Do you personally know anyone who owns a gun who actually had reason to use it?

I have had a wounded deer stagger onto my property and was grateful that one of my neighbors (female) came down and shot it (during hunting season).

Yes. My neighbor who shot 2 rattlesnakes under my deck last month. I live rural on property you already know this and there is occasion where guns do come in handy. I would say though that in over 20 years of living in the mountains here in NorCal that I have only had occasion to have a few marauding snakes and coyotes shot. I have also been shot AT by redneck lunatics. I do not own any firearms and have no desire to, but, I am happy that the monster snakes are gone after my cat was bitten in June.

I should have specified “hand guns.” The kind you use to shoot homo sapiens with. When we move to the country we’ll be getting a rifle for potentially dangerous critters.

@gailcalled… What if it hadn’t been hunting season???

Then, theoritically, the deer would not have been shot in the first place. (Yes, I forgot to mention that the wound was caused by a rifle.)

The woman who put the animal out of his misery did declare it officially to the game warden and was then able to butcher it.

I know more people with guns that are waiting for a chance to use them.

Yeah.

I know many Hunters, farmers/ranchers, and a few business owners who carry large sums of money to the bank who I feel have a legitimate expectation of having a need to defend themselves. I don’t know anyone who has guns “just because”; it’s always food, or an actual need for protection.

Many hunters use a handgun to put down a mortally wounded animal; close-range shots with rifles are not as well-suited for that task.

My very conservative friend got a gun and a concealed carry permit. He wears it everywhere. I noticed the other night he was wearing it under his shirt while we were drinking around the campfire on his property.

I am absolutely convinced he uses it to build a sense of manliness and self-esteem, so there’s a reason.

Seems the size of the gun usually matches the size of IQ as well a lot of the time. A 22, a 38, a 45. lol
I think the 4 drunk redneck bubbas that wanted to kill deer on my property had a combined IQ of about 52. Add the 100 pak of Coors Lite and well….scary!

Having a gun: The reason to have it is not to use it.

I have several friends who have lots of guns. None of them has told a story about using their weapon for anything other than target practice or killing wildlife.

@jerv: The woman who dispatched the wounded deer on my property was an experienced hunter; I did not ask for any details. I was simply really grateful that she was able to do it. Had she not been home, I don’t know what I would have done.

I have had the local game warden dispatch several deer over the years. Rifles are a necessity in these cases.

Sometimes ’“using” a weapon only involves showing that it is present. I have a friend with a concealed carry permit who occasionally has to travel on foot in places that I don’t even like to drive through. He has told me that more than once he has been in situations that looked like they might get ugly, until he displayed his holstered weapon, which defused those situations. That has to be done with care, though. “Pulling” a gun can get you shot, too.