Gun owners?

It is really disconcerting to log onto a health and fitness site and see a thread about guns. With pictures of guns.

I know it's not the first thread on this subject, and it won't be the last, but urgh :frown:

It's kinda scaring the crap out of me. I only know a handful of people (relatives) who own guns and those that do use them for hunting, otherwise they're locked safely away.

The whole concept weirds me out big time. They're simply not necessary.

You have no idea how many rapes are prevented every day because of a firearm, do you? A firearm makes a 100 pound woman just a powerful as a 250 aggressive man. Bad guys are everywhere. They are an evil necessity.

You could get way overwhelmed with the choices to pick a gun for yourself.

You'll need to ask yourself those questions.

Could you picture yourself to kill someone when you are under an immediately danger? If yes then you are on the right track. If not, calling 911 is your friend for now.

The size of gun and weight. You need to put that in the consideration. I am sure you don't want to carry the "brick" of Glock 30 around with you. You would want to carry a light gun so it won't be a burdensome for you.

You will need to pick up the gun and aim at the target quickest as possible to see if the gun is for you (less than 1 sec). If you couldn't aim it well then maybe that gun isn't for you. 99.9% of the time you'll grab the gun and shoot. There won't be a time to give you a 10 seconds to pick up the gun, take safety off (if there is one), take an aim, a breathe, then pull the trigger. It will be all sudden incident, so you might want to put that in your mind.

Could you maintenance the gun easily? If you couldn't maintence it then it isn't for you. Is it expensive to maintenance it? Kimber and 1911 are very expensive to maintenance them. You will have to keep it cleaned and lubed. They are like Ferrari while Glock is like Honda. With Glock, you could shoot 15,000 without cleaning it and it still going strong without a problem. There are several youtubes on that.

Could you afford to feed the bullets to the gun? 10mm, .45 ACP, .357 SIG are the most expensive calibers to feed, unless you reloads.

I strongly recommend you to buy a Glock gun. You could find $400 used Glock 19 easily out there. Glock has only one safety and that is the trigger. If you don't touch the trigger then it is safe. I personally don't like the safety switch on the guns because it takes up one valuable second to switch the safety off during the very critical monment. You might have forgot to turn the safety off during the most valuable monment of your life. There are many incidents that could have saved their life if there wasn't a safety on their guns. There are many professional gun comptiters that forgot to turn the safety off during the comptitietions. That is something you need to consider with the purchase of a gun.

Glock is like an AK-47 in many ways. It is extremely easy to maintenance. There are many modifications to the gun in the market. You could shoot several calibers in a specific Glock model. For example with Glock 30, you could shooot 9mm, .357 sig, .40, 10mm in that model.

The bottom line is that you need to find the gun that you could shoot without considering the gun's safety, fumbling around with it, and very ease to aim and shoot.

Always, when you have to shoot at someone, shoot to kill.

So... you're basically all Americans right?

Not all Americans are so crazy, though. I find this entire thread utterly bizarre. It's so uncommon. I don't associate with anyone who owns a gun or thinks they might possibly need one for any kind of protection.

If it bothers you, why are you in here? Hopefully, it's to get an education, and have an open mind.

There's some good advice in this thread, I'll just throw in a few tidbits and recommendations.

Stick with the established names in handguns. That means Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Glock, Sig Sauer, Springfield, HK, CZ, and Beretta.

I would NEVER recommend the following brands for self defense: Jennings, Star, Taurus, Lorcin, Phoenix, Davis, Bryco, Jiminez, Raven, Charter Arms, and Hi-Point (I know Hi-Points can be reliable, but they're ungodly heavy and awkward. Taurus and Charter Arms have terrible track records for reliability. I experienced that firsthand. The others are total garbage)

I wouldn't recommend a 1911 to a beginner, hence the reason many 1911 manufacturers weren't mentioned above. They are finicky beasts and their magazines are even more temperamental, especially with hollow points.

9mm or 38 special is the smallest I'd consider for concealed carry. My personal carry guns are chambered in 9mm,9mm, .357mag, .45acp, and .45acp.

Home defense is a whole different ballgame, there's no need for concealment so feel free to go big. The 12 or 20 gauge pump shotgun is popular for good reason. My bump-in-the-night guns include an AR-15 and Springfield XD-45 Tactical, both wear weaponlights to identify and blind the intruder.

I know a few manufacturers have come out with uber-compact .380's in recent years, but they generally have miniscule sights, low capacity, kick way too much for their power output, and they have such strong recoil springs people have a difficult time racking the slide.

Hopefully some of that helps. Feel free to message me with any questions/comments.

It is really disconcerting to log onto a health and fitness site and see a thread about guns. With pictures of guns.

I know it's not the first thread on this subject, and it won't be the last, but urgh :frown:

I'm offended by your offense.

I didn't say I was offended, I said it was disconcerting. And I'm sorry to everyone that annoyed, but...

For many of us in countries where gun ownership is not legal or not common, the only time we come across guns is when we read in the papers of someone going on a killing spree - which leads us to associate them with blood and violence and grief. Which in the context of a health forum, is a bit unexpected and disconcerting. .

However, it is interesting from a cultural perspective to see how very normal this kind of chat is to Americans - different countries, different norms.

Millions and millions of Americans own guns and never do any harm with them. The reason you don't hear about them is because for the most part the owners are responsible. You can't put a story on the news that 99% of all gun owners went to work today, worked hard, went home and didn't kill anyone or let their kids get their gun.

When I hear about shark attacks on the news I don't assume every beach in the world is dangerous and that there are sharks lurking at every bend to pounce on surfers and people swimming.

I have and carry a charter arms Chic Lady... a .38 special. Its light weight, accurate, and best of all polished pink and chrome!! they do have a whole line of hand guns that come in other colors or just plain chrome/steel if that's your preference. I'd recommend it to anyone who asked.

It is really disconcerting to log onto a health and fitness site and see a thread about guns. With pictures of guns.

I know it's not the first thread on this subject, and it won't be the last, but urgh :frown:

It's kinda scaring the crap out of me. I only know a handful of people (relatives) who own guns and those that do use them for hunting, otherwise they're locked safely away.

The whole concept weirds me out big time. They're simply not necessary.

You have no idea how many rapes are prevented every day because of a firearm, do you? A firearm makes a 100 pound woman just a powerful as a 250 aggressive man. Bad guys are everywhere. They are an evil necessity.

Really? How many rapes are prevented every day by guns? You have a verifiable statistic on that?

Rape isn't prevented by owning a gun, it's prevented by teaching men not to rape.

Good luck with your approach. We'll see how many rapes that stops today.

Yes, I have statistics. I don't enter into a debate without them. Unfortunately, from your posts I can see you are close-minded, and are not interested in an education. Therefor I won't waste my time trying to educate someone who doesn't want to listen.

My hubby wants to get me a gun for Christmas and I'm not sure what I want. He's away this week on a hunting trip in the arctic circle and left me his .357 just in case! I have my gun permit and am a fabulous shot according to dh and my dad.

Just wondering what is a good gun for personal defense. I want something lightweight and not a lot of kick to it. My dad suggested a .22 revolver.

Just looking for suggestions! Thank you!

I am looking to purchase a .22 revolver, more specifically a Ruger (the exact model escapes me right now). I shoot well with those, they're not big or bulky, and they don't have a lot of kick. As a comparison I recently shot a .22 Ruger semi-automatic and thought it had too much kick because it's too light. Personally I don't want anything bigger than a .22 because my reason for owning one is recreational shooting and personal protection. I don't want to kill anyone, just stop them from hurting/killing me or anyone else, and we don't have big bears or anything that will get pissed off by being shot with a .22!

I won't recommend you .22 LR as for self-protection. If you want a well self-protection gun I would say 9MM caliber is good place to start. You could make it little lighter by reducing the gun powder in the bullets, only if you or your husband is a reloader. There is lots of the trade off with the bullet versus the target.

The weaker the bullet is and the less impact it will have on the target. There are several stories that person survived several shots of .22 LR in the head. That's why I recommended you to not get .22 LR.

You should do what has been suggested many times already and go try a few.

I bought a Glock 19 without trying it and i find it's too big for me to carry it concealed. I want something smaller.

So... you're basically all Americans right?

naa.
Theres some people from South Africa here too.

My favorite is the Kimber 1911 9mm. Shoots like a dream, but it's expensive. The other option would be a Glock 19, but I don't like it nearly as well.

I personally love my Glock 19. But if you want something a little more dainty there's always the 26 I suppose lol.

It's not about being dainty, it's about being accurate. I like the angle of the grip on the Kimber better than the Glock.

So... you're basically all Americans right?

Not all Americans are so crazy, though. I find this entire thread utterly bizarre. It's so uncommon. I don't associate with anyone who owns a gun or thinks they might possibly need one for any kind of protection.

Whoa......so, if I own a gun I'm crazy?


Have you ever had someone try to break into your home in the middle of the night? Lying there, asleep, with your child asleep in the next room and you HEAR someone trying to jimmy the lock on your front door??
I promise you, it's terrifying, and the fact that I HAD a gun, loaded and ready to fire, is the only reason that person left my property and did NOT break in and do God only knows what to me and my child.
So.....if that makes me crazy, so be it. At least my daughter was safe.

and no....I'm not a card carrying NRA crazy, nor am I an ultra-conservative Republican redneck. I am a registered Democrat, proud liberal (trapped in a red-state :laugh: ) but I will support until my dying day the rights of Americans to bear arms.

*sliding away my soapbox*