I Used to Be Afraid of Guns

Editor/Contributor: Joshua Garcia

I grew up in Oregon. Oregonians love their guns, hunting, fishing, general outdoor activities. I didn’t grow up in a household with guns. Did not hunt. Did not fish. We did camp a lot, but it was never primitive.

I learned later on in life, shortly before my father passed away, that he actually had a gun in the house for many years after my parents divorced. I don’t know if he had it while they were still together, I doubt my mother would have allowed that. I had no idea then that there was a gun in the home because nobody talked about it, nobody ‘let’ me find it and I didn’t even think to look for a gun in the house, never even crossed my mind. Firearms in general was never something I was interested in as a child/teenager.

I learned later, after my father passed away, that my father used to take my brother out shooting quite a bit. When I heard about that, I really wished my dad had taken me out shooting. Taught me to not be afraid of guns, taught me a skill that I would later in life realize was a huge part of who I am.

But, such is life.

My mother would constantly instill fear into me about guns. Whenever there was a “mass” shooting or whatever that she saw on the news, she would preach about how evil guns are, etc, etc. And I believed her. Why wouldn’t I? She’s my mom, I should listen to her!

To this day, she thinks guns are evil and doesn’t understand them. We don’t ever talk about the guns I own nor the competitions that I go to. It’s a bit sad, as I would like to share my experiences with her, but I know that she wouldn’t be receptive to any of it. She wants me to lock up all my guns, all the time, even my everyday carry…she doesn’t quite understand the purpose of carrying a gun for self-defense. But that’s okay, we just don’t talk about guns.

So when I had a boyfriend shortly after high school that was very much into guns, he took me out and showed me how to shoot. And since then, I wasn’t so afraid of guns. But…I wasn’t eager to own one, either. I shot them when we wanted to go shooting, but that was pretty much it.

Years went by without a second thought to guns and it wasn’t until I met my husband when he really got me into guns. I wasn’t afraid of them at that point, but I also wasn’t really big into them, wasn’t interested in them. My husband continued to get me more into guns, though and it was a pretty quick transition from me not wanting anything to do with guns to me wanting everything to do with guns.

That interest transitioned into wanting to hunt, to get my CHL and then get into competitive shooting.

Today, I am a huge advocate for the second amendment, educating people about the realities of gun safety and handling and what owning a gun is really like, defensive shooting, getting a CHL, etc.

I’m not a ‘gun nut’ per-say, I just really love and appreciate guns and the culture. For the most part, the gun community is really awesome, open and friendly. There are always those few that are irresponsible and will do stupid things with guns; but you get that with literally everything in this world.

I’m no longer afraid of guns. Guns are a tool, just like the spoon I use to eat my cereal every morning. Did you know that I can use that spoon to gouge someone’s eye out? A tool is only turned into a deadly weapon when there is intent. There will always be evil people in the world and they will always find a way to kill people; with or without guns.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my short journey with guns. You don’t have to grow up with guns in order to be a responsible gun owner/user. I also don’t believe that you need to own a gun at all in order to understand that a gun isn’t the evil object that everyone claims it to be.

I’m always open to logical discussions about guns. If you ever have any questions or comments, please use the comment section below!

Thanks for reading!