really want to fit into a stereotypical image, especially when we are all being scrutinized? So yes, as a gun owner I see that the gun culture has changed immensely, but I feel it isn’t for the better.

 

This is well put and indeed part of our problem. We are scaring the crap out of the neosocialism crowd. They want to kill what they fear. When they see a 300 pound blob, over-packed in camo and leg holsters rolling in the dirt shooting at zombie targets it doesn't help the cause.

[maintenanceguy 510]

Great post, but I'm wondering where you got this number from. Nearly 1 in 4 NJ households have a gun? I was under the impression it was more like 1 in 10 or a bit less.

 

The only data I had was from this poll: http://www.washingto.../ownership.html

 

And in most places it probably is less. Those of us down here in Free NJ throw the curve for the rest of you. I bet 80% of my neighbors (maybe more) own guns.

[Fawkesguy 57]

The only data I had was from this poll: http://www.washingto.../ownership.html

 

And in most places it probably is less. Those of us down here in Free NJ throw the curve for the rest of you. I bet 80% of my neighbors (maybe more) own guns.

 

That poll shows 12.3%, which is probably in the ballpark. You may have misread it as 23%

[H.M. Murdock 0]

When they see a 300 pound blob, over-packed in camo and leg holsters rolling in the dirt shooting at zombie targets it doesn't help the cause.

 

It is embarassing to see mall ninjas (or whatever you want to call them) that are out of shape. What good is all that tactical equipment and training if you're not agile enough to use it?? Plus if you can't maneuver when SHTF you're going to die in some comical way like getting shot in the ass with the upper half of your body stuck in a drainage pipe opening.

[HavocMan 13]

So if we were all a bunch of half-wit, Elmer Fudd look-a-likes stumbling around in the woods that'd be better? LMAO...

 

The Second Amendment isn't about hunting.

 

It's about my God given right to protect myself, my family and my stuff from the government and criminals.

 

The 'Tactical Timmy' clowns don't impress me either, but we also don't want to be viewed as a bunch of Fudd's...or a bunch of 5 rounds-per-hour, anal retentive paper punchers.

 

I agree but also realize the gun culture has fundamentally changed. Think of this, on this forum..... How many gun owners actually hunt any more, how many gun owners realize that a firearm is a tool. The gun culture has evolved from the days of using a gun to put meat on the table, or have an afternoon out with the guys shooting skeet. Now the gun culture has morphed into a culture of obsessing about home defense, CCW, and the boogey man in the dark. When you go to the range you see people running around shooting steel targets and are happy when the hit the target and hear a "ping." What ever happened to shooting for accuracy, not just to hit your targets. The gun culture has evolved immensely, to the point that it is almost unrecognizable from what it was say maybe 20 years ago. There are many aspects of the "modern" gun culture which is actually hurting us. Tactitards for example. What ever happened to just going to the range to have fun, is there a need to dress like a call of duty reject to go to the range. People do not understand that firearms owners are under a microscope today, we must make the outsiders that have never shot or been around firearms realize that we are normal people. Do we really want to fit into a stereotypical image, especially when we are all being scrutinized? So yes, as a gun owner I see that the gun culture has changed immensely, but I feel it isn’t for the better.

[johnott 5]

It is embarassing to see mall ninjas (or whatever you want to call them) that are out of shape. What good is all that tactical equipment and training if you're not agile enough to use it?? Plus if you can't maneuver when SHTF you're going to die in some comical way like getting shot in the ass with the upper half of your body stuck in a drainage pipe opening.

 

Ha! That cracked me up. The visual imagery was too much!

[Old Dog 19]

My dad carried a gun for a living working for the Federal Government. However, he never let me see it or touch it. As soon as he retired he got rid of it and despite the fact that he could carry in any State, he never bought another gun. Good thing he never had to use the gun because he did not have the mindset to use it. He was always afraid of his gun but carried it because he had to. When he started his job they did not carry guns but then after a few agents got killed they made him go for training at the FBI range and gave him a gun.

 

The first time I ever shot a gun was when I was 18 and in Army basic training. I took to it so well that despite never shooting before I won our battalion championship much to their dismay as most were hunters from the South we were constantly bragging about their shooting abilities. They were so pissed off that I won that they tried to convince the DI to have a rematch because of them was on emergency leave during the contest and was not able to compete. The rematch never occurred and my big prize was the Expert Badge worn by our Captain. From then on I was in love with guns and been buying and shooting them since. However, other than now and a few years in Texas, I lived half of my life in NYC and never owned a gun there.

 

So although I lived in a house with a gun, my family was not gun friendly. Throughout the years none of my friends were into guns and would often ask why I felt that I needed a gun when none of us lives in even medium crime areas or knew anyone who was a victim of a violent crime. Now I live in Florida and have guns stashed all over the house. I talk guns with my barber (a female) and almost everyone I meet. There are some woman from the Midwest who are strongly anti gun but they grew up in small towns where violent crime was rare and they view the world as a very safe place for middle class people who live in nice neighborhoods. I do not advertise that I am into guns but I do not deny it either. If I mention guns and I sense a negative reaction I go no further and most times never go back out with that person again. I cannot be friends with someone that hates what I do.

[Parker 213]

When I was a kid, Dad had a closet full of guns. Not a safe, a closet. Some of the nicest ones were in hard cases, most in socks, a few weren't in anything at all. I never thought of guns as odd, or something taboo that I should sneak a peak at. If I wanted to see one, dad got it out and let me look at it. It was just no big deal. In grade school we talked about guns and it no teacher complained. Some of the teachers joined in the conversation.

 

A handgun was kept in Dad's underwear drawer - loaded. Another hidden in the kitchen - also loaded. A few more in the closet.

 

I grew up on a farm and would take out my dad's 22 to shoot every afternoon by myself from the time I was probably 12. I got my own 22 at 14. We hunted rabbits, quail, deer, squirrels, and more. Guns were just not a big deal. We kept a 20 gauge shotgun behind the pickup seat all the time with a coffee cans of shells next to it.

 

My mom once got pulled over for speeding with that same shotgun in the back seat of her car. The officer never asked why it was there.

 

In grade school, half the boys in the class were out during deer week. A few of the girls were too. In high school, lots of kids took the week off but a few would hunt in the morning before school and come to school with shotguns in our cars and pickup trucks. Nobody called the police. After school, they would return to hunting.

 

Everybody I knew owned firearms. You'd visit somebody and a shotgun would be on the kitchen table getting cleaned or standing in the corner of the dining room. Nobody thought a thing about it.

 

And now we tell our kids not to tell anybody that dad has a gun - it's our dirty secret. We worry incessantly whether or not we need to separate the ammo from the firearm when it's locked in the trunk. We don't want to offend the neighbors. We worry that the police might inform our employers that we're applying to buy another gun. We think owning a gun is such a dirty secret that we worry what would happen if they combine our FID and drivers license and the people at the DMV find out we own guns.

 

That's nuts! 23% of NJ homes have guns! That means there are lots of other people on your street, in your apartment complex, who teach at your kids school, who are on the same sports team as you, who you work with that own guns too. And they're all hiding it from you while you hide it from them.

 

Repeat after me: "I will not be ashamed. I will be proud to exercise all of my rights. It's not dirty. It's not bad. I will not be ashamed any more!"

 

If you aren't afraid to share your hobby with others. If you act like it's normal and safe, and responsible to own guns, the people you know who respect you might just start to believe it is normal, safe, and responsible - because it is normal, safe, and responsible.

 

This year, if you take two friends shooting who have never done it before - you might make a supporter out of enough people to turn the tide. If we hide like it's a dirty secret, we'll succeed in convincing everyone else that it is.

 

I grew up in a similar type of world. Unfortunately, I still think that this is the way is should be for everyone but I'm cognizant to know it's not like that anymore, nor did many grow up like me, yet my mindset still has difficulty grasping that concept and all the stupid nonsense that exists today. As a kid, I could shoot almost any day as long as there was some ammo around. My father could trust us with firearms after we passed his rigorous tutelage, and when I was 11, I got my first pellet gun. I would then hunt alone in our woods with my .22 I got when I was 12. Dad kept his guns locked away but my brother and I kept our pellet guns on hooks on the rec-room wall for ready-access and our .22's secreted under our beds. We took our shotguns to school and left them in our trunks to hunt after school. My high school had a gun club and we went skeet shooting one day a week after school. We brought our shotguns to school and left them in the coach's office. (That was in 1970.)

 

 

I agree but also realize the gun culture has fundamentally changed. Think of this, on this forum..... How many gun owners actually hunt any more, how many gun owners realize that a firearm is a tool. The gun culture has evolved from the days of using a gun to put meat on the table, or have an afternoon out with the guys shooting skeet. Now the gun culture has morphed into a culture of obsessing about home defense, CCW, and the boogey man in the dark. When you go to the range you see people running around shooting steel targets and are happy when the hit the target and hear a "ping." What ever happened to shooting for accuracy, not just to hit your targets. The gun culture has evolved immensely, to the point that it is almost unrecognizable from what it was say maybe 20 years ago. There are many aspects of the "modern" gun culture which is actually hurting us. Tactitards for example. What ever happened to just going to the range to have fun, is there a need to dress like a call of duty reject to go to the range. People do not understand that firearms owners are under a microscope today, we must make the outsiders that have never shot or been around firearms realize that we are normal people. Do we really want to fit into a stereotypical image, especially when we are all being scrutinized? So yes, as a gun owner I see that the gun culture has changed immensely, but I feel it isn’t for the better.

 

There's a lot of truth in this. I agree, not a lot of people hunt anymore. Look at NJ, there were 170,000 firearm hunters in 1970, now down to 40,000 in 2012. I agree, the 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. But less and less hunters over the years in this state is not a good sign. The lower numbers indicate a cultural change and shift here in New Jersey as well as serves as an indicator of sorts.