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  • xaiver56

    New Member
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    0   0   0
    Jul 13, 2008
    49
    1
    Dallas, Texas
    I used to be an Anti – Gun Liberal

    There that feels good to get off of my chest. I have been reading the forum for some time now and I enjoy all the posts from you guys and gals. This site has been a great resource for knowledge, humor, and some like minded banter.

    With the current political race going on I have seen a lot of postings on liberals, and I wanted to share my story of coming to the light…

    I used to be scared of guns, never shot one, never held one, never even saw one in person yet I felt it was perfectly okay to have a stance against them. I used to believe that if you owned a gun you were just looking for trouble and that only criminals owned guns. Looking back I don’t even know how I formed that opinion, it was not from my parents, more than likely I just picked it up by wanting to be self-righteous, and watching too much liberal media.

    All of that started to change as I went to college. In the past I tried to be politically correct and not to offend anyone, but I found the more I tried to not offend people the more offended they got. I learned a great lesson in college and it is this: “If you don’t respect another person enough to speak your mind, then they will never respect you.” I had become so focused on not offending anyone that I never really said anything of value. People just want to be treated as people, and that is something that some people don’t (or won’t) understand. I am an American, and as such I am allowed to speak my mind regardless of it being popular, politically correct, right or wrong. And as that knowledge started to sink in, I began my conversion to conservative.

    Now as far as guns go, for the longest time I held to my belief that owning a gun was a sure fire way to get into trouble, again this was without owning, shooting, or even seeing one. I used to keep a list of rules to live by and I posted it in my dorm room. One day a friend came over and was reading them. She then got to one of my rules which was “If you live in a bad neighborhood, don’t buy a gun, Move” This was someone I respected and after she read it she looked at me and said, “You know you can almost hear the silver spoon in your mouth.” It was actually shocking for me to hear someone disagree with me, because after all I was a liberal, self-righteous, college student and if you disagreed with me then you were just wrong. And no sooner than that thought entered my head, than I realized that I could really be wrong. I spent a lot of time examining what I thought to be true and what I believed in, and when I got done, I realized that if your only defense to someone dissenting against you is “well you are wrong” then you have a problem. In my opinion, there is plenty of room for people to discuss issues, but my mindset was so focused on the idea that I was right, I never once took the time to see the issue from the other side. It was then I realized that I really needed to do some soul searching (I swear sometimes liberals soul search) and figure out what I really believed in..

    Now onto the issue of guns. For the longest time, no one in my family owned guns, my father had his first rifle from when he was a youngster, but other than that no guns. A situation arose between my mother (who is one of the best moms in the world) and her best friends soon to be ex-husband. He was a bad, bad man. My mom had gone to her best friend’s aid and was helping her though a rough time. Well her ex-husband threatened to kill my mom, and if you knew this man, you would have believed him. My father decided it was time for mom to have a gun and know how to shoot it and operate it safely. He did his research, shot a bunch of different guns and found one to be suitable (at this point Mom was not on the gun band wagon so Dad had to do his research alone). My father brought home a glock 17 in 9mm, and I looked at it as if it was dangerous animal, ready to pounce and kill without notice. He showed me the basics, how to tell if it was loaded, chambered, etc, but I was not having it. I turned my nose up. He kept talking to me, and eventually he got me to go to the range with him. All it took was one shot and I was hooked. After proper training and just one shot, I became a gun guy. It all seems so silly to me now. To be afraid of an inanimate object is just silly. Don’t get me wrong a gun is something to be respected, but if it just sitting in a case, it is nothing more than an object.

    Mom was trained as well and whenever she was helping her best friend out, she had her own protection. Thankfully, she never had to use it, but we all felt better knowing she had the ability to protect herself. Since that situation arose several years ago, the whole family has been handgun enthusiasts. We took our concealed carry class together and we often shoot together as well.

    I was against something I had never experienced, and after experiencing it, my whole view changed. I really was once an anti-gun liberal, but I took the time to examine my values and thankfully I picked up a Glock 17 and fired a round.

    I wanted to share this with all of you all, because not all liberals and closed minded idiots (just most of them…LOL). We can change, we can take our beliefs and be willing to really analyze them. I did. Now don’t get me wrong there are still some things that liberals believe in that I believe in…well wait…nope there ain’t.


    If you have made it this far then I commend you. Just remember, Liberals can change….and should!
    Texas SOT
     

    chevydeerhunter

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    Feb 23, 2008
    1,055
    31
    San Antonio
    Wow, what a great story and I'm glad you've come around. Welcome to America! :p Seriously, welcome!

    I have a couple questions though. What was your thought on people who chose to own a gun? Did you ever have friends or acquaintences you really liked, but once you found out they owned a gun, did your feelings change?
     

    mac79912

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    Mar 4, 2008
    1,666
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    +1 Welcome to the dark side.My wife was anti-gun when we got together.I took her out to the range and showed her that it was not scary to shoot a gun.She now has a Colt 45 and an AR15 and she loves to shoot.The situation now is that I would rather get caught at a stripclub then at the range without her.If I go out to the range by myself and come back smelling like burnt powder and Hoppes she would be mad at me.
     

    baboon

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    May 6, 2008
    22,455
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    Out here by the lake!
    I think with the upcoming election more & more nongun owners may switch over. Sarah Palin is the perfect woman to change the way the country thinks about guns and women & guns.
     

    xaiver56

    New Member
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    0   0   0
    Jul 13, 2008
    49
    1
    Dallas, Texas
    Wow, what a great story and I'm glad you've come around. Welcome to America! :p Seriously, welcome!

    I have a couple questions though. What was your thought on people who chose to own a gun? Did you ever have friends or acquaintences you really liked, but once you found out they owned a gun, did your feelings change?

    Back then my thoughts were that if someone owned a gun then they were just looking for trouble, it seems like a crazy thought to me now.

    As to your other question it's funny you ask that, I had just written a post on another forum about the first time I saw a gun in person. It was a friend of mine and we were both 17 and his father just purchase a new handgun and he wanted to show me. Here is the post that wrote, it is a bit long but if you are interested here it is:

    The wife and I went shooting yesterday, which is always great fun. The day got away from us though so I have yet to clean the guns. I have already accomplished most of my chores for the day. Dropped the mother in law off at the airport cleaned up the house and the wife is a Nurse so she is working today and I have the house all to myself. Everything is quiet and still around here which gives me a chance for reflection. As I looked at the firearms ready to be clean I am, as is so often the case, amazed. I love figuring out how things work and a firearm is, at least to me a work of art. How all of the parts fit together, creating form and function in a truly remarkable tool. A tool that can protect, provide food, and even provide a challenge. It was in this moment of reflection that I was reminded of the first time I saw a firearm in person. The memory had been hidden for me, something I had not thought of in many, many years, and once recalled, this memory required my undivided attention, and I wish to share it here.
    I have written in other posts how I did not grow up around guns, it was only after a very scary situation that my family realized it was time to get trained in firearms and own them (in that order). That was about 5 years ago. I am still very new to the world of firearms, but I am a quick learner and the subject matter fascinates me.
    Daniel Quinn, an author, writes about the concept of “Mother Culture” in many of his books. The theory is that all throughout your life culture is gently whispering in your ear and changing your beliefs to accommodate the culture around you, thus making you more like everyone else. The concept goes deeper than that, but that is the basics.
    JP was a friend of mine in high school. He was a good guy, probably got into a bit more trouble than he should of, but he said what he meant, and meant what he said. I had known him for about 2 years at the time of this event. One day I went over to his house to hang out, we were both 17 at the time. Just the other day his Father had purchased a new handgun, meant for JP. JP was pleased with it of course and wanted to show me. It was unloaded, he was very safe in handling it, but it did not matter, I was terrified of this inanimate object. This was around 1996, Clinton was in office, the AWB was in place, and I just knew that guns were deadly! I cannot believe that I had forgotten about this event. Looking back now, I know that the forces of “Mother Culture” had trained me to believe that guns were bad, completely dangerous, and that I should stay away at all costs. JP put the gun away, disappointed I think, that he could not share the joy of a new firearm with a friend.
    It is strange how certain memories can just come to you. Now that I understand firearms, have been trained in them, and enjoy them, I find that as I watch movies I usually recognize each gun. I think most firearms enthusiasts can. While watching movies with my wife she will ask was guns are being used if she sees one she likes. But as I think back, try as I may, I cannot get a clear picture of the gun JP was trying to show me. My memory just shows it as a dangerous blur, it was something of fear… The only thing I remember about the gun was that it was black in color… Mother Culture did a number on me back then… The funny thing is, the gun probably wasn’t black, I am just remembering it that way because of the AWB at the time, or because of the Black Talon bullets that were in the news…




    I try to share as much about my experiences as I can. I do not have nearly as much knowledge about firearms, having only been into them for about 5 years but I do know what it is like to fear guns, be totally oppossed to them and then have a total change of heart about them.
     

    Texas1911

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    May 29, 2017
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    Austin, TX
    Since I work at a gun range in Austin, even in the 3 short weeks I've been there, I've seen numerous people walk in our door just afraid and nervous of pistols. Then I see them leaving with a smile on their face and just fired up. One girl comes to mind... I had helped her and her, presumably, boyfriend with choosing and operating an HK USPc in 9mm. Well, that girl came back the next day with her brother. Then, the next day she came back with a girl friend of hers. Needless to say, she was a newly acquired gun nut.

    I've debated with alot of people, 90% of the time women, about self-defense and guns in particular. We talk with people from all over... Belgium, Africa, Netherlands, UK, etc. and everyone definitely gains a realistic understanding of firearms. One thing I always tell them is that it's not Hollywood, and as soon as you get out on the range and hear some shots, you'll know.

    We hear some pretty scary stuff at Red's. Some people come in and tell us they want a gun, but they'd never use it, or carry it. We typically don't hold back and give it to them straight. I feel I have a moral obligation to give them info to the best of my knowledge.
     

    LittleGun

    Active Member
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    Jun 27, 2008
    291
    1
    Spring/Houston
    Very good story, xaiver56. Your old point of view sounds like the street interviews I see on NRA News. People express stern opinions against gun ownership but can't explain why they have that opinion.
     
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