Got my first gun

Hahahaha! Fantastic! I'll never know true freedom because I don't have a gun! I love that, thank you. Hahahaha.

I can't rape or pillage either, does that mean I'm unfairly restricted? I can't go out in the street naked shouting anti-semetic propaganda either! I guess I'll never know those freedoms, and you know what? I don't want to. Any more than I want to smile to myself while I brandish a lethal weapon and contemplate just what such a thing can do. Nothing good comes out the barrel of a gun. World War 1 and subsequently World War 2 would probably never have happened if it wasn't for a single gunshot.

But hey, what do you care? Just run your hands over the shiny metal and shudder with delight while you fantasize about murdering your 'enemies'. That's the American way. It's great!

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
To own a gun is your right! your wife should be proud!

a Mossberg is a good choice, it doesn't produce great patterns like a Remington 570 but it definitly isn't bad either! I think you will like it.

Personally i'm going for a pistol for my first weapon for several reasons, it's something my wife can use (since she has a weak left arm due to MS), I will probably get her a 9mm somewhere in the future.

My next planned purchase will most likely be a Mossberg 500 with a short barrel and pistol grip and a full stock and slug barrel.

After that I decided to get my first AW type rifle, a Romanian WASR-10 AKM.

You might consider a .380 for the wife using magsafes. They have more stopping power than a .357 as advertised by :

www.ableammo.com...

For hunting and home defense a 12 guage shotgun can't be beat. Most shooting occur in the 7-12 foot range. If you use birdshot it has the most trauma of any civilian weapon. If you are going with the premise that the mossberg is your choice (it was mine and I have a modified one with a pistol gripped stock for better control when hunting) then you might also look on eBay for a smoothbore 18.5 in barrel. This will give maximum spread and controlability for the ranges mentioned earlier. A remington 870 is another fine choice (again in 12 guage). Both of these psychological effects too that will deter. The mere jacking in of a round is a strong communication to the bad guy to high tail it. It is an unmistakable sound that everyone knows and recognizes as trouble. You may consider a revolver too. This is a jam proof weapon and simple to operate in crisis. The only downside is limited number of rounds compaired to an auto. That my friends is my .02

Wow, tis a LOT of good information here. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts - really.

I have been anti-gun all of my 38 years of life. However, after learning survival techniques for the last few years, I thought it would be a good investment.

My Mossberg model 500 also came with a slug barrel, so I have both. From what I understand, buck-shots for home protection and bird hunting and slugs for hunting deer.

I am not particularly excited about using it, but if things ever got harder in the US, it would be nice to be able to hunt food and protect my family.

England has (almost) no guns. That is good - there is no need to get a gun for protection. Although I don't know what they'd do to hunt if the need for it arised.

Within the next few weeks, I will be taking safety and hunting courses, then getting a hunting license by fall.

My Mum is from England and my Dad is a west-Virginia hillbilly. Mums side - no guns and against it - Dads side all own guns. I remember finding my late Grandads double-barrel, sawed off shotgun when I was a kid. I only recently found out BOTH my parents own guns and have conceled weapons permits - yeah, even my Mum.

I have shot a 12-guage a few times in life. I know how to shoot - I once shot a red-headed woodpecker out of the sky with a pellet gun. (didn't know what it was until it landed)

Guns were made for killing and are not good for nothing else. That is why I haven't owned one until now. I think my wife doesn't want one in the house because her mother was murdered 18 years ago in a home invasion. I wonder if she'd still be alive if she had a gun.

I don't plan on hunting for the sport, but for the food. I will eat what I kill. As of now, we do have stocked supermarkets for food, but no one knows the future. A war, invasion, earthquake, depression, economical collapse, natural disaster could change any of that in a second. I know what plants can be eaten and how to quick grow others, but a single deer could feed a group for a while.

As of now, I am not planning on another gun. I may get the pistol grip for mine and maybe even get another barrel to saw off and bury in the ground for if and when times may call for it.

Tonight, my good friend who was a special forces marine and hunter with decades of experience is going to show me maintenance, safety and ammunitions. I will be storing my weapon at his house until I can get a lockable case for it. It came with a good trigger lock. None of my 4 children have even seen it - although my 9 year old has gone out with my buddy and shot a 22 at the range.

Thank you all very much for your opinions and lessons. Most helpful and respectable.

I really like my gun a lot - just a little more than I hate it.

Having a good weapon and plenty of ammo is definitely a must for surviving a possible (and somewhat likely) difficult future.

Might I recommend this book:
When Technology Fails - A Manual for Self-Reliance & Planetary Survival
Matthew Stein, Clear Light Publishers 2000

Got my copy at Barnes & Noble, so any major book retailer should be able to get it for you. Everything from how to make acorn bread to improvised medicine.

To whoever keeps posting about how we are all bloodthirsty animals for owning guns...

Where you live, do you have people who rush into your house in the middle of the night, kill you in your bedroom, and rob you blind? This stuff isnt reserved for the third world. It happened to a good friend of mine right here in Michigan. Matter of fact, I have had about 4 friends shot in the past year. Two killed. I live in a city of 50,000 people...not exactly Detroit.

Do you expect us to join hands and pretend that we live in a Utopia? I dont like the idea that I may have to take another life someday...but dont believe for one minute that I wont trade my future for your life if I must. It isnt a matter of being a barbarian. I dont revel in it. Its survival instinct...at least for me.

There are plenty of people on here that own guns because they do feel powerful...They do feel safer. It is sad. Unfortunately, we dont all live in this Eden with no gun violence. Guns are a very real part of my life. It isnt because I feel tough. I dont. I actually feel weak because I need a machine of death to feel safe. Unfortunately, until Kung-Fu stops bullets, I will be forced to fight fire with fire...unless somebody wants to finance my move to wherever we all join hands and sing songs until the end of eternity...cause it definately ain't here.

And to the guy asking about the durability of the glock...I lost mine in a dirty river last year for about 10 minutes. After I recovered it, I gave a test fire to see if the rumors are true...sure enough...it still fires straight and true. Apparantly they are safe to like 140*F all the way down to -60*. You can also roll your car over one...I tested that one too.

A world without US = A world in Peace

I appreciate the fact that you feel you 'need' a gun. But what if nobody else had guns in the first place? You wouldn't need one, would you? Dramatically few people in the UK own a gun, and thus I have no need of one. The only reason you have one yourself is in case another American psycho threatens you with a gun in the first place.

So what does it take to make you realise that you're all part of an infernal cycle? I'm not saying you're all bloodthirsty animals but by owning a gun, and worse, BRAGGING about it, you are part of a quite ridiculous chain that nobody has the guts to break. I was under the impression that the people who populated this forum were sound-minded individuals who wanted to see betterment for mankind. Guns should play no part in that.

Perhaps I am guilty of being a pacifist and not a 'realist'. But what's wrong with that? If being a realist means I have to possess a gun to protect my family then I'd say that's a pretty bleak way of life. It's all very exciting for you until somebody gets killed. Then you'll ask what exactly is so great about realism.

apc: Having a good weapon and plenty of ammo is definitely a must for surviving a possible (and somewhat likely) difficult future.

In a difficult future it would be better to stand together and fight the so called difficult future instead of killing each other.

As I said...I really wish they didnt exist. Then, we wouldnt need em...see how that works? You find me a place where I can life safely and defend my family without one and I will lose it. I dont like it. I dont play with it. I have it because one of my best friends was gunned down like an animal in his own house all over some money and a nice tv and if I am ever faced with the option he never got....well....I dont have to say. I assume this is a foreign concept where you live?

I agree that buying a gun to feel powerful, or because it is a right, is pretty stupid. It is a killing machine that should not be glorified. It is a sick thing to be so proud of. But, I refuse to give up my protection for your Utopia. It just isnt gonna happen. All your churches and all your laws and all your moralities have eroded. When the bad guys get rid of em, the good guys can follow.

I wish you were right. I wish we could all just hold hands and sing songs into the afterlife. I wish we humans really had this unspoken morality where we would all just get along without violence...but my society has proven that maybe we humans arent so different from the animal world after all. Maybe we are worse.

hay godservent where in the UK does your mom come from, and how long as she been in America.

We do have some gun crime here in old Blity, mainly innercity drug gangs who usually just shoot each other, which is fine with me!!!
But there has been an increase of innocent bystanders being shot as well as the old bill, but this is still on a very small scale thank god!!

as for the question about hunting after some major catastrophe, we have got the great Ray Mears, he could make all kinds of traps and stuff for us to use!!! lol and there nothing wrong with the great British longbow

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Kurokage]

Originally posted by Seen the Future
Hahahaha! Fantastic! I'll never know true freedom because I don't have a gun! I love that, thank you. Hahahaha.

I can't rape or pillage either, does that mean I'm unfairly restricted? I can't go out in the street naked shouting anti-semetic propaganda either! I guess I'll never know those freedoms, and you know what? I don't want to. Any more than I want to smile to myself while I brandish a lethal weapon and contemplate just what such a thing can do. Nothing good comes out the barrel of a gun. World War 1 and subsequently World War 2 would probably never have happened if it wasn't for a single gunshot.

But hey, what do you care? Just run your hands over the shiny metal and shudder with delight while you fantasize about murdering your 'enemies'. That's the American way. It's great!

LOL. You are to funny. I haven't laughed like that since your first post. What kinds of governments takes away the citizens right to bear arms? Hmmm... Hitler. Many ...Many more... Do I need to argue a topic that you obviously know nothing about history! Get an education....LOL..Priceless! If you really wanted to be a pacifist the only true way would be too join a monastary and become a monk..Not living in the real world...There is way to many people with a need for greed and power..Are you for real...Sorry can't stop Yup, when Hitler took away his citizens guns and brainwashed them into taking over the world ..You would of held a candle vigil with the rest of the world and Hitler would of stopped! Yup, he would be like that makes so much since lets stop and go home and burn incense. Then the whole world would uf united around a campfire singing koombaya my lord...koombaya.I can see it now.


[edit on 23-3-2006 by Illusory]

Originally posted by apc

Might I recommend this book:
When Technology Fails - A Manual for Self-Reliance & Planetary Survival
Matthew Stein, Clear Light Publishers 2000

Thank you. I have several books on many subjects related to survival, and I don't mind adding another good one to the bunch.

To the anti-gun folks in this thread - I feel your reservations. I am also anti-gun. They kill - thats it.

Imagine another Katrina or bigger. Or a depression worse than the 1930's. Or worse - post nuclear life. Imagine that you have a stockpile of food and water. One day, you're outside making a fire to boil some water to cook something to eat for you and your family.

A couple of men see the smoke. They are hungry - haven't eaten in days. One has a knife and the other has a pistol. They are coming to take what you have.

What do you do?

If you don't have a gun, you're dead and so is your family.

That is one of the reasons I broke down and got one. I don't want to ever kill anyone, but I don't want to be killed either.

Also, a disaster could leave you without food - weather unplanned or just ran out of it. You see large birds flying overhead - thats food. However, without a gun, it'll be someone elses food.

For now, with no disasters around, I plan on learning how to use it safely and suppliment our groceries with game. I understand that if you shoot a squirrel with a 12 guage birdshot, it lands as a perfect ground hamburger patty ready for flame.

If I lived in England I'd have a bow or a crossbow. A world without guns would be better, but they're here.



[edit on 23-3-2006 by godservant]

Originally posted by Illusory

Originally posted by Seen the Future
Hahahaha! Fantastic! I'll never know true freedom because I don't have a gun! I love that, thank you. Hahahaha.

I can't rape or pillage either, does that mean I'm unfairly restricted? I can't go out in the street naked shouting anti-semetic propaganda either! I guess I'll never know those freedoms, and you know what? I don't want to. Any more than I want to smile to myself while I brandish a lethal weapon and contemplate just what such a thing can do. Nothing good comes out the barrel of a gun. World War 1 and subsequently World War 2 would probably never have happened if it wasn't for a single gunshot.

But hey, what do you care? Just run your hands over the shiny metal and shudder with delight while you fantasize about murdering your 'enemies'. That's the American way. It's great!

LOL. You are to funny. I haven't laughed like that since your first post. What kinds of governments takes away the citizens right to bear arms? Hmmm... Hitler. Many ...Many more... Do I need to argue a topic that you obviously know nothing about history! Get an education....LOL..Priceless!

If you really wanted to be a pacifist the only true way would be too join a monastary and become a monk..Not living in the real world...There is way to many people with a need for greed and power..Are you for real...Sorry can't stop

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Illusory]

I'm starting to believe that you're actually a bigger joke than I took you for in the first place. So because Hitler didn't allow firearms, we're all oppressed by facist governments? Maybe our leaders just don't want us killing each other? Ever think of that? Hmmm?

This boils down to the fact that you enjoy the right to own a gun. Other people in this thread can at least admit that it is fundamentally wrong, but you... you'd probably shoot me just for the hell of it. To prove that you could. Since you and I have been alive there has been no need for guns in our countries, no practical need at all. If there was an american disaster or civil war or something, would you not benefit more from working to rebuild the country than having the opportunity to obliterate each other?

Admit that you advocate guns for no better reason than you like them. Perhaps you have the morality to avoid actually using it but I don't think for a second that you haven't fantasized about doing so. Is this healthy?

The solution is too complicated, too radical, too enlightened for you so you perpetrate the problem. I live a life without fear in the UK because I know there is a pretty slim chance of me ever getting shot. You cannot say the same and so you prepare yourself for the fact that you might have to shoot somebody in retaliation.

Your freedom to own a gun is the result of nothing more than the U.S.A. being completely unable to control the legislation any more. You celebrate the liberties but don't question why they're there in the first place. Absolutely absurd behaviour for a human being.

to Jensen

– A nation of people without the ability to defend themselves is a nation either in chains, or on the verge.
–

to Seen the Future - And to God Servant

– at the risk of over quoting and getting points taken off –
Some of the posts by the wild eyed anti gun fanatics fall directly into the definition of this part of my first post:

Often times anti-gun people make a little sense in the bigger scheme, but more often than not, it is an impassioned attempt to make you live according to their paradigm, and not very logical at all. Much like the fellow/lady who posted about he'd rather have us hunting animals with knives and stones, but I suspect s/he owns non-animal skin clothing, drives a car and has air conditioning. Technology is a wonderful thing unless it does not fit in your current political/emotional/psychological agenda. S/he is only willing to try to make YOU live according to her/his likes, dislikes, loathings and fears regarding firearms.

… as well as a burning desire to control everyone and everything they can get their scary little philosophies around.

Understand that a firearm is only a tool. It has no more moral merit or value than the person who uses it. There are other things that you can do with a firearm beside feverishly kill your neighbors and extinct species.

Good Lord! People really surprise me at the narrowness and pettiness of their views as they are applied in a control freak fashion.

You walk on and live your life and let them try to live theirs. And again … Congratulations on you ownership.

Illusory:
Hitler you say!

Dont forget that he was the first to say

New World Order

Ring a bell!

sigung86:

You got a point but i see it more this way:

Together we Stand, Divided we Fall

Originally posted by Jensen
Illusory:
Hitler you say!

Dont forget that he was the first to say

New World Order

Ring a bell!

Oh yeah..I should probably stop.Since we are taking from this thread.It's good to see others join the ranks of the empowered gun owners. Yeah for all we know Bush and his team pulled the building like Hitler with the Reichstag. It is coming. That other guy(Seen The Future) that is anti-guns is already brainwashed for it. At least some of us aren't weak and willing to lie down or be nothing more then a human body shield. Do you really think Hitler would of given up his quest for world domination if no one tried to stop him? I mean come on. Be real.We would all be Nazi's right now if the world was made up of people like you. Just because your media instills the gun fears and other fears in you...doesn't mean it's true.Hitlers people didn't need guns either.According to him...guess he was wrong as are you!

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Illusory]

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Illusory]

Originally posted by Jensen
sigung86:

You got a point but i see it more this way:

Together we Stand, Divided we Fall

I'm spot on with ya on this one Jensen! Seems to me that little bit of paraphrase was once uttered by one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. Those same founding fathers who indicated, in writing, that the rights of the people to bear arms SHALL NOT be infringed...

Just a thought Brutha!

Listen I don't care how you Americans live, you'll apparently destroy yourselves eventually anyway. The fact that you all seem to sense that you are doomed to a dog-eat-dog conclusion speaks volumes to me about you and your country.

I don't want you to believe what I believe no more than you want me to agree with you. I am happy living a peaceful life without looking over my shoulder or harbouring lethal weapons under my pillow. But that's how I think things should be. For whatever reason, you all seem to think you live in an apopolyptic scenario where guns are a necessity. Fair enough. I didn't realise that America was in such a mess but fair enough.

This is a debate, nothing more. And an enjoyable one at that. I don't want to sway people to my 'side' I just think this a healthy place to debate the issue of gun ownership and the American legislation that allows you to do that. It's my right to question it as much as it is yours to enjoy it.

EDIT: Your Hitler analogy is ridiculous! You are applying a 1940's extremist government example to that of modern day Western civilisation. What exactly do you except is going to happen that will result in such an exagerated scenario. If things get as bad as you imagine then you'll die soon enough anyway, regardless of how many people you take with you.

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Seen the Future]

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Seen the Future]

if my memory serves me right, Switzerland has alot of guns and very little gun crime, so it can be done lol

but Swizerland is a country where your car number plate is yours, not your cars and theres a number plate book (like a phone book) so you p**s some off they can look you up!!! lol

Guns are just a tool like a hammer, knife or sword, its the whacko holding it thats the problem!!

I practiced martial arts many years ago and still own a katana with a live folded blade (could easly cut straight through a skull) it could do a lot more damage than a gun up close IMO, should they be banned too!!!
man as always made and used weapons, if it wasnt a gun it would be some thing else.........hay lookout he has a pointy stick!!!! lol

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Kurokage]