why did you purchase your first firearm? have you ever pointed one at a human?

what type was it?
there's always threads about people looking for advice on purchasing, but after searching a bit, i did not find
any about why we felt a need for one.
personally, i went most of my life without one. shot a lot of rounds, but always with other peoples guns.
i've lived deep in the woods since i was 18, and went a long time without feeling a need. griz country in montana never even felt like a threat.
what convinced me was the first hunting season after i purchased my land in montana.
i just couldn't believe all the idiots.
i was in heavy elk territory, surrounded by forest service and wilderness.
i'd been finding gut piles, hearing shots, finding elk with the backstrap, hind quarters and head gone.
anyhow, one day i'm sitting on the porch of my cabin and a rifle shot went off, i heard glass break.
some idiot shot out a window on a little travel traler i had on the property.
i ran up the mountain and got in his face.
i had no gun, and he was holding a rifle.
i'm still kinda' thankful i didn't have a gun cause' i might have shot the man.
this got me thinking, my cabin couldn't be seen till you were already 100 yards onto my property.
the trailer was visible from the dirt road, and was mostly used by people visiting.
if someone was in it at the time.........................
the next day i purchased a .40 ruger and a short mossberg shotgun.
to this day i rarely carry off my property.
i'll return to continue with why i pointed the ruger at a human a few months after purchasing it.

reply to post by rubbertramp


I bought my first firearm a couple decades ago for hunting, and yes ive pointed a firearm at a person, and yes it had the desired effect, he ran from my home urinating himself. I went back to sleep soundly.

Mossberg 12 gauge. Used for hunting and a Winchester 30-30.
I have pointed the shotgun at people almost 20yrs ago(not loaded). About 2:30 am, I heard a big crash of glass at my townhouse, thought someone broke in. Grabbed the shotgun and came down the steps and just pumped it.
Scared the death out of 3 teenagers throwing a pumpkin through my bay window. All I heard was ,let's get out of here, he has a gun. I called the cops, they caught the little SOB's.

The shotgun pump alone is usually good to stop most people in their tracks.

i bought my first one about 1 year ago.

the fact i loved old school guns (sks) and that i was the age able to get one , WHY THE HELL NO GET ONE!.... lol

btw i pointed at a couple of friends but ,ALWAYS CAMBERED OPENED AND CLIP OPEN.

reply to post by rubbertramp


i ran up the mountain and got in his face.
i had no gun, and he was holding a rifle.


That was asinine...


On Topic:

I purchased my first firearm because legally I could - what other reason do you need..? And no I haven't had to point it at anyone yet, and I hope it stays that way.

I got an AR-15 on my 18th birthday.

I think guns are for hunting, defense, and tyranny defense.

The real reason to keep and bear arms is so the government doesn't get completely out of control.

Most farm kids in the 50's had guns, both rifles, shotguns and pistols. nuf said.

Originally posted by facelift
reply to post by rubbertramp

 

i ran up the mountain and got in his face.
i had no gun, and he was holding a rifle.


That was asinine...

no doubt. i hope i didn't make it sound like it was a proud moment for me.
guy pissed me off.

My first and only gun was a bb gun.
Never pointed it at other people, but one of my brothers shot his buddy between the eyes with it, and to this day (35 years later) he still has a dent/scar.
My whole family has guns, so I don't need to buy one, just borrow one if I need for deer hunting, which I have never done either. I bought a deer hunting license one year and my brother stood me up on going hunting so I never tried again. I will stick with fishing and buddies who like to hunt.

I DO plan on buying a 9mm or maybe a 45 to keep the bears away when I move back up to Alaska though.

reply to post by rubbertramp


My first gun was a Marlin 30/30 for deer hunting, but it was a gift. The first gun I ever purchased was a little $50 .25 caliber pocket gun, and I learned a lot about gun safety by doing things all wrong with it. Well, let me rephrase, I never did anything wrong, I was brought up with a lot of gun safety knowledge, but I learned you never hand a gun to someone else, because everyone else are idiots!

I have never pointed a gun at anyone, but I have had many shots fired at me. I've had farmers shoot when I was a teen out doing things I shouldn't have been doing, and I've learned that a "hisss" is much, much scarier than a "boom." I also had some idiot run at me and empty his gun at me, and he didn't hit anything, except pavement once we both realized he was out of bullets!

I have been extremely happy to have my gun on my person a few times, but I believe my confidence de-escalated the situations and that is the reason I didn't need the gun at all. If I hadn't had the gun, perhaps I would have acted more tentatively, or more rashly, so the gun was a major factor, but it never left its holster. Here is one such story.

I have a Mossberg 12 gauge pistol grip with a powerful xenon light. I often use it to investigate bumps in the night outside. The light is very, very bright, so it makes a nice flashlight with benefits if I run up against a prowler or a bear, LOL! So far it has only been pointed at armadillos and a fox.

I'll post the story of my ex-wife taking down my brother in a few minutes.

reply to post by rubbertramp


I'll share a couple of more.

When I was a newlywed almost 20 years ago, my wife started getting prank calls while I was at work. We eventually sorted it out and figured out it was a co-worker of mine, and I handled that part. BUT, before we figured it out, I bought my wife a S&W 9mm, and taught her how to shoot it, and she learned to really love it and get comfortable with it.

Insert my smart-aleck 16 year old brother, and he decides to stop by the house and scare her one night while I am at work. He starts beating on the front door yelling, "Hey, let me in, I'm coming in anyway, you better let me in." So my wife freaks out, grabs her gun steps behind where the door will swing, and pops the lock and lets the door swing open. My brother walks through boldly, and she slams the gun to the back of his head and starts yelling for him to get on the ground. Now, as he was pissing himself and dropping to his knees, he was also yelling, "Its me, its me, oh my god, I'm sorry, its me!"

In the aftermath, after the nerves had settled and the gun was safely back in its drawer he asked, "If you were so scared, why did you open the door?" To which she cooly replies, "You said you were coming in anyway, I figured I would rather be behind you than in front of you." Brilliant!

To answer the question in the title of the thread, my answer is -- to defend against scumbags and thugs of the world which there are NO SHORTAGE of. Scumbags and thugs never fight fair, and a firearm in the hands of a GOOD GUY evens the playing field.

And to the 2nd question -- No. And as long as a scumbag or thug doesnt try to threaten my life or my families life, there will never be a need for that to happen.

OK, one more with my poor little brother.

After he was grown, and living on his own down in Pensacola. He picks up a girl at the beach one day, they go back to his apartment, and she sees some stuff and asks if he has a gun. He says yes, and she wants to see it. Now, remember my earlier lesson about not handing a gun to stupid people. He learned from me, but he also got his own hard lesson. He takes out the gun, drops the magazine, clears the chamber, and hands it to her. The first thing she does is point it directly at his face, and pulls the trigger while asking, "How does it work?"

For a heartbeat of a moment, he is just looking down the barrel of his own gun and hearing, "click."

Luckily, he did take all the proper precautions, and he lived to chastise her about it, and he called me to discuss the extreme importance of always practicing gun safety.

I don't remember the outcome with the girl though? I hope she made it up to him.

I bought my first firearm cause I could not afford a hammer for round the house duties. As for pointing one, why would you ask such a question? And would it matter to you if I would or not?

What if I said no?
What if I said Yes?

Are you looking for self justification in doing such when the time arises? Are you gauging a normal response or consensus?

I guess the real question is......whats your motivation for asking people if they'd point a gun at someone? Chances are if you answer yes, that gives DOJ ammo against you when you actually do.

If you answer No, that means when they come to collect your guns, you wont put up a fight....

Either way....like my gun...its a loaded question.

My first gun was a 22. I got it for going into first grade. I got my kid a .410 when he turned 10. Is there some reason why we expect our children to be irresponsible? Is that irresponsibility a reflection on the adult? As to the question of "why" a child would be given a gun - the answer is it's a cultural thing. And, if you don't understand that and respect it, then you don't like multiculturalism and you should stop putting up with it.

The first time I pointed it at someone, I was 14. My dad put me behind a tree and had me hide there while he confronted some bad guys. The word was that if he yelled my name I was to come out pointing it at the person he was pointing at. If he yelled "shoot", well, I was to shoot. There were six or seven bad guys who had come on our property and were stealing. They had pistols on their hips and it was evening and we lived in the country. Dad yelled my name and out I came. The first bad guy saw me, he got rather bothered, then they bolted. One of them had a badge like a deputy's star. They never came back.

As a reserve deputy sheriff I pointed it on a number of occasions.

My first fire arm was a Savage .243 lever action (my first deer rifle)!

That was 24 years ago...wow...seems like a long time!

Never pointed that particular gun at anything but deer...other guns I own...oh ya they have been pointed at another human being...and in a couple instances fired too!

A guy broke into my house and my wife woke me up scared as heck...I went down stairs with a .38 and he took off out the front door...I fired 5 shots in the direction but in total darkness I missed all 5 times (I might add thankfully)!

My dad taught me at a young age that if I ever pointed a gun at another person it had damn well better be for a good reason...and I should be ready to use it!

Good advice still today...pointing a gun at someone is serious business and not to be taken lightly!

First fire arm was in 2006, spring field XD 9mm.

Bought it to learn to shoot, because I was interested in guns.

Yes one time, someone broke into my garage at my old place, I had been up at the time around 3am, but I was online reading news articles or something.

Got my gun and went to check out the sound.

He had a crow bar, simply pointed the gun at him, saw he was a younger kid, told him to get lost and think about his actions because the next guy might just shoot him.

I bought my first piece of German precision manufacturing the day I turned 18.
Why?
A firearm is for killing and nothing else, so I bought it so I could kill more effectively.
Now before someone starts to grieve me...
There are very good reasons for killing, if you can only see the bad ones, maybe you need some soul searching.
And yes.

About twelve years ago and I almost shot my youngest brother with it. My husband kept a 357 in our closet and left one morning to take our children to school when I heard the back door open . I thought maybe one of the kids had left behind a backpack or something and started to call out but didn't get a reply. I ran out of the b/r and into the hallway keeping myself against the wall at the opening between the hall and my l/r when my brother steps into the hall I had my arms extended and ready to fire

I am a life long hunter, both game animals and water fowl, and I've been around guns all my life. I guess I got my first shotgun when I was around 12 yrs. old. Today I own 12 or 14 long guns, (shotguns & rifles) and 3 handguns.

I didn't purchase my first handgun until I was around 45 yrs. old and I bought it because at the time, I was responsible for handing out 1.2 million dollars in weekly payroll to a bunch of longshoremen during the rapid deployment operations taking place in my port for the lead up to the Iraq war. On top of that, I was cashing about $250,000 worth of those checks. But, I didn't just purchase a handgun for the occasion. Besides myself, my union also had 2 other armed union officials working with me and we hired 2 off duty police officers to patrol our parking lot on payday.

My first handgun was a Springfield 1911 A-1 and it's still my favorite today. Regarding your other question, yes I have had to point my gun at another human. We were building a new union hiring hall and one of the laborers thought it would be smart to threaten me by telling me that he was going to "put me to sleep." Needless to say, I reached under my jacket into my shoulder holster and proceeded to show him what a 45 looks like head on. I instructed him to gather his tools and to vacate the premises and if I ever saw him there again, I would shoot him. The next day, the contractor reported the incident to the police, they came out and interviewed both myself and the laborer in question and informed him that I was well within my rights and that if he valued living, he would stay away from me and our property.

I sincerely hope that I never have to point it at another person so long as I live, but I will if I have to. By the way, during my tenure as a longshoreman our union moved three times and someone has been shot, some killed, in every hiring hall we've ever owned except for the one we were building when I was threatened. To this day, no one has been shot there. Knock on wood.

Here's some advice I'll throw in for free; Only pull your gun as a last resort and despite what some people have stated in this thread, Never ever point an unloaded gun at anyone, it will get you killed. Secondly, Never point a gun at someone unless you're fully prepared to use it. (By the way, I've been shot at as well, but I prefer not to talk about it.)