Family and guns

**fuzz** · January 8th, 2013, 05:24 PM

just want to get some opinions as I'm sure many of you have faced a similar situation.

I am very pro-gun. Lately my dad seems very anti-gun. He mostly kept mum about it until Newtown. Now it seems he, like the media, has their underwear in a twist about gun control and/or outright gun bans.

My dad is stubborn. And very smart. Like him, I am stubborn and maybe half as smart at half his age.

His arguments seem ridiculous to me, as my arguments seem ridiculous to him. I don't stand 100% on the side of the NRA, and I don't stand 100% on the side of Democrats. I stand firmly in the middle, a couple steps closer to the NRA's position. It's very difficult to get anywhere in a calm, mature conversation with him.

How have some of you approached this topic when two very close family members land on two very different sides of a serious issue?

**rkrcpa** · January 8th, 2013, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by fuzz

How have some of you approached this topic when two very close family members land on two very different sides of a serious issue?

I walk away.

**mikal90** · January 8th, 2013, 05:34 PM

Stop debating them, The constitution applies to everyone, Not just the ammendments they like. Should the gun crowd try to ban the lefts free speech rights because we dont like what they are saying? Comrads? If they dont understand the constitution and you cant teach them, Then Stop talking to morons.

**Ludwig12of45** · January 8th, 2013, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by fuzz

just want to get some opinions as I'm sure many of you have faced a similar situation.

I am very pro-gun. Lately my dad seems very anti-gun. He mostly kept mum about it until Newtown. Now it seems he, like the media, has their underwear in a twist about gun control and/or outright gun bans.

My dad is stubborn. And very smart. Like him, I am stubborn and maybe half as smart at half his age.

His arguments seem ridiculous to me, as my arguments seem ridiculous to him. I don't stand 100% on the side of the NRA, and I don't stand 100% on the side of Democrats. I stand firmly in the middle, a couple steps closer to the NRA's position. It's very difficult to get anywhere in a calm, mature conversation with him.

How have some of you approached this topic when two very close family members land on two very different sides of a serious issue?

Depends on the family member and how much I like them

You can argue your points until you're blue in the face, as could he...and it may never change a thing. Or you can both drop it and talk about other things. I would suggest the latter.

**Sir Knight** · January 8th, 2013, 05:41 PM

Since your father is obviously older than you and getting older, he may appreciate this perspective on things. It is an undeniable fact that human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force or fear of force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it. In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 120-pound policewoman on equal footing with a 300-pound criminal, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger. Without a gun to level the playing field, force and the fear of force DOES enter the equation and there is nothing separating us from uncivilized animals where the young and the strong dominate the weak and the old. Ask your father if that is the kind of society that he wants to live in where somebody younger / bigger / stronger can FORCE him to do their bidding?

**Keith A** · January 8th, 2013, 06:36 PM

Back in the days before the internet, most people just believed whatever they learned in school and saw on the news and read in the paper. There was never any suspicion that the info they were getting was BS. I think alot of older people still feel this way. I know you said you dad was smart, but smart is not all encompassing. Alot of smart people refuse to research the facts, because they know they might be proven wrong, and then they won't feel as smart anymore.

**galvanni** · January 8th, 2013, 06:41 PM

I don't concede to my family's beliefs. I give them the same feedback every time it's brought up. I basically give them this - almost exactly like Jack does it - only under the context of protecting our rights instead of defending the nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo

**harty** · January 8th, 2013, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Ludwig12of45

Depends on the family member and how much I like them

You can argue your points until you're blue in the face, as could he...and it may never change a thing. Or you can both drop it and talk about other things. I would suggest the latter.

No greater words of wisdom have ever been spoken.