Ricochet Members and Guns
What is the mix of gun owners amongst us Riccy's? (is that an appropriate nickname?) I'm an enthusiastic fan of the 2nd amendment myself, and I'm sure that some of the rest of you are, while others have different priorities.
How important is the 2nd amendment to your political activity? How does the 2nd amendment affect your voting? Would you vote for or against a candidate based solely on their NRA score?
What about the Republican primary candidates? We've got Romney and Trump as our current "leading candidates", and I'm willing to lay odds that Nanny Bloomberg is going to jump in too. All of these 3 are outrightly hostile to gun owners (unlike Barry who's hostile behind the scenes). Our most pro-gun candidates (declared and otherwise) like Palin are just too controversial to actually win. Could you vote for one of these folks?
Speaking only for myself, I don't think I could ever pull the lever for an anti-gun candidate (I've got other bones to pick with Romney esp.).
Chime in even if you're not a gun owner
Based on the responses - am I sensing a need for a Ricochet meetup and Shutzenfest?
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May '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Gun owner for self, family, & home defense. Never been hunting, probably never will be (nothing against hunting, just not interested). I'll be voting for whatever Republican is running against Obama, so I suppose I would vote for an anti-gun candidate. Just another reason to not like Romney.
Romney & Trump anti-gun? Because they can afford to live in estates surrounded by fences topped with razor wire and 24x7 security.
I live in Illinois, I'm used to that mindset.
Apr '11
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Growing up I hunted, though with a bow. Don't own any firearms now, though I am in the market for a handgun for defense and sport. That being said, I don't think I could ever vote strictly based on a single issue, even one so clearly defined by the Constitution. I have always had the impression that most people who vote consistently do vote based on single issues, and that idea makes me vaguely uneasy.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Gun owner: 10 mm Glock, 6 mm high power Remington semi, three 20 ga shotguns (single shot, side-by-side, and semi), a .22 that I learned with (and took apart over and over again). Hunting, mostly. Would be in trouble for self defense because all of these puppies are locked in a gun safe (in addition to a trigger lock on Glock) with the ammo locked in a separate safe, and the keys stashed somewhere that I keep forgetting about.
In my view, the 2nd Amendment isn't just a right, but a responsibility.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Oh, I should add that I haven't been crazy about the NRA for the last couple of decades because they seem to care more about their base than they do affecting popular opinion. Tin political ears, and don't know which battles to fight, or how.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Chris Christie is a big anti-gun guy, too.
Nov '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
I don't have any guns, mostly because I can't afford any (at one point I could, at least a Wal Mart gun, but they wouldn't sell me one because I had a California ID, and I was in Arizona). 2nd Amendment issues are a really big deal for me, and a candidate's stance on guns has a major effect on how much I will support them. This is the main reason why I can't get behind Christie so enthusiastically as others do.
Aug '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Multiple gun owner. I am holding one in my picture over there: A Browning Citori Over & Under 20 ga. shotgun. I have them for hunting, family protection and because the Constitution says I can and world history tells me I must.
LIke Ottoman, I think the NRA has squandered its time over the past couple of decades by not educating enough. A series of television ads showing real people defending themselves from criminals and a series showing the historical facts of what happened to disarmed peoples throughout the past two centuries would have gone a long way. Although, I notice much less anti-gun rhetoric than I used to.
Nov '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
No guns = no freedom.
In my observation, judgment, and experience, a government that tries to disarm its citizens will, sooner or later, deprive them of their other rights. Look at England, which now, at the demand of the cosseted and protected elites, is busily destroying the whole idea of self-protection, regardless of what means is employed.
There is no magic to guns in and of themselves; the simple fact is that they are the principal means of effective self-defense. That is why the police and the bandits carry firearms; that is why I am going to, too.
I don't care if Christie is the Second Coming, I won't vote for him or anybody else who takes the position that he has on gun ownership and won't vote for anybody else who adopts that stand, either.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
I have owned one or more guns since I was about 12 (and a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun since about 7). I have been a member of the NRA from time to time but not in the last twenty-years.
A candidate's position on gun ownership is a significant element of my voting decision, not because I am fanatical about my guns, but because this is always a tell on where a candidate comes down on originalist interpretation of the Constitution and on the balance between government power vs individual liberty. Like BHO's solemn avowal of support of the 2nd Amendment, knowing that he is just one or two more SCOTUS appointments from killing it.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Pilgrim:
A candidate's position on gun ownership is a significant element of my voting decision, not because I am fanatical about my guns, but because this is always a tell on where a candidate comes down on originalist interpretation of the Constitution and on the balance between government power vs individual liberty.
Well said. A guy who will equivocate on the 2nd Amendment is the same guy who will suddenly decide that cap and tax sounds like a swell idea.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
I grew up in a hunting family and hunted until my early twenties. I gave it up for three reasons: lack of time, lack of desire, and, since I don't like wild game, I had a moral concern about killing just for the sport of it all. If someone hunts game and plans to eat it, I have no problem whatsoever, and for those who simply hunt for sport, I have no condemnation--my choice was strictly personal.
On the other hand, I love guns: they are marvelously engineered machines. We're a gun-owning family. I have my Dad's old 30-30 deer rifle (which has great sentimental value), an old 22, and a new Berreta 30 mm pistol. One of my sons has a semi-automatic assault rifle, two handguns, and a shotgun (and a concealed carry permit). Another son has a pistol, and a son-in-law has a pistol and shotgun. None of us are hunters, but we enjoy, every couple of months, going out and shooting some cans and clay pigeons.
And I'm a big 2nd amendment fan, though never a member of the NRA (not that I don't like them).
Edited on Apr 7, 2011 at 1:03pmNov '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
In my balding years I've been able to pay more attention to my government and what it does for and to me. Something that has long been plain to others, but I've only recently been willing to accept, is that an individual liberty lost in America is never regained.
I hate that firearms facilitate the killing of innocents, and understand the naive belief that banning them would put an end to that, but the hard, hard truth is that we must be willing to accept some danger and insecurity in life to maintain the individual liberties that brought us here in the first place. I'm willing to accept some reasonable restrictions on who can obtain firearms, but will oppose any attempt to rescind my right to own a firearm. Removing Obama in 2012 will temporarily trump that opposition, but if my candidate happens to be anti-gun, I will work against him thereafter.
Spoken as a lifelong gun owner with a CCW license, non-NRA member, retired federal firearms instructor, and someone who's had a loaded handgun pointed at his head.
Edited on Apr 7, 2011 at 1:28pmJul '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
J. C. Casteel:
Spoken as a lifelong gun owner with a CCW license, non-NRA member, retired federal firearms instructor, and someone who's had a loaded handgun pointed at their head. · Apr 7 at 1:20pm
I've had seven of them pointed at my head. And one time the mope actually pulled the trigger.
Somehow, I'm so dim-witted that it still never occurred to me that banning guns would make me safer.
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
I find it to be a very personal question. Why let the bad guys know what I have and where I have them? On the other hand, maybe trumpeting the info will deter them.
For many years I figured I was in good enough shape to take out an intruder without a weapon.
Lately, staring at 50, not so much anymore.
So beware, bad guys. Beware.
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Love my guns. Right now politics affect my guns more than guns affect my politics. With lots of people on here giving obama more than a 50/50 chance in 2012 I have started really working on completing my wish list. If he gets a second term without having to worry about re election he will really take the gloves off. I'd rather hide them, than never have them.
Apr '11
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
I don't own guns (I've only ever touched a gun once my life) and am not much interested in acquiring any, nor in going hunting. This might be a chick thing, Sarah Palin notwithstanding! A political candidate's position on gun rights is not a deal-breaker for me. But if you're going to take the Bill of Rights seriously (and I do), then you can't pick and choose. If we have the right to free speech, then we have just as much of a right to keep and bear arms; you cannot be an absolutist on the former but then try to dilute the latter. And speaking of under-enforced amendments, don't even THINK of trying to quarter troops in my house. :-)
Apr '11
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
I've never owned a gun, but considered. Even then, I believe in our right to bear arms. It's the same with the first amendment.
Even if I don't always choose to use my freedom of speech it is not implied that I have no freedom of speech, nor does that mean others should remain silent because I have chosen to do so. Whether or not I own a handgun or otherwise, it is a choice I make based on a right I have.
Aug '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Over the weekend I "played" with the following guns:
Thompson Submachine Gun, SAW 243
MP5 , Uzi , Kimber 1911, S&W MP40, AK 47, and more it was a gas !
5 or 6 of them are illegal to own as automatic weapons. Our government has allowed an office of the ATF to sell them to criminals "to see where they end up ".
One of those guns ended up killing a federal officer of the US.
Our government is insane and liable. I suggest we don't trust them and do all we can to maintain the largest defensive force in history : an armed America.
Shooting at targets is fun, hunting is a great sport, self defense is a right. Collectible antiquing can be profitable . The Metropolitan Museum in NYC has lots of weapons, what does that say about culture and history ?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Shooting is fun.
FN FAL and M1911A1.
I also have an AK-47 receiver that I need to actually make into a weapon some day.
Aug '10
Re: Ricochet Members and Guns
Charlotte, ask around and find a friend or friend of a friend who has an SKS 7.62x39mm semi-automatic rifle and get them to take you to a shooting range and just blast away. The thrill of pulling that trigger will likely convert you to wanting to touch them more and more. It did it for my wife.