Are You Uncomfortable Around Guns?

Too many people need to check their political affiliations or go to the websites they get their opinions from before they can answer questions about how they feel about something.

Too many other people need to ask someone's political affiliation before asking someone else's opinion on something.

... CCW Was Encouraged" GuestZero made a statement "Mr Flagg, isn't it true that you're only going soft on the issue since you are uncomfortable with guns?" in the comment "Hey! I'll Be Glat to Help" . This got me thinking about being "uncomfortable" with guns. What does it mean? And what should be our "comfort level" with guns.

I went through Basic Training in the Army back in September-October 1966. Back then they were still issuing the M-14. It had a solid feel, and was designed for a nuclear battlefield were (according to Look or Life magazine) our troops would be able to engage enemy troops from a mile away. We only had to hit man-sized target at 300 yards (although marksmen trained at FT Benning could do considerably better).

One day during our time on the range my partner had been consistently hitting targets at 300 yards. He fired again, and the target didn't go down. We both thought something was wrong and so stopped. We were trying to figure out what was the problem when our sargeant came up, and asked why we were shooting. We told him about my partner's aim and that the target didn't go down. He took the rifle, removed the full clip, made sure the safety was on, and checked the barrel against the bright sun. The bullet was lodged about a foot from the end of the barrel. He said we were both lucky sonsabitchs, and told us to take the rifle to the armorer, and secure another. I am not comfortable with firearms.

My father said he had been in three situations were he had almost been killed by firearms that didn't involve combat. Once a bullet maybe meant for his brother, or a stray hunting round wounded his brother in the cabin they were in, and passed his ear by about six ihches. Once a guy in his outfit went berserk, and was going to use his Thompson submachine gun when my father reached up from where he was sleeping, and secured it before the guy could open fire. And once my mother was playing around with a small handgun my great aunt had left at our house, and shot a round into the floor. So again I am not comfortable with guns.

I am not "smooth". I figure if someone came to the door, and I were afraid I would have a gun in my hand if one were near. It would be my luck that a member of my family would come through the door when I fired. So I am not comfortable with guns. Anyone have any experiences were a gun saved their life, or they almost took another's because of some circumstance? I am interested to read any tales.

I am a moderate and I am ex-military. I don't like guns at all.

Well i consider myself a democrat on the conservative side and i LOVE guns, especially long guns.

I do not align myself with any party affiliation. I am comfortable around certain kinds of guns (like shotguns, handguns, blow guns) but find myself uneasy with assault weapons like fully automatic AK-47 or M-16's ___________________________________________________________________

- Just the KAT, thinking out loud again. :)
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Another useless poll.

How about one with an answer that I can select.

And, what does your political leaning have to do with your comfort level about guns anyway?

I disagree with the way in which this question has been asked.--it's flawed.

What does one's political views have to do with their being comfortable or uncomfortable in the presence of guns.? One's political views have nothing to do with someone's emotions with regard to their comfort or feeling of discomfort about guns.

One's comfort has do with his/her degree of rationality and since anyone regardless of their politics can be rational or irrational politics has nothing to do with how one "feels" about guns.

People are not comfortable or uncomfortable being around guns soley on the basis of their politics anymore than people are comfortable or uncomfortable than when I point my Leica at them.

Guns are tools and as Bob Villa and Norm Abrams used to say: "Be sure to read, know, and understand the safety precautions in the owners manual of all of your tools."

A Marine carrying a gun is much different than a 16-year old pointing one at a police officer in the north end of Toledo.

At the risk of overstatement and belaboring the point, let me ask the question a different way:

As an X, or a Y, or a Z,are you comfortable around X-ray machines?

As an X or a Y, or a Z,are you comfortable around bulldozers?

As an X, or a Y, or a Z,are youcomfortable around nuclear power plants?

As an X, or a Y, or a Z, are you comfortable around Eagle Claw fish hooks?

Now here's an example of where one's political views have everything to do with one's level of comfort.

As an X, or a Y, or a Z, are you comfortable around a lady from the zoo indoctrinating my kids about what can be done to protect polar bears?

Guns don't make me feel uncomfortable, but the individual handling the weapon may.

...to show why I decided on the poll. Here is the rest of the quote: "Mr Flagg, isn't it true that you're only going soft on the issue since you are uncomfortable with guns? I cast such an accusation since THAT is a common Liberal problem, and THAT is the heart of the problem with people rejecting the Second Amendment today. "

This is why I decided to add the political element to the poll. Are there conservatives who are uncomfortable with guns? The answer would seem to be "Yes!". Are there liberals who are comfortable with guns. Again the answer would seem to be "yes". As "jayott" pointed out "What does one's political views have to do with one being comfortable or uncomfortable in the presence of guns?" And yet to question their presence in certain places is to make one a "liberal" who is by nature afraid to be around guns.

I consider myself a liberal, but that is open to opinion at times. Anyways I feel comfortable around guns because I know how to handle them. At first I was not simply for the fact they were new to me. Now I find them quite fun.

Hay, I am very comfortable around guns. I like knowing who has them when out in public. So lets all open carry just like in the old west. Nothing wrong with that. If someone is going to cause you harm, they don't need a CCW to do it. They just will.

The bill of rights gives all this RIGHT, get use to it !

If you don't like it move to Canada !