Farmers, guns, and the "old days"

[DCasper]

I love listening to the stories my Dad tells about what life was like when he was growing up in the 20's and 30's. I used to hate hearing them, but now I realize they come from a life of hard work and trying to live a good life. He grew up in Crittendon and Caldwell Counties in Kentucky, and for many living in areas life was hard. It was a time when Churches and Family took care of eachother and they didn't rely on outside help. Everyone had a loaded gun inside the house, but it was mainly to protect the chickens from predators. If someone abused his wife or kids, his own Dad and other family members dealt with the situation...if they didn't the wife's family would. Neighbors helped neighbors and even if a family was low on food, it seemed they could always find a little something to feed company.

Boys were taught to be men and girls were taught to be women. They didn't question their roles since they both had roles which were important and necessary. My Dad grew up to be one of the best shots I ever knew. He was the oldest of four boys and five girls and said money was so hard to come by that he couldn't afford to waste a shotgun shell or a rifle round. He is now 87 and can't stand up straight anymore, and I wish there was more time to learn what he knows. I have learned from listening to him that if something was wrong 80 years ago that it is still wrong today. If something was right when he was a boy it is still right today.

I still have every gun he ever gave me and will hand them down to my two sons.

 

[herfrds]

CS we have wolves, mountain lions and grizzlies to worry about out here. So yes we want to protect our property our animals and ourselves.
No country trying to invade? What about that suicide bomber that was going to try to blow up the capital building?
The British are our Allies but at the time NOT Japan; they are now.

Go ahead and hate guns but just be aware that those who do not own guns are slaves to those who do. Guns won us our Freedom too without them we would still be part of Britian.

bnjrob I knew some paramedics who would sit in resturants and discuss certain cases to see which diners were listening to their conversations. I know I was there with them on a ride along.
I was pretty much raised by my Grandparents who grew up in the 30's so I still have old fashioned values too.

 

[herfrds]

DCasper sit down with him and a recorder and get him to tell you his stories. You will not regret it.

 

[Shawnee_b]

Yes CS I have heard of the patriot act and Obamas NDAA "indefinete detention bill" which now includes US citizens. GW admin was an atrocity. I'm not going to get into politics with you though. This isn't the place.

However I wish to commend you on your stance of ALL amendments are equally as important

Sure wish all antigun people had that mindset, they don't. We all have to fight for every single one of the amendments, not pick and choose.

People must remember too, it is the 2nd which protects all other amendments. You can use the first until you run out of ink or breath but the 2nd is what keeps the Govt in check, what they fear.

 

[JenellYB]

To touch upon a few points here...
To someone that said they'd give up the foster kids before they'd give up their gun, well, I guess my mind just can't go there. And as it being 'for sake of an 'organizaton,' (?) this involved state and federal laws, Child Protection Agency, and courts. Not just some 'organization.'

As for being a different world than it used to be, of course it is. In many ways. And we need to adapt to those differences. Living in a past world now is dysfunctional.

As for having lost a sense of the reality, the finality, of death, shooting another person, through such as video games and watching tv where actors die and come back to life every evening, I absolutely agree.

The controversial points pertaining to the "castle laws' isn't about not having right to protect yourself and property, but in such elements as, just how little or much provocation is justified and reasonable, how quick and on how little/much information should the decision to fire be made, do you fire AFTER the envasion attempt is abandoned and the person running away, should there be 'warning' that would give the would-be intruder that option before firing....., I personally knew a family devastated back in the 80's when someone quick to shoot a person obviously breaking into a garage at 3 am, had actually killed their teen-age nephew, who stayed with them periodically when having problems at home, in a little make-shift 'apartment' with fridge, stove, and cot in the back of the garage. The kid had gone out and got drunk, rather than go home and face heck with his family, decided instead to crawl in there to sleep it off. Stupid? Yeah. He was a kids, a mixed up kid maybe, but a kid, doing something that seemed reasonable to him at the time. That family, espcially the shooter, will always live with, "what if, what if...I had only called out a warning first, given him time to respond, to let me know who he was.."

Personal and family protection...everyone is in different circumstances. Those living in and walking about in wilderness bear country or around large farmsteads are one thing, someone living on a small plot in suburbia or town another. Those that for reasons of business or whatever that must be out and about in dangerous neughborhoods, or carry money at times, quite different from another living in quiet suburbia or snall town or even big city in most areas. In all my 63 yrs, I;'ve never found myself in a situation in which I needed or it would have helped me at all to have a gun for personal protection, and that included times and circumstance when i was 'packing' and.or did have guns in my home. I don't walk about in fear. I don't have good reason to.
Texas probably has at least as great or greater percent of the population you might encounter out walking around that are 'packing' that any other state....good or bad? Texas also has some pretty bad stats of deaths/injuries to guns being used in relatively minor altercations that turn deadly because there is a handy gun in the mix, and to accidental shootings, often of family members, as well.
As far as thinking your kids are sure to never touch your guns because you told them not to, well, I wouldn't bet on it. The cost if you lose can be too high. In an earlier post, i related i had such a near tragedy with one of my own kids, who HAD defintiely been taught all her life to not touch guns out side proper adult supervised occasions,, and who HAD been given what we felt was reasonable and responsible supervised instruction and practice in safe, proper gun use.

 

[JenellYB]

You know that is exactly how the "Foxfire" books came into being, don't you? We've lost and are losing so much for not doing that more.

Actually, aren't we doing a bit of that ourselves in threads like this here on BYC?

DCasper sit down with him and a recorder and get him to tell you his stories. You will not regret it.

 

[wilbilt]

This is a different world than when people carried guns everywhere about the ranch. There are no more banditos, very few wolves and mountain lions to be afraid of.

Where I live, there are banditos and mountain lions. I choose to keep and bear arms, as it is my responsibility as a citizen.

If you find that distasteful, perhaps you should consider how many paid the ultimate price to secure the freedoms you enjoy today.

 

[JenellYB]

There, there, now wilbilt, no body's trying to take your gun. And I don't see anyone has suggested they find owning guns or using them i appropriate 'distasteful.'
Please don't assume others don't consider how many people paid that price...you don't know any of us...I almost was never born, because my Dad lay a week among the dead on a beach in the south Pacific where he had stepped into a land mine, before they noticed, while picking up the dead, that he was actually still alive. And what does ones like him to do with discussion about the need for anyone being RESPONSIBLE in gun ownership and handling ? HE was the one that TAUGHT me the responsibility of safe and sensible gun ownership and handling to begin with. He'd agree, I've no doubt, with everything I've written to this thread. And HE would be the first to agree we NEED responsible regulation on civilian gun ownership and use in our society.

Where I live, there are banditos and mountain lions. I choose to keep and bear arms, as it is my responsibility as a citizen.

If you find that distasteful, perhaps you should consider how many paid the ultimate price to secure the freedoms you enjoy today.

 

[JenellYB]

BTW, HE was the one that TAUGHT me the attitudes of safe and responsible gun ownership and handling I still live by now. And would be fully supportive of sensible regulation of civilian gun ownership and use.

There, there, now wilbilt, no body's trying to take your gun. And I don't see anyone has suggested they find owning guns or using them i appropriate 'distasteful.'
Please don't assume others don't consider how many people paid that price...you don't know any of us...I almost was never born, because my Dad lay a week among the dead on a beach in the south Pacific where he had stepped into a land mine, before they noticed, while picking up the dead, that he was actually still alive. And what does ones like him to do with discussion about the need for anyone being RESPONSIBLE in gun ownership and handling ? HE was the one that TAUGHT me the responsibility of safe and sensible gun ownership and handling to begin with. He'd agree, I've no doubt, with everything I've written to this thread. And HE would be the first to agree we NEED responsible regulation on civilian gun ownership and use in our society.

 

[CSWolffe]

Willbit, maybe you should read my entire post, rather than just reacting like a typical knee jerk conservative. I specifically explained how I believe you have a right to own your guns. I don't want to take them away. I have an enormous amount of respect for the men and women who risk or have lost their lives to protect my freedoms, from the military to law enforcement. You are doing yourself an intellectual injustice by assuming liberals don't have that appreciation.
I don't like guns, so I won't own any. I don't care for the business practices of Wallmart, so I don't shop there. It's that simple.
Oh, and the attitude that those without guns are slaves to those with, that's not an argument for keeping guns, that's an argument for getting rid of all guns because in that case those with guns become slave owners. No guns, no slave owners. Again, I'm not suggesting you be forced to give up your guns, I am simply countering what I perceive to be a weak argument. You don't need to come up with lame justifications like that, you have a right, spelled out very clearly in the Constitution, to own those guns. I support the Constitution. I love it. Most liberals do. It's a brilliant document that spells out and guarantees the rights of all everybody in this nation. It protects the rights of minorities from an over-eager, if misled, majority.
You have a right to own your guns, even if I disagree with keeping them. And there are a lot of other groups who have a right to live their life they way they see fit, even if you disagree with their choices.