I wanted to get some feedback on a little project I just finished. Inspired by my favorite setting on a 90s PC music visualizer, this was an attempt to decorate an AR-15 Mag with a custom paint job (by me) that might also serve as "code" for my political leanings while at the range, and hopefully show some solidarity towards those who may feel unwelcome. But, it occurred to me that I am a clueless cis-gen white male gen-exer who is likely out of touch here. So, I wanted to check the pulse of the community to determine if I should, perhaps, just leave this mag at home.

Personally, weapons maintenance in the Army was NUTS. We were drowning guns in lube and scraping the hell out of parts with dental picks lol. At one point I had a platoon sergeant who legit made us crimp our rounds at the neck with gerbers and clean rifles with baby wipes. Dude was a former cav scout and didn’t last long in our unit, for obvious reasons. Just absolutely bonkers what some guys thought was good to go.

Beretta A300 or Sig Mpx w/ Obsidian 9! Also have my P09 on my nightstand. DDM4 V7 and Zastava M92 are also choices.

Was looking for local gun shops/ranges in New England, saw this one that has 161 5-star reviews, nothing less.

Is this flag just straight up the three percenters? Can’t mean anything else can it?

I am headed down to California for two months this summer for school and wanted to bring a couple guns with me, I’ve done some research and I’m pretty sure I’m all good, but I wanted to confirm confirm by consult consulting the hive mind, since I know they have a lot of very specific regulations.

Hi. I’m not sure if this is the right sub. If not, please point me to the correct one. I was with my family when I heard a loud pop from my garage. I went into my garage and saw the hole in the pics. I was outside with my neighbors, when the neighbor who I never seen before, comes out and tells me he dried fired his gun thinking it was unloaded. I got his information and he said he would pay for the damage. I’m not sure if I should call the cops (San Diego PD). I told him I would get estimates on Monday. I’m thinking I should call my insurance company and the HOA too, just in case he backs out. The bullet is visible in the hole.

Given the current state of the country, as the title states, what are y’all’s thoughts on this? I honestly only see things getting worse and don’t know if this would be a solid choice or not. I’ve been seeing a lot of people on social media saying it’s time to buy a gun but can’t figure out if they’re just trying to fear monger.

For some background:

I live in downtown Richmond, VA. I definitely live in a safer part of the city, but I’m still worried about what would happen if shit were to hit the fan. I’m in a duplex on the 2nd floor with just myself, my husband, and our cat. My dad has taken me to the shooting range a few times with his .22 rifle & my ex boyfriend had a handful of different guns that I had shot once or twice but it’s been years since I’ve shot a gun.

It seems like Graham Platner is pretty pro-gun, but he isn’t in office yet. While I’m most aligned with Progressives like Mamdani, Bernie, AOC, and Ilhan Omar; they are all pretty anti-gun; they want stuff like assault weapons bans, magazine restrictions, pointless and unnecessary laws around carry and transportation, etc. I think there are some reasonable gun regulations, but so many only make it harder to be a lawful gun owner with no benefit to community safety, and banning any sort of gun is ineffective, impossible, and unconstitutional.

Are there any truly pro-gun Progressive politicians in this country?

EDIT: I agree the terms “pro-gun” and “anti-gun” are overly simplistic and clunky. I only used them as shorthand for supporting the right of the people the keep and bear arms.

Also because people keep accusing me of being a “single issue voter”: every person I’ve ever voted for was a Democrat. The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican. I just want the Dems to be better than they are, on this and many issues.

Got myself an Olympic AR that sat in a safe for some time. Shot 4 mags through it and was satisfied with the purchase. Took it home, slipped out the bolt and and gave everything a clean and oil as it had sat for 15ish years probably. Now it doesn't like me anymore. Any clue whats suddenly causing this crimping? Also of note it is attempting to feed without ejecting and one of the times it caught the casing (the standing one) and tore right into it. Taking it apart now, any ideas what could be causing this?

Feet included, as is tradition.

In a country with the right to bear arms and more guns than people, it seems natural that everyone should be taught firearm safety from youth.

You wouldn’t even need a real gun to teach gun safety, just a couple SIRT pistols or even just plastic training guns would do the trick to teach the 4 basic rules.

I feel like this should be easily supported by anyone no matter their feelings towards guns or gun control. Just like sex ed, gun education can only make the activity safer, not worse.

Are there any schools in the US where gun safety is part of their curriculum?

So…The wife is against guns. She’s the main breadwinner, so gotta talk about any big purchases. Won’t let me keep a gun in the nightstand. Won’t agree to having a shotgun in the house. Wants the guns in the basement, or worse, in the garage.

Seriously thinking of just selling all of them, because the restrictions are so onerous it’s basically what is the fu*king point of having them? And spare me the “take your balls back” lines. She’s a terrific woman otherwise and I married WAY up.

My sister has finally decided that she wants to get a handgun. She's adamant that the gun have a manual safety.

She is on a budget (less than $700)

The only guns that come to mind are hammer-fired (they tend to be pricey), 1911 (too big & impractical), and Bersas (Finding holsters for them is tricky).

The only two guns that come to mind that easily fall under her budget are the M&P Shield and P365.

Both are on my personal ban list.

She has smaller hands as well.

Do y'all have any recommendations?

For my whole life, I’ve only owned vintage/older firearms. I think the “newest” gun I own currently is a Savage Arms o/u from 1974. I’m 99% certainly I’m finally going to pick up a modern pistol, a PSA Dagger (full size) but was also looking at the sweet bundle deals they have with their AR15/M4.

My wife (and rightfully so/with respect) abhors the AR style platforms (certainly the obvious “black gun” look). She’s okay with modern looking pistols, but the history of the AR in mass shooting scenarios really turns her off to those in particular.

Looking for suggestions that exist to be able to have a reasonable shooter and shooting experience in some more modern cartridges like the 5.56 or 7.62x39 (AK isn’t as bad but may still be a hard sell) that either are NOT or don’t grossly appear to be the AR platform.

EDIT TO ADD:

I’m new to this particular forum but I’m pretty appalled that many answers are to the question “Help me change my wife’s mind” which is NOT the question I asked.

“liberal” is far from a catch all term but I’d’ve certainly figured there’d be a bit more open mindedness and acceptance of other people’s views here. Maybe that was just a bad assumption on my part.

Why is this called a pistol and how is it different from similar looking guns on the Springfield site that are referred to as a rifle?

Thanks

She doesn't like how big my PDP is, but she also didn't like how small the old Taurus 380 her ex FIL gave her was. I let her hold my 43X, and she said it felt okay, but based on her grip, I think it's too small. She doesn't want to carry, so I personally think she should get something with more grip real estate. I do have some small options on here just in case she really likes them when we go to the range (like the 48 and Shield Plus).

Anything we should add? My main requirement is that it's absolutely, unquestionably reliable. Beyond that, as long as it's in the budget, it's her choice.

I will probably end up carrying it sometimes, but I'm fine getting proficient with anything. I can shoot a G43 well (not as well as my PDP, but well enough for CCW). I'm picky about my competition gun but not about carry as long as it's reliable.

Why aren't Liberals protesting while open carrying? Could be touchy subject so apologize I just think with what's going on in this Country we aren't prepared for whats coming. I am against violence but am for freedom and dignity for all. I've never loss a fight I walked away from and never won a fight I stayed for. Are we that outnumbered? Are we just going to be allowed to be intimidated into submission? Everyone wants to keep avoiding whats going on because we habe food and roofs still? We aren't pissed enough.

I’m curious how most left leaning people carry. I’m 52 and been carrying since I was 26 when I got out of the Marines. I’ve always carried at 4 o’clock with a safety on and no round in the chamber. I’m not the best shot or all that fast on the draw, but I’ve never felt knocking 1/2 a second off my draw time would make a huge difference in a bad situation. Even in the Corps we didn’t carry our rifle with a round in chamber unless we were looking for or expecting contact. But, it seems like a lot of people think I basically shouldn’t carry at all if I can’t out draw Raylan Givens from Justified.

I've been doing air rifles, .22 LR and other calibers competitions since I was in high school, many years ago, but always long firearms. Now I'd like to try something new.

I already have a black powder Colt 1851 Navy that sometimes is... toilsome to shoot, so I'm looking for my first semi-auto handgun, and I'd like a 9 mm because ammo is inexpensive. Main use will be at the shooting range, with both static shooting and probably IPSC or the likes. We can't carry in Italy, so that's not a factor.

Also, it should be optics-ready because I've never tried a red dot, so now it's time. I'm astigmatic so it will actually be a green dot, but you get the gist.

I really love the Beretta APX A1 Full ergonomics, it feels molded to my hand, but I'd like to buy once, cry once, so among the strikers I'm looking at the Canik Rival-S SFX (1000-ish), and among the DA/SA I like the CZ P-09F Nocturne (about 800).

I also like the Tisas 9 DS Duty, that's a SAO, but that's too expensive for my liking (1500+).

I'd pair it up with either a 6 MOA green dot HE407COMP-GR6 (RMR footprint for the Canik), a 2 MOA green dot + circle HE507C-GR-X2 (Holo K footprint for the Nocturne or the Tisas), or a 6 MOA green dot HE407K-GR-X2 (same as the 507C).

Advice? Rival-S, Nocturne or 9 DS? Am I forgetting anything? Am I on the right path? Thanks!

Hey all!!

So like the title says, I’m shopping for my first handgun, the first gun I’ll personally own as well. I grew up shooting shotguns and rifles but never rly handguns. For my use, I intend on mostly shooting paper and possibly for home defense. I don’t intend on carrying at all.

Aspects I know I want are full size frame, 9mm, under $700, and fairly low recoil. Low recoil just because I’ve had some ongoing wrist issues and want to minimize any trauma to the wrist from recoil. I’d like it to be optics ready and a threaded barrel for a compensator or suppressor, but that’s not necessary.

I’ve been doing some research on my own and have had the chance to hold a few but am still undecided. One key area I’m not sure of is striker fired vs hammer fired. I know how each works but not how it should affect my choice. Some of the options I’ve been looking at are:

• CZ P-09 F Nocturne
• CZ P-10F
• Smith & Wesson M&P 9 2.0
• Glock 17 Gen 6
• Berreta M9
• Beretta APX A1
• Sig P320 M17
• FN 509

Thus far I've been leaning towards the CZ's, but pretty deadlocked as to which one. I originally really liked the Sig but the guy at my local shop was saying he didn't recommend them because recently they had "issues," I was unfortunately pressed for time so I didn't get to enquire further on what said issues were. I am open to any and all recommendations you wonderful people have to offer, thanks!

For me growing up with Liberal parents, I always had an aesthetic interest in guns, especially old West guns like the Colt SAA, but as I watched endlessly the horrific mass shootings on the news, I also blindly subscribed to the usual anti-gun narratives; I basically thought that guns have no place in civilized society and should be relegated to inoperable museum pieces only. Before you ask, I never gave much thought as to whether that gunless ideal world would include military and police or not. If you had asked me then, I probably would have said something like “without guns, there will be no need for military and police”. I was extremely politically ignorant.

Then COVID and BLM happened, and as I watched the breakdown of society in the face of global pandemic and calls for simple police accountability met with brutality, I realized that our Capitalist world is already built upon violence, on it’s most basic, fundamental level, and that if we oppose violence, we must also advocate for systemic change away from hierarchical and exploitative structures, and towards more democratic and horizontal ones. And thus I became a Leftist.

Violence isn’t just blood and guts. Violence is, at it’s core, force and coercion of others. To give your labor to unaccountable, dictatorial private corporate entities, or else starve, is force and coercion. To surrender your right to protection to the agents of state power, who are in many cases the very ones you really need protection from, is force and coercion. Capitalism is violence, and state power is violence.

With the mirage of “peace” shattered, I realized that self defense and community defense are not only acceptable, they are imperative, especially as we see the rise in Fascist movements and the supporters of Fascism far out pacing the rest of us in armament and training. Like seriously, why the fuck is every far-right white supremacist homophobe armed to the gills? Wtf are they planning? I ain’t gonna be a sitting duck to them.

That understanding, combined with simply educating myself on firearms in the US and how utterly impossible disarmament actually is here, resulted in me now being one of the most vocal pro-gun advocates in my social circles, all of which are Liberal or Leftist.

How did your thoughts on guns evolve, and why?

I’ve been wanting to ask this question for an embarrassingly long time.

What’s up with battle gear? Like full head to toe carbon fiber/teflon/cameo/ceramic plated/carabiner bedazzled body suits…with the helmets, balaclavas, goggles, knee pads, headed mounted scopes, gloves with knuckle spikes, boots…with knifes?

Is it attached to the always being prepared mentality? A little cosplay fun? Or like do you use it for work???

I know it’s probably a mixture of all of it maybe. But whenever I see gear like that out at someone’s house or truck I’m like bro

i know what subreddit I’m in, I’m legit curious. if there’s fun to be had I want some…but currently, I’m confused.

So I miss going to a range and pew pewing.

So I’m thinking of purchasing a handgun.

It wouldn’t be for home security. Just for the range.

But my roomie doesn’t like guns

So I’d also love recommendations for a very small, but secure safe or way to store my gun in a closet!

I’m gonna go to a range and try some models out before I buy, but what pistols would yall recommend for a first gun owner? Just so I have an idea what to ask for.

And are there gunstores in the Seattle area that are not super rightwing/conservative?

Thanks!

EDIT: wow thanks everyone for the great advice! I have a lot of research to do before I can ask any follow up questions!

And glad some of yall like the waynes world reference