Questions and Answers

Jennifer is asking, in her head, how all of us became gunnies.

I grew up in a household that had guns. My Dad had a .22 Marlin (strangely similar to the one I have, they didn't change much) and a 12 ga pump shotgun (his has wood furniture and mine has plastic, otherwise again strangely similar...you stick with what works I guess), he also had a semi-auto pistol that looked like, and may have been, a Luger P08 and a .38 snubbie.

UPDATE: The semi-auto in question was a High Standard Model H-B .22 semi-auto.

We used to go hunting with the long guns but really didn't do much with the pistols. Dad didn't carry one and we really didn't fool with them much. I think my brother has all of the above mentioned firearms now, I'll have to ask him about the semi because now I'm curious.

While I was in the Navy I had a buddy that owed me some money. Instead of paying me cash he gave me a Taurus .357 revolver. I shot it a couple of times at the base shooting range and kept it for several years until I found out he had stolen the gun from his mother-in-law. I gave it back to her when I found out.

After I had retired from the Navy I had a co-worker that was a gunnie. That is when I really became interested in becoming a gunnie myself, because of his enthusiasm. A bit later he fell on hard times and had to sell off some of his collection, and he offered them to me at a good price.

I bought an EBR (in Saiga form, not AR-15), the Marlin and the pump shotgun from him and looked at a Glock 36. He told me I would have to have a pistol purchase permit to buy the gun in NC, even from an individual. I thought that was outrageous, that one would have to ask the Sheriff for permission to buy something. But, that is the law here.

(Side note here, my state Senator has introduced a bill to do away with pistol purchase permits. Please do notice the "D" after his name. Blind hogs and acorns.)

He also said if I had a CWP I would not need a pistol purchase permit, and then I could buy as many as I wanted with no questions asked. This sounded more reasonable to me, so off I went to class for a day with the borrowed Grok.

When the permit came in I bought the Grok and a holster and started carrying it. I wasn't sure at the time that it would become standard practice, but since then it's something I don't even think about; when I get up in the morning and get dressed the Grok comes out of the safe and goes on my belt (unless I'm going to my unarmed victim zone...I mean workplace).

Since that time I have become more and more aware of gun related issues. I didn't intend to be a gunnie, but slowly and surely I have become one, if only in a small way (so far).

So that's my story. What's yours?