Are you Pro-Gun because of predators?

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I have always been Pro Gun, first it is my right and second it is a tool I feel should be on hand when needed. Not having one when you need it can be a real bummer for many reasons.
 
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While I respect your opinion I also have to respectfully disagree. I think it is cowardly and lazy to let your animals run amuck and destroy other people's hard work and livestock. People let their animals run free for many reasons and it never really has to do with the free spirit of the animal and to me seems to do more with what the person wants....or does not want to do which is assume responsibility for their pets. They don't want to take their dogs/cats on walks, they don't want to be responsible for their animals fecal matter and the damage they cause to their own yards so let them roam free to do it outside of their own yard. So now you as a neighbor have now decided to impose your pet upon me and my livestock, potentially threatening the life of my livestock (which in Texas I can kill your dog for looking cross-eyed at my livestock basically)......and yet I'm supposed to take the high road for you. I just don't see that happening......in my opinion what you have done is cowardly, be responsible for what is yours because if you aren't, well I will shoot it dead and leave you wondering what ever happened to fluffy. I decide what is the right level of security for my animals....me and my guns!

Just the redneck coward in me I guess......
 
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While I respect your opinion I also have to respectfully disagree. I think it is cowardly and lazy to let your animals run amuck and destroy other people's hard work and livestock. People let their animals run free for many reasons and it never really has to do with the free spirit of the animal and to me seems to do more with what the person wants....or does not want to do which is assume responsibility for their pets. They don't want to take their dogs/cats on walks, they don't want to be responsible for their animals fecal matter and the damage they cause to their own yards so let them roam free to do it outside of their own yard. So now you as a neighbor have now decided to impose your pet upon me and my livestock, potentially threatening the life of my livestock (which in Texas I can kill your dog for looking cross-eyed at my livestock basically)......and yet I'm supposed to take the high road for you. I just don't see that happening......in my opinion what you have done is cowardly, be responsible for what is yours because if you aren't, well I will shoot it dead and leave you wondering what ever happened to fluffy. I decide what is the right level of security for my animals....me and my guns!

Just the redneck coward in me I guess......

Check me off as being a cowardly redneck too. I haven't quite worked up to drunkenly shooting beer bottles yet, but I'm thinking about it.
 
I think a big part of this is regional though- any and all loose dogs here are someone's pet.

And this is why we should not be judging those who do SSS. Around here, most stray dogs are not someone's pet. I live in a rural area - where we have real farms. Most neighbors are a mile apart or so. We all know which dogs belong on which farm. (Because we see them in the yards as we drive by - most of them stay on their own property) The loose or stray dogs around here are usually dumped off by irresponsible people. They get left during hunting season because they're gun-shy, or they get lost (you know about those, though, because the the owners call the radio station and put ads in the papers). Other people think it's just fine to dump dogs off in farm country because farmers always want another dog around, right? Around here people are responsible pet owners which also means not having more animals around than you can feed or care for. We'd rather have our one or two dogs that can run round loose on our hundreds of acres of farmland than have several dogs that we have to have penned, caged, or tied up. So, agreeing with cafarmgirl, I think SSS should be a case by case basis. I won't judge you for taking in all the strays you find, but I would also ask that you show me the same respect for doing what occasionally needs to be done around here to either put a poor abandoned animal out of its misery, or for protecting my family and my flock. The only "animal control" around here is what we do ourselves. Sure, there's a shelter here. It's our local vet who will take them in and try to find homes for them, but fincances being what they are around here, it's hard for them to do so. They rely on donations, and those aren't coming in fast and furious.

Answering OP's original question - I call myself "Pro-Gun", I guess. I grew up in a hunting family, and married into one. We hunt duck, pheasant and deer. We also shoot predators that wander near our buildings. There is plenty of space for them in the fields, near the ponds, and even in our huge grove - they don't need to come near the buildings. Skunks are shot on sight because they are major carriers of rabies. Possums have to go because I have horses and don't want to chance EPM. Coons because they're destructive. They can wipe out a patch of sweet corn in a night. They take a bite out of each ear, knock the stalks down and move on.

OP - thank you for opening up an interesting topic. And thanks to those who can answer nonjudgementally. It's been fun reading most of the responses.
 
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I disagree and in fact THIS one can and does make a blanket statement that it is 100% wrong in all situations. I think that 99.9% of the time there is a better solution than shooting.
For example: Call STATE (not local) officials to report the drug house, anonymously. The dogs will be removed as part of the response.
I also am flabbergasted by the folks who think it's great to have dogs kill vermin, but then get angry when dogs kill poultry and other livestock. The dog can't tell the difference between your livestock and wild animals. They are dogs. If you allow your dogs to kill, they will do so indiscriminately. We are the humans, so let's try to at least appear more intelligent when making decisions. Again, just my two cents.
Kudos to you for taking the time to make your pens more secure. You're correct, it really isn't that hard. It does take more time than pulling a trigger, though, and I think that's part of what deters people from making a more civil choice.
 
I am pro gun, and I am pro land owner. You do what you want on your property and I'll do what I want on my property and if it isn't putting a family or other property in danger, then it isn't anybody's business what you do. Kill every possum or raccoon on the place if you want. Drug dealer dog on your place--kill that stinking thing and bury it. Or you can tell them if you want to. I just hope the drug dealers don't come on your property and you have to shoot them too. Unless you are asleep when they set your house on fire. Use some common sense people. Humans are the most dangerous predators there is. That is why I am always carrying concealed. Yep, got a permit. I am NOT going to find myself in a public place where some madman runs in and starts shooting down people and not do what I can to stop it. If everyone carried then these crazy suckers could be stopped before they end up killing as many as they do. I think about all those poor students at Virginia Tech who got gunned down. There was a room full of kids trying to keep the gunman out by holding the door shut. He got in anyway. If even the professor had a gun it would have all stopped right there. Instead, many more were killed. Knowing others may have guns on them makes people behave. And if they don't they are like a mad dog, and can be put down.

I was raised with guns all my life. My grandpa kept every gun loaded and one in every room. I do the same because I go with what he said about it. "An unloaded gun isn't going to do you any good when you need it."
 
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I love it when people like you resort to derogatory name calling to make your point. I think that clearly shows how weak your position is.
 
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I love it when people like you resort to derogatory name calling to make your point. I think that clearly shows how weak your position is.

Rednecky is an adjective. It isn't "name calling". Moreover, I firmly believe my choice of adjective is apt, and my opinion hasn't waivered. Further, my position is very strong. I expect you feel that your position is equally strong. That happens in debates such as these.
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EMaker wrote: Kudos to you for taking the time to make your pens more secure. You're correct, it really isn't that hard. It does take more time than pulling a trigger, though, and I think that's part of what deters people from making a more civil choice.

The only `incivility' that is being dealt with, for purpose of your brief, is that of the dog owner. Any response to that owner, whether a courtesy or a summons/fine, by the individual who retired the dog from the target pool, is purely optional. Around here, since the road's been paved, a loose dog is nothing more than road kill waiting to happen (having put down two in the ditches along our property I know this drill) and I'm doing a community service by putting them down humanely, unlike the owners who put them in the ditch by letting them run. The onus is on the owner of the animal that they let run. Usually, around here, it is from some silly, sentimental, misplaced, pastoralist fantasy - `it's the country, the dogs run free!' Yeah, they pack up and chase the deer into our fences/pond, harass the wild turkey hens, etc. I couldn't care less about the owner's `state of mind' and don't have time to commisserate with the vermin (if on the owner's property I'd call it a good dog). Civility extended to those who trigger the incivility can't be desired/expected/demanded. They are lucky to get a bill for the bullets, from me (closest thing to an animal control `tax' around here).

OP's Q: Not pro or anti `gun' - It is a useful tool. If not available I'd default to my grandfather's methods (Middle TN during depression - didn't have to worry about usual preds eating chooks as everyone was pretty much eating those as well) and use the ax and bow saw to constuct deadfalls for the dogs.​
 
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