When I re-posted the blurry pro-gun meme above on TTAG’s Facebook page, dozens of our favorite groundlings responded that they don’t have anti-gun friends. Thinking about it, I don’t either. I’m not anti-anti-gunner per se. I’m quite happy to associate with otherwise sane, friendly members of their kind in the [often vague] hope that I’ll be able to convert them to firearms freedom at some point in the indeterminate future. God knows I like a good debate. Or a debate with an anti-gunner. But . . .
since I moved to Texas – Austin, no less – all my associates are ballistic BFFs. My beloved was anti-gun but that didn’t last long. Anyway, do you have any anti-gun friends? How do you deal – or not deal – with their let’s-face-it ignorant intransigence?
I have some friends who don’t particularly care about guns one way or another, but none I would consider to actually be “anti-gun”.
‘I have some friends who don’t particularly care about guns one way or another, but none I would consider to actually be “anti-gun”.’
This largely sums up my situation. If someone is rabidly anti-gun, then it’s likely they have an open enough mind to become my friend.
“Friend” – the most overused and underdefined work in the “American language”.
No offense, but I think that distinction belongs to the word “like”.
I have some friends who are definitely anti-gun, but who aren’t about to strip me (or anyone else) of the RKBA. Suicide by gun of a parent is a traumatic and understandable event – but she encourages her husband to come to the range with me – she’s just not into them at all (yet).
I have a grandmother who says that “Guns scare the hell out of me!”
Beyond that mostly just fudds who believe that blood will run in the streets if constitutional carry is enacted.
Fvck no. Why would I want a friend that would allow my kids to die at the hand of pond scum?
Many are in the tentative zone. My bro has some Sigs sitting in a safe. Hasn’t seen them in years. “Guns are OK, but not on the street.” Several have long guns seldom used. Would like my daughter to carry everyday. I’m an EDC person myself.
I’ve noticed that even some of the more rabid anti-gunners are really just, “not on the street”-ers. I’ve got a coworker that is generally opposed to private ownership, but she’s really enthused about the idea of going to a range and firing a gun someday.
I suspect that on someday, she’ll learn she only thinks she’s an anti-gunner.
my father in law is super anti gun. its just understood we don’t discuss it. hope he’s still around in a few years when i start the kiddos off 🙂
The old saying “Birds of a Feather Flock Together” I have like minded “friends”.
None that I’m aware of, but a couple have some minor tendencies when it comes to “assault rifles”, and OCing.
As far as I’m concerned, “anti-gun” and “friend” are mutually exclusive terms.
I absolutely have anti-gun friends. I pick my battles. Sometimes they even show glimmers of hope on their own: “I guess having a gun did help that guy/gal out.”
I do.
We simply agreed to disagree when the subject came up, and went on with life.
Of course, he’s not a vitriolic rabidly anti-gunner; he just doesn’t like them, so its not an ongoing sore point for him either, as far as I know.
Anti-gun father… I got him to smile while shooting my ak74 that I built. Yes I took a picture! Seriously though it does make family events difficult at times. I’m trying little by little to convert him.
If I have any besides my sister in law. I don’t know of them. Guns rarely come up in a conversation with friends. Most who know me, assume I am armed as they all know my feelings on the subject.
I have one that is afflicted with confusion as he is extremely left wing and claims to be a “gun toting liberal”. I tell him he’s more F’d up than a football bat.
@AllAmerican:
Tell him to go eat some effing soup sandwiches. I know one of those lefter gun toters. Totally ordering soup sandwiches all day and winning Stanley Cups like a foootball bat.
The insistence from both the left and right that liberals cannot be pro-gun is both myopic and counter-productive. It’s also very, very new. There have been many more pro-gun liberals in history than not.
(It’s as ridiculous as the right-wing insistence that all liberals–and the left-wing insistence that all conservatives–hate freedom and are un-American. It’s a great way to demonize your political opponents but not a good way to further the cause of increased freedom and support for the Constitution in this country. But then, that IS the point isn’t it? Not civil discourse but total domination and elimination of opponents? If anyone paints there political opponents with that broad of a brush, you can assume that they have no desire for intelligent discourse or will to defend the Constitution.)
I have some that don’t particularly care for guns, but they are far from anti-gun. Ah god bless South Ga! Almost everyone has at least an old hunting rifle, and shotgun.
I have some family members and a some acquaintances that are, but no friends. Generally if a person’s anti-gun we dont have many common interests.
Not anymore
I have friends who have no interest in them but see it as a Right just like everything else laid out in BOR.
You’re not my friend if you’ve never been to the gun range with me.
90% of family and friends are anti. Fortunately the 10% closest to me, physically and mentally, are pro.
Many acquaintance’s, no many that I would call friend.
A friend of mine, an Army veteran, said he doesn’t think civilians have a “need” to own Ar-15s when I was discussing my latest build with another veteran friend. We both dropped our jaws. We didn’t get into a protracted discussion about it, though.
LOL
1) Wife
2) Mother-in-law
3) Brother-in-law
4) Other brother-in-law
5) Sister
6) Her husband
7) Grandmother
Is that enough yet? I can keep going.
I know that feel man, I know that feel…
You don’t have to be friends with family members.
😀 :D: D
not anymore. only takes a couple range days. then they can’t help it. when rounds start touching off
and the awfulness that MSNBC told then about DOESN’T happen, they get sold pretty quick.
baseless fears are weird like that.
I have some friends who are middle of the road, but whats the point in talking to a foaming at the mouth true blue anti? I would rather get water boarded.
Several folks here at work let slip in a conversation something along the lines of ‘gun owners are part of the problem…’ To which I always reply ‘Really? Because *I* am a gun owner, do you see me as part of the problem?’
Either they no longer mention guns at all around me, or they have actually thought about it for more than a second and realized guns aren’t the problem.
So either way…. no. They either carry their ignorance concealed, or they have come around to at least being less anti-gun.
“they..carry their ignorance concealed.. ”
That right there is pure gold. I wish more would.
Not only is my circle devoid of anti-gun folks, it is free of Liberals, Democrats, Racists, Homophobes, Christian zealots, et al.
I have come to believe that the actual numbers of these in the general population are much much lower than the Mass Media would have us believe.
People with a live-and-let-live attitude generally don’t, I’d guess, wind up on the evening news very often because they rarely are driven to apoplexy by someone else’s beliefs or choices.
Ya gotta cause a scene to get onto the screen.
Folks I normally deal with on a day-to-day basis are either quiet about objections or pro-gun (a lot of military). My daughter is a less-than-objective gun control advocate. The last time we discussed firearms ownership I almost brought her to tears. We don’t discuss it much lately.
My wife works in the public school system. You can guess how many of her conversations go. However there is at least one guy – very progressive – who also is a firearms enthusiast.
Family can’t be chosen. Friends can. For friends, there’s people who aren’t PRO-gun. No one anti. They simply aren’t open minded enough to be friends with.
I could forsee being friends with someone with a horrific experience- being shot, watching parents/child shot in front of their very eyes, etc. and them being anti-gun, simply because they were so damaged by the experience it would be a dick move to pry open their minds, as they hadn’t fully processed everything.
Anything short of that, if they’re not willing to consider different perspectives, try new things (shooting), or trust me with their life and I with theirs- that’s not a friend.
That’s an acquaintance. Plenty of anti-gun those.
I agree with this.. Many people neglect to include the reasons for why people may be anti-gun. As much as it is our right to enjoy then, others are allowed to keep their distance.
More so I have family that is anti. Often not outspoken but just indeferent leaning toward anti
I don’t think anti’s like me. Maybe it’s the persistent smell of Hoppes. They seem to always find another place to be as soon as I show up. Probably for the best.
My acquaintances are almost entirely anti-gun. My few true friends are entirely pro gun and gun owners.
I have some friends who are still anti gun, but they are few and far in between. Most of them have either fully concerted to the side of light and goodness or have become neutral.
Acquaintances yes, friends no!
So many variations. Would be great if we could see the mental image the word gun conjures up in each person. I’m sure some of the hard core anti’s would be worthy of science fiction.
Used to have 1, but then we parted ways. It wasn’t the guns that ended things, more so their excess level of drama and dragging everyone into it.
I’ve got enough going on without adding excess drama into my life.
Abso-friggin-lutely. I used to be a raging combination-platter liberal, but even if I wasn’t, I hope I’d be open minded enough to have friends of differing viewpoints.
I have an anti-gun brother, but then again he’s not my friend.
friends: no, family members: yes.
‘Friends’, no.
People that I am ‘friendly’ with that are neither pro, nor con (the squeamish middle grounders), yes. And I do my best to convert them to PotG as time and energy permit. I’ve found if I can just get them tot he range, they slide to the PotG side. The flipside is ‘who do they hang out with’? If it is others with a negative outlook, groupthink sets in and they backslide.
People I have to tolerate due to work, or other forced social interaction, yes.
California progressive liberal family members? Yes. But I don’t have to talk to them either.
My friends, all both of them, are more gun ignorant than anything. They only really know what TV and the news has told them so let that speak for itself.
As for being anti-gun not really, they remark on feeling safer around me kbowing I have them, and have occasionally expressed interest in wanting to learn.
Same for me. Most of them were raised in urban areas, and have no experience with any sort of guns. Guns at first are a terrifying proposition. As adults living in safe communities, they see no reason to become acquainted, so they are guns maive more than anything, not really pro or anti.
” gun ignorant”. That is a great way of putting it for those type of folks. Ignorance = fear. That is something that can, at least, be overcome. I think I am going to be stealing that.
the real question should be: Do you only befriend people who are gro-gun?
Less and less.
Been fortunate to change the minds of a few on the subject. Have had other friends go from being pro-freedom to anti because of their significant others’ beliefs.
I have a few. Not many, but a few. The best way to convert people is to engage them and challenge their pre-conceptions. It’s why some of them are no longer anti-gun.
My close friends are pro-gun, with one kind of being a fence-sitter, but for some reason he keeps going to the range and renting a firearm a few times a month…
Acquaintances are the whole spectrum.
I have co-workers that are very anti-gun but they are not my friends. Sometimes they try to get me fired up, usually it ends with them feeling like idiots. My girlfriend’s mother says that she doesn’t mind guns, but that is a complete load of bull. She is constantly saying things like “guns don’t save lives” “that’s what the police are for” and other very media driven opinions. I make it a point to never eat seconds at her dinner table, apparently it makes he constantly second guess if the food was any good.
Lots of them. I’ve trained them not to post anti-gun BS on Facebook by full frontal data and logic assaults. Otherwise we never talk about it.
My wife says my pro-gun views scare people off. I wouldn’t know because I don’t see those people anymore.
With some friends we have to agree to disagree. Same with my anti-gun Chicagoland family. To them I am the black sheep.
Friends no-relatives and business associates aplenty. It is what it is….so who won my gun???? I’ll still be around…
In my book the term friend and anti-gunner are mutually exclusive and never the twain shall meet. I did stir up a very lively debate with a group of Canadian army guys the last time I was in Bahrain. The most vocal gent, let’s call him Richard Dean Anderson (of Stargate Jack O’neill fame). Richard and I argued at length and I was completely surprised at his opinion that civilians just shouldn’t have guns, period. He stood by that stance, as both a member of the Canadian military and (wait for it) as a gun owner. We parted without ever changing either one’s opinion. It was very frustrating for me.
I have numerous friends that are anti-gun, and whenever any politics are involved (New Yorker here), it always gets heated. My family has come a long way. My parents both dislike guns, but are coming through with logic and a little help from Mr. Noir. My brother had the benefit of living in the south for college, but didn’t start changing his mood until he was told he was moving to Florida, now he wants a CCW Permit.
Yes, and ironically some of the smartest people I know. I had previously remarked as we attended a sporting event “what would stop me from carrying in here” to which one of them responded “LAWS, obviously”. I found this to be ironic as it was coming from my only friend with a felony B&E on his record…obviously the LAW didn’t stop him from a drunk mistaken door kick.
I have thankfully found that the more people I bring shooting the more realize these are not the implements of death & destruction they’re looking for.
Even here in California I’ve found that everyone I talk to is at least wiling to go to the range with me and give it a try. The people that don’t even want to be near a gun are rare. We just need to be willing to reach out to the majority that are open to the idea of guns and give them an opportunity to build some understanding.
Had a guy who was former Army tell me that if he was told to turn in his gun he would do so without hesitation. I wanted to punch him in the face but restrained myself.
Yes….one. Less guns more cops guy. Same one who left garage door open and was burglarized.
With open carry possibly imminent in TX, I broached the subject at my favorite coffee shop. I’d meant to suggest just a friendly sign, like “for the comfort of our patrons, we decline serving open carriers.” Just a simple, non aggressive request. Unfortunately, the subject raised anxiety levels to the point of near panic.
Anti-gun family. Slowly converting those I can, not harping on the ones that don’t.
Yep and they don’t chat much with us anymore. Too afraid of them…
Scrolling through the mental roster, I can’t say I have any friends who have voiced anti gun sentiment. A good number are not gun owners, however most of them have expressed interest in shooting. I often find soon after taking these folks out shooting, I’m summoned to the LGS as a firearms consigliere for their first purchase. I find that very rewarding.
I don’t have any friends. Yeah, I know, big surprise.
My brother’s girlfriend is not anti-gun per-se, but I understand why she doesn’t like guns. We don’t get into arguments about it. We just avoid the subject. That’s how I deal with most of them, unless they want to be especially stupid and vocal about how guns are bad. Then I give them all the information to show how they are wrong.
“…I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” – Jefferson
I thought I didn’t and perhaps they are not anti-gun but I definitely have friends and family that are sweet on supporting the 2nd but…
On a positive note I thought I was boring a friend with some conceal carry and gun discussion and the next time I talk to him he is signed up for a carry class and is looking for more information.
Here is an interesting one: My mother does not mind people owning guns or carrying guns (both my father and I have what some in the media would call an arsenal of horrific proportions, as well as our CWPs) but she just does not want us specifically carrying them (We do anyway, we just know she doesn’t like it). Guess she thinks its a “looking for trouble” sort of thing (which couldn’t be farther from the truth, and is frankly irrational on her part). Luckily, her mind is starting to change on this. Reportedly, she even reminded my dad the other day that he was forgetting his back up magazine as he walked out of the door. Progress.
I have friends who are anti gun. I refer to them as cover
In a zombie outbreak, you only have to run faster than the next slowest person.
Or use them for expendable cover. 😉
Topic seldom comes up, but for me it’s simple. Most of my muscle tissue lost to disease, I have no other way to protect myself. End of story. With a long medical career behind me, there’s no argument that I’ve seen far more death than most. Just want a fighting chance with mine.
I have friends that are on the fence. They’re not anti… not pro either.
Left NYC for Florida. NewYork friends n family drink the Bloomberg kool-aid. New York transplants are the worst. Done f@cked up NYC, wanna attempt same in SoFla. I left NYC in NYC. Wish others would do the same.
Same here in Vegas. We get Calif., NY, NJ, Chicago, etc. transplants that like to bring their fail politics with them.
Some apathetic ones, but not anti-gun as such.
Definitely – they’re good people otherwise, so I try not to hold it against them. Some people are just misguided.
No, I got rid of all my anti gun friends. Not really intentionally though. But I’m not going to just allow their histrionic BS to stand unchallenged. If they can’t take even a basic facts driven explanation of the facts to the point of breaking off contact with me then so be it.
Work in an academic setting and do volunteer work with a bunch of elitist snobs, so I know plenty of anti-gunners. . .but they ain’t my friends.
Used to, however, since knowing me they have all come over to the dark side…
I think it was the cookies.
I’m not certain. I have plenty of friends that don’t own firearms.
I grew up in a ballistic-free household thinking my dad (and also best friend) was anti-gun. After I started collecting firearms, he and I went to the range along with my 11 year old nephew. My dad’s grinning reaction to thumping steel plates at 300 yards with a 91/30 (his eyesight isn’t the best) and being able to watch his thrilled grandson slinging lead downrange with the .22 for the first time was the best range experience I’ve had. It definitely debunked any thought I ever had of him being anti-gun.
My ex girlfriend actually survived the Laurie Dann school shooting in 1988. She had nightmares for years and had to sleep in her parents room for a couple of years after the event. When we met she was deeply anti gun; actually, it might be safer to say terrified of them. i was patient and understanding with her at all times.
A few summers ago her sister was robbed at her house (by gun, and almost physically assaulted). It opened some deep wounds. i offered to take her and her sister to a friends women training course (they do knife and gun), and she actually took me up on it. After a 10 hour day of a woman’s handgun 1 introduction course, she told me it did more for her than a decade of therapy. She was firmly in the gun rights camp from that day forward, and will be working towards her conceal carry license this year.
Caring for people comes first. From that change can happen.
ps. Side note: when i met her she was a self described “socialist”. When we amicably split, she scored higher on a 160 point Libertarian test than some of my die hard friends. We’ll call this one a success (i score a 150, just shy of Rothbard).
Nice story. Thanks for sharing.
I understand your ex- the Dann thing was horrible. Murdering little kids.
Here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky we don’t have to put up with “antis”, well maybe there are 1% that are “antis”.
99% are either pro-gun, or just don’t care about the issue.
Even the liberal politicians fall all over each other claiming they are the biggest 2A supporter.
None I’d describe as anti-gun, per se (which is surprising given how liberal some of them are), but I do have some friends that aren’t personally comfortable around firearms. I think it has to do with upbringing more than politics for them. I always offer to take them to the range, but I rarely get takers.
They all know you’re more likely to encounter me naked than without my sidearm, and they don’t seem to have a problem with that.
One milllllllionth comment! Woo
being the california native that I am, I have had a couple acquaintances who disagreed with my beliefs surrounding firearms and their need in society. I did eventually sever ties with them but for reasons other than firearms philosophy. Its funny, whenever I took people shooting they always finished the day smiling. I think the next time i get into a debate with one from the anti-rights crowd that ill just invite them to go shooting with me for an afternoon. maybe show them that we aren’t all baby eating monsters.
Take them shooting and bring homemade cookies.
The cookies seal the deal … evoke pleasant associations with Mom and home, the sense of security they had as a child.
I am lucky to live and work in both a state and company that are 2A friendly. It is more common to come across someone that is more uninformed or just not interested in firearms rather than anti-gun.
I’ve actually have some who I’ve converted.. It can happen.
There’s anti-gun and there’s gun-neutral. Gun neutrality actually covers a lot of territory; including indifference, ambivalence, lack of awareness, and even conscious live-and-let-live coexistence. I’ve had friends, some family, and business associates in this broad gun-neutral category. That’s all fine.
Anti-gun is something different and unacceptable. Though people may fall into that evil funnel (yes, evil) from different angles, they all trend inexorably toward the same statist obsession with denying individuals their most fundamental freedom. With friends like that, who needs fascists? Not me.
Only ones who can handle the fact that since having a gun once saved my life, I regard those who think I shouldn’t have guns as believing that the world would be better with me dead.
Tried it once, wouldn’t recommend it
I’m in California, so I have plenty. I try to set a good example and bring logic to the ones who are willing to see it.
Friends, no. Relatives, unfortunately yes. I have a relative who came into possession of a .38 revolver through the act of helping clean up a friends apartment after the man’s death.
My relative:
1 Lived in NYC at the time (The Sullivan Act mean anything to you?)
2 He has a relative who was a wanna be LEO who also “illegally” possessed a 9 mm semi in the same town.
Now I don’t fault them for breaking the “law” for the ability of self defense, but after I acquired my 3rd firearm they went full retard on me for assembling an “arsenal”. This is a case in point that portrays my disgust with antis. Which is the hypocrisy of the OK for me, but not for thee. The elite antis ( I’m looking at you Massa Bloomberg) want to restrict self defense to those who can hire someone else to carry the evil gun. Kind of like the anti hunters too squeamish to kill their own meat but consider hunting cruel.
No.
What is this friend thing I keep hearing about?
(Thanks to Scott Adams)
Yes.
I have acquaintances anti-gun, but my friends are POTG. I only associate with the anti-gunners because they are useful idiots.
Living in CT my entire life I have aquired many anti-gunners. Thankfully I have been able to help many see the fallacy of their views. A few I have turned into bonafied gun owners and Second Amendment advocates. I find taking someone to the range and having them shoot at least a few rounds does more than any arguing could ever could. A cuple pulls of that trigger and its a life long love.
I don’t have anyone against friends, but my AK used to be pretty taboo. It’s been a lot easier lately when people realize i’ve had it for half a decade now without anything crazy happening. I blame that on the media for trying to tell everyone that AK’s = mass shooting when the gun crimes tend to be glocks.
The only anti gun acquaintance I know unfriended ME over the issue. Screw him, he’s a brainwashed libtard idiot anyway.
No, only co-workers.
most of my friends are varying degrees of pro-gun. but there are a few with whom I have spirited debates. a few just don’t realize that the second amendment is not about hunting deer.
I do not associate with people who have a room temperature IQ, so no, none of my friends are anti-gun.
I have a couple of former coworkers I get together with on occasion. They are polar opposites of me when it comes to firearms. Out of mutual respect, we don’t discuss them. I’m willing to answer any questions they might have, but no debating. We’re just too far apart.
The subject doesn’t come up often, so it is hard to say, even among my family members. By brother hunts, but as ex-military who still works as a civilian on the same base he retired from, he does not carry, and may not even own a pistol anymore. My sister used to be a left wing radical, and as a young adult would get upset when my brother put on his ROTC uniform. (This was at the end of the Vietnam War.) But now, at 60 and married to a Marine her attitude has become much more conservative–even though she lives in LA. My mother wanted my grandfather’s pistol (fired twice back in the 1920s when he worked for a bank and never since) when he died, but the gun shop would not test fire it because it was not a good gun. She has never owned a gun, and probably never fired one either, but is not averse.
But then there is my wife and her family. My wife is anti-gun to the core, but at least has come to understand their utility (she is totally disabled). He father served in WWI in the Rainbow Division–and never touched a gun again. He and my mother-in-law were hard core liberals who lived in Baltimore, so their attitude was a given. I assume that my brother in law, a “progressive” and a Brown grad living in NY, has the same attitude.
The weirdest thing is the hypocrisy of two people I know who own guns. One, my best friend from college who lives in Arizona, thinks that Arizona’s permitless carry is “insane” (and also believes that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms only in connection with the militia, and that gun laws are permissible under the “well regulated” clause). The other is a plaintiff’s attorney who was shocked that I have a loaded gun at my desk. “You’ll shoot yourself!” he said. [He is handling a tragic case where a child found Grandpa’s glock on the floor where Grandpa had forgotten it and shot himself in the head.] So for a gun owner, he seems to me to be pretty anti-gun.
I have a few friends who are anti – the most notable person in my life who is anti is my brother-in-law. But hey, they have their rights too.
I have several. I have converted a few over the years though. One mind at a time. How else am I going to spread knowledge and sanity if not by educating the confused?
I have some rabid anti-gun friends and that’s okay. I’ve already won some over with some trigger time on my AR but I know that some of them just have narrow minds and unrational fears…… It’s okay to fear something, I just chose something worthy of being feared – SPIDERS!!! 🙂
I have a few friends (light) that don’t like guns, but they have no idea about American history or world history for that matter. They claim to be highly educated but then again they are from CA and have degrees in I’m a f/n idiot! I am only here in CA for my job and to “stick it” to the political ass wipes currently in office. Someone has to tow the line.
I have several friends, associates and family who range from uncomfortable around guns to rabidly anti-gun. for a very long period I walked on egg shells – avoiding comment, changing the subject, moving on. I’ve come to the conclusion in the last year that it’s up to me to promote sane thinking. For too long, liberty minded individuals have ceded the space in order not to make waves. It’s now time to hold firm or move forward. This comes in 1) calmly encouraging those uncomfortable around guns to think more broadly than the scare factor they have been peddled, 2) to speak up in defense of the 2nd amendment and all other liberties that are naturally endowed and 3) to stand up to anti-gun friends and family with logic and a calm demeanor. We can’t play into emotional arguments with anger – we have to constantly hold the upper ground.
To bear this out.. I’m taking a colleague who up to this point has never shot to the range.
Ive had a few anti gun coworkers over the years
No. No anti gun friends. Why would I do that? Should I have anti beer friends too? And anti oral sex friends, and anti red meat friends, anti white people friends, anti America friends, and pro communism friends, and pro Oshamalamobama osama friends, et cetera. You get the point. And for those I know that haven’t approached the topic yet with, I don’t care. I’m not pandering or persuading. Go talk to your congressman if you don’t like it. Or that hilariously dirty named anti gun group “Moms Demand Action” (say it in the Butthead voice and it changes politics forever).
A few years ago in college, I have a friend that got me back into guns after not shooting since I was a teenager.
Unfortunately, he was denied ownership of a gun due to some stupid fight he was involved in that sent him to juvie.
After being denied his 2nd rights, He then started getting into that social justice warrior stuff and eventually hated firearms.
Now part of some Hawaiian progressive group that advocates for liberal policies, he now hates hearing about my growing collection of firearms and my opinion on gun rights/policies.
Even though hes drifted off onto the left side of the political spectrum while I remain on the middle, we still talk every now and then and are still good friends.
I live in Hawaii. Take a wild guess.
I don’t think any friends are “anti” gun but not all of them have guns….in laws are another story as there are a few I’m sure.
Friends, yes, family definitely.
I have to be mostly silent about my hobby.
“What did you get up to this weekend?”
“You know, did laundry, bought groceries, lost track of the other 46 hours.”
I had a handful of friends who got sucked up into the media hype machine after Newtown. I showed a couple the error of their ways, but the majority became lost causes ranging somewhere on a scale from FUDD to rabidly anti-gun and I’ve since lost touch with them all. The only unwaveringly pro-gun member of my family is my grandpa and again, Newtown illustrated this very clearly. Fun times were had at that year’s Christmas party. Now I go out of my way to associate only with like-minded people or those who have similar interests. If a friend or family member turns out to be anti-gun when I first thought otherwise, I ask that we keep things civil, agree to disagree, and not bring it up. If they fail to do so, I gradually break contact.
I do have a neighbor that’s an anti-2A, though their kids have quite the Nerf arsenals. What was fun, though, is that last summer, I taught BB guns for Cub Scout day camp. Their middle boy started out terrified of the gun — as in trying to shoot it held almost at arms length. By the end of day 3, he was one of my best shooters and totally in love with the sport. 🙂
When I first met her, my wife bragged there were no guns in the house. That problem no longer exists. While she’s not a shooter, and likely never will be, she is at least not hostile to firearms. Past that, most of my friends are pro gun, though there are a few antis. Those I simply don’t discuss the matter with. In my family, my brother is a lib, but at least rational in the 2nd Amendment. Still, he keeps voting for those who would strip him of it, which I find senseless. I do hold out some hope for him. On the other hand, my brother-in-law is a die-hard Obama fanatic, and while he does hunt, parrots the party line elsewhere(10 round mags, no ARs, no suppressors). Seems strange coming from a guy who was a marine.
Most everyone in my family are conservative or libertarian so gun control debates never happen. With the exception of my NYC liberal sister in law who is extremely anti gun ownership. And she wholeheartedly supports mass arrests and use of violence to enforce bans but sees no hypocrisy. She stopped talking to me or my kids simply because of our political beliefs.
Tons. Fortunately my wife and family are pro gun so that’s all that matters. If it was a requirement that my friends and I agreed on everything I wouldn’t have many so such is life. The best I can do is shut their stupidity down when they try and force it on me and those around me.
My brother is – sort of.
He’s a doctor and worked in the ER at GW Hosp. In the bad years of the DC gun violence. I think he saw too much. I think it’s more of a personal thing.
Careful! The Brady Bunch or MDA may send suicide bombers to deal with the insults!
I have two friends I can think of who are what I consider anti-gun, but not vehemently frothing at the mouth anti-gun. One thinks guns generally make society less safe, is afraid of violence, and is totally uninterested in any scholastic research that contradicts her worldview on guns making society less safe. We agree to disagree, and I still enjoy her company and think she’s a wonderful person.
The other comes from the military and thinks: 1) society gives regular citizens waaaaaay too much leeway with firearms and ammunition, 2) that people should have major respect for the danger of weapons, 3) people should have a baseline skill level to qualify as responsible gun owners, and 4) government should decide who meets that level. I agree with 2 and 3. I enjoy this person as well, we have a lot of wide ranging philosophical arguments, her ideas are usually statism based in nature. The thing I respect about her is she is able to challenge me in my own viewpoints about The Truth, and when I beat her with evidence she will own up to the evidence being in my favor.
I don’t think excluding people from friendship because they have an idea you disagree with is a good plan. If they are so different in their viewpoints you cannot get along that’s another thing, but I find a good majority of people have positive qualities I can appreciate in them.
My friends are kind of all over the map, I’ve realized. My best friend was fairly apathetic about them until I brought a bunch of people to my uncle’s farm for a day of shooting several years ago, an activity which proved to be popular and was repeated; he himself started getting more interested in guns after that, and once I got tired of using my uncle’s guns, he came with me to a gun show and we bought our first guns together. Eventually we took our CCW courses together, and bought the same EDC gun so we could learn them together. He’s now probably the most pro-gun person I know outside of my paternal side of the family, my stepdad, and myself.
My girlfriend and I disagree on 99% of 2A issues, but she doesn’t have STRONG feelings about it one way or the other, and honestly I don’t know how hard she would be to convince; politically, she’s fairly apathetic about most things, which I understand and in fact relate to outside of 2A issues and a few other things. I’m pretty apathetic about most things in life, myself. But I just asked offhandedly one day how she felt about this or that issue, she answered, and that was the end of it. Guns are probably the only thing we really disagree on, but it’s been a complete non-issue; I haven’t tried to bring her over to my side, because she’s moving away in July [FROWN] and there’s no need to have an argument [though there’s no guarantee it would come to that] with so little time left. She’s expressed no complaints about the idea of me carrying, though I haven’t finished putting my EDC through its paces and actually started carrying it, so we’ll see whether that changes once it becomes a reality and not an idea.
I have one good friend who is VIRULENTLY anti-gun, but he was robbed at gunpoint a few years ago, and openly admits that his hatred of them stems directly from that. He’s pretty deep-set into it, though it’s never been an issue between us, but we also don’t discuss it. Politically I’m pretty liberal outside of the 2A sphere, so we align on most other issues, but unlike with my girlfriend, I think a discussion with him about 2A rights would quickly turn into an argument because of how strongly we both feel about the issue. However, also unlike with my girlfriend, once I start carrying, he won’t know [“concealed means concealed”, after all; there’s no reason to tell him].
Other than them, I don’t really have many close friends; I have two other friends who, to the best of my knowledge, have no strong opinions about 2A rights one way or another, though I’ve never asked [I just texted them, and I’m curious as to what they’ll say, honestly]. My mother very much dislikes guns but understands their usefulness; she has never and would never own one–to the best of my knowledge, she’s never even fired one–but my father owns several guns, as does most of his family [most notably the uncle I mentioned early on]. She never liked my father having guns in the house, but she tolerated it. My stepdad also owns several guns, but once they married, she insisted he keep them all in a huge gun safe we have in the garage. She might have insisted he get rid of them, but the nature of his work convinced her that him owning and carrying was necessary. He also keeps two guns in his home office, not in the safe, but she doesn’t know that.
Hoo. I doubt any of this was of much interest to you guys, but this post made me realize I haven’t often thought too much about how those close to me, other than my girlfriend, felt about 2A rights if they hadn’t volunteered the information on their own. It was something interesting to ponder.
Several of my friends and co-workers are anti gun along with my father-in-law. He and I can have good conversations and debates about gun rights. I have even offered (he is kind of on the fence about it) to take him to a range if he ever wanted to though I would go through a quick gun safety session with him before we go anywhere. 🙂
You have no idea, considering I live in Milwaukee, WI just about everyone I know is antigun. I can count all my pro-gun hands with just my two hands. So don’t exactly have that many people I would consider a true friend.
I was married to an anti-gunner once.
Once…
Incredibly happily remarried now.
I take my oldest (and only from that marriage) shooting with her friends whenever I get the chance.
She loves it and her friends love it
Several of them had never shoot before but are now firmly in the ‘shooters’ camp now.
We shoot everything from 10-22 to AR-10 but the 590A1
Ummm… Continued I guess…. Accidental post with no edit???
590A1 was the surprise (to me) hands down favorite.
I live in Ann Arbor. I have ONLY anti-gun friends.
They never discuss the topic with me anymore, because the essence of their hoplophobia is irrational, so logic is banned from the discussions.
But I don’t like to argue anymore. Anyone who believes that humans have no right to defend themselves with deadly force in deadly situations does not have an “opinion;” they have a neurosis. It wasn’t reasoned into them, and cannot be reasoned away.
Anyone that is a FB friend of mine knows my stance on guns (or is it more like my stance with my guns? (Weaver… call me old school Mr Isosceles). However, there are still those in my life that choose feelings over reality when it comes to guns and society. What’s both surprising, and not, is they are in acedemia, science no less. I bring this up with them often when they complain about the high potential of Texas passing campus concealed carry. You would think it would be fairly easy to win hearts and minds of those that do research for a living, but then again Berkley and the like do a fine job of inflicting permanent dain bramage to otherwise brilliant individuals. I will say that they have no response when asked how they argue their professional points by doing research, but subjects like this they leave to emotion and conjecture. Then we have another pint and talk sports…
My Mom, bless her heart was Anti-gun all her.life! I did not touch or pick up a weapon for about 10 years after coming out of the SE Asia war games, but that changed when my oldest Daughter wanted too go Hunting, made her take a gun safety class first, still no weapon! bought a new 30-30 Rifle, however during this time it was a personnel thing never exposed in public! Not so much on ownership as was the usage, This has changed now I instruct rifle Pistol and Hunter safety!
Nope. If they are anti-gun, they aren’t friends. I can handle the neutral or not passionate about the 2nd Amendment types, but if they are anti-gun they are anti-freedom. I am NOT going to associate with anyone having that mindset.
I have a few anti-gun friends… Well mostly family so I can understand why they tolerate (frequent heated debates) my love of personal responsibility and freedom. I wont kick them to the curb as I love a good debate 😉
Anti-gun people are not friends. In a life or death situation, they choose to stand there and watch. A friend would back me up, help, something…
For my part, I’m a friend to all. For their part, no friend stands idly by and watches someone die.
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