I’ve been called the f word a few times since the election so I’m not going to become some homophobe’s victim

1. A gun is useful tool for acquiring meat in a sustainable way. Shout out to venison!

2. I am a trans woman. There are a lot of armed right wingers that would love to see me dead. They can try, but I’m not going to give them an easy time of it.

I like shooting as a sport. Not into hunting but hitting targets is fun.

Want.

Lifelong anti-gun libtard here.

I think guns are primarily for people who fear. I think fear is the primary motivator for firearm ownership. I would like to live in a society where fear doesn't push people to own firearms. That is not our reality. That is not the society we live in.

There are masked, unqualified paramilitary federal goons entering our communities and harassing and assaulting AMERICAN CITIZENS. I passed my history classes. I enjoy reading up on history in my own personal time. I know where things like this often lead, and I've come to accept that it's time to arm myself. A significant portion of our populace also supports what is happening and would be perfectly fine with people like myself, who want everyone to have healthcare, a good education, and to be fed, being "removed" from this plane of existence. These people are everywhere. I understand that they are not actively going out and killing people like me, but they are voting to persecute and harm people like me and the people I care about.

That's enough for me to arm myself out of fear.

I don't believe this to be a good society. I don't believe this to be an intelligent society. I don't believe this to be a safe society going forward.

I haven't purchased a firearm yet, but I've been out shooting with friends a number of times and I've been asking questions to get ready for the process of acquiring at least one.

For me firearm ownership is about responsibility and independence. If you're going to eat meat, you should participate in the process and understand what it means. If you don't trust the state with a monopoly on violence, you should be a part of distributing that power as widely as possible. Guns are one of the most powerful tools in the modern world, and I value them for the same reasons I value my drill or computer: they expand my capabilities.

Im American. All the people who think the laws were never meant to apply to them already have more guns than I have friends. And when they die, their likely rotten kids will get them. I can either accept that I live in a country where only terrible people have guns(this includes the cops). Or I could do something about it and take my sefety into my own hands. Really simple choice at the end of the day.

Florida

need? no need. want/have? I tinkered and shot target with my (now passed) stepfather and we bonded over the science and nerdy parts of it. do i carry? nope.

I have a deep and abiding fear of paper targets.

Sorry, I find humor helps me deal with bad situations. And as a progressive in the US, that is where I currently find myself. Large numbers of people profess that they would be happy to murder me, my family, and my friends, because we aren't misogynist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic sociopaths. I put a high value on human life, and I would not kill someone over property, but I am willing to kill to prevent others from being killed.

I believe in using as little force as necessary. I believe in de-escalation. I believe that deadly force should always be a last resort. But having a firearm leaves that option on the table, in case nothing else works.

I hope that we can eventually all get back to treating each other like human beings. Right now I don't think I can count on that from everyone.

End of the world prep

I don't need or want guns the way the world is now.

But if society and civilization collapses, you'll need a gun because you'll need to protect yourself and your family from everyone else. I won't want it to attack other people, I'll just need it to survive every other murderous idiot that will want to kill me for a can of beans.

Guns make the police in my area more polite. That was thing I witnessed following the Ukraine revolution as well. Marshal law is more costly on an armed unwilling population.

I also hunt as part of our wild life management where I live.

Its also something that as a maker I love to tinker and build stuff for. Just one of those because you can kind of things

I think they are interesting from a mechanical perspective.

Need

With the political environment in the US I am increasingly feeling unsafe and feel like a gun is almost a must have now

I have no need for a gun. I live in a civilized country.

I didn't ever want one until Trump threatened Canada and now I'm getting licenced. Just in case. That and winter survival training refresher. Hadn't done any of that since Scouts long ago.

I'd still die but maybe I last 20 minutes longer.

Police don't show up quickly enough to deal with a serious threat, so I have a firearm for home defense. Just one. Not into collecting, whether firearms or anything else.

Firearms for defense are for eliminating an imminent threat. Over a year ago now, I estimated that an imminent threat of some kind was not out of the question. I didn't know exactly what then, but I could feel it in my bones. I live in a reasonably safe almost rural area; my estimation was based on the political climate. I am sad to say that I am only more certain now that I will need to eliminate an imminent threat at some point.

Although I didn't know what an imminent threat would look like, I felt it was important to have a firearm then because if you wait until you need a gun, it's way too late. I wanted to acquire, practice, make sure everything was working properly, practice, take classes, practice, get the right holster, practice, get comfortable, practice, stock up on ammo, and did I mention practice?

I have guns for the same reason I have fishing rods and a bow. I enjoy it, and there's some satisfaction in being able to hunt or fish for a meal yourself. I didn't grow up getting to shoot much aside from a few rare afternoons out with a .22 when dad had time. While I fished a lot, didn't really get into shooting or hunting until after college. I started small game hunting with friends who would go out. While I had a lot of catching up to do, since I hadn't grown up hunting like they did, I eventually figured out how to clean game without making too much of a disaster of it. I enjoyed the independence of it, knowing more about the whole process and being able to do more for myself. Taught myself to tie flies, eventually started reloading my own ammo, then got further down the rabbit hole to casting bullets. For my leverguns with oversized bores (30-30 and 45-70), rolling my own ammo has been the best way for me to get decent accuracy. I have firearms because they're useful tools, and it's just darned fun to know that I cast the bullet that was loaded over the powder I measured, in the brass casing I trimmed and resized, and it hit the target waaay out there down range right where I wanted it to go.

My parents and grandparents were into hunting and shooting sports, so I have always been around them and learned how to use them responsibly from an early age, so I used to think it was something everyone did.

I used to shoot 5-7 days a week. Ammo was dirt cheap so I have some guns that used to be really fun, but are now too expensive to use all that much, so I hunt one week a year and go skeet shooting a few times, and occasionally plink at targets with one of the 22s or 38 Specials that I have a pile of reloading stuff for.

It doesn't excite me as much as it used to either, as gun ownership has become more politicized for everyone, so it's also hard to find anyone I want to shoot with other than my brother. It used to be a fun hobby where people would just shoot the breeze more than the guns, but now clubs here are filled with MAGAs and plastered with Republican propaganda so I don't feel as welcome as I used to.

I just think they're neat