How open are you about being a firearms owner?

If the guy was there for dinner, the relationship is such that your daughter will tell him you own guns and shoot. She probably knows where you keep them as well.

You missed a golden opportunity to take control of the situation and do some educating.

Firearms laws are as they are because firearms owners are so afraid to admit they own firearms. We have done this to ourselves.

As far as not telling people where you live, that won't take long to find out. People know your phone number. With that and 15 minutes, I can produce a map of where you live.

We have to take a frontal attack on this firearms ownership. We have to be up front about it and move to educate.

Right now, my adult son shoots with me from time to time at the club. He loves it and is going to get his PAL, but he tells me his wife won't allow a gun in the house. He also has two buddies who come to shoot at my club occasionally, and they are hooked as well, but their wives won't allow them to have guns in the house because they think guns=bad.

To me, that is just a challenge. Give me 6 months, and I'll bet my son has a nice new Browning in his gun safe in the basement. All it takes is a bit of educating, but it requires effort and thought.

This secretive thing has to stop. If we continue this way, my granddaughter will not ever get to shoot a gun, because we will mute ourselves and let gun laws force us out of existence.

If we don't educate the public, who will?
 
Well said Doug!

If we hide and are not willing to discuss gun ownership with new people the ban gun side will eventually win. They're sure not shy to yap off given any opportunity.
 
Doug The Canuck said:
You missed a golden opportunity to take control of the situation and do some educating.
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Actually, I didn't. Since he saw the book and "the cat was out of the bag" so to speak, we had a long conversation about firearms ownership, the rights and responsibilities thereof, etc. The incident got me thinking about ownership disclosure in general. I'm proud to be a firearms owner. That doesn't mean I want every crackhead in a 10 block radius to know the guns are in my house.


People know your phone number. With that and 15 minutes, I can produce a map of where you live.
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Haha all I use is a cell phone. If you can do that and are not a telco employee, I will hire you :p

If we don't educate the public, who will?
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Agreed. But I'm not willing to put a sign on my lawn that says "Ask me about my gun collection in the hallway closet!" *. I do, however, talk to anyone I know and trust that will listen. I'm just curious about where people draw that line.

This thread is going much longer than I expected. It's appreciated, thanks for all the feedback so far!


*note: before anyone says it, no, that's not where they actually are :p
 
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GilesG said:
Now to get back on topic, I am very open and proud about my firearms ownership. Probably close to half the pictures/videos/posts on my fb account are firearms related. I make every attempt to bring interested fence sitters along shooting. I even like to think I have helped convince a few people to go for their PAL's too.
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G Force is a pretty cool guy. He recommended a CFSC instructor to me and answered several questions I had about the application process.
 
IMO letting a "sketchy" boyfriend know that you own guns could be a good thing! It might just plant the idea in his head that there could well be consequences for irresponsible behavior.

I'm a firm believer in having the "that's my daughter; these are my guns" conversation with any new boyfriend that starts skulking around.
 
wow, this really gets me thinking..... When i used to be the "sketchie dude" coming over to see my gf (she's now my wife) and now my father-in-law is my hunting and shooting partner!! lol!! don't be too hard on him he's probably just curious.... and you never know he may wind up as a shooting bud!!
 
I go shooting with my daughter. But I tell her to keep that information between our good friends, shooting friends and family.

I'm pretty sure she has told some of her friends (she likes going to the range with dad, perhaps almost as much as I like having her there). But I tried to explain to her that firearm ownership in Quebec is a very polarized subject. With some people being extremist on both sides, and others more moderate.

My concern was that some of her friends parents will not like having their children here (12-13 year olds) knowing that there are firearms in the house. All the firearms are kept very secure. She does not have access to them (not even her own rifle). Currently I keep all ammo at the range, but that will change once summer come around. I buy shot shells several cases at a time for skeet/trap so pretty hard and inconvenient to keep them all in my small locker at the range when I shoot skeet elsewhere.

And P.S.

I am NOT looking forward to when my daughter starts to bring home guys.... :(
 
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I have absolutly no problem with letting ANY person know about my views or ownership on firarms or anything else for that matter. I take pride in being responsible and nobody has to right to attack my views or opinions. The only time someone has the right to challenge me is when my ACTIONS violate they're right's to saftey and freedom.
 
I live in a small condo building, mostly occupied by the owners. Last september, a trio of loud, club-going guys started renting one of the units. They're loud and generally don't have much consideration for others.

It's occurred to me on a few occasions to stay mum on the topic of guns around them, even though I'm usually pretty open about it. In some cases, I believe it's best to stay on a need-to-know basis. Next time I go on vacation, wouldn't want one of them to think "Hey, dude's got guns in there and he's gone for a week..."
 
If you’re around bad people, then problems will arise. I would always be cautious about firearms disclosure. You can always argue or defend gun rights without revealing that you are an owner of this property.

In this situation though, you were caught with your pants down, but you could have given a story about it, to deflect the truth. As for your daughter, if you have raised her well hopefully she has not picked up a bum. Unfortunately sometimes the best ones go with a bum no matter what!

The best way I could figure out to know if he is any good is too look at the way he is raised, and his interest or music. It really is a cultural thing too, if he is a pot head, then his lips are lose, if he is a wants to be a gangster then it’s a liability for sure.

Not to generalize but any signs of problems should be noted, also ask your daughter what she has disclosed to him about your firearms if anything. Remember be tactful about it, you don't want your daughter to be pissed off. Remind her you love her and you only have her best interest in mind. "Better to be safe than sorry"

Regardless he is visiting your home, and seeing your daughter too boot. So knowing a little about his character is a must, besides if he marry's her your portion of your will is going to him...lol.
 
Well when the pizza guy brings pizza, he was looking real good into the house, and asked me "is that a real ak. and i told him "no it is a air soft gun." then he asked if he can see it , and i told him that i had to glue on something and it is not dry yet. lol-
(The gun was a sksd not a ak in the house)

Now, I know that loading up your guns into your truck is not a good idea to do it in the open. Seeing I had an ass next door that seen the guns and went to each house on my block and told them that I had guns... (I was loading up 15 guns to go play with) and 10 of them where in cases, the other 5 had locks on them.. And he called the cops.. Well I was not home when the cops came. And they never came back so I don’t know what they would say..
 
im proud to be a gun owner. if you dont like it , piss off. but when zombies attacks, dont come and knock on my door!

no seriously. people that are close enough to me knows that i own guns. people who i dont give a #### about, i wouldnt even start a conversation with them about it. if it's been bought up then i'd be happy to tell them all about it,and explain what legal owners do with their guns. i mean some people seriously think guns are for protection and crime . i like to spread the sport rather than cover it up so the stereotyping ends as we'er being more open about it. it hurts to see when some one who dont know any better say "ban all the guns ." and we'd be the first to have our registered guns to be taken away when #### hits the fan and the criminals still do their things with their illegal arms.
 
I'm just getting into this hobby, and both of my kids (in their twenties) are excited. However, the other day one of them asked if I think it is a good idea to keep guns in the house. When I asked why, he told me of the 'alleged' gun thefts when the criminals hacked our infamous Canadian Gun Registry to find the right gun collector to rob. Some say, hacking the registry is almost as easy as on-line shopping, LOL!

My point is: if these allegations are true, then we're being crazy-open about being gun owners, even without telling anyone: the Gun Registry does it for us.
 
I find I'm rather selective about who I tell abou my guns. If they bring up the subject, I don't deny the fact that I own them, I just don't go into great detail about what I actually have. People I'm comfertable with though, I talk about it all the time with them, but when I run across shady people, I try to avoid the subject all together. I'm a proud gun owner and Its not that I don't want people to know, I just don't want the wrong people to know.

P.S-I'm not a sketchy character and I never knew my ex-girlfriends dad had guns until I told them that I was going to take my PAL, and then he signed up to take his PAL so he could upgrade from his Possesion Only. Its all a matter of opinion I guess
 
I judge who I tell on a person by person basis. I have told my son that it is noones business so he doesn't tell anyone but since he is 6 years old noones reallys asks him anyway. If one of the first things to come up is firearms with someone I don't know all I say is I hunt every year and that is the end of it.
 
being a 24 year old male i thought i should post on this.

To the writer of this thread.

Ever thought maybe he was just trying to find a way to warm up to you? if that was me, i would find something that you are interested in around the house to get you talking to find out the most i could about you. So i know where i can strike up a conversation when i need to. It makes things alot more akward if we have absolutely nothing in common and we just stare at eachother on random week nights.

Maybe all he is trying to do is talk to you. So you dont need to be so defensive.........

on the flip side if he does spark you as rather odd, maybe i would give it alot of time before slipping up any information!

Cheers
Douglas
 
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