Haters be hatin'. Please help.

General General Discussion
1

I’ve been getting a lot of flack my whole life, from family and friends alike, about my gun hobby. They think it’s weird and scary and never stop telling me how it’s “not normal” to have a hobby like this. Gosh, all I do is read about the latest in defense tech, to be quite honest. I don’t have a bomb shelter stuffed with surplus ammo and rifles lining the walls, I don’t even have a bug-out bag. I’ve never had the urge to use a weapon against a human being, and I don’t even carry. But still, the people in my life keep making me feel insecure! Is having an interest in the defense industry that bad? Is owning a weapon a serious social demonstration? I feel ridiculed for the stupidest reasons!

Am I alone in this, or do others suffer like I do? I hate the lack of support.

2

It can be a lonely life. It seems the older I get the less I care what people think of me. If you haven’t tried already, maybe get yourself involved with some type of competitive shooting, at least you’ll be around some folks that don’t think shooting is anti-social.

3

Get new friends. Fuck your family.

4

And get a bug bag. Those are fun to set up, and you could call it “camping” stuff. Yes, camping…

5

Keep wearing your tin foil hat brother. You have a great hobby that has been part of the foundation of this country since it was still a colony. Shooting and hunting have been American institutions since before the first settlers came over from England. Hell, the Native Americans would teach their sons to hunt buffalo with bows, who would teach their sons, who would in turn teach their sons.

If they really want to be rediculous about you being a gun owner, you were given constitutional rights from birth. Your 2nd Amendment rights are God given, and you should express them. By owning firearms, you’re just saying that you’re proud to be an American, and that you live in a civilized country where gun ownership is protected.

I do agree though, I would find a shooting club, hunting club or some form of competition to participate in. Even if it isn’t some sort of sanctioned IDPA, IPSC, IDPA, etc and is just a bunch of guys who get together and hold local competitions in some sort of fashion.

Hell, I put together a shoot back in September for a bunch of guys that I had been talking to for quite some time on the net. They flew down to Texas and stayed at my home for 2 days to go shoot with me. It was disorganized as hell, but it was fun. My family grilled and cooked and treated them like distingushed guests, and they’re heading back down in June for another shoot. Find guys you get along with and share your interests and forget about what your family thinks.

6

tell them if they cannot keep from trying to ram their opinions that you disagree with down your throat, they can get the fuck up and out of your life.

Libs tend to be pussies when you stand up to their passive agressive intelectual bully tactics.

I had to tell my sister years ago to mind her own fucking business, that my hobbies were none of her fucking conern.

7

Sounds like your friends and family are a bunch of douche bags to me.

8

Your friends and family’s opinions should be proof positive of how well the “left” and the media has done in shaping the thoughts of general population. The world is full of “sheeple” who live with blinders on. Don’t be one of them.

9

These are the more important issues you need to rectify. :wink:

Your family will have to learn to deal, or freak out, or whatever, but thats their problem. Don’t let them make their insecurities your problem because its not.

10

Try living with someone you just described. She and I both knew each others views going into marriage and I suppose we lived with it. We just avoid the subject all together. Its a sad situation so we leave it alone. I would say join and club and find some new friends. I luckily have a good support network of friends at work and whom I have known for years to discuss guns and shooting with. You are not deranged/diseased/damaged/fucked up by having an interest in guns and shooting sports as a hobby. I have other hobbies and I don’t consider involvement in them as any different. With concern towards your friends and family, if you can’t get out of the line of fire, its time to stop talking to them. Just my .02 and Good luck.

11

:lol: You said what I was thinking.

12

I keep quiet about my gun activities for a variety of reasons, this being one.

13

Don’t say a word, just start gathering all the fire extinguishers and smoke alarm barreries from your family and friends homes. Just tell em your geting rid of all that paranoid prereradness crap before someone thinks they’re acting weird. :jester:

14

My dad - a 22 year USCG vet who qualified Expert on pistol & rifle - said the same thing, when I took up this hobby (including AR15s) at age 23. I love my dad, but I’m 44 now, and have YET to slow down at it. When you understand what’s right & believe, plow ahead.

15

The easiest way to deal with this is live your own life…not theirs. Tell them the same.

16

I slightly feel your pain; most of my old friends are conservative gun owners, but like single Taurus Judge owners or hunters. It pissed me off when I started taking training classes cause they would call me a poser and joke with how I wanted to be “tactical.” Just do what you enjoy, life is too short, and seek friends with similar interests / shoot a gun game. People change and I have realized most of my existing friendships are built off of a history of nonsense just because there is a history there, nothing in common.

17

A combo of that, and a healthy dose of what J8172 posted. Getting involved with a specific group of like-minded people is a good idea, if for no other reason than to bring some positive balance to the negative you’ve been receiving.

Bear in mind that, however, that in the end, only YOU can make yourself feel one thing or another. You’re a grown-ass man, with the full ability to decide “My will, or I won’t.” That’s a short, pithy ditty that I stole from a Matthew Stover book…there’s other ways to think of it…

-Realistically, any person or institution only has the authority over you that you cede to them.

-As an American, you’re kidding yourself if you think that you’re subject to no one or nothing. BUT you have ability, unique in most places on the globe, to choose the things you subjugate yourself to.

Point being, if you don’t want to subjugate yourself to their emotional blackmail…if it does not fit within what your will tells you is what’s right and what you want…DON’T. They probably yammer on about “tolerance” in regard to other subjects, right? So here’s a chance for them to practice what they preach, which is tolerating you and your “bad habits,” recognizing that it doesn’t realistically affect them, and therefore doesn’t make you any less worthy of love, affection, respect, bail money, whatever. Make their weapons your weapons, to use against them.

They are, in effect, trying to take something from you, under the guise of PC or other misguided sense of “what’s best for him” (which is basically just a mentally and emotionally dishonest way of them saying “what makes ME feel more comfortable”). Do not just GIVE it to them because it’s easier, and do not tolerate thieves. Counsel them, ignore them, punch them. All are equally valid techniques; the question is timing and proper application

Bear in mind, this is coming from a guy that feels that family are to be forgiven fewer transgressions than friends or even strangers, because they are family, and therefore should know better. That has two married brothers, and beat the dogshit out of a relative at each brother’s wedding reception, because they mistakenly depended upon social convention to protect them from getting their Punk Card pulled. I’m, uhhh…biased… :lol:

18

Keep fighting the good fight, when your friends and family get on your case just tell them that they aren’t knowledgeable enough on the subject to talk about it. You should also find some new friends, and joining a shooting club or signing up for some training classes would be a great way to meet some fellow enthusiasts.

19

Or…you might consider inviting them to go shooting with you. Nothing fancy, just take some .22s and some soda cans and go plinking. Who knows, you might be surprised to find that they enjoy it. And they might be surprised to find your not a whacko.
Good Luck.

20

What exactly is normal?

Would they rather you carried a man-purse with a fluffy little pooch in it? To me, this is nothing more than the continued emasculation of the American male. At the risk of sounding misogynistic, find a strong woman to stand by your side who enjoys what you enjoy. DO NOT settle for anything less than complete support.

I’m in a second marriage and the first was a complete and utter fucking failure due to her desire for me to wear necklaces and carry a man-purse.

I could not and will not.

My current wife is the best thing that ever happened to me. I have to stop HER from buying guns and knives pretty frequently. :smiley:

Buy your guns, read your defense news, get some friends that can deal with what you enjoy. Fuck the rest.