While it’s never been said directly to me personally, I know that I have been lumped into a vast group of gun owners who are often told that we love our guns more than we love safety. According to many people, devotion to the Second Amendment has replaced personal responsibility. Numerous individuals have actually asked the question, “When will gun owners love their children more than they love their guns?” It’s been quoted time and time again — by people like rapper Eminem and California Rep. Eric Swalwell — that gun owners supposedly value firearms over human life.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your gun ownership experience. I am a very new gun owner and as a mature woman I can agree with your opinion that gun ownership is a privilage and responsibility. I also look upon the gun as a powerful tool, and accept the responsibility to learn, train and use it safely for the protection of myself and my family. I don’t love my gun either, but appreciate it’s usefulness.
Welcome to the Family @Kathy9. I agree with your thoughts and thank you for sharing. I have heard those things a lot. People saying you love your guns to much and so forth. I just laugh and go sure you believe whatever you want lol
The word “love”, like the word “friend”, is too often misused or over-used in an effort to convey a point or express a feeling. How many real, true friends do you have? If you have 2, you are extremely fortunate. Mrs. Alcazar is a wonderful writer and conveys the difference perfectly. You (should) “love” your children, your spouse, and your family. While I REALLY LIKE all of my firearms, to quote Mrs. Alcazar, …“that doesn’t come anywhere close to love … not for an inanimate object.” People like peanut M&M’s or whatever Smallswell should realize that perhaps we gun owners have firearms or “guns” (another way over and mis-used word, IMO) because we love our children - and are willing to use them to protect our family and children as any parent worth the dust from which they came should. I am not the eloquent writer Mrs. Alcazar is and do not nearly qualify to edit her article but I would like to respectfully add what I feel was omitted from the last line; “… and my right, my ability, and my OBLIGATION to protect them.” I value human life and the last thing I want is to be put in a situation where I have to take one. However, if that happens, my pistol along with my commitment to saving the lives of my family will give us the best chance we can get to continue living ours. I hate it for the person intent on taking it because when it comes to me or them - screw them. Shoulda picked someone else. I will not provoke or initiate violence on anyone and I will not sit idly by and allow it to be initiated on me to become just another victim who wouldn’t fight back. If I am to be categorized as written above then so be it. Our country’s “raging epidemic of violence” brings me no joy. The only joy or goodness that I see resulting from it is when an initiator of said violence receives his just comeuppance and thereby becomes no longer part of the problem. Does that make me “prefer fear, death, suicide, brutality, and hostility over peace, life, health, kindness, and solidarity?” No because I am not the one causing the epidemic of violence. I have tools to protect my family and home. If we lived in a world where we none had to worry about violence or evil knocking at our door then maybe we wouldn’t need firearms to help protect us. Until that time comes, I will use whatever I have available to me to ensure the safety and well-being of myself and family. Right this minute, it’s Colt, Walther, Smith & Wesson, and Beretta to name a few.
Love my guns? No, but as has been discussed in another thread I am attached to them. I am also attached to my mower, and my truck. They are all tools that I have a fair amount of time & money invested. I’ve named my truck (peer pressure), but not my guns.
I would give it all up for my fiance, son, her children, and grandkids. They are things, but my family is everthing
A Quote from the Two Towers by J R R Tolkien: But I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.
@Mlman --Agree 100%. Anything can become an obsession to the exclusion of career and family. Be it fishing, antique cars, hunting, amateur radio, wood-working, pick your poison. Even if you have guns only for self-defense, they can still be fascinating – but IMO that’s a good thing.
For me as an engineer there is the mechanical and craftsmanship aspect of guns that is interesting as well, not that I’m a gunsmith by any means. So I read a lot about them, try to save a little to buy the next one, and even enjoy stripping them down and cleaning them. But I cannot say I love them. Family, friends, and my dog have them beat.
I think the phrase “Love my guns more than my safety” is a sassy response to the push to take away peoples guns. I think the phrase is stupid, but it comes from the idea of, “I want my guns over your concern for my safety”.
It is well known their are people that want guns taken away for our safety and theirs… ironically putting everyone in more danger.
All gun owners I know take the safety rules seriously and take gun safety seriously. Safety in the Gun community has become a priority. Responsible gun owners know we love our guns, not only cause we like them, but because our loved ones are safer with us having theme. I’ll take my safety (owning a gun) over your safety (me handing it over).
“When will gun owners love their children more than they love their guns?” It’s been quoted time and time again*
Such statements are false narratives, and part of the leftist methodology of attacking people and ideas to attempt to denigrate them, to disparage them, to alter and distort the argument or discussion, to create a hostile environment and a defensive stance… .the same as when the left cries out… racist or bigot, just to attempt to claim some moral high ground they fail to ever take, and to attempt to silence opposing voices.
They could be countered with, ‘you own a car and drive your car, many children are killed by automobiles, when will you love your kids more than your car… . get rid of your car’
When they create a false narrative, and play political games, invoking Marxist tactics, tactics used by our own government … known as ‘Color Revolution’, which has been used in Ukraine and Belarus and other locations… we must stand fast with FACTS.
Agreed! I would add that media are the driving force behind false narratives. The number of lives saved by firearms is never calculated or considered. If you applied this logic to hospitals they would all be closed.
Yes, it is a ridiculous narrative. It’s not that I love the guns more than my family at all. It’s simply I love my wife and kids so much that I’m willing to draw a firearm and possibly get shot myself or end-up in jail rather than watch them get killed, kidnapped, etc.
I had been on the fence for a long time about owning a firearm and getting my CCW. Then in May when all the mostly peaceful protests started happening I read the reports of people, specifically white people, being assaulted for being white. Then there was a video of a couple that owned a shop in MN and they went to clean up the mess from the previous night’s peaceful protest. Four men beat them with a 2x4 and if I recall correctly they made the man watch while they beat his wife. That did it for me. I’m in good shape and stronger than the average bear, but there’s nothing I can do against 4 men with one wielding a 2x4. At least having a firearm would give my wife a chance to escape with our kids and maybe I make it out too if I’m fast and accurate enough. It’s all about the family and nothing more. I will admit going target shooting is enjoyable but that still serves the original purpose.
I know this post is an old one, but when people like Swalwell and Eminem start taking the high road of what is right or wrong I almost become sick. Two clowns, that want to do away with our rights for what reward? Swalwell will keep his Asian connection and Eminem can play with his naval. They have not given back to the people that support them one dollar, yet preach to us about how we spend our time and money, B.S.
I do not love my weapons more than any living thing, but I enjoy the fact that as long as I have the weapons I can continue to enjoy the people and things around me.
At first glance, my initial reaction to that “statement” is that to me it seems so extreme, that I almost ignore it. It comes off more of an insult, over simplification of one’s beliefs in ‘right to bear arms’. It’s not conducive to dialogue or conversation.
That is like “questioning” how much we love our children. Kinda like a low blow. Would he/she want me to question how much they value life, and point out their actions which result in loss of life, a long list.
I support their right not to be mandated to own a firearm. As others have more eloquently shared, one can so value life, that one invests and works hard to “own and carry” legally.
The world offers so much beauty, but it also has dangers; Not a utopia.
I will never be able to afford armed guards to protect me, like a famous entertainer, but grateful that I can try to care for my loved ones. One of the reasons I enjoy “Rap” music, is some of the lyrics – are poetic, explaining both love and life’s real dangers for the common man/woman, and from the streets of which I sweat, bled, and cried.
I must be one of the odd people out because I LOVE my guns. Honestly, I do. I have put a lot of time, thought, and money into each one of my builds and have developed a sentimental connection to each one of them. If I leave home without one of my main carry pieces, I feel naked. I love taking them to the range and training with them. I love the experience of spending an afternoon with family at the range and teaching them and helping them improve their firearm skills, awareness and overall safety.
Do I love my guns more than safety…no. I love my guns because they provide me safety. Safety against wolves that may do me or my family harm. Safety against threats both foreign and domestic. Furthermore, my firearms are not unsafe and my son is not unsafe in my household with them. My family has been taught firearm safety, how to handle firearms, how to be proficient with firearms, and if not on my body, my firearms are secured in a safe.
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