Getting Along w/Anti-Gun Friends and Family

[K22]

My in-laws are anti-hunting. I learned long time ago not to discuss guns or hunting with them - the topic is just off limits with me because you can't never explain our sport to someone who has never participated in it and thinks every gun owner is a mass murder or animal abuser. Therefore my best advice is don't engage them, don't let them get to you - ignore it and change the subject.

If they make a smart remark about my pictures and horns hanging about the house I tell them they are free to leave at any time but this is my house and I'll display my pictures and horns as I please.

 

[Outrider27]

My in-laws are anti-hunting. I learned long time ago not to discuss guns or hunting with them - the topic is just off limits with me because you can't never explain our sport to someone who has never participated in it and thinks every gun owner is a mass murder or animal abuser. Therefore my best advice is don't engage them, don't let them get to you - ignore it and change the subject.

If explaining to them the gross innaccuracies of what the lame stream press has taught them doesn't make them at least curious about the truth, I follow that approach too. And because I have an ocassionally weird sense of humor, for those that aren't willing to learn the truth, I find out what they like and actively campaign against it.

 

[Erik Cortina]

I was having a conversation with an old friend I had not seen for about 10 years. Turns out he is anti-gun. As the conversation went on, I asked him what gave him the right to trash gun owners, he replied "freedom of speech", I asked him "Do you know how we got the bill of rights?", he said "Of course, after the Revolution", I asked, "And how do you figure we won the Revolution?"
He did not have much to say after that.

 

[Phil3]

I have a friend, a good one, and did not know she was so far left until later. It just pains me to know she is this way. She may feel similarly about me, but I doubt it. I think she can deal with our differences far better than I. People like her hurt us through her votes and I just have a hard time liking or even tolerating people that have insane gun beliefs. That collides with our friendship. We can debate or talk about it, but the heat that may come could be destructive, and to be sure, I doubt either of us will change our mind, so what is the point. I just look at her and think, "why did she have to be a left wing nut"? I really didn't need to know that, as it rather soiled things. Sounds likes most of you guys have an easier time with this than I.

Phil

 

[truman]

i work in the firearms business. people know that. ask me why i carry. ask me why i teach kids to "kill." how can you work on/shoot those EVIL guns. THEN something happens, to them, or even close by. can you help me pick out a gun? can you teach me to shoot? finally realize not everyone sits around the fire singing kumbuya, that there is evil out there. shocked, they suddenly see that the "authorities" can't protect them. they are on their own. oh, that magic moment.

 

[Nodak7mm]

Leave politics out of everything when it comes to your family. Friends? You can always find new friends.

Good Advice...

Personally, I do not discuss politics, religion, sexual based topics or race issues with anybody but my closest & vetted friends... If I am asked, its NUNYA!!!

Rod

 

[savagedasher]

After 51 years of being married to the same woman. I know what has worked for me. First chose a friend to marry. Second chose your friends by what you do or have done together. I started with 7 friends and they have passed. Third is what I don't have a clear answer but what is working well is Shoot 4 days a week and your next friend will be on the bench next to you.
Good Shooting Larry

 

[MNFinn]

Leave politics out of everything when it comes to your family. Friends? You can always find new friends.

Good Advice...

Personally, I do not discuss politics, religion, sexual based topics or race issues with anybody but my closest & vetted friends... If I am asked, its NUNYA!!!

Rod

this sums it up for me too....and with some of my best friends I still just stay away...I might be a Finn, but there's only so many times you can bang your head against a wall before it just isn't worth it any more

 

[IA_shooter]

When it comes to topics such as politics, religion, etc. I figure that if my opinions and beliefs offend you then you have the choice of not being around me or discussing it with me. But if you do want to be around me and discuss such things then I will definitely tell you what I think and why I think the way I do.

I figure I have one life to live and I'm going to live it my way on my terms. 8)

I can tolerate other people's opinions and beliefs that are different from mine as long as we have a mutual understanding that we will agree to disagree and be respectful about it to each other. To me that's the key, being able to agree to disagree and doing it respectfully. If you can't do that then I want no part of it or you. The older I get the more I realize I'm much happier living life this way.

Notice my tag line on the bottom.

 

[Raythemanroe]

IA_shooter,

That's what I call a Good old boy, Say it the way it is and don't sugar coat or hide from your true beliefs! If we could get Washington on the same track!!!

 

[Acme7]

Phil3, You have your work cut out for you if you want to turn them. Put your emotions aside and start involving them slow at first in positive gun friendly activities, respectful groups of kids are perfect Scouts, FFA, 4H these relatives or friends have the minds of children and need to be re educated. Plant the seed of personnel responsibility you don't drink and drive or steal prescription drugs or manipulate the stock market and steal pension funds or kill people. Basic traits that start with honesty and accepting personal responsibility. If they don't make progress then start phasing them out. But you need to try first. Good luck

 

[Raythemanroe]

Find better friends, you shouldn't have to be fake around a true friend!!

 

[NateHaler]

To borrow from what I heard Limbaugh say just after he got a national radio show -- in his case it pertained to the USA and USSR relationship:

We shouldn't concern ourselves with getting along with them. We should concern ourselves with being able to defeat them.

You cannot appease liberals, because their ideology is not based on rational thought; it's based on emotion. They want the "right" to kill their unborn and/or nearly born babies, but they protest the state execution of convicted beyond any doubt murderers/rapists/kidnappers.

Liberals want/need the government to be in charge, because they hate and fear personal responsibility. Presumably because of an innate distrust of themselves and thus their fellow men. Instead, they want the government to be in charge. That, people is INSANITY.

Molon labe.

 

[Raythemanroe]

BOhio,

+1

 

[Rustystud]

I may be anti social but I don't compromise on my values. I told my liberal brothers and sisters and their spouses, "don't come a knocking if the shit hits the fan", it is kinda like the story of the ant and the grass hopper. I told them there will be no food, water, shelter, protection at my house. No not even for them. They laugh and say I am just paranoid. I tell them I am just better prepared that them. I made it clear I will defend my castle even from them if need be.
You can not fix stupid, just live without them being too close. Natural selection is a process, and the unprepared are the first to perish. I make a concerted effort not to socialize or visit those who don't think like I do. I have no quams about tell them why I don't want to be around them.
Nat Lambeth

 

[Dgd6mm]

To borrow from what I heard Limbaugh say just after he got a national radio show -- in his case it pertained to the USA and USSR relationship:

We shouldn't concern ourselves with getting along with them. We should concern ourselves with being able to defeat them.

You cannot appease liberals, because their ideology is not based on rational thought; it's based on emotion. They want the "right" to kill their unborn and/or nearly born babies, but they protest the state execution of convicted beyond any doubt murderers/rapists/kidnappers.

Liberals want/need the government to be in charge, because they hate and fear personal responsibility. Presumably because of an innate distrust of themselves and thus their fellow men. Instead, they want the government to be in charge. That, people is INSANITY.

Molon labe.

DITTO

 

[Dgd6mm]

I may be anti social but I don't compromise on my values. I told my liberal brothers and sisters and their spouses, "don't come a knocking if the shit hits the fan", it is kinda like the story of the ant and the grass hopper. I told them there will be no food, water, shelter, protection at my house. No not even for them. They laugh and say I am just paranoid. I tell them I am just better prepared that them. I made it clear I will defend my castle even from them if need be.
You can not fix stupid, just live without them being too close. Natural selection is a process, and the unprepared are the first to perish. I make a concerted effort not to socialize or visit those who don't think like I do. I have no quams about tell them why I don't want to be around them.
Nat Lambeth

Spot on Rustystud!

 

[VaniB]

I may be anti social but I don't compromise on my values. ........

I'm from a small family. I finally got smart before I principled away my wife and my sister as I had already principled away some other family members through the years.

Good luck with maintaining those ridgid "values" while being "anti-social" too . I can tell you from personal experience it can be a lonely place to be....especially as you get older. The choice is yours. Good luck.

 

[Phil3]

So for those who do not compromise, speak their mind, etc. (nothing at all wrong with that), do you wear a NRA hat at a BBQ at your house where you have friends and family over? Even if you know some of those people will bristle at the sight of it? I know some of you do, and I am with you. How about at their house? Or in a neutral public place when with a liberal friend? Can their be such a thing as a liberal gun-hating friend in the first place, or is that phrase "liberal gun-hating friend" an oxymoron?

To be perfectly blunt, it seems like a lie. How can I be friends with someone who holds values and acts in ways so contradictory to my own belief system and actions? This person votes, and the consequences of that vote are people who are in office that are destroying our ability to exercise our 2A right and freedoms. It is like the friendship has this giant elephant in the room that neither talks about, which obviously feels wrong and uncomfortable. To me, it is severe enough where I don't know if I can maintain healthy, open friendships with people who are so opposite to me in so many fundamental beliefs. I just keep wondering when the elephant will burst forth, arguments and the destruction of the friendship will take place. And out here in CA, especially the bay area, the number of like-minded friends one can find is about as common as finding a penguin in the Sahara desert.

Phil

 

[RDavies]

When I was growing up, my parents were active anti gun campaigners. We had a small farm and they would always say when they saw a dead calf or kangaroo, that it was those terrible hunters who did it. Much later on when they realised I was right, that it was wild dogs killing the stock, they asked if I could bring my guns around when ever I visit so I can get rid of the wild dogs.
No amount of discussion would have changed their thoughts previously until they started to see their calves half eaten and they no longer had kangaroos hopping around the front of their house each morning. They have also seen that I have not been able to do any culling for them as whenever I am in their area now, I only have my target rifles and these are only good for killing paper.