genuinegirly

Ladies - let's hear your voice.
What do you think (or don't think) about guns?
What shaped your opinions?
Have you shot a gun?
Do you wear one for protection?
Do you feel safe around someone that has a gun?



I get sick when I think about guns.
I wasn't raised around gun, though I did shoot a rifle at summer camp one year. I opted for archery after my first experience. The jarring noise and jolt of the gun was terrifying. Listening to other people shooting their guns was even more nerve-wracking. I was wearing ear protection, but the noise was still quite loud.
I spent a semester in Paris in Fall of 2001. There was increased security all around the town - military uniformed men roaming the metros with rifles of some sort. It didn't make me feel safe. I couldn't help but wonder when one of them would lose it and turn on the innocent passer-by.

My husband is more comfortable around guns. Most of his brothers have a gun to their names, though he does not. He grew up going to shooting ranges on Saturday afternoons for fun with his dad. He was taught to respect guns, taught that they are deadly. When he was around 15, a neighbor kid shot him in the face point-blank range with a pellet gun. After that experience, he wasn't really phased. He doesn't blame the gun, but the idiot kid who was holding the gun. And perhaps that kid's parents for not teaching the kid to respect guns. I feel like a foreign soul when it comes to this way of thinking. I nod, then leave the room when he and his brothers chat about guns. It's not something I can relate to. It's not something I enjoy.

I wouldn't ever carry a gun myself. I wouldn't feel confident shooting it. I doubt I could keep it from getting turned on me if the situation arose where I could use it. I hear that it's essential to carry a gun while hiking some backcountry trails - the only way to protect yourself against bears. But I wonder how much a little handgun would protect me from a grizzly - I'd rather wear bear bells, then run if I happen to see one coming my way.

I become physically ill when I hear a news story that mentions a child dying when "playing" with a gun. It horrifies me that a gun would be anywhere near a child.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy